Red, Brown & Blue

Be a Force of Nature. Help Heal Haiti.

Every action must have an equal and opposite reaction. Haiti’s worst earthquake in over 200 years has taken the lives of tens of thousands and threatens millions more in the aftermath. Out of the darkness of the rubble there must come light.

The forces of nature have devastated the people of Haiti. It is up to us to react and respond.

As Haiti suffers its worst earthquake in over two centuries, it brings out the best in America. Thousands of people are flying into action – from relief workers to the military, from our current President to former ones, from celebrities to average citizens – seeking ways to help.

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Greed Divides, but Will it Conquer?

Forget which political party is winning these days. Partisanship may well be a distraction for what’s really going on beneath the table, where the consistent victor is “greed.”

“Greed is good,” Gordon Gekko giddily extolled in the movie “Wall Street,” capturing the hubris of the 80’s and earning Michael Douglas the coveted Academy Award.

But as greed threatens to consume American ideals, we must ask ourselves: Can “good” stage a comeback to beat greed? Where’s Charlie Sheen when you need him? Can we turn back the clock and give him an award too?

Speaking of the past, the Founding Fathers incorporated a healthy measure of realism in their designs for our system of governance, cognizant that if our politics could align the good of the country with the self-interests of individuals a true win-win would be generated.

To that point, James Madison wrote in 1788: “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?”

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For the People: They’re Coming For You.

You’re alone.  It’s late and it’s dark and the streetlights are not quite doing their job. Something, you’re not sure what, doesn’t feel right.  Looking back over your shoulder, you see the shift of shadows and the movement of the bushes that might just be the breeze.  But, it might not.

The best thing to do is get somewhere safe, quickly.  You turn the collar up on your coat and push your hands deep into your pockets and walk as fast as you can without appearing scared.  You are scared.  There is no denying that.  But the last thing you want is to show it.  You don’t understand how the city streets could look so empty and you wonder just how late it really is.  Did time get away from you?  You pull your cell phone from your pocket and your trembling hands fumble it to the ground, where your fast-moving feet deliver a swift kick that sends it spinning under a dumpster.  You look back.  Now you see them.

They’re coming for you.

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Will Religion Ever Lead to Peace?

During his recent Nobel acceptance speech, President Obama pointed out that at the crux of our catastrophic failure at achieving peace lies the divisive, fear-inciting force of religion, saying:

“People fear the loss of what they cherish about their particular identities — their race, their tribe, and perhaps most powerfully their religion. In some places, this fear has led to conflict. At times, it even feels like we are moving backwards. We see it in Middle East, as the conflict between Arabs and Jews seems to harden. We see it in nations that are torn asunder by tribal lines. Most dangerously, we see it in the way that religion is used to justify the murder of innocents by those who have distorted and defiled the great religion of Islam, and who attacked my country from Afghanistan. These extremists are not the first to kill in the name of God; the cruelties of the Crusades are amply recorded. But they remind us that no Holy War can ever be a just war. For if you truly believe that you are carrying out divine will, then there is no need for restraint — no need to spare the pregnant mother, or the medic, or even a person of one’s own faith. Such a warped view of religion is not just incompatible with the concept of peace, but the purpose of faith — for the one rule that lies at the heart of every major religion is that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us.”

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GOP: Tough Love for Latinos.

Republicans say they love Latinos, but they sure have a funny way of showing it.

Recently, the Senate killed the controversial Vitter Amendment, which would have required that the 2010 Census questionnaire be changed to include an unprecedented question regarding citizenship status. Crafted by Republican Senator David Vitter (Louisiana), the amendment was widely seen as a GOP tactic to discourage immigrants and Latinos from participating in the Census, which has always counted “persons” rather than “citizens.”

Following the vote, immigrant activist Jorge-Mario Cabrera of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles expressed relief, assuring me that: “The Vitter amendment was nothing more than a thinly-veiled attempt at scaring immigrants from participating in the Census.”

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Texas Hispanics Might Lose if Opt-Out Public Option Wins.

You win some and you lose some. So it might go for Texas if Congress ends up approving health care reform including an “opt-out” public option. But this is a life and death battle Texas Hispanics simply can’t afford to lose.

Earlier this week, the Senate’s Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D-Nevada), stated his intent to craft a bill that incorporates a government-administered public option while permitting individual states to opt out. The details of how such states could opt out are still unclear. It is most likely, however, that states would initially be included in the reform. Legislatures could then vote to opt out, requiring final gubernatorial approval.

While many in the media have seen this development as a victory for liberal Democrats, I see it as a cop out designed to secure the votes needed in the Senate to avoid a filibuster while potentially sacrificing the needs of some of the neediest populations in our country when it comes to health coverage and health disparities.

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