So It Goes

Guns Don’t Protect People, People (and Rule of Law) Do

JRW — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 08:09:42 -0500

ONE OF THE big questions most Americans ask in the context of our national debate about guns is why any civilian would need so many and such powerful guns, with fewer licensing requirements than it takes to drive a car legally. The only coherent answer I can discern from anti-gun control advocates is that ordinary citizens need to arm themselves to prevent repression by the government (colorfully characterized in 1995 by NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre’s as “jack-booted government thugs”). That was pretty much all anti-gun control advocate Alex Jones argued in his spectacular tirade a couple of weeks...

My Election Night Wish

JRW — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 16:55:17 -0500

LAST YEAR I read a terrific book by Adam Goodheart called 1861: The Civil War Awakening. As the title suggests, it’s about the eve and early hours of the American Civil War and the myriad factors that pushed the nation inevitably into it. Goodheart paints a vivid picture of a nation so profoundly fractured and its citizens so jaded by any possible last-ditch compromises that war became truly – and sadly – the only logical next step. The tension Goodheart described felt a lot like what I was feeling in 2011, and now, on Election Day 2012, I feel it...

“My Man” – The Sweetest, Saddest Song

JRW — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 00:24:21 -0400

SOME OF the leading women of American popular music have performed it. For Fanny Brice, who popularized it in the U.S. in the 1920s (here's what she sounded like), it was a signature song. Barbra Streisand gave it a big boost of attention and affection in the 1960s when she played Brice in the movie version of "Funny Girl." Diana Ross did a pretty inspiring version of it (see the tears streaming down her face in this performance), as did jazz greats Sarah Vaughan and Abbey Lincoln. More recently, for the soundtrack of the HBO show "Boardwalk Empire," Regina Spektor...

Good -- And Possibly Prophetic -- TV About TV

JRW — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:28:27 -0400

ABOUT A month ago, I flipped on the one of the local Washington, D.C., TV news programs, and realized once again why I do this so rarely. The lead story was about how a large colony of bees had nestled itself into the masonry of a private residence on Capitol Hill. They spent what seemed like an eternity for TV news (maybe five minutes) interviewing the homeowner (who sounded concerned but not hysterical), talking to a professional beekeeper (who said she would be able to neutralize it without much trouble), and showing footage of bees -- and not really that...

Small Signs of Hope for Sensible Immigration Reform?

JRW — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 16:49:04 -0400

IF THERE is any agreement across the ideological spectrum on the subject of immigration policy, it is that our currrent system is broken. For those with good sense, the solution is a holistic -- and rather complex -- set of provisions addressing the myriad drivers and symptons of the broken system. It's a complicated problem, but many smart and dedicated people have drawn up the contours of policy that could just wrestle it to the ground, if not solve it completely and with the snap of the fingers. For those who just want to use immigrants as a political punching...

Limbaugh Has 'Crossed The Line' Many Times Before? How is it Different Now?

JRW — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 23:17:52 -0500

THE OUTRAGE over the last few days surrounding Rush Limbaugh's shameful and nauseating remarks about Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke suggests that he has finally crossed a line. Even leading Republicans and other conservatives are condemning him (sort of -- see below) and some advertisers are finally abandoning the show. This is, of course, as it should be. A civil society is one in which decent people push the indecent ones beyond the margins and keep them out of the public square where serious and respectful discourse happens. It's about affirming and sustaining a standard of what is right and...

"Emblematic" of Evangelical Christians? I Hope Not

JRW — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:03:19 -0500

AMID THE VOLUMINOUS coverage of yesterday's caucuses, the Washington Post ran a feature photo today of a family from Rock Rapids, Iowa, next to a headline "Witness Politics: Their Faith is in Santorum." It's the sort of 'glimpse of the inner world of voters' that attempts to offer a little authenticity to the volumes of blather that pundits produce to fill so much air time. Both the husband and wife who were featured told the photographer they would vote for Rick Santorum, and the caption describes them as "emblematic of evangelical conservatives." The extended caption (I'm going with the text...

