Historic U S Supreme Court Rulings

On June 25, 2015, the U S Supreme Court ruled in favor of Affordable Care Act subsidies that provide less able individuals with the resources necessary to purchase health insurance at a price closer to what they can afford.

On June 26, 2015, the U S Supreme Court said that liberty and justice for all is a sacred right that can be denied to no U S citizen.  

Though these historic decisions were not unanimous, they are non-the-less law.  

Today, those with limited resources have access to health care.  The naysayers in Congress would dearly love to gut the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and replace it with something better.  They have yet to define or even propose an alternative.  The ACA is not perfect.  The mandate to purchase insurance is an onerous one that punishes those with the least resources.  It does not address economic inequality in our country. It is a band aid over an enormous problem whose woes are old and profound and have nothing at all to do with health care.  Nonetheless, the ACA is a stepping stone, just like Clinton's "don't ask, don't tell" was a stepping stone at a time when anything more would have been nearly impossible.

That being said, the second Supreme Court ruling named above is a giant step for liberty and equality in a nation that still grapples with those words and their deepest meanings.

Today, same sex couples may apply for and receive marriage licenses in all 50 states. Detractors say the federal government has over-stepped its bounds and entered into areas best decided by the people of each state.

But those of us who know prejudice, those of us who have been asked to wait until the majority "see the light" know better.  When the world understands that the majority have no right to withhold liberty, equality and justice from the minority for any reason, then our world will truly have progressed beyond the shadows of ignorant and hurtful darkness into the light of fraternity, compassion, and love.

Religious Freedom Law in Indiana

Religious freedom is a cornerstone of America.  Right up there with all the other freedoms our founding fathers envisioned some 238 years ago.

Indiana Governor Pence says that the law he recently signed does not encourage discrimination, but instead, protects the personal, religious beliefs of all Hosiers.  No one can dispute the upholding of individual beliefs.  Again, a solid American principle.

So, why all the backlash.  Huge corporations threatening to withdraw their business.  The NCAA rethinking the Final Four.  Signs going up in businesses saying "We serve Everyone".

Perhaps things are not as simple as they seem.

Right now the world is locked in mortal battle with disparate groups around the globe who profess a religious faith that they believe is the one true way to salvation.  Whereas Jesus said "love your neighbor as you would love yourself," many churches add caveats, i.e., side comments.  Such as: "Love the sinner, but hate the sin."  Most often applied to the GLBT community.

All of us have difficulty with those things in life we do not understand, especially when we feel they may harm us or our families by their very existence, even if these fears are unproven.  Sometimes these "feelings" become personal beliefs and we find ourselves choosing sides, passing laws, or accepting some while excluding others.

At their most benign, beliefs are private matters born on emotion and fed by ideas (not always our own) and life experience.  "Private" is the key word here.  As an American you may believe what you want, attend the church of your choice, participate in rituals and adopt a creed.

Things get blurry, however, when we take that belief and use it to deny our fellow human beings the same privileges we would go to our death to preserve.  When we reach this point, we have moved from belief to judgment; and this is just one step away from intolerance and hate.  To totally adhere to the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, one cannot have it both ways.  In other words, we cannot award these privileges only to those we deem worthy.

If a starving man offends your religion for one reason or the other, would you still deny him a hot meal and a place to stay?  If a person chooses to love differently from you, and your religion finds it offensive, would you deny him or her food at your grocery, a cake from your bakery, and best wishes for a long and happy life at his or her wedding?

Use this law to protect those aspects of your religion that affect your right to worship how, when and where you wish and with whom you wish.  But take care not to assume that because of your beliefs you are also entitled to judge another, exclude another, or condemn another publicly.

The New Testament is filled with many, many things, but at its core is  a single thread:  "Judge not lest you be judged.  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." It couldn't be simpler, my friends.  Do we really need laws to codify common decency and humanity?

Our world's future is begging us to find common ground.  To listen.  To learn. To trust.  To take risks by reaching out to others not like ourselves.  We have tried the other way and it is apparent to all who care to see that it simply does not work!

APPLE'S $10,000 WATCH!!!

Apple has just released its top-of-the-line watch.  Its target: the luxury market.  Those who can afford to wear a high-priced gadget.

No mention is made of the six billion nine hundred ninety-nine million people on the planet who cannot afford it.  No mention is made of how such a watch will make a better world, end rampant poverty, or bring world peace.

I can think of many things this world needs more than another expensive gadget to show off to one's friends.  The Rolex is not enough?!

Companies that create and market such items have lost my business.  Period.

