This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

What General Milley did was save the country.

That’s my bottom-line view of actions Milley took in the final days of the Trump Administration.  Within his authority, even if barely so, he made sure Trump didn’t push the nuclear button in a fit of his own anger and pique after having lost the presidential election.

A lot has been written lately about actions by Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  

Milley feared that Trump would use a violent crisis at home or abroad to draw the military into his machinations to retain power.  In particular, from his post as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Milley worried that Trump would set off nuclear war.

So, he called the generals in to a conference to emphasize that he, as chairman, should be included in any queue to approve an order to discharge nuclear weaspons.  He also called his counterpart in China to make sure that individual was not overacting to situations in the U.S.

Far from the seat of U.S. power, I had the same worry Milley did through all four years of the Trump presidency.  I feared that the nuclear button was far too close to Trump.

As Washington Post writer David Ignatius wrote, Milley was determined to prevent politicization of the military and “the nation owes him a debt of thanks for his vigilance.”

But, Ignatius adds, “Milley’s efforts also took him into dangerous constitutional terrain that no soldier should have to patrol, edging close to violating the sacrosanct principle ­of civilian control of the military.

“So Milley’s case presents a paradox:  The nation benefited from the actions he took, but the actions also threaten to set a dangerous precedent.  It’s crucial now to use that lesson to rebuild and reinforce the traditional civilian-military structure that was damaged, like so many parts of our national life, during Trump’s presidency.”

In particular, Milley has come under fire in the run-up to the publication of “Peril,” a book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa of The Post.  The book provides new documentation of what has been whispered for months — that Milley reached out to foreign military leaders and U.S. politicians to counteract Trump’s ability to use a violent crisis for political advantage.

Here’s how the writer Ignatius closed his column:

“Milley is a target right now.  But even as we underline the proper limits on the role of military leaders, we should remember that this problem began with a lawless president who threatened to politicize the military — to the point that the top-ranking general decided to fight back to fulfill what he saw as his paramount duty, to safeguard his country.”

Agreed.

This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Anyone who knows me knows that I like golf rules, especially a chance to debate the often-arcane character of the rules.

I play the game and try, valiantly, to play by the rules, as tough as they are, from time to time, to understand.

So it was that this weekend I read a piece from one of my golf magazines outlining major golf rules infractions that occurred on the PGA and LPGA tours.  Yes, professional golfers violate the rules, often in front of TV cameras, so the snafus are magnified.

Just for the fun of it, here is a list of major infractions in the last year.  See if you remember the specifics.

• PGA Tour puts in internal out-of-bounds on 18th at Waialae in Hawaii

• Patrick Reed takes embedded ball relief on Saturday at Torrey Pines

• Rory McIlroy takes embedded ball relief on Saturday at Torrey Pines

• Matthew Wolff assessed retroactive penalty at The American Express

• Maverick McNealy’s ball moves at address on Saturday at Pebble Beach

• Russell Knox gets McNealy’d on Sunday at Pebble Beach

• Matthew Wolff’s practice-stroke gaffe at the WGC-Concession

• Annika Sorenstam gets penalized for incorrect ruling, still makes cut at Gainbridge LPGA

• Robert Gamez fails to sign his scorecard at Bay Hill, gets disqualified

• PGA Tour foils Bryson DeChambeau’s big plan at the Players

• Viktor Hovland gets two-shot penalty thanks to … his mother?

• Marshal runs over Bubba Watson’s ball at the Players 

• In Gee Chun disqualified from Kia Classic for failing to sign her scorecard

• Obscure rule stumps announcers in Scheffler-Kuchar match at WGC-Dell Match Play

• Abraham Ancer unknowingly touches sand at the Masters, gets penalized

• Si Woo Kim’s ball hangs on the lip a little too long at the RBC Heritage

• Yani Tseng fails to sign scorecard, gets DQ’d at Hugel-Air Premia LA Open

• Former major champ gets two-shot penalty for being late for tee time at Innisbrook

• Former major champ DQ’d at PGA Championship for signing an incorrect scorecard

• John Catlin receives rare pace-of-play penalty at PGA Championship

• Carlota Ciganda loses her match on brutal slow-play penalty

• John Catlin receives slow-play penalty AGAIN, this one more brutal than the last

• Mackenzie Hughes’ tree trouble at Torrey Pines

• Maria Fassi hit with slow-play penalty, misses cut at Women’s PGA

• Michael Campbell accidental tee shot at the Senior British Open

• Patton Kizzire’s driver dilemma at The Northern Trust

• Nelly Korda’s “eagle” at the Solheim Cup

Frankly, I don’t remember the details of all these infractions.  The last one, however, occurred so recently that the specifics are clear.  When it happened, I knew instantly there was a problem. 

