Kenneth Weene

A New Englander by upbringing and inclination, Ken Weene’s career – primarily in New York – included teaching, pastoral care, and psychology. Throughout his career Ken has also been devoted to writing. His poetry has appeared in a number of publications – both print and web. He has authored a number of professional publications. Ken's short stories and essays have also been extensively published. One of his short plays was recently work-shopped. An anthology of Ken’s work, Songs For My Father, was published 2002. Ken and his wife, Roz, now live in greater Phoenix where he spends much of his time writing. His first novel Widow's Walk was published in 2009 and his second, Memoirs From the Asylum, in 2010 - both by All Things That Matter Press. Sample Ken's writing at http://www.authorkenweene.com

[kenweene]

Broody New Englander: Actually, Kenneth Weene has a wicked sense of humor –

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Humor not only improves perspective, defuses tension, reduces anxiety, and displaces anger, but it also improves stomach muscle tone.

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Can Young Americans Find A New Direction and Commitment for Their Lives

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Kenneth Weene's insight:

While religious attendance and membership has been steadily declining in modern America, there is an uptick in the number of women considering a vocation in Catholic religious orders.Why? Perhaps it is the human need to give our lives meaning. Assuredly, for most of us just accumulating wealth is not a sufficient goal. Those of us given to an existential bent ask ourselves questions that may well lead to wrestling with a sense of the divine and infinite. For me, the bible and established religions don't offer a starting point. Rather, I start as the traveller on a foggy path not sure of where it goes or even from whence it has begun. I choose my direction and march on. The only question is, do we have faith that the journey will end with some sense it has been worth the effort? I'm not sure, but it beats waiting for Godot so on I go. 

If you are wrestling with a similar issue, may I suggest this article as a place to start. https://www.huffpost.com/highline/article/millennial-nuns/?ncid=newsltushpmgnews

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Prosecutors Usually Send People to #Prison. These Are Getting Them Out. -  #Justice #exoneration 

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Prisoners who fought for years to prove their innocence couldn’t win in court, no matter how much evidence they amassed. Then the offices that put them away got involved.

Kenneth Weene's insight:

What should be done with judges who refuse to look at cases that are so deeply flawed, who refuse to make justice their first priority? Why have no state judicial systems set up their own review boards to review cases in which serious questions have arisen? Judges should never consider themselves above justice. 

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Immigration opens ideological fault lines for 2020 #Democrats. What might go into an intelligent #immigration #policy.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Bernie Sanders is adding his support to a call by some of his fellow presidential hopefuls for decriminalizing illegal border crossings, a proposal that's further exposing deep ideological divides in the Democratic primary and may prove politically treacherous for the party in the general election.

Kenneth Weene's insight:

The two major policy areas in which the Democratic contenders are going to have to position themselves are healthcare and immigration. Immigration is probably the trickier of the two. When it comes to immigration; the major issue is what constitutes illegal or undocumented entry and what should be done about it. Then, too, we must decide who has a right to asylum.

If we talk about asylum and in fact all immigration from south of our border, the first thought that comes to my mind is the humanitarian dimension to the issue. Unquestionably, people of the northern triangle are fleeing with good reason. And, they will be followed by Venezuelans and if things don’t change people from other South American countries. Bolivia, Peru, Chile, and the Amazonian section of Brazil are all potential sources of refugees. Obviously, we cannot give shelter to everyone any more than Europe can give shelter to all those fleeing from the Middle East and Africa.

Beyond asylum is the question of workers and who can come here to join our labor force. While there is some overlap between the two groups, they are not the same. We may want workers for our fields and some of the refugees from say Guatemala may be used to that kind of work and able to carry that burden, most of the jobs we need filled, such as working on roads and roofs and in factories, require some related experience and some reading and math skills, not much but a little which many of the poorest may not have. Also, workers do not universally come with dependents attached, but few if any refugees are alone; they are coming with families.

The major protection against our nation being flooded with both types of immigrants is not a wall or criminalizing those who come here any more than it is deciding that everybody should be free to come and embracing an open border.

