8 Rs Net

Alexander Hamilton – Policy Separated from Politics:

I am related to Hamiltons who came to Canada as United Empire Loyalists but I cannot say for sure they were related to this man who clearly was also a monarchist. William Hamilton Stewart is one of the Stuart historians I have quoted and his name is proof for the Hamiltons being part of the Stuart Hibernian and Merovingian continuum. This man says his family history goes back to the Berbers for at least 20,000 years and I think he could go further than that if he wanted to use archaeology and the work of Gimbutas.

Here is Noam Chomsky making a most important connection. Politics has become something totally absurd. We see Mr. Chomsky makes a good case for something quite the opposite of what people call democracy, being in fact, social engineering by elites.

“A similar move from Stalinist commissar to celebration of America is quite standard in modern history, and it doesn’t require much of a shift in values, just a shift in judgment as to where power lies.

Independently of Jefferson and Bakunin, others were coming to the same understanding in the nineteenth century. One of the leading American intellectuals was Charles Francis Adams, who in 1880 described the rise of what is now called the “post-industrial society” by Daniel Bell and Robert Reich and John Kenneth Galbraith and others. This is 1880, remember. A society in which, Adams says, ‘the future is in the hands of our universities, our schools, our specialists, our scientific men and our writers and those who do the actual work of management in the ideological and economic institutions.’ Nowadays they’re called the “technocratic elite” and the “action intellectuals” or the new class or some other similar term. Adams, back in 1880, concluded that ‘the first object of thinking citizens, therefore, should be not to keep one or another political party in power, but to insist on order and submission to law.’ Meaning that the elites should be permitted to function in what’s called “technocratic isolation,” by the World Bank — I’m being a little anachronistic here, that’s modern lingo — or, as the London Economist puts the idea today, ‘policy should be insulated from politics.’ That’s the case in free Poland, they assure their readers, so they don’t have to be concerned about the fact that people are calling for something quite different in free elections. They can do what they like in the elections, but since policy is insulated from politics and technocratic insulation proceeds, it really doesn’t matter. That’s democracy.

A decade earlier, in 1870, Adams had warned — they were worried then about universal suffrage, people were fighting for the right to vote — he warned that universal suffrage would ‘bring the government of ignorance and vice, with power in the hands of the European and especially Celtic proletariat on the Atlantic coast,’ those horrible Irish people, ‘an African proletariat on the shores of the Gulf and a Chinese proletariat on the Pacific.’ Adams didn’t foresee the sophisticated techniques that would be developed in the twentieth century to ensure that policy remains insulated from politics as the franchise was extended through popular struggle and to guarantee that the general public would remain marginalised and disaffected, subdued by the new spirit of the age and coming to see themselves not as free people who have a right to dignity and independence but as atoms of consumption who sell themselves on the labour market, at least when they’re lucky.

Adams was in fact expressing an old idea. Eighty years earlier Alexander Hamilton had put it clearly. He said there was the idea that your people are a great beast and that the real disease is democracy. That’s Hamilton. These ideas have become ever more entrenched in educated circles, as Jefferson’s fears and Bakunin’s predictions were increasingly realised. The basic attitudes coming into this century were expressed very clearly by Woodrow Wilson’s Secretary of State, Robert Lansing, attitudes that led to Wilson’s Red Scare {While the real power behind Wilson was supporting Trotsky and the Russian Experiment – Col. House.}, as it was called, which destroyed labour and independent thought for a decade.” (1)

The Hegelian Dialectic that sees both ends played against the middle and all other perspectives clearly was at work as Lafitte was followed by Colonel House who had lived in the same house in Galveston where his father took over the business of blockade-running that Lafitte had made a fortune doing.

Author of Diverse Druids, Columnist for The ES Press Magazine, Guest writer at World Mysteries.com

Legislation was introduced into Congress this week that would establish a national data privacy law. The bill would require businesses to disclose to consumers any breaches that result in the exposure of personal information.

