Let Them Jump

The International Olympic Committee, in its ongoing lack of understanding, has decided that one group of world-class athletes cannot participate in the Winter Olympics at Vancouver because they are women. The women in question participate around the world in ski-jumping. 

The convoluted reasoning of the IOC seems to suggest that women are at greater risk of injury than the men. Wasn't that the same sort of argument they used in their attempt to prevent women from competing in the Olympic marathon? Now, in the Boston Marathon for example, the women in the race generate more interest than the men.

Also, of interest is the fact that a US woman ski jumper, Lindsey Vay, holds the record for the longest jump of males and females on the so-called "normal hill" which is to be used at the Vancouver Games.

The IOC's decision smacks of outright gender discrimination--not a good example for aspiring athletes.

Vatican: US Religious Women Should Shut Up

As a Catholic who was cared for in a hospital staffed by nuns and received an excellent education in a rural school staffed by nuns, I am dismayed that the Vatican finds it necessary to launch "an inquiry" into the adherence of US Catholic women religious to Catholic doctrine.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, based in Silver Springs, Md., is made up of 1,500 nuns in leadership positions and represents 95% of the country's 67,000 nuns. Apparently, these leaders have held conferences at which speakers have voiced opinions contrary to the policies of the Vatican,  and now the Curia wishes to put a stop to it. Granted that the nuns have always known that the Church is not democratic and that free speech and open discussion, cherished by Americans and protected by the Bill of Rights,  worries the Pope and his cohorts in the Vatican, they nevertheless had reason to believe that,  after the Second Vatican Council, their church had moved beyond the days of Inquisitions and the Index of Forbidden Books. But they may have failed to realize that,  after the mysterious death of Pope John Paul I, the Vatican has been trying to take our church back to the Pius XII era.

According the The National Catholic Reporter, Cardinal Levada cited three areas of concern: 1) promoting the ordination of women, 2) salvation - or lack thereof - through Christ alone, and 3) "the problem of homosexuality." Is the Vatican suggesting that US Religious Leaders -women or men- should not be able to discuss these three issues? Or should the male clergy discuss them and should the women just shut up?

The week after Easter, the Vatican announced that Bishop Leonard Blair of Toledo, OH, was chosen to lead a doctrinal investigation of LCWR. His appointment was opposed by the national Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "It rubs salt into already deep and still-fresh wounds, of both victims and Catholics, each time the Pope gives more responsibility to a bishop with a terrible track record on child sex abuse and cover-up," said Barbara Dorris, SNAP's outreach director.

Perhaps, the Vatican does not see the irony of a male-dominated hierarchy investigating the discussions of Female Catholic Religious Orders. While these women were teaching the young, caring for the sick, serving the poor, fighting social injustice, and observing their vows, their male counterparts were covering-up child sex-abuse perpetrated by priests.

Once again, the only conclusion is that Pope Benedict and his allies in the Vatican wish to slam the door on that "breath of fresh air" generated by Pope John XXIII's Second Vatican Council.

Give It Up, Norm

Although a Minnesota court ruled unanimously that Al Franken won the US Senate race by 312 votes in an election that was "conducted fairly, impartially, and accurately," the Republican candidate, Norm Coleman, insists on dragging out the process by appealing to the State Supreme Court. All of which appears to be a delaying tactic to keep the winner, Al Franken, from taking his seat and voting in the Senate. Does Mr. Coleman not realize that the manner in which a candidate handles defeat reveals more about his character than the manner in which he handles victory? Perhaps, a man who cannot admit defeat gracefully does not belong in public office.

And, to make matters worse, one of the Supreme Court Justices with a serious conflict of interest has not recused himself.  Justice Dietzen contributed to Norm Coleman's campaign on two occasions and also served as the campaign attorney for Republican Govenor Pawlenty's 2002 campaign. Two other justices have recused themselves because they served on the State Canvassing Board. If they felt their affiliation with the State Canvassing Board was a conflict of interest, surely being a Republican campaign attorney and donating to the campaign of Coleman is a much more serious conflict of interest.

Unfortunately, it appears to be all about delaying Franken from joining his fellow Democrats in the US Senate.  This is another piece of the Republican committment to obstructionism.

Cable Rates Continue to Rise

In many places, an annual rite of spring is an increase in cable TV rates. Frequently the increases are in the 3 to 6% range, and definitely above the rise of the cost-of-living index.

As Consumer Reports (May, 2009) states : "Rates for expanded basic tiers...have spiked122 percent since 1955. ....That's three times the rate of inflation." (Most customers have "expanded basic" service.) One of the causes, according to cable companies,  is that their cost for carrying popular networks like ESPN (provided by Disney) continues to increase. And that may be the case, but the lack of transparency among cable providers means that they want the customer to take their argument on faith. Why not allow the customers to see what it costs the provider for ESPN, Discovery Channel, CNN, etc.? Have the popular networks increased their fees commesurate with the increase of cable rates? Are some of the networks provided free to the cable companies?

Consumers, on the other hand,  are of the opinion that the inordinate increase in cable rates is due to the lack of direct competition. In most places throughout the country, the customer has no alternative. There is only one game in town. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 ruled that: 1) basic cable packages would be controlled until cable operators face effective competition (no definition); 2) the rates for "expanded basic" would become unregulated in 1999 (source: OCABR). The problem with this is that consumers are not interested in "basic." They want CNN, ESPN  etc. and that is the "expanded basic" which is now unregulated. These are the rates that have gone crazy. In Findlay, OH, the cost has soared 67% from 1999 to 2007. Dayton customers' rates increased 47 % between 2000 and 2006. In Canton, the increase was 41% between 1999 and 2006. Akron saw an increase of nearly 40% since 2000. (Source: D.S. Katz, Mackinac Center foor Public Policy)

Yet, another example of deregulation helping the corporations at the expense of the consumer!

