Category Archives: COMMENTARY

United States v. Elonis Is A Supreme Mistake.

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By: Chris Warren

Almost everyone, including myself, has at some point said something they later regret. If it’s said on the internet, or later leaked onto the internet, then it has the potential to create an ocean of unintended consequences. YouTube alone is littered with career-ending remarks that are so jaw-dropping dumb, it makes one wonder: What path of insane reasoning did the speaker use to come to the conclusion that what they were saying was a good idea? Adding to the astonishment, many of these comments were made with the full knowledge they would be open to the public. It’s not a “what were you thinking?” moment, It’s an “are you even capable of thinking?” moment.

The story of Anthony Elonis might have been just another cautionary tale of how a guy let his mosquito brain overpower his alligator mouth; what makes it stand out is the small brain-big mouth combo pack is going all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. The gist of the case is that Elonis was convicted of making threats of violence to others on his Facebook page. At least one of the comments was directed at…now get this…an FBI agent who was investigating his other threats. The particulars of the case are rather boring and lengthy as would be expected in a legal proceeding. I have read it so you don’t have to, and trust me when I say in addition to his legal trouble there is something really wrong going on inside Elonis’ head.

Elonis does not deny that he made the comments and the facts of the case are not in question. In simple terms, Elonis wants the Supreme Court to overturn his conviction because his remarks were made on line. His defense is that people talk trash on line all the time and what is said there should not be taken seriously. He therefore considers his statements, which include musing about shooting up a kindergarten class, “free speech”.

To be clear, this is not about one coarsely-worded rant or a volley of argumentative one-upmanship of the kind that pops up on Facebook and Twitter millions of times a day. There were numerous threats of graphic violence made over a long period of time and directed at more than one individual, and Elonis has a history of inappropriate behavior in his off line life. Among other things, he was fired from his job for making sexual advances towards an underage female coworker. Legal issues aside, Anthony Elonis is at minimum a creepy pervert whom I would not allow anywhere near any woman I care about.

The failure is not in the legal system, but in Elonis’ screwed up sense of his “rights” and a general breakdown of civility enabled by the internet. It way too easy to be abusive while hiding behind a keyboard. Being mean to people you can’t see is an easy trap to fall into even for those who are normally in control of themselves. Many times I wisely re-worded a message because it sounded unnecessarily harsh; and a few times I later wished I had more carefully edited myself.

The Supreme Court blew it by agreeing to hear this case because by doing so they acknowledge that Elonis might be right. No doubt the lame “it was on the internet so it doesn’t count” defense was cooked up by Elonis’ attorneys. In a way I do not blame the lawyers. They have a duty to represent their client  and can only work with what they are given. But wow, is this such a tough call that we have to bring in the Supreme Court to deal with it? The defense’s theory is that there should be a different benchmark of acceptability for on line speech than there is for any other medium; this is known as the subjective standard. He expects the Court to affirm that threatening someone with violence is ok as long as it’s done on line.

Elonis is a criminal with a proclivity towards violence and his conviction should stand. Threatening an FBI agent and giving a step-by-step description of how you want to whack your ex goes well beyond free speech. I don’t understand why the Supremes think there is a possibility the lower courts got it wrong and Elonis was simply pursuing his First Amendment rights. If the Court rules in favor of the defense, it sets up a precedent for every nutjob and hate group in the land to go on line and threaten whoever they want under the protective umbrella of free speech with no legal recourse for the intended victim.

What is it about sitting in front of a computer that turns otherwise considerate people into ultra-jerks? Maybe not to the level Elonis has elevated it, but unkind nonetheless. We non-criminals can learn something from the case of Anthony Elonis. The world would be a more gentle place if we imagined ourselves speaking face to face with the target of our flames before pressing send.

 

 

DREAMing of a Solution.

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By: Chris Warren

My dad, who is not a sophisticated guy (I mean that as a compliment), once observed that the American court system does not do what’s fair, it does what’s legal. In a perfect world there would be no distinction between the two. When courts aren’t fair we sympathize with the situation, but in the back of our minds we concede that “life is not fair” is part of…life. It’s further complicated by the fact that fair is largely a matter of viewpoint, whereas legal is a lot easier to pin down. We tend to stretch these boundaries when dealing with children as they are sympathetic figures deserving of a light touch.

If a child is introduced to a bad situation by an adult, then the responsibility of bailing the kid out of trouble goes to other adults who presumably know better and have the child’s best interests in mind. It is not a time to fuss over whose fault it is or how “unfair” it is that someone else has to right the wrong. In that spirit, we need to make fair and legal the same thing and find a way to let young illegal immigrants who grew up in the United States stay here. People who know me are aware that I strongly empathize with people from other countries and cultures and have blogged about this issue before.

The biggest problem with immigration policy in the United States is that both the left and the right attempt, and fail horribly, to correct the intractable maxim that sometimes there is no truly fair option, just varying degrees of unfair. Conservatives are cold and disconnected for not seeing that deporting people just to wave the law & order badass banner  is an ugly scene. Being legally right doesn’t make one morally right. Going the other way, liberals are manipulative users. They profess to care about immigrants, but only for selfish political reasons. For over a generation, Democrats have played up this issue solely for votes and believe with a cult-like intransigence that everyone is entitled to be here no matter what rules are broken or what the unintended consequences are. We have borders and laws for a reason.

Imagine a young person who was brought to the United States illegally as a child. They did not make a choice to come here on their own and may not even be aware of their immigration status. They grow up in American culture, hang out with American friends, speak English as their first (and possibly only) language, have no criminal history and little if any familiarity with their home country.

