tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13346260178230485632024-03-19T04:47:44.365-04:00Dispatches from No. 3 Equity CourtA Journal of Opinion, News and Essays ---
©2008 - 2023, Roger Curry
Creative Commons License, only with attribution
This is my PERSONAL blog. The opinions are mine. It does NOT represent the opinions of any client, employer, friend, foe, minor deity, the United Nations, the Anaheim Ducks Hockey Club, or any other person, corporation, partnership, limited liability corporation, or any other person, living, dead or on life support. Thank you.Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.comBlogger366125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-42285561322704396652023-08-06T18:15:00.003-04:002023-08-06T18:48:28.276-04:00Can Donald Trump or Hunter Biden get fair trials? <p><span style="font-size: medium;">No. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And the
circumstances are delicious – One can speak what one sees as the Truth without
being seen as a Trump/Biden apologist. (Yeah,
right – This ink-stained wretch will be seen as only half right, with the
halves split about evenly. Even that is
delicious.)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">(Pontius
Pilate: But what is truth?)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What is a fair
trial? A fair trial is where:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1 – The
government prosecutor is competent and presents a fair case using legally
admissible evidence.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">2 – The
defendant is represented by competent counsel who presents a fair case using
legally admissible evidence.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">3 – The Judge
applies the law equally and doesn’t favor either side.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">4 - The jury
either doesn’t know anything about the case or will put aside any knowledge
they have and judge from the evidence.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You have those
four things, and you may have a fair trial.
Most importantly: A FAIR TRIAL
DOESN’T DEPEND TO WHO WINS AND WHO LOSES.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Pretty simple,
right?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The devil is in
the details and the details make lots of trial unfair.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For
example: Most readers will think that a
fair trial for Trump or H. Biden depends on who wins. Obviously, if Trump is convicted and H. Biden
is acquitted, they each got a fair trial.
But, no, wait: If Trump is
acquitted and H. Biden is convicted, they each got a fair trial. Maybe Jethro Bodine doesn’t have an opinion,
but you do. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Admissible
evidence is information which is both relevant and material. Relevant means the evidence tends to prove
something. Material means what it proves
has something to do with the case. I’ve
heard that Booth shot Lincoln. But I
wasn’t there, so my testimony is worthless – irrelevant. That Trump saved American/caused a million
deaths in the pandemic or that H. Biden has used cocaine and hookers might be
true. But it is not material, it doesn’t
have anything to do with either case. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Let’s run down
the list –</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The prosecutors
– The Prosecutor in each case will be competent and on their A-game. Whether they will be a little underhanded
remains to be seen. Probably not,
because everyone will be watching.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The defense
counsel – Ditto.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">OK, maybe the
lawyers will try to get away with a little crap, but they won’t get far.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Judge – Ok,
now it gets a little sticky. Each is
charged in Federal Court, and Trump also has state charges. Guess who appoints Federal Judges? The president. As in Trump, H. Biden’s dad, or somebody in
their party. Almost everyone will think
the fix is in on one of the cases. They
may be right, they may be wrong, but they will believe it. Even if the fix is kind of in, the Judges
will honestly not believe it in their hearts.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The jury is the
big problem. The jury produces a “verdict.” That word comes from the old French word,
“verdicto,” It means “True.” So a verdict means “True.” In every case, how does a jury determine what
is true? No juror will be picked who was
either at the January 6 patriotic event/seditious insurrection or who works for
Burisma. That would make them witnesses,
not jurors. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">God, who knows
all and sees all, does not appear as a witness.
If you don’t believe in God, no problem – He still doesn’t come. The jury listens to the evidence from people
who were there, sees videos, photographs, documents, and so forth. Then, they will decide not on Truth, but on what
they BELIEVE the Truth is. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The jurors form
a belief. We hope that the belief is
true. Sometimes, it isn’t. Well, that’s just the breaks.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In Trump’s or
H. Biden’s trials, if you get someone who has never heard of the cases, you have
one dumb juror, a Jethro Bodine doesn’t watch the news and dreams about being a
brain surgeon or a fry cook. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">We’ll see
three varieties of potential jurors. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">One, some
people will sincerely try to put their opinions aside and sincerely try to come
to a fair verdict. They are wrong
because they’ve been dipped in constant propaganda, but they’ll try. Moreover, the propaganda they have seen and
heard was intentional. Both sides have
been constantly announcing their talking points – disguised as news – since the
cases came about.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Two, some people are narcissists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They think
they are fair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they will bring to
the jury table a whole heaping helping of confirmation bias.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They will accept evidence which confirms what
they already believe and ignore the rest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Narcissists are tricky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
actually believe that they will be fair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They’d pass a lie detector.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ll never know if we get a narcissist, even
after they write their book at the end of the trial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Finally, we
will see out-and-out liars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those people
have zero intention of judging fairly and will lie to get on the jury.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some liars will be stupid and be exposed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If someone has expressed an opinion publicly,
we’ll know what it was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ll have a
constant flow of “good citizens” who will rat out the jurors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Oh, the “good citizens” may be liars
themselves.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The public will
never agree that Trump or H. Biden got a fair trial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will all depend on who wins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nobody wants justice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They want the rascal to go to prison and the
innocent guy to be vindicated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only the
names have changed to protect the guilty.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A fair
trial?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pull the other one.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Mizpah!</span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-32721331080676742952023-07-22T12:43:00.000-04:002023-07-22T12:43:00.512-04:00Try It in a Small Town<p>Try
That in a Small Town</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This
ink-stained wretch is clueless concerning any sort of celebrity culture. Jason Aldean is – apparently – a country
music singer who is well known, but not to us.
That’s not a criticism – he does his thing and we do ours. We've only heard of him in the past week or so.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Jason
Aldean has provoked a negative response to a song he recorded, “Try That in a Small
Town.” Wait – People responded to it, but
he didn’t provoke anything. He used his
First Amendment rights to say – in music, in verse – what he thought.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The
First Amendment is invoked and avoided at the whim of the citizen, depending on
the political and social beliefs that they have already formed. But lest we forget:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"></p><blockquote>"Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or
the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government
for a redress of grievances."</blockquote><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">Now,
“Congress shall make no laws . . .” applies to the States under the Fourteenth
Amendment. Maybe it should apply to citizens,
but that would inhibit THEIR First Amendment rights. This constitutional republic has very inconvenient laws concerning what citizens do. (Thank God.) </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">So
if someone says that Aldean’s music is violent, racist (based on where it was
filmed which was the scene of a racist scene 75 years ago, go figure), or . . . Oh, pick
something negative – That is protected speech.
In my judgment, it is stupid speech, but in some people’s opinion, this
post is stupid speech. Welcome to the
First Amendment!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The
much-maligned Aldean lyrics include:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span> </span>Sucker
punch somebody on a sidewalk</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><span> </span>Carjack
an old lady at a red light<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><span> </span>Pull
a gun on the owner of a liquor store<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><span> </span>Ya
think it's cool, well, act a fool if ya like<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><span> </span>Cuss
out a cop, spit in his face<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><span> </span>Stomp
on the flag and light it up<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><span> </span>Yeah,
ya think you're tough<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><span> </span>Well,
try that in a small town<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><span> </span>See
how far ya make it down the road<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><span> </span>Around
here, we take care of our own<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><span> </span>You
cross that line, it won't take long<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><span> </span>For
you to find out, I recommend you don't.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Let’s
first talk about small towns and rural areas.
The Pew Research Center is as near to a nonpartisan, nonaligned statistical
source as you are likely to encounter worldwide. They published a survey showing where the US
population iives, divided between rural and small towns and urban and large
suburban people:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjYoKhqgx1Q373sFp8uk8oB8fUYfpzLQaJT1rLX1D3acD9GRzwKjI_3j__gpXpkrKjU86eCVZxWfZfC_gYN0iAPz1fyZbER4OdpgsqN-OU9Gfy3jxOsWtkd3NqZHLzxQKnLqIE3Vf0Td4ixUgnf1dbrhkuFuf0kTEc01l1e23HGDNaEyD3IXG-7hbu9IjeO" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="678" data-original-width="656" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjYoKhqgx1Q373sFp8uk8oB8fUYfpzLQaJT1rLX1D3acD9GRzwKjI_3j__gpXpkrKjU86eCVZxWfZfC_gYN0iAPz1fyZbER4OdpgsqN-OU9Gfy3jxOsWtkd3NqZHLzxQKnLqIE3Vf0Td4ixUgnf1dbrhkuFuf0kTEc01l1e23HGDNaEyD3IXG-7hbu9IjeO" width="232" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">So, depending on the accuracy of the Pew study (which I
accept), 44% of people live in small towns and rural areas. That 44% deserves to be heard, just like any
other citizen. We are part of that – We live
in Ohio County, West Virginia, in what is to most people a small town. It’s part of the Pittsburgh, PA, statistical
area, but is 60 miles from downtown Pittsburgh.
Ohio County is a progressive place, as measured by the whole of West Virginia,
Pennsylvannia and Ohio, but it’s still a small town.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The lyrics: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><blockquote>Sucker punch somebody on a sidewalk; Carjack an old lady at
a red light; Pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store; Cuss out a cop, spit in
his face; Stomp on the flag and light it up.
</blockquote><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You do any of that, that’s illegal -- except lighting up the
flag which is First Amendment speech in action. (If somebody does that, they are still a flaming
jerk but they have a right to do it no matter what I think.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> As to the others –
sucker punch somebody, carjack an old lady, pull a gun to rob a liquor store
and even spit on a police officer – that’s illegal and invites a response by a
citizen who sees it. (Mind you, spitting
on a police officer has it’s own reward, and seldom will a citizen (1) need to
get involved or (2) care what happens to the miscreant if it’s less than
serious injury.) But the others –
carjacking, punching someone or robbery – invites a justified citizen
response. If the miscreant is armed or
presents a serious threat to life, it invites a lethal citizen response. Lethal responses are not limited to
firearms. The papers are full of
citizens who have stopped – and killed – people without a firearm. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“Try that in a small town” – That reflects
the real possibility that if you are in a small town or a rural area, the
citizens are more likely to respond to the stimulus. In a small town or a rural area, people are
used to delayed police response and have reason to take action on their
own. So – the “try that in a small town”
is valid. If you try to that stuff in a
small town or rural area, you are more likely to encounter fierce citizen resistance.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Is that bad? Is it bad to intervene in a crime which
presents danger to another? That is a
personal decision – but we don’t want to live in such a pusillanimous place. There is something to be said for looking in
the mirror in the morning and know that you have done your best. If you have ever stopped someone using appropriate
force to interrupt them from hurting others, you know in your heart that you
have done your best.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Aldean has also been criticize for
invoking firearms:</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p> <span> </span></o:p>Got a gun that my granddad gave me</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span> </span>They say one day they're gonna
round up<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span> </span>Well, that shit might fly in the
city, good luck<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Some people sincerely wish that
everyone should give up their weapons if the government requires them to. That is their First Amendment right. It does not reflect the belief of many
people, certainly not among the rural and small town citizens. When bad things happen, seconds count. The police are only minutes away. They see firearms as the founders did – a defensive
device. Like it or not, that is how
small town dwellers think and it is reflected in reality. What will happen in the future and how will
rural and small town people respond? We
don’t know. We can’t know until it happens. I do know that if statutes are passed relating
to weapon’s possession, a whole lot of firearms are going to be reported as
stolen, lost, destroyed and so forth. Illegal? Sure.