The legislation is a reaction to the massive security breaches that have occurred over the last year. In the most notable breach, over 40 million credit card numbers were exposed in a security breach involving CardSystems, an online processor. LexisNexis, Bank of America and other corporate entities have also suffered breaches exposing the personal information of millions of individuals.

Under the new legislation, businesses exposing the personal information of more than 1,000 individuals would be required to notify the individuals. Failure to comply with the law would result in penalties of up to $11 million per incident. Interestingly, the legislation would bar businesses and schools from putting Social Security numbers on any form of identification.

Upon receiving notice, consumers would be allowed to put a notice on their credit reports, which would prevent any company from providing new credit under their name. This would effectively stop thieves from opening new credit accounts with the stolen information.

Will It Pass?

The new legislation has a very good chance of becoming federal law. Sponsored by two Republicans and two Democrats, the bill appears to have bipartisan support. Avoiding the vicious partisan politics on Capital Hill is half the battle for any legislation.

Corporate America also appears to be getting behind the bill. Although this might seem surprising at first, there is a good reason. States including California, Washington and Georgia have already enacted similar laws, but each requires different actions. A federal law, however, will trump all of the state laws and create a uniform requirement for businesses. From a practical standpoint, Corporate America would prefer one standard instead of many.

The new bipartisan legislation is a welcome step in the effort to fight identity theft. Many more steps, however, will be required. You should continue to closely review your credit card statements and credit reports for any unauthorized charges.

Richard Chapo is the lead attorney for the law firm http://www.SanDiegoBusinessLawFirm.com – a firm providing legal advice to California businesses. Visit http://www.sandiegobusinesslawfirm.com/business_law_articles to read more business law articles.

There’s a new Michigan state register (at https://www.protectmichild.com/) in the works to create a database of e-mail addresses that cannot (under penalty of the law) be spammed with content that could be deemed objectionable to children, most notably porn. The database will extend to include pager and cell phone numbers sometime in the future. Right now, it’s sort of like the national DO NOT CALL registry, but for electronic mail.

What happens is that parents and guardians write or phone in the addresses that their children and wards have access to. The project is in the registry phase right now, i.e e-mail addresses are still being compiled (as of July 1). The actual DO NOT EMAIL statute takes effect on August 1.

E-mail advertisers must, from here on in, crosscheck this state list before sending out their e-mail newsletter or advertising to ensure that they’re not sending mail to an address that kids under 18 have access to. The penalties for infringement are reasonably stiff, not too much so. They’re certainly stiffer than the ones for the DO NOT CALL register (I checked because I’m on that one).

Someone needs to send this to Capitol Hill so that our national legislators can see what a child-protection law looks like; for the next time they try to come up with a statute as half-hearted – supposedly well-intentioned, but flawed in design – as Title 18 U.S.C. 2257.

I believe that a noble, decent, and well-intended law/statute – at it’s basic core – should do three things:

1. Lay down boundaries for proper conduct;

2. Seek to punish those who cross those boundaries; and in so doing

3. Do everything within its reasonable power to prevent transgressions in the future.

Everybody and their brother in the adult industry knows that the new 2257 statute regulations that just kicked in are a joke. The spirit of 2257, as it is expounded upon in the entire 110th chapter of that section of the US code, is to prevent the abuse of children, sexually and otherwise. Now it’s one thing to require that porn content producers ascertain and maintain proof of identity and age for prospective adult performers. It would be irresponsible on the part of government and the adult industry not to keep up on such record-keeping.

As a matter of fact, long before the biggest underage actress hoopla came along, in the guise of Traci Lords, porn studios were checking IDs. (For those who don’t know, Lords was an underage porn actress that “snuck” into the business and appeared in many videos. When the studios that produced her videos got wind of her actual age at the time of her performances, they pulled her content from store shelves.)

