Update no.487

Update from the Heartland

No.487

11.4.11 – 17.4.11

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

To all,
It was a Friday . . . 12.April.1861 . . . after months of confrontation, demands and negotiations, a local militia fired a large caliber mortar at the Federal Fort Sumter, Charleston, South Carolina, and so began the Civil War [AKA the War Between the States to CSA]. Let us never forget the extraordinary sacrifice on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line that ultimately led to a stronger union and moved successive generations closer to the vision of the Founders / Framers, who established this Grand Republic.

The follow-up news items:
-- Well, wonder of wonders! The Federal government finally has its statutory appropriations for this fiscal year [481, 483, 486]. Congress passed H.R.1473 – Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 [Senate: 81-19-0-0(0); House: 260-167-0-6(2)]. I would normally quote the Public Law number for future reference; however, either the President has not yet signed the law, or the Library of Congress has not caught up with their backlog. The notation shall have to wait for the bureaucracy to grind away. As an interesting footnote, the last continuing resolution a week ago was titled, Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Amendments, 2011 [PL 112-008; H.R.1363]. Ya gotta love the congressional sense of humor.
-- With Japan enduring persistent large after-shocks [482], the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency of Japan’s Ministry of Economy raised the severity rating to level 7 (the highest) on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale for the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident – equal to that of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. We have a long and bumpy road ahead.
-- The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued their ruling in the case of United States v. Arizona [9CCA no. 10-16645 (2011)] – the state’s appeal of Judge Bolton’s granting of injunctive relief to the Federales {28.7.2010, [450]; United States v. Arizona [USDC AZ case 2:10-cv-01413-SRB (2010)]} against the state’s controversial SB1070 immigration enforcement law [23.4.2010, 436]. My read-through suggests this appeal decision will not likely end this debate. Circuit Judge Richard Anthony Paez wrote the court’s opinion. Let it suffice to say the ruling is a Federalist validation – the Supremacy Clause prevails. Senior Circuit Judge John Thomas Noonan, Jr. wrote a concurring opinion and at least tried to find balance in his portion of the pronouncement. Noonan acknowledged, “That the movement of the people of one nation into the boundaries of another nation is a matter of national security is scarcely a doubtful or debatable matter.” He noted that current official estimates place the number of illegal aliens nationwide at about 4% of the population, while the estimate for Arizona is 7% of its residents. At least he offered a modicum of recognition of the real security and economic problems that poor border security represents especially to the border-states. Circuit Judge Carlos Tiburcio Bea wrote an opinion concurring in part, dissenting in part, and I believe best captured the challenges faced by government at all levels and by We, the People, in this out-of-control border security and immigration problem. Arizona seems to have split the seam in Federalism. This ruling is so blatantly and offensively Federalist. This whole immigration issue is so far out of balance that we have been pushed to self-defense laws like AZ SB1070. The tragedy in this regrettable episode rests on the confrontational rather than cooperative relationship between the Federal government and the States, especially the border-states who bear the brunt of uncontrolled entry of foreign nationals who are ultimately illegal alien immigrants. Given the Federalist bent of SCOTUS, I doubt Arizona will prevail in the ultimate appeal to the highest court. The best we can hope for in this situation is stimulation of the Federal government – Legislative, Executive and Judiciary – to finally take action to control the border and immigration. We can only hope!

