War and Christmas

                Nothing better proves the American lust for war, the American celebration of war and therefore America’s doomed destiny as eventual victor-vanquished victims of war than this Christmas season.

                It is a supremely sad and uncanny irony that during the celebration of THE Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ (ostensibly our lord and savior), the most hyped movie is “Warhorse,”  the most advertised video games (as usual) are about bullets and bombs and that the favorite refrain of the super-religious is once again “the war on Christmas.”

                Until the masses of everyday American citizens  taste the reality of the wars  unleashed on the millions of innocents in places like Iraq and Vietnam, until they suffer, truly suffer the hard hits of the mystique which they now so readily venerate, they will continue  down , down, down the inevitable path towards that tragic future eventuality.

                The inability to learn from history, to exercise true faith in the teachings of “the reason for the season,”  to live in love, charity, mercy and peace, and to therefore reject war and all its glorifications makes a mockery of every  “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Season’s Greetings” cheer.

                Thank you God for Jesus, the greatest teacher of them all.  

                Maybe some day we'll learn.

To the lover of wintersweet and Pussywillows, Cattails

I miss my friend, the lover of wintersweet and Pussywillows, Cattails.

     May soft winds and roses rest deep in her soul

           From whence they return to make my life whole.

Giving thanks

I give thanks, lord, I give thanks.  I have so much for which to be thankful, THANK YOU.  

Not that I needed to see him for this feeling of gratitude, but on this gray, rainy morning as I was pulling off New Circle Rd onto Nicholasville I saw a raggedy man--beard damp with driplets and baggy clothes soaked through to his bones-- who was walking towards the ramp with a homemade sign that I could not read but probably said something like "Homeless, please help, bless you!"

I took a short minute to put myself in his shoes, forced my mind to adopt HIS outlook, HIS feelings--or what I imagined his feelings to be--at that moment, and then what they might have been during the hours, days, weeks, months, years and decades that would lead to this sad, sad moment of desparation.

My God, what chain of events in this man's life could create the condition that had him scrambling on this unforgiving day?  It was a  mind-numbing abyss, one that had I lingered too long, I imagined, I might never escape.

For the fact that I had the spiritual, mental, and physical health to observe, empathize and reflect, and that I had a nice car from which to do so,  that I was able to get a taste of that poor man's life, yet return to my own.... I AM THANKFUL!

For this, for family, for friends, for freedom, for opportunities and and a million things more I give thanks.

Richard Dawahare  November 22, 2011

Republicans trash conservative values

            Lost in the ideological headlock that has Republican Congressmen—like pigs possessed—throwing themselves off the cliff of rationality, is the fact that true conservative values are essential to America’s nationhood.  The problem is not with the values, but rather with the self-interest of those who have hijacked and warped them to suit their narrow purposes.

            True to its name, conservatism should be all about preserving America’s essence, its foundational character.  It should be about honoring and strengthening the values our founders followed in forging a union that would become the world’s new great hope.

           

            From the first Thanksgiving to the Declaration of Independence and the drafting of the Constitution collective action was vital not merely for the greater good, but for the nation’s very creation, survival and eventual growth.  Working together for a purpose greater than any one individual or group’s special interest is therefore a value worth conserving. 

           

            As is individual effort and personal responsibility.  In a free land that honors liberty and justice for all collective action with individual enterprise combined to create the world’s most successful country, enjoying the highest standard of living for the greatest amount of people and, until recently, providing moral leadership. 

            Yet today’s Republican leaders are trashing conservative values!  They trumpet personal responsibility for the little guy, but the really big and strong ones who need not one cent they instead give trillions.  That’s right, Congressional Republicans (and sure, some Democrats too) have repaid their corporate benefactors by giving them obscene tax subsidies, allowing them to escape hundreds of billions in taxes they rightfully should owe.  

            In the 1950’s, when America was at her zenith, corporate taxes paid for more than a quarter of the federal government’s outlays.  Today that has dropped to a mere 6%.  In that same period federal corporate tax collections fell from nearly 5% of GDP to a paltry 1.16% now.   The sad and unbelievable truth is that most American taxpayers pay more federal income taxes than General Electric, Boeing, Dupont, Wells Fargo, Verizon, (and many others) combined.  (But there is one tax increase Republicans not only support, but demand:  higher payroll taxes on poor and middle class taxpayers by refusing to extend the small cuts put in place last year).

            While using government for their own narrow aims they dis it at every turn.  The collective action so instrumental to our nation’s creation and growth they decry as socialism, an evil to be shunned.  Yet they are oblivious to the fact that collective action saved America.  Whether through FDR’s activism, the GI Bill, Social Security and Medicare, our vaunted military, and a million other ways, collective action through our federal government has created the America we know and love.  

            So instrumental was collective action to our national heritage that we inscribed the  slogan, “e pluribus unum” –literally, ‘from many, one’—on the dollar bill. 

            Collective action evil?   Just the opposite.   On the contrary, read Acts 4:32-36.

            Go ahead, I dare you.

Burn Strawman, Burn!

     
     What do you do when you’re locked in a belief, a mindset, or philosophy and the force of fact, truth, logic and justice are so against you that you have nowhere to turn without exposing the error of your position? Hopefully you’d follow truth and adjust your views accordingly. Unfortunately, today’s Republicans continue to re-paint reality into a false portrait that fits their warped view (otherwise known as “creating a straw man” argument). It is their constant fight with truth, with history, with justice and with the saving grace of cooperative action for the greater good that has so locked down our national promise and progress.

       Take the latest example, the Wall St. protestors. They are painted out to be rich hating anti-capitalists who want nothing more than a handout from those who industrious few who produce in the open marketplace. What utter rubbish! Back in 2009, as soon as President Obama failed to adequately address the corruption on Wall Street that led to our economic collapse, I myself expressed the sentiments that fuel today’s protest. And by God I AM a capitalist. Lost all the capital I had in our family business when we went out in 2008. That’s okay, it is part of the free enterprise system, and I have no regrets, only fond memories and appreciation for all that system did for me and my family over the last century.

         However, what the protestors detest, as do I, is the cheating, the self-dealing, the rancid pay for play lobbying that cares not one damn for the greater public interest, but only, only for their private gain. It was such greed that led to the de-regulation facilitating impossible leveraging that garnered nothing but obscene gains for Wall Street traders, bankers and mortgage brokers but saddled US—particularly the poor and middle class citizen—with all the losses. Yet Obama let the Wall Street chicanery continue nearly unabated. He did not lift a finger to curb the wrongful bonuses, based largely on productive-for-them-but-unproductive-for-everybody-else performance.  He did not fight for true reform, perhaps hoping to woo Wall Street’s support, who knows.

         So yeah, when the guy who ran on hope instead runs the other way—whether on financial reform, half-hearted health care non-reform, reversing tax cuts that have helped deplete the treasury and help make the gap between rich and poor greater than at any time since the Roaring Twenties—and Congress does NOTHING but continue to aid and abet their larceny, then YES, it is time to take to the streets.

