I Am Woman

In the United States, March has the distinction of being celebrated as Women's History Month.  It is too bad that some of our politicians, and particularly some of our most loud-mouthed media bloviators, can't seem to remember that not only do women make up at least one-half of the population, but we also vote.  The last time I checked, we can also read, write and speak articulately.  Over the past weeks, we have been treated to the spectacle of GOP political candidates running as far to the right as possible to try to establish their so-called "conservative" credentials.  Among other things, these loons have been revisiting access to contraception, trying to grant "personhood" status to zygotes at the state level and holding hearings in the U. S. House of Representatives about contraception at which women were not even allowed to speak.  These politicians have totally "jumped the shark" and are continuing a headlong downward spiral in meaningful political discourse.

Today's Independent newspaper has an article describing the "best and worst places in the world" to be a woman and it's truly a mixed bag - with some surprising results.  The article is most noteworthy for the fact that neither the UK nor the US was - thankfully - ranked among the worst places in the world for women, but also because the UK doesn't lead the world in any of the 20 "best" categories, while the US leads the world in only one: the best place in the world for a woman to be an athlete.  The mind literally boggles.

Scandinavian countries are as a group the most women-friendly in the world, with Iceland the best place for women overall, taking into account politics, education, employment and health indicators.  Norway won out as the best place to be a mother.  Sweden was first in two categories: best place for a woman in the arts and best place for a woman's right to choose.  Denmark was the best place for a woman to have more leisure time.

So, this begs the question: why can't all countries - including my own - aspire to imitate the Scandinavian countries, whose economies are also booming and whose quality of life is very high?

I, for one, have never had a satisfactory answer to that question.  But I will keep on asking it.  Perhaps, one day, I will no longer have to.

Things Religious

There are apparently two topics that are BIG no-nos: politics and religion.  Some believe that we should not discuss them at all simply because they are topics about which people believe differently.  Perhaps it is attributable to my linear makeup, but isn't that exactly why one has discussions - because people do not perceive or believe things in the same way?  Isn't that why we try to exchange ideas, hoping to arrive at a consensus?  Of course, if one firmly believes that one's own way is the right way and that none other could possibly have anything of merit, then there is indeed a problem.

The thing for me that helps the discussion is when those who are discussing can at least agree to certain facts.  After all, one can have - and, I would maintain, one should even be open to - a variety of opinions.  But one certainly does not have a right to one's own facts.  Certainly, when facts are scarce, the few that one has can be open to different interpretations, but so long as those interpretations remain subject to logic, one can still have a reasoned and reasonable discussion.  The problem with religion, however, is that to believe literally takes a leap of faith - one must suspend logic - and that leap of faith is a very personal one.  If only that leap of faith could remain personal, I would still have no problem whatsoever with it.  It is only when those personal leaps of faith cause those who fervently believe that there is no other way but their own to thrust that way upon me and others - that I have a problem.  And yes, I do have a big problem with that.  So yes, after discussing one big No-No yesterday, today I shall mention the Other.

The much vaunted Founding Fathers of the US were, for the most part, Deists.  They believed that there was most likely an all-powerful Creator, but they did not believe that the need for an organized religion necessarily followed.  They were all students of history and had overwhelmingly originated from Western European countries, all of which had been wracked by terrible religious wars between Catholics and Protestants for centuries.  Many of their ancestors had family members who had actually gone to the Middle East to take part in crusades against Muslims centuries before the Western European religious wars between Christian religions.  So, having seen the atrocities that had occurred in the name of religion, they very much valued both distinction and separation between State and Religion and never - at least from any of the writings we know best that stem from that era, e.g., the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution - declared the US to be a "Christian" nation.  In fact, our US Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, determined that. according to the First Amendment, freedom of religion can also mean freedom from religion.

I, for one, would much prefer that NO political candidate for office would wield religion as an attribute.  I would rather see a decent, intelligent, compassionate and committed human being who is genuinely interested in making our dysfunctional political system work for the majority of citizens.  I would rather know what meaningful vision that person has for our country than know anything about what religious views that person holds.

Things religious have certainly deteriorated to the same insanity level as things political when I have to read, as I just did in today's Independent, that Mormons - prominently in the headlines these days because Mitt Romney is a potential GOP Presidental nominee, and also a Mormon - have posthumously baptized Anne Frank.  Yes, THE famously Jewish Anne Frank most of us learned about in our respective youths, whose famous house and former hiding place I actually visited in Amsterdam in 2000, and who died precisely for no other reason than that she WAS Jewish.  With all due respect, the Mormon religion - like every other organized religion I have ever heard of or been exposed to - has a lot of cockamamie beliefs by any reasonable measure.  But posthumous baptism is one of the nuttiest, IMO.  Probably the best treatment of this "controversy" - at least the most bearable - is from the inimitable Stephen Colbert last night. 

People like Colbert make me believe that there must indeed be a Creator somewhere - with a wonderful sense of humor!  And thank God for that!

Computers!!!!

