A Disastrous Governor

What a disaster Susana Martinez has been!

Recent investigative journalism suggests that some of her apparent “pay-for-play” conduct involved law-breaking, at least by the folks who paid her to disregard our interest to serve theirs; and her Education Department has released new anti-science rules for teaching science. 

She wrongfully destroyed mental health facilities to clear the field for Arizona companies that had contributed to her campaign. 

According to The International Business Times, investment firms that gave Martinez and her supporters $1.2 million saw huge amounts of public money (in educational retirement funds and state investment funds) move from safer investments to those firms, with nice management fees. Those deals may have broken federal securities laws. State Rep. Bill McCamley has asked AG Hector Balderas to investigate whether they broke state campaign laws. Martinez chairs the State Investment Council, which oversees about $20 billion in state funds. Will those funds go the way of our mental health facilities?

Meanwhile, her Education Department wants to weaken the teaching of science by avoiding evolution, ignoring the scientific consensus that the Earth is nearly 4.6 billion years old, and hiding our heads in the sand about global warming. A national team of scientists and teachers developed a plan for science teaching; but either Susana knows better or it's politically inconvenient to teach science honestly.

Will teachers tell students that heavy things may fall toward Earth when they're dropped, because God has a heavy hand? Lion cubs may result from adult lions mating. The seas may be rising because God is blowing them up like a balloon. 

 

I'm all for healthy skepticism about scientific conclusions. Leeches and shock treatments were once standard treatments. Eggs are healthy or unhealthy, depending on the decade.

But science is right more often than it's wrong. It reaches conclusions by the method best calculated to approach Truth: the scientific method, stessing experiments and evidence, not the pronuncements of some seer, potentate, or astrologist. Test everything – then test it again.

I loathe what Susana and her minions are trying to do because I like honesty, candor, and evidence-based arguments. I dislike greedy politicians telling artists what they can create or scientists what their experiments should and shouldn't discover. I respect people's religions and ideas, and fight for their rights to express them; but I'd appreciate the same courtesy. Let our government govern, not waste time trying to protect religious beliefs. It's no coincidence that just when New Mexico is “adjusting” science to religion, Turkey's government is doing the same. No one religion or nationality has a corner on the arrogance market. There are stupid leaders everywhere.

Everyone from unemployed workers to the Chamber of Commerce says we need business development. All the experts say an educated work-force is one major quality companies look for. 

Many are tech companies, whose products are based on science.

For businesses to function in this modern world, a solid knowledge of science is essential. Imagine trying to build ships to navigate the universe if we still taught that the flat Earth was its center. If Earth is a few thousand years old, as some religious extremists say, were fossils and petroleum inserted into rocks by mischievous atheists? 

 

Republicans would offer us Steve Pearce as our next act. Someone who thinks women should obey their husbands; and whose political success depends on pretending global warming is a myth, oil and gas never pollute wells and streams, and solar energy is impractical.

Political corruption knows no party. Like science, democracy is a process. We need to be skeptical of all political candidates. Test them. And monitor results closely.

                                                        -30-

[The column above appeared this morning, Sunday, 24 September 2017, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website and KRWG's website.  An abbreviated version will air during the week on KRWG Radio and KTAL-LP 101.5 FM.]

[Unbeknownst to me, while I was writing this column Algernon D'Amassa was writing column on the "post-truth political assault on science and liberty."]

[Meanwhile the big sports news this weekend is political: Donald Trump has dumbly involved himself in unnecessary bickering with popular athletes.  Insignificant in themselves, the recent controversies embody Trump's inability to control his mouth, his defensiveness and bullying, and his willingness to divide the country along ethnic lines.

