Hunger for Honesty

Yesterday I posted on the subject of whether the sectarian violence in Iraq is a civil war or just an uncivil conflict. Maybe all the fuss about labels is just much ado about nothing. On the other hand, it might be too little ado about something that’s essential to the well being of the country – having a government that is honest and forthright with its citizens.

I give you Exhibit B – the Bush administration has now decided that there is no longer any hunger in America. I mean, this is America; how could there be hungry people in America? That’s just downright un-American. Unacceptable is what that is.

For years the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been issuing an annual report on the status of hunger in America. There will be no more of that nonsense. The USDA has now issued its first report on “very low food security” in America. That’s what hunger is when it grows up and becomes a conservative Reb.

I expect the Bush administration to make the following announcement shortly, right after the president parachutes into a tenement project in Bedford-Stuyvesant: “My fellow Americans, I’m proud as spiked punch to announce, Mission accomplished! We have won the war on hunger! We just need to tidy up a few skirmishes with insurgent food insecurity in the Appalachian province.”

So, what’s the problem with that pesky hunger label? Well, according to the Bush policy makers “hunger” is not “a scientifically accurate term for the specific phenomenon being measured.” This administration wants to use language that it says is more “conceptually and operationally sound” to describe the condition previously known as hunger. After all, one child’s hunger is just another child’s growling tummy.

For some reason, these reason-starved folks have decided that “very low food security” does not suffer from a lack of conceptual or operational soundness, because everyone knows what “very low” and “security” mean. The USDA now defines the people who fall into this group as experiencing "multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake." That means they’re hungry – I swear it does. People who are slightly better-off – i.e., those who aren't always sure where their next meal is coming from – are now labeled as dealing with "low food security."

See how slick that is? Very low food security improves to become low food security, which I’m sure then improves to become food security, until eventually you’ve got all-around security.

The head of the USDA has declared that in order to measure hunger the government would have to ask individual people whether "lack of eating led to [the] more severe conditions" previously known as hunger, as opposed to asking them if they can afford to keep food in the house.

It’s important that all of us are clear about this. It’s not about being hungry anymore; it’s about whether someone in America is too poor to buy enough food. We apparently can handle the idea of having poor people in America because, after all, the Bible says that the poor will always be with us. But, hungry people? That’s another can of corn.

You can’t make this stuff up. Truth is often stranger than fiction. Come to think of it, maybe that’s what keeps our politicians away the truth – it’s too strange for them to handle. Anyway, so much for the notion that it’s only the Dims who work too hard at being politically correct.

The facts are still available from the USDA, even if the names have been changed to protect the guilty. The USDA says that 35 million Americans, 12 percent of us, could not put food on the table at least part of last year. Eleven million of those Americans reported going hungry at times. (It will take some time for these folks to learn that they’re supposed to report very low food security, rather than reporting hunger.)

But, everyone may not accept these statistics. When Governor W was running for president the first time, he said that the annual USDA report was “fabricated”. It seems this report often indicates Texas is one of the hungriest states in the country. "I'm sure there are some people in my state who are hungry," Bush said. "I don't believe five percent are hungry."

Never wanting to miss a chance to point out a vast left-wing conspiracy, he went on to say that he believed the USDA hunger stats were targeting his presidential candidacy because they were issued in October, just before the election. He chose to ignore the fact that the annual report is usually issued in October. Ah, but not always.

The annual report wasn’t issued this October as usual – perhaps because there was an election on November 7th. You just never know when one of these government reports is going to be delayed. Maybe they decided that issuing a report in October this year wasn’t “conceptually and operationally sound”. Or, maybe it just took them a long time to line out every reference to “hunger” and write “very low food security” in its place. They probably had to sharpen the crayons several times before that job was done.

Like I said, you can’t make this stuff up.

A War Most Civil

NBC had decided that it will begin referring to the sectarian violence in Iraq as a civil war. The LA Times began doing so last month. Others will certainly follow, but in doing so they’ll simply be reaching the same conclusion that many people reached a long time ago. Iraq is, and has been for quite some time, in the midst of a deadly civil war.

It’s an easy call to me. Iraq is being torn up by one armed faction of Iraqis fighting against another armed faction of Iraqis every day, including fighting against the government and its security forces, with thousands being killed every month. That’s a civil war. What else does it take to earn that opprobrious designation?