Just like marijuana. How did that
work out?</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p>(I had a gun that my granddad gave me: I had a Stevens .22 single shot rifle that I inherited from my father, my grandfather and my great-grandather. My great-grandfather - Rufus H. Curry - used the weapon on the farm. It has now passed on to my son. Maybe his son or daughter. That's the West Virginia way, it is our version of the Way of the Jedi.) </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Facing reality is a tough
duty. Are we up to it?<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-52044600254569385892021-03-21T11:02:00.001-04:002021-03-21T11:02:11.499-04:00The Name is Tiger, not Parnelli; a Motor Vehicle Accident<p> We don't want special justice for anybody. We don't want celebrities, politicians and the rich to escape justice just because of their status.</p><p>And we also don't want celebrities, politicians and the rich to be prosecuted - when they otherwise wouldn't - just because of their status.</p><p>On 23 February 2021, elite golfer Tiger Woods was driving a Genesis SUV on as rural a road as you can find in LA County. He ran off the road, hit a tree, destroyed the SUV, was pinned in the wreckage, and is still being treated for injuries including an open, comminuted tib-fib and foot/ankle fracture. He reported that he doesn't remember driving. The Sheriff has reported that there were no skid marks, indicating that he didn't apply the breaks before he left the pavement. The Sheriff has not found indications of impairment, other than remarkably lousy driving.</p><p>Other than the identity of the driver, this was an ordinary, boring - to those who responded - motor vehicle accident. In the past month, dozens or hundreds of accidents have happened which are very similar. If the LA wreck happened with Joe Blow driving, nobody would remember the details of the wreck after a month.</p><p>The LA Sheriff's Department is still "investigating." And they probably really to some extent, to avoid the charge of giving Tiger special justice and giving him a pass on prosecution. In doing so, he's receiving special justice in an effort to avoid the appearance of special justice.</p><p>Let's pretend Joe Blow was driving. Here's what would have happened: The police, fire and EMS would have responded just as they did, gotten the driver out, and transported him to the hospital. Hopefully, he would have gotten the same medical treatment. I'm less sure of the treatment, because no doubt they knew that it was Tiger Woods, that they had better not mess up, and that he could afford the absolute best. But I think that Joe Blow would have gotten similar surgeries and I hope Joe would have gotten similar healing.</p><p>Then the Sheriff would have sent a accident investigator to the scene, one of many the Department uses in LA County. They would have found no indication of impairment other than lousy driving. It would have been referred to one of the many assistant prosecutors. That prosecutor and the investigator MIGHT have charged Joe with "Failure to Maintain Control," a citation only with a fine. But probably, they would have determined that Joe's experience had already taught him all the lessons he might have learned and closed the case within a week.</p><p>Mizpah!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-20657955808509364162021-03-21T10:17:00.001-04:002021-03-21T10:17:06.418-04:00Mrs. Nutter Redux; A Post about Race, Life and Niceness<p>In 2009, I posted this. It seems appropriate to repeat it.</p><p><br /></p><p>Tomorrow is Groundhog Day, which anyone without tolerance of the inane at least ignores. It’s stupid, and is an opportunity to pretend to observe an irrational superstition and act the fool. The point, however, is that sometimes it’s fun to act the fool. Perhaps that reminds us not to take ourselves too seriously. </p><p>In recent years, Groundhog Day has been most connected to the Bill Murray movie of the same name. In the movie, Murray consciously relives the same day over and over. It’s a queer “quest” movie, temporal rather than geographical, and perhaps the lesson is to think about what we would do if we had the time or were willing to take the time. In his case, it was to learn to play a mean jazz piano. Or perhaps I’ve missed the point entirely and there is a much more meaningful lesson or perhaps I’m an intellectual snob and it’s merely fun and there’s no lesson at all there. (Aside: I use the word “queer” intentionally. I will not countenance the hijacking or our language - queer, straight, life, choice, for example - by political pirates.) First thing in the morning is the annual Groundhog Day Breakfast put on by First Exchange Bank. This is a rather fun event which represents marketing for the bank, but also one of those y’all-come community business things that are don’t-miss. Oh, there’s a strong slug of boosterism involved, and that’s OK, too. I think that <em>Babbitt</em> gave boosterism a bad rap. What it amounts to is a positive attitude of a community which, if followed by helpful action, usually produces positive results. There’s also an annual prognostication contest which is mostly blind luck, since economists and futurists consistently get short-term forecasts dreadfully wrong. None of that really impresses me to death. </p><p>The meaning of Groundhog Day, to me, is that it’s Mrs. Nutter’s birthday. When I was growing up, our family moved around a lot due to my Dad being transferred to various jobs within the Power Company. About a week into the school year of third grade, we moved to Bridgeport, and I entered a new grade school, Bridgeport Elementary. By “new,” I mean newly built. Whenever I've gone into a construction project or a new building ever since I was a kid and smell concrete dust and the other odors of construction, it's taken me right back to Bridgeport Elementary. I was placed in Mrs. Nutter’s third grade class. Mrs. Nutter was an unforgettable figure. She was short. I mean, she was short. And she was old. Now, to an 8 or 9 year old, “old” is relative, but she was white-haired and wrinkly, so I’m sure she was into her 60's. She wore matronly dresses and big clunky heels and had a raspy country voice. I don’t remember much about the academic subjects, other than flashes here and there. Mrs. Nutter was a wagon boss about handwriting and drilled us kids mercilessly. My mother still comments - no, laments - that I got certificates for good handwriting from Mrs. Nutter. Oh, the lamentations are because that training didn’t stick and my cursive now is perfectly readable - to me. </p><p>But I remember Mrs. Nutter’s lessons. I remember them because they affected me and still have an effect on my behavior. Some find me a bit stiff in my constant use of “sir” and “ma’am.” That comes primarily from Mrs. Nutter. She preached courtesty, politeness and respect. She demonstrated how goofy disinterested slang sounded and how interested and respectful proper address was received. Well before I read Robert A. Heinlein’s explanation of courtesy as the lubricant of human interaction, Mrs. Nutter had demonstrated that concept. Mrs. Nutter also pushed respect for others through the herds of the 60's sacred cows. </p><p>Racial discrimination certainly was a part of West Virginia at that time, but not so blatantly as in the Deep South for the simple reason that there weren’t nearly so many black folks. Mrs. Nutter’s lessons about tolerance were nothing short of passionate sermons, about how totally <em>stupid</em> it was to judge somebody by color. I remember her talking about suntans and eye color and probably other stupid stuff to illustrate what a lame concept the whole thing was. There is a lesson there. Pass all the civil rights acts and so forth you want, if you are attempting to modify the actions and beliefs of adults, you have the ol’ tough row to hoe. Teaching children <em>and trusting them enough to reason with them and tell them why,</em> that is our responsibility as parents and as communities and as a society. Let’s see: I remember Mrs. Nutter talking a lot about human hardship. Like many in the early 60's, she had been through the great economic Depression of the 30's, and she brought that feeling of hardship to us as much as she could to little kids. I remember her talking about the Shinnston tornado. To my midwestern readers, know that tornados are very rare in West Virginia. Every couple of years, our county gets what appears to be a really small vortex that damages a few acres of woods, and that’s a big deal. Out and out tornados are almost mythical. The only one that I’ve ever really heard of which took lives was the June 1944 tornado which destroyed much of Shinnston, Harrison County. I remember Mrs. Nutter describing the noise and the funnel cloud, and the aftermath, the devastation, people with dirt blown into their skin. And I remember Mrs. Nutter talking about human failings. She talked about how stupid it was to light something on fire and suck down the smoke, way before the surgeon general did. She talked about obesity when nobody really was noticing. When we did organized physical activity, she exercised right along with us, clunky heels and all. </p><p>I’ve no idea of Mrs. Nutter had biological children. But she did have children and did leave a legacy. So Happy Birthday, dearest Mrs. Nutter. </p><p>Mizpah!</p><p><br /></p>Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-83894200342628260592021-01-30T16:41:00.000-05:002021-01-30T16:41:03.032-05:00The Trick of Truth<p> Do you swear to tell the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth?</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I remember the first time I swore in a witness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was a young, young lawyer, and I was a
notary, so I was able to swear folks in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was waiting at Judge J. Harper Meredith’s office. He saw me and told
me to swear in the people in his office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He did it to give me a tiny bit of experience, and maybe an anecdote to
tell forty-some years later.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The whole truth:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s a problem with public discourse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It always has been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe my
impression that it’s sharply on the rise is because we are living in it now. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But I don’t think so – It’s worse.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Public discourse never contains "the whole
truth."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even when it's true, the
whole truth doesn't live there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To tell
any of the good, valid points on the other side detracts from your
argument.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And leaves you open for valid criticism of your views
because you are not subject to the "What they didn't tell you was . .
."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We have lived for 2-1/2 months with voter ID, mail-in
ballots, absentee voting and early voting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Have you ever seen a discussion of any of these issues which presented
"the whole truth?"<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I didn't think so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
we stumble along, growing louder and louder with our arguments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We DISCUSS nothing.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let's go over some issues and tell, as much as we can in a
little blog post, "the whole truth."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">THE $15 MINIMUM WAGE:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">No one can exist with a 40 hours job at the current $7.25
hourly wage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You cannot feed yourself,
have a private place to sleep, clothe yourself and find transportation on
$7.25.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will bring people out of
poverty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will stimulate the community
- People with have more money to spend at the grocery store and the shoe repair
shop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, local Chambers of
Commerce say that a dollar of wages will add $7 to the economic activity of the
area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will loosen the public purse by
getting people off public assistance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>$15 an hour will disproportionally affect women minorities positively. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These are all pretty good reasons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are valid.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Oh, I know which readers are getting mad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let me make everyone else mad.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A problem arguing against $15 is that an argument anti- is
much more involved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Equally valid, but
hard-to-follow.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Some businesses will lay off workers who currently earn $10
or less an hour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The businesses will lay
off minimal-skilled workers, who are the people $15 an hour is supposed to
help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will also reduce take-home
wages because, at some point, cutting hours, the minimum wage worker will result in less money coming in. (Minimal-skilled workers are mostly young, women, minorities, and seniors.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Long-term, lay-offs reduce on-the-job training,
which will cut that worker's future wage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Minimum wage work teaches some skills - use of equipment and
cash-registers, and the simple lesson that it pays to get to work on time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>$15 will hit the $16 - 20 an hour
particularly hard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They will work harder
and be able to buy less groceries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>$15
will result in higher prices for everyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It's PEOPLE who pay for everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Groceries are sold at low mark-up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The owners want to - and are entitled to - make a certain amount.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The $!.99 loaf of bread just went up to
$2.09.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's not makers of luxury goods
who will suffer, it's mom & pop business customers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Walmart customers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every customer.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tentative lessons to be drawn:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Most minimum wage workers will be better off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How much is subject to dispute.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Minimum wage workers will not be as better-off as much as
the Pro-15 people say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some workers will
be worse off and some workers will be laid off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How much and how many is subject to dispute.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">GREEN NEW DEAL:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The scientific community has decided that the planet is
warming steadily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are seeing some
effects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A major player is carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere, and it is raised by burning fossil fuels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some people disagree, they are entitled to,
and they are wrong.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Arguments Pro:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
warm air stimulates hurricanes and odd climate shifts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Polar ice will melt and the ocean level will
be raised significantly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the methane
currently in solid from far down in the oceans melts, that will add a sudden
boost to the greenhouse gases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Areas of
the earth currently livable like the Australian Outback will become
unbearable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a point when the
climate change becomes unstoppable, but we don't know where that is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Everybody uses "existential" inappropriately. With this one, it's used correctly.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Proponents make valid arguments.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Arguments Anit-: We
cannot suddenly stop burning fossil fuels or the world economy will
collapse. Really. No kidding. If we do it partially, the
economy as it applies to low wage workers will collapse. We cannot even successfully quit using fossil
fuels unless we are willing to live without steel and nylon and a host of other
products drawn from fossil fuels as feedstocks. We will - we have - suddenly put many
workers out of work, and they do not have transferrable skills. (Transferrable skills are those you learn in
one job but you can transfer to other work.