But this notion that a consistently enforced 2257 (like that which is imposed at the present) would have prevented the Lords incident is mistakable. 2257 would not have made her authentic-looking proof of age look any more fake. A lot of people may not believe this but the adult industry does a pretty good job of policing itself. The only way a minor could enter the industry is if he or she made a conscious decision to apply to be a pornstar, and took certain premeditated steps to make the dream a reality (in terms of obtaining said Ids). Where is the punishment for minors who knowingly attempt to enter the industry while underage?

I’m sure some manner of punishment, in terms of juvenile detention, would deter future mid-teens from trying to pass off some fake IDs. Isn’t that what correctional facilities are for? The primary purpose of a prison or a detention facility should be (if a detainee can be salvaged or rehabbed) to prevent mal-behavior in the future, primary to punishment of said offenders.

The jailing of unwitting and honest porn execs (and I do know there are a lot of shady people in the business) for a crime perpetrated by an unethical minor seems highly unfair. It would be like punishing the makers of a completely legitimate pharmaceutical or hospital drug like opium because there are illicit dealers who dispense their products on the street. Are not only the offenders (the drug dealers) in this case punished?

Granted, under the Michigan law, giving admitted or intended pedophiles (who pose as electronic spammers) access to children’s phone numbers and e-mail addresses is almost like putting a leash on a wolf and walking him right up to the sheep’s pen. But you would be mistaken if you thought a pedophile determined to strike again would otherwise have no other means to re-commit his heinous crimes.

The Michigan statute just serves to lay down boundaries and define precise, justifiable repercussions for crossing such boundaries. In the end, the law does what it’s supposed to do: protect the children and see to it (within reasonable expectation) that pedophile crimes don’t happen again – by putting away and/or deterring would be molesters. On the other hand, 2257 as it stands does little to protect or serve anyone.

Finally, a child-welfare law (The Michigan Children’s Protection Registry) that actually serves its purpose. If President Bush, Attorney General Gonzales, and the Department of Justice were not so hell-bent on ridding the US – or maybe the universe for that matter – of pornography in all shapes and forms, they would see that 2257 just doesn’t do what they believe it will do. Or maybe they already knew that, and their mind set is bye-bye, see-ya to porn anyway?

And that heavy hand on the adult industry is about to get heavier now that the semi-liberal, semi-conservative Justice O’Connor just retired. But that’s a story for another day…

The author is affiliated with Sex-Toys-Videos.com, and writes regular porn and sex toy articles for his blog page.

Do you ever wonder how everything gets to the super markets? It came by truck. Some items come from half way around the world. First by ship or plane in a container, then loaded on rail or truck and dropped at a depot, then resorted and taken to the store. Everything goes to the store in boxes and leaves in your SUV in small containers via a shopping cart or plastic bag thru the check out and parking lot.

Recently products have been available online and are delivered to your doorstep thru the use of a B2C website; still they get to the distribution center by truck. The final delivery is by delivery van of course but still it takes a truck. Most grocery stores have home shopping websites now or at least are trying them out in certain areas. Online Grocery Stores Sites are available thru; Safeway-Vons Stores, Albertson’s, HEB, Piggly Wiggly and Publix. These operate similar to online book stores like; Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Borders .Com. Even though you order it without going to the store, it still needs a truck to get it there. If you order something by mail from eBay and it comes via USPS; the post office has trucks too. Just like FedEx and UPS. Office Depot, Office Max and Staples all have online sales, which use a combination of 18-wheelers and delivery vans to get the products to you.

No matter what you buy or how you perceive it gets to you, it came by truck. If the trucks stop then you cannot get the goods, the food, the fuel; you cannot make anything, build anything or create anything. You would have no job, no furniture, no TV or refrigerator. Everything would stop and life as you know it would too. It is for this reason you should smile and be kind to truck drivers, give them the right away when you can and wave using all five fingers. There is no way around it, if the trucks stop so does America. Think about it.

