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Grover Cleveland--the first Democrat elected after the Civil War--is the only president to be honored on TWO different coins in this series, because he served two non-consecutive terms.
He also appeared on the one-thousand dollar bill, which is no longer in circulation. (Bills over $100 were discontinued and removed from circulation in 1969.)
He was also the only President married in the White House; to 21-year-old Frances Folsom in June 1886.
Cleveland vigorously pursued a policy barring special favors to any economic group. Vetoing a bill to appropriate $10,000 to distribute seed grain among drought-stricken farmers in Texas, he wrote: "Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the Government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character. . . . "
In December 1887 he called on Congress to reduce high protective tariffs. Told that he had given Republicans an effective issue for the campaign of 1888, he retorted, "What is the use of being elected or re-elected unless you stand for something?" But Cleveland was defeated in 1888; although he won a larger popular majority than the Republican candidate Benjamin Harrison, he received fewer electoral votes.
See more at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/grovercleveland22 |
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Comment in http://talk-politics.livejournal.com/1458907.html?thread=117115867#t117115867
You make a valid point about people not wanting to start new ventures or make big purchases or investments in times of uncertainty. Everyone knows this intuitively. Just look how quickly individuals reduced their borrowing and started saving more, starting in 2008.
This suggests that the government should NOT be 'trying to boost' the economy. Every new regulation, tax, or law that affects the economy creates a changing environment and brings unintended consequences.
It's like trying to play a football game, and the referees keep changing the rules between each play. The government should NOT be playing favorites and changing the rules, but should enforce uniform rules on every player through the entire game.
While creating more regulations and incentives is seen as 'doing SOMETHING' by lawmakers, the media, and the public -- their effect is to slow the economy. The best thing for government to do is to do NOTHING, or else to repeal past incentives and laws.
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Can humans know whether the claim "God exists" is true or not?
 Philosophy of Religion
Taught By Professor James Hall, Ph.D.,
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Richmond
This week I finished the audio course "Philosophy of Religion,", which is the most interesting study of knowledge and belief, since "Science Wars: What Scientists Know and How They Know It". In fact, since this course focuses on religion instead of science, it is like the opposite side of the same coin.
This is not a course in "Religious Philosophy" but takes a philosophical look at what Dr. Hall calls "ethical monotheism". He explores the traditional proofs that have been offered for the existence of God; how they work, and how they fail:
- Ontological - appeal to reason alone
- Cosmological - the first cause of creation
- Teleological - argument from design
- Divine encounter - direct revelation
Next he explores "The Problem of Evil". This is not an argument against the existence of God, just against against the existence of a god who deserves our worship. He also explores various "theodicies" which have been advanced to answer this problem.
- There is no problem of evil because the world is perfect.
- Evil is simply the absence of good.
- Apparent evil exists to serve a larger good: God's purposes are inscrutable to us, and evil is only an apparition caused by our ignorance.
- Evil done by humans is a necessary consequence of free will, and autonomy given us by God. Without the opportunity for evil, there could also be no opportunity for virtue.
- Those who suffer do so because they are being punished or elevated by suffering.
In the end he concludes all of these arguments with a "Scottish verdict": not proved.
He also explores the concepts of transcendence, paradigms, post-modernism and language games.
He discusses the conflict within faith communities between the "prophetic" (repent and change) and the "priestly" (obey unchanging truth) as well as the influence of moral myths and stories. Dr. Hall feels that these stories can elevate humanity, whether they are true or not.
This is a challenging course, one which I want to listen to again.
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A couple of months ago I purchased a Sylvania SYNET7LP-DS for $90 at Big Lots.
Perhaps I was envious of my wife, who likes to read e-books on her Kindle. And I have a large collection of ebooks in pdf format. So I just wanted a portable ebook reader.
This tablet contains an Arm-11 CPU running Android 2.2 at 1 GHZ. It has a 7" resistive touch color screen. It comes with about a dozen standard apps. This is the third tablet that I bought at Big Lots, having returned the other two as not very good, even for a low-cost product. (I was tempted to return this one and get the 10" Sylvania tablet, but I'd passed the 30-day return window.)
The Droid e-reader that came pre-installed was worthless--it wouldn't open most of my ebooks. Once I learned how to access the app store, I downloaded a free PDF viewer which works better. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have a Google play store app, which is the source of the LDS apps that I want to download.
The included web browser works well, and is quite fast. I even watched some videos, but this makes the battery go dead after less than an hour's use. I hope to learn more about the Android platform over time. |
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So it appears that the U.S. Mint is making these coins available starting today.
I don't know what is going on at the mint, but the 2011 coins came out in January last year.
I hope that they are adjusting their schedule to facilitate an efficient operation that uses our taxes wisely. I approve of last fall's policy change to start charging for shipping on the $250 boxes of coins, which was certainly a past money-loser.
If you want some of these coins, order them now, because you won't be able to get them at the bank.
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| » 21st U.S. President - Chester A. Arthur |
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Chester A. Arthur coins are released today -- but only on order from the U.S. Mint
From wikipedia: Chester Alan Arthur (October 5, 1829 – November 18, 1886) was the 21st President of the United States (1881–1885). Becoming President after the assassination of President James A. Garfield, Arthur struggled to overcome suspicions of his beginnings as a politician from the New York City Republican machine*, succeeding at that task by embracing the cause of civil service reform. His advocacy for, and enforcement of, the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act was the centerpiece of his administration.
