Well, well, well...

An interesting thing happened recently in my adopted home county (Doña Ana County, NM). The County Clerk decided to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. A local minister from some off-beat religion agreed to perform marriage ceremonies. As you may expect, same-sex couples from throughout the region flocked here to be married.

But, the boom may be ending... the County Clerk of Bernalillo County (Albuquerque) has agreed to do the same. Albuquerque has an airport served by many carriers and is much more accessible.

(UPDATE: Eight New Mexico counties are now issuing same-sex marriage licenses.) 

NM Governor Susanna Martinez is not pleased. She thinks we cannot have a situation where the legality of marriage varies county by county. She wants a vote of the people to settle the question on a statewide basis.

While I oppose same-sex marriage, Technically I agree with both the Governor and the County Clerks.

Recently, August 18, we observed the 93rd anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protected the right to vote, irrespective of gender: Woman's Suffrage.

The 19th Amendment was good - enumerating that right, but was not really necessary. The 9th Amendment assured that enumerated rights did not deny or disparage other rights. The 10th Amendment went a step further; it says that unless something is specifically prohibited by the Constitution, that right is retained to the states or to the people. Nothing in the U.S. Constitution specifically prohibited women from voting, so they always (at least since March 4, 1789) had that right.

The New Mexico Constitution has similar provisions. Article II, Sec. 18 says: "Equality of rights under law shall not be denied on account of the sex of any person."

Article II, Sec. 23, "Reserved Rights", has language identical to the 10th amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Thus, it does not specifically deny the right of same-sex couples to marry.

Then, there is that other matter; custom. or, the good of the many. Our second president, John Adams, commented, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Why did he say that? Because the very nature of immorality is to deny moral accountability to anyone but one's self! Immorality says, “I will do what I please”; morality says, “I will restrain my behavior for the good of myself and the good of the many.”

Recently, NY Senator Charles Schumer made the absurd statement that 'none of the Constitutional Amendments are absolute. You may not falsely yell "Fire" in a crowded theater'. As per John Adams' premise, surely no moral person believes the 1st Amendment was written to protect the right to falsely yell "Fire" in a crowded theater!

Marriage, between one man and one woman has been the custom throughout recorded history. As  British Historian, Paul Johnson said, “The study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance. It is humbling to discover how many of our glib assumptions, which seem to us novel and plausible, have been tested before, not once but many times and in innumerable guises; and discovered to be, at great human cost, wholly false.”

History also tells us that homosexuality has existed for eons. Is not the current trend of same-sex marriage one of the 'glib assumptions' Johnson referenced?

K.I.S.S.

Keep It Simple, Stupid!

That was one of our rules in radio broadcasting. Our language is full of thousands of wonderful words, which more perfectly describe daily events and common objects. Many of those words are unfamiliar to a large swath of the population. Our job was to communicate, not confuse. We worked hard to keep our speech immediately clear to all of our audience.

If you are writing for print, I believe in using the more descriptive words in our language. Reading the printed page, you can take a moment to check the definition of a word, then continue reading. My Dad had only a fourth grade education, but he loved to learn. He bought one of those Oxford unabridged dictionaries (about ten inches thick) and built a special stand for it. He kept that massive dictionary next to his chair, and he read all sorts of things. He constantly referenced his big dictionary for definitions.

Yet, we know that few people will be so diligent in their quest to comprehend. So, important writings, such as law, should be written in the language of the average man. The Founding Fathers understood, and wrote the blueprint for our entire government in a brief document we call The Constitution. Recently, sitting in a waiting room in a doctor's office. I re-read the entire document. Amendments and all.

I believe most people prefer simple language for daily communication. That is why most native Spanish speakers speak Spanish in their homes. For them, Spanish is more instantly understood - they don't need to stop and puzzle over the meaning.

The popularity of the new reality TV show Duck Dynasty is further proof that many people are happiest when you 'keep it simple, stupid'.

Sometimes, however, the simplest form of expression is the most descriptive, the clearest in meaning.

Recently, Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the Duck Dynasty family gave a speech on abortion. He said our Declaration of Independence described life as an inalienable right. So, asked Robertson, how do we justify depriving an infant that inalienable right by ripping it, piece by piece, from its mother's womb.

Harsh language, to be sure. But what choice of words could actually be a more accurate description of the event we so delicately call choice?

Have we just forgotten?

I watched hours of TV news yesterday, listened to the radio a couple of hours, and checked the on-line version of our newspaper, yet I saw or heard no mention of the fact that August 15 is the anniversary of V-J Day - the day (in 1945) when the Imperial Government of Japan surrendered, ending combat in World War II.

I know, it has been 68 years. But when World War I ended, that date (November 11) became a national holiday. I am not suggesting another holiday, just a brief remembrance.

On December 7, 1941, when Japan dragged the U.S. into the war by destroying much of our Naval facilities in Hawaii, we were ill-prepared for war. But, within the span of just 1,347 days, we rebuilt our manufacturing capabilities and our military, and defeated the ready-for-war Axis powers.

Wouldn't you think someone in news media would have mentioned that? Given that youth is the valued asset in today's culture, there probably are no working reporters who were alive 68 years ago. But, is that date not noted on anyone's calendar? Or has Japan become such an important ally that it would not be PC to remind them of their defeat?

How about teaching Japanese students, and our own, that on August 15, 1945, the Japanese people came to their senses and tossed out the conquest-bound leaders who had led them into so much death and destruction? 