Computers have become such an integral and ubiquitous part of modern daily life that it is very difficult to remember what life was like before we were able to "surf" the web to find answers about or opinions on even the most esoteric of issues, to communicate with - even to view live - far-away family and friends practically instantaneously through applications or features like "Chat" or "Skype," to send news updates or photographs to several people at once, etc., etc., etc. ....

There is a saying, non-attributed so far as I can find on the Web, that computers are great, except when they aren't.  While that can be true of many things that we consider to be "modern conveniences" or "gizmos," there is another saying, also non-attributed, that applies very much to computers:  "To err is human.  To really screw up requires a computer."

Obviously, when one puts error-prone humans such as myself, in proximity to or using a computer, the potential for massive screw-ups is nearly indescribable and practically infinite.  Early in the life of my laptop, for instance, I managed somehow either to unplug it or force a shut-down while it was in the middle of one of its interminable updates, causing the whole system to crash.  Until HWMBO, my guru in these matters, with near-sainthood status in his patience with those of us who are technologically challenged, was able to reload all software completely, the laptop was unusable.  Of course, even though HWMBO reloaded everything and I have never managed to repeat that particular - and major - no-no, some data, mail and photos were irretrievably lost.  I have since learned to back-up my work and, fingers crossed, will manage never to lose important items again.

But a couple days ago, I managed somehow to mess up my Google Chrome.  I have been using Chrome as my principal internet browser over Internet Explorer (somehow, I could never quite warm up to either Firefox or Bing) for much of the past six weeks.  What happened is that somehow - and I can't imagine what happened except that some errant fingers, unfortunately mine, must have done something untoward - my Google Chrome webpage was coming up askew.  I could only see the minimize feature and could not navigate sideways or vertically, so that Chrome was practically unusable.

One lesson that I have learned in this electronic age - and from HWMBO - is that if you have a computer-related problem, there is usually a solution for it somewhere on the Web.  There appears to be no computer-related problem that is unique.  If I have it, there are others who also do.

But finding such a solution presupposes that you describe the problem correctly or ask the right question(s).   Yesterday, I was not using the proper key words and no solution that fit my situation could be found, or at least I could not find one in my search results.  But this morning, when I was apparently thinking more clearly, I manage to phrase the problem as "Chrome web page off center," which proved to be the "Open Sesame" to solutions for this particular problem.

The problem is easily solved.  As described by Malacath,

Press ALT+SPACEWhen a drop down menu comes up select 'move' then move the window with the cursor keys.  

So now I'm back in business!  Thanks, Malacath, whoever and wherever you are!

Gallimaufry 6

It's been a while since I've had a Gallimaufry round-up - since June, In fact.  So, it's about time to gather up some bits and pieces of events that have been floating about.

*****

When HWMBO decided to visit me in Switzerland, we had some tentative travel plans during his visit.  Interestingly, our social life has been so eventful, first with planning and implementing events related to the retirement of my former boss and good friend, and otherwise with getting together with old friends and new that we haven't yet had time to squeeze them in.  He seems to be enjoying himself and we've both enjoyed seeing so many good people that we both knew together, as well as my newest neighbors here, most of whom he had never met in person until this visit.  At least my newest neighbors now seem to realize that I do have a husband - he is not simply a figment of my imagination!

*****

HWMBO is an avid tennis player and fan.  So today, we enjoyed watching Swiss TV coverage of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic playing in the final of the Swiss Indoor Tournament in Basel - Federer's home town.  I say "we" advisedly.  I have the idea that my tension infects Roger's play.  So, to do Roger a favor today after he dropped the second set to Novak, I moved into the other room out of sight of the TV.  It must have done the trick (ha!).  Roger came through 2-1 to win his fifth title of 2010, his fourth career title for this particular tournament.   I also like Djokovic's game, however, and Novak played well today even though he had to settle for second place.

*****

On the home front, Prince Attani's real name has not yet been made public so we're still waiting to hear the final choice.  It took a while for Big T and Sweet Momma H to settle on Prince Tyger's name but they came through trumps.  So I'm sure that they'll do so again.  I remember that it took a couple of days for us to name Big T, even though the name we chose was our clear front-runner for a boy.  We had "Meryam" in reserve for a girl.  I was so sure that No 2 son, Big S, would be a little girl that I refused even to consider a male name.  The minute I saw him, however, I realized that our choice of "Sarah" would not work at all!  So it meant that his father and I had seriously to discuss names for boys right beside his little clinic cot.  When Big S's father mentioned the name that we ultimately chose, that was it.  It was obviously "cut" for him.  Although he goes by a nickname, no one who knows him can imagine him as anything but that.

Interestingly, even though those in this generation have the luxury of knowing the gender ahead of time, they seem to have a more difficult time choosing names than we did.  Of the grandchildren, only Princess Butterfly had a real first name before she was born.  Even then, her parents had difficulty concurring on a second name and I inadvertently disseminated the wrong one to other family members because minds changed even after that!  I learned my lesson.  When Prince Attani, whose real name will not feature here, gets a little older and we see how his personality develops a bit more, I'll likely bestow yet another blog name on him.  We have time.

