National Sovereignty Day in Iraq

This quote from Dhafir al-Ani, an opposition member of the Iraqi parliament and head of the largest Sunni bloc, puts the celebrations in Iraq today into perspective:

"Sovereignty means you are capable of free decision-making, defending your national soil, airspace and waters. Iraq is definitely far from achieving all this, I think the title of 'sovereignty day' should be reserved until we achieve the full sovereignty."

That day is not scheduled to come until December 2011, but today, June 30, is being celebrated as National Sovereignty Day.

My metaphor for the U.S. invasion of and eventual withdrawal from Iraq has been pulling out a knife. I wrote, back in the fall of 2007: "When we invaded, we stabbed Iraq in the stomach. Somehow we have to remove the knife without killing the patient."

In a followup post, I wrote: "Also, remember that Iraq cannot really heal until we pull out. We are the knife that has been driven into their body. Even after the doctors are able to safely remove the blade, the patient still may be in danger."

So here we are, today, finally the doctors are taking out the knife. The operation is not over, the wounds and incisions have not been closed. The tools of the operation stand at the ready. But the doctors stand back and wait for spurts of blood, leaks in the arteries. Did they do their job well enough? Or will they have to go back in again to stop more blood from being spilled?

But faced with the reality of this day, my metaphor doesn't fully hold up. For one, U.S. troops will now return only at the request of the Iraqi authorities. I can't imagine a surgeon waiting for the permission of patient to repair an artery that ruptured in the middle of surgery.

However, it cannot be denied that pulling out of the cities is a significant psychological and symbolic event. No longer will the majority of Iraqis wake up to see the uniforms of the invaders on their streets. Even if it that invasion had positive results - like the toppling of a brutal dictatorship - I don't think any nation on Earth can easily bear the humiliation of being conquered and occupied by another.

That is why sovereignty is so important to the well-being of Iraqis.

It has been a day of contradictions. As Iraqis celebrate with fireworks, like an old-fashioned American Fourth of July, the U.S. military reported that four soldiers were killed in Baghdad on the eve of the withdrawal.

The withdrawal was also celebrated with a parade, but it was held within the heavily fortified Green Zone. So, the general public could not attend. And many news organizations were barred from the parade.

But the barring of the reporters actually has an upside. The reason why the reporters could not get in was because the checkpoints are now run solely by Iraqis. When they were joint U.S.-Iraqi checkpoints, the American military often smoothed things over to let the reporters through. Now, the reporters can't rely on their American contacts, but must deal directly with the Iraqi authorities.

But that is what this withdrawal is all about, giving the Iraqis the power to control their own country.

Sovereignty.

We are all Africans

The children were grateful their mother had returned to their little village in Tanzania. It was dark in the mud hut when Edith arrived after a seven-day trip.
They could not see her face, but they could feel her hug, smell her skin.
But in the morning, they looked in her face confused.
"Who are you?" they asked.
They did not recognize her because the cleft lip that had marred Edith's face since birth had been repaired.
"And that," said Father Damien Milliken, "is the story of Easter."
Just as Jesus had not been recognized by the disciples after the resurrection, so had Edith been transformed by an act of kindness, Milliken told the congregation Sunday at St. Mary Our Mother Church in Horseheads.
Milliken's life has also undergone a transformation. A native of Elmira, Milliken joined the Benedictine order and 50 years ago was assigned to missionary work in Tanzania. He had returned to thank Father Chris Linsler of St. Mary Our Mother for his support for the past 15 years in hosting African priests who were studying at Elmira College. The church took up a second collection to help Milliken's mission.
In Africa, the election of Barack Obama was an inspiration, Milliken said. However, what was even more inspirational was in watching how graciously John McCain conceded, saying that the better man must move forward and be president.
"This is democracy?" the people in Africa said to themselves. On a continent where those in power often hold on to it through force of arms, McCain concession to Obama was a timely lesson about the power of free government. Africa is watching us as an example of how democracy works, Milliken said, let's be mindful of that.

For all of the foreign aid sent to Africa, about 95 percent of it could be set out in a parking lot and set on fire for all the good it does for the average African, Milliken said. Most of the aid is siphoned off for the wealthy to buy luxury goods and build high rises, Milliken said.

