Update from the Heartland
No.367
22.12.08 – 28.12.08
Blog version: http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/
No.367
22.12.08 – 28.12.08
Blog version: http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/
To all,
The follow-up news items:
-- The saga of California’s Proposition 8 (AKA Prop H8) [345, 360, et al] continues. California Attorney General Edmund Gerald ‘Jerry’ Brown, Jr., AKA Governor Moonbeam [former and 34th governor of California (1971-1975)], petitioned the state Supreme Court to invalidate the recently, voter-passed, constitutional amendment that he claims conflicts with constitutionally guaranteed personal liberty. It is not yet clear whether the Attorney General’s action will be combined with the Court’s earlier agreement [363] to hear arguments in a handful of challenges to the Prop H8 vote.
-- It is not just Kent Elder [366] who is confusing God and religion as well as the constitutional debate regarding the Establishment Clause and the need for separation between church & State. Fox News re-broadcast a program titled, “Religion in America – Church & State” with Brit Hume (I believe first broadcast in April 2006), which I saw for the first time Friday morning. We must reconcile our need to recognize God’s greatness with the role of divine providence in our history and the foundation of this Grand Republic; and yet, we must avoid the explicit or implicit State endorsement of any religion. The Fox News program did not further proper public debate but rather sought to enflame the religious fervor of the Christian majority.
Then, we have a relevant and timely quotation from the Patriot Post:
“I have often expressed my sentiments, that every man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience.”
-- George Washington,
(letter to the General Committee of the United Baptist Churches in Virginia, May 1789)
While our first president as one of our Founders (if not a Framer) did not use direct words as did Thomas Jefferson, the meaning is clearly the same, in my most humble opinion. God and the meaning of religion rest in the heart and soul of each and every one of us . . . as we choose. And, implicitly and conversely, the State must not intrude upon our individual expression of spirituality, and concomitantly, vice versa. It is that latter part that gives us such angst and turmoil. The debate continues.
In a similar, more poignant vane:
“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.”
-- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
Perhaps we can still learn from the venerable scientist and philosopher, whom the church sought to intimidate into submission and silence despite the facts. We still have much to learn.
Although I suspect most will not be interested in reading the following article, nonetheless, I note it for your selective rumination.
“Pope ‘spreading fear’ with claim that Man needs protection from homosexuality”
by Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
The Times [of London]
Published: December 24, 2008
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5391794.ece?&EMC-Bltn=NNYF0A
Pope Benedict XVI, referring to Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical, Humanae Vitae, declared that the Church had a duty to “protect Man from destroying himself,” with an implicit slap at homosexuality as an intrinsic moral evil. Reverend Giles Fraser, vicar of St Mary’s Church in Putney, Greater London, England, provided a more insightful and tolerant message; “I thought the Christmas angels said, ‘Fear not.’ Instead, the Pope is spreading fear that gay people somehow threaten the planet. And that’s just absurd. As always, this sort of religious homophobia will be an alibi for all those who would do gay people harm.” While Joe is entitled to his opinion, I say, Spot on, Giles!
This week’s news from economic front:
-- The list of businesses putting their hands out for Federal economic recovery funds continues to grow. Now, big property developers, presumably the likes of Donald Trump and Mort Zuckerman, are predicting doom & gloom with respect to large commercial development projects like shopping centers, hotels, office buildings and such, without Federal support funds. The list of folks seeking to feed at the Treasury trough will grow, maybe even explode, before we feel recovery.
-- The Treasury Department’s Inspector General Eric M. Thorson opened an investigation into the activities of the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) regarding an alledged backdated capital infusion just weeks prior to the collapse of IndyMac on 11.July.2008. IndyMac began in 1995, as the Independent National Mortgage Corporation, created to collateralize the holdings of Countrywide Financial, and was spun off as an independent bank in 1997, until it was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Company (FDIC) in 2008. It now operates in conservatorship as IndyMac Federal Savings Bank. From what little we know today, I suspect this cathartic process will not be pleasant.
-- The Office of Thrift Supervision removed Darrel W. Dochow as director of the OTS western region. His office held regulatory supervision responsibility for several of the recent and largest bank failures – Washington Mutual, Countrywide Financial, IndyMac and Downey Savings and Loan. Appointed to his position in September 2007, Dochow was hardly a factor in the mortgage crisis; yet, if he had done his job properly, action could have been taken sooner to reduce the severity of the debacle. For the most part, Dochow is one of what will undoubtedly become many fall-guys for the real perpetrators (who just might escape justice).
-- Existing home sales dropped 8.6% -- the steepest monthly drop in 40 years – and the median home price fell 13.2% to US$181K, and I suspect we have not seen the bottom, yet, in the real estate market.
