NO ONE CAN PLEASE THEM ALL

Chief Justice Roberts certainly comported himself more reasonably on his judgement of the ACA ()Affordable Care Act).  However, it is too late to save much of the election which is being bought because of his abandoning what had been ruled for 100 years to new interpretation.  The Supreme Court refuses to reconsider the Citizen's United finding.  Perhaps IO misunderstand that it was under the right to free speech that he allows corporati9ons to act as one person.  I do not know a healthy family that allows any one member to cast them as one thought representing them all.  That money expenditures can be represented as free speech boggles my mind.  I've heard of 'put your money where your mouth is'  but understood it as a euphemism for back your words up with something of value to you, like money.  It hardly seems applicable here.

The ACA, Citizens United, and Unfair Public Perception of the Supreme Court posted by Erica Goldberg
She i8nsists that the people are misinterpreting their decision.  Perhaps that is true but the effects of the decision are not being misinterpreted.  Mr. Sheldon Adelson offering  $100,000,000 for his candidate/party in the campaign should be clear enough that something is wrong whether it was the rule of law held for a hundred or more years or this new verdict which makes a mockery of fairness in the populace having an equal voice with their vote.  When a law, whether constitutional or not, does not serve the people, it is not up to the Supreme Court to rule for it if they simply want to do so.  They have their own Court legacy to uphold.  It is now up to the Congress to write the law to cover what used to be fair or rewrite it anew in a way that is acceptable to the Constitution as it had been for so very many decades.  Insulting the Court will not be helpful nor change anything.  Judge Roberts must live with his own legacy  The better good of the people won one and lost one.

BE OLD HAPPILY

The 'before', at 14

It is always gratifying when I tell people my accurate age and they tell me I neither look it nor act it.  Nevertheless, as I look at the 'tunnel of life', the light at the end of the tunnel is nearer and nearer.  No matter how an old person looks or acts, the reality is that life no longer seems endless.  It is a downhill curve of energy, strength, health, quickness of mind and memory. Even when people live to be 100, the quality of their life is not the same as it was even 20 years ago.  When someone in their nineties has serious medical problems, you can only hope their doctors fight the insurance companies to pay for treatment that would give them a longer life of enjoyment, not one of living like a vegetable.

There are lots of things on how top grow old, mostly eating and exercising habits.There are no book on how to be old of which I am aware.  Being old is not a number, it is a state of being.  Though I have written on this subject before, I will from time to time share some of my observations on the trip through old age. My assumption is that everyone has to grow old in their own way.  However, it is pitiful to watch denial like a disease in so many.  When you can no longer do something, stop trying to do it.  Stop telling yourself you will do it in the future when your senses and strength will not improve.. 

The 'After'  8.3 decades

One of the major things that old people suffer from is lack of touch (so they get dogs and cats that exhaust them in their care as well as break their budgets with vet bills).  I personally prefer people.  Another is loneliness.  In this case, many lean on their offspring, expecting some sort of dutiful demand for them to alleviate the loneliness.  This doesn't work either.  Duty to visit me is a noxious thought.  I have only wanted my children to call or visit when they wish to do so.  It that is rare because they have active lives and families, it is fine with me. In today's world there is no reason for seniors to demand the right not to have a computer or use other means to stay in touch.  They often expect more from their relatives than is practical or possible.  The lonely pit is sometimes just too deep.

The answer to this:  Make young friends.  They won't remain friends if they don't like you.
One danger from seniors is they try to offer advice.  Some of that is okay if it is not, "Well, the way I always handled this is...."  We all lived our lives, made our mistakes and hopefully learned from them, It is a shame that some older people do not understand that not everyone learns from words but often need their own hands-on experience.

There can only be sympathy for those who make no attempt to live in the present.  Trying to live in  the past just doesn't work. The past should remain a lovely memory.  If it is not; forget it and love in and for today.  Living long changes one  Live happily with the change or make everyone around you miserable with your complaints.