Copies of a letter written by Milliken was made available to the parishioners. It read, in part:

"The African ... does not want, nor need a handout. He wants a fair shake and not a shakedown. Example: There is rice from Arizona, USA,, on sale in the Lushoto market today. (Lushoto is a town about 10 miles down the mountain from Mainde Juu -- where Milliken is based.) This USA rice undercuts the rice grown in our own river valleys. This is not because the Tanzanian rice is so costly to grow, but that the subsidy to the American farmer drives the price of US rice sold in Tanzania way below normal production costs for the Tanzanian farmer. 'Fair' trade not is what can get Africa off its knees and on the road to equal opportunity.'
"I have been in Africa now since 1960 and I am convinced that the school room will be the engine to bring peace and prosperity to this part of the world."


Tax deductible contributions may be made payable to:
St. Paul's Abbey
Benedictine Missionaries
Newton, N.J. 07860
Indicate on memo: Fr. Damian's Mission Work.

http://www.dioceseoftanga.org/offices/education/mazindejuusecschool/index.html

As I listened to Milliken's talk, I kept remembering a lesson from science:

The human race began in Africa, and then took thousands of years to spread around the globe. We spend a lot of time and energy establishing our heritage. But it is not that we are Irish or English, French or German, Spanish or Arab or Jew or Chinese or Japanese or American Indian.

In the end, we are all African.

Speaking truth to power

I picked this up from Mousavi's Facebook group, which gave it this description: "Ayatollah Alikhani, a parliarment member known for his strong words against injustice giving his strong word to support and defend Mousavi."

It gives English subtitles, but what is amazing to me is that he gives this speech with a smile, even a glint in his eye. He is an energetic, enthusiastic speaker, who seems to enjoy his audience, even when it is a group of unfriendly conservatives.

This is the kind of public support that Mousavi will need to turn the tide.

However, as the comments point out on YouTube, he will likely be made to disappear within a few days. You just have to admire his courage.

It is yet another example of the crisis of conscience Iran faces: Are they a democracy or a theocracy? Can both systems survive without destroying each other?

Farrah Fawcett Dies of Cancer at 62

I actually was never a big fan of Farrah. As a pre-teen/teenage boy, I liked "Charlies Angels," but I much preferred Jaclyn Smith. (I can't help it. I like brunettes.)

However, when I heard on the radio just now that she had died, I flashed back to a moment at Boy Scout camp. I must have been 11 or 12 years old. We were all in our bunks, with the lights out. Instead of falling asleep, the whole cabin - except me - spontaneously broke into song:

(Tune of Frere Jacques)

"Farrah Fawcett, Farrah Fawcett
I love you, I love you
You could leave Lee
It could just be you and me
Young me, Young me"

If anyone forgot, she was married to "Six Million Dollar Man" Lee Majors at the time.

Thank you Farrah, for being an inspiration for men and boys of my generation.

Supreme Court Says Strip Search of Child Is Unconstitutional

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a school's strip search of an Arizona teenage girl accused of having prescription-strength ibuprofen was illegal.

The court ruled 8-1 on Thursday that school officials violated the law with their search of Savana Redding in the rural eastern Arizona town of Safford.


... Not much here but to say to the Supreme Court, "Thank you for being the guardians of reason on this case."

Highway justice

In a move that King Solomon would have been proud of, Missouri officials have neatly side-stepped a hornet's nest of conflict between the free speech rights of Nazis and outraged Jewish leaders.

When the neo-Nazi group, the National Socialist Movement, adopted a half-mile stretch of Missouri highway, state officials realized they were powerless to stop them. They knew they could not legally deny the application, and that they would have to provide a sign celebrating their act of good citizenship.

But it was the the Jewish Community Relations Bureau/American Jewish Committee in Kansas City that offered a remedy: rename the road after Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who fled Nazi Germany and became a prominent Jewish theologian and civil rights advocate in the United States.

They were following an earlier example set when the Klan won the right to clean up a highway, that was then renamed for Rosa Parks.

This is a celebration of the free marketplace of ideas that makes America work at its best. Yes, give the hate mongers the freedom to say what they will, but let the side of reason and justice have their say too. Don't let the hate go unchallenged.

This is poetic justice, and a brilliant solution to the problem.

The name change for the highway the neo-Nazis are cleaning is expected to go into effect later this year. I wonder how well they will do their job of picking up trash then.

Iranian Guards Issue Warning as Vote Errors Are Admitted

... The warning, on the Guards’ Web site, was issued despite an admission by Iran’s most senior panel of election monitors that the number of votes cast in 50 cities exceeded the actual number of voters ...

