Category: Uncategorized

Madmen

My Dad was a television executive in the 1950’s and 60’s.  He started at the “bottom”: a spot advertising salesman for WLW-T in Cincinnati back at the beginning of the television era in 1952.  He worked his way up, switching to selling individual television shows for Ziv Productions around the country.  Dad was a “leave on Monday, come home on Friday” guy, talking to us kids from hotel rooms in Lansing or Ottumwa or New York.  You have to be of a certain age, well past Medicare eligibility, to remember the shows:  The Cisco Kid, Highway Patrol, Ripcord, and Sea Hunt among them.

By the early 60’s he was back at a TV station, WLW-D in Dayton, first as Sales Manager and then as the General Manager, the CEO of the station.  He was working for a company called Avco, a hard-drinking, hard-living, and hard-dealing bunch of businessmen who owned and ran television and radio stations.  I never watched the series Madmen, but from what I gather about the show, they were the kind Dad worked with.

Tough Love

Dad wasn’t that kind of guy in a lot of ways.  He was never a hard drinker, in fact, a couple of drinks put Dad to sleep.  And he was intensely loyal to Mom and our family. There was no chance of Dad having an affair on the road or with his secretary, unlike most of his co-workers.  But he was tough.  

I first learned how to swear in the Boy Scouts (of course), but I learned the nuances of profanity from listening to Dad on the phone with his salesmen.  At first, I thought he hated those guys.  The way he spoke to them was terrifying.  Later I realized that, in Dad’s own way, he was showing how much he cared.  He wanted them to succeed, both for the company but also for themselves.  This was how Dad was taught, and this was the way he knew to teach them.  If he wasn’t pushing, yelling, demanding, and swearing; then they should start worrying about their job.

Business was business for that generation.  Dad was an exception.  As a salesman at heart, he knew that trust was part of the “secret” of his success.  But that wasn’t the general trend of the business back then.  When Dad put together a multi-million dollar deal to buy WLW-D from Avco, his “friends” found another buyer to outbid him.  And when many of those same friends bought out the company they waited until Dad was retiring, and cut him out of a life-changing multi-million dollar profit.  Business was business, no hard feelings. Let’s have a drink, at the mountain home in North Carolina or the beach house in Florida.

Strategic Business

The nation of Australia had a deal with France to purchase advanced submarines for the Australian Navy.  Why have submarines?  Australia is a major player in a region including North Korea and China.  To this point, they had tactical weapons, good for defending from the pirates along the Cambodian coast.  But to act as a strategic power, to have a place at the table of West Pacific military affairs, they needed to have a stronger military presence.  Twelve diesel submarines, modern attack weapons, was the deal, worth $66 Billion.  

But nothing says strategic weapon like a nuclear submarine.  For Australia there was only one place to buy “nukes”, the United States.  Up until now, the United States has only shared nuclear submarine technology with one other nation, the United Kingdom.  The US offered Australia nuclear submarines without nuclear weapons capabilities, but with conventional cruise missiles, and also the nuclear ability to remain at sea for many months at a time without refueling.

The Biden Administration saw an opportunity.  Australia could take a larger role when it came to Chinese expansion into the South China Sea, as well as issues with Taiwan and, of course, North Korea.  What was a dominant US presence with some help from the UK, could add a third partner to “share the load”.  And it doesn’t hurt that US companies will be building the submarines.  It’s not likely that Australia will save money going from twelve diesel subs to eight nuclear subs.

French Pride

France is more than angry.  President Macron withdrew his ambassadors from both Australia and the United States.  France too is an ally, and a leader in the “Western Alliance”.  And they have been “dissed” by the US and Australia. The French are a proud nation, and a nation cut out of a $66 Billion deal.   It will take a lot of US and Australian diplomacy, and probably some way to make up the economic damages, to smooth over the rupture in relations.

But business is business:  both economically and strategically.  The United States is looking for help in the Far East to balance growing Chinese influence, and Australia is looking for a larger presence at the table.  That’s a win-win for the new AUKUS (Australia-United Kingdom-United States) relationship.  It’s another bolster against the growing Chinese influence in the Pacific.  And it’s a blow to French pride and economics, a blow that will need to be made up.  

Maybe we can ask them to join us for a glass of champagne at our mountain home or at the beach.

Division

I’ve written a lot about division in the last few weeks.  There were essays about the division in our nation, divisions in the Democratic Party, and the lack of division in the Republican fealty to Trumpism.  Why there was even an essay about trying to remember how to do division of fractions as a substitute teacher:  that whole flipping over and changing to multiplication thing.  Thank goodness for decimals.

And there is plenty of division to talk about.  But there are some apparent divisions that aren’t really there.  And one of those is the so-called big “divide” between the Food and Drug Administration and the White House over Covid “booster” shots.

Boosters

A few weeks ago, the Biden Administration announced that they were prepared to begin booster shots for all Americans.  Folks would be eligible to receive them eight months after their second Pfizer vaccination, with the program beginning on September 20th (that’s today!!).  In that announcement the President himself made sure to say the “magic words”; “Pending FDA approval”.  (Moderna and Johnson and Johnson “boosters” are a few weeks away). 

The FDA didn’t approve the “Biden Plan”.  Perhaps some of the scientists were annoyed that the President got “ahead of their science”.  But to give them full credit, most of the panel simply didn’t feel that the existing evidence for boosters was compelling enough to require a national booster program.  They did, however, approve booster shots for those sixty-five and over, immune compromised, and those working in environments with increased exposure risk. So, I guess the science really says that boosters work, but aren’t overwhelmingly necessary – yet.  

Not Ready Yet

So Joe Biden wasn’t wrong.  Boosters do increase resistance to Covid, including the Delta Variant.  And most of the scientists acknowledge that booster shots are necessary in the long run.  They simply say it’s not time, yet, for everyone to get a Covid vaccine booster shot, particularly when so many in the United States and the world haven’t even gotten the first (or second) shot yet.  64.5% of Americans have received at least one dose.  That percentage includes kids under twelve who cannot get the vaccine.  But the big news this morning – Pfizer released results from their trials with vaccines for five to eleven year old children.  The data looks good, kids are gaining immunity without a lot of side-effects.  The “kids’ vaccine” is on the way.

Sure the President is more than anxious to find a “stop” to Covid.  When he entered office, the “science” said if we could only get 75% of the adult population vaccinated, we could go back to “normal”.  But we didn’t reach that point soon enough, and the Delta Variant changed the Covid rules.  There is a direct correlation between Covid and the President’s approval rating – Joe Biden knows that, like Donald Trump, he will be judged by his handling of the Covid pandemic.  So it should be no surprise he was ready for the next step.

Moving the Ball

And, Biden also knows that when he entered office, there were vaccines developed in the Trump Administration. “Operation Warp Speed” was remarkable, developing amazingly effective vaccines in record time.  But the Trump Administration seemed to lose interest after the election, with little effort to get the vaccine out to the public.  Biden’s team had to pick that “ball” up, and did a remarkable job between January and May getting the vaccine out.

Biden didn’t want to be left “holding the ball” this time should the FDA approve mass booster shots. And he wasn’t.

This Isn’t a Nail

I don’t know why today’s society has to make a controversy over every difference.  I guess once you head down the “division” trail, ever problem looks like a divide (there’s my favorite paraphrase again – if your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail).  The headline could have read, “Biden ready if FDA demands boosters”.  Instead, there’s all the talk about Biden getting “turned down” by the FDA, as if he was applying to the panel, instead of the Pfizer company.  

I guess it makes good headlines – and puts Dr. Fauci “on the spot”, defending the FDA process and the President at the same time.  He did that well.

So where are we?  Currently if you’ve had the vaccine, you have a 1 in 5000 chance of getting a “breakthrough infection”, getting the Covid Delta variant despite vaccination.  That’s a .02% chance (there’s that division thing again).  And even if you do get a breakthrough infection, your risk of serious illness is very small, and risk of hospitalization even smaller.  So get vaccinated.

And get a booster when you can – just like we got the vaccine when we could. I promise, as a sixty-five year old substitute teacher, that will be soon for me.

Division

We, the people of the United States — aren’t.  

That is, we aren’t United.  In fact, we live in one of the most divisive periods in American history, perhaps as polarized as the era leading to the Civil War.  Like that time, there are a variety of reasons for division.  And like the 1850’s, in the end the main issue is race.

The Civil War was about a region of the United States maintaining an economic model which required slave labor.  A minority of Americans used every political “trick” in the book to keep that model. That included long periods of time when the national legislature, Congress, literally banned discussion of the subject.  Many of our institutions, including the Electoral College and the filibuster in the Senate, were established in part, to maintain that minority power. 

The “majority” won the Civil War, but many of those political “tricks” remained.  While the “peculiar institution” of slavery ended, manipulation of the laws allowed that same minority to maintain control, and to keep the former enslaved peoples in a lesser form of citizenship.  It took almost one hundred years to pass laws implementing the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution guaranteeing their civil and voting rights.  Those were the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Minority Rule

And even those momentous pieces of legislation did not end the issue.  Only eight years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that large sections of the Voting Rights Act were no longer “needed”.  As Chief Justice Roberts said in his majority decision:

“Our country has changed. While any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions.” (Shelby County v Holder), 570 U.S. 529 (2013).

Essentially, John Roberts and the other four concurring Justices declared that discrimination in voting was over, and the efforts to prevent it no longer necessary.  Or, to put it another way, they declared another procedural victory for the minority.

Like the Southern enslavers, there are various reasons that today’s “minority” wants to maintain control.  As the Civil War Era South wanted to maintain their plantation culture, so today the minority wants to recreate a culture of the 1950’s, where people of color, of differing gender identities, of non-Christian religious beliefs, are forced to hide in the darkness.  And they are “rigging” the system in the face of an overwhelming threat – they are rapidly becoming a voting minority.

Inevitable Change

Within a score of years, the “United” States will be a majority-minority country.  Whites will no longer have a voting majority in the nation.  And some white people are so threatened that they are gerrymandering districts, restricting voting, and making sure that their power is enshrined in institutions that are protected by law.  Those folks are the direct political descendants of the protectors of slavery.  They claim that they are “defending” America from majority rule, a rule that they somehow have warped to be “evil”.  

They are today’s Republican Party.

Republicans today are attacking the sanctity of the vote, oddly enough, in the name of “voting security”. Here in Ohio they are reneging on promises to make the voting districts representative and less manipulated. When Democrats called them on the promise, they literally said, “That’s how the cookie crumbles”.

In other states they are doing everything they can to make voting more difficult – knowing that by making it harder, they make it less likely that people will vote. The ideal of “every citizen participating in democracy” is the very thing they want to prevent.

They isn’t a Trumpian issue.  The Republican Party has been working on de-democratizing the nation for two decades. And the Democratic Party, as often as it has cried out against these actions, has done little to stop it.

Higher Ground

It’s not that the Republicans are “smarter” than the Democrats.  Current Democrats hope to claim “higher moral ground”; so they won’t take similar actions to the Republicans.  Essentially, Democrats have been fighting a battle without accessing the same weapons that Republicans use, because they think it’s somehow “wrong”.

What’s wrong is not using every weapon to defend democracy.  What’s wrong is allowing the ideologic descendants of the slaveholders to use every “trick in the book” without responding in kind.   The mid-20th century conservative hero Barry Goldwater said it best:

“Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice… and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. (1964 Republican convention).”  

He set the tone for today’s Republicans.  Democrats need to do the same, now.

Step one: end the filibuster in the United States Senate.  

Step two:  “unpack” the Supreme Court by changing the number of Justices to thirteen. 

And Step three:  pass the For the People Voting Rights Act.