I have previously suggested a number of steps that could help the situation. However, the first thing we have to recognize is that NAFTA was in part thought to be a solution. If the economy of Mexico was better, the thinking went, there would be fewer Mexicans trying to come to the states to earn. That has actually worked in the sense that fewer Mexicans are coming here for work; the problem is that the Mexicans have been replaced by people from other, poorer lands. One of the first steps the US must try is helping economic, social, and political improvement in the countries to our south. Given the history of American interventions not on the side of the people but rather American business and often to impose autocrats, a true change in America’s approach will not be easily accepted. It behooves us to provide more assistance and less direction. However, the economic development of Latin America is one of the first steps we need to take.

We rile against the drug cartels that make the plight of the common people of Latin America and particularly Mexico so difficult. Yet, we continue to help those cartels stay in control. We need to stop the War on Drugs so that the cartels can no longer make their fortunes on our addictions. That would also make our society a better place even if it meant allowing some of our citizens to destroy their own lives. It truly bothers me that we would deny asylum to a woman and children who have trekked thousands of miles to reach our border while we worry about the person who has been rescued from their heroin addiction three and four times by using Narcan.

Not everyone who wants to come to this country is necessarily going to contribute. Sorry, but that’s reality. Nor does every asylum seeker deserve protection. We should be providing screening much closer to their homes, in southern Mexico. Those denied asylum in that location should be given some kind of lottery that might allow them entry just for following the rules. Those who ignore that option and come directly to the US could then be screened but those failing to gain admittance would be banned for life. Of course, all of this requires the introduction of biometric identification techniques and better computerization. Those are far better ways to spend money than on a wall that cannot work.

Work visas are a different thing. I suggest that anyone who is able to work should be given work visas. However, the rules for those with such visas should be clear. Employers must pay them a minimum wage for the job that reflects what an American worker would be paid. The employer would also be responsible for providing reasonable medical insurance for those workers and their dependents. Social Security and unemployment should be collected and placed in the public funds, but the visa holder should not be eligible for those benefits. In other words, they would be contributing to American workers. They would have to agree that their children born here while they were on such visas would not be American citizens; yes that may be a constitutional issue, but I think it solvable. Finally, they would be required to check in regularly and would be limited in how long they could stay in the country if they were not working.

In the end, the Democrats have to realize, as did President Obama, that we cannot simply welcome everyone, but neither can we simply reject everyone. Immigrants enrich our culture and strengthen our economy. Their children often work harder and attain more than the second and third generation Americans. To see what I mean, check out the attainments of the Dreamers, and they had to accomplish all they have without legal protection of any kind. The American dream motivates people; they don’t see it as an entitlement.

Anyway, I hope the Democratic candidates will start providing some meaningful policy ideas when it comes to immigration.

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This week  in #Beijing There Was a Meeting About #Trade and #Economics. What did it harbinge for the #USA?

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How well is America doing in its trade wars? According to Beijing, not very well at all. What do you think?

Kenneth Weene's insight:

So just how well has the amazing, stable genius in the White House been doing for the American in world trade? To begin with, there is now a call for international sanctions against the US by the WTO; this call comes not from minor figures but from people like Ernesto Sedillo, president of the 21st Century Council and former president of Mexico. Perhaps more to the point, America’s trade deficit continues to increase while China’s exports grow. The one thing that is clear, China now sees the US as an antagonistic rival rather than a friendly competitor, and that competition will ultimately be about new technologies and science. Among those will be both AI and environmental technologies. 

 As the world turns from fossil fuels, the US seems to be moving backwards. Our major trade advantage appears to be in agricultural products that consume natural resources and military materials that create a negative space in world discourse. Sadly, we are discouraging education both at home and by making our country less welcoming to those who aspire to learn. 

