I felt sad this evening

[MannyGoldstein]

I was talking to a co-worker, a very smart woman, who will be giving up her car because she can't afford a repair bill.

As I left the office for the day, I saw the cleaning crew at work. They make even much less. How do they get by?

I make a pretty good income. Not 1%, but better than most. I suppose that I could praise myself for having worked hard and for making shrewd career choices, but that would largely be mythological bull@#$&. The fact is that I just showed up on this planet and got lucky. Born in a wealthy country with no serious handicaps, and I learn some things pretty quickly.

I wish we lived in a world, in a country, where we all helped each other out a little more, and where the lucky didn't habitually prey on the unlucky.

Where everyone can make a living and live a decent life.

Update: Incidentally, that was the goal of the Democratic Party back when I was a kid.

[yeoman6987]

1. Anyway you can pay her repairs

and have her make small payments back to you? I have done that before and it helps a great deal. Heck even 5 dollars a month will allow her to keep the car. We are all in this together.

[MannyGoldstein]

2. That might be a good idea

I felt like offering to pay the damned bill, or part of it, but that felt awkward. A loan might be better.

[ananda]

27. It is a good idea.

That's how I bought my first set of encyclopedias.

A co-worker loaned me the money, and I paid them back
$25 a month.

[winter is coming]

35. Better yet, tell her to pay it forward. n/t

[Sherman A1]

45. Agreed

I have done so in the past in the early morning hours at the gas station. More than once I have put $10.00 into someone else's tank on my credit card that seemed in bad straights. I tell them, that when the time comes, they have to help the next person and they are obligated to do so.

[notadmblnd]

56. it will make you feel good.

a lady I work with had her electricty shut off a couple of weeks ago. I loaned her the money to have it turned back on. She has already paid me back.

[GliderGuider]

54. My approach

I've given loans to people who desperately needed them. One was for car repairs and snow tires, another for first and last months' rent. I knew how tight their circumstances were, so after a month I declared Jubilee on both. That worked.

[MrMickeysMom]

3. You're never to old to remember someone's idea of a level playing field...

As I recall, my Italian immigrant grandparents believed in that, but then so did my husband's Eisenhower Republican parents. They'd be considered moderate then, and far more progressive left now.

I have a similar work landscape, and even though I don't pull in nearly what you do, I feel so "privileged" compared to what my work-mates must live on. You realize that by admitting this, the plan is working…

[merrily]

4. The US used to be that country, in part because we eliminated a lot of manufacturing competition

in the course of WWII, in part because of our great natural resources, in part because of our huge consumer base, in part because of strong unions, etc.

Now, jobs going to overseas competitors again, "thanks" in no small part to trade agreements. Therefore, our huge consumer base is not helping US workers, and therefore the US economy, as much as it used to and the backs of unions are always being broken. This is especially true of private unions, but things like Charter schools are not doing wonders for state public union members, either.

Meanwhile, as the economy helps the smaller investor class, the larger consumer base can afford less and less. The widespread foreclosures of a few years ago sure didn't help, either.

And, oh, look, here comes TPP.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017247957

Very simplistic analysis. No doubt someone like Reich could add other things.

[MannyGoldstein]

16. Without unions and tariffs,

American workers are quadriplegic gazelles surrounded by cheetahs.

[merrily]

28. Love the pretense that it's only about this one worker and how much you should do for her.

I don't agree with every single bit of every single one of your posts, but you sure do have a lot more patience than DU gives you credit for.

My hat's off to you.

[MannyGoldstein]

31. I appreciate the kind words,

But there's no more here than meets the eye.

I'm Chance the Gardner, more or less.

[merrily]

41. So, your OP is just about that one woman and the few on the cleaning crew? k

I wish we lived in a world, in a country, where we all helped each other out a little more, and where the lucky didn't habitually prey on the unlucky.

Where everyone can make a living and live a decent life.

Update: Incidentally, that was the goal of the Democratic Party back when I was a kid.

[MannyGoldstein]

60. It was about that at the time I wrote that.

So it wasn't a pretense. I figured out the paragraphs/ideas you refer to afterwards.

Basically, I saw stuff, and I felt bad. Then I wrote it down, and got the bigger picture. I'm funny like that, I often work things out through writing.