One involves the aftermath of the Colin Kaepernick situation I wrote about a couple of months ago.  He's a qualified football quarterback without a job.  Most believe he's without a job because last season he started kneeling during the pre-game national anthem, as a protest.  People overreacted.  Trump overreacted, saying no team should hire him.  More and more players, even recently some white players, have begun emulating Kaepernick's form of protest.  A sane and sensible U.S. President would ignore this.  Theoretically he has weightier matters on his mind.  Trump has called them "sons of bitches" (to which Kaepernick's mom, though not really a fan of his protest, said "I guess that makes me a proud bitch") and said they should all be fired or suspended.  Playing to his base.  Predictably, that has increased the enthusiasm of players for the protest movement.  It's a way to protest Trump now.  A little less predictably, not only the owner of the San Francisco 49ers but several owners, such as the NY Giants' Mara, Robert Kraft (New England Patriots), and Shad Khan (Jacksonville Jaguars) have criticized Trump.  Kraft is a long-time pal of Trump's, and all three contributed money to his campaign and/or his inauguration.  The NFL contributed $100,000 to the inauguration, I think.  (Khan gave $1,000,000 to the Inauguration!)  In short, to garner a few raucous cheers from his base, Trump has further estranged himself not only to players and some of their fans, but to NFL owners.  

Meanwhile it looked likely the Golden State Warriors would decline an invitation to the White House to honor the NBA Championship they won earlier this year.  Star Steph Curry said he'd vote "No!"  Coach Steve Kerr, whose father was killed by terrorists in Beirut and who sees that Trump's conduct and policies exacerbate ethnic divisions and potential terrorism, was not personally in favor of going to the White House, but would let the players decide.  Trump took the decision out of their hands by rescinding the invitation.  Too thin-skinned to bear their likely rejection of him, he called more attention to it.  As Curry said, this is beneath Trump -- or beneath his current position -- and "isn't what a leader does."

Obama would likely have said that while he didn't agree with a lot of Kaepernick's views, our democracy depends on our tolerance, diversity, and freedom of expression.   The Warriors would have visited him, as they did two years ago, so that problem wouldn't exist.

A sensible Republican president with a sense of our country's values - John McCain , say -- would have ignored the football business, demonstrating he had more important concerns.  Such a Republican president would likely host the Warriors without incident, since he wouldn't have engaged in Trump's hateful rhetoric about minorities and immigrants; but if a team had talked about ducking a White House visit, he'd ignore it, express polite regret, or maybe -- given Kaepernick's having played with the 49ers -- just made some joke about California sports teams and California's governor being a little odd.  

All trivial.  Except that a fatal flaw in Mr. Trump is that in every situation, the highest priority is to look good.  Not to accomplish a goal that serves the national interest.  To look good.  Given a chance to forego looking like the star but get some concession that would help the country, Obama or McCain or Reagan would have been secure enough to forego for a moment appearing to be the smartest man in the room, if it would help some negotiation succeed.  Not the Donald.

An example of the reaction Trump inspired, from a story on The Hill.com by Brandon Carter: 

Former NFL head coach Rex Ryan blasted President Trump for his criticism of NFL players who kneel during the national anthem, saying on Sunday that he is “appalled” at Trump’s comments.

“I’m pissed off, I’ll be honest with you,” Ryan said on ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown.” “I supported Donald Trump. When he asked me to introduce him at a rally in Buffalo, I did that. But I’m reading these comments and it’s appalling to me and I’m sure it’s appalling to any citizen in our country.”

“Calling our players SOBs and all that kind of stuff? That’s not the men that I know,” Ryan, who's  now an analyst, continued. “The men I know in the locker room, I’m proud of, I’m proud to be associated with those people.”

Now even surmising that owners and commentators (as Ryan now is) have some motive not to become anathema to players, these are strong.]

[Later in the day, I red this Dan Wetzel story]on how unifying and inspiring it was that Khan, in the NFL's first game this season in London, showed such support for his players against Trump's insults that he linked arms with them at the start of the game.   It's worth a read, even to a non-football-fan.  Too, the Jaguars did go out and wax Baltimore 44-7.]

[Still later, it was clear that the issue was widespread.  About 24 players from the two teams playing in the Wembley Stadium Game took a knee; the Jaguars who didn't mostly or all locked arms to show their solidarity, and the team's owner joined them.  With one exception, a player who'd served three tours of duty in Afghanistan, the Pittsburgh Steelers all avoided the divisive decision by staying in the locker room until the anthem was over. 
Meanwhile, basketball players criticized Trump's conduct toward the Golden State Warriors.  Perhaps one of the best statements I ran across was from Steve Kerr, the Warriors' coach, as quoted on-line:

Kerr still has a message for the commander in chief.

"I’ve been fortunate enough to meet President Reagan, both Bushes, Clinton, and Obama," Kerr told The Crossover's Chris Ballard. "I didn’t agree with all of them, but it was easy to set politics aside because each possessed an inherent respect for the office, as well as the humility that comes with being a public servant in an incredible position of power, representing 300 million people.