 Of course, very few Americans have bothered to concern themselves with such issues. This week, the 21st Century Council met with Chinese president Xi Jinping. One clear point made by Zhu Min, former deputy manager of the International Monetary Fund, China’s trade with Mexico, Canada, Europe, and even Vietnam have increased. Another, China’s economy has made a shift towards a self-sustaining consumer economy. 

 Perhaps it is time for orange genius to start listening to some intelligent advisors.

[kenweene]

.#HongKong leader Carrie Lam condemns US senator Josh Hawley for ‘totally irresponsible’ police state comment

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The Republican politician made the comment during city visit to witness anti-government demonstrations.

Kenneth Weene's insight:

So far three American Republican senators have visited Hong Kong and criticized the government there. Clearly, there is a delicate balance to be found between the legitimate democratic wishes of the young people of that great city and the centralized government of China and its “Communist” party. I’m not sure that posting tweets about the “police state” that may be developing is particularly helpful. I’m also not sure that American politicians grandstanding by jetting in and out of Hong Kong to make their pronouncements is useful to anyone, not even those politicos. Better that they go to Turkey and say something about the Kurds. Meanwhile, perhaps we should remember that the senators of ancient Rome eventually found themselves groveling at the feet of the emperors because of their failure to take control of their own city and its government.

[kenweene]

The world has a third pole – and it's melting quickly | #Environment #Himalayas 

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An IPCC report says two-thirds of glaciers on the largest ice sheet after the Arctic and Antarctic are set to disappear in 80 years

Kenneth Weene's insight:

Will Khawa Karpo save us or will this god of the Himalayas flee his earthly home and allow pollution and global warming to destroy humankind?

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Why #Taiwan's #Defense #Strategy Makes No Sense. Consider Eisenhower's warning to beware the #MilitaryIndustrialComplex. 

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If the United States wants to increase the defensive power of Taiwan’s armed forces, then Washington must find other ways to give the Taiwanese leaders the symbolic victories they seek from arms packages.

Kenneth Weene's insight:

The question has never been the best defense of Taiwan. That has always been based on American intervention. The goal is showcasing and selling American weapons. If there’s one thing America hasn’t learned it’s to beware of the military-industrial complex. If anything the defense and weapons industry has taken more control of America than it had at the end of World War II or when Eisenhower tried to warn us in the fifties.

[kenweene]

WATERFALL by KENNETH WEENE. Happily #amwriting and hope you'll enjoy this #shortstory.

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Kenneth Weene's insight:

I love it when friends give me a spot on their websites. After all, exposure is an essential ingredient in marketing. In this instance, Michael Conway is a friend from LinkedIn and I really appreciate his posting my piece Waterfall. I hope you'll check it out and also take a moment to scope out Michael's site.

[kenweene]

What Is the #Human #Placenta Project? #MaternalHealth and also the #health of #babies and #fetuses is involved. 

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An $80 million research initiative at the National Institutes of Health is using MRI and other technologies to study how the placenta functions in real-time.

Kenneth Weene's insight:

This is a fascinating article and raises in my mind a number of related possible topics. For one thing, the placenta may affect the sexual orientation and experienced identity of a child. Perhaps that’s why we haven’t been able to identify genetic and neurostructural differences for transgender and homo-sexual persons. One also has to wonder if the placenta might be involved in other psychological problems. As I say, fascinating.

Meanwhile, anyone who has studied other cultures finds that the placenta is often treated not as waste but as a sacred object. That’s why how Manny Fish’s placenta is treated is one of the many details I made sure to include in my newest novel, Red and White. Have you read it? Find your copy at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/173272377X/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

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A rural town confronts its buried history of mass killings of black Americans #Race #History #Arkansas

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100 years after hundreds of African Americans were reportedly killed in Elaine, Arkansas, a memorial is set to bring details of the tragedy to light

Kenneth Weene's insight:

“Show me a body,” one of the White members of an audience shouted. That hit home. Others could just as well have shouted: “Show us the documents that show property theft.” “Prove that our wealth today is built on the blood and suffering of your ancestors.” In effect these are the shouts not only of the people of Elaine, Arkansas, but also of the entire United States when it comes to race. And beyond that to the people of South Africa and of Germany, to the people who will someday look at the history of modern Israel, China, and Myanmar.

