Update no.476

Update from the Heartland

No.476

24.1.11 – 30.1.11

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

To all,
The follow-up news items:
-- Here is an example of precisely Ronald Reagan’s admonition [474/5]:
“America's Culture of Cruelty”
by Henry A. Giroux
t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
Published: Monday 24 January 2011
http://www.truth-out.org/henry-a-giroux-americas-culture-cruelty67049
Let us blame society for the actions of one deranged psychopath. That sarcasm aside, Giroux and others have made valid points we should consider as a society.
-- Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, 36 [460], the first former Guantánamo Bay camp detainee to be tried in the civilian court system, was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the 1998 bombings of two United States Embassies in East Africa that killed 224 people and wounded thousands. Ghailani was convicted on a single count of conspiracy while being acquitted of more than 280 charges of murder and conspiracy – not exactly a resounding victory for the civilian trial of an illegal battlefield combatant, but fortunately, good enough.
-- A series of Senate resolutions to reform the debate rules (cloture, filibuster) failed to garner sufficient votes for acceptance. Senate Rule XXII [474/5] remains in effect. I say, good; now, let’s get on with the People’s business.
-- Talk about bizarre . . .
“The case for pardoning Tom DeLay”
by Tom Campbell
Washington Post
Published: Friday, January 28, 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/27/AR2011012706169.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions
What a trip! When he served in Congress, Tom DeLay [175, 474, et al] was virtually the antithesis of civility. They called him “The Hammer” . . . for good reason. I say, no way, José! Leave him in jail to contemplate the error of his ways and his offenses against the society he was sworn to serve.

The President of the United States of America delivered his constitutionally mandated State of the Union message in the form of a speech to a joint session of Congress, as has been the practice for many decades now. As usual, President Obama delivered a well-crafted, thoughtful, and uplifting speech. There are many elements of the President’s speech and plans that I want to see fleshed out, none as much as his statement, “And because the American people deserve to know that special interests aren’t larding up legislation with pet projects, both parties in Congress should know this: If a bill comes to my desk with earmarks inside, I will veto it. I will veto it.” I truly, genuinely and deeply hope that he means what he said. To me, no bill or legislation is as important as eliminating that near singular mechanism and symbol of congressional largesse, nay corruption.
Many of the talking heads pooh-poohed the symbolic togetherness of the seating arrangements in the House chamber, but frankly, I thought it was encouragingly refreshing; even if only a symbolic gesture, there was far less of the inherent “us & them” display and rancor so common to these events from my earliest memory.
The Republicans chose Representative Paul Davis Ryan, Jr., of Wisconsin to deliver their companion message in rebuttal. I must say, he gave a smashing performance with an appropriate message. Nonetheless, as with all political rhetoric these days, elements of truth and reality are mixed with and confused by parochial political drivel. For moderate independents, his message induces discounting . . . most unfortunate.
For the first time, the Tea Party added a response delivered by Representative Michele Marie Bachmann (née Amble) of Minnesota. Unfortunately, her message of fiscal responsibility was diluted by the distraction of an improper teleprompter usage. She sought repeal of PPACA with no discussion of what should replace it
To me, the most notable element of this flurry of political rhetoric came the next day from Senate Majority Leader Harry Mason Reid of Nevada, when he declared, “I understand [the earmark veto is] great for an applause line, but it's really not solving anything to do with the deficit. It's only for show.” Dear ol’ Harry could not find it in his oh so generous heart to give us even a full day of delightful and encouraging illusion. While Harry is probably correct, his words demonstrate the depths and pervasiveness of corrupting influences in Congress. I can only hope the President can find the courage to follow through with his commitment, because the challenge is sure to come, as Harry so bluntly acknowledged.

Every once in a while, I come across a fact, a piece of information, an article or essay, or a more lengthy report that interests me. It goes in my Reading file. I get to it when I can get to it. A few items seem to have broader purpose and interest than feeding my voracious curiosity. So it is here.
“Holocaust historical data goes digital”
by Josh Lederman
The Associated Press [Washington Post]
Published: Wednesday, January 26, 2011; 9:14 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/26/AR2011012601477.html?wpisrc=nl_tech
The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority and Google teamed up to digitize part of the vast Holocaust archive collected and held by Yad Vashem,
 Jerusalem, Israel. The URL for the visual archive:
http://collections.yadvashem.org/photosarchive/
The URL for the museum itself:
http://www.yadvashem.org/
I have visited the archive site several times so far. The poignancy of the content is unfathomable and incomprehensible; yet, only each of us can truly determine or define the significance. The humanity defies scale. The snapshots of history must never be forgotten.

This week, we have several little pearls, one of which was . . .
A friend, former colleague and genuinely generous man knew me well enough to send this message:
“I know how you love Spitfires. Here are 16 at one time. Enjoy the whole air show.”
The URL for the video clip:
http://www.airshows.org.uk/2010/airshows/duxford-battle-of-britain-airshow-review.html
Oh my, ya gotta love it. There is nothing comparable to a Merlin engine at full throttle . . . 16 melodious powerplants . . . heaven. Magnificent flying machines!

News from the economic front:
-- Congressional budget analysts reported that the weak economy and fresh tax cuts approved last month {Tax Relief Act [PL 111-312] [470/1]} will help drive the federal budget deficit to an estimated US$1.5T, the biggest budget gap in history and one of the largest as a share of the economy since World War II.
-- The Federal Reserve Federal Open Market Committee will proceed with the US$600B government bond purchase plan, as it acknowledged that the U.S. economy is showing signs of improvement. They said that global food and raw material prices have been increasing, but remain within the central bank's comfort zone. Fed officials noted some progress in consumer spending but added they still see the economy constrained by high unemployment, slow income growth and tight credit.
-- U.S. consumer spending rose at an inflation-adjusted annual rate of 3.2% in the fourth quarter of 2010, compared to a 2.6% increase in the third quarter.

