star-telegram.com: J.R. Labbe

Labbe's Mad Minute: Yellow ribbons don't pay the bills

Mon, 12 May 2008 15:23 CDT

Singing with right hand over heart

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 04:39 CDT

By J.R. Labbe

"When did the protocol of putting your hand over your heart during the national anthem change?"

It wasn't meant as a rhetorical question. My friend was curious.

A wide-ranging conversation over an adult beverage or two about the presidential campaign -- in my humble opinion, the only way to discuss it -- turned to the now-notorious photograph of Democratic candidate Barack Obama sans right hand over his heart during the playing of TheStar-Spangled Banner at an Iowa fundraiser in September 2007.

In the world of the Internet, nothing ever goes away, and Obama continues to be dogged for the Time magazine image that shows opponent Hillary Clinton and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson at the same event, right hands placed over their hearts during the playing of the national anthem. (Only Richardson appears to be singing.) Obama's arms are down, his fingers are laced, and his hands are positioned below his belt buckle.

"Obama did not refuse to salute the flag," his defenders cried, citing the candidate's own remarks about the incident once the photo started circulating. "He just did not salute the national anthem."

Therein lies the problem: The tradition for both is the same.

The protocol for how Americans should behave during patriotic and national observances and ceremonies can be found in the U.S. Code, an enlightening if dryly written compilation of general and permanent federal laws published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Scroll down to Chapter 3, Section 301 of Title 36 and you get to the part about what to do when the national anthem is played.

If the U.S. flag is displayed -- and it apparently matters not if this is an indoor or outdoor venue -- everyone except "those in uniform" should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. Men not in uniform but wearing hats should "remove their headdress with their right hand and hold the headdress at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart."

Military personnel in uniform "should give the military salute at the first note of the anthem and maintain that position until the last note."

If the anthem is played at a venue at which no U.S. flag is displayed, "all present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the flag were displayed," the code says.

Of course, in a nation built on the foundations of free speech and freedom of religion, Americans can decline from following such protocols if they choose.

Many a court case has been waged on behalf of Jehovah's Witnesses, who refuse on religious grounds to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and salute the U.S. flag. Witnesses take the Old Testament's prohibition against graven images and idolatry seriously. To them, Exodus 20:4-5 -- "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image .... Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them" -- means no pledging loyalty to a nation or a nation's flag.

What appears to be universally understood is that it's appropriate to stand if one is able during the playing of TheStar-Spangled Banner. Standing during America the Beautiful is optional, as is during God Bless the USA, even if it's Lee Greenwood singing it. But be warned: You're bound to get some go-to-hell looks if you live south of the Mason-Dixon line and choose to stay in your seat during either.

'These are real people ... violence has to stop'

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 08:21 CDT

By J.R. Labbe

View the winning artwork

When Martha Nziramasanga picked up her camera to create an entry for the Safe City Commission's "Imagine No Violence" art contest, she didn't have to imagine the scars and pain that violence can cause.

She just had to look at her friend Ahmad "Bob" Awde in his wheelchair.

The 18-year-old Awde was shot last July while working in his father's Fort Worth convenience store. In broad daylight. On a Sunday afternoon.

"I worked the day shift for this very reason -- that it's safer," said Awde. "He didn't demand money; he didn't say a word. He just shot me."

The Star-Telegram's coverage of the July incident consisted of four sentences. They said Awde was shot twice. Although more than one shot might have been fired, only one bullet hit him. The spots where the slug entered and exited his right arm before entering his side are dark circles on the skin. He points to the place on his upper left side where the bullet remains lodged.

"It didn't hit my spine, but the impact caused my spinal cord to swell," he said. "There's a chance that there's some shrapnel still in there."

Awde sucks in his breath and grabs his right leg as he experiences a tinge of pain.

Nziramasanga, a senior at Southwest High School, calmly stands by his wheelchair. "That happens," she says matter-of-factly. "But it's a good thing, really."

The "good thing" is neuropathy, Awde explained in a later phone conversation. "It comes with most spinal cord injuries. It's better than no pain at all. Some get no pain."