“Lance Winslow” – Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Redsave.com offers UK consumers a unique shopping experience, you will notice from browsing the redsave site and products that the products have two prices, a Retail Price and a Redsave Price, the Redsave Price is available to subscribers to the Redsave Pass, a monthly subscription of £19.95 allows shoppers access to all items at the Redsave Price, alternatively new shoppers receive a 30 day period of free access to the pass, members can cancel at any time so savvy shoppers, can make big savings by using the free pass that is offered.

If you choose to continue your membership with Redsave, you really need to be a regular shopper with Redsave, to achive maximum value for money, Redsave members are also entitled to free rewards from time to time, typically offerings are money off vouchers and holiday / travel vouchers.

If you shop with Redsave but are not likely to be a regular repeat customer, remember to cancel your membership, cancelling your membership could not be easier, you can cancel the pass online, over the telephone, via fax or via post.

If you’ve cancelled your pass and want to shop with Redsave in the future, you can still purchase at the Redsave Price, although (provided your 30 day free trial period has expired), you will be charged the £19.95 membership fee AND your membership subscription will be reactivated, so again if you will not shop regularly with Redsave, remember to cancel that pass!

Further details of the Redsave Pass, are available on redsave.org.uk.

A barrister bookcase is a unreformed bookcase that is believed to have originated in Britain. Its telling feature is a flawless glass front. This glass front end is hinged at the upper lip allowing a person to easily access books and other legal papers plainly by raising the glass door. The barrister bookcase is ideal for a thousand things. Barrister bookcases were frequently used by lawyers since it was necessary for them to keep on moving. Today, they are also very favorable, especially if one is ever on the move. This is because the bookcase is closed by use of doors.. This implies they can be moved while whole.

Oak Furniture
Barrister’s bookcases also have the advantage of helping to protect the collectibles from debris. They offer excellant protective cover. Apart from dust, sunshine is also blockedby having the doors outfitted with tempered glass. . This will reduce the impact of sunshine impacting the spines of the books. This will maintain the books coloring and its bindings from fading.

Barrister bookcases however, despite their many merits, often are quite pricy. Luckily, their many rewards have moved some producers to start producing replica editions and some in modern versions at very reasonable prices. Some editions have simple looks. These can fit any decor.They can also be made into customized.They can be stacked together allowing them to be easily used to create very interesting unit arrangements. Some can be used to create sofa tables, kitchen tables or even dining areas.

If you are the owner of a car or SUV, a small investment in purchasing the right automotive tools can help you save hundreds of pounds on regular car maintenance and repair work. In addition, you could ensure that your vehicle runs smoothly for a long time. A few basic car tools and garage equipment, a good repair manual and a little patience are enough to save you the hassle of visiting your garage mechanic every so often.

The Right Automotive Tools for a Home Garage

Every home garage should have a good selection of automotive tools to enable us to carry out regular cleaning work, minor repair work and maintenance. The various tools that your home garage should have are:

• Car maintenance tools: Trolley jacks and axle stands enable you to slide under your car to perform simple maintenance work, such as changing the oil and checking exhaust pipes for damage or corrosion. A wrench and screwdriver are basic tools that are needed for various purposes, such as changing spark plugs and brake pads, or replacing filters. Other small, but important, car tools that one must have are a funnel and fluid extractor. While a funnel would help you refill leaking oil or transmission fluid, a fluid extractor is very helpful in changing engine and brake oil. You can also maintain the interior and exterior panels of your car by using a soft mallet and abrasive paper to remove simple scratches and dents.

• Car care and car cleaning tools: You can tidy up your automotive seat covers by using upholstery tools that help you darn small tears and burns, or you can apply a repair patch over the affected area. Restoring the beauty of the trim of the car can be made easy by using a polisher.

• Car repair tools: Jacks and screw extractors come in handy for changing flat tyres.

Cars from certain manufacturers may need non-standard machined tools in terms of size. You will need the automotive tools specified for these vehicles.