Korda left a 30-foot putt on the lip, crouching down out of disbelief that the ball didn’t go in.  But, her opponent, within five or six seconds, picked up the ball and “gave” the putt to Korda, a procedure allowed in match play.

Except Korda gets a period of time – 10 seconds after she walks to the hole from the spot of her putt — to see if it would drop.  She did not get the required period of time, so referee ruled her putt was good, giving her and a partner a win on the hole – and it turned out that the margin of victory in the match was one point.

Still, it didn’t matter in the end as the European side retained the Solheim Cup.

For now, enough of golf rules – though chances are I’ll come back to the subject soon.

This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

I have said before that I read at least two newspapers every day – the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.

There is a clear reason for doing so:  I get a take from the right from the Journal and a take from the left from the Post.  Both occur with good writing and decent scholarship.

Editorials this morning verify the rationale for my approach.

Both deal with an announcement by special counsel John Durham who, for two years, has been investigating issues related to whether the campaign of Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton committed law violations allegedly insinuating that Donald Trump was in league with Russia.

Here’s how the two newspapers interpreted an announcement by Durham:

From the Washington Post:  “On Thursday, special counsel John Durham announced the indictment of D.C. attorney Michael Sussmann for allegedly lying to the FBI.  Durham was appointed in 2019 by then-Attorney General William P. Barr to examine the FBI’s investigation into alleged ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump presidential campaign.

“Donald Trump and his supporters expected Durham to blow the lid off a vast, “deep state”/FBI conspiracy to bring Trump down. But far from a legal bombshell, this indictment is more like a political pop gun.”

From the Wall Street Journal:  “John Durham on Thursday indicted a Clinton campaign lawyer from 2016 for lying to the FBI, but this is no ho-hum case of deception.  The special counsel’s 27-page indictment is full of new, and damning, details that underscore how the Russia collusion tale was concocted and peddled by the Clinton campaign.

“Durham charged Michael Sussmann, an attorney at the Perkins Coie law firm that represented the Clinton campaign.  Sussmann is accused of making false statements to then-FBI general counsel James Baker in a September 19, 2016 meeting when he presented documents purporting to show secret internet communications between the Trump Organization and Russia-based Alfa bank.”

So, which is it?  A “pop gun” of a conspiracy.  Or “blowing the lid off “a conspiracy.

I am not close enough to know, but, for me, from my position in the cheap seats out West, it is enough to read two sides of the same story and make my own decision.

This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Every once in a while I write about something I don’t fully understand.  This is one of those times.

The subject is Covid 19 boosters, especially for those who received Pfizer shots the first time around, as my wife and I did.

I intend to get a booster the moment they are available.

Better that than to increase the risk of coming down with a case of the virus, even though I have been vaccinated for months.

The Food and Drug Administration says it is going to make a recommendation on boosters soon.  I hope the recommendation is favorable, though as always with Covid, I will wait for the science.

I add that a few my friends already have gotten the boosters and I soon will join them.

For my support for boosters, I rely heavily on the Wall Street Journal and specifically a column by Allysia Finley, deputy editor of the editorial page.

She knows more about boosters than I do and, and in writing about her advocacy, she relies on quality science from professionals to whom she speaks, then quotes.  She also provides a wealth of new information – at least new to me – on extended effects of Covid on such issues as brain function.

Here, then, without further explanation, is what Finley wrote:

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The Biden administration’s plan to start rolling out Covid-19 booster shots next week has drawn criticism from some who claim there’s not enough evidence to show they’re needed.  While breakthrough infections among the fully vaccinated have increased, most of those cases aren’t severe.  The purpose of vaccines, say booster critics, is to prevent hospitalizations and deaths, not cold-like symptoms.

But many fully vaccinated people in recent months have reported getting severely sick with Covid, though not to the point of needing hospitalization.  Boosters should help reduce the number of such cases. They could also prevent people from experiencing certain complications that sometimes follow a severe case of Covid.