If you are a coal miner and lose your job, you've learned very little
which makes you attractive to employers.)</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It applies to voting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It applies to guns - Pass Beto O'Rourke's dream bill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some people next year will be alive when they
would not absent the bill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And some
extra people will be dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both sides
have points.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Apparently, we are not ready to have fair discussions or
anything vaguely resembling unity, other than "believe it my way or
else" unity.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And you wonder why I term myself a member of the Bull Moose
Party.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Mizpah!<o:p></o:p></p>Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-53597334084628231732021-01-21T19:05:00.004-05:002021-01-21T19:05:46.566-05:00The 1776 Commission Report<p>President Trump created a "1776 Commission" whose brief was to look at how we look and teach about America.</p><p>Perhaps they are right. Perhaps they are wrong.</p><p>The Biden Administration has suppressed it as an official government document. (The Administration hasn't burned it or such like.)</p><p>Here it is - Right, wrong or in-between.</p><p> <a href="file:///D:/CORSAIR/PERSONAL/pdf%20docs/1776%20Commission%20Report.pdf">1776 Commission Report.pdf</a></p><p>Mizpah!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-88654174085726599652021-01-05T11:26:00.006-05:002021-01-05T11:26:44.521-05:00Was the Presidential election stolen?<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: x-large;">According to
one poll, 77% of Trump voters believe it was.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Along with 37% of independents and 10% of Democrats.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The problem
is not whether it was “stolen”.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">We’ll
never know for sure.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">The problem is that
people BELIEVE that it was stolen.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">People act on what they believe, not what is objectively true.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">A better
question is, did fraudulent behavior change the results?</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">EVERY presidential election has had some
fraud.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">For that matter, EVERY election
has had some fraud.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Lyndon Johnson ran
for US Senator twice.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">The first time, he
lost.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">That was not because he didn’t
cheat, it was because he announced his vote too soon, and the other candidate
then created enough fraudulent ballots to beat him.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">He also cheated the second time, but he was
smarter than his opponent then and he won.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Everyone know he cheated – 200
people voted at the last minute in the precinct that put him ahead.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">They voted in strict alphabetical order.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">The chances of that happening by coincidence
are TRILLIONS to one.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The funny
thing is, that had no effect on the effect of his policies.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">He STILL ultimately pushed the Civil Rights
Act, the Voting Rights Act and Medicare into law.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">And in fact,
his supporters – and many supporters of whoever – will justify that because for
them to win is obviously good for the country.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">G. Gordon Liddy never thought to apologize for Watergate.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">There was
cheating in the 1960 elections.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Kennedy
won the West Virginia primary.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">His
supporters passed bags of cash around liberally.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">He won the general election.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">His win was narrow, and in part depended on
the Daley machine in Chicago.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">The only
question to this day is whether he would have won Illinois in a clean
election.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">No one really knows. </span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Oh, Richard Nixon didn’t want to create a
constitutional crisis, and he kept mostly quiet.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Back to LBJ
– Both his and Goldwater’s supporters likely cheated in 1964.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">But the election was such a blow-out that the
cheating didn’t affect the Presidential results.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">But no doubt there was cheating.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">2020 was the
same, and different at the same time.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">There was cheating.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">There’s
always cheating.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">But the Covid situation
changed the manner in which we voted.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Fewer people went to the polls on election day.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">But more people voted than ever before,</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">largely by absentee and mail-in
balloting.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">I voted by absentee because
our office worked on Election Day.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Covid
emerged two months before the first primaries.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">The states had little time to design an inclusive balloting system that
made it hard to cheat.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The
Electoral College has voted.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">The 2020
election is over.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Tomorrow, the results
will be certified, and the Republicans are making a rather stupid point.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Were I in Congress as a Republican and</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">disapproved of the election, I’d just vote “present.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Now, we can
look to the weaknesses in the balloting systems.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">We have about a year until the 2022 campaign
season kicks off.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The goal is
three-fold:</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Count every legal vote,
don’t count illegal votes and encourage voting by eliminating unnecessary
barriers to exercising the franchise.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">That being
said, there will always be some fraud.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">We can hope – but not guarantee – that it will not change results.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The biggest
new wrinkle this year has been mail-in voting.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">To vote by mail is FAR safer from an infection point of view that voting
personally.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">At the
polls, we have a number of people involved in the voting and counting.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">The more people present, the less likely
hanky-panky will occur.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">And to eliminate
most fraud, we would have vote-in-person and have poll workers who know the
voter or who – from ID’s – can readily identify the voter.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">“Real ID” – like we have for driver’s
licenses - is a system which resists fraud.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">However, not everyone gets a state-issued driver’s license or ID
card.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Common perception is that vote-in-person
and ID benefits the Republicans.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">It
certainly would result in people – citizens – who don’t have a state-issued ID
from voting.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">A big problem
is that mail-in voting leaves the ballots where sometimes one single person can
get at them, usually a postal worker or a person at the Courthouse.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">If you know where the ballot is coming from,
you can safely delete ballots and perhaps change the election results.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> When one person can access ballots, there is little chance of detection. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Where an election is close, a party can
eliminate ballots from sharply tilted precincts and hurt the other side.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">I always tell candidates to get the precinct
by precinct numbers, so they will know where they are strong and where they are
weak.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Even in a close state, there are
precincts heavily prone to one party, by 2:1 or more.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">If you eliminate 3 ballots which come from
that area, you probably have take 2 from the other side and 1 from your side,
and you have eliminated one ballot for the other side.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">The stories of ballots found in a dumpster,
etc., might be an example of that – committed by someone too stupid to bring a
lighter or matches along.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">So how do we
make vote-by-mail legal but more secure?</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Signature checks is one suggestion.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">However, it takes some skill to detect a forged signature and also takes
a LOT of time.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Fingerprints might be
safer, but then we would have to depend on ordinary people producing a readable
print.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Restricting mail-in voting to
those who have a need might work, but then some people will not vote.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Paper
ballots, hand-counted, resist electronic misbehavior.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">But that takes time.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">In the
meantime, Georgia is rocking to an orgy of legal election spending - over 500
Million Dollars – more than $100 for each eligible voter.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">I wish I had
more concrete suggestions.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mizpah!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-58635598194028657012020-12-22T08:42:00.001-05:002020-12-22T08:42:38.734-05:00I Want The Vaccine. Right. Darn. NOW.<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">If we are
honest with ourselves, that’s the way most of us feel. Not everyone, but most. [Note 1]<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Follow the
logic:</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">A disease is killing lots of people,
sickening a WHOLE BUNCH of others and destroying a robust economy. </span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">They have developed a vaccine which –
apparently – works well.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">So, I want
it.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Now.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">But no.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">The government is distributing it to certain
people, starting with medical folks most exposed.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">And other groups – nursing home residents,
educators, and so on – will follow.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">But
they’ll get it before ME.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Oh, and many
important government people have rolled up their sleeves to “set a good
example.”</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Many of them are in groups
which are supposed to get it AFTER me.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Hey, how about setting a really good example – Pass on it and give it to me.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">So the “triage
bug” strikes again.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">It’s like we’re
stuck in an episode of MASH – “Triage!!”</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">That’s where decisions are made about what order medical services will
be provided.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">If you are triaged low and
you die, you’re just out of luck.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Harrumph.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">But triage
is what we do in almost every activity.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">On my desk are files, say, of six people in jail.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">They all want out.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">For some, the chances are pretty decent.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">For some, impossible.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">How do I decide who’s file to work on?</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Triage.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">I have limited resources, my time.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">I will either use them most effectively for the greatest number, do
something irrational, or be paralyzed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">You triage
all the time.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">You allocate your
resources, your time, your money, to be the most effective.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">In other words, you discriminate.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Discrimination
is not all bad.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">A doctor is more likely to
be exposed to Covid and sicken or die than a healthy, handsome, debonair, young lawyer.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">I have to live with that.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">If I come down with Covid, I’ll be REALLY
upset that the doc got the vaccine ahead of me.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">
</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">But it’s still the right thing to do.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">I don’t have
to like it.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">But life is, indeed, unfair. All we can ever do is our best.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Mizpah!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Note 1: So-called “Anti-vaxers” say that the vaccine
is an evil plot or ineffective or will cause what it’s supposed to prevent or
other urgent reasons to avoid it. They
MIGHT be right, but that’s not the way to bet.
Their theories lie a little to the north of a Martian plot and well
south of the chance of drawing a winner with a lottery scratch off ticket.</span><o:p></o:p></p>Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-83335015320053403752020-11-17T09:05:00.003-05:002020-11-17T09:08:50.158-05:00Canceling Holidays; The "No More Place"<p><span style="font-size: medium;">Americans are a remarkable cooperative and sedate people. Most of us
don’t go out of our way to have a confrontation. We believe in
“live and let live.” (Oh, I imagine two or three readers of these Dispatches that doesn't apply to; you boys know who you are.)</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Witness how we react
to private security guards. They have zero power – no arrest
powers, as a rule no real weapons. They are just there to direct
traffic (cars and people), answer questions, and watch for anything
wrong. But is a security person says, “Don’t use that door, use
this one,” usually we respond pleasantly even it the order is kinda
stupid. It’s just a door, who really cares.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">We are told – not
asked - to cancel traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.
What will happen?</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">We react similarly
to all sorts of people in addition to security guards – medical
people even though it’s our body; accountants even though it’s
our money; teachers even though it’s our brains and lives. This
degree of friendly cooperation is the lubricant that limits friction
in our society. And this attitude is what is making the persons in
power or allegedly in power make more and more demands which more and
more of us think unreasonable.
</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There is a hard and
sudden place in our minds – The “No More Place.” People in
power have known to avoid the “No More Place.” The “No More
Place” happens without much warning. It happens with intense
emotion. Maybe what has happened in 2020 has emboldened the
“leaders” of society; maybe it’s made them more arrogant; maybe
it’s given them a feeling of “rightness” or the
always-dangerous feeling of wisdom; or maybe the leaders among us are
just reckless and dumb.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">At some point, one
who purports to lead has to examine what they will do if the
instructions and orders they give won’t be followed. Only two real
choices present themselves: Either use overwhelming physical,
psychological or moral force to overcome the resistance or say “Oops,
my bad, how about ‘pretty please.’ “</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Thanksgiving and
Christmas and associated winter holiday gatherings- (I’m not going
into every conceivable holiday or winter gathering – you know what
you celebrate, so celebrate it however you want.) In 2020, we are
worried about the transmission of an occasionally fatal virus which is
supposed to spread by touch and in aerosol. (We each have become
self-styled infection disease experts, at least to the extent that we
could compete in the Infectious Disease version of Milton Bradley
“Operation” game without killing the patient. But of course,
the virus is real, and Milton Bradley just makes a game which
buzzes.) We know – because the real medical folks uniformly tell
us – to social distance (how about calling it
staying-away-from-people rather than giving it a nifty new name?), to
wash our hands, and all the rest.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And most of us do
that. The virus continues to spread and various people assign
various causes to that. Me? I don’t know. I might still be able
to do CPR, but I’ve never seen a virus spread – Viruses are too
small. I'll have to trust the docs.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Here is what we know
sociological and socially – Orders – which are what they are –
not to celebrate winter holidays will be largely ignored. Not
inviting 30 people to a buffet dinner is the far better part of
wisdom. Ordering folks to do it invites the No More Place, the
I-Won’t-Be-Dictated-To response and – more simply – a large
dose of Go To Hell.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What do we do about
the Go To Hell response? If a significant portion of society goes
along with it, there is not much we CAN do. Lots of people, although
a minority, demonstrated against the Vietnam War. The Government
could not control them. They tried, but failed. Lots of people,
although still a minority, demonstrated in 2020 for Black Lives
Matter. The Governments tried to control them. They failed. They
failed even though some of the demonstrators (both anti- and pro-)
already were doing acts which are illegal and obvious. If you attack
someone, that’s obvious. How do you think it will work to enforce
having less than 10 people at Thanksgiving? With a search warrant? With police counting cars around Grandma's house? </span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The important and
often unexpected key to the No More Place is that it comes suddenly.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">We are getting real
close.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Mizpah!</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-85148056430653259302020-11-11T08:22:00.000-05:002020-11-11T08:22:03.628-05:00One More Time; Repeating Election History<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There is a new challenge for
Americans.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;">Now, that’s not supposed to be a shocking
line or a lead-in to really, really want to read this.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">There is ALWAYS a new challenge for
Americans.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">And British.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">And Russians.</span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-size: large;">And Nigerians.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">And . . .</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But neither can we ignore a new
challenge initially.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have to decide if
it’s worth fussing about.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Joe Biden won the election.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s a fact, not an opinion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The chances of a successful election
challenge are vanishingly small.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
fact presents a number of challenges, the first of which is how we deal with the
fact that Biden won and what everyone can learn from the (possibly) mistakes
made previously.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;">2016 featured two main reactions,
depending on which side you were on.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;">Many mouthy Democrats screamed “not
my President,” had marches, and vowed to oppose with every fiber the success of
Trump.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">The Democrats largely didn’t
listen to their own moderates – Sen. Manchin comes to mind – that all Americans
should want the new president to be successful.</span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-size: large;">The anti’s followed through for four years, blocking progress, upholding
pointless points and generally being nasty.</span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-size: large;">At the same time, many mouthy Republicans had a delicious bacchanalia of
schadenfreude, as they replayed the horrified reactions of Clinton supporters
and the press at Trump’s win.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Reps delighted
in reminding Dems what Obama said in 2008, “Elections have consequences,” and
silently mouthed “Nyah, nyah.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;">It’s still VERY early in the
2020-2021 change of administrations, but we can feel the same spirit.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Only – to quote Joe Friday – the names have
been changed.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;">Many mouthy Republicans are starting
to scream “not my president,” have marches and vow to oppose with every fiber
the success of Biden.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Check.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">The Republicans aren’t listening to their own
moderates, that all Americans should want the new president to be successful,
and plan on following through for four equally longs years with blocking
progress, upholding pointless points and generally being nasty.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">At the same time, the Democrats are starting
to enjoy their own delicious turn at schadenfreude, as they replay horrified
reactions of Trump supporters and Fox News.</span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-size: large;">Again, Obama’s point comes through: “Elections have consequences.”</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">A prominent Democrat, the Representative from
Queens, NY, vows to identify and thoroughly marginalize the Trump supporters,
donors and voters. (Hey, let's concentrate them and . . . no, wait 'til later.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;">In both elections, the harsh words
and actions were supported by sincere beliefs:</span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-size: large;">After all, the other guys are WRONG and EVIL.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;">I’ve read that 276,000 votes made
the difference in the election to get to the 270 in the electoral college.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">NOBODY can claim a mandate.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Johnson crushed Goldwater in 1964 with 61% of
the vote.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">But Johnson – a proud Democrat
and an even more proud American – knew better that to ignore the 27 million who
voted for Goldwater.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> Johnson had power, but not a mandate.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;">So the challenge is, Do we replay
2016 over again?</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Or might we come
together, even though the last time the other side didn’t come together?</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Do we “wait til next time” and vow to right
the wrongs or vow to “continue to conquer”?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;">I really think that’s exactly what
we do.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Sorry, right now, Americans are
too dumb to do anything that will to form a more perfect Union, establish
Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote
the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our
Posterity.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Screw posterity, we have payback
to give and wooden shoes in the machinery of society.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Mizzpah. But until we meet again, do keep your powder dry.</span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></o:p></p>Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-64464566321253335212020-09-28T07:23:00.000-04:002020-09-28T07:23:06.623-04:00Thank God That Dwayne Johnson and Ted Nugent are Telling Me How to Vote<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal">I was overjoyed to see the news this morning that Dwayne “The
Rock” Johnson has endorsed Vice-pres. Biden’s candidacy.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>I was tickled pink to the that the Fraternal Order of Police
national lodge has endorsed Pres. Trump.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>The growing lists of admiral and generals who endorse Biden
impress me mightily.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>So do the generals and admirals who endorse Pres. Trump.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>Trace Adkins and Dana White have announced firmly on the Trump
side. I don’t care that I have zero idea
who the hell they are. Herschel Walker, Ted
Nugent and Jon Voight have lined up for Trump. I know who they are. I didn’t know that their opinions counted
more than mine, but I guess they do.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>Biden has the support of Jay Leno, great actor Tom Hanks, Rita
Wilson, Carli B, Drew Carey, and John Legend.