            Justice wins out in the end. It always does. The only question remains: how much pain must we all suffer from those who continue to fight against it?

                                                               Richard Dawahare 10/19/11

Reverse envy Republicans

Jealousy of the poor. With their newfound ‘reverse envy’ right wing Republicans have found their true center, their essential core and they are not bashful about it. I’ll give them this: it’s one thing to promote low taxes and extreme wealth concentration for the richest of the rich, but it takes a certain type of “in YOUR face, GOD!” kind of chutzpah to actually justify such hording on how relatively little federal income tax (they conveniently omit all the other federal taxes) the poorest of the poor pay. (Of course, their argument is totally hypocritical and nongenuine--you won't find the first one of them who would trade places with a low earner).

They also forget to mention the share of INCOME the very rich get as compared to everyone else and the share of WEALTH they enjoy, through hard work, corrupt bought and paid-for tax shemes, inheritance or otherwise. The gap in AFTER-TAX INCOME—did you get that, AFTER TAX income—between the top 1% and middle and poorest fifths of America more than TRIPLED between 1979 and 2007 (Congressional Budget Office, the period for which data was available).

This increase in after-tax income inequality reflects the huge increases in PRE-tax incomes, which for the top 1% rose 141%--ONE HUNDRED FORTY ONE PER CENT—from 1979-2007. The top 1%’s share of pre-tax income more than DOUBLED in that same period from 9.3% to 19.4%. Thus, by 2007 the top 1% had before-tax incomes that were 24 times higher than the middle fifth of our population, a share that nearly tripled since 1979.

NOTE to those so envious of the poor who pay little to no INCOME tax (but pay a huge amount, a much, much larger % than the very rich in payroll taxes—something we WILL change when power flows back to the PEOPLE): it is this very GROWTH of the top 1%’s share of total before-tax income that has led to their having a growing share of total taxes.

IN FACT, the ACTUAL percentage Of the income that they paid in federal taxes—the “effective federal tax rate”—for the top 1 percent declined from 33.0 % of income in 2000 to 29.5% in 2007. While the share of total federal taxes paid by the top 1% rose from 25.5% in 2000 to 28.1% in 2007, this rise was due to the fact that they received a growing share of total before-tax income, 19.4% in 2007 vs 17.8% in 2000.

Bottom line: the effective tax rate of the top 1% of household was lower in 2007 than at any time since 1990! Unquestionably and undeniably, their tax burdens DECREASED, a drop that was accelerated by Bush’s tax cuts.

What made America truly great was the utterly essential resort to a higher degree of shared sacrifice/shared rewards that marked our emergence from the Great Depression and then post-WWII. The Greatest Generation didn’t blink an eye with top tax rates of 90%--NINETY PERCENT. Even the last truly great Republican president, Dwight David Eisenhower, knew the critical importance of our social contract, of an activist government that serves the greater good , of a vibrant middle class, and thus never sought to lower the tax rates (Kennedy did, to 70% where it remained until Reagan went way too far in lowering it to 28% before later raising to around 35%, still way too low).

To blame America’s ills, or in this case, the deficit, i.e. insufficient tax revenues, on working-poor families barely making it is not merely cruel and heartless. It is wrong and worse, it does not reflect America’s true values.

The Good Post—to your health and happiness!

This piece has but one goal: to help you feel, do and be better!

I. PHYSICAL HEALTH

We’ve heard it a million times---“DIET AND EXERCISE” Well, that’s true, but the trick is to turn what are “chore” words to JOY words! Finding food that is HEALTHY and PLEASURABLE to eat, doing exercise that you look forward to doing is the key!

A. FOOLPROOF DIET—this is guaranteed to make you feel better and lose weight.

FIRST—DESIRE! You gotta want it, “it” being a combination of losing weight, feeling and looking better, being healthier.

SECOND—“eye of the tiger!” You gotta have an inner conviction of change that second guesses all you have thought about food, been taught or conditioned to think about food your whole life. YOU HAVE BUT ONE LIFE—max it out!

HERE’S THE DIET:

1) ELIMINATE—
a. ALL transfats (partially hydrogenated oils), which means margarine and just about all processed/packaged foods. PS—when I say “all” I mean ALL!

b. ALL artificial sweeteners—Splenda, Nutrasweet. These are POISON, they screw up your neurology, can make you nervous, cause numbness, give you cancer AND….MAKE YOU GAIN WEIGHT!! Try Stevia instead if you must have a sweetener (go here for a fuller critique of Aspartame);

c. MOST ALL sugar—meaning granulated sugar, high fructose corn syrup, other syrups and other sugars “raw” or not, including juices, but NOT FRUIT, natural, raw fruit is just fine. PS—“ALL” would be preferable, but settle for “most all”—which for most of you will mean about a 90% reduction of the sugar you are currently taking in. Put simply, sugar is a killer, a robber of long term health at the expense of a few minutes of sublime pleasure. You don’t need it and can enjoy the satisfaction of sweets without it with frozen fruit smoothies and natural, raw fruits!

d. ALL FAST FOOD—there are occasional non-threatening choices at some fast food restaurants but, really, these places are disastrous for long term health. Taste good? Sure, sometimes, but so what? Limit your visits—to something like zero times over the course of a year.

e. EXCESS CALORIES!!! You simply must count calories IF you are overweight and want to shed pounds. If you are more than 10% over your ideal body weight (go here, http://www.halls.md/body-mass-index/bmi.htm, to find out) then you must limit your calories to no more than 1500 a day. When you near your ideal weight, eat no more than 1800-2000 calories a day—DEPENDING on how much exercise you get. The more you burn, the more calories you can take in. BUT it is essential to insure your calories come from the right foods, therefore…

2) EAT—here it is, the eating plan that will maximize your health and happiness:

a. Eat whole, healthy foods…that you LIKE! Get lists of healthy foods. Here is one list: http://www.whfoods.com/foodstoc.php. Another idea is to get the book “Eat Right for your Blood Type” which lists foods that are theoretically geared for your particular blood type. On either list CIRCLE THE HEALTHY FOODS YOU LIKE to eat, and forget the rest! THEN, eat only—or at least, mostly—those foods on the HEALTHY lists….THAT YOU LIKE.

By: 1) eating ONLY the healthy foods that you like, 2) ELIMINATING trans fats, artificial sweeteners, and sugars and 3) counting calories to stay under 1500 to lose weight, around 2000 to maintain weight you will lose weight and feel hundreds of times better, I promise! More energy, mental acuity, etc.
b. OPTIONAL--what I did because I had a cholesterol problem and hated the thought of killing animals was to…GO VEGETARIAN (no meats or fish—I will eat fish once in a while), even VEGAN (no dairy either, although I do eat cheese now and then). I can’t tell you how much more energy I have, and how any indigestion and/or constipation and other such disorders DISAPPEARED on a vegetarian diet rich with greens, fruit, beans, lentils….and for me movie popcorn—but without butter!

c. OPTIONAL II—GO GLUTEN FREE! I discovered I had an intolerance to wheat products, soy products and NUTS (and I used to LOVE each of them). The intolerance manifested itself in a horrible, uncontrollable eczema breakout that lasted about 4 years and as many dermatologists. Skin eruptions, up-all-night itching, including my eyes. My own research indicated that many people suffer food intolerances of one sort or another. These are different from allergies, which is something that manifests itself in an IMMEDIATE swelling or shortness of breath. An intolerance will produce symptoms sometimes days after the offending food.

