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maybe insurance job as a package deal. Or the FDNY did not work fast. Every moment cars pass on Ocean PKWY. Was told someone called 911 when they saw flames. But, FDNY came and waited for more trucks before taking action.

I’m reading some of the posts below linking the Ocean Parkway incident with OWS, based on a few antisemitic statements by a small handful of misguided protestors, and I’m thinking wtf?  If anything characterizes OWS, it’s the diversity of its participants, so it’s inevitable that some fringe viewpoints will creep into the discussion.  That’s what democracy and free speech are all about.  But OWS, and liberalism in general, are, not only not antisemitic, but many of its founders and leaders are, in fact, Jewish.

Aron “Pieman” Kay is a world-famous Yippie elder statesman, former JDL activist, and the son of holocaust survivors, who has been an almost daily presence at Zuccotti Park, and he would be among the first to speak out against antisemitic sentiments in the OWS movement as the following caricature makes clear:

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/378752_10150529608998079_507733078_11619953_920226380_n.jpg

You realize that you are saying the same things about the OWS group as was said about the protesters in the ’60s. I was there, and there was some truth then, as there is some truth now. Save for one thing, none of these kids are looking for a handout. And few of them are anarchists. But it hardly matter, as these people will soon be dwarfed by an increasing number of moderate thinking Americans who are beginning to catch on to the fact that the birthright of all Americans is being taken away.

Definitions of fair may vary according to what one decides that they need. Many members of the 1% seem to believe that they are entitled to “more”. No matter how much they have it is not enough. To them, any removal of what they don’t need but merely desire is considered to be unfair.

But as a society we had decided over a hundred years ago that an arrangement that allows a lot to be in the hands of a few was NOT fair. And so accordingly, a process was begun to see to it that the few who had much of the nation’s wealth were made accountable or it. Teddy Roosevelt called this the “Square Deal”. It was meant to be fair to all. Those with means were increasingly expected to do more for those whose labor made their products and services available to the public, and that public had the right to expect quality products at reasonable prices.

They call it the Progressive Era in the history books;

FDR sought to increase the concept of fair dealing. That, in part, was what the New Deal was, in the long term supposed to accomplish. Much of that happened,
and there was expectation that more was to follow. Then World War II put this on hold. Truman, who succeeded FDR, was not as ideologically motivated. By the 50s Civil Rights started to dominate the national discussion and a significant percentage of Americans believed that they were comfortable financially. Their complacency set the stage for the eventual erosion of the very comfortability they started to take for granted. By the 1980s the process of taking away from the wage earners, who were also the consumers of what the corporations manufactured, was moving along steadily with little resistance. Only now is it becoming apparent to a large number of people that they’ve been had.

OWS is symbolic of a much larger anger that is building in this country. People are, to paraphrase the immortal words of Howard Beale “Mad as hell and not going to take it anymore”. Those who believe that they either are, or have the potential to be part of the so-called 1% will call these people all sort of names and accuse them of all manner of atrocities against humankind. It’s an old game strategy, and it won’t work this time. Their last defenses, such as the Tea Party, are quickly becoming understood to be an Un-American group, which perverts everything that is sacred about our national spirit. They will be gone within a year or so, and what a few young people began in Zuccoti Park will evolve into a much larger movement, a force capable of directing this country back towards the line of achieving a truly fair society. The Four Freedoms FDR promised us in 1941-

“The first is freedom of speech and expression — everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way — everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want — which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which
will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants — everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear — which, translated into world terms,
means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a
thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act
of
physical aggression against any neighbor– anywhere in the world.”

will become a reality, for Americans, and then for the rest of the world. Because this is where we were expected to be 250 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

We are, as Benjamin Franklin said, a republic, but only if we can keep it that way. It is now up to the 99% to do just that.

I’m always suspicious whenever I hear anyone refer to “The Jews.” There is no such people as “The Jews,” any more than there are “The Christians,” “The Muslims,” or “The People with Red Hair.” As any Jew knows, if you put two Jews in a room, they’ll come out with three different points of view. Yes, there are Jews who have influenced human civilization over the centuries, perhaps to an extent disproportionate to their numbers in the population, but Jews, as a group, do not control anything, because “The Jews,” as an organizational entity, does not exist.

Perhaps the best way to assess the impact of Jews on our civilization is not to count how many are bankers or other persons of wealth and power, but, rather, to imagine our lives, society, culture without the contributions of individual Jews. Who among us, Jewish or not, has not been taught by a Jewish teacher, healed by a Jewish doctor, protected by a Jewish lawyer, been aided by a Jewish philanthropy, or benefitted in some way from a product or service created by someone who was Jewish?   Where would American music be without the Gershwins, Irving Berlin, Rogers and Hammerstein, Leonard Bernstein, and countless other composers and entertainers to numerous to name? Imagine American cinema without the great Jewish screenwriters, directors, and actors, not to mention the producers and visionary studio executives who the anti-semites accuse of “controlling” the Hollywood that couldn’t have survived without their contributions. What would be the state of world health without the medical discoveries, vaccines, and cutting edge surgical techniques developed by Jewish doctors and scientists? And imagine how many more contributions might have been made by Jews whose lives were cut short by the Holocaust, the Pogroms, the Inquisition, or the countless other efforts over the centuries to exterminate an entire people, for no other reason than thet they were Jews.

What never ceases to amaze me is that so many anti-semites consider themselves Christians, i.e., adherents to a religion created by a jew and based on a belief system that was historically Jewish.  What part of that do they not understand? 

I think this whole debate about OWS got people sidetracked away from the real story itself. This isn’t like the defacing of the cemetery that happened a couple of years ago. It is much more shocking. This is an absolutely disgusting attack that should have no place in our neighborhoods (or anywhere else for that matter). Anti-Semitic vandalism and other attacks of this kind on Jewish communities need to be dealt with fast so they do not become more common. I agree that these fools were probably not KKK or even real neo-Nazis, and especially not OWS. But as someone else pointed out, anti-Semitic attacks have been on the rise in Brooklyn and maybe this is part of a larger crime spree. At any rate, it is outrageous, and also hard to believe that something like this would happen on one of the most busy streets in Brooklyn and no one would notice until it was too late. I hope that they find whoever did this.    

I just want to understand one thing. What exactly are jews doing to create so much hattered? What exactly do they do that is bothering the world so much?