This is not a way-out there hypothetical scenario. There are tens of thousands of kids living in the USA who fit this description. I would like everyone who thinks this person should be given a one-way ticket back to their country of origin to answer these questions: Is your legal argument for kicking them out of the USA greater than the moral argument for letting them stay, and furthermore, is your argument so strong that it’s worth ruining a young life for? Are you willing to look this kid directly in the face and personally tell them they are being deported? What if this person was your neighbor, or your own kid’s best friend, or your future son or daughter in law? Exactly what “problem” is solved by shipping them out?

The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAM) has been floating around Congress since 2001 and has bipartisan support. I understand that in the world of politics the devil is always in the details. There are plenty of things in DREAM I’m sure I do not like, but I do believe in the basic premise of the legislation, which is to give people who came here illegally & involuntarily as underage minors a chance to stay and be productive members of American society. “Amnesty” is a loaded word in American politics, but it’s exactly what’s needed when the law is so blatantly unfair that a greater moral imperative is created to warrant changing it, or for minors who did not intend to break the law in the first place and played no active role in how they got into their situations.

Twenty First Summer is not a public policy blog and I am not knowledgeable enough on this topic to attempt a dissection of the DREAM Act and all the things that are both right and wrong with it. All I know is that kicking promising young people out of the only country they know and identify with for the “crime” of being brought here as minors by someone else is inhumane and should not be allowed to happen. I’m not coming at this from a right or left perspective. I’m looking at it as a question of “Is this moral?” For me the answer is a no-brainer: It’s disgusting and wrong. I’ll let others sweat the political details.

As President Chris, my first goal would be to stop the flow of illegal immigration to begin with. Then, pass some form of the DREAM Act and make it wholly separate from how the legal system will treat adults who are not innocent bystanders and came here fully cognizant that they were breaking US laws. That would be my compromise: Go easy on the young people in exchange for locking down the border and throwing the book at the adults.

Our default should be to find a way to help the children, not run them out like unwanted pests. The United States likes to brag about how we as a nation care for our kids. The DREAMers are “our kids.” They are Americans in their hearts if not in the law; they deserve to be protected and held close like the treasures they are.

 

 

Graduation Completes The Circle.

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By: Chris Warren

Almost every commencement address has the same basic theme: You (graduates) are bright and energetic and will change the world. You have vast opportunities; all you need to do is go and get them. Work hard, get good grades, and success will be yours! The theme is trite and shopworn, but since most of us will hear it only once or twice and at a time when we are excited about completing a big life achievement, no one really knows or cares that it’s been recycled every year for generations.

In fairness to all the cliché artists who are recruited to deliver these hand-me-down nuggets of wisdom, for the last seven decades or so the advice was accurate. It really was true that hard work and serious study was an express ticket to the good life. If a solid job and home ownership is the “American dream,” then a good education is its mother.

It may be for the better that I haven’t been asked to give a graduation speech, because I do not think I could bring myself to stand in front of impressionable young people and feed them a heap o’crap about how hard work and dedication will see them through. The old perennial platitudes are broken. A weak economy and languishing morals means many opportunities that used to be there are gone. There are people with Master’s degrees working at Taco Bell. Where is the big payoff for all their sweat? The world for young people, in a word, sucks.

But this is the Thoughtful, Positive, Relevant blog, so for my hypothetical speech I am determined to come up with something that is affirming, uplifting, and truthful. I won’t be placed in a position where in order to be the best graduation speaker ever I’d also have to be the best liar. It’s very unkind to piss on the hopes and dreams of young people at such a meaningful moment in their life; it’s also wrong to tell a complete lie in deference to their big day. I think I’ve found a way around this untenable situation.

To the Class of 2014:

For your entire lives you have been taught that brains and sweat will take you far. That is still true, except now you will need more brains and more sweat than anyone who came before you to get what used to be considered a standard middle class existence. The average will need to become stronger, and the strong will need to become superlative. The weak are doomed, but not because of the new way the world works. The weak are and always have been doomed no matter what state the world is in. That may be the only thing that never changes.

The fact that you are here at this time and place proves you are not weak. The weak have already quit and left this group. So the question now is not “who among you are weak?” but, “how strong are you?”

Strong people know the difference between confidence and arrogance: The strong know what they are capable of and do not need constant praise. Weak people must always be the topic of conversation, making sure everyone knows they are the smartest person in the room (even if they aren’t).  Strong people know they might be the smartest person in the room, but conduct themselves with a subtle touch of class that needs no big pronouncement and lets the room figure out on their own who is the smartest. Weak people brag about themselves; strong people quietly step aside and let others do the bragging for them.

Strong people are kind even to those who do not deserve it: This might be the hardest part of being a strong person. Being nice to those who are nice to us is easy, even pleasurable. It’s a much different matter when dealing with someone who would be in a lot of trouble if instant karma was real. Weak people think of themselves as judge and jury of all behavior and seek revenge for every little slight committed against them. Strong people choose their battles carefully and do unto others as they would have done unto them, accepting with grace that they will often be forced by their principles to give others a better deal than they received in return.

“And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We’re captive on the carousel of time
We can’t return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game “

-Joni Mitchell, The Circle Game

Sunrise-From-Space

Strong people are grateful for where they came from: No one was born knowing everything, and almost no one succeeds as a solo act. Every one of us was helped and guided by others. Weak people assure their own failure by thinking they can do everything themselves. Strong people succeed because they humbly accept help from those who love and care about them and are going to invest heart and soul into steering them away from failure. There is no greater feeling than having someone behind you and believing in you. Knowing they are loved is the greatest trait of strong people.

