Category Archives: Thinking

The Justice Chronicles, Volume 43: What’s Wrong With The Save Act? Glad You Asked

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A few days ago I published an article about voter fraud and recognized that as much as President Trump and the Republicans falsely claim that large numbers of non citizens vote, it’s just not true. Simply put, they are developing strategies to suppress voting and sow doubt about the accuracy of elections.

President Trump has gone all in in his call for a bill he calls the Save Act. It requires everyone to show proof of citizenship to register to vote, and he claims he won’t sign another bill until this passes. If you listen to him and his minions they tell you the reason is obvious. Why shouldn’t we demand proof of citizenship before we register someone to vote?

Again, glad you asked. Here’s a partial list of my concerns:

  • It proposes a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. Voter fraud is virtually nonexistent and nearly all cases are simple mistakes. You can read an excellent article here. There’s also no evidence that fraud has changed the results of an election. If you’re not a citizen and attempt to vote (even if you’re here legally) you’re guilty of a felony and are subject to possible deportation. Who would risk that for one vote?
  • It’s not as simple as it sounds. Proponents argue that the bill isn’t retroactive (ie, if you’re already registered to vote you don’t need to do anything) and your Real ID driver’s license will suffice. It’s true that you don’t need to show proof of citizenship, unless you move or change your name (e.g. if you get married). Your Real ID license will only be accepted if you live in a state where your citizenship status is on your ID. Right now only Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont and Washington do that. My California Real ID states this: “This license is issued as a license to drive a motor vehicle. It does not establish eligibility for employment, voter registration, or public benefits.” I wasn’t able to find recent data on what percentage of drivers have Real ID but if you don’t board an airplane you don’t need one. A license without Real ID won’t suffice anywhere.
  • If you don’t have a Real ID from those five states or a passport your best alternative is to get a certified copy of your birth certificate. I was born in Washington D.C. and I can apply online. It goes through www.vitalrecords.org. It’s a process but as far as I can tell there is a $125.00 online processing fee, a $38.95 DC State Government Fee, and an optional $12.00 Qualifying Review fee. They recommend you pay an additional $20.00 for UPS Air Shipping Delivery that will allow you to track your shipment. I checked a few other states and it appears the $!25.00 online processing fee uniform but the state government fee is different.
  • OK, still with me? Good. Now if you changed your name when you married you’ll also need a certified marriage certificate to show your new name. Fortunately I didn’t change my name when I got married but if I did I’d need to go through (you guessed it) www.vitalrecords.org. It’s another $125.00 online processing fee and in California a $22.00 State Government Fee.
  • During the Jim Crow era attempts were made to prevent poor people from voting using poll taxes. It was just what it looks like: you had to pay to vote. Opposition to these poll taxes culminated in 1964 with the passage of the 24th Amendment to the Constitution. But if the Save Act requires certified documents to prove citizenship and citizens need to pay to acquire these documents, aren’t these poll taxes?

This isn’t an exhaustive list of my concerns but it’s a good place to start. Obviously if Congress passes it and President Trump signs it into law there will be lawsuits. But I think we can save time and money by just walking away from this now and recognizing that this is a solution in search of a problem.

Pete Hegseth Worships A Dangerous God

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It’s a popular adage that we should never discuss religion or politics in polite company, even though we do it all the time. I think most of us generally accept and respect that others may hold beliefs that differ from us. Thomas Jefferson once famously said: “… it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” And most of our politicians have shied away from claims of knowing God’s will; I’ve always been impressed with Abraham Lincoln who was once asked if God was on his side. He responded with: “My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”

Unfortunately this level of humility and maturity eludes our current Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Politicians (including presidents) have often attended prayer breakfasts in various settings but they don’t normally give the prayer; that’s normally reserved for the chaplain. This makes some sense because chaplains have a deeper understanding of both prayer and Scripture and are more likely to pray appropriately. Not this guy.

Here are some of his words from his prayer: “Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation. Give them wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”

I believe in a God of peace and mercy. I believe in a God that does not take direction from me. I believe in a God who hates war, hates violence, and calls all of his people to peaceful solutions.

I believe in a God who does recognize the need for measured self defense and I belong to a church that has developed the Just War Doctrine.

But Pete believes in a God who appears to revel in vengeance, who roots for the accuracy of bullets and bombs, and shows no mercy to at least some of his creations.

Pete’s God frightens me.

The Justice Chronicles, Volume 42: We’ve Finally Found Evidence Of Voter Fraud

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Ever since the 2016 election President Trump has falsely claimed there is widespread election fraud. He lost the popular vote in 2016 but claimed it was because over 3 million illegal aliens voted. When he lost the 2020 election he demanded that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger “find” enough votes to give him a victory in Georgia.

