Supreme Court Vacancy: The Republicans Go Off The Deep End

I’ve been absent here for several months. I got tired of the political rhetoric coming out of the Republican Party. So much craziness was coming out of the mouths of Donald Trump and the other candidates that if I started writing about it, it would never end.

But the death yesterday of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was the tipping point for me. Not his death per se, but the Republican response that says President Barack Obama should defer making his recommendation for replacement and leave that for the next president. Some Republicans stated openly that they would not vote on, or they would block, any appointment that President Obama recommended.

This is garbage, pure and simple.

Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution states that the president "shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint ... Judges of the Supreme Court." This means President Obama is well within his rights to put forth his nomination for Scalia's replacement. Members of Congress swear to uphold the Constitution. If the President makes his recommendation, Congress should vote on it. Of course, they do not need to approve The President’s selection, but in my opinion, NOT to vote on it should not be an option.

Those Republicans who want to block or delay the appointment of a replacement Supreme Court Justice in order to allow the next president to do so should remember that there are no guarantees a Republican will win the next presidential election.

I grow tired of Republicans, who are behaving like petulant children who throw tantrums when they don’t get their way. Those already in Congress should be aware that they represent the people - ALL the people, not just their own party or their own self interests. And those candidates running for president who are not currently members of Congress better get used to the fact that, if elected, they also have to represent ALL people AND uphold the Constitution.


The Republican presidential candidates continue to make themselves look more foolish by the day. It’s embarrassing.



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The Frequent Critic, here.

Guns Plus Mental Illness – A Recipe For Disaster

There have been too many killings lately at the hands of people with guns who are mentally ill. I have no issue with people having their guns, but there needs to be some way to prevent people who do not have the capacity to use them properly to get them and keep them. 

We are a country of many freedoms, but we also need to be able to protect people from those who are abusing those freedoms. The problem is: a person may be mentally stable when they buy the gun, then a mental “break” occurs and that gun is used in the wrong way. Other than mandating some sort of annual mental illness test in order to keep a handgun – which would likely not be legal,  much less practical – I don’t know how it could be policed.

There are so many new treatments for mental illness, but identifying the mentally ill and getting them access to and mandating treatment can be difficult.

I don’t have the answer. I’m not sure anyone does. But what I do know is that I am tired of innocent people being killed by someone who is mentally unstable.

We must find a solution!



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The Rational Fear of Flying

For me, the simple thought of flying on an airplane fills me with dread. Even driving to the airport makes my stomach feel tied in knots. I get horrible motion sickness when flying (medication doesn’t help) but that’s not the only reason why I hate flying. I haven’t flown on an airplane since being on a horrible flight in January 1993. The plane on which I was flying passed through a massive line of unusual January thunderstorms and I think everyone on that plane thought we were not going to land in one piece. We were heading to a business meeting on the east coast and colleagues from Chicago were also flying there, on another flight about a half hour behind us. They flew through the same storm. Their flight was even worse than mine and some people on that flight had to be hospitalized for injuries. I swore on the flight home that I would never set foot on a plane again.

Since my last flight in 1993, air travel has become even more unsettling for many people. The planes crashing into the World Trade Center on 9/11 tightened security and that made the process of just getting on the plane to be a hassle. Stories of plane crashes in general are unsettling. But over the last year where planes have crashed or gone missing - Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March 2014 being the most notable – flying is becoming uncomfortable for even those who aren’t afraid to fly. The crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 this week, which currently is presumed to be a deliberate act, is a horrifying thought which brings the fear of flying to a whole new level.

The fear of flying can no longer be considered an irrational fear.

I’m not sure if there will be anything so critical that will force me to get on a plane. I do realize that no method of travel is 100% safe. But when I put my life in the hands of someone else – an airline, a plane, or a pilot – I want to have complete confidence that they will deliver me to my destination in one piece. I simply do not have that confidence any longer, not even a shred of it. I don’t think the earth will stop spinning if I never board a plane again. But each air tragedy breeds more people like me: not phobic, just those who have a reasonable and rational fear of flying.





