Not all predictions come to pass
One of the Founding Fathers, Alexander Hamilton had a remarkable ability to see the future; at least in how he helped shape the interpretation of our Constitution. After all, he wrote more than half of the installments in the Federalist Papers, still the most important reference available for interpreting the intent of those great men. But his foresight was not perfect, as no one's is. We see this in examining the blocking of President Obama's nomination of Dedo Adegbile to serve as head of the Civil Rights Division of the United States Justice Department.
In Federalist 76, regarding the process of "advice and consent", Hamilton wrote:
"But might not his nomination be overruled? I grant it might, yet this could only be to make place for another nomination by himself. The person ultimately appointed must be the object of his preference, though perhaps not in the first degree. It is also not very probable that his nomination would often be overruled. The Senate could not be tempted, by the preference they might feel to another, to reject the one proposed; because they could not assure themselves, that the person they might wish would be brought forward by a second or by any subsequent nomination. They could not even be certain, that a future nomination would present a candidate in any degree more acceptable to them; and as their dissent might cast a kind of stigma upon the individual rejected, and might have the appearance of a reflection upon the judgment of the chief magistrate, it is not likely that their sanction would often be refused, where there were not special and strong reasons for the refusal.
To what purpose then require the co-operation of the Senate? I answer, that the necessity of their concurrence would have a powerful, though, in general, a silent operation. It would be an excellent check upon a spirit of favoritism in the President, and would tend greatly to prevent the appointment of unfit characters from State prejudice, from family connection, from personal attachment, or from a view to popularity. In addition to this, it would be an efficacious source of stability in the administration."
The Senate can no longer filibuster a presidential nomination. Last November, when they still could, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released a startling graph. It showed that in the history of the United States, 168 presidential nominees have been filibustered. 86 of them before Barack Obama became president and 82 after he took office. Clearly what Hamilton wrote would not come to pass is going on in Washington, D. C. since January of 2009.
Why did Mr. Adegbile's nomination get rejected? Because the Fraternal Order of Police doesn't like the fact Mr. Adegbile advocated for the reversal of the death sentence and guilty verdict of Mumia Abu-Jamal. The police lobby is powerful. It got Senator Bob Casey, Jr. from Pennsylvania to vote against Mr. Adegbile. Senator Casey knows that the voters, particularly in Philadelphia, have long memories concerning Mumia Abu-Jamal. He had an uphill battle to win reelection in 2012, no point in risking a vote in favor of Adegbile's nomination. Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, faces an election this year. Many in his state pay close attention to what goes on in Philadelphia.
I'd be in favor of revising the Senate's rules so that there would be a narrow exception on votes to confirm presidential nominees. I propose that a super-majority of 60 votes be required to block a nomination. If a nominee is truly unfit to serve, there will be no problem lining up 60 votes. But that might well eliminate these special interest attempts to block nominees, as well as make partisanship a non-factor in the nomination process.
* * *
Odious comparisons are unwise. Hank Williams, Jr. compared President Obama to Adolf Hitler and he lost his gig on Monday Night Football. Now Hilary Rodham Clinton has compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to Hitler and after issuing a clarification about her intent, is moving on unaffected by the comment.
Why? Could it be that she was making a comparison that's spot on? She didn't try to link Putin with Hitler's attempt at world domination or his massive genocide campaign. She compared what Putin is doing in the Ukraine with what Hitler did prior to World War II. Using the pretext of protecting "his people" from persecution in other nations.
She should get a pass on this one.
* * *
No one is going to get rich being in the military. An E-5 with eight years in service is bringing home less than $36,000 a year in base pay. They can also receive a housing allowance if they have dependents and their military base can't supply them with housing. That allowance is roughly $885 a month (more in high cost of living areas). Now Congress wants to reduce this allowance.
I challenge those 535 spendthrifts to show me just one area where they personally have reduced any iota of their compensation in the last decade. Just one. I'll be waiting. Meanwhile, don't balance the budget on the backs of the military and the poor.
* * *
Random ponderings:
Did Keira Knightley wear those corsets for too long in making period piece films? Her waist in a recent photo looks awfully tiny.