Of course Trump has never provided evidence of any of his charges and most of us assumed voter fraud is nearly nonexistent and virtually never intentional. But we’re learned recently about Harry Wait. Harry was convicted a few days ago of requesting the ballots of Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Racine (Wisconsin) mayor Cory Manson.

Funny thing, ol’ Harry is a Republican. He claims he did it to show how easy it is to commit voter fraud. Of course, he just proved is isn’t easy as he was easily caught. He attempted to defend himself by claiming his actions were criminal but not nefarious.

Yeah, right. If you rob a bank to show how easy it is to rob a bank, you’re still guilty of bank robbery.

There’s no date for sentencing but he may face up to six years in prison.

Joe Kent: A Well Needed Breath Of Fresh Air

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I, like the majority of Americans, believe we shouldn’t be attacking Iran. We don’t feel Iran posed an immediate threat to our safety or the safety of our allies. We we believe this conflict will be long and costly and will hurt us in the long run. Today we found that Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center resigned his position out of conscience. In a statement he said that he believed President Trump bowed to pressure from Israel.

As we expected, Trump said he barely knew Joe but thought he was weak on security. Of course that doesn’t explain why Trump nominated him. Joe is hardly a lightweight. He served 20 years in the army and was a Green Beret. Until today he was a Trump loyalist.

I’m most impressed that he resigned because he could no longer serve in good conscience. The existence of a moral compass has been noticeably absent in an administration that values loyalty over competence. Too often I’ve observed previously good and patriotic Americans trade their moral compasses for job security. Legions of MAGA voters cast their ballots on Trump’s promise to keep us out of “forever wars” only to now claim support for Trump. It’s hard to watch.

Trump values revenge almost as much as he values loyalty. Let’s see if he tries to interfere with Joe Kent the way he’s trying to punish Arizona Senator Mark Kelley.

Remembering Pearl Harbor

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On this day 82 years ago 2532 people woke up on the last day of their lives. In addition to 2,403 Americans, 129 Japanese also died at Pearl Harbor. With every passing year there are fewer and fewer survivors and it won’t be long until the last survivor dies.

It’s a reminder of many things, including the frailty of life and how life can change in an instant. I’ve been blessed to have met 2 survivors in my career in hospice; I’ve also listened to hours of people telling me where they were and what they were doing when they got the news over the radio or from a neighbor. Most had never heard of Pearl Harbor and had only a vague idea that Hawaii was somewhere in the ocean.

The next four years brought out the best and the worst of us as Americans. We kept President Roosevelt’s promise to defeat the fascist empires of Japan and Germany. After the war we rebuilt both of those nations and paid for the education of nearly 8 million of those who fought. On the other hand we allowed our prejudices to imprison over 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry because of how they looked.

To quote Civil War General William T. Sherman, “war is hell.” On Pearl Harbor Day 2023 we see war in so many places (not just Ukraine and Gaza) and it’s a good time to recognize that decisions made today will reverberate for generations to come.

In meantime let us continue to pray for the dead and wounded and may we always strive to be a nation worthy of those who put on their uniform each morning with no guarantee that they will wake up tomorrow.

Thoughts on War, Noncombatants, and Hostages

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Hamas’ invasion of Israel last month has called us to look at several ethical issues around war. Let’s look at the involvement of noncombatants and then the taking of hostages.

It may seem odd to think of there even being “rules of war” but there is agreement on some things. When we think of war we divide people into combatants and noncombatants. Combatants are those who are armed, have some method of identification (e.g. a uniform) and participate in battle. But others may be in the vicinity of battle but are not involved in the battle. They may be medics, chaplains, journalists, or bystanders.

Hamas’ invasion of Israel on October 7th has led to a dizzying number of violations. Hamas didn’t target Israeli soldiers or bases. Of the initial 1200 Israelis killed the New York Times reports 70% were civilians. No war is completely clean and civilians always suffer from wars because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. But this was blatant. And inexcusable.

Now that we’re into the 2nd month of this war we’re also dealing with wounded Palestinians. Problem is they have also used hospital patients as “human shields” hoping that Israel will not attack. In other words they are counting the Israeli’s having a stronger moral compass than they do.

And now about hostages. Every war has prisoners of war (POW’s); problem is that true POW’s are all combatants who were captured in battle. There is also the expectation that they will be able to receive aid from humanitarian organizations like the Red Cross.

However we may feel about the treatment of the Palestinians in Gaza there is simply no justification for what Hamas has done. I pray they hear this.

