Scatter Brained
While I would normally choose a single topic for this morning’s post, there are several issues, which are nagging at me this morning, which I need to run by you.
The Transit Strike
The New York transit strike is entering its second day and costing the city a fortune. I understand the union is now being fined about a million dollars a day. In a city where the monthly price of a safe parking spot can cost almost as much as a car payment, many people opt not to own cars. So the strike can truly have a crippling effect. Too bad the union has not taken into account that no one likes to be held hostage. Any public sympathy the workers enjoyed will rapidly evaporate. It is only a matter of time before New York will follow President Reagan’s example, and fire the transit workers and hire anyone who will drive the damned buses, as Reagan did with the Flight Controllers. Since it is easier to replace a transit worker, than a Flight Controller, I don’t expect the strike to last very long. The whole thing does not bode well for environmentalists either. Those who support mass transit, to save resources and protect the environment, are also being dealt a nasty blow by striking transit workers. Sounds like a no win situation.
Prison Escapes
What the hell is going on with all these prison escapes lately? In the news today, a convicted serial rapist has escaped from a Miami prison. The escapee has been accused of seven rapes of victims ranging in age from 11 to 79, and four attempted rapes. Nationally we have had a rash of prison escapes. Escapes and escape attempts will always occur, but it sure seems we could do a heck of a lot better at reducing the number. Instead of slapping up new prisons as quickly as Starbucks Coffee stands, we should look at alternative sentencing for non-violent offenders and harden existing prisons against escape, housing only those who have shown themselves to be violent offenders. The whole thing sure makes the idea of a “super prison” somewhere north of the artic circle look appealing. Between the options of a heated cell with basic cable and a couple hundred miles of inhospitable ice and polar bears, I think escape numbers would fall to about zero. Those who did opt for escape would most likely be taken care of by Mother Nature. Sounds fair enough to me.
Another thought on Government Eavesdropping
This morning on Fox News, some Republican representative was defending the practice of government eavesdropping. I wish I had been awake enough to take down his name, but I was still blurry eyed and had just started my first cup of coffee. Anyway he attempted to justify the practice by saying that telecommunications had changed greatly since the law went banning wiretaps without a warrant. His contention was that not all forms of current communication are protected. His point cuts both ways. While he may have a valid point, it merely points out that we, as a nation, need to revisit the whole issue. At a minimum, the whole mess is a good reason to debate issue and update our laws as we update our forms of communication. It is about time anyway; I hope they chose to address the advertisers and other bastards who use “cookies” and other software to “eavesdrop” on our online communication and activity as well. Eavesdropping to save lives I can tolerate, doing it to make a quick buck is another matter entirely. I suppose I find that it is not so much the eavesdropping I oppose as much as who is doing it and what the hell the do with the information.
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