Fantastic. You figure which ones)
I know and which I’ve never heard of.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>I have been following all celebrity endorsements. And the further their specialty differs from
politics, the closer I listen. After
all, to quote one of my favorite sayings of Pres. Clinton, “Even a blind
squirrel gets a nut now and then.”</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>But will the celebrity endorsements change the way I
vote? No, for two reasons.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>I could have voted in either California or West Virginia this
year. It depends on when I get my
domicile changed. Of course, in neither
case will my vote count for much. I
doubt if Biden will win California by a very few votes or that Trump will have
a close one in West Virginia. I could be
wrong – that’s why I vote. But it’s long
odds to be close in either state. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>So will I bother voting?
Not in this election.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>The second reason? I’ve
already voted, at least once.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>So I a free! Free
from pointless debates. Debates have
been a bad idea as a method to pick between competing politicians since after
Lincoln-Douglas. I’m free from “I’m Joe
Biden/Donald J. Trump and I approve this message.” I’m free from giving a shit about who flies
candidate flags, who defaces their plastic bumper with a sticker, I free from
parades, from loudspeakers.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>It’s heady time to feel a bit of freedom.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Enjoy it while it lasts.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Oh, how did I vote?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> O</span>ne of the giants of progressivism, American
exceptionalism, and compromise , LBJ, said:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I split my ticket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I always split
my ticket.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-69742486910547339652020-09-23T09:11:00.002-04:002020-09-23T09:12:48.192-04:00Felons Voting<p> </p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0.14in; widows: 2;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large; font-variant: normal;">Convicted
felons who have served their complete sentences more easily will be
able to vote the Florida elections.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0.14in; widows: 2;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large; font-variant: normal;">Under
Florida law, a felon gets restoration of some rights, including
voting rights, after serving their sentence and discharging their
probation or parole, if any. You can like that; you can dislike it;
but it’s like any constitutional law, it’s the law until it’s
changed.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0.14in; widows: 2;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large; font-variant: normal;">There
was a recent change in Florida law to require the payment of fines,
restitution and financial obligations before the restoration of
rights. Decisions of the Supreme Court hold that you cannot hold money over the head of any defendants. This MAY be unconstitutional, but has not yet gone to the Supreme Court.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0.14in; widows: 2;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large; font-variant: normal;">On
the question of felons voting, I can argue that either way. I prefer
the West Virginia rule, that felons just can’t vote. I can
live with the Florida rule without worrying. Of COURSE it has to do
with party politics. Most actions of the law and government depend
on party politics. Do think that Democrats support and Republicans
oppose statehood for DC and Puerto Rico? If they were solid
Republican districts, the parties’ position would be reversed and –
this part is scary – each party would BELIEVE that they were right.
If you have doubts about motivations, confirmation bias as well of
ego, explains a lot.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0.14in; widows: 2;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large; font-variant: normal;">Mike
Bloomberg is complicating the mix. He is going to pay $16 Million of
HIS money – which he earned legally and paid taxes on - to pay
Florida felons’ fines, etc., so that they can register to vote.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0.14in; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large; font-variant: normal;">Rep.
Matt Goetz, an active and colorful Florida Republican, says that this
violates Florida law. Apparently, Florida Attorney General Ashley
Mooney agrees, and there is a criminal investigation going against
Bloomberg and his cronies. (“Cronies” is intentionally a
perjorative term; If I approved, I might call them “supporters.” Language does matter.)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0.14in; widows: 2;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large; font-variant: normal;">The
Florida statute says:</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0.14in; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-variant: normal;">104.012 </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-variant: normal;">Consideration
for registration; interference with registration; soliciting
registrations for compensation; alteration of registration
application.</span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-variant: normal;">—</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="justify" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0.14in; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">(1) Any
person who gives anything of value that is redeemable in cash to any
person in consideration for his or her becoming a registered voter
commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s.
775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. This section shall not be
interpreted, however, to exclude such services as transportation to
the place of registration or baby-sitting in connection with the
absence of an elector from home for registering.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> . . .
</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Does Bloomberg
violate this?</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Maybe.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Maybe in 2000,
Michael Moore violated a similar statute at rallies, He threw
packages of underwear and ramen noodles to the audience to make some
sort of point which now escapes me. They talked about investigating
him, too, but no front-line prosecutor would think of touching it.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">I certainly
wouldn’t.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">And I wouldn’t
touch Bloomberg, either.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">I consider what
Bloomberg has done a pretty scurvy trick. So there. Others
disagree. Aah, the First Amendment in action. But it’s a personal
conclusion based largely on liberal/conservative,
Democrat/Republican/Libertarian/Green/etc. considerations, not
something Biblical. He didn't kill anybody or - this time - bear false witness or covet his neighbor's ass. He's pulling a pretty imaginative political trick. </span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Criminal
investigations need to be done when a person has done something BAD,
that s/he KNEW was bad. Jeffrey Epstein deserves one. Lots of people
deserve one. Trump does not. Pelosi does not. Bloomberg does not.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">We have to filter
the governments prosecuting powers through reasonable people, people
who look for a good reason to say “No.” To me, that’s a
measure of good government, looking for a reason not to interfere
rather than salivating for a reason to say “Yes, go for it.”
(“Salivate” is another intentional choice. Words count.)</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Bloomberg wants to
make people more likely to vote Democrat be able to register. He
targets his money to assist them. Republicans (etc.) should just
say, “Damn, that bastard Bloomberg has put one over on us. How do
we get more Republicans registered?” After all, a goal of parties
is to get like-minded people to vote.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">But don’t enlist
prosecutors to apply the law in a partisan manner. </span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> And for every
time it’s been tried by one party, the cronies of another party can
point out an identical case. Only the names change.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">It’s sad. I don’t
know that honor is continually being chased out of American
government.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">PS – I just got a
used copy of “Don’t Buy Another Vote; I Won’t Pay for a
Landslide,” by Dr. Allen Loughry. I bought it used because (1) it
was cheap even though in “very good” condition, and (2) the money
didn’t go to the author. The premise of the book is that West
Virginia politics is corrupt. Which the author proceeded to prove
himself when he was convicted of a felony, resigned from the Supreme
Court, and was disbarred. Notably, the book tells the story of both
Governor Arch Moore (Republican, a friend) and Governor Wally Barron
(a Democrat, I never met him), both convicted felons.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-81757492415082034882020-07-21T15:04:00.001-04:002020-07-21T15:04:18.135-04:00Counting Illegal Aliens; Dull, dull, dull? But Important.<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">An interesting dilemma has appeared with the 2020
census. Do we count illegal aliens, people
who – according to law – should not be in the country?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The President just directed the census not to count illegal
aliens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The census gives important direction to government. The U. S. government is the biggest employer
and purchaser in the United States. Where
government money is spent or allocated depends partly on the census figures. It counts both for numbers of people and what
particular things different areas need. It may be, for example, that there are more
unemployed and disabled people in Eastern Kentucky than on Long Island. Knowing that gives a government that cares
some direction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Also, census numbers control the numbers of states’ seats in
the House of Representatives. Every
state has two senators. And every state
has at least one Representative. The House membership is capped by law at
435. (This is a law, not part of the Constitution.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">One-person-one-vote is a part of Constitutional law. If a Congressional District differs from
another in the same state by 1% population, it will be voided because it violates
one-person-one-vote. Bear that in
mind. Now it gets odd.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Montana has about 1,050,000 people. A similar state in population is Rhode Island,
which has 1,059,000 people. The “Average”
congressional district based on the 2010 census is 747,000.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Montana has one Representative.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Rhode Island has two Representatives. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">So a Montanan’s votes count for half what a Rhode Islandite’s
does.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">So, by counting illegal aliens, we are affecting both where
the money goes and the power of votes in that state. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The arguments:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Illegal aliens are people, too. And they are here. Some of them have a good (if illegal) reason
to be here. If they go to the hospital
with a heart attack, they are not going to be turned away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Illegal aliens are here, well, illegally. Counting
them detracts tax money from the
citizens who pay it and affects the citizens power to vote. (It is a false notion that the inclusion
always favors one party. It all depends
on where they are counted.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">So much for balancing the arguments as best I can. I think we should not count them. We cannot ignore illegality and keep functioning
as a society.<o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I further believe that if we don’t get a smooth and not-too-difficult
path to responsible citizenship for current aliens, we need to dismantle the
Statue of Liberty. The poetry is starting
to ring false: “Give me your tired, your
poor; Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free; The wretched refuse of your
teaming shore: Send them – The homeless tempest tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the Golden Door.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I wonder: Can we have a rational discussion without damning the ones who don't agree wth us?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Mizpah!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">No, I did not have to look up the poetry. If I got it wrong, I can live with that. R</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-15229473714621871082020-07-17T00:04:00.000-04:002020-07-17T00:04:06.592-04:00Executing Bad Guys versus the Dustbin of History; A Polemic<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The U.S.
