In Less Than 70 Days…

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness.  Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
—    George Santayana
From:  “The Life of Reason“
[In less than 70 days, we (the U.S.) will be having our “mid-term” elections.  This is typically a referendum on the sitting President and his / her policies.  It sometimes results in a change in majority party in the House of Representatives, the Senate – or, less frequently, both.  At the moment, both are “controlled” by the Democrats, but it is generally believed the Republicans will “flip” both come November.  I believe this will almost certainly happen if Democrats fail to get off their “duffs” and vote – much as they failed to do in the Presidential election of 2016 – which resulted in the election of Trump to President, to Republican control of both sides of Congress (House and Senate) and, ultimately, to Republican control of the Supreme Court.  (How has that worked out for us, folks?)
Elections have consequences!  Register early.  Confirm your registration.  Talk to your friends and family.  Ask them to register AND to vote.  And you VOTE, too!!  Elections are NOT won by the majority of the people.  They are won by the majority who VOTE.  Make your voice heard:  VOTE!    —    kmab]
.
On This Day In:
2021	You Really Are
	What You Want
2020	So Far The Only Burden Shifted Has Been The Cost
	Rockin’ The Hammond
2019	The Powers Of Mind
	Day 10: Into Double Digits
2018	Up For Progress
	Day 1.5: Done (For Now)
2017	And Second By Second
2016	Bakeries And Coffee Shops
2015	Spirit Not Form
2014	Sometimes Even Kneeling Seems Insufficient
2013	Hobgoblins
2012	Got Sleep?
2011	Not Another Barren Corner

Read Full Post »

BLM

The police must obey the law while enforcing the law.
—    Earl Warren
Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1953 – 1969)
[BLM == “Black Lives Matter”    —    kmab]
.
On This Day In:
2019	Courage And Patience
2018	Push The Envelope
2017	Ents
2016	Are You Sure?
2015	Distracted
2014	What It Takes
2013	We Are
2012	Utopian
2011	Seen Any Black Swans Lately?

Read Full Post »

Time To Defend The Constitution (Part I)

In Union There Is Strength
I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled.  The words “Equal Justice Under Law” are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court.  This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding.  It is a wholesome and unifying demand — one that all of us should be able to get behind.  We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers.  The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values — our values as people and our values as a nation.
When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution.  Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens — much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.
We must reject any thinking of our cities as a “battlespace” that our uniformed military is called upon to “dominate.”  At home, we should use our military only when requested to do so, on very rare occasions, by state governors.  Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict — a false conflict — between the military and civilian society.  It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and of which they themselves are a part.
Keeping public order rests with civilian state and local leaders who best understand their communities and are answerable to them.
James Madison wrote in Federalist 14 that “America united with a handful of troops, or without a single soldier, exhibits a more forbidding posture to foreign ambition than America disunited, with a hundred thousand veterans ready for combat.”  We do not need to militarize our response to protests.  We need to unite around a common purpose.  And it starts by guaranteeing that all of us are equal before the law.
Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that “The Nazi slogan for destroying us…was ‘Divide and Conquer.’  Our American answer is ‘In Union there is Strength.'”  We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis — confident that we are better than our politics.
Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try.  Instead he tries to divide us.  We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort.  We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership.  We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society.  This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.
We can come through this trying time stronger, and with a renewed sense of purpose and respect for one another.  The pandemic has shown us that it is not only our troops who are willing to offer the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of the community.  Americans in hospitals, grocery stores, post offices, and elsewhere have put their lives on the line in order to serve their fellow citizens and their country.  We know that we are better than the abuse of executive authority that we witnessed in Lafayette Square.  We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution.  At the same time, we must remember Lincoln’s “better angels,” and listen to them, as we work to unite.
Only by adopting a new path — which means, in truth, returning to the original path of our founding ideals — will we again be a country admired and respected at home and abroad.
James Mattis
[James Mattis is a retired general who served in the United States Marine Corps.  He also served under President Trump as Secretary of Defense.  Gen. Mattis resigned his position after a disagreement with President Trump about the treatment / support of our Kurdish allies in Syria.
This statement will be appearing in an upcoming issue of “The Atlantic” and appears (in full) in multiple locations on the internet including here:  https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/james-mattis-denounces-trump-protests-militarization/612640/ .  Note:  the link is to an article about the General’s statement.  The article also includes the entire statement.
No claim of ownership is implied or intended by my posting on this site.  Please support legitimate news sites if you are financially able to do so.    —    kmab]
.
On This Day In:
2019	Right Or Wrong
2018	Open Doors
2017	When It Deserves It
2016	Expiation For Rest
2015	You’ll Get Through It
2014	A Special Kind Of Fall
2013	Very Rewarding
2012	MIB3 – The Team Is Closer Than Ever
	Yet
2011	Little By Little