This article appeared:
“Demjanjuk's Disputed ID – Defense Calls to Suspend Trial of Suspected Nazi Guard”
By SPIEGEL Staff
Der Spiegel
Published: 14.April.2011
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,757000,00.html#ref=nlint
I thought of Aslan Soobzokov and the tragic situation of his father’s assassination. I forwarded the link to Aslan.
I saw this article in today's Der Spiegel. It is not related to your case on behalf of your father, but it does reflect on those events 25 years ago.
Aslan replied:
“Thank you for your thoughts. Demyanjuk is innocent, shame on the DOJ and FBI. My God, what they did to him and his family. What has happened to America?
“On May 2, 2011 Judge Debovoise will hear oral argument on Soobzokov v. Holder, et.al. You are my brother so I share this with you. With the will of Almighty God, there will be good news. You will be one of the first people to know the outcome. I will put your email address on my cell phone to advise you accordingly.”
. . . to which I added:
I see disturbing signs of a feverish rush to judgment on less than compelling evidence. Further, suppression of valuable and relevant evidence has become all too common. All are a violation of our constitutional rights as citizens of this Grand Republic or even guests in this country. The truth shall prevail.
Good luck with your oral argument. I look forward to hearing the result.
. . . Aslan added this informational item regarding his on-going struggle for journalistic balance:
“Attached to this email are three (3) documents I located regarding my father. One of the documents was issued by the ‘International Refugee Organisation’ dated December 7, 1950. This document refutes the allegation by Mr. Kelly that my father ‘Escaped Europe,’ and ‘by blending in with some 200 Circassian.’ The paragraph in the article that appeared in The Record has wide ranging implications, and the editors removed my counter argument to this paragraph from the response I wanted to file. False in one, false in all.
“What was the basis for the author to write that statement into the article? What evidence?
“The second letter is from The Tolstoy Foundation Inc., dated July 19, 1956. The contents are self explanatory and demonstrate the respect extended to my late father by people in Jordan and the United States Embassy in Jordan. The third document demonstrates that my father was an asset to our Country. Nearly six months after this particular document was written, Mr. Kelly uses hearsay to call my father an “incorrigible fabricator”. Do you have a better understanding now that the article is defamatory?
“There is a fourth document, not attached, from federal prosecutors in Germany to the USA for the southern district of New York that there is no evidence that my father committed any criminal acts, including war crimes according to the German government dated November 14, 1977.
“These documents are a part of my arsenal that establishes that Mr. Kelly is the ‘incorrigible fabricator’, ‘the Liar,’ ‘the Con Man,’ and time will show that by using the public media he along with his pen is the ‘Killer.’
“With respect to your email of March 25, 2011, most respectfully to you, it is not responsive. Further, the conclusion which was based on recollection must have been that Mr. Weisenthal found documents from the Berlin Document Center that did not show that my father harmed anyone. In fact, I recall that he was interviewed on the former ‘Macneil Lerner Report,’ which I believed aired on Channel 13, in February 1977. Further, you state that you were informed that the Simon Weisenthal center stated my father was a Nazi and assigned to a criminal group that THEY considered as a criminal group DOES NOT mean that my father was a Nazi War Criminal and the other allegations made by your reporter. I ask you to share this information with me and read my original response to the article that appeared in the Record and addresses the contentions made by the Weisenthal center.
“Once again, I call upon your publication and the reporter to rectify the tragic mistake they made in this case. The statute of limitations is one year. I will not wait much longer.
“Lastly, the previous publications on my father’s history were identified for you, did you and your client look at them? This is the second time I asked you this question.”

I recognize and acknowledge that most folks who read these words are not particularly interested in judicial pronouncements. I try to limit my indulgences of your patience for my judicial curiosity. I shall challenge your patience again. The latest case – Arizona Christian STO v. Winn [563 U.S. ___ (2011); no. 09–987] – we have a prima facie, First Amendment, Establishment Clause case, yet it falls short of that lofty ideal as a 5-4 majority dismisses the question on a narrow judicial principle of standing. The central issue is the State of Arizona’s use of school tuition organizations (STOs) as tax deductions [AKA tax expenditures] for private school tuition, ostensibly to help residents fund charter schools and such to best serve their children. Arizona resident Kathleen M. Winn and others challenged the law as a constitutional violation of the Establishment Clause, specifically the law’s application and its expenditure of tax revenue to religious schools. Associate Justice Kennedy wrote for the narrow majority and wants us to believe the majority opinion in this case was a demonstration of judicial restraint – strict constructionist interpretation. I read this case as much for rookie Associate Justice Elena Kagan’s first dissenting opinion as for the Court’s decision. Kagan succinctly boiled this ruling down, “The Court's opinion thus offers a roadmap – more truly, just a one-step instruction – to any government that wishes to insulate its financing of religious activity from legal challenge.” The so-called “strict constructionists simply love to point to the Constitution to rationalize their Federalism, and condemn those who defend the fundamental rights of citizens or limitations on Federal authority as lacking judicial restraint, or legislating by judicial fiat. Arizona’s use of “tax expenditures” for religious schools . . . “A rose by any other name . . . “

