Opinion & Comment
August 25, 2011, The Bridgton News, Page D
Viewpoints It Dawned on Me by Dawn De Busk News Columnist
All that’s below & all that’s above
the time, as always happens around summer solstice, I was homesick for Alaska. So, I ventured outside, following with my eyes his excited fingers pointing toward this atmospheric phenomenon. I may have been expecting to see the cool blues and greens of winter’s Auroras, or maybe the hot pinks and reds captured by mountain ranges and dancing over the valley. Still, I was pleased to see quivering white — thin streaks of white like elongated daisy petals pirouetting around a center of space. Yes, it was probably just clouds. But, it was satisfying to pretend I was peering at the aurora borealis. I flashed back to an April morning when I was hiking down from Wolverine Mountain, and ghostly white Northern Lights rose from the foothills to greet me and my climbing partner. Last Thursday, while camping at Sebago Lake State Park Campground, my daughter and I ventured to the beach at night, where other groups of people sat in the sand and watched the moonrise. The sound of waves swishing to shore combined eloquently with the aesthetics of familiar constellations and a gilded moon gliding above the treetops. With my child on my cross-legged lap, I shared in separate space from other humans the same celestial sights. During our lifetimes, all humans seem to strive to be “unique” individuals. Then, we take comfort in the common ground below humanity’s feet and the spread of sky — so comprehensible — above the heads of humankind.
MAJESTIC — While Max Evans of Bridgton was at a local fishing hole, he snapped this photograph of a very majestic eagle that soared above. Max is a student at Lake Region High School, and is the son of Jon and Monica Evans.
The cost of printing money
Was Rick Perry out of line to suggest that bald, bearded Ben Bernanke would be almost treasonous to print more dollars? No. I don’t think so. He got a rise out of President Obama right away. Even President Bush’s advisor, Karl Rove, criticized him. Bush, after all, was first to appoint Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve, perhaps on the advice of Rove. Obama re-appointed after he was inaugurated. Speaking in Iowa, apparently in response to an inquiry about the Federal Reserve, Perry said, “If this guy (Bernanke) prints more money between now and the election, I don’t know what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. I mean, printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history, is almost treacherous — er — or treasonous, in my opinion.” When I was born, pennies were made of copper. Dimes, quarters and half-dollars were made of silver. Even if people were to lose faith in the
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Front Row Seat by Tom McLaughlin News Columnist
government that made their coins, they could still depend on the copper and silver being worth something. Paper dollars could be redeemed for a certain amount of gold. It was the same concept as the personal check, and paper dollars are just about the size of checks as well. When I write a check to someone, they must have confidence that I have enough cash in my account to back it up. I’m saying “pay to the order of” whomever a certain amount of cash. Paper dollars were called “silver certificates,” which were like checks for certain amounts of silver maintained by the federal government. None of that applies anymore. Pennies are made of zinc with copper paint. Dimes and quarters are made of copper with silver paint. The paper dollar cannot be redeemed
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Shall I start with the massive spider that lives on a black rock in Thomas Pond, watery home of an arachnid skilled around a mobile wakeline while eating enough to thrive to five times its normal size? Or, shall I start with the Big Dipper’s almost upright position in the northern sky, as meteors materialize from some eastern point and zip out of sight before being snagged in the Dipper’s ready cup? Human beings seem to have this connection to both the insects’ activity beneath their feet, and the dots and lights in the infinite sky above their heads. These are the areas of interest where my husband and I have a steadfast connection. In July, we took the canoe to a swimming rock on Thomas Pond. After cooling off in the bathtub temperature water, we engaged in our shared activity of inspecting and identifying the bushes growing on that rock. Then, we turned our attention to the health and possible age of a family of three birch trees that had also taken root on the rock. I fell in love with him almost a decade ago, when he told me had a degree in Urban Forestry. He sealed it when he began to recite to me the Latin names of