Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Toastmasters Club in Lauderhill


Your success in business is based on how effective you are. Through participation in the Toastmasters program, people from all backgrounds learn to effectively speak, conduct meetings, manage a department or business, lead, delegate and motivate.

Our club, Sawgrass Toastmasters, meets adjacent to Lauderhill and its membership is as diverse as Lauderhill population. We have people from Trinidad & Tobago, Bahamas, Jamaica, Venezuela, Canada, Russia, USA, to name just a few. Our members come from all walks of life – Public Relations, real estate, construction, nurses, financial advisors, organ builder, teachers, entertainers, and many other professions.

We meet every Wednesday from 6:30 pm till 8:30 pm at Vila's restaurant, 4000 N. University Drive, 33322 (1/4 mile north of Oakland Park Blvd on University Drive across from Hooters).
The cost is $40 every 6 months. A person doesn't have to join our club immediately, he/she can attend as many meetings as he/she wants as a guest.

To get more info please go to our website: www.sawgrasstoastmasters.com. environment.

Saturday, October 28, 2006

State of Florida Free Job Training and Placement

Florida legislators have earmarked $12 million for free job training and placement in more than 40 construction trades. Job training can last two to eight weeks. The trades have an average starting salary of $15 an hour, or about $30,000 a year.

Here in Broward County, Workforce One, will pay employers to give on-the-job training to 180 workers. Florida Rebuilds is also seeking all kinds of job candidates, including ex-offenders and those looking for career change. To enroll call 800-352-2345 or go to http://mail.lauderhill-fl.gov/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.employflorida.com/ .

Monday, October 23, 2006

Why Vote For A Penny For Transit

Starting today, through November 7, you will be able to vote on an additional 1 cent to go to transit. With all the additional expenses we face everyday, insurance, gas, taxes, electricity, why should anyone vote to raise more in taxes, let alone trust anyone to do what they promise with the money. Strangely, this should be the question to be debated to address a serious problem. So far the debate has been almost about everything but the issue and good government, and more on personal politics and personal power. This article is to address the question, and pose a solution, providing the reader with accurate information to base their decision upon.

Broward County is facing a transportation crisis. Every day traffic progressively gets worse. Our roads are getting clogged, and there is limited alternatives available. Over the next 20 years, we expect another 1,000,000 plus people to come. Add the additional 2,000,000 or so cars that will also come, and you can only imagine what it will be like to get anywhere. We have already admitted to ourselves, we will never be able to build enough roads to come anywhere near the demand. Besides we do not have the money for the roads anyhow.

Actually you do not have to look very far to see the not so distant future for Broward. Just look south to Miami-Dade County. It is so bad there that many, including myself, avoid entering the county for any reason. I avoid the airport, seaport, shopping, sightseeing, and even going through the county to take any vacation time in the Keys. I am not alone in this. Imagine this in the next 5 or so years in our county, except that it is projected to get far worse.

So what may be an alternative. As the Chair of the Broward County Metropolitan Planning Organization, it has been the MPO's job to figure a way out of this mess. Planning is what we do. The Broward County MPO has done such a fine job, as directed by these governments, that we have planned how to solve this problem. The only problem now is that it will take in excess of $10 Billion. That is Billion with a "B."

Implementing it requires cooperation of other agencies including the State, Federal and County governments. All of which have limited funds, and cannot be expected to be a great source of funding for these projects. At best, they may be a source of matching funds which requires a local dedicated revenue source, like other areas of our country have already done. The only dedicated revenue source we have available, which has been authorized by the State Legislature, is a one penny sales tax, which must be devoted exclusively to transportation.

It involves mass transit including a significant investment in rail. Rail along State Road 7, the FEC and a rail line running from the Airport/Seaport, to downtown Ft. Lauderdale, west along Broward Blvd., then south along State Road 7, turning west on I-595, then north into Sawgrass Mills. It will require Bus Rapid Transit, Express Bus Service, expanded Community Shuttle Bus service, signal synchronization, and much more. It must coordinate with all other forms of transportation and must interconnect with other transportation systems throughout the region. It must be a comprehensive system, that must be constructed now, not 10 or 20 years from now. Where people will start to be able to use the first pieces of it within the next 3 years.