Read Full Post »

Constitution And Conscience

We have no constituency.  We serve no minority.  We serve only the public interest as we see it, guided only by the Constitution and our own conscience.
—    Chief Justice Earl Warren
On the last day of his sixteen-year tenure as Chief Justice and just prior to swearing in his successor Warren Earl Burger
.
On This Day In:
2015	Separate, Fearful And Imprisoned
2014	Something Worth Making
2013	Absolutely
2012	Can Do
2011	Wise Criticism

Read Full Post »

At The Center

We are very quiet here, but it is the quiet of a storm center, as we all know.
—     Mr. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
.
On This Day In:
2015	True Value In Life
2014	A Potential To Be Concerned
2013	Fine No More
2012	Have You Checked Your Height Lately?
2011	Are You Convinced?

Read Full Post »

Don’t Complain

I’m very pleased with each advancing year.  It stems back to when I was forty.  I was a bit upset about reaching that milestone, but an older friend consoled me.  ‘Don’t complain about growing old – many, many people do not have that privilege.‘
—    Earl Warren
Chief Justice
United States Supreme Court
[I barely remember ever being forty!!  LOL
Happy Birthday, Hil !!
All my love,
— ALWAYS —
Your Kev
(XXX – OOO – XXX) ]
.
On This Day In:
2021	It Also Helps To Marry Well
	Holding Hands And Thinking
2020	A Mandelbrot Set
	I Still Can’t…
2019	Proposing A Happy Birthday
	35 Years Later
2018	Forever
2017	Too Good To Be True
	Plain Speaking
2016	She Is Still Singing
2015	Don’t Complain
2014	Nothing Is The Same
	Orange October (XII) – Giants Win Game 7 (3 To 2) And World Series (4 To 3)
2013	Hours, Days, And Years
2012	In Kev Are In Hil
2011	No Game, Didn’t Really Happen
	A Good Post

Read Full Post »

The Hard Way Every Time

Everything I did in my life that was worthwhile I caught hell for.
—    Earl Warren
Former Chief Justice
United States Supreme Court
[You can find the song’s lyrics on my Poems page.    —    kmab]
.
On This Day In:
2021	Too Heavy A Burden
	I Don’t Mind At All
2020	Compare, Contrast And Learn
	Some Dreams Do Come True
	Just In Case
2019	Can I Get A Witness?
2018	I’d Still Like To Try It Out
2017	In Every Thing
2016	Future Halo
2015	The Hard Way Every Time
2014	Indispensable Wits
2013	I’d Like To
2012	2012 National League Champions – San Francisco Giants!!
	2nd Viewing – No Change
	Light Shining Out of Darkness
2011	Just Kickin It
	Are These The “Real” Protectors Of America’s Constitution?
2010	Giants Advance To 2010 World Series!!!

Read Full Post »

No Less

Today, as always, the people, no less than the courts, must remain vigilant to preserve the principals of our Bill of Rights, lest in our desire to be secure we lose our ability to be free.
—   Earl Warren
Former Chief Justice
United States Supreme Court
[Note the use of the word “principals” instead of “principles”.  This indicates superior position rather than “simply” equally important opinions and conditions.  To quote Benjamin Franklin:  “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”   —    kmab]
.
On This Day In:
2021	Of Course The Term “Value” Is Undefined
	Waiting
2020	I Hadn’t Thought Of That
	Keep Looking!
2019	Knocking On Impeachment’s Door
2018	Do You Remember?
2017	Choose Life
	My Response To President Trump’s Threat To NBC
2016	We, Us, All
2015	No Less
2014	Life Advice (50)
	Orange October (IV) – Giants Win Game 1 Of NLCS!
2013	Running To
2012	Suddenly
2011	Liberal Washington
2010	Giants Advance To NLCS!!

