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Jewish World Review Feb. 16, 2005 / 7 Adar I, 5765 Potpourri By Ed Koch
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
The atrocities committed by the Janjaweed militia with the support of the Sudanese government continues unabated, while the members of the UN Security Council do nothing. On January 27, 2005, the UN International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur filed its report with Secretary General Kofi Annan, who and made the following comments: "The Commission has established that the Government of Sudan and the Janjaweed are responsible for crimes under international law. It also found that attacks on villages, killing of civilians, rape, pillaging and forced displacement have continued even while it was conducting its inquiry."
"The Commission found credible evidence that rebel forces, too, are responsible for serious violations which may amount to war crimes, including murder of civilians and pillage."
"The crimes against humanity and war crimes that have been committed in Darfur may be no less serious and heinous than genocide."
The crimes committed by the Arab militia sponsored by the Arab-controlled government in Khartoum have resulted in the murder of tens of thousands of black Africans, many of whom are Christians, Animists and Muslims. The estimate is that close to two million people have fled their villages since early 2003, many fleeing to neighboring Chad. The rapes have resulted in the births of children who are of lighter skin and straight hair — the fathers being Hamitic or Semitic, while the mothers are black Africans. Those children will, when they become adolescents, be rejected in many cases as enemies of the people and if permitted to remain with the tribe, be subjected to discrimination, assault and murder.
The New York Times interviewed one of the mothers, who said, "Everything about this baby, the 16 year-old mother declared, is perfect. Almost everything. 'She is a janjaweed."
The Times also reported the comments of another of the persecuted: "We don't know what will happen when these children grow up. If they are like their fathers, they must leave us."
A similar situation existed in Vietnam after the American army left, leaving behind the mistresses and wives of American soldiers, both white and black. Those biracial children known as the "Dust of Life," suffered severe discrimination and the American government to its credit allowed those children and their mothers to enter the U.S. I believe the nations of the world having stood by and allowed the killings and rapes to go on for more than two years could partially expiate their guilt by offering to take in those Darfur children, along with the members of their immediate families. Our country should be the first to offer such sanctuary.
Nations belonging to the OPEC cartel are now wallowing in billions of dollars of new oil revenues as a result of their ability to defeat market forces and keep oil prices high. OPEC's control and near monopoly of the largest oil reserves in the world have led to forecasts that the price of crude oil will shortly reach new highs well above $50 a barrel. The United States, which has large untapped oil reserves in Alaska and offshore, is in a position to resist OPEC's manipulations. Yet, we still find huge opposition in Congress to exploring for oil in these areas.
Opposition to new drilling is not limited to Democrats. It now includes President Bush, who acceded to the request of his brother Jeb, who happens to be governor of Florida, that certain Florida offshore areas be exempt from oil exploration.
This is a foolish policy that will only lead to greater OPEC control of the international oil market. We need a bipartisan effort by responsible Senators and Members of the House to support oil drilling in areas now marked off limits. The law should require that new oil coming from U.S. sources should first be offered to American consumers so as to reduce prices at the pump. We also need to work on the fuel efficiency of our cars; imposing comparable requirements for trucks and SUVs, which are now exempt from regulation; requiring increased research in extracting oil from the abundant oil shale in the western areas of our country; developing technology that would turn hydrogen into fuel; and developing, as the Brazilians have done, renewable energy using agricultural plantings.
We do not have an energy policy because of the power of U.S. oil and automotive companies. When OPEC raises prices, the profits of these U.S. companies go up, too. Surely there are patriots in both parties who are willing to take on these special interests and stand up to those who put their profits ahead of the security of our country.
Social Security is not heading for "bankruptcy" as President Bush warns. If nothing is done, 35 years from now in 2042, the fund will be taking in through payroll taxes enough to pay 80 percent of the benefits due.
This future deficit can easily be avoided by, for example, raising the age of eligibility. When 65 was set as the retirement age in 1935, "the average 65-year old could expect to live about 12.6 more years. Today, people who reach age 65 can expect to live for another 17 years," according to a recent report by The Heritage Foundation. I am 80 years old. My expected longevity is another 8.8 years. We are living much longer.
Increasing the amount of salary subject to Social Security tax is another option. Today, only the first $90,000 of salary is taxable. Increase it to a higher amount or remove the limitation totally.
Other options include excluding from benefits, but not taxation, those whose income exceeds $300,000 annually. Why should wealthy people receive Social Security benefits when they don't need them because of their other income?
Finally under no circumstances should we ever accept the Republican proposal to change the formula by which Social Security payments are increased over the years. Currently, Social Security payments are keyed to salary increases in the private sector. The Republicans' proposal is to change the formula and use price increases to determine future Social Security increases, which according to The New York Times, would have a huge downward impact on future increases.
On February 11th The Times analyzed the proposed change and its impact, reporting, "If indexed to prices, Social Security would function less like a pension plan and more like an anti-poverty program…Instead of replacing a fixed portion of one's income — about 40 percent at the moment for a medium-wage worker — price indexing would eventually reduce benefits for most people so they simply covered the cost of life's basic necessities."
If the President and the Republicans pursue their Social Security proposals, including creating a private fund allowing investments in the stock market (which would add nothing to the solvency of the program), I predict that the Democrats will win a majority in both Houses of Congress in 2006, and that would be good. There is no pending Social Security catastrophe. There is a problem which can be eliminated responsibly without changing the nature of the Social Security program, one of the great legacies of the FDR administration.
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© 2005, Ed Koch | ||||||||||