The Bush administration and the Iraqi prime minister reject this toe tag. They choose instead to refer to the current status of the conflict as a “new stage of sectarian conflict”. Okay. A shit-storm by any other name still smells the same. This morning the president offered the counter-explanation that al-Qaeda is to blame for the sectarian violence. Interesting theory – I guess that means that al-Qaeda has embedded itself in both the Sunni and Shiite sects where it then shoots at itself day after day. The only other option under the president’s explanation is that ad-Qaeda is operating on only one side of the sectarian equation, thereby making the other side the victim of their involvement. That leaves me wondering which side al-Qaeda is on, because I’m seeing nasty perps on both sides and precious few victims among those who are doing the killing on either side of this sectarian abyss.

The U.S. and Iraqi governments are understandably averse to this designation because they’re directly implicated in both the existence of the escalating conflict and in the inability to end it. Of course there’s also a huge policy issue at stake in this little semantic debate – i.e., if this is a civil war, then what is the United States doing in the middle of it? We don’t do civil wars. But, rather than face that issue, our leaders elect to call it something else, apparently thinking that they’re fooling the rest of us with their linguistic sleight-of-hand.

Frankly, they can’t even be fooling themselves on this one. After all, U.S. military and political leaders have been talking publicly about Iraq “slipping into” or “sliding toward” a “possible” civil war for the last 12 – 18 months. Well, it’s time for all the kids in the backyard to agree that we’ve reached the end of the Wham-o Slip ‘N Slide period in Iraq. We’ve hit dry ground, gang; there’ll be no more slipping and sliding.

A most uncivil conflict has become a civil war, indeed.

Election 2006 - Chinese Style

I highly recommend going to a Communist country to watch the results of an American election. Having watched Election Day 2006 unfold in Beijing, I have two reasons for saying that.

First, you’ll almost certainly experience a heightened appreciation for our country and its democratic process. You can watch the legislative branch of a major government change partisan hands in a totally peaceful and relatively orderly manner, while at the same time knowing that you’re sitting in a country where there is no chance of that happening under their current leadership and governing processes. The day before the election in America I walked through Tiananmen Square, the infamous site of the massive citizen protest in 1989 that was brutally crushed by military force. In that square, I saw Red Army troops, uniformed policemen, and plain-clothes security personnel – marching, standing and sitting at-the-ready in their cars – all awaiting the slightest provocation by anyone foreign or domestic.

Second, you have the marvelous opportunity to get the election results without the avalanche of commentary from countless politicians and pundits. Like Dragnet’s Sergeant Friday, you get “Just the facts, ma’am.” While we lacked access to local results, we got the important big picture without unwanted and unnecessary elaboration. One of our fellow travelers is the senior editorial writer for our local newspaper and she made the observation that this absence of punditry allowed each of us to digest the results in our own way and in our own time and to enjoy short discussions about the results with a few fellow Americans in our small groups. It was a pleasant departure from the standard election night barrage.

In the spirit of that simplicity, the only election comment I will make is that I was pleased to see at least one side of Congress change hands (I didn’t expect both) so that the principle of checks and balances is returned to Washington. I say this as someone who voted for a Reb in 10 of the 12 partisan races on the ballot (the exceptions were the U.S. Senate and State Controller races).

Maybe travel to North Korea or Cuba will be opened up by the time the 2008 election comes around. I can only imagine how much I would both appreciate America and be free of democratic commentary in one of those places. I could try Tehran or Damascus, I suppose, but, frankly, Communist countries seem a lot safer choices.

Now that I think of it, the 2008 Olympics will have come and gone from Beijing; the prices will be down; bargains will abound; all the public places will have been nicely spruced up; and, by then, a good Chinese meal will finally be appealing again. So, a nice, peaceful election night is only a reservation away. I just have to remember not to step outside to celebrate.

Just Another Bunch of Numbers?

Today marks one of the numerical mileposts in the war in Iraq that will be significant to some people and meaningless to others. Undoubtedly, Tony Snow will regard it as “just a number,” as he did when the 2,000th and 2,500th U.S. soldier was killed in Iraq. Today is the 1,347th day since the invasion of Iraq – the same number of days it took to fight, and win, World War II.

WWII involved two fronts on two continents with all of Europe and much of Asia being engulfed in the battle. The war in Iraq is fundamentally centered in Baghdad and three provinces. After 1,347 days, victory is not in sight in Iraq. In fact, it’s uncertain what would constitute victory in Iraq now. If victory entails defeating the terrorist insurgency, quelling the centuries-old sectarian violence, securing a democratic form of government that is capable of providing and protecting constitutional rights and freedom, and rebuilding the most fundamental elements of the country’s infrastructure destroyed by the war, then that victory isn’t likely to be achieved in another 1,347 days, or in the 1,347 days that follow.

