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Birth pains for plowshare conservatives

by Watt Childress 7/20/2011 - 3:20 pm

I'm an Independent. I believe America needs a balanced budget based on the priority needs of people, not the demands of crony capitalists. I see our dependence on ever-increasing debt as a form of slavery.

Democrats boast that America’s budget was headed toward balance under President Clinton. While his role in that achievement is debatable, it’s true that our country’s finances were in much better shape when Clinton handed Bush the reigns than when Bush handed them to Obama.

The last time Republicans ruled America, they left us with a huge budget deficit. Dems emphasize this in concert with two talking points: 1) Bush busted the budget with tax cuts; and 2) he glossed over the resulting fiscal imbalance by repeatedly raising the debt limit. [Read more]

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Waddling toward Jerusalem

by Watt Childress 5/22/2011 - 5:02 pm

Sacrifice is a perennial theme for me. In a recent column I discussed two kinds of sacrifice. One involves the waiver of some personal gratification, a selfless gift that contributes to creation. The other is a selfish taking of life, a killing made for private gain.

Giver, taker. Good sacrifice, bad sacrifice. Such black-and-white contrasts can energize conversations, like positive and negative poles in a battery. They can also polarize our thinking and coop us up in combative worldviews. We can become so fixated on dualities that we miss something crucial to our understanding.
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Nashville's song for our country (land and nation)

by Watt Childress 5/10/2011 - 12:19 pm

Last month I received a phone call from a friend in Nashville who I worked with when I lived there in 1991. His name is Sizwe Herring.

Sizwe -- which means "land and nation" in Zulu --  is the visionary director of the George W. Carver Food Park. For two decades, the park has served as a community demonstration site for composting and gardening in Nashville’s inner-city neighborhoods. The park is located on state-managed public land adjacent to an interstate that runs through the city. [Read more]

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The fallout of our trickle-down economy

by Watt Childress 4/13/2011 - 12:59 am

Radiation leaking from American-designed reactors has made its way into Northwest milk and Northeast rain. Nowhere near enough to pose an immediate threat to Americans, say public officials. Yet the nuclear poison is wreaking havoc on Japan, and it is traveling great distances.

Officials have repeated two messages since day one of this tragedy. First, there’s no cause for alarm. Second, this will not alter government’s plan to subsidize more nuclear reactors.

These points anchored the company line before we had any idea what was happening at ground zero. It looks like investors are assured that nukes will continue fueling corporate profits, regardless of their inherent risks to public safety, environmental health, and government budgets. [Read more]

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Do we feel lucky?

by Watt Childress 3/25/2011 - 11:52 am

The Monday following Japan’s deadly earthquake, tsunami, and unfolding nuclear nightmare, we bought fish for our first family aquarium. Jennifer and the girls and I pored over the beautiful swimmers at a pet store in Seaside, Oregon, evacuated three days prior.

An employee’s helpful advice about keeping a healthy tank was a welcome counter-balance to the grief and worry hanging over us. The catastrophe in Japan came less than three weeks after a smaller quake did serious damage in New Zealand. Are we next in line for tectonic turmoil?

The question has prompted our family to tighten up emergency plans. We’ve stocked up on reserve supplies for our home where we can hole up above the tsunami zone. [Read more]

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March Hare meets the Mob

by Watt Childress 3/13/2011 - 5:55 pm

This post was first published as a column in the Cannon Beach Citizen, in the 1st congressional district of Oregon.

“We’re all mad here.” -- Lewis Carroll

Actually, Mr. Carroll didn’t say that. He merely put those words into the mouth of a furry character in one of his children’s books. Surely the man was as sane as the average deacon.

Yet the bounds of sanity shift as we venture through the land of words and pictures. Take it from me, your grinning columnist. Our mental health is mirrored in the stories that dominate our media. Public response to these stories reveals something important about society’s psyche. [Read more]

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Do it in the name of love

by Watt Childress 2/14/2011 - 1:24 am

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”                   -- Mother Teresa

Dudes are notoriously lame when it comes to Valentine’s Day. Over the years, my actions and inactions have placed me among the ranks of Troglodites who ignore or defame the meaning of this celebration.

Partly that’s because I’m often too busy to bother with things I judge as trifling or hyper sentimental. Partly it’s because I -- like most people -- don’t know who Saint Valentine was. We contemporary cavemen require textbook histories and action movies in order to take something seriously. Therein lies a problem. [Read more]

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Welcome to the Garden Party

by Watt Childress 2/1/2011 - 12:15 am

"Sir, are you a singer-songwriter?''

The question came from a Greeneville High School senior who shall remain anonymous because I don't want to embarrass him. We were at a play-group reunion. Last time I saw him, 12 years ago, he was sporting a Batman cape.

"Now think about it,'' I replied, "if I really looked like a singer-songwriter, would you call me 'sir'?''

Batman didn't miss a beat. "Well, maybe if you were knighted, like Elton John.''

Must be the hair. The fact that I've let mine grow long again probably made me look a tad musician-ish during our recent trip from Oregon back to Tennessee. [Read more]

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Baby, it's cold outside

by Watt Childress 12/24/2010 - 10:25 am

The rich inner experience of Christmas is coated with a sweet nutty blend of pop culture. Features for the holiday range from angels to elves, from wise men to talking snowmen, from Jesus, Mary, and Joseph to Rudolph, Prancer, and Vixen. Believers bask in the starry wonderment of Christ’s rustic birth while decking the night with merriments as bright as Las Vegas.

Howdy Babe!

Saint Francis of Assisi is credited with re-creating the first nativity scene. A deep chord is struck in me by that sacred gathering of angels, humans, and animals, all focused on the holy infant. This reverses the order of imperial power that’s exerted downward by rulers over men, women, and children. On one silent night, the most vulnerable becomes the most venerable. [Read more]

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Two Santa Clauses or none?

by Watt Childress 12/15/2010 - 2:20 am

There are some things Americans know about ourselves without having to hear it from pollsters. We know we love Santa Claus, for example. When offered a choice between having no Santa for Christmas, or having twice as much Santa, we’ll grab the latter. [Read more]

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