Put a Pair of Auditors on Recycling Programs

  But, you realize, don't you, that anytime you make a law, or even a rule, you need provide a process for it to be enforced -- or at least monitored. That's where police come in, right?

   But who observes when recycling rules are not kept? Who monitors them?

   Don't make it a large agency, but perhaps we should at least put a couple hands on it, a set of auditors who travel the state, visiting recycling facilities, to ensure the recycables are, indeed, being recycled. Perhaps everything is getting recycled, but how do you know if you don't even check on it. Nobody's looking. What if a garbage company  decided to just bury the recyclables? The auditors could also witness what separation is necessary after the supposedly-already separated recyclables arrive, determine what problems exist in the system, and recommend changes to improve our recycling program.

   If recycling is important, it seems we should do this to strengthen it. Utah could be a leader in this.

It Would Take a Humble Nation to Follow the Constitution on this One

   The Electoral College just isn't working. Not at all. Oh, I'm not saying throw it away. Not at all. I'm saying, it isn't what it was meant to be, could be, and ought to be. 

   And, I'm saying it would take a pretty humble nation for it work the way it was intended.

   Let's just say, we are imperfect as voters. Most of the time, we do one of two things: (1) step into the voting booth not even knowing all the candidates who are running, much less knowing anything about them. (2) vote D or R, with no regard for who the candidate is.

   Oh, we have come up with a way so that our criteria for deciding who to vote for will be workable. We put the party affiliation for each candidate on the ballot next to their name. Voting made simple, then. Now you don't need to sort out who to vote for. Check all the Ds or check all the Rs. How hard can that be?

   But, the idea of having the Electoral College is to select people who don't operate like that. The idea is to look among your citizens and find a wise person, one who is studious about issues and candidates, one who has the time and desire to study all the candidates . . . and one who isn't so caught up in the Ds and Rs of the matter.

   Bottom line is, we have to admit we aren't great shakes as voters. Often we step into the voting booth knowing so little we basically resort to an eenie-meenie-miney-mo technique. Most voters would not admit it, but our nation would be better served if someone was doing the voting who actually based his or her votes on solid reasoning. No more voting blindly, and no more one-size-fits-all D or R voting.

  We all have some idea of who we think are good, honest, integrity-oriented people. And, often we can see which of our neighbors are taking time to study the news and issues. 

   But we aren't humble enough to say, "You know what? You'll do a better job at this than I will. Would you be so kind as to help me out?"

  Pride cometh before the fall, they say. Hopefully, our nation won't fall, but it would be a lot stronger if we went about electing people the way the Constitution outlined.

   How should we go about electing people to the House of Representatives? The original consitution says, "The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature."

   So, that legislative body does get elected by direct vote.

   But, how should we decide who will serve in the Senate? Says the original Constitution. "The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof."

   And, the president, as most of us realize, is to be elected by the Electoral College, not by direct vote.

   I'm not too sure we should have any problem with doing it the way the Founding Fathers originally set it up. 

 

The Skinny on Skinny Joe

   It didn't last long. Joe drank his last cup of joe, then got up and left through the door on the left. I looked at my watch to see if the night watch was due to come in. Beings he wasn't (he was still at home talking to other human beings), I rose from my chair, a rose in my hand. I gave it to the girl at the next table who was very fair -- someone I'd met at the fair, it's fair to say. Then I went after Joe after he left. I had a case against him in case he didn't come back and pay Bill the bill. I also knew he hadn't paid the tip -- hadn't left it on the tip of the counter -- because both I and the counter of the money witnessed him tip over and fall from his chair, get back up, tip his hat, then tip toe out the door.

  Well, he did return, saying he wanted a return on his money, and saying he was going to tear the place up without a tear in his eye. He strolled over to the band stand, and I could tell the singer was willing to stand up to him. The singer was wearing a band around his head and told his band mates the concert was over and they better band together in concert and knock Joe over or there would be a knock on the band, because everyone would know they didn't cast him out, nor hit him with a cast iron skillet. So the lead singer, who had been singing his biggest hit, hit Joe on the head with the skillet, then dropped it on his toe, and told him he better toe the line. That's when the police came in to see if everything was fine. They told Joe he would have to pay a fine. Joe tried to raise back up as he promised the police he would raise the money. Joe then fell back down and asked for a down pillow. I told him, "Things go way better when you do things the right way."

  The girl then came up and tried to be kind to him, and I was kind of like, do you like him? She said she did and said when he had left, she had tried to get up and run after him, but had a run in her stockings. I told her that when he was leaving, he had put on a mink stole and tried to toss a bag of money he had stole over his shoulder. "Bag it, bag it, bag it," he said, saying he just wanted to find a way to get away. He said he didn't mean to be mean. I said, "Don't lie there and lie. Rest there on the floor if you will, but rest assured I'm not going to believe the rest of what you say." The police then told him to find his own way out if he wasn't going to own up to taking money he didn't own.

  So, skinny Joe left, and that's the end of this skinny.