government hasn’t executed anyone in several years, until this week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So far, the BOP has executed two people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Both had
been convicted of heinous murders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both
were convicted many years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One is an
Alzheimer’s patient and is arguably so badly affected that he doesn’t know why
he’s getting executed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The fact
that these guys will die at some point doesn’t really bother me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, they are human and mortality is
in their future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That they have died this
week or others in their situation may die next week doesn’t compare to my
feeling about many others, most younger, who have died this week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Maybe I’m
too practical about life and death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Certainly, some think so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that’s
okay with me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have a “reputation” that
varies with as many people who know me or who know or think they know anything
about me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The death
penalty continues to make no sense to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">A person currently subject of a death penalty has proven himself unfit to live among us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I use “him” advisedly.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By far, most people who truly earn the death
penalty are men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have my belief as to
why, but I do know that the fact is true, no matter why.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, in a fair and just society, we
need to separate that person from us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">How we
separate them causes endless discussion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Do we need to punish them for doing evil?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s an area where both religious and
humanist thought coincide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, we don’t
need to express the “evil” of revenge against the evildoers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” which is trite
but true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lots of trite sayings are
nevertheless accurate.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">There is the
possibility that the death penalty will be applied unfairly and
inconsistently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is the possibility
that it will be applied based on race, religion or lack thereof, economic
circumstance or other things unrelated to what the person did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Now – If you
say, “Damn right, [this group] is FAR more like to be executed and it’s unfair
. . .”, you have missed the point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
doesn’t matter that a particular bunch of people are subject of abuse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What matters is that it is possible that ANY
particular group MAY BE subject of abuse, because when you leave the POSSIBILITY
that, say Methodists will be killed more than Buddhists, it WILL happen to
some Methodists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We cannot trust people
in power, we never have, and that’s the nature of power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Methodist power, Hispanic power, Buddhist power,
redneck power, any-darn-thing power, it’s all the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You don’t need to prove that it’s happening,
that it can happen makes it inevitable to happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">How does it
happen?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, by people who think that
they are being “right.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course a
Methodist is more likely to kill people, don’t we all know that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I’m enforcing GOD’S WILL by executing
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or Humanity’s will. Or Odin’s
will.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or just MY will. (Sorry, Monty and Jim - God told me.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It is possible
– and that means it has probably happened – that we’ll kill the wrong person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But they are still dead and it’s too late to change that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s VERY unlikely with all of the safeguards
we have today, but still possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
remember the doctrine of “murder by perjury,” which has been known to convict
murderers who testified that somebody else killed a person when really they
didn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, the murder-by-perjury
person was duly executed, which did nothing for the victim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were still dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">That’s
really the basic point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not everybody understands
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Listen:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you execute somebody, they are
dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> They have quit breathing and their heart has stopped. </span>There is no replay button in
life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some say that it’s doesn’t matter,
because if someone dies, they go to the reward that they earned while they
live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Heck, I believe that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I “know” it’s true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if you come to kill me, expect a
fight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not ready yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And it’s
also possible that the death penalty will be applied inconsistently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unless we kill every murderer – which we don’t
– it is inevitable that the death penalty be applied inconsistently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simply inevitable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">So what it
the answer?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ooh, that’s sounds like a
trick question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do so hate to come up
with “an answer,” meaning the one-and-only-answer that God/The Force/Whoever
inspired me to think of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Hmm – should I
grow my beard longer to look like an Old Testament Prophet?)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I think AN answer is to use The Dustbin of History.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John Wayne Gacy has been executed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if he hadn’t, he would still be in prison
forever and thereby consigned to the Dustbin of History.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">We are ALL consigned to the Dustbin of History
eventually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to a Google search
– so we know it’s true – 108 billion humans have existed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Something like 6 billions are alive, so every
person has 17-some ghosts behind them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Years ago, Arthur C. Clarke estimated 30-some ghosts behind people in
the 1960’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, more people have
lived than are living today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How many of
them do you remember?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I remember my 6-times great-grandfather, Jonathan Currey,
who alighted in Hampton Roads, Virginia, as an indentured servant in 1649.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s all I know about him and I couldn’t
pick him out of a line-up. I have 1/256<sup>th</sup> of his DNA, so he probably
didn’t look like me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Knowing that he existed
is not like mourning him more than anyone else on his ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We remember Alexander the Great, Augustus Caesar,
Plato, and maybe a couple of thousand other people who are dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rest?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Dustbin of History.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I don’t want to see John Wayne Gacy move in next door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need the Dustbin of History for him even when
he’s still alive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You don’t need to punish
him, being on the Dustbin of History already does that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Give him air conditioning and a TV, shut the
door to his cell, and go about your own life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He has chosen his.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His victims
are not helped, not brought justice, by doing anything else.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">In other words – We need to keep our eye on the ball.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And “the ball” is what matter in the future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Mizpah!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-18201904438220393312020-07-06T21:42:00.000-04:002020-07-06T21:47:14.561-04:00Who Will Respond to 911 Calls?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">650,000 calls are made to 911 every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People who call think they need somebody more
knowledgeable, more skilled or stronger than they are to deal with some
situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of them are right. And
somebody goes to the caller to see what’s going on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Most calls are for the police.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many are for emergency services, usually fire
and EMS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes, all three services
respond.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> That's normal life for people in those jobs.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The current civil unrest mostly is directed at the
police.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where it will turn out, we don’t
know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has also been directed at fire
and EMS, where they have been blocked from attending an emergency scene.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The frequency of that is disputed, and all we
know is that it has happened on occasion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">It is the adult thing to do to prepare for bad things which
happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doing so requires that you ask, “What
can happen?," "How likely is it?," "What is the worst effect if it happens?" and “When it does, what will we do?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> The first three questions help planners allocate scarce resources. Something which is unlike to happen and which, if it does, will cause minimal loss, gets put to the bottom of the list. If it happens often or if it does, it will really harm people are dealt with more urgently. If it happens often and the effects are bad, we are not worthy of the name "public servants" if we don't prepare for the event.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Those who support police – and others – want to
know what will happen in the future when they hear someone breaking into the house
in the middle of the night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
opponents of policing as we know do it now that question “waving the bloody
shirt” – which it is, at least a little bit – and avoiding the fundamental
question of policing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">But that sort of call to 911 DOES happen constantly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Society exists to keep everybody as safe as
reasonable. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, what will we do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s a legitimate question, no matter where
one stands on policing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not many
burglars will leave one group alone based on who they are or what they believe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you say that it will more probably happen
to the other person, you may be right. Or may not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Beats me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But when it happens to you, it happens 100% and probabilities no longer
matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You will have help or you will
face it on your own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Why do people break into houses in the night?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">That’s a trick
question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s unknowable by the
victim of the break-in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the victim
can do is assume – and try to avoid – the worst.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the extreme-less-dangerous side, maybe the
“burglar” is somebody confused or drunk, who thinks it’s their house and they don't have their keys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are not a
big danger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or, it may be a
burglar/killer seeking money or valuables who is willing to kill or violently
stop whoever interferes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
happens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One guy I once represented killed
a neighbor who came to investigate when he burgled a house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I represented him on a different
murder.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The victim doesn’t know which
person that is, or whether they plan on committing sexual assault, arson,
murder or merely theft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Currently, we have an agency that deals with immediate
needs, the police.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Arms are endemic in
this society and will always be possibly present whether they are outlawed or
not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, we arm the police so that they
will be at least as forceful as the potential burglar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we arm them, we have to trust them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> E</span>ven if the police do something
excessive or even plainly wrong will only be addressed after the event is concluded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Minneapolis police killing and the Atlanta police killing
are different at least in degree, but both guys are still dead and we can’t change
that. As a society, we can only fix what is wrong so that it doesn't happen again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">So the question remains, how do we deal with the
burglar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It WILL happen tonight, and
every night in the foreseeable future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We are prepared to debate how we should have been more ready for a
statistically-improbable pandemic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the pandemic happened, so the issue is debatable and current.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We know owner-present burglaries will happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">People talk about approaching policing (or whatever you
would call it) from a sociological standpoint.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Police proponents pooh-pooh that idea as being dangerously weak.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Immediately, they may be right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can’t reason successfully always with an
armed burglar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moreover, a police
officer has to be right every time to avoid being shot some night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If only 1% of burglars are armed and dangerous,
and officer will last on an average of a few years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ultimately, maybe it’s an improvement to deal
sociologically – just not while the burglar is still armed.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Also - oddly - the police also protect the burglar or supposed-burglar from being shot by a homeowner. The police do not come to work hoping to pull and fire a weapon. They want a quiet night or at least where everybody goes home. If the police call on you to raise your hands, the smart move is to comply.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">So, what will we do when someone calls 911?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">911 centers operate by “cook books.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That means that when you call with a certain
type of need in a certain area, the operator physically or mentally calls up a “cook
book,” which tells the operator how to handle the call – Who to call on the
radio, what to tell the caller what to do in the meantime, and so forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What will the cook book say in the future?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">If the answer is, “You’re on your own,” let’s at least be
honest with the caller.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What effect will
that have?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ll lose more callers to violence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ll lose more burglars to gunfire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we’ll lose more supposed-but-not-actual
burglars by misplaced gunfire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we are
willing to do that, we have the power to declare that’s the way things will go.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Nor ordering more respirators, not being more ready for an
unlikely pandemic has had effects on society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Drastic effects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not preparing
for stuff that happens all the time also will have drastic effects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need to decide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And a decision put off is still a
decision in itself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Mizpah!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-64486667893761815632020-07-04T18:00:00.003-04:002020-07-04T18:00:56.844-04:00That Elusive Garden of American Heroes<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The
President announced at a speech at Mt. Rushmore Friday night that he has signed
an Executive Order creating a “National Garden of American Heroes.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He proposes including:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">John Adams,
Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton, Daniel Boone, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain,
Henry Clay, Davy Crockett, Frederick Douglass, Amelia Earhart, Benjamin
Franklin, Billy Graham, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther
King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Douglas MacArthur, Dolley Madison,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>James Madison, Christa McAuliffe, Audie
Murphy, George S. Patton, Jr., Ronald Reagan, Jackie Robinson, Betsy Ross,
Antonin Scalia, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington,
George Washington, and Orville and Wilbur Wright<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">[See Note 1]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">As I read
the list, I’m familiar in a general sense with everyone, and know a lot about
the bio’s of about half.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Based on this,
I can see people where were physically brave and proved it; who were
socially/philosophically brave and proved it; were kind and proved it; were in
a minority then but as we see now, were simply talking good and obvious sense; scholars<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(mostly unacknowledged); and people who stuck
to their guns when they “knew” they were right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">[“And proved
it” – See Note 2]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I can also
see at least two people who had rare religious beliefs (protected by the First
Amendment) in reincarnation; at least three people who owned slaves; at least
three people whose careers may be true more in myth and legend <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>than facts; at least three people who had a
huge positive effect on American life, two of whom are not really acknowledged;
several people who functioned with what we now call mental illness; some
shameless self-promoters; and people who are reputed and may actually have
believed things that were unpopular at the time and are abhorrent now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nope, I’m not going to call names.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And most readers’ lists will be a tad
different from mine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Were I a
committee of one charged with making the list, some of the same people would be
on my list, others wouldn’t, and I would come up with at least 100 additional names
to be included. After all, there is no shortage of American heroes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Let me
rattle them off. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And no, this is not in order of importance. In
fact, I don’t think I could put them in any surd order:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Cesar
Chavez. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Neil
Armstrong. It’s not because just because he landed on the moon by hand when the
computer was aiming for a crater, but for saving Gemini 8 when the attitude
control rockets malfunctioned and put it into a near-fatal spin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">George
Washington Carver.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Albert
Einstein.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Poncho
Carter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Simon
Kenton.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Nathaniel
Hawthorne.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Dulles
brothers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">George H. W.
Bush<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Bill
Clinton. Eight years of prosperity and peace does count.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Margaret
Chase Smith.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Sandra O’Day
Connor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Ruth Bader
Ginsburg.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Oliver
Wendell Holmes, Sr.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Oliver
Wendell Holmes, Jr.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">John Quincy
Adams<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">William
Howard Taft.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Thurgood
Marshall.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Earl Warren.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Barry
Goldwater.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Lyndon
Johnson. Vietnam killed him but he is responsible for the Civil Rights Acts and
the Voting Rights Act.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Franklin
Roosevelt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Theodore
Roosevelt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Eleanor
Roosevelt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Gayle
Sayers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Pat Brown.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Harley Earl.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Henry J.
