Baseball is our national pastime, evoking long summer nights, the crack of bat meeting ball, shrewd attention to strategy over a long season, and an abiding sense of fair play. Here in Cambridge, Fenway Park’s diffuse glow in the sky can often be seen from UUSC's offices on long summer nights. Playgrounds and diamonds all across the country are lit with the joys and sorrows of players matching wits and abilities in competitions guided by rules and roles which have evolved over many decades.

Last week, we learned that players from every major league team, players whose achievements have inspired and thrilled fans for years, have been using performance-enhancing drugs for decades. Those very achievements, even of paragons like “Rocket” Roger Clemens and home-run champ Barry Bonds, are now questioned, the sport tarnished. Demands for ever more rigorous – and intrusive – drug testing are inevitable.

By coincidence, as the Mitchell Report on baseball was issued, we learned that evidence of the torture of prisoners in American custody was destroyed in what can only be described as a cover-up. The institution of baseball willfully turned its eyes away from obvious signs of abuse; the Central Intelligence Agency knowingly destroyed evidence that interrogators violated federal and international law prohibiting torture.

Baseball’s appalling “era of steroids” seems to parallel our country’s disgraceful “era of Guantánamo.” While producing the appearance of short-term gains – artificial home run records, a seemingly-secure homeland – these self-defeating actions seem to me to be deeply destructive in the long term, masking failure with the illusion of success.

Steroids produce artificial boosts to performance, but we know that the long-term effects of these drugs are devastating to the health and spirit of those who abuse them. Shamefully, abusing prisoners in Abu Ghraib, engaging in illegal surveillance, sending people into an endless gulag of clandestine prisons, and invisible and unaccountable accusations also produce the appearance of short-term results.

But what will the long-term effects of these disgraceful acts be to the health and spirit of our country, to our moral standing in the world, to our culture and society? Are we truly securing our country by enraging and radicalizing millions of people who previously viewed America as the symbol of freedom, fairness, and the rule of law? How will future generations view the achievements of Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds? How will the attitudes of tomorrow’s generation of major-league stars, today’s little leaguers, be forever changed?

The parallels only go so far, of course, because baseball and the security of our country are not really comparable: America was attacked, and the threat of terrorist attack is real. There is no doubt that resolving the crisis in baseball will be far easier than securing our homeland.

But just as true success in baseball cannot be won while violating its basic premises, true success in defeating terrorism cannot, and need not, come at the price of abandoning our nation’s core values of freedom, fairness, and the rule of law.

UUSC has no baseball program, though many of us are Red Sox fans. But we are doing everything we can to stand for civil liberties and to fight illegal and immoral practices like torture because, just as baseball must put its “era of steroids” behind it, so must our nation turn the page on our “era of Guantanámo.” We invite you to be a part of this movement.

I had the honor of visiting the offices of the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropological Foundation (FAFG) for the second time this May. FAFG is renowned around the world for their work excavating mass graves, working with communities to identify remains and return them to family members for appropriate burial, and supporting other organizations and governments to pursue legal action.

This is painstaking, back-breaking, and high-tech work. From the remote, often hidden, and muddy sites where these mass graves are found, to the careful scientific analysis of the remains, FAFG documents the last moments in the lives of hundreds and thousands of men, women, and children, and helps family members, communities, and even nations reach a sense of closure and attain a degree of justice.

A year ago, a group of UUSC staff and trustees were invited to tour their laboratory in Guatemala City, a visit which deeply affected all of us. Though the human remains we saw being examined were treated with a palpable sense of reverence, it was impossible for us not to be moved and saddened when we saw the undeniable evidence of bullets, broken bones, and machete wounds. The smallest skeletons -- of children -- were particularly painful to see.

Even though our visit was difficult, we left FAFG with a great sense of admiration for what they are achieving. Guatemala passed through unspeakable trauma in the 1980s, and with the establishment of democratic processes more recently, some progress has been made in establishing responsibility for the crimes of the past. FAFG’s work has been central to this progress.

Nevertheless, Guatemala’s emergence from violence and intimidation is not complete. Many of those who perpetrated the violence against indigenous people in the 1980s walk the streets, even in positions of power and influence, while the families of many of the hundreds of thousands of victims still await justice.

This May, I spent an hour with Dr. Freddy Peccerelli, the executive director of FAFG. The day before my visit, the Guatemalan government had published a request for proposals for an ambitious and far-reaching program to exhume a large number of mass graves, provide legal support for investigations of these crimes, and psycho-social support to family members. Peccerelli seemed in a buoyant, positive mood, having nearly completed the FAFG proposal to the government to carry out the exhumation program. At the same time, he was looking forward with great optimism to the installation of Guatemala’s first DNA laboratory, which will enable FAFG to significantly increase the quality and accuracy of their forensic work.