There is still much to be hopeful for among all the sadness in the world. New graduates are a clean slate, not yet jaded by the experiences of life. Every new graduation class is God’s way of telling humanity, “This is your do-over. Let these people run the place.” As long the Almighty keeps blessing us with fresh graduates every spring as reliably as blooming flowers, there will always be a possibility that things will get better. That brings me to my last point:

Strong people are grateful for where they are going. We should not overlook that gratitude is a two way street. If graduates are expected be thankful for the wisdom of those who helped them, we older folks also need to thank the young for the bright hope that they will do better than their elders. Weak people believe they will always be ageless and relevant. Strong people know the day will come when their moment in the sun and way of doing things will be over. It will be time for the circle to complete and let the future go to the next generation. We can only pray that our love for them mattered.

(photo credit: http://wholles.com)

 

Andrew Tahmooressi: From Outrage To Action.

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By: Chris Warren.

I will be posting my regularly scheduled blog article later this weekend.

For now, unfortunately, the issue of Unites States Marine Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi is now into its second month and has not been resolved. You can read my original blog article on this topic here and the first follow up here.

I define “resolved” as nothing less than Tahmooressi being released from the Mexican prison he is in and sent back to the United States.

This is so beyond acceptable, I didn’t even know where to begin the rant. Then it occurred to me that ranting and yelling at the TV will accomplish absolutely zero.

I am taking further action by asking everyone to contact the Mexican embassy in Washington DC and urge them to end this disaster NOW.

I will even make this easy to do:

For starters, please repost this, spread it around, and get it going.

You can copy and paste the letters below and email the Mexican embassy by clicking here http://embamex.sre.gob.mx/eua/index.php/en/contact-us

It is also preferred that you print both letters and snail mail them to the Mexican ambassador to the United States. Email is nice, but no one ever tripped over a bag of email.

The Spanish translation was done by a native speaker I personally know and trust. It has been verified for accuracy and protocol.

If you decide to write your own message, DO NOT: threaten, use sarcasm or cultural insults, criticize the Mexican government, or its system of justice, or its officials,  or give ultimatums.

Act respectfully, as if you are asking a very big favor from a powerful person, because that’s exactly what you are doing.

Being a jerk is  not going to solve the problem any faster and may in fact cause it to take longer.

The goal is to get Tahmooressi home. If that means kissing some ass, then I’m up for it.

Here are the English and Spanish letters: 

His Excellency Eduardo Medina Mora

The Ambassador of Mexico

1911 Pennsylvania Ave. NW

Washington, DC 20006 

UNITED STATES

 

Dear Mr. Ambassador:

I am a citizen of the United States contacting you regarding the urgent matter of United States Marine Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi.

On March 30, 2014, Sgt. Tahmooressi lost his way driving through southern California in the USA and by mistake drove into Mexico.

He was subsequently arrested by Mexican police for the three firearms he had in his vehicle.

The guns are legal in the United States; Tahmooressi made an honest mistake and meant to break no Mexican laws by entering your country with them. I feel his arrest and detention is unwarranted.

I am appealing to Mexico’s goodwill and traditionally positive relationship between our two nations to strongly request that you use the influence of your position to urge your government to release Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi back to the United States immediately.

Thank you, respectfully,

 

(type your name and contact info here)

*************************************************************

Estimado señor Embajador,

Soy un estadounidense americano contactandolo sobre el urgente problema del sargento estaudonidense llamado Andrew Tahmooressi.

En el dia 30 de marzo del 2014 el sargento Tahmooressi perdio su camino manejando sobre el sur de California en los Estados Unidos y por error entro en territorio Mexicano.

El, erroneamente fue arrestado por las autoridades mexicanas por traer 3 armas de fuego en su vehiculo.

Las armas de fuego estan registradas legalmente en los Estados Unidos; Tahmooressi cometio un error injustamente y nunca fue su intencion burlar las leyes civiles de Mexico por entrar al pais con las armas de fuego. Siento que su arresto es indebido y fuera de lugar.

Estoy apelando con el estado de Mexico y con la estraordinaria posicion que tienen con Estados Unidos para que por favor y con toda influenzia con su posicion puedan liberar al sargento Andrew Tahmooressi de regreso a los Estados Unidos de America immediatamente.

Con todo el respeto, les doy las gracias por su ayuda.

 

(insert your name and contact info here)

 

 

 

 

 

Andrew Tahmooressi Is A Victim Of Two Nations.

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by: Chris Warren.

My May 8 blog article was about the astonishingly disrespectful treatment of Marine Sargent Andrew Tahmooressi by the governments of Mexico and the United States. Tahmooressi made a wrong turn while out with friends in southern California, ended up in Mexico by mistake, and was arrested for the three guns he had in his truck. The firearms were legally owned in the United States but once in Mexico he found himself in a heap of trouble. The original story is available here.

I’m very sad to report that Andrew Tahmooessi’s situation has improved only in that he has been moved to a better prison, keeping in mind that when talking about Mexican prisons, “better” is a relative term.

Andrew_Tahmooressi_t250The State Department and the White House have finally acknowledged –after close to two months of silence– that they are aware of the circumstances around Sgt. Tahmooressi’s imprisonment. Maybe they were too busy granting amnesty to illegal Mexicans who sneak into the USA. Maybe they are wrapped up in spinning excuses to whitewash the murder of an American ambassador and three others in Banghazi, Libya as not such a big deal. Why Tahmooressi was blown off by his own Commander in Chief for so long doesn’t really matter because speculating and casting blame is not going to get the Marine back to the USA any sooner.