Since males can't stop thinking in competitive terms, today's decision by the Supreme Court came out as an Obama win.  Obama, on the other hand saw it is a victory for the American people.  One disgruntled Republican commented, demonstrating his ignorance clearly, that it meant nothing.  After all, it was only a judgement from the Supreme Court, it meant nothing about whether it was constitutional or not.

At last, Roberts acted like a judge and not a Conservative Republican clone.Until today he wasn't leaving much of a legacy for himself as he was clearly breaking the rules with his partisanship.  Those who (CNN and Fox News) reported that the mandate was judged to be unconstitutional might just have heard from conservatives who thought they had Roberts in their pocket as well as so many Legislators.  One out of three is a beginning for Roberts.  At least he didn't go on to get three strikes yet.

If people didn't know before that CNN and Fox were really not reporters or working journalists, they should have learned it today.  Much of the media has blathering copycats. The only network who seemed to have gotten it right at the git-go was MSNBC, only minutes after it was announced.

CBS News has a video here about Roberts rewriting his legacy.  From the N.Y. Times:: "To be sure, the chief justice considers himself the custodian of the Supreme Court’s prestige, authority and legitimacy, and he is often its voice in major cases. There was reason, then, to think he might have provided a sixth vote to uphold the law had Justice Anthony M. Kennedy joined the court’s four-member liberal wing." ....."“There is a difference,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote in Citizens United, “between judicial restraint and judicial abdication.”  I certainly hope he learned that difference since the Citizen's United vote. His legacy took a nose dive with that one.

IF WE LICENSED DOCTORS AS WE VOTE IN POLITICIANS TO THE LEGISLATURE, WE'D ALL BE DEAD

Politics has become a far more complicated profession since the Constitution was written.  At that time it was not seen as something one would make an entire career .  There were no classes to prepare students for work in government so anyone could run for office.  I believe that should be changed.  Before people run for Federal, public office,  they should pass a course in an approved, accredited  school for the specific service.  It should include a complete comprehension of the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and exactly how the government works within each branch.  An ethics segment should be included and each person should be studied as corporations check before security clearances are given.  If they were in a previous office, even in state government, and successful there should be a rating system just as there are yearly evaluations on any job.  I believe that politicians want that from teachers now so why should they not expect the same from themselves.

People believe that the voters are the ones who give that evaluation with their vote.  However, voters really do not have access easily to rate the person if they have never served.  Even if they are incumbents, the average voter does not evaluate with the same knowledge as a professional, party impartial evaluator

They should not be allowed to vote themselves perks and raises.  Those shold be decided by outside, objective groups who are also trained to make up evaluative criteria.  Not everyone should get the same recognition for jobs poorly performed as those who have worked diligently and successfully.  How they voted, whether it was for the good of the country or in lock step with the party; how many votes did they miss, how many days were they not on the job, and similar issues and many more elements should be included in their evaluations..

Our current system of a popularity contest by whose money is greater and lies more believable is not working as out forefathers intended.  After all, where else would someone get a job where they can do nothing for two to four years and get a raise, pension for life, medical insurance, insider trading tips, and lots of pay-offs in subtle underhanded ways?

MOONRISE KINGDOM

The longer one lives. the more one can appreciate something refreshingly new since the experience is so rare.  Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola have written a movie and Wes Anderson's direction does just that. It has long been my practice to avoid reviewers who publish their subjective opinions for money.  Instead, I usually follow suggestions of people who know me well.

Watch the preview here. after scrolling down and clicking on watch preview,  Then scroll down and read the list of the cast.  Each familiar face was in a totally unexpected roll, showing their skill for diversity...real acting, that is.