[Fumesucker]

69. I do that too..

Trying to communicate my thoughts to others helps me clarify and distill what are often hazy concepts in my own mind.

[Jackpine Radical]

70. I think it was Walter Lippmann who,when asked his opinion

On something,said, "I don't know, I haven't written about it."

[merrily]

96. I was not accusing you of pretense AT ALL. I was suggesting that others

might be pretending it was only about one group of Main Streeters, when in fact many Main Streeters are hurting, both those who work full time and those who cannot find full time work or any work.

As for your not realizing what you were posting, I was taught in English class that the author of a piece does not necessarily have the definitive interpretation of that piece because the author may not be conscious of all that went into it. He or she can tell us what the original intent was, but, once written, the interpretation is for readers.

[bettyellen]

89. No it was the same old post... Wrapped up in a folksy anecdote....

Where interestingly enough, it never occurred to the OP to just help the woman out. That's the most significant part- the charitable thing just did not happen, did it?
Yet other Dems taken to task for being cheap and heartless- being all talk and no action. Time for someone to look in the mirror.

[merrily]

97. I don't know who is taking who to task, other than politicians.

[MannyGoldstein]

98. And you know further details of the interaction... how? nt

[bettyellen]

99. I only know the details you gave at the time, that you declined to help.

Hopefully, you had second thoughts. But it is a pretty funny anecdote to tell in light of trashing others. The irony escaped you somehow?

[MannyGoldstein]

100. Nor do you know the details of the original conversation. nt

[bettyellen]

101. You miss the USA "where we all helped each other out a little more" except for you, LOL

That much I got from the OP. Deeply ironic.


I never claimed to know about any "details"… nice slight of hand there though.

[MannyGoldstein]

102. And since you don't know the details...

you don't know the details.

Of course, you can make them up for yourself, as you did. But that would be make-believe.

[bettyellen]

104. So it did occur to you to help her out, yet you decided to do nothing. Is that the fine point

you'd like to clear up from my assessment of the OP? Because otherwise it just recounts the episode as presented, and gives my opinion.

Please forgive me for not giving you credit for thinking about helping.... I don't know what I was thinking!

[pampango]

53. FDR strengthened unions and lowered tariffs. Modern progressive countries do the same.

He also raised taxes and made them much more progressive, increased corporate regulation and created/strengthened the safety net. Again these are all things that modern progressive countries do. If you look at unions, trade and the strength of the middle class in Germany or Sweden that is what you see.

It worked then and it works now.

[Old and In the Way]

5. That sucks Manny.

Maybe you could volunteer a salary reduction to help these folks out....or at least embarass management to raise their wages. You are so awesumely populat on DU, I have to think you are an influencer of local public opinion at your place of work. SeriouLy, a progressive that gets 150 recs when you slam Democrats on every post ought to motivate workers at your place of work to follow your lead...so what's stopping you?

[MannyGoldstein]

8. I'm waiting for permission from Karl Rove

or Putin. Or whoever it is I'm working for today.

[Old and In the Way]

17. You work for Karl Rove?

He's not going to help ypur local situation. Demamd more equality! Give money back to help those that are getting cheap wages!Surely, a smart dude like yourself could show us how to beat "the man" at the local level!We need leadership from progressives like you, Manny!

[Fumesucker]

10. People who are right a lot of the time aren't always that popular..

Manny kind of speaks for a minority here, not necessarily a minority on DU but a political minority and he does it very well because he's right a lot, not always but a lot.

People like that often aren't popular with the power structure, you see he drives the authoritarian types here out of their minds.

[2banon]

15. bitter much?

that was nasty and really uncalled for.

[840high]

26. I like Manny - Slamming a party

is ok with me. Don't slam America.

[sheshe2]

32. FYI

You were alerted on, 0-7 leave~

Thought you might want to know. PM me if you wish, I won't post again on this thread.

[Hissyspit]

61. I would have voted to leave it.

Doesn't mean it's not a petty, unnecessary comment.

[hay rick]

86. ^

[sabrina 1]

37. Manny slams Elizabeth Warren? Isn't she a Democrat? I thought he loved Dems like Warren!

Btw, I think he was using an EXAMPLE he is familiar with to demonstrate the larger picture of the working class in this country today.

Maybe he IS wealthy enough to bail out all those in this country who could use a little help.

But I doubt it.

