Causeless hatred in the streets

Yesterday was a fast day for observant Jews, not a good day to try to think about how to spell words or make sense.

There was a group or two of people yesterday who didn't make sense and they didn't even have the excuse of lack of food or water.

I hate to preach, but the day Jews marked yesterday, the ninth day of the month of Av, was a day in which many bad things happened throughout history. The cause, according to scholars, was causeless hatred among Jews.

I'm sure Christians have the same type of teaching. Jesus preached love for your neighbor, and I'm sure Buddhists and Muslims and Hindus and Taoists and Shintoists and every other organized religion have the same teaching.

So what were groups of people, including the John Birch Society for cryin' out loud (I thought they crawled back under their Commie-littered ashtrays years ago), hooting and hollering because people wanted to get city identifications to allow them to open bank accounts.

The faithful readers of this blog know I'm not all for the ID cards.
http://mindoflen.blogspot.com/2007/05/good-intentions-breed-bad-idea.html
I think the whole idea is a screw-up waiting to happen. What happens if some park employee or librarian refuses to serve a New Haven resident who decided not to purchase the identification because he or she already has enough government-issued ID?

What happens the first time some boneheaded store clerk or city employee messes up and exposes someone to identity theft due to the debit-card provision? And please tell the folks at City Hall this: You don't want to make this card mandatory.

But that's not the reason so many are against the cards. It's due to causeless hatred -- according to them, these people are here illegally and they should not be given any services.

I don't know this for a fact, but odds are someone in my extended family died because he or she could not enter some country during World War II due to causeless hatred for Jews. There's the St. Louis incident, in which the U.S. refused to accept a ship full of Jewish refugees, many of whom ultimately returned to Germany and ended up in the ovens.

That's why I am for allowing this card to be given to folks so they can have an identification card with which to start bank accounts and can have a card to show cops if they are stopped. I think that also helps the cops, who seem lately to need all the help they can get.

The best way to halt poverty is education, so a library card is the best thing to give out. Let these folks learn about our customs and learn our language. Some of the older folks may not want to do that, but I'll bet the ranch the kids want to learn English and learn how to be a "real" American.

On another subject, let's get off Paul Bass' back.

I've said times without number: If it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, it's a duck."

Paul Bass has never, never quacked and walked like an objective reporter.

I've known Paul since he walked into the New Haven Journal-Courier newsroom as an intern many grey hairs ago. Even then, he never got it that his opinions had no place in a daily, mainstream newspaper.

So Paul, being the smart guy that he is, went to find a place where he didn't have to be objective. He found it at the New Haven Advocate, then at the print Independent, then again at the Advocate when the owner closed the print Independent.

Now he's running the nonprofit that publishes the Independent and has never pretended to be an objective chronicler of events.

That doesn't mean he doesn't get, or at least try as hard as he can to get, all sides of a story. He does that and does it well. He just finds way of letting you know how he feels. He's always done that.

So, let's get off the soap box, folks.

Speaking of the soap box, it looks like the Taurus Cafe business isn't going away so fast.

For previous remarks, please see:
http://mindoflen.blogspot.com/2007/06/taurus-decision-lot-of-bull.html

We'll discuss as this goes along, or sooner if someone wants to start the discussion in the comment section of this blog.

Until next time...