Another Cog In The Health Care Debate

This is why the health care reform debates must happen. It's ludicrous to think that the insurance companies can deny coverage to an infant because they are in the 99th percentile of height and weight. An infant. Who lives on breast milk alone. Talk about making it real to people.

Rocky Mountain Health Plans medical director Dr. Doug
Speedie explained that their decision was based on current industry
standards. " If health care reform occurs, underwriting will go away,"
he said, referring to the process that insurers go through when they
decide whether to accept or deny someone for coverage. "We do it
because everybody else in the industry does it."

What To Make of the Peace Prize?

Don’t get me wrong — I think it’s great for our nation that our president received the Noble Peace Prize. For one — I think it does signal a move in more peaceful directions beyond what the prior administration has done. And I think there is something to be said for the committee using this as a catalyst to spur the Obama administration in peaceful directions. But the question remains: is it really deserved? This article details 6 other (of the 200) nominees for this year’s Noble Peace Prize and frankly, after reading their stories, I find it hard to believe that it was deserved. Here are some short details:

Denis Mukwege: He’s a surgeon in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in the province with 27000 reported rapes last year. *”Dr Mukwege is the man who has devoted his life to trying to repair the damage done to women often left for dead. He was, for a long time, the only gynecologist treating rape wounds in Congo.” He set up a special wing dedicated to those sexually abused and actively campaigns on their behalf.
Sima Samar: Sima obtained a medicine degree from Kabul University (the first Hazara woman) and has dedicated her life to fight for the rights of women and children in Afghanistan.
Ghazi bin Muhammad: A Jordanian prince and professor of the Islamic faith, he’s been an adamant proponent of interfaith dialogue. In a letter to the Pope
Greg Mortenson: Author of “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace…One School at a Time”, Mortenson works to build schools in areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan where education hasn’t been a priority. So far, they’ve built 84 schools providing education to many who wouldn’t have been able to receive it.
Piedad Cordoba: She was the favorite. “Her achievements are, however, indisputable. As head of Colombians For Peace, a group trying to put an end to the 45-year conflict between the government and Farc, Ms Córdoba was the government’s official mediator in the humanitarian exchange discussions of 2007, and she secured the release of 16 hostages. One former captive, Alan Jara, the former governor of Colombia’s Meta state, called her “an angel who could carry me to freedom”.”
Wei Jingsheng: He’s known as *”the father of Chinese democracy” and has tirelessly fought for that in China. He’s spent decades in jails (an 18 and a 14 year sentence) and in all has refused to be silent.

These are just 6 of the 200+ nominees besides President Obama. Their stories alone, I think, were more deserving. I’d tend to agree with those that say that by not picking one of them (or the other countless hope-filled stories) the Noble Committee looks like something of a joke. It might be different if we’d seen a lot of peace driven actions from our President specifically directed at the unpeace of our nation in recent years (perhaps more decisiveness in the peace process in Iraq and Afghanistan and some sort of commitment to not only decisively end our torture state but be up front and honest about past offenses, seeking to do something about them). My hope now is that the award really will be a spur towards peace in and through our nation.

A Thought For Our Day

I thought I might share a thought for the day that starts with a question. In Jesus, were you given a spirit of fear? Or were you given something entirely different — a Spirit of power? Of love? Of self-control? This is an extremely important question which should greatly shape how we walk out our days. I’m hoping the answer is obvious. If not — turn no further than Paul’s second letter to Timothy. The first chapter opens with an exhortation to Timothy to remember the gift that we possess in the Lord —

For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control.

2 Timothy 1:7

This begs me ask the followup question: Why do so many Jesus followers, fearing we are on the verge of the worst (either the end times specifically or national judgement due to the politics in Washington or some other imminent apocalypse) live like the former when we should be living like the latter? It’s disquieting hearing all of the talk that we as Christians should be readying ourselves for some sort of doom, or to head to the caves and across the borders in defeat or to buy up guns and such for the coming wars, whenever or whatever they might be. It seems to be rooted in an unholy fear — a fear that perhaps Christ’s death really wasn’t enough for us and the rest of the world, that perhaps our fate really wasn’t decided on Calvary as we might have supposed. Or at least that’s the impression we leave people with.