History is replete with the inhumanity of the human species. We claim to be made in the image of some god. If that is true, then surely, we must believe the stories of the Titans warring one against the others and the Olympian gods taking on their forbearers. Perhaps it were better had the dinosaurs to have continued ruling the earth. Certainly, better that we turn over the reins of our planet to the cetaceans. I think a pod of dolphins might provide better leadership than our congresses of politicians.

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Group to tout bleach-based ‘miracle cure’ at upstate New York 'seminar' #medicine #helath #religion

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Attendants could be given the powerful bleach, just days after FDA put out its strongest warning about the ‘miracle mineral solution’

Kenneth Weene's insight:

Let us never forget madness can masquerade most easily as faith and cruelty as god.

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This US heartland has been #flooded for five months. Does anyone care? #ClimateChange #farming

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About half a million acres of land in the rural Yazoo backwater area in Missisippi is underwater, a devastating blow for a poor region where agriculture is the economy’s lifeblood

Kenneth Weene's insight:

Climate change, what climate change? Just life going on like it always did – NOT. I wonder if these folks will vote in the next election. If they do, will they vote for candidates who are speaking to the crisis in our environment or to those who throw the Bible out as a dam against science? Soon, we will be singing which side were you on, but most of us will be hanging on for dear life. The other day, I read that over 30% of all new homes being built in American coastal cities are on land that is expected to be flooded by 2050 and that is using current rises in sea levels, which doesn’t factor in the increasing speed of glacier melt. I hope they’re at least smart enough to build those houses without basements.

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.#Iran mocks Pompeo’s offers to visit. What on earth is Washington doing? #Diplomacy should not be unhinged.

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‘Instead of making empty and disingenuous offers, @SecPompeo can accept any of the many requests from Iranian reporters to interview US officials,’ the Iranian foreign minister tweeted.

Kenneth Weene's insight:

If the reality of how the Foreign Minister’s visit to the United Nations was different, Mr. Pompeo’s bombast might ring true. However, the reality is that the US government worked hard at keeping Minister Zarif away from the media. Moreover, Mr. Pompeo has refused to take an interview with the Iranian press. Of course, that interview would be skewed by the reporters; nobody thinks Iran has a free press. However, it would give Washington at least a semblance of interest in communicating with the Iranian people in a respectful manner.

So, what is all this hostility towards Iran about? The reality is that despite the border with Afghanistan, Tehran has given little to no support to the Taliban. Yes, Iran supports Hamas, which is certainly an enemy of Israel but other Islamic countries are opposed to Israel. And, realistically, Iran helps to balance the influence of Saudi Arabia, the home of some of the most extremist Islamic thinking, in the Muslim world. It makes little sense to not pursue a better relationship with Iran, a country that we once considered an ally in our competition with Moscow.

That was why the Obama administration pursued a new détente with Tehran. It made sense. Especially since we wanted an offset to Moscow’s influence in Syria. Iran has major influence and much at stake in that country with its mix of Islamic sects. It also made sense because unlike Iraq, Iran was moving forward with nuclear research and possibly with a bomb. An Iranian bomb would most likely not be used because it does in fact violate Islamic teaching. However, it would up the arms race in that part of the world, pushing Saudi Arabia to develop its own bomb and Israel to take its bombs out of the closet.

Again, so why all this hostility? Obama disrespected Trump. To be fair, that was after Trump became a birther; but it was still not the way for Obama to use his wit. Trump has never forgiven that disrespect; after all, he is the godfather, at least in his own mind. Hence, a war on everything Obama did, including the accords with Cuba and especially Iran. Hell, I think if he could resurrect Bin Laden, Trump would do that, too.