It’s time to take the gloves off.  It’s time for the Democrats, including the President I voted for in November and still support today, to stop talking about “the moral high ground”.  We need to just take that ground, moral or not.  It’s the only way to defend Abraham Lincoln’s vision:

“…that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Levers

Power is the ability to make something happen.  It can also be the ability to prevent things from happening.  But it always is the ability to shape and control events.  And that’s the position that members of the Democratic Party in Washington are in.

They are in power, with marginal control of the House of Representatives (an eight vote majority) and an even smaller margin in the Senate (50-50 tie, with the Vice President as the tie-breaking vote).  And of course they have full control of the Executive Branch of the Government, with all the “levers” exercised by President Biden.

Except, that’s not really true either.  Biden has already conceded some of that control. From the first day of his Administration he confirmed the independence of the Justice Department.  This week is a clear example of that, as an investigation begun under the Trump Administration with the clear intent of countering the Mueller Report was allowed to continue.  The Durham investigation brought a second indictment this week, alleging that a lawyer, Michael Sussman, lied to the FBI about who he was representing.  This was in an interview after Sussman brought information to the Bureau about possible computer linkages between the Trump Organization and a Russian company with close connection to the government, Alpha Bank. 

Whether Sussman actually lied or not really isn’t a big deal in a global sense.  What is important is that Biden’s White House didn’t interfere with Attorney General Garland’s decision to allow the case to go forward.  The previous administration had a well-established record of interference and even pardons of their “friends”. 

The Few

So even though the Democrats are “in power”, they are also only a few votes from failure.  And that fact empowers individual legislators, both in the Senate and House.  It only takes four “defectors” in the House to stop Democratic legislation.  And, of course, it only takes one Senator to derail Democratic plans there.

The current Republican Party is whipped into a single discipline.  It’s not because of the “vaunted” power of Mitch McConnell, or the simpering favoritism of Kevin McCarthy.  The power in the Republican Party is the single-mindedness of the Republican Primary voter.   That voter is still a die-hard supporter of Donald Trump’s MAGA liturgy, and any political deviation from that is suicidal.  Ask Congressman Anthony Gonzalez from the west side of Cleveland.  He voted for the impeachment of Donald Trump after the Insurrection of January 6th, and now has no path to re-election. 

Big Tent

When we talk about Democratic Party power in the Congress, we are really talking about the power of every single Senator, and groups of four Congressmen.  The “Democrats” are a “Big Tent” party, with a wide range of ideologies. They are the Party of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, and the Party of Joe Manchin.  There are similar contrasts in the House.  So getting a legislative “plan” together is tough.

It’s tough because there is no negotiation with the Republican side.  They are in “lock-step” opposition to anything that the Democrats offer.  Even the Covid Relief Package was passed on a strictly partisan vote.  By taking that stand, the Republicans determined to “not participate” in governing.  Instead they see steadfast opposition as their means to regaining power.  But even more important to them, intransigent opposition is their way of keeping faith with the Republican primary voter – and Trump.

On the List

There is an old legislative “saw”, purportedly by German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck: “Laws are like sausages. It’s better not to seem them made”. But in our twenty-four-seven news cycle, there is no such thing as “not seeing”, so we get to view every twist, turn and ugly moment of Congressional “sausage making”.

And there’s a lot going into this particular sausage.  There’s the original infra-structure plan, already agreed to in the Senate.  There’s the second infra-structure plan making its way through the House, the $3.5 Trillion package that includes “human infra-structure” as well as bridges, roads and wires.  

And there’s the voting rights laws, designed to counter state-by-state Republican voter suppression laws.  There are two levels of that as well, the more traditional John Lewis Act, and the all-encompassing For the People Act. 

Add to all of that a looming debt ceiling vote.  The United States Congress made it a requirement to vote on increasing the debt payment, even though the reason the debt increases is because the Congress has already passed laws spending more money.  So there’s the annual approval to increase the amount, a vote Republicans vow to oppose.

Sausage Making

So don’t get fooled into thinking that the negotiations in the Democratic Caucus in either the House or the Senate is “just” about voting rights, or infra-structure, or the debt ceiling.  All of those topics are on the table for a “universal” deal, particularly when it comes to the critical votes of Joe Manchin and Krystin Sinema in the Senate.

Biden wants the $3.5 Trillion plan – Manchin is talking about $1.5 Trillion.  Manchin is opposed to the For the People Act, but in favor of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.  But Manchin (and Sinema) would have to allow “voting rights” to be added to the list of items that can be exempted from the sixty vote filibuster standard to pass legislation.  The list is currently short:  executive appointments and budget reconciliation.  Biden will need to convince at least those two Senators to add voting rights, and that may require a “price” to pay somewhere else.  

Interstate Gridlock

And all of that has to balance the equally powerful Bernie Sanders and progressive coalition in the House of Representatives.  “Herding cats” is comparatively easy.  It’s a lot more like driving across downtown Columbus.  I-70 westbound has four to five lanes ripping through the east side of town.  As downtown approaches, westbound narrows to a single lane, lined by concrete barricades.  Meanwhile another single lane splits to downtown, and two more head north on I-71. And in the background “Siri” is often telling you to go the opposite way.  It’s no surprise that there’s always a slowdown getting anywhere, and often accidents stalling traffic completely.

The sausage is being made.  And just like I-70, there will be accidents, slowdowns, and sometime gridlock.  But ultimately most people make it across town, and move onto the west side.  And that’s where the Democrats in Washington are right now:  sitting in the jam, waiting to find a single lane to slide through. 

Steps of the Capitol

This Saturday, a now-prepared Capitol Police and over-protected Congressional buildings are ready.  They are ready for the “J-6” rally, organized by former Trump staffers at the foot of Capitol Hill. For those not fully aware of DC geography, that’s “the Capitol end” of the National Mall, around a reflecting pool that looks up at the majestic front of the Capitol building.  

(If you went on a “senior trip” to Washington, at least in my day, it’s where your class lined up for a panoramic camera picture with the Capitol in the background. If you got at the very end of one side of the class, you could outrun the panoramic to the other side – and appear twice in your school picture!! Joel and Doug did it, Craig is a little blurry on one side.)

Those were simpler times at the end of the Vietnam War.  While protests were still around, Nixon had withdrawn most of the US personnel.  It would be another year before the fall of Saigon.  

There were extremists in the Vietnam War era. But there also was a clear distinction between those “mainstream” politicians who were against the War, and those groups who were burning down ROTC buildings on campuses and threatening other Federal buildings.  The anti-war “mainstream” and the far-left “Weather Underground”, considered a domestic terrorist group, were far apart.

Footsie

I was listening to Nicolle Wallace, a former Republican staffer for George W Bush, discuss how Republican Party politicians are “playing footsie” with today’s version of domestic terrorism. Those terrorists are the same folks who stormed in the Capitol Building on January 6th. They threatened to hang Vice President Pence and Congressional leaders. And they attempted to stop the Constitutionally mandated process of certifying the Presidential election.

There is a bright line connecting the terrorists of January 6th and the Republican Party today.  And that line, like all current Republican political trends, runs right through the Presidency of Donald Trump.  Trump’s refusal to recognize the legitimacy of the 2020 outcome with his loss, and his constant encouragement of the “stop the steal” fantasy, damn near brought our Republic down.

And it hasn’t ended.  Trump is still on the “trail”, and still claiming that the election was a “fraud”.  And his supporters, millions of them, still believe.  He continues to give a “wink and a nod” to those organizations that are using his rhetoric to mobilize for their own reasons, the Proud Boys and the other far-right crazies.  

 Most Republican politicians have reached a conclusion:  they cannot win a Republican primary without the support of the “Trump” voter.  From Harvard educated Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, and Ron DeSantis to formerly more “moderate” Republicans like Marco Rubio and even an Ohio Senatorial candidate, former Trump critic and Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance (Yale): all are “onboard the Trump train”.  So they cannot stand for the truth of the insurrection of January 6th, they have to accept the “new version”: it was a “First Amendment protest” with a few “bad actors”. 

Lying Eyes

We watched on our televisions on January 6th and saw the battles on the steps and in the hallways.  We watched as the House and Senate floors were desecrated, and the flag of Rebellion was marched into the building.  It was much, much more than a few “bad actors”. 

But the modern Republican Party needs us to stop believing our “lying eyes”. Now, we are told that the video where a mob attempts to break through to the House chamber as members are evacuating the other end, was just an exercise in “free speech”. They demand that a woman was simply exercising her “privilege” as a citizen, jumping though a broken window into the face of an officer with a gun. “She did not deserve to be shot”. And finally, those hundreds held by the government on charges are the“victims”, not the “perpetrators” of an insurrection.

Ask Governor Mike DeWine from Ohio. There seems to be little room in the Republican Party for more moderate views.  Drink the “Kool Aid” and accept the revisionist view of the Insurrection, or risk losing a Trump leaning primary vote.  DeWine can’t even get the endorsement of his own Party in the primary.  This Saturday’s rally is just one more step in the “redemption” of the insurrectionists, and one more brick on the road to the perdition of Trumpism.  They are changing history, in a way more blatant than that of the removal of the old Daughters of the Confederacy statuary.

Good News

They are ready:  Capitol Police, National Guard, FBI, Homeland Security, National Park Police; everyone.  The risk to the United States Capitol is low.  Experts worry more about the corollary rallies at State Houses throughout the nation, “softer” targets less prepared for “bad actors”.  Let’s hope the scenes of long-guns in the Michigan State Capitol balcony, or Idaho, or Oregon, won’t be repeated.  

There is one bit of good news. The vote turnout in the California Gubernatorial Recall was high, keeping Gavin Newsom, the current Democratic Governor, in office. It demonstrates what we knew in 2020: if everyone shows up, Democrats win. As the Republican Party continues to whittle itself to a small Trumpophile base, it gives up the moderate former Republicans who can’t stomach the lies. In an America where elections are won in the middle, it’s incredibly complicated for a Republican to win anywhere but the “Reddest” areas. It even puts Ohio, with the Governor position and a Senate seat up, in play for 2022.

Who would have “thunk” that? 

Not Even on TV

I’m not a doctor.  I don’t even play one on TV, though there were times over the years where I had to give medical-like aid and advice on cross country trails miles away from trainers or medics.  I am an interested “observer”, particularly of the intersection of science, medicine and politics.  So I’ve done my best to understand the intricacies of our current national pandemic.  

It doesn’t take a medical degree, or a doctorate in molecular biology, to understand our current situation.  A viral infection is spreading across our nation.  For many, infection is an inconvenience, like a bad cold. For some it is a serious health issue, with symptoms lasting for months.  And for a few, infection results in hospitalization, intensive care treatment, and even death.  A few is a relative term.  There are more than 680,000 deaths to Covid in the United States, at a rate now accelerating to 1000 deaths a day, again.

This viral infection spreads through the air, person to person.  And like most viruses, this virus goes through mutations.  It is in that mutation process that our nation has reached a political crisis.  

Genetic Mistakes

OK – so this when an old social studies teacher tries to explain science (I guess that’s better than math).  Viruses don’t mutate because their “evil”.  They mutate because there are “mistakes” in their genetic code when they replicate (that is, make more viruses).  And most of those mistakes mean that the virus with the mistake doesn’t survive.  But the more “replication”, the more opportunity for a “mistake” to be “good” for the virus (that means, in this case, bad for us). 

So, for example, somewhere in the millions of people (more than 225 million worldwide) the original Covid-19 virus mutated to become more infective to humans.  That mutation, the Delta variant, could infect more people, and therefore got the chance to replicate (reproduce) even more, and quickly became the dominant strain. 

We know that the vaccines, particularly the MRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, are very effective against original Covid-19.  We also know that they are still pretty effective against the Delta Variant.  They are not quite as good at preventing people from catching it, though still pretty good – only 1 in 5000 vaccinated folks are likely to get a “break-through” (the vaccine) infection. And even those that get infected, have much better health outcomes.

