Pre-Season

If you're gonna train, then there better be some games coming up.  

And oh, did we ever play games.

With children's minds...

A conference of these proportions, run by an organization which had never attempted such a thing before, can create several logistical problems.  Each and every one of them was experienced over 4.5 days, and a few more that no one could have dreamed of. As a temporary employee, I was an innocent, caught in the cross fire.  My 23 charges, plus the others staying in my hotel, asked me questions to which I had no answer.  Such as: When will we eat?  or: Why didn't I get my official picture that I paid for? or: Why do I have to sleep on a roll-away when I paid full tuition? [Mind you ,their tuition was like what I pay per term for grad school these days...$2700 or so plus airfare]

Even better were questions like: Where's my bus?  In the sea of 200+ buses, that were parked without rhyme or reason, finding them in the bitter cold... pain and suffering, I tell you.

So, yes. I lost a few kids. They were all found again, thankfully. They had to wait in really long lines to eat.  They had to wait in really long lines to come into a warm place. They had to wait in really long lines to get on or off the buses. 

But, there is good news.  For the ones who were awake and interested, they got to hear 3 world leaders talk to them, witness history, and see a great concert.  

General Colin Powell said that you don't have to be smart to be a leader...you just need followers.  And that military men do not reveal their political leanings, because they are trained to be non-partisan.  Mixed messages - yes. 

Here is a bit of what he said - the parts I thought deserved some recording:

The Archbishop Desmond Tutu then told us that we are very special people. Or more specifically, that I am a very special person. A VSP, if you will. I really found his speech moving.  I think the HS kids were just amused by his humor and little dances.  Here is a bit of what he said:

More soon.

Training

Of course, 1/20/2009 was a big and momentous day.  But my inauguration action began almost 1 week prior.  This "action" was a conference for young people, where I was one of many staff.  In return for herding children, teaching them, and making sure they didn't sneak into other rooms at night, I got hotel and food for a week, a chance to see the events planned for them, and a pittance of a wage.  

Due to circumstances, I'm going to be circumspect about the name of the conference and the organization involved. This is because the things did not go as planned, to put it mildly, and there are now a large contingent of angry parents who have started a blog to gather evidence for a law suit against said company, where I was an employee for 1 week. 

But before you can welcome youth, you must know what it is you will do with them.  So for three days, I trained... with 800 other staff members.  EIGHT HUNDRED.  That is like the incoming Obama White House staff. We ate bad camp food, hoarded candy bars, and were the recipients of more ice breakers, attention getters and teaching techniques than can be crammed into your head in three days.

And then there were the rules and procedures.  Apparently, the number one rule when working with children is: Do NOT do ANYTHING that might POSSIBLY get you SUED.

So, when inspecting rooms at night to make sure there are no extra occupants, you must stand at the door and take their word for it.  When comforting a child, you can do no more than give the "Oprah Hug" [See movie for a better explanation]

And the best one of all: If a nervous 12 year old comes to you with a stomach ache, head ache, hurt thumb or anything else, you can never ever ever give any advice whatsoever.  Instead, you must present them with their options.

1) Go to a pharmacy/drug store and get whatever you think you need

2) Go to the emergency room

3) Do nothing

So, if a 12 year old thinks that their headache deserves a trip to the ER, then you must take them there. If they think that it can be 'cured' by purchasing Immodium, you must let them do that. Because, if you give advice, you might get SUED.  So, it is obviously better to let the child make a decision for himself. 

HUH?

If this isn't a case for medical malpractice reform, I don't know what is. 

I can wait no more - GAZRAEL

Population of the Gaza Strip: 1,500,000

Population of Israel: 7,184,000

# Men age 16-49 Fit for Military Service

Gaza Strip:   300,000

Israel: 1,400,000

December 27, 2008-January 12, 2009

Military Casualties

Gaza Strip: A point of international debate

Israel:  6?

Civilian Casualties:

Gaza Strip: Another point of international debate

Israel: 7

I tried to do research.  From Al-Jazeera, to the BBC, to the Jerusalem Post.  The numbers, of course, are varied.  But one thing was clear.  Israeli military casualties number less than 10. Civilian casualties, despite some 250 rockets being fired into Israel during these past 2 weeks, also number less than 10.  

The numbers regarding Gaza are contended.  Israel acknowledges approximately 80 dead.  The United Nations can count numbers killed by attack where they have access, and report 700. Al-Jazeera reports more than 1000 to date, with >300 children. 

It is clear that significantly more civilians than Hamas fighters have been killed.  Furthermore, targets of bombs, unmanned aircraft, and sea-launched rockets have rendered damage or destroyed a clinic in a refugee camp, a school, a university, a major hospital.  It's also true that water treatment and sewage plants, power stations, oil and gasoline storage and infrastructure has been destroyed, but a claim can be made that these are military targets.  Such a claim is hard pressed to be made for the clinic in a refugee camp. 

Am I angry and outraged at the killing of civilians? Yes.  But I'm more angry now, and for Gaza, than I am for the civilians killed in many other hotspots.  I'm trying to ask myself why.  I think it is because according to the Israelis, this is not a war, or an invasion, but an Incursion. Semantic difference? Synonyms? An incursion implies that they will get in, get done and get out.  An invasion, that they will be there for a longer period of time.  Both imply that the action is justified, as opposed to an act of terrorism, which is what the rocket attacks by Hamas are called.  I am angry because it is a blatant lie.  The timing of the 'incursion' was very carefully planned to occur at a time when Israel's biggest ally, US, is in political transition, extreme lame duck-ness, and as W is busy delivering swan songs and hosting goodbye tea parties.  Consequently, official response from US has been limited to the outgoing press secretary stating that we condone the right of a country to defend itself, and that we condemn rocket attacks. Furthermore, we are confident that Israel is meeting its obligations to minimize casualties, care for civilians, etc.  

While many state that there is a humanitarian crisis occurring, with a lack of food, water, electricity and medical supplies, Israel maintains that local needs are being met.  I disagree.  Would you be satisfied with wheat and lentils, no lights, no clean water, and a hostile force in your backyard?  Is that a proportionate response to random rocket fire, which clearly is not aimed well.  Does having to sleep in a bunker (Israelis in the south) compare with not having a home at all (Thousands of Gazans)?  

My commentary is limited to the current nonsense.  If we bring history into the picture - accounts of settlements willfully inhabited by people who do not believe in boundaries, cease fires rebuked, occupying forces and rights systematically denied, then the story would be too long. 

And what of the responsibility of the United States.  Yes, 40% of the world's jewish population lives in the US.  And yes, probably 75% of the members of congress and senate count on contributions from jewish benefactors.  But as the seat of Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Baha'i, should we not desire to protect the religious homeland of so many different faiths? Are we too afraid to condemn a country who we have allowed to behave as it sees fit for 50 years, simply because of politics? Do Americans really believe that killing 1 out of every 1500 Gazans is proportional to the 10 deaths Israel has suffered? 

The proportionate response is actually 6 Israelis for every Gazan, but no one is suggesting that. Yet, it must be examined, by people around the world, but most importantly, by Israelis and their most ardent supporters.  Were Hamas rocket attacks, which did not occur during the cease fire  but were occurring prior to it as well as during this incursion, responsible for 4734 Israeli deaths? Because only then is 1 out of every 1500 a proportionate response.