We have a Marine jailed in Mexico on baloney charges and a long list of foreign policy screw-ups involving Russia, China, and pretty much everywhere else. I can’t figure out if this is because the Obama administration is either stupid or just doesn’t care. It really is that black and white. There is no other logical explanation. This level of malfeasance cannot possibly be an honest oversight.

Is it really so hard to understand why the world is walking all over us? If you are a Muslim terrorist, how afraid are you of the United States hunting you down if you, oh, say, murder an American ambassador? China and Russia are doing whatever the hell they want with no American response beyond a “pretty please don’t do that”. They’re like teenagers who keep pushing the boundaries of deviant behavior because they know their spineless parents are all noise and no action.

Meanwhile, Tahmooressi’s been sitting in prison for close to two months and still has not even been given a court date. This is normal in Mexico, where there are no juries and no presumption of innocence. The judges set their own docket schedule and have a lot of latitude as to when a case will be tried. Some defendants wait over a year before ever setting foot in a courtroom.

I’ve signed the White House petition even though I’ve never been a believer in “point and click” activism. I’m at a loss as to what meaningful action I can personally take. It’s very difficult for me to believe that between President Obama and John Kerry absolutely nothing more can be done outside of the slow slog of nebulous diplomacy.

A news commentator cautiously proposed the idea that it’s possible there is more to this story than is being reported, implying that Tahmooressi may not be as innocent as he appears and Mexico has a good reason to detain him. Ok, fine. But if Mexico has evidence that Tahmooressi committed a real crime and is holding him for that reason, then they should bring it forward and settle the controversy.

For now, it’s not hard at all for me to accept without question the story of a decorated United States Marine over the stonewalling of a faceless foreign bureaucracy, and for that matter, sadly, the empty assurances of my own country. Once the injustice is fixed, what may never be made right is the leftover issue of why everyone from President Obama on down is so completely gutless and ineffective not only on international relations in general, but also on what should have been the simple matter of getting Tahmooressi out of jail.

I’m gratified that the case finally has the attention of the highest levels of government and I do believe the Marine will ultimately be released. It would have made me very happy to see this matter concluded before the Memorial Day holiday, but the Obama administration has other priorities. Sadly, the purpose of my original article is still in effect: The only acceptable outcome is the unconditional release of Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi.

Click here to sign the White House petition.

 

Nurses: We Should Care About The Caregivers.

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By: Chris Warren.

Late night phone calls almost never bring good news. Everyone has experienced being whacked out of a dead sleep by a ringing phone, and the first thought is, someone died. In a best-case scenario, it’s a wrong number. My blood pressure drops to pre-freak out levels and I roll over and go back to sleep. As a group, my circle of friends and family are emotionally stable and seldom require a late night consultation with anyone, much less the likes of me. So when the phone rings in the darkness and they are not calling with a death or serious injury notification, it’s not vanity. They’ve got my undivided attention.

When my foggy eyes focused on a squawking cellphone and I saw it was my friend Phil, I initially did not think much of it. Phil works odd hours and it’s not unusual for him to be up at 2:00 am. I thought he might be messing with me. I’ll be a good sport and play along. Instead of making me the victim of a prank, Phil was clearly upset and went into a no-limits explanation about how stressed out and unhappy he was at his job. The lack of management support, workplace politics, the weird schedule, physical demands, and the overload of work assignments were pulling him apart. This was not about one bad day. I could hear the hurt in his voice. Phil is not used to needing help. He’s always the guy giving it, usually to people who are very sick and suffering. Phil is a nurse.

When I was researching for this blog article and googled “job stress among…” the auto-fill listed “nurses” in second and fifth place. Google does nothing randomly. The more popular a search term is, the higher it lands on the list of suggested search options. That “nurses” claimed two of the top five results is not just evidence of it being a hot topic a lot of other people are interested in, it’s a symptom of a bigger problem.

Screen shot 2014-05-13 at 6.05.41 PM

Times are tough, jobs are hard to get, and everyone who is lucky enough to be employed is feeling the squeeze. So why should we care about nurses and their problems? Because job stress among them is so severe and widespread that it threatens patient care. This very thoroughly annotated article from 2013 documents a direct relationship between nurse job satisfaction and patient outcomes.

Most medical professionals have contact with a patient for a short amount of time and are focused on one aspect of treatment. Doctors, x-ray techs, therapists, and all the rest busily come and go, but nurses are there all the time, day and night. They face suffering, confrontational family members, uncooperative patients, juggling attention between several patients, making sure medications are administered and lab tests are completed. They deal with puke, blood, urine, crap (both kinds) and more and more often are physically assaulted by the people they are trying to help.

Nurses are the only constant human presence in what is usually a chaotic and frightening patient experience. It’s not nearly enough for a nurse to be technically skilled. They must also be gentle and have a cool head while giving hope to very sick people who are at a low point in their lives and may not be in a frame of mind to show gratitude. How are nurses supposed to do all that when they themselves are depressed and drained?

Unfortunately, not only is there is no Easy Street ahead, things are expected to get more difficult. Politics notwithstanding, no one on any side of the argument rationally believes the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) will make life better for healthcare workers. The new reality of “passing a law to find out what’s in it” is that a lot of what used to be done by doctors, such as basic exams and checkups, will now be delegated others, particularly nurses.