The one penny referendum is the first, and has been the ONLY initiative that has addressed this serious problem. No one wanted to ever be the one to come out in favor of a tax. No one wanted to take the lead in trying to implement a solution, because they know it is an expensive solution. It has been easy to always say that you support finding an answer to a problem, i.e., "I support transportation," I support lower crime," "I support lower insurance rates." "I support lower taxes," " I support my Schools," "I support fill in the blank." It has been very easy to take the few dollars we have and send it to planning which will never see the light of day.

It is extremely difficult to say I am willing to support a specific answer that will cost money that you will have to pay for, i.e., "I am willing to raise the funds to build something critical and this is how it will work." And when you do, there is always someone that will find a way, whether correct in their information or not, that will oppose you on it.

The one penny sale tax is the ONLY source of revenue that will raise the amount of money needed to pay for this transit plan. To argue for less than a penny is to argue for waste. If you cannot do it right, then do not bother doing it at all. The money raised will be administered by an independent board to make sure that it goes to what has been promised. There is also the factor that many do not trust certain governmental agencies, which have had a track record of not fulfilling their promises in the past.

Some have said, quite correctly, that Miami-Dade County passed a 1/2 cent tax for transit, and it has not worked for them. This is correct. The difference has been that it was acknowledged that before their vote that 1 cent was really needed to fund their transit projects, though the public was only willing to support half the amount needed. So based upon half a loaf is better than none, they proceeded forward. As said before, to argue for less than a penny is to argue for waste. If you cannot do it right, then do not bother doing it at all. This is the lesson we learned from Miami-Dade County. They underfunded their needs and now they suffer from the exact problem they knew could happen. They do not have all the necessary funds required to solve their transit problems.

If you do not support this tax, then you must be prepared for the result. I truly believe that there is no other answer, and that this may be our only opportunity to fix this problem before we start seeing significant deterioration in our quality of life. If it takes you 45 minutes to get to work now, just wait until it takes you 1 1/2 hours or more. If you don't like paying $2 to $3/gallon for gas, wait until it is over $4/gallon. I promise you if we do not solve this situation now, then that is what you will be looking at soon. Then imagine what other problems this is going to cause us. Who will be able to afford to live here. Not most of the people I represent.

For more information you can link to the following site: http://www.keepbrowardmoving.com/

Sunday, October 22, 2006

The November 7th General Election - What Am I Voting On?

On November 7, the General Election will be held to decided your elected leaders and several referendum votes. The following is a list of those elections the residents of Lauderhill may be able to vote on:

United States Senator

Frazier, Floyd Ray
Harris , Katherine (REP)
Moore , Brian (NPA)
Nelson , Bill (DEM) ###
Noah , Belinda (NPA)
Scott , Lawrence (WRI)
Senter , Bernard (WRI)
Tanner , Roy (NPA)

Governor

Behm , Karl C.C. (NPA)
Blass , Piotr (WRI)
Bob , (WRI)
Crist , Charlie (REP)
Davis , Jim (DEM) ###
Dembinsky , Richard Paul (NPA)/Smith , Dr. Joe
Linn , Max (REF)
Maneiro II, W. Papa-Roqui (WRI)
Musa , Omari (WRI)
Reed , C. C. (WRI)
Smith , John Wayne (NPA)/Kearney , James J.
Yarrow , Atlee (WRI)


Attorney General

Campbell, Walter "Skip" (DEM) ###
McCollum , Bill (REP)


Chief Financial Officer

Lee , Tom (REP)
Sink , Alex (DEM) ###

Commissioner of Agriculture

Bronson , Charles H. (REP) ###
Copeland , Eric (DEM)


State Senate District: 032

Lunkins , Kenneth S. (WRI)
Ring , Jeremy (DEM) ###


Supreme Court and Appellate Court Retention Elections - Vote to Retain

Justice R. Fred Lewis YES
Justice Barbara Joan Pariente YES
Justice Peggy A. Quince YES
Judge Bobby W. Gunther YES
Judge Fred A. Hazouri YES
Judge Larry A. Klein YES
Judge Barry J. Stone YES
Judge Carole Y. Taylor YES

Circuit Court - Group 57

Rayson , John C. (NOP) ###
Towbin Singer , Michele (NOP)