"And that’s the problem now. In his tweet to Steph [Curry], Trump talked about honoring the White House but, really, isn’t it you who must honor the White House, Mr. President? And the way to do that is through compassion and dignity and being above the fray. Not causing the fray."  ]

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A Fine Evening: Las Cruces Symphony "Pops under the Stars"

We thoroughly enjoyed the Las Cruces Symphony's “Pops under the Stars.” 

Beforehand, I visited with several elected officials, with people I've fought beside or against over various issues, and with folks I've known nearly five decades. So many are damned decent people!

Then the music starts. Capturing us. Lonnie Klein is an animated conductor, and seems a skillful one. Visiting vocalist Diane Penning sounds even better than last year. 

The evening is more than great music on a mild evening and the discovery that our new downtown plaza is made for this. There's a true feeling of community. Enjoying the music, surrounded by familiar faces, I reflect on lives and time. 

Our host and hostess are friends who work tirelessly for the community, with a deep appreciation of its political needs and artistic promise.

Across our table sits a younger couple. I've seen them arguing legal points and passionately advocating for our environment. Tonight, entranced by the music, they're relaxed in each other's arms. All around, couples of all ages are holding hands, or leaning back against one another. 

I see three gay couples, good friends. They seem happy. But not touching. I want a world where they feel free to demonstrate their affection publicly. 

I see a woman whose husband died this year. Both were beloved in the community. As Ms. Penning sings “It's time to say good-bye,” our hostess goes to the widow and hugs her. We're glad. I cannot imagine her grief, her strength. When a quail died flying into our living-room window, the bereaved mate wailed for days. Humans have words, but no answers. Friends' sincere and loving support is a pale substitute.

During intermission, I speak with a young man whose father I've battled in court. We express appreciation for the evening and introduce our wives. “Watching Lonnie is half the show,” he marvels. I think again how great it is that at his father's law office, where he is a paralegal who will soon be a skilled lawyer, his grandfather is the receptionist. That's “family” – an endangered species these days.

I see two people I've known for nearly 50 years, since before they found each other. Married since the early 1970's. She stands behind him, hands on his shoulders. Still lovely. Still loving. They're proud of their daughter, an important player in the evening's events.

Several generals sit at a nearby table. When the Symphony plays a medley of songs of the five branches of U.S. military service, veterans stand when their songs play, and Lonnie salutes them. The vets clearly appreciate this respect. Each, if s/he served on a battlefield, also looks into a deep well of comradeship, shared dangers, and joys and tragedies far beyond our ken.

One general graduated from NMSU. Hispanic. Married a gal from Mesilla. Joined the Army. Decades of hard work and skill made him a brigadier general. Then he got to come home to command at White Sands. 

Dimly I recall concerts in parks I attended as a small child. The people were happy and all knew each other. Later, for years, I'd have thought pops under the stars a bit corny, preferring symphony halls and clubs with edgy modern jazz. 

Tonight, the fine music, a gentle breeze with a hint of rain, our restful postures, and a couple of glasses of wine fill me with love not only for my wife but for everyone around us. People's love for each other, their shared pleasure, and the sometimes twisted paths that brought us all here . . . seem almost tangible.

Under the stars, I'm home.

                                                 -30- 

[The column above appeared this morning, Sunday, 17 September 2017, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website and on KRWG's website.  A spoken version will air during the week on both KRWG Radio and KTAL-LP (101.5 FM).]

 

[This is a personal sort of column, the kind -- unlike exposing political corruption or bad management in government entities, say -- with which it's particularly hard to know how close you've come to saying what you wanted to say.  Or even quite defining what you wanted to say.

At some point during the last half of the concert I realized I wanted to write about the evening.  I'm no music critic, so I can only say that I liked the music and it sounded very professionally played; but the feel of the evening -- the good music, the mild weather, the venue, and a series of encounters (or moments just looking around at people) started to seem to me very special.  I really did feel a powerful wave of love for everyone there, which is a hard kind of thing to say without sounding sappy.  

But music, while I'm enjoying it, also renders me sort of spacey, reflective.  Time and change and the way lives intersect.in very different ways at different moments over the course of decades, are things I reflect on a lot.  Not that I have anything profound to say, but . . . it's nice not to be always carping about someone's misconduct or the idiocies of some public officials.]