So if everyone in the United States were vaccinated, there would be less infection, less death, and here’s the big one:  less opportunity for the virus to mutate into a more effective killer.  One more time:  if fewer people can be infected with the virus, the virus is denied the opportunity to mutate into something worse.

Freedom’s Just a Word

I have discussions with my non-vaccinated friends.  I’m glad they are still willing to talk, in our polarized society today it’s so easy to not even listen (that goes both ways).  And their consistent statement goes like this:

“It’s OK that you want to be vaccinated.  That’s your choice.  But it’s my freedom to make a different choice.  That’s my choice, not yours”.

Some even go so far as to put that thought into the language of the pro-choice movement:  “My Body, My Choice”.  

The United States has a long tradition of medical choice.  We allow folks to sign Do Not Resuscitate orders, preventing hospitals from taking extraordinary steps to save their lives.  We also allow those with terminal illnesses to determine when it’s time to stop treatment, and let the illness take its course.  And we even have the Hospice movement, where folks are allowed to die without undue interference from the medical profession, given palliative care to keep them comfortable in their final hours and days.

But all of those choices have one thing in common.  It’s about the fate of a single patient, making their own decision about their life and death.  Even in the question of abortion, it is the decision of the woman about the fetus she is carrying.  Without opening that debate, it’s still one and one, or depending on your belief, perhaps two.

Government and Vaccines

I am sixty-five (today!!).  On the side of my left arm, between bicep and triceps, there is a small circular scar, hard to even see.  It is a smallpox vaccination.  My generation was one of the last to carry that scar, because by vaccinating everyone, we actually ended the disease.  There was no one left to carry it onto someone else, and it disappeared.  Smallpox was the scourge of civilizations for thousands of years.  It wiped out cities and armies.  In fact, George Washington, a scarred survivor of smallpox himself, required his Continental Army to be vaccinated with cow pox, a similar, less serious illness that provided protection from its deadly cousin.

The whole point is by vaccinating everyone for smallpox, it ended.  Unfortunately we aren’t likely to be so “lucky” with Covid.  We can all get vaccinated, but the virus will probably continue.  But what we can do is reduce the opportunity for Covid variants that might make the vaccines ineffective.  

But to do that, we have to reduce the spread of Covid.  That requires vaccination.  And here’s where the argument “My Body, My Choice” falls aside.  Because it is your body, but your choice is impacting everyone else’s bodies.  By allowing the spread of Covid, and the opportunity for more variants, you are threatening us all.  We stop Covid variants by vaccinations that work, now, rather than wait for variants that can overwhelm the vaccine.

Fire in a Crowded Theatre

It is your body, but it is our national body.  We require all sorts of vaccinations for highly transmissible diseases , from polio to measles, to mumps and the ubiquitous “rubella”.  We have found ways to contain all of those “childhood” diseases in just my lifetime (I had measles, mumps, scarlet fever and chicken pox; the actual diseases).  By doing so, we prevented countless injuries and deaths.

Yep, the Covid vaccine is new.  We don’t have long-term, ten-year studies on the impact of the vaccine.  And we don’t have long-term, ten-year studies on the impact of having Covid either.  But we do know that Covid kills people now, and with the wrong variant, could kill a whole lot more.  And we know how to stop it.

There’s a famous line about the freedom of speech:  you can’t yell FIRE in a crowded theatre.  That’s because the ensuing panic might injure many.  And there’s another famous line:  your freedom of action ends when your fist hits my nose.  When it comes to Covid vaccination, “My Body, My Choice” means we all are in danger.  Those who claim that are yelling Fire, and punching the rest of us square in the nose.  

And that’s why it’s different.

So it’s Sunday, and this is another Sunday Story – in fact, several of them. And they all have to do with 9-11, twenty years ago.

History

The terrorists attacks of 9-11 left a deep wound on the United States.  There are a lot of “befores”.  “Before” 9-11, we acted with abandon, as if terrorist attacks couldn’t happen here.  Sure we had our own home-grown terrorists, like Timothy McVeigh who launched the devastating attack on the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995.  

But somehow that was different.  As horrible as it was, it was targeted against the government.  It was, to use the phrase of the Kennedy  assassination conspiracies, a “lone gunman” kind of assault.  And there was the original attack on the World Trade Center, in 1993.  But it failed, and it too seemed like a “lone gunman” kind of thing.

(The Oklahoma City Memorial to the 168 killed and many more wounded is just a moving as the 9-11 Memorial in New York, or the Shanksville Memorial in Pennsylvania.  All are absolutely worth visiting.)

But 9-11 was different.  We talk of 9-11 as our generation’s Pearl Harbor, but Pearl Harbor was a military assault on a base by a known world enemy.  9-11 used our own planes and our own citizens as the weapons of destruction.  And it while government buildings were on “the list”; with the Pentagon hit, and the Capitol or White House next; the World Trade Center and Shanksville were civilian, with civilian victims.  

So 9-11 was different.  It changed how we travelled, and, right or wrong, how we looked at some of our fellow citizens.  It made us afraid:  of the mall, the ballgame, the airport.  Many stayed close to home for a long time.

Family

After 9-11, I felt it was my obligation as a teacher to learn as much about who attacked us, and why, as I possibly could.  That way I could pass that knowledge onto my classes, seventeen and eighteen year old’s whose nation was attacked, and who might become the “point of the spear” in our military response.  That week, from Tuesday morning on, has the crystal clear memory of any horrific event.   It takes very little effort, even twenty years later, to go right back to those moments.

On a personal level, I was worried about my parents.  They were supposed to leave for England on Thursday.  As members of the “Greatest Generation”, the warriors of World War II, neither Mom nor Dad was easily frightened by terrorists.  They were stubborn, but it was more than just the journey.  It was about “winning”.  They, and particularly Dad, weren’t going to let the terrorists “win” by stopping them, and preventing Mom from going home to see her family.

So Wednesday there was a lot of “talk” in the family, about driving to Canada to fly out, or re-routing trips to be on the first planes back in service.  So while I was cramming myself to teach the kids, I was also trying to talk Mom and Dad back “from the cliff’.  

New Jersey

And I was also worried about my sister.  She and her husband were adopted New Yorkers, who lived in Brooklyn for many years.  Now they had a place in Lyndhurst, just across the Hudson from Manhattan in New Jersey.  My brother-in-law was in Manhattan when the planes struck, going to work.  His train from New Jersey passed underneath the World Trade Center shortly before the planes struck, and he spent many hours that day walking back home after the disaster.  They didn’t have cell phones then, so for a lot of the hours my sister didn’t know his fate.  But she could walk half a block up the road, and see Manhattan, and the smoke and ash from the destruction.

By Tuesday night we knew they were safe, but they still seemed incredibly vulnerable.

Stakes for the Tent

While I was powering through in the classroom, I was also worried about my kids, the boys and girls cross country team.  In the classroom we learned about the attackers and their history, but out on the course I hoped we could do “the normal thing”, to have one regular part of their day.  Sure we discussed what was happening, but I wanted the kids to feel that their life could go on, perhaps altered, but still might be “regular”.  We practiced, and we prepared for our Saturday meet.

A cross country “tradition” is the big Black and Gold tent that we pitch at each meet.  It is our “headquarters”, where we meet, leave our stuff, find our parents, and shelter from the rain.  And we needed more tent stakes, something that I’d left to Friday night after practice.  Friday also happened to be my birthday.

So I was driving to buy tent stakes.  And I was talking to Mom and Dad on the phone, about cancelled trips and birthdays.  And I was kind of “zoned” from everything that was going on that week.  As I entered Broad Street at 5:30 in the afternoon, I looked both ways, saw nothing, and pulled out.  I then looked left again, just in time to see the compact silver car smash into my driver’s side door at forty miles an hour.

The Suburban

All my fault.  I was in my Chevy Suburban, a big “Secret Service” type car.  It took the blow well, but the impact was hard enough to break the wheels off the axle and bend the roof above the door, totaling the car.  I managed to get out, and checked on the other driver.  It was a man and his wife, and their small child who was in the back seat.  The man had airbag burns on his arms, his wife was stunned, and the child had a cut lip.  It wasn’t good, but could have been so much worse.  I was thankful for that.

Two things stood out in my mind in those moments, once I realized no one was badly hurt.  First, that all around the wreck there were empty beer cans.  They didn’t come from my car, and I really don’t know whether it was from his, or just dumped by the road.  But I knew that I wanted a blood alcohol test at the hospital, so that there was a record of my non-drinking state.  

And the second thing that stands out was what a witness said as they overheard my discussion with the Pataskala Police.  I told them what happened, and made sure the officer understood that the silver car was in no-way to blame.  And the witness said to someone, “That’s the most honest thing I’ve ever heard”.  I thought that was silly, it was clear what happened, why would anyone even try to lie about it?

I was transported to the hospital with a possible concussion.  The guys on the squad were former students, and asked if they could practice putting in an IV line, even though they didn’t think I needed it.  That turned out to be my worst injury the bruises from the IV, but was a small price to pay for their care. 

Key Largo

Fifteen years later, we retired. Like many couples, Jenn and I wanted to do some travelling.  In 2016 we decided to take a week on the Florida Keys.  We flew down to Miami, rented a Jeep, took the top down and headed to Key Largo to hang out with the iguanas by the swimming pool, look for manatees by the dock, and drink a lot of mojitos, a mix of rum, mint, sugar and lime.  

We managed to make it down to the city of Key West for a day, a place that we both would like to re-visit and spend more time.  It’s a town that can make a party out of the sunset, with hundreds gathering on the pier and cheering the sun going down.  There’s a few mojitos served there as well.  Maybe more than a few.

We also took the glass-bottomed boat tour out of Key Largo, to see the coral and sea life.  As we waited on the dock to board the boat, an older oriental couple sat down beside us.  We began a casual conversation with the man, Mr. Young, who was from New York.  We were headed to the “Big Apple” the next week, and he was excited to tell us about his city, and the restaurants, and how to get authentic Chinese food.

Red Bandana

Then he started to talk about his wife, who was there beside him.  He introduced us to her, Ling Young.  She was a 9-11 survivor from the 78th Floor of the World Trade Center, saved by a hero of that day, the man with the “Red Bandana”.   Ling was badly burned when the plane struck the building, and was surrounded by those killed in the attack.  Through the smoke came a young man with a red bandana over his face, who got her to the stairwell, and down to the 61st floor.  

Then he urged her to continue to safety, and turned around and went back up to the fire.  She managed to escape, the young man, later identified as twenty-four year old Welles Crowther, did not.

Mrs. Young had horrible burns, and told us there were more than twenty surgeries.  She became a leader of the 9-11 survivor movement, helping the victims, but also keeping alive the memory of heroes.  Mr. Young told us about how she didn’t like to speak in public that much, but, as he said, “When Vice President Biden calls on the phone and asks, you go”.  And now we were getting on the glass bottom boat with them.  We enjoyed the trip, but learned so much more about strength and real heroism, than coral and barracudas.

Yesterday

For twenty years I avoided videos of 9-11.  It was all too fresh in my mind.  It took several years to be able to see twin-engine jets speeding across the sky without thinking about it, not a good thing when you live on the landing approach to Columbus Airport.  So I avoided the video of the planes flying into the buildings, the smoke and ash clouds boiling through the streets.  Those were all still to fresh, too close.

But this year I could watch without re-entering that time.  That’s good, not just for me, but for America.  9-11, for many Americans, has stopped being an open wound.  Now it’s a scar, a symbol of the memory of pain and fear, but not the pain and fear itself.  That’s at least true for me, but probably not for Ling Young, or the parents of Welles Crowther, and all of those others who lost their loved ones on that day.