Covid doesn’t merely infect the lungs and respiratory tract.  It can attack other organs, including the brain, if it isn’t quickly defeated by your immune system.  At the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in July, researchers reported an uptick in inflammatory bio-markers indicative of Alzheimer’s disease and brain injury in the blood of patients who had been hospitalized with Covid.

One small study found that more than half of people hospitalized with Covid demonstrated cognitive decline two months after discharge.  Short-term memory impairments, worse memory and cognitive test scores were associated with lower blood oxygen levels on a six-minute walk test, indicating a possible link to cardiovascular and pulmonary functions. Damage to the heart or lungs can reduce blood oxygen levels and result in the lingering “brain fog” that some Covid patients report months after their illness.

Another study in Lancet Psychiatry from May found that patients hospitalized with Covid were twice as likely to be diagnosed with dementia within six months than patients who weren’t.

Dr. Alireza Atri, director of Banner Sun Health Research Institute who specializes in cognitive disorders, says he’s been seeing many more patients in their 50s who have signs of early dementia after having Covid. “It’s a nasty neuro-destructive virus,” he says in an interview.  “It can accelerate decline in people who are more susceptible to dementia and Alzheimer’s.”

One reason is the virus can attack the lining of blood vessels and cause small blood clots in the brain.  It also uses the olfactory pathways to directly invade the brain, poking holes in the normally ironclad blood-brain barrier.  The olfactory pathways project to parts of the brain that are very close to where new memories are formed, which is another reason that some Covid survivors may suffer from brain fog and loss of taste and smell.

The blood-brain barrier keeps out viruses and other harmful substances.  If the brain’s protective armor is weakened, people may be susceptible to other invaders.  People with the APOE4 gene allele, which has been connected to a higher risk of Alzheimer’s, may also be more vulnerable to Covid.  A study last year found that the gene leads to blood-brain barrier dysfunction.  Another study found that carrying two copies of the APOE4 gene allele (one from both the father and mother) made people twice as likely to develop severe illness.

People with less “cognitive reserve” are probably more vulnerable to Covid’s attacks on the brain, Dr. Atri adds.  Cognitive reserve is the concept that individuals have different abilities to withstand neuropathological damage.  Some people can still function normally despite damage to their brains since they can adapt—for instance, by rerouting processes.  This is why many people with the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s in their brains don’t exhibit cognitive decline.

Higher education, social interaction and intellectually demanding jobs can increase mental resilience, though Dr. Atri worries that the virus may deplete the cognitive reserve.  His goal isn’t to scare people from leaving their homes, but to create more public awareness so people can better assess their health risks and modify their behavior accordingly.

The growing evidence that a coronavirus infection that isn’t rapidly defeated by the immune system can seriously damage the brain and other organs argues in favor of expediting boosters, especially for older people who are at higher risk for both severe illness and dementia.  Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines generate high levels of neutralizing antibodies, which are the immune system’s front-line defense.  But these gradually wane over several months and are less effective against the Delta variant.  A new study in the journal Nature indicates that vaccine antibodies are eight-times less sensitive to the Delta variant than to the Alpha.

While vaccines also generate back-up fighter T-cells, antibodies are still important because they give the immune system time to mobilize.  The T-cell response in older people is generally more sluggish.  Because the Delta replicates much faster than earlier variants, it can quickly overwhelm a sleepy or compromised immune system.

Boosters help because they provide a huge jolt of antibodies.  In those age 65 to 85, a third dose of Pfizer’s vaccine has been found to produce a more-than 11-fold increase in antibodies compared with the second dose.  A recent study from Israel found that people over 60 who received Pfizer boosters were more than 10 times less likely to get severe illness than those who had two shots.

So far there’s no evidence to suggest that side effects from a third dose are greater than those from a second.  Covid will never be eradicated, and we’ll have to learn to live with it. That’s why we need boosters.

This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Okay, at the start of this blog, let me underline this point:  I don’t usually read “advice columns” in today’s newspapers.  Instead, I focus on politics and sports.

But, my wife pointed out the following example to me and it says volumes about one of the overriding issues today – getting Covid 19 vaccines.

Advice writer Carolyn Hax wrote her recent column under this headline:

She refuses to mask or get vaccinated. Can their friendship survive?

Here’s the story:

“Hello, Carolyn!  My close friend of many years and I live about an hour away from each other, but we might as well be on distant planets when it comes to covid.

