Time's 2013 Persons of the Year

I hope the day after Christmas finds you well and happy.  We are having a welcome visit from our daughter Jeanette and will soon be visiting our larger family in Southern California and our younger daughter Marie and her husband.  Renewing family ties is one of the most rewarding activities of the holiday season.

Today my comments are on the top five Time Magazine "Person of the Year" choices.  Time's criterion for inclusion is the magnitude of the person's impact on the world--be that for good or ill--during the year.  The 2013 selectee for Person of the Year is Pope Francis.  Places two through five went to Edward Snowden, Edith Windsor, Bashar Assad and Ted Cruz.

Pope Francis is the absolutely right and fitting choice for Person of the Year in 2013, in my view.  The man Time calls "the people's pope" heads the Roman Catholic Church, the largest religious body in the world, with some 1.2 billion members.  In addition, a pope's influence can extend also to some degree over the 1 billion Christians who are not Catholic, and can do much to form views about Christians and predominantly Christian nations among those of other faiths, particularly Islam and Judaism, but others such as Hindus, Buddhists and the nonreligious as well.

By choosing the papal name Francis, the only pope to do so, the first non-European pope in over 600 years served notice that his emphasis would be on loving pastoral care, especially for the poor.  Francis has certainly followed that path.  The previous two popes were canon (religious) lawyers by training, and spent a great deal of effort fighting the culture wars, particularly on sexual issues, and enforcing orthodox teachings.  Francis, a pastor by experience and inclination, stresses the messages of mercy and love.  His famous response, "Who am I to judge?" when asked about gay clergy, was an astonishing pronouncement from a pontiff.  He has censured prelates for spending undue sums on pomp and luxury, blasted unfettered capitalism for forgetting the poor, and removed culture warriors from prominent church positions.  The findings of a panel he appointed to make recommendations about the Curia, the Vatican bureaucracy, could well presage a needed house cleaning there as well.  Pope Francis's vigorous efforts to steer his church toward Saint Francis's vision as a hospital for deprived and wounded souls rather than a scolding organization could begin to revolutionize many things within western civilization, the more so if the health of the now 77-year old Francis holds up.

Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor and leaker,  is a deserving choice as number two.  His revelations, while certainly no surprise to the informed such as those who read this blog, appear to have come as amazing revelations to many.  Ever since 9/11 the electronic reach of the NSA has pervaded society in unprecedented and clearly unconstitutional ways.   The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution reads The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.  In bringing the true scope of surveillance to the attention of the public at large, Snowden has succeeded in sparking the national discussion he sought.  It will take years to properly delineate the proper balances between privacy and security, but much more of the debate will now take place in public, where it belongs in an ostensibly democratic society.

Edith Windsor, the number three Person of the Year, has been a catalyst for one of the most rapid and sweeping societal transformations in American history.  Her case United States v Windsor was the one in which the U.S. Supreme Court this June overturned the Federal Defense of Marriage Act, thus opening the way for recognition of marriage equality rights across the United States.  Her specific case dealt with her contention that her same-sex marriage, recognized by the state of New York, should entitle her to inherit the estate of her deceased spouse without the assessment of inheritance taxes, the same as heterosexually-married couples enjoy.  With this ruling, for instance, military same-sex spouses became eligible for many benefits heretofore denied, and further challenges keep widening the effects.  Six new states have recognized same-sex marriage in the U.S. this year, the latest being Utah in a Federal District Court decision partially based on Windsor that may well eventually end in the Supreme Court making a definitive ruling on the entire permissibility of excluding same-sex marriage throughout the nation.

As number four, dictator Bashar Assad of Syria simply shows the enduring problem thugs of his ilk can still cause this world of ours.  The civil war in his country has drawn Iran, its Shi'ite Muslim Hizbollah terrorist minions, the  European Union, Russia, the United States, the conservative Arab gulf states and Sunni jihadist al-Qaeda linked fighters into a Middle Eastern maelstrom.  The conflict was initially inspired by the Arab spring in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, and began as an effort by moderate, pro-democracy Syrians to free themselves from the Assad regime's oppressive authoritarian rule.  The scope of those involved certainly shows Assad's "contribution" to important world events, and continues to point up the seemingly intractable difficulties of untangling the problems of that byzantine portion of the globe.

