Update from the Heartland
No.542
30.4.12 – 6.5.12
Blog version: http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/
To all,
I endeavor to keep my employment
and my personal opinions separate – never the twain shall meet. There are exceptions to every never,
which sustains the old adage.
Events this week raised the most
recent exception. I recognize that
friends, former colleagues, and informed, concerned citizens may harbor some
degree of apprehension. Hawker
Beechcraft Corporation (HBC) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as the
company reorganizes its debt. In
2007, Raytheon sold its aircraft company to Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and
Onex Partners, who in turn saddled the company with US$2.5B in debt, gambling
the cost reduction efforts would yield ample return for minimal capital
investment. Unfortunately, the
Great Recession began in 2008. As
the government struggled to arrest the rapid economic contraction, the
President and many in Congress chose to malign our industry as a luxury as the
market softened into weakness. The
leadership took aggressive actions to reduce cost and production. The duration of depressed aircraft
sales exceeded the remaining capacity of the company to service its debt. The company’s leadership has negotiated
a pre-arranged reorganization plan that must now be presented to and approved
by the court. The majority of
lenders have agreed to transform the debt instruments into ownership of the
company. The process will also
allow the company to renegotiate onerous, inflexible, burdensome
contracts. The bankruptcy process
should position the company for prosperity and profit when the market recovers,
as it inevitably will. It is only
a matter of time, and time shall tell the tale.
“Lawsuit,
Interviews Allege Culture Of Gender Intimidation At Naval Academy – ‘You don't
expect that to happen in a ‘family’”
by Tina Reed, Staff writer
Annapolis Capital
Published: April 29, 2012; Pg. 1
Events portrayed in such articles can be viewed from many
perspectives. It is an easy step
for those so inclined to see such behavior as vindication for their resistance
of female integration. There was a
day when I was among that lot.
Not so today.
On the heels of homosexual integration, we add the order of Commandant
of the Marine Corps General James Amos to admit volunteer female officers into
the Infantry Officer Course (IOC) on a trial basis. If male midshipmen did as they are accused of doing, then
they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for their crimes;
but, these crimes are not rationale to reject gender or homosexual
integration. I failed to fully
articulate the essence of such questions.
The sole criterion should be performance – shooting, battlefield skills,
endurance, leadership, et al. In
my humble opinion, the thing that will make it not work is dual standards – one
for women, another for men. We
must focus on the essentials and abandon our social pre-conceptions.
Over the last month or so, when the weather forecast kept me
off the Harley for my workday commute, similar “public service” messages,
sponsored by the Kingman County (KS) Substance Abuse Group and the Harper
County (KS) Prevention of Underage Drinking Group, were broadcast. The radio spots that attempt to shame
and put fear in parents to not expose underage children to alcohol with the
implication they will be prosecuted or their children will become alcoholic
abusers. The messages strike me as
terribly shallow and not particularly insightful, innovative or
constructive. I eventually took
some notes and found some time for research. First and foremost, I want to be on record that teenage
alcohol abuse is an important, relevant and necessary topic of public debate
and efficient solutions. But
first, a few illuminating facts might be helpful. Kansas had statewide alcohol prohibition from 1881 to 1948,
well beyond national prohibition (1920 to 1933). To this day, 19 of 105 Kansas counties are still considered
dry for residents of any age as well as any citizen passing through those
counties. In 1984, Congress passed
and the President signed the so-called National Minimum Drinking Age Act [actually, §6, PL
98-363; 98 Stat. 435, 437; 17.July.1984], which established a carrot-and-stick
inducement for states to make the minimum alcohol consumption age at least 21
years. Kansas eagerly
complied. Now, for a little
perspective, on 1.July.1971, the states ratified the 26th Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution that set the voting age at 18 years. The age of consent for sexual relations
or to enlist in the military is also 18 years. Even abstinence-only ceases to be relevant after our children
reach 18 years of age. What is
wrong with this picture? When I
served as the chancellor of a university campus, I was the final adjudicator
for violations of the student code of conduct, and there were too many truly
sad cases of young adults ill-prepared to deal with responsible and accountable
decision-making. There is no doubt
in my little pea brain that prohibition, abstinence, denial and ignorance are
NOT wise, productive or proper tools to teach our children life skills to
sustain them in adult life. Those
prohibition radio spots anger me every time I hear them. I could just switch channels, but I
naively hope to hear a more informed, supportive and progressive messages to
parents and children. Once again,
prohibition laws will never work in a free society – only comprehensive
education can ensure proper public conduct. Private behavior is not our domain. Yet, we have naively proven time and
again that we persist in dictating behavior by some Quixotic optimism that we
shall eventually achieve a different outcome. Simply put: ain’t gonna happen . . . unless we are prepared
to or blindly abdicate our freedom to the tyranny of the majority or even a
willful minority. Freedom is
freedom and cannot be parsed.
“A war that’s bigger than Afghanistan”
by William Kristol
Washington Post
Published: May 2, 2012
Bill called it as it is. President Obama withdrew direct combat troops from Iraq in
2011 [522] and intends to withdraw
direct combat forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2014; however, we entered a
multi-generational war decades prior to 9/11, as we strive to accept and
embrace our Islamic brethren while we neutralize the radical practitioners of
the Islamic faith who seek to oppress everyone, including believers who do not
share their radical, fundamentalist view of the Islamic faith. Whether we call it the war on terrorism
or the War on Islamic Fascism, Bill Kristol is correct – the war will be a long
way from won with the closure of U.S./Allied combat operations in Afghanistan.
