Heroes

            "True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost."           

            This quote is from Arthur Ashe, an inspirational hero himself for his personal performance on and off the tennis court. Well, the other day I met three people who fit Ashe's description of heroism.

            The occasion was a dinner party for Colonel Patrick Hynes who had just returned from his latest tour in Afghanistan. Since graduating from West Point in 1991 he has been on multiple assignments, including eight deployments to combat zones. There is hardly any room on his uniform to display all his ribbons, awards, and medals, including two Bronze Stars. He is now on a high level training assignment at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF) from which he no doubt will emerge a brigadier general. This is a true hero in my eyes. His dedication, his commitment, and his years of service to his country reflect his urge to serve others at whatever cost.

            The second hero I met was his wife Eleni. When I asked her how many times she has had to move over the years, she started counting, but gave up after nine. "Only a life lived for others is worth living," said Albert Einstein. Eleni is the one who has had to pack up the kids and the dog whenever duty called her husband. Except that many of her moves were to a home filled with worry, loneliness, and the burden of going on without her partner. Einstein would have agreed that her life meets his definition of a life worth living.

            The third hero is a lady named Dolores who has a small flag with two red stars hanging in her dining room window. The stars represent her two sons who are active military. One is Patrick, the other his brother Kevin, whom I would like to meet someday. Kevin is an Army captain and a JAG officer with his own record of deployments to combat zones.

            No man can fully know the heart of a mother who sends two sons off to war. I surely can't. I can only recall what Joshua Chamberlain said: "Heroism is latent in every human soul, however humble or unknown." He was referring to the veterans who served under him at Gettysburg. He could have just as well have been thinking about their mothers.

            Heroes have a thousand faces. I feel privileged to know three of them.

A High Five

            In my recent blog on my visit to Austria, I did not mention an incident that stuck in my mind and led me to thinking about things.

            One late afternoon I was standing on a corner in Salzburg waiting with fellow tourists for our tour bus. Nearby was a group of young school girls waiting for a local bus. They appeared to be only mildly curious about us, which is understandable in this city flooded with tourists at this time of year..

            I was wearing a tell-tale tourist get-up: shorts, collared shirt, sneakers, and a camera around my neck. But one of the girls noticed something else about me:  my favorite navy blue cap with the big, red "B" on the front. With the joy of recognition in her eyes, she walked up to me and pointed to my hat. "Boston Red Sox," she exclaimed. I nodded and smiled. Then she raised her right hand and slapped me a High Five.

            Citizens of Red Sox Nation are everywhere in this country. I'm used to having people recognize my hat, even in North Carolina. But I was surprised that it enabled me to make a connection with an Austrian school girl.

            This made me think about ways to connect with others, especially those who might not share my love of baseball, jazz, or history. I can think of any number of ways to break the ice with a stranger or with a new neighbor. But at the extreme end of the human spectrum, how would I connect with a jihadist who would kill me if he could? Or a drug dealer who would poison a child for profit? Or a trafficker in human slaves?       

            The inescapable fact is that there are a lot of bad people in this world. Connecting with them might be impossible. On the other hand, one might argue that there is some good in everyone, even in the face of utter depravity, corruption, and inhumanity. If one can choose evil, can't one also choose good?

            "Why can't we all get along?" asked Rodney King. Indeed, why can't the best and the worst of us find something to High-Five each other about, even if it's something as unimportant as a Red Sox cap? It would be a beginning.

            Can a Child show the way?

           

Tone-Deaf in Washington

            Is Washington completely tone-deaf?

            The country is broke, but Washington continues to spend more money than it takes in. The CBO estimates that our debt, which now equals 40% of GDP, will eclipse our entire economy in less than ten years. That means we will soon be bankrupt if we don't change our ways. Yet, here were recent headlines in our media:

            "Leading House Democrats Say Social Security Cuts Are a Non-Starter." And any suggestions to the contrary, I suppose, mean that Republicans want to shove grandma over the cliff.

            "Dems Call for Stimulus in Debt Deal." You gotta be kidding. After wasting close to a trillion dollars in Obama's first stimulus, Democrats want to spend more on programs like Cash for Clunkers? And that's even after Obama admitted, jokingly, that there had been fewer shovel-ready programs than he thought.

            "Lawmakers Grumble over Secret Biden Talks." Have we forgotten the backroom deal that shoved Obamacare down our throats? Already we hear that there won't be enough time to analyze the "Biden deal" before voting on raising the debt ceiling.

            "Families with Income up to $63,000 Eligible for Medicaid." Speaker Pelosi said we needed to pass Obamacare to find out what's in it. Well, now we're finding out.

            "The Tide of War Is Receding." The President is withdrawing 10,000 troops from Afghanistan this summer and another 30,000 next September when fighting is at its peak, but just in time to influence elections. The decision pleases nobody, not those who want us out of Afghanistan now, not the ones who want to stay as long as it takes to win, and certainly not the generals who have advised otherwise. Oh, but the Taliban is pleased, of course, to know what our plans are. Meanwhile, the war in Afghanistan is costing us $6.7 billion a month.