• The Sunday Story Series
• Riding the Dog  – 1/24/21
• Hiking with Jack – 1/31/21
• A Track Story – 2/7/21
• Ritual – 2/14/21
• Voyageur – 2/19/21
• A Dog Story – 2/25/21
• A Watkins Legend – 3/7/21
• Ghosts at Gettysburg – 3/14/21
• Lessons from the State Meet – 3/28/21
• More Lessons from the State – 4/4/21
• Stories from the Road – 4/11/21
• A Bear Wants You – 5/1/21
• My Teachers – 5/9/21
• Old Friends  – 5/23/21
• The Gift – 6/6/21
• Echoes of Mom – 6/20/21
• Stories of the Fourth – 7/3/21
• Running Memories – 7/25/21
• Lost Dog of Eldora – 8/1/21
• Dogs and Medals – 8/8/21
• The New Guy – 9/5/21
• Stories of 9-11 – 9/12/21

In 2019 I wrote this essay for the 18th Anniversary of 9-11. I’ve gently updated a couple of things – but it’s worth saying (again). It was 20 years ago…

November 22, 1963

I was six years old when John F Kennedy was shot in Dallas.  My memories of the time are clear:  released from school; something awful happened in Dallas.  The teachers wouldn’t tell us, so us second graders talked about monsters attacking the state. The staff wanted our parents to handle it.  On the walk home I argued with some boy who said the President was shot. I didn’t believe him. Words turned to fists, a second grader versus a third grader.  I think I won.

When I got home, Mom met me at the door, tears in her eyes.  I wish I hadn’t punched that kid; for the next few days it was grainy black and white television, first from Dallas, and then the funeral from Washington. The caisson carrying the flag covered casket, the rider less horse behind with the boots strapped backwards in the stirrups; the President’s family stoic and brave. 

So I guess if you were six on September 11^th, 2001, you would have some pretty clear images of what happened, even if, you didn’t have much understanding.  To put that in perspective, you’d be twenty-six today.

It is amazing how quickly “events” become history.  What feels like just a couple of years ago, is now in an eighth grade textbook.  

Tuesday Morning

Tuesday morning, September 11^th, 2001, I was in “recovery” mode.  We had just completed our big home cross country invitational the previous weekend, I was looking forward to getting my team ready for the next competition, and getting back to concentrating on my classroom.  I taught senior American government class, and we were reaching the end of the first unit, trudging through the US Constitution and the Amendments.

At Watkins Memorial High School we started the day early, the first bell rang at 7:19.  The school was under construction; all of the in-class TV’s were off line.  So it was on a restroom run between second and third period that a fellow staff member told me of a plane, crashing into the World Trade Center in New York.  

A tragedy, a horrible accident; I talked briefly to my class about it as we started.  When another staff member came to the door, and told us of the second plane, we all knew it was something more than an accident.

The Planes

I wanted to know what was going on, and I wanted my classes to know too.  We moved outside and sat in the band bleachers of the football field, facing north, and turned up the radio from my jeep.  The class sat and listened as the third plane crashed into the Pentagon, and heard the rumors of other planes “out of contact” with air traffic control. We heard reports of a fourth plane down in Pennsylvania.

And as we sat in the bleachers, we watched the final approach leg into the Columbus Airport, (then Port Columbus, now John Glenn International.)  We listened as the World Trade Centers collapsed, and watched as plane after plane, maybe forty of them, lined up to land right in front of us.

Later that day the football coach and I rigged up a television with an outdoor antenna in our school’s wrestling room.  Hundreds of kids came in at lunch time, watching, wondering, and looking for answers:  who did this, why, and how could it have happened? I spent any breaks on the phone, trying to reach my sister and her husband in New York.  All the lines were down, crashed by the volume of calls. When I finally did talk to them that evening, my sister was at home when it happened. But my brother-in-law had to walk home from the City.  His train passed under the World Trade Center just a few minutes before the first plane hit.

My Mission

We released the kids from school, finally.  I went home that night with a mission, to find out everything available, so I could teach my kids what this was all about.  The Amendments to the Constitution would have to wait (it would end up being two weeks). American Government at Watkins Memorial was going to be about what happened to our country, and our lives, on September 11^th.  

Out in the front yard that evening, the sky was completely empty of planes, but one.   Air Force One, taking President Bush back from Nebraska to the White House.  It looked odd and lonely; the escort fighters must have been high above.

The next weeks were filled with questions and information.  We learned about Al Qaeda and Wahhabism, the puritanical version of Islam they practiced.  The Class studied the difference between that and the Islam worshipped by the Taliban, the group that controlled Afghanistan and allowed Al Qaeda to set up bases there. We learned history:  of Afghanistan, of the Middle East, and that Islam didn’t attack the United States, Al Qaeda did.  

The class asked questions about how we should respond.  These were seventeen and eighteen year olds (now thirty-eight) and the question of war had tremendous immediacy to them.  Several of the students in that class would end up in the armed forces, fighting in the mountains and villages of Afghanistan.  They all came back, but many suffered injuries, both physical and mental, that they are still struggling to overcome today.

Twenty Years

It doesn’t seem that long ago.  On Friday of that week, I was in a car crash.  My Suburban was totaled, my fault, but fortunately no one was hurt. On Saturday my cross country team went to the Galion Invitational, and since I had to find a ride to school I got there early.  That gave me the opportunity to have a long talk with our bus driver, the sweetest older man ever, Lester Kahrig (here’s a link to his story.)  We talked about war, about what would happen to these kids on the bus.  He talked about “his 9-11” when he was seventeen, Pearl Harbor, and about the war he fought in the Pacific. 

Those weeks were the best teaching I’ve ever done.  They were also the best learning my classes ever did.  There were no tests, no matching “Osama bin Laden” to “leader of Al Qaeda;” there was no need.  The kids wanted to know, needed to know.  I don’t remember any principal saying that I could take my class this direction, but they knew it was the right thing to do.  

Twenty years since 9-11, and we finally have let Afghanistan go.  One of the things we learned in those weeks is that controlling Afghanistan is like holding desert sand in your hands, you might think you’ve got it, but slowly, inexorably, it slips between your fingers.  The harder you clench, the more slips away.  Every conqueror from Alexander the Great, to the British, to the Soviets figured it out.  America learned the lesson too.  

The Afghanistan List

The Afghanistan List (essays on Afghanistan dating back to April of 2017)

• Twenty Year Ago
• Let’s Face It
• The Rear Guard
• Always Did, Always Get
• Eat it Too
• Coming Home
• Bite the Bullet
• Still in Saigon
• Russia Again
• The Middle East Equation
• Eighteen Years Ago
• Three Way Handshake
• Deal with the Taliban
• Rambo Would be Shocked
• Birds of a Feather
• Wagging the Dog

Richmond

Yesterday, the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee was removed from “Monument Avenue” in Richmond, Virginia.  The street in the former capital of the Confederacy, originally had monuments to Lee and  Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, J.E.B. Stuart, Jefferson Davis and Matthew Fontaine Maury; all Confederate heroes.   The others are already gone, Lee’s was the last remaining Confederate memorial.  The horse mounted statue was removed and dismantled.  The only remaining monument there is to trailblazing Black tennis star Arthur Ashe, a Richmond native.

Lee lived for only four years after the end of the Civil War.  Even during the War itself, he was aware of the pains in his chest that signaled a failing heart.  But in those four years as a defeated leader, he made his views clear about what was best for the future.

The War

In 1869 Lee was invited to join a “conclave” of former Union and Confederate officers at the Gettysburg Battlefield to mark the positions of the opposing forces during the struggle.  His response to the invitation was:

Lexington, VA., August 5, 1869.

Dear Sir–Absence from Lexington has prevented my receiving until to-day your letter of the 26th ult., inclosing an invitation from the Gettysburg Battle-field Memorial Association, to attend a meeting of the officers engaged in that battle at Gettysburg, for the purpose of marking upon the ground by enduring memorials of granite the positions and movements of the armies on the field. My engagements will not permit me to be present. I believe if there, I could not add anything material to the information existing on the subject. I think it wiser, moreover, not to keep open the sores of war but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife, to commit to oblivion the feelings engendered. (bold added)

Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
R. E. Lee.

Of course, it was also the scene of his worst defeat, hardly a place he was likely to want to revisit.

Monuments

In addition, he was asked several times to help create or dedicate monuments to the Confederacy.  His response to one of his former Generals (Thomas Rosser) expressed his view:

As regards the erection of such a monument as is contemplated; my conviction is, that however grateful it would be to the feelings of the South, the attempt in the present condition of the Country, would have the effect of retarding, instead of accelerating its accomplishment; & of continuing, if not adding to, the difficulties under which the Southern people labour. All I think that can now be done, is to aid our noble & generous women in their efforts to protect the graves & mark the last resting places of those who have fallen, & wait for better times.

Our Nation Forward

Lee understood that there were obligations in defeat as well as victory.  On the night before his final surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, he rejected his subordinates plan to “dissolve” his Army into the mountains to continue the fight.  He understood that they were fighting for a goal of legitimacy that was unattainable in what we would now call a “guerilla” movement.

The Civil War ended in June of 1865, one hundred and fifty six years ago.  Yet it still reverberates in our current affairs, as the United States struggles with the issues of racial equality and voting rights.  It took until yesterday for Richmond to stop memorializing a man who chose his state over his country, slavery over freedom, and the past over the future.  However “honorable” some view Lee’s actions, he also could have chosen a different path, one that would have made the United States a stronger nation.  He could have made the choice his fellow West Pointer, friend and Virginian, Union General George H. Thomas, the “Rock of Chickamauga” made.  Lee could have continued to serve the Army that was his career, and the nation he swore to defend.

Lee didn’t want memorials.  He recognized defeat, and wanted the nation to move on.  Like the Confederate battle flags that were NOT allowed at his funeral, Lee saw the nation as burying the War, and succeeding in Peace.  

But others who followed Lee in War refused to accept his advice in Peace.  The good news:  unlike the disaster of Charlottesville four years ago, the removal of Lee’s monument was done without violence or protest.  As Lee said, those monuments: “…have the effect of retarding, instead of accelerating its (the nation’s) accomplishment”.  We would be wise to follow that advice now.

For more information about “erasing history” and the Confederate Monuments – click on this link – Erasing History..

Alt-Other

It might surprise those who read essays in “Our America” with any frequency, that I am subscribed to some “alt-right” newsletters (I even somehow ended up on the “Trump for President” mailing list – I didn’t do that!!). Part of the original mission of “Our America” was to try to explain the success of Donald Trump to a 2017 shell-shocked “Resistance” movement. It was, and still is, important to hear what “the other side” is saying – if for no other reason than to get past the “Those people are all ignorant” mindset.

“Those people” aren’t by and large ignorant.  And “they” are our neighbors, and co-workers, and the person in the car next to us on Broad Street.  To quote Pogo, “We have met the enemy, and he is us”. But they have selected a set of information sources that only give them a specific view of their world. (By the way, “they” certainly believe that “we” do the same.  There are many times I’ve been warned, “Stop listening to the ‘mainstream media’ and learn the ‘real facts’ of hydroxychloroquine, or vaccines, or voter fraud, or Joe Biden’s mental state.”)  

Pre-Disposition

One of my self-assigned duties is to gather some of that information, to get a better understanding of how seemingly normal and reasonable people, believe what seems to be such outlandish things – such as taking de-wormer will cure Covid. Some of our friends and neighbors are told by their trusted sources that Ivermectin works. And they have been conditioned to belief that whatever the “mainstream media”, sometimes even Fox News, says is not to be trusted. So when their source says “the ‘mainstream’ is lying, this is good stuff,” they are pre-disposed to believe it. And they do.

Pre-disposition is an important concept. We, they, all of us, want to believe “facts” that fit into our preconceived notions. The “skids are greased” for ideas that already match our mindset. Those ideas slide right into our thought process, because we want them to be true. And thoughts that are “against the grain” of our ideas find it tough going.