My sister in law is also a nurse and works full time traveling all over the country doing nothing but health screenings and wellness checks. I don’t think she has any idea how often she’s detected an early-stage, treatable condition and sent the patient to the doctor in time to save them from some horrible disease. I am certain there are many people who are alive and healthy today because they took her advice; there are probably also a few who are dead because they didn’t. She does her thing, then folds up her kit and jets off to the next stop. Her home life and personal free time is compromised because of the constant travel; the complete strangers she deals with every day may never appreciate what she gives up to help them avoid hurt and misery.

As upset as he is, Phil does not talk of leaving nursing. For the short term he is reaching out to other nurses for ad hoc group therapy. I wish I could be more supportive, but with no personal insight about the medical field or direct knowledge of his specific concerns, I’m of limited usefulness. I am close enough to the situation to understand why nurses do what they do. Even with all the job pressures, there are a lot of bright spots, perhaps the most meaningful is actually making a difference in a patient’s life. The satisfaction of being a key player in relieving suffering and helping someone recover and move on is priceless. Of course nurses have to earn a paycheck like all the rest of us, but believe me, if it was only about money, no one would ever become a nurse. There are a zillion easier ways to earn a living.

Since that late night phone call over a week ago, I’ve had daily conversations with Phil and am happy to report that he is feeling better and his outlook has improved. Through all this his desire to treat the sick was never even vaguely in doubt. We outsiders seldom if ever see the behind the scenes forces that drive nurses’ anguish. It’s not drama and they are not making it up. Their pain is as real as the high ranking google searches suggest.

Phil is the kind of nurse who will call into work on his off days to check up on “his” patients. He is the kind of nurse who will stay after his midnight shift ends because the emergency room sent up a late admission. He is the kind of nurse who, with his own time and money, reads medical books and attends training courses that are not required by his employer. Phil is the kind of nurse who prays to God for the welfare of sick people and those who care for them. I’m not exaggerating any of this to make a point; it all really happened and I’ve personally witnessed it. But here’s the kicker: Phil and my sister in law are not outliers. Nearly all nurses go twice past normal. This behavior is easy to find in a             humanitarian profession where being above average is average.

 

 

 

Marine Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi, The Good Neighbor.

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By: Chris Warren.

Editor’s note: I usually post a new blog article every Saturday, but due to the urgency of this week’s topic, I am moving my deadline up to Thursday. I hope by Saturday there will be positive news to report. 

I once had a “high maintenance” neighbor who was quick to ask for favors and help yet when any request was made of her would always have a reason why she could not come through. We would regularly mow her lawn, shovel her snow, and in one case lug out several old heavy appliances and muscle the new ones in. An older married couple in the neighborhood was particularly kind to this woman by providing her with free babysitting and handyman services around her house. The benefactor of their generosity repaid them with a weak excuse for not being able to do something as simple as pick up the mail while they were on vacation. This woman was not a horrible person, and not even a bad neighbor. But she had an inconsiderate manner and lack of grace and that made that her the type who no one would purposely choose to live near.

U.S. Marine Corps Sargent Andrew Tahmooressi was in southern California for medical treatment after serving two tours in Afghanistan. During the night of April 1, 2014 he was running a personal errand and by mistake lost his way on a dark road and ended up in Mexico. This might have been the makings of a funny “I should have made a left turn at Albuquerque” style crazy road trip story, but for Tahmooressi and those close to him, it was the beginning of a nightmare that is now in its second month.

What landed Tahmooressi in a Mexican prison was the three guns he had in his truck. He legally owned the firearms in the United States; instead of simply letting him turn around and go back down the road from which he came, the Mexican authorities arrested him for “gun running”.

This is not the first time an American service member has been sucked into the vortex of the Mexican justice system because of simple misunderstandings that could have and should have been quickly resolved at the scene, or at most within a day or two. Mexico seems to have a penchant for drama and goes out of its way to turn any little transgression into an international incident. This is the same Mexico that not only does nothing about thousands of illegal immigrants pouring over its border into the United States every year, but expects the US to give them immunity from deportation, eligibility for public services, and all the trappings and rights enjoyed by everyone who came here by the rules.

That is the logic of our mostly respectable but very one-sided neighbor: Mexican citizens who willfully and deliberately enter the United States in violation of our laws should be given a pass but if an honest American mistakenly wanders out of his own yard, he is given zero consideration, tossed in a notoriously nasty prison, and treated in a way that would give immigration activists a coronary if a Mexican detained in the U.S was given the same deal.

The U.S. State Department and the White House have remained faithful to the effete foreign relations philosophy that has become a hallmark of the Obama administration by being predictably coy about the whole mess, saying only that they are looking into it or some such pablum. As of Monday, May 4, over a month into this horror movie comes alive, a State Department spokesperson would not comment on the matter due to “privacy reasons” or even acknowledge if Secretary of State John Kerry was aware of Sgt. Tahmooressi’s situation.

Fortunately, public pressure is mounting; the White House and Secretary Kerry will not be able to hide behind their spokespeople for much longer. Kerry is scheduled to make a previously planned visit to Mexico on May 21 (and conveniently unavailable to testify before a Congressional hearing on the terror attack in Benghazi, but that’s a separate blog article) and the only acceptable excuse for not bringing  Sgt. Tahmooressi back with him would be because the Marine was already released.