Just when I thought things might be settling down just a
little, our situation gets curious’er and curious’er. The People of the Republic of France elected Socialist
candidate François Gérard Georges Hollande as their new President, defeating
incumbent Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa in a runoff
election. The change in political
leadership throws into question the economic recovery measures within the
European Union agreed to earlier this year. France may be moving more toward Greece than Germany, which
will not be good for anyone.
Americans like to think we have always enjoyed those
unalienable rights, endowed by our Creator. Even the most rudimentary familiarity with history tells us
such notions are not true. Sure,
they were mostly correct, if you were male, with light skin pigmentation,
Anglo-Saxon facial features, and heritage, and you owned property. If you happened to be of any other
configuration or circumstance, well then, that just your lot in life and you
lived at the mercy of those men who qualified. The ensuing two plus centuries have brought us through trial
and trauma, yet we still do not enjoy universal suffrage. My latest reading from the Supremes was
the Civil
Rights Cases [109 U.S. 3 (1883)].
The U.S. Constitution was ratified 21.June.1788, including Article IV,
Section 2, Clause 3, which reads: “No Person held to Service or
Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in
Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service
or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service
or Labour may be due.” The clause
was superseded by the ratification of the 13th Amendment. After the trauma of the Civil War, the
Federal government persistently worked to liberate the oppressed of the day.
·
Emancipation
Proclamation (22.September.1862)
·
13th Amendment (6.December.1865)
·
Civil Rights Act of 1866 (9.April.1866) [448, 535]
·
Freedmen's Bureau Act (16.July.1866) [448]
·
14th Amendment (9.July.1868)
·
15th Amendment (3.February.1870)
·
Enforcement Act of 1870 (31.May.1870) [448]
·
Civil Rights Act of 1871 {AKA Ku Klux Klan Act} (20.April.1871)
[539]
·
Civil Rights Act of 1875 (1.March.1875) [542]
Associate Justice Joseph Philo Bradley wrote for the Court as they
declared the 1875 law unconstitutional.
Further, the capacity of the Supremes of the day to overcome the sheer
weight of the law speaks volumes to the persistence of racial bias and
discrimination. In his solo dissenting
opinion, Associate Justice John Marshall Harlan offered a convincing and
impassioned assessment of the expansive envelope of the 13th and 14th
Amendments. He said, “I am of
opinion that such discrimination is a badge of servitude, the imposition of
which congress may prevent under its power, through appropriate legislation, to
enforce the thirteenth
amendment; and consequently, without reference to its enlarged power
under the fourteenth
amendment, the act of March 1, 1875, is not, in my judgment,
repugnant to the constitution.”
Justice Harlan recognized reality.
Despite the Herculean efforts of Congress to rectify the previous
wrongs, it took another century to realize broad respect for citizenship and
the vast social diversity of this Grand Republic. Many would argue we have not yet attained universal
acceptance, even with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 [PL 88-352; 78 Stat. 241; 2.July.1964] and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 [PL 89-110;
79 Stat. 437; 6.August.1965] [528]. Freedom demands a relentless and persistent vigil.
News from
the economic front:
-- The U.S. Labor Department reported the nation’s employers
added 115,000 positions, fewer than economists had been predicting. The unemployment rate decreased to 8.1%
in April, from 8.2% in March. Wall
Street was not impressed.
No comments or contributions from Update no.541.
My very best wishes to all. Take care of yourselves and each other.
Cheers,
Cap :-)
2 comments:
I fail to see how illegal and/or violent behavior by male students at the Naval Academy could be construed as a reason to exclude women from the school. This is an appropriate matter for military or civilian law enforcement, whichever applies to not-yet-commissioned future officers.
Teenage use of alcohol and other drugs is indeed an important subject, but public service announcements aimed at parents of teens just demonstrate how little society knows about this disease. By the time people reach their teens, their attitudes are formed and the parents have no say in whether those attitudes (combined with genetics and other factors) will result in drinking, using or going on to addiction. That’s another example of throwing good tax dollars after bad. Certainly the fear-mongering makes that worse because it keeps people from talking sanely to their children or parents about the subject.
The people in France and Greece most likely have seen fit to spare ordinary people rather than bankers. The bankers will no doubt make them pay, but perhaps not as much as the politicians they evicted would have done.
Calvin,
Re: women in military. Herein lies a good example of the consequence of using truncated reasoning for brevity. I agree, the alleged crimes at USNA should be prosecuted; although I must add, I suspect there is much more to the story than reported in the Press, as I surmise from my experience as a university campus chancellor. The point I was attempting to make was events like the USNA situation are often utilized as justification by those who resist the integration of women, non-heterosexuals, or anyone else not like them. The crime was not caused by integration or the presence of women, but rather by the individual failings of flawed young men. Our societal focus should be on performance, not on genitalia or sexual attraction.
Re: teenage drinking. As I read your words and perceived your meaning, I believe you are agreeing with my premise, i.e., education is far better than the ignorance of abstinence. I will also freely admit that I am one of those failed parents too afraid of the law to teach our children properly about alcohol, drugs and such. We were lucky; other families were not. The carnage of ignorance is too great a societal price to tolerate the myopia of the social conservative faction.
Re: France & Greece. The bottom line: there is no free lunch. Sooner or later, the bill comes due. While the bankers carry some culpability, it is the unrealistic expectations of the People that are the bona fide culprit. They were quite happy to accept and demand the largesse of government in the good times, but cannot face the consequences in the hard times. That is a recipe for failure, anarchy and disintegration.
“That’s just my opinion, but I could be wrong.”
Cheers,
Cap
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