            "Jacob Zuma Snubs Michelle Obama." The First Lady is drawing raves from the mainstream media for her goodwill visit to Africa. But the President of South Africa had it right. He saw her trip for what it really was: another vacation (remember Mexico and Spain). Let's tell it like it is. The highlight of Michelle Obama's trip wasn't a meeting with Nelson Mandela, but a private safari in Botswana. Why else would she take along her daughters, her mother, and her nephew and niece, not to mention an entourage of aides and fawning media? And at what cost to the American taxpayer?

            Haven't we had enough of tone-deaf lawmakers in Congress and royal pretenders in the White House?

           

Lessons from Austria

            Travel abroad can be a great educational experience, especially when it opens our eyes to other cultures. On a recent trip that included a few days in Austria, I came away with some lasting impressions.

            I was struck by the apparent affluence of the population, no doubt fueled by an unemployment rate of 4.5%. Everybody who wants to work has a job. Austria has done some good things for its economy, like joining the European Union, which gave it free access to European markets, and privatizing industry, which has made the country more competitive.

            Austria's affluence shows. Vienna, the capital and largest city, is booming. Since 1990, when I last visited it, the city has added a ring of modern industrial complexes. But it is still the center of the city that reflects its vitality. Tourism represents 10% of Austria's economy, and Vienna has a major share of it, because it has so much to offer its visitors. Hotels, restaurants, hundreds of cafes offering a unique variety of coffees and pastries, museums, concert halls, parks, palaces, churches, and architectural wonders, all contribute to the city's appeal.

            Little things, too. Like a clean, modern subway system with electronic boards that show arrival times and intervals. Like clean streets that are closed to vehicular traffic after 10:30 in the morning. Like public toilets that are clean and free of loiterers (because you must pay a small fee to use them). Like bicycle lanes for a slim and trim population that frowns on indolence. I did see a few tattoos and some nose studs, but no sagging pants or knee-length T-shirts. I heard church bells and strains of Mozart and Strauss, but not a single vibrating boom box.

            Still, there are some disturbing signs: an aging population with a negative growth rate largely supplemented by Muslim immigration; labor unions that are dedicated to perpetuating unproductive work rules; a government addicted to socialist welfare policies; and an increasingly secular population that has seen a drop in churchgoers from 90% to under 40% in fifty years. I have to wonder if these are the seeds of self-destruction.

            On Austria's superb no-speed-limit highways, you can see one brand new car after another whizzing by at speeds up to and over 100 miles per hour. I wonder if this is not the perfect metaphor for a country enjoying the best of everything while waiting for a fatal crash to happen.

            We could learn something from that.

Friend or Foe

            "Let me be clear." This is how President Obama prefaces his remarks when he wants to make sure we don't misunderstand what he is about to say. Well, remarks he uttered in several speeches during the week of May 16th make it clear where he stands on Israel.

            Since the Six-Day War in 1967 between Israel and its neighbors, American policy stated by every president since Lyndon Johnson has been that Israel need not return the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and the Gaza strip to Arab control or to repatriate Palestinian refugees. President Obama has now reversed that policy.

            To his credit, Prime Minister Netanyahu said to the most powerful man in the world, right to his face and in front of the cameras for all the world to see and hear, "That will not happen." Bravo.

            Oblivious to the crushing deficits he has promoted, President Obama that week also declared that the United States would provide billions in additional aid to the Palestinians and the Arabs of North Africa. These are the same people who cheered in the streets after 9/11, the same people who support Hezbollah, Fatah, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood in their midst,  organizations that openly advocate the destruction of Israel and America. 

            This was the same week that Obama focused all the attention on himself when speaking about the killing of bin Laden. Yet leaks keep coming out of Washington that make us suspect that Obama withheld approval of the action for weeks for fear of offending his Muslim friends. On the eve of the action, with everything ready and the CIA and the Pentagon pressing him for action, the president still needed to sleep on it. It may very well be that the decision was made for him while he slept. If true, that would have been a gift to the president: had the action failed, he could have blamed his advisors for usurping his authority. When it succeeded, he was able to take credit for the fateful decision, while the others obviously could not.

            Finally, evidence surfaced that week that Iran and Hezbollah helped al Qaeda in planning the attacks on September 11, 2001, and in facilitating the hijackers' training and travel. This is the same Iran that Obama chooses to "engage" rather than confront, the same Iran that crushed a popular rebellion that cried out for support from a silent Obama. It is also the same Iran whose first nuclear plant is expected to be operational in a matter of weeks, bringing it that much closer to having nuclear weapons.

            Israel had stated repeatedly that it cannot permit Iran to have nuclear weapons. If Israel is forced to act unilaterally against Iran, will it have the backing of the United States? I don't know. But I am reminded of the old adage that a friend of my friend is my friend, and the friend of my enemy is my enemy. Israel has every right to ask Obama: Whose friend are you?  

           

The Facts about Nuclear Energy

         

            Ever since the Fukushima nuclear disaster, any mention of nuclear plants in this country, whether existing or planned, is met with hysterical rants from anti-nukes and uninformed environmentalists. This calls for a re-examination of the facts.