-- A week after Toyota Motor Corporation announced its first expected annual net loss (¥150B = US$1.6B) since 1941, rumors began to spread that Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe was expected to retire next year. The formal public announcement has not been made, and it is not clear whether Watanabe’s departure would be associated with or a consequence of the company’s financial performance. Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the auto company’s founder, is a possible successor.
-- The Federal Reserve granted General Motors’ financial arm, GMAC, bank holding company status, which makes it eligible for Federal TARP funds. The action relieves some financial pressure on GM. The USG also extracted concessions as conditions. GM and Cerberus Capital Management, which owns Chrysler, must reduce its ownership interest in GMAC to less than 10% in voting shares and total equity.
-- Executive compensation will (and rightly so) attract considerable attention from the Press and We, the People, and hopefully from prosecutors. This week, we learn that Angelo R. Mozilo, who led Countrywide Financial into the abyss, received US$500M+ in compensation from 1998 to 2007, including US$122M from cashing in stock options last year alone. And, Charles O. Prince, who led Citigroup to the brink of collapse, was awarded a retirement deal worth US$28M. [It will probably cost less to get rid of him than it will to deal with the consequences of his failure.] Belatedly but fortunately, more top Wall Street executives are foregoing their bonuses. [Again, please note that the absence of any downside penalty for executives who failed in their responsibilities is a direct and sole failure of the respective boards of directors – upside benefit with no downside cost is foolish, capricious and otherwise contemptible.]
The Madoff Scandal [365], or as the French call it, L’Affaire Madoff:
-- Sadly, we have the first physical casualty of the Madoff disaster. The co-founder of Access International Advisors, Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, 65, was found dead in his Madison Avenue office – an apparent suicide. De la Villehuchet reportedly lost US$1.4B in investor funds in the exploding scandal. He was no novice to international banking, having also served as chairman and CEO of Credit Lyonnais Securities USA. I suspect de la Villehuchet will not be the last sacrifice in this debacle.
-- The scale of the Madoff US$50B Ponzi scheme is hard to comprehend, and the notion that he acted alone is even harder to believe. The pundits and talking heads have and will continue to offer their disaster assessments as the story unfolds. I thought I would note the opinion of Noble-Laureate Paul Robin Krugman – although I am not a particular fan of his political rationale.
“The Madoff Economy”
by Paul Krugman
New York Times
Published: December 19, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/opinion/19krugman.html?_r=1&em
-- The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity [366] lost more than US$15M – nearly all of its assets – in the unfolding Madoff fraud.
The Blago Scandal [365]:
-- The Obama administration transition team released their internal investigation into staff interactions with Blago, his chief of staff, or any other members of the governor’s circle of friends, colleagues and confidantes. They reported nothing untoward. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald interviewed (unknown whether under oath) Obama, Emanuel and others on their involvement, and I have faith that if Fitzgerald finds offenses, he will prosecute them.
-- The Illinois legislative impeachment committee decided against issuing subpoenas in their investigation in deference to the Federal criminal prosecutorial investigation underway. Of course, they reserved the right to issue subpoenas in the future. What this represents to me is a protraction of the agony we shall all suffer in one way or another. Blago has shown no signs of honor or dignity, and appears to be driven only by self-interests – a sad, despicable commentary on American politics no matter how we cut it.
Perhaps, women can improve pornography as they have so many other human endeavors.
“Women on top: Female execs rise in porn biz – Some say they’re trying to instill change while others see them as ‘traitors’”
by Brian Alexander
msnbc.com contributor
Updated: Wednesday, 3.December.2008; 07:41 CST
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28022805/
Comments and contributions from Update no.366:
“I couldn't follow the Sam Adams quote, but I thought you wrote well on the separation of church and state. Your reader who wrote in support of ‘God’ (definition not given) probably needs to study the religious background of those Founding Fathers he so easily believes he supports.
“Before mentioning Shrub's verbal support of the troops, you might want to study the history of the Veterans' Administration and veterans' programs in general during his administration.”
My response:
The Samuel Adams quote was an opportune thought to contrast the notional of the Founders advocating for the church and religion versus God in the general, broader, circumspect sense of what I certainly believe was the true intentions of the Founders / Framers. Perhaps my choice failed. It happens more often than not. My point, which I think Samuel was attempting to say in his perhaps convoluted word choice was what I was trying to say in my response to the newspaper reader (Elder). The Framers did not ignore God in the construct of the Constitution; they simply sought to distance the new nation from the organized religions and more specifically from the men who ran the churches.
There are always plenty of angles to criticize the President, but I do not recall any president in my lifetime who tried to connect with line troops as much as he has. There are multitudinous examples. We can argue about the performance of the Veterans Administration and even the President’s failure to manage his administration. However, his personal conduct with the troops has remained noteworthy, IMHO.