According to the U.N., last month produced the highest number of civilian deaths since the war began – over 3,700; more than 120 a day. In the last two months, 7,000 civilians have died; 10,000 in the last three months. On our Thanksgiving Day last week, 161 civilians died in Iraq, mostly in Baghdad. Victory, by any definition, must include substantial security for the non-combatants in Iraq. The death toll may never be zero, but we’re not even on the road to victory as long civilian deaths are steadily increasing.

As of November 4, the U.N. High Commissioner on Refugees estimated that 1.8 million Iraqis have been displaced to neighboring countries, and another 1.6 million have been displaced internally. Nearly 100,000 Iraqis flee to Syria and Jordan each month. Every month the number of passports and exit visas issued by the Iraqi government goes up. Victory, by any definition, must include sufficient stability to retain the intellectual capital and the other essential human resources that will sustain the economic and social strength of a new Iraq.

The direct dollar cost of the war to the U.S. alone is now approaching $350 billion with current spending running at more than $200 million a day. The indirect economic costs are far higher. Of course, the U.S. cost that matters the most is the fact that we’re approaching 3,000 U.S. troop deaths in Iraq.

As we enter December and await the recommendations from the Iraq Study Group headed by James Baker, and then enter January and await the arrival of a Democrat-controlled Congress, we appear to be approaching a crucial crossroad in the war in Iraq. To some, the human and economic impacts noted above may be just another bunch of numbers. To me, they collectively constitute a demand for clarity in our strategic direction and tactical objectives on the road ahead. Crossroads demand clear decisions. We owe that clarity to every man and woman in uniform who continues to walk in harm’s way. We owe that to the civilians in Iraq and to those who have fled their homes and their country in order to protect their families. We owe that to the American taxpayer. We owe that to the tens of millions of Americans and the hundreds of millions of other people in need of help in the world who could benefit from the expenditure of $200 million a day.

It’s time.

The Great Wall of China

China was a trip. I could spend many postings recounting my observations from Beijing, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Shanghai. But let me be absolutely clear about what is most important – I made it to the top of the Great Wall of China!

Some may say, “Big deal.” People who say that are ignorant because they clearly haven’t made the attempt. Some may utter an incredulous or dismissive, “Right.” Those people are ignorant because they think there isn’t a “top” or that if there is a “top” that no 58-year old, out-of-shape, American tourist could get there. On the latter point, they’re almost right.

There are three sections of the Great Wall available for tourists. We went to the section at Badaling. This site appeared to have three subsections available for exploration. Being Americans, we naturally tackled the highest and steepest section, the one with more than 2,000 steps to the top – steps that could range from one to 21 inches in height. That didn’t count the portions that were “step-free” inclines.

I made the trip to China with three colleagues from my company, their spouses, and one couple’s 16-year old son. For about a third of the ascent I stayed with my band of happy trekkers; for the next third I kept them in sight. On the last third, I only knew that they were “up there somewhere.” Every fiber in my body, and particularly those in the muscle in my heart, told me to “Stop, idiot; you’re a 58-year old, out-of-shape, American tourist!”

But a couple of things spurred me on – one of my fellow travelers is almost as out of shape as I am and another is older and has had heart problems. But, when I got passed by a woman (albeit a woman who is in very good shape) from the bus behind ours (i.e., she started well after we did) I decided that I was either going to the top or until I met my group coming down, or until I met my Maker. I didn’t want to delay my group’s descent but I was going to keep going as long as the others, including my Maker, were “up there somewhere”.

My group spent enough time recovering for me to catch up. I climbed up the last watch tower for a summit photo with my work colleagues and down we came, all very pleased with our accomplishment, but none as pleased as me.

The 16-year old in our group knew that I was looking for a special rock from China to take back to a daughter who had requested that I bring her one. Concerned that I might not make it to the summit, this young man climbed up on the roof of the last watch tower, truly the highest place anyone could go on that section of the Great Wall, and collected a rock from the roof to give to me. I was very impressed with that thoughtful gesture and decided that I would keep that small rock for myself, to remind me that I can go farther and higher than I think I can, even when everything in me is yelling, “Enough, already; stop, please!”

A couple of times on that ascent I was fooled by false summits, only to discover that yet another section or two or three was still ahead. But there are no false summits more formidable than those that reside in our own hearts and minds. If we can overcome those false summits we can get to the true peaks where the view is amazing and the feeling of accomplishment makes the pain and the doubt subside. There we can share something special with a few fellow travelers who also decided that the top had to be “up there somewhere” and that that is where they would stop.