Katy Perry did the weather on an Aussie morning show, and let's just say that none of the women doing weather in the U. S. (or anywhere else) need to worry about losing a job to her. I will mention she called Hobart "Hogwarts".
BTW I don't blame Ms Perry from pulling back from a kiss with Miley Cyrus. As Katy put it, "I don't know where that tongue has been."
The moron who left a sexist note on an airliner, claiming the female pilot belonged at home being a mother instead of in the cockpit needs to be transported back in time 100 years or so.
There's a guy suing a downtown Las Vegas casino because it allegedly allowed him to sign a marker for $500,000 when he was blind drunk. Dude, personal responsibility. No one made you sign the thing, and no one made you take any of those drinks.
The prank that MLB player Adam Dunn found in the locker room on his return from the Oscars earlier this week is a classic. He was one of the producers of "Dallas Buyer's Club" and found this on getting back to baseball:
Justin Bieber and his dad didn't spend much time together when Justin was a kid, so they never shared cotton candy. Now they can share Cotton Candy, a stripper they met in Florida (credit to Heather McDonald for this one).
Keeping Steve Nash for another season is a big mistake, but it sounds like that is what Mitch Kupchak is going to do.
Did the Bogdanov family (parents, one adult daughter) really steal $7 million worth of stuff in a ten year shoplifting spree? Wow.
Is anyone surprised that the so-called "Kardashian" house used in the exterior shots for their reality show isn't where they live?
* * *
March 6th in History:
12 BC – The Roman Emperor Augustus is named Pontifex Maximus, incorporating the position into that of the Emperor.
961 – Byzantine conquest of Chandax by Nikephoros Phokas, end of the Emirate of Crete
1454 – Thirteen Years' War: Delegates of the Prussian Confederation pledge allegiance to King Casimir IV of Poland who agrees to commit his forces in aiding the Confederation's struggle for independence from the Teutonic Knights.
1521 – Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Guam.
1788 – The First Fleet arrives at Norfolk Island in order to found a convict settlement.
1820 – The Missouri Compromise is signed into law by President James Monroe. The compromise allows Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state, brings Maine into the Union as a free state, and makes the rest of the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase territory slavery-free.
1834 – York, Upper Canada is incorporated as Toronto.
1836 – Texas Revolution: Battle of the Alamo – After a thirteen day siege by an army of 3,000 Mexican troops, the 187 Texas volunteers, including frontiersman Davy Crockett and colonel Jim Bowie, defending the Alamo are killed and the fort is captured.
1857 – The Supreme Court of the United States rules in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case.
1869 – Dmitri Mendeleev presents the first periodic table to the Russian Chemical Society.
1882 – The Serbian kingdom is re-founded.
1899 – Bayer registers "Aspirin" as a trademark.
1902 – Real Madrid C.F. was founded.
1921 – Portuguese Communist Party is founded as the Portuguese Section of the Communist International.
1930 – International Unemployment Day demonstrations globally initiated by the Comintern
1943 – Norman Rockwell published Freedom from Want in the The Saturday Evening Post with a matching essay by Carlos Bulosan as part of the Four Freedoms series.
1945 – World War II: Cologne is captured by American Troops.
1946 – Ho Chi Minh signs an agreement with France which recognizes Vietnam as an autonomous state in the Indochinese Federation and the French Union.
1951 – The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg begins.
1953 – Georgy Malenkov succeeds Joseph Stalin as Premier of the Soviet Union and First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1957 – Ghana becomes the first Sub-Saharan country to gain independence from the British
1962 – Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 begins on the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States.
1964 – Nation of Islam's Elijah Muhammad officially gives boxing champion Cassius Clay the name Muhammad Ali.
1964 – Constantine II becomes King of Greece.
1965 – Premier Tom Playford of South Australia loses power after 27 years in office.
1967 – Joseph Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva defects to the United States.
1968 – The first of the East L.A. walkouts take place at several high schools.
1968 – Three black males are executed by Rhodesia, the first executions since UDI, prompting international condemnation.