Circuit Court - Group 58

Cohen , Mardi Levey (NOP)
Wood , Marina G. (NOP) ###

County Court - Group 31

Arlene Simon Campione
Ellen A. Feld ###


County Court - Group 32

Brenda Lynn Di Ioia ###
Terri-Ann Miller


School Board - District 6

Phyllis C. Hope
Marty Martin Rubinstein ###


Broward Soil & Water Conservation District, Dist. 5

Fred Segal

Barbara J. Thomas

Florida Amendment #1 - Limit the amount of nonrecurring general revenue which may be appropriated for recurring purposes in any fiscal year to 3% without a 3/5 vote of the Legislature.

Recommended to Vote NO

Florida Amendment #3 - Requiring proposed future amendments to the Florida Constitution will require approval of at least 60% of the voters instead of the 50% + 1 required right now.

Recommended to Vote NO

Florida Amendment #4 - Requiring that money received in the 2005 Tobacco Settlement payments to Florida, must have at least 1/3 of the proceeds be used for advertising.

Recommended to Vote NONE GIVEN

Florida Amendment # 6 - Increasing the Homestead Exemption that local government may pass onto seniors from $25,000 to $50,000. Monies lost from granting the additional exemption will be made up from other local sources not otherwise exempt. No additional revenue to local governments from the state is provided to replace the lost revenue which the state acknowledges would be lost. To maintain the same revenue stream to cities would require tax increases to all other taxpayers, or cuts in services.

Recommended to Vote NO

Florida Amendment #7 - Increasing Disabled Veterans' Discount on Homestead Ad Valorem Tax from an additional $5000 exemption to be a discount on the full value of the taxable value equal to the percentage of disability. Thereby a 50% disable veteran will qualify for a 50% exemption from taxes, irrespective of the full value of the property.

Recommended to Vote NONE GIVEN

Florida Amendment #8 - Placing in the State Constitution a prohibition of local government from exercising Eminent Domain, except as allowed by general law passed by the Florida Legislature by a 3/5 vote of each house. Thereby putting into the Constitution that which is already required by both Florida and Federal law.

Recommended to Vote NO

County Referendum - 1 Cent Sales Tax for Transportation

Recommended to Vote YES

County Referendum - $500 Million County Bond for New Courthouse

Recommended to Vote NO

County Referendum - Non-Binding Ballot Question as to the Public's support on Portability of the Save Our Homes Homestead Value Limitation

Recommended to Vote YES

County Referendum - Non-Binding Ballot Question as to establishing a Broward Watershed Improvement District by the Broward Soil and Water Conservation District

Recommended to Vote NO

### or YES or NO means eLauderhill News has Endorsed or Recommends.

Links above provide information about candidates filed financial reports.

Early voting is scheduled from Monday October 23 thru Sunday November 5, and voting hours are:

Monday - Friday 10 AM to 6 PM

Saturday 10 AM to 3 PM

Sunday 1 PM to 4 PM

Early voting locations in, or adjacent to Lauderhill are:

1) Lauderhill Mall, 1241 State Road 7, Bay 80-K, Lauderhill

2) Tamarac Branch Library, 8701 W. Commercial Blvd., Tamarac

For other early voting sites and information: http://www.browardsoe.org/content.aspx?id=152

For a list of voting precincts on election day, November 7: http://www.browardsoe.org/ElectionPollingPlaces.aspx?eid=0

To find your precinct: http://www.browardsoe.org/PrecinctFinder.aspx

To vote absentee, either call 954-357-7055 to request, or use the following link to request on line: http://www.browardsoe.org/AbsenteeRequest2.aspx

To ask information about absentee voting, call or e-mail Mary Hall at 954-357-6321, absenteeballot@browardsoe.org

Please remember voting is your right. Don't throw your rights away.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Notes of the Regular Commission Workshop of October 16

Seven items came up for discussion. The following are highlights of some of the discussion:

1) Discussion on funds being made available to help storm damaged housing and red tagged housing. Federal funds of just over $1,500,000 was obtained. These funds will be for owner occupied properties, and it is hoped by mid November they will be available from the Federal Government. Applications and specific financial need conditions are required to be met to qualify and receive. If all qualified units apply, it is estimated there will be $2800/unit. The Commission will prioritize the allocation to use the money to try to resolve the most amount of repair problems as possible.