Hopefully, the FCC will take a second look at what has happened, and pursue a' la carte pricing, which would permit customers to choose the cable-TV-channels they want to watch and only pay for those channels.  

In the absence of true competition, the cable providers should be required to be transparent and allow their customers to choose what they pay for. 

Useless But Interesting

At 5 minutes and six seconds after 4AM on July 8, 2009 the time and date will be:

04.05.06.    07/08/09

This will never happen again.

Games Republicans Play

Republican Senate leaders, Mitch McConnell and Jon Kyle, declined the President's invitation to be briefed Thursday at the Whitehouse on Afghanistan policy.

Republican House Whip, Eric Cantor, attended a Britney Spears concert rather than hear the President's prime-time news conference on the budget Tuesday evening.

Rebublican Govenor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, after the news conference, attacked the President's budget and mounted, according to CNN,  "a spirited defense" of those who like Rush Limbaugh want our president to fail.

On one hand, these guys want Obama to fail in his attempts to improve our country's  financial disaster that he inherited from the Republicans, and on the other hand, they apparently are too busy to participate in major foriegn policy and budget discussions. As with the stimulus package, they will attempt to obstruct Obama's plans and complain that they were left "out of the loop."

There is a place in a democracy for the "loyal opposition," but this is blatant, self-serving obstructionism.  Such an approach seems to suggest that: it's not what's good for our country; it's what's good for the Republican party interests.

Lest We Forget

Twenty years ago today, the Exxon Valdez spilled eleven million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound, Alaska. By this time, we were told, the effects would be negligible.

The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustees Council, made up of federal and state officials to oversee restoration efforts, concluded recently that the Sound "is nearly as toxic as it was the first few weeks of the spill."

The Council continues, "At this rate the remaining oil will take decades and possibly centuries to disappear entirely." Additiionally, they "have documented lingering oil on Kenai Peninsula and Katmai coast, over 450 miles away."

As for wildlife, nine species have "recovered," seven "are recovering," and two have" not recovered." The status of four species is "unkown."

Clearly, the spill was more devastating than anyone anticipated. Hopefully, oil companies and government regulators will take note of that fact on this anniversary.

If you live in Michigan...

If you live in Michigan and are unemployed, you can obtain free tickets to Jay Leno's stand-up comedy show, "Jay's Comedy Stimulus Plan," at the Palace of Auburn Hills on April 7th and 8th. 

A Dedicated "Greaser"

If you like the smell of French Fries or other fried food, you might want to take a ride with Stacy Jurich in her 1981 Mercedes 240 (156,000 plus miles).

Stacy, a talented young woman from Toledo, who among other enterprises teaches tennis lessons at the Toledo Tennis Club, is driving the above mentioned Mercedes across the country using WVO (waste vegetable oil) for fuel. She left Toledo in February for the east coast (Carolinas) and took a southern route west. When she returns from the west coast she will follow a more northern route and expects to travel 8,000 miles or more before she returns. Her car, named "Vegipower, " has been converted to run on WVO in place of diesel fuel.

Exxon and BP do not, of course, sell vegetable oil and thus the question becomes: where does one obtain WVO, especially on a cross-country trip? Not a problem for Stacy. In whatever city she happens to be, she goes to a local Chinese restaurant, asks for their used vegetable oil, puts on her cover-alls, unpacks her 12 volt pump, hooks it to her battery, and pumps the used oil through a series of filters into her "gas" tank. And, no, she does not go to McDonalds, either to eat or to suck up their used oil. Apparently, the used vegetable oil from the traditional fast-food joints contains too much extraneous material.

In terms of miles-per-gallon, the WVO is somewhat better than diesel fuel--about 22 mpg. Not to mention, one has the added benefit of the aroma of fried food in the passenger compartment. It may be for this reason that in the world of WVO, the real afficianados refer to themselves as "greasers" and have a "greaser network" that informs the faithful about desirable sources of grease.

Those of us who are relics of the the Civil Rights movement often complain that this generation of young people is self-centered and not passionate about a cause that benefits the common good. Stacy's dedicated concern for the environment is much more than lip-service; she has taken three months of her life to demonstrate her convictions.

If you are interested in following Stacy's adventures or would like to learn more about her car, WVO, engine conversions etc., please go to her website: vegipwrseesamerica.com.

Florida State University Priorities

Does FSU care more about Bobby Bowden's effort to accumulate a record number of career wins than the message they send to athletes who cheat? Apparently it is Bowden's record.

In 2006 and 2007, 61 FSU athletes were involved in academic cheating. On March 6 the NCAA announced that FSU would lose scholarships in 10 sports, be on a four-year probabtion, and be stripped of victories in 10 sports, including as many as 14 in football. The university president, T.K. Wetherell, is appealling the part of the NCAA ruling that strips FSU of the victories in which the cheating student-athletes were involved.

It just so happens that the 79-year-old football coach, Bobby Bowden,  is in a race with Joe Paterno of Penn State for the greatest number of career wins at a major college. If the NCAA ruling stands, Bowden would lose 14 of his 382 wins and make it more difficult to catch up with Paterno.

FSU is arguing that it is wrong to hold the coaches responsible. Really? So it's all about the coaches.

Face it, 14 of the football team's victories were tainted by the participation of athletes who cheated in order to play. Whether the coach was responsible or not, the team does not deserve credit for a victory, and therefore the coach of the team does not deserve credit for a victory. It would seem that the honorable thing for Bowden to do is to step forward and say: "I do not wish to receive credit for any tainted victory."