On the Talk "What Europe Can Teach The United States on Free Speech" Cato Institute

On 4/18/18 I attended a conversation on free speech given at the Cato Institute in Washington, DC between Jacob Mchangama representing the European expert on the topic and Professor Miller, the American viewpoint.  I talked with Chuck at Mariam's Kitchen pertaining to some points made; and I've included others, too, in the below.


From the European standpoint, free speech must be protected as a fundamental source of the manifold kinds of freedoms and as a bastion against violence and oppression from groups fostering hatred toward ones they would oppress.  The various governments of the EU must maintain a vigilance against the rise of demonstrations and proliferation of incentiary literature condemning the actions and philosophic principles decried by tyrannical groups against their antithetical and ideological foes.  It was noted during the discussion there is a marked erosion of free speech (probably due to each country's homogeneous population).   

The issue of the regulation of free speech raises whether those responsible for creating the social unrest should be held accountable to liability statutes of private law:  Make them pay for the amount of mayhem they have wreaked for the several affected communities to clean up!   

On the Atlantic Magazine article 'What Putin Really Wants' by Justin Jofffe

The article appeared in the January/February, 2018 issue.

I talked about the points raised in the article with my friend Chuck over at Miriam's Kitchen.  He pointed out that recently President V. Putin has been concerned with  a number of issues pertaining to his neighboring countries.  He wants to satisfy China's hunger for oil, which should net him profits galore, including the building of a modern seaport in the Crimea (an area annexed by Russia with its dispute with the Ukraine).  Then again, he is concerned to meet oil energy needs of  the European countries, e.g., by building a pipeline from  Russia to Germany, for instance.  He's also concerned to maintain good relations with Syria, so as to continue to use its port cities in the Middle East.  Putin must also assure that Russia is up-to-date technologically in the transportation and developing of  its own oil industry, to be sure.

Concerns about satisfying its neighbors' needs for oil and energy occurs amid the national government's responsibility of assuring the citizenry that it is responsive to the citizenry's needs and demands for a comfortable lifestyle.  The question that must now occur in the minds of  the Russian constituency is, "What, Mr. Putin, have you done for us Russian citizens lately?"   Admittedly. he led the Russian people from the brink of economic disaster after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 1990s;  but what has he done for them recently to improve their economic situation?  It would seem that foreign investment has been diminished in recent years, as the economy languishes under sanctions imposed by Western governments. 

When will a prosperous Russia return?   Not likely that the Soviet Empire will return anytime soon.   

On the book "Injustice-Story of the Holy Foundation Five" by Miko Peled

Recently, I attended a book signing talk given by Miko Peled on his newest book Injustice: The Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five published by Just World Books. This event was sponsored by the Palestinian Center, Washington, DC.

I solicited comments from my friend Chuck, a guru of Miriam's Kitchen, regarding the Five's apparent attempt to establish an orphanage (or, orphanages) for the children of parents who were deemed terrorists or terrorist sympathizers that had been killed in conflict dating as far back as the 1967 War--that war virtually has led to the US-Israeli denial to a Muslim population in the Palestinian region an independent state.  Having lost the war of 1967, the Palestinians still insist upon an independence from Israeli domination and intrusiveness in regions where Palestinians live.  Israel has said its major concern is that Palestinians no longer engage nor support terrorism upon Israelis; and as victors in that war, have moved to enforce its own provisions for the safety and security of Israeli citizenry.

I asked Chuck, don't the Palestinians realize they lost the war?  Aren't the Israelis entitled to spell out the terms for future peace and stability in the region we know as Palestine?

Chuck pointed out to me that the Israelis may better comprehend the fact that hordes of children under the age of 18 could become a cadre of recruitment into some terrorist army of youths to engage in even further terrorism in the region for years to come--and some of these quite possibly, could come from orphanages well-intended Palestinians might be concerned to establish now, but lack cognizance how these could be swayed by evil-doers who want to continue war with Israel, drawing upon any available group of  malingers and malcontents to renew hostilities once again.

