Critical Decision Time at the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court will hear two cases in the coming months that could set back the United States' standing as a modern democracy.  The right-wing activist judges on the court will have the opportunity to overturn both the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the federal campaign contribution limitations on individuals.  After Citizens United which did away with limits on corporate and labor union contributions, this additional one-two punch to our democracy would set us even further down the road to a plutocracy. 

The Voting Rights Act was one of the most palpable results of the civil rights movement of the late 1950's and early 1960's.  In her excellent analysis in yesterday's New York Times, Linda Greenhouse asks: "How can it be that one of the crowning achievements of the civil rights movement, a provision upheld on four previous occasions by the Supreme Court and re-enacted in 2006 by overwhelming bipartisan majorities in Congress (98-0 in the Senate, 390-33 in the House), a law that President George W. Bush urged the justices to uphold again four years ago in one of his final acts in office, a law that has demonstrably defeated myriad efforts both flagrant and subtle to suppress or dilute the African-American vote, is now hanging by a thread?" 

And what a thin thread that is.  In his opinion on an earlier Voting Rights Act case (2009) involving an election district in Austin, Texas, Chief Justice Roberts stated that "things have changed in the south".  Fortunately the Court did not at that time overturn Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.  This time around, when the Court hears Shelby County, Alabama petition, we may not be so fortunate. 

Section 5, the pre-clearance provision, requires that the United States Department of Justice or a panel of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia "preclear" any attempt to change “any voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure with respect to voting..." in any "covered jurisdiction."  Covered jurisdictions are those with a history of past voting discrimination and in which less than 50% of the population was registered to vote in 1964.  Because of their Jim Crow laws, poll taxes, and the jury-rigged literacy tests with their so called "grandfather clauses", many Southern states require pre-clearance before they can change their voting laws.  Thing of the past, you say?  Just consider the voter suppression laws that numerous Republican-controlled states tried to enact this past election cycle.  Texas' voter suppression law was invalidated before the November election because it was not granted pre-clearance under the Voting Rights Act. 

The Voting Rights Act has done enormous good in allowing all citizens to exercise their right to vote with language that mirrors the 15th Amendment . That Amendment, ratified in 1870, provided that, "The right of U.S. citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Let's hope the current Supreme Court keeps it that way.

Alabama also plays a role in the case arguing against aggregate spending limits for individuals.  The case is brought by Shaun McCutcheon, an Alabama man, and, surprise, surprise, the Republican National Committee. They argue that the current aggregate limits for a two-year cycle , $46,200 for contributions to candidates and $70,800 for contributions to groups, are too low.  As noted by Adam Liptik in the New York Times on February 19: "Should the court agree that those overall limits are unconstitutional, however, its decision could represent a fundamental reassessment of a basic distinction established in Buckley v. Valeo in 1976, which said contributions may be regulated more strictly than expenditures because of their potential for corruption."  Is there any hope at all that this Court, responsible for declaring corporations persons in Citizens United and for striking down campaign finance laws in Vermont (2006) and Montana (2012), will do the right thing for the democracy and prevent the further incursion of Big Money into the political process?

At a time when the influence of money in politics is so overwhelming that even common-sense gun control legislation is bottled up indefinitely in Congress, at a time when Republican governors and legislatures seem hell-bent on denying people their right to vote, the Supreme Court can strike a blow for democracy by holding the line on these two cases.  The Court either can do what is good for the country or it can agree with the right-wing ideologues that have dominated the political conversation for more than 30 years.  These cases will be a test of how far we've gone down the road to plutocracy and how far we've strayed from protecting citizens' right to vote.  I cannot say that I am hopeful.

Meteors, Asteroids, Lightning Strikes

Over the past few days we've witnessed two celestial events involving near earth objects and one very interesting lightning strike. 

In reverse chronological order, today we saw the closest approach to Earth of a medium-sized asteroid since the Tunguska event of 1908.  The explosion from the latter incident occurred  at about 7 am local time June 30, 1908 in a forested area near the Tunguska River in Siberia.  Thank goodness for that - the force of the explosion has been estimated to be between 5 and 30 megatons, with 10-15 megatons being the most likely - about 1000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.  As it was, the Tunguska detonation knocked down an estimated 80 million trees in an area of 830 square miles. 

So how does today's fly-by of Asteroid 2012 DA14 compare to Tunguska?  Most importantly, DA14 missed.  The closest it came was 17,200 miles.  Galactically speaking this is close - it's within the orbit of many of our satellites, less than 10% of the distance from the Earth to the Moon, and about 70% of the circumference of the Earth.   When DA14 comes back around 2080, there is a very slight chance that it may impact the Earth. according to one of the commentators on the NASA live feed today.  Size-wise, DA 14 is about half the diameter of the object that impacted Tunguska.  Even at half the size, had DA14 hit (or if it hits in 2080) it still would have packed a 2.4 megaton punch. 

