CHINA

The Nuclear Summit -- a major event, a life and death meeting -- it isn't front and center in the media, in conversations today, but it ought to be.

Leaders of the 46 countries that Obama needed to be there, were there. (North Korea, Libya and Syria weren't there -- they'd expressed that they wouldn't cooperate. Israel last minute, couldn't attend. )

Good things happened. Obama, in his extraordinarily diplomatic, skillful way, managed to get everyone agreeing that it was important to keep nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists. Canada, Chile and Ukraine actually pledged to reduce their stocks of enriched uranium, and all the countries agreed to use UN economic sanctions on Iran, if Iran continued to enrich uranium.

(Canada, our friendly neighbor, was endangering us, enriching itself by selling enriched plutonium to some of the countries that were hell-bent on creating nuclear weapons.)

Perhaps the most significant accomplishment of the summit was Obama getting a promise from China's President, Hu Jintao, to join negotiations on finding ways to force Iran to stop its nuclear program.

Joining negotiations suggested a soft-voiced, "yes, I'll try to help," but it's a step in the right direction.

President Hu Jintao is not only the President of the People's Republic of China, he's also the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China. And China has become a major world power, second to the United States.

If we are going to protect our country, and the rest of the world from a nuclear holocaust, we surely need, we must have China's support, BUT ... is Mr. Hu Jintao a friend or an enemy?

He's run things in China for eight years. What about human rights in China? The Tiananmen Massacre of protesters -- laws that restrict Chinese families from having more than one child, the tainted imports that continue -- lead painted toys, jewelry. tainted fish, pet food that kills pets -- mine disasters in Chinese coal districts that kill more than 2600 miners every year -- executions of criminals, more than a 1000 a year in China, while the entire rest of the world executed 700?

What do the Chinese really feel about bombs that can destroy civilization as we know it? They think differently from us -- their regard for human life is different from ours.

Yes, we have Barack Obama, a statesman, in our White House, who thinks ahead, and knows all the pros, cons, and possibilities.

Commentators are saying .. "good luck. Charlie (Obama)." They say-- "Iran, which our own State Department identifies as the greatest exporter of terrorism in the world, in less than a year will have enough enriching uranium to make a bomb."

They remind us --"Israel wasn't at the summit -- they're too busy threatening, echoing the threats of Syria. who wasn't at the summit, who's just been discovered transferring lethal Scud missiles to Hezbollah, the Middle East's most powerful non-state terrorist force."

Of course the commentators mention Kim Jong II, North Korea's nutty dictator, who'll kill to get a killer bomb.

They say, "Not on the Summit's agenda was Pakistan's plutonium production, that's adding to the world's stockpile of fissile material every day. And Pakistan says its fighting Taliban while it's home to Al-Qaeda."

They sigh wistfully, negatively, summing up the summit: "Canadian uranium is secured. A non-binding communique has been issued. And a 'work plan' has been agreed to, and there will be another summit in two years. The dream lives on."

I say: "Obama dreamed when he was a student, 27 years ago, of a weapons-free world, and what he dreams -- he implements."

LIZ TAYLOR'S GIFT (VIDEO)

We had fun, reading that Liz is having fun, with "marriage" again.



Here's a photo of the actual gift.

The frame is heavy, thick, solid silver.
What struck us what the engraved word "Lovc."
It seems like a command to "love Elizabeth."

THE POPE

Is it enough? In Malta, this past Sunday, the Pope had tears in his eyes. He spoke to each of eight men who, as children, had been abused by priests.

The Pope has met with other groups of men who were abused as children. During his trip to the United States in April 2008, he met with five victims of sexual abuse, and with five other victims, in July 2008, in Australia.

Two of the victims who met Benedict XVI in 2008, recently announced plans to stage a large gathering of victims in St. Peter's Square in Rome in October of this year. calling it a "Day of Reform" to demand the Vatican adopt tough new policies on abuse.

Why is all this suddenly in the headlines?

A scandal, that started more than fifteen years ago erupted gain on Sunday April 10th at a church in Oakland, California. When Pope XV! was a Cardinal, he covered up the rape of a boy, and other abuse crimes of Stephen Kisele, a priest who continued as a priest, and later abused a seven-year-old girl. Protesters and the girl, now in her thirties, have demanded, "The Catholic church needs to stop living with blinders on. The Pope needs to step down. He was the accomplice to crimes.”

There was no response from the Pope this past Sunday in Malta, and a tepid response from the Vatican, saying they would issue new guidelines.