Anyway, I have been 100% better after giving up all wheat products. And have found it easier to stay in shape and retain energy without them. PS--Udi’s is a good brand of gluten free bread I get when I long for good toast, and Amy’s gluten free pizza is superb!

By the way, if you haven't yet discovered it, Dr. Mercola is a GREAT site for overall health information. Here is his introductory post on nutrition. You can sign up for daily informational emails, which I find TERRIFIC!
http://www.mercola.com/nutritionplan/index2.htm

3. DRINK—

Lots of water—and yes, tap water will do (I have a great doctor and I trust his word on this, although I also have two water filters at home, a Nikken water gravity tank and a filter in my refrigerator, so I drink a combo of tap and filtered water).

Coffee and tea are fine, even healthy—WITHOUT sugar and artificial sweeteners.

SMOOTHIES---With fruit (plus whatever whole foods like nuts, etc that you like, and or protein powder) crushed ice, rice milk, unsweetened yogurt or a little fruit juice (3 ounces). Here are two of my favorites for instance—but once you limit yourself to the plethora of healthy ingredients that are available the options are limited only to that of your imagination:

a) STRAWBERRY, BLUEBERRY, BANANA frozen smoothie: Take 1-2 cups frozen strawberries, 1/3 cup or so frozen blueberries, thaw in “defrost” microwave setting for a little over a minute (depends on your microwave). Take blender, add 5 ice cubes, 1 really big banana, or 2 smaller ones. 3 ounces of WELCH’S grape/cherry 100% juice (I have used a number of juices and or rice or soy milk in the past and any are fine, but I this is my favorite!). Blend to puree setting for 15 seconds or so. Unfreakin-believable how good this is!

b) SPINACH, ORANGE AND PEAR frozen smoothie---

Get the Organic baby spinach in the plastic tub at the store—already pre-washed and ready to go! Start with 3-4 ounces of water, one whole orange, peeled, 6-8 ice cubes, half a pear and a BUNCH of the spinach. Put on blender and after crushing ice go to LIQUIFY setting for about 30 seconds. You won’t believe how good this tastes and what a beautiful lime green color it turns out. You just KNOW you are drinking a chloro-phylled glass of pure health and it tastes GREAT to boot. Talk about having your cake and eating it too!

FRESHLY SQUEEZED juice is good but NOT, NOT basic canned/bottled juices. A little (6 ounces or less) is okay, but usually people drink much more and therefore get way too many calories without the fiber from the whole fruit that is so healthy.

NO SOFT DRINKS. To wean yourself off them try getting a cold Coke (or whatever you drink—with the sugar, not the “diet” version), get a cold can of carbonated water and mix the two. Start at half and half and gradually add more carbonated water and less Coke until you are able to go without it.

NO MILK SHAKES, FROZEN YOGURTS (wayyyyy too much sugar!!) There is enough good stuff, you don’t need this junk.

YOU CAN DO IT!!


B. EXERCISE—

Do….SOMETHING! Do whatever is comfortable for YOU! Walk, run, exercise or yoga classes, whatever, but do something. A nice walk in the park or in the neighborhood will do just fine.

I do not enjoy health clubs therefore I never frequent them. Instead I follow a wayyyy abbreviated version of my old football days workouts. Pushups, sit ups, and then run for about 30 minutes in the morning. I talk walks in the afternoon wherein I will pray, then mediate (just think about NOTHING, focus on the breath and live fully in the present moment, accepting whatever I experience in that moment without judgment).

YOU CAN DO IT!!

My next installment will focus on tips for emotional health and well being….


Richard Dawahare 8/21/11

Credit downgrade foreseeable result of traitorous partisanship

Standard and Poor's unprecedented downgrade of the United States of America's vaunted AAA credit rating is yet more proof of what happens when partisans seek their own power, their own agenda, and the satisfaction of their own narrow wants instead of the greater good of America.

Because one faction would for the first time in history hold the nation hostage over a routine raising of the debt ceiling, something they themselves did SEVEN TIMES without so much as a hiccup during the Bush presidency, our great nation has suffered what was an entirely foreseeable consequence: a credit downgrade.

Make no mistake, it was their intransigence, their hypocrisy that was fully responsible for this now irreversible chink in the armor of American strength.

Of course, they will wear their stubbornness as a hallowed badge of honor, oblivious to the harm they caused thereby. In this view one man's loyalist is another man's traitor.

The truth, however, is borne out by acts of consistency and fairness. Since this was an artificially created crisis in their vain attempt to score political points and further hurt President Obama (the nation be damned in the process!), and most importantly since the obligation to pay debts that past Congresses have authorized continues regardless of whatever the debt ceiling is, the weight of this truth is 100% AGAINST their warped stand.

Therefore, since the one possibility, that their stand was one of loyalty and honor, is refuted by facts, history and logic, the other possibility--that they engaged in a treacherous betrayal of their duty to the nation's welfare--is the only one remaining. We must vote them out, and with them anybody, regardless of party, who puts anything ahead of our national welfare.

Our downward descent will not end without a fundamental improvement of our national attitude. We must somehow return to the solidarity that made WWII era Americans the “Greatest Generation.” Nothing less than this single-minded focus of unity will put America back on an upward trajectory. We must therefore emulate the Greatest Generation, their noble pursuit of our greater good and their embodiment of the high-minded qualities so essential for such a quest: self-sacrifice, empathy, compassion, truth, duty and honor.

Coincidentally, not only are these the teachings of all mainline religions, they are also qualities consistent with secular principles of Universal Morality—no difference at all. Unfortunately they are nearly entirely missing in our highest halls of office, and are all but forgotten in our everyday discourse, on our televisions and radios, and quite possibly in many of our homes.

Every American, every school, every civic club, every church, mosque, temple, synagogue and meeting hall must preach with a common voice this message of unity, and of returning to the values so synonymous with Greatest Generation. Our future absolutely depends upon it.

Facts prove the Republican assault on America

Republicans, in a futile effort to deflect from the truth, continue to paint Democrats as anti-private enterprise socialists. The fact is that Republican policies—eight long years of the Bush administration, the first six with a Republican-controlled Congress—were disastrous for private enterprise and the nation as a whole. Here are the FACTS, undisputable, 100% accurate FACTS:

BUSH’S ECONOMIC RECORD (from the U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics):

1) Under George W. Bush the nation LOST 673,000 private sector jobs! That’s right—LOST jobs, first time since before the Great Depression. Net employment was up by 1.08 million jobs ONLY because of government and federal employment increases---ahhhh, the dreaded, hated government bails Bush out, ever so little. His job creation/loss is the worst record by far since WWII. (Under Bill Clinton, for example, the nation created 23 million jobs, 21% payroll expansion compared to Bush’s paltry 2.3%). SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics

2) MEDIAN INCOME: Beginning of Bush’s term it was $52,500. At the end, $50,303, a DECLINE of 4.2%. Bush therefore is the only president in modern times to preside over an income DECLINE through his two terms in office. Under Bill Clinton median income GREW from $46,603 to $52,500.

