VP Harris and the DNC

My hope for VP Kamala Harris in her speech at the Chicago Convention

I pray Kamala will bring the strength and integrity of Mahatma Gandhi to each word she speaks. I want her to have Bob Marley’s way with her words “Get up and stand up for rights” and her call for one love for all of us. I want her to have the smile and confidence of JFK and the courage of LBJ regarding human rights at home and abroad.

I want her to lift the people in the audience and on the screen with a voice Dr. Martin L. King ,Jr. I want people to feel the great kindness that John Lewis brought to anything and everything he did. I want Kamala to address the middle of our country that is hurting and at the same time reassure the poor that she will bring them into a better light and purer possibility of a good life. Speak clearly of the good and wonderful things Joe Biden did for this nation as Senator and President.

I want to see a dance of democracy that terrifies the likes of Putin and his ilk that the USA is on the rise. I want her to close the way President Obama spoke like a rolling thunder on the move to heaven.

Please God, let us Americans do what you want us to do building on the broad shoulders of those who came before us.

What Happens to A Democracy...

What happens to a democracy when it loses its own justice system? I am not pointing at the Department of Justice but to the Supreme Court. Ever since the Supreme Court decided to elect George Bush over Gore (who won the popular vote but did not ask for a recount). That giant mistake by the so called Supreme Court left me in despair for democracy for the rest of my life. I do human rights work and if the courts at the top are power grabbers, the chance of fairness for the average center drops like a rock into a deep river.

Now recently two of these finely educated so called jurists have turned to the ism of Trump. Two of nine. Corruption at the top of the Justice system guarantees we are in a downward spiral to lawlessness.
I live near the Capital. I saw some of the Jan 6 folks on their way to desecrate the cathedral of democracy. A bomb which did not explode was planted right up the street. I watched as people tried to destroy the police protecting the sacred building. Many police got hurt and a few police committed suicide after this experience. All within three blocks of my home.

Now, it turns out that one spouse of a Supreme was supporting these folks and another spouse hung up a flag upside down to show show for this madness.

Justice is a like a cone.....it melts from the top down. It has melted for me. These finely educated jurists are less talented than a bad car mechanic. The ship of state is heading to a rocky shore. The sure sign of this is theat they prefer the company of the super rich. In those padded spas, they get to hear what the real decisions should be. Lord help the poor when the rich arrive.

We need to change the name of the "Supreme" Court to the "Last Court."
These finely educated jurists are destroying the national need for justice system that protects the nation from the rip and run people, otherwise known as the jurists who are appointed to lifelong jobs with no rules. Yes no ethical standards for the present Supreme Court. None. We are weak now with the virtue of justice. It will get worse. Hold on America we are going thru a most dangerous few years.

RIP Frank Stella

Frank Stella, the great artist passed. I met Stella probably in 1990 with Mrs Ernst and Virginia Dawn. We went to a garage that was like a car repair joint. Two volunteers Jennifer Wachtell and Jill Revson had signed up to see if we could do an art show in the village with the "biggies.". Well, in short, New York's finest artists all showed up with a donation of a piece of art. Leo Castelli, a giant in the fight against the death penalty was there. First visitor to the open show in the village was John Mc Enroe, my fav tennis player. Botero of the big folks statues was easy and sweet to deal with. I went to his apartment to get his art piece and I got to ask him re those "big people" in his art and statues.

Jennifer and Jill organized a grand meeting and all that talent of art in nyc came together to celebrate each other and the donations of art to Amnesty. I got to meet Robert d"Nero and his dad who was added a piece of art as well. Jennifer and Jill sold all the art that came in. Complete success

I believe in the arts to move the agenda of human rights. These folks understood that and gave generously.

Thank you Frank Stella, RIP

US State Department's Report on Human Rights in Israel, Gaza & West Bank

Today's (4/23/24) Washington Post on page A-14 is a powerful article re the US State Department's report of human rights in Israel, Gaza and West Bank done by its own department. A must read for any one interested in this part of the world.
My own hope re this deadly conflict is that one day all sides involved will agree to a two party state. Please, please read this Washington Post. HERE

Human rights is about hope, a change in behavior, fewer deaths and justice for all so that torture and disappearances will be removed from this earth of ours. Human rights reporting is usually solid and believable. Often human rights groups can make mistakes but for the most part they usually are right with their research and reporting.

Hope for both sides is to find a way to get to security and peace for both. So often in the dialogue of the world re security and human rights, human rights is always in last place. Hopefully, this report on the Gaza and the West Bank will move all sides to a two state solution.

Just speaking this way must be backed up with a realistic plan with all the nations that can be organized into a working committee needs to come together and provide vision and financial support that one day there will be a two state solution and peace has come to both sides. Naive perhaps, but both vision and hope have to be present as well as a firm commitment to head in that solution. Such a vision would save lives and homes and hospitals and set an example that difficult things and changes can still be done in this century by governments that work for the people, all the people.

Remembering Feryal Gharahi

Feryal passed on March 1, 2017. Feryal was intensely committed to upholding human rights and making governments accountable for their actions. We miss her every day.