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Boys and Girls: Providers and Producers (January 31, 2011)

Posted in Courts, Health Care, Law, Society, Supreme Court on January 31, 2011 by e-commentary.org

. . .

M1 “We don’t even know what drives us. That may be just as well. Sociobiology, whatever that is, drives us. It seems simple. Men seek producers; women seek providers. Males are looking for good breeders. Females are looking for good providers. Some guys are fixated on hair or eye color because, in their subconscious eyes, hair or eye color signals a fecund woman.”

M2 “Even in this age of feminism or post-feminism or whatever age we are in, girls still first pass through the bad boy phase as part of their emancipation from the home. The journey can be self-destructive or amusing, protracted or passing, but it is a phase.”

M1 “A friend said that they survived the ordeal painlessly yet still hold their breath in case there is a relapse.”

M2 “Based on first hand evidence, fourteen is a four letter word.”

M1 “So once free of the home bonds, they subconsciously hunt for someone who will protect if not provide for them in the new home. An alliance makes financial sense because few today can hunt and gather enough to support a one wage earner cave. Pairing off with a strong partner also protects her from threats emanating from the pack itself.”

M2 “They are also looking for sturdy producers.”

M1 “The timeless hunt for good breeding stock with a good stock portfolio.”

M2 “That’s about it. But here’s the irony I witness in the court room. When the matrimonial alliance goes asunder, as a general rule riddled with multiple exceptions, the concerns flip. Men are preoccupied with money; women are preoccupied with the kids. Men are concerned with what was provided; women are concerned with what was produced.”

M1 “I’m aware of one or two fights over money.”

M2 “Vicious, protracted and often irrational wars. And often tussles over the kinder. I know guys who have given up every other interest and pursuit and recalibrated every aspect of their lives to focus on the needs of their kids after the divorce.”

M1 “The 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon kid swap. Yet the generalizations are the starting point of wisdom.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Men seek producers, Women seek providers. When things go asunder, Men pursue plunder, Women protect kinder.

Wouldn’t it be simpler to use audited financial statements and certified medical records?

This Birth Control Rig Is Paid For

If you don’t believe in evolution, can you embrace Social Darwinism?

A kid from Sacramento, California is America’s Health Care Czar – Associate Justice Anthony McLeod Kennedy

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Incite, Sarah, Indict? (January 10, 2011)

Posted in Courts, Crime/Punishment, Elections, First Amendment, Guns, Health Care, Law, Press/Media, Society, Supreme Court, Tea Party on January 10, 2011 by e-commentary.org

. . .

R “You cannot get out of bed in the morning without violating some section of Title 18 of the United States Code, the federal criminal code. In fact, and as a matter of law, you cannot stay in bed in the morning without violating some section of Title 18 of the United States Code.”

S “So why not indict her? She incited and directed others to kill and targeted the targets by first and last name and address. She created a mindset and a market for death. She legitimized killing. The specific nature of the killer’s mind and his motives are still emerging. Maybe he did not do it for her or for some specific political purpose. Nonetheless, he took her specific message and tactics to heart.”

R “Perhaps her twisted comments about death panels and the like confused a twisted and confused mind. Others stridently proclaim they have not heard anything inflammatory, yet he heard the shrill dog whistle.”

S “Her comments were one of the legal, moral and proximate causes of the death and maiming in Arizona. Look, she took down the targets on her website recently which is an admission of guilt.”

R “A subsequent remedial measure?”

S “What about the bull’s eyes? Listen to others who now opine that political discourse has taken a turn for the worse. The political discourse has not changed course one degree in recent years. The entreaties to kill have simply reached their predictable and inevitable outcome. Why is everyone now so shocked and stupefied? What happened was intended. It was only a matter of time.”

R “During the 2008 and 2010 elections, a few commentators noticed that she promoted and encouraged violence against specific candidates. Her threats of violence against specific candidates were and are not protected by the First Amendment and were and are clear violations of provisions of Title 18 when they target federal officials or occur on federal property.”

S “She is white and connected, so she will be given a pass. U.S. Attorneys expend considerable tax dollars prosecuting some harmless jaywalker on federal property who has the misfortune to be non-white and unconnected.”

R “The Supreme Court decreed that corporations are legal persons. The nattering news network is a legal person. Persons can be indicted. Another option is to indict the network, the president, the board of directors and the pitch men and women on tv. We need to return to personal responsibility as a governor of behavior. Law plays a role.”

S “White. Extraordinarily well connected. And capable of getting a U.S. Attorney fired. Same story. Same outcome. Those in power get a pass. Carte blanc, the White Card.”