3) NUMBER IN POVERTY: Beginning of term 31.6 million lived in poverty. End of his term—39.8 MILLION, an increase of 26.1%! Under Clinton poverty declined 16.9%.

4) CHILD POVERTY: an increase of 21% under Bush. Under Clinton declined 24.2%.

5) AMERICANS WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE: Under Bush those numbers rose by 20.6% (flat under Clinton).

Regardless of what quality of life measure you use it is beyond dispute that Republican policies have lowered them for all Americans EXCEPT the very rich. The richest 10% now control over 73% of our nation’s wealth. Income disparity is now the greatest that it has ever been since the 1929 market crash. Bush tax cuts HURT America helping only a scant few of the very rich (although they are very short-sighted, a weakened America will imperil them just as happened after 1929!).

Clinton’s tax increase, conversely, helped ALL Americans and made America stronger and better. The numbers prove this truth beyond any shadow of a doubt. We ARE all in this together. E pluribus Unum—“from many, ONE.” Collective action for the greater good. It is the only proven way for our long term national welfare.

Rebuilding our infrastructure

A house divided cannot stand. While Lincoln spoke of slavery, today it is a different sort of bondage that threatens to tear our nation asunder - blind allegiance to ideologies thoroughly at odds with our social contract and with the spirit of collective action as embodied in our time honored motto, “e pluribus Unum” (literally, from many one), is splitting America, eroding its democracy and with it our infrastructure, the very physical constructs that comprise a great nation.

America’s spending on infrastructure has declined over the past 40 years and is now just 2.4 percent of its GDP, far less than other developed nations. Europe spends 5 percent, for example, and China 9 percent. The American Society of Civil Engineers says that it will take $2.2 trillion over the next five years to keep levees from buckling, bridges from toppling and our schools from crumbling; for maintaining our roads, airports and rails; for cleaning our water and modernizing our electrical grid.

Yet nearly half of our political leadership pledge their loyalty not to the Constitution and greater good of the nation, but rather to their selfish ideals. They’d as soon have fields flood or forests burn, children starve or the sick suffer before they raise a nickel of taxes, which are lower than at any time in the last 60 years and are the lowest in the Western world.

Regardless, America simply must invest in its infrastructure. We can raise the necessary funds through a variety of sources, including direct user fees and energy taxes, bonds and in some cases public-private partnerships. In order to minimize politicization, we must devise a system that prioritizes projects using cost-benefit analyses and non-interested outside evaluators. These could be arbiters from other countries, or authorities from one state could evaluate projects in another state.

The federal government itself should do most of the work. The greatest nation on earth can surely hire all needed personnel — the designers, engineers and workers — to get the jobs done. These federally funded and operated projects will create wonderful job opportunities for our troops returning home and for the many unemployed across the land.

The preservation of America for ourselves and our posterity may be the one goal that can once again unite us all. Together, truly together, we can do anything.

The Boehner Republican Fraud

The Republican fraud continues to get more bold and blatant. House Speaker John Boehner just said that now was not the time to raise taxes, that doing so would hurt the national interest.

TWO QUESTIONS: 1) Does he realize the taxes talked about being raised are on the top 2%, the ones who raked in trillions from the Bush tax cuts (on top of the trillions they already control) and NOT the middle and lower income earners--the 90% of Americans on whom our nation's economic success positively depends for we live in a post-production society whereby consumerism, i.e. people buying things, drives the economy. It is from these people that wealth has flowed upwards, leaving too little dollars (and way too much debt from past spending) to continue the necessarily high pace of spending required to reach full employment.

2) If not now when is EVER a good time to reverse HIS party's tax cuts (these aren't really tax increases, just a reversal of their horribly misguided cuts that contributed TO our current ills). Why on earth--WHY ON EARTH--would they ever needed to have cut taxes after a Clinton term that saw the rich get richer than ever, that had left us with a federal budget surplus and when things were for most Americans going swimmingly well?? (Answer: to starve govt so as to reduce social programs--they simply hate the poor and downtrodden--notice how quick Bush got rid of that flagrantly false slogan "compassionate conservative?" Hah, what a joke!).

Today's Republican leaders are a bankrupt lot --politically, morally, intellectually. Using outright untruths they play to the worst in our world, to fear, to hate, to selfish greed. These people now obstructing America's recovery, now obstructing true job CREATION and now spending their time on nothing but obstructing a president they don't like are after all the SAME people who PUT US IN THIS MESS--with de-regulation, with tax cuts, with record spending way before Obama took office (they raised the debt ceiling 7 times and by $4 TRILLION) and worse of all...with illegal and immoral WAR! They have no standing whatsoever.

They are and have been the problem, not even close to the solution. (Not that the Democrats have all the answers--too many have sold out or otherwise capitulated to moneyed interests that also influence them away from doing what is best for the greater public interest, but still, there is a major difference between the parties.)

President Obama MUST and WILL act unilaterally to raise the debt ceiling so that we can honor our obligations and then move forward. Congress be damned.

Ground NASA, focus on human needs right here at home

From its first liftoff, the U.S. space program has been a source of pride and technological innovation. Yet it has flown beyond the point of (beneficial) return and should therefore be grounded.

We’ve been learning more about the universe from the Hubble than a galaxy of NASA missions. And the only real game-changing spinoff contribution — and it’s a biggie — was the development of satellite transmissions. But that was 50 years ago. Sure, there’s Tang, Velcro and Teflon, but these were developed independently of the space program even though they were popularized by it (although I think it does get credit for the pen that writes upside down).

America’s next frontier is closer to home — in fact it is right under our feet. Our infrastructure is crumbling — literally crumbling. We have dire human needs that need not only our dollars but our focus and energy. For instance, do you realize that as we soak and as the Midwest flooded, nearly 25 percent of our country is suffering the worst heat and draught since the “dirty thirties” Dust Bowl? The whole state of Texas has been declared a natural disaster area, and more are sure to follow. Why not focus our efforts on creating a water pipeline all over our great nation, so that we can move water just as we move gas? Surely, this necessity will spur innovation just as much or more than the space program — all while tackling a need that will benefit Americans right here on earth.

We already have all the technology we need. In fact we have too much of it, more than we can responsibly handle. Until we can keep the likes of Fox news owner Rupert Murdoch from running a company that for many years committed the most heinous criminal abuse of technology in our modern history, we have no business making more of it.

The space race we’ve won. It’s the human race we’re losing.

A conversation with the president

This is a real honor, sir, and I thank you for taking the time to speak with me. Mr. President, I know that we share the same philosophy regarding government’s positive, essential role in forming a more perfect union. I also realize that compromise is the only way forward in such a divided political landscape. However, I wonder if you perhaps have missed some opportunities to use the power of your pulpit to educate, to sway and ultimately to steadfastly hold your ground on the most important, nation-defining issues.