Garage Equipment

Other equipment that you should have in your home garage include:

• Engine oil dipsticks allow you to know whether your car has the minimum level of engine oil
• Alloy wheel brushes can help you clean dirt from wheels and remove brake dust
• Alloy wheel nut and locking wheel nut removal kits
• An auto probe allows testing for voltage, short circuits, bad earths and continuity. It is also used for energising components such as motors, fuel pumps and relays on or off the vehicle
• Pulley holder and holding tools to prevent engine movement while you are removing and replacing crankshaft pulley bolts

A busy lifestyle makes it troublesome to read every title you want to. Sometimes we do not understand that extended journeys and other day-to-day chores take up enormous portions of our precious time. A job, dealing with kids or even looking after your home can all cut down the time available for your hobbies. If you enjoy learning and are finding it problematic to find any time, time in the car might be an opportunity for catching up. With user friendly download technology, you can savor Righteous Men by Sam Bourne for sale from Download Audio Book Online, or audio-books recounted by Jack Higgins without turning a single page. Today multitasking now becoming a must. Audible books such as Pimsleur German II Complete Course by Dr. Paul Pimsleur by Download Audio Book Online take advantage of the wasted hours in our daily lives, whether it is waiting in a physician’s office or perhaps grocery shopping. Audio books are obtainable to download as mp3 files these include Pimsleur Japanese III Complete Course by Dr. Paul Pimsleur, so make use of your mp3 player and connect it to to your car’s media system and take the opportunity to hear the current best seller, such as audio-books by George Pelecanos without hauling a heavy book around.

Audio-books extend a multitude of benefits such as hiring or buying the book that interests you then savoring it in your own time. Want to learn better English? Why not give audio-books a try? Perhaps new business strategies are your thing, or you can enjoy mulling over modern views in religious belief.

A tremendous selection of genres and titles exist. It doesn’t matter if you are a travel fan, or if you are crazy over science fiction and fantasy or interested in personal development, many are available through online downloads. Choices are wide open; you can subscribe to a plan and hire your choice of audiobook or make a purchase. Reading will always be a necessary skill, nevertheless a more convenient way might be the myriad of audio titles now available. A narrator can enhance the enjoyment of most books. Simply reading a title is not quite the same as enjoying an audio book told by Will Smith & Roger Drew, with niceties presented during a performance. Hearing audio-books narrated by Gloria White can bring more depth to the story and often can mean much more to you than the words on a page. So the next time in future should you think about purchasing a volume that could simply collect dust on the shelves, be sure to remember audiobooks as a different alternative.

The resignation from cabinet yesterday, Sunday, by the Israeli minister of Finance is a good signal by the extreme right-wing, within the ruling Likud Party to the world that a group exists that would not go to sleep, much less on the same bed with terrorism.

I am of the contrary view that if we have to sleep on the same bed, and not necesarilly with the witch called terrorism in order to morally strangulate it, we must get done with the ugly task quick.

The Roadmap to Peace however clearly spelt out the innevitabilty of this catious and uncomfortable concession. If we must march on in this journey to peace- world peace, this terrain is a ‘must-pass’ for all stakeholders.

I still commend the courage of Netanyahu, and his right to differ. Let me assure him that we would not only compare notes (for those taking notes), at the end of this journey, but we would also compare results (for those taking steps). I personally feel that his resignation is a belated attempt to sweep off ‘reason’ with an archaic and jaded broomstick of blindness.

With the resignation from cabinet of Natan Sharansky, 3 months ago for the same reason, no doubt this ‘army’ is surely growing but my conviction is that their growth is already condemned as a stunted one. Stunted because, the current momentum for world peace has overtaken the ‘terror-for-terror’ philosophy of the Netanyahus of this planet.

It is increasingly becoming clear that the psychology of terror demands that terror can only be effectively disarmed when the root cause of hate and other sentiments that it feeds on are addressed and not retaliated. The Irish IRA, The Basque ETA, even the fresh testimony of the SPLA in Sudan all attest to this correctness of our position on terrorism.

