June, 2008

AS if the widening wage gap weren’t bad enough, the bottom half of the American work force — everyone who will earn less than about $42,000 this year — is getting hit by the equivalent of a whopping regressive tax in the form of soaring gas prices. And fuel isn’t a discretionary item like cable TV that can be cut from the family budget. Poorer Americans tend to drive older cars that get lousy mileage. They don’t trade them in as often as wealthier people do, and can’t afford hybrids or new models that use gas more efficiently. And it’s not unusual for their jobs to require them to haul stuff from one place to another in pickup trucks or vans that guzzle even more gas.

Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq have endured extensive persecution since 2003, including the murder of their religious leaders, threats of violence or death if they do not abandon their homes and businesses, and the bombing or destruction of their churches and other places of worship. According to one Iraqi Christian leader, half of Iraq's Christians have fled the nation since 2003, and some have likened the situation to ethnic cleansing.

When Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev talked at the 1986 Reykjavik summit about giving up all of their nuclear weapons within a decade, it was dismissed as a trick or more frightening proof that the American president was out of touch with strategic realities. The deal fell apart over Mr. Reagan’s refusal to limit testing of a missile defense program that was notional then and is still. Two decades later, a who’s who of the national security establishment — George Shultz, Henry Kissinger, William Perry and Sam Nunn — is calling on the United States to lead a global campaign to devalue and eventually rid the world of nuclear weapons.

Catholics do not always differ from their fellow citizens of other faiths or none on any given issue. But, we do view the world differently. And, some recognition of that worldview, some effort to incorporate it into the political program of either party (or both) will garner attention. Catholics take a back seat to no one in our patriotism, but the most patriotic thing we can do in 2008 is to be Catholic, to insist that our politics reflects our concern for the environment, our desire for peace, our commitment to solidarity with our own poor and the poor of the world.

In May, a steering committee of nine prominent evangelical leaders and about 80 charter signatories issued an Evangelical Manifesto. In an era when most Americans think of evangelicals mainly as a voting bloc, these leaders tried to refocus the meaning of evangelical identity. The document stirred a lot of discussion and criticism. Much of the discussion missed the document's main thrust. The text of the document makes it clear: It advocates no particular political agenda while it affirms evangelicals' well-known commitment to protecting human life at every age, to strengthening the family as God designed it, as well as to working on the wide variety of social issues that threatens the common good. The document advocates engagement in the public sphere while urging that we avoid captivity to political ideology.

The latest findings of the Pew Forum's massive and indispensable U.S. Religious Landscape Survey reveal some intriguing confusion among Americans on cosmic issues. On the relation of faith to politics, two points stand out in the survey: First, there is a clear connection between piety -- praying often and attending worship services frequently -- and political conservatism across nearly every religious tradition. Second, religiously conservative people have more in common with the general public on political issues than some liberals and conservatives assume.

The Second Chance Act, signed into law in April, represents one of the few glimmers of light in the darkness of the U.S. prison system. Its purpose is to assist prisoners who, on completing their sentences, leave prison with little more than their meager belongings and a small sum of money to take them to their next destination. Half of them will return to live behind bars once again on new charges, in large part because little is given them in the way of help with jobs, housing, mental health care and drug therapy. The new legislation is an attempt to begin changing that grim picture.

We've spent roughly $1 trillion, lost more than 4,000 Americans, seen tens of thousands of Iraqis die. And the debate in this country over the war amounts to a bout of locker-room towel snapping. Republicans pretend Sen. Obama can't lead on Iraq because he hasn't banked enough Green Zone photo ops. The Democratic charade is that Sen. McCain, who spent five years in a Vietnamese prison, doesn't care how long young Americans die in the desert. With the primary season over and conditions shifting on the ground in Iraq, it's time for the media to bear down on these would-be commanders in chief with a few tough questions.

The dirty little secret of the Iraq war isn’t in Baghdad or Basra. Rather, it’s found in the squalid brothels of Damascus and the poorest neighborhoods of East Amman. Some two million Iraqis have fled their homeland and are now sheltering in run-down neighborhoods in surrounding countries. These are the new Palestinians, the 21st-century Arab diaspora that threatens the region’s stability. Many youngsters are getting no education, and some girls are pushed into prostitution, particularly in Damascus. Impoverished, angry, disenfranchised, unwanted, these Iraqis are a combustible new Middle Eastern element that no one wants to address or even think about.

