At the G8 in Heiligendamm this week, they have pledged 60 Billion Dollars (44 Billion Euros) in aid to Africa, primarily to fight AIDS, hunger and tuberculosis. The U.S. has promised to carry most of that financial burden (30 Billion USD), with the rest divided among the other 7 nations.
I think it's great that we are supporting Africa, but where are we going to get the money? It is ethically problematic to promise money that we will not or cannot give.
60 Billion is probably also just a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed to help stem the tide of AIDS, hunger, poverty, war, and tuberculosis plaguing much of the continent.
And is this what leaders in African countries, or what the people in those countries, really feel will provide help and relief from the burdens they carry?
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Friday, June 08, 2007
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Bob Hebert
This is a long excerpt from Bob Hebert's June 5 op-ed in the New York Times, "The Passion of Al Gore". I'm including it here for those of you who don't or can't pay for New York Times Select; and because I think it needs to be read.
It's not that I wish we could go back (though it would be so nice, if all of this would just turn out to have been a long, collective nightmare). But I think it's important that we face how monumentally our poor choice of president affected the U.S. and the world, so that we will be more careful in the future. This should not be a popularity contest, but the presidency should go to the person with 1) the best ideas for the future of the country; and 2) the clearest policies. If a candidate is not able to clearly lay out what they think needs to be done, then maybe they don't need the most powerful job in the country.
Every time I come to Europe, I come face-to-face with the extent to which our economy is no longer competitive in the world market. Add to that the lack of respect many have for our Administration, and it is ugly. We need credibility to return to the White House and to our country.
Here is a portion of what Hebert wrote about Gore:
It's not that I wish we could go back (though it would be so nice, if all of this would just turn out to have been a long, collective nightmare). But I think it's important that we face how monumentally our poor choice of president affected the U.S. and the world, so that we will be more careful in the future. This should not be a popularity contest, but the presidency should go to the person with 1) the best ideas for the future of the country; and 2) the clearest policies. If a candidate is not able to clearly lay out what they think needs to be done, then maybe they don't need the most powerful job in the country.
Every time I come to Europe, I come face-to-face with the extent to which our economy is no longer competitive in the world market. Add to that the lack of respect many have for our Administration, and it is ugly. We need credibility to return to the White House and to our country.
Here is a portion of what Hebert wrote about Gore:
He’s pushing his book “The Assault on Reason.” I find myself speculating on what might have been if the man who got the most votes in 2000 had actually become president. It’s like imagining an alternate universe. The war in Iraq would never have occurred. Support and respect for the U.S. around the globe would not have plummeted to levels that are both embarrassing and dangerous. The surpluses of the Clinton years would not have been squandered like casino chips in the hands of a compulsive gambler on a monumental losing streak.
Mr. Gore takes a blowtorch to the Bush administration in his book. He argues that the free and open democratic processes that have made the United States such a special place have been undermined by the administration’s cynicism and excessive secrecy, and by its shameless and relentless exploitation of the public’s fear of terror.
The Bush crowd, he said, has jettisoned logic, reason and reflective thought in favor of wishful thinking in the service of an extreme political ideology. It has turned its back on reality, with tragic results.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
U.S. Health Care
Wow. According to this article in Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle (thanks for the link, Dad!), our health care system doesn't compare favorably at all to those in Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
A few notable points:
(My numbers are all from the article listed above, but I haven't checked their data)
* We're # 1 in spending per capita -- our government spends around $7,000 per person per year on health care. Where on earth does it all go? This is in addition to what we pay for health insurance, and what is paid by our employers. I think there are just over 300 Million of us (give or take), so that's a ton of money.
* We're dead last in efficiency, patient safety, patient access (we don't have universal coverage), and effectiveness. This is not to say that we don't have excellent health care professionals. We do --- I know some of them. And we have excellent hospitals and other facilities, and the latest in technology. But so many in our country don't have access to the very best in care. It's so expensive, that many people choose not to go to the doctor, and even if they do they sometimes can't afford to get the prescriptions, tests, etc.
