Update no.535

Update from the Heartland

No.535

12.3.12 – 18.3.12

Blog version: http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

To all,
It was a busy family week. A week ago Sunday, we had a family & friends celebration – Shalee Lynn’s 11th Birthday (early), Tracy’s successful surgery, Stephanie & Tom’s welcome home, and Aspen Shae’s selection as a left forward starter for her high school varsity soccer team as a freshman [Image 1]. Then, Thursday evening, we gathered again to watch Aspen Shae play her first high school futball match with her hot pink shoes and an excellent header [Image 2]. The next morning, we left for Austin to visit the southern branch of our family. There is something very special about grandchildren running up to you for a hug & kiss. Life is good. Judson James had a mild case of the chicken pox, so he was confined to quarters. This was also the week of Austin’s famous South By Southwest music celebration (AKA SXSW). Tyson took us to see a good friend, Trinidad Leal, who is the drummer and lead singer of the hard rock band Dixie Witch, at Trophy’s Bar & Grill on South Congress Avenue, along with band mates – Curt “CC”' Christensen, bass guitarist & vocalist, and J.T. Smith, lead guitarist [Image 3]. We had a fantastic time with the Austin branch of our family [Image 4], just never enough time. Family is the reward to life. Am I a proud grandfather or what!

Image 1

Gathering of family & friends

[file: Gathering120311.jpg]

Image 2

Aspen Shae’s excellent header

[file: Aspen header 120315.jpg]

Image 3

Dixie Witch [CC, Trinidad, JT]

[file: Dixie Witch 120317.jpg]

Image 4

Austin family

[Austin 120318.jpg]

Occasionally, court rulings I come across leave me gobsmacked and thoroughly flummoxed; such is the most unusual Hall v. DeCuir [95 U.S. 485 (1877)] case. Sometime after Louisiana was readmitted to the Union (25.June.1868) and they revised their state constitution (1869) to include Article 13: “All persons shall enjoy equal rights and privileges upon any conveyance of a public character,” Mrs. Josephine DeCuir boarded the steamboat Governor Allen, with a paid ticket for passage from New Orleans up the Mississippi River to Hermitage Landing, Louisiana. While the steamboat’s route was New Orleans to Vicksburg (interstate), DeCuir’s ticket was intrastate, which would normally validate state authority. The steamboat captain denied DeCuir admittance to her assigned berth because of the natural pigment in her skin – no other reason. Both the Eighth District Court for the Parish of New Orleans and the Supreme Court of the State of Louisiana found in favor of DeCuir in that the steamboat captain (Benson, by then deceased and represented by Hall) violated Article 13 of the state constitution. Astonishingly, the U.S. Supreme Court disagreed, reversed and remanded. Chief Justice Morrison Remick Waite wrote for the Court and Associate Justice Nathan Clifford wrote a concurring opinion. Incredibly, the Supremes ignored the 13th and 14th Amendments, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 [PL 39-031; 14 Stat. 27], and the Enforcement Act of 1870 [PL 41-114; 16 Stat. 140] [448], invoking the Commerce and Supremacy Clauses, i.e., the state had no authority to regulate interstate commerce; the right of a citizen had no bearing on constitutional authority. Their reasoning: if Congress had intended to desegregate interstate commercial transportation, they would have passed an appropriate law, as if all the laws above had been repealed or had never been passed. The DeCuir ruling struck me quite like the infamous Dred Scott v. Sandford [60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1856)] [322] case – the rationalization of the status quo ante. Decisions like these serve to remind us how terribly fragile freedom is even in this Grand Republic.

News from the economic front:
-- The Federal Reserve conducted another stress test of the nation's financial system in a crisis that saw the markets plummet and the unemployment rate rise above 13 percent. The Fed reported that 15 of the 19 largest U.S. banks would remain healthy through such a crisis; four banks failed at least one of four criteria in the test: Ally Financial, Citigroup, Suntrust Banks, and the insurance giant Metlife.

Comments and contributions from Update no.534:
Comment to the Blog:
“On this week’s review of the Supreme Court decision on gerrymandering, Mr. Justice Harlan, while a renowned jurist, apparently made human errors on occasion just like the rest of us.
“I live and vote in Ohio. If it were some other place and time, this redistricting might be a comedy. I’m not able to get that perspective so far. The Republicans who make those decisions right now first proposed a plan that never would have withstood testing in the courts. Following a successful drive to place a referendum on the State ballot in order to defeat that plan, a “compromise” (I guess we call it that) passed, thus creating the current mess. The district that pitted Rep. Kucinich against Rep. Kaptur runs along Lake Erie from Cleveland to Toledo, and in places remains contiguous only by means of a strip of beach. That district’s design endeavored only to defeat Mr. Kucinich, and has succeeded. Apparently, the Republicans had no candidate with a chance of beating Kucinich, so they pitted him against another popular Democrat. Kucinich has a history of comebacks, so if I were the Republicans causing him to be at large, I would worry about that.
“My own district has benefitted from the redistricting, though. We will lose a Tea Party Republican of no particular distinction and gain the winner of a four-way primary among the Democrats, Joyce Beatty, who has performed capably at the State Legislature level and is a progressive.”
My comment to the Blog:
Re: Justice Harlan. We are all flawed human beings; some would say sinners all. The Supremes past, present and future are no different.
Re: re-districting. What happened as a consequence of the 2010 census and the demise of the Ohio 10th District is a near perfect example of why the census and redistricting processes are so bloody important.
Re: Kucinich. He has been defeated before . . . true; but, he is not getting any younger. I suspect he will not go quietly into the night.
Re: your district. There are always two sides to every event. Good luck in the fall election.

Another comment to the Blog:
“Huh? I certainly didn't say criticism of Limbaugh infringes on his religious liberty. The policy for which Fluke is acting as spokesman is an attack in religious liberty.”
My response to the Blog:
Thank you so kindly for your contributions to the public debate. The majesty of the English language never ceases to amaze and dazzle me.
You may well be correct that the Sandra Fluke affair was a contrived, planned and manufactured event. Unfortunately, el-Rush-bo took the bait – hook, line and sinker. Perhaps where we disagree or at least differ rests in perspective. Perhaps our differences exist in the opinions we hold regarding the place of religion in our lives.
Your use of the term “religious liberty” in virtually any context of public debate appears to center upon the belief that religion is an essential instrument in that public debate. To me, religion is a rather private, soul-soothing, framework for conversing with God, thus a very private affair. As so often seems to be the case these days, religion is used like a bludgeon to intimidate, cow and implicitly threaten those with whom we disagree. Sandra Fluke did not impose upon your religious liberty or mine. She offered her opinion regarding an important health care issue; she sought equal treatment under the law. Georgetown University is as much a public institution as the theater, or the Smithsonian Museum, or the corner store. By framing the debate on this topic as religious liberty versus freedom of choice, you implicitly, or perhaps intentionally, truncate the exchange. Let us focus on the power of persuasion essential to a vigorous public debate rather than return to the bad old days of the century-gone temperance movement.
Instead of attempting to overwhelm or intimidate those we disagree with and further deepen the political chasm between factions, let us seek compromise and mutually acceptable solutions.
“That’s just my opinion, but I could be wrong.”

My very best wishes to all. Take care of yourselves and each other.
Cheers,
Cap :-)