Um ... Oops!

It seemed to me until as early as this weekend, that the protests in Iran were not going to result in any major change in that country because those in power had too much ... well ... power. But they forgot an important rule:

If you're going to be a dictator, don't ever admit to voter fraud.

Yes, an outraged citizenry can make a big difference, but usually when a government is toppled, there is a need for either a military force to switch sides and join the protestors or for there to be a military power vacuum, as happened in Eastern Europe in 1989-90. Military power can trump political will, unfortunately, as we saw in Tiananmen Square 20 years ago.

The hard-line leaders of Iran have made a strategic mistake in effectively admitting voter fraud but still claiming legitimacy.

This will extend the crisis, embolden and enlarge the crowds in the streets.

Two possibilities:

1) This open example of fraud will inspire someone in power (military, perhaps) to switch sides. This may lead to any number of possibilities from bloodless coup to revolt and civil war.

2) There will need to be a brutal crackdown on the protesters on the level of Tiananmen. If the Iranian leaders do not have the stomach or means for such a crackdown, they could be toppled.

Let us hope there is an option found with limited bloodshed. That would involve serious election reform and a change to the Iranian constitution.

This is a crisis of Iran's national conscience. Their people are confronted with two conflicting ideas: free elections and hardline rule. If they have one, how can they have the other?

Good news for the New York Times

International / Asia Pacific

Times Reporter Held by Taliban Escapes

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Published: June 21, 2009

A New York Times reporter who was kidnapped by the Taliban has escaped and made his way to freedom after more than seven months of captivity in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

... The wow factor in this story is when I first heard about this, I had to scratch my head and wonder. How had I missed the story of a NY Times reporter being kidnapped in Afghanistan? It had happened in November, and I was pretty busy then, so I may have missed it.

But no, I had not missed it at all. It's just that no one wrote about it. In an incredible show of restraint as many as 40 news agencies had heard about this kidnapping, but all had decided to respect a request from the N.Y. Times to keep the story quiet. They did not want to endanger his life.

I keep remembering a story from when I was in L.A. There had been a home invasion robbery in the San Fernando Valley -- I think in Sherman Oakes -- where a child had been kidnapped. It was a big story and all of the news media descended on the scene.

The police had not told the full story to the media, and did not want it to get out. Heavy media reporting could, as with the Afghanistan story -- endanger the life of the hostage. So the LAPD police spokesman, I believe it was Lt. Anthony Alba, took a gamble.

He asked all the media present to meet him around the corner, but to leave behind their notebooks, tape recorders and cameras. He laid out the story, and then asked that they only report on the home invasion, not the kidnapping.

The gamble worked. It took some persuading among the reporters to decide as a group to go along with the police request, but they did.

The next day, the child was released by the robbers and safely returned. Only then did the story break.

What we saw with the Rodhe kidnapping was very similar to what happened in Sherman Oakes years ago, just on a much wider scale.

It is an example that despite the image journalists have as sleazy opportunists, that they are driven by a deep ethical core that often will override even the desire to be the first one to break the story.

They will languish in prison

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that convicts do not have a right under the Constitution to obtain DNA testing to try to prove their innocence after being found guilty.

I was surprised when I heard this. Our entire court system is built around the idea of innocent until proven guilty, and that our courts will eventually do the right thing, that the wrongly accused would have a path to pursue their defense.

Also, as the article explains: "since 1992, 238 people in the United States, some who were sitting on death row, have been exonerated of crimes through DNA testing. In many of those cases, the DNA testing used to clear them was not available at the time of the crime."

Why shouldn't a defendant have access to such testing? It seems a simple matter of fairness. If there is a chance that the wrong man is sitting in a prison cell, that also means that the guilty is walking the streets, endangering the public.

But the bottom line is that this was the wrong case to try to prove this point. There were several factors that affected this decision.

1) The defendant already confessed guilt to the state parole board.

2) His other declarations have not been emphatic about his innocence.

3) He has already served his prison sentence.

So, basically, this defendant was trying to coerce the state to do a DNA test when there was little substantial at stake such as freedom from prison or a looming execution. It would at best save face, a little, and may lead to later civil action. And he was asking for a test when even he himself did not affirm emphatically about his innocence.

I understand why the Supreme Court made this decision. But I feel it does not serve the interests of justice. This was just the wrong case to rule on this issue of DNA access.