Tea Party firebrand Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was chosen as number five.  His demagogic rantings led to the futile government shutdown, an attempt to stop Obamacare, this fall.  The fact that the three-fourths of Republican representatives and senators who are not tea-partiers felt constrained to cave in and go along with this kind of action when they knew it was bad for the country and couldn't even work speaks volumes about the Republican rank and file these days.  The right-wing media has created an extreme base which few in GOP circles will even dare publicly talk reality and sense to.  Cruz reminds me of earlier demagogic congressional leaders, most notably the Democrat Huey Long in the 1930s and the Republican Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s, who for a time gained impressive sway founded on incendiary and nonsensical ravings pitched to the most gullible and fear-motivated people in society.  Hopefully, his political importance will in the end be the same as theirs: a cautionary lesson of shame and disgrace.        
        

Strong Economy Prompts Federal Reserve Action

There was good economic news today.  According to the Wall Street Journal, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, in what is likely the last press conference of his tenure, announced the economy is strong enough that the Fed decided at its last meeting to scale back its monthly stimulus of bond-buying from $85 to $65 billion a month.  With manufacturing, construction, home and auto sales all up, it was determined that the program of "quantitative easing" could itself be eased.  The New york Stock Exchange responded with a jump on the Dow of 292 points today to a new record high of 16,167.

Interest rates will be kept low for at least another year to keep big-ticket purchases affordable and continue to work on the unemployment rate, which is projected to drop about 10% next year, from the current 7% down to 6.3% in 2014.

There is no question the budget austerity imposed by Republicans on Capitol Hill has delayed and reduced the recovery.  Bernanke, a Bush appointee, attributes "fiscal drag," the slashing of government jobs and spending during a downturn, to shaving about 1.5% off U.S. economic growth this year.  2013's decent growth of 2.3% could have been a robust 3.8% without the ideological foolishness of sequesters, shutdowns and layoffs during hard times.

      

Colin Powell Supports Universal Health Care

Colin Powell, speaking in Seattle at a forum for survivors of prostate cancer (a history that readers of this space will know that he and I share), made an impassioned plea in favor of universal health care in America.  The former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State had this to say:

"I am not an expert in health care, or Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, or however you choose to describe it, but I do know this: I have benefited from that kind of universal health care in my 55 years of public life, and I don't see why we can't do what Europe is doing, what Canada is doing, what Korea is doing, what all these other places are doing."

"All these other places" have a "single payer" health care system, akin to "Medicare for all."  It's what many Democrats had actually been hoping for in the Health Care initiative.  Readers of this space will certainly know that I have strongly backed Obamacare as a way to increase Medicaid to the poor and help subsidize those of modest means to afford health insurance.  It's a huge improvement over the way things have been done (or not done, to be more accurate) in our country, for it's a moral imperative that everyone deserves needed medical care.  

Most people agree.  In a November CNN/ORC Poll, 40% of the people supported Obamacare and 58% did not.  But of those, 14% were opposed because they felt Obamacare doesn't go far enough. Add those to the 40% who back Obamacare and you have a majority who feel  public action is called for compared to 44% who don't.  AS CNN puts it,  "That means that 54% either support Obamacare, or say it's not liberal enough."

Powell gives voice to this view.  Alex Lazar of ABC News relates how 

Powell told the audience about a woman named Anne, who as his firewood supplier, faced a healthcare scare of her own. Anne asked Powell to help pay for her healthcare bills, as her insurance didn't cover an MRI she needed as a prerequisite to being treated for a growth in her brain. In addition, Powell's wife Alma recently suffered from three aneurysms and an artery blockage. "After these two events, of Alma and Anne, I've been thinking, why is it like this?" said Powell.

That is certainly the same question most people with a heart and an open mind have been asking for a long time now.  Why is it so important in the minds of some to make sure sick people do not get medical treatment?  As Powell elaborated:

"We are a wealthy enough country with the capacity to make sure that every one of our fellow citizens has access to quality health care.  Let's show the rest of the world what our democratic system is all about and how we take care of all of our citizens.  I think universal health care is one of the things we should really be focused on, and I hope that will happen," said Powell. "Whether it's Obamacare, or son of Obamacare, I don't care. As long as we get it done.
                                    
Amen to that.

Nelson Mandela's Body Left Us Today, But Not His Spirit

The world lost one of its greatest heroes today with the death of Nelson Mandela.  Mandela was from South Africa but a treasure of all humanity.  His messages of freedom, hope, equality, persistence, perseverance and magnanimity will continue to resonate, because they appeal to the better and affirming side of our natures.  As was said of Abraham Lincoln, "now he belongs to the ages."

