April, 2008

This week, Orbis Books publishes one of its most significant books in years, a labor of some 15 years work by Jim Douglass. JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters tells the painful, hopeful story of John F. Kennedy's efforts to save us from nuclear war, his decision to pull out troops from Vietnam, and his call for nuclear disarmament, a vision that animated shadowy forces in the U.S. government to do away with him and his vision.

Before Pope Benedict XVI visited the United States, we identified five key issues in his pontificate that we should watch for. The list was a good guess — but the man we once called the “Pope of Surprises” didn’t stick to our script. With the benefit of a little hindsight, here is a more accurate list of the key issues that were on Benedict’s mind when he came to America: Doctrine, Abuse Crisis, World Unity, Dialogue, Renewal.

What's wrong with this picture? One of America's health problems is obesity; the world's, malnutrition. Congress and the White House are trying to craft a farm bill that continues the practice of government paying farmers not to grow crops on some of their land. Yet it's clear that one way for a world economy to reduce the food shortage is for farmers to grow more. Farm prices in the United States are up, and consumers know it all too well. At the same time, farmers want to retain their federal subsidies, sometimes even to support extraordinary products like tobacco.

Many parts of the nation have tilted severely toward harsh, unyielding policies to catch and punish illegal immigrants, but not everyone has gone over the edge. Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona on Monday pushed back, vetoing a bill that would have required all police and sheriff’s departments in the state to join the federal immigration posse. Governor Napolitano dismissed the bill as impractical and expensive. She also could have called it dangerous. The bill would have turned practically every level of law enforcement in Arizona into some form of the feared la migra. Police chiefs across the country warn that would cripple their ability to investigate crime in immigrant communities.

After all the talk about the energy crisis and financial crisis, we have finally become aware of an even more dire drama: the food crisis. Billions of people, particularly in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America, are victims of a gradual and unsustainable rise in the prices of all farm products – wheat, soybean, rice, maize, milk, and meat. Riots are breaking out daily, and at least three dozen countries urgently need wheat and rice shipments.

A year into the worst foreclosure crisis since the Depression, the House only now is getting serious about a foreclosure prevention bill. It is bad enough that it will be weeks or months or next year before Congress actually passes a final relief measure. Worse is that the measure is more supportive of the mortgage industry, whose shoddy practices stoked the crisis, than of troubled homeowners, threatened communities or taxpayers who may have to foot the bill.

Millions of American families with subprime mortgages - including one out of 26 Maryland homeowners - face an increasing likelihood of losing their homes to foreclosure over the next two years because of the Bush administration's opposition to legislation that it wrongly views as a bailout of irresponsible borrowers. The bill would allow the Federal Housing Administration to guarantee up to $300 billion in affordable mortgages for troubled homeowners; it's overdue relief.

One of the downsides to global warming is drought. About 11 million people in northeast Africa alone were in serious danger of starvation in 2006 as a result of drought. The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Nigeria estimates that about 300 million people in sub-Saharan Africa -- nearly a third of the population -- will suffer from malnutrition because of intensifying drought by 2010. With continued warming and more droughts on the horizon, we need to learn how to better live with our natural world and its cycles.

For the last month, news media attention was focused on Pennsylvania and its Democratic primary. Given the gargantuan effort, what did we learn? Well, the rancor of the campaign was covered. The amount of money spent was covered. But in Pennsylvania, as in the rest of the country this political season, the information about the candidates’ priorities, policies and principles — information that voters will need to choose the next president — too often did not make the cut.

Every year the Bishops of the United Sates address the issues surrounding what they aptly call “faithful citizenship”. To be a “faithful” citizen, for a Christian, means to be filled with an understanding of what is taught by our faith and to live out a commitment to that faith in every area of our lives. We are to view our lives as an integrated unity and not compartmentalize.

The world is used to hearing about hunger in the context of Darfurian refugees or crop failures and famine in sub-Saharan Africa. But now we're facing something different. Large swaths of humanity can no longer be assured that the foods they're eating today will be available tomorrow at prices they can afford -- or available at all. This is not, in fact, as silent a tsunami as a World Food Program official suggested last week.

Presidential elections often serve as measuring sticks for change in our country. If that trend holds this year, then conservative Christianity likely has passed its zenith in power and influence. With John McCain headed for the Republican nomination, and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama fighting it out for the Democratic nod, many conservatives feel left out. There will always be Christians on the right and on the left, but an increasing number of Christians are drawn to the center, increasingly able to see the gray in a world of black and white.

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has signaled its support for the death penalty, several states are rushing to schedule executions. It's as if the court's approval of lethal injection has suddenly made it a health cure. What ails the nation's flawed system of capital punishment won't be remedied, though, by tinkering with "the machinery of death," to use Justice Harry A. Blackmun's words. States would be far wiser to continue their de facto moratorium on executions that held while the court considered this latest case.

Members of Congress were so concerned about the economy that they set aside their usual partisan differences and quickly passed a $152-billion stimulus package in February. How much the legislation's rebates and tax breaks will juice the gross domestic product, however, is anybody's guess. Jittery consumers may simply pocket the rebates or pay down debt when their checks arrive next month, rather than pumping money into the economy. And the tax breaks for business will yield more spending only if firms are willing and able to accelerate capital investments. By contrast, one proven stimulus technique would be to extend unemployment benefits past the standard six-month cutoff. Every $1 spent on extended benefits would boost the economy by more than $1.50, according to Moody's Economy.com.