But a few days after my visit, between May 25 and 28, FAFG and Peccerelli received a series of death threats and assaults, which gravely threaten all of this progress. Employees were assaulted, senior staff and their family members were threatened, and witnesses attest to the continued monitoring of the movements of staff and their family. The FAFG website contains images of some of the threats received, in the link entitled, “Actos de Intimidacion.”

UUSC has written to the president of Guatemala, Oscar Berger, asking that he intensify the investigation into these grave threats to FAFG and to human rights. We have asked that President Berger share the results of this investigation with FAFG. Finally, we have asked that security be greatly enhanced in the FAFG offices, and for staff and their families.

Last week, I posted a blog entry here entitled "Problems in American Democracy." Prompted by reports of government agents visiting a UMass Dartmouth student who had requested a copy of Mao Zedong's "Little Red Book" through interlibrary loan, I described my own experience in high school researching "The Communist Manifesto" and a book about the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

Now we know that the UMass episode was a hoax, as some Hotwire readers had suspected. I have deleted the blog entry to avoid furthering the hoax.

The threat confronting the United States in 2005 is very different from what we faced 30 years ago, when I graduated from Robinson High School in Tampa, Fla., and took the course -- required of all graduating seniors in that state -- known as "Problems in American Democracy." The text used was a Cold War relic, but the course was an example of how democracy is built. We learned to read widely and think for ourselves. Reading "The Communist Manifesto" and about the horrors of the Cultural Revolution has served me well, watching the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rapid post-Mao modernization of China.

Among the many things I learned that semester was that the founders of this nation were wise to build a system of checks and balances into the DNA of our society, no matter how uncomfortable it may occasionally be for our elected officials.

Wendell Philips said that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. Even though last week a college student fooled a newspaper reporter, and we (and others) should have been more careful in passing the report along, we are right to be vigilant when library records are subject to search. We are right to be vigilant when eavesdropping takes place on a massive scale without court oversight. And we are right to be vigilant when senior elected officials lobby for "exceptions" to federal law banning torture. UUSC's Civil Liberties Program is one important element in the defense of our values.

Last week, I posted a blog entry here entitled "Problems in American Democracy." Prompted by reports of government agents visiting a UMass Dartmouth student who had requested a copy of Mao Zedong's "Little Red Book" through interlibrary loan, I described my own experience in high school researching "The Communist Manifesto" and a book about the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

Now we know that the UMass episode was a hoax, as some Hotwire readers had suspected. I have deleted the blog entry to avoid furthering the hoax.

The threat confronting the United States in 2005 is very different from what we faced 30 years ago, when I graduated from Robinson High School in Tampa, Fla., and took the course -- required of all graduating seniors in that state -- known as "Problems in American Democracy." The text used was a Cold War relic, but the course was an example of how democracy is built. We learned to read widely and think for ourselves. Reading "The Communist Manifesto" and about the horrors of the Cultural Revolution has served me well, watching the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rapid post-Mao modernization of China.

Among the many things I learned that semester was that the founders of this nation were wise to build a system of checks and balances into the DNA of our society, no matter how uncomfortable it may occasionally be for our elected officials.

Wendell Philips said that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. Even though last week a college student fooled a newspaper reporter, and we (and others) should have been more careful in passing the report along, we are right to be vigilant when library records are subject to search. We are right to be vigilant when eavesdropping takes place on a massive scale without court oversight. And we are right to be vigilant when senior elected officials lobby for "exceptions" to federal law banning torture. UUSC's Civil Liberties Program is one important element in the defense of our values.

When I read the news today, full of references to secret prisons, covert eavesdropping, and torture, it makes me remember a terrifying night I spent in early 1980, in Santa Fe, Argentina, on the very edge of “disappearance.”

The Argentina of the 1980s, then living through years of unaccountable state-sponsored brutality, may seem far from the United States of 2005, in the distant past, in another world irrelevant to today’s “war on terror.”

But the abuses of the Argentine dictatorship were justified as needed to win a war on terrorism, just as the administration today justifies the erosion of basic civil liberties -- illegal domestic eavesdropping, unaccountable detentions, and mistreatment of detainees -- as necessary to win another war.

I invite you to read my story and reflect on the United States of today. There are differences, of course: our press and legislative bodies are beginning to do their jobs. We must encourage this, through our democratic political process.