More later.

Gaza: 9/11 Or Prison Break?

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Everyone knows this now but on October 7th members of Hamas in the Gaza Strip invaded and bombed Israel. Since then both residents of both Israel and Gaza have suffered tremendously. Most conflicts these days are complex and confusing and this is no different.

I’ve been thinking a great deal these days how best to encapsulate what is going on and I recently heard a good metaphor: is this Israel’s 9/11 or is it Gaza’s prison break?

First a little history: before 1948 the area we now call Israel was Palestine and while it had a Jewish population it was ruled by Palestinians who were Arab Muslims. After World War II Zionists (Jews who believed they needed a homeland) waged war and conquered Palestine. Most Palestinians fled to the area North and West of Jerusalem (called the West Bank and ruled by Jordan) or an area on the Mediterranean Sea (called the Gaza Strip and ruled by Egypt). In 1967 after the Six Day War both areas were taken by Israel. In 2005 and 2006 governance of Gaza was given to Hamas. Problem is, Hamas is founded on the desire to destroy Israel and return Palestine. Please note: this is an incredibly simplistic explanation.

So if you’re Israel this is your 9/11: Foreign terrorists attacked without warning and want your destruction. They need to be crushed without mercy and taught never to do this again.

But if you live on in Gaza you’ve been imprisoned there since 1948, oppressed and trapped without mercy. The attack was simply self defense in the need to end your imprisonment.

But what now? The lines have been drawn in ways that surprise nobody. Arab nations are lining up behind Gaza and while there is no proof of this Iran may be or get involved. The Iranian government has allied with Hamas. The United States, long an ally with Israel, is backing Israel. Of course since the US has no House Speaker there’s not much we can do but that’s the subject for another entry.

Hamas, for all its weaponry, is small and nobody really believes they can conquer Israel. If Iran and some of the Arab nations band together this could turn into a regional war but there’s been no sign of it and President Biden is working hard to make certain this doesn’t turn into a bigger conflict.

Israel has told people in the northern part of Gaza to evacuate and prepare for a ground invasion. It’s a given Israeli troops will invade Gaza but, well, here we go again. I suspect Israel will find that getting into Gaza will be easier than getting out. While they are there they will be an occupying force surrounded by people who don’t want them gone, they want them dead. It will look like the British army’s occupation of Northern Ireland last century.

In the meantime innocent people on both sides will die. Keep the prayers coming.

Preview Of The Election 2024 Chronicles

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Sometimes it seems like election seasons are getting longer and longer and the respite between them gets shorter and shorter. Our next Presidential election is set for November 5, 2024. For no clear reason I’ll start the “Election 2024 Chronicles” category on (or near) May 5th, 18 months before.

It’s already getting interesting. President Biden has already announced his intent to run for reelection; that’s a concern because he’s already 80 years old. Many of us have concerns about this, but frankly don’t see an alternative. If he does win in 2024 I hope he’ll spend at least part of his term looking forward to a younger successor.

I had hoped he would seek the nomination without rivals but it appears that isn’t happening. Robert Kennedy, Jr. has announced his intent to run and he’s problematic at best. He’s an attorney and spent much of his career in environmental law. That’s good but in the last several years he’s advocated against vaccines and has promoted the lie that vaccines in children make them more susceptible to autism. There’s no way he can win but he may cause some damage.

On the Republican side we already know that former President Donald Trump is running. He’s lied about so many things it’s hard to keep track but he still argues that he was cheated out of the 2020 election. He is currently under indictment in New York for bribing someone to keep quiet about their affair. There are likely other indictments to come.

Right now he is still the frontrunner despite all this. But there are several others who have also indicted they will seek the nomination, and others who we assume will make that announcement soon. They have a problem because they don’t wish to go head to head with Trump but they also want to give a reason voters should support them. My suspicion is that they are aware of Trump’s age (he’s only 3 1/2 years younger than President Biden) and hope that a health crisis will pull him out of the race.

Keep posted. I’ll have more soon.

Fifty Years After Vietnam

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Fifty years ago this week the United States ended its involvement in the war in Vietnam. For the uninitiated, before World War II the nations of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam were colonies of France and called “French Indochina.” After the war Vietnam declared itself independent but France attempted to regain control. But in 1954 at the battle of Diem Bien Phu fell to Vietnamese troops under the command of Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969). Ho and his Communist allies controlled North Vietnam but not South Vietnam even though they wanted to. In the late 1950s and early 1960s the United States supported South Vietnam in the hopes to prevent the spread of Communism. By the mid 1960s we were sending combat troops into Vietnam even though there was never a declaration of war. By the late 1960s our government realized that we could not defeat North Vietnam and began negotiating a peace treaty.