* 9 Million children are completely uninsured; 23.7 million have limited access to health care. I realize that's less than 10% of our population, but it's still not OK.
John Edwards is suggesting a reform of the health care system that includes mandated universal participation and universal coverage; Barack Obama also has a pretty good plan for universal coverage, he just wouldn't mandate universal participation. I don't know of any others who have come up with concrete plans. Let me know if they do!
Anecdotal evidence from my experience with the German health care system:
1) My mother, who had me in the U.S. and then Richard and Annette in Germany, always told me, if I were to get pregnant, to go to Germany to have the baby because they treat the mothers better.
2) When I was living here in 2000-2001 and running, I started having problems with one of my knees. I went to the doctor, who ran all kinds of tests, looked at my shoes, checked out my running gait, etc. and finally prescribed orthotics to wear when I run. They took molds of my feet, had the orthotics made to fit my running shoes, and I got the orthotics within a week. None of this cost me a single cent. All I had to do was show up at the doctor's. There was hardly any waiting, even.
3) Darrel (one of my students this summer) has a broken foot. We went to the clinic on Sunday, so he was seen as an emergency case. They checked out his foot, and taped it up and gave him medications. He went in the next day and was x-rayed and given a cast. He was given a prescription for a boot to wear over the cast (they didn't have any in his size). He just went to the medical supply place, showed them the prescription and they gave him the shoe. On Sunday, they didn't have him fill out any forms or show them his insurance card before going in, they just treated him. They didn't bother to see the insurance card at all, nor did they at any point talk about cost. On Monday, he did show the insurance card, but that's all he did. No mountain of paperwork, no co-pay, nothing. And he is obviously not a German citizen.
A few notable points:
(My numbers are all from the article listed above, but I haven't checked their data)
* We're # 1 in spending per capita -- our government spends around $7,000 per person per year on health care. Where on earth does it all go? This is in addition to what we pay for health insurance, and what is paid by our employers. I think there are just over 300 Million of us (give or take), so that's a ton of money.
* We're dead last in efficiency, patient safety, patient access (we don't have universal coverage), and effectiveness. This is not to say that we don't have excellent health care professionals. We do --- I know some of them. And we have excellent hospitals and other facilities, and the latest in technology. But so many in our country don't have access to the very best in care. It's so expensive, that many people choose not to go to the doctor, and even if they do they sometimes can't afford to get the prescriptions, tests, etc.
* 9 Million children are completely uninsured; 23.7 million have limited access to health care. I realize that's less than 10% of our population, but it's still not OK.
John Edwards is suggesting a reform of the health care system that includes mandated universal participation and universal coverage; Barack Obama also has a pretty good plan for universal coverage, he just wouldn't mandate universal participation. I don't know of any others who have come up with concrete plans. Let me know if they do!
Anecdotal evidence from my experience with the German health care system:
1) My mother, who had me in the U.S. and then Richard and Annette in Germany, always told me, if I were to get pregnant, to go to Germany to have the baby because they treat the mothers better.
2) When I was living here in 2000-2001 and running, I started having problems with one of my knees. I went to the doctor, who ran all kinds of tests, looked at my shoes, checked out my running gait, etc. and finally prescribed orthotics to wear when I run. They took molds of my feet, had the orthotics made to fit my running shoes, and I got the orthotics within a week. None of this cost me a single cent. All I had to do was show up at the doctor's. There was hardly any waiting, even.
3) Darrel (one of my students this summer) has a broken foot. We went to the clinic on Sunday, so he was seen as an emergency case. They checked out his foot, and taped it up and gave him medications. He went in the next day and was x-rayed and given a cast. He was given a prescription for a boot to wear over the cast (they didn't have any in his size). He just went to the medical supply place, showed them the prescription and they gave him the shoe. On Sunday, they didn't have him fill out any forms or show them his insurance card before going in, they just treated him. They didn't bother to see the insurance card at all, nor did they at any point talk about cost. On Monday, he did show the insurance card, but that's all he did. No mountain of paperwork, no co-pay, nothing. And he is obviously not a German citizen.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
This is not ok.