I see the Gaza pullout as a test case for the future resolution of many a contentious issues now in international diplomacy. I believe fervently in the audacious forays into knotty cases of terrorism presided over, not by President Bush, but by Ms Condoleeza Rice. If the acceleration that the current momentum generates would not bring the desired results, let the people- the true custodian of democratic mandate, change the gear and move in the path of the Netanyahus.

I am however, of a strong conviction that the path of the current momentum for peace would win out, and the whole world shall be better for it.

Aderemi Ojikutu (Aderaskeey) is a Motivational Author and Youth Mentor. He is a minister of the Word of God. A political economist and political leader. He is President of the TREASURE WRITERS CLUB in Nigeria (http://ryze.com/go/Aderaskeey). He is also the current President of the National Democratic Forum (N.D.F). He was National Mobilisation Officer of the National Association of Nigerian Students (N.A.N.S) for several years. A revolutionary of over two decades, he was also the political secretary of the defunct Nigerian Labour Party in 1989-1991.

1) IS HAVING A DEMOCRACY MORE EFFECTIVE IN ADDRESSING POLITICAL CONCERNS?

The answers below, except for item 3, are a composite of what has come out of 3 Christian web sites in trying to answer the above question.

1) Winston S. Churchhill used to say “Democracy is the worst system of government we have, except for all
the others.

2) Democracy is more effective, if it upholds the protection and advancement of individual well-being, through good public education, civil liberties, and a largely uncorrupt system of government and justice.
If it doesn’t, it’s like a bicycle without wheels. It’s not going anywhere. But on the other hand, it oftentimes becomes very unwieldy, because it only seems that the rich and powerful have an inordinate amount of influence in determining in what direction the government should take in solving these political concerns. In theory, all the people in a democracy should be able to participate equally, but in practice it only seems that the rich and powerful have an effective voice. That’s why in many cases the voter turnout in democracies can be very low in an election. The average person really doesn’t feel he has any voice in the government.

3) On CNN, one listener suggested that since the U.S. has so much influence around the world, the world’s population should have some say in who’s going to be the U.S. President.

2) ONE OBSTACLE IN DEVELOPING A DEMOCRACY IS THE EMOTION OF HATE THAT ONE FINDS IN ABUNDANCE THROUGHTOUT THE WORLD. HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THIS?

The following are comments on the above question that were recorded on 3 Christian web sites.

1) “Turn the other cheek” Matt 5:39, “Love your enemy” Matt 5:38, and pray for them too.

2) “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and unto the Lord that which is the Lord’s”. Whether we agree with the law or not, we are commanded to obey the law of the land Romans 13:1, unless it violates the law of God.

3) HATE is the emotion that dominates those areas in the world where you find most of the destructive conflicts. LOVE is really the best antidote for this type of emotion, but how does one transmit this LOVE? One answer might lie in a program advertised over Internet (www.seedsofpeace.org) whereby this program invites teenagers from both sides of a conflict to confront each other in a peaceful dialogue, so that they can actually express their own feelings non-violently in a controlled setting. This hopefully would plant the seeds of peace in the upcoming generations.

4) Do not be afraid of differences in individuals. Embrace it and realize that it might be something within ourselves that we don’t like. Learn to love ourselves completely.

5) Learn to accept what we already have and NOT to embrace the “not enough” philosophy, because
in reality, if you embrace the “not enough” philosophy, you will never have enough no matter how much you have.

6) The root cause of hatred could be traced to not enough love. Heal the individual with the manifest love
that Jesus taught, and the whole will be healed as a matter of course. Love yourself, expand that love to
include those closest to you, and then to those who mean you harm. Move outward from a solid core of abundant love within. Let the trickle become a stream, then a river, and then an ocean.

3) HOW SHOULD ONE FUNCTION IN A
DEMOCRACY?