No Lone Perpetrator Behind the "All-American Muslim" Controversy

JRW — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:32:48 -0500

WHAT SURPRISES me most about much of the discussion that has swirled around The Learning Channel's "All-American Muslim" program is how surprised many seem to be about it. The shameful anti-Muslim fervor that tripped the wire of wall-to-wall coverage this time is part of a troubling and growing pattern, and it was not, as some of the discussion seems to imply, the work of a lone perpetrator. Lone perpetrators don't get this much traction unless the conditions are right in the first place. And they were. The program (which I have never watched) reportedly portrayed Muslims in Michigan as, well,...

Havel and Kim: Living Within the Truth and the Lie

JRW — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:56:23 -0500

IT'S MORE than a little ironic that the death of Vaclav Havel, who played a major role in disintegrating a totalitarian regime, coincided roughly with the announcement of the death of Kim Jong Il, who committed himself to sustaining such a regime. They were two sides of a similar coin. Without men like Kim, Havel would have had no reason to risk his life to bring about generational change; without men like Havel, Kim would have no concrete excuse (though he probably had many imagined ones) to so ruthlesslessly enforce the kind of perverse system injustice and inhumanity that defines...

Why I'm Not Piling on Obama Right Now

JRW — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 21:00:50 -0400

YOU DON'T have to look very far these days to find a lot of disappointment, and sometimes digust and depression, about the job Barack Obama is doing as President. And I'm just talking about how Democrats and other of his natural supporters feel. To a point, you can count me in. I've still not forgiven him for his inexplicable acquiesence to Congressional Republicans over allowing the tax cuts for wealthy Americans to expire at the end of last year. Those tax cuts never made sense when the Bush Administration and Republican Congress enacted them in 2001; they have not, as...

Who Will Tell the People the Truth About the Debt Ceiling?

JRW — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 11:14:48 -0400

THE WASHINGTON POST published an article today about Republican Members of Congress who refuse to believe warnings that a failure to raise the federal debt ceiling will result in economic catastrophe for the United States. It doesn't faze them that credentialed economists, rating agencies, business leaders, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, top budget analysts, their own Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader and pretty much everyone who knows anything about this stuff say that the consequencs will be dire. As Representative Mo Brooks, a Republican from Alabama, told the Post, “There...

Celebrating Re-creation on July 4

JRW — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 12:18:46 -0400

I'M IN THE MIDDLE of a terrific new Civil War history: 1861 by Adam Goodheart. As the title suggests, it's about the events and states of mind that led up to outbreak of the war between the states. The book shines a light on a much different episode in American history than the one we celebrate today, July 4. But, like the July 4 holiday, it reminds us that one of the constant features of our nation's history is re-creation (not recreation, which is what we usually we do to observe these important historical mileposts). In the months leading up...

Logic for Unity Accord Escapes Me

JRW — Wed, 04 May 2011 08:34:38 -0400

PLEASE HELP me out with something. Someone explain to me why there is so much puzzlement that the Israeli government would object to the unity arrangement between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. Why is this so hard to understand? In today's Washington Post, for example, former President Jimmy Carter hails the unity accord as something that will somehow solve all the problems of the terrible and protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflice. Through a system of checks and balances, he seems to imply, the combined PA and Hamas regime will "lead to a durable cease-fire" with Israel, captured Israeli prisoners of war such...

Reflecting "Real Life" on "The Office" and "Friday Night Lights"

JRW — Sun, 01 May 2011 11:58:28 -0400

I FINALLY got around to watching the series finale of "Friday Night Lights, Steve Carrell's farewell on "The Office", both of which are on my short list of best-ever TV comedy and drama shows. [Note: Earlier, I thought this was the season finale of "The Office," but an alert reader corrected me.] For those of you only now seeing "Friday Night Lights" on broadcast TV and wondering how I've seen the whole season, I get Direct TV, where the program aired first and finished in February. (So, why, you wonder, have I only just gotten around to it? Just busy.)...

NPR "Liberal Bias", Continued

JRW — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 11:47:38 -0400

LAST NIGHT I engaged in what NPR calls a "driveway moment," whereby I literally sat in my parked car in my driveway with my daughter, both of us unwilling to walk away from a riveting piece about an Iraq War veteran's scary struggle with the effects of traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. This was one in a series of in-depth investigative reports by NPR and Pro-Publica, a non-profit investigative journalism organization, about how the U.S. military has not grappled sufficiently with the aftereffects of TBI (traumatic brain injury) and PTSD among those who have suffered them in action,...

Meanwhile, at the Gaza-Israel Border...