R “Her vitriolic rants against a sitting President may be her undoing. Title 18 criminalizes threats against a sitting President. The grand irony would be to watch on YouTube after one of her tirades as her Secret Service protective detail turns and cuffs her for direct threats against the President.”

S “That might go viral.”

R “America sports a billion laws and yet has become such a lawless nation. In the absence of personal responsibility and without some rules and the rule of law, affairs can and will get worse.”

S “So why not simply allow a dozen jurors to decide?”

. . .

[See the “e-ssay” titled “In The Land Of Fury And The Home Of The Fearful (November 1, 2010).”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Incite, Sarah, Indict

Incite, Sarah, Indict Sarah

There oughta be a law; no, there are laws but there oughta be some law enforcement.

What happens when you take an arrow out of the quiver, nock it with care, draw back purposefully, release while slowly exhaling and then look up to see that you have hit the bull’s eye?

I was walking across a bridge one day and saw a man standing on the edge and about to jump off. So I ran over and said, “Stop! Don’t do it!” “Why shouldn’t I?” he said. I said, “Well, there’s so much to live for!” He said, “Like what?” I said, “Well, are you religious or atheist?” He said, “Religious.” I said, “Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?” He said, “Christian.” I said, “Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?” He said, “Protestant.” I said, “Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?” He said, “Baptist!” I said, “Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?” He said, “Baptist Church of God!” I said, “Me too! Are you Original Baptist Church of God or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?” He said, “Reformed Baptist Church of God!” I said, “Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?” He said, “Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915!” I said, “Die, heretic scum!” and pushed him over the edge.

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America’s Fraud Factories (October 18, 2010)

Posted in Education, Journalism, Law, Military, Press/Media, Schooling, Society on October 18, 2010 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K “We in America closed the traditional factories but openly operate a network of profitable Fraud Factories.”

J “Look at the flow of raw material. The kids who get As in college go to med school, those who get Bs go to law school and those who get Cs go to biz school. And look who makes the big bucks.”

K “Those pursuing a journalism degree pursue truth and those pursuing a Master of Fine Arts pursue beauty. At least in theory. And Yeats proffered the exchange rate.”

J “Those in the Corps embody an esprit de corps, the Semper Fi and Siempre Fi spirit. And former Marines are among the most disciplined and honest journalists. Think Jim Lehrer.”

K “And Gordon Peterson. Interning at Parris Island rather than grunting at The Paris Review provides a different worldview.”

J “Right. Fighter pilots reflect that same dedication, discipline and devotion to duty. First responders, as they now call them, and most doctors share a sense of professionalism and commitment. Those with the forest service and the fish and game service are genuinely concerned about the future well-being of the evergreens and the blue gills and the white tails.”

K “And then there are the Fraud Factories, American business and law schools, teaching students the subtle art of fraud and deception. The kids are taught to advance their own self-interest over anything else at almost any cost. They are taught the nuances of gaming a business and legal system that is designed to be gamed. Neither government regulation nor market forces restrain or direct their activities.”

J “Biz schools are the most profitable divisions of the American corporate university system. Biz schools are more profitable than law schools that are in turn more profitable than med schools.”

K “And the colleges of arts and crafts may no longer be tolerated as loss leaders, albeit very expensive divisions of the corporate university system. The motto of the American Association of Fraud Factories says it all: ‘No Duty, No Honor, No Country.’”

J “Some cutting edge biomedical engineers are debating how to teach robots to behave ethically. The Fraud Factories take kids who exhibit one common trait – a ready willingness to obey and please their superiors – and engineer them to be robots.”

K “Remember after Watergate when there was a national hand wringing about the nadir of the legal profession that occurred at the same time the journalism profession was at its zenith. Law schools instituted professional responsibility classes. Some astute students realized that a B+ grade reflected the right attitude to employers. That is enough to get by and keep moving through the system but not too much enthusiasm for the topic.”

J “The problem today is with the students admitted to the schools, the indoctrination process and the indentured servitude status that consigns the graduates to represent wealthy interests to pay off their crushing debts.”

K “Think about it. If Schicklgruber applied to law or business school today, the profitable schools would aggressively bid to attract him. He is the ideal applicant – brilliant, charismatic and destined to succeed. Everything is about success and power, and power and success, and success and power. Yeats could have proffered the exchange rate.”

J “If Concentration Camps of America, Inc. ever needs to staff concentration camps to warehouse and dispose of the unwanted, hire American-trained lawyers and biz school grads. They won’t ask questions.”

