I was thinking about the Citizens United v FEC decision, something a lot of people want to amend the Constitution to allow it to be overturned. I've never been in favor of that concept. But I've come up with an off-the-wall idea. Maybe the answer is to change the equation altogether when it comes to money in politics.
Every two years there are more than 460 federal elections. All 435 members of the House have to run for election/reelection, and one-third of the Senate must do the same. In one of each two of those elections, there is also a presidential campaign. Billions are spent. Thanks to the Super-PACs, big money is controlling who gets elected.
Contributing to a Super-PAC is not deductible, nor should it be. My idea is that we flip the equation. Let's tax contributions to Super-PACs. The tax rate would be the highest tax rate that the donor pays on any of their income. For people like the Koch Brothers, that would be a tax rate of 39.6%.
Now the tax collected on contributions to Super-PACs, and while we're at it, directly to political campaigns, will go into the fund for public funding of federal elections. Not just the presidential election, but all of the others as well.
Imagine, when President Obama attends one of those fundraising dinners where people shell out $30,000 for a handshake and some rubber chicken, nearly $12,000 more will come out of that person's pocket and go toward the campaigns of only those candidates who pledge to comply with spending limits set by the Federal Elections Commission.
It is an off-the-wall idea, but maybe the disincentive of having to substantially fund the election campaigns of those who your chosen candidate is running against might help a little. So, as a byproduct, would the loss of the ability to donate to these Super-PACs anonymously.
* * *
Before talking about what ESPN's Stephen A. Smith said that got him suspended, we should examine his remarks in their entirety:
"We know you have no business putting your hands on a woman. I don’t know how many times I got to reiterate that. But as a man who was raised by women, see I know what I’m going to do if somebody touches a female member of my family. I know what I’m going to do, I know what my boys are going to do. I know what, I’m going to have to remind myself that I work for the Worldwide Leader, I’m going to have to get law enforcement officials involved because of what I’m going to be tempted to do.
But what I’ve tried to employ the female members of my family, some of who you all met and talked to and what have you, is that again, and this what, I’ve done this all my life, let’s make sure we don’t do anything to provoke wrong actions, because if I come, or somebody else come, whether it’s law enforcement officials, your brother or the fellas that you know, if we come after somebody has put their hands on you, it doesn’t negate the fact that they already put their hands on you. So let’s try to make sure that we can do our part in making sure that that doesn’t happen.
Now you got some dudes that are just horrible and they’re going to do it anyway, and there’s never an excuse to put your hands on a woman. But domestic violence or whatever the case may be, with men putting their hands on women, is obviously a very real, real issue in our society. And I think that just talking about what guys shouldn’t do, we got to also make sure that you can do your part to do whatever you can do to make, to try to make sure it doesn’t happen.
We know they’re wrong. We know they’re criminals. We know they probably deserve to be in jail. In Ray Rice’s case, he probably deserves more than a 2-game suspension which we both acknowledged. But at the same time, we also have to make sure that we learn as much as we can about elements of provocation. Not that there’s real provocation, but the elements of provocation, you got to make sure that you address them, because we’ve got to do is do what we can to try to prevent the situation from happening in any way. And I don’t think that’s broached enough, is all I’m saying. No point of blame."
No matter how you choose to spin this, I see that he was articulating that women need to go out of their way to avoid becoming victims. That's just plain wrong. Women and men should be able to live their lives without fear of becoming a victim of domestic violence. Self-defense is the only acceptable reason for one adult to be "hitting" another person.
Now does Stephen A. Smith have the right to have this opinion? Absolutely. People who are claiming his First Amendment rights were violated are just more examples of those who don't understand that portion of the Constitution. It protects all of us from government infringing on our freedom of expression. Government did not suspend Mr. Smith. ESPN did. The First Amendment doesn't preclude ESPN from taking that action.