News from the economic front:
-- People’s Republic of China's National Bureau of Statistics reported the country’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 5.4% in March from a year earlier, up from a 4.9% increase in February. The PRC's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew 9.7% in the first quarter from a year earlier, down from 9.8% growth in the fourth quarter of last year.
-- Moody's Investors Service Inc. downgraded the Republic of Ireland's sovereign debt from Baa1 to Baa3, one notch above "junk" status. The agency estimates that the Ireland’s financial situation is likely to deteriorate further due to weak prospects for economic growth and higher borrowing costs as a result of rate increases by the European Central Bank.
-- The U.S. Labor Department reported the CPI increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.5% from February as gasoline and food costs moved higher, and rose 2.7% on an annual basis, the highest level since December 2009. The core inflation rate, which excludes energy and food prices, rose by only 0.1% in March from February, with the annual underlying inflation rate increased at a 1.2% rate.

Comments and contributions from Update no.486:
“Wow! I can't believe I was not aware of this. Really, only the centerpiece depiction. Or, at least that is how my memory is working today.
“I did see something on one of the bottom panels on one end. I see Charon, the oarsman for the River Styx. This tells me that Michelangelo was influenced by Dante Alighieri.”
My response:
The link has 360° pan & zoom from the center of the chapel; you can go in any direction as close as you want. I believe Michelangelo painted all the panels – sides & ceiling. I also believe the head panel – The Last Judgment – was the largest single panel fresco in the world for many years.
My understanding of history makes the same basis for Michelangelo’s Last Judgment as Dante’s la Divina Commedia – also the basis for the dome fresco in Il Duomo in Firenze. Both men feature prominently throughout Florence from Il Uffizi to Palazzo Medici and Palazzo Pitti. I would say, yes absolutely, Michelangelo was heavily influenced by Dante Alighieri. Beautiful history in Firenze (Florence)!

Another contribution:
“Haven't been keeping up lately, but read this one. Thanks.
“I do regret your wording to describe those who resist spending my taxpayer donations to the federal government for abortions as ‘one side rigidly insisting the State take direct control of a woman’s internal biological processes.’ Those are words worthy of someone much farther left than I give you credit for, Cap!”
My reply:
My words were chosen to reflect the extremes in this particular debate, not a statement of position. Both extremes claim righteous motives, which makes solutions all the more difficult to achieve. Trying to place me in one camp or the other will not be successful, as I espouse elements from each camp; I seek the middle ground of compromise to find a solution to an intractable issue that so deeply and adversely contaminates political intercourse in this Grand Republic. If you would like to engage in a discussion to find solutions, I am eager to oblige. Your choice.
. . . a follow-up comment:
“By all means, sir, let's continue the discussion.
“‘Me thinks he (ye?) doth protest too much.’
“I merely pointed out that your words did indeed point out one extreme, which is not the basis for the debate. You chose your words. They could have been a more fair summary of the protest against federally funded abortion. We all use words to make points. Sometimes we overstate the matter... Fair enough?
“Indeed, let's continue the discussion.”
. . . my follow-up request:
Alrighty then; game on! However, that said, I shall immediately ask for a reprieve of a few days to perhaps next week, as I have two important court decisions to finish reviewing this week. Please stand by . . .

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