            To put it simply, of the three major sources of electricity in this country (coal, gas, and nuclear account for 90%), nuclear energy is the cleanest, most cost effective, and  safest source of power we have. Let's take one point at a time.          

            First, I have never understood why environmentalists who rail against emissions of CO2 by coal and gas-fired plants haven't become big supporters of nuclear energy, which emits none. We have 104 operating nuclear plants in this country, and they produce clean, emission-free energy. Period.

            Second, nuclear energy is also cost effective. It takes six to eight billion dollars to build a nuclear plant, but once it is built, it requires only basic maintenance; we have plants that have been in operation for over forty years and will continue to operate long into the future. The fuel itself, uranium, is plentiful and cheap; moreover, if the Japanese figure out how to extract it from seawater economically (they're working on it), we could have enough uranium to meet our needs for the next thousand years.

            Electricity produced by nuclear plants is probably the cheapest of all. France learned this lesson years ago when it built 59 nuclear plants that provide 80% of its electricity at a cost that is among the lowest in the world. In fact, France produces so much electricity from its nuclear plants, it sells its excess to other countries. We could learn from France's example.

            Third, U.S. nuclear power plants are very safe. Our first nuclear power plant was started in 1958. Since then, the U.S. has built 132. In addition, the Navy has put 140 nuclear-powered ships out to sea. None of these plants or ships, not even Three-Mile Island, has ever caused a single death due to a nuclear accident. Compare that to the record of the coal industry, for instance. Yet, vocal and influential anti-nuke groups have managed to get the number of power plants reduced to 104 and have effectively prevented the building of new ones for decades.

            Another concern brought up by opponents is the problem of storing spent nuclear fuel. This is no problem for the French who recycle spent fuel. But Jimmy Carter thought that stored plutonium waiting to be recycled presented a security risk, so he opted for permanent storage of nuclear waste. The Yucca Mountain storage facility became a perfectly adequate solution. But Nevada's Senator Reid didn't want nuclear waste in his back yard so he called in a favor from President Obama, and the president obliged by cancelling Yucca Mountain. So much for playing politics with nuclear fuel. But another solution is available.

            There are enormous salt domes beneath Texas and New Mexico. In fact, one of these domes in Carlsbad, New Mexico, has been used for 12 years as a repository for defense transuranic waste material from our nuclear weapons program. Steel casks containing the waste are buried deep in a salt dome, and the heat from the radioactive waste causes a melting of the salt, a process called plastic deformation. The salt surrounds the casks and seals them. Unfortunately, this solution would make the nuclear waste very expensive and impractical to retrieve, if we ever changed our minds about that. Yucca Mountain, on the other hand, was designed for retrievability for 100 years. So much for the $12 billion of taxpayer money already invested in Yucca Mountain.

          This is just another piece of evidence that our country's energy policy is weak, muddled,  confused, and politicized. It is high time we put a lid on venal politicians and hysterical anti-nukes, and become enthusiastic advocates for clean, efficient, and safe nuclear energy.

             

Oil Policy Madness

            Madness. This is the only word that adequately describes the energy policy of this administration.

            With gas prices at the pump  going up daily, Obama's solution is to investigate oil companies for fraud. Is he really that clueless?

            Fraud is not the problem. It's a question of supply and demand. But President Obama doesn't understand that.

            In 1970 the United States was producing 9.6 million barrels of oil a day and importing 3.16 million barrels. Today it is still producing over 9 million barrels, but importing 11.3 million barrels a day.  

            It doesn't take a genius to figure out that we need to produce more. But our leader said in a recent speech, "Even if we increase domestic oil production, that is not going to be the long-term solution to our energy challenge." No? What is? Windmills and solar shingles? Can he be so totally uninformed? Or has he gone mad?

            President Obama has said that our country has only 21 billion barrels of oil, about 2% of the world's proven oil reserves. He's right. But his numbers don't include technically recoverable off shore reserves, ANWAR, and the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota, all of which total some 134 billion barrels. Plus it doesn't include another 30 billion barrels in the Chukchi Sea off the west coast of Alaska.

            So what has the administration been doing about recovering all that oil? It has maintained a de facto moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico; it has denied oil leases for drilling off the east and west coasts; it has persisted in blocking production in ANWAR. And now comes the best of all.

            In 2008 the United States auctioned off leases to the Chukchi oil fields for $2.6 billion. Shell Oil alone spent another $2 billion during its pre-drill exploratory phase. That was under the Bush administration. But in 2010, with Obama running the country, environmental groups sued and a federal judge agreed to halt exploration pending a more complete environmental statement. Oil companies complied, but now the EPA has blocked the appeal, stating, among other things, that oil companies ignored--GET THIS--the potential effects of carbon dioxide emissions from ice breakers on nearby communities.

            The nearest inhabitants are 70 miles away in the village of Kaktovik, population 245.

             "Know Thine Enemy." We know it very well. It is not the oil companies: It is the EPA, and it is holding our president prisoner in the White House of Madness.