Take health care. Based on your earnest campaign avowals, I thought you would use your power to stand firmly on the immutable principle that public health comes before private profit, and to that end you would not settle for anything less than the only real solution, a single-payer Medicare-for-all system, which as you know is essentially one big self-administered health insurance program that cuts out the unnecessary middle man. Mr. President, forcing me to buy insurance from the private insurance industry — without the competitive counterweight of a public option — leaves me at their mercy, of which they have shown none. Indeed, my rates, which were high before, have gone up nearly 40 percent since this so-called reform. I am blessed to be able to pay it; many cannot.

I was surprised as well that after bailing out Wall Street and the bankers — which I totally agree was essential to preventing a catastrophe even worse than the Great Depression — you settled for halfway reforms, some of which have still not been implemented. Instead of putting the power of your position behind real reform, you let the financial industry continue on their merry way, doling out huge bonuses and re-engaging in the type of reckless behavior that nearly destroyed us all.

And compromise is one thing Mr. President, but total capitulation is quite another. You caved on extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich while Republican leaders continue the lie that reversing them will cost jobs and ruin the economy. You need only cite the truth that 670,000 private jobs were lost during Bush’s term in office, and that eight years of Republican all-for-business policies nearly destroyed our economy, the same as they did in the pre-Depression 1920s, when President Calvin Coolidge famously said, “The business of America is business.” Your relative silence gives me little confidence that you will stand strong for our social contract, and not merely for the protection of Medicare and Social Security, but also for programs that literally extend a lifeline to our most vulnerable citizens.

Finally, Mr. President, the wars. It is hard to believe that such treasure, both human and financial, continues to be so wasted. Al-Qaida is long gone from Afghanistan, and in any event the criminal perpetrators of 9/11 themselves died on that fateful day. We face no hostile nation-state that truly threatens our survival, as in World War II, which was a defensive war of necessity. There was therefore never a reason to create this now decade-old war of choice, and if there ever was it is long past the time for it to have ended.

If it is not too audacious, Mr. President, I hope you will end the wars now and always put the people ahead of power and politics.

Sincerely, Richard Dawahare

Pursuing Justice for...ALL

Justice for all is America’s essence. The more justice we do, the more “American” we become. Conversely, our known and willful failure to do justice is the very antithesis of America. It rips the heart and soul out of all that America is, and all it ever hoped to be. Such injustice mocks lady liberty, turning her instead into a statue of shame, for freedom means nothing without justice. Indeed, for those who lack access to justice, there is no freedom.

“Pursuing Justice in the 21srt Century” is therefore the perfect theme for this year’s outstanding Kentucky Bar Association Convention being held this week in Lexington. Too many Americans cannot afford access to justice and the system is failing them. 80% of the legal needs for working poor Americans are unfulfilled. And while we pride ourselves on what we believe is the world’s leading judicial system we must bear in mind these humbling statistics: we spend less than one fifth on legal aid to the poor than New Zealand and less than one half of what Britain spends. Worse, in the 2010 Rule of Law index the United States was dead last among developed nations in regards to access to legal justice.

Kentuckians can take some solace that for once we are actually ahead of many states. We mandate court-appointed attorneys for indigent parents in Termination of Parental Rights and DNA (Dependency, Neglect and Abuse) cases. But across our great land aggrieved citizens whose basic rights are threatened stand no chance in a legal system that demands competent representation for they simply cannot afford to hire a lawyer. Homes are lost, families destroyed, and what little safety net remains gets shredded, all because we failed to live up to our heartfelt motto of “justice for all.”
The fix is to more fully fund legal aid for certain civil proceedings—those involving basic human needs—for those who are truly indigent. Locally, Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice John D. Minton, Jr. formed the Kentucky Access to Justice Commission to engage the delivery of legal aid to low income citizens. Hopefully, the legislature can be persuaded to allot funding to this critical need.

California leads the nation in this regard. Even though it is among the most cash-strapped states in the union they figured out that funding indigent access in civil cases actually saved the state money. Proper representation can prevent homelessness, lower domestic violence, protect children and prevent medical crises, all of which end up costing the state much more in the long term.

Better access to justice is affordable, it is moral, it is Constitutional and it is time. The sacred screeds of Deuteronomy ring as fresh and true for us today as it did for the ancient Hebrews then: “Justice, justice shall you pursue.”

Richard F. Dawahare 6/16/11

God and the Politics of Rich and Poor

Few things are more unholy than politicians who trumpet “God” at every opportunity, yet legislate in ways that would make even the Almighty blush. That’s what’s happening now in Washington as God-touting Republicans are exploiting a fiscal mess of their own creation, twisting it into an attack on the poor and using it as an illogical excuse for enacting their most ungodly agenda.

Would God approve of their planned cuts to social services for poor and middle-class Americans who absolutely depend upon them, while leaving in place the Bush tax cuts that helped lead to the widest disparity between rich and poor since the Gilded Age? It’s easy for them to curry favor with the rich and powerful while cutting essentials for the poor and voiceless.

Republican cuts to food stamps, shelter and heating assistance, and education and training mainly affect the poor, a defenseless group, one without full wallets and the sway they provide. Cuts to investments in infrastructure, research and development and small businesses will diminish life for us all.

Just as enough of their constituents caught on to the pain of their proposed cuts to Medicare, Republicans switched course and focused on Medicaid, a program that provides services mostly to — you guessed it, the poor, the disabled and the elderly. God shrugged.

Many of these politicians undoubtedly perform many acts of individual godliness, whether through random acts of kindness or charitable contributions or a million other ways. But for some reason they form a coalition that prizes personal power over united action for the greater good. Certainly, what is good and godly on an individual basis is ever more so on a collective one.

An old Spanish proverb goes, “The rich break the laws, and the poor are punished for it.” But in today’s America, the rich rarely need to break the laws.

Instead, they just make them.

Richard Frank Dawahare 5/13/11

Default is unthinkable!

Default is unthinkable. U.S. bonds are the gold standard, the unsinkable vessel of trustworthy, sleepeasy investing. Even the slightest crack of doubt about the government’s resolve and ability to keep it so will have devastating consequences to our economic and social well being. Congress must therefore raise the debt limit so that America can meet her obligations.

If not, interest rates will soar, and as the costs to government rise, so will the misery of an already distressed citizenry. Worse, America will lose the confidence of other nations, not only as a safe financial harbor, but also as the rock steady repository of its historic values. The American ethic, which has heretofore always drawn worldwide adoration, will forever be diminished.

The desire to cut the deficit and improve our fiscal condition is not merely commendable, it is essential. However, the means to do so is not through a rigid refusal to raise the debt limit, but rather through the laborious legislative process that must increase revenues as it decreases expenditures. The debt limit has nothing at all to do with budget discipline. In fact, it has been changed 74 times since 1964 to allow for the continued financing of government operations as willed by the people through their elected representatives. It is the budgeting process itself that determines the obligations we absolutely must fulfill.

