Roger O Green

C is for Constitution of the US

There are Constitutional scholars who believe that not only must Donald Trump take his salary, but that it is appropriate so that he knows he’s being paid by the people of the United States.

If you’re ever looking at the Constitution of the United States, make sure you look at one that is footnoted, such as this one. It gives the reader a better sense of the trial and error that is the American experience.

For instance, Article I, Section 2, paragraph 3: “Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other Persons.”

“All others” were slaves, who were three-fifths of a person. The matter was altered by Amendment 13.

Article II, Section 1, paragraph 3: “The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President.”

This became unworkable in the election of 1800 when Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr each received 73 electoral votes, and dealing made TJ the Prez and Burr the Veep. The process has been superseded by Amendment 12, with separate ballots for President and Vice-President. This was referred to in the musical Hamilton.

The first 10 amendments are called the Bill of Rights. Amendment 1 is probably best known: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Some legal scholars feel Amendment 4 is particularly under attack: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

The post-Bill of Rights amendments often deal with expanding the vote. 15 – regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” 19- regardless of “sex.” 24 – regardless of “failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.” 26- allows 18-year-olds to vote, when the age had been 21, generally. Amendment 17 allows for the direct election of US Senators, rather than them being selected by state legislatures.

Two Amendments canceled each other out. The 18th permitted prohibition of alcohol, but the 21st scrubbed the social experiment.

One section I had not noted until recently is Article II, Section 1, paragraph 7: “The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.”

This has been an issue for a few reasons. The new president, Donald J. Trump, has indicated that he would not take a salary for being President. There are Constitutional scholars who believe that not only must he take the payment, but that it is appropriate so that he knows he’s being paid by the people of the United States. George Washington tried to avoid being paid, but was talked out of it.

Also, the Trump organization owns buildings for which the US government is paying rent. This could be considered “other emolument,” and could cause a Constitutional crisis early in his administration.

Amending the Constitution of the United States is very difficult. There has been only one amendment passed since 1971, and that was in the hopper for more than two centuries.

ABC Wednesday – Round 20

Movie review: Lion – A Long Way Home

The director of LION, Garth Davis, in his feature debut, used the animated film WALL-E as part of his template.

The story in the 2016 movie Lion, based on the non-fiction book A Long Way Home, with a screenplay by Luke Davies, is harrowing, even before the event that catapults the plot. Saroo (the amazing young Sunny Pawar) and his older brother Guddu (Abhisek Bharate) sneak onto trains, steal coal, then jump off the moving transport to exchange it for milk. Their mother Kamla, (Priyanka Bose) does menial tasks as well.

The boys arrive at a train station to look for recoverable items. Saroo loses track of his brother, and boards a train which departs the station. Saroo cannot get off until he arrives in Calcutta, hundreds of miles away, where almost everyone speaks Bengali, but he does not. Saroo somehow survives on the streets until he ends up in an orphanage.

He gets adopted by an Australian couple, Sue (Nicole Kidman) and John (David Wenham), who lives in Tasmania, and a year later they adopt another boy, Mantosh (Keshav Jadhav).

Twenty years later, Saroo (Dev Patel) heads to Melbourne and meets some new friends – Saroo Lucy (Rooney Mara), Prama (Pallavi Sharda), Bharat (Sachin Joab), Sami (Arka Das), and Annika (Emilie Cocquerel). “As they dine on Indian food, Saroo heads into the kitchen and observes things that cause him to reminisce about his childhood. He confides in his friends that he was adopted and Prama advises Saroo to use Google Earth to search for his hometown.”

All of this is rather well documented in the trailer, or in the description of the book, so it is in the TELLING of the story that makes the movie work. And it does. It’s a feel-good story about a most improbable journey of Saroo Brierley’s real life.

Yet I was far more engaged in the first, harrowing, half of the tale, than the somewhat overwrought second act. Maybe it’s that it’s inherently more interesting. There’s a lot less dialogue early on, and that works in the film’s favor. The director, Garth Davis in his feature debut, used the animated film WALL-E as part of his template.

Still, the last pictures on the screen are real tearjerkers, well earned, and I’m glad to have seen it. Incidentally, the title of the film does not show up in the opening credits, only at the end, when it is explained.

Of course, the Wife and I saw Lion at the Spectrum in Albany, because that’s just what we do in January.

Mike Huber: Times Union herder of cats

I’ve seen a bunch of community bloggers come and go, and Mike’s always out there, shaking the trees for new folk, trying to create a diverse platform.

times union press credential Mike Huber — TU cat herder Mike Huber

Long before the Times Union came up with blogs for community members and staffers, it housed these websites for community organizations. I did a couple of them, including for my church at the time, and since that was in the last century, that should give you a timeframe. And the guy in charge was Mike Huber.

I started my own blog in 2005. When the TU was looking for community bloggers in 2006, he saw my track record of blogging every day for a year and tried to get me to participate with the TU, but I demurred.

He asked again the next year, and I pretty much ignored him. But it’s hard to ignore Mike, because, in his own quiet way, he can be a bulldog.

Finally, in 2008, I capitulated. Mike helped me figure out blogging on the WordPress platform – my personal blog at the time was on Blogspot – such as the time I had a picture of Dudley Do-Right, who I swear looks like Eliot Spitzer, which took up about six times the dimensions of the whole page. Mike got that right-sized for me.

