The Advocates and How FDR Saved America

“The Advocates”

 With

Richard J. Garfunkel

 WVOX – AM Radio 1460- 12 Noon Wednesday

January 30, 2008

http://advocates-wvox.com

 

Wednesday, January 30, 2008, at 12:00 Noon, I am hosting my show “The Advocates” on WVOX- 1460 AM on your dial, or you can listen to its live streaming at www.wvox.com.  One can call the show at 914-636-0110 to reach us on the radio. Today’s topic is about our 32nd President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose birthday was on this date in 1882. The topic is the “Impact of FDR, and How He Saved America and the World.” 

 

My guest today is Mr. Bernard Bellush, who currently resides with his wife Jewel in Valhalla, NY. He is the author of the scholarly work, “Franklin D. Roosevelt as Governor of New York,” which was published by the Columbia University Press in 1955. Mr. Bellush was a professor at City College in New York City. Mr. Bellush, in writing this unique book, came into contact with some of the intellectual giants of that era, which include Allan Nevins, Herman Kahn, Richard B. Morris, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and Frank Freidel, one of FDR’s greatest biographers.

 

As of this past November, Professor Bellush turned 90 years old. He was born, raised and educated in New York City’s great public schools as well as its outstanding City College. He took 3 years off from his graduate work at Columbia University to be further educated by the Army of the USA. Part of that experience involved landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day to help set up the first ammunition depot as a Sergeant with the 616th Ordnance Ammunition Company. The GI Bill of Rights, one of the greatest pieces of legislation ever, helped him complete his doctorate at Columbia. His first book, with editorial assistance from his wife Jewel, was “Franklin D. Roosevelt as Governor of New York.”  While teaching at CCNY he authored other books on the NRA, a biography of Governor John G Winant of New Hampshire, and a joint authorship with his wife Jewel “Union Power in New York.” For the last 5 years, he and his wife have been kept busy lecturing at our Senior Community, Westchester Meadows, on Political and Historical subjects.

 

One can find my essays on FDR and other subjects at RJG Public Thoughts: http://publicthoughts.blogharbor.com and can also see all of the archived shows at:

http://advocates-wvox.com. 

 

Meanwhile, the mission of the “Advocates” is to bring to the public differing views on current “public policy “ issues. “Public policy,” therefore, is what we as a nation legally and traditionally follow. Over the years, the “public policy” of the United States has changed or has been modified greatly. As an example, “free public education” is the public policy of the United States. Also, over time great struggles have ensued over the control of the direction of “public policy” For example: free trade vs. protectionism, slavery vs. emancipation, state’s rights vs. Federalism, and an all-volunteer armed forces or the “draft.”

 

Richard J. Garfunkel

https://www.richardjgarfunkel.com

rjg727@optonline.net 

 

Shows Coming up:

 

Michel Lee, Council on Intelligent Energy and Resources, Talks About Indian Point and our future February 6, 2008

Nicolaus Mills – Professor of American Studies at Sarah Lawrence College: Talks about his book on George C. Marshall, “Winning the Peace.”

February 13, 2008.

 

The Advocates 1-23-08 -“The Graying of America”

 

“The Advocates”

 With

Richard J. Garfunkel

 WVOX – AM Radio 1460- 12 Noon Wednesday

January 23, 2008

http://advocates-wvox.com

 

Wednesday, January 23, 2008, at 12:00 Noon, I am hosting my show “The Advocates” on WVOX- 1460 AM on your dial, or you can listen to its live streaming at www.wvox.com.  One can call the show at 914-636-0110 to reach us on the radio.  Today’s topic- “The Graying of America, and What Can We Do About it?” is becoming a critical issue for not only the country, but for the world. As a society we face an ever-growing population of senior citizens, many who are healthy and want to contribute. We are also facing a large group of baby boomers whose tens of millions will dramatically impact the entitlement trust funds over the next two decades.

 

My guest in the studio is John Berenyi, who should be no stranger to these broadcasts. Mr. John Berenyi, has undergraduate and graduate degrees in, engineering, management sciences and applied economics from Columbia University. He has been an investment banker, who has specialized in alternative energy and environmental finance for the past 25 years. In the early part of his career, as a Loeb Fellow in Advanced Environmental Studies at Harvard University, he developed the composite set of environmental indicators to measure the quality of life in cities across the United States. Cities, counties, states, and academic institutions have adopted this work, across America, as a tool for public of public policy and evaluation. Today, after a long career serving companies like Citicorp, HSBC Capital and IF Rothschild, he is the managing director of Ecocite, a Canadian-based company that works as an energy investment trust for eco-property development. Mr. Berenyi owns and operates a long term care retirement facility in Dutchess County— in the Hudson Valley— licensed by the NY State Department of Health and also regulated by the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

 