Also interesting is how far we've come since Galileo used his telescope to view the moons of Jupiter.  This asteroid was first noted by an amateur astronomy group scanning the skies in Spain just under one year ago.  And today, even during the daylight here in the US, the Internet allowed transmission of live video from observatories in other parts of the world - particularly Australia. 

Discovery.Com has a webpage "How to Watch Asteroid 2012 DA14 Zoom Past Earth" that is informative and even contains a link to one of my favorite questions "How do you stop an asteroid?"  Among the possible answers: nuclear weapons (Note 1), kinetic nudging, vaporizing it with mirrors, netting it, painting it and several others.  In the final analysis, though, what happens if it's too late to do any of these things?  The website analysis: evacuation would be the only and last resort. 

Okay, enough for today's asteroid.  Just 16 hours before 2012 DA14 reached its nearest approach to Earth, a meteor streaked across the Russian Urals. Per the AP as reported in the Huffington Post: "With a blinding flash and a booming shock wave, a meteor blazed across the western Siberian sky Friday...injuring more than 1,000 people as it blasted out windows and spread panic in a city of 1 million... The meteor above western Siberia entered the Earth's atmosphere at a hypersonic speed of at least 54,000 kph [33,000 mph] and shattered into pieces about 30-50 kilometers (18 to 32 miles) high, the Russian Academy of Sciences said."  NASA estimated that the meteor released "300 to 500 kilotons [0.3 to 0.5 megatons] of energy and left a trail 300 miles long."  There is apparently no connection to DA14 but I don't think I'm going to be moving to Siberia anytime soon.  The place this meteor hit is about 1500 miles from Tunguska.  I know - Siberia's a big place..still...

Finally, on Monday February 11, Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation from the Papacy.  Two hours later, lightning apparently struck the dome of St. Peter's Basilica.  I'm not sure what this has to do with anything but I thought it was a rather interesting coincidence also.  Popes do not normally resign.  The last to do so was Gregory XII, 598 years ago. 


Note 1 - In the State of Dis-Union post, I recommended we keep 5 of the current 15,000 nuclear warheads around for this purpose...I stand by the figure.  Asteroids of this size hit Earth about once every 1200 years or about twice as long as the time since the last papal resignation.

Note 2 - I also recommended in the State of Dis-Union that you go to sleep before Marc Rubio spoke.  Actually that may have been a mistake...the apparent high point of Rubio's speech was when he took a sip of Poland Spring water.  Jon Stewart had a hilarious bit on the Republican response.

Note 3 - What's the difference between a meteor, meteorite, comet and asteroid?  TheBlaze website has a succinct definition of these terms.

State of Dis-Union

Esteemed members of Congress, Supreme Court, fellow Americans, etc. Welcome to my fifth State of the Union speech. Sorry, Mitch McConnell. The combined efforts of the Republican-generated voter suppression laws, the Chamber of Commerce, the NRA, and the Citizens United money plus your party's obstructionism on just about everything that could have helped speed the recovery – it just wasn't enough to prevent my second term.

In this speech. I am once again going to demonstrate that I have learned absolutely nothing about the tactics and strategies of my opponents in Congress by my appeals to their concern for the common good.

I am once again going to layout a very modest middle-of-the-road agenda that doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of passing in the Republican-controlled House or in the still-filibuster-wracked Senate. Thanks a lot, Harry Reid – what did you actually accomplish with filibuster reform? With great foresight, I predict that John Boehner seated behind me on my left will not rise once for a standing ovation to anything I'm about to say.

I am once again going to show that I have bought into the nonsense about deficit reduction being the most important problem facing America today. This at a time when 14 million Americans are “officially” unemployed , an additional 10 million underemployed and 4 million discouraged workers who would like to work but have not looked for a job in more than a year. For you knuckle draggers that don't believe in science and possibly math: that adds up to 28 million unemployed or underemployed. As any fool knows, deficit-driven-austerity does not create jobs in a climate like this.

Nah, I changed my mind. I won't do that. I'll give a real state of the union speech instead.

On the domestic front, we have 28 million unemployed or underemployed. Meanwhile, the Americans Job Act is still awaiting passage in Congress. Twenty percent of America's children live in poverty. Overall nearly 50 millionAmericans – about one in six – are living below the poverty level. To speak of austerity and a long-term deficit problem now is, quite frankly, obscene. (Take a look at Europe and see how “well” their austerity programs are working out.) What is needed instead is a massive public works program to repair the nation's crumbling infrastructure and to improve the quality of our schools. We need to help states hire more teachers, firemen and police. And we need to stop talking about cutting the food stamp program or the aid to families with dependent children. I'd suggest that any Congressman who thinks our support of the vulnerable in our society is excessive live on $14,500/year (allowing for two weeks' vacation or sick time, this the salary at the national minimum wage). Do this for a couple of years and we could reduce the national debt some. Maybe you can send your wife or husband out to work and rake in a total of $29,000. Then you can live high off the hog like those “welfare queens” your ilk despise and ridicule. Of course, you'd need to find some way of taking care of the kids while you both were at work. That will cost you some.  So maybe it won't be so heavenly.