“Lockdown was extremely stressful for both of us.  Since lockdown ended, I have been living carefully:  Masking up indoors and getting vaccinated ASAP.  She has been living confidently, maskless, and refuses to get vaccinated.  I think covid safety is a big deal, she thinks it’s not necessary.  Her friend got covid-19 while battling breast cancer and died.  My friend is convinced her death wasn’t related to covid (how would anyone know?).

“I don’t respect her decisions, her logic or her behavior.  She doesn’t respect mine — she thinks I’m overreacting and overly cautious.  When we talk about it, we both dig our heels in.  So now we aren’t talking.  It’s been over a month now.

“Now that the delta variant is here, I’m even more worried, angry and frustrated with her.  I’m practically obsessed with her lack of safety.  How can a friendship overcome these differences?”

Hax had a good answer:

“If you’re wrong about covid (you’re not), then here’s what happens:  You feel minor discomfort in your mask and no one else is harmed.

“If she’s wrong about covid (she is), then here’s what happens:  She puts herself at risk of sickness and death; she puts other people at risk of sickness and death; she does her small part to help extend the life and reach of a virus that has brought sickness and death to millions, along with massive emotional, experiential, educational and economic losses to the entire world; and in doing all of these she gives the virus one more living opportunity to mutate into even more dangerous forms.”

Point made!

I encounter this issue with several of my friends who refuse to get vaccinated, plus refuse to wear masks.  

One of the reasons, I guess, is that they get mad when someone else – a governor, a president, or even a doctor – tell them what to do.  They refuse, saying that they are in charge of themselves.

Or, they refuse to believe solid science these days, which, if you look at it in details, falls down squarely on the side of getting vaccinated.

My wish is that friends, before they become former friends, would rely on science, not stupid, alleged science, or politics.  That would allow them to protect not only themselves, but others – including me.

Selfishness is rampant in our society and nowhere does it express itself more forcefully as in anti-vaccine conduct.

So, get vaccinated!

This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Words matter.

I have written about that notion before.  It is one that served as a foundation for my life’s work, which was to write, whether I was a reporter for a daily newspaper, a state government official, or a lobbyist.

I like words more than numbers, graphs or charts, though I suppose those “others” can help provide a stronger foundation for words.

Washington Post media analyst Margaret Sullivan made the “words matter” point in a piece she wrote this week.  It appeared under this headline:

Words matter. So these journalists refuse to call GOP election meddling an “audit.”

Here are a few excerpts from her column:

“There’s a simple but powerful idea behind the Philadelphia Inquirer’s recent decision not to use the word ‘audit’ when referring to an effort by the state GOP to investigate the 2020 election:

“Words matter.

“The words that a news organization chooses to tell a story make a difference.  If a journalist calls something a ‘lie,’ that’s a deliberate choice. So is ‘racially tinged.’  Or ‘pro-life.’  Or torture.’

“Such decisions carry weight.  They have power.

Acknowledging this power and being transparent about those choices is exactly what the Inquirer did the other day when it embedded within a news story a bit of explanatory text, under the headline:  ‘Why we’re not calling it an audit.

“In clear language, the paper explained that it’s because ‘there’s no indication’ that this effort, which follows months of demands from Donald Trump alleging baselessly that the election was rigged, ‘would follow the best practices or the common understanding of an audit among nonpartisan experts.’

“How so?  The Inquirer noted that when it asked how the review would work, how ballots and election equipment would be secured, who would be involved, and so on, the leaders of this effort did not explain.”

Excellent points by Sullivan to oppose strenuously the use of the word “audit” to describe something only in Trump’s stupid mind.

On a different plane, I often thought of the “words matter “point when I was writing for a daily newspaper many years ago.  Think, for just a moment, about the word “admit,” as in a sentence such as this – “The member of the City Council admitted that he had talked with constituents about the issue before the Council.”

Would the word “said” have been better than the word “admitted.”?  I say yes because “admitted” carries the connotation of some kind of wrongdoing.  In the sentence, there should be no such impression.

Dan Hirschhorn, senior politics editor at the Inquirer, told the commentator Sullivan, “These are not ‘he said/she said’ stories — there is clear, objective truth here.”

Hirschhorn and Sullivan are right.  And, I add immodestly, so am I.

There is a word that describes conduct by the Philadelphia Inquirer.  Integrity.  A model for all of us as we use words and are careful to contemplate their meaning.

This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

On the day after the 9/11 anniversary, there is no more fitting way to commemorate the memory than to cite comments made by the president at the time of 9/11, George W. Bush.

