Before Holy Mountain

  Originally published as a Facebook Note August 30, 2012. Weirdest political moment of 2012? ...in which our intrepid author braves six hours of political propaganda because, well, it's sort of his job, and anyway would make a good note, he guesses. About me: I'm old enough to remember conventions that actually chose candidates. I followed both the 1968 Republican and Democratic conventions, mostly on the radio. I've seen the parties and the media struggle with what the role of conventions should be in the era of primaries and caucuses. I think they remain publicly valuable, even though they're infomercials, because what a party or candidate is trying to sell you, and how they're trying to sell it, say a lot about that party or candidate. I have my political preferences, of course, but this is not a forum to support either candidate or party. There are enough "fan boys" on the Internet, and I don't need to be another one. This is more of a detached m...

  Originally published as a Facebook Note March 21, 2012. Hobby Lobby, Cedar Rapids, November 2015             Contraception’s brief tenure as a major issue in the surreal 2012 presidential campaign may have already ended, but I am about to do my second invited appearance on the subject in slightly more than two weeks, making for something like a “contraception tour.” On March 7, I appeared on the local public affairs show “Ethical Perspectives on the News” as part of a panel on the subject, and tomorrow I’m speaking to the brown bag series run by Coe’s Gender Studies program. So, if everyone else is done talking about contraception, I’m not quite done.              The issue arose when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a directive respecting implementation of the new health law; the directive included birth control prescriptions in the preventive...

  Originally published as a Facebook Note February 4, 2010. OK, it was over a week ago, but I'm a busy person, OK? (Quotations are from Pres. Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress, available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-state-union-address and a million other sites too) #1 "[F]amilies across the country are tightening their belts and making tough decisions. The federal government should do the same. (Applause.)" BN RATING: HUH? Of course there was applause. Everybody knows this basic fact about life. Except me. There must have been some memo I didn't get. Is the premise that everyone should do the same thing all at once? Or that economic recession calls for no spending by anyone? That sort of thinking made 1931 a hoot and a holler, I've read. If that's where this train is heading, I'd like to get off. #2 "As we take the fight to al Qaeda, we are responsibly leaving Iraq to its people. As a candidate, ...

  Originally posted as a Facebook note September 10, 2009. I watched Pres. Obama's speech last night in homey Armstrong/Douglas lobby with about two dozen Political Science Club members and friends. We enjoyed sub sandwiches from Milio's, and there was plenty of pop though few people seemed to be imbibing. Thanks to Kevin, Liz and Eliot for procuring the feast. The speech itself was pretty good, though we are far from knowing whether health care reform will be addressed this year, or even this decade. Obama hit most of the notes I thought he needed to: he reminded us of the problems with health care delivery currently, spelled out the key points of the reform measure brewing in Congress, stressed some broad points of agreement across party lines, and made some conciliatory gestures while promising not to let innuendo overwhelm the debate as it appeared to do in August (good luck with that...). The atmosphere in the House chamber was occasionally raucous, but not so circus-li...

  Originally published as a Facebook note September 5, 2009. President Obama has a big speech on health care to a joint session of Congress this week. I think the venue is a mistake... anyone who's ever watched a State of the Union address knows what circuses they are with all the cheering and booing and stuff. I'd prefer an address from the Oval Office, which would provide some gravitas. And someone needs to inject some gravitas into this debate in a hurry. The problems of health care are well known, I think: spending consuming an increasing amount of the national economy, putting pressure on government, business and households; 15-20% of the American population uninsured, and many more underinsured whether they know it or not, leaving them vulnerable to any major health problem; and health indicators that are lower than other developed economies even though they spend less and rely on government more. The answers are not simple. Any technical issue is complex, and this is...