Madibe Mandela was born in 1918.  Prophetically, his tribal name means "troublemaker."  Mandela was given the name "Nelson" by an elementary teacher who told him he needed to have a Christian name in order to attend school. 

Remarkably, Mandela was able to earn a degree in law in the rigidly-segregated South African system.  He was not, however, permitted to use it.  Following the massacre of 69 freedom demonstrators by security forces in 1960, he joined the freedom movement of the African National Congress and was soon under heavy surveillance by the police.  Nelson Mandela explained, "Good and evil are always at war.  Good men must choose."

He was jailed in 1962 and put on trial for treason.  After telling the judge in his final trial statement that he was willing to die for the cause of freedom, Mandela was sentenced to life at hard labor in 1964.  Days breaking rocks under the blazing sun and nights sleeping on the floor of an unheated eight by eight cell were to be his lot for the next 27 years.   

Mandela became a worldwide symbol of dignified and principled resistance to injustice.  Marches and vigils were held around the globe for his release and for the realization of his cause during all that time.  Nonviolent resistance from the 80% of black South Africans, much of it directed or inspired by their leader in prison, followed the model of Gandhi and Martin Luther King.  Finally, international sanctions drove the apartheid regime to the breaking point. 

Mandela was finally released from prison in 1990 at the age of 72.  He ran for election as South Africa's first democratically elected president by all its people in 1994, and won with 62% of the vote.  Despite all the injustice he had suffered, Mandela remained unscathed by bitterness and a visionary of reconciliation.  In his inaugural address, the president said, "Now is the time to heal old wounds."

Mandela served as president for five years and then stepped down and retired.  The voluntary relinquishment of power, so unusual for Africa, was another pointed object lesson from a man whose whole life constituted one.  "I am not a prophet.  I am not your ruler.  I am nothing but a servant," he explained.

Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 in tandem with Frederik Willem de Klerk, the last apartheid-era South African leader, "for their peaceful termination of the apartheid system."  His life and legacy are ensured for all generations.  The people of South Africa are not in glum and silent mourning tonight.  Instead, they are singing and dancing in the streets.  Rather than pine for what they have lost, they celebrate what they have gained, and the remarkable man who did so much to make it possible.  As Mandela summed up shortly before his death, "There is nothing more powerful than the words, 'This is not right.'"

                                                                        

Diplomatic Breakthrough with Iran?

The historic agreement just announced with the Islamic Republic of Iran is a good and necessary first step toward preventing that troublesome nation from acquring a nuclear weapon.  The interim accord also represents perhaps a last chance to do so peacefully.  The accord should be supported, because it preserves the prospect of beginning to restore a modicum of stability to the Middle East.

The six-month deal was announced between Iran and six powers, led by the United States.  The other partners are Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.  Here are some of the most important terms Iran must adhere to: International inspectors will be able to visit Iran's facilities every day for the six months to monitor compliance.  Iran will destroy the 20% enriched uranium it already has.  It will accept limitations on producing more 3.5% enriched uranium.  It will get rid of some of the advanced centrifuges it currently has, and will acquire no more new ones.  It will not open its Arak heavy water reactor, potentially capable of producing plutonium.  It will enter into good-faith negotiations for a permanent treaty during this six-month interim period.  These terms are intended to take away Iran's present stockpile and then prevent it from retaining the ability to produce more fuel enriched to a level that makes the jump to nuclear weapon status feasible.    

In exchange, the powers will relax their sanctions a bit, allowing some more sales of Iranian oil and permitting it to re-enter world markets to specified levels in auto parts, gold, and other precious metals.  The easing of sanctions would net Iran about $7 billion in relief over the next six months.  The sanctions are costing the Islamic Republic about $5 billion a month, so even with the interim agreement, they will still be penalized $23 billion of the $30 billion (over 76%) of the economic losses they faced before agreeing to the bargain.

The usual chorus of neoconservative critics attacked the agreement, claiming it lets Iran off the hook too easily.  Senator Lindsey Graham called for harsher sanctions and no deal except Iran agrees to end all enrichment, even at the 3.5% level of purity which can legitimately be used for electrical power generation.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a "bad deal."  Senators McCain and Corker apparently are ready to begin bombing Iran any day now.        

The problem with their line of thinking is that this represents a real opportunity to avoid war and begin bringing Iran back into the family of nations.  If it fails or Iran reneges, the military option will still be there.  With daily inspections Iran will not be able to produce a bomb in the next six months.  President Obama has made it clear several times that Iran "Will not be permitted to acquire a nuclear weapon," and that "all options are on the table" to accomplish this.  Iran knows full well what that means, and the sanctions Obama has initiated and gotten the other powers to accept have been extremely effective.