Kaiser.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">John L
Lewis. A small personal connection<b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b></span><span style="font-size: large;">Oce
Worthington Smith, Jr., knew him and told me about his stories of working in
the early coal mines.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Eugene Debs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Bo Jackson.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Sitting Bull.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Crazy Horse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Chief
Joseph.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Russell Means.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Sacajawea.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Schuyler
Colfax.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Sam Houston.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Jeannette
Rankin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Thomas Paine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Ernest
Hemingway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Pearl Buck. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Geraldine
Ferraro.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Daniel
Carter Beard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Carl Sagan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">John Marshall.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">John Jay.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">George W.
DeLong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">George Melville.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Herman
Melville.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Bill
Harcourt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Cornel West.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Lewis and
Clarke.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Hugh Glass.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Jack
Johnson.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Ransom E. Olds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">William O.
Douglas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Robert
Jackson.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Winfield
Scott Hancock.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">John
Hancock.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Richard
Henry Dana.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Ayn Rand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Danny Thomas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Burl Ives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">William Seward.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Henry
Belafonte.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Mary Travers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Peter
Schickele.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Phillip
Glass.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Virgil Fox.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Y. A. Tittle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Colin Powell.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Barbara
Jordan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Elmo Zumwalt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Juliete
Gordon Low.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Thomas
Edison.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Nikola Tesla.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Jock
Yablonski.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Shirley
Chisholm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">James Brown.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Adam Clayton
Powell.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Everett Dirkson.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Milton L. Olive,
III.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Years ago, I met one of the people
he saved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Andrew
Carnegie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember fondly all of the
time I spent in my high school days in the Carnegie Library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Matthew M.
Neely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Among other things, he founded
the National Cancer Institute.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">John Muir.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">David
Hackworth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Henry A.
Wallace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Eliot Ness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Betty Ford.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Harry Truman.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Gene Autry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Louisa May
Alcott.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Chris Kraft.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Neil
DeGrasse Tyson.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Ernest
Thompson Seton.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Louis
Brandeis.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">There, that’s
about 100.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">They also
include:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Everybody
who invaded Normandy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The 500 – or
so – firefighters, police, EMS people and semi- or untrained people who nevertheless
gave their lives in the September 11 attacks helping others. Heck, about the 50,000
to 100,000 who directly served on those scenes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(I wish I could put an “irregardless” in there to match the “nevertheless,”
but I can’t figure out how.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">How about
every firefighter who has stayed just a little bit too long in a burning building
and who their buddies have had to “put out” when they came out. (Tim is one.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">People who
had been attacked and killed based on race or beliefs or a wrongful conviction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">People who
have served nation and community faithfully without doing some particular
thing “bravely” but have worked midnight shift, Christmas, showed up to work sick,
and without ever being thanked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Miners with
black lung and other respiratory diseases. Or miners who have blown their back
out on the job.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">This is the
list which I came up with off to top of my head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I really do hope that you disagree – maybe violently
– with my list.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s the whole
idea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One person’s hero is another
person’s jerk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">How do we pick<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the people to be honored?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Well, there
is politics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>OK, the issue is to be
decided by Congress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They take it to the
House of Representatives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Chair of
the Appropriations Committee [used to be Bro. Alan B. Mollohan, I’ve no idea
who holds the position now – and I’m too lazy to look] is an admirer of police
and bank robbers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So s/he wants the
Garden to include Wyatt Earp and John Dillinger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>S/he won’t let it out of Committee if it
doesn’t include those two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That each is
prominent in his field is self-apparent – I don’t need to tell readers of these
Dispatches who they were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s assume
that most folks wouldn’t want Earp and Dillinger included.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is the Chair “right” in seeking their
inclusion?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it “right” either to make
a deal with the chair and include them or to refuse and cancel or delay the
whole project?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The answer
is:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[Drum roll] I don’t know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Trusting the
answer to the political process seems foolhardy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">How about a
commission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As long as it includes
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It probably won’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Darn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">How about a
vote on the internet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That might be
fair, as long as we was frequent and included lots of heroes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Maybe the
Garden, wherever it is at, contained sites which could be easily swapped out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe a 1,000 plus possible who are changed
weekly, randomly or with a schedule.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Perhaps that would attract people to visit repeatedly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or maybe the visitors would be mainly wonky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, Wonky Person Liberation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Mizpah!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Note 1 – How
the President can do this without any action of Congress is unclear to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Courts have let him transfer funding
authorized for the Department of Defense to build the border wall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Constitution provides that Congress has
to appropriate money and that has to originate in the House of
Representatives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Note 2 –
“And they proved it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many Christians
(and many non-Christians] find wisdom in the New Testament.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thomas Jefferson – possibly a deist, but
we’re not sure – prepared with scissors and glue “the Jefferson Bible” which
was shorn of miracles and other supernatural influences, but contained the
“wisdom,” including most of the parables.) A book which particularly speaks to
me is the Book of James:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Dear
friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right
words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a
person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags
and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off
without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup? Where does that get you?
Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense? I can
always already hear one of you saying, “Sounds good. You keep take care of the
faith department, I’ll handle the works department.” Not so fast. You can no
more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith
apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in
glove. Do I hear you profess to believe the one and only God, but then observe
you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s
just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do
you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up
with a corpse on your hands?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">James, “The
Message” translation.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-37736322276756877392020-06-23T14:10:00.002-04:002020-06-23T14:31:22.722-04:00If This Goes On: Statues and Names That Annoy<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">We a name places. That is how we identify them. I suppose we
could use of numbers, but “State 06” does doesn’t have the ring to it than “California”
does.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">And we name places after people, events, use Indian words,
use European, Greek or Roman words, and some times we just make stuff up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">We even change the name of places from time to time. The Town
of Monongah, West Virginia (that came from “Monongahela,” the name of a river, Shawnee
for “The River of Falling Banks”) was first known as “BriarTown” for all of the
briars there. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fairmont, West Virginia,
was originally known as “Middletown.” The Town of Fairview was originally known as “Amos.” Significantly – to me – there was a town in West
Virginia named “Mole Hill,” which change its name to “Mountain,” which goes to
show you that you can make a Mountain out of a Mole Hill. No kidding.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The current civil unrest is resulting in a press to rename locations
by government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s also urging government
to remove statues of people now deemed unpopular.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>highly motivated individuals are even willing
to tear down statues.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Let’s look at statues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When one makes a statue, that requires considerable work. That should be
done only for somebody who, when the artist does it, is admired. Christopher
Columbus discovered America, sort of, and 1492. “Sort of” because it was
previously discovered by the Vikings and maybe by Irish priests, and in any
event was “discovered” 10,000 (or so) years ago by people who migrated from a
Asia over the land bridge that is currently the Bering Sea. Columbus, to be
fair, started the Central- and Southern European interest in America around 1500.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Also statues exist of various people who were associated
with African slavery. This includes any number of people who lived in the
southern states and fought for the Confederacy and many public officials who
preceded the Civil War. The Civil War figures include Robert E. Lee, Thomas “Stonewall”
Jackson, John C Calhoun, and others. They include various speakers of the
house, Presidents Jackson (a slaveholder), President/General George Washington
(a slave owner) and other historical figures who owned slaves or tolerated
slavery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(George Washington was bothered
by slavery, but only manumitted them in his will.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Now, the people who tear down statues are apparently not all
learned in history. They have torn down statues of Ulysses Grant, who was the commander
of the Union forces which led to universal manumission, Theodore Roosevelt (who
took endless noise about inviting an African-American gent to dine at the White
House) and even Abraham Lincoln, who is commonly – and really accurately –
credited with freeing the slaves. Well, I don’t expect that people in America
now have a intimate knowledge of history, but you have to wonder what the hell
they were thinking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Let’s consider people statues of who we agree that in modern
terms were greatly in error.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Christopher Columbus. He was an Italian navigator working for
Spain who missed his goal by 10,000 miles. He wanted to get to the Indian Ocean
and mistook the Caribbean for that. In doing so, he “discovered” a “new world,”
previously only feebly known in Europe. The European presence in the Caribbean
and, later, in the North America, introduced European viruses and bacteria, diseases against which the natives of the continent had no natural immunity.
So, those diseases ran rife over the native North Americans.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">(I am aware that Russell Means, who founded the American
Indian Movement, called the native Americans “American Indians,” because that
is what Columbus, etc. called them. Personally, I think Russell Means was a
valuable figure in American life.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I have read that people want to some people want to change
the name of Columbus, Ohio. Presumably, the same people would like to change
the name of Columbus, Georgia, and probably the “Federal district,” now known
as the District of Columbia.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">So let me stop for a minute there. When you think of
Columbus, Ohio, do you have a picture of Christopher Columbus in your mind?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you think of Columbus, Ohio, as celebrating imperialism (which, after all, Columbus was a part of) and rampant
disease?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I don’t. I don’t think of the District of Columbia or
Columbus, Ohio, as honoring Christopher Columbus. It’s just a name. And this is
a question: Does it really offend people that we have named locations after
somebody who has been dead for 500 years? That is a real question. Does it
offend you? Why? And why now?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The names are
150+ years old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why now?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s still dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the biblically questionable theory that he
knows, what can he do about it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you
think it hurts him?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Of course, I can make a good case for not naming something
out after somebody is who is universally hated. Hitlerville is the name of no
place. I think Mussoliniburg and Tojo City are likewise non-existent. I don’t
even think there is anything named after Edmund Ruffin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Look him up.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we serve have a lot of counties and
cities named after John C. Calhoun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A WHOLE
lot of places named after George Washington.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Is the mayor of Washingon, DC, ashamed?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How about the mayor of Washington, PA; the Governor of Washington State;
even the mayor of Washington, WV? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Consider the name of Virginia, West Virginia, Virginia Beach, and Virginia City, NV and MT. They all refer to “the Virgin Queen,” Queen Elizabeth I. This is a direct reference
to her sexual activity. Does that offend you? Or do you not think of “virginity”
when you hear the name “Virginia”? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it
really our business?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">A couple of days ago, protestors/rioters/or people who like
to pull down statuary pulled down and burned a (metal!) statue of Albert
Pike.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> (There are products which produce enough heat to melt bronze. Lighter fluid is not one of them.) </span>I know of maybe two or three readers
of these Dispatches who really know what Albert Pike was known for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was a Confederate general who had a thoroughly
undistinguished military career.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just off
the top of my head mentally named 16 Civil War generals who were much more
prominent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Grant, Lee, Rosecrans,
Chamberlain, Bragg, Johnston, McClellan, Custer, Sherman, Sheridan, Longstreet,
Stuart, Forrest, Scott, “Grumble” Jones, Garfield.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Now for the rest of the day, I’ll keep thinking
of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s see, Hancock, Burnside,
Wheeler, . . .)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Albert Pike also was an appellate judge, equally undistinguished and thoroughly average.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I doubt very much is the people who tore the statue
down had any clue who he was, other than hearing that he was a Confederate
general.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What Pike was known for was being
a leader of Freemasonry long after the Civil War.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was instrumental in founding the “Scottish
Rite,” and wrote a seminal (and strange) book, <i>Morals and Dogma</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem with <i>Morals and Dogma</i> is that the
author was a classical scholar who wrote lots in Latin, Greek and Old Egyptian,
all without translations, and the author expected to make a point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you accidentally punish him for obscure
writing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does he care?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Can you honestly look at the list of generals and identify
who fought for the Union and who Confederate?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">A CONTEST!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first
person who tells me in an email or comment that s/he correctly identifies the
Federals from the Confederates wins a book of my choosing from the Never-Ending
Bookshelf<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">™</span>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Is it time to think and discuss before we demand – after just
a bit of thought and sober discussion – that name be changed? Is it time to
consider who we honor with statuary? Is it time to judge whether to judge those
people by our times or their time? I don’t have an answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I really don’t much care.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I really do think the question deserves to be
discussed before we change in names, pull down statues, and do other things
which really don’t solve much in the way of problems. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Mizpah!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">(The book prize will probably not be the first edition Gutenberg Bible. I think I'll keep that.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-42177252223867870532020-06-16T18:14:00.001-04:002020-06-16T18:21:26.986-04:00If This Goes On - The Atlanta Police Killing<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">First, let me say that it misses the point to concentrate on
one violent act, whether justified or not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We constantly deny it, but the world is a violent place. People die by <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>violence every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not many people are involved with violence,
and those who do really do not talk about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So it’s one of the many avoided topics of our society. But it’s real,
whether it is violence from a motor vehicle accident, a fall, a shooting, or
any of the many, many ways that violence can intervene in life and death.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Rayshard Brooks was asleep at a Wendy’s drive-through. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is a distinctly odd place to fall asleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Management called the police, which was
entirely proper. The police responded and interacted with Brooks and both
police officers and Rayshard Brooks were low-key, polite and friendly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One officer did a preliminary blood alcohol
test on Brooks, and we don’t know what it showed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Presumably, it showed the use of alcohol,
probably more than 0.8%, because one officer said that he had had too much to
drink and proceeded to start to handcuff him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">A word about handcuffs – when one is handcuffed, one is
largely defenseless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When one is handcuffed
by an officer, it accomplishes two things. First, the individual is far less
dangerous to the officer and the officer can relax. That is why, in the event
of a citizen-shooting, one should expected to be handcuffed when the police get
there because the police do not know what happened. And that’s okay. Second,
the person handcuffed has to trust that the police will not assassinate him or
her. In a vast majority of the cases, in all but cases which make the news, that’s
true. But it takes only one or two occasions contrary to make people doubt. The
video of the George Floyd murder is there for anybody to see, and an example of
now you CAN be dealt with while you are handcuffed. That is unfortunate, that
is this distinctly improbable, but still, many citizens have a little bit of
doubt. The fact that the George Floyd murder might have had personal causes has
been lost in the discussion. Apparently, the officer had worked with him and knew
him and, so far, we have no idea what the officer was thinking when he killed
him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">(There, I violate my own role. I do realize that it is not a
murder until 12 old darlings on the jury unanimously agree. But I can have an
opinion, and the First Amendment applies to me, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It does point out that it will be DAMN hard
to get an impartial jury in the murder trial.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">So to continue with the Rayshard Brooks story: When the
officer started to handcuff Brooks, Brooks resisted and fought the officers. He
was apparently strong and in good shape for he fought to officers to a
standstill. Mind you, the officers should have been trying to avoid hurting
him, but we don’t know as we were not in the officers’ minds. Brooks seized a
Taser and ran. As he was running, he turned and fired the Taser at a pursuing
officer,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The officer then drew his
weapon and the killed Rayshard Brooks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Another word: Here, the undeniable images of video tell us
all what happened from the perspective of the camera. It doesn’t tell us what
people intended, but it tells us more than mere witness testimony, particularly
where one of the witnesses is dead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Atlanta mayor immediately fired the officer and suspended
the other officer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Now, we have a advantage which is inherently unfair. We get
to judge the videos by looking at them repeatedly, judging what what the
officers intended and whether they were justified. Mind you, this happened in
real time for the officers and they could not and did not have the time to the
reflect that the we now do. But law enforcement requires real time awareness. So what do
we determine?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">From here on, it is my opinion. My opinion may or may not be
a knowledgeable one, but it is merely mine, and not binding on anybody.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I approach this from the aspect of being
a former prosecutor who very much sympathizes with the police.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">In my judgment, the officer did not need to shoot Brooks. It
was an excessive use of force. It is nothing vaguely like the George Floyd murder.