On January 27, 1973 we signed a cease fire and pulled out. At the time President Nixon proclaimed victory and made it sound like this would cease hostilities between North and South Vietnam. It didn’t. When our troops pulled out so did our cameras and it came as a surprise to many but the war continued and North Vietnam conquered South Vietnam when their capital, Saigon, fell.

And while the Nixon administration tried hard to claim we didn’t lose the war it was clear that we did. Through a series of lies, missteps and miscalculations our government convinced large parts of our country that our cause was just and the result was honorable. In that time somewhere around 2.5 million troops served in Vietnam and 60,000 died. Countless came back with wounds, both visible and invisible. We learned about napalm, Agent Orange and PTSD.

Did they all suffer and die in vain? I hope not. I hope it brings us to the realization that we should never go to war without a clear understanding of what victory will look like. We had a vague idea that we would “stop the Communist advance” but never recognized that some residents of South Vietnam supported the North. We didn’t recognize that we couldn’t always tell who the enemy was or what a random person would do. We dropped troops in the middle of the jungle and told them to hold our position. We didn’t mark success by territory taken but by the daily death count (remember that from the TV news? Each week we were told how many North Vietnamese were killed, how many South Vietnamese and how many Americans).

Since then we’ve sent troops into different places, oftentimes with the same result. Let us honor our Vietnam vets but promising we will do better by today’s veterans

Thoughts On The Birth Of Jesus: Did It Really Happen The Way We Think?

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Growing up Catholic has given me the gift of imagining how the birth of Jesus looked. Mostly we have a mash up of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke and until I began to study Scripture in college I didn’t give much thought to it. But in the years since it’s become clear that the birth narrative can’t have happened as it is read. Here are some thoughts:

The Census: Luke 2:1 places Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem instead of Nazareth where Mary and Joseph lived. This was necessary as the Old Testament prophet Micah stated (Chapter 5) that the Messiah will come from Bethlehem. According to Luke, Mary and Joseph needed to travel to Bethlehem because the Roman ruler (Caesar Augustus) demanded that everyone return to their ancestral home and since Joseph descended from King David he needed to be there. Matthew (Chapter 2) places Jesus’ birth during the reign of King Herod who died between the year 5 BCE and 1 CE (formally 5 BC and 1 AD) but Luke places this when Quirinius governed Syria who didn’t begin his reign until 6 CE. Now we can put that down to a simple mistake, but there’s more. Say what you will about the Romans, they kept good records. And there’s no record of a census “of the whole world” as Luke states. Furthermore, a census lists where you live, not your ancestors; that means there would have been no need for them to go to Bethlehem. As an aside I was born in Washington D.C. My father was born in Gardner, Massachusetts and his father was born in Notre Dame, New Brunswick (Canada). If you go back far enough my 8th Great Grandfather was born in France. Where do I go for a census?

Virgin Birth: Most Christians believe that Jesus was born of Mary but not of Joseph as she was a virgin (Matthew 1:18). Matthew wrote that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20); this was important because it fulfilled the prophecy from Isaiah 7:14 that they could recognize the Messiah when “the virgin shall be with child, and hear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.” But there is a translation problem. Most of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew but by the time of Jesus most people read its translation to Greek. The word Isaiah used in Hebrew is “almah” which was translated into the Greek word “parthenos.” But almah doesn’t necessarily mean virgin as much as “young woman.” So why is this important? Throughout history there has been a persistent rumor that Jesus was conceived by Mary and a Roman soldier. It’s not hard to see how the followers of Jesus could look back to Isaiah and see the word parthenos and couple Matthew with Isaiah.

Does this mean Jesus wasn’t the Messiah? No. As I was once told a story can be true even if it didn’t happen the way we think. I’m not a fundamentalist (who believes the Bible is without error in fact as well as faith) because of passages like this. My belief in Jesus does not depend on the accuracy of facts.

If Jesus had a human father that doesn’t negate my belief that he was the Messiah. But I have to admit that the concept of the virgin birth has led to a long held and persistent belief that virginity is good and sex is bad. And that’s bad. There’s nothing I see in Scripture that tells me that sex is bad, or evil, or sinful. And while we rightly revere Mary because of her willingness to give birth to Jesus in some pretty awful circumstances, her marital status should not matter.

So let’s celebrate Christmas this year for what’s good. Jesus brought us redemption, eternal life, and the ability to love in hard circumstances. Let’s not care so much about Bethlehem or virginity.