* * *
Michael Phillips is a 57 year old who went to prison for 12 years for a crime he didn't commit. He was released in 2002 but wasn't exonerated until very recently. Texas law provides that those who are wrongfully imprisoned get $80,000 for each year they were in prison and $80,000 a year for the rest of their lives. DNA evidence cleared him. He admits he was encouraged to accept a plea deal back in 1990 because he probably wouldn't get a fair trial due to his race. He is an African-American.
Clearly an injustice was done. The real injustice is that he is the 34th person to be exonerated by a unit in the Dallas DA's office since it was created in 2007. Our justice system is seriously flawed if that many people are behind bars for crimes they didn't commit. Phillips got lucky. The parameters of this unit's search for "justice" only goes back to 1990. Had his case been from one year earlier, he'd still bear the label of "convicted sex offender."
A law professor points out that there is a huge disparity in rape exonerations involving an eyewitness account, as the vast majority involve a white victim and an alleged African-American rapist. Is this evidence of a racial bias? Maybe, maybe not. But it is absolutely indicative of a problem that requires immediate attention.
The real rapist cannot be prosecuted because the statute of limitations has run out. If there is no statute of limitations in a murder, why must there be one in a rape case? Can someone please answer this question?
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Justin Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun has no business playing the "fame whore" card regarding anyone else.
Did I just read a headline where a reporter wrote that Russian president Putin is in a "zugzwang" position? For those who don't play chess or speak German, that refers to a position where someone must make a move, but all available moves are bad.
Erin Andrews is not nearly as knowledgeable about football as the woman she will replace as a sideline reporter on Fox Sports. That doesn't mean the network should not put her into the job. Part of broadcasting is selling the product and maybe the so-called "Neanderthals" who want her as eye candy will boost ratings. Fox is in business to make money, not appease sports-talk radio hosts.
For those who were worried that Shia LaBeouf was joining the Air Force, relax. The Air Force wouldn't want him.
Pitchers hitting someone on the opposing squad as "retaliation" is traditional. Deliberately trying to injure someone in that way is not. The D-Backs should not have thrown at the spine of Andrew McCutchen.
Don't blame the IRS for seizing tax refunds in cases where people are being hit up by the Social Security Administration for overpayments from the 1970s. SSA told them to do it, so the IRS did.
I don't think that bringing the Ebola virus into the U.S. is worth the risk. Treat the guy on a hospital ship or something.
It is unforgiveable of the Rhode Island Transportation Department to send a grieving mother a bill two years after the fact, for damage caused to public roads by the accident that took her son's life. Totally unforgiveable.
How cool is this...the older dog who walked 30 miles back to the family who had adopted he, only to have them refuse to keep her, has found a great new home. The very wealthy Helen Rich sent her personal assistant in a private jet to pick up "Lady."
Yes, I really heard one of the women trying out for the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader squad give the answer "O'Biden" when asked who was the current vice-president of the U. S.
* * *
August 3rd in History:
8 – Roman Empire general Tiberius defeats the Dalmatae on the river Bathinus.
435 – Deposed Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius, considered the originator of Nestorianism, is exiled by Roman Emperor Theodosius II to a monastery in Egypt.
881 – Battle of Saucourt-en-Vimeu: Louis III of France defeats the Vikings, an event celebrated in the poem Ludwigslied.
1031 – Olaf II of Norway is canonized as Saint Olaf by Grimketel, the English Bishop of Selsey.
1342 – The Siege of Algeciras commences during the Spanish Reconquista.
1492 – Christopher Columbus sets sail from Palos de la Frontera, Spain.
1527 – The first known letter from North America is sent by John Rut while at St. John's, Newfoundland.
1601 – Long War: Austria captures Transylvania in the Battle of Goroszló.
1645 – Thirty Years' War: the Second Battle of Nördlingen sees French forces defeating those of the Holy Roman Empire.
1678 – Robert LaSalle builds the Le Griffon, the first known ship built on the Great Lakes.