“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 :-)
The follow-up news items:
-- The saga of California’s Proposition 8 (AKA Prop H8) [345, 360, et al] continues. California Attorney General Edmund Gerald ‘Jerry’ Brown, Jr., AKA Governor Moonbeam [former and 34th governor of California (1971-1975)], petitioned the state Supreme Court to invalidate the recently, voter-passed, constitutional amendment that he claims conflicts with constitutionally guaranteed personal liberty. It is not yet clear whether the Attorney General’s action will be combined with the Court’s earlier agreement [363] to hear arguments in a handful of challenges to the Prop H8 vote.
-- It is not just Kent Elder [366] who is confusing God and religion as well as the constitutional debate regarding the Establishment Clause and the need for separation between church & State. Fox News re-broadcast a program titled, “Religion in America – Church & State” with Brit Hume (I believe first broadcast in April 2006), which I saw for the first time Friday morning. We must reconcile our need to recognize God’s greatness with the role of divine providence in our history and the foundation of this Grand Republic; and yet, we must avoid the explicit or implicit State endorsement of any religion. The Fox News program did not further proper public debate but rather sought to enflame the religious fervor of the Christian majority.
Then, we have a relevant and timely quotation from the Patriot Post:
“I have often expressed my sentiments, that every man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience.”
-- George Washington,
(letter to the General Committee of the United Baptist Churches in Virginia, May 1789)
While our first president as one of our Founders (if not a Framer) did not use direct words as did Thomas Jefferson, the meaning is clearly the same, in my most humble opinion. God and the meaning of religion rest in the heart and soul of each and every one of us . . . as we choose. And, implicitly and conversely, the State must not intrude upon our individual expression of spirituality, and concomitantly, vice versa. It is that latter part that gives us such angst and turmoil. The debate continues.
In a similar, more poignant vane:
“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.”
-- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
Perhaps we can still learn from the venerable scientist and philosopher, whom the church sought to intimidate into submission and silence despite the facts. We still have much to learn.
Although I suspect most will not be interested in reading the following article, nonetheless, I note it for your selective rumination.
“Pope ‘spreading fear’ with claim that Man needs protection from homosexuality”
by Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
The Times [of London]
Published: December 24, 2008
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5391794.ece?&EMC-Bltn=NNYF0A
Pope Benedict XVI, referring to Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical, Humanae Vitae, declared that the Church had a duty to “protect Man from destroying himself,” with an implicit slap at homosexuality as an intrinsic moral evil. Reverend Giles Fraser, vicar of St Mary’s Church in Putney, Greater London, England, provided a more insightful and tolerant message; “I thought the Christmas angels said, ‘Fear not.’ Instead, the Pope is spreading fear that gay people somehow threaten the planet. And that’s just absurd. As always, this sort of religious homophobia will be an alibi for all those who would do gay people harm.” While Joe is entitled to his opinion, I say, Spot on, Giles!
This week’s news from economic front:
-- The list of businesses putting their hands out for Federal economic recovery funds continues to grow. Now, big property developers, presumably the likes of Donald Trump and Mort Zuckerman, are predicting doom & gloom with respect to large commercial development projects like shopping centers, hotels, office buildings and such, without Federal support funds. The list of folks seeking to feed at the Treasury trough will grow, maybe even explode, before we feel recovery.
-- The Treasury Department’s Inspector General Eric M. Thorson opened an investigation into the activities of the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) regarding an alledged backdated capital infusion just weeks prior to the collapse of IndyMac on 11.July.2008. IndyMac began in 1995, as the Independent National Mortgage Corporation, created to collateralize the holdings of Countrywide Financial, and was spun off as an independent bank in 1997, until it was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Company (FDIC) in 2008. It now operates in conservatorship as IndyMac Federal Savings Bank. From what little we know today, I suspect this cathartic process will not be pleasant.
-- The Office of Thrift Supervision removed Darrel W. Dochow as director of the OTS western region. His office held regulatory supervision responsibility for several of the recent and largest bank failures – Washington Mutual, Countrywide Financial, IndyMac and Downey Savings and Loan. Appointed to his position in September 2007, Dochow was hardly a factor in the mortgage crisis; yet, if he had done his job properly, action could have been taken sooner to reduce the severity of the debacle. For the most part, Dochow is one of what will undoubtedly become many fall-guys for the real perpetrators (who just might escape justice).
-- Existing home sales dropped 8.6% -- the steepest monthly drop in 40 years – and the median home price fell 13.2% to US$181K, and I suspect we have not seen the bottom, yet, in the real estate market.