Why on earth shouldn't we try to resolve things peacefully first?  If this works, the President will have gone a long way toward earning that Peace Prize he received early in his presidency.  If not, we are likely headed for another war in the Middle East.  And after what we have been through over the past 12 years, only a fool would prefer that as a first choice.

The Day the President Died

Fifty years ago today, also on a Friday, President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas, Texas.  For people around my age, it was our Pearl Harbor, our nine eleven.  I was in school that day at Arbolita Elementary in Mr. Membrez's room.  The principal, Mr. Van Pelt, came into our fourth grade class and told us the news. Some cried; the rest of us sat in stunned silence. That weekend our family watched everything on TV. Particularly etched in my memory are John John's salute, Jackie kissing the casket in the Capitol rotunda, and the riderless horse in the funeral procession. We saw Oswald get shot on live TV. It was a total national nightmare.  We've never really recovered what was lost.  I still sometimes choke up when discussing that day in my History classes. 

Obamacare Is On The Road To Success

A remarkable and rather unheralded development is quietly taking place regarding the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) health overhaul.  Enrollments are surging now, particularly in the 14 states running their own exchanges.  The Buffalo News reports that the Empire State signed up 48,162 last week, about half of whom bought insurance on the exchange while the other half signed up for the expanded Medicaid eligibility.  Connecticut is on track and about 14% of the way to their enrollment goals for the March 31 deadline.

Covered California has signed up 59,000 for the private exchanges and added 72,000 to Medicaid.  The Golden State is adding another 2,000 people a day to its rolls.  Covered Oregon "cut its uninsured population by 10 percent in the first six weeks of enrollment."  The Los Angeles Times  reports rapidly accelerating momentum.  "California — which enrolled about 31,000 people in health plans last month — nearly doubled that in the first two weeks of this month."  "What we are seeing is incredible momentum," said Peter Lee, director of Covered California.

The effects of state cooperation have been important.  To give you an idea, Kentucky is the only southern venue in which the state government has supported the program.  5,586 Kentuckians have signed up for insurance there.  Meanwhile, 2,921, about half as many, have signed up in Texas, even though Texas has six times Kentucky's population. 

Nationwide,about 400,000 people have been added to Medicaid and about half that many have secured private insurance coverage through ACA.  Despite the rocky federal website roll out, as things continue to improve the country is rapidly reaching a tipping point.  Before long there will be a million people directly helped by Obamacare.  As the detractors have feared all along, once that happens they will never be able to get rid of it.  It will prove as politically impossible for them to repeal the program and take coverage away from people as it has been for them to repeal Social Security or Medicare.

Fracking Questions

Hydraulic fracturing is a technique to get more oil or natural gas from rock formations deep underground.  It involves injecting water and a stew of dissolved volatile chemicals into a well under high pressure.  The process fractures rock, freeing hard-to-get-at oil and gas deposits and increasing the production of wells.  It’s being used in new fields such as North Dakota and Wyoming with geological strata that have been hard to drill up to now, and in old fields such as Pennsylvania to squeeze more hydrocarbons out of formations that had previously been tapped but left a lot of fossil fuel underground that couldn’t be recovered using older technologies.  California is another state that has large reserves from older fields that will likely become prime industry targets due to fracking.  These are primarily in the massive Monterey Shale formation which rests beneath much of the central portion of the state, including the San Joaquin Valley.

People like me who are concerned about the environment are highly suspicious of fracking for a number of reasons.  First, we want to put more emphasis on clean, renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal and tidal.  Fossil fuels are what’s putting poison into our breathing air and raising global temperatures through the greenhouse effect of gasses like carbon dioxide and methane.  On the whole, we and the earth would be a lot better off phasing out fossil fuels in favor of their clean alternatives rather than finding new ways to produce more of them.  Second, we are alarmed about the possibility of toxic chemicals such as solvents being injected into the ground and contaminating the water table we use for irrigation and drinking water.  Third, fracking has been associated with earthquake activity in Pennsylvania.  To what extent will breaking up subterranean rock formations act to destabilize the crust and set off subsidence and quakes?  Is that something we really want to mess with?  There needs to see a lot more research and provisions for serious safeguards before we should be the least bit enthusiastic about opening up this Pandora’s box.