Filed under: Uncategorized
Hello there, former reader or random person who stumbled on this blog. This was a blog that I intended to be long-term, but after a flurry of writing in August and September 2009, I fell away, for reasons I can’t quite figure. Just plain busyness… it’s that what we all tell ourselves?
Well, I’m restarting blogging, but in the meantime, I’ve grown fond of Blogger because of its integration with Google. I’m using lots of Google apps for all kinds of work, and I started using Blogger for teaching in some online courses, as I am a college professor. I also find it easier to edit and design the way I’d like it to look. And I think it will be easier for readers to comment on the blog on that site.
So, please follow me over to http://socialvirtues.blogspot.com/. “Deep Down Things” will stay around for a bit longer, and then be removed.
Filed under: Global issues, Iraq, War & peace | Tags: Michael Walzer; withdrawal from Iraq
I read with interest and agreement this essay by Nicolaus Mills and Michael Walzer in the New Republic on ethical guidelines for withdrawal from Iraq. Influenced by Walzer’s writings on the ethics of war, I had penned thoughts along these lines a few years ago.
I also reacted to some ill-founded criticisms by two commenters on the article, and I am reproducing my response here. Oddly enough, one commenter was anti-Obama and seemed to think that all plans for withdrawal were capitulation to jihadism; therefore, he harshed on Walzer as a capitulator. The other writer (to the extent I can figure him out) was anti-Bush; therefore he seemed to think that Walzer analysis was too abstract and failed to criticize the failed war harshly enough. Here’s what they both missed:
Walzer is not commenting on whether keeping troops in Iraq is a good idea or not. He begins with the historical observation that “Nations carefully plan for wars. They mobilize support for them. But typically they rush into withdrawals….” Walzer is starting with the *factual* premise that America has committed to removing all its combat forces by the end of 2011. The Iraqi government remanded this of the U.S. George Bush agreed to it, if you don’t recall, and Obama is continuing with that plan. Right or wrong, it is what the Iraqis want; want the Democrat and Republican consensus it; and what most Americans want (Gallup polls for the last three years show 60% support for withdrawal on a timetable.) I take Walzer to be saying that this withdrawal is happening and, given that, it should be done ethically. Isn’t it better to have a thoughtful, planned, ethically guided withdrawal than the alternatives he discusses? Neither of you comment on the substance of his guidelines given these political facts.
Filed under: Uncategorized
I’m going to leave that post as it is below, to show you that I’m having a lot of troubles getting pictures to load to my blog in the right way. So close your eyes and imagine a golden-orangey sunset, with shadowy palm leafs hanging in the foreground…
Filed under: Uncategorized
It has been hard to write as often as I want, as I try to get back in the rhythm of the school year. My apologies if you have been waiting for a new post.
A reader and fellow teacher, who noted my August posting of sunsets, sent me two from his own summer travels to Israel. Here are sunset at the Tel Aviv Boardwalk on 7/15/09 and sunset at the Sea of Galilee on 8/8/09. They are quite remarkable. Thanks to my friend.
This video complements the Happy Labor Day post below. The passage referred to starts at time point 5:30.
Filed under: Economy, Health care reform | Tags: Health care reform, Labor Day; Jesse Jackson
If you’ve been looking for a new post, sorry that it’s taken me a week to write one. Who knows where a week goes? Around my house, we’ve been dealing with the transition back to school for both kids (4th grade and pre-K) and both parents (my wife is a high school teacher; my semester starts the day after Labor Day).
I’ve got a few posts coming up soon, in particular my observations on attending one of the health care reform town meetings that Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut held last night.
As I process my thoughts on that town hall meeting, with Ted Kennedy still on my mind and with Labor Day weekend upon us, my mind stumbled on a deep memory of Jesse Jackson’s amazing speech at the 1988 Democratic Convention (full text here; video above). The passage below is seared in my memory. It’s very relevant to the health care debate that we are having as a nation. It’s also something to remember on Labor Day, when we should enjoy not just a rest from our labors, but should honor those who work hard every day.
Most poor people are not lazy. They are not black. They are not brown. They are mostly White and female and young. But whether White, Black or Brown, a hungry baby’s belly turned inside out is the same color — color it pain; color it hurt; color it agony.
Most poor people are not on welfare. Some of them are illiterate and can’t read the want-ad sections. And when they can, they can’t find a job that matches the address. They work hard everyday.
I know. I live amongst them. I’m one of them. I know they work. I’m a witness. They catch the early bus. They work every day.
They raise other people’s children. They work everyday.
They clean the streets. They work everyday. They drive dangerous cabs. They work everyday. They change the beds you slept in in these hotels last night and can’t get a union contract. They work everyday.
No, no, they are not lazy! Someone must defend them because it’s right, and they cannot speak for themselves. They work in hospitals. I know they do. They wipe the bodies of those who are sick with fever and pain. They empty their bedpans. They clean out their commodes. No job is beneath them, and yet when they get sick they cannot lie in the bed they made up every day. America, that is not right. We are a better Nation than that. We are a better Nation than that.
As kids head back to school around the country, probably most of them had to make some report on their summer reading. How about the adults: what did you read this summer that made on impact on you–or that you just enjoyed? What would your recommend to others? Your comments are welcome.