A significant amount of time was spent on discussing specifically about Stonebridge Gardens, and the major problems ongoing there with their insurance, construction and funding. Members from Stonebridge approached the city about finding monies to help with their reconstruction. The problem was the limited financial ability of the city, and the need throughout many areas of the city as well. However, we were agreeable to do what we could.

2) Because of the lack of security measurements required for the South Florida Broncos Football Team to conduct games at West Ken Lark Parks, the city has ceased future football games at the park. Practice may be conducted there, but not the games.

3) The road widening and walls on Pine Island Road is still being held up by the county. Originally we agreed to pay for 1/2 of the decorative wall. With the design and safety study by the county, it is no longer determined to be a decorative wall, but a required safety wall. Therefore, the county needs to pay for the entire wall, and the study shows the road must be widened for traffic needs. Also, reinforced walls, issues related to future repairs of the wall, and speed limits were also discussed. The possibility of restricting the road through the MPO process was also brought up. A resolution to address this matter will be drafted.

4) Discussion on a decorative fence along University Drive behind commercial business (north of 50th Street on the east side of the road). The cost of the fence would be $160,000.00. The recommendation by the City Manager was instead to put in landscaping, which would remove the viewing the residents were complaining of. The embankment is with engineering to redesign.

5) The next matter was on old City Hall and new City Hall. We are still in line to the cost and funding of the projects. Matters are proceeding.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Hurricane Aid For Seniors

It has been reported to eLauderhill News, that there is hurricane aide for seniors, 60 and over, with homes damaged in Hurricane Wilma and/or displaced by this hurricane. To apply, call Elderly & Veteran's Services, 954-537-2936. No information is available as to what type of aid is available.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Police Action In Lauderhill



On Wednesday, Officers responded to 3650 Inverrary Blvd. concerning a suspect who had broken into Apt.1d in International Village. The suspect confronted the homeowner and left without taking any property. A perimeter was established and the suspect was located in the patio area of another apartment. The suspect, Ahmad Jackson, refused to be taken into custody and began resisting. He was tased by an officer and handcuffed. The suspect from Ft. Lauderdale was charged with two counts of Burglary.

This morning at 2:45 am, members of the Special Response Team executed a drug search warrant at 2620 NW 43 Ave. The suspect was found in bed with a loaded automatic firearm. A rifle was also located just inside the front door of the residence. The suspect, Gary Watson, was charged with possession of Cocaine.

Friday, October 13, 2006

Building Respect In Our Homes And Schools

On Tuesday, October 17, from 6 to 8:30 PM, at Parkway Middle School, an outreach program will be conducted on "Building Respect In Our Homes And Schools." Parkway Middle is located at 3600 NW 5th Court, Lauderhill. Door prizes, and childcare provided. For more information contact 754-321-1410 between 8 AM and 5 PM.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

A Gentile's View of Today's Germany by William E. Grim

I'm not Jewish. No one in my family died in the Holocaust. For me, anti-Semitism has always been one of those phenomena that doesn't really register on my radar, like tribal genocide in Rwanda, a horrible thing that happens to someone else. But I live in a small town outside of Munich on a street that until May of 1945 was named Adolf Hitler Strasse. I work in Munich, a pleasant metropolitan city of a little over a million inhabitants whose Bavarian charm tends to obscure the fact that this city was the birthplace and capital of the Nazi movement.

Every day when I go to work I pass by the sites of apartments Hitler lived in, extant buildings in which decisions were made to murder millions of innocent people, and plazas in which book burnings took place, SS troops paraded and people were executed. The proximity to evil has a way of concentrating one's attention, of putting a physical reality to the textbook narratives of the horrors perpetrated by the Germans.

Then the little things start to happen that over a period of time add up to something very sinister. I'm on a bus and a high school boy passes around Grandpa's red leather-bound copy of Mein Kampf to his friends who respond by saying "coooool!" He then takes out a VCR tape (produced in Switzerland) of "The Great Speeches of Joseph Goebbels." A few weeks later I'm at a business meeting with four young highly educated Germans who are polite, charming and soft-spoken to say the least. When the subject matter changes to a business deal with a man in New York named Rubinstein, their nostrils flair, their demeanor attain a threatening mien and one of them actually says, and I'm quoting verbatim here: "The problem with America <> is that the Jews have all the money." They start laughing and another one says, "Yeah, all the Jews care about is money."