Our Government however, could and has in the past. But now we have one party that is wholly owned by Corporations and another that has been infiltrated by the Third Way Think Tank, totally owned also by Corporations. So much for the hopes of the Working Class.

[daleanime]

46. +1

[nolabels]

88. I don't disdain or get depressed, everything has it's place and sometimes.......

it's hard to figure out what comes next for us, the working class, but it will come. I do have a hard time putting myself in somebody else's shoes when they are the well-to-do. But from what i can tell, many of those well-to-do's have harder time being happy with themselves than most of us common folk do.

Lastly, one big favor us common working folk should all ask of each other is that we be healthy and live long enough to see that next big change happen

[Capt. Obvious]

64. I'm sure the car repairs cost at east 200 rec's

Maybe you could spare the rec's from your OP's to help cover the cost.

[L0oniX]

66. You're something special ain't ya.

SeriouLy, a progressive that gets 150 recs when you slam Democrats on every post ought to motivate workers at your place of work to follow your lead...so what's stopping you?

[Oilwellian]

75. Old and in what way?

Myopic? Do you not see your own mockery of Democratic ideals? Wow.

[Kermitt Gribble]

78. Not defending the poster's comments

but I think that user name is in reference to a bluegrass band from the 60's that included Jerry Garcia and David Grisman.

[elias49]

6. And each of us has only one go at it.

One chance to try to do the right things.

[taught_me_patience]

7. Maybe she means the repairs are more than the car is worth

and she's getting a new car to replace it. Auto repair bills can add up quickly on old junkers that aren't worth anything.

[MannyGoldstein]

11. Sadly, not. nt

[SwampG8r]

9. ah manny

if is the biggest word i know
im like you my wife found her niche early and so did i and we became cogs in the great machine
the machine has taken care of us both all these years because we caught on quick and took the classes
but in all that time i have seen so many who could not become cogs
myself i am a lifer line cook one of the few workplaces in america that knows only meritocracy and because i am talented i have always been valued. during my life i work with many of the broken toys life tosses out. since 1977 i have been trying to bring them back into the toybox. in kitchens poor people work and the undereducated work and i have always had at least one in every kitchen that i have worked with to improve. we get high school drop outs with no skills. we make them dishwashers and busboys. these are jobs most call dead end jobs with no future.when they hire one i start working them. busboys become dishwashers, dishwashers become prep cooks,prep cooks become line cooks, sometimes they become chef. behind me is an army in toques each led into a better paying and more "respected" level and life . i spent my life doing what i love and the payment i made was to bring as many with me as i could.
my dividends are calls and cards from so many people i have been honored to know.
my wife has her version of this in her professional life also, she is an arnp cnm with i think last count 4000 deliveries
if (big word) we want a world where we help each other we have to live as though that is the way the world is and help each other.

this is the first time i signed on in a while i stopped signing in or interacting much on du during the 2014 cycle when support for crist was being demanded from me again after support for kendrick meek (the democratic primary winner) was backburnered in 2012 florida senate race where a 3rd party candidate was allowed to be pushed here.a former gop 3rd party candidate at that. 3rd way triangulatian and all you understand im sure. i saw the tone of this and it made me sign in.
you bring me a lot of pleasure manny i come here and read you and i smile. i get what you are saying and i love the twisted panties hair on fire response you get.
i just want you to know manny we are out here quietly making life better. its the oly thing i have found that works.

[Fumesucker]

12. Good to see you again, man..

I didn't know your story, that is truly inspiring..

[SwampG8r]

13. damn its old home week

i almost signed in the other day on a thread you put up
damned if i remember what it was about though
old age is a mfer

[Fumesucker]

20. Tell me about it..

Beats the alternative though, eh?

[MannyGoldstein]

19. You're right

If we really want to do it, we do it, and it gets a little better.

When enough of us want it to be better, it will get much better.

Thank you!

[SwampG8r]

22. i still feel like i owe you at least one

i have gotten hours of enjoyment from you

[MannyGoldstein]

23. Create a recipe named after me

It should be simultaneously treacly and tart, and cause great indigestion.

[zeemike]

29. If we want to do it we first have to change some hearts.

And that means us as well as them. Because the problem is self interist and we all have it and have lost our sense of family and community, and even love itself is waning.

