Category Archives: THE WORLD

Fighting the Hopelessness

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I come from strong stock. My parents were born in the 1920s to immigrant, semi-literate parents.  My parents were in their late 30s and early 40s when they had us.

They lived through the depression, the wars and made the galactic leap beyond the Lower East Side and Pelham Parkway (in the Bronx) to settle down in midtown Manhattan. We had all of the advantages and none of the handicaps of my parents’ and grandparents’ generations. My grandfather would shake his head — anything is possible in America.

We were raised to expect to work hard and succeed. Success was the inevitable end of hard work. You could miss Mother’s Day or a family celebration — even great uncle Lou’s retirement party — if you were working. (But you couldn’t miss a funeral or a shiva because even if you didn’t like the person alive, G-d forbid you wouldn’t pay your respects after the end. But I digress.)

Success was measured by your ability to give more to your children and community than your parents did. A Nobel Prize was not required but not off the table either, so to speak.

I can’t live up to my heritage. Why?  I am a formerly successful lawyer, whose practice continues to crater in the aftermath of the greatest economic meltdown since the Great Depression.

But failure is not an option. No matter what, we are responsible for our lives and fear of homelessness is good.

Fear is a motivator but hopelessness is the enemy. I try to imagine that I am the protagonist in a Robert Ludlum novel about an anemic looking, gray-haired, 40-something desk jockey — ok, work with me — who fights against the great evil of NO HOPE.  So call me Joan Bourne (Jason would be too butch).

I want my family to live in comfort and I want this world to be a better place for my having been born into it. But fighting the hopelessness is overwhelming.

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David Letterman, Senator Ensign, Roman Polanski

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There are no parallels among these men.

David Letterman did get out in front of the “scandal”. That was smart media.  As long as the women with whom he was intimate were consenting adults — that means without fear for their jobs or career advancement — then it is just another philandering person.  What makes it news is that he is a TV star.  What is sad is that sexual harassment happens everyday and there is no famous star to blackmail to make it stop.  David Letterman has a lot of heartache ahead of him.  But he doesn’t need to apologize to me.

Conversely, Senator Ensign needs to apologize to his voters because he is a fraud — he is not the “family values” candidate that his constituency elected and he broke the public trust in the cover-up. His extra-marital affair was not criminal or actionable — consenting adults without any specter (so far) of harassment in the workplace.

Roman Polanski is, based on the information available, a scoundrel and a sexual predator.  A thirteen year-old is a child and is not capable of consent in sexual circumstances.  Justice delayed is justice denied.  Lock him up and throw away the key.

Let’s not lump these men and their actions together.  None is a shining star, but in only one case was there a sexual criminal.  In another, it was the cover-up that is criminal.  The third, well, unless we hear more, is just disappointing and ooky.

There is one guy, whose handle is TheFlaCracker on Twitter, who refers to all Libiots (liberal idiots) as defending Roman Polanski.  That’s unfair.  I am a G-d damn Democrat and liberal and a Hillary-lover.  I am proud of it.  But, child abuse is not a liberal or conservative issue.  It is solely about our expectations and demands for the safety of society’s and our children.

The true measure of our society is how we treat the children others have “cast off”and those who abuse them.

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WHY WE NEED IRAN

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McCain thinks time is running out to send troops to Afghanistan?  Is this the same man who thought we could “muddle through” in Afghanistan and the real fight was Iraq?

Our last president sent hundreds of thousands of troops into a quagmire with an ever-changing rationale and an aimless strategy.

There is talk about how well the “surge” worked in Iraq.  Psssssst, Iraq is not Afghanistan.  Afghanistan has humbled would-be conquerors throughout history, the most recent being Russia. The terrain is rugged, the tribal alliances are unsure, the drug trade is king and the government is corrupt.

Before more troops go in, we need to have a defined, winning strategy (and then an exit strategy) against two different groups, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.  They ARE different groups, but right now are joined in common purpose, to drive out the NATO forces from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Ironically, one country can help us with a winning strategy in Afghanistan.  And that country is the Islamic Republic of Iran.  Iran helped Bush’s military team early in the war until relations chilled again.  Then Ahmadinejad came to power.