K “But don’t dare miss payroll.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

I’m not my brother’s keeper, just his banker. I’m not even his banker, I’m my own banker.

Follow the money

I was just following orders

I was just following the money

I was just following the money orders

Duty, Honor, Country

Honor, Courage, Commitment

Smile while you’re makin’ it, Laugh while you’re takin’ it, Even though you’re fakin’ it, Nobody’s gonna know. O Lucky Man!

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One Gun Per White Adult Male? A Flintlock Musket? The “One Man, One Gun” Decision (October 4, 2010)

Posted in Constitution, First Monday In October, Guns, Law, Society, Supreme Court on October 4, 2010 by e-commentary.org

. The Supreme Court ruled today that states can limit the ownership and possession of guns to one and only one gun for each White adult male. In a closely followed case challenging the state statute limiting gun purchases to one gun per month, a majority of the Supreme Court, adopting a ‘strict constructionist’ and ‘originalist’ analysis, held that each White adult male in 1787 possessed one and only one gun – a flintlock musket. That fact and circumstance underpinned the Founding Fathers understanding of and the language in the Second Amendment. That historical fact is the benchmark for the strict constructionists/originalists. The case is being heralded as the “one man, one gun” decision.

. Supreme Court commentators note that the majority – Roberts, Scalia, Alito, Thomas and Kennedy – issued one of the few completely honest opinions of their judicial careers. For reasons that are not elucidated, the majority departed from their tendentious jurisprudence and displayed rare doctrinal integrity consistent with their “strict constructionist/originalist” analysis. The “strict constructionist/originalist” analysis looks at the state of affairs when the Constitution was adopted in 1787.

. The dissenting opinion of the minority – Breyer, Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan – notes the generally accepted conclusion of all reasonable men and women that there are fundamental disagreements about the state of affairs in 1787 that undermine the basic assumption of the “strict constructionist/originalist” worldview. The dissenters note that rational regulation is allowed and contend that the Second Amendment read in concert with other Amendments and protections allows more than just Whites, and more than just adults, and more than just males to own and possess more than just one gun.

. Some commentators note that this interpretation of the Second Amendment allows and may now require states to regulate gun ownership and possession diligently to protect the right to keep and bear arms. The regulation is necessary so that a White adult male is able to own and possess one but no more than the one flintlock musket as mandated by the Second Amendment.

. One commentator observed that those in the West typically possessed a pistol on their hip and a rifle in their scabbard. Pictures were offered in support. However, although there was land to the west, there was no West in 1787. And there was no rifled barrel. Thus, consistent with the analysis of the majority, a White adult male in the West also is limited to one flintlock musket. The commentator notes that the decision will be construed by some liberal activist judges in the Ninth Circuit (an area that includes some of the West and all of the West Coast states) who maintain a more dynamic and pragmatic view of Constitutional interpretation. Those who believe in a “living Constitution” recognize that society and technology change and develop over time. These judges likely would allow residents of the West and West Coast to own and possess two guns, one pistol and one rifle. Commentators agree that such a decision by the Niners surely would be overturned by the Supremes.

. In an interview, a local sportsman, Norm Smith, Jr., who is included among the named plaintiffs challenging the state statute, commented to reporters: “I’ve thought a lot about this, but the lawyers wouldn’t listen to me. I was saying to Norma the other day, she’s my wife, that they should not look at things in 1787, the year the Constitution was adopted, or in 1791, the year the Second Amendment was adopted. The Amendments, now she agreed with me on this, at least the first Ten Amendments are not really our Bill of Rights because the Amendments are only limitations on the government not an enumeration of individual rights. The individual rights are already out there. At the founding of our Great Republic, a flintlock musket was of course a manual not an automatic weapon. With the flintlock musket, a man could trigger one shot but then had to reload; there was a short break before the next shot which gave him time to reflect even if he was frantically reloading. The weapons did not represent the threat to the populace that weapons represent today. What if Congress finds that there was and is a human right to be free of excessive violence in society grounded in one’s fundamental liberty interests that existed in 1787? What if a 28th Amendment is adopted to repeal the Second Amendment and ban all private ownership of weapons? No one can assert a claim pursuant to the 18th Amendment today because of the passage of the 22nd Amendment. The 28th Amendment would become the test of constitutionality. That outcome would not be good.”