1970 – An explosion at the Weather Underground safe house in Greenwich Village kills three.
1975 – For the first time the Zapruder film of the assassination of John F. Kennedy is shown in motion to a national TV audience by Robert J. Groden and Dick Gregory.
1975 – Algiers Accord: Iran and Iraq announce a settlement of their border dispute.
1981 – After 19 years of presenting the CBS Evening News, Walter Cronkite signs off for the last time.
1983 – The first United States Football League game is played.
1987 – The British ferry MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes in about 90 seconds killing 193.
1988 – Three Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers are killed by Special Air Service on the territory of Gibraltar in the conclusion of Operation Flavius.
1990 – Ed Yielding and Joseph T. Vida set the transcontinental speed record flying a SR-71 Blackbird from Los Angeles to Virginia in 64 minutes, averaging 2,124 mph.
1992 – The Michelangelo computer virus begins to affect computers.
2008 – A suicide bomber kills 68 people (including first responders) in Baghdad on the same day that a gunman kills eight students in Jerusalem.
Famous folk born on March 6th:
Michaelangelo
Cyrano de Bergerac
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLkcR9UR9us)
General Philip Sheridan
Ring Lardner
Lefty Grove
Lou Costello (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5YXypY5-NM)
Ed McMahon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n4l-9idsNg the San Diego Jew? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLTEgrce0Ec )
Alan Greenspan
Gabriel Garcia Marquez (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnNgjUWgrGQ)
Hal Needham (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDaPc0dPEdM)
Marian Barry
Ivan Boesky
Valentina Tereshkova
Willie "Pops" Stargell
Mary Wilson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HrLoz9dlU0)
Martin Kove (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27qp189oiFo)
Kiki Dee (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQmRgFzg0jI)
Dick Fosbury (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9yzHEx2qcU)
Killer Khan (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGnicIcQ7vs)
Rob Reiner (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2xijksT3a8)
John Stoessel
Jeff Greenwald
Tom Arnold (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBCcKzHr4bc)
Suzanne Crough
D. L. Hughley (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAEH8b-BHmg&list=PLkcNDwWiK26ePez_waYvf95Ev5P0BS_Xa WARNING: Profane)
Connie Britton
Moira Kelly (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keBSNn_ofSM)
Shaquille O'Neal
In Federalist 76, regarding the process of "advice and consent", Hamilton wrote:
"But might not his nomination be overruled? I grant it might, yet this could only be to make place for another nomination by himself. The person ultimately appointed must be the object of his preference, though perhaps not in the first degree. It is also not very probable that his nomination would often be overruled. The Senate could not be tempted, by the preference they might feel to another, to reject the one proposed; because they could not assure themselves, that the person they might wish would be brought forward by a second or by any subsequent nomination. They could not even be certain, that a future nomination would present a candidate in any degree more acceptable to them; and as their dissent might cast a kind of stigma upon the individual rejected, and might have the appearance of a reflection upon the judgment of the chief magistrate, it is not likely that their sanction would often be refused, where there were not special and strong reasons for the refusal.
To what purpose then require the co-operation of the Senate? I answer, that the necessity of their concurrence would have a powerful, though, in general, a silent operation. It would be an excellent check upon a spirit of favoritism in the President, and would tend greatly to prevent the appointment of unfit characters from State prejudice, from family connection, from personal attachment, or from a view to popularity. In addition to this, it would be an efficacious source of stability in the administration."
The Senate can no longer filibuster a presidential nomination. Last November, when they still could, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released a startling graph. It showed that in the history of the United States, 168 presidential nominees have been filibustered. 86 of them before Barack Obama became president and 82 after he took office. Clearly what Hamilton wrote would not come to pass is going on in Washington, D. C. since January of 2009.
Why did Mr. Adegbile's nomination get rejected? Because the Fraternal Order of Police doesn't like the fact Mr. Adegbile advocated for the reversal of the death sentence and guilty verdict of Mumia Abu-Jamal. The police lobby is powerful. It got Senator Bob Casey, Jr. from Pennsylvania to vote against Mr. Adegbile. Senator Casey knows that the voters, particularly in Philadelphia, have long memories concerning Mumia Abu-Jamal. He had an uphill battle to win reelection in 2012, no point in risking a vote in favor of Adegbile's nomination. Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, faces an election this year. Many in his state pay close attention to what goes on in Philadelphia.