1795 – Treaty of Greenville is signed.
1811 – First ascent of Jungfrau, third highest summit in the Bernese Alps by brothers Johann Rudolf and Hieronymus Meyer.
1852 – Harvard University wins the first Boat Race between Yale University and Harvard. The race is also the first American intercollegiate athletic event
1860 – The Second Maori War begins in New Zealand.
1900 – The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is founded.
1903 – Macedonian rebels in Kruševo proclaim the Kruševo Republic, which exists only for 10 days before Ottoman Turks lay waste to the town.
1907 – Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis fines Standard Oil of Indiana a record $29.4 million for illegal rebating to freight carriers; the conviction and fine are later reversed on appeal.
1913 – A major labour dispute, known as the Wheatland Hop Riot, starts in Wheatland, California.
1914 – World War I: Germany declares war against France.
1921 – Major League Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis confirms the ban of the eight Chicago Black Sox, the day after they were acquitted by a Chicago court.
1929 – Jiddu Krishnamurti, tagged as the messianic "World Teacher", shocks the Theosophy movement by dissolving the Order of the Star, the organisation built to support him.
1936 – Jesse Owens wins the 100 meter dash, defeating Ralph Metcalfe, at the Berlin Olympics.
1936 – A fire wipes out Kursha-2 in the Meshchera Lowlands, Ryazan Oblast, Russia, killing 1,200 and leaving only 20 survivors.
1940 – World War II: Italian forces begin the invasion of British Somaliland.
1946 – Santa Claus Land, the world's first themed amusement park, opens in Santa Claus, Indiana, United States.
1948 – Whittaker Chambers accuses Alger Hiss of being a communist and a spy for the Soviet Union.
1958 – The nuclear submarine USS Nautilus travels beneath the Arctic ice cap.
1959 – Portugal's state police force PIDE fires upon striking workers in Bissau, Portuguese Guinea, killing over 50 people.
1960 – Niger gains independence from France.
1961 – The New Democratic Party of Canada is founded by the merger of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation and the Canadian Labour Congress.
1972 – The United States Senate ratifies the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
1975 – A privately chartered Boeing 707 strikes a mountain peak and crashes near Agadir, Morocco, killing 188.
1977 – The United States Senate begins its hearing on Project MKUltra.
1977 – Tandy Corporation announces the TRS-80, one of the world's first mass-produced personal computers.
1981 – Senegalese opposition parties, under the leadership of Mamadou Dia, launch the Antiimperialist Action Front – Suxxali Reew Mi.
1997 – Oued El-Had and Mezouara massacre in Algeria; a total of 116 villagers killed, 40 in Oued El-Had and 76 in Mezouara.
1999 – Arsenal F.C. sign legendary striker Thierry Henry from Juventus.
2001 – The Real IRA detonates a car bomb in Ealing, London, England, United Kingdom injuring seven people.
2004 – The pedestal of the Statue of Liberty reopens after being closed since the September 11 attacks.
2005 – President of Mauritania Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya is overthrown in a military coup while attending the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia.
2005 – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad becomes President of Iran.
2007 – Former Deputy Director of the Chilean secret police Raúl Iturriaga is captured after having been on the run following a conviction for kidnapping.
2010 – Widespread rioting erupts in Karachi, Pakistan, after the assassination of a local politician, leaving at least 85 dead and at least 17 billion Pakistani rupees (US$200 million) in damage.
Famous Folk Born on August 3rd:
Hamilton Fish
Elisha Otis
Stanley Baldwin
Ernie Pyle
John T. Scopes
Clifford D. Simak (loved his work City)
Dolores Del Rio
P. D. James
Marv Levy
Leon Uris
James Komack
Steven Berkoff
Lance Alworth
Beverly Lee
Syreeta Wright
Marcel Dionne
Todd Christiansen
John C. McGinley
Lisa Ann Walter
Isaiah Washington
Troy Glaus
Tom Brady
Evangeline Lilly
Damien Sandow
Ryan Lochte
Every two years there are more than 460 federal elections. All 435 members of the House have to run for election/reelection, and one-third of the Senate must do the same. In one of each two of those elections, there is also a presidential campaign. Billions are spent. Thanks to the Super-PACs, big money is controlling who gets elected.