Iran shares NATO’s desire to subdue the Taliban.  The Taliban is Iran’s enemy.  The Taliban ideology and jihadist purpose threaten to undermine the Islamic Republic, and Iran does not want to share a long border with a Taliban-controlled nation again.

So, we need Iran for success in Afghanistan and Iran needs us to be successful in Afghanistan.  Iran is also close to having military nuclear capabilities and the US backs sanctions.  President Obama needs to walk the thinnest of tightropes.

I know Jon Stewart pokes fun at the diplomatic tiptoe-ing around Iran, but whatever choices President Obama makes with Iran or Afghanistan will have consequences far beyond any sound bite or comedy skit.

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Where are we? Where do we go from here?

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This Yom Kippur, our rabbi spoke about the first two questions G-d asks in Genesis: of Adam, G-d asks “where are you?” and, of Cain, G-d asks “where is your brother?”

Why, the rabbi posed, does G-d ask these questions since G-d is omniscient and knows the answers? Because, the rabbi posits, of the importance of Adam and Cain to be accountable for who they are (as in “Dude, look around you.  What are you thinking?”) and what they have done (as in, “Dude, did you think that was a GOOD idea?”).

Once we answer these questions, then next question is:  where do we go from here?

I believe that President Obama has tried to engage us in this conversation.  Especially on the topic of torture.  We, individually and as a society, need to acknowledge that we tortured people and that is wrong and that we failed at the very moment our national character demanded that we stick to our ideals.  It is ok to be imperfect, it is ok to fail at things.  But it is not ok to stay there, mired, unwilling to recognize the imperfection and the failings and set a new course.

Well, this year, I am moved to start trying to answer these questions in my life.  It will probably take me a lifetime to get it right.

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Changes

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I am trying to change some things in my life.  Change is hard; change is scary.  In fact, people sometimes back away from change they need and want because the unknown is scary.  I know I do. 

If we all went boldly where we have not gone before, then there would be no such saying as, “hey, at least it is the devil you know,” as cold comfort for maintaining the status quo. 

Which begs the question, just because you know how bad it is now, is it possible to have a social contract with the devil (ok, that’s an oxymoron) that the evil will not get worse or different? 

And isn’t there one devil?

If we have come to accept that change is needed, then that means we have accepted that the status quo is no longer tolerable. 

We voted for change.

If change is hard in one’s personal life, then change is excruciating on a national level.  But we voted for change because the status quo is no longer tolerable.

We voted for change.

Believe in change because you have no contract with the devil you know.

We voted for change.

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We don’t learn from history

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We don’t learn from history.  We don’t even recognize when it is repeating.  And history DOES repeat.  Fights over resources, power, pride and riches with leaders sacrificing innocents and non-innocents alike in their quests. Sound familiar?  Day in, day out.  Year in, year out.  Generations on end.  Millennia.

But for me today is an especially sad day in this scary, violent world. 

Israel has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.  Israel’s rise to nationhood came out of the Shoah, the most infamous atrocity in modern history.  (The Shoah is more infamous but no more tragic than the slaughter of Armenians, Bosnians and Croats, Rwandans, Sudanese in Darfur, to name a few.) 

In my lifetime, the grandchildren of oppressed stand accused of being oppressors.  Three generations sandwiched by two atrocities, one documented and the other alleged.  That is also a lesson from history — that the oppressed can easily become oppressors when given the opportunity.

Some of my relatives (all of whom have died) were survivors of the Shoah and the atrocities of Eastern Europe in the early 1900s.   For them, Israel was a realization of dreams and hopes.  

But evil knows no boundaries and respects no borders.  And there have been generations within which to forget the lessons of history.

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By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer John Heilprin, Associated Press Writer – Tue Sep 15, 12:18 pm ET

UNITED NATIONS – A U.N. investigation concluded Tuesday that both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, raising the prospect that officials may seek prosecution in the International Criminal Court.

[rest deleted]

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Social Contagion Theory

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This Sunday, the New York Times magazine section had a big article on the theory of social contagion to explain obesity, happiness, smoking, non-smoking, etc. 