I'd be in favor of revising the Senate's rules so that there would be a narrow exception on votes to confirm presidential nominees. I propose that a super-majority of 60 votes be required to block a nomination. If a nominee is truly unfit to serve, there will be no problem lining up 60 votes. But that might well eliminate these special interest attempts to block nominees, as well as make partisanship a non-factor in the nomination process.
* * *
Odious comparisons are unwise. Hank Williams, Jr. compared President Obama to Adolf Hitler and he lost his gig on Monday Night Football. Now Hilary Rodham Clinton has compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to Hitler and after issuing a clarification about her intent, is moving on unaffected by the comment.
Why? Could it be that she was making a comparison that's spot on? She didn't try to link Putin with Hitler's attempt at world domination or his massive genocide campaign. She compared what Putin is doing in the Ukraine with what Hitler did prior to World War II. Using the pretext of protecting "his people" from persecution in other nations.
She should get a pass on this one.
* * *
No one is going to get rich being in the military. An E-5 with eight years in service is bringing home less than $36,000 a year in base pay. They can also receive a housing allowance if they have dependents and their military base can't supply them with housing. That allowance is roughly $885 a month (more in high cost of living areas). Now Congress wants to reduce this allowance.
I challenge those 535 spendthrifts to show me just one area where they personally have reduced any iota of their compensation in the last decade. Just one. I'll be waiting. Meanwhile, don't balance the budget on the backs of the military and the poor.
* * *
Random ponderings:
Did Keira Knightley wear those corsets for too long in making period piece films? Her waist in a recent photo looks awfully tiny.
Katy Perry did the weather on an Aussie morning show, and let's just say that none of the women doing weather in the U. S. (or anywhere else) need to worry about losing a job to her. I will mention she called Hobart "Hogwarts".
BTW I don't blame Ms Perry from pulling back from a kiss with Miley Cyrus. As Katy put it, "I don't know where that tongue has been."
The moron who left a sexist note on an airliner, claiming the female pilot belonged at home being a mother instead of in the cockpit needs to be transported back in time 100 years or so.
There's a guy suing a downtown Las Vegas casino because it allegedly allowed him to sign a marker for $500,000 when he was blind drunk. Dude, personal responsibility. No one made you sign the thing, and no one made you take any of those drinks.
The prank that MLB player Adam Dunn found in the locker room on his return from the Oscars earlier this week is a classic. He was one of the producers of "Dallas Buyer's Club" and found this on getting back to baseball:
Justin Bieber and his dad didn't spend much time together when Justin was a kid, so they never shared cotton candy. Now they can share Cotton Candy, a stripper they met in Florida (credit to Heather McDonald for this one).
Keeping Steve Nash for another season is a big mistake, but it sounds like that is what Mitch Kupchak is going to do.
Did the Bogdanov family (parents, one adult daughter) really steal $7 million worth of stuff in a ten year shoplifting spree? Wow.
Is anyone surprised that the so-called "Kardashian" house used in the exterior shots for their reality show isn't where they live?
* * *
March 6th in History:
12 BC – The Roman Emperor Augustus is named Pontifex Maximus, incorporating the position into that of the Emperor.
961 – Byzantine conquest of Chandax by Nikephoros Phokas, end of the Emirate of Crete
1454 – Thirteen Years' War: Delegates of the Prussian Confederation pledge allegiance to King Casimir IV of Poland who agrees to commit his forces in aiding the Confederation's struggle for independence from the Teutonic Knights.
1521 – Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Guam.
1788 – The First Fleet arrives at Norfolk Island in order to found a convict settlement.
1820 – The Missouri Compromise is signed into law by President James Monroe. The compromise allows Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state, brings Maine into the Union as a free state, and makes the rest of the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase territory slavery-free.
1834 – York, Upper Canada is incorporated as Toronto.