[Everything else aside, the evening convinced us to shell out for two season tickets.  Season starts October 7, and looks great!  Check out the symphony's website and think about a season ticket if you like that sort of thing! 

Season or individual-performance tickets available at

(575) 646-3709 or at www.lascrucessymphony.com ]

[Oh, and Lonnie Klein, the conductor, will be a guest on my radio show, "Speak Up, Las Cruces!", September 27 at 9, on KTAL LP, 101.5 FM, the new community radio station."]

September 11th and Afterward

Monday is September 11^th. It is a date like December 7, and perhaps November 22 or August 6. Sixteen years later, it cannot just be said. By 2033 will young folks say it as easily as they say November 22 or August 6?

Memories force themselves on anyone older than 19. After that surge of vivid memory, we reflect.

September 12th

That morning I was in the Library of Congress. Someone suddenly announced the library was closing. Didn't announce there'd been an attack, and that Congress – a block away, connected by underground tunnels – might be a target. But word spread.

The traffic jam was exceptional. Even on my motorcycle it was tough going. For days, military helicopters roared above us. At supper that night, from a rooftop restaurant, I could see smoke still rising from the Pentagon. Early the next morning I rode to the monuments. Streets empty. Just cops and soldiers. I photographed the Lincoln Memorial at dawn, sans sightseers and joggers, just Lincoln, long shadows, and a janitor pushing a broom across a huge marble step.

The U.S. then attacked Afghanistan. For no particular reason, we also attacked Iraq, which had nothing to do with Osama bin Laden and (despite Saddam Hussein's viciousness) was an obstacle to the spread of Iran's influence. 

Neither war has ended. Will we still have soldiers there in 2033?

It was obvious that destroying Iraq would create more terrorists; and it has. The “nation” had been shaped to suit the British. Ethnic and religious tensions would obviously explode into civil war if Saddam's strong and ugly hand were removed. And the Russians had demonstrated the difficulties of war in Afghanistan.

We were in the throes of hysteria. The destruction of the World Trade Center shocked us. Like someone who's been mugged by people from a different ethnic group, we had to struggle with the temptation to assume all Muslims (or all Arabs, or all foreigners) meant us harm. It wasn't so. ISIL and most of the terrorism carried out in the name of Islam during the past 16 years has victimized fellow Muslims. Meanwhile millions of Muslims live among us as quietly and productively and “American” as anyone else. They worship the same God as Jews and Christians. (Quran or Bible, old words in each can be misread to authorize terrible things.)

Now?

We are sensibly more alert. Modern technologies make us vulnerable. Anywhere, anytime, we could be attacked by some deranged person. Modern weapons mean such attacks can be deadlier.

Most others around the world have it worse. Most have never formed the false sense of security our wealth and geographic isolation have given us.

September 11^th was and is a test. Heroic efforts by people risking their lives to save others was a great start to passing; but the longer-term test is to love our country enough to hold to its ideals when the going gets tough.

We have been proud that our democracy served as a model throughout the world, and that we were a refuge for the persecuted and the unfree. Justice and tolerance are easier when you're wealthier than anyone else and seem immune to attack. They're harder to maintain when your pockets are emptier and your world seems dangerous.

Is it easy to maintain our ideals? No. Maybe it's easier to circle the wagons and hate anyone outside. Harder to extend a hand to strangers. Well, marriage, child-rearing, and living a good life take work too. But they reward us. Let the heroism some showed then inspire us all to go above and beyond in little ways.

                                                       -30- 

[The column above appeared this morning, Sunday, 10September2017, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website and on KRWG's website.  A spoken version will be aired during the week by KRWG and by KTAL-LP FM.] 

Heroes at 97 - Marthe Cohn and J Paul Taylor

On the 97^th Anniversary of women's suffrage in the U.S., two 97-year-olds, speaking on consecutive nights, reminded us – more with their lives than their words – of the importance of standing up against intolerance and hatred.

Sunday, lifelong resident J. Paul Taylor spoke. He embodies ethnic mixing: his Scotch-Irish father and Mexican mother raised a fine young man who taught generations of kids. Then, at 66, he started a nearly two-decade career as the Conscience of the Legislature. He's always stood up for tolerance, equality, and freedom. He still does. 