. Mr. Smith continued: “Now I am a responsible sportsman who stores my guns in a locked safe and uses them carefully in the field. Under the worst case scenario before the decision in my case was issued, I feared that the law could be construed to require me to choose between Jack O’Connor’s favorite caliber, the .270, and my dad’s choice, the .300 H & H Magnum, he’s Norm, Sr. And Elmer Keith’s celebrated .44 Magnum is now illegal except maybe on the West Coast of all places, so they say. I just didn’t realize that the Second Amendment limits me to one and only one flintlock musket. Who would have known? However, when you think about it, they are right. The average White guy around 1791 only had one flintlock musket. That’s the way it was; that’s the way it is. That’s the law.”

Bumper stickers of the week:

Be careful what you aim at because you just might hit it

Gun control means missing your target

An armed society is a polite society . . . and a dangerous one at times

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Capital Punishment And . . . Scientific Evidence (July 12, 2010)

Posted in Capital Punishment, Constitution, Courts, Crime/Punishment, Death Penalty, Law on July 12, 2010 by e-commentary.org

. . .

P “There are times when it is hard not to conclude that a person has forfeited his right to stay in the pack and instead should be placed on an ice floe.”

C “Seems that we are running out of ice floes.”

P “The reaction to a reprehensible crime may be emotional, yet it is a human response. There are some crimes that are so heinous that death seems appropriate and necessary. And yet too much about the death penalty seems wrong.”

C “And expensive. The cost of reaching a final judgment without any additional appeals is substantial. The mere cost of litigation concerns me and others.”

P “Those costs are in part driven up by those who oppose capital punishment.”

C “The old litmus test in politics has been resolved by resorting to . . . this is hard to believe . . . scientific evidence. DNA evidence carried the day. The sea change in the public support for the death penalty occurred after a critical mass of the public accepted the mounting DNA evidence exonerating many of those individuals who had been wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death.”

P “Only carbon dating is more readily accepted by the public.”

C “For more than a century, capital punishment was part of the private sector-public sector partnership of terrorism inflicted on Blacks and the underclass.”

P “I have no doubt that the legal system is far too imperfect to believe that it can condemn someone to death with any accuracy. Yet there are some individuals who have committed unimaginable crimes and are beyond redemption.”

C “The problem is that the legal system too often simply cannot identify the right individual who has done wrong.”

. . .

Bumper sticker of the week:

An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth only leaves one blind and toothless.

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A Nerd You Know You Are (June 7, 2010)

Posted in Economics, Law, Society on June 7, 2010 by e-commentary.org

. . .

“Do you know that we are now leaving the Fifth Circuit and entering the Ninth Circuit?”

“Money serves as a medium of exchange and a store of value and a unit of account, all at the same time. Wow. Life will never be the same.”

“Do you think it is an example of a metonym or is it more precisely a synecdoche?”

“I would rather hold and read the decision in one of those musty old United States Reporters in the library rather than on line.”

“This year’s meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee are now available on line.”

“I anticipate using the word ‘paradigm’ three times in one sentence. Something like ‘the new paradigm is the paradigm of all paradigms.’”

“The Minutes of the FOMC are now available on line. . . . Do you ever get the feeling that these economists have a challenging time thinking and writing clearly.”

“Perhaps it cannot be taught, but it seems that it can be conveyed and fostered. Babies do not come into the world crying in iambic pentameter.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Ideas have consequences.

I’ve turned to the dork side.

Buddy can you paradigm?

Measure ten times, cut once.

I get up every morning in search of the steepest learning curve.

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Less Government Regulation Series: Building Codes and Competition (May 18, 2009)

Posted in Law, Less Government Regulation Series, Market Solutions on May 18, 2009 by e-commentary.org

Some individuals oppose state-wide or national building codes because they prefer local codes that reflect local concerns and conditions. For some, the belief is deeply ideological and passionate. However, there is a cost to the community in lost competition that costs the consumer. A builder who is obliged to expend the resources to learn a new local building code is hindered from competing with and against other builders who know the local code. The local code is a barrier to entry into the market. With less competition, there are higher prices to the consumer. If there are more local building codes, ironically there is more abstruse government regulation and more piles of paper. For some, free and open markets are a greater concern. Government regulation or involvement is often necessary to promote free and open markets. These antinomies tax the intellect and muddle the debate. Rise above the din of ideology.

Bumper stickers of the week:

Measure ten times, cut once.

More is more.

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Close the Harvard Business School (February 23, 2009)

Posted in Crime/Punishment, Education, Law, PATRIOT Act, Schooling, USA PATRIOT Act on February 23, 2009 by e-commentary.org

The government is closing the prison at Guantanimo. Problematic yet necessary. Any change should be purposeful and careful.