(Index -- My stories, story)

Vote for Both Trump and Biden, if You Want

   Supposing Donald Trump bolts the party, and runs as an independent, the election process would be well served if we had what is  called "approval voting."

  Now, you've never heard of approval voting, but it's a great idea. You get to vote for as many candidates as you want. Go wild and vote for all of them, if you want. Spread your love everywhere.

  So, if by some chance Trump does fail to be nominated as a Republican, and spins off as an independent, approval voting would keep the Republican vote from being split. You wouldn't have to choose between him and the Republican nominee. You could vote for them both.

  If you like two candidates, why shouldn't you be allowed to vote for both? Why be forced into either/or voting? Why not have the freedom to say, "I like this one, and this one . . . and, oh, this one." Why not thumb your nose at the powers that be and say, "Don't you tell me who I can vote for! I like both of them, so if you don't mind, I'm going to vote for both of them."

   It's your vote . . . I mean, your votes.

Congress, Do Something about Police Violence

   The whole nation is talking about police reform. Do something, do something, do something, they say. The polls are coming back saying 59 percent of Americans want reforms.

   1.) A stunning 74 percent of them favor requiring police nationwide to wear body cameras. 

   2.) A whopping 71 percent say we should create a national police misconduct registry.

   3.) A surprising 63 percent want to make it easier to prosecute officers accused of wrong doing.

   4.) A wide majority, 57 percent, suggest potentially dangerous techniques such as chokeholds should be banned.

   Oh, there are other things being proposed, but those are four of the more popular ones. The question is, why doesn't Congress do something? At least pass into law the most-popular proposals.

Behind Your Love for Guns, Is There a Quote?

    Aren't there a lot of cute sayings that drive us to buy guns? 

   Perhaps you've heard this one, "If guns are outlawed, only criminals will have guns." Kind of makes you want to go out and buy one, doesn't it?

   How about, "Never bring a knife to a gunfight"? That ups the ante for weapons. If you don't already have a gun, perhaps you better go out and buy one; that kitchen knife won't do you much good. 

   "Go ahead, make my day." Now you're just itching to use a gun.

   "To stop a bad guy with a gun, it takes a good guy with a gun."

   "All you need for happiness is a good gun, a good horse, and a good wife." Even Daniel Boone got into indoctrinating us with that quip.

When Concerts Should End and Lives Be Saved

   What? you say. We don't need a law requiring artists and police to shut concerts down when they are getting out of hand?

   Ahh, but we do. 

   Oh, I  hear you when you argue that the pit rushes and body crushes are not something we should be regulating with laws. First off, dancing and squeezing your body with others in the pit is all a lot of fun. We call it moshing, and it's such a rush to be in the middle of a good, good mosh. Second, it's not the fault of the artists or producers; don't blame them for the deaths and violence. And, third, these things don't happen near often enough that we need a law so we can crack down on them.

   Ahh, but yes we do. 

   Let's hold both the performers and police more accountable. Make it law that when artists and show producers should be able to tell that people's lives are in danger, they must cut the party short. And, if they don't? Then it falls on the police to step in and end the festivities.

   The stampede at the Who concert in 1979? Not their fault. Nor was it Pearl Jam's fault in 2000 when eight people died from asphyxiation, and a ninth person from chest injuries.

   But, how about jumping up to 2021 when eight to 10 people were killed at a Travis Scott concert in Houston? Bodies were being hauled off. Fans were crying for the concert to be stopped. A couple fans even tried to get the attention of a cameraman by stepping beside or in front of the camera to plead for the event to be ended.

   Not to mention that a call went out declaring the conditions unsafe maybe as much as a half hour before the performers called it a night.

   It's not like a concerned fan could have jumped on stage, and pulled out all the speaker wires to end the event. No, fans really would have busted into a riot had that happened. Simply put, it is only the performers who can end the show, least you invite only more trouble in the form of a riot. 

   With bodies being carted off and fans screaming to stop the concert, it seems Scott should have realized it was time to end the show. He didn't. Perhaps he didn't see the people being carried away. Perhaps he did, but didn't think they were too serious. Perhaps he didn't hear the cries from the crowd to stop, stop, stop. Perhaps his cameraman just didn't see the two people who stood in front of him, pleading for the concert to end. Scott said he didn't realize people were dying until he was in a restaurant later that night and received word. Then, he was quick to express his horror and concern.

  So, write the law to say if the promoter and artist don't immediately stop the show, then the police will step in and end it themselves. No, go one better: Say there must be a police officer right on stage at all times. If someone is being carted off to the hospital and the performer isn't noticing it, then the officer will, for it is his (or hers) responsibility to be scanning the audience, not just for bodies being taken away, but to observe if the crowd surges are becoming dangerous. And, he's got radio contact with security elsewhere and with paramedics who might be getting involved.

   These tragedies might only happen once in a blue moon. No matter. If we can get a law in place before the next one breaks out, we should. If we human life means anything to us, we should at least do this much.