The two are unlikely companions. Nziramasanga is a Christian; Awde is a Muslim whose family immigrated to the United States from Lebanon. They first met when Awde visited Nziramasanga's church with a mutual friend. The fact that it was Wedgwood Baptist Church, where a gunman in 1999 killed seven people and wounded 12 others before killing himself, doesn't escape Nziramasanga.

"How strange is that?" she asks. "I mean, it's the church where the shooting was."

A shared sense of humor, Awde says, is what cemented the friendship.

"We don't have an amazing amount in common, but we're both friendly people and make a lot of jokes," he said.

For Nziramasanga, the connection runs deeper: The 18-year-old said that God has laid on her heart a call to help her friend with his recovery. She's been giving her tithe to his family to assist with rehabilitation expenses because "the Lord is leading me that way," she said.

Awde is making progress, although it will never be quick enough for a teenager.

"My right leg moves pretty well; I'm not 100 percent paralyzed," said Awde, who recently regained some independence after his car was equipped with hand controls. "Beyond that, I have some touch sensation. I can actually feel in my right thigh a little."

Awde's physical therapy includes training with a walker, and he expects to get leg braces soon. But he's putting his hope on scientific advances in stem cell therapy.

"I've read a lot about it, and it's really promising," he said. "They've taught paralyzed rats to walk."

After last Monday night, Awde will get additional help from his friend. Organizers of the art contest knew that Nziramasanga had pledged any financial awards she might receive for her photography to Awde's therapy.

An inside look at foreign service, 'war on terror'

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 04:39 CDT

By J.R. Labbe

"The war on terror," according to Jerry Johnston of the Deseret Morning News, is a bad term to describe what the United States is engaged in around the globe.

"Terror is a tactic, like sniper fire," said Johnston, an editorial writer and columnist who participated in a two-day briefing at the State Department for members of the National Conference of Editorial Writers. "Wouldn't it be more accurate to say the war on radical Islamic extremists?"

The rest of the professional pundits waited, pens poised for note-taking, to hear how Gerald Feierstein would defend the Bush administration's use of the phrase.

Judging from his immediate response, Feierstein, the State Department's principal deputy coordinator for counterterrorism, had been around this particular block before.

It would be a misnomer to call it the "war on radical Islamic extremists," Feierstein said, when there's a Hindu group in Sri Lanka causing problems, for example, and a Christian group in Spain that's bent on mayhem.

"There are people with fundamental ideas who are no friends to al Qaeda," he said. "We need to identify and reach out to them rather than throwing them into the Islamic camp."

Feierstein saw no need to offer an alternative phrase. "The war on terror" was repeated by many of the foreign service officials, including Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who talked about international issues ranging from the extremists' activity in the volatile region along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan to the continuing lack of progress in Middle East peacekeeping.

Of course, no one at State uttered the words "lack of progress" -- not with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice just completing her 14th trip in the past 15 months to the region. The officials who briefed the editorial writers didn't chalk up 25- and 30-year careers as foreign service officers by being careless with their words.

Negroponte, department deputy spokesman Tom Casey and Jeffrey Feltman, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, were pressed by several writers about what had been accomplished during Rice's most recent foray into the hornet's nest that is the Israeli and Palestinian standoff.

Casey, in citing a three-pronged approach to peace that includes the Israelis dismantling settlements in the West Bank, highlighted the agreement by the Israelis to remove checkpoints and roadblocks that are restricting Palestinian travel there. Although he didn't cite a specific number during the briefing, it has since been reported that Israel agreed to remove 50 roadblocks. But that leaves more than 500.

Feltman, in referencing bilateral talks that are scheduled to begin Monday between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, also underscored Rice's adamant declaration that "Israeli settlement activity must stop."

Although we were clueless about much of what was happening in the outside world during the briefing -- being inside a State Department meeting room is a lot like being in a Cold War bunker -- conference attendees now know that even as Feltman was reiterating Rice's words, Israel was announcing its intention to construct 800 new houses for Jewish families in the West Bank.