I found that this type of anti-Semitic reference in my professional dealings with Germans soon became a leitmotif (to borrow a term made famous by Richard Wagner, another notorious German anti-Semite). In my private meetings with Germans it often happens that they will loosen up after a while and reveal personal opinions and political leanings that were thought to have ceased to exist in a Berlin bunker on April 30, 1945. Maybe it's because I have blond hair and my last name is of German origin that the Germans feel that I am, or could potentially be, "one of them." It shows how much they understand what it means to be an American.

Whatever the reason, the conversations generally have one or more of these components:

(1) It was unfortunate that America and Germany fought each other in World War I I because the real enemy was Russia.
(2) Yes, the Nazis were excessive, but terrible things happen during wars, and anyway, the scope of the Holocaust has been greatly exaggerated by the American media, which is dominated by Jews.
(3) CNN is controlled by American Jews and is anti-Palestinian. (Yes, I know it sounds incredible, but even among the most highly intelligent Germans, even those with a near-native fluency in English, there is the widespread belief that the news network founded by Fidel Castro's friend Ted Turner, who was married to Hanoi Jane Fonda, is a hotbed of pro-Israeli propaganda.)
(4) Almost all Germans were opposed to the Third Reich and nobody in Germany knew anything about the murder of the Jews, but the Jews themselves were really responsible for the Holocaust.
(5) Ariel Sharon was worse than Hitler and the Israelis are Nazis. America supports Israel only because Jews control the American government and media.

For the first time in my life, then, I became conscious of anti-Semitism. Sure, anti-Semitism exists elsewhere in the world, but nowhere have the consequences been as devastating as in Germany. Looking at it as objectively as possible, 2002 was a banner year for anti-Semitism in Germany. Synagogues were firebombed, Jewish cemeteries desecrated, the No. 1 best-selling novel, Martin Walser's Death of a Critic, was a thinly-veiled roman a clef containing a vicious anti-Semitic attack on Germany's best-known literary critic, Marcel Reich-Ranicki (who was a survivor of both the Warsaw ghetto and Auschwitz); the Free Democrat Party unofficially adopted anti-Semitism as a campaign tactic to attract Germany's sizeable Muslim minority; and German revisionist historians began to define German perpetration of World War II and the Holocaust not as crimes against humanity, but as early battles (with regrettable but understandable excesses) in the Cold War against communism.

The situation is so bad that German Jews are advised not to wear anything in public that would identify them as Jewish because their safety cannot be guaranteed. How can this be? Isn't this the "New Germany" that's gone 60 years without a Holocaust or even a pogrom, where truth, justice and the German way prevail amidst economic wealth, a high standard of living that is the envy of their European neighbors, and a constitution guaranteeing freedom for everyone regardless of race, creed or national origin?

What's changed? The answer is: absolutely nothing. My thesis is quite simple. While Germany no longer has the military power to enforce the racist ideology of the Nazis and while all extreme manifestations of Nazism are officially outlawed, the internal conditions -- that is, the attitudes,world view and cultural assumptions - that led to the rise of Nazism in Germany are still present because they constitute the basic components of German identity. Nazism was not an aberration; it was the distillation of the German psyche into its essential elements. External Nazism may have been utterly defeated in May of 1945; internal Nazism, however, remains, and will always remain, a potential threat as long as there exists a political and/or cultural entity known as Germany.

Now hold on a second, I hear many people saying. You can't possibly claim that Germans are as anti-Semitic today as they were during the years 1933-1945. It is true that Germany today is much different than during the Third Reich. What is different is that due to its total defeat by the allies, Germany today is a client state of America and must do its bidding. That means repression of overt anti-Semitism. It's bad for business. The other thing that has changed is that, even though Hitler lost World War II, he was phenomenally successful in carrying out his ideological agenda. Germany, indeed virtually all of Europe, is essentially Judenfrei (free of Jews) today due to the efficiency and zeal of the Germans as they perpetrated the Holocaust during the Third Reich. In fact, a very convincing case can be made that Nazism is one of the most successful political programs of all time. It accomplished more of its goals in a shorter amount of time than any other comparable political movement and permanently changed the face and political structure of several continents.