1836 – Texas Revolution: Battle of the Alamo – After a thirteen day siege by an army of 3,000 Mexican troops, the 187 Texas volunteers, including frontiersman Davy Crockett and colonel Jim Bowie, defending the Alamo are killed and the fort is captured.
1857 – The Supreme Court of the United States rules in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case.
1869 – Dmitri Mendeleev presents the first periodic table to the Russian Chemical Society.
1882 – The Serbian kingdom is re-founded.
1899 – Bayer registers "Aspirin" as a trademark.
1902 – Real Madrid C.F. was founded.
1921 – Portuguese Communist Party is founded as the Portuguese Section of the Communist International.
1930 – International Unemployment Day demonstrations globally initiated by the Comintern
1943 – Norman Rockwell published Freedom from Want in the The Saturday Evening Post with a matching essay by Carlos Bulosan as part of the Four Freedoms series.
1945 – World War II: Cologne is captured by American Troops.
1946 – Ho Chi Minh signs an agreement with France which recognizes Vietnam as an autonomous state in the Indochinese Federation and the French Union.
1951 – The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg begins.
1953 – Georgy Malenkov succeeds Joseph Stalin as Premier of the Soviet Union and First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1957 – Ghana becomes the first Sub-Saharan country to gain independence from the British
1962 – Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 begins on the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States.
1964 – Nation of Islam's Elijah Muhammad officially gives boxing champion Cassius Clay the name Muhammad Ali.
1964 – Constantine II becomes King of Greece.
1965 – Premier Tom Playford of South Australia loses power after 27 years in office.
1967 – Joseph Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva defects to the United States.
1968 – The first of the East L.A. walkouts take place at several high schools.
1968 – Three black males are executed by Rhodesia, the first executions since UDI, prompting international condemnation.
1970 – An explosion at the Weather Underground safe house in Greenwich Village kills three.
1975 – For the first time the Zapruder film of the assassination of John F. Kennedy is shown in motion to a national TV audience by Robert J. Groden and Dick Gregory.
1975 – Algiers Accord: Iran and Iraq announce a settlement of their border dispute.
1981 – After 19 years of presenting the CBS Evening News, Walter Cronkite signs off for the last time.
1983 – The first United States Football League game is played.
1987 – The British ferry MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes in about 90 seconds killing 193.
1988 – Three Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers are killed by Special Air Service on the territory of Gibraltar in the conclusion of Operation Flavius.
1990 – Ed Yielding and Joseph T. Vida set the transcontinental speed record flying a SR-71 Blackbird from Los Angeles to Virginia in 64 minutes, averaging 2,124 mph.
1992 – The Michelangelo computer virus begins to affect computers.
2008 – A suicide bomber kills 68 people (including first responders) in Baghdad on the same day that a gunman kills eight students in Jerusalem.
Famous folk born on March 6th:
Michaelangelo
Cyrano de Bergerac
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLkcR9UR9us)
General Philip Sheridan
Ring Lardner
Lefty Grove
Lou Costello (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5YXypY5-NM)
Ed McMahon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n4l-9idsNg the San Diego Jew? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLTEgrce0Ec )
Alan Greenspan
Gabriel Garcia Marquez (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnNgjUWgrGQ)
Hal Needham (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDaPc0dPEdM)
Marian Barry
Ivan Boesky
Valentina Tereshkova
Willie "Pops" Stargell
Mary Wilson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HrLoz9dlU0)
Martin Kove (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27qp189oiFo)
Kiki Dee (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQmRgFzg0jI)
Dick Fosbury (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9yzHEx2qcU)
Killer Khan (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGnicIcQ7vs)
Rob Reiner (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2xijksT3a8)
John Stoessel
Jeff Greenwald
Tom Arnold (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBCcKzHr4bc)
Suzanne Crough
D. L. Hughley (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAEH8b-BHmg&list=PLkcNDwWiK26ePez_waYvf95Ev5P0BS_Xa WARNING: Profane)
Connie Britton
Moira Kelly (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keBSNn_ofSM)
Shaquille O'Neal
posted by me at 6:54 AM
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