Making a Mockery of the Constitution:

Dick Cheney is still doing everything within his power to undermine American democracy. The backbone of American democracy is its unique arrangement of checks and balances between legislative powers, executive powers and judicial powers. Various presidents have attempted to thwart the limitations placed upon them by the system by stacking the Supreme Court, and the Bush administration has been no stranger to this strategy, but this is the first administration to have successfully employed the strategy of having the vice president be a member of both the executive branch of government and the legislative branch.

Chris Suellentrop blogs about the situation in yesterday's New York Times as it applies to the District of Colombia's attempts to restrict handgun ownership. The District is attempting to the limit the opportunities for drug dealers and psychopaths to obtain guns within the nation's capitol, but Cheney, being the grand wizard of the far right, is doing everything he can to make sure that the people who control the NRA, the gun manufacturers and dealers, can continue to sell guns of any type to whomever they please, whenever they please.

On Saturday, The Washington Post addressed the issue in an editorial, ending with "It's yet another indication that Mr. Cheney thinks the normal rules of American democracy don't apply to him."

Ping-Pong Diplomacy Strikes New Chord:

This afternoon's buzz has been all about The New York Philharmonics' performance at the Pyongyang Grand Theater in Pyongyang, North Korea. We seem to have moved from fist waving and finger pointing to the rhythmic motion of the maestro's baton. Can I have a "Hallelujah Chorus"? Okay. Well, you do the best you can.

So what's the big deal? The following description of the finale, provided by Daniel Wakin of The New York Times, might give us a hint:

And right there, the Philharmonic had them. The full-throated performance of a piece deeply resonant for both North and South Koreans [“Arirang,” a beloved Korean folk song] ended the orchestra’s historic concert in this isolated nation on Tuesday in triumph.

The audience applauded for more than five minutes, and orchestra members, some of them crying, waved. People in the seats cheered and waved back, reluctant to let the visiting Americans leave.

Music does indeed have the power to move people.

The performance will be broadcast on the New York PBS station, WNET, as part of PBS's Great Performances series tonight at eight o'clock and is supposed to be run on other PBS stations around the U. S. at a later date. Amazingly, the performance was streamed live over WNET's web site during the early hours this morning, beginning at 4:00 A.M. No, I didn't watch it. But still …

Visa Going Public:

The world's largest credit card company intends to accumulate over $17 billion dollars by selling stock in the company to the public. According to The New York Times, Visa will sell 406 million Class A shares for somewhere between $37 to $42 apiece.

This may seem an odd thing to some, considering the current credit situation not just in the U. S. but around the world; however, Visa doesn't actually extend credit to anyone. The company simply manages credit for all of the banks who subscribe to their service, and people generally have been turning away from hard currency to make most of their purchases with plastic.

Here's a small lesson on how credit cards work: If you have a credit card from a bank and you make a purchase with it, the bank guarantees the retailer or service provider payment in full, regardless of whether you pay your credit card bill or not. However, the retailer or service provider pays the bank a fee for this guarantee, usually between 3% and 6%. So if you buy $100 worth of groceries at the store, your credit card is charged $100, but the grocer only receives somewhere between $97 and $94 in payment from the bank. The difference is subtracted from the grocer's profits.

Currently, there is a move among retailers to shift this cost of doing business to the customer, like the cell phone company I deal with, AT&T. However, it seems doubtful that this will become widespread. Eventually customers will catch on to the practice, and while they might accept it as the price of doing business for occasional purchases, it would likely affect behavior for shoppers on a more regular basis. Retailers like the idea of plastic because customers are more likely to purchase greater amounts of goods when they can place the cost on credit than when they see cash in their pockets dwindling. If customers see the cost of purchasing goods to increase through credit fees in addition to the already outrageously high interest rates some credit card users pay, the backlash will creep into retailers pockets.

But then I have been wrong before.

Taxpayer Revolt against Public Bailout of Homeowners?

Just when government is beginning to step in to help homeowners who were victims of unscrupulous lenders, John Q. Public is voicing outrage that his tax dollars are being given away to the fools who fell for the phony baloney sales pitches.

Interestingly, whenever I see a picture or TV broadcast of people complaining about being duped or driven from their homes or filling out paperwork to try to save their homes, it seems like most of these folks are black. Somehow, I doubt that all or even most of the people who fell victim to the housing scam are African American, but one wonders just how much placing a black face on the image of the victims translates into the lack of sympathy so many taxpayers are starting to give voice to.

To be plain, racism and bigotry are still alive and well, regardless of our verbal or body language. (See William Yardley's New York Times story.)

Supreme Court to Decide Whether American Citizens Should Be Guinea Pigs for Drug Companies:

That's a mouth full (all puns intended). Gardiner Harris reports in today's Times on the case pending in the Supreme Court to decide whether drug manufacturers can be held liable for withholding information about the drugs they make from the Food and Drug Administration. In other words, can a drug manufacturer cheat the system, ruin your health or kill you, and not be responsible for doing so?

The problem stems from the fact that so many drug companies have had to pay out billions of dollars in judgments for having done just that. The money is supposed to flow from the working class to the speculators, not the other way around. Have we learned nothing under the Bush administration?

How Much Poorer Can You Go?

Check out the interesting graph provided by The New York Times, illustrating what's happening to 80% of the work force's take home pay. Hint: It's going down, folks.

Afternoon Update—Inflation Up, Home Values Down:

The cost of a gallon of gas is up by 85 cents over last year, and it won't take you any further or pollute the environment any less. That's no surprise, but other indications are that inflation is reverberating through the whole economy, except in the housing market. Vikas Bajaj addresses the issue in this afternoon's update of The New York Times. He shares the following interesting quote Paul Ashworth, a senior U. S. economist at Capital Economics:

“February may go down in history as the month that the previously indefatigable U.S. consumer finally threw in the towel, beaten by a combination of deteriorating labor market conditions, surging prices for food and energy and collapsing house prices.”

Four years ago, the great man had this to say during the third presidential debate: "In all due respect, I'm not so sure it's credible to quote leading news organizations about—well, never mind."— George W. Bush. (Apparently, he couldn't remember what he was going to say. Obviously, he had a lot on his mind.)