Rand Paul Republicans who won’t raise the debt limit are most hypocritical. They make a big show of pretending to be responsible, yet lift not one finger to address the true roots of the problem. They refuse to take the timid step of repealing the Bush tax cuts, much less the much bolder one of finding new income sources by closing loopholes and increasing rate progressivity.

They refuse to reduce spending on their favored special interests, the ones that bankrolled their fiction-fueled road to power. They refuse to undertake the hard work of selling their flawed vision of a pre-Depression do nothing government so that their colleagues will budget accordingly. Indeed they can’t do so for the factual precedent of history is impossible for them to overcome. Yet still they rush like a bull in a China shop, not merely careless about destroying America’s welfare and standing, but seemingly anxious to do so.

America's financial condition is certainly important. But in the process of determining our national priorities—i.e. the strength of our safety net, our true defense needs, national health care, etc—it is crucial to understand that government is not a business. Only government can protect our constitutional rights and liberties. The purposes and methods of government, which operates under a democratic system of checks and balances and equality under the law, are often directly opposed to that of business, which is often under authoritarian rule and exists solely to make a profit for its owners.

In America we citizens are the shareholders. Yet our goal is not profit. Rather, it is the sustenance of that sort of stable and secure society within which we can fully enjoy the blessings of liberty. It is also the preservation of the heritage handed down to us by our founders, who created a Constitutional system of government consistent with values revered the world over.

America must not, therefore, leap headfirst into the shallow waters of default, defeat and despair. On the contrary, the sky’s the limit for a nation that stands united behind the truth of its world-leading values.

Attack on Libya seems right, is terribly wrong

Prior to Obama's decision to bomb Libya, I had posted an argument opposing armed intervention (http://blogs.courier-journal.com/pointtaken/2011/03/17/reality-demands-restraint). The argument has grown only stronger in the days since our attack.

As I wrote earlier, sure, Gaddafi's a bad guy. Perhaps he stayed a bad guy even after his "rehabilitation" after he renounced Libya's nuclear ambitions back in 2003. But the fact is there was pretty much nothing of interest coming out of Libya until the wave of protests swept the Middle East this winter.

The problem with the Libyan protest movement is that unlike that of Egypt and Tunisia, Libya's turned violent. It was at this point that Gaddafi and the Libyan military pushed back. No question, Gaddafi's threatening to "burn all Libya" if the protests continued poured much fuel to the fire of humanitarian intervention. The UN Security Council's No-Fly Zone approval certainly considered Gaddafi's penchant for peculiarity as justification for its vote.

However, the UN Security Council is not the United States of America. American attack on foreign nations must have the support of Congress, but they were totally ignored. Perhaps if Congress had truly considered it we would have refused to support an attack on Libya (but as Iraq shows this is no guarantee, not by a long shot).

The President, echoing Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, says the attack was necessary to protect the protestors and that the goal is not removal of Gaddafi, but protection of Libyans. However, surely he knows that mere bombing of airfields and other strategic targets will do nothing to stop Gaddafi’s boots on the ground from doing whatever they want. Also, can Obama guarantee none o four missiles will kill innocents? Indeed, reports are that we have killed non combatants already.
Further, this mission has no end game. Rarely have we blundered into attacking another nation with so little definition—of purpose, of plan, of possible outcomes, etc.

This smells like another neocon end-run using the veneer of humanitarianism as a smokescreen to hoodwink--ONCE AGAIN—an unwitting public. This attack on Libya may not be as bad as the hugely immoral, illegal and counterproductive full scale war in Iraq, but that does not mitigate the wrong.

Richard F. Dawahare 3/21/11

Today's newest superheroes: Japanese workers at Fukushima nuclear power plant

The world's newest superheroes are the Japanese workers risking their lives at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. With radiation levels many times higher than normal, at at time where the Japanese government has evacuated every living soul within 20 miles of the plant, these brave men and women are risking all for their fellow human beings. It is truly breathtaking, this effort, at once as spiritual as it is virtual, by otherwise regular human beings, who for years just went to work and anonymously did their jobs.

Some of these workers were ready to retire, others had no obligation to go. But go they did, the retiree urged on by none other than his wife!

It is said that the Japanese culture inculcates the attitude of collective well being over personal comfort. These living saints are proving it. And no matter the eventual outcome, and with humble attribution to one of my heroes, Winston Churchill, rarely have so few done so much for so many.

How the hell of Japan will heal the world

Japan. I know you feel the same: lucky we are here, our lives not disrupted by yet another natural disaster, praying for those over there who are, wondering just what we can do to help, especially considering our good fortune to be spared such calamity (flood victims excepted).

Just when it seems that it could not be worse we hear about a possible nuclear meltdown. Maybe the heartfelt concern for them turns into a twinge of worry for ourselves. Some additional thoughts:

1) This natural calamity, like Haiti, Indonesia, New Orleans and many more, show yet again how much more destructive the hand of mother nature can be than that of humanity, at least as to land and property;

2) But unlike human conflict, natural disasters actually build bridges of cooperation, friendship and therefore longer term prospects for peace among nations;

3) Perhaps the most heartwarming, reassuring gesture is the headline I just saw on CNN, "China to send aid to Japan." No country suffered the horrors that China did from Japan during WWII. Chinese leadership still to the present day does not feel that Japan has apologized or made reparations. Many Chinese people do not have warm feelings towards Japan. Yet despite all this, the uniting bond of human compassion is overcoming the pain of an inhuman past; and -

4) So much for "Godless Communism". As JFK said, "-On earth God’s work must truly be our own." Of course, the Chinese weren’t following JFK, most never heard of him. But they were following the Golden Rule, first enunciated by their most celebrated figure, Confucius, around 500 BC;

5) The nations of the world are rushing to help. Hopefully this will be well coordinated. The US should move all resources away from destructive wars and to life saving missions wherever they are needed, starting with JAPAN;

Rand Paul to get potty training!

Rand Paul is about to get potty trained! In response to his complaint that he could not find a toilet that works, Department of Energy Deputy Assistant Kathleen Hogan, said “I can find you a toilet that works.”

Rand’s rant was part of his longer harangue against government regulations, this time over the 2007 law requiring the phase-in of energy efficient light bulbs and also toilet regs (presumably the 1994 standard of 1.6 gpf, gallons per flush). Paul argues that these regulations restrict consumer choice.

Well, YEAH, that is what all public interest regulations do, restrict certain choices that are on balance harmful to our long term welfare. Yet Paul cannot see through the dark lens of his hard held libertarian ideology. That is why he said private business owners should be able to discriminate. It is why he opposes most all government—EXCEPT when it benefits him, like Medicare/Medicaid, which contributes more than half of his income.

And that is the problem when people in a policy making position see issues only through their ideology. Their egos and biases prevent them from looking rationally at the problems, the root causes and the solutions, most of which come as the result of much research and collaboration among those most qualified to address and resolve the issues—in this case, conserving energy through technology-enabled efficient light bulbs and water conservation through toilet flush limits.