Just when it looked like the forced departures of the Reverends Jeremiah Wright and John Hagee from the political stage would usher in a modicum of sane religious discussions in the campaign, the Reverend James Dobson took to the airwaves yesterday to re-introduce an unhealthy dose of zealotry to the campaign. He was evidently unnerved by remarks Sen. Barack Obama made in 2006, in which the senator urged religious voters to "translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values." But, the point Obama was making is undoubtedly a valid one. In a pluralistic society, voters must remember that not everyone shares the same premises, and that crafting arguments to appeal to fellow citizens should acknowledge that fact.

Although the treatment of detainees in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has blackened the image of US power around the world, the issue has garnered only passing attention so far in the presidential race. But the problem will not go away. Last week, the Cambridge-based group Physicians for Human Rights reported on the physical and psychological damage suffered by 11 detainees. On Friday, a federal appeals court ruled that the military had improperly designated a Muslim man from China as an enemy combatant. The decision followed a Supreme Court ruling June 12, which restored the habeas corpus rights the Bush administration and Congress had taken from Guantanamo prisoners. The two court decisions and the human rights report are a withering rebuke of President Bush's policies.

Fifteen years ago, a disastrous flood swept through the Midwest, causing an estimated $20 billion in flood damage, nearly 50 deaths and untold trauma to the hundreds of thousands whose homes were damaged or destroyed. Today we see the same kind of flooding in many of the same areas. Twenty-four deaths have been attributed to this year's floods, and economic damage is escalating into the billions of dollars. The sad truth is that while we learned a lot from the 1993 flood about how to prevent losses, we have not acted on those lessons (or those from Hurricane Katrina, for that matter). After the 1993 flood, President Bill Clinton ordered a White House study to determine what could be done to reduce future flood damage. The report recommended that those living behind levees be required to obtain flood insurance. Many of these residents, like those in New Orleans before Katrina, didn't understand the risks they faced: Levee conditions hadn't been adequately monitored, and even when problems were found, the needed funds hadn't been made available. Simply put, responsibility for dealing with floods had not been adequately defined.

As El Salvador approaches crucial national elections, it remains one of history’s tragic ironies that the fate of this tiny Central American nation may still hang on what we mean by an American victory there. U.S. policy applied an anti-communist template that had failed from Vietnam to Central America, often thwarting the political revolutions needed to end the vicious exploitation of the poor by dictators and wealthy elites still claiming colonial privilege. Surprising many, the Catholic church, in the flush of Vatican II, sided with the poor in historic regional meetings at Medellín, Colombia; Puebla, Mexico; and Santa Domingo in the Dominican Republic, proclaiming that “God shows a preferential love for the poor,” and that the Gospel and social justice are inseparable.

Speaking to the nation on the night he clinched the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama rejected the kind of politics that "uses religion as a wedge and patriotism as a bludgeon." His words highlight the way faith has once again become a divisive force in American politics. With the intense focus on controversial preachers and on cases where religious doctrine appears to divide voters, most notably on issues of abortion and homosexuality, we have lost sight of the ways in which turning back to America's founding values - including faith - can once again unite us in the face of common problems.

Although scholars might quibble about these definitions and the portion of the Indonesian public to assign to each, what is plain is that in Indonesia fundamentalism is fringe. A survey released in May by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute observes that "Islamist parties have failed to attract votes" in Indonesia, which "today has one of the world's most successful track records in combating terrorism." The Muslims I spoke with during my visit to Yogyakarta, a cultural and intellectual center of this vast island archipelago, came from both the moderate and progressive wings. All are eagerly adapting Islam to local circumstances, mixing its ancient traditions with those of their own. They see no conflict between Islam and civil society.

As I read the political positioning by the president and presidential candidates on whether to rescind restrictions on offshore oil drilling as a solution to soaring gas prices, I can only shake my head while gaping at the brightly lit crown of oil and natural gas rigs that surround my community. At first, I liked the ubiquitous metal platforms because they constitute good fishery habitat for my favorite sport. But I changed my tune after recent accidents involving the platforms, part of more than 300 accidents worldwide in the last 25 years. Exxon promised to monitor all its wells more closely, but other companies owning rigs off Dauphin Island and in nearby Mobile Bay have not offered similar promises.

Our war has displaced 4 million Iraqis since 2003, including 2 million now living beyond its borders in tough conditions. Yet we have allowed this vast, potentially destabilizing refugee burden to be borne mostly by Syria and Jordan. We have provided some aid to host countries but none to Syria, and we have allowed only a trickle of Iraqis (fewer than 10,000 so far) to resettle in the U.S. -- far fewer than have been taken in by Sweden. For five years, the U.S. has failed to make Iraq's refugee exodus a focus of national or international attention. The U.S. has allowed the crisis to be managed by concerned but second-tier American officials, and it has been slow to provide financial assistance. This year's aid, the most generous so far, will surpass $200 million -- but it is still only a quarter of what is needed.