And the right has taken self interist to the extreme but we have it too even though we don't think so...because our system requires it.
There is no magic way to change that as far as I know...but a revolution in our way of thinking is the only way I see out.

[SwampG8r]

33. well theres you me fumesucker and manny!

in the words of arlo guthrie the child of a great american
"You know, if
One person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and
They won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony,
They may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them.
And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in
Singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an
Organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said
Fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and
Walking out. And friends they may thinks it's a movement."

to a possible jury the use of the derogatory above is the quote and is from 197something
arlo is a friend to all and means no hatred with the use of the word
also the context of the quote is a song about draft avoidance and at the time claiming to be gay would exclude you from service

[zeemike]

36. Well we are more than an organization and less than a movement.

And that's a good thing because I hate organizations.
And I know all the words to Alice's Resterant...so that's a start.

[OneGrassRoot]

55. ^^^ Yes.

Yes, yes, yes.

I'm almost finished with an essay addressing this very thing and a huge aha moment I had back in December.

A cultural transformation -- an evolution -- is definitely what we need. Changing the systems alone can't be sustained unless we address the culture itself. Having been immersed in the so-called "new economy" movement over the years, this is glaringly apparent to me.

A cultural shift could be more swift than we imagine, similar to what we've witnessed with marriage equality over the last few years -- especially given the connective technological tools we have available today. But to rely on systems change to gradually change our cultural values could take generations.

This dog-eat-dog, oppressive, exploitative culture that has been the foundation of American Society from the start -- and has been exported -- must be addressed and transformed simultaneously along with systems change.

Well, I feel strongly about that, at least.

[zeemike]

59. Well I am glad to see I am not the only one.

It is obvious to me that it is a crisis of culture, and the culture must change if we are not to tear ourselves and the world apart.

Well I know I am not alone in that feeling, but still there are many that don't see it that way and will continue on believing that if they just tweak it things will be OK...and it won't.
And I have some hope in the young people who seem to understand it better than many older people. And if change is to come it will start with them.

[grasswire]

30. DU is better with you here, Gator

[JDPriestly]

42. Great post. In my life, I always took the job I could get. I washed dishes,

served tables with the best as well as did a lot of other interesting jobs. But I was lucky because I loved working and I was always curious about everything, even how the dishwasher in a restaurant works.

You have given so many people just that opportunity that I so appreciate having had: the chance to do something useful, feel the pride of doing it conscientiously and well and then daring to do something that involved a little more responsibility. Eventually I had learned to handle a lot of responsibility.

I just think your post explains best how we can help others. Thanks.

[daleanime]

47. May not remember me...

but Sure missed you check in anytime you feel like it.

[JI7]

14. maybe you should bring it up with others in the work place, i use to work at a place

and when starting out i was kind of nervous and others who work there would make sure i was able to get breaks and other things i needed . and i had similar experiences in other places i worked .

[one_voice]

18. Maybe people could take up a collection and help her....

I remember when I was a teenager whenever people in the neighborhood fell on hard times someone would throw a dinner and they'd take up a collection--sometimes more than one. Seemed like it there was always a dinner happening.

Not so much anymore. Everyone for themselves now.

[The Roux Comes First]

21. When "Capitalism" Gets a Yeah! and "Socialism" Gets You Blackballed

This is the sausage you get, as far as I can tell. And probably food poisoning to boot.

The winners, often classically greedy heartless bastards, get libraries, honorary degrees, astonishing speaking fees for spewing fetid stuff, and licked boots, if not orifices. The losers, often more victimized by nurture (lack) than nature, are villainized as takers and parasites, when we here well know where the human parasites are truly concentrated.

I have the sense that we are within the confidence limits of a tipping point for failure of our system of government. If we ever had a basis for feeling exceptional as a nation, that was increasingly questionable beginning with the shameful raygun regime and is almost entirely disproven by events since 2000.

With the sole "exceptions" that we have more resources for killing humans and outsourcing those resources to other nations determined that dealing death is one of their primary goals than any other nation on earth.

Glorious.

Yet this would undoubtedly be considered America-bashing!

[daleanime]

48. +1

[TheProgressive]

24. Did your co-worker mention how much the repairs would be? nt

[babylonsister]

25. I, too, wish we helped each other out and weren't do divisive. nt

[Skittles]

34. can coworkers get together and chip in? Are there payment plan offers?

