Just a few thoughts this week, some political, some other…
1. A federal judge struck down part of the health care law this week. The same conservatives that rail against judicial activists undoing the will of the people's legislators cheered the verdict. The same liberals that insist that the judiciary has the right and responsibility to remove laws, no matter how popular, that are against the Constitution stated that the ruling doesn't matter, the law will be enforced. How about consistency from both sides? Either courts are supposed to do this, or they're not. The whole idea is the rule of law, not the rule of whoever happens to be in charge and what they personally prefer at the moment.
2. Does anyone else think that sports coaches that are willing to look at other jobs shouldn't get million-dollar contract extensions for their wanderlust? How many physics professors get 30% raises just for considering going down the road to another school? And does anyone else think that maybe college athletics has become too big of a business, that employees of public universities are getting paid millions upon millions? How is standing on the sidelines calling plays more valuable than being Governor of a state?
3. Any other e-book owners out there? I've got an Amazon Kindle, and big news has come out regarding Google's bookstore, Apple's bookstore updated, and so on, and so forth. Because of a school requirement, I've got a digital Bible software package on my computer. It's great. It's handy, I carry around 100s of free classics on my Kindle. What happens when the power goes out or the batteries won't charge anymore? While I readily admit this is pessimistic, but are we headed into trouble as a civilized world because we're moving from access to information based on electronic devices instead of print books? I know you can have problems printing new books, but once they're printed, they stick around. If we ever get to the only access for classics like Plato or Newton being 'digital,' following generations may never have them. Don't toss books.
4. I'm still not sure what to make of the WikiLeaks situation. America is a nation founded in rebellion against authority, so it's hardly fair for our government to expect perfect conformity. However, there's also a reality that certain things ought not be broadcast. I do wonder, though, how much quicker stuff would get done internationally if open diplomacy was as honest as the private cables leaked. Seriously.
5. Still in politics, how is it that for 2 years, the Republicans have been keeping the government from doing anything useful for the economy, and now, the Republicans and President Obama (not a Republican) are fussing that Congressional Democrats are not doing anything to help the economy? And the Democrats are still, until January, the majority? Can we fix problems first and blame second? What if we had a temporary law that stated that no one in Congress, no one in the Executive, no appointees would still be employed by the Federal Government come January 20, 2013? That all Representatives, Senators, the President, VP, Cabinet, none of these would be keeping their jobs? Would that make any of them more likely to care and act in the best interest of the nation rather than themselves and their party?
Just wonderings today….I don't really have a full length blog post to give you.
Doug
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