Germany is wealthy, stable, relentlessly bourgeois, and for all intents and purposes, free of Jews. Yes, there is a tiny minority of Jews, mostly centered in Berlin, and yes, there have been a number of Jews from the former Soviet Union who have emigrated to Germany, but most of the immigrants from Russia are not practicing Jews and do little if anything to promote a unique Jewish-German identity. The result of all this is that Germans today are able to reap the benefits of Hitler's anti-Semitic policies while paying lip service to the "need to remember." Young Fritz doesn't have to be overtly anti-Semitic today because his grandfather's generation did such a bang-up job of the Holocaust. There just aren't that many Jews left to hate any more, and besides, the Germans have their old buddies, the Arabs, to do their hating for them. You might call the overwhelming German support for the Palestinians to be a form of anti-Semitism-by-proxy. The German government has made cash payments to the State of Israel, as well as to individual Jews, to settle claims of murder, torture, false imprisonment, slave labor and genocide. Talk to most Germans and you'll soon discover that they think that the score has been settled between Germany and the Jews, that somehow the return of just a portion of what the Germans stole from the Jews is fair recompense for the deliberate murder of millions of people. If you think the Germans are truly sorry for what they did to the Jews, think again. There's never been an official "tut mir leid" offered by the Germans to the victims of the Holocaust and their descendants because that would admit culpability. Germany has paid off all claims against it without acknowledging responsibility in the same way that the Ford Motor Company engages in recalls of automobiles. It's all done to avoid liability.

I have previously mentioned that Germans overwhelmingly support the Palestinians as opposed to the Israelis, and that this overwhelming support represents a form of anti-Semitism-by-proxy. Germans may claim to be supporting the Palestinians because they think they are an "oppressed people," but let's be honest - they are supporting the Palestinians and their Arab handlers because the Palestinians and Arabs share the same ideals as the Nazis. There's a long-standing history of German co-operation with the Arabs. In 1942 Hitler personally assured the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem that as soon as German forces conquered Great Britain, the Jews in Palestine (which was then under control of the British Mandate) would be exterminated.

We should also keep in mind that the Arab terrorists who perpetrated the 9/11 atrocities did their planning in Germany. There are several reasons for this. The first is the well-known bungling and de-centralized chaos of the German federal bureaucracy where literally the "linke" hand doesn't know what the "rechte" hand is doing. The second is that Arab terrorists can count on a substantial number of Germans who share their anti-American and anti-Semitic views. The former members of the SS and Hitler's praetorian guards, along with their neo-Nazi supporters, who gather weekly in Munich beer halls, made Osama bin Laden an "honorary Aryan" after the 9/11 attack. Mein Kampf is also a best seller in the Arab world, especially in Saudi Arabia, America's putative "friend." Indeed, there is very little difference between the anti-Semitic rantings of Hitler and those of the so-called "spiritual leaders" of al-Qaeda, Hamas, and Fatah. The Arabs also owe Hitler and the Germans big time. Hitler killed off the Jews, and Konrad Adenauer and his "democratic" descendants replaced them with the Turks. Yes, the Turks aren't Arabs, but they are Muslim, and although Turkey is a member of NATO and has relations with Israel, many Turks identify and support their radical Arab co-religionists. Turkey remains as fragile a democracy as Weimar Germany during the 1920s. It wouldn't take much for Turkey to fall into the dark side of Muslim extremism. The end result of Muslim immigration into Germany has been twofold:

(1) It allows the Germans to feign liberalism and being open to freedom and diversity; and
(2) By replacing the Jews they murdered with Muslims, who for the most part are as viciously anti-Semitic as were the Nazis, the Germans have cynically assured that those few Jews who remain in Germany will be unable to reassert political power even in a minority role.

