Drat, Constitution is too hard to change

The latest complaint by critics of rigor: The U.S. Constitution is just too hard to amend. The naysayers offer that altering the landmark document is too complex, too onerous, too time-consuming — and rarely successful.

They try to buttress their case for change by arguing that it has been tinkered with successfully only 27 times in its history. Activists on the left want more frequent fixes (to their particular liking, of course) faster and easier. Of course they do.

This is not a surprise. For them, the constitution is too inflexible and, in many ways, too out of date to suit their modern tastes and desires.

Fortunately, their pleas for what they view as needed surgery have borne no meaningful fruit. After all, the Constitution, created 238 years ago and last amended in 1992, has stood the test of time. At least for some of us.

With the 250th birthday of the United States fast approaching next year, it will not be a shock to learn that the Constitution’s critics will renew their pleas for an easier amendment process.

HEY, SHOW US THE MONEY: Big-time college sports have become a wide-open, no-holds-barred, runaway money machine — witness the recent $50 million donated to Stanford University’s football program. The money can’t come soon enough. Key athletes are getting paid now. Some of them are being rewarded into the millions of dollars. Even gifted high school recruits are receiving cash. So, it’s past time for media reports to let us all know what the payments actually are, especially at public schools. It would be helpful to be informed about how much money a touted star is being paid to play for a particular institution of higher learning. It certainly seems relevant in today’s ultra-mercenary world.

PUT THIS GUY ON SPEED DIAL: Never let it be said that attorneys are not inventive when it comes to finding new and creative ways to secure potentially lucrative sources of income. That includes locations for future litigation. One far-seeing lawyer apparently has set his sights on the moon, at least that’s the strong indication contained in his recent TV promotions. He may be pulling our leg. Or not. In any event, that orb would appear to be a possible new tort frontier at some point. So, if you anticipate heading for a lunar landing and worry about the prospect of intergalactic liability, keep this barrister on speed dial.

TIMELESS WORDS OF WISDOM: “Some people drink from the fountain of knowledge, others just gargle.” Those quoted words of timeless wisdom come to us from the prolific and often acerbic pen of Quentin Kopp, writing deftly and reiterating a sage observation in his most recent newsletter for readers living in that dysfunctional burg north of us. Kopp, a gifted wordsmith and keen observer of the human condition, is a former San Francisco supervisor, state senator and San Mateo County judge, along with other positions of public trust.

JENNY CIRCLE PASSES AT 47: She was one of the biggest stars on a record-setting girls’ prep basketball program (80 victories in a row) back in the early 1990s. Jenny Circle, a tall, talented center at Sacred Heart Prep in Atherton, went on to play for USC and Colorado. A mother of two young children and a member of the Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame (inducted in 2016), she passed away unexpectedly last week at the age of 47. She had participated in a 30-year reunion of those legendary SHP athletes and their head coach, Mike Ciardella, just days before her untimely death.

WE’RE NO.2, WE’RE NO.2!: Still in bucolic Atherton to close out this discussion, new published economic data based on comparative ZIP codes indicate that the pricey Silicon Valley village is no longer the most expensive town in the United States. That honor (?) apparently now goes to tiny, ultra-exclusive Fisher Island off the South Florida coast. Does that make Atherton more affordable? Most assuredly not. It’s still where Peninsula swells like to dwell.