This article was printed in 2005, but the picture since hasn't gotten any prettier. The violent crime rate this year is up 107% compared to the same time last year.
And for the record, I'm from New Orleans and I know someone who knows someone who has been violently killed. Not only that, but I know someone who was murdered (by her boyfriend), and I once saw a man who had been shot (executed? nothing was stolen...) lying in the street in a pool of his own blood on my way home from work.
The very sad truth of this violence is, though, that, although it is bad for all of us, it is worst of all if you are poor and black. And if you are a young man.
We can't turn our eyes away, and think that someone else will take care of this, because they won't. It's for all of us to figure out how to change this world, how to be a positive element. The world is hungry and thirsty.
Day in and day out, Katrina or no Katrina, New Orleans is America’s most dangerous city. But the numbers don’t tell the whole story. White and black residents, rich and poor, of good neighborhoods and bad, are afraid to go out at night beyond the clear boundaries of well-patrolled areas like the heart of the French Quarter—and night means 6:00 pm, not 2:00 am. Everyone in New Orleans knows someone who has been violently mugged—and everyone knows someone who knows someone who has been violently killed.
This article was printed in 2005, but the picture since hasn't gotten any prettier. The violent crime rate this year is up 107% compared to the same time last year.
And for the record, I'm from New Orleans and I know someone who knows someone who has been violently killed. Not only that, but I know someone who was murdered (by her boyfriend), and I once saw a man who had been shot (executed? nothing was stolen...) lying in the street in a pool of his own blood on my way home from work.
The very sad truth of this violence is, though, that, although it is bad for all of us, it is worst of all if you are poor and black. And if you are a young man.
We can't turn our eyes away, and think that someone else will take care of this, because they won't. It's for all of us to figure out how to change this world, how to be a positive element. The world is hungry and thirsty.
Matthew 25:31-46 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible SocietyThe Sheep and the Goats
31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of
these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
Thursday, April 26, 2007
So, I was wrong
I've been operating under the somewhat naive assumption that what would help curb violence in the United States would be better gun control laws. Or gun control laws that were enforced more efficiently. But this morning I've found that even in Germany, which has tighter gun control laws than we do (and is the other country I know lots about), there have been school shootings.
Deutsche-Welle published a brief article about two recent shootings, but I've started a quest to find out how many more have happened worldwide. I can think of at least one incident in Scotland several years ago.
It's a horrible issue. In yesterday's edition of the "Samford Crimson" there was an angry letter from a parent, who ranted about the fact that the reason gunmen choose schools as their targets is because they are guaranteed an unarmed populace upon which to vent their anger, and that the best answer to the problem would be for every single person at the school to have a weapon of their own.
I don't know the answer. Maybe the real exception has been that we (the fortunate, privileged, few of us) have been isolated and protected from violence for so long, that it comes as a shock to have it manifest in our midst. The world is certainly a violent place, and probably the majority of the world grows up confronted by daily threats to their lives and their existence, even many growing up here in the U.S.
As many of you know, I go to Baptist Church of the Covenant, which has a fairly diverse congregation. During the children's sermon on Sunday, the leader asked the children why Jesus had died and a little boy who lives in the nearby housing project, about 4 years old, said, "because he got shot". It struck me that that was his immediate response to why someone would die.
So, again, I don't know the answer, I just have the strong feeling that I need to figure out how to be part of it.
Blessings, peace, and prayer for those who are weary and suffering...
Addendum: the children's sermon leader responded, "No. He died for our sins." Not sure how helpful that was to a concrete-thinking, reality-based 4 year old mind.