JRW — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 18:00:51 -0400

THERE'S A LOT OF BIG NEWS around the world right now, more than global media outlets and even their audiences might have a chance to digest. Amidst it all, two tweets today, posted within a half hour of one another on the Israel Defense Forces Spokesman's Twitter feed: Today, 312 truckloads of food, goods + gas entered the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Shalom Crossing 130+ mortars, Qassams & Grad missiles fired from Gaza & landed in Israel since beginning of yr-56 of which fired this wk So, even as missile attacks from Gaza continue to rain down on it,...

Some Welcome Civility About a Tough Problem

JRW — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 10:57:50 -0400

STEPHEN GOLDSMITH, the former mayor of Indianapolis, current Deputy Mayor of New York City and widely recognized big thinker about how to make cities run better, offers a thoughtful reflection about the state of city government in a recent Wall Street Journal Op-Ed. Aside from his views, which I'll summarize in a moment, what I like most about this piece is that he offers a much more civil, authorative and informed analysis about the problems of governent (city government mostly) than what we've gotten recently from the many shrill voices emerging around the standoff in Madison, Wisconsin. The implication is...

Women Can Be Warriors After All

JRW — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 17:45:10 -0400

I DON'T REMEMBER precisely who said it, but I know I heard on a number of occasions commentators say that if women led many nations they'd be less likely to promote wars than men -- or something like that. So it's kind of interesting to read in today's New York Times that Barack Obama, a man who was, until a few days ago, strongly opposed to U.S. military action against the Libyan regime, was persuaded otherwise by three of his top officials -- who happen to be women: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; Samantha Power, a senior aide at...

NPR Debate Exposes the Gulf Dividing America

JRW — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 17:13:09 -0400

THE RECENT CONTROVERSIES over NPR, have really upset me. Though to understand exactly why, I have to get past my reflexive response . As I have noted here before, public radio has been a constant companion and major source of knowledge for me since I was in high school. This sounds so precious to say, I know, but I have almost "grown up" on public radio and am constantly amazed by the vast and innovative work it produces. (Coincidentally, though important to disclose here, I consulted professionally to NPR for several years in the mid-2000s, but, believe me, my attachment...

At Midlife, What's Your Zion?

JRW — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 18:15:44 -0500

FOR MANY OF US, turning 50 is an occasion for panic, dread, soul searching or some odd and unsettling shift of perspective. Before I reached that threshhold a few months ago, I was determined not to fall into this state and to let it pass as if it were any other birthday. But I guess I'm no different than most. I surprised myself and spent a bit more time and energy than I expected thinking about turning 50. To be honest, I wasn't sure whether to consider it a time for a fresh start or for holding fast to the...

Secure With An Asterisk: What American Jewish Architecture Tells Us

JRW — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 16:10:46 -0500

BECAUSE WE'RE AMIDST the eight-day celebration of Hanukkah, Sid Schwarz, the founding rabbi of my synagogue, naturally used the festival as the focus of his d'var torah (or explication of the Torah) during Shabbat services yesterday. He pointed to a directive from the Talmud in which the rabbis instruct Jews to place their lit menorahs either in a window or doorway where their light can be seen by passersby outside. But the rabbis’ prescriptions around the ritual of lighting the menorah qualified that Jews could keep their menorahs hidden indoors in times – and places – of danger. Just as...

How Will the Current Political Climate Affect U.S. Innovation Policy? An Interview

JRW — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 20:47:48 -0500

IN 2005, a blue-ribbon panel convened by the National Academies, called for dramatic efforts to improve science and math education in elementary and secondary schools and increased public investment into basic scientific research. The title of their report, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm,” summed up the panel’s sense that America is headed for trouble, but the challenges were surmountable. Two months ago, the panel reconvened to issue a follow-up report assessing the progress since 2005. Its conclusion was grim; the nation “has shown little sign of improvement,” the follow-up report declared, adding that “The Gathering Storm increasingly appears to be...

Midterm Voter Turnout: Rising But Still Not Befitting a Great Democracy

JRW — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 15:46:16 -0400

AMERICAN DEMOCRACY is getting there, but — forgive the cynicism — I don’t feel it gathering steam, at least not when I read the dismal voter turnout numbers. According to statistics compiled by Dr. Michael P. McDonald, Associate Professor of Government and Politics in the Department of Public and International Affairs at George Mason University, at least 41.5 percent of America’s voting-eligible population* voted in the November 2 midterm elections across the U.S. just a few days ago. (“At least” because he may update the figures as recounts come in, which will probably only drive up the turnout rate, but...

