1.     Plausible Denial and Plausible Transparency

2.     A Not-So-Divine Comedy, Part 4

3.     Announcements

4.     Fun Facts about Louisiana

5.     The Flashback Quarterback:  Just the Facts, M'am

6.     Beware and Share:  Dirt under the Rug?

7. About Montebello E-News and “My Montebello”

Plausible Denial and Plausible Transparency  

We have heard of “plausible denial,” a phrase which describes a lie which comes across enough like the truth to quiet the critics or satisfy the investigators.  What is “plausible transparency”?  

Plausible transparency refers to somebody coming across as if he or she were open and honest, but, in fact, was hiding something.  Republicans would point to former President Clinton’s manipulation of English with a straight face in order to deny his misadventure with Monica Lewinski.  Democrats would point to President Bush’s congenial style, as when he leans on the lectern and speaks informally during a press conference, thereby projecting candor as he pitches the official lie.  

If we consider plausible transparency a problem—as we should, because people die and scarce funds are misspent—what can we do about it?  

You have heard of too many cooks in the kitchen spoiling the broth?  Try this new one:  many ears to the wall spoil the lie.  The only way to ensure that those in power, be they in government or corporate America , stay honest is to stand by them and around them when they do their work.  Said another way, be the guardian angels, help them to avoid temptation.  

We need more people in government decision-making and in corporate decision-making, so that nobody dare to use plausible denial or plausible transparency.

If you answer the multiple-choice questions below and e-mail to lessonanswers@mymontebello.com with “Lesson answers” in the subject field, you will be credited toward a “certificate of recognition in community affairs” to be awarded in 2007 by a local nonprofit organization.  

1. What is plausible transparency?

(a) The ability to come across as candid when telling a lie.

(b) A new type of glass which filters out sunlight but lets in the warmth of the sun.  

2. What do we do about plausible transparency?

(a) Let it go, as it is a common human trait.

(b) Involve more people in decision-making, so that plausible transparency would not work.

  No one can earn a million dollars honestly.
William Jennings Bryan, 1860 – 1925,
an American lawyer, statesman, and politician, three times the Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States.

The decadent international but individualistic capitalism in the hands of which we found ourselves after the war is not a success. It is not intelligent. It is not beautiful. It is not just. It is not virtuous. And it doesn't deliver the goods.
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Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest [sic] of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.
John Maynard Keynes, 1883 – 1946,
a British economist whose ideas, called Keynesian economics, had a major impact on modern economic and political theory, as well as on many governments’ fiscal policies.  

In part one, we looked at the features of modern-day capitalism as practiced here in the United States .  In part two, we read of the role played by natural disasters in boosting a local economy.  In part three, we saw the tie between commercializing holidays and keeping the economy strong.

Is it fair to say that capitalism is not the solution to every problem, every opportunity?  

We have seen examples in E-News about the private sector’s involvement in health care.  When those whose primary motive is to make profit make decisions about treatments for the ill, is there not an undeniable conflict?  

Let us go beyond health care.  Should private companies run the insurance industry, as there would be a natural tendency for them to try to find reasons to deny claims, so as to maximize profit?  

Should the private sector take over the public schools?  How would companies make a profit if they had to educate children with special needs?  Also, would they not want to control the curriculum, so as to ensure high achievement by children?  

There are services which companies would provide for which they would choose the less risky, less demanding consumers to whom to provide services, so as to make the most profit.  Those consumers who would be more risky or more demanding would be excluded, meaning that those consumers would go without or government and / or nonprofit organizations would have to step in.   

The primary consideration for companies, if not their only consideration, is to make profit, whether to satisfy the executive team or the shareholders, this consideration tempered a bit by the possible fallout from adverse publicity.  As for adverse publicity, companies will keep as tight a lid as possible on their decisions affecting consumers or they will hire experts in public relations to put out fires caused by adverse publicity.  

Does it not seem odd that an executive team or shareholders living far from a community of consumers would make decisions on that community, without the community having equivalent input in the decisions?  

It might be that there would be many services, even products, which should not be brought to consumers through capitalism.  Capitalism cannot be the solution to every problem, every opportunity.

The Battle of New Orleans, which made Andrew Jackson a national hero, was fought two weeks after the War of 1812 had ended and more than a month before the news of the war’s end had reached Louisiana.  

Louisiana was named in honor of King Louis XIV of France.  

Louisiana is the only state with a large population of Cajuns, descendants of the Acadians who were driven out of Canada in the 1700s because they would not pledge allegiance to the King of England.  [Seriously, at least they were not massacred.]  

The Superdome in New Orleans is the world’s largest steel-constructed room unobstructed by posts. Height is 273 feet, diameter of dome 680 feet [about twice the length of a football field], area of roof 9.7 acres [wow!], interior space 125,000,000 cubic feet, total floor footage 269,000 square feet [our house is about 2,200 square feet], electrical wiring 400 miles.  

The first American army to have African American officers was the confederate Louisiana Native Guards.  The Corps d’Afrique at Port Hudson was sworn into service on September 27, 1862.  [Now, that is a twist!]  

In Louisiana, biting someone with your natural teeth is considered a simple assault, but biting someone with your false teeth is considered an aggravated assault.  [It would be interesting to know the history behind this difference.]  

In 1803 the United States paid France $15 million for the Louisiana Territory.  828,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River.  [Did the U.S. get a deal?  Montebello has 8.4 square miles.  At the same rate and according to the value of the dollar at that time, Montebello would have been bought for less than $153.]  The lands acquired stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border.  Thirteen states were carved from the Louisiana Territory.  The Louisiana Purchase nearly doubled the size of the United States.  

French speaking Acadians in the mid-1700s settled the Lafayette Parish region of south Louisiana.  The Acadians were joined by another group of settlers, called “Creoles,” descendants of African, West Indian, and European pioneers.  At the time of the migration, Louisiana was under Spanish rule and authorities welcomed the new settlers.  

The city of Kaplan is referred to as the most Cajun place on Earth.  

The town of Jean Lafitte was once a hideaway for pirates.  

http://www.fun-facts.com/item/86106