Deutsche-Welle published a brief article about two recent shootings, but I've started a quest to find out how many more have happened worldwide. I can think of at least one incident in Scotland several years ago.
It's a horrible issue. In yesterday's edition of the "Samford Crimson" there was an angry letter from a parent, who ranted about the fact that the reason gunmen choose schools as their targets is because they are guaranteed an unarmed populace upon which to vent their anger, and that the best answer to the problem would be for every single person at the school to have a weapon of their own.
I don't know the answer. Maybe the real exception has been that we (the fortunate, privileged, few of us) have been isolated and protected from violence for so long, that it comes as a shock to have it manifest in our midst. The world is certainly a violent place, and probably the majority of the world grows up confronted by daily threats to their lives and their existence, even many growing up here in the U.S.
As many of you know, I go to Baptist Church of the Covenant, which has a fairly diverse congregation. During the children's sermon on Sunday, the leader asked the children why Jesus had died and a little boy who lives in the nearby housing project, about 4 years old, said, "because he got shot". It struck me that that was his immediate response to why someone would die.
So, again, I don't know the answer, I just have the strong feeling that I need to figure out how to be part of it.
Blessings, peace, and prayer for those who are weary and suffering...
Addendum: the children's sermon leader responded, "No. He died for our sins." Not sure how helpful that was to a concrete-thinking, reality-based 4 year old mind.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Guns and Abortion
When you're right, you're right, and TexasInAfrica hit the nail on the head when she said to look out for the rush of gun-control and anti-gun-control articles. But I'm recommending this one anyway. I really don't know why we don't care about gun-control in this country, and why we are willing to be the most dangerous industrialized country in the world. We don't have to live this way, but we choose to, because some people just can't do without their "sacred" right to carry a weapon. I don't get it. It's dumb.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Quotes, musings, and tunes
The German exchange student who's been here since August is flying back to Germany tomorrow, so my "wow-I-can-actually-just-speak-German-without-trying-to-figure-out-which-words-she-probably-already-knows" buddy will be gone. **sigh** For her last day in town, we went out to eat at Surin West and then for coffee to Starbucks, and then shopping in a novelty place in Southside, where I found the following on a postcard:
"Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag people along ... Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and for exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country." --- Reich-Marschall Hermann Goering, at the Nuremberg Trials
It is so close to what was said and done in the lead-up to the Iraq war, I thought it couldn't possibly be real. But no, Snopes affirms that Goering indeed uttered these words in a private conversation with Gustave Gilbert on April 18, 1946. And it is sadly utterly true. We were brought to the bidding of our leaders, despite the fact that they were clearly not being truthful: reasons for attacking Iraq changed from week to week, posturing and empty, militaristic rhetoric were the rule of the day, rather than straight-forward honesty. And let's not kid ourselves, they're still lying to cover their butts as well as possible. There were countless voices who very accurately noted that 1) Iraq had nothing whatsoever to do with Al Qaida and the attacks of September 11; 2) Iraq posed no immediate threat to the U.S.; and 3) attacking Iraq would prove to be a huge mess. But what does truth matter, when our honor is on the line? We're Americans, darn it, and as such can do no wrong.
You might write me off as being someone who "doesn't like this country", but that's not true. This is a great country to live in. People are usually friendly and fairly generous. Our school system needs some serious work, as do our priorities as far as taking care of those in need, but we're a country that values the individual and individual effort and creativity, and for the most part gives people the freedom to express themselves (as long as they don't choose to be gay or a commie).
But that belief, that as Americans we can do no wrong, is one of the most dangerous things in this country. We chose to start a preemptive war. Even though we would never accept that behaviour by another country, it's ok for us to do, because "we're good people". The Cute One (aka the One Who Wants To Be Called The Genius) has a great entry concerning this (see her "Shrub & Co." post). We've allowed our leaders to weaken our economy and our civil rights in the name of protecting us, but it's ok, because they're Americans and, like us, are therefore inherently good and can only do good things. They can go ahead and lie to us and bully anyone who doesn't agree with them and cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands, because they are "democratically elected, god-fearing men". [Never mind the fact that we don't worry too much about whether a leader is "democratically elected" when we decide to depose or sanction the killing (Allende in Chile) of those we don't deem pro-America enough --- which means pro-American-business-and-capitalism. But I digress.]