Instead of this, why not:

--End poverty,

--Cure debilitating and life-ending diseases,

--Mend our dysfunctional mental health system,

--Rethink and restructure our educational system,

--Disassemble our current U. S. Congress and reassemble it with people who actually understand diversity of opinion and the need for communication and compromise,

--Create products that will last,

--Provide equal and excellent healthcare to all,

--Pay a living wage to ALL,

--Create a People and Environmentally conscious world in lieu of a Money-driven world.

The world is filled with genius.  Apple is a fine example of a company that just keeps coming up with novel ideas and processes.   The only problem is, the goal seems to be:  stay one step of the competition.  Keep the stockholders and Wall Street happy.

This particular road is the road to Nowhere.  All giants fall eventually.

What if the world's focus was on collaboration with one's peers instead of competition? What if the end product was the creation of a wholesome and peaceful world?  What if money was ancillary and a healthy world primary?

What if, Apple?  What if?

February 13, 2015

The Vatican out of touch with the world?

Once more I am drawn to Pope Francis’ recent comments on how to react when insulted, on the spanking of children and on the "selfishness" of those who choose not to have children. 

First of all, I must applaud Ireland and Germany and the members of the committee looking into child abuse allegations against the clergy for coming out against physical punishment of children.  Germany has even gone so far as to outlaw it.

I was raised in an era when spanking a child with a belt or a switch (from a tree) was acceptable.  As a young parent, I spanked my children, though I did not use a switch or a belt.  Then one day I woke up and realized that it was wrong.  Terribly, terribly wrong!

Adults are many times bigger and stronger than their children.  They often act in anger and frustration.  They inflict pain and emotional hurt, especially as the child grows older and becomes more aware of what is happening.

It is never okay to hit a defenseless person, be it a child or an adult.  It is never okay to inflict emotional pain on another child or adult.  It is never okay because each human deserves respect and dignity, no matter the age. 

As for being selfish for choosing not to have children.  The Vatican has stepped into the inviolable realm of the intimate and personal.  Such decisions should be decided by the two consenting adults concerned.  If they desire Papal advice, then it is something they have chosen and not something that has been imposed upon them. 

Parenting is a lifelong commitment that is best undertaken when each party is mature and fully aware of the choices they are making.  The world is now 7+ billion people strong and growing daily. Those who want to have children should do so; and those who do not, should not.  How religion ever got into these issues is a puzzle.  Jesus was all about injustice, intolerance, greed and stale religious ritual.  He did love children, but I know of nowhere in the New Testament where he advocated procreation as a Godly pursuit.  In fact, scholars still argue over own his marital status or lack thereof.  

I applaud Pope Francis for his efforts to raise awareness of the poor and disenfranchised.  I applaud his efforts to encourage dialogue among warring nations.  But I am completely befuddled by a man who uses the "other hand", so to speak, to validate corporal punishment for children and "punching"  someone who "insults his mother."

We cannot have it both ways.  "Do no harm" is a fine maxim.  These three pithy words are tucked into every religious creed.  But in practice, religions often punctuate its meaning with a “but” . . . but when a child is misbehaving, but when we deem it otherwise, but when one is insulted.

It is possible that the Pope's advocacy of the "punch" following the Charlie Hebdo attack was metaphorical and in support of his belief that we must respect each other or incur the wrath of the injured party.  But it sent a message nonetheless:

When faced with an insult, retaliate in a manner that shows your anger.  In which vain follows, when faced with a recalcitrant child, whip him into submission.

What more can I say?

STATE OF THE UNION - 2015

The state of our Union on this cold January day, 2015, is Divided.

"A house divided against itself cannot stand," said Abraham Lincoln 150 years ago.

If one looks at our nation over time, it has always been divided: By the haves and the have nots, by the right and the left, by the hawks and the doves.

We call these divisions Democracy and praise America's undying (or dying) commitment to it.

President Obama will give his State of the Union address on January 20th.  One topic that is receiving a lot of attention of late is his desire to increase taxes on the wealthy to afford more spending power to the rest of the country.  While noble in theory, a starving man cannot move beyond his economic status on "crumbs" alone, which is what such well-meaning actions provide. Soon the "crumbs" are devoured by rising costs and the cry to buy, buy, buy!  Consume, consume, consume!  Our economy cannot survive without these actions, and the vicious cycle continues with no relief!

The only way for those with less to rise from the middle, or from the bottom, is for our country to change the way money is valued.  No one should receive a $20 million dollar salary when far too many workers make less than $15/hr.  In our world today, money really means nothing.  It means nothing because it does not do what it should do, provide every human being with  quality of life.  Economists who see only numbers, will argue that you cannot define "quality of life" for every person, therefore it cannot be achieved.

In our gut, we all know what a quality life is.  Nourishing food choices, decent housing, excellent healthcare and education, enjoyable employment, and leisure. Never having to worry about our next meal, a roof over our heads, or health services when in need.

