A Column You Should Read about "Citizens United," a Story by Sid and an Epidemic that can Kill You.

Reminder: The POTPOURRI POLL over to the right is not updated at the same time as the rest of the blog is. That means that changes in it are not necessarily concurrent with new postings on the blog.  That's just the way things are set up by Google Blogspot, the system on which Jack's Potpourri is based.  What is your favorite Ice cream flavor?  (that poll will run until February 15, so check a box today.)

The picture we’ve shown on the past few updates was taken a few summers ago at a lake in the middle of Cape Cod, MA, a few miles north of Hyannis. Watch for a new picture to identify in a few days.   And now read on.  

                                                    

I recommend that all of you go online to read E.J. Dionne Jr.’s column entitled “The Citizens United Castastrophe” published earlier this week in the Washington Post and carried in my local area in the Palm Beach Post.  For those of you unable to access it, I include a copy below, as it appeared online.  I urge all of you to pass on the message in its last paragraph to your Senators and Representatives.   

While Dionne apparently has said it all, I might add that the Citizens United decision is possibly the greatest threat to democracy in America since George the Third.  (And we have five Supreme Court Justices who apparently do not recognize that.   Justice Scalia has even suggested that those who object to ads made possible by the Citizens United decision can always change their TV channel or shut their sets off.  I get the feeling that the majority on the Court is drifting in the direction of declaring that screaming “fire” when there is none in a crowded theatre is a right protected by the First Amendment.)

Jack Lippman

                                                         

The Citizens United Catastrophe

By E.J. Dionne Jr., Published: February 5   (Washington Post)

We have seen the world created by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, and it doesn’t work. Oh, yes, it works nicely for the wealthiest and most powerful people in the country, especially if they want to shroud their efforts to influence politics behind shell corporations. It just doesn’t happen to work if you think we are a democracy and not a plutocracy.

Two years ago, Citizens United tore down a century’s worth of law aimed at reducing the amount of corruption in our electoral system. It will go down as one of the most naive decisions ever rendered by the court. 

The strongest case against judicial activism — against “legislating from the bench,” as former President George W. Bush liked to say — is that judges are not accountable for the new systems they put in place, whether by accident or design.

The Citizens United justices were not required to think through the practical consequences of sweeping aside decades of work by legislators, going back to the passage of the landmark Tillman Act in 1907, who sought to prevent untoward influence-peddling and indirect bribery. 

If ever a court majority legislated from the bench (with Bush’s own appointees leading the way), it was the bunch that voted for Citizens United. Did a single justice in the majority even imagine a world of super PACs and phony corporations set up for the sole purpose of disguising a donor’s identity? Did they think that a presidential candidacy might be kept alive largely through the generosity of a Las Vegas gambling magnate with important financial interests in China? Did they consider that the democratizing gains made in the last presidential campaign through the rise of small online contributors might be wiped out by the brute force of millionaires and billionaires determined to have their way?

“The appearance of influence or access, furthermore, will not cause the electorate to lose faith in our democracy.” Those were Justice Anthony Kennedy’s words in his majority opinion. How did he know that? Did he consult the electorate? Did he think this would be true just because he said it?

Justice John Paul Stevens’ observation in his dissent reads far better than Kennedy’s in light of subsequent events. “A democracy cannot function effectively,” he wrote, “when its constituent members believe laws are being bought and sold.”

But ascribing an outrageous decision to naiveté is actually the most sympathetic way of looking at what the court did in Citizens United. A more troubling interpretation is that a conservative majority knew exactly what it was doing: that it set out to remake our political system by fiat in order to strengthen the hand of corporations and the wealthy. Seen this way, Citizens United was an attempt by five justices to push future electoral outcomes in a direction that would entrench their approach to governance. 

In fact, this decision should be seen as part of a larger initiative by moneyed conservatives to rig the electoral system against their opponents. How else to explain conservative legislation in state after state to obstruct access to the ballot by lower-income voters — particularly members of minority groups — through voter identification laws, shortened voting periods and restrictions on voter registration campaigns? 