So, while some Palestinians may argue for the establishment of orphanages. they seem unaware of how these orphan children housed altogether could become pawns for furthering a conflict and war for years to come between Jews and Muslims in the region.

Please, let's not forget who won the 1967 War between Israel and a retinue of Muslim nations against them!       

Dan, the Miriam Resident Painter

There's at least one very good painter whose a regular at Miriam's.  His name is Dan.  He's homeless, fearing that if he should change to a domicile, his painting genie would desert him.  He's at least middle-age and is short, sporting a beard he sometimes paints red.  He wears absurd clothing, wanting to make fun of his appearance for others as well as himself to mock.  He boasts he can paint an impressionistic work in three hours!  Each of his paintings is supposed to highlight a singular emotion he is capturing for his audience to appreciate.  To experience the feeling, they must translate the picture's elements into a spiritual composition without space and time, structurally conceived in a bare-bone feeling-dimension.

To conceive of paintings as conveying only feelings, the objects identifiable in the picture become  imaginary; not representing real things, only the ideas of what each item might seem to be.  A person's feet, for example, are blobs at the bottom of stilt-legs appearing on canvas, just suggestions of real feet.

Dan loves to paint Biblical religious scenes in his geometric box of fourfold delimiters--lines drawn to come together at the picture's corners.  He seems to grasp a Biblical view that the myths told therein have intrinsic value--to be enjoyed for their own existence in a universe of paintings.

 

Advocacy for the Homeless and the Poor in the US lacks the Clients' Dimension

I was invited to express my point of view on the plight of the homeless on February 22, 2018 at a convened session of the US Congressional Council on Homelessness at Miriam's Kitchen.  My comments centered about the way the homeless have been contained within certain areas of a city or town, e.g., Oklahoma City, and huddled into shelters at night, leaving the daylight hours to fen for themselves out of the dilemma that has wreaked chaos in their lives.  They're supplied with road maps and told to find the one that's suitable to pursue out of their quandry.  What will spell success back into the mainstream of society, where they are currently not welcome in their present physical and mental condition, is left to the individuals to determine on their own.

I contend they cannot go it alone.  Yes, there are advocacy groups that supply information about housing, shelter, food and clothing for them.  These groups also plead with legislators and city, state and federal politicians to "remember the homeless."  Such demonstrations of concern do not fall on deaf ears.  The public at large wants the homeless to live on, but not in their backyards or in their neighborhoods!

So, there's public concern and seemingly, no direct involvement insinuating the homeless into the community-at-large in appreciable measure.  That gap can be remedied through the infusion of case managers, each of whom should handle a caseload of homeless clients in the journey from homelessness to full acceptance into a community prepared to welcome them.

For instance, there are stages of going from homelessness to becoming a member of the community in full standing.  These include getting an ID within the community in which they are homeless, establishing a relationship with human and social services, ultimately leading to finding a place to live, i.e., to call "home."  At each stage, the homeless should be able to call upon an advocate that will stand with them to assure that each case is being attended to in prompt fashion.  But the role of  case managers that provide individuals they represent the care and effort toward full acceptance in the community is not being highlighted in the scenario upwards.       

Think how important this role of advocacy is in these steps the homeless must take.  He needs medical attention.  The case manager can assist in this effort; and when an appointment error is made--which happens all the time--the case manager knows how to get the communication back on track between medical service and client pronto!  That repartee between a case manager, skilled in dealing with representatives of "the system" and the client the manager represents is a significant lack by agencies that send a client on his own with a myriad of information and contact numbers! 

What is in existence now is a presentation and offering to clients that does not demonstrate an interest nor concern for their especial needs beyond that of a concerned citizen.  Specifically, clients receive little help in dealing with the people and situations that will spell their success toward becoming  full-fledged members of the community (once again).             