There are very good things about this country, and about the people in this country, and I sure do wish we could get back to some of our better moments. Did you know, that during the Revolutionary War, George Washington charged his officers with treating prisoners of war with kindness and humanity? He said that because they were fighting for an honorable cause they should behave with honor. Imagine that. Many of the Hessian soldiers who had come to America in order to fight with the British as mercenaries were so shocked by their treatment that they ended up staying on after the war. How different things would have been, if we had remembered Washington's behaviour instead of doing our best to justify mistreatment of our prisoners.
Sorry about the rambling, but it's what's been on my mind today. There's nothing wrong with having a certain basic pride about who we are as a country, but we can't let it blind us to the fact that we are not perfect. We also cannot let it blind us to what our leaders are doing in our name, which is decidedly UNamerican.
On that note, a funny William Shatner and Henry Rollins song. It's the background music for someone's kitten video....
Power to the People, peace and comfort to the suffering.
"Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag people along ... Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and for exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country." --- Reich-Marschall Hermann Goering, at the Nuremberg Trials
It is so close to what was said and done in the lead-up to the Iraq war, I thought it couldn't possibly be real. But no, Snopes affirms that Goering indeed uttered these words in a private conversation with Gustave Gilbert on April 18, 1946. And it is sadly utterly true. We were brought to the bidding of our leaders, despite the fact that they were clearly not being truthful: reasons for attacking Iraq changed from week to week, posturing and empty, militaristic rhetoric were the rule of the day, rather than straight-forward honesty. And let's not kid ourselves, they're still lying to cover their butts as well as possible. There were countless voices who very accurately noted that 1) Iraq had nothing whatsoever to do with Al Qaida and the attacks of September 11; 2) Iraq posed no immediate threat to the U.S.; and 3) attacking Iraq would prove to be a huge mess. But what does truth matter, when our honor is on the line? We're Americans, darn it, and as such can do no wrong.
You might write me off as being someone who "doesn't like this country", but that's not true. This is a great country to live in. People are usually friendly and fairly generous. Our school system needs some serious work, as do our priorities as far as taking care of those in need, but we're a country that values the individual and individual effort and creativity, and for the most part gives people the freedom to express themselves (as long as they don't choose to be gay or a commie).
But that belief, that as Americans we can do no wrong, is one of the most dangerous things in this country. We chose to start a preemptive war. Even though we would never accept that behaviour by another country, it's ok for us to do, because "we're good people". The Cute One (aka the One Who Wants To Be Called The Genius) has a great entry concerning this (see her "Shrub & Co." post). We've allowed our leaders to weaken our economy and our civil rights in the name of protecting us, but it's ok, because they're Americans and, like us, are therefore inherently good and can only do good things. They can go ahead and lie to us and bully anyone who doesn't agree with them and cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands, because they are "democratically elected, god-fearing men". [Never mind the fact that we don't worry too much about whether a leader is "democratically elected" when we decide to depose or sanction the killing (Allende in Chile) of those we don't deem pro-America enough --- which means pro-American-business-and-capitalism. But I digress.]
There are very good things about this country, and about the people in this country, and I sure do wish we could get back to some of our better moments. Did you know, that during the Revolutionary War, George Washington charged his officers with treating prisoners of war with kindness and humanity? He said that because they were fighting for an honorable cause they should behave with honor. Imagine that. Many of the Hessian soldiers who had come to America in order to fight with the British as mercenaries were so shocked by their treatment that they ended up staying on after the war. How different things would have been, if we had remembered Washington's behaviour instead of doing our best to justify mistreatment of our prisoners.
