Archive of Topics by date

• Saturday, February 6, 2016, Herb Rothschild Jr.: Abolish nuclear weapons  If you moved to this valley after 1982, you may not know that Ashland is a Nuclear Free Zone. In a hotly contested referendum that year, Ashland voters banned all activity within the city related to both nuclear weapons and nuclear power. It was the third U.S. city to do so; only Missoula, Mont., and Garrett Park, Md., preceded Ashland.
• Saturday, November 21, 2015, Herb Rothschild Jr.: Civility vs. Free Speech    The successful protest by black students and their sympathizers of a perceived racially hostile environment at the University of Missouri has sparked renewed discussion about politically correct speech. In this case criticism came from the right, but since college campuses began adopting speech codes at least three decades ago, concerns have been voiced from diverse quarters, including civil libertarians.
• Saturday, November 14, 2015 Herb Rothschild Jr.: Sacrificing Our Children   Most readings of the Abraham-Isaac story focus on whatever lessons, moral or theological, might be derived from it. Another approach is anthropological. What does the story say about cultural practice?
• October 2, 2015 Herb Rothschild Jr.: The Pope and South America   What Pope Francis’s visit brought to my mind was that something extraordinary happened in South America when we weren’t paying attention. In one nation after another, military regimes have been replaced by elected governments, and the neo-liberal economic policies promoted by the U.S. have been challenged with considerable success. 
• October 9, 2015 Herb Rothschild Jr.: Making Sense of the murders in Roseburg The terrible event in Roseburg is much on my mind, as on yours. I haven’t great confidence in the wisdom of my thoughts, so I urge you to share yours either through letters or by posting comments below this column on the Tidings website.
• October 16, 2015 Herb Rothschild Jr.: Require National Service Reflecting in last week’s column on the terrible event in Roseburg, I suggested that we set Christopher Harper-Mercer’s actions in a cultural context. We did that when Dylann Roof killed nine people at the church in Charleston, because he told us that the racism prevalent in his world crucially influenced him. And it led to a constructive, albeit modest, action — the South Carolina legislature’s decision to stop flying the Confederate flag over the state Capitol
• Herb Rothschild Jr.:  Wyden’s support is vital  To those of us active in the nuclear disarmament movement in the ’70s and ’80s, Oregon’s U.S. Sen. Mark Hatfield was Saint Mark. No one had a stronger commitment to ending the threat of human annihilation through diplomacy. Today’s Republican members of Congress make it hard to believe people like Hatfield once proudly wore their party’s label.
• Herb Rothschild Jr.: Reason to believe   Until May I hadn’t been in touch with Elliot Halpern, a high school classmate, since 1959. I reestablished contact after learning that he was active with the ACLU chapter in Berkeley. By email I shared some of my ACLU experiences in Louisiana in the 60s and 70s, and we invited him and his wife, Linda, to visit. Last month they came.
• Herb Rothschild Jr.:  Missing Jon Stewart  This coming week will be Jon Stewart’s last on The Daily Show. We’ll miss what only he can bring to the show, but let’s hope that, with Trevor Noah as its host, it won’t lose Stewart’s intellectual integrity. Yes, we’ve enjoyed his humor. And yes, his fans have enjoyed his progressive viewpoint. But for me neither his comic abilities nor his politics have been the driving force of the show. It’s been his disgust with people’s willingness to say just anything, no matter how untrue or self-contradictory, to promote their views.
• Herb Rothschild Jr.: Respecting limits In Valladolid, Spain, there is a large, elaborate monument to Christopher Columbus. Columbus is kneeling in the prow of a small barge; a figure representing Faith is standing behind him holding a cross and chalice. All this sits atop a globe encircled by a band on which, in raised letters, are the words NON PLUS ULTRA, meaning “nothing beyond this,” which was the motto of Spain at the time of the discovery of the New World. But a lion is tearing off the NON.
• Rothschild: Support our troops? Maybe not (Jul. 11, 2015) In the run-up to our 2003 invasion of Iraq, polling indicated that a majority of Americans didn’t support it. This despite a disinformation campaign shamefully abetted by mainstream media. Only after troops were committed did opposition fall. We had to “support our troops.”
• Herb Rothschild Jr.: Duke, Roof and us (Jul. 3, 2015) When people begin their responses with, “Of course I feel sorry for those people, but …” I know they don’t feel sorry for “those people” (itself a tell-tale phrase) They’re not feeling at all. Instead, they’re focused on their ideology, which they’re about to unload on me.
• Herb Rothschild Jr.: Sharing our Stories (Jun. 27, 2015) Most of us know that Frankenstein isn’t the name of the creature Boris Karloff played in the old horror movies. Frankenstein is the name of his creator, Dr. Victor Frankenstein. So what do we call that over-sized, physically hideous being? Probably we call him Frankenstein’s monster.From the moment his creation opens his eyes, Victor regards him as a monster. He says, “by the dim and yellow light of the moon … I beheld the wretch — the miserable monster whom I had created.” He flees, hoping never to see the creature again. But many months later, responsibility for his actions is forced upon him when his younger brother is murdered and a beloved household servant is successfully framed for the crime. Victor learns that his creature has done these dreadful things, and forms the settled opinion that he is, indeed, a monster. At that point the reader almost certainly shares Victor’s opinion.
• Herb Rothschild Jr.: Embracing differences (Jun. 6, 2015)  This is my second column on the challenges and rewards of living with diversity. Last week, I mentioned an instance of diversity — straights and LGBT people living in harmony — that for my readers asks very little adjustment of attitudes and behavior. I then mentioned the situation in France, where large numbers of residents from Muslim countries live amidst an overwhelmingly secular and libertarian native population. There, the interface is far more stressful for people on both sides of that cultural divide.