I’ve seen a bunch of community bloggers come and go, and Mike’s always out there, shaking the trees for new folk, trying to create a diverse platform. I’ve witnessed some tension between some community bloggers and a couple of staff writers, or among community bloggers, or the community folks resenting that they provide free content while getting less and less from the TU, which must have been exhausting at times. with poor Huber, stuck in the middle, trying to make everyone happy. Occasionally, I probably gave him a harder time than he deserved once or twice.

I saw Mike by chance this past Friday in the building where I work. I almost didn’t bother him – he was sitting at a table, talking with someone – but Mike and I go WAY back. We’ve talked a LOT, especially in the early days, not just about the project at hand, but more philosophical musings, most recently when he gave me a ride to some blogging event.

O the other hand, I knew that Mike was my link to get more than a few things fixed on the Times Union website, which I’d come across more than occasionally.

Mike Huber, thanks for being your wise self. I wish you well in whatever you’re doing. Shannon Fromma, good luck; I understand a water gun is good at controlling unruly felines.

Murder in the virtual, or actual, degree

One can see the moment when the bullets strike his body, his face writhing in pain.

Arthur retaliates for me asking HIM the question by querying:
Should VR murder be banned? VR being virtual reality

I’ve been conflicted about, not just this most recent iteration of faux violence, but even decades ago, going back to the Vietnam war. It was believed by some, including me, that the weapons of war that look like video games were making killing too easy. Now it’s the common, “clean” way we kill our military targets.

So I wondered if the reverse were true, whether video games that simulated murder, was, in some way, honing an instinct for violence, at least for some people. My gamer friends, to a person, all said no, that the venting of faux aggression on a screen was merely a way to release tension and that there was no crossover to real life. Their certitude never made sense to me.

In 2015, an American Psychological Association task force report stated that “violent video gameplay is linked to increased aggression in players but insufficient evidence exists about whether the link extends to criminal violence or delinquency.”

The liberal in me has a live-and-let-live attitude towards these things. But the moralistic side of me is uncomfortable with this.

The truth is, though, is that I’ve been more disturbed by videos of real people dying on my TV screen. Watching Eric Garner being choked to death by a NYC policeman is so disturbing, it’s difficult to believe that it’s real.

Seeing Walter Scott running away, and, depending on who was editing it, seeing him get shot in the back by a South Carolina policeman, bullets clearly penetrating his body, was horrifying. That the shooter was not convicted was even worse.

Witnessing the dying body of Laquan McDonald as it is struck several times by bullets from Chicago cops was awful. If it were lighter outside, it would remind me of the dance of death of Sonny Corleone in the 1972 movie The Godfather.

Most recently, it was the death of the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, who was murdered by a Turkish security person, that was horrifying to watch. One can see the moment when the bullets strike his body, his face writhing in pain.

All of these are available to be seen repeatedly on the Internet. I can’t help but wonder if it informs the public, or merely numbs it from these acts of death.

Music Throwback Saturday: For Sentimental Reasons

The Nat Cole version started up the charts earliest and charted highest

I was looking at the Billboard Top Ten bestsellers charts for January 18, 1947, 70 years ago, and there were not one or two, but FOUR different versions of (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons, the song written in 1945 by Ivory “Deek” Watson, former founding member of The Ink Spots, and William “Pat” Best, a founding member of The Four Tunes. “Best later stated that Watson had nothing to do with the creation of the song, but Watson maintained in his late 1960s autobiography that he and Best wrote the song together, lyrics and music respectively.”

The King Cole Trio Cole first hit the Top 10 on November 30, 1946, with Charlie Spivak (vocals by Jimmy Saunders), Eddy Howard, and Dinah Shore all joining him on the charts nearly two months later. Cole debuted at #8, fell off the charts for a week, and then was #5 for two weeks before dipping to #8 on December 28, right behind his own The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You).

In 1947: Jan 4: #6 Cole. Jan 11: #5 Cole. Jan 18: #4 Cole, #7 Spivak, #8 Howard, #10 Shore. Jan 25: #4 Cole, #6 Howard, #9 Spivak

Feb 1: #3 Cole, #6 Howard, #7 Spivak, #9 Shore. Feb 8: #4 Cole, #6 Shore, #8 Howard, #9 Spivak. Feb 15: #1 Cole, #8 Howard, #9 Shore. Feb 22: #4 Cole.

So the Cole version started up the charts earliest, charted highest (#1), and lasted longest (12 weeks)

But there was an alternate chart during this time that took into account not just sales but radio play and jukeboxes. On THAT chart, Cole was #1 for SIX weeks, Shore was #2 for two weeks, Howard got to #2, and Spivak to #5. Also, Ella Fitzgerald got to #8 and Art Kassel, with vocalist Jimmy Featherstone, to #15, all in the same time frame.

Listen to (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons

Nat King Cole (different recordings) HERE or HERE

Ella Fitzgerald and the Delta Rhythm Boys HERE or HERE

Eddy Howard HERE or HERE

Art Kassel HERE

Dinah Shore HERE or HERE

Charlie Spivak/Jimmy Saunders HERE or HERE