Read Full Post »

Separate, Fearful And Imprisoned

Racism separates, but it never liberates.  Hatred generates fear, and fear once given a foothold;  binds, consumes and imprisons.  Nothing is gained from prejudice.  No one benefits from racism.
—    Thurgood Marshall, Former Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Acceptance Speech
July 4, 1992
Independence Hall
Philadelphia, PA
.
On This Day In:
2014	Something Worth Making
2013	Absolutely
2012	Can Do
2011	Wise Criticism

Read Full Post »

We Must Dissent

We cannot play ostrich.  Democracy just cannot flourish amid fear.  Liberty cannot bloom amid hate.  Justice cannot take root amid rage.  America must get to work.  In the chill climate in which we live, we must go against the prevailing wind.  We must dissent from the indifference.  We must dissent from the apathy.  We must dissent from the fear, the hatred and the mistrust.  We must dissent from a nation that has buried its head in the sand, waiting in vain for the needs of its poor, its elderly, and its sick to disappear and just blow away.  We must dissent from a government that has left its young without jobs, education or hope.  We must dissent from the poverty of vision and the absence of moral leadership.  We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better.
The legal system can force open doors and sometimes even knock down walls.  But it cannot build bridges.  That job belongs to you and me.  Afro and White, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, our fates are bound together.  We can run from each other but we cannot escape each other.  We will only attain freedom if we learn to appreciate what is different and muster the courage to discover what is fundamentally the same.  America’s diversity offers so much richness and opportunity.  Take a chance, won’t you?  Knock down the fences that divide.  Tear apart the walls that imprison.  Reach out, freedom lies just on the other side.  We should have liberty for all.
—   Thurgood Marshall
Former Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Acceptance Speech for the Liberty Medal
July 4, 1992
Independence Hall
Philadelphia, PA
[I “found” this quote when it was read (twice) in the Netflix TV series “Daredevil” which I reviewed earlier this month.  The sentences about “dissent” were quoted.    —    KMAB]
.
On This Day In:
2014	Now What?
2013	Judgement
2012	Stuck In My Mind
	Life’s Hope
2011	Just Getting Up
	Directions Please

Read Full Post »

On Pornography

The people do not exist for the sake of literature, to give the author fame, the publisher wealth, and the book a market.  On the contrary, literature exists for the sake of the people, to refresh the weary, to console the sad, to hearten the dull and downcast, to increase man’s interest in the world, his joy of living, and his sympathy in all sorts and conditions of men.  Art for art’s sake is heartless and soon grows artless;  art for the public market is not art at all, but commerce;  art for the people’s service is a noble, vital and permanent element of human life…  Masterpieces have never been produced by men given to obscenity or lustful thoughts – men who have no Master…  Good work in literature has its permanent mark;  it is like all good work, noble and lasting.  It requires a human aim – to cheer, console, purify, or ennoble the life of people.  With this aim, literature has never sent an arrow close to the mark.  It is by good work only that men of letters can justify their right to a place in the world.
—    Circuit Judge Martin Manton
Writing in his dissenting opinion on the pornographic nature of the book “Ulysses” by James Joyce in the case:  United States v. One Book Entitled Ulysses, 72 F.2d 705 (2d Cir. 1934)
The majority opinion was that the book was not pornography and the court’s decision was upheld on review.
[Actually, the classification of any art – literature or other – as pornography or otherwise is very subjective and difficult.  As such, I prefer the better known quote concerning pornography:
“I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it,…“
—    Mr. Justice Potter Stewart
United States Supreme Court
Concurring in Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 US 184 (1964).
Both quotes are about “art” but from unrelated cases – one about a book and the other about a movie.  While I personally agree with the court’s decision about “Ulysses“, I find myself in complete agreement with Judge Manton’s statement that “Good work in literature has its permanent mark“.
Today’s post is unusual in that I don’t normally compare / contrast quotes and I also don’t normally comment on them.  “Interpretation” is normally left to the reader.   There is no particular reason for today’s exception.   —   kmab]
.
On This Day In:
2022	Be Someone For Somebody
2021	Genius (And Other Details)
	I Don’t Know Why
	Going Into The Deep End
2020	Repercussions For Health
2019	Chained To #45
2018	Some Men Make Their Office As Small As Themselves
2017	Too Many
2016	Not Yet, Anyway
2015	On Pornography
2014	Nudge, Nudge
2013	The Journey Will Be Joy
2012	Hopeful Flights
2011	Irrationally Predictable
	Lawful Restraint

Read Full Post »