[Control-Z]

38. Instead of being sad for her

why don't you gift her the repairs. You can afford it. Tell her to pay it forward when she can. You'll have a friend for life.

[DeSwiss]

39. A ''Resource-based Society'' is what you describe wanting.

The Venus Project

K&R

[canoeist52]

51. Yep - it's the cure that so many fear, for this disease.

[JDPriestly]

40. I'm with you on this Manny.

I feel I was born very lucky even though I don't have a lot of money. I ride a metro train through Los Angeles and then the Amtrak train to visit my grandchildren. Along the way I see the homeless encampments, the needy people. Even on the train, I see people who are too disabled to work, too poor to live their lives fully.

I go to a religious meeting every week and around the building in which we meet are homeless people. They sleep outside every night. Can't afford a room much less an apartment. I don't know what or where they eat. Go down an alley behind a restaurant after the restaurant has closed. Chances are you will see someone furtively checking the trash bin for food.

How is this possible in a country in which people are not just rich but kind and loving. I do not understand it.

I want to live in a country in which we admit how much we really do care about each other.

I was so lucky that I have and had a loving, good family. Poor but loving and good. I wish so much that every American child, every child on earth could have that kind of family.

Your post, Manny, and others like it are where we can start to create the kind of country and world we want. The first step is admitting to each other that we wish each other well, that we love each other as fellow citizens of the earth can love each other. Then we have to join together to make a lot of changes. We won't always agree on just what changes should be made first, but if we agree on our goal to express our respect for each other by improving the lives of all of us by sharing more and expressing our love for each other more, then we will achieve the change we want.

Thanks for your post, Manny.

[KMOD]

43. I grew up poor,

I didn't know it at the time.

We do well now thankfully. My husband like you, has been quite lucky and does quite well.

I will address this more thoroughly tomorrow. I find it very condescending.

I do agree that we need to help others though, and lift each other up.

[McCamy Taylor]

44. Citizens United happened.

[Vattel]

49. Even a little credit card reform would help so many people struggling to make ends meet.

But Congress could only manage slight reform even when it was majority Dem. There is little political will in this country to help people survive. My hope is that a few progressive communities will pass things like living wage laws and then it will catch on. I doubt that change will come from the federal government or from revolution. It will start small and spread, and eventually the federal government will follow. Even small acts of kindness can influence others to follow suit and, collectively, such acts move culture in the right direction. Each individual can be an agent of change.

[woo me with science]

50. Huge K&R

"that was the goal of the Democratic Party back when I was a kid."

[boston bean]

52. I was hoping the update would have been.... oh I organized

something at work and helped this woman out.

[brewens]

57. I went in to pay off the guy that works on my old truck for me last Friday. He's a great old school

mechanic. I drive an old (but in fairly good condition) '81 GMC pickup, the kind of rig he likes working on. He told me to not ever "upgrade" to a newer truck and showed me what he was working on. This newer pickup had spark plugs that were a nightmare for even a guy like him to get to. He had a ridiculous amount of time into changing those out. A buddy sent me pics of him changing out the fuel pump on his truck. It's up on top of the gas tank. It's actually easier to pull the truck bed and jack that up to get to then to drop the fuel tank. Total bullshit!

At my income level, I'm scared to go out and get anything reasonably knew. They have that stuff designed so your average guy can't touch it and it racks up shop hours if you let the pros do it. A woman I work with recently had to pay two grand to get her SUV fixed. I could go out and find another old "runner" like I have for that. It's another way they are killing us.

My strategy is that I should really just be paying minimum insurance and gas for transportation, plus the odd repair bill. That shouldn't be much more than a couple thousand per year. That's mostly just getting to work and back every day, along with trips to the store after all. I wonder how people that don't make even what I do, or not much more, think that they can afford payments on new cars and full coverage insurance? I have no idea how some of them do it.

[WillyT]

58. K & R !!!

[MineralMan]

62. Help her out. Then you'll feel happy.

Many people are in situations where an expensive vehicle repair is a disaster. That's true, even when they earn a good wage or salary. It happens a lot. If you're in a position to help, you can choose a way to stop feeling bad. That's always a good decision if it's in your power.

[sabrina 1]

90. It looks like you missed the whole point of the OP.

[MineralMan]

94. I missed nothing at all.

The process of fixing our economic inequities will not help this woman with her immediate problem. Only help from those who can help right now will do that.