I keep remembering the story of Rosa Parks. She actually was not the only one who refused to move from a bus seat at that time. However, the leaders of the civil rights movement picked her case as the one to fight and promote because she was a person of strong moral character. Her character made it all the more apparent that their opponents were wrong.

In this case, this defendant did not display the kind of character that made him worth fighting for on this issue. And because of him, "a small group of innocent people — and it is a small group — will languish in prison.”

If Plastic Surgery Won’t Convince You, What Will?

PRAGUE — When Petra Kalivodova, a 31-year-old nurse, was considering whether to renew her contract at a private health clinic here, special perks helped clinch the deal: free German lessons, five weeks of vacation, and a range of plastic-surgery options, including complimentary silicone-enhanced breasts. ...

- New York Times, June 14, 2009.

... To sum up the story in the Sunday New York Times, there's a shortage of nurses in the Czech Republic, a country with a health-care system so restrictive to nurses that they can't even prescribe an aspirin without a doctor's OK. Also, they are barely emerging from an era where nurses were just seen as not much more than room cleaners and bed changers.

Now, I think it's fine to offer perks to employees and potential employees, but this offer needs another look.

First off, the German lessons are not as popular as the plastic surgery options. However, I could see that for a Czech it would improve one's quality of life to be able to speak the language of a neighboring country.

But what I really want to talk about is the breast implants. (Big surprise.)

Now, Lord knows I could use some liposuction to improve my quality of life and boost my self-esteem (no implants for me, thanks), but it seems to me the offer of plastic surgery and implants is similar to what women say about the negligee men buy for them: "It's a gift that men give to themselves."

As the Times article explains, part of this offer has to do with how the culture has been wrapped up in the post-Communist decadence with new, intoxicating Western influences. And along with that comes the Western-driven pressure for women to be thin and beautiful.

I am someone who has unfortunately been in-and-out of the U.S. health care system in recent years, and while I will admit I don't mind having an attractive, shapely female nurse - it does cheer me up - that really isn't what I'm after.

In 2006, a clot in my liver put me in the hospital for most of two weeks. For much of that time, I had blood drawn from me at least every six hours. So I was getting awakened in the middle of the night and stabbed in the arm or the hand, often by someone who was still learning the skill. (They were starting to run out of places to stab me, too.)

I didn't mind too much when they botched it. Afterall, they have to learn somewhere, but over time I grew to appreciate the smooth professionals who could draw the blood from the vein with hardly any pain. You see, there are no nerves in the veins themselves, so if you can get right in at a point where there's not much skin to go through, it's really a snap.

I had nurses of varying ages, sizes, races and both men and women, and for me the thing I judged them on was how well they could perform that one task. Even today, I will compliment a nurse or a lab tech when they do it right. But this brings me to my point.

If the Czech Republic really needs more nurses, a better course of action rather than the "gift men give to themselves" would be to ensure that the nursing profession is a respected and fulfilling career.

And if they really want to solve their labor shortage, they can open up the field to the other half of their population - men. Let the men of the Czech Republic know that they can be nurses. As I said, there are male nurses in the U.S., and they do a fine job. They aren't just the punchline to a joke, as in Ben Stiller in "Meet the Parents."

Just tell them they can skip the implants, OK?

Sometimes, page layout says a lot

This morning, I just found it telling how the New York Times positioned its story on the political turmoil in Albany on the front page, right below the coverage of the political turmoil in Iran.

There are some comparisons to be drawn by looking at both stories. The turmoil in Iran is driven by a hard-line dictatorship, unwilling to relinquish power.

The trouble in Albany is the lack of a power center. The towering mountains of power like Rockefeller, Carey, Pataki and Bruno have eroded away so that even a small hill of power, built by two freshman state senators, could lead a coup to take over the Senate.

Keep an eye on Hiram Monserrate

Hiram Monserrate is the other Democrat who made the GOP coup in the N.Y. state Senate possible. But now he seems to be having second thoughts. There's a good column about his position in in the New York Daily News.

The column sums up by saying Monserrate has a conscience that won't let him rest. Deep down he must feel he's made the wrong move.

When I first heard about this coup, I shrugged to myself and say, "Fine, let the GOP have one branch of government. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

But as this thing has dragged out, there is just nothing good in it. It has degraded into an infantile, playground fight over who owns the ball. And it comes at the worst time in the legislative calendar, when a lot of work needs to be wrapped up. State residents can only get hurt by this.