*****

The long-predicted Republican "tsunami" did not occur in the US during the elections on 2 Nov, at least not to the extent certain so-called pundits were predicting.  Still, it was a bad night for the Democrats generally.  Yes, there were losses in the House and Senate, but Democrats did retain the majority in the Senate.  Harry Reid, the much-maligned and Republican-targeted Senate Majority Leader managed to squeak through an election that would not have been as tight had voters actually understood what they were voting for.  But Democrats did lose their majority in the House and I, for one, am very sorry about that.  My personal belief is that yes, it was a difficult year politically for whichever party was in power, but the Democratic National Committee (DNC) fell into the bad old habits of targeting certain states instead of continuing the "50-state strategy" so well implemented by Howard Dean.

As a Dean admirer, I have been appalled at how he was literally shunted aside after he had done so much for the party nationally.  It was not that he wanted to remain at the DNC.  He didn't.  But as a medical doctor himself, and as a politican who had already managed to implement health care reform at the state level when he was governor of Vermont, he should have at least had his request for the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) treated with serious consideration.  But he was unceremoniously tossed aside because it was felt by the "Powers That Be" that he would be too "partisan."

I really hate the false equivalencies that seem to hamper liberals generally.  In the name of "free speech," some seem to believe that deliberate lies, smears, distortions and slander should be treated as respectfully as fact-based logic.  In such cases, liberals will always lose because we respect truth, as should all.  So why are fact-based "partisanship" and standing up to bullies who name-call, demean and have no interest in civil discourse bad things?  Those who ultimately defeated fascists and Nazis had to stand up to them first.  In many cases, this meant that they also lost their lives.  We should have at least a modicum of the same courage.

Family politics - parental leave

In this month of November, we are expecting the births of a new grandbaby together with our very first great-niece or great-nephew.  We already know that the grandbaby will be a boy.  But the parents of the other newest family member have chosen not to know, or at least not to make public, the gender of their baby.  That is exactly the way it used to be when I had my own babies - and I am one who actually liked it that way.  But to each his or her own.  We are still very thrilled about the imminent arrival of both.

Our newest grandson will be younger brother to our very special Prince Tyger.  The Tyger's world will likely turn somewhat upside-down when his Baby Brother arrives.  Prince Tyger is used to having the undivided attention of all the adults in his family, so we'll see how things go when he learns that, important as he will always be, he now will have to share the limelight.  Those of us who were "oldest" in our families all learned that lesson - at least to a greater or lesser degree.

In light of these impending events, I was interested to read an article in last Wednesday's Tribune de Genève discussing a new initiative that is being proposed by la Commission fédérale de coordination pour les questions familiales (COFF) (the Federal Coordination Commission for Family Questions).  The proposal would introduce a paid parental leave of up to six months for working young parents - to be split between mothers and fathers.   Under this proposal, each parent would receive a minimum of four weeks of paid parental leave in addition to the regular paid maternity leave.  Although the proposal doesn't describe "paternity leave" as such, it would have the effect of validating it.

When I worked with international organizations (IOs), both paid maternity and paternity leaves were part of the benefits packages even though, while I was working there, I was long past the age where I needed them.  Several of my young male colleagues, however, especially those working fathers who were sole wage-earners for the families, used the month-long paternity leave (as contrasted with the four-month paid maternity leave for new mothers) to help bond with their newborn children, to give their wives an occasional break and also to help with routine chores (e.g., grocery shopping and cooking) usually performed by their wives who did not work outside the home while the new mothers got used to their new status and responsibilities.  I personally believe that both are wonderful ideas - especially if one truly believes in "family values" and doesn't merely pay lip service to them.  Such leaves are investments in people and in the future.

The sticking point for this proposal, of course, is the financing.  The COFF has proposed raising fees and increasing the VAT (value-added tax) slightly.  The right-wing UDC party is totally opposed to parental leave; the left is very favorable.  But neither left nor right likes the added costs.  Extraneous or tangential issues such as creating more space in day-care centers and after-school activity centers and working flexible schedules are also factors in the debate. 

In its print edition at least, the article also provided a table showing that Switzerland is less generous than other European countries insofar as parental leave is concerned.  While the table used Iceland and Germany, at nine months and 14 months respectively, as bases for comparison, the article concluded that the Swedish model is the most generous.  In Sweden, 16 months of parental leave is the rule and the leave can be divided between both parents, although for the first 13 months, the leave is paid at only 80 percent of the gross salary.  The leave can also be taken part-time.

My own country, the United States, is the only Western country not to mandate paid parental leave.  In fact, it was only in 1993, under the administration of President Bill Clinton, that an unpaid leave was mandated.  Before then, parents had to take vacation or their own sick leave days for such.  While it is true that some private employers in the US do provide paid parental leave among the benefits offered to their employees, IMO, these employers are too few and far between.   We certainly lag behind Western Europe in this respect.  And Europe is certainly economically competitive with us as well.