Every Problem is a Ball

Need a non-political example?  So it would make “pre-conceived” sense that good soccer players would make good track athletes.  Soccer players run, a lot.  They run fast sometimes, and slow other times, but they are always on the move. They are well conditioned, and that should translate well into track speed.  And sometimes it does.  But “speed” in soccer is different than “speed” in track.  A fast soccer player still needs to maintain body control, an ability to change direction and manipulate the ball.  All of that makes for a skilled running posture, with hips low, and arms high, ready to change position and direction.

A sprinter in track is on the sheer edge of out of control. A famous track coach, Brooks Johnson, described sprinting as continually almost falling. It’s a maximal straight-line effort, with no need to change direction. In track, if you make a right turn, you’re wrong. In coaching soccer players for track, it takes a significant amount of re-adaptation to change their “natural form” to get maximum success. Hips are higher, arms are lower; there’s no holding back. One thing’s for sure though. They are awesome at the team handball game at the beginning of practice. It’s right in their “wheel-house”.

So if you’re great at soccer, every athletic problem looks like a soccer ball (that’s a steal from one of my favorite phrases:  “If your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail”).  You use your pre-developed skill to resolve the new problem.  But when a coach asks that same soccer player to run with knees up and arms down, it feels completely un-athletic to them.  It goes against “the grain” of all of their previous training.  They are literally “pre-disposed” to run the way they were taught, from “bumble-bee” times.

Color Blind

The alt-right has found another edge to reinforce their audience’s pre-dispositions. It has to do with race and “color-blindness”. An article by the founder of Prager University, an alt-right “information center”, rants about how racist us “lefties” are for demanding that our nation recognize the inequalities caused by color. The article claims that the ultimate form of non-racism is color blindness; that if we simply treat everyone “the same” then everything would be “just fine”. In fact, the article posed the question: “If we were all blind, would there even be racism?”

The answer to that question, by the way, is yes. But that’s not the point. The point is: Slavery ended in 1866, but it took ninety-eight more years to enact laws to end segregation, the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Today, if you are a young man of color, the sixth leading cause of death is violence from the State, particularly the police (UMich). That’s more than twice that of young white men (US News).

Starting Lines

Being “color blind” leaves those of color in the same position they are in now: behind. To use another track and field analogy; if everything is “color blind” then everyone presumably is at the same starting line. But because of our history, that’s not the “real” truth. The truth is that there are two starting lines – one ahead, and one behind. And that means that our world is NOT equal, and we can’t just be color blind and make everything “OK”.

Color blindness “feels” right, if you are a white person, it fits right into pre-conceived notions.  Like the soccer player playing soccer, it fits with a lifetime of training.  But, this life is a track race, and the soccer form doesn’t fit.  The “common sense” solution of “just treat everyone the same” doesn’t work if everyone didn’t and still doesn’t get the same opportunities, the same chance to succeed.  You can’t ignore history (some of my alt-right friends are now screaming “CRITICAL RACE THEORY”).  

Before everyone is “equal”, everyone has to have a fair start, at the same starting line.  And when we get to that (we ain’t near close yet), then we can start using words like “color blind”.  That’s the goal, but not reality in these United States.

Ida

Tropical storm Ida was a typical Caribbean storm for August.  It moved over Cuba, causing lots of rain and some damage, but nothing extraordinary.  Then it moved onto the Gulf of Mexico.  There’s a good reason why the Gulf beaches are popular with vacationers – the beaches are white and the water is warm.  But warm water is a problem.  The heat from the warm water serves as the “fuel” for storms, intensifying the amount of moisture in the air, and increasing the fury of the winds.  

The “regular” tropical storm Ida turned into a Category Four Hurricane Ida, virtually destroying the power infrastructure of Southeastern Louisiana.  Much of the region will be without power for weeks, maybe even longer.  The major transmission lines, even into New Orleans, are shredded.  

But Ida had more for the nation.  After losing its “hurricane status” by the time it reached the Mississippi border, the weather system ended up dumping so much water on the Northeast, that the New York City subway system was flooded out.  At least twelve died in Louisiana, though that number is likely to rise.  But over fifty died in the Northeast, many drowning in their cars, unprepared for the inundation of inches of rain per hour.

In Louisiana it was different, it wasn’t the flooding, it was the wind damage.  Total losses may reach the ultimate 2004 “Katrina” levels.  And in the northeast, it was a “500 Year” storm.  The problem:  that’s a 500 year storm, nine years after another 500 year storm, Superstorm Sandy.

Worst Ever

Here in Central Ohio, Ida brushed by.  There was a lot of rain, some flash flooding, but it wasn’t too bad.  Not as bad, frankly, as the week before, when a “regular storm” stalled over the southeast corner of Franklin County.  Here in “beautiful” Pataskala we got a couple of inches of rain in an hour:  four miles to the west they got five inches in an hour.  Cars were flooded in parking lots, roads closed to protect drivers, and  a good friend who lives on a rise and never had water problems, lost a fully finished basement under inches of water. 

We’ve always had storms, always had hurricanes, always had inundations.  Why we walked through two feet of snow to school, uphill, both ways, when I was a kid.  We can all remember “the blizzard of ‘77”, or the “tornadoes of ‘74”.  But while we can all reach back in memory to “the worst ever” storm we endured, things really are getting worse.  The “500 year storms” continue to occur regularly, and it’s not just playing “the odds”.  

One answer is the Gulf of Mexico.  It generates much of the Eastern United States summer weather, particularly the hurricanes, who gain their power over the Gulf.  And the equation is simple:  the hotter the Gulf, the more powerful the storms.  And the Gulf of Mexico has grown increasingly hotter over the past decades.

One Part of the Problem

The Gulf is only one part of the rising temperature worldwide.  And that creates the “storm equation”.  More heat, more energy, means more “significant weather events”.  It’s not necessarily the “worst ever”, but it’s more “worst” storms in succession.  

That same dynamic creates the heat and dryness of the West, burning up in forest fires.  That same dynamic is melting the Arctic ice, raising sea levels throughout the world.  And it’s creating droughts in Central America, fueling migration to the North. 

Science 

This is not a “political” point, this is scientific reality.  But, like the COVID vaccines and masks, this has become  “political”.  Somehow, one side has determined that trying to deal with global warming is “bad for the economy” and will hurt working people.  As my mother would say, “They are robbing Peter to pay Paul”.   It’s cheaper today to ignore the science, but the “payback” will be for future generations.  By the way, they said that back when I was a kid in the early 1970’s:  global warming will get worse, and the economic cost will grow.  They were right, things are worse, and will get “worser”.  We are paying the price already, and that price tag will continue to grow.

This is the next in the Sunday Story series. There’s no political point – just a story of an old teacher in a new setting.

Friday the Thirteenth

The last time I substituted in a classroom in an actual school building was on a Friday the 13th.  That March day lived up to its reputation:  it was the last day of classroom instruction for the 2019-2020 school year.  I was a “long-term” substitute, taking over for a middle school social studies teacher.  But the Covid-19 virus had other plans.  The classes that I was just getting to know; squirrely but fun sixth, seventh and eighth graders; were all done with in-person school.  I’d see them again, but it would be on a computer screen via Zoom meetings and online instruction.  Teaching in the traditional sense was over for the year.

With the vagaries of Covid, I chose not to enter a school building in the 2020-21 school year.  As a career educator that was weird too.  I’ve spent almost my whole life in and out of school buildings and classrooms, as a student, a teacher, Dean of Students and a coach.  But not last year, not with Covid.  I did get some contact with kids, but it was as a track official.  We were outside ( I didn’t officiate indoor season), with plenty of room.  And as Covid version-one came under control and vaccines became available, we all started to get back to normal.  But I still didn’t go in a school building.

So what changed?  The new variant of Covid is as dangerous as ever.  But with vaccinations and masks I hope that I can go into a school building without risking too much.  It’s about three things really:  contact with friends (still teaching and coaching), connecting with kids, and to be honest, there’s nothing wrong with a little extra money.

All New

But much has changed since I last was in a school building.  First of all, the number of kids I know in the school is down to almost none.  It’s been seven years since I worked in the District, and four years since I coached.  That’s a literal lifetime in a high school – a four year cycle of brand new kids means there only a few (very few) who know me.

The administration has changed as well.  There is only one left that I worked with, Mark, who followed me as Dean of Students.  I only vaguely know the Principal or Assistant Principal.  Even most of the secretaries and custodians have changed since I left.  

But the biggest change is – a brand, spanking-new high school building!  Checking into the building this morning felt a lot like being a “new kid” going to a different school. (I’ve been that guy.  We moved a lot when I was a kid, three elementary schools, a junior high in one district, high school in another, then college).   I decided to get there early:  I didn’t even know where to park, much less how to get into the building, and I wanted time to figure things out.  

The first thing I found was that there was no getting into the building.  Unlike the “old” building, where there was always an open door somewhere, this new one was locked tighter than a bank on Sunday.  Even a call into the building (“Help!! I can’t get in”) only went to voicemail.  Eventually an old colleague came by, and with her key fob was able to get through the two security doors into the main office.   It makes security sense – this is the way of modern education, but it starts out as a challenge.

But when I got in the office it was to a familiar face, Kim; with twenty-eight years on the job.  That smile made at least some things feel familiar, and she directed me to the new person handling the building substitutes. 

Check-In

Checking in felt a lot like staying at the Motel Six.  You got a key to the classroom and a folder with all of the “important” information (security protocols, who to call in an emergency, paperwork for attendance).  And then, just like at the Motel, they hand you a map with “your room” colored in.  The new building has four wings and two floors.  It’s laid out a lot like the Mall – stores on the top, stores on the bottom, with the big “anchor” stores replaced by the gym and auditorium.  

And like the Mall, there’s a center court, what “in the day” we would have called the cafeteria, but now is the “Commons”.  A big screen TV is available on the wall, with seating for eight or ten at each of the individual tables, and  smaller “high tops” as well. 

So there’s more to it than just – “your classroom is there”.  A detailed path is required.

Luckily there was just one hallway – far down from the front office “suite”.  And there I was – back in a classroom, subbing “Introduction to Statistics” (luckily not particularly advanced stats – I had a chance of figuring it out).  And when the students entered the room – it really was back to normal – sort of.

Free Time

It is a new world.  Maybe ten percent of the students are wearing masks, though most of the staff do.  And for some of those students they are “accessories”, like a scarf or a hat, carefully hung around their neck or ear, but not in place to block anything.   Parents – just on the percentages (the subject of our worksheet in class today) your kid ain’t wearing a mask, no matter what they tell you at home. 

The terror of any substitute teacher is a two-word phrase:  “FREE TIME”.  Keeping students busy is one of the few tools a substitute has – it’s not like there’s time to establish rapport, or a sense of classroom community.  Remember the movie Teachers (Nick Nolte) when the history teacher “Mr. Ditto” dies in class – but his students continue to hand out worksheets and pass them back in, period after period?  That’s a good sub-teaching day – lots of work, no FREE TIME!!  (So “Ditto” is an ancient term.  It came from the smelly purple inked “ditto” copies that all students’ sniffed, but dittos went out in the mid-1980’s – replaced by Xerox type copies.  Too bad, no smell in those). 

So when the worksheets are done – then it’s the time that substitutes dread.  I was lucky on two counts. Most of the students were seniors, who know how to “get along” with a sub.  They’re not interested in trouble, causing it, or getting in it.  They just want to get on with the day.

And second, there’s cell phones.  One class networked the front and back of the room together to play a game on their phones, others are watching re-runs of the Ohio State-Minnesota football game.  And the rest – they’re texting someone, probably in another class.  But if they’re interrupted – “I’m talking to my Mom”.  Hey, I’m a sub, as long as the worksheet is done and you’re not disruptive – text with anyone you want!!