New abuse guideline were released by the Vatican. They instruct Bishops to report to civil authorities "what needs to be reported" -- to follow "civil law concerning reporting of crimes to the appropriate authorities."

This is NOT ENOUGH.

Other priests who abused children have been assigned to other jobs and are still working -- some at other locations, others are working at the Vatican -- notably, Cardinal Law, who covered up abuse crimes in Massachusetts, who did what Cardinal Ratzinger did, before he became Pope Benedict XV!.

And just last week in England, the Catholic Church decided not to unfrock a priest who abused deaf boys. The priest who admitted indecently assaulting deaf boys at a school in Yorkshire, has been allowed to remain as a cleric.

Letting the priest remain as a cleric is wrong. I'm not a Catholic, but I have to say what I see and feel. All the priests who have abused kids should be defrocked, and no longer be allowed to function within the Church.

Tears in the Pope's eyes do not take away the fact that he has not admitted, or atoned for his own wrong behavior. He, like Cardinal Law, who still works at the Vatican, has helped pedophiles hide their crimes, and continue functioning as priests.

"Morality" is the principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior. The Church gives us a system of values, and moral principles.

I don't belong to any church. But the Pope is The POPE. The World looks to him, all of us look to him, listen to him. He sets the standards for morality.

Do we forgive him, he knows not what he does?

It seems to me that there two choices: Bury the shame, knowing that certain heinous crimes against innocent citizens are private business or are not crimes if they are committed by priests and excused by popes.

Or ... Challenge Ratzinger -- Catholics can rise up and say he's not longer fit to be their Supreme Leader!

CONNECTING

Joel Stein, 29-year-old Los Angeles Times columnist, and contributor to Time Magazine, wrote a tongue-in-cheek essay on the two days he spent, when he disconnected his connections.

Wow, I thought, immediately wondering how I'd feel if I disconnected my connections. Basically they're my computers, TV, land-line phones, cells, and intercom that connects me to the downstairs front door and whoever wants to see us or talk to us.

I wouldn't miss anything except my computers. I need them to work, and working, is like breathing to me.

Stein un-plugged Internet, TV., iPods, GPS (his auto's global positioning system), and immediately became aware of his compulsions --he kept wanting to check his email, and be twittering, Facebooking throughout the day . When his 24 hours were over, he thanked God for technology, and swore he'd never voluntarily disconnect again. Twitter, Facebook and his GPS were what he missed the most.

Admitting that he needed response to his emails, texts, and calls right away, he ended his essay with a funny, equivocal remark -- "That's why I need to become a much, much bigger celebrity. So for now, my priority is spending all my time on Facebook and Twitter."

That was a yikes, a moan, from me. I need to be a bigger celebrity and get more readers for Em's Talkery. I don't see Facebook or Twitter in my future. I enrolled in Facebook under a fake name, fake high school because I don't want to communicate with people I went to High School with, or their friends. I've already gotten two responses from people who claim they remember and love "Harriet" (the fake name, fake person.)

I opened a Twitter account to see what was involved. Okay, 140 characters per tweet -- 30 or 40 words. After the first step was done, I was told to fill in email addresses for friends. I had 6 names to put down. And realized if each of my 6 names had 6 friends, then I'd be sending 36 updates/tweets throughout the day, and hearing from 36 people. If the 36 each had 6 friends .that would be 216 -- then 1296.

Gee, maybe in a few months it could be 7776 people with whom I'd be in touch on a daily basis. And then, 46, 656 -- then 279, 936 -- and wow, 1,679 616! But why would they want to follow what I do in the course of a day?

Ugg-eek-ick-yuck! Was that why Fran, my blog coach and best friend said Tweeting was a waste of time? Was that the "fame" that Joel Stein meant?

Does Sarah Palin's twittering reach 2 million, 5 million tweeters? Is she writing little tweets -- about what? -- little nothings throughout the day?

No! No! The world, the mainland I was seeing when I looked out that web-world window -- all the Joel Stein pals texting, emailing, iPhoning mobile-ing -- the mainland was getting small, smaller and smaller, farther and farther away. Was I drifting out to sea, out into the blue-gray, then gray blank space?

Oops! I'm remembering what I wrote yesterday about disappearing ink, "Tiger Texting" -- my feeling that many people in the world were strangers doing wrong things -- and me, with my different point of view about communicating ... I do feel out in space.

That's where, apparently, I'm heading.

Well, it's spacious. I haven't disconnected anything. I can think, and write as much as I want.

Thanks for what you wrote Joel Stein.