As a goodwill gesture for the mountain of generosity the USA has shown Mexico, freeing Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi and returning all his personal possessions including the guns should be a no-brainer. It does not benefit Mexico to keep him and it involves zero cost or effort to let him go. But like my old neighbor who enjoyed the kindness of others and then had the nerve to act put upon when a very simple reciprocation was asked of her, Mexico exists in its own realm of one-way relationships.

The United States is owed a deep apology for this, but simply getting our Marine back would be good enough. I am demanding that the Mexican government immediately and without conditions free Sargent Andrew Tahmooressi, USMC, return his personal property, and assure his safe passage back to American soil.

 

B.C. (Before Cellphones).

COMMENTARY

 

By: Chris Warren.

While visiting my brother’s family a few weeks ago, my seven year old nephew volunteered to “help” pick up some pizza I bought for the kids. He thinks my jeep is totally badass and was excited about going on a little road trip. As we rolled along, he gave me a look of sincerity that only a child old can pull off and asked, “Where is the button to open the window?” My jeep is a bare-bones mode of transport, and he could not wrap his young brain around the concept of rolling the window down by hand. I likewise did not get very far trying to explain the stick shift transmission and lack of power door locks. The interaction encapsulated the stark if not humorous differences between generations and how they embrace or resist technology.

People in my age group have a unique perspective: We are young enough to accept new technologies, yet old enough to know what it was like before they existed. Less than ten years ago I was buying at least one and sometimes three newspapers every day, and subscribed to about half a dozen magazines too. Once I got a smart phone all that ended. I haven’t bought three newspapers in the last few years, and the only magazine I get is one that comes included with my membership in an organization. The thirty bucks or whatever it is I pay for the data plan on my phone is more than offset by all the periodicals I’m no longer buying. I am still an anachronism compared to guys like my nephew: He will probably go through his entire life having never read a printed newspaper.

At the other end of the scale, my retired parents still have a “dead tree edition” newspaper delivered to their door every morning. It does not impress them that they already pay for an internet connection offering infinitely greater choices and more timely information. One of my Dad’s favorite gripes is that the weather report is never correct. I’ve tried, with zero success, to explain that one of the reasons the newspaper weather report is always off is because it’s already twelve-plus hours old when the paper hits the porch. Mom & Dad are from an era when newspapers had a morning and evening edition. I spend a few minutes reviewing the news on line before leaving for work each morning, and I use my phone to update myself a few times a day. Print media has been in a death spiral for years and it’s squeaking by only because of people like my parents. I don’t know a single person in my age group or below who regularly reads a newspaper.

If it’s true young people take well to technology, then it’s not much of a reach to conclude they are least able to live without it. Teenagers are constantly staring into their phones because, well, they are not capable of going more than ten minutes without checking in with their friends. I can’t smack them around too much on this one, though: I too am lost in the little screen a lot more than I’d care to admit. In the business world the reasons may be more legitimate but the addiction is just as bad. There no longer is such a thing as being “out of the office”. My boss expects me to be responsive and there are very few acceptable excuses for not being available.

It seems that for every new annoyance technology creates, an old annoyance is eliminated. And I think most of the new annoyances are not inherent to the technology, but rather, how it’s used. In another time all my great words would have been generated on a typewriter, on paper, then sent to a publisher…assuming I could convince a publisher I had something worth printing. This blog is created with a Macbook and Open Office, and through the magic of the internet I am my own publisher, how many readers I have notwithstanding. I miss the IBM Selectric and White Out days like I’d miss stomach flu. If you were born too late to use an IBM Selectric or White Out (or don’t even know what they are), say a little prayer of thanks.

beigeselectric

Those of us who are old enough to have lived through the transition to the internet and a techno-centric society can see it both ways: It’s great to have cool features on cars but we miss the days when cars were low tech enough to work on without plugging them into a laptop. We love our smart phones but at times resent the expectation that we remain constantly in touch with everyone in our circle. Electronic banking is easy and efficient but there’s security risks. And everyone is concerned about more and more government snooping into every little thing we do. Modern life offers plenty to love and plenty to hate.

The stress of resisting technology is greater than the stress of accepting it. I realize that’s a hard reality to grasp when sitting on hold lost in the special hell of “press one for billing, press two for sales,” but as someone who has had the dual experience of having to run to deposit a paper check in the bank before they close at 1:00 pm on Saturday (and then wait until Tuesday for it to post) versus depositing it electronically through my phone at 10:00 pm Sunday night and seeing the updated balance in real time, I can say with complete assurance that modern conveniences solve more problems than they create.

Guys like me are nostalgic for the straightforward simplicity of the old days, even if those days weren’t so long ago, while at the same time recognizing that iPads and high definition TV and zippy internet is pretty cool, even if they don’t always work flawlessly. The gadgets and gizmos give me more “screw this!” moments than I would care to endure; my rage tempered by a Zen-like moment to affirm that I would not enjoy going back to buying newspapers every day and balancing my checkbook by hand –oh wait– I don’t use checks anymore! People like my parents are understandably given some deference due to their age. As for me and my peers, we don’t feel too old to try new things, but we are old enough to remember a time when not having so many of contemporary life’s bells and whistles wasn’t all that bad.

 

 

earth day 2016

Earth Day Should Not Have A Reason To Exist.

COMMENTARY, , , , , , , ,

By: Chris Warren.

Editor’s note: This article was originally posted on April 19, 2014. We are reposting it for Earth Day 2015 with a few edits and updates.

I’m going to say up front that today’s blog article is not going to be a conservative hit piece on Earth Day, nor will it be a sappy New Age love song about windmills and composting. As someone who has been a strict vegetarian for close to three decades, incorporates numerous meaningful green practices into his life, and is gun-toting, flag-waving Libertarian (which is not the same as a liberal), I feel I have an understanding of this issue that belies the absolute left and right attitudes that define it.