Conservatives are strengthening the hand of the rich at one end of the system and weakening the voting power of the poor at the other. As veteran journalist Elizabeth Drew noted in an important New York Review of Books article, “little attention is being paid to the fact that our system of electing a president is under siege.”

Those who doubt that Citizens United (combined with a comatose Federal Election Commission) has created a new political world with broader openings for corruption should consult reports last week by Nicholas Confessore and Michael Luo in the New York Times and by T.W. Farnam in The Washington Post. Both accounts show how American politics has become a bazaar for the very wealthy and for increasingly aggressive corporations. We might consider having candidates wear corporate logos. This would be more honest than pretending that tens of millions in cash will have no impact on how we will be governed.

In the short run, Congress should do all it can within the limits of Citizens United to contain the damage it is causing. In the long run, we have to hope that a future Supreme Court will overturn this monstrosity, remembering that the first words of our Constitution are “We the People,” not “We the Rich.”

ejdionne@washpost.com

                                              

                                                    

                                                                       

An Epidemic Which Can Kill You

If something happens to me twice within a two week period, I have to assume it is happening to others as well and is clearly not just an infrequent occurrence.  What is more important is that what happened is potentially dangerous.  

A few weeks ago, waiting to be seated at a nearby restaurant, the hostess announced that someone had left their engine running in a red Lexus 350.  Since no one responded to her message, I strolled over to the car, found the door to be unlocked (as I expected since most newer cars with an engine left running usually cannot be locked from the outside), opened it, leaned in and pressed the button shutting off the engine.  

Most recently, in the clubhouse of the community where I live, someone made the same kind of announcement to those there.  Again, no one stepped forward to claim ownership of the blue Infiniti whose engine was running, and again, after waiting a few minutes, I went out to the unlocked car, pushed the button and shut off the engine.  How often is this happening, I wonder?

Ignoring the fact that leaving an empty unlocked car with an engine running makes things easy for car thieves, it is extremely dangerous as well because the engine is spewing out exhaust which includes odorless carbon monoxide.  Out in a parking lot, this isn’t going to do much harm, but in a closed garage, it can be fatal.  The same drivers who didn’t hear the incessant beeping of an alert signal reminding them that their car’s engine was still running in a parking lot might miss it in their own garage as well, particularly if they were in a great hurry to get out of their car due to a bout of urinary urgency accompanied by partial or temporary deafness, neither of which can be as fatal as odorless carbon monoxide poisoning is.  How often do you read about such deaths in the papers?

I recommend that all drivers, particularly those with cars with push button ignitions rather than keys, (1) always make certain they turn off their engine when leaving their vehicles, (2) familiarize themselves with the beeping alert signal their vehicle provides if they fail to do so, (3) have their hearing checked, (4) wear their hearing aids, if they have one, when in their cars, and most of all, (5) install a carbon monoxide alarm in their home, available at stores such as Home Depot or Lowe’s for about $25, in the room adjacent to the garage. 

JL

                                                                               

                                                                                                             

A Judge’s Dilemma

Sid Bolotin

The judge entered the holding-cage area in the basement of the courthouse. The smell of human sourness made him gasp. His neatly arranged, clean robes made his appearance almost ludicrous in contrast with the unwashed disheveled prisoners. Ordinarily he never came down here to view the accused before they appeared in his courtroom, but the horrendous nature of this crime compelled him to come to see these five perpetrators. They were easy to spot as they huddled slightly apart from the other prisoners… as if they were pariahs among their own kind. His revulsion tasted like bile as he began an internal dialogue with himself.

“How can I be expected to apply the law impartially to these animals?”

“They should be shot or lynched…somehow removed from society for the heinous misery they’ve caused.”

“They deserve execution, so why bother with the playact of a trial that wastes the state’s money to create a media circus?”