Rather than for my country to continue to invest in endless war, I believe that I am part of the overwhelming majority that would prefer to invest in people, in families, in education, in infrastructure, in universal health care, in improving our environment and in providing for a future where all children are valued as the wondrous creations they are, not simply as future consumers, serfs to provide obscene profits for corporate overlords, or cannon fodder for the warmongers.   

Transitions

I realized yesterday afternoon that it was time to turn the calendar page.  Yes, we are now in the throes of October, officially beginning the final three months of 2010.  For me, October has often been a melancholy month, in part because the days get light later and dark earlier once the autumn solstice has passed.

October has also often been a personal transition month for me.  I first consciously realized this in 1978, when I happened to be reading Gail Sheehy's Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life just after having made significant transitions in the preceding July-August-September period.  After receiving a divorce that ended a 13-year marriage, I had uprooted my young sons and even some of the family pets from Montana to Arizona to spend a year studying for a graduate degree while on sabbatical leave from my teaching position.  While most of those transitions had not actually occurred in October, it was in October that I had some time to take stock of all that had happened during the rather tumultuous three-month period preceding it.  Similarly, October 1980 was my stock-taking moment after a transatlantic move from Montana to Morocco that also involved new employment.  My long-suffering sons and the family dog accompanied me on this second adventure as well.  It was intended to last for three years.  That particular set of transitions ended up changing all our lives forever in ways that we never could have imagined - at least not during that particular October.

The most significant transitions that resulted in my current lifestyle occurred in October 1994, when HWMBO and I first came to Switzerland together.  At the time, my projection was that our stay here would last from three to five years.  In fact, funding for the institution that had engaged my services was on shaky footing, to say the least, so the move could have resulted in our departure much earlier.  Prospects were so short-term at the time that we could never have imagined that our stay here would last for the 16 years it has!  Had we been able to see the future, we would certainly have invested in real estate here 16 years ago because it would have cost a lot less in the long term than our rentals!  As it happened, I got a realistic second bite at the real estate apple late in October 2005 and snapped at it - although with a very big gulp.  And not without significant qualms.

In hindsight, that turned out to be an extremely fortuitous financial decision because that real estate has since appreciated.  It also helped that the USD exchange rate for the amount that I had to convert for the purchase was significantly higher at the time.   Like so many others with funds that were invested in equities and securities to aid us in our retirement lifestyle, we have watched with dismay verging on horror the various global financial crises.  The absence of ethics and scruples in those who had fiduciary obligations but appropriated and squandered the funds of others for their own whimsy and pleasure - gambling that their Day of Reckoning would never come has been particularly disappointing, as was the failure of Government oversight.  Institutions were in place but were simply not allowed to function as they should have because it did not suit those in power at the time.  When the Day of Reckoning did come, those same scam artists - who without fail preach caveat emptor and "free markets" to others and who consider those who live in poverty to be there by choice - were the first to beg for Government-sponsored taxpayer bailouts, which in most instances translated into billions of dollars received with no strings attached.  Today, the USD is trading almost at parity with the Swiss franc (CHF).

While the financial crises are indeed global, there is no denying the significant role of the unregulated market capitalism and shock doctrine-enforced "democracies" that principals from my own country have fostered at the expense of captive populations, including its own.  Thanks a lot, scam artists and worse!  Many of us are growing impatient with waiting for the "mills of God" to do their grinding.  To this end, there will be demonstrations in the US today, a fact that was barely worthy of mention in the rightward-leaning Washington Post, which unceasingly gives disproportionate coverage to anything with a whiff of Tea Baggery.  Even the New York Times finds other news more important to report.  It's eerily similar to how the MSM virtually ignored the millions who protested the war in Iraq in 2003.  Let's see whether they report anything about this tomorrow and, if so, whether it will be with the habitually disparaging bias they use towards progressives.   

Whether transitions are for better or for worse, they inevitably lead at least to physical shifts in geographical location, lifestyle, health conditions and choices, among others, even if only for a short while.  They can also lead to universal shifts in perspective and spiritual outlook.  Given my own experience with transitions in October, that include changes in employment, international relocations, losses of loved ones, major surgeries, travel and so forth, it is no wonder that I greet the month with some melancholy.  Still, given my experience, even that melancholy is tempered with anticipation rather than foreboding.   

Discovery-Tarnished Silver Spring

Yesterday afternoon news programs announced the startling event, breaking into regular radio and television coverage: an armed individual who was supposedly carrying a bomb had entered the lobby of the Discovery Channel Building in nearby Silver Spring, Maryland.  Both HWMBO and I, who have frequently driven past this building on our way to visit our precious Prince Tyger and his family, stopped what we were doing to find out what was happening, literally holding our breaths and dreading the worst.

There was a tense four-hour stand-off during which three hostages  - a security guard and two other Discovery employees - were forced to lie face-down on the floor while a deranged individual stood over them with a handgun.  The stand-off ended comparatively well for the hostages, fortunately, whose traumatizing ordeal ended only when the individual, one James J. Lee, was shot and killed by police.  The stand-off likely did not meet Mr. Lee's expectations, although it is difficult to know what those expectations were.  According to an article in today's Washington Post, the Montgomery County Police Chief described Mr. Lee as having a live bomb strapped to his body.  Exactly what DID he expect to accomplish?