In Control

Discipline didn’t seem to be too much of an issue.  My major correction of the day:  “Please reduce the amount of quiet profanity coming from your group”.  The students turned suitably red in the face and looked at each other – from that reaction I hoped the problem was resolved.  They then giggled when I said I was old and going deaf and but not deaf enough, yet.  Their verbal “slips” got even quieter.

If you get the drift that substitute teaching is more being a controlling “presence” than actual teaching – you’ve got that right.  I’d love to actually teach – but when I was an in-class teacher I could never really depend on the substitutes to do substantive work.  I often did leave multiple instructions:  here are the worksheets, but if you don’t want to do that, here’s the topic of our class for discussion or even lecture today.  

But worksheets are safe, if you’re a sub.

• The Sunday Story Series

• Riding the Dog  – 1/24/21
• Hiking with Jack – 1/31/21
• A Track Story – 2/7/21
• Ritual – 2/14/21
• Voyageur – 2/19/21
• A Dog Story – 2/25/21
• A Watkins Legend – 3/7/21
• Ghosts at Gettysburg – 3/14/21
• Lessons from the State Meet – 3/28/21
• More Lessons from the State – 4/4/21
• Stories from the Road – 4/11/21
• A Bear Wants You – 5/1/21
• My Teachers – 5/9/21
• Old Friends  – 5/23/21
• The Gift – 6/6/21
• Echoes of Mom – 6/20/21
• Stories of the Fourth – 7/3/21
• Running Memories – 7/25/21
• Lost Dog of Eldora – 8/1/21
• Dogs and Medals – 8/8/21
• The New Guy – 9/5/21

Precedence

Roe v Wade has been “decided law” in the United States since it was pronounced in 1973.  Justice Harry Blackmun wrote the 7 to 2  majority decision for the Court, laying out a right to privacy based in the United States Constitution.  The decision weighed the right of a woman to determine what happens to her body, versus the right of the fetus inside of her.  

Justice Blackmun and the Court determined that the government (the state government usually) could not regulate the woman’s right to control her body, until such time as the fetus could exist outside of the woman’s body . That was approximately twenty-eight weeks after conception.  While that decision has been “trimmed”, allowing more state regulations (and restrictions), the Court has upheld the Roe decision for forty-seven years. In a major companion  case in 1992, Casey v Planned Parenthood, the Court recognized that advances in science allowed for earlier survival of fetuses, and that the State could regulate abortions earlier in the process.

Casey also created a different standard for regulating legal abortions, those now before twenty-four weeks.  It allowed states to create regulations for abortions prior to fetal “viability”. But it stated that those regulations couldn’t create an “undue burden” that would prevent women from having the procedure.  But still, in Casey the Court upheld the “right to privacy” decision of Roe.

That’s been the “state of the law” for the past twenty-nine years.  States that have anti-abortion majorities in their legislatures have pushed the “undue burden” standards, creating law after law restricting legal abortions.  And the Court has consistently defended the Roe-Casey standard:  until yesterday.

Texas

Regardless of your opinion about women’s rights and abortion, you have to admire the work of the Texas Legislature.  They knew that direct regulation of early, legal abortions would be thrown out under the Roe-Casey standard.  So they found a way “around” the law.

Instead of “regulating” directly by creating legal barriers, the State of Texas has taken a “civil” approach.  If they directly stated their goal of making all abortions illegal six weeks after conception, the law would be thrown out.  Instead, they gave every citizen “the right” to sue any other citizen who aids someone to get an abortion after the six week deadline.  All of those sued could be liable for up to $10,000 in damages.

Sue Me, Sue You Blues

There is an old legal maxim, “You can sue for anything”.  But in reality, to take someone to Court, the first hurdle is to show that you have “standing”.  Standing in civil court means you can show direct damages from the person you are suing – that you have been “hurt” and need to be made “whole”.  If you can’t demonstrate that damage, you don’t have standing in court to bring the case.  But what the State of Texas did, was to make EVERYONE damaged by the abortion after six weeks, giving EVERYONE “standing” to sue.

The woman getting the abortion can’t be sued (that would create an undue burden). But the nurse who led her to the exam room, the doctor who performed the procedure, the secretary who set up the appointment, the driver of the car who took her to the procedure: all can be.  All of them can be liable for up to $10,000.  Even if a court determines they aren’t liable, they still are forced to defend themselves and pay for attorneys.  If they don’t defend themselves, then the court would rule against them.  And they would have to do it over and over again, for each abortion performed.

This Court

Opponents to the Texas “civil law” asked the Supreme Court to “enjoin” the state from allowing it to go into effect.  The Court declined to intervene, in a 5 to 4 decision.  The three Justices appointed by President Trump; Barrett, Kavanaugh and Gorsuch were joined in the majority by Justices Thomas and Alito.  Chief Justice Roberts and the “three liberals” on the Court; Kagan, Breyer and Sotomayor were in favor of “staying” the law, but were out-voted.

The majority “hid” behind a legal technicality.  They claimed that they weren’t “sure” they had the legal power to regulate this novel “civil” action without a full hearing and explanation.  And, they “relied” on “assurances” that the Texas state courts would somehow regulate this.  But the Justices in the majority are very much aware that this was a way to circumvent Casey’s undue burden standard – by placing a civil “burden” on all of the other folks.

The Result

For the short term, abortions in Texas are limited to six weeks.  Since many women don’t even know they are pregnant in six weeks, their “right” to make choices for their bodies is gone.  And what about those women who can’t afford to go out of state to get a later abortion? they are faced with the choices of keeping an unwanted pregnancy, or finding an illegal abortionist.  The impact is most severe on the economically dis-advantaged.

My mother had an expression: “If it’s good for the goose, it’s good for the gander”. Perhaps this is the “new” way to change our society. If it worked in Texas for abortion law, perhaps it might work just as well in New York or California or Illinois for – say – gun laws. This is the “Pandora’s box” Texas, and the majority of the Court, opened.

And for the long term, it foreshadows a more direct threat to Roe;  a Mississippi case going before the Supreme Court in October.  The 5-4 split certainly isn’t the way the Chief Justice wants to overturn a landmark decision like Roe v Wade. But it is likely that the “five” aren’t so worried about the niceties of Court etiquette.  They have the power to throw out stare decis, the precedents established by Roe and Casey.  Don’t be surprised if they do it.

Big Jake

I used a quote from a 1971 John Wayne movie, Big Jake, in an essay the other day, “My fault, Your fault, Nobody’s fault”.  Yesterday, as the remnants of Hurricane Ida poured down on Central Ohio, I found that movie on TV.  It was a “retired folks” afternoon:   a “we don’t have to do anything in the rain,” kind of thing.  And I began thinking as I watched old John Wayne.  Big Jake was the first of his last spurt of cowboy movies, all in the last eight years of his life (Big Jake, The Cowboys, Cahill – US Marshal, Rooster Cogburn and The Shootist, his personal epitaph).  He played an “old tough guy”.  But how old was this “old” guy?  Bad news for me:  John Wayne was sixty-three years old when he made Big Jake.  That “old guy” was almost two years younger than I am now.  

Membership Card

I think it’s been a week of sub-conscious awareness of impending sixty-five-doom.  I got my red-white-and-blue senior citizen membership card yesterday (Medicare).  By the way, the good folks at Medicare had one more little surprise for me when I got my card.  They’re sending me a bill for $592 – payment for the first four months of service.  Only after that can I pay on the “monthly” $148 program.  Thank goodness I didn’t have to purchase Medicare A (just B), that would have cost close to $2000!!

Historic Age

And I find myself relating to President Biden more and more.  He’s seventy-eight, and balancing Covid, Infrastructure, Afghanistan, Hurricane Ida, burning California, Voting Rights and all the rest, all at the same time.  He sounds tired – and should be.  It doesn’t matter how young or old you are – that’s a lot on any President’s plate.  Yet, unlike the public silence of other Presidents withdrawing from world conflicts, Biden stood up in front of the American people and explained his actions in Afghanistan.  Regardless of where you stand on that subject, you’ve got to admire his strength, determination and willingness to put his reasons forward to the American people.

One of the historic figures that stresses me out age-wise is Franklin Roosevelt.  He died at sixty-three years of age – after serving as President for thirteen years (a good reason in itself for not serving more than two terms).  But FDR looked “old” for a long time – hard to imagine he was younger than I am now when he died.  And Lyndon Johnson, only a few years out of office, didn’t manage to qualify for the program he created, Medicare. He was sixty-four when he passed.  Of course, the legend has it that after he left the White House at sixty, he took up chain smoking cigarettes and drinking Cutty Sark (Scotch) and soda once again, and driving his car like a madman around his ranch in Texas – he was going to “die happy” I guess.

Get Going

I will say that impending sixty-five-doom is a motivator in one way.  You might think retired folks get to sleep in, but you haven’t met our dogs.  They are usually up at first light, and I was hoping that as the summer neared an end, they would sleep later.  Not true. Right now 5:23 am is the time that at least one decides it’s time for breakfast.  And when one is up, they all (five at the moment) join in.  There’s no ignoring them.  So regardless of whether I watch the 11 pm news, or wake up in the middle of the night to read the Washington Post, the bell for breakfast (or more exactly, the bark for breakfast) goes off before the dawn’s early light.

So sleep remains a rare commodity.  And it would be easy to ignore my workout regime: “I’m too tired” echoes in my head.  But so far, it’s still a couple of miles on the elliptical, and calisthenics after, five days a week.  I’m proving that I’m not THAT OLD – at least to me.

It’s the first of September.  My favorite season of the year, fall, is almost here. I’m going to a Cross Country Meet tonight.  I’m even going to substitute teach in school on Friday, back in a classroom for the first time since Friday the 13th of March, 2020.   Jenn and I are planning a big Lost Pet Recovery event coming up.  And we are also going on an actual “trip”, a cabin getaway in a couple weeks – so it’s definitely time to get over getting older. 

Guess I’ll get my mileage in now – it’s going to be a busy day. 

The last C-17 flew out of Kabul’s airport yesterday. The war that began on October 7th, 2001, for the United States, ends today, August 31st, 2021. It was a war that even got two opposing Presidential candidates to agree – whichever won the US Presidency in 2020, we were leaving Afghanistan. 

Ending Ugly

Let’s face it:  we could have left “better”. There must have been a more effective strategy than the Trump initiated, Biden completed “Withdrawal Plan”.   We should have found a way to leave the Afghans stronger. But if that meant staying in-country longer, losing more than just the thirteen young people we did – then it probably was not worth it.

There is no good way to give up.  It was going to be ugly no matter what. And while the ugly failure of twenty years of “nation building” was more than jarring – give Biden credit. He is taking the heat rather than risking American lives to push it to a “second term” or another President.  Biden feels that he owes it to the American military to NOT risk their lives any more in a stalled conflict. Agree with him or not, he is a man of honor and commitment. 

Mission Creep

Let’s face it: US involvement was absolutely justified. The tribe governing the country sheltered the terrorists who attacked us. We defeated the terrorists and their “protectors”. It was a righteous cause. But it slid into what we now call “mission creep”. We went from fighting al Qaeda and the Taliban to propping up a corrupt government. 

And as several commentators noted, we also “sub-contracted” our mission to Afghanistan. More civilian contractors were in-country in the end than US military. Erik Prince of Blackwater, the former “private security” firm, even suggested we should out-source the fighting to trained mercenaries.  One President listened to him. And while we didn’t do that, we did contract out a lot of the other functions of war, from advising to supply.  We propped up those companies as well. The “military-industrial complex” that Eisenhower warned us about back in 1960 was in full force In Afghanistan.  And those contracting corporations had every financial reason to extend the conflict. So President Biden stood up to them as well. 