• Herb Rothschild Jr.: Living with diversity (May. 30, 2015) This column arose from my reflection on the Jan. 7 attack on the offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which left 11 people dead and 11 injured. It was carried out by two brothers, Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, motivated by the paper’s several satirical depictions of Mohammed.You may expect me to immediately judge the right and wrong of this horrific episode, but by now you should know that isn’t my way. I prefer to explore the complexity of such matters (though you also know that I have a deep aversion to taking human life). And so I will, in this column and the next.
• Herb Rothschild Jr.: GOP’s war on the poor (May. 23, 2015) In his State of the Union address in 1964, President Lyndon Johnson announced his War on Poverty. In their budget resolution of 2015, Congressional Republicans announced their War on the Poor.Of course they wouldn’t call it that. To use our own congressman’s words, they refer to it as “approving a budget that balances and reduces our national debt.” But as I explained last week, of the more than $5 trillion of anticipated savings over the next 10 years, about 69 percent will come from programs that assist moderate- and low-income people. In addition, it will radically change Medicare, turning it into a voucher program, the worth of which will be determined by insurance companies.It may be bad form to appear partisan. But this budget resolution was passed along party lines…. continue.
• Herb Rothschild Jr.: An appalling budget (May. 16, 2015) On May 5, the Mail Tribune ran an item in its Nation in Brief section about the federal budget resolution for 2016 that both the House and Senate passed. It ended this way: “The measure sets a potential path for a balanced budget within a decade. It promises to cut domestic agencies and safety net programs like Medicaid and food stamps, carve up transportation spending and student aid, and curb tax breaks for the poor. ”What! Slash programs that help, not corporations and the wealthy, but the neediest members of our society? Curb tax breaks, not for the rich, but for the poor? Can this be true?
• Herb Rothschild Jr.: Framing the debate (May 2, 2015) This is the last of four columns exploring what happens when we address social issues from the differing perspectives of the individual or of the collective. In the first two I explained how differently the analysis plays out if we prioritize our freedom to act on our own perceived self-interests or we prioritize our obligation to support the collective good. Last week I shifted from the individuals’ obligation to enhance the collective good to the collective’s obligation to enhance the good of its members…
• Herb Rothschild Jr.: How we get along (April 11, 2015) There is almost nothing about Louisiana, my home state, that I would commend to respectful attention. An exception was the Louisiana Civil Code, now largely stripped of its uniqueness by pressure to conform to the laws of the other 49. The Louisiana Civil Code derived from Roman law, not English law. English law takes the individual as its starting point. Roman law is more concerned with community cohesion and cooperation among individuals.Regarding community cohesion, for example, ….
• Herb Rothschild Jr: Stick to the Facts (April 4, 2015): The great physicist Lord Kelvin (William Thomson) thought that the age of the earth was between 20 million and 40 million years. Evolutionists like Thomas Huxley resisted this estimate because the development of species required much more time. But Kelvin stuck to his opinion because it was based on his calculations that a completely molten object would take only that long to steadily cool to current temperature. What Kelvin didn’t know — because the discovery came shortly before his death in 1907 was that the earth contained radioactive elements, and they would continue to produce heat as they decay.  His calculations were right, but, they came from a flawed initial assumption.  Continue reading.
• Herb Rothschild Jr: Failing at charity (March 28, 2015)
• Private giving and wounded warriors (March 21, 2015)http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20150321/OPINION/150329988
• Confrontation in the Ukraine (March 14, 2015)http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20150314/OPINION/150319911
• Relocations: What to Do About ISIS My next column will mark six months of publication. In it I’ll reflect on my intentions for the column and invite you to help me achieve them. One thing I’ll ask of you is to question more openly my assertions.There was one question I thought my column last Saturday would surely prompt. You may remember that I spoke unequivocally against spilling more blood in the Middle East to achieve whatever elusive goals we’ve been pursuing there since the invasion of Iraq.More than one of you must have asked yourself (though not me), “But what should we do about ISIS? Are we simply to let them be? Their behavior is dreadful.” This specific question opens more general ones, such as the role of the U.S. in the world and the legitimacy of military force.
• Herb Rothschild Jr.: Relocations: The blood on our hands By a startling intervention in his life, Macbeth is persuaded that he will play a big role on the world’s stage. At first he thinks of letting be: “If chance may have me king, why, chance may crown me/Without my stir.”At his wife’s prodding, however, he doesn’t. Instead, he acts to guarantee the outcome of an equivocal prophecy. But as he tries to “trammel up the consequence” of so bloody a deed, he discovers that the unfolding of events is eluding his control…
• Herb Rothschild Jr.: Workers need more power Stephen Klineberg, a sociologist at Rice who conducted the annual Houston Area Survey, was in demand as a public speaker. A point he often made was that well-paying unskilled and semi-skilled jobs in manufacturing were being lost, so if Houston wanted a strong middle class, many more of its future workers would need a higher education.I’m all for people attending college. Still, I had reservations about Steve’s argument, reservations I shared with him in the hope he would render it more complex and useful. I had no success with Steve. I hope to succeed with you…
• Herb Rothschild Jr.: A good day for peace