One should always vote when elections occur, and one should always try to support a candidate who’s running for a particular office. The problem with just supporting a candidate, however, is that there are always going to be issues that you will disagree with your candidate about. To counteract this, and to be more influential in a functioning democracy, you really should be more issue oriented. And to do this, one should take certain action to make sure that what you want to happen on a particular issue is appropriate. But group action would be more effective than individual action, although individuals can engage in lobbying activity as well, if group endeavors are not available.

This action, group or individual, which could be taken in democracies as well as international organizations, should be taken up as follows: 1) An intense study of an issue, 2) Then you should decide how you want that issue changed, or if it should be, 3) If you want it changed, you should then find out which authorities you should contact to effect such a change, 4) Then you should contact these authorities, 5) If the authorities don’t respond to your satisfaction, contact them again (don’t give up), 6) If the authorities continue to be unresponsive, contact them again, but with a threat (use your imagination) that you feel might be injurious to their emotional well-being. But always with an exit strategy that these authorities could use, 7) If these authorities still remain unresponsive, follow through on the threat, and keep in mind other threats that could also be used against these authorities, if they’re still unresponsive, and Continiue with steps 6 & 7, if you’re still unsatisfied with the result of your efforts.

4) IF YOU NEED TO DEAL WITH AN ISSUE THOUGH VERBAL DIALOGUE, THE FOLLOWING IS A PROCEDURE FOR DOING IT.

NEGOTIATING

The Best Approach in Negotiating

1. Participants are problem-solvers, not adversaies nor friends.

2. The goal is a wise outcome reached efficiently and amicably.

3. Separate the people from the problem.

4. Be soft on the people, but hard on the problem.

5. Proceed independent of trust.

6. Focus on Interests, not positions.

7. Explore Interests.

8. Avoid having a bottom line.

9. Invent options for mutual gain.

10. Develop multiple options to choose from; decide later.

11. Insist on objective material.

12. Try to reach a result based on standards independent of will.

13. Reason and be open to reason. Yield to principle, and not to pressure.

SEPARATE THE PEOPLE FROM THE PROBLEM

The People Problem

1) Perception

= Put yourself in their shoes.
= Don’t deduce their intentions from your fears.
= Don’t blame them for your problem.
= Discuss each others perception.
= Look for opportunities to act inconsistently with their perceptions.
= Give them a stake in the outcome by involving them in the process.

= Face saving—Make your proposals consistent with their values.

2) Emotions

= First recognize and undestand emotions, theirs and yours.
= Make emotions explicit and acknowledge them as legitimate.
= Allow the other side to let off steam.
= Don’t react to emotional outbursts.
= Use symbolic gestures to defuse the situation.

3) Communication

= Listen actively and acknowledge what is being said.
= Speak to be understood.
= Speak about yourself, not about them.
= Speak for a purpose.
= Build a working relationship.
= Face the problem , not the people.

FOCUS ON INTERESTS, NOT POSITIONS

1) Interests define the problem.
2) Behind opposed positions lie shared and compatible interests, as well as conflicting ones.

How do you identify interests

1) Ask “why?” Try to put yourself in the other person’s shoes.
2) Think about their thinking.
3) There probably are multiple interests involved.
4) The most powerful interests are basic human needs.

Security, Economic well-being, A sense of belonging, Recognition, or Control over ones life.

Make a list of these interests, yours and theirs

Talking about interests

1) Make your interests come alive and be specific.
2) Acknowledge their interests as important too.
3) Put the problem before the answer.
4) Look forward, not back.
5) Be concrete, but flexible – Have a number of options.
6) Be hard on the problem, but soft on the people.

INVENT OPTIONS FOR MUTUAL GAIN

1) Invent, don’t decide upon, new ideas – brainstorming.

a) Then develop the better options.
b) Look through the eyes of different experts.
c) Interests could be different.
d) Give several optional preferences.
e) Look for shared interest and differing interests to dovetail.
f) Seek to make decisions easy – Low cost to you and high gain for them.