Perhaps it was inevitable: The Democrats' battle for the presidential nomination has led us into the thicket of race and religion. Among white Catholics in Pennsylvania, Clinton received 72 percent of the vote, nine points better than her share among whites as a whole and 13 points better than her performance among white Protestants. Since Catholics have a history of backing the victorious presidential candidate, the struggle over Catholic voters will be closely tied to arguments with superdelegates over whether Clinton or Obama is more electable.

The Bush administration is determined to frustrate state efforts to provide health insurance to middle-income children despite analyses judging its tactics as illegal and unenforceable. That intransigence makes it likely that an impasse that pits many states, including New York, against the federal government will have to be resolved by the next president and Congress.

One of President Bush's most shameful failings is his stubborn insistence on the right to torture terrorist suspects. While claiming the country does no such thing, he's vetoed limits on CIA interrogators and shielded his outlook with clouds of rhetoric about protecting the nation. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the White House team has pushed hard to expand its powers, sometimes pushing the limits of constitutional restraints and the rules of civilized nations, and the best example is the twisted logic behind allowing the rough treatment of prisoners.

Imagine living in a state where local cops can stop anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally, and arrest them if they lack proof of citizenship. Last month, Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri signed an executive order directing state police to enforce federal immigration law, which will let them do just that. At first glance, orders like Carcieri's look ideal. But it's hardly that simple. To begin, such laws make communities less safe by discouraging immigrants from cooperating with local police. Police depend on residents to report crimes and identify criminals. But when immigrants fear that talking to officers may lead to their deportation, they remain quiet.

The Supreme Court concluded last week, in a 7-2 ruling, that Kentucky’s three-drug method of execution by lethal injection does not violate prohibitions on cruel and unusual punishment. In his majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts cited a Supreme Court principle from a ruling in 1890 that defines cruelty as limited to punishments that “involve torture or a lingering death.” But the court was wrong in the 19th century, an error that has infected its jurisprudence for more than 100 years. In this nation’s landmark capital punishment cases, the resultant executions were anything but free from torture and prolonged deaths.

On his way to Washington, the pope told reporters that he hoped the U.S. government would consider the importance of allowing immigrant families to stay together. He urged immigration policies that take cognizance of basic human rights. And Benedict told American bishops that he hoped they'd be mindful of immigrants' historical contributions to U.S. society and, therefore, that they'd be welcoming to today's newcomers. That was enough. The most rabid anti-immigrant demagogues instantly began ranting about Benedict's "intrusion" into American politics.

The new federal Farm Bill, a five-year, $280 billion extravaganza of research programs, crop subsidies, food programs and other agricultural spending, is caught up in a congressional tug of war. Yanking one end are liberals who want to protect food aid for the poor. On the other end are senators who want tax breaks for race horse breeders and other special interests. Shaking his veto pen is President George W. Bush. Meanwhile, farmers are getting ready to plant without knowing how much assistance they'll get from the federal government. Food stamp recipients and school lunch programs are scrimping by on meager budgets in the face of rising food prices.

Almost three decades ago, a new pope still in his 50s captivated Americans during a triumphant tour that took him to Washington, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and Des Moines. Last week, America was visited by a different sort of pope -- a soft-spoken octogenarian -- with a less ambitious itinerary. But, like John Paul II's 1979 tour, Benedict XVI's visit to New York and Washington was a success beyond the opportunity it afforded the bishop of Rome to pray with the faithful.

It is a grave humanitarian crisis: 1.5 million Iraqi refugees living in deplorable and declining conditions in Syria and Jordan. They are clustered not in camps but in overcrowded urban neighborhoods, crammed into dark, squalid apartments. Many have been traumatized by extreme violence. Their savings are dwindling; many cannot afford to pay for rent, heat and food; few have proper medical care. After meeting with refugees, leaders in both Syria and Jordan and United Nations experts, we came to the inescapable conclusion that this crisis could endure for years and that much more help is needed now.

Under normal circumstances, it would be unrealistic to expect truth in labeling standards to apply to a political event. Spin and self-interest are too much part of the mix. When a church is involved, however, self-policing ought to be tighter. We refer to an event taking place in Washington this month: the fifth annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast. The nonprofit organization that sponsors this questionable affair contends in its mission statement that it is acting in response to the call of John Paul II for a ‘New Evangelization.’ The reality, though, is that the group is a thinly veiled political organization of Republican Catholics whose words and deeds suggest that one, they represent all of U.S. Catholicism, and that the Republican Party is, in effect, the Catholic Party.

The willingness to try, fail and try again is the essence of scientific progress. The same sometimes holds true for public policy. It is in this spirit that today, Earth Day, we call upon Congress to revisit recently enacted federal mandates requiring the diversion of foodstuffs for production of biofuels. These "food-to-fuel" mandates were meant to move America toward energy independence and mitigate global climate change. But the evidence irrefutably demonstrates that this policy is not delivering on either goal. In fact, it is causing environmental harm and contributing to a growing global food crisis.