Monday . . . Imagine a Jewish French girl living near the German border during World War II. She and her family suffer much as France surrenders and Germans occupy her town – and the rest of France collaborates with the Nazis. She trains as a nurse. Risking their lives, she and her family hide refugees, and help them navigate the European version of the Underground Railway. 

When France is liberated, she joins the French Army, at 24. A captain learns she speaks and reads German fluently. She has blonde hair and blue eyes. She ends up in Intelligence, volunteering for repeated missions across the border into Germany. (Only women can do this: posing as a male German would fail, since any young male would be in the army.) 

Sounds like a movie. Not something you go into the Rio Grande Theater to hear the heroine describe.

Marthe Cohn's book, Behind Enemy Lines tells a hell of a story. Not without humor. As when she describes waiting with an older French guide for nightfall, so that she can cross when the German sentries won't see her. He tells her a lot about his wife and family, then, with a strange smile, says, “'You may die tonight. Why don't we have a bit of fun?” But, she tells us more than 70 years later, “that wasn't on my agenda.”

Across the border, she mingles with Germans as a German nurse seeking her lost fiance, a German soldier. She learns much about German troop movements, information that saves lives and helps shorten the war. When she's offered a chance to go home, she declines. Her mission will only end when there's an Armistice. She asks only for a bicycle, having walked many miles. 

 

She falls in with some Germans. One SS officer boasts of his atrocities and brags that he can smell a Jew from a mile away. When he suddenly faints, she nurses him back to health. Grateful, he invites her to visit him at the Siegfried Line. Several weeks later, she tries, but some German soldiers tell her that the entire area west of Freiberg has been evacuated – and ambushes await the Allies in the Black Forest. She manages to get this critical information into Allied hands. (Fortunately, the first tank that shows up is French, since she has not yet learned English.) “That is what they gave me all those medals for,” she tells us, gesturing at the long table on stage.

With occasional help from her husband, she tells us her story. She speaks with charm and wit, and a surprising command of the English vernacular, referring to “mom-and-pop stores,” and of soldiers “taking me for a bimbo,” and using such words as “newcomer,” “rickety,” and entailed.” (She learned English after the war.) 

 

Marthe was pretty then. She's magnificent now. Like J. Paul, she speaks with humility and grace. 
 

Both articulate a message still painfully clear: if we do not each do what we can against hatred and injustice, the fight could be lost.

                                                   -30-

[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 3 September 2017, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website and KRWG's website.  A spoken version will be aired by KRWG several times this week, including twice on Wednesday, and by KTAL-LP 101.5 FM on Thursday.]

[Much thanks to Dr. Richard Hempstead for alerting us to Ms. Cohn's imminent appearance here -- and treating us to seats; thanks to Rabbi Bery Schmukler and the Alevy Chabad Jewiosh Center of Las Cruces for arranging Ms. Cohn's appearance; and thanks to Cynthia Garrett and the others who organized the annual birthday fest for Mr. Taylor.]  

[I've written often about J Paul ["An Admirable Friend"], including an earlier birthday celebration ["Where Love Abides - J Paul Taylor is 95!"] and the book about his life (The Man from Mesilla)by Ana Pacheco ["A Saturday Afternoon in Mesilla" (2012).]. 

[Ms. Cohn's book, co-authored with Wendy Holden, is Behind Enemy Lines - The true story of a French Jewish spy in Nazi Germany, published in 2002 by Three Rivers Press.  I will read it with interest.  Interestingly, Ms. Cohn was pretty silent about her exploits for decades, so silent that her children had been unaware of them in any detail until she was awarded the Medaille Militaire on 14 July 2000 (presented by the French consul in Los Angeles).   "She was just our mom," they commented.] 

Marthe Cohn signs a copy of her book - Rio Grande Theater 28Aug2017

J Paul Taylor - "Happy Birthday!" SNMFRM 27Aug2017

[To anyone who objects that Ms. Cohn's conduct is much more "heroic" than J Paul's, I'd agree -- as, I'm sure, would he.  But the coincidence of hearing moving speeches by two admirable 97-year-olds on consecutive days was irresistible; and both speak to contemporaneous concerns, to which their own lives and spirit are highly relevant.]