If the State Department's goal remains a political agreement on establishing what a Palestinian state would look like before George W. Bush leaves office, it's going to take all the diplomatic finesse and negotiating muscle that these foreign service professionals can muster -- especially when Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist faction that refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist, is not at any table that includes discussion about a peace process with Israel.

On Friday, Hamas claimed that its gunmen, working in a joint operation with a previously unknown group called the Protectors of al-Aqsa, wounded an aide to Israel's interior security minister when they fired from the Gaza Strip on an Israeli kibbutz that the minister was visiting.

That could be defined as the war by terror.

Labbe's Mad Minute: McCain flunks economics

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:23 CDT

Illiteracy carries a cost for those who can read, too

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 04:38 CDT

By J.R. LABBE

"We continue to make it easier for people to function without knowing how to read."

That statement, coming from the executive director of a community foundation that funds literacy programs in Oklahoma City, was striking.

But Nancy Anthony is correct. Look around. From automobile dashboards to the hallways of public buildings to the menu at the local drive-through, icons and photographs have taken the place of words.

Businesses strive to accommodate every potential customer, regardless of the ability to read. In Tarrant County that's a pragmatic decision, given that almost half of the adult population has literacy skills that barely reach those of a fourth grader.

The same drive to help potential customers navigate their way to plunking down money for services or products also should motivate businesses to do something about improving adult literacy rates -- and not just because it's the right thing to do.

A quality workforce and a healthy regional economy depend on it.

Functioning in society is not the same as prospering. It's not the same as benefiting fully, both personally and professionally, from the opportunities that being able to read, write, compute and problem-solve in English make possible.

Merely functioning should not be an acceptable measure of achievement -- not in one of the most progressive and prosperous communities in the country.

But Tarrant County risks losing that distinction if community leaders in both the public and private sectors don't pay attention.

The answers to why an individual can grow to adulthood unable to read a road map, understand the directions on a prescription bottle or make sense of the small print on credit card applications are as varied as each person's life experience. Students drop out of school or their families move from one school or district to another so often that continuity in learning is disrupted. People have learning disabilities, or their ability to learn and retain information requires a different method of teaching than what they experienced. Or they come from a home environment or culture that doesn't value education as a way to success.

In a perfect world, every child who begins the educational process would be equipped mentally, emotionally and physically to take full advantage of the instruction available. It doesn't take the annual observance of Easter Sunday to know that this is far from a perfect world.

In Tarrant County, the majority of adult literacy programs are offered by the faith-based community. And bless them for that. But the need for training far exceeds the ability of the churches to respond. Of the estimated 238,000 Tarrant County residents with low literacy skills, less than 8,000 are in any kind of tutoring program, according to Sue Matkin, assistant vice president of the United Way of Tarrant County, which has identified adult literacy as one of the impact areas needing a targeted community-wide response.

Tarrant County needs more trained adult literacy providers who offer classes at a variety of times and locations. And it needs those programs provided in the workplace.

Given the enviously low unemployment rate in Fort Worth-Arlington area -- it was 4.4 percent in December when the national average was 5 percent -- many of the 238,000 adults with low literacy skills are employed. But their ability to advance within their current workplace or change companies to one that pays more often is stunted by the inability to meet the literacy demands in today's ever more technical world.

That's a bad deal for everyone because the more that people are paid, the more they spend, and the more they pay in taxes. All of that contributes to the health of the overall economy.

The truth is, private dollars will never be enough to solve the public problem of literacy.

"We can't fund this problem on the backs of charities and volunteers. It demands public dollars," said Oklahoma City's Anthony during a recent national literacy coalition conference in Memphis. "To make that happen, the business community has got to get behind it because they can drive the legislative and governmental changes."

A business community that sees the cost benefit of a more literate workforce can drive additional funding from the Legislature.

"Political clout, and political will, will be crucial to success," said John Mitterholzer, project officer with The Cleveland Foundation, a major funder of the Cleveland Literacy Coalition. "You have got to have the right organization at the right time with the broader vision of the community at the forefront."

