Law And More

Argentina, Pope Francis' Birthplace, Legalizing Abortion

Historically dominated by the Roman Catholic Church, Latin America could be the setting for a pro-abortion movement.

A sign of that is, as AXIOS reports, that the Senate in Argentina has approved (38 to 29) legalizing abortion during the first 14 weeks. Exceptions will be made for rape and the woman's health. President Alberto Fernandez is expected to take the next step in making the procedure legal.

As the vote shows, not everyone is aboard on this. For instance, Argentina is where Pope Francis had been born. He went on record as opposing this development. And not only in Argentina but throughout Latin America there could be anti-abortion demonstrations.

Meanwhile in the U.S. the right to a legal abortion remains under attack by the right as well as the Roman Catholic Church and fundamentalist religions.

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Jones Day Represents Roman Catholic Church In Lawsuit Against Washington D.C.

"The Archdiocese of Washington hired a team of Jones Day attorneys, including former White House counsel Don McGahn, to sue Washington, D.C., over its new pandemic restrictions for religious institutions." - Jaqueline Thomsen, Law.com, December 14, 2020.

The complaint contends that the government regulation of the 50 max on attendance at religious gatherings is unconstitutional. The argument is that the max is not imposed on commercial establishments such as restaurants. The focus is on the traditional celebration of the Christmas mass. 

This is not the first time the Roman Catholic Church has relied on Jones Day for legal representation. In 2018, for example, it was the defense firm for Cardinal Donald Wuerl.

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Even in Hard Times, Argentina Focuses on Women's Rights

"Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández has made the rights of women and of gay and transgender people central to his government, even through a recession and a pandemic ... lawmakers took a major step on Friday toward legalizing abortion ..." - Daniel Politti, The New York Times, December 11, 2020

The bill has passed the lower house of Congress. It still needs to pass the Senate. If it does, Argentina will be the fourth nation in Latin America to legalize abortion. In addition, it will symbolize the reduced control Roman Catholicism has in that section of the world. 

Meanwhile, abortion remains controversial in the United States. The appointment of Amy Barrett to SCOTUS increases the odds that the right will be modified in the near future. That is at a time when the responsibility and cost of caring for children have proved to be challenging during COVID-19 lockdowns and financial insecurity. 

It's the far right which has a firm hold on the mindset and values of much of America, not the Catholic Church.

 

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The Politics of Thanksgiving in COVID Time - NY Gov Andrew Cuomo Takes Refuge in Protestant Ethic of Work

There were once English majors in America. Incidentally, the number of those majoring in English in college is down 25.5% since the Great Recession, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics. 

Back then, the meme we continually encountered in our research and for the literary magazine was the Protestant Ethic. Essentially that constituted the belief that both a life of satisfaction and redemption from sin come from work. Along the way the U.S. brand of capitalism would thrive. 

So many early primitive dramas in American culture ended with the miscreants going off to work, proclaiming great resolve to do things right this time. All's well that ends well. In early America, it was okay for the for the former sinner to become very wealthy.

So, it's predictable that the savvy Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo would announce he was working Thanksgiving. That represented a change of plans from hosting dinner that holiday with his mother and two of his daughters. 

As the Daily Mail reports, that schedule triggered a massive outcry. Cuomo was tarred and feathered in the court of public opinion for planning to do what he preached others shouldn't do: Have a family gathering as COVID-19 plays havoc in that state and across many of the other states. 

Yes, Thanksgiving has become politically weaponized. That's obvious.

What's also obvious, especially to us English majors who continue to be proud of our liberal arts backgrounds (and so is Bard President Leon Botstein as he indicated last night on PBS) is how fickle the crowd is. That is a sustained theme in the history plays of William Shakespeare. Throughout centuries the iconic line has been from "Henry IV" - Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.

During most of the first round of the pandemic in NY, Cuomo was a kind of superhero. He made, at least according to the media, all the right moves. His pressers were hailed as the way to do things right. Crisis-management experts positioned and packaged their articles (and the topical reference got that commentary published in third-party media) on what other leaders can learn from Cuomo.

That was then.

Currently, again as English majors also studied, Cuomo would be wise to go on a journey to prepare himself for what is next. That's an archetype going all the way back to Ancient Greece. In 2020, that's called "Reputation Restoration." 

As we stumble through this era of such profound human tragedy, all generations in America can embrace the liberal arts. Harvard Business School can offer a free seminar online titled "Capitalism through the Arts." Law school applications, now surging, could go in reverse. Just as John F. Kennedy had, Joe Biden can invite a literary figure to read a poem during the Inauguration.

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Dementia and Euthanasia - Extreme Progress in Netherlands

"Dutch medics have been permitted to sedate dementia patients with sleeping pills ahead of their euthanasia to prevent them from objecting to the injection. The sedatives will be used in cases where a patient can no longer consent to treatment having previously sought euthanasia when their condition deteriorates." Darren Boyle, Daily Mail, November 21, 2021.