Also joining us from his offices in Washington DC is Chuck Wilsker, the President and CEO of the Telework Coalition (TelCoa), www.TelCoa.org, a not for profit association. TelCoa works to support and enable the advancement of Virtual, Mobile, and Distributed Work through Research, Education, Technology, and Legislation. Chuck’s interests include both promoting the benefits of Telework as a means of providing employment opportunities for older, rural, and disabled workers, including service disabled veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and its use as a critical part of disaster avoidance, business continuity, and Continuity of Operations programs. He has been the featured guest on many radio interview shows, appeared on NBC Channel 4 in Washington, DC, was on Fox News' Fox Magazine, ABC’s World News Tonight, and NBC’s Nightly News. He has written many articles on Teleworking, and is often quoted in both local and National press, including the Washington Post, USAToday, the Wall Street Journal, Financial Week, Money Magazine, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Federal Computer Week, GovExec.com, Government Computer News, NetworkWorld magazine, and ABCNews.com.

 

Meanwhile, the mission of the “Advocates” is to bring to the public differing views on current “public policy “ issues. “Public policy,” therefore, is what we as a nation legally and traditionally follow. Over the years, the “public policy” of the United States has changed or has been modified greatly. As an example, “free public education” is the public policy of the United States. Also, over time great struggles have ensued over the control of the direction of “public policy” For example: free trade vs. protectionism, slavery vs. emancipation, state’s rights vs. Federalism, and an all-volunteer armed forces or the “draft.”

 

Richard J. Garfunkel

914-524-8381

914-261-6587 (cell)

https://www.richardjgarfunkel.com

rjg727@optonline.net 

 

The Advocates 1-16-08- with Allegra Dengler

 

“The Advocates”

 With

Richard J. Garfunkel

 WVOX – AM Radio 1460- 12 Noon Wednesday

January 16, 2008

http://advocates-wvox.com

 

Wednesday, January 16, 2008, at 12:00 Noon, I am hosting my show “The Advocates” on WVOX- 1460 AM on your dial, or you can listen to its live streaming at www.wvox.com.  One can call the show at 914-636-0110 to reach us on the radio.  My guest in the studio is Ms. Allegra Dengler, the Chairperson of the Westchester-based Citizens for Voting Integrity, and is making our second visit with us this afternoon. Our subject is “Addressing the Threat to Our Free Elections, and the Impact of Non-Verifiable Voting Machines, part II.”

 

Our discussion this morning will again focus on voter integrity and the sanctity of the secret ballot and the machines, which count and insure that our elections are not manipulated. The security of our elections, against the possibility of fraud, is at the heart of our democracy. Ms. Dengler first brought up this critical issue on our program last September.

 

Allegra Dengler was a former Dobbs Ferry Village Trustee, is a member of the Sierra Club, serves on the New York Democratic Lawyer’s Council HAVA Committee (Help America Vote Act), and is a member of the Progressive Democrats of America Election Protection Working Group.  She was a candidate for the Greenburgh Town Board in 2005 and narrowly lost election for Mayor of Dobbs Ferry.  She is constantly working, along with the League of Women Voters, and other groups, to insure that New Yorkers have the proper paper ballots when the current lever machines are replaced under our new law.

 

Meanwhile, the mission of the “Advocates” is to bring to the public differing views on current “public policy “ issues. “Public policy,” therefore, is what we as a nation legally and traditionally follow. Over the years, the “public policy” of the United States has changed or has been modified greatly. As an example, “free public education” is the public policy of the United States. Also, over time great struggles have ensued over the control of the direction of “public policy” For example: free trade vs. protectionism, slavery vs. emancipation, state’s rights vs. Federalism, and an all-volunteer armed forces or the “draft.”

 

Richard J. Garfunkel

https://www.richardjgarfunkel.com

rjg727@optonline.net 

 

Bush Ignorant on World War II History 1-16-08

Letter to the Journal News

January 16, 2008

 

On January 12, 2008, in the Journal News, it was reported that President George W. Bush stated, at Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem’s Holocaust Memorial, that the Allies should have bombed the railroad tracks leading to the Auschwitz Death Camp. Again our President has shown an incredible lack of knowledge and understanding of commonly known history. Any casual student of World War II would know that it was virtually impossible for high-level bombers to hit any single railroad track from between 10 and 20 thousand feet in the sky. All the marshalling yards, where trains are assembled, were constantly bombed in daylight and the Germans used thousands of soldiers, prisoners and slave-laborers to repair these yards. His pandering remarks, to his hosts, reflect his typical ignorance of the facts. In June of 1944, David Ben-Gurion, the future first Prime Minister of Israel, who was the Chairman of the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem, responded to a proposal by the Allies to bomb Auschwitz. His agency met, and voted eleven to one against bombing the facility. By the time the Allies had discovered that Auschwitz-Birkenau was the final destination for all those helpless victims, over 90% of them had been killed. The leading historian of that gruesome era, Sir Martin Gilbert has written that, “the details and even the name of Auschwitz were not confirmed until the escape of two prisoners in April, 1944.”  Even though there were numerous raids, in late 1944, over the nearby synthetic oil production plant at Monowitz, Allied planes from Foggia, Italy did not have fighter escort. Therefore low-level attacks were virtually impossible. In late January of 2009, and not too soon, former President Bush can go back to clearing brush in Crawford, and spend some of his idle time reading a book once in awhile, and contemplating his disastrous administration.