-- A week after Toyota Motor Corporation announced its first expected annual net loss (¥150B = US$1.6B) since 1941, rumors began to spread that Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe was expected to retire next year. The formal public announcement has not been made, and it is not clear whether Watanabe’s departure would be associated with or a consequence of the company’s financial performance. Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the auto company’s founder, is a possible successor.
-- The Federal Reserve granted General Motors’ financial arm, GMAC, bank holding company status, which makes it eligible for Federal TARP funds. The action relieves some financial pressure on GM. The USG also extracted concessions as conditions. GM and Cerberus Capital Management, which owns Chrysler, must reduce its ownership interest in GMAC to less than 10% in voting shares and total equity.
-- Executive compensation will (and rightly so) attract considerable attention from the Press and We, the People, and hopefully from prosecutors. This week, we learn that Angelo R. Mozilo, who led Countrywide Financial into the abyss, received US$500M+ in compensation from 1998 to 2007, including US$122M from cashing in stock options last year alone. And, Charles O. Prince, who led Citigroup to the brink of collapse, was awarded a retirement deal worth US$28M. [It will probably cost less to get rid of him than it will to deal with the consequences of his failure.] Belatedly but fortunately, more top Wall Street executives are foregoing their bonuses. [Again, please note that the absence of any downside penalty for executives who failed in their responsibilities is a direct and sole failure of the respective boards of directors – upside benefit with no downside cost is foolish, capricious and otherwise contemptible.]
The Madoff Scandal [365], or as the French call it, L’Affaire Madoff:
-- Sadly, we have the first physical casualty of the Madoff disaster. The co-founder of Access International Advisors, Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, 65, was found dead in his Madison Avenue office – an apparent suicide. De la Villehuchet reportedly lost US$1.4B in investor funds in the exploding scandal. He was no novice to international banking, having also served as chairman and CEO of Credit Lyonnais Securities USA. I suspect de la Villehuchet will not be the last sacrifice in this debacle.
-- The scale of the Madoff US$50B Ponzi scheme is hard to comprehend, and the notion that he acted alone is even harder to believe. The pundits and talking heads have and will continue to offer their disaster assessments as the story unfolds. I thought I would note the opinion of Noble-Laureate Paul Robin Krugman – although I am not a particular fan of his political rationale.
“The Madoff Economy”
by Paul Krugman
New York Times
Published: December 19, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/opinion/19krugman.html?_r=1&em
-- The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity [366] lost more than US$15M – nearly all of its assets – in the unfolding Madoff fraud.
The Blago Scandal [365]:
-- The Obama administration transition team released their internal investigation into staff interactions with Blago, his chief of staff, or any other members of the governor’s circle of friends, colleagues and confidantes. They reported nothing untoward. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald interviewed (unknown whether under oath) Obama, Emanuel and others on their involvement, and I have faith that if Fitzgerald finds offenses, he will prosecute them.
-- The Illinois legislative impeachment committee decided against issuing subpoenas in their investigation in deference to the Federal criminal prosecutorial investigation underway. Of course, they reserved the right to issue subpoenas in the future. What this represents to me is a protraction of the agony we shall all suffer in one way or another. Blago has shown no signs of honor or dignity, and appears to be driven only by self-interests – a sad, despicable commentary on American politics no matter how we cut it.
Perhaps, women can improve pornography as they have so many other human endeavors.
“Women on top: Female execs rise in porn biz – Some say they’re trying to instill change while others see them as ‘traitors’”
by Brian Alexander
msnbc.com contributor
Updated: Wednesday, 3.December.2008; 07:41 CST
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28022805/
Comments and contributions from Update no.366:
“I couldn't follow the Sam Adams quote, but I thought you wrote well on the separation of church and state. Your reader who wrote in support of ‘God’ (definition not given) probably needs to study the religious background of those Founding Fathers he so easily believes he supports.
“Before mentioning Shrub's verbal support of the troops, you might want to study the history of the Veterans' Administration and veterans' programs in general during his administration.”
My response:
The Samuel Adams quote was an opportune thought to contrast the notional of the Founders advocating for the church and religion versus God in the general, broader, circumspect sense of what I certainly believe was the true intentions of the Founders / Framers. Perhaps my choice failed. It happens more often than not. My point, which I think Samuel was attempting to say in his perhaps convoluted word choice was what I was trying to say in my response to the newspaper reader (Elder). The Framers did not ignore God in the construct of the Constitution; they simply sought to distance the new nation from the organized religions and more specifically from the men who ran the churches.
There are always plenty of angles to criticize the President, but I do not recall any president in my lifetime who tried to connect with line troops as much as he has. There are multitudinous examples. We can argue about the performance of the Veterans Administration and even the President’s failure to manage his administration. However, his personal conduct with the troops has remained noteworthy, IMHO.
“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 :-)
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