Mission Continues

Let’s face it – the US mission to Afghanistan has changed but not ended. ISIS K has made it clear that we must still be interested and involved. And so has the ideological descendants of al Qaeda. So the CIA and our Special Operators will once again walk the streets of Kandahar and Jalalabad and Kabul.   This time as covert agents, rather than the irregulars of an occupying force. But our involvement in Afghanistan is not over.  As we are in Syria and Iraq, Somalia and Sudan, Pakistan and Indonesia; we will still be in Afghanistan.

We can be proud of the last eleven days, the “airlift” from the unfortunately initialed “KIA” (Karzi International Airport).  In a limited mission, the United States Armed Forces put over 5000 troops on the ground and airlifted over 120,000 people out of Afghanistan. We sacrificed thirteen service members, and injured several more. But we not only brought out American citizens and other foreign nationals, but many thousands of the Afghans who aided us in our twenty-year involvement.  And for those who say “we abandoned” the rest, the effort is not over.  While the C-17’s have completed their missions, now other, more covert means are in development.  

Politics

Let’s face it – everything in America today is political, from the flag we fly on the front porch, to the mask we wear to protect us from Covid.  And Afghanistan has been political ever since George W Bush pulled our troops out of the mountains of Tora Bora and sent them to invade Iraq (to prevent Saddam Hussein from having “weapons of mass destruction”). The end of this war is no less political, even though it likely would have looked the same under Biden or Trump.  But what shouldn’t be divisive is the fate of our Afghan friends.  They helped us in our time of need in-country, now we need to help them as they face exile from their homes.  

We welcomed South Vietnamese into the United States in 1975, recognizing their sacrifice was even greater than our own.  We should do the same to the Afghans, encouraging them to resettle here in the United States.  Of all of the issues dividing us, they should NOT be one.  But the hypocrites, so quick to blame President Biden, are also demanding that they be settled elsewhere, as if their loyalty and friendship wasn’t “good enough” to live in the US.  I hope most Americans see past that baseless “not in my backyard” racism, and welcome them to their new homes. 

City on a Hill

Let’s face it:  the War in Afghanistan did not end well.  Like the British Empire of the 19th century, and the Soviet Union in the 1980’s, we could seize the country, but we could not hold it.  Americans failed the lesson of history –  our arrogance doomed us to repeat it.  But perhaps we can learn for the future.  The lesson is not to “never get involved”.  It should be that we recognize that what’s right and what works for Americans isn’t necessarily right for everyone else in the world.  The American experiment may well be Reagan’s “Shining City on a Hill”, but we can’t impose that City on others.  They must come to it of their own will.

Victory is Sweet

We like to think of America’s military victories as glorious affairs.  Whether it’s Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans, defeating the British Army fresh from the battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars, or the Union forces chanting “Fredericksburg” from Cemetery Ridge as Lee’s Confederates stumbled back across the fields of Pennsylvania:  victory is sweet.  Retreat or withdrawal – not so much.  That Civil War battle is a good example:  the day after Lee failed at Gettysburg, his Army began the long “loser’s march” back to Virginia, wagons filled with the wounded who could stand the journey.

But the Union Army stayed in place, not initiating a new attack against the Confederates. They stayed because the shock of the losses in their victory at Gettysburg was so great, that the “glorious victory” felt a lot like the massive defeats they’d suffered before. Sure, they won, but the cost was so high. It was the worst battle of the Civil War, a combined 7,000 dead and 33,000 wounded. The Union Army lost 28% of their effective fighting force (the Confederates 37%). The Union “victory” cost 3155 Union dead – their absolute defeat at Fredericksburg eight months before cost “only” 1284.

The Rear Guard

Left to face any Union advance was the rear guard, the Confederate cavalry who protected their retreating Army. Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart, the cavalry commander who famously left General Lee without intelligence before the battle, lived up to his legendary reputation as he screened off the movement of Lee’s forces back to Virginia. He faced an overwhelming Union force should their commander choose to send them. His actions, and Union General Meade’s hesitation to further commit his forces, allowed Lee’s Army to escape. But there were 654 wounded and dead from both sides in that “rear guard” action, summarized as the battle of Williamsport. Those soldiers too made the ultimate sacrifice.

Who’s Guarding Now

The United States began its withdrawal from Afghanistan years ago. As the forces dwindled down, we depended first on the Afghan Army, then a faulty agreement with the Taliban to act as our “rear guard”. Ultimately, we made the tactical error of betting on both. When the Taliban began their march to power, they were technically not in violation of the “paper”. The United States (Trump Administration) agreed to leave by May 1st. It was July.

Then the Afghan Army made what for them was the logical choice. If the Taliban were going to be the ultimate “winners”, why fight? The military that the US spent twenty years building and financing, literally disappeared, along with the Afghan President who fled to the United Arab Emirates. There was no one left to act as the “rear guard”. The United States sent in 6000 troops to serve in that duty, protecting the evacuation of both US citizens and our Afghan allies. In the end, it is American troops that are serving as the rear guard, as the final protectors of the American withdrawal.

And the longer the withdrawal goes on, the more exposed those final (and literal) gatekeepers become.  This week we recognized how exposed they were.  The only way to get “the right” people into the airport and onto the evacuation planes is to wade out into the crowd and bring them to a gate.  There is no greater moment of exposure:  US soldiers, Marines and Navy Corpsmen, in the middle of the throngs gathered at the gates, escorting those with the “proper” papers, literally to freedom.  

Honor

And in the middle of that throng desperate to leave Afghanistan, are others desperate to kill Americans.  

The nature of withdrawal means that those lines will compress, into smaller and smaller circles.  The enemy will be closer, the target more vulnerable.  The longer we maintain our rear guard, the more opportunities the enemy will have to launch attacks.

This will not get “better”. The thirteen young service members who made the ultimate sacrifice are likely not the last of our “rear guard” to fall. It is the nature of their mission: sacrifice that others’ may escape. We can argue and debate how the “end” of Afghanistan occurred. We can allow our ongoing political vitriol to flow into this tactical nightmare. But as that happens, let’s not forget those that we have asked to serve as that last “rear guard”. They stand protecting the others. And they do so with honor.

Old Sayings

There’s a “wise” old expression:  “If you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got”.   I heard the retired Generals on TV decrying what’s happening in Afghanistan.  One even proposed that we should send in troops to support those few regions where Afghans are fighting the Taliban.  And many are issuing a stern warning:  we cannot, with ‘Honor’ leave those that helped us behind to the mercy of the Taliban.  

Honor is a funny word here.  Most of those generals had the opportunity to really make a difference in Afghanistan.  They could have “changed” the course of America’s involvement when they were in charge.  But time after time, their only answer was:  we need to stay, we need more troops, we need more money, we need more, more, more, more.  So now when two opposite Presidents, Biden and Trump, say it’s time to get out – all the Generals can still say is the same “more”. (What – I’m saying that Trump was right?  Well, in principle yes, but don’t get carried away.  His “greatest deal ever” with the Taliban wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on.  And there’s always another wise expression, something about  “a monkey, a typewriter, and Shakespeare.”) 

Different

“More” is not the answer here: “Different” is.  We need to do something different.  And it’s not an “unknown Different”.  It’s called “over the horizon operations”.  

We need to get as many folks out of Afghanistan as we can now.  We have already evacuated more than one hundred thousand, with thousands more to come before the air operations end.  But that ending has to come soon, whether it’s President Biden’s August 31st, or a few days later.  We are leaving.

Retired Four-Star General Barry McCaffrey agrees with the President.  He said it straight: “This war is over”.  He opposes sending any further troops.  The old Iraq War Corp commander wants to wrap up this mission, and get out.

And what of those who can’t get to the transport, who “miss the flight”?  Well, for some, it may require Special Operations Forces to go in and get them.  That ain’t easy, and it’s expensive.  But it can be done – ask Osama bin Laden (oh, maybe not him).  If we can find and kill him, we can find and rescue who we need to.

A Target

That was an “over the horizon” operation, and may be what we need to do (and probably are doing now. It’s not like Admiral Kirby will get up there and announce it to the media).  And those can go on.  But the target of six thousand US Troops, and near one hundred flights a day, in the middle of a hostile zone; cannot go on for much longer.  A bomb went off this morning, several were killed, among them thirteen American Marines, and dozens more injured, including more US troops.  But what happens when a shoulder launched anti-aircraft missile hits an Air Force C-17 with six or seven hundred passengers in it?  The US is pushing its luck, every extra day.

We had twenty years to figure out Afghanistan.  We broke up al Qaeda, and we removed the Taliban rulers.  Then we helped set up a government and a military to hang onto what we established.  It didn’t work:  our fault, their fault, nobody’s fault (that’s John Wayne from Big Jake).  It is time to get out and let Afghanistan do what the Afghans have done for generations:  tribal struggles for power and wealth. 

Defining Democracy

We can talk about what we did wrong – as many have said there will be plenty of blame to go around.  And we can recognize that the American notion of “nation building” has not worked.  It didn’t work in Vietnam, nor in Iraq, nor in Afghanistan.  

I am not an “America Firster”.  We have legitimate reasons to be involved in the world, and we should support democracy wherever it exists.  But we cannot create democracy out of whole cloth.  It must first have a foothold that we can encourage, not an ideology that we force on another nation.   It must be inherent within, not externally imposed.   

We cannot “always do what we always did”, in spite of the many “Old Generals”. We need to find new means to achieve our goals:  a secure America and world, and fertile ground for the “self-evident truths” of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  None of those goals will be achieved by staying in Afghanistan.  As President Biden stated – except for Osama bin Laden, would we never have invaded Afghanistan in the first place.

Retirement

To be honest, this feels a lot like an “old retired person complaining”.  But here it is.  I was a public employee, a public school teacher before I retired.  I worked for thirty-five and a half years (to be precise, I wasn’t going to leave in the middle of the year).  The “retirement deal” I got sounded pretty good.  I could retire at a high percentage of my best three years, and I would get additional cost of living adjustments (COLA’s) after I retired.  That was the deal through my most years of my employment – no surprise “take it or leave it” offers at the end.  And it was what I depended upon as I planned my future.

State Teacher Retirement (STRS) is different than most other forms of retirement.  As a teacher, they didn’t even take Social Security or Medicare out of our paychecks.  We were separate, and the “deal” was that our retirement system would provide a pension and health insurance, better than Medicare and Social Security.  We wouldn’t “need” those services.

Promises Made

It was a “straight” pension program.  We paid ten percent of our annual salary into the system, our employer added another eight percent.  So STRS got thirty-five and a half years of eighteen percent of my salary to invest.  There wasn’t any choice to make back “in the day”; it was sign up and start teaching.  Thirty or more years down the road, STRS would “take care” of you, with your own money.  The deal was to work for moderate wages and get a solid pension afterwards.  But the deal is changing, long after the promises were made.

They started to change the rules in the last years right before I planned on retiring.  All of a sudden, the Ohio State Legislature was worried that the public pension systems – STRS, SERS (school employees), OPERS (public employees), SHPS (Highway Patrol) and OP&F (police and fire) might not have enough money to cover their obligations.  There were a lot of factors, but one was us “baby boomers”.  There were a lot of us, and we were retiring and living longer, and that was putting pressure on the system.  For forty years, the “baby boomers” carried the systems, with more of us working and fewer retired people.  Now, that ratio started to reverse.

Too Much to Ignore

But you’d think if the systems got thirty or more years of eighteen percent of our income, that would be enough.  And add to that sum, all of the money they could make by investing that money “for us”, and it should cover everything.  If the phrase, “it takes money to make money” makes sense, then they had plenty.

If they just stuck the money in the stock market, using the Dow Jones Industrials, they’d averaged  ten percent per year.   Standard and Poor’s Index, would have been eleven percent over the past forty years.  But the vagaries of the stock markets were too dangerous, they thought, so they diversified the funds.  That made sense, originally.