A final point I would like to make concerning the reasons for the a resurgence of anti-Semitism in Germany is one that many will find at odds with the prima-facie evidence, or even appear to stretch the boundaries of common sense. Yet, I ask you to consider carefully my line of reasoning. In many respects Germany got away with the Holocaust without paying much of a price. Yes, many Germans died as a result of German perpetration of World War II and the Holocaust, and yes, there was much physical destruction in the country, but the situation is like the little boy who steals a cookie from the tray when it is cooling on the kitchen table. For his efforts he may have gotten his hand slapped by his mother, but the stolen cookie remains eaten nonetheless.

After having committed the worst crimes in the history of humankind, the Germans were allowed to regain their sovereignty after only ten years; their infrastructure was completely rebuilt thanks to the generosity of the American people; and relatively few Germans were brought to trial for their monstrous crimes. Even those who were tried and convicted received relatively short sentences or had those reduced or commuted in general amnesties. For example, some members of the Einsatzkommandos, those Germans who, before the construction of the death camps, hunted and murdered Jews by the hundreds of thousands, received sentences of as little as five years imprisonment. If there were true justice in the world, Germany would no longer exist as a separate country, but would have long ago had its territory divided up and dispersed among the Allies.

It was an unfortunate historical coincidence that the Cold War began just as Germany was at last being brought to task for its many crimes and atrocities extending back to the First World War. The new threat of the Soviet Union took precedence over a just settling of accounts with Germany. The tragic result is that many of the countries raped and despoiled by Germany, such as the Czech Republic and Poland, are just now coming out of decades of economic decline, while Germany - fat, sassy, arrogant, self-satisfied, and essentially Judenfrei- has enjoyed four decades of undeserved economic prosperity. We can't turn back the clock to redress all of the historical wrongs that have been committed by the Germans, but there are a number of things that can be done to assure that Germany can never again be in a position to threaten the rest of the civilized world.

First and foremost is the realizat ion that, while not all Germans are anti-Semitic, there is an anti-Semitic tendency within German culture that extends back to the time of Martin Luther. Germans are instinctively anti-Semitic in the same way that Americans are instinctively freedom loving. Anti-Semitism has been and unfortunately remains the default ideology of the German people. All things being equal, Germans will instinctively support the enemies of the State of Israel. Therefore, America will need to monitor closely and be ready and politically willing to intervene at a moment's notice in German affairs when it appears that Germany is back-sliding into anti-Semitism. Additionally, it should be a goal of American foreign policy to oppose and to accelerate the dismemberment of the European Union. We must not allow German domination of the EU to accomplish through parliamentary maneuvering and brokered deals what Hitler and the Germans were unable to accomplish during the Third Reich.

Given Germany's resurgent anti-Semitism (and that of France as well), a strong, German-dominated EU that tolerates and even benignly encourages anti-Semitism, and is diplomatically allied with the Arab world, is potentially the greatest threat to Judaism since Nazi Germany and a major threat to the United States as well. The enemies of Israel are the enemies of the United States. Let all Jews and Americans stand united as we proclaim never again to both the Holocaust and 9/11.

William E. Grim is a writer who lives in Germany and is a native of Columbus, Ohio.


_________________

* This is the very first post-Holocaust picture of Germany that I have ever seen published that depicted the post-Holocaust country of the nazis with absolute accuracy in every detail. Over the years I have often written about the reunification of the two Germanys and described it as one of the greatest mistakes ever made in history, and wrote that instead naziland should have been divided into the four historical parts that is its nature, never to rise to brutalize its neighbors or the world again! A crucial and horrible error!

It took only a few minutes during my first visit back to the land of my birth for me to realize that the place was clearly no different than when my parents and I had the good fortune to be among the very last Jews to escape, literally "minutes before midnight", when the gates of that man-made hell slammed shut with a resounding clang for the final time, dooming those of my people left behind, including over 50 of my immediate family.

I recall the words of my beloved grandfather as we came to Breslau to say our final farewell, knowing that there was no likelihood of ever seeing each other again. He ran alongside the slowly rolling departing train we were on, knowing he was bidding a final farewell to his only son and his family. Even then he optimistically maintained that "no harm will come to us. After all, I served my country and my Kaiser as an officer, and have always been a good citizen."

I do not know Mr. Grim, but I salute him for his clear view and thank him for writing this piece, which, had it been written by a Jew, would never be believed nor given its proper credence.