Critiquing an American Indian's Work of Art

Last weekend, the National Art Gallery, Washington, DC, held a series of symposia on works of art of the American Indian genre.  To my mind the striking feature of American Indian art that came out from their analysis of the art discussed was its illusive ability to succumb to art criticism.  Any particular work of art cast in that genre appeared incapable of evaluation by the art critics that cited it except for a self-serving comment of how "perfect it had been wrought" by the artist.  Actually, because the creation of a work of art in American Indian style is simply a step among several leading to a curative condition of a patient for whose benefit the work came into existence/  Among the sequence is 1)identification of the patient's malady, 2) a recognition of the gods who should be invoked to provide remedies, 3) using sands, etc. create the likeliness of them onto a backdrop cloth through an artist's hands, 4) call for these gods in representation to evoke a cure upon the patient; and 5) record any positive effect upon him.  Any beneficial effect counts toward the physical response a cure.

My friend Chuck refers to the entire process 1-5 as enumerating the metaphysical critique of healing.  It acknowledges the curative effect wrought by the gods of the spirit world connected through the painting to achieve a miracle.  A work of art so adjudged becomes known as part of valid Indian art, i.e, the process whereby the spirit world of the psychical is.connected to the physical for purposes of healing the body and the soul of a living John Doe.  And referring to any one step in the sequence is merely calling forth a perfection in the execution of the whole, metaphysical procedure.  The procedure is  divine; and the cure is holy--accomplished through creating in the art a relation between the eternal and sublime; and the transitory by the artist's hands. 

Thus, only if the art work achieves the goal of a patient's health is it a true work of Indian art.     



        

Meg of Miriam's Kitchen, Washington, DC

I've travelled the country over and have stayed occasionally at Shelters and/or eaten at Soup-kitchens in this city or that.  I remember the most memorable I visited.
Soup-kitchens and Shelters I stayed at or ate at that to my mind are model exemplars to meet the needs of the indigent and poor
1. The shelter and soup-kitchen in Santa Barbara near the ocean and the row of hotels at the beach.
You can stay awhile if there's beds available.  The mid-day meal is open to the community while breakfast and dinner are for the overnighters.  Outstanding food  and conviviality among the guests.  You can't beat that place--if you can get in!  They help you re-locate there, too.  The ambience of the area is really untold, save that Michael Jackson had his fairy-tale home amid the area's woods and fields.
2.  LA can boast of the dedication of such groups as the Catholic Worker and an outstanding drug addiction program and rehabilitation center that helps just about anybody in hell's kitchen in need (like I was years back). Downtown is inundated with the homeless but they're not out in the Hollywood Hills yet.
3.   Honolulu's IHS system of shelters and soup-kitchens, though somewhat barebone are memorable.  Occasionally, food from the fashionable part of town come down to the IHS property line.  Notable--the people as guests you meet from around the world.  What a joyful experience and not to be forgotten--or, at least most of your encounters with whom you meet.  Social services helps to locate on the Islands, incidentally.
4.  The senior center in downtown Raleigh, NC stands out, too.  Its portions for a lunch were ok, but it's the vegetables and fruits you got to take home that is memorable.  Nice people, too, despite class differences among the diners.
5.  But for me, Miriam's Kitchen, exemplified in the leadership of the administrator Meg, is the epitome of what a soup-kitchen should be.  It must exude hope and cheer (as should any shelter establishment dealing with the same clientele); and Meg makes sure her retinue of volunteers and interns from mostly George Washington University across the street are smiling with the message while attuned to the guests' requests.  Even the servers are laughing and conversing, smiling with the crowd!  The latter seem so innocent as to never experienced any hurt or poverty!
    No, this crew could never be assembled without a watchful diligence by a woman (or, a man) imbued with a passion to ameliorate the conditions of urban life that have fostered a loneliness associated with homelessness and indigency.
     All hail to the person at Miriam's Kitchen who inspires and encourages her followers to treat those in desperate need as one of the crew she directs--MEG!!!
     And, of course the two full meals a day--M-F--are tasty treats, too!  But that goes without my saying!