JULIUS C. WILLIS JR: Our World, Today!

Life of a Palestinian boy

Secretary of State John Kerry has brokered a deal where Israelis and Palestinians will sit and discuss a future of peace in the Middle East. As in the past, the effort will end up in no peace at all because all the talk will miss the real issue.

The real issue for Palestinians is not “recognition” – recognizing Israel and being recognized in return as an independent state – or “territory” – having jurisdiction and sovereign power over their land and allowing the same for the Israelis – but the way of life for the Palestinian people.

Living on the run in Palestine

The real issue in the Middle East is the hope of the Palestinian people to live a life as productive and respectable as any other people in the world. The Palestinian people are as hard-working and talented as any other. Palestinians don’t want to blow themselves up for a cause, they want to be partners with the rest of the world in the provision of goods and services and in ministering to the needs of their fellow men.

The only employers in the Gaza and West Bank territories are the two Palestinian “governments” – Hamas and Fatah. The unemployment rates are 26% in Gaza and 25% in the West Bank; in Israel it is a mere 5.6%. A Palestinian would risk his or her life just to be able to live in any other place in the world.

For Secretary Kerry to succeed in his mission, he must see to it that Palestine becomes a nation of factory workers and farmers, lawyers and doctors, athletes and entertainers, and a nation of peace-loving people.

Lawyer Angelo Valencia

If anyone deserves the Nobel Peace Prize it is Kuya Pultak, the Philippines corporate lawyer who, in 2011, started a community effort known in that country as a bayanihan to build school houses and classrooms in the remotest areas of the country.  Kuya Pultak in Filipino means “bald older brother” and lawyer Angelo Valencia takes it in the context of Philippine culture, an honor to be so named.

Angelo Valencia’s campaign is called “Klassroom Ng Pagasa” (Classroom of Hope) and to this date – less than three years since it started – has built 34 classrooms throughout the archipelago. What makes it noteworthy is that all the classrooms are built in areas where there are no schools and where children would be sitting behind desks for the first time in their lives.

The New Mt. Pulag Classroom

Because of the popularity of his efforts, Valencia’s movement has now drawn hundreds of volunteer workers and, more importantly, corporate sponsors. Some civic organizations and government agencies have likewise pitched in.

As it is in the old Philippine bayanihan, there is no organizational “hierarchy” – Klassroom Ng Pagasa is made up of hundreds of people working together to help provide an education to the nation’s hope of the future. Except for Kuya Pultak, who leads them on.

Ken Crow and Sarah Palin

The kind of thinking like that of Ken Crow and his fellow Tea Party of America folk only reveals how shallow and narrow-minded they are. It’s so pitiful that at this time and age there are still people who believe in the superiority of their race, not realizing that every race and creed on earth has its strong and weak points and that only in an integrated community could man excel.

The Huffington Post reports (July 19) that GOP lawmakers got together in Washington to “rail against an immigration reform bill” that was passed by a bipartisan Senate earlier in the month. At the so-called rally, Ken Crow – cofounder of the Tea Party – spoke about “breeding” and “racial purity.” He is reported to have said that White Americans emerge from the blood lines of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and John Smith and “when you learn about breeding, you learn that you cannot breed Secretariat to a donkey and expect to win the Kentucky Derby.” He then added: “You guys have incredible DNA and don’t forget it.”

Didn’t Charles Darwin propose that Ken Crow descended from a donkey, or an ass?

Ex-congresswoman Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann easily outclasses Sarah Palin when it comes to making seemingly incoherent statements that appear meant to impress rather than convince.

MINNPOST (Friday, July 12) reports that at an event in Elk River, Minnesota, Bachmann said “The No. 1 reason we are failing to see more jobs being created is because of the president’s health care plan.” At no time did she bother to explain how the Affordable Care Act prevents jobs from being created.

