Monthly Archives: September 2013
Momentous historical outcomes are make-up calls (crucibles of redemption), ergo former L.A. anti-“Jap” bigot Earl Warren’s 1954 Brown vs. Bd. of Education case, and ergo, former anti-“Jap” hater as a kid Rev. Hung Wai Ching’s genesis of our ethnic Asian ILWU labor union, along with Rev. Ching’s WWII formation of our all-Japanese American 100th Batt. & 442nd regiment combat units , & Hung Wai’s victory vs. local internment — and law is 99% psychology (social relations) & only 1% legality — subjective (biased), not objective — ergo, news articles that warned of potential “damage to the court—and to current chief justice John Roberts’ reputation—if the court were to strike down our “Obama-care” mandate” — increased the external pressure on Roberts, who “is keenly aware of his leadership role on the court and is sensitive to how the court is perceived by the public,” and pays attention to media coverage of the Court (unlike some conservative justices who “don’t want to be influenced by outside opinion or feel pressure from outlets that are perceived as liberal”). It was around this time that Roberts decided to uphold the law. One of the conservative justices reportedly pressed Roberts to explain why he had changed his view on the mandate, but was “unsatisfied with the response.”
* http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=images+law&qpvt=images+law&FORM=IGRE#view=detail&id=7396163C8E2354F27AA0DB6A0C0FB2EE3C6608D7&selectedIndex=0 * * * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Warren#Japanese-American_internment * Warren’s early adoption of progressive Hiram Johnson’s platform of equal justice for all — bode well in later years — in which Warren was haunted by Warren’s own betrayal of Johnson’s platform after Warren’s … Continue reading
Biblical writers wrote from where they were at the moment–how they saw themselves, the world, and their God. Whether that understanding reflects the past “accurately” (at least from the point of view of modern historical studies) is another question. — Peter Enns
* http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=images+bible+accuracy&qpvt=images+bible+accuracy&FORM=IGRE#view=detail&id=28F113A8894CE3EA4CA6BDDA27264D266AA48CB5&selectedIndex=10 * * http://www.patheos.com/blogs/peterenns/2013/09/did-biblical-writers-understand-their-past-mark-smith-part-2/ * Today’s post is based on another idea I found interesting in Mark S. Smith’s article “God in Israel’s Bible: Divinity between the World and Israel, between the Old and the New.” The meat … Continue reading
Even after the fall of Wall St. 5 years ago, I remember so many instances where Wall Street blocked or delayed sensible regulatory policies, or regulators pushed for Wall Street’s interests—the watering down of mark-to-market accounting, the artificial inflation of the mortgage settlement by giving dubious credits to banks for doing things that were in their own interests, and so on. The fundamental problem, and the reason things don’t get significantly better, is the political power of major financial institutions. This power takes on many forms: campaign contributions, lobbying, regulatory capture in various flavors, and simply being “too big to jail.” Even though Wall Street appears to be just as influential as it was before the financial crisis, some say the magnitude of its victory will trigger a popular backlash. I find it hard to be so hopeful: if we couldn’t get the job done in 2009–2010, when the financial crisis was on everyone’s minds, how will we be able to do it now? This is especially true with a Democratic president (Obama) who is completely uninterested in dealing with the problem—and a Democratic nominee on deck (Hillary Clinton) who has never shown any inclination to take on Wall Street. (We can safely assume that the Republican nominee will be against any substantive regulation of the financial sector.) — James Kwak
* http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=images+wall+st.+greed&qpvt=images+wall+st.+greed&FORM=IGRE#view=detail&id=BDC8C824F3AD1219A574FBE7A59514A0FB25E111&selectedIndex=0 * * http://baselinescenario.com/2013/09/26/the-wall-street-takeover-part-2/#more-10729 * Five years later, and things seem marginally better in some areas (the CFPB exists), significantly worse in others (LIBOR, money laundering, London Whale, etc.). There has been some debate recently about whether we have … Continue reading
Punk-okole & monoshiri (conceited) rough-tumble/movie star handsome samurai Cal Kawamoto of Honomu roots, later the champion wayfinder of Waipahu
* * STAR-ADVERTISER / SEPTEMBER 2000 Former State Sen. Cal Kawamoto speaks to the children during a visit at Waipahu Elementary School. * http://www.bigislandchronicle.com/2009/08/25/dispatches-from-curt-%e2%80%94-honomu/#comment-10241 * Former Honolulu mayor Rusty Blaisdell’s confidant & public works engineer honcho/ Yoshio Kunimoto also is from Honomu. … Continue reading
The original British House of Cards telecast was said to draw from Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Richard III, both of which examine issues of power, ambition and corruption. Richardson had a Shakespearean background, and said he based his performance of the scheming Francis Urquhart on the way Shakespeare portrayed Richard III. Urquhart frequently talks through the camera to the audience, breaking the fourth wall as in a Shakespearian soliloquy. In the dramatization, the camera frequently focuses on vermin for the symbolic effect of filth and conspiracy.
* * * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Cards_(UK_TV_series)#Overview * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_cards * A house of cards (also known as a card tower) is a structure created by stacking playing cards on top of each other. House of cards is also an expression that dates … Continue reading
If, on the one hand, the grieving, anguished husband has the courage to do the suffering that is his to do, to do that suffering with faithfulness and integrity, to cry every tear that is his to cry, to “take the pain” (as they say in the military), then there is no reason at all for this man to fear losing his children. — Steven Kalas
* http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=images+love+conquers+all&qpvt=images+love+conquers+all&FORM=IGRE#view=detail&id=F4B5EAA39CF35260CB7DDCB444C7CC1604B718CC&selectedIndex=0 * * http://www.reviewjournal.com/columns-blogs/view/anthem/husband-going-through-divorce-must-release-pain-healthily * What would you say about a common-law wife that after 22 years together and two kids, decided that life with the partner was enough and within a few weeks met up with an … Continue reading
Ricky Gervais leaves to us a Jesus moment — Frank Schaeffer
* http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=images+choosing+good&qpvt=images+choosing+good&FORM=IGRE#view=detail&id=B53DA5F60E25F60EF43F87039E298F24535C392B&selectedIndex=144 * * http://www.patheos.com/blogs/frankschaeffer/2013/09/is-ricky-gervais-jesus/ * In Derek, Ricky Gervais re-preaches the Sermon on the Mount. If Jesus pitched a show to Netflix it would be Derek – Ricky Gervais’s character piece set in a struggling British old people’s … Continue reading
God himself takes on human flesh to offer us a model of true goodness and to save us from sin by his death on the cross. He doesn’t want to wipe us clean on the outside, but to transform our broken hearts from the inside out. Jesus stops our moral inertia and can push us in the opposite direction. — Jordan Monge
* http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=images+choosing+good&qpvt=images+choosing+good&FORM=IGRE#view=detail&id=2DA870707F4ED7ED9646911A0859086D3DAA624B&selectedIndex=18 * * http://www.patheos.com/blogs/fareforward/2013/09/the-theology-of-breaking-bad/ * The Theology of Breaking Bad * Breaking Bad is one of the most ethically complicated dramas on television today. The series explores themes of sin, guilt, forgiveness, and damantion through the transformation of … Continue reading
That’s also one of themes of Michael Lewis’ story for This American Life about Emir Kamenica, who resolutely insists that he is where he is because of a freak occurrence—an English teacher reading an essay he plagiarized from a Bosnian novel (stolen from a library as he was escaping a war that killed his father) and getting him into a good private school. The people who think that they deserve everything they have because they are geniuses and worked hard all their lives are, in more or less Lewis’ words, “just like every miserable bond trader at Goldman Sachs.” And who wants to be like that? — James Kwak
* http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=images+goldman+sachs&qpvt=images+goldman+sachs&FORM=IGRE#view=detail&id=D2F76C66D802D8A4AB14BD93070B4A709460FD0C&selectedIndex=4 * * http://baselinescenario.com/2013/09/18/five-years-later/#more-10723 * Five years ago, Lehman brothers went bankrupt, AIG was nationalized, Ben Bernanke stared into an abyss, and Mohamed El-Erian asked his wife to take out as much cash from the ATM as she could. … Continue reading
Here we have Augustinian mystic Martin Luther — and Aquinas cognitive John Calvin — and yet, Bertrand Russell & Apostle John are Augustinian & Plato logos (analytical) epic movers — huli ‘au (upside down in Hawaiian), baby!!
* http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=images+upside+down&qpvt=images+upside+down&FORM=IGRE#view=detail&id=3C14CC00D6FF36738A7E403417B18377067EB67D&selectedIndex=2 * http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=images+upside+down&qpvt=images+upside+down&FORM=IGRE#view=detail&id=552162186A2525C891D55906A4C55D6367890B2F&selectedIndex=28 * * * Eternal perspective (God’s Infinity) — * knowledge puffs up, but love edifies (such as resurrection stories), as Biblical Paul intones. * Biblical logos is erudition/cognition of the Word (Scripture), not knowledge for knowledge … Continue reading
Curtis Narimatsu 