The Sound of Silence

Five and half weeks of silence on HOTS wasn’t planned. It just happened. One week was spent on the Monterey peninsula in a company leadership meeting; one week was spent preparing for a trip to China that covered nine days; and one week was spent recovering from that trip and the Chinese cold I brought home with me.

One other thing contributed to this the second lengthy period of silence this fall – the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA). The last time I blogged down on this page was during the initial debate on the subject of torture and the U.S. adherence to the Geneva Conventions. The two sides in that debate reached a so-called compromise that allowed the president to go forward with the MCA. When it was passed by Congress I wanted to write about it – but I didn’t know where to start. I was even more concerned that I didn’t know where to stop.

That piece of legislation left me wondering about the moral foundation in America right now. I’m pragmatic enough to realize that the “compromise” was reached because neither party wanted to carry this debate any closer to the November 7 election. Voters could have rebelled against either party in response to the issues presented by that legislation. So they struck a deal and each side declared a moral victory. In fact, only one side won and the extent of morality in that victory is questionable. The president knew that he could count on the fact that the Dims and the moderate rebels in his party did not want to appear to be soft on “enemy combatants” just before the election. So he made a few relatively minor concessions and the law went through.

As a result America has handed the executive branch unparalleled authority to hold “illegal” enemy combatants for any length of time without trial. The people who can get caught up in this web cannot be counted or defined because the definition of such combatants is so broad that it defies clear boundaries. U.S. citizens can be detained under its umbrella.

The right to seek a writ of habeas corpus has been suspended for the people whom the president deems to be residents in this no-man’s land. If and when these people are brought to trial the government is allowed to use coerced evidence and, except for a few designated “grave” violations of the Geneva Conventions, the president is authorized to decide what does and does not constitute torture for purposes of coercing that evidence.

It’s an amazing time in America; it’s disheartening and disillusioning to me. Throughout its history America has been a leading voice in the world in protecting human rights especially from violations at the hands of powerful or over zealous executive leaders in countries that lack the constitutional protections that we enjoy everyday. Now, I’m not so sure about where our voice is leading us or anyone else.

The attacks on 9/11 were horrific acts and anyone involved in planning, supporting or executing those acts of terror, or any others like them, should be brought to justice and held accountable without question. We should be relentless in the pursuit of anyone inside or outside the U.S. who intends to bring terror to our citizens. Relentless pursuit will require us to cast a broad net and to haul in a large number of people who will fall all along the criminal spectrum, from the clearly guilty to those who are detained for direct involvement or other good cause, to those only suspected of some indirect connection to some act or plan, to those who have been detained for inadequate reason – or for no good reason at all. That’s what a broadly cast net produces – the catch of the day and a bunch of “throw backs”. Every fisherman knows that some fish you keep and fry, others you catch and release. No fisherman catches a fish, puts it on the stringer, and then leaves it at the lakeshore

I’m not sure what we fear so inordinately. Everyday in America we extend our Constitutional rights and due process to all manner of depraved criminals – mass murderers; serial killers; murderers who behead and dismember their victims; organized crime bosses who order the deaths of those who oppose them and the executioners who carry out those orders; ultra-violent rapists; vicious pedophiles; arsonists who kill people in their sleep; heartless drug dealers who bring death and misery to thousands of people year after year; abductors who torture their victims, including children, in unspeakable ways.

Every year in America we have thousands of our citizens who are killed or victimized by the heinous acts of depraved people. Yet we extend Constitutional rights and due process to each and every one of the perpetrators – because this is the United States of America and we are governed by the Constitution of the United States of America, the Bill of Rights, and by the rule of law in all governmental action.

That is who we are! That is what every member of the executive, legislative and judicial branch of government is sworn to defend. That is what every man and woman in uniform fights to defend. That is what makes us free – the very freedom for which the president claims the terrorists hate us. That is what sets us apart from Iran, Syria, North Korea, Cuba and Saddam’s Iraq.

I suspect the courts will reign in the MCA, as they should, but the fact that we have passed it and that it now exists as part of the “law of the land” makes our land less than it was before we surrendered to fear. As Benjamin Franklin said, “People who are willing to give up freedom for the sake of short-term security deserve neither freedom nor security.” I choose freedom, which is what Americans have been choosing since Franklin made this statement.

There, now, that subject is out of me. I could have said less, and certainly could have said more. But, it’s time to move on. Silence does not come naturally to me.