I think you missed my whole point, actually, or are ignoring it.

[sabrina 1]

95. Her problems are indicative of the state of the economy for the working class. She should not

need help. This is an extremely wealthy country. SHE isn't the only one, she is one of millions of American working class whose standard of living is getting WORSE every day.

Helping one woman is fine, that won't help all the others. And she should not need help. No one who is working should need help in this country.

We all give to those in need, but now those who used to give, are in need themselves. So who is going to help the givers?

Meantime our government is taking MORE away from the people, GIVING more to the top 1%.

[Jeff Rosenzweig]

63. Recommended.

Good post.

[Martin Eden]

65. It's all God's will

Poor people are poor because they deserve to be, and rich people are in God's good graces.

Do I need to insert the sarcasm icon to make it clear I am ridiculing the mindset of many conservatives (above) rather than expressing my own belief that our political/economic system should be geared towards creating a society in which everyone can make a living and live a decent life?

[L0oniX]

67. K & R

[msanthrope]

68. What did you do for her? nt

[MannyGoldstein]

71. I offered her a loan this morning

Then she went to HR and complained that I was being creepy and obviously wanted "something" in return.

(The above is not true, just being facetious. Not even in the office today.)

[msanthrope]

74. I am sure you did more for her than merely post her plight

on a message forum, and make a remark like that.

Yes?

[NJCher]

82. seriously

Isn't that just the way things turn out?

Here you are, expressing compassion for her situation, and this is what she does when you extend a helping hand.

This is so effing typical of the way things are today.

Well, at least you gave it your best. The fact that you got kicked in the teeth for it means there's yet another lesson to be learned.


Cher

[MannyGoldstein]

83. I was joking

I need to make that clearer!

But things do work out like that, more than occasionally. I've seen some crazy stuff.

[msanthrope]

87. Kick....I hope you will update us. nt

[KamaAina]

72. I see on your profile that you're near The Hub

so now she gets to ride the snow-ravaged T.

[tclambert]

73. What would John Galt do?

Just kidding. We all know he would throw her into a mud puddle and walk on her so he wouldn't get his shoes wet.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

76. good post. it is, indeed very sad.

This is the kind of story that needs to get out there.






P.S. I wish you would reply to my last replies to you. I put energy into reading you and considering my own remarks.
A thoughtful response would only be courtesy.

[catbyte]

77. ...

[mountain grammy]

79. Good post. I agree, it is sad

every job should provide a living wage, enough for the basics. Universal health care and free public universities would take care of the most enormous needs and expenses most families face, and a living wage should pay rent and put food on the table.

And as a Democrat, let me say: this is still the goal of the Democratic Party. It sure is mine and most of the Democrats I know.

[kimbutgar]

81. My sister in law is giving up her house because she can't afford to maintain it anymore

She was married to a right winger who thinks limpaigh is a genius. So she was indoctrinated in right wing bullshit even though her parents are liberal. Her children are struggling and they work jobs that pay just a little above minimum wage. And the kids think President Obama is evil. My sister in law used to defend right to work laws. But only making $12 an hour at age 56 doesn't cut it anymore. So many people like her struggling. It's so sad.

[mnhtnbb]

84. Years and years ago--seems like another lifetime--I mailed a cashier's check

to a dance teacher I had whom I knew was struggling to pay her rent. I didn't want
to 'give' the money to her in person and I didn't want to make it a loan--wanted it
to be an anonymous gift.

You could always do something like that.

But yes, I agree, it's a very sad state we've come to in this country.

[midnight]

85. Kick

[1StrongBlackMan]

91. There is a message to you in the link below ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017248381

You can jump to the 5:38 mark.

[MannyGoldstein]

92. "Whosoever preserves a single soul..."

"Whosoever preserves a single soul of Israel, Scripture ascribes to him as if he had preserved a complete world"
- The Talmud

(As a child i was taught it without the "of Israel" part, and prefer it that way.)

That video is striking. Point taken. I might try to sex up the title and get more DU views.

Lord knows I'm very far from perfect, but I try, e.g., http://www.democraticunderground.com/106820167

[MannyGoldstein]

93. And I did

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026292360

[UTUSN]

103. Try complaining about the Rethug party more than the Dem party & you won't feels so sad. n/t