Paul incredibly compared women’s reproductive rights with light bulb choices, asking Ms. Hogan if she was pro-choice. He then said, “"The point is that most members of your administration probably would be frank and would be up front to characterize themselves as being pro-choice for abortion. But you're really anti-choice on every other consumer item that you've listed here."
http://www.kentucky.com/2011/03/11/1666049/rand-paul-rips-energy-department.html.

That is the problem with America: too many people in the top positions of leadership who have no business being there. First, like Paul, they spend time on issues that have already been resolved in a manner that benefits us, yet because of their prejudices (see discussion about ideology, above) they seek to wreck them. Second, they make such illogical arguments designed only to divide and weaken us. Sure, he will score more points with anti-abortionists,, but there is not a hair’s width of relevance to raise the issue in this context.

Maybe he’s just pulling a Charlie Sheen by orchestrating hilarity to get publicity, possibly with an eye (unbelievably!) to the 2012 Presidential race. What’s really sad is that what works for screen entertainers—who operate in a true make believe world—may end up working in politics, where people like Paul use “make believe” to not only get elected, but make policy.

Hmm, Paul may be right after all about toilets, it’ll take two flushes to get that stink away.

Government shutdown? "So be it!"

The battle is now.

It had been brewing with every Tea party, every GOP fundraiser, and every billionaire backed think tank spin job that culminated in the Republicans’ fiction-fueled takeover of the House.

President Obama has stretched his politically sensitive neck rightward in conciliation. In swift order he deftly diverted any hint of blame for the Arizona massacre on right wing fervor, he wooed, even wowed, big business at the US Chamber of Commerce. He even went so far as to sacrifice the poor (proposing to cut $2.5 billion from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program) on the altar of bi-partisan compromise.

All to no avail.

It is time for him to straighten up and fly left-- fast, hard and unyieldingly left, until we center our course in the manner of Dwight David Eisenhower, the last great Republican president, who heartily embraced government’s role in creating the vaunted--yet now quickly shrinking-- American middle class.

Job-killing Republicans have drawn a sophomoric line in the sand, calling for $60 billion in spending cuts over the next 7 months that would destroy 600,000 jobs, crush poor and middle class Americans and gut regulatory oversight. Not only would they defund protection of our air, land and water by thwarting the EPA, incredibly—but not surprisingly given that they are bought and paid for by Wall Street—they would cut the Security and Exchange Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Commodity Future Trading Commission, the very agencies responsible for protecting us from the runaway greed and corruption that caused our recent economic collapse.

President Obama must not budge, not one nickel should be cut from programs for those most in need. Agencies that protect our welfare must be sufficiently funded. Job training, health care, housing, legal aid, global hunger relief, renewable energy, and National Public Radio must all be preserved, if not strengthened.

There can be no compromise on any of this. If this means a government shutdown—and no social security check for mom, or unemployment for cousin Bob, or tuition for sis, or surgery for Aunt Millie, or food for millions who depend on food stamps—then, in the words of Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner, “so be it.”

It is time to bring this conflict to a head. Enough with Republicans’ bogus concern for deficits. They had not a whit of concern in running a Clinton surplus into a historic multi-trillion dollar deficit when Bush was president and they controlled both houses of Congress. The spending over the last two years was essential to prevent an even worse Depression after a collapse that had it roots in the corruption -laden policies of the Republicans while they were running up the deficit.

They may truly believe that their way—i.e. passive government, extreme wealth concentration at the top, anything goes for the powerful—is what is best for America. But history has utterly disproven that premise beginning with the 1929 crash and ensuing Depression and our recent turmoil, again brought on by Republican incentivized greed and corruption combined with government de-regulation.

That Americans not in the top tax brackets seem so willing to return power to Republicans, who crashed their economy, slashed their wealth and smashed their world standing, is a cry for leadership. Instead of aiding and abetting their fraud, President Obama must with every speech, every meeting and every appearance teach the fact-based truths of history. Better that we learn from our past, than suffer anew the retched realities of wayward Republicanism.

Richard Dawahare 2/25/11

Frankfort Infested with E-COAL-I!

There’s an E-Coal-I outbreak in Frankfort! The power brokers for the profit seekers in the EYE, COAL and usurious INTEREST industries have infested state government. Power Brokers “A” are those wanting favorable legislation and who therefore employ legions of lobbyists and lavish generous dollars to Power Brokers “B”, the legislators with the power to write the laws the way “A” wants them. Unfortunately too many legislators take the money and give their allegiance more to industry-donors than to the constituency they are supposed to represent: we, the people and the land on which we live. They are to do all they can to protect and promote the “common wealth” of our Commonwealth.

Collectively, the current mechanizations of the optometry, coal and payday lending lobbies provide a textbook example of the failures of our current political system, both here and in Washington, a failure which is and has been destroying our democracy and in the long term will destroy our nation.

It is not that there are two sides to each story, there are. Yet it is our legislators’ job to look at the facts, and weigh all the consequences, pro and con, of action or as the case may be, inaction. They are to do their own research and not just take what the big money lobbyists throw at them. They then must study issues coldly and objectively—like James Bond—then do what is best for the people and the greater public interest. They are, in short, supposed to lead and to do so in a way that reflects our highest values, chief among them truth, justice, compassion, and the Golden Rule.

But too often, and on these three issues, they have fallen short:

The OPTOMETRISTS:
The problem here is that Frankfort is rushing through the agenda desired and paid for by the Kentucky Optometric Association, which made more than $400,000 in contributions to the campaigns of 137 out of 138 legislatures and to Governor Beshear’s re-election campaign. The optometrists want to be allowed to perform certain surgical procedures and prescribe drugs, arguing that it will provide better service, particularly to rural patients who have less access to ophthalmologists. On the merits the half of the equation allowing for the prescription of certain medications seems appropriate—Kentucky is one of few states that does not allow it.

However, the provision allowing surgery—no matter how limited—is inappropriate and downright dangerous. The current accreditation system that has served us well insures that those who wield a knife or laser on our bodies are doctors who have undergone the requisite training and board certification. This time honored system should not be discarded lightly, if a t all. Indeed most states do not allow optometrists to do such surgeries.

Yet the bill has breezed through the House Licenses and Occupation Committee and will get a full House vote on Friday. You can be 100% sure that had those donations not been made there would be no movement at all on this matter, which is certainly not at the top of the list of items the legislature could and should be addressing on the people’s behalf.

COAL:
I get that coal is important—indeed I owe my life to it (my grandparents would not have immigrated to Eastern Kentucky if not for the coal boom in the late 19th/early 20thcentury). But mountaintop removal, unsafe mining practices and operations that run afoul of federal law must be stopped. The coal barons have had their way forever, now finally the Obama administration is re-asserting the federal government’s rightful regulatory role, which governor Beshear is doing all he can to obstruct.

