Archive for October, 2012

One Hundred Year Storms. Biennially? (October 29, 2012)

Posted in Abortion, Capital Punishment, Death Penalty, Global Climate Change, Global Warming on October 29, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

3          “If we experience a one hundred year storm every two years, is it still a one hundred year storm.”

4          “Frankenstorm.  What a name.  A monster of our own creation.”

3          “From Bangladesh to Manhattan, somethin’ is happenin’ out there.”

4          “God insisted on introducing a campaign issue that is still disregarded by all the candidates.”

3          “God has such a diabolical sense of humor.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Price The Poop; Tax The Trash; Support A Carbon Fee

God voted

“Don’t know your stand on climate change.  If you are against a woman’s right to choose and are in favor of the death penalty, then you are against climate change.  Legislation, that is.  It’s that simple.”

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Cuba – October, 1962 (October 22, 2012)

Posted in Foreign Policy, Peace Prize Nobel, Pogo Plight on October 22, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

1          “Some lawyer named Fidel questioned why his fellow Cubans were being exploited by outsiders.  The political and economic system did not offer any recourse, so he and others personally took action.  Those who had property taken by the people were not pleased that their takings were taken.”

2          “America was patient allowing him to sit in an Adirondack chair on America’s back deck, smoke a cigar and blow smoke at us.”

1          “Monroe rolled over in his grave, although even James realized that the Doctrine was more aspiration than doctrine.”

2          “A problem arose when he smoked a cigar and sat atop a keg of gunpowder.”

1          “Many reasonable Americans understandably felt a NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) response, but we applied the patented policy of Containment that emerged to confront Fidel’s benefactor after the Second War To End All Wars.”

2          “Either side could have pointed to an act of war.  When the U-2 reconnaissance plane was shot down, America could have shot up the place.”

1          “Curtis “Bombs Away” LeMay wanted to blow up the world.”

2          “There is always one in every crowd.  America had subs wandering the waters with tactical nuclear weapons and the Russians had subs wandering the waters with tactical nuclear weapons.”

1          “Kennedy and Khrushchev communicated via lines of communication that were not much more sophisticated than smoke signals.  Kennedy gave up some missiles in Turkey that induced a NIMBY reaction among the Russians and Khrushchev cleaned up the dynamite in our back yard without publicly making it look like a sell-out.”

2          “Finding out what really went on is problematic and a problem.  Those who dislike Kennedy for other reasons dislike what he did even if they do not know what he did; those who like Kennedy for other reasons like what he did even if they do not know what he did.”

1          “It was a prudent resolution.  Awarding both of them the Nobel Peace Prize would not have been inappropriate.”

. . .

[George McGovern – 1922 – 2012.  A great war hero and a greater peace hero.  America would be a profoundly more peaceful and prosperous place today if the populace had picked decent men such as McGovern and Stevenson in the past.]

Bumper sticker of the week:

What is effortless to start is often impossible to stop.

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The Conservative Solution To Affirmative Action (October 15, 2012)

Posted in Affirmative Action, Constitution, Courts, Race, Schooling, South, Supreme Court on October 15, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

CL1      “So the Supremes are going after affirmative action again.”

CL2      “Hostile Rich White Boys are not the most neutral arbitrators of opportunity.”

CL1      “In the American selection process, their kids can get into any college and law school just by calling up and then showing up.  ‘Justice Jerry’s son here.  See ya’ in September.’”

CL2      “The dispute comes down to the one last spot between the White kid from an unconnected family who does not otherwise appear to be a profitable prospect for the academic institution versus a Black kid who may be 43 SAT points short yet has attained in the face of limited opportunity.”

CL1      “Too many Americans refuse to acknowledge the impact of slavery and the Great Hundred Year War Of Terror in America from 1865 to 1965.  The epicenter was in the South but touched all of America with lasting effects today.”

CL2      “In 2003, Justice O’Connor and friends suggested an awkward but workable solution that is working awkwardly but solubly.  And gave it twenty-five years.  A shelf life on an exception to address what hopefully was an exceptional time in our history that was not exceptional.”

CL1      “Between you and me, I understand the anxiety spawned when the country’s highest court interprets the country’s most important document to allow for a remedy such as affirmative action which is at odds with the very right that is at issue.”