Excellent photos of the area during the standoff can be found here.

Mr. Lee was identified and described by some as an "environmental militant," whose world consisted of  "good" and "bad."  Human beings were "bad;" civilization was "filth."  War, global warming and pollution were "bad."  Worst of all in this manifestly disturbed person's ideology, however, were babies - "parasitic" to him.

Mr. Lee, like all those who resort to violence or terrorism in an effort to attract attention or make their points, was exactly the kind of "friend" that his self-styled causes do not need.  Many of us feel frustrated that nothing or too little is meaningfully being done at the highest levels about global warming and pollution.  We also detest war - and especially those who lie in order to provide justification for it!  We are genuinely concerned about overpopulation and its corresponding carbon imprints on this Earth that we all must share.  But we work with others and try to bring people together to solve our common problems.  We do not use weapons or violence.  Finally, we certainly do not consider any of our fellow human beings, least of all babies, "parasites." 

Mr. Lee's "creed" is available to read on the Internet.  There are some aspects with which I can agree, such as the airing of inane, if not outright insane, TV shows such as "[Jon and] Kate Plus 8"  and "19 Kids and Counting," that promote the litter-like production of  human children rather than feeding, clothing, sheltering, educating to their highest potential and improving the quality of life for the children who are already here.  I certainly support the right of responsible couples to have children.  After all, I have even had them myself and thoroughly enjoy my grandchildren as well.  I also taught children and adolescents for several years and look forward to doing so again.  However, neither of those TV shows demonstrates responsible parenting, in my opinion, and neither should be presented as any example of such.  "Nothing in excess" is one of the admonitions that greet visitors to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.  That is a wise adage.  But such sage advice is all too easily forgotten by those who blindly follow or who seek obscene profits, either for themselves or for the corporate masters they serve.

But most of Lee's manifesto-like authoritarian ranting is patently nonsense.  He was an Internet despot who was also hypocritical, at least in part, because his targeting of the Discovery Channel likely had much less to do with his purported causes than with the fact that Discovery apparently dismissed his ideas for a TV series.

Let us neither demonize nor glorify this sad, demented man, who is currently beyond anything this world can do to him now.  Let him simply be buried in peace.  While his acts can in no way be justified, my heart goes out to any family or friends who knew and loved him.  My heart also goes out to the policeman who had the very sad duty to shoot to kill in order to preserve the lives of others.  Sadder still is that somehow our contemporary society continues to form more alienated individuals like Lee.  How that happens and why should concern us all.

To build or not to build, is that REALLY the question?

Just when I believe that I've seen it all, that the crazy people who literally seem to be coming out of the woodwork everywhere in my country cannot get any worse or embarrass those of us who are at least within "normal" definitions of sanity - whatever those may be - any more than they already have, the airwaves are flooded with the latest distraction du jour.  And just what is this distraction du jour?   The fact that Muslim Americans wish to build a Muslim community center on property that they own that happens to be located a couple of blocks from "Ground Zero" in lower Manhattan is driving the wingnuts absolutely bonkers.  It is leading from one rhetorical excess to another.  The thinly disguised racism and bigotry in that inflammatory rhetoric are largely being given a pass by the US mainstream media (MSM) - and even worse, by politicians who should know better.

The project was initially reported by the New York Times in December 2009.  As the article reported:

"The location was precisely a key selling point for the group of Muslims who bought the building in July. A presence so close to the World Trade Center, 'where a piece of the wreckage fell,' said Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the cleric leading the project, 'sends the opposite statement to what happened on 9/11.'
'We want to push back against the extremists,' added Imam Feisal, 61.
Although organizers have sought to avoid publicizing their project because they say plans are too preliminary, it has drawn early encouragement from city officials and the surrounding neighborhood." (emphasis mine)

From that quiet beginning, thanks largely to the fearmongering efforts of what Salon (one of the few publications that still gives me hope for US journalism) describes as a "right-wing, viciously anti-Muslim, conspiracy-mongering blogger, whose sinister portrayal of the project was embraced by Rupert Murdoch's New York Post" comes a ridiculous brouhaha.  The name of its begetter is Pamela Geller.  Even before this latest media-manufactured "controversy," Ms. Geller had also been described as "the looniest blogger ever" by at least one individual who specializes in finding such loons.  Just going by the New York Post's own juxtaposition of Imam Faisal and Ms Geller, I find Ms Geller the scarier of the two.  By far.

Ms Geller has also earned a prime place on my personal Noxious Persons list, which I am sure will bother her not one whit.  But enough about her, she will have her own karmic destiny to endure at the appointed time, as will we all.   The Salon article is an excellent one and I encourage all to read it and the links it includes here.  It provides a timeline for how this story - largely positively received even by conservative personalities like Laura Ingraham - evolved and notes how the project was approved by the New York City community board committee.  Of course, the approval occurred before Geller and her vicious sycophants and cohorts got to work in earnest and ratcheted up the fear level.  Now Ingraham has fallen into line and is against the project.  Sigh - it seems that hate and fear are all too easily ratcheted up in America today.