In another tirade, Bachmann is reported to say “We have a problem right now in granting amnesty to illegal aliens.” It must have been unclear to her listeners what the basis the statement is, since no illegal aliens have been or are being granted amnesty. Later, without explaining the cap-and-trade “agenda” and its relationship to a coal plant shutdown, she is said to claim: “The cap-and-trade agenda just this last week shut down a coal-fired plant in Ohio. You’re going to see that repeated over and over and over again.”

The 2012 GOP presidential contender ended her talk by saying “Not being in congress or running for congress, that frees me from doing parades, from doing fundraising. I was very involved in both of those activities. I’m relieved of the necessity of doing those, so I’ll have the time.” It is not clear what she meant by the statement because she added that her “voice will continue to be heard.” Oh, please!

Former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer

New Yorkers will be deciding whether to give Eliot Spitzer, their disgraced former governor who resigned after being accused of paying for sex with prostitutes, a second chance at serving them. Spitzer is running for New York state comptroller and appears to have gathered enough signatures to place him on the ballot. Polls indicate that he leads his closest opponent, Manhattan borough president Mark Stringer, by a good margin.

Some people come out of a bad situation doing very great things for society, while others do even more evil to their fellowmen. It’s a tough call. There’s not a formula that tells us who’s going to end up good and who’ll continue being bad. But if New Yorkers can see something really remarkable in Eliot Spitzer’s past – especially during his term as governor – and nothing exceptionally outstanding about his current opponent(s) for state comptroller maybe they could take another chance on him.

Watching and listening to Spitzer on Jay Leno’s “The Tonight Show” on Friday (July 12), one gets the impression that Eliot Spitzer is determined to make history, if not just to redeem himself.

Multimillionaire Charles Koch

Multimillionaire Charles Koch claims that people who make $34,000 a year are within the wealthiest 1% in the world (Charles Koch Foundation: An Income Of $34,000 Puts You In The Wealthiest 1 Percent, Huffington Post by David Winograd 7/11/2013).

While it is true that $34,000 a year will make you pretty well-off in some parts of the world, what matters is where you are in the world with your money. Charles Koch and all the people to whom he was addressing his message happen to be living in the U.S. where — any student of economics could tell Mr. Koch — $34,000 a year would rank a person in the bottom of the economic totem pole, placing them in the poverty level.

Charles Koch’s success stems from inheriting a lot of money and learning to how keep it safe by all means good and bad. He knows that his assertion about people making $34,000 a year is downright misleading. So why is Charles Koch spending tons of money in an advertising campaign that makes the ridiculous claim? Is it because he wants to make sure the government stops protecting low- and middle-income people? Or is it simply because he despises the unfortunate? These are questions that psychologists and sociologists could answer.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke

The American people should place the blame for the last (and ongoing) recession solely on the shoulders of Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.

When Ben Bernanke took over as chairman pf the Federal Reserve he was very well aware that millions of Americans were into so-called sub-prime-rate mortgage loans. Ben Bernanke knew – and if he didn’t he must have been pretty stupid — that those millions of Americans would not be able to afford any rise in interest rates. Ben Bernanke also knew that another millions of Americans had bought homes with “adjustable rate” mortgages and that those people could also not afford any sudden or even gradual increases in interest rates. But mindless of the fate of the American home buyer, Ben Bernanke nevertheless caused a rapid increase in interest rates — and only after tens of millions of American homeowners had lost their properties to foreclosures did he decide to bring rates down again, a bit too late.

It is the collapse of the housing industry that triggered the last and ongoing recession — and the American people should place the blame completely on the shoulders of Ben Bernanke!

Oracle Team USA practicing

What will surely end up as the biggest flop of a sports event is unfolding in the San Francisco bay: the 2013 America’s Cup. The America’s Cup is a regatta played among a handful of very rich men who like to sail but who couldn’t seem to effectively communicate with each other. Of the 12 possible entries in the race, only four are ready to compete – eight teams have refused to sign up or have withdrawn because rules and conditions do not suit them.