Where does this come from? I read the scriptures, spend time meditating on the person of Jesus and what He has accomplished and ushered in to this world and can’t find this fear or response in any of it. Were Jesus not in the picture, we might have something to fear but because Jesus is in the picture, the worst that evil can do is no match. Paul’s letter to Timothy says not 3 verses from his answer to the first question that Jesus has broken the power of death.

…He has broken the power of death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel!

2 Timothy 1:10

In John’s first letter it says that Jesus’ once and for all destroyed the works of the devil (that’s why He came into this world!). And again it shines through — in Jesus there isn’t anything anymore to fear. Honestly, I think some of the fear is wrapped up in how we individualistically view the cross. The reductionist tendency to see Jesus’ death as solely affecting the individual makes us miss the bigger picture — we are definitely a part of it but Christ’s death and subsequent resurrection brought victory decisively over all evil, once and for all. That should mean nothing to fear.

And it should flow from all of this, I hope, that rather then trying to escape when the going gets tough we should live in the realization that we are the tough (empowered by a Holy Spirit unlike anything in this world) and that we should get going, not away but into the thick of it, making Jesus’ kingdom known and available, here and now, for those who desperately need it. It saddens me to hear the Gospel cheapened into some sort of an escape plan when it, by it’s very nature, has the ability to radically change the world around us. I think it rather foolish of us to think that the time we live in is somehow so radically different from those times throughout history. Considering the Christian experience under pagan Roman rule is one early example of how easy we have it in light of what could be. And the kingdom of God exploded in that time period. Withdrawal, escape, rebellion, violence and other such ideas antithetical to living out the kingdom as its ambassadors wasn’t the modus operandi but living out the Word — Jesus and His life — was. It changed the world once; it’s foolish to think that it couldn’t again.

I started by mentioning that I wanted to share a thought for the day. Really this is a thought for our time and all time. It’s something to take with us wherever God takes us. It’s something to cling to. If the power of the Cross can transform our hellish lives into heavenly bodies then no matter how bad the world around might look we should walk in confidence knowing that the war is done and over and that one day, even if not today, the Kingdom will reign.

Fun Interview With Adam Smith

For those unaware, Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations which is considered by most everyone I know to be the original manifesto, so to speak, on capitalism and free market economics.  And it was originally published in 1776.  

Anyways, he's more often than not in today's world hijacked by the neoliberal crowd to say something he doesn't actually say.  Salon.com interviews him here to get at some of the differences he'd have with the neoconservative crowd.  The solely quote from his book, using only his words.  My two favorite questions:

Many libertarians and conservatives argue that the only fair tax system would be a flat tax. In your opinion should the tax system be flat or progressive?

The necessaries of life occasion the great expense of the poor. They find it difficult to get food, and the greater part of their little revenue is spent in getting it. The luxuries and vanities of life occasion the principal expense of the rich, and a magnificent house embellishes and sets off to the best advantage all the other luxuries and vanities which they possess ... It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.

During the 1980s, some followers of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and American President Ronald Reagan wore neckties decorated by your profile. Thatcher said, "There is no such thing as society," and Reagan said, "Government is not the solution. Government is the problem." According to free-market conservatives, government should be run like a private-sector business and the noblest figures in society are business executives and entrepreneurs. Do you agree?

The violence and injustice of the rulers of mankind is an ancient evil, for which, I am afraid, the nature of human affairs can scarce admit of a remedy. But the mean rapacity, the monopolizing spirit of merchants and manufacturers, who neither are, nor ought to be, the rulers of mankind, though it cannot perhaps be corrected may very easily be prevented from disturbing the tranquility of anybody but themselves.