Contributing to a Super-PAC is not deductible, nor should it be. My idea is that we flip the equation. Let's tax contributions to Super-PACs. The tax rate would be the highest tax rate that the donor pays on any of their income. For people like the Koch Brothers, that would be a tax rate of 39.6%.
Now the tax collected on contributions to Super-PACs, and while we're at it, directly to political campaigns, will go into the fund for public funding of federal elections. Not just the presidential election, but all of the others as well.
Imagine, when President Obama attends one of those fundraising dinners where people shell out $30,000 for a handshake and some rubber chicken, nearly $12,000 more will come out of that person's pocket and go toward the campaigns of only those candidates who pledge to comply with spending limits set by the Federal Elections Commission.
It is an off-the-wall idea, but maybe the disincentive of having to substantially fund the election campaigns of those who your chosen candidate is running against might help a little. So, as a byproduct, would the loss of the ability to donate to these Super-PACs anonymously.
* * *
Before talking about what ESPN's Stephen A. Smith said that got him suspended, we should examine his remarks in their entirety:
"We know you have no business putting your hands on a woman. I don’t know how many times I got to reiterate that. But as a man who was raised by women, see I know what I’m going to do if somebody touches a female member of my family. I know what I’m going to do, I know what my boys are going to do. I know what, I’m going to have to remind myself that I work for the Worldwide Leader, I’m going to have to get law enforcement officials involved because of what I’m going to be tempted to do.
But what I’ve tried to employ the female members of my family, some of who you all met and talked to and what have you, is that again, and this what, I’ve done this all my life, let’s make sure we don’t do anything to provoke wrong actions, because if I come, or somebody else come, whether it’s law enforcement officials, your brother or the fellas that you know, if we come after somebody has put their hands on you, it doesn’t negate the fact that they already put their hands on you. So let’s try to make sure that we can do our part in making sure that that doesn’t happen.
Now you got some dudes that are just horrible and they’re going to do it anyway, and there’s never an excuse to put your hands on a woman. But domestic violence or whatever the case may be, with men putting their hands on women, is obviously a very real, real issue in our society. And I think that just talking about what guys shouldn’t do, we got to also make sure that you can do your part to do whatever you can do to make, to try to make sure it doesn’t happen.
We know they’re wrong. We know they’re criminals. We know they probably deserve to be in jail. In Ray Rice’s case, he probably deserves more than a 2-game suspension which we both acknowledged. But at the same time, we also have to make sure that we learn as much as we can about elements of provocation. Not that there’s real provocation, but the elements of provocation, you got to make sure that you address them, because we’ve got to do is do what we can to try to prevent the situation from happening in any way. And I don’t think that’s broached enough, is all I’m saying. No point of blame."
No matter how you choose to spin this, I see that he was articulating that women need to go out of their way to avoid becoming victims. That's just plain wrong. Women and men should be able to live their lives without fear of becoming a victim of domestic violence. Self-defense is the only acceptable reason for one adult to be "hitting" another person.
Now does Stephen A. Smith have the right to have this opinion? Absolutely. People who are claiming his First Amendment rights were violated are just more examples of those who don't understand that portion of the Constitution. It protects all of us from government infringing on our freedom of expression. Government did not suspend Mr. Smith. ESPN did. The First Amendment doesn't preclude ESPN from taking that action.