And we must remember that it was the bravery of the “Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo” that brought an end to the abuses of the Argentine junta. Like the “Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo,” we must organize to oppose the undermining of our values. We must support organizations that are fighting to preserve our civil liberties -- for example, UUSC’s STOP Campaign, which seeks an end to U.S.-sponsored torture. And we must support the growing number of elected officials -- Republican or Democrat -- who in recent weeks have shown the courage to stand up for the “quaint” notions of liberty and accountability, a government accountable to the people.

Imagine traveling back to the late 19th century and visiting one of those old resort hotels, without television or e-mail, where showers are only available on Tuesdays and Fridays, and there’s always somebody playing sing-along tunes on the piano in the lobby. All generations are present, from children attending art classes to grandparents remembering those art classes 40 years back. (photo by Charlie Behrens)

Now, picture this hotel on an island off the coast of New Hampshire, in splendid isolation, with seabirds and sun and waves. An island you can walk around in two hours, scampering across the rocks. Finally, add to this vision something very unique. You are immersed with a group of people dedicated to reflecting on and debating -- in the company of a handful of experts in the subject -- a critical issue of the times, each adding a piece of the puzzle day by day.

Star Island, one of a group of islands known as the Isles of Shoals, is just like that. Lying a few miles off the coast of New Hampshire, Star Island may as well be in another century -- and that’s a good thing!

Every year, a series of conferences takes place at Star Island on a variety of topics -- from a Young Adults Conference early in the summer through a set of Unitarian Universalist-related conferences such as Religious Education Week, Elderhostels, and Yoga week.

I was fortunate to be invited as a speaker to this year’s International Affairs Conference, which focuses annually on a particular topic of global significance. The IA Conference has taken place since 1897, in its present form since 1958. The theme for 2005 was "Food Security: Global Challenge to People, Cultures, and Nations."

A typical IA Conference day begins, bright and early, with a "polar bear swim," where the brave compete to spend the most time immersed in the chilly Atlantic waters that surround Star Island. After a morning stretch and breakfast, morning chapel takes place. We were fortunate to have, as minister of the week, a gifted storyteller and spiritual leader, Bob Thayer. His talks were moving, funny, and inspirational, all at the same time.

The centerpiece of each day is the theme-related talk from each speaker. Five speakers were invited this year: Ellen Messer, from George Washington University, gave the keynote address, surveying the global food-security situation; Sara Sievers, from the Association Francois Xavier Bagnoud, talked about the Millenium Development Goals and the relation of hunger, poverty, and HIV/AIDS; I spoke about what NGOs are doing to address food security; Brian Tokar, from the Institute for Social Ecology, talked about genetically-modified organisms; and Jim Slama, editor and founding publisher of Conscious Choice, outlined the increasing role of organic and local food production. At the end of the week, we organized a panel discussion to wrap things up.

Workshops took place in the afternoons, including art, yoga, journaling, and singing. Coming from UUSC, and being an invited speaker, however, I found every moment was spent in fascinating dialogue about issues of justice and human rights, such as food security, U.S.-sponsored torture, and a range of other topics.

A different film was shown every evening. Each focused on food security, examining the effect of globalization on food security, genetic modification of plants, animals, and humans, and even including the recent film, Supersize Me.

It’s clear to me from the workshops, films, and discussions, that our food system is in critical condition. As Amartya Sen has shown, famine never takes place in countries with governments that are accountable to the people, and where there is a free media. But in today’s globalized world, the only multinational regulator overseeing corporations such as Monsanto is the World Trade Organization, whose mandate is certainly not to eliminate hunger. And the mainstream media, with its 24-hour news cycle and short attention span, is simply not reporting the story of the 600 million people who are hungry today, in a world in which there is enough food.

Factory-farming methods are introducing massive quantities of chemicals and toxins, not to mention genetically-modified material whose safety has not been proven and whose introduction is driven by the corporate drive for profit rather than any increase in food yields or quality.

Several "Timely Topics" were included during the week. I conducted a session on UUSC's STOP (Stop Torture Permanently) Campaign. After showing a videotaped introduction by STOP Campaign Director Jennifer Harbury, I facilitated a question-and-answer session. The group also took part in a Citizen’s Indictment ceremony, gathering over 60 signatures in support of taking action against U.S.-sponsored torture.

Strong support for the STOP Campaign was evident both from the audience as well as from the world around Star Island: just before beginning the STOP session, a severe storm swept from the mainland, bringing with it some very dramatic lightning and thunder. Even the natural world seemed to be angry at our government’s sponsorship of the abhorrent practice of torture.

This year’s conference chairman, Lloyd Yanis, did a thoroughly professional job in organizing and conducting the conference, an enormous job that Lloyd made look easy.

I felt honored to be invited to speak at Star Island. It was a priceless opportunity to share insights, learn from some of this country’s foremost authorities, and to connect with a very special place and unique group of people.