Meanwhile, Iran continues to be a country that wants engagement with America. Even after all these years of estrangement and after the CIA and MI-6 overthrew their elected government and helped a tyrant to take control, the Iranian people remain friendly to Americans. Had Jimmy Carter not allowed the Shah to enter the US for medical treatment, we might have found a different direction. The weird thing is that Carter had an easy alternative, to offer the Shah medical treatment while making his arrest for eventual extradition part of the deal. His hospital room could have been made an extension of the Iranian embassy and the Iranian government could have been given control of that room so he was a prisoner. Hell, everybody knew he would never leave that hospital so what difference would it have made.

At any rate, it is passed time to develop a rapprochement with Tehran and resentment of Mr. Obama shouldn’t be guiding Washington’s policies. Pompeo should know better and should be the source of rational thinking rather than poking at Tehran and worsening relations.

[kenweene]

Why America Needs to Help #Japan and #SouthKorea Get Along-- #World affairs

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Left unresolved, tension between Japan and South Korea could not only damage the global economy but undermine the Trump administration’s policies toward North Korea and the Indo-Pacific.

Kenneth Weene's insight:

Reality check: South Korea politicians cannot reach full accord with Japan as long as North Korea is in the mix. The Pyongyang continues to see Japan as the enemy and uses the lasting enmity of the Korean people towards Tokyo as a basis for their state of military preparedness. And, in the south, the lingering resentment towards Japan includes the unconscionable separation of families due to the division of Korea. Korea was not an ally of Japan. Today, Austria is united; Germany is united; and poor Korea is divided. That makes many Koreans angry. To ignore those issues would be like an American party ignoring the issue of immigration. The resentment would simmer beneath the surface and bring the kind of rebellion from within that political parties most fear. 

 Clearly, the United States cannot solve this problem. The current government in Seoul is trying to create sufficient détente with the north do make at least some of the problem, the division of families, go away. Meanwhile, Kim Jong-un’s regime is playing both Seoul and Washington. Clearly, he has no intention of allowing his “hermit kingdom” to become more connected to the world except for purposes of trade. The best solution that can be offered is to educate the people of South Korea that there is no solution to the division and that they need, for their own national security, to move forward with Japan as a partner even it they cannot forgive. Hey, Israel and Bonn can do it.

[kenweene]

Americans may soon legally access lower-cost #prescription drugs from Canada, #Healthcare 

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The Trump administration says it will set up a system allowing Americans to legally access lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada.

Kenneth Weene's insight:

If Trump does this and allows medications from Canada and Mexico to be brought legally into the US and assuming that will mean by post since to do otherwise would be unfair to most Americans, why it would be a major game-changer. For one, the pharmaceutical and pharmacy industry will turn on Trump and the GOP with the rage that most gun manufacturers reserve for Democrats. Secondly, it will drop costs to average Americans, especially those who don’t have drug coverage. Third, it will lead to average Americans doing something foolish, namely stockpiling antibiotics and other medications that they don’t need day to day but might need fairly often. Finally, and perhaps this is the biggest and best thing, it will help the average American, including Trump’s base, to recognize that national health care is the better route. One a TEA Party regular realizes how much better off they would be with Canada’s National Health, they won’t stop until they have it. So, please, go for it, Mr. Trump. I’m with you.

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‘If others have #rifles, we’ll have rifles’: why US #leftist groups are taking up arms. Considering #race, #guns, and #justice.

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Armed antifascists groups say they want to protect events from other malicious and potentially armed groups – a phenomenon that is becoming more and more common

Kenneth Weene's insight:

The rise of bigotry and racism in America frightens me. I know that were I a Black man, I would want to carry a gun and I would want to have a rifle handy in case I needed to fight back. I would find it difficult to rely on the police for protection. If you don’t understand why, just note what is said about the Dred Scott decision in this story. Yeah, arming Blacks was a fear in the US before the Civil War and it continues to be an underlying issue to this day. Given that structural racism, would you, if you were Black, trust the justice system or would you be ready to fight back? So, once again, I have to point out that America has never really come to terms with its great dilemma; we must still end racism or racism will surely destroy us.