Additionally, two bills have been submitted that have no chance of succeeding and if passed will only result in potentially millions in legal fees. Both seek to prohibit the federal government from enforcing its laws in the Kentucky. House Bill 421 exempts coal mining from the federal Clean Water Act and other EPA regulation if the coal is used inside Kentucky and does not cross state lines (but 20% of mine sediment goes into rivers that flows outside Kentucky which makes all mining subject to federal regulation) and Senate Joint Resolution 99, which declares that Kentucky should be a "sanctuary state" for the coal industry, free from "the overreaching regulatory power" of the EPA.

We fought the civil war to establish for ALL TIME the Constitutional principle of federal supremacy, and thank God for it, so that we are protected from the excesses of self-proclaimed fiefdoms who want nothing more than to do what they want the way they want to do it. Kentucky legislators who try to turn the clock back and who want to de-regulate the most hazardous industry around are violating their public trust.

PAYDAY LENDERS
Unbelievably HB 182, which would have capped yearly interest rates on pay day lenders at 36%, died in the House Banking and Insurance Committee. Those voting against the bill say that many poor people have no other access to emergency funds and that the payday industry employs 2000 people.

However, these lenders now charge what amounts to 400% annual interest. This is truly unconscionable and simply unbelievable in a supposedly “Bible Belt” state that is surely aware of the famous ancient screeds against usury. With interest rates as low as they are now, I would say 36% is approaching usury much less 400%. There is no justification for it whatsoever and the fact that our legislature lets it continue is an outrage.

The problem here, again, is twofold. The first is the undue influence of contributions from the industry. The second and perhaps more lethal problem is the failure of lawmakers to follow those high values of a just and righteous society.

Values matter. Individually, they are the indispensible guideposts to living a just, meaningful and rewarding life. On a societal level high values are the keystone upon which strong, equitable societies are built and are sustained. Every step away from these values chinks the foundation of our democracy, and thereby weakens it. If we fail to do justice, if we fail to follow truth, and if we fail to legislate with mercy, compassion and love (the Golden Rule) we imperil our future.

Richard F. Dawahare 2/19/11

The greatest democratic event in my lifetime

The Egyptian revolution that finally culminated in today’s historic resignation of President Hosni Mubarak’s is the world’s most hopeful event since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Gandhi must be crying tears of joy, right along with Washington, Adams and Jefferson (throw in Jacques Rousseau and John Locke as well).

Egyptians of all stripes (except the top 1% or so who enjoyed the riches and spoils of being a Mubarak crony) followed the lead of young, educated and heretofore hopeless Egyptians to demand a change, to demand a voice in their own governance.
It was righteous, it was peaceful, it was respectful, it was relentless and as a result it was successful.

For the first time EVER, one of the world’s oldest civilizations is on the cusp of democratic self-government. The people have always been lorded over by Pharaohs and foreigners. For over 400 years they were captive to the Ottoman sultanates, then the British from 1914 to 1952, and finally by their own home grown dictators, beginning with Gamal Nassar and ending with Mubarak.

For now, it is time to rejoice. We can forget for the moment whether a real democracy will arise, whether the military will support it and most importantly, whether the people will ultimately see the improvement in actual life prospects that fueled their courageous stand for change.

Let us look at the many reasons for celebration:

1) This was peaceful—the violence only coming when Mubarak’s hired hands tried to derail the protests.

2) This was not a fundamentalist/extremist fueled movement. No, it was instead the cries of a peoples who have lived in a virtual prison ever since Mubarak took power, subject to constant martial law, arrest for no reason, a government totally unresponsive to their needs, with wealth evermore concentrated in the hands of the corrupt few. They had no hope, no future and no justice and wanted only what we enjoy here—which today’s technology makes apparent to them on a 24/7 basis.

3) The movement had nothing to do with Israel. Indeed there were no anti-Israeli protests. There is no reason to believe that continued peaceful relations won’t continue (however, they will certainly be more likely to seek true justice for the Palestinians).

4) The military was superb, letting the demonstrations unfold without instigating violence, without impeding them, and often helping them with overt acts of kindness.

5) President Obama quickly and rightly called for peaceful and meaningful change, surely and squarely siding with the Egyptian democracy seekers, which surely helped make this historic event happen.

You want to know the kicker: This unbelievably Nirvanic event happened 21 years to the day that Nelson Mandela was released from prison. Freedom is our fate.

God (Allah) is great!

Richard F. Dawahare 2/11/11

The Power of Empathy

Republican Senate President David Williams did something that runs directly counter to his conservative core: he spoke in favor of a statewide smoking ban. “Having set with my father and heard his last gasp because he was a 30 year smoker…I don’t think second smoking and smoking is a joke, it is a workplace (safety) issue…” Senator Williams said at the Kentucky Press Association gubernatorial candidate forum.

Diehard conservative ideologues are fuming, yet Mr. Williams’ own experience with his father undoubtedly opened his heart to the toll of tobacco addiction and by extension the harm to others through secondhand smoke. Mr. Williams’ direct exposure to suffering arouses within him the desire to put the welfare of people ahead of rigid ideology.

Most importantly, the cause (banning smoking in public places) would be no less worthy had Senator Williams not had this exposure. If his father had never smoked it is quite possible that Williams would have joined his conservative brethren in opposing the use of government in this way, putting the ideology of small, limited government ahead of the public interest. The cause would remain as just and necessary as it is now, but without his support. Instead, his empathy enables him to see the folly of inaction.

Such is the power of empathy. We see over and over again the progress in our world borne of simple human empathy. FDR’s polio humbled and sensitized him to the sufferings of all humans, no matter the source. It made him see that collective action through the United States government could improve the lives of the aged, the infirm, the disabled and the unemployed—the poor in body, mind and spirit.
Dick Cheney’s having a lesbian daughter surely inspires his support for gay marriage. Closer to home, my good friend Mike Digiuro, father of slain UK player Trent Digiuro, may be conservative politically, but it his personal tragedy that enlightens his understanding of the need to take guns used in crimes off the street.

Empathy, the figurative “putting ourselves in the shoes of another” leads to more understanding and takes us closer to truth. That truth helps dispel the fears and falsities of our previously hard held ideals and leads to progress, not only for ourselves, but when experienced on a universal scale, for the world as a whole.

This begs two further questions. First, on what other issues might we adjust our viewpoint based on personal experience? Perhaps we know a good friend who, try as they might, cannot get a job and whose unemployment benefits expired. Might we then ask Congress to extend them? Maybe you lose your health insurance and suffer an illness for which you can’t get treatment. Surely then the wisdom of a single payer, universal health care system to replace the for-profit private insurance middle man would come shining through.

And maybe as you toured Egypt you met a commoner yearning to be free from the tyranny of a dictatorship kept in power by the country you call home. Might you feel at least a little uneasy about American policies that sometimes contradict our own foundational values of freedom and democracy?

The second question is this: why must any of us wait for a personal experience? Why not, in the interest of reaching a higher truth and a better understanding, force ourselves to imagine being in the opposite position? No matter the issue, would we not come nearer the truth and thus do more justice by actively imagining ourselves as “the other?”

Feel the suffering. Then see the relief that a people united in truth, and with faith in its values, can bring. David Williams did and we may all breathe easier because of it.

Richard F. Dawahare 2/10/11