Gettin’ It Right (June 4, 2012)

Posted in Abortion, Capital Punishment, China, Death Penalty, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Race, Society on June 4, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

R          “We need to continue segregation and maintain the policy of ‘massive resistance’ to integration.”

R          “We need to continue to enforce miscegenation laws.”

R          “We need to continue not to recognize Red China.”

R          “We need to continue sending troops to Vietnam.”

R          “We need to continue sending citizens to the gallows.”

R          “We need to continue our control of the Panama Canal.”1 

R          “We need to continue treating women as second class citizens.”

R          “We need to continue a man’s right to decree that a woman does not have the right to choose.”

R          “We need to continue mistreating those who are gay, lesbian, and transgender.”

R          “We need to continue disregarding overwhelming evidence that we are abusing Mother Nature.”

R          “We need to continue . . . .”

. . .

1          “After all, we stole it fair and square.”

[See the “e-ssay” titled “I Am A Republican (February 7, 2011).”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

When you are trying to measure someone’s credibility, take a gander at his or her track record.

Will the Chinese finance America’s invasion of China? 

A Moment of Silence (May 28, 2012)

Posted in Society, Sports on May 28, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

[See the “e-ssay” titled “In Memoriam (May 30, 2011).”]

Bumper sticker of the week:

In 1969, the Jets were not a legacy franchise and the Mets were not a likely contender.  For a few minutes in 1983, accepting the sinking of the vessel known as the ‘America’s Cup’ was trying, yet America had retained the Cup unfairly; fair competition is fairer.  The Loyola ‘Hounds Lax team started the season unranked and ended the season undefeated, when it counted.  Tradition giving way to triumph.

Eu-rope / Mal-rope Again (May 21, 2012)

Posted in Civil Rights/Civil Liberties, Courts, Economics, Europe, Judges, National Defense Authorization Act / FY 2012 on May 21, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

_          In Heaven, the mechanics are German, the police are British, the chefs are French, the lovers are Italian and the entire place is organized and run by the Swiss.

_          In Hell, the police are German, the chefs are British, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss and the entire place is organized and run by the Italians.

_          In Purgatory, the debtors are Portuguese, Irish, Italian, Icelandic, Greek and Spanish (PIIIGS) . . . and the entire place is disorganized and run by the ECB, IMF, FRD and GS.

_          The Swiss are adequate lovers . . . really.  They say that pigs get fed and hogs get slaughtered.  PIIIGS . . . get slaughtered.

_          The Irish do not know what they want in this life and are willing to fight to get it.  The Scots keep the Sabbath . . . and everything else they get their hands on.  The Welsh pray on their knees . . . and on their neighbors.  And the English . . . .

_          The Irish may know what they want in this life and may be willing to demand it.

_          In Europe, the Europeans are restless and restive.

. . .

[On May 16, 2012, Judge Katherine B. Forrest issued a ruling enjoining enforcement of the provisions for indefinite detention of suspects in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012.  Judge Forrest’s ruling was issued as part of a lawsuit brought by seven plaintiffs that challenges the NDAA as a violation of “their free speech and associational rights guaranteed by the First Amendment as well as due process rights guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution.”  http://sdnyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/12-Civ.-00331-2012.05.16-Opinion-Granting-PI.pdf.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Austerity seems, well, . . . austere.

The fundamental rule of Economic Entropy:  What cannot go on forever will not go on forever.

I do want to exercise my constitutional rights after all

Courage and Cowardice And Candidates (May 14, 2012)

Posted in Automobile Bailout, Internet, O'Bama, Perjury, Perjury/Dishonesty, Politics, Presidency, Romney on May 14, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

4          “O’Bama gets outed by his vice president the same week that Willard gets outed by his friends.”

5          “O’Bama was caught off guard and provided an unguarded insight into what he really believes.  He does not hate.  Romney is a bully and a coward.”

4          “Willard is going to give bullying a bad name.  He should accept the blame for his criminal activity in high school.”

5          “The group known as the ‘Press’ is giving him an unwarranted press pass.  The police could have and should have issued a warrant for arrest.  Yet the ‘Press’ is describing ‘felonious assault’ on a person as ‘pranks’ and ‘hijinks’.  And Romney says that he is clueless and does not hate queers.”

4          “’Mean Boys’ become ‘Mean Men.’  They rarely ‘man up.’  Willard has revealed himself because he has not ‘manned up.’  Rather he adopted the old ‘Mistakes were made’ and ‘Boys will be thugs’ stratagem.”