Comments and contributions from Update no.475:
Comment to the Blog:
“Re: gay marriage. While I no longer see Obama as a progressive, I see no justification for his administration to support the mis-named Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). That's still disappointing, even after considerable evidence that Obama is or has become Wall Street's tool. Wall Street has little interest in DOMA, and Obama has no chance of winning over anti-gay voters. That leaves no explanation that I can see.
“In ordinary circumstances, I agree with the part of the Ruth Marcus article that you quoted. (“The key to good parenting lies somewhere between these two approaches, between demanding too much and accepting too little. The difficulty of good parenting lies in the fact that this sweet spot is elusive, individual and constantly changing. You may be the lucky parent who hits it, but you will not know for years.”) Jared Loughner's circumstances were by no means ordinary. Loughner is what my statistics course calls an "outlier," an instance which is clearly unusual. I join in your condemnation of his parents. By even the most charitable standards, they must have known that something was seriously wrong with Jared, yet they did not act for his benefit or society's well-being.
“The Soobzokov case grows larger and even stranger. I hope that Aslan can find some way to hold that reporter and his paper accountable for their misdeeds in writing the story about Aslan's father. Nothing in law or morality supports libel. I would hope to hold the news industry accountable for such negligent or even hostile reporting. I also agree with you about the Balsys case.
“I have a question for the ‘strict constructionists.’ If a power is not enumerated in the Constitution, does it not devolve to the people via the Tenth Amendment?
“It is indeed sad that ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ are not written into law.
“Re the Goldman Sachs drop in income: are we being set up for another ‘too big to fail’ bailout? I’m still smarting from the last one.
“Re comments on Update No. 474: while it is not clear that heated rhetoric led to the shooting of Representative Giffords, it is likely that such rhetoric led to previous attacks on her Tucson office and that of another Democrat with an adjoining district. Those, together with killings resulting from the abortion ‘debate’ should make Americans take pause.
My response to the Blog:
Re: gay marriage. Judging by the reactions from the Left and the Right, I think President Obama is probably operating close to the middle. He is trying to balance a myriad of opposing forces, and frankly, I think he is doing a pretty good job. Sure, his progress on this important civil rights issue is slower than many of us think it should be, and yet the fact that it is even happening at all offends others among us. The USG brief for the appeal of Gill and Massachusetts even mentions that POTUS supports the repeal of DOMA, but the USG must defend the law. The briefing document is enlightening but decidedly slanted to the government’s position, i.e., defending the law from the collective perspective – the government or at least the process of governance – rather than from the subjugated individual citizen’s perspective – the subordination of individual civil rights. The 1st Circuit’s decision should be interesting and enlightening. My assessment: the Massachusetts appeal will not succeed; the argument is too weak. Given the Court’s predisposition to Federalism, the Circuit and Supremes will not see sufficient argument in existing law to override Congress. If SCOTUS includes an appeal like Perry or Log Cabin Republicans (both out of CA and the 9th Circuit), they might take a more appropriate and broader view. Unfortunately, as is the nature of government, they want to maintain the status quo, and thus they try to confine the legal arguments to the narrowest dimensions as they possibly can, which is what they are attempting to do in the Gill / Massachusetts appeal. FYI: I don’t think Obama has “sold out” to corporate America; he’s trying to find balance in a minefield.
Re: parenting. We are agreed. The difficulty, as we have discussed, remains in how we begin to change societal attitudes and amend the law to hold parents accountable for what they inflict upon the community by their neglect, complacency, or abuse.
Re: Soobzokov. Freedom of the Press does not require accuracy. Aslan has done the best that can be done . . . shame them into a retraction. Libel imposes a huge obstacle on the accuser. The best solution, including proving the journalist wrong, is with the civil suit to force the government to seek extradition and prosecution of the assassins. Through that process, he can get all the data into the public domain and quiet the detractors like that ill-informed journalist.
Re: strict constructionists. As I have gathered, the Supremes and most judges steer clear of the 9th & 10th Amendments . . . to ambiguous, unbounded, and undefined in the law. Judges don’t want to acknowledge anything beyond the Constitution and the common law. So, they avoid talking about the rights of the individual citizen as much as they possibly can, which is why the strict constructionists abhor the notion of a citizen’s fundamental right to privacy.
Re: unalienable rights. Spot on, brother! The Framers assumed everyone understood, recognized and acknowledged those unalienable rights of the individual. The Constitution deals with the limited authority of the Federal government. Only as they negotiated for acceptance and ratification did they add some of the super-sensitive protections of individual rights; the Constitution is not about individual rights. It is most unfortunate the Framers did not include privacy. I suspect they felt it unnecessary given the very limited reach of the government at the time of construction and ratification. Again unfortunately, the advancement of technology has dramatically amplified the government’s reach . . . thus the conflict we face today.
Re: Goldman Sachs. I don’t think we’re headed to another bailout. My point was, the economy remains fragile and volatile.
Re: Loughner. I have seen no indications whatsoever that Loughner’s actions were politically motivated or inspired; he had no political agenda that I’m aware of as yet. I’m waiting for the government’s hypothesis regarding his motive(s). The pause that crimes like his cause me is far more preventative in nature, i.e., how do we find these guys and intercede before they turn violent. IMHO, there are always signs with perps like Loughner; some folks saw the signs and even reported them, but law enforcement has very limited preventive capability.

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