The Founders of this Nation, who were largely Deists, understood the real problems that can occur when a religion controls or otherwise interferes with the functioning of a State.  They had studied history and the Classical philosophers, as well as the more recent philosophers of the Enlightenment.  The Enlightment had taught them that reason, not superstition or religion, should be the basis for legitimacy and authority.  Still, they believed in a Supreme Being and understood that most individuals need not only to believe in one but take comfort and inspiration from that belief, hoping in time to become worthy of being united with their God.  They also believed that the State should not interfere with the rights of individuals to choose which religion to practice.  That right was so important to the Founders that the right to choose and practice one's religion of choice (or, as it was also later interpreted, not choose and not practice) was enshrined in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The text of the First Amendment is very simple.  It is also very profound.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Evidently, Ms Geller and co - and the 70% of Americans who reportedly are against the building of this center - believe that the First Amendment does not apply to Muslims.  They deny that, of course.  Their disingenuous response is that the center should simply not be built at that particular location.  Apart from that, they conveniently forget that New York City approved construction of the center and approved it for that location. Moreover, the center is to be on private, not public, property.  Their standing to object is decidedly lacking.  But that is perhaps too "rational" for them to understand.

The question here is not really "to build or not to build."  It is rather what kind of nation have we become, when the political rhetoric, fear-mongering and promotion of hatred, diviseness and "other-ness" have become more reminiscent of 1930s fascist and Nazi leaders than of our Enlightenment-inspired Founders?  What kind of nation indeed?

Peaceful actions and laudable goals

Today's Tribune de Genève has two stories juxtaposed that evidence real concerns and actions that have been, and are being, undertaken to alleviate, in small and peaceful ways, the humanitarian disaster that exists in Palestine.  One story discusses the strategy advocated by "Boycott Désinvestissement Sanctions" (BDS).  Created in 2005, BDS initiatives have been multiplying throughout the world in order to encourage boycott, divestment and sanctions actions dealing with Israeli-produced goods and services.  These actions are not only intended to have an economic impact, but more precisely to be successful in changing opinions and political positions. According to the promoters, such campaigns should be evaluated by a series of measures, including economic impact, greater exposure of the issue in the media, shifts in popular discourse over understandings and dynamics of the Palestinian struggle, and the psychological impact upon the offender that the behaviour causing the boycott is not acceptable.  The Swiss BDS group is implementing such a boycott throughout Switzerland.  A sidebar accompanying the article lists the three main supermarket chains and the specific products that are targeted.

The second article is more heartening, if also heart-breaking.  After two years of letters, packages, hundreds of stamps and overwhelming expenditures of time and energy, 12 students of a Geneva school are meeting their Palestinian pen-pals face to face.  The 16 Palestinian children, ranging from 8 to 13, have for the first time in their lives set foot on soil other than that in the Balata refugee camp.   Balata was established adjacent to the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank in 1950.  Entire generations have matured within its confines since then - with nowhere to go.  Therein lies tangible and desperate despair  - apparently inexplicable to too many who are otherwise logical and goodhearted persons.

The 10-day visit is intended to show the young Palestinians that there is something in life other than an enclosed space, that other lives and possibilities are possible far from conflict.  It is hoped that the visit will provide them with hope, friendship and a vision for a better future.  The visit is being sponsored by the Meyrin Foundation for the promotion of cultural, social and sports activities, the Department of Culture of Geneva City, the Permanent Mission of Palestine to the UN in Geneva and by Royal Jordanian Airlines.  Getting the young Palestinians here at all was a remarkable achievement, with packages lost or stolen, customs charges required at several different times, and visa problems,  In fact, two of those who were to accompany the group were denied visas and thus not allowed to leave.

Between the 16 Palestinians and their 12 Genevan "hosts," it was love at first sight, in spite of language barriers.  Would that there could be many other such meetings!  It's a small world, after all, and it is very hard to hate a person with whom one has shared pleasant experiences.  Perhaps that is why so much energy and effort are spent in dehumanizing and demonizing so that some may always be considered "other."  And that is tragic.

Women in Politics and the US "MSM"

While surfing through the US "mainstream media" (MSM) this Sunday morning, one could be forgiven for believing that there is no news in the world other than the unprecedented winter storm in the Washington, DC metropolitan area (the first time, for example, that the US Postal Service has been cancelled in three decades) and the "revolutionary" Tea Party "convention" (with no meaningful discussion of how "delegates" were selected).  Oh, and there is definitely pre-game coverage of Sunday's Super Bowl.  But that last is to be expected at this time of year.  And the first is at least worthy of mention, given the scale.