Production Companies

• Indian Paintbrush (presents)
• American Empirical Pictures (as American Empirical)
• Moonrise
• Scott Rudin Productions

The music is a marvelous addition.  At first, when I heard Benjamin Britten, I was struck with the music I recall being in one of the Pride and Prejudice films.  The changes of themes throughout is pure genius,If one were to grow philosophical, there are many lessons taught in this film.  However, I chose not to squeeze out every possible dimension from the film as so many of my friends seem to choose to do; I just sat back and thoroughly enjoyed 93 minutes of being taken back to the 60s, a bit of my own feelings of budding adolescence, and caught between society's rules and the emotion of wanting to be loved.   I thank the recommendation to see this from my grandson, my daughter for taking me as a birthday gift, and the creators of this delightful reprieve from what we laughingly call reality: violence and pain.

IGNORING STIGLITZ AND KRUGMAN IS IGNORING A HIGHER POWER

We have two great Nobel prize winning economists (Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman) and are ignoring both of them in favor of the guesses by politicians. Joseph Stiglitz is recommending making every attempt to immediately reverse economic inequality. To see an exclusive interview with him by Lynn Parremore in its entirety, click here.  His great concerned is about this divided society.  The Republicans have wanted to privatize everything from jails, schools, health care and all sort of things.  On capitalism, he responds:  "...capitalism does have a lot of strengths, including producing things that are very innovative. But what drives capitalism is the profit motive. You can profit not only by making good things, but also by exploiting people, by exploiting the environment, by doing things that are not so good."

Paul Krugman wrote an Op-ed on the the economy in the N. Y. Times in which he writes:  The Conscience of a Liberal .He writes: "The Bank for International Settlements has just come out with a report emphasizing the “limits to monetary policy”, which is apparently being taken seriously. I guess I’d start from the observation that the BIS has already embraced liquidationism, the idea that all this suffering is good for us and that trying to mitigate the pain would somehow be a bad thing. Now they’re just trying to come up with additional arguments for doing nothing."  His whole piece is worth reading.  Click here.


It is a winder that the self-serving Republicans and the (no longer Neo-) Cons do not listen to or seem to respect either of these men.  Instead, they hold up Paul Ryan whose greatest achievement is not in economics and cannot compare himself or his ideas to these two great men above.

Check the sunscreen policy of your child'

Check the sunscreen policy of your child's school or summer camp.  Not only is it an over the counter product, but check out a story about its many dangers. When schools are so interested in following state rules not set by physicians but, rather, by politicians, it may not be at all the right way to go even though the politicians don't agree with the majority.

Click here.  Be patient through the ads.  Somebody has to pay for our access to know what is going on.  Now that we are in summer, it is worth going through all the videos on taking care on yourself and your loved ones.  This is useful to all.

PIXAR'S LATEST SUCCESS: BRAVE

There are many people who consider the Pixar movies as for children only.  It has been many decades since I was a child and I have loved them all.There is an understanding of humanity reached especially in Toy Story III, and in their latest, Brave.  The characters are caricatures of ancient Scots.  They are lovable, understandable, and there is an added touch of witchcraft in the movie.

Pixar movies may not make the list of heavy human dramas but they do portray humans in their best and worst faces. It is beautifully done by sets, characters are unique, and for a change we have a heroine rather than a hero.  Another nice touch is that there is not boy gets girl or vice versa in the end. The story is basically about a princess who fights tradition and being forced to marry without choice.  However, there is less political statement than study of parental love and strength of family ties.

For a professional review beyond my saying I love it and think many who would not lower themselves to go to a kids' movie would probably love it if they decided to check it out.

As always, I forced myself to read what the reviewer had to say.  I rarely agree with reviewers so, if I read them at all, it is after I've seen the movie to see if there is something I missed. It shows in both 2D and 3D.  We saw it is 3D which I happen to feel enhances the feel of being there.  I disagree. It does not feel like a Disney movie to me.  I think (whether it is John Lassier's influence or someone other, Pixar does its own distinctive work.  The poignancy is so real it brought tears to my eyes.  However, it still fits into my demand for only 'feel good' movies.