The 2013 America’s Cup took the better of two years to put together. The regatta starts with a Challenger Series between July 7 and August 30. The event’s finale takes place September 7 through 22. The four competing teams include defending champion Oracle Team USA and challengers Artemis Racing of Sweden, Emirates Team New Zealand, and Luna Rossa Challenge of Italy.

The Italian entry is threatening to withdraw unless certain conditions are met, while the Swedish team might not be ready to compete on the day they are scheduled.

Safety is a real concern. Oracle’s first 72-footer pitch-poled last year, heavily damaging the yacht, after only eight days of sailing. In May this year, the first 72-footer Swedish team Artemis’ boat flipped resulting in the death of an Olympic-medalist crew member. A lot of promises for improvements have been made but not all minds are at ease. Some people believe the boats are just not safe to sail under the conditions of the race.

We may end up witnessing only two teams competing, thus scuttling almost three-fourths of the entire schedule of races. All of this just goes to show that these rich men know very little about sportsmanship. That’s probably why they have this game of their own.

Running and hiding is no solution

While checking the definition of the word coward, I came up with some not-so-surprising results that reminded me of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden who is currently holed up at a Moscow air terminal’s transit section waiting for an opportunity to flee to a place where he could hide and avoid having to answer for his treasonous actions against the U.S. and the American people.

A coward is “a person who lacks the courage to do or endure dangerous or unpleasant things” says one dictionary, which adds: “a coward is one who shows disgraceful fear or timidity.” Synonyms of the word include chicken, craven, dastard, funk, recreant, and sissy. A coward is the opposite of a hero, and the word coward is the antonym of valiant.

The word valiant, on the other hand, reminded me of South Africa’s Nelson Mandela. Mandela fought the injustice of apartheid and faced his persecutors. He defended his position,  suffering a long and atrocious prison sentence in the process. Mandela was steadfast – he was right, and time would prove it. Mandela kept fighting until he had the battle won, a costly but victorious struggle. Never was there a moment when he thought of fleeing and hiding, even when he had chances to do so. It was paramount that he proved he was right – and he could do that only by facing the music, answering the charges, and fighting to the bitter end. Imagine what history would be like today had Mandela ran and hid in some foreign country instead of fighting for what he knew was right.

Edward Snowden? How could he face the music when he knows deep inside of himself that he is wrong, that he had violated the trust of his employer, endangered the security of his country and his people – and that there was no way he would be vindicated. If for one moment Snowden strongly believes in the justness of his actions he should come home, turn himself in, answer the charges and prove his claims. There is no better way to avoid being branded a coward.

Bringing down the cost

Why do so many people think little or no good about the new universal health care (or health care reform) law, otherwise known as Obamacare? Is it because the law’s principle nemesis – Republicans – are the only ones speaking out and loud, and against the law? Although opponents of Obamacare have no valid arguments against the law that will benefit a great majority of the population – especially those who are uninsured or underinsured or poor – they are the only ones that are being heard.

The U.S. was probably the only civilized country in the world that didn’t have universal health care until Obamacare was enacted, fortunately before the Republican Party took control of the House of Representatives. With this new law, those who don’t have coverage will be able to purchase a health plan through exchanges. Those who earn up to four times the federal poverty level ($45,960 for a single person this year) will earn tax credits to help pay for their health insurance; those who earn up to 133% of the poverty level ($15,282 this year) will be allowed to enroll in Medicaid. Certain small businesses will also be able to apply for tax credits if they provide coverage for their workers.

Obamacare is good for both big and small business and the working class, and more especially for the poor. It gives businesses – including small ones – the opportunity to purchase health insurance for their workers in the open market. It also gives the working class citizen the choice of opting out of their employer-sponsored health coverage in order to buy affordable health insurance for themselves and their families in the open market.

Obamacare creates insurance marketplaces where health care providers compete for clients. People can then comparison-shop in these marketplaces for the best affordable coverage and not be forced to choose between their employers’ coverage and no coverage. The Obamacare health insurance exchanges which are scheduled to open starting October 1 this year will also provide an opportunity for those in need to obtain financial assistance for their health insurance premiums.