* * *
Michael Phillips is a 57 year old who went to prison for 12 years for a crime he didn't commit. He was released in 2002 but wasn't exonerated until very recently. Texas law provides that those who are wrongfully imprisoned get $80,000 for each year they were in prison and $80,000 a year for the rest of their lives. DNA evidence cleared him. He admits he was encouraged to accept a plea deal back in 1990 because he probably wouldn't get a fair trial due to his race. He is an African-American.
Clearly an injustice was done. The real injustice is that he is the 34th person to be exonerated by a unit in the Dallas DA's office since it was created in 2007. Our justice system is seriously flawed if that many people are behind bars for crimes they didn't commit. Phillips got lucky. The parameters of this unit's search for "justice" only goes back to 1990. Had his case been from one year earlier, he'd still bear the label of "convicted sex offender."
A law professor points out that there is a huge disparity in rape exonerations involving an eyewitness account, as the vast majority involve a white victim and an alleged African-American rapist. Is this evidence of a racial bias? Maybe, maybe not. But it is absolutely indicative of a problem that requires immediate attention.
The real rapist cannot be prosecuted because the statute of limitations has run out. If there is no statute of limitations in a murder, why must there be one in a rape case? Can someone please answer this question?
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Justin Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun has no business playing the "fame whore" card regarding anyone else.
Did I just read a headline where a reporter wrote that Russian president Putin is in a "zugzwang" position? For those who don't play chess or speak German, that refers to a position where someone must make a move, but all available moves are bad.
Erin Andrews is not nearly as knowledgeable about football as the woman she will replace as a sideline reporter on Fox Sports. That doesn't mean the network should not put her into the job. Part of broadcasting is selling the product and maybe the so-called "Neanderthals" who want her as eye candy will boost ratings. Fox is in business to make money, not appease sports-talk radio hosts.
For those who were worried that Shia LaBeouf was joining the Air Force, relax. The Air Force wouldn't want him.
Pitchers hitting someone on the opposing squad as "retaliation" is traditional. Deliberately trying to injure someone in that way is not. The D-Backs should not have thrown at the spine of Andrew McCutchen.
Don't blame the IRS for seizing tax refunds in cases where people are being hit up by the Social Security Administration for overpayments from the 1970s. SSA told them to do it, so the IRS did.
I don't think that bringing the Ebola virus into the U.S. is worth the risk. Treat the guy on a hospital ship or something.
It is unforgiveable of the Rhode Island Transportation Department to send a grieving mother a bill two years after the fact, for damage caused to public roads by the accident that took her son's life. Totally unforgiveable.
How cool is this...the older dog who walked 30 miles back to the family who had adopted he, only to have them refuse to keep her, has found a great new home. The very wealthy Helen Rich sent her personal assistant in a private jet to pick up "Lady."
Yes, I really heard one of the women trying out for the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader squad give the answer "O'Biden" when asked who was the current vice-president of the U. S.
* * *
August 3rd in History:
8 – Roman Empire general Tiberius defeats the Dalmatae on the river Bathinus.
435 – Deposed Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius, considered the originator of Nestorianism, is exiled by Roman Emperor Theodosius II to a monastery in Egypt.
881 – Battle of Saucourt-en-Vimeu: Louis III of France defeats the Vikings, an event celebrated in the poem Ludwigslied.
1031 – Olaf II of Norway is canonized as Saint Olaf by Grimketel, the English Bishop of Selsey.
1342 – The Siege of Algeciras commences during the Spanish Reconquista.
1492 – Christopher Columbus sets sail from Palos de la Frontera, Spain.
1527 – The first known letter from North America is sent by John Rut while at St. John's, Newfoundland.
1601 – Long War: Austria captures Transylvania in the Battle of Goroszló.
1645 – Thirty Years' War: the Second Battle of Nördlingen sees French forces defeating those of the Holy Roman Empire.
1678 – Robert LaSalle builds the Le Griffon, the first known ship built on the Great Lakes.
1795 – Treaty of Greenville is signed.
1811 – First ascent of Jungfrau, third highest summit in the Bernese Alps by brothers Johann Rudolf and Hieronymus Meyer.