5          “He will not accept blame, but he will claim unfounded credit.  He is taking credit for the bailout of the auto industry after having opposed the bailout of the auto industry.”

4          “He continues to give flip-flopping a bad name.”

5          “Sounds like Romney may take credit for creating the Internet.” 

4          “Who could blame him.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

My Presidential candidate can beat up your Presidential candidate

Put a bully behind the bully pulpit

The race is now between a centrist/conservative and a corporatist/culture warrior

Eu-rope Is Mal-rope (May 7, 2012)

Posted in Bankruptcy, Banks and Banking System, Debt/Deficits, Entitlements, Europe, Foreign Policy on May 7, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

1          “Putin is put in, Sarkozy is put out.  The Dutch government is dissolved.  The Greeks have had it with not having it.  The Germans have had it with having to pay for others to have it.  The Spanish have no realistic recovery plan to have it all or even to have it half.”

2          “The have-nots and even the haves have had it.  The community described as ‘Socialist Europe’ is now moving to the right.  Restrictive immigration policies are always a harbinger of hate on the horizon.”

1          “Generosity emerges when individuals meet their needs and have adequate resources to share with others.  With diminishing resources and declining opportunities, Europeans with resources are protecting their piece of the crumbling pie.”

2          “After World War I, the victors imposed unworkable reparations on the Germans that were doomed to fail and set the stage for another war.  After World War II, the victors implemented the workable ‘Marshal Plan’ that destined the economies to succeed and set the stage for an exceptional peace.  The magnanimous approach was and is considered prudent, progressive, productive and profitable.  Today, the Germans have reverted to the World War I model in a doomed effort to end the financial war raging in Europe.”    

1          “After World War II, the Germans and the Japanese learned that it is easier to take by investment than by invasion, but that lesson is being lost.  Today, a nation’s debt is really little more than a default deferred.  The Europeans need to hit the ’ctr-alt-del’ button and build a better economy.”

2          “For some time, it has been just a matter of time.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Eu-rope is Mal-rope . . . and on the ropes

Those who know the ropes realize that Eu-rope is on the ropes and at the end of their rope because they gave themselves too much rope and are now trying to rope in their excesses in a way that may only hang them all.  They are at the bitter end and are getting bitter.

Make work not war

A nation’s debt is really little more than a default deferred

In Heaven, the mechanics are German, the police are British, the chefs are French, the lovers are Italian and the entire place is organized and run by the Swiss.  In Hell, the police are German, the chefs are British, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss and the entire place is organized and run by the Italians.  In Purgatory, the debtors are Spanish, Portuguese, Irish, Icelandic, Italian . . . . and the entire place is disorganized and run by the ECB, IMF, FRD and GS.

The Swiss are adequate lovers . . . really

Why Johnny And Roger? (April 30, 2012)

Posted in Citizens United Decision, Courts, Crime/Punishment, Judges, Perjury, Song Reference, Supreme Court on April 30, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

1          “And not Jon and Lloyd.”

2          “Because the American legal system is fundamentally corrupt?  Is that the answer.”

1          “The jury selection in the Roger Clemens retrial began a fortnight ago.  Because it was in federal district court, no cameras are allowed in the court room.”

2          “Better to keep everything as hidden from the public eye as possible.”

1          “Roger may have lied under oath, but it is a noble American pursuit pursued by Supreme Court nominees who appear before the Senate.”

2          “The Supreme Court Justices who hurl balls and strikes rather than call balls and strikes.”

1          “Johnny Reid Edwards may have played some games with campaign contributions, but the Five Lobbyists on the Supreme Court basically decreed that anything goes in the campaign arena.”

2          “And Johnny is indicted and Jonny Corzine is running free.”

1          “And Lloyd Blankfein continues to inflict violence on the world.”

2          “And now we learn again that Justice Department officials who were aware that flawed forensic work may have contributed to the convictions of potentially innocent individuals fetched another cup of coffee and counted the days until their retirement.”

1          “Are courts expected to exhibit a modicum of integrity or at some point are they illegitimate.”

. . .

[See http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/convicted-defendants-left-uninformed-of-forensic-flaws-found-by-justice-dept/2012/04/16/gIQAWTcgMT_story.html]

[See the “e-ssays” titled “Perjury, The American Way (February 20, 2006),” “Balls and Strikes and Perjury: America’s Pastimes (August 23, 2010),” and “Losing Faith: MF Global and Kodak (January 9, 2012).”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Prosecute the prosecutors; prosecute the judges

“Through this world I’ve wandered I’ve seen lots of funny men / Some rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen.”