When I first read that not only had Democratic Sen. Pedro Espada (a freshman senator) switched parties but also claimed the leadership, this felt like just a grab for personal power.

Monserrate may actually switch sides again if the Democrats can pick someone better to be their leader. That would give the chamber a tie.

But, the political costs that both Espada and Monserrate will have to pay for creating this crisis may be greater than they can bear.

Digital TV Switch May Leave Some In The Dark

AP, June 12, 2009 · Starting in the morning and going into the night, TV stations across the U.S. are cutting their analog signals Friday, ending a six-decade era for the technology and likely stranding more than 1 million unprepared homes without TV service.

... Here's my fanciful thought. Sorry, but many of you know I have a tendency for sci-fi as well as politics.

If anyone has seen "Contact", you know the story line: Aliens pick up our TV signals and send us a message.

What if all along, they've been watching our analog broadcasts? When we shut them off, the aliens will finally arrive, land in Hollywood and demand: "Hey, who canceled 'Gilligan'?"

What we needed to hear

This column by Cecily Kellogg ran in my newspaper today. It spells out why late-term abortions, as those performed by the late Dr. Goerge Tiller, are important and necessary.

The pro-life movement would argue that these women are the most selfish. But it really is needed as a life-saving procedure.

"A dangerous fantasy land"

That's how U.S. Holocaust Museum Fellow Deborah Lipstadt described where Holocaust deniers like James von Brunn live: "A dangerous fantasy land."



These people make up their own reasons to hate. It is almost impossible to be rational with them. All we can do is remain vigilant, stand up to them when we need to and demonstrate that they have nothing to offer but hate and violence.

Breaking news: Slain Kansas Abortion Provider's Clinic To Close

AP, June 9, 2009 · The family of slain abortion provider George Tiller said Tuesday that his Wichita clinic will be "permanently closed," effective immediately.

In a statement released by Tiller's attorneys, his family said it is ceasing operation of Women's Health Care Services Inc. and any involvement by family members in any other similar clinic.

"We are proud of the service and courage shown by our husband and father and know that women's health care needs have been met because of his dedication and service," the family said.

"Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun."

Mao Tse-tung
Chinese Communist politician (1893 - 1976)

He writes with the power of a spinning crescent kick

So, I opened my local newspaper yesterday and read a column by Chuck Norris about a pastor and his wife who were cited by San Diego County for holding a Bible study in their home.

After getting over my shock that 1) Chuck Norris is a writer and 2) He is writing for my paper, I actually found the story worthwhile. [OK, let me get this bit of sarcasm out of my system: Chuck Norris once shot down an airplane by pointing his finger at it and saying, "Bang!"]

After a major backlash against the government by conservative Web sites and stories reported on Fox News, the county has backed down and said they did not need a permit for a Bible study after all. Here's the full news story by the San Diego Union Tribune.

I have to back Chuck on this one. As a college senior, I took a class on Freedom of Religion. It was an intensive class that focused on reading and writing on case law. We wrote legal briefs and argued them before a mock Supreme Court for our final project. From what I've heard, it was very similar to what you might experience at law school. Throughout the semester, our professor kept on quoting the one line in the Constitution that sums up all we needed to understand about religious freedom, from the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

That's it. Done and done.

To create a situation in which a government official comes to your home to ask whether you are saying "Amen" or "Praise the Lord" is intrusive and misguided. So long as you are not committing a crime or hurting someone else, the government can't even come to the door and ask if you are saying, "Praise Satan." It's your business.

Bottom line, this was a parking issue that was botched by the county. A car belonging to a neighbor's visitor was dinged. The pastor paid to fix it, but he feels that sparked the complaint. I lived in Southern California for nine years, and I remember how neighbors usually felt no qualms about reporting each other to the government. Parking is a big deal in SoCal, and anyone who seems to be taking more than his fair share is going to draw attention to himself.

The solution would have been for the pastor to work with his visitors to ensure they know where they can park, to be respectful and maybe even have them share rides.

Amen.

Bank Accused of Pushing Mortgage Deals on Blacks

“They referred to subprime loans made in minority communities as ghetto loans and minority customers as ‘those people have bad credit’, ‘those people don’t pay their bills’ and ‘mud people.’”

Tony Paschal
former Wells Fargo loan officer

“We have worked extremely hard to make homeownership possible for more African-American borrowers. We absolutely do not tolerate team members treating our customers or others disrespectfully or unfairly, or who violate our ethics and lending practices.”