But, particularly after the Wall Street crash of 2008, the pressure was on the “funds” to make more profit.  And, no one, the state leaders thought,  could make profit than private investment folks (just like the ones that crashed Wall Street in the first place).  It didn’t hurt that Ohio’s Governor, John Kasich, had made his “fortune” at Lehman Brothers. So STRS began to pay millions of dollars to have private investment firms control some of their “nest egg”.  And how big is the “egg”:  over ninety billion dollars.

Life in the Taj Mahal

And in the meantime, you had all of those “public” employees at STRS (they actually retire in OPERS) controlling the investments from STRS Headquarters in downtown Columbus: 275 East Broad Street.  It’s a beautiful building, reminiscent of a high class Hyatt Hotel.  And of course, there’s the heated sidewalks, the brick floored covered garage, the in-house child care and the expensive art and sculptures.  They definitely had money to spend, and they spent it.  And that’s all good, as long as they covered all of their retirees costs.

There were some early signs.  For two decades STRS issued retirees a “Thirteenth Check” each year.  But in 2000 that stopped.  And retirees looked at increasing costs of health insurance, particularly for dependents. 

And in 2015 STRS suspended Cost of Living Adjustments.  At first it was for five years, but now six years later they are still suspended, with little hope of returning.  Meanwhile, the investment staff lost half a billion dollars investing in Panda Energy in Texas, and more in high end real estate with little hope of recouping the costs.  But the staff still managed to “achieve” $7.8 million in annual performance bonuses for themselves.

So with all this, what’s the point.  

Broad Street, not Wall Street

STRS, and the other pension funds in Ohio, shouldn’t be “Wall Street” style investment houses.  They aren’t there to make their “associates” a profit, or provide them with all of the “Wall Street” type perks.  They should be protecting the future for their members; the now retired, and the future retirees.  But there’s a lot of living “high on the hog” going on, with little concern for the impact of cuts to their members.

And there’s the more basic question.  If the staff is achieving millions of dollars of performance goals, why is the fund still continuing to charge increased costs to the “members”?  Shouldn’t the “performance” be based on achieving one basic goal – taking care of their members?  That’s not what going on.

Meanwhile, if you are a retired teacher, all of the promises are in question.  You don’t “need” Medicare, but with increasing STRS insurance costs, you probably do.  You don’t “need” Cost of Living Adjustments, but the real “cost of living” continues to increase.  Do we really want seventy-five year old substitute teachers? Or your old first grade teacher greeting you at Wal Mart?  That’s not the “deal” we made.

But at least if we have to sleep on the sidewalks at 275 East Broad, they’re heated.

Young Gun

I was twenty-one years old, but a seasoned campaign veteran in the spring 1978.  I’d started campaigning when I was fourteen, and seven years later, I’d organized  several counties and run the Cincinnati sign operation for the successful Jimmy Carter Campaign. I’d also run a winning Congressional Get Out the Vote effort.  So I was pretty confident that a State Representative Campaign wouldn’t be too difficult.

We had beautiful literature, wonderful sign locations, and highly visible signs and bumper stickers.  I was proud of what we were doing, and even prouder of my candidate.  She was a great speaker, great with people, and had a true desire to make things better.

Our one concern:  the core of our “base” in the State Representative District was in a  traditionally Republican area.  And while that was good news for the general election, it was a problem in the primary, where only Democrats were allowed to vote for us.  But there wasn’t much of interest on the Republican side of the ballot, and many of our supporters were going to“cross-over” and declare themselves Democrats for the purpose of voting for “us”. 

Closed Primary

Seven years as a campaigner, and I thought I knew all about the “polling places”.  Back then, long computer lists were posted on the doors, updated by hand every couple of hours to show who voted and who hadn’t.  And as a campaign staffer, I could enter the polling place and measure how things were going.  

Ohio is a “closed primary” state.  That means that you have to be a “registered” Democrat to vote with a Democratic ballot.  But you could change you registration upon request at the polling place.  You simply asked for the Democratic instead of the Republican ballot, and generally that’s all it took.  Next time the voting rolls were updated, there would be a “D” beside you name.  It happened all the time:  over six years of voting listed beside a name, you might see R-D-R or R-D-D (or mine – a D-D-D).  

And we also knew about the technicality.  If you asked to change party affiliation, a “poll-watcher” could challenge that change.  That would require the voter to fill out a form, saying they supported the other party, and wanted to change. They simply said yes – and signed the form.  There was a penalty for lying – it was fifth degree felony.

Of course there was absolutely no way to know if anyone was lying.  The one thing almost every American knows is that the ballot is “secret”, and has been since the late 1800’s.  So no one would ever know how you voted before or on that ballot.  It wasn’t attainable information.  And wanting to vote for a particular candidate was in fact “supporting the other party”.   So it wasn’t a lie, and it wasn’t  a big deal. 

Poll Bullies

But our wily primary opponent knew that fear was “9/10’s of the law”.  So he sent big, burly watchers to the polling places in our base.  Their job:  to verbally challenge every R to D change, and force them to sign the affidavit.  The watchers made sure to emphasize the penalties, and many voters began to wonder, “Am I doing something wrong?” Instead of thousands of votes in our base, we got a couple hundred.  Many of our supporters didn’t even vote at all, but left the polling place concerned and confused.  We lost the election, and I learned another valuable lesson in politics – intimidation works.  

That was forty-three years ago – and I can assure you things haven’t gotten better.  Here in Ohio we still have those laws, though absentee voting makes it less intimidating to change parties.

Enabling Intimidation  

Poll “watchers” can challenge any voter’s legal right to vote.  And while they aren’t supposed to challenge “without cause”, the sheer presence of someone willing to make that challenge, is enough to keep many from voting.

One of the major demands of the Republican voter law “retrenchments” throughout the country is to grant even easier access to poll watchers.  It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, the 2020 Trump campaign was looking for off-duty police officers to volunteer to “watch” in largely Democratic and minority precincts.  And now in Texas, Georgia, and Arizona – the watchers can take an even bigger role in the polls.

So when a voter goes into the wrong precinct, has a change of address, or has some other glitch in their registration: the poll watcher can challenge their right to vote.  Now in most states the voter has the right to ask for a provisional ballot, one that can be “cured” of defect after the election.  But with intimidating poll watchers, how many will walk out of the polling place, confused and concerned and afraid that somehow, they “broke the law”?  And how many of those watchers will it take to change the outcome of an election?  Ask the Trump Georgia campaign of 2020 – it wouldn’t take much.

Election law is arcane.  It’s easy to make a mistake.  Ask my very-well educated friend who missed signing a ballot petition in two places.  When he asked the Board of Elections personnel if everything was OK, they said they thought so.  He turned in the application – then they disqualified him from the ballot, and even from running as a write-in candidate.  And if a candidate can make that kind of mistake, what can happen to the casual voter? 

Land of the Free

Is that what we want American elections to be about – intimidation and threat rather than an open and welcoming voting system?  Tripping folks up on technicalities easily “cured”, rather than protecting their vote?  Don’t we want it to be easy for every legal voter to cast their ballot, not harder?  In an era when I can buy a car, sell my house, and even go to my doctor without leaving my home – why force folks to “go” vote? Is making it harder really “American”?

Making it harder to vote does give a political advantage to one side.  The ever-shrinking Republican Party is staring into the face of changing demographics.  Those changes are leaving their Party behind.  Republicans are struggling to stay in power.   Their chosen solution is NOT to make their Party more widely appealing.  Instead, it’s to make it more difficult to vote, for everyone – and hope that their own fewer voters still show up.

To misquote John Mellencamp – “That ain’t American, for you and me”. 

Dress Codes

I was the Dean of Students of a local high school for eight years.  One of my primary, and least favorite jobs, was enforcing the student “dress code”.  It wasn’t the best duty for a career track coach.  I was used to seeing kids in track apparel:  from speed suits (one-piece form-fitting spandex) to “short-shorts” (distance running 3” spilt shorts) to sports bras (support garment for women designed to be worn as “outer wear”).  Normal practices and meets involved seeing boys and girls in what might in other circumstances be called, “various stages of undress”.

The Rules

But what worked on the track didn’t necessarily fit in the classroom.  At the time, the dress code was specific.

• students must wear shoes
• underwear type shirts cannot be worn as outerwear
• pants must be worn at waist level
• see-through clothing not allowed
• shoulder strapped clothing must be at least 4-fingers in width
• tops revealing the midriff are not allowed
• boxer shorts are not outerwear
• skirts, shorts and dresses must reach mid-thigh
• hair styles neat and clean and must not provide a hazardous condition
• holes in clothing cannot reveal underwear or inappropriate body parts
• no hats, sunglasses, leather trench coats, dog collars, spike chains,
• no dew rags, scarves,  beanies, stocking caps, sweatshirt hoods or bandannas.
• jewelry that can be used as a weapon not allowed
• tattoos or other body decorations considered offensive must be covered.
•         Watkins Memorial High School Student Dress Code – 2013-14

Tinker v Des Moines

And all of that was based on a United States Supreme Court case, Tinker v Des Moines.  The 1969 Vietnam War era case balanced the Free Speech rights of students against the reasonable need of public schools to provide them an education.  The critical phrase, “Disruption of the educational process”, became the basis for public school dress codes throughout the country. If the school could show that a form of dress, say, wearing leather trench coats, was disruptive of the educational process (because of the possible dangers hidden by the coat, made famous by the Columbine High School shootings), then the school could ban them.

Disruption, of course, is in the eye of the beholder.  Like the 1960’s Supreme Court standard for pornography, it was a kind of “I know it when I see it” decision.  And disruption evolved over time.  A cross-dressing boy or girl would never have gotten past the front office in the 1980’s, but by the 2000’s were just a part of the “student scene”.  And the era when boxer shorts were considered “outerwear” was mercifully short, maybe just a single school year (1988-89).

But schools have had Court-backed wide authority to determine what students are allowed to wear and what they aren’t.  So much so, that a decade ago, some public schools determined to implement school uniforms.  While that issue hasn’t risen to the Supreme Court level yet, it’s an open question at best whether schools really have that much authority.  Uniforms seem to be the ultimate suppression of students “free speech” rights under Tinker.

Arguing for Masks

So if a school can ban dew rags and sunglasses, dog collars and hats, can a school implement a rule requiring face masks, under a dress code regulation?

As a former Dean of Students, here’s the argument I would make to allow it.  Students are concerned about the spread of the Delta-Variant of Covid-19.  That concern is real and provable, and goes beyond their own personal health.  Many students have family members, from siblings to grandparents, who are more vulnerable to the ravages of the disease.  And since the school has not taken the position that students are required to be vaccinated (that will happen in some schools, particularly at the college level, once the FDA accepts the vaccine for “regular use”) students have no way of knowing which students are vaccinated or not.

Students are required to sit in classrooms, placed side-by-side in student desks with as many as thirty in a room.  While that situation increases the risk of viral spread, it has been demonstrated that proper wearing of face masks significantly reduces the risk.  

So all students wearing masks would make the entire environment safer for all students.  A student not wearing a mask in that environment, could be seen as “disrupting the educational process” per Tinker v Des Moines.  Just like students are required to wear pants, and tops (with at least a 4-finger shoulder strap) then they can be required to wear masks as well.  It’s not just about modesty or commonality, it’s about preserving the health of all.

Authority

Schools have this authority independent of the state governors.  The only control that some of those governors can implement over schools (depending on the state) is to restrict funding.  And while funding is important, it’s not an absolute authority.  After all, it’s only money.

So schools could implement a mask mandate, as many of the more urban school districts have.  And when the case goes to Court, they may well be able to defend their authority to do it.  A real fear of contracting Covid is truly disruptive of the educational process.