  Posted Feb. 7, 2015 @ 12:01 am    If you cherish peace, Jan. 27 was a good day. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., announced that he would stop pressing for new economic sanctions on Iran. Since removal of existing sanctions is the Western powers’ carrot in the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, imposing more at this critical stage would destroy prospects for an agreement…

  What happened was a reprise of late 2013, when a similar Menendez-Kirk (R-Ill.) bill seemed likely to garner veto-proof Congressional support. But grassroots peace groups mobilized resistance. Peace House took part. Both Oregon Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden chose diplomacy over hostility. They still do…

• Herb Rothschild Jr: Thoughts on the drug war
  Posted Jan. 31, 2015 @ 12:01 am  Despite historically high graduation rates from our public schools — 81 percent in 2011-2012, the latest for which comprehensive data are available — we often hear elected officials and pundits say the entire system has failed. Conversely, despite the inability of our War on Drugs to curb the availability of recreational drugs, few politicians and pundits openly admit it. Can we explain such inconsistency?…
• Herb Rothschild Jr.: King’s provocation
  Posted Jan 16, 2015 at 11:01 PM

  The South in which I grew up prided itself on its courtesy. The “Howdy” and “Y’all come back and see us” did make daily interactions more gentle than, say, in New Jersey. But our good manners were a patina, one it didn’t take much to scratch. A mere reference to Jim Crow would do it. Then the ugly reality would surface. The genteel South was the most violent region of the country.Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail,…

• New Year resolutions
  Posted Dec 26, 2014 at 11:01 PM When I’m in the company of friends, I listen with interest to the details of their vacations and the lives of their offspring. But when they send me such information in year-end family newsletters, it seems flat. There’s more depth…
• The role of charity
  Posted Dec 26, 2014 at 11:01 PM Deborah and I recently received an expensively produced fund appeal from the Wounded Warrior Project. It called to mind a subject that interests me: the roles and effectiveness of philanthropy.I’ve long been involved in private…
• The Christmas spirit
  Posted Dec 19, 2014 at 11:01 PM The Christmas holidays impose on my consciousness when I begin receiving gift catalogues in our mailbox. But their spirit enters me when I chance to hear strains of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker.If your child took ballet lessons, as…
• Fight Zionist suppression
  Posted Dec 12, 2014 at 11:01 PM Last week I shared Peace House’s commitment to work for a just peace in Israel/Palestine by promoting open discussion of the realities of the conflict there. I concluded by saying that our first challenge is to overcome pro-Zionist…
• Religion and politics in America Posted Oct 10, 2014 at 11:01 PM At my suggestion and using my draft as its starting point, two years ago South Mountain Friends Meeting (Quakers) in Ashland adopted a set of principles it regarded as useful for understanding the right relationship…
• Peace begins at the table
  Posted Oct 3, 2014 at 11:01 PM The first TV cooking show I can remember featured Lena Richards, an African American woman who owned Lena Richard’s Gumbo Shop in New Orleans. The show seemed completely removed from the pervasive racism of…
• It’s time to relocate power in ourselves and in our local communities Posted Sep. 16, 2014