He spoke yesterday in Shanksville, Pennsylvania where Flight 93 went down on the day of the attacks.

Here is what Bush said:

“He warned that dangers to the country now come not only across borders ‘but from violence that gathers from within.’  It was an apparent and obvious reference to the attack on the Capitol on January 6.

“’There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home,”’ he said.  ‘But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit.  And it is our continuing duty to confront them.”

It is possible to criticize Bush for some of his leadership decisions, including entering the Iraq War.  But it is not logical to oppose his comments in Shanksville.

He makes the excellent point that dangers to the U.S. come, not just from external forces, but also internal ones.

Footnote:  If you want to read a solid account of what has happened in the U.S. since 9/11, Washington Post writer, Dan Balz, one of the country’s best commentators going, has a great piede today in the Post.  Worth reading.

This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

So, we have arrived at the day – the day the Twin Towers in New York came crashing down due to a terrorist attack which shocked us, not to mention took thousands of lives on our own soil.

You don’t have to go far today to read about that “day of infamy” in 2001.

But, what has happened in the intervening 20 years?  Have we learned anything as a result of the attack?  Have we found a way to be a better country for the learning?

Many commentators are answering “no” to those questions.

So it was that I read a commentary this morning written by former U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman.  It appeared in Friday’s Wall Street Journal under this headline:

Jewish Tradition and National Unity

The high holidays offer lessons that can be helpful to all Americans.

As I have done several times in the past, I devote my blog this morning to a full transcript of Lieberman’s piece, with appropriate attribution to him.  It is well written and worth reading.  So read and reflect.

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The ram’s horn, or shofar, is sounded throughout the Jewish high holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur as a call for Jews to reflect, reform and repent. Many of us are doing exactly that this month. The lessons associated with these holidays, which both happen in September this year, are more relevant than ever to all Americans.

The U.S. today is less unified and secure, less law-abiding, less respectful of government, and less confident in the future than at any point in my life. It needs to be jolted from its current course by the sound of the ram’s horn to find a better way forward.

The path Jewish tradition offers is through repentance, but not only in the way it is commonly understood. As Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks taught, the root of the Hebrew word for repentance, teshuvah, means to return. For a nation, he explained, it means to return “to our roots, our faith, our history.” This is the best first step the American people can take to overcome division, because it will show how far we have strayed from the source of our national values, unity and purpose.

As the Declaration of Independence says: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” These words—some of the most important ever written in the English language—are about more than the Founders’ call for independence from England. They are an American covenant entered into by succeeding generations. Too many Americans today have been distracted from the faith and values in the Declaration, causing the nation to suffer greatly.

Alexis de Tocqueville concluded after his tour of America in the 19th century that “liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.” The American ideal that all of us are created equal has been the source of our national unity. But in our time, that faith has been overwhelmed by forces that divide our government, politics, and people.

If we all are created equally, we are all children of the same God, all members of the same national family. If we could once again see our fellow Americans that way, it would be harder to treat each other as enemies because we disagree on political issues or belong to different demographic groups. Those differences would yield to the unifying bond and great values we share as fellow citizens of the U.S. In that event, civility might return to society. Reasonable discussions full of negotiation, compromise and problem-solving could follow.

Throughout American history, national crises have brought us together. However, Covid-19 prompted us to be suspicious of one another and to disagree vehemently along partisan lines. But the pandemic also produced some remarkable examples of what we can do when we work together—from healthcare workers caring for the sick, to scientists, supported by businesses and government, who produced the miraculous vaccines that have saved millions of lives.

America still has the dynamism and courage to revive national unity. And that unity can best be achieved again by returning to our shared faith, as President Kennedy once said, that “the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.” That is why I pray that the American people hear the sound of the shofar and are moved to return to our past values so that we can secure a better future for this country.

A great 18th century rabbi known as the Baal Shem Tov, or Master of the Good Name, told this parable: “A man got lost in the forest and wandered for several days trying to find a way out until he finally saw another man walking toward him. ‘I have been lost for days in the forest,’ he said to the stranger. ‘Can you show me the way out?’ ”

The other man answered, “I am lost myself. But I know the path you are on now is not the right one: Let’s try together to find our way out.”

“So it is with us,” concluded the Baal Shem Tov. “I know that the road we are on now will only lead us further astray. But if we join together, we can find the right way forward.” And so it is with America.