1852 – Harvard University wins the first Boat Race between Yale University and Harvard. The race is also the first American intercollegiate athletic event
1860 – The Second Maori War begins in New Zealand.
1900 – The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is founded.
1903 – Macedonian rebels in Kruševo proclaim the Kruševo Republic, which exists only for 10 days before Ottoman Turks lay waste to the town.
1907 – Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis fines Standard Oil of Indiana a record $29.4 million for illegal rebating to freight carriers; the conviction and fine are later reversed on appeal.
1913 – A major labour dispute, known as the Wheatland Hop Riot, starts in Wheatland, California.
1914 – World War I: Germany declares war against France.
1921 – Major League Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis confirms the ban of the eight Chicago Black Sox, the day after they were acquitted by a Chicago court.
1929 – Jiddu Krishnamurti, tagged as the messianic "World Teacher", shocks the Theosophy movement by dissolving the Order of the Star, the organisation built to support him.
1936 – Jesse Owens wins the 100 meter dash, defeating Ralph Metcalfe, at the Berlin Olympics.
1936 – A fire wipes out Kursha-2 in the Meshchera Lowlands, Ryazan Oblast, Russia, killing 1,200 and leaving only 20 survivors.
1940 – World War II: Italian forces begin the invasion of British Somaliland.
1946 – Santa Claus Land, the world's first themed amusement park, opens in Santa Claus, Indiana, United States.
1948 – Whittaker Chambers accuses Alger Hiss of being a communist and a spy for the Soviet Union.
1958 – The nuclear submarine USS Nautilus travels beneath the Arctic ice cap.
1959 – Portugal's state police force PIDE fires upon striking workers in Bissau, Portuguese Guinea, killing over 50 people.
1960 – Niger gains independence from France.
1961 – The New Democratic Party of Canada is founded by the merger of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation and the Canadian Labour Congress.
1972 – The United States Senate ratifies the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
1975 – A privately chartered Boeing 707 strikes a mountain peak and crashes near Agadir, Morocco, killing 188.
1977 – The United States Senate begins its hearing on Project MKUltra.
1977 – Tandy Corporation announces the TRS-80, one of the world's first mass-produced personal computers.
1981 – Senegalese opposition parties, under the leadership of Mamadou Dia, launch the Antiimperialist Action Front – Suxxali Reew Mi.
1997 – Oued El-Had and Mezouara massacre in Algeria; a total of 116 villagers killed, 40 in Oued El-Had and 76 in Mezouara.
1999 – Arsenal F.C. sign legendary striker Thierry Henry from Juventus.
2001 – The Real IRA detonates a car bomb in Ealing, London, England, United Kingdom injuring seven people.
2004 – The pedestal of the Statue of Liberty reopens after being closed since the September 11 attacks.
2005 – President of Mauritania Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya is overthrown in a military coup while attending the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia.
2005 – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad becomes President of Iran.
2007 – Former Deputy Director of the Chilean secret police Raúl Iturriaga is captured after having been on the run following a conviction for kidnapping.
2010 – Widespread rioting erupts in Karachi, Pakistan, after the assassination of a local politician, leaving at least 85 dead and at least 17 billion Pakistani rupees (US$200 million) in damage.
Famous Folk Born on August 3rd:
Hamilton Fish
Elisha Otis
Stanley Baldwin
Ernie Pyle
John T. Scopes
Clifford D. Simak (loved his work City)
Dolores Del Rio
P. D. James
Marv Levy
Leon Uris
James Komack
Steven Berkoff
Lance Alworth
Beverly Lee
Syreeta Wright
Marcel Dionne
Todd Christiansen
John C. McGinley
Lisa Ann Walter
Isaiah Washington
Troy Glaus
Tom Brady
Evangeline Lilly
Damien Sandow
Ryan Lochte
posted by me at 7:23 PM
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