After staring a few moments, he turned and plodded up the stairs to his chambers. He plopped onto his couch, wearily dropped his head back, and watched through half-closed eyes as his clerk, Donna, puttered with the papers on his desk.

“Well, Spencer,” she spoke from years-long familiarity, “you’ve got a tough one, haven’t you? Can you handle it?”

“I really don’t know, Donna,” he sighed. “I just saw them in the tank downstairs. They were cozily huddled together and chitchatting as if they were waiting to attend a concert. They were so blasé that I felt like vomiting. Their crime deserves capital punishment. Damn the liberals for pleading their cause based on their abused childhoods. Why don’t the God-damn liberals ever champion the victim?”

“Wow, Spencer, what a turn-a round. I never expected you to suggest capital punishment. You’ve always sided with promoters of rehabilitation. You’ve always declared yourself as pro-life. You’re always saying that if we execute, we foster violence with violence. Do you think you should recluse yourself?”

“I’m actually toying with the idea,” Donna. “I shudder when I think of fielding the bullshit from the defense lawyers. And, I’m nauseous when I consider that I will have to also look into the faces of the victim’s family. How can I see their misery and impartially administer points of law? We know those bastards are guilty. The poor girl’s boyfriend identified them without question. After all, they had slashed his throat and dumped him, thinking he would die. Why not just let him avenge his girlfriend by hanging those roaches one at a time?”

“Spencer, you’re tired and disillusioned. You’re talking a little ragtime. Are you positive you can handle this? I’ve never seen you this distraught. You can’t allow yourself this kind of thinking. You represent what’s so great about our legal system. In spite of your personal feelings I know that you’ll preside with your usual impartial management of the trial.”

“I hope your right, Donna. These feelings go so deep this time that I think I could execute them myself. She was only 18, Donna, a lovely, smart young woman ready to contribute goodness to the world. Why did she have to die like that … being raped, then shot by those animals?  If their lawyers manipulate the facts to create doubt, the jury could get hung up, and they could go free. They really deserve to die you know… even the juvenile.

“Spencer, please don’t talk like that. You’re due to start in 15-minutes. Why not meditate and calm yourself. I’ll see to it that you are not disturbed.”

Judge Spencer closed his eyes as Donna left the room. He breathed quietly, following his breath as it entered and left his nostrils. He counted his exhalations while sitting erect on the couch. He thought of his Zen teachings that called for right action as his mind scurried to-and-fro like a mouse seeking cheese in a maze. He thought of many past cases he had tried that had resulted in the perpetrators escaping justice because of some slick lawyering, and how impotent he had felt. How could he resolve this dilemma of impartial trial versus miscarriage versus justice? As he continued to quietly watch his breath, his mind became still, like the ripples smoothing out after a rock has dropped into a lake. He became conscious of a firm resolve shaping deep within his being, as he sensed his right action crystallizing.

“Judge Spencer, Judge Spencer, you’re on in five minutes.” broke his reverie as Donna called to him through the half-opened door. He rose from the couch, glanced at the door thoughtfully for a moment, and then stepped purposefully to his desk.

He took his pistol from a drawer, lifted his robe, tucked the weapon into the waistband of his pants, and strode resolutely toward the courtroom door.

                      
                                                                                                                                          
Most readers of this blog are alerted by Email every time a new posting appears.  If you wish to be added to that Email list, just let me know by contacting me at Riart1@aol.com.  

Also, be aware that www.Jackspotpourri.com is now available on your mobile devices in a modified, easy-to-read, format.

Our family of web sites includes:   www.computerdrek.com  - www.politicaldrek.com  -  www.sportsdrek.com  -  www.healthdrek.com. 
Check all of them out, find out what “drek” really means and feel free to submit your thoughts and articles for publication on these sites, which, while still “under construction,” already contain some interesting content.

Jack Lippman

                                                         

To send this posting to a friend, or enemy for that matter, whom you think might be interested in it, just click on the envelope with the arrow on the "Comments" line directly below.