CL2      “Business, academia and other institutions have accommodated to the awkward modus vivendi without too much fuss in the last nine years.”

CL1      “The Supreme Rich White Boys, a gang that includes Thomas, have no business messing with precedent, tradition and settled practice.”

. . .

Bumper sticker of the week:

“White is right, Brown can stay around, but Black better get back.”  United States Supreme Court, June, 2013

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Money “In The Bank” Or “Under The Mattress” (October 8, 2012)

Posted in "Fiat ______", Economics, Gold Standard, Hyperdive Economic Collapse, Journalism, Newspapers on October 8, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

$          “They say that something is ‘money in the bank’ if it is a sure thing, but you must wonder whether ‘money in the bank’ is really ‘money in the bank.’”

C          “Or money in the credit union.  The Federal Reserve can create electrons but it cannot quickly create hard dollars.  The time will come when enough citizens simultaneously conclude that the financial system is a rigged chimera with a false facade.”

$          “Like the week of September 15, 2008.”

C          “Exactly.  With so few physical dollars in the bank to respond to demands for dollars, a financial institution will need to limit withdrawals to a small sum per depositor, perhaps $100.  Assurances that the funds are insured will not be reassuring.  The typical depositor does not want to hear that the account is insured when he or she wants to withdraw money from the account.  That event either will be the Big Jolt or will be caused by the Big Jolt that will lead to a collective loss of faith.”

$          “The news outlets will be forced to take a short break from the stories about rescuing kittens from trees to relay stories of angry depositors.”  

C          “And the populace will come to realize that money does not grow on trees.  So your money is only money in the bank if it is under your mattress.”

$          “The alternative is to leave the money in the bank and get .0000001 percent interest on the funds that you may never see again.”

C          “Seems that a few dollars in the pocket are not a bad idea.  After a Big Jolt, inertia and habit will incline others to accept dollars in the transition for some time.”

$          “Both paper dollars and gold may lose their luster at the same time.  The stuff does not offer much heat whether measured by calories or B.T.U.s.”

 . . .

[See the “e-ssays” titled “Is The Gold Standard Really The Gold Standard? (January 18, 2010)” and “Fiat Gold” / Fool’s Gold (May 2, 2011).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

“I will use my Fe [guns] and my Pb [bullets] to protect my Au and my ETOH.”

“I will use my skills and resources to develop a sustainable supply of clean H2O and to provide enough cals. [heat inside the body] and B.T.U.s [heat outside the body] to sustain me, my family and my community.” 

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The Supreme Court – Unrepresentative And Illegitimate: The 33.3 Percent Solution (October 1, 2012)

Posted in Courts, First Monday In October, Judges, Perjury, Perjury/Dishonesty, Society, Supreme Court on October 1, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

C1          “What else can you say.  A series of individual decisions have spawned an unrepresentative and illegitimate institution.  Nine bureaucrats and technicians with limited life and work experience plucked from the two most profitable law schools (Harvard or Yale (or Columbia)) and practicing one of the two most powerful religions (Catholicism or Judaism) in America are too provincial and too parochial for a county as varied and diverse as the United States.”

C2          “And all hail from or are products of the parochial Province of WaNeBos (Washington/New York/Boston).  A solution is at hand.  The three Justices drawn randomly from a hat containing all nine names take senior status with a suspension or waiver of the “Rule of 80” if necessary so that they can retire comfortably.  For the good of the cause.  For the good of the Court.  For the good of the country.”

C1          “Greater care and concern for the common good is paramount.  At least one should be a Buddhist intellectual with Northwestern, Midwestern or Western roots and branches who has actually practiced law and lived life.”

. . .

C1/C2     “No one ever gives up power.  Didn’t a few of them tell a few fibs to the Senate?”

. . .

[C1 = Court Watcher 1, C2 = . . . ]

[Fifty years ago today, James Meredith enrolled at the University of Mississippi, with a little help from his friends.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/01/us/university-of-mississippi-commemorates-integration.html]

Bumper stickers of the week:

The boys (and girls) are back in town

And the usual other traits that one rarely finds.  Intelligence, tutored intelligence, emotional intelligence, intellectual integrity, integrity, character, grit, courage, wisdom, humility, perspective, life experience, etc., etc., etc.

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