INSIST ON OBJECTIVE CRITERIA OR EQUAL TREATMENT

What if the other side is more powerful – Develop your own BATNA ( Better Alternationm To Negotiated Agreement ) and discover theirs.

What if they won’t play? Use your own principled negotiator or mediator.

What if they don’t play fair? Keep principled negotiation always in mind.

A POLITICAL CONCERN THAT HAS VERY IMPORTANT INTERNATIONAL RAMIFICATIONS.

BIBLICAL ASPECTS OF THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT

In Genesis 13:15 God tells Abraham “All the land that you see I will give you and your offspring, Forever” God never considered Ishmael (the founder of the Arabs) part of his offspring, because Ishmail came from Sarah’s handmaiden, not his wife. In Genesis 17:8 it states “The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendents after you, and I will be their God” In Genesis 17:21 it states “But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you this time next year.” Jacob, Isaac’s youngest son, who stole the birthright from Esau, Isaac’s eldest son, struggled with God and was thereafter called Israel (He struggled with God) Genesis 35:10. And after the Jews were led to Egypt to live, but eventually held in bondage, God spoke to Moses and said in Exodus 3:17 “And I have promised to bring you out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites”. And when Joshua took over from Moses the leadership responsibilities, God spoke to Joshua and said in Joshua 3:10 “This is how you will know that the living God is among you, and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites—–”. But you notice, even in Scripture, the Israelites were never constantly remaining on the land God gave them. This is because that possession of the land came with a condition-Obedience to God. (Duet 4:1-2 and Duet 30:1-5).

And today, even though they have had their land for more than 50 years, it was founded on a secular, but cultural basis, and continues to be such with very little spirituality contained therein, so they continue to struggle for their land, because of economic jeolousies, or to put it another way, they continue to struggle with God.

Now the permanent restoration of Israel is not specifically mentioned in Scripture, but Jerusalem (the most important city in Israel) is mentioned as being permanently restored. But this, is in reality the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21) coming out of heaven and this would be the true City of Peace, which the name Jerusalem actually means. For Christians the restoration of the Promised Land now refers to the Kingdom of God (a Spirirtual Realm), which comes only through Jesus Christ as stated in Galatians 3:29 “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the Promise”. This promise is the Promised Land, and therefore, for a Christian, the Promised Land is really the Kingdom of God in the hearts of the Believers, regardless of where they lived.

With this in mind, we should then recognize that Israel is only a Sovereign State, just like any other Sovereign State. Therefore, the negotiations are really taking place between a Sovereign State (Israel) and a potentially Sovereign People (the Palestines) and the negotiations should take place on an interest-interest basis (win-win situation), but unfortunately these negotiations are intermingled with religious dogma which do not lend themselves to a win-win situation because of the inflexibility of much of the dogma. Thus the problems between Israel and the Palestines which have to be resolved within this mixture are the current violence, the security for Israel, the Israeli settlements, the 2 state issue, the refugee problem, the Jerusalem situation, and the reconstruction of the Palestinian areas. But in order to do this, the religious dogma has to be toned down to make these negotiations much more of a win-win situation.

CORBIN M. WRIGHT

An Autobiographical Sketch: I was born in New York City in 1931, grew up on Long Island, graduated from Roanoke College in Virginia with a BA in Political Science, and from New York Theological Seminary with a Masters in Religious Education. I became a committed Christian in 1958, and after a number of years became a committed Ecumenical Christian. I worked as an accountant in various companies for about 25 years in New York City, then moved down to Argentina and worked for about 21 years as a Business English
Conversationalist Teacher with some of the top managers. I also became a Stephen Minister (trained counselor) while down here. I have been married twice (the last to an Argentine), widowed once, no children, one cat.

If you would like to contact me, you could write to me via (corbinwr@yahoo.com).