But we have to examine each case without being our judgment being affected by
any other particular case. In this case, Brooks had a Taser. If you look at the
video, you will see that the Taser is a bright yellow. There is a reason for
that. Police carry a number of weapons. One is a pistol, which introduces lethality
into the mix. Usually, it is black, dark blue or stainless and it is worn on
the predominant hand side. So when an officer reaches for a pistol, it is
the only weapon located on that part of that officer’s body. This comes from a
San Francisco case where a “security officer”, who was armed and not trained
very well, meant to pull his Taser and pulled his gun and shot somebody by
accident. With the body alarm reaction being what it is, the makers of Tasers
recognized that they needed to delineate their products clearly. That’s why it’s
a bright yellow and that’s why it is worn cross-draw, so the officer needs to
reach across his body to draw it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Is it murder? Frankly, it beats me, it looks more like a manslaughter,
but bear in mind that any homicide results in a dead person. Should he had been
fired? It may have been driven by politics, but it was not clearly wrong and in
the end, it should not matter because he should stay fired. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It may be unfair. But we expect police
officers to exercise good judgment in lousy circumstances. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">This is a very rough time to be an officer. It is also a
rough time to be arrested, because we have been sensitized to realize that when
an officer has arrested us, we are essentially helpless. Only the passage of
the time will help. We need to relearn, again and again, to trust officers. One
guy, the George Floyd murderer, has caused many people to fear officers. That
may be justified, it may not, but the important thing to remember is that the
condition exists. We have to deal with it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">God, save this nation. And I don’t know exactly what that
means yet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Mizpah!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-49734227542207772752020-05-28T16:00:00.000-04:002020-05-28T16:00:05.257-04:00George Will Get No Justice; Demonstrate Away, You Can't Change It.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">George Floyd is a guy who I never met, never was destined to
meet and anyway, we all<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>missed our
chance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In an arrest for a non-violent
crime this week, one or more officers of Minneapolis Police Department killed
him. (Was it murder? Not until 12 old darlings on a jury says it is.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Public disturbances – bordering just a touch on rioting –
have broken out in Minneapolis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
theme:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Justice for George.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Nope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not going to
happen unless you have an outlandish sense of what it just.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Take the immediate demands of the demonstrators:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An immediate arrest, a successful prosecution
and a prison sentence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will that give
George justice?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will his personal loss
lessen in any way?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Enlighten me if you
believe he gets justice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some religious
folk hold that a murdered person rests easier in the afterlife when the
murderer(s) is/are punished.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know of
no authoritative proof either way, but it seems to me that – if that is indeed
so – it is hardly justice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Justice, to
my way of thinking, returns one to the status one would have had if the wrong
was not done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">An arrest of some people does take time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It does seem to me that the officer directly
(hands-on) responsible can be arrested immediately.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it has to be done by somebody other than
the Minneapolis PD.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While a county
prosecutor can approve the initial charges, s/he needs post haste to get a
special prosecutor from somewhere far away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What s/he cannot do is bury the case or make any kind of deal, even a
fair deal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I cannot begin to define
what a fair deal with consist of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
murders I have done, I only recall deciding what a fair deal would be in the
first week once in 25 tries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Nope, not
gonna tell you details.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">That the Minneapolis officer(s) is criminally responsible
has occurred to everyone, right, left, north and south.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was reading a post by Joe Ligotti (The Guy
from Boston<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">™</span>)
going on in his usual blunt (read obscene) fashion about how guilty the guy
is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If Joe’s against an officer, the
officer has very little hope of any neutral publicity coming.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The media is assuming that a civil suit will result.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(The odds of it NOT happening are about the
same as me winning the Boston Marathon.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But when such a suit happens, and the insurance company (aided by
premiums paid from tax money), the City of Minneapolis (aided by tax money from
everyone including the demonstrators) and the individual officers (who don’t
have much to begin with) pays a few million dollars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">To whom?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, they
can’t pay it to George.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’ll pay it
to whoever Minnesota law designates, his heirs or others entitled by a statute
to take money from a wrongful death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will
the money give George justice?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Tell me how. </span>How about
the people who actually get the money?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Will they feel, at least, vindicated?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How about the lawyers on each side?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Will they curse the act but bless the day it was referred to them? Maybe secretly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">How about a clever trial lawyer demands changes in the
police departments training and policies?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(That will likely happen, but that the state attorney general for the federal
DOJ will move on this is more likely than the survivors’ counsel.) That might prevent further harm to others, but not so much as you might think. Doing child abuse cases made me think of the limited use of a class that starts "Don't beat your children." If a student is that dense, do you suppose you can get through to them?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">So you decide – Does George get<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>justice? I'd like to hear how, I really would.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Moral?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Maybe t</span>he world is
not just.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our much vaunted justice
system gives, at best, a poor ration of justice and often to the wrong
people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Maybe a better moral is that there is no reset button in
life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once a stupid or evil act is done,
you have to live with the consequences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Mizpah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Look it up –
I really mean it, Mizpah!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-79292242294355030862020-04-30T16:09:00.002-04:002020-04-30T16:10:59.781-04:00Right to Work and Judicial Elections<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The West Virginia Supreme Court just upheld the WV Right to
Work law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This prevents an employer (and
a union) from requiring union membership as a condition of employment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Twenty-seven states have Right to Work laws,
and the rest don’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the other
twenty-three, union membership or “agency fees” may be required as a condition of
employment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(“Agency fees” are the
amount of dues used for collective bargaining, but not for other
political/advocacy activities.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(The
decision is Morrisey, Atty. General, and State of WV v. WV AFL-CIO, No. 19-0298,
available at courtswv.gov.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The WV decision was authored by Justice Evan Jenkins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is a former Republican congressman and,
predictably, he is a conservative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the
opinion, he follows the United States Supreme Court <i>Janus</i> decision, which says
that Right to Work laws are constitutional.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’ve<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>never met Justice Jenkins.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">A “concurring opinion” was filed by Justice John
Hutchinson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A “concurring opinion” is
one that says that the writer agrees with the result but not necessarily the
reasoning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Justice Hutchinson is running
for the Supreme Court whenever the State gets around to having a primary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He garnered an endorsement from the State’s
largest union, the AFL-CIO.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But after
concurring in the result, the Union has pulled the endorsement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The United Mine Workers just pulled their endorsement,
too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The process of endorsing a candidate is protected by the
First Amendment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It may be distasteful to
endorse for a judicial office, but it’s still protected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(That’s the fundamental beauty of the First
Amendment:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If somebody does something
that pisses you off, it’s pointless to scream “You can’t say that!”)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Apparently, Justice Hutchinson is much in sympathy with the
Unions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His opinion expresses the value of
unionization over American history for the American worker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I probably have met Justice Hutchinson – he was
in law school in a different class while I was there – but I haven’t talked to
him and wouldn’t recognize him in a line-up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Unions withdrew his endorsement because he didn’t rule
for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have a right to do
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they are punishing him (to the
extent that a lack of endorsement is a punishment) because he is upholding his
oath to apply the law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this case, the
United States Supreme Court has ruled that Right to Work is constitutional
where it’s been passed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> (</span>The WV
Constitution is a touch more generous as to rights as the US Constitution, but
not in any relevant point.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Unions require
for an endorsement that this judge decide what he cannot do and uphold his
oath: Decide directly contrary to law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">So unions are withdrawing endorsements from someone who has
philosophical agreement with them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
seems self-defeating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Me?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll irk
everyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like Right to Work laws with
agency fees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the other hand, were I a
judge, I’d vote with the majority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
answer is not one for the Courts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
one for the legislature and – obviously – the majority of the legislature
currently wants Right to Work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">People expect to much from the Courts and expect the Courts
to make policy decisions even if the legislative branch has done something
contrary but Constitutional.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Courts call
balls and strikes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you love the A’s,
and the A’s pitcher throws outside, should you call it a ball or a strike?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Judges should call a ball even if they
personally regret it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Well, I don’t get to vote in West Virginia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not my problem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-8407537585339191122020-04-21T00:39:00.002-04:002020-04-21T00:39:47.438-04:00George III Redux: Governors and Their Emergency Powers<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">It is a heady day to be a Governor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">A Governor has daily televised press conferences. Everybody watches them because it’s a time of emergency
and Governors have enormous – even plenary – powers. They can de facto suspend Constitutional
rights, like the right to gather in groups, the right to go to public areas (even
alone, apparently), the right to work (even mostly alone) at certain
occupations, and even the right to buy garden seeds and paint. (That’s a reference to the illogical conclusions
of the Governor of Michigan. In her defense,
she had to make sudden decisions in a culture of panic and delicious opportunity, and she made
understandable illogical decisions</span><span style="font-size: large;">.)</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">This is
(mostly) justified by medical science given the nature of a pandemic and (mostly)
necessary to maintain public health. </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">And
some of it is driven by what drives the IRS, “because we can do it, screw you.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Governors are exposed to considerable dangers and you and I are exposed because Governors are exposed to temptation. They make important decisions, ostensibly on
advice of experts, but we have only their word for it. Ultimately, “the buck stops here,” on the Governor’s
desk, so they can do as they like. The
temptation is that they actually have power and naturally believe that they
have the wisdom to use the powers wisely, more wisely than the unwashed
masses. And they know that they Have The
Best Interests of The Public At Heart. (Oh,
the same thing applies to the President and Cabinet, but they have much stronger
national political checks than does a Governor.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">This is all tolerable in short spurts. Not even a Governor with extraordinary power can
screw the people long term with a brief emergency. An incompetently handled hurricane or tornado
justifies only a couple of weeks of emergency powers. Then, the emergency vanishes and powers
vanish.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The virus is different.