Kevin Waetke
spokesman for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

This is a troubling story about how Wells Fargo may have targeted minorities for sub-prime loans even in situations when a white applicant would receive a prime loan. If true, Wells Fargo needs to do much more than have its employees attend cultural sensitivity training. If true, Wells Fargo may have been harboring some of the most dangerous forms of racist ideology.

I'm referring to the term "mud people." It is a code word used by the worst of racists. It is not just a slip of a tongue -- "Oops I didn't mean to offend." It is used by groups like the Aryan Nations as part of their twisted world view that whites are superior to other races and are destined to rule the world following an apocalyptic race war.

I found this blog called Real Eyes Realize Real Lies, which summed up a lot of the history:
"In the mid-1980s, many Aryan Nations members teamed up with other racists to form “The Order” — which is still memorialized on the Aryan Nations Web site. The Order robbed banks, counterfeited money, ambushed armored cars — and murdered — to finance a planned overthrow of the U.S. government."

I wish the NAACP luck in their class action lawsuit against Wells Fargo and other banks. Let us hope the truth comes out, that hidden racism is dragged into the sunlight and exposed for what it is.

Obama in Notre Dame

After watching the president's speech in Cairo, where he traveled into one of the centers of a potentially hostile Muslim world, I decided to take another look at the president's speech at Notre Dame, where he ventured into the heart of the potentially hostile Catholic world.

Unlike in Cairo, Obama was occasionally jeered at by protesters at Notre Dame. "Abortion is murder! Stop killing children!" But then the audience at large shouted down the jeer with "We are ND! We are ND!" and "Yes, we can! Yes, we can!"



There are many parallels between the two events. Both were steeped in religious controversy, and Obama sought to do what he does best -- find common ground. In both situations, the actions and beliefs of religious extremists weighed heavily on the venue. But at Notre Dame, Obama sought a cease-fire with the extremists:

"A few days after I won the Democratic nomination, I received an e-mail from a doctor who told me that while he voted for me in the Illinois primary, he had a serious concern that might prevent him from voting for me in the general election. He described himself as a Christian who was strongly pro-life -- but that was not what was preventing him potentially from voting for me. What bothered the doctor was an entry that my campaign staff had posted on my website -- an entry that said I would fight 'right-wing ideologues who want to take away a woman’s right to choose.' The doctor said he had assumed I was a reasonable person, he supported my policy initiatives to help the poor and to lift up our educational system, but that if I truly believed that every pro-life individual was simply an ideologue who wanted to inflict suffering on women, then I was not very reasonable. He wrote, 'I do not ask at this point that you oppose abortion, only that you speak about this issue in fair-minded words.'"

Obama had the 'right-wing idealogue' language taken down from his Web site. And he seemed to have done so to stop the escalation of dangerous rhetoric. He allowed that a reasonable, thinking person could conclude that abortion was wrong. To paint all opponents on an issue as 'right-wing idealogues' is insulting and can inflame the passions, and result in such as things as hecklers in the audience at Notre Dame.

He talked about more than abortion. He touched on the need for all of us to come together as one human family. He practically made Father Ted Hesburgh, president emeritus of Notre Dame, teary when he related how Hesburgh played a key role in the civil rights movement through a fishing trip. (Obama had dropped the emeritus in his speech.)

The biggest news out of the speech was when he called for "a sensible conscience clause."
Although Obama did not define it in his remarks, "Conscience clauses protect doctors, nurses and pharmacists who refuse to participate in abortions or dispense abortion pills from being threatened or fired."

Obama has announced his intention to end Bush-era conscience-protection rules by the Department of Health and Human Services. So, the president seems to be saying he wants to replace the Bush rules with something that makes sense. However, it doesn't appear that he's clarified his remarks any more and there's been a lot of comments on the blogosphere about the word "sensible" and what that word is supposed to mean.

But whatever words he used in South Bend or in Cairo, one is reminded that while words can be powerful, they take time for their effects to be felt.

At the beginning of the speech, Obama asked "How does each of us remain firm in our principles, and fight for what we consider right, without, as Father John said, demonetizing (demonizing?) those with just as strongly held convictions on the other side?"

Sadly the demonization of opposing sides on abortion continues. Two weeks after this speech, Dr. George Tiller was shot dead at his church in Kansas.

And so many on the "pro-life" side cheered.