Leading the US headlines, however, there is seemingly endless repetition of the "speech" given by Sarah Palin before the tea partiers.  The so-called convention and so-called speech (which the MSM generally describe as "folksy" but others -- who might anticipate a modicum of coherence in something that one states before a paying audience -- call "word salad") have both received disproportionate attention.  Continuing the deplorable MSM trend, even the New York Times has incorrectly inflated the so-called TP "movement" figures, according to Media Matters.  Given the general level of critical thinking and positive or pragmatic solutions articulated by the preponderance of those present at the convention, however, this wall-to-wall MSM coverage may, albeit unintentionally, prove to be a spur to fund-raising efforts by the Democratic National Committee (DNC).  One is reminded of how Democratic contributions to the Obama-Biden campaign, already at record levels, rose exponentially immediately after Senator McCain announced the not-quite-one-term-ex-governor of Alaska as his running mate in the 2008 Presidential election.

For a lively recap of events at the convention and Ms. Palin's "speech," I heartily recommend "Tea Time with Sarah" at The Mudflats.  The post and the comments provide all one needs to know.  They can also save time, anguish and gnashing of teeth generally.  Neither the "movement" nor Ms. Palin has the widespread support among US citizens that the MSM would have one believe.  Even such sources as the New York Times merely repeat what the movement says about itself, as per recent scrutiny by Media Matters.  Fact-checking?  Phooey ... a remnant of the long-ago past!

Contrast the attention given to this speech and responses to scripted questions before a sympathetic audience by the patently English-challenged Palin with the practically non-existent US MSM coverage of the testimony and responses given by Kristalina Georgieva, the EU Commissioner-designate for International Co-operation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response at a hearing before the European Parliament in Brussels last week.  Keep in mind that Ms. Georgieva, a national of Bulgaria, is a non-native speaker of English.  As an alternate candidate with a very short preparation period, she literally "dazzled" Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) across party lines even though she was subjected to some difficult questions.

The US has plenty of women in politics who are able to "dazzle," although most would not be able to do so in a language that is not English.  The US also has excellent women candidates and office-holders, even across party lines.  Sarah Palin is not one of them.   

But if the US MSM are to be believed, there is a massive "revolution" going on and it's all being led by the woman who first -- and incorrectly -- stated through a ghost writer that health care reform would lead to "death panels."  Sorry, Sarah, the "death panels" have been a fixture of the US landscape for a long time.  They are also known as health insurance companies.  When they deny coverage for "pre-existing" conditions, that can literally mean a sentence of death.  So while the media spotlight is disproportionately fixated on Ms. Palin, let us remember that the US MSM have all too often in recent years let us all down.  They have not, repeat not, lived up to their responsibility to inform.  That is a damning indictment.

In the meantime, the truly qualified women all over the world simply keep their noses to the grindstone doing what needs to be done, dazzling when and where necessary, even -- and sometimes especially -- when the dazzling moments are overlooked.

And thank heavens for that!

The Mysterious "Blackout"

When I watch US media coverage of world events, I often have the impression that I truly live in a parallel universe.  Of course, it is natural for the perspective of my fellow citizens on the other side of "The Pond" to be different.  Many, if not most, are struggling just to get from one day to the next.  They are typically worried about keeping their jobs -- if they are lucky enough to have them, having good schools and meaningful job opportunities for their children, keeping their health insurance and not going bankrupt if they happen to have someone in the family with a chronic medical condition, among other particulars. They are much more concerned about domestic issues that touch them directly.  Even from my "lofty" perspective here, I am also concerned by those issues, on their and my own children's behalf.

Even so, given our global society, there are just too many geopolitical, cultural and social issues that touch upon and affect "domestic" issues that a true disservice is done to my fellow citizens when geopolitical issues are reported superficially.  Or even worse, when those geopolitical issues are not reported at all.

It is not that we do not have good journalists.  We have some truly outstanding ones, especially in the print media, in publications such as The New Yorker, where Seymour Hersch, for one, has broken story after story ... only for any of those important stories that did not find favor with the corporations or interests that control the media to fade from the public consciousness.  They are never given the "hype" in broadcast or even other print media that would be given to coverage of, say, a comely pregnant spouse who has gone missing.  This is not to say that the latter is not important, especially to those who love her.  Still, the proportionality of the effect is much different.

In the United States, there is currently great and justified concern about the burgeoning budget and trade deficits, especially because they will hinder, if not prevent outright, government expenditure in areas that can assist the general population with their most common concerns.  Much is made, for example, about the impact on the US budget deficit of passing health care reform that will benefit the US population as a whole, most often in an effort to stall passage of any meaningful reform.  But the real "elephant in the room" is that the biggest annual deficit producer, once entitlement programs like Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security -- which actually do benefit large segments of the population -- are excluded, is the US military.  Even President Obama proposes not simply to maintain, but to increase military expenditures in 2010.

The largest and ever-increasing portion of the military expenditures is due to the two wars (Afghanistan and Iraq) begun during the administration of George W. Bush, and especially to Iraq.  So it would seem logical, at least to me, to be a tiny bit curious about how the US managed to convince Tony Blair, at the time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and who was initially -- and correctly, in the opinion of anyone who knows a thing or two about international law -- against an invasion of Iraq, to jump on the  war bandwagon.  Had Blair not done so, it is quite likely that the so-called "Iraq War Coalition" would not have been formed at all.  (My own theory is that somehow he was "Stepfordized" while visiting the Bush ranch in Texas.  Even some of his closest friends didn't recognize him after that.)