 

Richard J. Garfunkel

The Advocates 1-9-08

 

“The Advocates”

 With

Richard J. Garfunkel

 WVOX – AM Radio 1460- 12 Noon Wednesday

January 9, 2008

 

Wednesday, January 9, 2008, at 12:00 Noon, I am hosting my show “The Advocates” on WVOX- 1460 AM on your dial, or you can listen to its live streaming at www.wvox.com.  One can call the show at 914-636-0110 to reach us on the radio.  My guest this morning in the studio is Mr. Neil Goldstein, the Executive Director of the American Jewish Congress.

In 1918, leaders within the American Jewish community, consisting of Jewish, Zionists, and immigrant community organizations, convened the first American Jewish Congress (AJCongress) in Philadelphia's historic Independence Hall. Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, Felix Frankfurter, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, and others joined to lay the groundwork for a national democratic organization comprised of Jewish leaders from all over the country, to rally for equal rights for all Americans regardless of race, religion or national ancestry.

In addition to its stated goals of equal rights for all, it was founded to broaden Jewish leadership and to present a unified American Jewish position at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. It became effective as a pressure group in 1928 under the leadership of Rabbi Wise, who remained the president and chief spokesperson of the AJCongress until his death in 1949.

Through its emphasis on human rights for all Americans; on protection by government of the weakest among us; and on a just society based on civil law and the Jewish concept of Tzedek —righteousness— the American Jewish Congress has made its mark to a remarkable degree on American society in general and Jewish well-being in particular.

 

Today our discussion and topic will be: Keeping an Old Organization Young! The American Jewish Congress is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year, and it has just had a major success with the Congressional passage of the US-Israel Energy Cooperation Act (USIECA) – a piece of legislation that the AJC conceptualized and helped lead to its passage.

 

Meanwhile, the mission of the “Advocates” is to bring to the public differing views on current “public policy “ issues. “Public policy,” therefore, is what we as a nation legally and traditionally follow. Over the years, the “public policy” of the United States has changed or has been modified greatly. As an example, “free public education” is the public policy of the United States. Also, over time great struggles have ensued over the control of the direction of “public policy” For example: free trade vs. protectionism, slavery vs. emancipation, state’s rights vs. Federalism, and an all-volunteer armed forces or the “draft.”

 

Richard J. Garfunkel

https://www.richardjgarfunkel.com

rjg727@optonline.net 

 

The Advocates 1-2-08

 

“The Advocates”

 With

Richard J. Garfunkel

 WVOX – AM Radio 1460- 12 Noon Wednesday

 

“The Democrats in the Red Zone”

With author

 AF Cook

 

Wednesday, January 2, 2008, at 12:00 Noon, I am hosting my show “The Advocates” on WVOX- 1460 AM on your dial, or you can listen to its live streaming at www.wvox.com.  One can call the show at 914-636-0110 to reach us on the radio. My guest this morning from Arlington, Va., is AF Cook, the author of “Democrats in the Red Zone: an Independent Voter’s take on the game of political perception”!

 

AF Cook, who is a graduate of Tufts University, is a writer/editor and, communications consultant. Over the past seven years, she has been editing, writing, and supervising projects for organizations as diverse as the FDAnews, the American Red Cross, the University of Maryland, The Diversity Channel, and the National Geographic Society. She is affiliated with of the National Press Club, and Washington Independent Writers.  

 

Today’s discussion will center on her provocative new and interesting book, “Democrats in the Red Zone: an independent voter’s take on the game of political perception.” Author Cook said, “Since I can remember, it’s been an uphill battle for Democrats to win the hearts and minds of most male voters, Cook writes, “I don’t think the problem is that complicated because, as many guys have told me, they’re not that complicated.”

 

But appealing to male voters is just one part of the Democrats’ overall communication problem with voters, Cook says. If Democrats want the voting majority to accept its policies as right for America, they need to find out better ways of convincing voters of that. Cook believes Dems can learn valuable lessons about competition and communication from the all-American game of football. It doesn’t matter if you’re right, Cook says, if you can’t convince people to agree with you.

 

Meanwhile, the mission of the “Advocates” is to bring to the public differing views on current “public policy “ issues. “Public policy,” therefore, is what we as a nation legally and traditionally follow. Over the years, the “public policy” of the United States has changed or has been modified greatly. As an example, “free public education” is the public policy of the United States. Also, over time great struggles have ensued over the control of the direction of “public policy” For example: free trade vs. protectionism, slavery vs. emancipation, state’s rights vs. Federalism, and an all-volunteer armed forces or the “draft.”

 

Richard J. Garfunkel

914-524-8381

914-261-6587 (cell)

https://www.richardjgarfunkel.com

rjg727@optonline.net