Smart Politics

Since I was a kid, suffering through Roosevelt's depression (there was nothing "great" about it), I have said that the Democrat Party will lie, cheat, steal, commit fraud, and do anything and everything illegal, to win an election. That is not "smart" politics. That is crooked politics.

I believe the original display of "smart" politics occurred in 1787. Then, The Founders wrote Article I, Section 2 of The Constitution. It enabled slave-holding states to count a slave as only 3/5 of a person, for the purpose of determining the number of their representatives in Congress.

Yes, that was a horrible proposition, but it was not illegal. The prejudiced slave-holders happily agreed, believing, as they did, that a black man was not fully a human being.

The result was that the representation in Congress by the slave-holding states was reduced, paving the way for the passage of anti-slavery measures. Then, in 1868, after the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, the 14th amendment was ratified, striking the 3/5 language from The Constitution.

Smart politics!

Now we are engaged in a debate over defunding The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). President Obama has threatened to "shut down" the government if such provisions are in a Continuing Resolution which, again, will bust the budget and spend another trillion dollars.

Recalling the events of 1995, many fear such an event would cause great harm to the Republican Party! It is time again for Smart Politics! Every credible poll shows that majorities of every imaginable group of Americans are opposed to ACA. If the Republicans clearly articulate their intentions to fund all of government except ACA, the public will support them. If the Democrats reject that proposal, it is they who will be shutting down the government.

Doing the will of the people, for the good of the people, is always smart politics!

Who Are We???

Are we Japan, where our Emperor is a Deity?

Are we England, where our Dear Queen, by virtue of birthright only, is entitled to respect and reverence for her entire life!

Are we North Korea, where one can be imprisoned for insulting our Dear Leader?

No! We are the United States of America, with three co-equal branches of government. Where the head of our Executive Branch is just another politician who has conned millions of citizens into
voting for him/her. Where we are guaranteed the right to criticize or speak against this political person.

Now comes an incident in my native state of Missouri, where a rodeo clown (clown=pretend-to-be-a-fool) is banned for life from the State Fair Rodeo, because he wore a mask of our current president and acted a fool.

Come on, people! This is not 1850 or 1860. This is 2013! Enough of the skin-color BS! Good Grief!

There have been "clown masks" of every president, since people learned how to make them cheaply and sell them, for a buck or so.

I am disgusted with Missouri State Fair officials, the NAACP, Sharpton, Jackson, and every other race-baiter on the planet.  

Opinions of recent observations

 
1. The gift of organized labor: Just read (or heard) some gal talking about all that organized labor has given the American people. She was so misinformed it was painful to observe. Organized labor did not give us the 40-hour week, as she said. Henry Ford did that. When he developed the assembly line for making automobiles, the work was so monotonous he could not keep employees. So he cut work time to an 8-hour day, five days a week, and doubled the hourly rate.

It worked pretty well, but later, when a young Japanese engineer named Toyoda sought his advice, Ford taught Toyoda many other things, like giving every employee the ability to stop the assembly line if he temporarily fell behind. These things made working on the line more bearable.

Toyoda employed Ford's advice in his motor car company (spelled Toyota) and became hugely successful. Interestingly, Toyota employees are not often union organized.

I'll tell you what organized labor gave us: an adversarial relationship between employers and employees. After the Great Depression, during which it was almost impossible to find a job, men were so grateful to have a steady paycheck, they believed in giving their employer an honest hour's work for an hour's pay.

Labor unions taught workers to believe they should squeeze every possible dime from their employers, while reducing their performance to the minimum necessary to hold their job.

2. Employer provided health insurance... isn't that a good thing?: Shakespeare wrote about "the tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive". Indeed. "During World War II, Employer-sponsored health insurance plans dramatically expanded as a direct result of wage controls imposed by the federal government.

The labor market was tight because of the increased demand for goods and decreased supply of workers during the war. Federally imposed wage and price controls prohibited manufacturers and other employers from raising wages enough to attract workers.

When the War Labor Board declared that fringe benefits, such as sick leave and health insurance, did not count as wages for the purpose of wage controls, employers responded with significantly increased offers of fringe benefits, especially health care coverage, to attract workers." (Wikipedia, the Online Encyclopedia.)

So, it all began with an effort to 'legally' break the law. Yes, that law was a misplaced idea, but that is all part of the tangled web.

3. Minimum wage laws: Of all the dumb things that originated in the last century, the mandated "minimum wage" is surely the dumbest.Two kinds of people push minimum wage: A: well-meaning, but ill-informed individuals who think they are bettering people's lives. ("You cannot support a family on minimum wage!") B. Well-informed but dishonest politicians who only seek more votes.

I once worked for 10¢ an hour. Hard work, too! I didn't need "support", I just wanted to earn some spending money. But I learned a lot about showing up on time and doing the job I was supposed to do.

I remember when movie theaters hired teenage ushers for 50¢ an hour. They just hung around at the back of the theater and when a customer came in, they used their flashlight to guide the customer down a dark aisle to a vacant seat.

The kids got to see movies for free and earn a little spending money. Like me, they also learned to show up for work, on time, bathed and appropriately dressed. They learned how to relate to people. Valuable experience for when they were ready to seek a full time job.

The minimum wage ended all that. Many kids, who had no skills, could no longer work. What do idle kids do? Many take to the streets and get into trouble. They may later mature. They may learn some skill. But without the experience of actually working on a real job, they are largely unemployable.