The Supreme Court & Broadcast Decency

This week, the Supreme Court heard arguments in consolidated cases concerning the FCC’s regulation of decency. Chief Justice Roberts (as the only justice with young children) remarked that “All we are asking for, what the government is asking for, is a few channels where … they are not going to hear the S-word, the F-word, they are not going to see nudity.”

Justice Kagen expressed concern that the enforcement is inconsistent, pointing out the FCC opted not to fine ABC-TV for airing the expletive-laden movie “Saving Private Ryan” uncut. “It’s like nobody can use dirty words or nudity except for Steven Spielberg,” she commented.

Justice Stephen Breyer suggested the Court could look at the case narrowly and not strike down all of the FCC’s rules. “Does this case in front of us really call for the earthshaking decision that you all have argued for,” he asked ABC-TV attorney Seth Waxman.
While it’s always a roll of the dice to try to predict what the Supreme Court will do in a case- and we won’t see a decision in this one until likely the end of the term this summer, I believe Justice Breyer’s comment probably points to how the decision will come down. This court won’t be willing to throw out the decency rules wholesale, no matter that broadcasters have correctly argued that there are so many alternatives that decency policing is unnecessary. I predict that it will be a narrow holding, possibly setting up different guidelines for radio and television. We’ll know if I’m correct in July!

If Corporations Are People, People Should Get Corp. Benefits

Since the Citizens United decision by the US Supreme Court last January, corporations have had their ‘corporate personhood’ further extended with regards to political contributions. This has dramatically opened the corporate coffers for politicians, as has been written about at great length pro and con by analysts, and it is not the purpose of this to revisit or amplify any of those analyses.

Here, however, is a twist to the ‘corporate personhood’ fiction…why not extend those benefits corporations enjoy to natural persons…that is, you and I. Corporations can write off interest expense against income, yet natural persons are generally only afforded this valuable tax deduction on mortgage interest. (The limits are too high on some other types to really help most taxpayers. Of course, years ago, you could deduct interest on auto loans and consumer credit like credit cards until Congress wiped away these in order to take in more tax money.)

I suggest that since corporations are persons and have nearly all the rights of natural persons, the reverse ought to be true as well. By virtue of personhood, natural persons should be able to deduct ALL interest against income! Why should natural persons be denied this valuable right when corporate persons take advantage of it all the time? Limiting natural persons’ ability to deduct interest curtails their free speech rights, as they may need to charge goods or services, or purchase a car via a loan in order to express their free speech. Shouldn’t the Constitutional right to free speech trump statutes and the tax code?

I’ll start deducting all my interest right after you do without repercussions!

Rigidity and Gridlocked Government

The present Congressional theatre, like that of most of the last year, is based on gridlock created by an absolute refusal to compromise by a faction of tea party influenced Congressional members. The rigidity of thinking frankly reminds me of a jury case years ago in a simple DUI case. The jury, after deliberation, took vote after vote. One juror always voted guilty, while 11 found the defendant not guilty. This particular juror was a naturalized citizen from an Asian Communist country. He simply refused to believe that any of the testimony for the defense was evidence. In his view, only what was presented by the prosecution was evidence, and he would not be swayed by any of his fellow jurors…including a law student and a nuclear engineer, and several other professional people.

The case ended in a hung jury, and the prosecution chose not to refile. This same kind of rigid thinking by some members of Congress is damaging to our citizens and our economy in the case of the refusal to extend the payroll tax relief for a couple months. The demand to make it for a year is, of course, a red herring. The very reason the senate passed (with 89 affirmative votes!) the two month one was to allow more time to hammer out details of a year long bill.

Today, even the editorially conservative Wall Street Journal slammed the House GOP for refusing to compromise on this, with great concern that it would do a lot of damage to the GOP politically in the upcoming 2012 elections…both at the presidential and congressional level. Politics notwithstanding, it is very harmful to a group of people who don’t contribute much to politicians and therefore don’t get their ear, but who comprise a massive majority of actual voters.

Rigid stances and refusal to compromise have not served our country in good stead in the past, and certainly aren’t at this juncture. The House GOP should pass the Senate bill now.

Footprints of the Giant

A number of years ago, composer/arranger Don Sebesky wrote a piece of music called “Footprints of the Giant,” which paid homage to one of the old masters, Bela Bartok. As the year comes to a close, we often take stock of what has happened in our lives and that of those around us, and think about or plan for the upcoming year. Sebesky, like many creative people, wanted to pay tribute to someone whose shoulders he had stood upon as he worked towards, and achieved a successful musical career.

Here’s a thought for you…whose shoulders have YOU stood upon to get where you are in life? As you plan for the upcoming year, who are you going to elevate to your shoulders and help achieve success in their career going forward? Such is truly its own reward, both for you, and for humanity. That individual you help may never become a giant in your or their field, but someone they help along the way very well may.