This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

The headline in this blog underscores a solid reality – workers’ compensation rates for Oregon businesses have been doing down and will continue the downward path for next year.

The good news comes from a solid source, Salem Reporter, which is carving out for itself a positive reputation for news in and around the Salem-Keizer area. 

That’s good because of the continuing decline of the Salem Statesman-Journal.

But back to workers’ comp.

Here is a summary of the news reported by Salem Reporter:

“For the ninth year in a row, Oregon employers on average will spend less in 2022 on workers’ compensation, the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services said in a Wednesday news release.

“The agency projected that employers next year will pay 97 cents for every $100 of payroll for workers’ compensation costs on average. That’s down from the current figure of $1.02 per $100 in payroll costs.

“The trend follows a decline in frequency of lost-time claims, claim costs and medical costs.

“Oregon has been among the lowest-ranked states ‘for many years’ in workers’ compensation premium rates, the base rate by which insurers set medical costs and lost wages paid by employers, the agency said.  In 2020, the state recorded the seventh-least expansive rates in the country.”

The state agency news release didn’t report this – it probably couldn’t remember – but this good news about workers’ comp started during the Administration of former Oregon Governor Neil Goldschmidt.

Of course, he tarnished his own image by his conduct before serving as governor, but the leadership he took on workers’comp deserves to be remembered accurately.

He brought both sides – business and labor – together at the bargaining table until they agreed on a resolution.  It was one that, (a) cut business costs, which, of course, benefitted workers as well as managers, and (b) protected important medical services for workers.

It was a solid solution all around and has, for one thing, stood the test of time, illustrating that tough issues don’t have to be a win for one side and a loss for other.

I always thought the consensus represented one of the best examples in Oregon of finding what I like to call “the smart middle ground.”  I only wish there were more examples of this kind of good government today instead of what we have nationally and in Oregon, which is political antagonism and one-upsmanship.

As for the Department of Consumer and Business Services, which runs worker’ comp in Oregon, it also attributed “the continued decline in costs to state workplace safety agencies, including the Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, injured worker and small business advocacy services, and the Workers’ Compensation Board that settles disputes related to state laws for workers’ compensation and workplace safety.

Fine.  Give the state agencies credit.  Just know that, at one point in the pasts, a governor laid the groundwork for what today is a selling point for Oregon, not a debit for business, workers and the economy.

This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

That’s an age-old question that many of us ask in relation to major events.  We also tend to know the answer.

We know where we were when:

• The attack on Pearl Harbor occurred (though, for this, I relied on my parents because I was not born yet).

• The day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

• The day Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon.

And, in the case that prompts this blog, the day the Twin Towers in New York came crashing down due to a terrorist attack on the U.S. homeland.

I remember what I was doing on that fateful day – September 11, 2001, now only a couple days away from the 20-year mark.

I was over in Central Oregon to play in a political fundraiser golf tournament at Eagle Crest.  At one point before playing, I walked into the pro shop and wondered why so many people were crowded around a TV.   Soon I knew.

With others, I saw the calamitous site of the Twin Towers on fire and coming down, even as some in the towers were jumping to their deaths.

I had no idea what was happening.  No one else did either.  No idea about the Twin Towers attack, the attack on the Pentagon, or the crash of Flight 93 in a remote piece of Pennsylvania land.

At one point, some of us thought an airplane might have crashed into the Towers in an accident.  But soon it became evident that something else far worse was under way – a direct attack on the U.S. by terrorists bent on exacting a huge price.

I was in Central Oregon with a lobbyist friend whose wife was home in Salem functioning as a principal in a grade school.  My friend called his wife and she asked him to come home immediately to help her deal with the tragedy.

So, immediately, we got in a car and headed back West for a two-hour drive where we talked about what we had seen but did not yet understand.

All of this, 20 years after it happened, comes roaring back in my mind.  And it leaves an indelible impression – we were not safe then and are not safe now from terrorists who hate the United States enough to give up their own lives just has happened again recently in Afghanistan.

What should these memories conjure up for us?  Who knows?  But just this – remember and value the lives lost in the tragedy and recognize that none of us is immune from this kind of tragedy, whatever the specific cause.

Finally, here is a quote I read on-line:  “Remembering is not merely a state of mind.  As those who beseech us to never forget the Holocaust have long insisted, it is an act. And when loss and trauma are visited upon human beings,” it is important to remember the reality and mourn those who were lost.