In our world, the economic pyramid is inverted.  The point is being shoved into the earth by the weight of the accumulation of wealth at the top.  Money in the hands of a few trickles down only in proportion to the amount needed to keep the wealthy, wealthy.  And yet, all employees are invested in the commerce of our world.  All make the "world turn" so to speak.  They deserve their fair share!

Don't give us crumbs.  Restructure salaries so that everyone gets paid to live a quality life. And those who cannot provide for themselves?  Yes, they get the same.

In America millions are left out of our wealth.  So they act out. We need visionary leaders. We need true "people persons” who will create a world where people come first.

Money has become a means to an end.  And it is slowly killing our spirit.

We have a divided Congress.  This is not Democracy.  It is a nation divided against it self.   

THE FREE WORLD GATHERS IN PARIS - JAN 11, 2015

Today the free world gathers in Paris.  They gather in solidarity against those who use guns to silence freedom.  

In numbers, the terrorists are few.  But they are angry and they are single-mindedly set upon a course that destroys lives and communities.  They thrive on fear as their reward.

As with any story, there are two sides.  There is the defiance of protests and marches such as these.  There are the words of condolence and outrage.

The other side of the story is less easy to speak of.  It is the great question of mankind from the beginning of time.  The biblical Cain and Able.  The killing of one brother by another because of jealousy.  The Bible is symbolic of course, but its message is real.  We humans have been killing each other forever.  FOREVER!

Terrorism will not disappear today because of Paris.  I doubt future terrorists will be moved by our outward act of defiance in the face of the great uncertainty that terrorism engenders--its unpredictability.

So how do we stop it?  Can we stop it?  Yes!

One day at a time.  One kindness at a time.  Tolerance of all peoples.  Efforts to dig deep until we unearth the real reasons for radical acts.  Listening intently to what they say, for at the core of their oft cancerous rhetoric is a message.

Do we as a civilization bear any responsibility for the terrifying world we live in?  Did not America invade Iraq without due cause?  Did not thousands of innocents die as a result? Do we not systematically kill radical leaders without due process of law? Have we not worked with Middle Eastern leaders when it was advantageous and then summarily deposed them when it was not?  What of Guantanamo and its many inhumane and unresolved issues?

To heal we must admit our own part in the cruelty of our world.  The innocents who died in Afghanistan and Iraq also have a say.  Those easily lead or deeply frustrated say it with mayhem.

This story is not about the bad versus the good.  It is the story of a world that twists its meaning to fit the moment.  It is easier to name a wrong when it is brutal and in your face--as in France this week.  It is harder when it is couched in political terms as a justifiable response to murderous acts.

We must stop retaliating for retaliation's sake. The march in Paris today is an act of defiance against terrorism.  It is peaceful.  The majority of our world wants peace.  Quiet. Security.  Kindness.

Let is act in self-defense, of course.  But beyond that, we must stop the killing.  Until we do, until we see the story in Paris as Our story, the story of civilization, little will change and soon we will live in armed camps, with fear in our hearts, until someone somewhere commits the final act and kills us all.

PARIS MASSACRE - DAY TWO

A Moslem police officer was the final victim of the Paris massacre on January 7th.  He died defending freedom.  For me his death says that people kill people.  Not nations, not religions.

Two brothers killed 12 people.  It does not matter what their belief, who they followed, why they did what they did.  What matters is that somewhere along the course of their young lives, these two individuals decided on a  path of destruction.

The reasons for terrorism are many.  Too many to name or even explain.  Terrorism has been a part of our world for as long as people have found fault with their neighbor.  It is difficult to predict and it is always destructive.

Terrorism is the greatest ulcer on the soul of our world.  It has grown beyond all imagination into a worldwide poison that has "infected" those most vulnerable.

With all our bombs and rhetoric we have not been able to lance it.  It continues to grow.  Like a deadly cancer, we have found no cure.

We have faced it down in solidarity:  "Le suis Charlie" and "Le suis Ahmed".  We have bombed it.  Run it to ground.  Railed at it from very government in the world with a conscience.  We have written about it, satirized it.  Mourned its terror and destruction.  But what has changed?

We need to look beyond past responses.  We must begin anew.  Can we really kill terrorism?  And if we kill "it", will not others rise up in its stead?

We must offer those who would do these things an alternate message.  A message that  will lance the "ulcer" so that it can drain and heal.

Vengeance does not work.  You can kill terrorists, but can you really kill the thoughts and beliefs that inspire them?  We perhaps need new thoughts and new beliefs, beginning with teaching our young people to think for themselves.  To question everything.  To follow no one without checking their gut first.  We need to exemplify kindness, charity, forgiveness, compassion, acceptance of all and the exclusion of none.

Ninety-nine point nine percent of us do not take up weapons and kill.  Why?   Let's tap into that.  Let's mass produce that.