Like every theory, causality cannot be fully determined.  For example, there is a direct correlation between when asphalt melts and babies die.  Melting asphalt doesn’t kill babies.  The heat makes asphalt melt and over-exposure to the heat can kill babies.  So, here, too, social contagion theory can show correlation but not causality. 

If the theory has some merit, we can influence, and be influenced by, others. Maybe that is why one person can spark a movement. And why acting responsibly and teaching by example can change the world.

I want desperately to believe in this theory for the good that it represents (and I am a little scared of its power to spread evil).  Then Gandhi, Mandela, Moses, Jesus, the Islamic prophet (whose name is not to be uttered) are not flukes. 

Why did the Berlin Wall come down? Maybe social contagion.  How do people rise up against despots?  Maybe social contagion.

Unfortunately, by the same token, social contagion can explain atrocities across the globe.

As with most things, the trick is to harness the power, dedication and focus for good.  These days, that seems like a daily challenge.

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Could it be 8 years already?

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Tomorrow is September 11, 2009.  Eight years since the attack on our nation.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, we were strong, we were scared, we were compassionate.  The world rallied to our side.

Then came the anger, the blood lust for revenge, the ramp up to war that stoked our desire to strike back at the aggressors, the use of 9/11 as a political tool to divide us just when we needed unity most.

We hit back blindly — at the wrong despot and at each other.  We lost our way.

Eight years later, the question remains:   how do we move forward as a nation, united and committed to making sure this doesn’t happen again for us and for any nation?

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Say it ain’t so, Joe

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Joe Wilson, GOP Congressman from South Carolina, broke protocol by yelling at the President, “you lie!” when the President was giving his address to Congress last night.  Of course, this is the same guy who supports Sarah Palin’s assertions about death panels that will decide care for elderly.  

Look, I wish some people called out Bush on the false claims of Iraq’s buying WMDs and plutoniun from Niger in his speech to Congress, so maybe protocol breaches are ok every now and then.

The problem with Wilson’s outburst is what it lays bare for all to see: 

  1. the discussion of health care reform has become an exercise in name-calling and fear mongering;
  2. there can be no debate while people are screaming to score points with constituents; and
  3. the ideologues (on either side of the issue) will not bend to acknowledge the facts and realities “on the ground”. 

Ideology without common sense (and some sinister malfeasance, thank you, Dick Cheney) got us in the guagmire known as the Iraq War, where debate was stifled by fear-mongering and name-calling (“unpatriotic” was often used) and people afraid to be unpopular with constituencies that just wanted revenge (as in “round up the usual suspects”).

Trying to bring the likes of Joe Wilson into the bipartisan tent is a fool’s errand.  Similarly, if bringing in armchair “Progressives” into the bipartisan tent means clinging onto a public option come hell or high water, then close the tent flaps to them, too. 

Actually, let’s have both sides of the extreme ideologies in an arena and let them scream at each other.  We’ll sell tickets, televise it (and get advertising revenue) and the proceeds will help pay for health care reform.  We’ll call the show “Extreme Dysfunction”.

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What is the fear?

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The minute President Obama took the oath of office, there has been a fevered pitch among white right wing radicals, as if somehow life imitated art and we elected the Manchurian Candidate.

Relax, everyone, Barack Obama is not the Manchurian Candidate.  How do I know?  Because George Bush was the Manchurian Candidate.  Think about it.  Whether you read the book, or saw either of the movies, George Bush bent to the will of his vice president (through Cheney’s own statements), a vice president who believed in torture and brain washing and who, as vice president, was able to wage war within the US and outside.  (Even the Manchurian Candidate had limits so we did not bomb Iran.  Thank G-d.)  During those 8 years, we fought a senseless war and muddled through another and let tinder boxes of Anti-American sentiment smolder and erupt.  The country was almost destroyed by catastrophic financial crises. The government put incompetent people in charge of disaster relief for its own citizens.    We survived the Manchurian Candidate. 

Relax, everyone. Give Obama the chance to do the things we elected him to do.

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