The tanks are from the "73" war in Israel.

Raleigh, NC is a wonderful place to live. We had three homes while we were there. I established a business for Richard which he was successful at for the first two years and I had a government job and two other jobs. Jane worked for various large companies as a manager for their clothing operations. She was mostly located in malls. We were doing all right. And the parks were fabulous. I would run there almost everyday. There are a lot of things about Raleigh to miss. And while we were there my son, John was in graduate school at the University of North Carolina, less than an hour away. Deb and I went to Durham Tech and studied programming, among other things, like a lot of math and accounting courses.

We had a great time in Raleigh and we were part of the Jewish community there until I alienated them with my letters to the newspaper criticizing Israel's conduct, specifically Prime Minister policy to "break their bones" as a means to stop the violence and now as then I know it was the wrong policy, but the Jews in Raleigh disagreed. At least our friends did and we went from being insiders to outsiders in a very short period of time after that.

Jane and I were in France for 3 years (with our kids).
I was stationed at Orleans (about 60 kilometers SW of Paris).
This is the house where we lived when we first got there.

It seems I was never destined to live a quiet, serene life. Some of our Jewish friends told Jane they would not associate with us because of my outspoken views. They didn't want me airing our "dirty laundry" in public. They prefered to remain quiet but that is something I could never do and it disturbed me that they should be so narrow minded.

I consider myself a progressive. Certainly a liberal about social policy and to the left on economic policy. The problem is always being able to define neatly because the radical left has betrayed Jewish radicals by supporting those who would like to destroy Israel. I'm pro-Israel.

I am a "progressive" and I define progressive as wanting to improve the human condition - whatever that means? I am a pragmatic progressive. I'm a realist.

I'm also optimistic that peace will ultimately come to Israel but first Israel will have to disengage from the Arabs and I think the security fence is a good idea. I am also for economic justice and socialist distribution of goods and services: "From each according to ability, to each according to needs."

Professor Michael Parenti defines the left as "opposing the privileged interests of wealthy propertied classes, while advocating eqalitarian redistribtive policies and a common development beneficial to the general populace." He also defines the right as also involved in redistributive politics, "but the distribution goes the other way, in an upward direction. Rightist governments and groups, including fascist ones, are dedicated to using the land, labor, markets, and natural resources of countries as so much fodder for the enrichment of the owning and investing classes." [Michael Parenti, "The Terrorism Trap", 2002]

I have been a member of Hashomer Hatzair, a Zionist-socialist group. I was the SE Region Disarmament Representative for the New Jewish agenda when we were in NC, and, I have been a member of the A.C.L.U. and a charter member of the Democratic Socialists of America, a member of the U.S. Peace Council, Veterans for Peace, the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice, CISPES, The War Resisters League, and many other organizations working for "peace ' justice." I have been the moderator of several conferences on PeaceNet since the 80s, and have moderated and facilitated PNEWS. I established several forums at St Johns University for various topics, including Chronic-Pain, and I was the founder of the Tic Douloureux Forum on another listserver.

I was once also an active member of the Zionist Organization of America, and sometime in the 60s was the personal escort for then, Ambassador Yitzhak Rabin to the Pan American Zionist Convention. I unaffiliated from the ZOA in the 70s because of their their right wing politics. I am however an ardent support of Israel as a Jewish homeland and the only real refuge from anti-semitism. When Jews experience anti-semitism in their own lives they realize just how important Israel is to them and history does have a way of repeating itself.

Philosophically, I'm am both an "existentialist" and a "socialist". I like the "Beat" poets, especially Charles Bukowski, but my favorite poets are Dylan Thomas and Percy Shelley. I prefer classical music, but like some jazz and folk, especially Artho Guthrie and Bruce Cockburn. My favorite jazz musician is Chet Baker.

Like many who question everything, I am an iconoclast. And I am a socialist. I try to live life to its fullest and create my own time. I've been influenced by the philosophers, and my awakening came from reading Erich Fromm, Michael Harrington, Christopher Lasch, Sartre, Marcuse, Kierkegaard, Camus, Spinoza, Marx, Engels, Hegel, Nitzschie, Freud, Rousseau, and others. I also seek fairness and justice because everyone should experience a good life, and I'm opposed to any kind of oppression and abuse of power, though I attempt to approach each issue on it's own merits. Everyone is entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of justice and this imposes a great responsibility to do what is right, and requires obligations and sacrifice for the good of all people. And everyone is entitled to equal access to health care and a liveable wage and they're not getting it.