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A Rare Moment Of Bipartisanship: Marsha Blackburn-Carol Maloney Promotion Of A National Women’s History Museum In Washington, DC!

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Lo and behold, a sign of bipartisanship on an idea that may seem minor to the less informed, but is a wonderful idea: the establishment of a National Women’s History Museum on the Mall in Washington, DC!

It is a pleasure to announce that Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Democratic Congresswoman Carol Maloney of New York are co-sponsoring legislation to provide for the building of one more museum in or near the Mall in Washington, DC, a museum that is urgently needed to record and commemorate the tremendous contributions and sacrifices of women in American history, who have helped to advance American democracy!

This is long overdue, as we have a national museum for Native Americans, as well as the progress on the African American museum, and a few years ago, the Museum of American Jewish History was opened in Philadelphia, and will demand a visit from this author in the spring of 2014.

There is also a Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, affiliated with the Smithsonian Museum, but there is no Museum for Asian Americans which incorporates all Asian groups.

There is a push for a National Museum of the American Latino, but there is also discussion of a National Immigration Museum, which might usurp such a initiative, as too many museums and not enough space in DC, forcing it to be elsewhere as the Jewish Museum and Japanese American National Museums already are.

Even if not all of the museums can find a home in the nation’s capital, it is important to commemorate the contributions of all of the varied groups which have made America what it is, a melting pot of the world’s ethnicities!

And while we are at it, how about a National Labor History Museum to commemorate the sacrifices of the working men and women who have made this country what it is, and deserve proper recognition as well?

Top Three American Cities Now Have Jewish Mayors, A First, But Will New York City Elect Anthony Weiner To Succeed Michael Bloomberg In November?

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For the first time in American history, the top three cities in America will have Jewish Mayors.

We already had Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, and now we have Mayor Elect Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, who has a Jewish mother, and a fafher of Spanish, Italian, and Indigenous heritage, which is why his name does not sound Jewish! Garcetti will also be the youngest Mayor of Los Angeles, at age 42, in the past century.

However, Bloomberg is finishing up his third and last term, and the only Jewish candidate who could succeed him in the Mayoralty is former Congressman Anthony Weiner, who was forced to resign over his exposure of x rated pictures on the internet two years ago.

Weiner is attempting a comeback, and has $5 million in his bank account, plus name recognition, although a lot of it might be seen as negative, because of the sex scandal which brought him to resignation.

Is there redemption for Weiner, as there was for former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who won back the former Congressional seat he held before he was Governor, and in the wake of his pursuit of a lover in Argentina, while married and having three sons?

It is hard to know at this point, as New York City can be a forgiving place, and has already as an announced candidate the Speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, a woman who is a declared lesbian and is married to her partner: and Bill De Blasio, the NYC Public Advocate, whose wife is African American, while De Blasio is white.

Certainly, there are some who would not like someone involved in a sex scandal; or a married lesbian; or a white guy married to a black woman! So there is plenty of room for outrage by people of different stripes, who do not like any or all of these situations.

But this is modern America, and NYC represents a microcosm of that America, and the issues of sex, sexual preference, and race will play out and, likely, elect one of these three individuals as the next Mayor of NYC, and if Weiner wins, again, we will have the top three cities in America with Jewish Mayors!

Rick Santorum Bashes New York City And Los Angeles, And By Implication, Boston! What It Says About Him!

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Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, challenging Mitt Romney for the Republican Presidential nomination, has now gone on the attack against New York City and Los Angeles, and by implication, Boston, since Massachusetts is the state in which Mitt Romney was governor,

This reminds us of Barry Goldwater in 1964, suggesting that the Atlantic Coast of North America be cut off and sent out to sea.

It also reminds us of Sarah Palin in 2008, who criticized the coastlines of America, and claimed the “real America” was in the heartland.

The problem is that one can attack those three cities, and the states that they are part of, but there is no way to claim that the heartland of the nation matches the significance and influence of New York City, Los Angeles, and Boston, in the present, or historically!

These are the cultural, financial, business, intellectual and educational centers of America.

These cities have among the best universities in the world, and their states easily have had a greater impact on America than all of the heartland states combined, both past and present.

People can have proud regional biases, but the reality is that these three cities and states are the center of American progress and accomplishments, and that will not change.

So to condemn these cities and states is pure stupidity and ignorance, and proves that Rick Santorum, like Sarah Palin and Barry Goldwater, is not qualified for the Presidency, since he does not recognize the reality of the influence and significance of these coastline cities and states! And to pit a portion of the nation against other areas is also demagogic and despicable to the core!

105th Anniversary Of San Francisco Earthquake: A Reminder Of Nuclear And Natural Disaster Likely In The Future!

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On this 105th Anniversary of the infamous San Francisco Earthquake, which destroyed much of that city, and is still one of the top few greatest natural disasters in American history, if not the worst, we have a reminder of the doom and gloom predicted in the next 30 years by most scientists!

With a nuclear power plant right on the San Andreas Fault between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and another nuclear power plant between Los Angeles and San Diego, in a state with 37 million people, there is the looming threat of much more than a disastrous earthquake, but also of a much worse tragedy of nuclear radiation on the scale of what has happened last month in Japan and in Chernobyl in the old Soviet Union 25 years ago!

There has long been the prediction of a massive earthquake in California, and despite much planning and building of structures that are supposed to survive such a natural disaster, it is still worrisome that no one can possibly prepare adequately for a natural event such as an earthquake, and be sure that there would not be a worse disaster with a tsunami and or nuclear breakdown!

It seems more a question of when, not if, as to such a natural tragedy and possible nuclear disaster, and the cost of such an event both regarding loss of life and cost is impossible to measure, or to plan for. Disaster preparedness is far from an exact science, and no one seems willing to deal with the financial cost that cannot be forseen until it occurs!