The North Texas Future Fund is such an organization. The 501(c)(3) established by the North Texas Commission is bringing together literacy service providers, educators, business leaders, workforce development professionals and elected officials to research and analyze data that will help identify specific programs needed to address the issue.

Labbe's Mad Minute: Sorry state of politics

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:01 CDT

Adult illiteracy -- a bad life sentence

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 04:38 CDT

By J.R. Labbe

Poverty. Homelessness. School dropouts. Unemployment. Lost productivity in the workplace. High infant mortality rates. Increased healthcare costs linked to the misuse of medications.

Ask Joe Bagochips a "man-on-the-street" question about what these challenges have in common, and it's unlikely that he'll come up with the answer. But there is one.

"Literacy is the lowest common denominator of all of our community problems," Jane Holston of Literacy Texas said Thursday to participants at what was billed as the first national community literacy leadership conference.

For three days, executive directors, board members, funders and volunteer leaders from literacy coalitions nationwide brainstormed about how to unite their home communities, U.S. cities and towns large and small, in working toward a goal of 100 percent literacy.

(Full disclosure: I attended the conference as a member of the adult literacy advisory board for the United Way of Metropolitan Tarrant County and as the past president of the Rotary Club of Fort Worth, which is launching a five-year initiative on workplace literacy.)

Admittedly, it's an ambitious vision, but it should be one that Tarrant County attempts to achieve. I mean, find someone who thinks that having a populace in which each adult can read, write, speak, compute and problem-solve in English is a bad idea.

What many local folks may find surprising is that Tarrant County has a steep hill to climb to reach that 100 percent mark.

Nationwide, about 14 percent of adults can't read well enough to follow a bus schedule or read a story to their children or grandchildren. In Tarrant County, 20 percent of adults -- about 238,000 -- struggle with those tasks. An additional 27 percent don't have the skills needed to earn a livable wage, according to statistics compiled by the local United Way from a report developed by the National Assessment of Adult Literacy.

For almost half of the adults in our county, the hardest part of getting work isn't the job interview -- it's completing the application.

Conference-goers who attended a session on finding funds to support literacy initiatives admitted that adult literacy isn't the sexiest of social issues.

"Early childhood programs are at the table because they get an 'oh, isn't she cute' response," said Margery Freeman of Literacy Powerline, the organization that hosted the conference along with the Mid South Reads Coalition based at the University of Memphis. "Adult literacy is still under the table."

That reality demands change. An adult's struggle with low literacy can be a devastating family legacy. A parent's inability to read has a direct impact on a child's success in school. It even affects the child's physical well-being.

"One of the strongest predictors of a child's health is the mother's education level," said Andrew Pleasant, a Rutgers University professor who researches health literacy issues around the world.

Before you start feeling smug because you can read this, think back to the last time that you or a loved one had a medical problem that necessitated a visit with a doctor. How many questions did you have to ask before you understood what was going on?

"Almost nine out of 10 Americans are below a proficient level for health literacy," Pleasant said.

Now imagine that not only were you confused by what the doc said, but the instructions on the prescription label might as well have been in Sanskrit.

National healthcare costs linked to low health literacy reach about $73 billion -- yes, with a "B" -- annually. And who's paying for that? You. And me. And everyone who pays insurance premiums and elevated out-of-pocket costs for healthcare.

A conversation is getting under way in Tarrant County -- as it is in cities nationwide -- among individuals, business leaders, educators and agency officials who are passionate about giving people the skills they need to fully benefit from and contribute to the success of our national community.

"There is incredible opportunity in this country, even when it is at its worst, when you compare the United States to other countries," said Nancy Anthony, executive director of the Oklahoma City Community Foundation. "To maximize that opportunity, people must have literacy skills. We give them the chance to progress and stand on their own, but they've got to have to tools to do it."

Coming next week: The business community has a vested interest in taking the lead on adult literacy. And where the business community has the will, the political community finds the way.

Labbe's Minute: 4,000 dead deserve better

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 09:52 CDT

Labbe's Minute: Dems ready to ignore rules

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 20:09 CDT