This permission came as a result of a Dutch Supreme Court decision. Dr. Mariou Arends had been convicted of murder. The case involved a patient with dementia who had earlier given consent for euthanasia. However, when the time came, there was resistance. The patient's cognitive condition had declined, though, beyond the capability to give consent for a sedative to be administered before the euthanasia process.

The Dutch Supreme Court overturned the murder conviction.

That legal ruling in the Netherlands should provide plenty for all in the loop of medicine, ranging from medical doctors to government policy makers to judges, to analyze. Currently, those bearing witness to the family and community suffering as a result of dementia would likely opt for not only euthanasia but structuring it the Dutch way.

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Unlike JFK, Joe Biden Has Abortion Issue - But, Roman Catholic Church in Weakened Position

Back when Roman Catholic John F. Kennedy took office the values of the nation were relatively uniform.

After all, he was following the conformist time of the Eisenhower Administration. That ethos could be summed up as God, country and Coca-Cola. After the (supposed) war to end all wars, most constituencies wanted normalcy. Yes, JFK passed the torch to a new generation but that generation of Baby Boomers started out traditional. 

In contrast, as USA Today observes, Roman Catholic Joe Biden will take office in a divided nation. Among the flashpoint issues is abortion. Biden supports choice. 

Already the Roman Catholic Church is organizing to oppose Biden. On the front lines is Detroit, Michigan Archbishop Allen Vigneron.

No surprise, he's based in the conservative midwest. Much of it has been Trump Country.

Bordering state Ohio went for Donald Trump in 2020. On Sylvania Avenue in Toledo, OH, outside an abortion clinic, a man dutifully shows up in all kinds of weather. He gets on his knees and prays the rosary that the "murdering" will end.

But, as we have experienced since the 2016 election, there is no predicting how any bit of politics will play out. So, the danger here to the Roman Catholic Church is that it could wind up on the losing end of the issue. That can further reduce its power and financial resources.

Ever since the Boston Globe broke the clergy sex abuse scandal in 2002, the Roman Catholic Church has been in crisis. That could worsen if its opposition to abortion as well as to Biden backfires. Instead of being perceived as on the right side of values, it could be labeled a kind of public nuisance. Incidentally, some lawsuits against it already contend that.  

Students of public relations recall that for centuries Roman Catholicism had been among the most enduring global brands. Also its market share in the religion niche kept increasing. 

That was then.

If it becomes unduly aggressive in going after Biden, it could shoot itself in the foot. Many want - actually need - Biden to succeed. A major objective is to reunite the nation.

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Amy Coney Barrett Doesn't Want to Be Judged on Faith - But Aren't We All, Including Lack of It

In the context of deciding legal rulings, constituencies may or may decide to "judge" Amy Coney Barrett on her faith. She requests that not happen. She is a Roman Catholic.

But even in that narrow space, she might not be able to escape the reality that in America we are assessed in so many categories based on our faith - or lack of it.

Regarding the latter, the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie is an advocacy group for those w/o association to a formal religion.

Incidentally, in Alcoholics Anonymous, many members refer to that 12-step program as their "religion."

It wasn't until I landed in the WASPY corridors of an Ivy League Department of Linguistics and Literature that I even "knew" I was being "judged" in terms of my then Roman Catholicism. Men backed off from dating me, for instance. They feared what to them were the Church's oddball dogmas about sex and reproduction. One bluntly told me, "I don't want my kids eating out of garbage cans."

By time I finished my doctoral studies, you got it, I was an atheist. My mother, a devout Catholic cried. She judged me harshly.

And, it wasn't until I relocated from the New York Metro area that I got it that "they" were judging me on the assumption that I was Jewish. The irony: I am not Jewish. However, I have endured anti-Semitism. "They" put together my deep Jersey City, New Jersey accent, Eastern European body style and facial features and Middle-Eastern dark completion as "Jewish." And that was and is that. I gave up refuting their contentions. They only smirked when I did.

Along the way, I had joined a Buddhist temple. When I was in the ER in a small town and had to identify a religion, I listed "Buddhism." You bet, I would have welcomed a monk swinging by to ease my physical and emotional woe. From the get-go, I saw myself approached like an alien from Pluto. No, I will never again make that kind of public designation about religion.

Yes, we know that participation in formal religious groups is declining. But, America remains a land of the religiously preoccupied. When I relocated from the East, I confided to a friend back there that I was lonely. Her well-meaning advice: Join a church.

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Ellen DeGeneres - The Puritans Were Onto Something with Public Shaming

"Ratings for last month's premiere week of 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show' plummeted 38% from last year, suggesting the controversy over reports of a toxic workplace – which led to the firing of three top producers – has spilled over into dwindling fan support." - Gary Levin, USA Today, October 6, 2020. 