Please do forward this article to your lists and see that it gets the widest possible circulation. -

Harry W. Gluckman
Alameda, CA 94501-5642

Monday, October 09, 2006

Looking for a Job?


One of the more common questions I receive is whether Lauderhill has a job that they can apply for. We reguarly hire employees as our needs dictate. Some positions continually are available . Others, because there is turnover like in any organization. Sometimes a new position is created.

To find a job in Lauderhill, go to the following link: http://www.lauderhill.net/hr_oppo.html. You can also look under the "Career" tab to find out information on benefits, and fill out an interest card for other jobs that presently are not open. If such a position opens, you will then be notified. Most jobs are full time, unless otherwise noticed.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Lauderhill's 2nd Annual Bridge Tournament


On Sunday, November 5, at Lauderhill's Veteran's Park, 7600 NW 50th Street, an ACBL Sanctioned Bridge Tournament will be held. Triple Points will be awarded. Tournament registration begins at 11:30 AM, with the game beginning at 1 PM.

The cost is $12/person if pre-paid, and walk-ins are $15/person, including lunch at 12 noon. Funds raised shall go to the Lauderhill Teachers Reimbursement Grant Program. Last year over $10,000 was raised, and this year it is projected to be $15,000 to be distributed to support our tireless teachers.

For more information and registration contact Harold or Paula at 954-747-3383, or e-mail them at bridgewithharold@comcast.net

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Free Health Fair


The Academy of Physician Assistants (FAPA) will be conducting a Health Fair this Saturday, October 7th, 2006 from 10AM thru 2PM at the Lauderhill Mall in support of National Physician Assistant Week which is from October 6th thru October 12. The organization in conjunction with Nova Southeastern University Physician Assistant Program will be administering blood pressure and blood sugar screenings to kids as well as adults. They will also give away 250 brand-new Bike Helmets to children in the area.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Year Round Budgeting

Lauderhill's budgeting process is unique among governments. Unlike other cities and counties, we work to shape our budget for the following year almost year round. In most places, budget workshops are in July, and debate occurs in September. Not Lauderhill.

The method is inclusive of all in our city. It begins to take shape just prior to and at the prior year's budget hearings in September. Ideas heard at these meetings are included for consideration for the following year's budget, and we hold a discussion on how we wish to proceed with the upcoming Annual City Retreat, normally held in December or January. At the retreat we discuss where we need to address issues we foresee for the following year.

This upcoming year we expect to hire a facilitator to assist us and look at future goals. We may also be looking at the programs the city provides so that we can analyze their usefulness and effectiveness. At this year's budget hearings we heard that the public wants us to cut taxes. However, to do it correctly, we need to address what programs will be cut to accomplish this. There isn't a program that someone wants, and feels important. However, to succeed in answering the taxpayers, cutting is what we will need to do.

Following the Annual Retreat, we will schedule approximately 5 Pre-Budget Public Workshops around the city. Each will address the concerns within a particular area, though anyone can attend and discuss any matter within the budget throughout the city. From these workshops we gather ideas of what residents and businesses like, don't like, want to improve, or maybe would like to see eliminated. It is your time for us to hear from you. The Pre-Budget Workshops traditionally fall between January and March.

In prior years we traditionally receive people who want more and more, which costs more and more. That is why taxes can go up, or alternatively, prevents them from going down. If taxpayers want to see reductions in taxes, they will need to attend, and tell us where we can cut, not add to the budget. These meetings are the most important meetings you can attend, if you are serious about taxes in our city. It is expected that this year, we will be providing details relating to program budgeting, so the Public and the Commission can see the costs of services and address these tax concerns. We need the Public to speak up. We will listen.

Following the Pre-Budget Workshops, we schedule a City Wide Budget Workshop in mid July to see for the first time how the budget looks for the upcoming year. This is also an important time for residents to attend. Though it is somewhat late to add programs, if residents want a program to be cut, this would be a good opportunity to express themselves.

In September the Commission is presented with its Final Budget to vote on at 2 public hearings. By this time the budget is set, and unless unexpected issues come up that prevent or cause us to change the budget, it is pretty much already completed.

As you can see, compared to other cities who debate the budget in September, we have already completed our debate, for which the Public is an active participant.