“The Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd” by Woody Guthrie (c) 1958 (renewed) Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc.

Happy Birthday Earth Day (April 23, 2012)

Posted in Bankruptcy, Environment, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Pensions on April 23, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

CC1        “I remain surprised that Nixon signed the ‘Environmental Protection Act’ shortly after the first Earth Day in 1969.”

CC2        “Time to give some thought to passing the ‘Carbon Rebate and Climate Protection Act’ or some similar legislation.”

CC1        “You need a sexier name.”

CC2        “Sex Save Sex The Sex Planet Sex Act Sex.”

. . .

[The proposed ‘Carbon Rebate and Climate Protection Act’ or ‘Save Our Climate Act’ is discussed at http://www.citizensclimatelobby.org/ and some optimistic future scenarios are discussed at http://io9.com/5903810/optimistic-visions-of-the-world-after-the-oil-runs-out.]

[The Northern Mariana Islands Retirement Fund filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 17.  Stay tuned.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

A good planet is hard to find

“To declare national policy which will encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment; to promote efforts which will prevent or eliminate damage to the environment and biosphere and stimulate the health and welfare of man; to enrich the understanding of the ecological systems and natural resources important to the Nation . . . .”

Trayvon Zimmerman (April 16, 2012)

Posted in Courts, Pogo Plight, Race on April 16, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

_        “No one knows the facts; everyone is an expert.”

. . .

[See the “e-ssays” titled “Outrages Du Jour (April 16, 2007),” “BB Alliance (April 20, 2009) and Racing Backwards; Moving Forward? (July 27, 2009).”

(Titanic – April 14, 1912)

Bumper sticker of the week:

He knows everything and thus has nothing to teach me

We Ain’t Ants; We Are Grasshoppers (April 9, 2012)

Posted in Depression, Entitlements, Environment, Food, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Pogo Plight, Society, Water on April 9, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

C1          “Eating out will make you eat in.  Or lose your appetite.  Americans devour too much food and waste too much food.  A friend said that he could not go a week in any activity catering to the American appetite because he could not stomach the gross waste of food.”

C2          “Americans put too much on their waists and then waste the rest.  They waist food and then waste food.”    

C1          “If Bill Shakespeare didn’t document it, Aesop did.  The timeless human experience.”

C2          “Bill on burgers, Aesop on arugula?”

C1          “I thought they relayed the ‘Ant and the Grasshopper fable’ to us to teach us to play well with others even if the others played too much.  I thought we would be directed to be a good ant and let the grasshopper come in out of the cold.  Then she read the ending and said that the ants rebuked and rebuffed the grasshopper when he sought to come in out of the cold.”

C2          “You can’t blame them.  The ants saved and gathered all summer while the grasshopper played and partied.”

C1          “But we are all playing and partying.  There are not enough ants.” 

C2          “Everyone must be an enlightened ant.  The grasshoppers are preparing by collecting guns.  The few ants must continue to save and gather and . . . collect guns.”  

. . .

[See the article “Clean your plate, save the world?: Scientific American.”]

[See the “e-ssays” titled “Beans and Bullets (April 6, 2009),” “On Entitlements (July 19, 2010)” and “Girding For The Going Grid (October 11, 2010).”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Personal responsibility; fiscal responsibility; legal responsibility

Providence prefers providence

Le Poem (April 2, 2012)

Posted in Writing on April 2, 2012 by e-commentary.org

Each vowel grips the laboring oar with two hands; Each consonant shoulders two buckets of water.

No word can be added; No word can be subtracted; No word can be changed.

No word to add;  “       “    “   subtract;  “       “    “   change.

Add no word; Subtract “  “ ; Change  “  “ .

[See the “e-ssay” titled ”Peak Land”: The Exodus Toward The Equator . . . or the North Pole? (April 4, 2011)” that includes among the “Bumper stickers of the week”:

A half dozen six-word memoirs in an “e-poem” titled “Take only pictures; Leave only footprints.”

Many live humans; Few dead dinosaurs.

Disregard the e-con-omists; Regard the physicists.

Change your attitude; Range the latitudes.

Pay old bills*; Develop new skills.

Consume less junk; Savor more beauty.

So many challenges; So little time.

*          Craft your own financial game plan.  With hyperinflation on the way, purposefully delaying the payment of bills allows one to pay obligations with significantly devalued dollars.  That is the strategy being pursued by the governments.] 

Bumper stickers of the week:

April – National Poetry Month

Be curious; Ask questions; Stay young.

Isabella Rossellini – a two word poem (in Italian)