Sorry about the rambling, but it's what's been on my mind today. There's nothing wrong with having a certain basic pride about who we are as a country, but we can't let it blind us to the fact that we are not perfect. We also cannot let it blind us to what our leaders are doing in our name, which is decidedly UNamerican.
On that note, a funny William Shatner and Henry Rollins song. It's the background music for someone's kitten video....
Power to the People, peace and comfort to the suffering.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
NPR this morning...
Two things jumped out at me listening to NPR as I got ready this morning ---
The first was a horrible crime that happened in Brazil recently. The blurb at NPR says that this child's "gruesome death [...] emphasizes the daily reality of violent crime in Rio de Janeiro." The boy, 6 years old, was strapped into the backseat of his parents' car, when they were carjacked by two gun-toting teenagers. They weren't able to quite get him out of his seatbelt when the carjackers drove off, dragging his little body down the street. By the time they stopped the car and ran away, he was of course already dead. It's created an outcry in Brazil, and only horror here. But what haunted me most was the comment by the author Paulo Coelho, who said that we are all victims, but also all the murderers. We are all at fault when part of our society is so horribly brutalized as to commit such a crime.
The other commenters pointed out that a major part of the problem in Brazil is that so few of the violent crimes (2%) are punished, so the criminals feel they can act with impunity.
My Mom and I were discussing the high crime rate in New Orleans yesterday. It's much worse now than before Katrina. It's easy to sit in the safety of a house in the suburbs, thinking "oh, how horrible for those poor people"... but like Coelho said, we are also victims and perpetrators. To use a tired cliche, if we're not part of the solution, we're part of the problem. I don't know what can be done to make the lives of children born in poverty materially better, so that they don't grow up in a dangerous and brutal environment, but I think we all need to be thinking about it and coming up with solutions, because this can't go on. Although we are one of the wealthiest nations in the world, our crime rate (and a few other less than excellent statistics, such as the fact that we still have capitol punishment) -- put us in an ugly neighborhood: we are right down there with Brazil and the Middle East and some of the countries in Africa. Not in every neighborhood or city in our country, to be sure, but having one child grow up with drive-by shootings and goodness knows what else is one too many in a country this wealthy. It's not ok.
The reason Mom and I got into the discussion is because she mentioned the situation with the projects in New Orleans. There are several families who want to move back. The buildings themselves were not flooded or damaged. But the city doesn't want to let them move in. They would rather raze the buildings, and then create low-income housing dispersed throughout the city, so that there is not such a concentration of low-income families (and crime). Mom had a great idea: why not allow the families to move back into the buildings, which are good, sturdy buildings. But instead of just putting them back into the same situation, help them refurbish their apartments and make them nice. Each family could then have the opportunity to purchase their apartment, so that they would someday have something of their own. In this way, they would feel a sense of pride and a sense of ownership. The projects would not become as run-down, and the families, the good people who live there, would be able to keep the bad element out, with the help of us and the authorities. What do you think? I'd welcome any ideas for ways to improve not only New Orleans, but our other urban centers, and make our cities better places for all children, not only those with the good fortune to have parents with a decent job.
The other series I've been listening to on NPR, is entitled "God, Darwin and Dixie" -- today's installment had to do with the labels they've placed in the beginning of all science books in Alabama stating that Evolution is "just" a theory. Nevermind the fact that this demonstrates that the people (proponents of Intelligent Design) using that rhetoric are willfully disguising the fact that the term "theory" when used by scientists is much stronger than its everyday usage. A scientific theory is something that has been put to the test by a number of scientists (in this case for over 100 years), and which they have not found to be wrong. This doesn't mean it won't ever be shown to perhaps be mistaken, when we have learned more, but until then, it's the best explanation for all of the phenomena we see. Now I'm a Christian and I believe that God created the earth and all that is in it ... the fact that scientists have discovered that things evolve, that we may have evolved, does not bother me in the least. A god who is powerful and intelligent enough to say "Let there be light" and poof, there was light, is certainly capable of coming up with a system as intricate as evolution. Imagine the foresight involved.