trees and flowers I already knew by their common names. When I was 12 or 13, my mother took a botany class from the community college, and I became enamored with the study of plants. It is so fun to “be out in the field.” My husband’s expertise and education extends from flora to insects and spiders, especially in relation to which ones are harmful to trees and plants, and which nontoxic methods can be used to get rid of the non-beneficial bugs in life. He loves to talk about the number of legs, mouth parts, and body sections of the bugs we see. And, I am all ears. However, I am not so receptive when he shares his knowledge by giving me a step-by-step presentation on the best way to pull out of the driveway, or how to line the vehicle up perfectly with the bent guard rail, when unloading the canoe at his local fishing hole. Back to the topic: While not all people hold a fascination for bug life, most are moved by the sky (and the mountains, the ocean, and inland bodies of water). I am at peace with my lack of knowledge about the plants and insects I encounter. I have books to fill those black holes. However, I panic when I am unable to locate certain constellations that help me to determine which direction is east, west, north or south. I feel more grounded when I am able to read the stars and planets in the sky. Regardless, being able to stand in an open area and witness the stars and moon is heavenly to me. My husband will wake me when the sky is worth viewing — from a red-tinted lightning storm to meteor shower activity. One evening, at the beginning of summer, he interrupted what I was doing (which was writing) to let me know the aurora borealis was making an appearance above our home. I was skeptical of his claim because the northern lights are rarely seen in Maine. At
for precious metal anymore either in any amount unless you choose to buy gold with it from a private dealer. Not too long ago, you could buy an ounce of gold for about $40. At this writing, it would cost over $1,800 and by the time you read this in a newspaper in a few more days, it might cost over $2,000. Why? Several reasons, but mostly it’s because people don’t trust the U.S. government as much as they used to. Why not? Because Ben Bernanke has been printing trillions more dollars without putting any more gold in Fort Knox. Why is he doing that? Because he can. Why can he? Because President Nixon took us off the gold standard in 1973. The amount of dollars isn’t tied to the amount of gold in Fort Knox anymore. It “floats,” say the economists. The February, 2011 article in the newsletter Imprimis compared “floating” the value of the dollar with “floating” the weight of a kilogram. Seth Lipsky wrote that “a global scramble is under way to define this most basic unit after it was discovered that the standard kilogram — a cylinder of platinum and iridium that is maintained by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures — has been losing mass.” Then, he asked why not just let the kilogram float like the dollar? “After all, when you go into the grocery to buy a pound of hamburger, why should you
worry about how much hamburger you get — so long as it’s a pound’s worth? A pound is supposed to be .45359237 of a kilogram. But if Congress can permit Mr. Bernanke to use his judgment in deciding what a dollar is worth, why shouldn’t he — or some other Ph.D. from M.I.T. — be able to decide from day to day what a kilogram is worth?” Lipsky described how the first Congress “established the value of the dollar at 371 1/4 grains of pure silver… (and) did not expect the value of the dollar to be changed any more than the persons who locked away that kilogram of platinum and iridium expected the cylinder to start losing mass. In fact, in this same 1792 law, they established the death penalty for debasing the dollar.” The death penalty? Hmm. That’s what traitors get too. Tea Party conservatives know the U.S. dollar isn’t floating. It’s sinking, because Bernanke is printing them wildly. Those of us who have saved up dollars are losing wealth with each one he prints — and it’s all going down the black hole of the federal government. It’s a hidden tax. Bernanke calls it “quantitative easing,” but it could also be called counterfeiting. It’s verbal legerdemain for theft by a federal government driving America into bankruptcy. Maybe Bernanke and the president, who appointed him, think printing money is good for the economy and will save America as it drives us all off a cliff. Tea Party conservatives like Perry see such a policy as foolish at best or treasonous at worst. Governor Perry is entitled to his opinion that it’s the latter. Tom McLaughlin of Lovell is a retired U.S. history teacher. He can be reached at tommclaughlin@fairpoint.net
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