Compromise:
The art of dividing a cake in such a way that everybody believes he got the biggest piece.
Sherry Rothfield
Financial Quote of the Week: T Boone Pickens:
Thumbs UP!
No, I will probably not by shares of GM. I remember what happened to the equity holders there one time. I’d buy Ford.Pickens was referencing the morally corrupt manner in which Obama Administration subordinated bondholder interests during bankruptcy proceedings to lower-standing union claims. There was used car company salesman POTUS Barack Obama last week, giving his cream puff sales pitch, arguing how his bailouts of Government Motors would eventually be vindicated. I have driven GM cars most of my adult life; I might well have continued if a properly-chastened GM, stripped of its unrealistic, unsustainable union contracts and of state-of-denial management designed and sold products making more than an occasional guest appearance in Consumer Reports, had not gone to the federal government for morally hazardous bailouts doing little more than postponing the inevitable day of reckoning and add to the federal tab on the backs of future generations beginning to approach $14T.
There's an interesting twist to all this. T Boone Pickens had championed a plan which included Obama-hyped windmill farms in northwest Texas and natural gas (which has become significantly cheaper due to shale-based recoveries) would be converted to vehicle fuel; in theory, this could help modulate the deteriorating domestic supplies the Obama Administration is blatantly ignoring, increasing dependence on foreign supplies. Recently Pickens raised the white flag, unable to obtain permits for a transmission line from his proposed windmill farm. GM--which has sold natural-gas (and flex-fuel) vehicles in foreign markets--is finally releasing a couple of models to its commercial fleet.
Pope Benedict XVI's Nuanced Decision on Prophylactics
I haven't started my religion blog yet (I'm Roman Catholic), and normally I don't touch on religious issues in this blog except to remark on isolated issues like how most elected Catholic Democrats have advocated pro-abortion choice positions, which is inconsistent with Christian/Catholic teachings going back to the earliest days of the Church (cf. Chapter 2 of the Didache). But the issue of contraception does allow a political reflection on Griswold.
In the Church's view, procreation within the context of marriage is the ultimate fulfillment of God's desire for the human race to go on. Self-indulgent sexuality, divorced from its functional nature, is seen as selfish and sinful. The Church does recognize the practical reasons for natural family planning, but artificial means to prevent conception, including contraceptives and condoms, are viewed as intentional interference with God's plan. The moral (not doctrinal) teachings and distinctions are subtle and confusing to many of the faithful; for example, many young people are aware of restrictions against contraceptives, find themselves pregnant, and then choose to have an abortion. Abortion is the taking of an actual, not potential life, a graver sin, a direct frustration of God's plan.
There are differences between Church and state laws. The Church does not seek to impose the disciplines of her followers on others, but there are some moral laws that transcend any one religion and are reflected in our government statutes, including homicide, adultery, and stealing.
The Pope's pragmatic decision to relax Church's traditional opposition to the use of condoms in an effort to help contain the risks of HIV, e.g., through homosexual behavior, is welcome, useful, but also puzzling. What's its theoretical underpinnings? Sex outside of marriage (including gay sex) is prohibited, and it seems to suggest different standards for gay and straight use of condoms. It's likely that the Pope views the condom for gays primarily as a filter for sexual disease and issued the teaching as a means of compassion.
Griswold v Connecticut, which overturned the state's law prohibition of contraceptives, is interesting because it was the one where Justice William O. Douglas' constitutional "penumbras" and "emanations" in finding a marital right to privacy. I am probably most convinced by Justice Goldberg's argument using the ninth amendment. I do think the state has a right to ensure transactions are safe and not misleading, but I generally think certain decisions, e.g., for a couple whether to have children and how many, are beyond the scope of the state. I'm less certain about any attempt to enumerate unenumerated rights under the ninth amendment. (I certainly do agree the state has a right to promote or incentivize marriage and family.)
Political Humor
"The U.S. Postal Service announced today they lost $8.5 billion this year. They said they blame it on people using e-mail. And the fact that terrorists have switched to UPS." - Jay Leno
[Obama got the bad news on his Blackberry... That retro green initiative isn't working out that well: those pony expenses keep climbing... Of course, the dead letter office is doing well, with all those stimulus checks mailed out last year... Delivery times are improving: Democratic state party chairmen just last week got Obama's letter outlining his secret plan to win the midterm elections... Democrats angrily pushed back at GOP suggestions to privatize the Post Office, arguing, just as in the case earmarks, a few billion dollars here and there are inconsequential compared to the rest of their $1.3T deficit... Obama is doing his part to spark demand for USPS services by suggesting all his supporters to mail him and each member of his family Christmas cards... The USPS is trying to modernize its image by licensing hip-hop remakes of "Please, Mr. Postman", "Signed, Sealed, Delivered", "The Letter" and "Sealed With a Kiss".]
An original:
- Former NFL quarterback Heath Shuler (D-NC) got thrown for a loss by 70-year-old outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also competing for Minority Leader, 150-43. The Democratic caucus hadn't seen that lopsided a loss in DC since the last time Shuler ran the Redskins offense. He tried passing deep over the middle of the field but there weren't any receivers out there... Shuler tried running in the shotgun formation but all he managed to do was injure his foot (again). After the contest, he found his office had been relocated to Pelosi's doghouse.
Jigsaw, "Sky High".
