Joy-Ann Reid The Miami Herald

October 14, 2010

Joy-Ann Reid
The Miami Herald
One Herald Plaza
Miami, FL 33136-1693

RE: What else do we deserve? Some comments on your column in today’s Heral.

Ms. Reid,

I am not now nor have I ever been a Twitterer. To the best of my knowledge I have never been Twittered. As both a nonTwitterer and a nonTwittee I know that I am several rungs down the revolutionary technical ladder. That may or may not qualify me as a Twit/

The rushing sound you hear is that of the other shoe dropping. Reading your article I know that there are many things that you don’t know. Worse, there are several things that you don’t want to know.

You say that you expect to see the Supreme Court “selling corporate naming rights on its judicial sleeve. I’ll bet a penny to a dollar that you don’t know what the Lutine Bell is or what it represents. Thank God for Google.

Justice Breyer’s wife is a “name” at Lloyd’s.

Four things:

#1 – Justice Breyer should have an image of the Lutine Bell on his back like Hell’s Angels display their colors.
#2 – On the extreme, it means that Justice Breyer should recuse himself every time a matter comes before the Supreme Court in which any insurance company is involved.
#3 – Google “conflict of interest” and “blood is thicker than water” and the “appearance of impropriety”.
#4 – See, I told you there were some things you didn’t know about.

Minimum Wage

Have you ever worked at the minimum wage?

Try to follow this.

It’s called Logic. You may wish to Google that also.

Would you rather be employed at $8 an hour or unemployed at $9 an hour?

Take your time.

[As an aside, but speaking of wages, you may wish to familiarize yourself with the Davis-Bacon Act. It was the most anti-Black law passed on the Federal level in the 20th century. It’s still on the books. Justice Marshall was vehemently opposed to it. Google is going to get quite a workout.]

Would not Logic dictate that if the minimum wage can get people out of the thralldom of poverty it should be at least $23.50 an hour? Would not Logic dictate that at some magic hourly wage there would be no more poverty?

If we can go to the moon and pass comprehensive health care surely we can do away with poverty.

Why should a single mom, a woman of color, a woman living in foetid Section 8 housing, a woman with children in need of a good Ritalin program, a woman with children denied the many benefits of “Midnight Basketball” because of a lack of public transit, a woman who is exploited by the low prices at WAL*MART, have to scrape by at under $8.00 an hour?

A case can be made for giving her $5 an hour more per child because it is cheaper to feed them now that it will be to imprison them later.

Coal Mines and the Death tax

You say that candidate Raese “got his coal mine fortune the old fashioned way – by inheriting it…”

If Congress does nothing the “death tax” goes back to 55% on January 1, 2011 at 12:01 AM. Do you think it should be 105%?

Incidentally, and speaking of the Lucky Sperm Club, Patrick Putz Kennedy, the Congressman from Providence will benefit greatly from the death of his father, Fatso Kennedy. He gets the Trust that his grandfather Joe, one of the 20th century’s greatest corsairs, set up for his father in 1936. What’s so “fair” about that? A lot of people could be helped by its dissolution and distribution of assets. I know of a single mom who would really be able to use the dough

I take gratuitous mention of the coal mining business very seriously. I ran coal mining operations in eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia. I had a hand in “creating” 255 jobs where none existed. I paid these men far in excess of the minimum wage not because I thought they deserved it but because I knew that they would earn it. I was, as Johnson said, seized by “the potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice”. An “unintended consequence” was as many as 255 paychecks every Friday at noon. I don’t know much about the dignity of labor but I do know it’s good to have some money in your pocket that you have earned rather than scammed.

The Johnson I mentioned was Samuel, the Original Dr. J. You may want to put him on your GOOGLE to do list.

A Delicate matter

Would you brand me with this century’s Scarlet Letter – “R” – for racist if I were to tell you that I thought the latest bumper sticker I saw about the President was funny?

I THINK THE WHITE HALF OF HIM SUCKS TOO

Let me begin by saying that I think he is the best President we have. His wife’s back must be bursting with pride because her husband can afford to pay almost $60,000 for their daughters’ grammar school tuition despite living in public housing. He plays enough golf to qualify for a PGA card. His crib is big enough that he can keep his mother-in-law close by but not under foot. And he did all this without once having a real job. God Bless America! That’s why you never see anybody swimming to Cuba.

18 months ago he borrowed $900,000,000,000 from the Chinese to fund “shovel ready” projects.

So what if he didn’t know what “shovel ready” meant. So what if he didn’t know that shovels had two ends. So what if there is no such as a “shovel ready” project.

Maybe we did get the politician we deserved.

Kevin Smith


PS – You may be on to something with regards to the 5th Amendment. I am sure OJ would have given it up if the cops had beaten the crap out of him. The 4th Amendment gives me some trouble also. There are times when the cops have to kick down the door. The 6th Amendment, the one that talks about the right to counsel has some drawbacks too. I mean how many times does a sharp lawyer beat the rap for his client. The 8th, the one that talks about no cruel or unusual punishment surely doesn’t count when little children are involved, does it? Doesn’t the 1st Amendment give me the right to pee on a Koran?

One final GOOGLE quest…
tu quoque