April 22 is Earth Day, and for political liberals, leftover hippies, and various eco-activist groups, it’s a High Holy Day. Started by flower children in 1970 on the momentum of anti-Vietnam counterculture, Earth Day has evolved into a slick, professionally organized international media spectacle complete with its own website and corporate sponsors. Like all things liberal, Earth Day is heavy on shallow sentimentality, squishy platitudes, and calls for “investments” in green projects (taxescoughtaxes). The real message: We simpletons need big government liberalism to save us from our own stupid. And like all things conservative, Earth Day is an opportunity for overt mockery and to dismiss environmentalism out of hand, because in the Orthodox Church of “drill, baby, drill!” it’s apostasy to even hint that the green movement has a legitimate point buried in there somewhere, especially if it interferes with making a lot of money.

I absolutely do believe in a clean environment and the premise behind Earth Day. I also have a big issue with advancing the cause via rules and edicts that make for good press releases but never achieve their intended goal. I’ve spent a lot of time arguing with myself over how to resolve my conviction that we need to stop trashing the planet against my conservative sensibilities of resisting at every chance an egalitarian nanny state that, especially regarding environmental policy, regulates our lives down to the ridiculous, up to and including federal standards for…shower heads?

Years before recycling became fashionable, I was lugging magazines and aluminum cans down from my 12th floor college dorm to a recycling center on the other side of campus. Back then, recycling required considerable dedication and muscle. As one can guess, hardly anyone bothered. Today, recycling is as straightforward as placing recyclables at the curb where they are picked up along with garbage. My neighborhood even has entrepreneurially-minded scrappers who will scoop up discarded appliances, hot water heaters, bikes, BBQ grills, and whatever metallic waste suburbia tosses away. I don’t know how much money they make, but it must be pretty good because there are more than one of them patrolling the streets competing for junk every week. In many locales, recycling has developed to the point that there aren’t any good excuses not to do it.

Renewable energy is one area that has made considerable progress but is still a long way from being a real game changer. Even with tax incentives and subsidies (which I have a problem with), the bang for the buck is just not there. I will be well into retirement before my roof full of solar panels pay themselves off. Fortunately for me, my motivations are not solely about money. For most, the start up costs of green energy for individual use is well beyond the budget. Germany is often held up as a proud example of a “successful” national renewable energy program, but the rationalization works only if affordability is taken out of the equation.

For the Germans, solar energy may be an environmental win but it is collapsing as a business model due in no small part to regulatory overreach and meddling. Progressives here in the United states have been trying for years, but they cannot come up with a talking point that gets them over the mountain of government incompetence. Green energy will never evolve beyond the fringe unless it becomes cost effective, and it will never be cost effective without free market-based energy policy. The environmental movement will never, ever embrace this simple truth. They run their mouths about how the US should emulate Germany’s example while completely blowing off the ugly fact that it is breaking the bank.

A recurring theme in my blog is making fun of the left for doing things just to feel good. It’s not an unfair criticism: A major piece of liberal dogma is that good intentions and feelings are a valid substitute for reality and actual results. But here’s where I split with conservatives: While liberals are all about being warm and happy even if nothing gets done, conservatives seem to be of the attitude that the value of something is proportional to the amount of difficulty and sacrifice needed to do it. Or to put it another way, if something is enjoyable it’s either not worth doing or you are not working hard enough. Some of the most pissed off, bitter people I know are conservative, possibly because they have forgotten that life can’t always be about that hard journey going for the gold. But what if I can do something that really does produce results and I can feel good about it…what’s wrong with that?

Unfortunately, most of what passes as “environmentalism” is really just fluff. Earth Day will have plenty of celebrity appearances and petition signings and resurrected Joni Mitchell songs. Within twenty four hours everyone will go back to what they were doing before. They have conned themselves into thinking they are environmentalists because they plop a blue bin full of junk mail at the end of the driveway every week. Toss in an annual one day feel good retro hippy trip and they are completely sold on the hustle. I don’t know what’s worse: Liberals who pretend to be environmentalists with their hollow showmanship or conservatives who never claimed to care in the first place.

I no longer accept the idealism of my youth that had me thinking I could singlehandedly save the world one aluminum can at a time. But it is within my reach to save my little slice of this big huge planet. Decades out of college dorm life, I’m still recycling. I’ve also been on solar panels for a while. They aren’t enough to run the whole house, but I can produce a significant chunk of my electricity with them. When I switched to a vegetarian diet 27 years ago, it was not for environmental reasons. Since then I’ve learned a lot about how dirty and energy-intensive meat production really is, and how many thousands of gallons of water are needed to produce just one pound of beef. I work only a little over a mile from where I live; some weeks I rack up less than 25 miles on my vehicles. When the weather is good I get around on a motorcycle. These are things I do all the time, not just for display purposes. I don’t wear my environmentalism on my sleeve and people who do annoy the hell out of me, especially since most of them are pretenders.

Those of us who live our lives as if every day were Earth Day are a little vexed about the concept of waiting for a special occasion to take positive action towards keeping the planet clean, nor do we feel a need to show off how “green” we are. True Earth Day practitioners divorce themselves from the fad of environmentalism and go quietly about their eco-friendly business. It’s a lifestyle, not a hobby or a holiday. Conservatives will be pleased to know that when done properly it requires effort and is often a challenge; liberals can be assured that in the end, yes, it feels good. In a truly honorable world, there would be no need to reserve a spot on the calendar to commemorate what everyone should have been doing the whole time anyway.