Governors have already had 45 days of this inebriating power. With the phased-in return to work, they have
the power to slow the process and prolong the power. Mind you, in their mind, they are pure public
servants. It's in the public interest, isn't it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">When do they turn into George III? And when do the protestors pass from “nuts”
to “patriots.” It’s the itchier parts of
society which drives opposition to government overreach. Government is starting to overreach. To what extent will Governors - and the President
and the Cabinet and FEMA and mayors and city councils and everybody who is wise and unappreciated – willingly give up their
emergency powers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">We live in interesting times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mizpah!</span></span>Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-82408380280757993822020-03-26T15:19:00.001-04:002020-03-26T15:19:31.577-04:00Unimportant thoughts on the virus emergency; Ho-hum<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I continue to learn things from the current emergency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of them are personal, some global, some
useless and some questions about future effects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Global:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I still stick by my prior post about declaring states of emergency. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">It is a dangerous world. We have modified some dangers, we
live in a very comfortable lifestyle compared to almost all of human history,
and we have been led into the belief that nothing bad can happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The other person may be racist, sexist, stupid, treasonous,
stingy, sociopathic, psychotic, irreverent, Godless, God-incessed, irresponsibly communist,
irresponsible capitalist, irresponsibly fascist, irresponsibly apathetic,
clueless, evil, immoral, unethical, dishonorable, politically correct, politically
incorrect, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>rich, neavuoz riche, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>poor, criminal, addicted to (fill in the blank),
or (fill in the bad term.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, in
their eyes, they are reasonable and honest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You can disagree, but to deal with them by cursing at them will waste
your time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Deal with them rationally or marginalize them, if you can. (You probably can't; you can just ignore them.<br /> </span>(The people who admit that
they fly the pirate flag are rare, although a pleasure to deal with.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The perfect is the enemy of the good or good enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, a good plan commenced beats a
perfect plan still in utero.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The three
(so far) of the US government response to the virus emergency are imperfect, to
say the least. Some people are getting money they don’t deserve, some are getting
not enough money, some people all wholly excluded, and other people get public
money that they really don’t deserve. Of course, who those various entities are
is subject to disagreement. If we had not passed imperfect legislation, we
would still be arguing about phase 1 and nothing would have been done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Political cooperation is possible, although it has really
become rare. Gone are the days when the president and other-party
congressional leaders had dinner, drinks, and told jokes together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Preparation for bad things happening is primarily a personal
obligation. It is a difficult, especially for poor people. You cannot count
on government to bail you out dependably.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">All things being said, this life is still the only game in
town. Play or quit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Moving production capacity out of North America for economic
reasons has now bitten<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>us. Will we continue to trust China and (fill in the blank)?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Criminals are planning ways to get your $1,200.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For details, send the low, low price of
$39.95 (+ P&H) to the undersigned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Medical science has led to extension of average age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has not cured the death problem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Assigning blame has minimal short-term utility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The crisis exists no matter who is at
fault.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Better to devise a response to
the existing problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">We are not in charge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>God, Fate, random chance, Odin, or the Force is in charge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The death rate – so far – of coronavirus is less than 2%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the other hand, if you get it, you either
live or die.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you die, you die
completely, not 2% worth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps we need to take the current emergency as a drill for
a REALLY devastating emergency – The climate warms up suddenly, electricity
fails, a virus equivalent to the Black Death strikes, nuclear winter, and (fill
in the blank with something you can’t image) strikes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Personal:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I’m still a dab hand in the kitchen and grill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not anything like my son Tim, but a dab
hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I’m still not watching the Food Network as
entertainment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sorry, Tim.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Airline, cruise ship lines and entertainment appear to be
bad investments right now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(My investments
are in oil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One tank at a time.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Telecommunications stock (skype, google, facebook, etc.) may
be great investments now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Me, I’ll stay
in oil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Batmobile requires it.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Words like “apocholyptic” are used by foolish people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just my take.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Useless:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Triage and do-not-resuscitate doctrine are not new.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are unpleasant, but then life is
unpleasant at times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Celebrities in sports and entertainment are no smarter, but
the current emergency has made them a bit more shrill.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Future effects:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">How will we go to the movies in the future?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The theaters are set up to maximize viewers,
but maintain the <i>illusion </i>of personal space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Who will go to theaters, concerts, political rallies, hockey games or churches? (The hockey game part hurts.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">What will air travel look like?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t revel in the thought of climbing in
an aluminum tube with recycled air butting shoulders with 8 people to take a
trip across country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can bet that
the airlines are exploring filter systems, less seating and other things that I
can’t think of (since I don’t fly often).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ditto Boeing and Airbus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The planning
staffs are meeting secretly right now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Planning staffs of big restaurant companies or investment
companies are meeting to plan how to take over restaurants and restaurant
chains that fail.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Mizpah!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<br />Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-44265849445755289282020-02-27T23:01:00.002-05:002020-02-27T23:01:46.743-05:00Political Shenanigans - "States of Emergency"<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Many of the readers of these Dispatches have a history with
dealing with urgent matters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I am proud to call them my brothers and sisters. </span>They
understand that losing your cool means you cannot handle an emergency and that,
in the words of John Hess, an old friend, “in an emergency, you will only do
what you have been trained to do.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
other words, emergencies inhibit creativity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">But “states of emergency” have become a meaningless
political device.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By declaring a “state
of emergency,” unqualified politicos are declaring that they care DEEPLY and
are doing something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s only an
act.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They don’t know how to handle
emergencies unless they have past experiences learning that particular craft.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">San Francisco has just declared a “state of emergency” to
respond to the coronavirus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Let’s be clear:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An epidemic or pandemic is always a possibility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you don’t prepare for it prior to it
happening, you will be perpetually behind what it requires.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is why California has detailed
earthquake preparations; West Virginia has detailed flash flood preparations;
Florida and Louisiana have detailed hurricane preparations; and so forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of those emergency services people have
learned HARD lessons from the Loma Prieta Earthquake, the “Killing Waters
Flood,” and Hurricane Katrina.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">What San Francisco has done adds nothing to the effort at
this point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is amateurs pretending to
care deeply.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
What a “state of emergency” does primarily is to suspend work rules so that necessary
employees can be forced to work overtime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In unheard of cases of revolution, states of emergency can suspend
habeas Corpus and posse comitatus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
hasn’t happened in a long, long time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">For a number of years, I worked as a part-time Emergency
Services director or deputy in a small county.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We had the codes to activate the Emergency Broadcast System.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I still remember them – I hope they have changed
them I case I get weird and decide to activate the EBS.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we have several opportunities where we
considered declaring a state of emergency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And we NEVER did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was never
necessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We could invoke any necessary
services, spend emergency budgets, ask for cooperation and make honest and calm
public statements without declaring a state of emergency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Once, I made a statement along the lines of “Relax,
this too shall pass,” and USA Today said something like “that was strange.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>True.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I can live with that.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">So – Relax.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be
prepared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plan on the worst and count on
the best. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s all we can do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Mizpah!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-33186285136610285572020-02-18T08:40:00.000-05:002020-02-18T14:29:41.077-05:00The Boy Scout Chapter 11 Bankruptcy<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I am particularly sad that the Boy Scouts of American have
just filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I have always said that the question “Who are you?” will
reveal a great deal about you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When people
say, I’m a Dad, I’m<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christian, I’m a
Scout, I’m a first responder, and so forth, I begin to know you. I then have some notion of your values.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I’m am many things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the top five answers, I’m a Scout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
had pleasant recent conversations with Girl Scouts selling their iconic cookies
in front of a grocery store.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Together
with their mothers, we had a delightful conversation about<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>how long they have been in Scouting, and the
lifetime commitment it can be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told
them, I’ve been a Scout for nearly 60 years, and we talked about that, as
parents, as an elder brother and as a beloved sister.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The whole Scout movement has – and continued
to make – a difference in our lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
that is how it should be. Of course it's not for everyone. There are all kinds of healthy youth activities. There needs to be a variety, because there are ALL KINDS of unhealthy youth activities which compete.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The “allegations” are that the BSA did not pay sufficient attention
to the fact that some adults joined the program at least partially to prey on
young people<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I resent the fact that law
firms are advertising in THEIR interest to get a piece of the restitution-pie,
but I cannot stop them. And the BSA cannot deny that some number of youth were abused. It happened. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I honestly cannot say how many these prevalent these maggots
were, but I know that they existed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
I was a council president, one came to my attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was an honored volunteer who worked with
children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had expressed his personal sexuality against Scouts. He ended up serving a prison sentence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our response:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> When we found that the allegations were made, he was separated from Scouting, then he was banned </span>forever, stripped any recognition he received, and we encourage counseling for victims and legal representation. </span><span style="font-size: large;">We acted
abruptly when we knew to at least close the barn door to prevent future harm.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The BSA has long required two policies:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A mandatory “2 volunteer” system and intense
youth protection training.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The 2 volunteer system simply says that no one-on-one
contacts will not occur between youth and adult.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That is a necessary pain-in-the-ass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The one-on-one leader-scout relationship can be magical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve had numerous ones as a Scout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can point to people with whom I have them –
men like Johnny Pitcher, B. I. Wixey, Dr. Charles Whitaker, my brother Willard
Elliott, Junior Parks, Amangi-John Saylor, Chris Gore. Steve Gatrell, and a
dozen others – as having a profound effect on my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None of these guys had anything other than
the solid teachings of Scouting on their minds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Other than “honor women,” I never learned anything gender-related at their
knee.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">But the 2 person contact system lessened drastically the
possibility of “hanky-panky,” by requiring that 2 adults interact with children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still teach merit badges – and it’s done in
the present of the Scout’s parents or my girlfriend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We may regret it, but that’s the way it
is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have prosecuted (happily!) people
who have abused children. Yet, the BSA requires that I maintain my thorough
child-safety training current.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I cannot say that child sexual abuse within the BSA never happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I can only say that (1) it was RARE, (2) the movement responded quickly
and appropriately when we were advised and (3) as the victims were our brothers
and sisters, they DO deserve love, acceptance, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and compensation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is a part of what it means to be a Scout
and a Scouter. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And we Scouts - together will all of us - can get better.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Mizpah!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334626017823048563.post-6544366894802317722020-02-13T14:50:00.001-05:002020-02-13T14:50:17.281-05:00Smollett<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I’ve never seen Jussie Smollett perform, and I have no idea
what he does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Also, I really don't care. </span>He’s back in the news
because he’s been indicted (again) for a false report of a “hate crime.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Chicago prosecutor got an indictment last year. Then, she dismissed the original indictment with
prejudice, meaning that the case could not be refiled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I assume his defense now will file a motion to dismiss,
and I don’t know Illinois law for how that will go.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">But, but, but – We may not like it, but dismissing the case was a legitimate
exercise of prosecutorial discretion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Supposedly, it was done because Michelle Obama made a call to the
prosecutor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That may be tacky, but it’s not illegal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would be illegal to pay the prosecutor or
to make a deal for illegal favors, but I’ve not heard any allegation of that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">But the prosecutor’s approach was stupid and disrespectful
of the police.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The prosecutor and the
police are supposed to be on the same side. They are supposed to be respectful of
each other. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If they have a disagreement,
the door needs to be closed and they need to work it out. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That the police found out after the case was
dismissed made them feel disrespected – which they were.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Had this occurred in West Virginia, I hope it would have
been disposed of quick and easy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In WV,
a false report is a misdemeanor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(Actually, current assistant prosecutor J. T. Hodges, III, and I wrote
the WV statute in 1984, WV Code Section 61-6-20.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> As a prosecutor,</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would have offered a guilty plea to the
misdemeanor, probation, restitution for the heavy costs of the police
investigation (and made it bankruptcy-proof), and consigned the defendant to the dustbin of history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">You can’t have uneven justice, even if you
don’t like the defendant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
prosecutors have too much important stuff to do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">You don’t want favors called in?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Vote for a different prosecutor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You don’t mind?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Vote for whatever-the-prosecutor’s-name -is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Easy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Only Cook Countians will determine that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Mizpah!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Roger D. Curryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501280762906608675noreply@blogger.com0