A big novel I read this summer was Abraham Verghese’s Cutting for Stone. Verghese is a medical doctor, medical teacher, and author of both fiction and nonfiction. (His blog at the Atlantic is linked at left.) He is proponent of the value of literature and the humanities in the training of medical personnel; he has drawn from his medical experiences to write memoirs that open up readers’ minds and hearts to the abiding questions, joys, and sorrows of human life. He is best known for My Own Country, which explores at those joys, sorrows, and questions through the vista of his experience treating patients with HIV in rural Tennessee at the start of the AIDS crisis.
Cutting for Stone is his first novel. It tells the story of twin brothers of Indian-English parents being raised at a missionary hospital in Ethiopia. We follow the story through the eyes of one twin, Marion Stone, as his rearing parents enliven him to the joys of doctoring. I can hardly summarize the plot without using a lot of words, as the story ranges into all sorts of themes and events: wondering about one’s true parents (the twins their mother at birth and the father abandoned them); sibling rivalry; first teenage romance; living in a politically dangerous situation. And through it all, the allure of medical mysteries.
I was rapt by Verghese’s descriptions of the natural beauty and culture of Ethiopia. There is much excitement as a family drama plays out against the backdrop of rebellion and dictatorship. Later in the novel, the reader gets an inside look at what it like to be a foreign medical doctor in the U.S. Verghese makes you feel the passion that draws people to a medical career. Through it all, the question of what you would do for the people you love–even when they have hurt you–makes the novel resonate, I think, with any reader.
Filed under: Health care reform
I appreciate the great comments from readers in the young life of this blog. I wanted to point out two right now, so others can go and read them.
First, in response to my “Is Health Care a Right?” post (August 7), Vern lays out a lot of basic problems with our system and boils it down to the basic question: is health care a right of citizenship or a commodity depending on one’s ability to afford it. Assuming the former, he lays out the big needs in health care reform. I agree with what he says and his “big picture” is the view we need not to lose in the current debates.
Second, Barbara made a good comment on town meetings (on my August 21 post). I agree with what she says about anti-reform activist groups and conservative media whipping up these unhealthy protests. My post only went so far as to say that it would have been better to build in public commentary from the beginning.
Keep the comments coming! –Brian
Filed under: Catholicism, Politics | Tags: Catholicism and politics, Ted Kennedy
Today came the somber news that Senator Ted Kennedy passed away at age 77. It has been heartening to see how he lived through his terminal cancer with grace and determination. Listening to retrospectives on the radio and thinking about the man, I was struck that two other things are (almost) to be mourned, because they are further moribund with Kennedy’s passing.
The first thing to be mourned is Kennedy’s style of politics. His style was to be extremely passionate for his causes and ideas without demonizing those who stood on the other side. Kennedy maintained good friendships with Republicans who had the same attitude. Commentators have noted that this style was far more common in politicians of Kennedy’s era than now. That seems right (even accounting for that fact that the Senate has always been a little more genteel and bipartisan than other forums). The vigorous political debates of today are tinged with so much anger and virulent mistrust of the opponent. I saw this when fellow liberals distrusted every single act of Pres. Bush and made him a continual butt of humor, and the same is true now of conservatives toward Pres. Obama. Yes, the pundits have always led the way in extreme rhetoric, but their attitudes have infected the public discourse of ordinary Americans.
A second thing has been dying out over the 20th century. The Catholic Democratic politician of Kennedy’s vision and influence is an endanger species. There are many reasons for this. The Catholic voice in politics is more fragmented these days. Some Catholic leaders have questioned the Catholic bona-fides of politicians such as Ted Kennedy and John Kerry–uncharitably, in my opinion. Prolife issues and cultural issues were not hot-button issues before the late 1970s. Now is not the time to explore all that. It just seems a shame to me that too many Catholics overlook or don’t appreciate that Kennedy’s leadership on civil rights, health care reform, etc., was fully in keeping with Catholic beliefs about social justice and inspired by his religious identity.
In short, Catholics ought to proudly claim Ted Kennedy as one of their own and see in his leadership a model for part of the role to be played by Catholics in public life. But will internecine fighting hamper other Catholic politicians from making such a mark?
[Note: I wrote this post a little hastily, so I made some edits on the morning of August 27.]
Filed under: Christianity, Islam | Tags: Christian-Muslim relations, Islam
To my Muslim friends: Ramadan kareem, blessings and good wishes on the start of the holy month of Ramadan. May it be a month of spiritual growth, happiness, and communal bonding for all who are celebrating it around the world.
President Obama offered a wonderful message that I hope will be noted by Americans of all backgrounds and by Muslims around the world.
On this blog in the coming months, I will make occasional posts about the opportunities and challenges for Christian-Muslim relations, and I welcome readers’ comments on this topic. A good starting point is another message that should also be widely noted: A Common Word Between Us and You, which is a open letter to Christians from dozens of leading Muslim leaders and scholars around the world, written in late 2007.
The basis for this peace and understanding already exists. It is part of the very foundational principles of both faiths: love of the One God, and love of the neighbour. These principles are found over and over again in the sacred texts of Islam and Christianity.
These words of peace and unity are apt on this special day. It is heartening that dozens of Christian leaders and church bodies have responded to the letter in kind (all these responses are on the A Common Word website). Obviously the realities of Christian-Muslim relations are complex and fraught, yet the statement above is what I consider to be the proper starting point for frank and fraternal dialogue.
Again, good wishes to all.