What would it really cost to end global hunger? The United Nations estimates that it would take at least $30 billion per year to solve the food crisis, mainly by boosting agricultural productivity in the developing world. Over the decade that it would take to make sustainable improvements in the lives of the 862 million undernourished people, that amounts to $300 billion. Three hundred billion dollars is a lot of money, and the U.S. government won't foot the bill alone. But it's less than half of 1% of the world's combined gross domestic products, not an unreasonable sum to invest in ending the misery and degradation of hunger.

When describing what John Kerry looked like while doing God Talk, journalists nearly exhausted the English language’s ample stock of words for psychological and physical discomfort. Terms like “hesitant,” “halting,” “unforthcoming,” “rigid,” “cold,” “insincere,” “distant,” have also been applied to Senator McCain. By no stretch of the imagination, however, are the Johns anti-religious or even irreligious. Their upbringing taught them to be strong and silent about the divine. Both were thus handicapped by dint of not being affiliated with Evangelical faiths that place a premium on testifying about God’s greatness in front of others. Put simply, they wouldn't know how to do the God Talk that Evangelicals crave even if they tried.

Mexico has swallowed its doubts and bound itself to the United States through the North American Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA). And having become a democracy, too, Mexico's close partnership with the United States is nowadays based on common values as well as common interests. Or so it thought. Over the past couple of years Mexicans have had to watch as their country has been the victim of some decidedly unfriendly treatment from its neighbour. This began when the American Congress, largely at Republican urging, squashed attempts to regulate migration, opting instead to build a fence along stretches of the Mexican border.

First John McCain and now President Bush have announced support for lifting the ban on offshore drilling along America's coastline in response to the rise in gas prices. This is an idea that only an oil man could love, but then, of course, Bush is an oil man so we should not be surprised. McCain's decision is more difficult to understand. The main problem has to do with speculation. Even fans of the market economy have to recognize the evil influence of speculation in today's energy markets. Speculators buy what they do not intend to use because they believe the price will rise for the commodity purchased. With the rest of the stock market edgy and the dollar at its weakest level in years, smart investors have rushed to the oil market, but that rush only pays off for them if the price continues to rise. And, because of arcane and ineffective regulatory measures, the government has been unable to stop the cycle.

Hurricane Katrina showed the State of Alabama that churches and faith-based groups know their stuff when it comes to disaster relief. Now, the state is turning to these groups for help with a different kind of disaster—the incarceration boom. The partnership is encouraging churches and community groups to provide one-on-one financial counseling, host parenting classes for prisoners and their spouses, and help ex-prisoners pay their parole fees. But the group will not actually do the work the churches ought to be doing. It is the churches themselves that will be caring for the downtrodden—in this case, prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their families.

Capital punishment can claim nothing to commend it. It will not bring healing or justice or restitution. It offers no hope for a nonviolent society. It reinforces the heart-rending cycle of violence; it lays the burden of yet another murder. Execution gives death as social purpose ever greater sway. When a nation decides who lives, who dies, it becomes small potatoes indeed for it to manipulate who enjoys full civil rights, who doesn't, who partakes of the fat of the suburbs, who subsists in the crumbling cities. And of course who goes off to war to fatten the American way of life, and who remains home to pluck the fat fruit and pursue affluent careers.

It was almost inevitable that a combination of $4-a-gallon gas, public anxiety and politicians eager to win votes or repair legacies would produce political pandering on an epic scale. So it has, the latest instance being President Bush’s decision to ask Congress to end the federal ban on offshore oil and gas drilling along much of America’s continental shelf. This is worse than a dumb idea. It is cruelly misleading. It will make only a modest difference, at best, to prices at the pump, and even then the benefits will be years away. It greatly exaggerates America’s leverage over world oil prices. It is based on dubious statistics. It diverts the public from the tough decisions that need to be made about conservation.

America should be looking, as Iraqis are, for a transition to a different kind of relationship. The time is ripe, at last, to think about a gradual withdrawal of most American soldiers. The U.S. troop surge has had enough success in reducing the violence that we can say "Hallelujah!" or "Alhamdulillah!" and start to look for the exit ramp. Not a quick pullout, but not a long-term occupation either, premised on the false hope that Iraq can be an Arab version of South Korea or Germany.