The Editor Writes
The Editor Writes
Thanks and farewell to Christine Bartlett, our outgoing calendar editor.
The pictures are in from
Granite Gathering Aught Two. Relive the memories or see what you missed, then mark your
calendar for next year's gathering. Our local feature article this month is an opinion
piece by Walter Wakefield. Enjoy!
Howes Things
I have little to write this month with my LocSec hat on. Membership has reached
its peak for this fiscal year, with 433 members at the end of March. I hope that all of
you have renewed or will do so soon.
Paws for Reflection
Are you planning ahead for some getaways? For May, try going to Cape Cod from May 10 - 12 for Boston Mensa's Carpe Cod. Room rates are only $59.95 and registration is $40.
Central New York Mensa is joining with Mensa of the Southern Tier to hold a joint RG from August 16 - 18 in Ithaca, New York. If you get your registration in prior to May 16 the cost is only $35 and that includes 3 meals!
At the March AMC meeting it was agreed that there would be an increase in money returned to local groups. Sallie Banko (RVC 2), Dan Wilterding (RVC 6), and myself all attended the February budget committee meeting and pressed for this issue to be addressed.
I'm glad to report that membership is also increasing. As of March 30th
the total membership was 49,837. We're so close to 50,000! It's interesting to note that
many of the new members are younger. I'll be able to give exact figures next month once
all the data is in on renewals. Much of the growth can be attributed to our web site at us.mensa.org. If you haven't checked out this site lately,
do so. It has some extra material that you don't see in the Mensa Bulletin.
Common Sense Laws I'd Like To See
- Due to no provision in the U.S. Constitution or Bill of Rights for media accountability, Congress shall create a self-sustaining office that will competently produce and publish an ongoing serial publication: colorful, attention-grabbing, tabloid in format, with truthful articles exposing the foibles, criminality, greed, chicanery, hypocrisy, charlatanism, and stupid and rash opinions of media persons, notably those who wrongly go after innocent and/or well-intentioned public servants, politicians, and celebrities in general. Short biographies, with portraits, addresses, phone numbers, employer info and the like are all suitable for inclusion. Such media people include: journalists/writers, news readers on TV, news corporations, malicious talk show hosts, paparazzi, behind the scenes media controllers, infomercialists, televangelists, news stalkers, and the like (human mosquitoes). As public persons are severely restricted in their recourse against such media persons, usually having none unless great harm has already been done, this new publication will help balance the media. Perhaps it will make less than honest media people think twice before engaging in besmirching activities. Active recruiting of fine journalism and media students in universities shall be done, with the further purpose of teaching ethics on the job. The tabloid will be sold at cost plus and it, like the U.S. Post Office, should be self-supporting. Media people who truly try to do honest, ethical work should not be targeted in this publication. Further, laws should be enacted to require articles by media people to be all signed by their rightful names.
Sidebar commentary: Our government is far from perfect, and all its members have things in their past or present they're not proud of, but we have the best elected group of people the world has ever known. Civilization thrives in the United States and gets better through time. We tend to ruin the careers of good people who have amazing, positive records because the media tells us someone had an affair, or stole a comic book when he was a kid, or smoked dope when he was in college. Gary Condit has been tried and convicted by the media, with no legal evidence, of doing away with an associate. This man has an incredibly impressive record of helping the people, but his career has ended. It is popular to hate every U.S. president, no matter who holds the office. (Lincoln was routinely labeled as evil by the media.) Why don't we, the people, contribute to our own progress?
- Create Zones away from common public purview, such as fields, or dead malls or factories, for those who choose, with anger and hate, to enter understanding that they can be both the aggressor and potential victim, without penalty of law. Potential participants will include: innately angry students and teenagers and post-teenagers who hate everyone and everything, partner abusers, Hell's Angels, gangbangers, cops, terrorists, telemarketers, violent psychotics, muggers, misguided nuts, druggies, stinkers, loudmouths, general troublemakers, ad infinitum. Also females who take out their innate anger on their men. No projectile weapons may be used, such as guns, arrows, spears or rocks; only personal combat with hand weapons if desired. Anything done to anyone in the Zone is the responsibility only of the participants. Watch the crime rate drop; and freedom is left intact, perhaps even enhanced with this. No one may be paid to enter these Zones, only personal agendas are allowed. No one entering may force any non-willing person into a Zone. There shall be sufficient quantity of Zones so that easy access is no problem.
- Anyone observed by a traffic enforcement officer driving more than three blocks or one-third of a mile with a turn signal on, or turning opposite the direction of the signal shall immediately have their drivers' license suspended until full written and road tests are taken and successfully passed.
- Any telemarketer shall have to provide to any called "prospect" his or her full name, home address, and home phone number, also the employer's full name, address and phone number. Any telemarketer not complying shall have to sit in a room for not less than 24 hours, listening to inane speaking tapes of nonsense, such as old marathon Castro speeches.