Thoughts of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is a great holiday. It’s uniquely American and it comes with a simple agenda – enjoy family; watch the Macy’s parade in the morning; eat well; drink heartily; watch football in the afternoon (those not watching football will often be found playing cards or board games). This day is essentially free of the commercial burden placed on almost all other holidays. Even the menu of the day is free of controversy for the millions of Americans who are more than happy to accept the default table filled with turkey, ham, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, candied yams, cranberry sauce and hot rolls. By and large, vegetables need not apply for a place on this table. Corn or green beans or a salad may be invited to join the feast but they play a decidedly minor roll on most plates. Moms know that this is not a day to be instructing their husbands and sons on the virtues of eating right.

Then there are the pies. Thanksgiving is a celebration of pies. Pumpkin is de rigueur. Apple and berry pies abound with crusts that are a little lighter and a litter sweeter than at any other time of the year. Pecan pie is often on hand for those who really need to trigger an insulin tsunami. Rhubarb might be available if the family has small town or country roots. And, for some unknown reason, something called mincemeat makes its annual appearance. No one knows what mincemeat is; it’s eaten only by people over 75 years old. It must help with kidney functioning.

This morning I read an article in the paper about a family that lost everything it had in fire in October. They are one of about 10 families that the our paper will focus on in its annual “Share the Season” campaign in which readers will be invited to grant the wishes of a few families in need. I will make a donation for this family because fire and a holiday celebration have crossed paths in my life.

My earliest Thanksgiving memories are of spending that holiday in the mid and late 50s at my grandfather’s home in Camp Verde, Arizona. It was a fitting locale for this holiday. Grandpa’s home was once the bachelor officers’ quarters at Fort Verde, a U.S. Cavalry fort in the 1880s. The home is now on the National and State Register of Historic Places and part of the Fort Verde State Historic Park. It’s a little odd to visit a historical museum and tell your children that you used to sleep in this room, eat in that room, and play on a swing that hung on the porch. There was something about celebrating an old-fashioned Thanksgiving in that historic home that just seemed right.

But it’s another holiday spent in that home that most readily brings “thanks” to mind. It was a Christmas in 1957 or 58. On this Christmas morning my dad had walked down the street to visit his aunt, who lived in a home that had been the doctors’ quarters at Fort Verde. As he walked back to his dad’s home he saw black smoke coming from the roof. His first thought is that my brother or I had thrown something made of rubber into the fireplace. He soon realized the smoke was coming from around the fireplace chimney rather than out of it. He got all of us out of the home and called the Camp Verde volunteer fire department. I’ll never forget what happened next.

The volunteer firemen responded immediately notwithstanding the fact that they were in the middle of Christmas morning with their families. The word spread fast in the little town and as people realized that one of their great historical homes was on fire they streamed to the sight. With the unplanned organization of a beehive people entered the home and emptied it of every moveable thing in the home – furniture, appliances, wall hangings, knickknacks, linens, clothing, kitchen utensils, pantry contents – and everything that was being prepared for Christmas dinner. At the same time, my dad and others were up on the roof and in the attic knocking down the fire. A spark from the fireplace had apparently exited a crack in the chimney and started an attic fire.

The fire was quickly extinguished with relatively little damage to the structure and smoke only getting into one unused room on the third floor. The third floor was the mystery floor with locked rooms that children never entered. We were told that the stairway leading up to that floor was unsafe, so we hardly ever ventured up there. If something odd was going to happen in that home, we knew it would be on the third floor.

To our amazement once the fire was out and all was safe the townspeople just as quickly returned every single thing that had been removed from the home back to its original location – including putting the Christmas dinner back in the oven and on the stove. We had dinner as planned that afternoon. It was as if nothing had happened. We gave thanks that day for our family, for the home we were in and, most importantly, to the community that had responded selflessly to save the home and our holiday. We repeated that thanksgiving at every Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner that we later had in that home.

When grandpa’s health finally required him to leave his home the family donated it to the state historical park. As we packed everything we were finally allowed into the rooms on the third floor. They’d been used only for some incidental storage. But, on a top shelf in the back of one closet my mom found a small treasure – the carefully folded uniform of a Cavalry officer, an Army bugle, and an old violin. These items were donated to the Fort Verde museum, where the uniform and bugle are still on display.

Almost three decades later I visited the museum and told the story about the Christmas fire and the closet discovery. The park ranger said they had found the evidence of an old fire in my grandpa’s home but didn’t know what had happened. I asked him about the violin because it wasn’t on display. He remembered it and said it pre-dated the historical period of the fort so it wasn’t being shown. He asked if I’d like to have it back. As I took it with me I thought about several Thanksgivings, one very special Christmas and the community who rescued it, and about finally entering the locked rooms on the third floor and finding a small treasure that had been awaiting discovery for more than 80 years.

This Thanksgiving those thoughts return, and they’re warmer than the dressing and gravy and sweeter than the crust on the berry pie.