Anyway, that's enough for today. I hope you have a wonderful one!!!
The first was a horrible crime that happened in Brazil recently. The blurb at NPR says that this child's "gruesome death [...] emphasizes the daily reality of violent crime in Rio de Janeiro." The boy, 6 years old, was strapped into the backseat of his parents' car, when they were carjacked by two gun-toting teenagers. They weren't able to quite get him out of his seatbelt when the carjackers drove off, dragging his little body down the street. By the time they stopped the car and ran away, he was of course already dead. It's created an outcry in Brazil, and only horror here. But what haunted me most was the comment by the author Paulo Coelho, who said that we are all victims, but also all the murderers. We are all at fault when part of our society is so horribly brutalized as to commit such a crime.
The other commenters pointed out that a major part of the problem in Brazil is that so few of the violent crimes (2%) are punished, so the criminals feel they can act with impunity.
My Mom and I were discussing the high crime rate in New Orleans yesterday. It's much worse now than before Katrina. It's easy to sit in the safety of a house in the suburbs, thinking "oh, how horrible for those poor people"... but like Coelho said, we are also victims and perpetrators. To use a tired cliche, if we're not part of the solution, we're part of the problem. I don't know what can be done to make the lives of children born in poverty materially better, so that they don't grow up in a dangerous and brutal environment, but I think we all need to be thinking about it and coming up with solutions, because this can't go on. Although we are one of the wealthiest nations in the world, our crime rate (and a few other less than excellent statistics, such as the fact that we still have capitol punishment) -- put us in an ugly neighborhood: we are right down there with Brazil and the Middle East and some of the countries in Africa. Not in every neighborhood or city in our country, to be sure, but having one child grow up with drive-by shootings and goodness knows what else is one too many in a country this wealthy. It's not ok.
The reason Mom and I got into the discussion is because she mentioned the situation with the projects in New Orleans. There are several families who want to move back. The buildings themselves were not flooded or damaged. But the city doesn't want to let them move in. They would rather raze the buildings, and then create low-income housing dispersed throughout the city, so that there is not such a concentration of low-income families (and crime). Mom had a great idea: why not allow the families to move back into the buildings, which are good, sturdy buildings. But instead of just putting them back into the same situation, help them refurbish their apartments and make them nice. Each family could then have the opportunity to purchase their apartment, so that they would someday have something of their own. In this way, they would feel a sense of pride and a sense of ownership. The projects would not become as run-down, and the families, the good people who live there, would be able to keep the bad element out, with the help of us and the authorities. What do you think? I'd welcome any ideas for ways to improve not only New Orleans, but our other urban centers, and make our cities better places for all children, not only those with the good fortune to have parents with a decent job.
The other series I've been listening to on NPR, is entitled "God, Darwin and Dixie" -- today's installment had to do with the labels they've placed in the beginning of all science books in Alabama stating that Evolution is "just" a theory. Nevermind the fact that this demonstrates that the people (proponents of Intelligent Design) using that rhetoric are willfully disguising the fact that the term "theory" when used by scientists is much stronger than its everyday usage. A scientific theory is something that has been put to the test by a number of scientists (in this case for over 100 years), and which they have not found to be wrong. This doesn't mean it won't ever be shown to perhaps be mistaken, when we have learned more, but until then, it's the best explanation for all of the phenomena we see. Now I'm a Christian and I believe that God created the earth and all that is in it ... the fact that scientists have discovered that things evolve, that we may have evolved, does not bother me in the least. A god who is powerful and intelligent enough to say "Let there be light" and poof, there was light, is certainly capable of coming up with a system as intricate as evolution. Imagine the foresight involved.
Anyway, that's enough for today. I hope you have a wonderful one!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