- When new drugs for medical use are developed, up to 1% of users may have bad reactions without culpability to the makers; thus allowing truly good new drugs to be created and developed without the duly licensed makers having to be held accountable for innocent mistakes in the form of bad side effects in a few people who chose to use the drug. There are always some bad reactions in any group and this needs to be allowed for, protecting makers from progress-killing litigation.
- When a true criminal is sent to prison, his crime will be announced to the prison population upon his entry.
- Any person who causes injury or death to multiple people (e.g. Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, serial rapists and murderers, and the like) shall have to endure terrible torture over an extended period of time appropriate as much as possible to the crime. Simple incarceration or death shall not be the focus. Carefully controlled public vengeance shall be the order of the era. This will alleviate much public anguish and create a much healthier state of mental health for the population, that something is finally being done right. (OR, they could be sent to a Zone...) This would not include tragedies like Andrea Yates.
- Any media persons, especially paparazzi photographers, who stalk persons in any way shall give up the right of prosecution against their victims if those victims decide to react violently to said media persons during such stalking, short of murder (accidental death of media person during victim's reaction is OK). No media person shall be allowed to stalk other persons without accountability, especially where media persons stand to profit in any form from such behavior.
- If any person innocently breaks any law that would be of other than obvious common sense, the person shall not be fully held accountable for the infraction. Ignorance of the law shall be at least a partial, if not a whole, defense. Reason: Since no attorney, judge or law official could possibly know all the law, how can a layman be required to?
- No commercial or political advertising will be allowed on: public transportation (buses, trains, taxis, subways, etc.) or sports venues (stadiums, rinks, race cars, clothing, zeppelins, Olympics, etc.)
- All intersections of streets shall display easily readable signs showing the names and/or state or federal route numbers of all intersecting ways.
- Anyone choosing to drive "slow" (under the speed of the vehicles behind wishing to go, shown by their accumulation behind the slow vehicle; in places where safe passing is not an option), impeding normal traffic on any roadway, shall pull over to the right side off the road at the nearest reasonably safe place and wait there until all accumulated traffic behind the slow vehicle has safely passed. Then the slow vehicle may reenter the roadway. This refers to people who drive their personal vehicles in a slow manner relative to road safety, as well as farm and municipal vehicles. The penalty is slowed-down paychecks or Social Security benefits.
- If any employee responsible for locking and securing business premises fails to do so at the appropriate time, a penalty shall apply. Also, responsible employees will turn down heat/turn up cooling during unoccupied building times to efficiently maximize saving of fuels. Also, said employees will ensure low fire hazard probability. Proper exercise of these responsibilities will greatly reduce crime and waste and loss.
- All traffic lights must properly coordinate with others in nearby succession to maximize smooth and efficient flow of traffic; also to diminish the possibility of accidents and road rage.
- All passenger road vehicles shall have bumper protection that will allow such a vehicle not to be harmed by another private passenger vehicle in collisions at up to 25 mph. This would lower the accident injury and death rate incredibly. If this seems impossible to car makers, make them take courses in the bumper protection technology used on all American cars before the year 1940. Strong steel bumpers that were attractive and effective were commonplace on all pre-WWII vehicles. They were removed to increase the profits of car makers.
- Add a $1.00 per gallon tax on gasoline at the Federal level, to be used only for paying off the national debt. When the debt is paid in full, make the tax disappear. Then require Congress to actually balance the budget each year so that no more national debt accumulation will occur. Also, the U.S. Government is to aggressively seek the repayment of all old debt owed to the U.S. at the earliest possible time. No more "forgiving debt" of overtly irresponsible countries at U.S. Taxpayers' expense. Paying off the national debt will mean much lower taxes for all of us.
- Replevin, in the sense of simple repossession, of old documents and artifacts shall only be allowed when it is clearly established that they had been stolen from the original rightful owners. When a possessor has purchased or received such items in good faith, in a lawful way, they cannot be seized by the original owners simply by stating they belong to said prior owners. Explanation: Local governments have often discarded or sold old items, only to come back years later and retrieve them via bad present laws, without recourse to the later rightful owners.
- A positive machination shall be implemented to reimburse any innocent victim stuck with counterfeit currency via forced repayment from the counterfeiter, national or bank insurance, or a public fund set up for this purpose.
- The U.S. Government shall make enforceable agreements with foreign countries like Switzerland and off U.S. shore islands to return deposited monies, via the U.S. Government, to victims who lost monies from savings and loan scandals, corporate swindles, and key corporation persons hiding such monies out of the United States. The key to opening these secret accounts shall be the convictions of said thieves and, perhaps, a minimum $1 million theft either from a single person or a group of victims. Anyone convicted of such a crime who does not return the stolen monies shall, after the prison term served for so doing, remain in jail until said monies are recovered or natural death in prison of the thief.
- Greatly increase speed limits on roadways where exits/on ramps are infrequent. Further, local governments shall not be allowed to post slow speed limits on roads which a reasonable person would expect to have a higher speed limit. Some municipalities impose slow speeds on such ways in order to acquire monies unfairly.
- Any person committing any crime while under the influence of alcohol or drugs shall be prosecuted as though no such use was present.
Finis.
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