The Mess Juan Williams Hath Wrought

JRW — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 21:30:24 -0400

The messy flap over Juan Williams' firing from NPR is disappointing all around.For its part, NPR may have overreacted a bit. Yes, Williams' remarks about his feelings about Muslims make me uneasy (as my wife pointed out, what if you replaced from his remarks the word "Muslim" with "Jew" or "African American" or whatever?). But what he said seems a lot more ambiguous to me than others I've criticized for anti-Muslim sentiment (see this, this and this). He certainly could have been understood the wrong way, and obviously was by many. But having followed and admired Williams for a long...

(Yet Another) Blessing to a Bat Mitzvah

JRW — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 18:02:21 -0400

Last week, my youngest daughter became a bat mitzvah, a sort of coming-of-age ritual Jewish kids go through when they turn 13. As I have with my other two (see this and this), I'm posting here the blessing I gave her during the ceremony. This day is not just about learning to read lines of sacred text or writing your thoughts on what the Torah tells us. You’ve worked hard at that for many months. But that’s really the easy part. What’s tougher – but far more interesting – is figuring out where you fit into the rich tradition that...

The Planned Burning of Korans is Terrorism; We Must Stop It

JRW — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 16:33:57 -0400

OF ALL THE GALLERIES OF HORRORS contained in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., I somehow have the most emotional reaction to the one on Kristallnacht, that spasm of Nazi-provoked violence in 1938 across Germany against Jewish lives and property. The exhibit at the museum includes several Torahs -- scrolls with the Five Books of Moses handwritten onto parchment -- that were damaged on Kristallnacht and remain in a desecrated state, strewn on the floor as they might have been that terrible November night. I've been through the museum countless times, and the sight of these scrolls and...

Cordoba House and American Pluralism

JRW — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 23:13:57 -0400

I'M BEGINNING TO WORRY THAT the Cordoba Initiative, which is building a community center a couple of blocks near the site of the destroyed World Trade Centers, took America's claims of being one of the world's most pluralistic cultures a bit too much to heart. Not that we shouldn't have expected and even understood some opposition to the plan. After all, Ground Zero is practically -- and rightly -- sacred to so many in this country and around the world, and the crimes there were unabashedly carried out in the name of the Islam. Even to someone like me, who...

Where Are the Chuck Yeagers of Our Financial System?

JRW — Sun, 09 May 2010 13:05:00 -0400

IN "THE RIGHT STUFF," his masterpiece of the early history of NASA, Tom Wolfe describes a certain demeanor that all astronauts -- and later airline pilots -- acquired from a model set by the great test pilot Chuck Yeager. They vocalized this attitude, Wolfe wrote, with "a particular drawl, a particular folksiness, a particular down-home calmness that is so exaggerated it begins to parody itself (nevertheless! -- it's reassuring)... the voice that tells you, as the airliner is caught in thunderheads and goes bolting up and down a thousand feet in a single gulp, to check your seat belts because...

"More Than Patient" in Arizona: The Sad Cynicism of SB 1070

JRW — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 10:53:52 -0400

The substance of SB 1070, the new Arizona law that requires state and local law enforcement officials to question anyone who appears to be an illegal immigrant, is bad enough. But one of the arguments Governor Jan Brewer gave when she signed it into law is also infuriating for its hypocrisy and absence of logic. Upon signing the bill, Governor Brewer said, "We in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for Washington to act. But decades of federal inaction and misguided policy have created a dangerous and unacceptable situation." What's really stunning about that statement is it's likely that...

Straight Talk About Fox News -- Part II

JRW — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 09:41:23 -0400

PEOPLE ARE once again wondering aloud whether or not Fox News has "crossed the line" between promoting or covering the Tea Party movement. How absurd does that sound? What is there to wonder about? Of course the network promotes the Tea Party movement, which is made up of a lot of people who constitute its core audience. That's just good business, isn't it? That's just what we in the p.r. business call "branding," isn't it? This discussion comes up periodically, and I don't know why everyone is wasting time arguing about it. Still, straight news stories -- not the kind...