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Often: The “T” Is Silent

After going through the last several months with no issue causing me enough grief to complain about it here, I’ve finally hit a high level of annoyance with one thing. It’s a little thing really, but with each day it annoys me more. It’s the pronunciation of the word “often.” Despite some who believe that pronouncing the “T” is acceptable, I am here to state that, in my opinion, it is not. The most common pronunciation has the “T” silent (“off-fen”).

Here’s why I think pronouncing the “T” (“off-ten”) is incorrect: people don’t pronounce the “T” in similar words, such as listen, hasten, soften, etc. I know that the English language doesn’t always follow its own rules of pronunciation, but in this case, I think it should.

I’ve noticed that the pronunciation of the “T” seems to be spreading with news reporters, news anchors, and TV pundits.  I almost never hear it in TV shows (dramas/comedies) where actors are delivering scripted dialog, and who are likely being told HOW to say what they are saying. But news people are pronouncing the “T” more and more often (read "off-fen!").  Do they think it makes them sound smarter? In my opinion, it doesn’t. It sounds “off,” especially coming from people who make their living by talking in front of a camera.

So my suggestion is this: please hasten to read this, and listen to what I say. I don’t want to soften my message: The “T” in “often” is silent!





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The Court of Public Opinion Shows Its Dark Side in Ferguson, Missouri

The death of Michael Brown at the hands of police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri has ignited a firestorm of debate in the media and in social media. Things became even worse when yesterday the grand jury decided not to indict Darren Wilson for any criminal charges in Michael Brown’s death. Everyone has an opinion as to how justice should have been served, but everybody was not at the scene at the time Wilson shot Brown. Only the grand jurors saw all the facts of the case, yet people who were not there at the time of the incident nor who sat on the grand jury seem to think they know better.

In addition to the furor over the outcome of the grand jury, there were people peacefully protesting in Ferguson (and in other cities). Peaceful protests are a good thing and can help to bring change. But these protests turned to rioting, looting, vandalism, the burning of business, and more. How many of the people engaging in the non-peaceful activities actually live in Ferguson is not known, but it is suspected that many engaging in the violet behavior are simply opportunists taking advantage of the unrest.

This whole situation is sad in more ways than one.

Social media is a wonderful thing where people can share information. But social media can also spread misinformation. Television and print media also has contributed to fanning the flames by their continuous coverage and debate on the issue when they do not have all the facts. I think it is perfectly fine to discuss and debate situations like this but we have to stop trying cases in the media and having the court of public opinion pass judgment. While the public has an appetite for as much information as possible, it is simply not fair for the public to condemn anyone – either Michael Brown or Darren Wilson in this situation – before all the facts can be presented using the due process of the law.

There is no excuse for rioting, looting, vandalism etc. It sickens me that hard working people who had nothing to do with the Brown/Wilson incident have had their business destroyed. I hope that those people arrested for this behavior face the full force of the law.

There will always be questions when a police officer shoots another person, regardless of who is shot and who is did the shooting. And there SHOULD be. I’ve always been under the opinion that shooting to kill should be the last resort, but I also understand that police officers are often faced with split second life or death decisions. While police officers are not perfect, there isn’t any human being out there that is. In order for justice to be served, the court of public opinion is not the best place to try a case.


UPDATE: Here is a link to the New York Times with all the Ferguson Case grand jury documents.


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The Frequent Critic, here.

Tiny Terrorists: Viruses and Bacteria

An outbreak of Ebola in Liberia. A toxic algae bloom creating bacteria which poisoned the water supply in Toledo Ohio with microcystin . These two topics made national news this past week, causing terror in people both internationally and regionally. Both situations were caused by tiny microbes that are invisible to the naked eye.

