Power based on love

When I was a college instructor at the end of the semester I would hand out a page that listed the semester’s topics and tell the student you can write whatever you want on this page and you may refer to it during the final exam.

Professor Reb Beatty of Ann Arundel Community College in Maryland teaches accounting. He told his students they could bring exam notes on a “3x5 notecard.”

Student Elijah Bowen showed up for the exam with a notecard measuring 3x5 feet. Beatty quickly checked the syllabus and related handouts and saw he had never specified units of measure. So he allowed Bowen to use the gigantic card – and awarded Bowen extra credit for ingenuity and creativity – and for actually filling up the card.



Germany approved same-sex marriage at the end of June. On Sunday, the first same-sex weddings were held. Registry offices opened for the day to allow the couples to marry on the first day possible. The first couple to wed were Karl Kreile and Bodo Mende, who have been together for 38 years.



Tracey Samuelson of the Marketplace program on NPR reports on a problem with the GOP tax plan. Lawmakers are shouting that the economy is in the pits and must be saved by this massive tax cut. But the Federal Reserve says the economy is doing well – steady growth, low unemployment, people rejoining the workforce. The big concern of the Fed would be that inflation takes off. And a tax cut would prompt more spending, which would raise inflation. Which the Fed would have to choke off.

Translation: The economy doesn’t need a tax cut and would do better without it.

I add: The federal deficit would also do better without this tax cut. But GOP lawmakers are only concerned about deficits when a Democrat is President.



Today is the 148th birthday of Mohandas Gandhi. A couple quotes from him:

Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment.

Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.

The ACLU, with a huge increase in donations since last November, is launching a “Let People Vote” campaign, tackling various state laws that suppress voting. Their first effort will be in Lawrence, Kansas. That’s where Kris Kobach is Secretary of State and doing all he can to suppress the vote. Kobach has also been appointed to the misnamed national Election Integrity Commission.