70 Years After Pearl Harbor- Events Still Transfix Us

Pearl Harbor was bombed 70 years ago. Many of us are contemplating that, and some have pointed out that there are a lot of folks that may not pay much attention. It seems that every generation has at least one major, defining event. Since Pearl Harbor, baby boomers are transfixed by the JFK assassination. For perhaps the ‘Gen X’ folks, it’s 9-11. These events both horrify and unify us. It is pretty much a certainty that there will be others as the timeline proceeds onwards. It’s how we deal with these as a people that helps define us. Make it your business to be defined in a good and honorable way!

End of Email- Oh really?

After reading another article on the ‘death of email,’ it seemed like a good idea to write about one of the reasons many companies would be loathe to give it up. The gist of the article is that a large French company, Atos, has banned email and is switching all employees to Facebook and instant messaging. (Find the article here: http://www.businessinsider.com/company-bans-email-2011-12.)

Here are a couple of factors that will probably keep most businesses using email, which also may apply to personal email. First, neither Facebook messaging nor IMs live on company servers…they are out of the company’s control. Companies like to save an electronic ‘paper trail’ for correspondence between employees and between employees and the outside in many cases. A corollary to this is that if there is legal action, the company may receive a demand to produce all email on a matter involved in the action, and that will be more difficult when it involves servers that belong to Facebook and IM providers like AOL, Microsoft, and Yahoo.

Another factor is the intra-company announcement. You know the kind. While some employees may consider many of these spam, so far there has been nothing to replace them for quickly getting information to a large group or even company wide. That will be much more of a chore on IM or Facebook.

For these reasons, and not just as a Luddite, I don’t see email going away any time soon. It may be that the second factor will be tackled with some new code that produces easier wide dissemination in IMs or Facebook, but the company server vs. outside servers issue isn’t going to change.

The Big Market Move…Nice, but…

It was encouraging today to see the stock market surge on several positive items in the news. So it’s the Dow’s best day since March 2009. That’s a good thing. the central banks intervened to help banks hit by the Europe debt crisis, and the Chinese Bank reduced their reserve requirement. This is all well and good if you’re a big trader or a bank, and certainly does affect all of us indirectly.

The other item was that the ADP employment report found an increase of 206,000 jobs, the most since last December. That affects a hell of a lot more people directly. What I’m waiting to see is the headline that employment has dropped to the lowest level since 2007, or that middle class wages have increased by as much as the top 1%’s income has. THOSE headlines would truly affect everybody in America in a positive way. If you believe in Santa, ask him for these! Even if you don’t, an almost 500 point move by the Dow is a nice (hopeful) start to a Santa rally.

An Ancestor Reaching Out?

Thanksgiving being a family time primarily, the mind runs to family things. Sometimes moments occur in life that are inexplicable, but you still can’t help but ponder them from time to time. In my case, there are both a king and a pirate way back in the dusty distant past of my family history. Perhaps this means I’m a small fraction of a percent royal scoundrel, and have been called worse in my time! Now, I’ve never had a moment in my life that made me think of anything some regal king or chieftain did way back in the day, but with regards to the pirate, I have.

Having been on several cruises, I realized after a few sailings that I always gravitated to the top deck at the stern of the ship every single time we sailed out of port, or into one. After while, it occurred to me that that’s exactly where the wheel would have been on a sailing ship…such as a pirate might have commanded. Could this be something burned into my DNA, or just a wild imagining? No one can say, of course…that’s what makes it inexplicable…but it’s still one of those things one rolls around in one’s head from time to time as you ponder, “I wonder if…”

Running up the Jolly Roger, a salty Thanksgiving to you!

Old Age & Treachery Over Youth & Skill?

Years ago, while working with my father (who, probably unlike yours was diagnosed with a serious mental illness…yet kept working and functioning up to a point), I began to notice that every time I outsold him, he would write across the top of the weekly planner on the desk in Sharpie. He would always pen the following: “Old age and treachery will overcome youth, skill, and enthusiasm.”  It became my mission to make sure that didn’t happen.

Although not in the ‘old age’ category, I am close enough to be able to see it now, and I still disagree with this. In fact, by merely dropping the ‘youth’ portion, I have found that the latter elements can serve anyone quite nicely in their quest for success…both personal success, and in contributing to the success of the common good and our country.

Keep sharpening your skills and acquiring new ones, and whatever others may do to try to knock you down, DON’T lose your enthusiasm!

Occupy Moves to a Bank

This afternoon in San Francisco, the Occupy SF folks moved into the lobby of Bank of America in the financial district. As this is written, there have been about a half dozen arrests. The occupiers are primarily peaceful, chanting and ‘om-ing.’ They did pitch a tent inside. This brings up a couple of thoughts. First, with the police raids and clearing of Occupy camps around the country, then the returning of the movement folks, one group that is profiting off the whole movement so far is merchants who sell tents!

Here’s another thought: A couple weeks ago, there was a internet-driven push (which actually started back in 2009, but took a while to really take hold) encouraging people to move from the big banks to smaller locally owned banks or credit unions. The protests of the Occupy people get publicity, and I get that, but instead of ‘taking over’ the lobby of a bank, wouldn’t it do more to alter the big banks’ behavior if all those occupy folks went out and each got several people they know to withdraw all their funds from those big banks and move them to smaller ones and credit unions? Just a thought.