Editor’s note: For previous articles about the energy and the environment, please check out “The Linguistics of Climate Change” and “Solar Energy Gives Us The Power to Feel Good.” 

Editor’s note: This article was originally posted on April 19, 2014. We are reposing it for Earth Day 2015 with a few edits and updates. 

 

 

 

A Suburban White Boy’s Escape Plan.

COMMENTARY

By: Chris Warren

Before World War II, everyone either lived in the city or in the country. There was no in between. The post war industrial (and baby) boom, along with faster and more reliable transportation fostered conditions for people who wanted out of crowded cities, but were not willing to live in the sticks, to settle for a very attractive compromise. The suburbs were born. At face value it’s a total win-win: Most of the big city amenities and fresh air and wide open spaces and good schools and low crime. In the beginning, farmland near cities could be bought for cheap and replanted with very nice albeit repetitive mass produced “cookie cutter” housing. The ‘burbs did not have much character, but they were affordable, clean, and safe.

In the decades since, the suburbs have become small scale versions of the metropolises they were intended to be an escape from. They have upscale shopping, nightlife, entertainment venues attracting big talent, all the goodies, and in some cases crime and traffic jams. It’s no longer necessary to go to the big city to find cool things to do. Somewhere along the line, they took the sub out of suburban.

I grew up in a very clean, decent, safe, friendly community. The schools and local government are highly effective and there is nowhere in the town I would be afraid to walk through at night. It’s a perfectly respectable place. Now I’m seriously looking into eventually relocating to a rural area in a Southern gulf or Western state. I’ve blogged before (here and here) about the “thin veneer of civilization.” My quaint and comfortable existence is one terrorist attack or financial collapse from becoming a third world hellhole (see also, Detroit). As much as I like my neighbors, I do not want to support them when society implodes, and I certainly do not want to fight with them for whatever resources are left, especially if the resources are my private stock.

When I mention my plan to others, I typically get funny “why don’t you want to stay?”  type stares followed by the usual arguments for hanging around: It’s clean and safe, there’s lots of shops and stores, there’s good medical facilities, yadda yadda yadda. Yes, I get it. Everything they say is true. I think their defensiveness comes from a false sense that my wanting to leave is an affront on their choice to stay. As I’ve said many times, It’s a lovely place, really! There’s no need to defend it. The other and probably main motivation for my wishful exodus is much more basic: I’ve spent my entire life as a suburban white boy. Now I want something else, somewhere else. Getting out of here is a long term goal that may take another decade or more to achieve, if it’s achieved at all. I’m not completely certain where this plan will take me but I’m sure that I do not want to die in suburbia.

It’s not lost on me that rural living comes with compromises, some of them substantial. A lot of the infrastructure of society that is assumed in urban areas is deliberately excluded for the country folk. Along with probably having a well instead city water and a county sheriff instead of local cop, I can forget about a pizza in thirty minutes, good cell coverage, fast (any?) broadband, and running to the store for every little thing. Maybe I’m nuts: I see living in a trailer set in the middle of a bunch of acres as a net-plus. In exchange for big city amenities I get tons and tons of space, and with space comes freedom!

I want to enjoy my ham radio hobby with no concerns for aesthetics…tons of antennas and wire and hardware all over my roof. I want to sit on my back deck and and shoot my guns. I want to find an old dirtbike and make my own little motocross track on the property. I want a big garage where I can mess with my machines and have an electronics/radio shop too. If any family or friends fall on hard times, all they have to do is show up dragging a trailer behind them. I’ll have the means to supply a patch of dirt for them to plop down on without feeling crowded in myself. There will be plenty of fresh air and sunshine to go around. And speaking of sunshine, I need enough space for the solar panels I’ll use to power the place. When (not if) the cities become unglued and society starts regressing to chaos, I’ll be far away from all of it and hopefully situated well enough to come out the other side in one piece.

Are the give-ups worth it? It depends on what one considers a give up. Not having decent pizza for an hour in any direction is something I can probably live with but having to drive an hour to see a dentist or get a fan belt for my truck is not a minor hassle. Any major life event comes with a level of uncertainty. Who has ever changed jobs, bought a house, got married, or had a baby without thinking, even fleetingly, that they were making a huge mistake? Never having a moment’s hesitation or always wanting to rush a decision solely to end the discomfort of having to decide is in itself a red flag. It indicates a lack of seriousness, which turns an educated decision where risk is at least understood if not mitigated into a gamble where risk is the only factor in play. Indeed, there are no “educated decisions” being made in a casino. The very long odds of striking it rich are the same for everyone in the place no matter how much they’ve all bullshit themselves into believing they have figured out how to game the system. Taking the same approach to real life issues yields the same chance results. As strongly as I feel pulled out of the suburbs, there is the counterbalance of good judgement telling me to be completely self aware that what I’m what I’m gaining is worth more than what I’m giving up.

As much as I belabor on about carefully thinking everything through, at some point it’s time to stop pondering and start doing. Or, conclude that it’s best to stay where I am and be happy with it. Either way, the cycle of beating my head against the wall cannot roll on forever. Life changes (relationship, baby, job, etc.) sometimes make these decisions for us. I am fully cognizant that I may someday make a big leap out to the country only to discover that even after doing all my homework and calculating the minutiae, the life is not for me. Sigh. It’s better to try and fail then to not try at all and spend the rest of my life wondering what if.