 Here is the link to order coins, but after adding the mint's premium, and their shipping fee of $4.95, they will cost you $1.52 each for a single roll. That cost per coin drops to $1.12 each if you order 250 coins.
If you already subscribe to the annual mint sets, you will still each presidential dollar coin.
But don't ask for them at your local bank.
*Republican political machine? The GOP had a political machine in New York City only 20 years after the election of Lincoln? Are there any Republican political machines today?
According to senate.gov, Arthur was a protege of Roscoe Conkling, who was first elected to the senate in 1867. He then built a strong state political machine through his control over New York City’s patronage-rich customshouse.
This 'strong political machine' is unlike the Democrat-party political machines that dominate many places [like Chicago] today, where patronage holds unbridled power in all areas of public life.
Apr. 5th, 2012 @ 03:14 pm
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| » Rock’n’Roll and American Society |
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I recently finished the following audio course:
 Rock’n’Roll and American Society
Professor William McKeen
University of Florida
The course was quite interesting, and mostly covers the early days of rock'n'roll in the decade of the 1950s. Since this was before my time, it was a fascinating story. In particular, Mr. McKeen emphasized some very interesting trends in music and culture:
- Country music used to be called 'hillbilly' and Rhythm and Blues used to be called 'race' music. Rock'n'Roll emerged as a fusion between them, and was first played by people in the poorest areas of the country.
- The British invasion of the early 1960s was partly a tribute to this American roots music by these foreign musicians.
- The medium of radio promoted understanding between people of all races, because the airwaves could not be segregated. As a result, all Americans began to embrace the new 'rock' music.
The weakness of this course is that no audio clips are included, which would greatly help in the appreciation of the music discussed. Instead, the course guide gives a list of suggested music to listen to.
Mar. 28th, 2012 @ 11:28 am
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| » The Era of the Crusades |
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Last week I finished the audio book
 Era of the Crusades
Taught By Professor Kenneth W. Harl, Ph.D.,
Yale University, Tulane University
In thirty-six lectures, professor Harl attempts to cover about 200 years of history (1095-1291) including the cultural background, the political and religious intrigues of Europe, Asia, and the Mideast, and an assessment of how these military campaigns affected the peoples involved.
For me he failed -- but not for lack of trying. There is just too much to cover, even for this small chunk of world history. And yet, for me he tied together many loose ends of history, from Henry Plantagenet and Elanor of Aquitaine, King Louis IX, Ghengis Khan, Pope Innocent, the Fatimid Caliphs, the Byzantine emperors and patriarchs, and the brilliant Kurdish general Saladin.
The events of this period of history are full of fascinating people, who meet them with the typical human characteristics of faith, courage, ambition, greed, and the chivalry peculiar to the time.
All of the cultures, religions, and kingdoms involved changed -- and were changed by these events. The repercussions are still with us today. Even the very word 'crusade' offends some Muslims today -- they still feel the shock of the re-taking of Jerusalem -- even after nineteen centuries. And Christians had to adjust to the final loss of their own holy lands, much as the Jews did in their Babylonian captivity.
Feb. 21st, 2012 @ 02:13 pm
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| » Relativity and Quantum Science |
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This week I finished the audio book
 "Einstein’s Relativity and the Quantum Revolution: Modern Physics for Non-Scientists"
(2nd edition)
by Professor Richard Wolfson.
First of all, I do not recommend the audio-only version of this course, as Professor Wolfson uses many visuals, and only a few of them appear in the printed course guide.
This course is a good overview of relativity and quantum science. The test of a good scientific theory is threefold: It explains what we observe, it helps us make predictions about future observations, and it gives us more control over our environment. Both of these theories qualify in this regard.
Dr. Wolfson is interested in philosophy, and he starts with the Newtonian concept of a clockwork universe, where past causes can absolutely predict future effects. He then explains how quantum theory upset this view with its uncertainty principle and probabile nature.
I was a little uncomfortable with his salesman-like approach to some topics. 'New! Improved! This theory solves quandry X for you!' is often used. It may be my modern science education talking, but before relativity was it _really_ considered a problem that 'gravitational mass' and 'inertial mass' both act the same way when a force is applied?
I did learn that the "weak force" has already been unified with the "electromagnetic force" and is now called the "electro-weak" force. Of course, gravity is still considered the weakest and most mysterious force. But according to the General Theory of Relaltivity, it is not really a force at all, but a bending of space-time. This is a difficult concept to accept.
I think that this course is now almost ten years old, and it only has one lecture about string theory. This theory attempts to make a new model which can describe all of the forces and particles.
Modern physics has still not explained the wave/particle duality. It appears that our best solution is like the old Certs commercial. Is it a candy or a breath mint? It's both! It's two things in one. With this bit of hand-waving, the issue can then be ignored. Like the Queen of Wonderland, we simply regard it to be what we want at the moment.
Of course there are many intractable problems which science has not solved. What is dark matter? Is is anything like the matter that we know? (This course made no mention of dark energy.) Einstein solved many problems simply by thinking long and hard about them. He was one mind, working without a staff or a laboratory, but staying informed about the work being done by other people. I look forward to continue learning more every day about the amazing universe that we live in.
Jan. 21st, 2012 @ 08:53 am
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| » 2012 Native American Dollar coin |
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 The theme for the 2012 Native American Dollar Coin is "Trade Routes in the 17th Century." Its reverse design features a Native American and horse in profile with horses running in the background, representing the historical spread of the horse.
Low demand for the dollar coin means that this issue may only be available in mint collector sets.
Jan. 3rd, 2012 @ 05:01 pm
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