Obama will have to wait a while longer for a cease-fire on abortion.

President Obama Speaks to the Muslim World from Cairo, Egypt

This was a brilliant speech. It is probably the best attempt by an American president to defuse the hatred between the U.S. and the Muslim world. He made an open and honest assessment of the conflicts and did not back away from the difficult issues such as the subjugation of women. He made it clear that we backed Israel, but he pointed out that Israel had a responsibility for the injustices that the Palestinians have suffered. In short, he seems to understand one of my favorite quotes: "If you want peace, work for justice."

Hate is the fuel that empowers our enemies. If the U.S. is to defeat our enemy, we must conduct a strategy that goes not give our enemy more firepower, more recruits to their cause, more human bombs. This is what Obama is trying to do.

This is probably one of Obama's best speeches since the early stages of his campaign. It was a chance to explain the big picture and show us the path to peace.

Let us hope he has sowed the seeds of understanding.

Why won't Dick Cheney speak out more?

What a reasonable and intelligent human being that Mr. Cheney is.

Why won't Dick Cheney go away?

Yet again, Dick Cheney rears his ugly head, this time speaking at the National Press Club.

But because he is no longer in power, he has now resorted to the tactics of revisionist history. "I do not believe and have never seen any evidence to confirm that [Hussein] was involved in 9/11," Cheney says. "We had that reporting for a while, [but] eventually it turned out not to be true."

No, Mr. Cheney. There never was a connection. The Bush Administration wanted to make that connection as soon as the towers fell, but you had to eventually give up that hope.

Why did we invade Iraq?

For years, I wondered this. It made little sense, except of course as open aggression against another country, a power grab for territory and control in an oil-rich region. Well, OK, that makes a lot of sense, but we're supposed to be the good guys. So, how did W. go to sleep at night, thinking he was doing the right thing, that he was serving a higher purpose and not just naked aggression? What justification did he give himself to settle the disquiet in his soul?

(I know, I'm giving them a lot of credit for having a conscience and a soul. But they still are human beings.)

Weapons of mass destruction? I never believed the pre-war evidence. Colin Powell's presentation at the U.N. lacked the smoking gun that Adlai Stevenson had during the Cuba missile crisis. I don't think the administration really believed that lie. They just had to find ways to prop up the barest appearance of good intentions when that story fell apart. (No weapons of mass destruction? Gee whiz, I coulda swore they were there. My bad.)

For a time, I wondered if W. sought to invade Iraq over the misguided notion that his father was a failure for not "finishing the job" in 1991. But of course the first George Bush had it right. He knew it would be a mistake to take over the whole country. (Because he understood basic principles that every college political science major learns about regional stability and nation building.) Saddam Hussein also was behind an assassination attempt on the elder Bush, but I don't think that was it.

Then, finally, years after the fact, I read that W. had been very excited before the invasion about the idea of bringing democracy to the Middle East. That if somehow Iraq could become a stable country ruled by elections, then democracy and goodwill for the U.S. could spread through the Mideast.

This is my best guess right now, that somehow on top of all the Machiavellian "positives" they saw by invading and conquering Iraq, that when W. went into his shriveled little conscience, when he wondered about his legacy and wondered how history would judge him, he would say to himself that all the hell that he had unleashed would be OK because he had brought democracy to the Middle East.

The problem, however, is that it is foolhardy to bring democracy to a nation through force of arms. You cannot force a people to be free. Countries need to be able to find a solution of their own, find out for themselves what works best. To impose our will on the people of another nation is just wrong.

My youngest son's preschool class is growing butterflies. One of the important lessons with a butterfly is that you have to let them get out of the cocoon on their own. If you break them out of the cocoon before they have the strength to do it, the butterflies won't survive. Let the other countries of the world find their own paths to freedom.

Suspect Held in Kansas Abortion Doctor's Slaying

"Prenatal testing without prenatal choices is medical fraud."

-- George R. Tiller

To get some insight into this shooting, check out this link:

http://www.armyofgod.com/defense.html

Scott Roeder, the suspect in the case, was an enthusiastic supporter of this statement. He seems to have carried out its principles.

As for me, I think I'll have to just quote my earlier blog:

"I respect any person of faith who uses that faith to make the world a better place. We need more of you. But I am saddened by those who use their faith to spread prejudice, hatred, division, death and destruction. The most dangerous people in the world are often those who are sure they have all the answers and know that God is on their side."