It is public shaming which is finishing off once-iconic comic and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres. According to Nielsen, last year that first week of the season had an average of 2.67 million viewers. This year it was 1.66 million. 

The Puritans, who established the most powerful economy in the world, were masters at public shaming. Given the effectiveness of that mode of social control, they had almost total control over economic development. Only the mentally unbalanced would have dared not make work their core value.

Then, supposed progress intervened. Shaming was considered wrong. Parents, teachers, bosses and probation/parole officers pivoted to sparing miscreants humiliation. Instead, they "understood." However, that seems to have been another earnest experiment which didn't yield the expected outcomes. 

That seems to be in the process of being tossed. Twitter, documents Axios, has replaced broadcast television as the medium people in America go to for information and connection during crisis.

It was on Twitter that "Replace Ellen" kicked off last summer.

No fools, reformers get it, just as the Puritans instinctively knew, that showcasing supposed wrongs on Twitter (as well as other social networks) produces results. In addition, it's a lot of fun.

There is the old adage that professionals learn the most from failure, not success. A new meme could be emerging that human beings learn to do the right thing from being shamed, not being understood. 

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Cardinal Timothy Dolan Fingers Parallels Between Ginsburg and Barrett

Both Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Amy Coney Barrett have been victims of three of the same kinds of bias. That's what Cardinal Timothy Dolan observes, reports Law & Crime. 

The three kinds of discrimination are:

Faith. For Ginsburg that was her Jewish religion. For Barrett it's Roman Catholicism. U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein expressed in public "concern" about what she perceived as a spillover of Barrett's religious beliefs into her judicial thinking. 

Gender. Both struggled with gender issues.

Motherhood. Given that the legal profession is so demanding, the stigma associated with child-bearing has endured. 

Dolan himself has not met Barrett. However, he notes that he has picked up on his networks praise for both her professional competence and personal character.

What will be interesting for those of in personal branding is analyzing how Barrett presents herself during the U.S. Senate confirmation process. Given the prejudice against women and mothers, if Barrett is warm and engaging she could be written off as a lightweight. But if she is "all business," she could be condemned as "cold" and "lacking human compassion."

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Amy Coney Barrett - Yes, Expect Pile-on of Anti-Catholicism

In The Wall Street Journal, Dominic Green time-travels back to the kick-off of anti-Catholic ideology.

It extends back longer than those oddball Puritans who made their disruptive religion their business. Think game-changer Henry VIII who broke the chokehold that ancient religion had on Europe. 

With the nomination of "devout Catholic" Amy Coney Barrett for the U.S. Supreme Court, that push-back on Roman Catholic beliefs will explode into extreme harshness.

It's unlikely that comics will bring back the old jokes about the preoccupation with human sexual activity. Classic had been the Catholic school's supposed prohibition of girls' wearing shiny patent leather shoes. Those were assumed to reflect the female's panties. Horror.

Instead, anticipate how much the fundamentals of the religion mirror those of the far right. At the top of the list is prolife. That influences every law from abortion to assisted suicide. 

Another issue could be the global power of that religion. Such influence has become suspect. After all, so many modern military conflicts have been triggered by religious ideology.

At one time Catholicism had been one of the most recognizable worldwide brands. Recently, though, its market share has declined. Ever since the Boston Globe broke the story about priest sexual abuse of boys the Roman Catholic Church has been struggling for a comeback. 

Depending on the outcome of the U.S. Senate confirmation process, institutions associated with Catholicism could take a major hit.

So effective could be the attack on that belief system that, for example, members of parishes could lose confidence in the priestly leadership. Say good-bye also to the parish K-8 parish school. No more those cute uniforms trotting around the neighborhood.

Catholic colleges such as Seton Hill, Greensburg, Pennsylvania could lose enrollment. For years, on this blog I recommended that it rebrand as "faith-based." In myriad circles, anything Catholic leaves a bad taste. This is an era when small liberal arts institutions of higher education are on the brink of collapsing. As Boston Magazine reports, that's the new usual in New England. 

The media could ditch quoting worldwide leader of Catholicism Pope Francis on holidays such as Christmas. Replace that with a leader in Buddhist thought. Suggestion: American Buddhist nun Pema Chodron. 

This nomination could be creating the tipping point in the wobbly hold that religion still has on some minds, hearts and pocketbooks in America. During the mid 20th century that power went over the top with immigration. Catholicism seized the opportunity of socializing those newcomers to Americana. In return for that service, the hierarchy demanded rigid conformation to the beliefs. Families with 12 children were not unusual. Barrett has seven children. 

Prediction: This nomination bodes ill for the global Roman Catholic brand. 

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