The government should close the Harvard Business School, America’s madrossa for economic terrorists. The USA PATRIOT Act provides one legal vehicle. Convert the structure into a youth hostel for the young and old. Many if not most of today’s political and social problems originate or are exacerbated in the schools. If we do not close a school, it may be time to revisit the curriculum.

Bumper sticker of the week:

Crime should be punished

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1000 AUSAs (February 9, 2009)

Posted in Bailout/Bribe, Crime/Punishment, Economics, Economics Nobel, Law on February 9, 2009 by e-commentary.org

Some commentators are suggesting that the current economic crisis is a result of amnesia. Too many years have passed since the failure of Long-Term Capital Management, a business that pursued a short term business scam, they say. LTCM followed an economic formula developed among others by Robert Merton and Myron Scholes who both won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1997. They won for “a new method to determine the value of derivatives.” Derivatives are a steal for those who do the stealing and costly for the taxpayers who ultimately bail them out. Their “value” to society: pricey. Does the Nobel Committee ever revoke its prize?

The problem, so the thinking goes, is that everyone simply forgot. No one needs to remember. Business types respond to current incentives and disincentives not to moral intoning or calls to virtue. The message being sent today is simple and straight forward: Crime pays. Not only the criminal act itself but the cost of remedying the criminal act.

The Justice Department should hire 1000 new Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSAs) to prosecute the massive fraud that has been perpetrated on Wall Street for the last half dozen years. This is not some undigested populist anger. Without the restoration of the rule of law, the economic culture of the country will continue to rot.

Bumper sticker of the week:

Crime pays in the US of A.

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Pensions and Other Entitlements: Pt. 2 (April 28, 2008)

Posted in Bankruptcy, Congress, Constitution, Courts, Law, Pensions, Social Security on April 28, 2008 by e-commentary.org

Constitutional law in America is neither consistent nor coherent. The United States Bankruptcy Courts may be the only forum to adjust pensions and other obligations. A business can file a petition pursuant to the United States Bankruptcy Code in Title 11 and apply Section 365 to reject pension and other obligations. Many corporations have rejected pension and other obligations for decades and in recent publicized cases. Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code allows a municipality to file a petition in bankruptcy and resort to the relief in Section 365. Orange County, California did it in 1994; Desert Hot Springs, California in 2001; Vallejo, California may do it in 2008; watch San Diego in the next few years.

A separate state of the union is not now afforded an opportunity to file a petition under the Bankruptcy Code even if it is not able to afford to pay its bills. A new chapter of the Bankruptcy Code, Chapter 15, may need to be added allowing a state to utilize the provisions of Section 365. The big public policy development will come when everyone realizes that another new chapter of the Bankruptcy Code, perhaps Chapter 17, may need to be added to allow the United States government itself to file a petition under the Bankruptcy Code to utilize the provisions of Section 365. [See the e-ssay dated January 17, 2005 entitled “America the Bankrupt: Economics 210 in the Land of the Freeway and the Home of the Brave”.]

Using the Bankruptcy Code is problematic at best. In effect, the Congress (a legislative body) would pass legislation to allow a Bankruptcy Court (the judicial branch) to make a decision that Congress may be prevented from making itself by another twig of the judicial branch. Section 365 is binary and only allows a debtor to accept or reject a contract; there is no ready provision to allow a Bankruptcy Court to accept sixty percent (60%) of the pension and other obligations. Where to file the petition is not clear, the Southern District of New York; the Northern District of Alaska, or elsewhere? The Bankruptcy Judge has less discretion under the Bankruptcy Code to recognize the decision of the debtor to accept or reject, although he or she may be unwilling to recognize a decision that could threaten his or her pension.

The unfunded and unfounded promises we have made to each other will stagger those who were never consulted. Or even born. All government entities in the intermediate term will need to dispense with or limit pension and other obligations. Addressing the matter in the Bankruptcy Code and in the Bankruptcy Courts is cumbersome and incomplete, yet the approach more easily overcomes the constitutional infirmities that other courts have mistakenly imposed. At core, as noted previously, the rejection really is not a rejection of pension obligations, it is a refusal to accept obligations the Younger Generation never agreed to undertake nor can reasonably be expected to perform.

Some say: “If we were just informed that our pension and other obligations could disappear or be reduced, we could modify our behavior and decisions now.” What if someone said: “Your pension and other obligations could disappear or be reduced.” Despite their protestations, the populace, even when informed, likely will not modify its behavior and decisions. The answers admittedly are not easy.

Bumper sticker of the week:

There Is No Such Thing As A Free Snack.

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