It is understandable why these news stories can cause  intense fear. It’s hard to fight something that one can’t see. The thought of the spread of Ebola can be particularly frightening to some because as of right now, the mortality rate is very high (reportedly near 90%) and there is no sure cure or vaccine. The 400,000 people in the Toledo, Ohio area without water for several days had to wonder if the contamination in the water could be fixed and if their water would be usable again. The millions of people who live on the shores of Lake Erie in the United States and Canada also had reason to be concerned as the problem could potentially affect the entire region.

But there is no need for panic. There is, however, a need for action.

Work is underway to both contain the spread of Ebola in the outbreak area. The experimental medication used on one of the Ebola patients who was brought back to Atlanta Georgia for care does bring a glimmer of hope. Ebola is not an airborne pathogen, and is transmitted by bodily fluids, so as long as great care is taken while caring for the sick, the risk of spreading the virus is low. The danger with Ebola is that one may not know they have been infected, with the incubation period taking between days and weeks. As the outbreak is concentrated in one area in Africa, people can simply avoid traveling in the region. My biggest concern is someone being infected traveling OUT of the area before they realize they are infected.

The toxic algae bloom in Lake Erie is a more immediate concern to me, but still should not panic anyone. The algae problem in Lake Erie has been an ongoing problem for many years. I live in Northeast Ohio only miles from the Lake Erie shores, and the area gets a lot of drinking water from the central basin of Lake Erie, not near Toledo.  But the concern over the algae affecting all the basins of Lake Erie is real. The algae growth continues to explode due to fertilizer and sewage runoff into Lake Erie primarily from the agricultural areas in the western end of the state of Ohio. The problem became serious in Toledo as their water is drawn from the shallowest end of the lake, and unusual weather conditions pushed the algae bloom westward and concentrated it even closer to the city’s water intakes. While weather was a factor, it is not the underlying problem. I can understand why no one wants to curb agriculture in Ohio, but clearly steps must be taken to stop using Lake Erie as an unlimited dumping ground for runoff from agriculture. Ohioans like me who live in more urban areas and get water from deeper areas of Lake Erie are safer but still not immune to the dangers of toxins from algae. Ohio legislators, working in tandem with those from Canada, should immediately work to place controls on what goes into the precious resource that is Lake Erie. Fertilizer runoff and sewage runoff may not seem as bad as the industrial pollutants which affected Lake Erie in the 1960s, but the effect is still the same. These agents are contributing to poisoning the lake and must be curbed or stopped.

These tiny terrorists - viruses and bacteria -  can only win if we let them. Human-made problems such as toxic algae blooms are fixable by humans. And even if a virus like Ebola can’t be completely eradicated right now, the best defense is a good offense. The worst thing we can do is panic.




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“This Page Intentionally Left Blank” Is Intentionally Ridiculous

I know there are more important things in the world to complain about. But, for some reason, when I see a document with a page that is marked “This Page Intentionally Left Blank”, it annoys me to no end. I frequently see this phrase in legal documents, company annual reports/proxy statements, medical benefit summaries, etc. I understand that they don’t want someone to see a blank page and think that they are missing something, but really now, there has GOT to be a better way to do it other than printing “This Page Intentionally Left Blank” on it. Doing so means the page is now NOT BLANK. It make my head want to explode, the same way it feels when watching sci-fi on television when a paradox is encountered. How can a page be blank and NOT blank at the same time?  It can't - at least not in this universe, unless you are Doctor Who and are using your psychic paper.

Here are my suggestions for pages where one intends no information to be printed on a page (this also applies to the “this space intentionally left blank” statement for sections of a page where no printing is intended):


1. Put a big “X” on it.

2. Put a large “forward slash” on it

3. Substitute the phase “There’s nothing to see here, move along.”

4. Don’t leave it blank if it’s a page in the middle of a large document. Think of all the reams of paper you’d save.

5. Throw caution to the wind and LEAVE IT BLANK!

I understand that people who write legal documents, company annual reports/proxy statements, and medical benefits summaries think that the rest of the world is stupid, but I assure you that 99.99% of the population can understand a blank page. If you’re giving someone a complex document and that person can’t understand the concept of a blank page, that blank page is the least of your worries.






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The Frequent Critic, here.