 

I've said I want to have gun control legislation passed quickly. The NRA, that mouthpiece for arms dealers, has filled the airwaves with fear and lies. Contrary to the ravings of the NRA spokesman, no one will “kick in your doors” to take your guns away. No one is talking about repealing that outdated Second Amendment passed at a time when you had to reload your powder after every shot and intended clearly to apply to a well-regulated militia. Universal background checks are pretty much supported universally. Heh-heh. But a ban on assault weapons, high capacity magazines, armor-piercing bullets must be part of the overall reform or we will not be moving towards a solution to the issue of gun violence. Congress, and this includes you Democrats from Red States and Harry Reid: get the damned bill for a vote to the floor and vote for it. Otherwise I will actively campaign against you in the next primary.

As for making it easier for people to vote, it's not just the vote-discouraging long lines we need to address. We need to fight the coordinated effort to disenfranchise voters seen in the last election. There is nothing more undemocratic than to deny people the right to vote. Voter suppression laws and the legislators and governors who promulgate them will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. And don't even think about repealing the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

On immigration reform, if a comprehensive package is not on my desk in 30 days, I will (a) issue executive orders to make the path to citizenship immediately easier for all immigrants and (b) send Congress my own proposal.  .

 

On entitlement programs may need a tweak here and there but we will generate signifcant savings by gaining the right to negotiate Medicare drug prices with pharmaceutical companies.  Overall Americans spend close to $3 trillion/yr on health care.  About one in ten of our health dollars goes for prescription drugs ($300 billion).  If we all could reduce the cost of drugs by 1/3 by negotiating with pharmaceutical companies, that would save about $100 billion/year - much of which would result in savings to Medicare.

Regarding the “sequester” and the “debt limit”, let's be frank.  We manufactured these false crises ourselves. If Republicans play their brinksmanship game on the debt ceiling, it will have a major effect on the recovery and the markets and do nothing but damage the credit and faith in the ability of the United States to pay its debts. The money that is being spent has already been approved. To threaten to not pay our debts is childish and asinine.

About the only good thing in the “sequester” is the reduction in military spending. Our overbloated and unnecessary military budget is greater than that of the next 13 or 14 nations combined. Let me repeat that – greater than that of the next 13 or 14 nations combined. Fully, 41% of all military spending in the world is by the United States. If you're worried about the effect on jobs, lets put this useless spending to better use in repairs to infrastructure, new energy sources, medical research, and education.

 

To the climate change deniers, pull your heads out of your asses. We need a comprehensive program to develop alternative energy sources, increase energy efficiency in all aspects of our lives, and create meaningful mass transit and intelligent energy grids throughout the country. Oh yeah, and how about some serious research into nuclear fusion reactors. That should take care of our clean energy needs for the forerseeable future. We also need to begin preparations for engineering solutions to prevent coastal cities from being swamped by rising waters by mid-century. These efforts would be a good alternate use for the military budget.

There's a lot to do in the area of foreign affairs. I need Chuck Hagel as my secretary of defense. His appointment should not be blocked just because he has a reasonable position on Iraq, Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. With any luck, I can do something to earn my admittedly premature Nobel Peace Prize – maybe by supporting a balanced approach to the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process such as that promulgated by Americans For Peace Now, the rational alternative to AIPAC.

Securing nuclear weapons so that they don't fall into the hands of terrorists is good; dismantling and destroying all of them would be better. I don't think they have use even to stop asteroids or meteors from hitting the Earth (too unpredictable what the final effect would be) but we can keep a few around for that purpose. Heck, there are more than 15,000 nuclear warheads ready for use around the world.  Let's save maybe 5 of them for asteroids or meteors.

I am really going to shut down Gitmo this time around. Stop whining. These guys have been imprisoned for 12 freaking years.  What could they possibly know about Al Qaeda's current state of affairs? I am going to stop the drone attacks and restore all the liberties taken from Americans by the grotesquely named PATRIOT Act. Finally, all our troops will be out of Afghanistan within 6 months.

Well, it's getting late and I know you all want to get to bed. Just be sure to turn in before Marc Rubio delivers the Republican response.

 

 

Other Links

 

Who really runs the NRA?  (MoveOn)