Given this natural, to my mind at least, curiosity and the Iraq War's overall adverse impact on the US budget deficit as well as international relations generally, it is mystifying that the Chilcot Inquiry has received little to no mainstream media coverage in the United States.  It is truly as if there has been a news blackout.  Begun in November 2009 in the UK, the Chilcot Inquiry, otherwise known as the Iraq Inquiry, is an ongoing inquiry by a committee of Privy Counsellors with broad terms of reference to consider the UK’s involvement in Iraq from mid-2001 to July 2009.  It is intended to cover "the run-up to the conflict, the subsequent military action and its aftermath with the purpose to establish the way decisions were made, to determine what happened and to identify lessons to ensure that in a similar situation in future, the UK government is equipped to respond in the most effective manner in the best interests of the country."

If one "googles" news reports on the Chilcot Inquiry, one receives results like this.  It is natural that the print media reports begin with British sources, of course.  What is less natural, however, is that few "mainstream" US news sources carry any reports at all.  Try searching for yourself with the newspapers that you most frequently read.  My search through the Washington Post's archive, for example, retrieved eight stories since November 2009.  Many of those were only available on-line.  The two that were published in the print version were on pages A08 and A27 respectively.  The A27 reference was in a column by Jim Hoagland.  The  A08 reference was to Tony Blair's testimony before the committee on Friday, 29 January 2009.  The headline clearly provides the "slant" for the story, "Ex-British prime minister Tony Blair: The world is safer without Saddam Hussein."

Uh, Mr. Blair and WaPo headline writer, that's not the point.

Even PBS, my bastion of last hope for a "free" press because it is public and supposedly less susceptible to corporate interference, brought up only three responses to my "Chilcot Inquiry" search.  "Iraq Inquiry" did better, having 647 results, but many of those actually referred to previous inquiries, not specifically the Chilcot Inquiry, which is the most recent.

So why is this "blackout" happening?  I certainly have no answer and I wish that I did.  At least, the UK is asking the questions to those who should be providing answers.  A US commission is long overdue.

Getting started ...

The expression "Today is the first day of the rest of your life" comes to mind as I very tentatively publish my thoughts ... neither terribly well thought-out nor well-crafted for such a momentous event (to me at least) ... in my own blog space in the blogosphere.  After many months of dithering about whether I would actually do this, I finally girded my loins (figuratively, because I'm not quite sure how one actually does that) and me voici!  This happened today only because of a mighty challenge from "He Who Must Be Obeyed," that is, the lovely man with whom I have had the pleasure of sharing life more or less in common for the past 28 and counting years.  That challenge was the final push.

Today and tomorrow are "count-down" days because my stay in Maryland for the year-end holidays will officially come to an end Wednesday, when I board the night flight to London for the first leg of my return trip to Geneva.  It's been a very interesting and lively stay, punctuated by visits to see family members in Maryland and in Washington, DC, reconnecting with friends in the area and going through the inevitable rounds of medical appointments that seem to be more necessary and more frequent as the years mount up.

The biggest event was HWMBO's cataract surgery at Johns Hopkins University.  It was as magnificently expedited and efficacious as it was unexpected.  If the US health care system actually functioned like that all the time or even most of the time, we would indeed be the envy of the world.  As things stand, however, this is the sad exception rather than the rule since most Americans are subjected to the decisions of health insurance company administrators rather than health care professionals.  While the health care reform package currently being crafted in Congress looks to be the first advance in national health care reform since the establishment of Medicare, shame on all those who could not simply begin and end with extending Medicare benefits to the entire population.  No one seems to be too concerned about the costs of waging seemingly endless war, but let there be a discussion of what might benefit ordinary citizens and the warmongers suddenly become fiscal hawks.  Since HWMBO and I are both Medicare-eligible, we can already benefit from that system.  For a price, to be sure.  Even then, Medicare will not generally cover my medical expenses outside the United States.  Sigh. 

I have never understood and will never understand how anyone in the US who has never experienced what every other industrialized country in the world already has, that is, a functioning health care system that actually serves the needs of its citizens, can truly believe that we in the US have the best health care system in the world.   We have excellent doctors and other medical professionals, to be sure; we have outstanding researchers and we have excellent hospital systems.  But allowing those professionals to care for the people who need to be cared for does not seem to be the main focus of too many in the US Congress and most especially not the focus of the profit-driven insurance companies who are much too powerful in determining who lives and who dies.   It seems to me that the so-called "death panels" are in fact here and have been for far too long.

Being generally an optimist, I believe that there are many who have worked too long and too hard to let this effort falter.  Even though the final proposal likely to be enacted into law is not what I (and many others) had hoped for, it is still a beginning.   Every journey, no matter how long, begins with one step.   Let us begin!