Room for Debate: Living Off Mom and Dad -NYTimes

The 40-Something Dependent Child

My comment as posted in the

NYTimes, Oct 29, 2009

35 is the new 18. And this was true long before the current economic downturn.Many moderately well off upper middle income families never pressured or required their kids to feel that they had to choose a career or to follow up on the
expensive college education they completed. At 35 and 40 they still do not know what they want to be when they grow up. As a mental health professional, I can tell you that many of these people are clinicallydisfunctional and stuck in irrational behavioral and thought processes which prevent meaningful orientation
to work and achievment. They are supported by their parents now; who knows what will become of them when their parents pass on and the money runs out. It is true national epidemic. And underlies the need for mental health counseling in any national health insurance program.

In Test of Water on Moon, Craft Hits Bull’s-Eye - NYTimes Oct 12, 2009- Letter To The Editor

By what right does NASA disturb and deface any part of the universe? All other planetary bodies should be classified as pristine wilderness areas protected by international agreement. As with parks which we have set aside for preservation, we should be able to visit them, but be required to leave them as we found them. We have no right to exploit or use the natural resources and elements of planets, moons, comets or any other natural body in this or any other galaxy. Just because you can do something does not mean it should be done. Blasting a part of the moon in this way is unforgivable. What if every nation that can do something like this did? Passive and minimal sampling techniques should be the rule; not desecration and destruction. Have we lost all sense of value and responsibility for the consequences of our actions?

Sen. Nelson Vote Against Hatch Ammendment

SENATOR NELSON, THANK YOU FOR YOUR VOTE AGAINST THE HATCH AMMENDMENTMENT. I AM OLD ENOUGH TO REMEMBER WHEN GIRLS WERE DYING IN ALLEY WAYS FROM BOTCHED ABORTION ATTEMPTS. THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT HAS NO RIGHT TO PURSUE ITS PERSONAL, PRIVATE RELIGIOUS AGENDA WHICH WILL RISK THE MOTHERS LIFE SO THEY CAN BAPTIZE THE CHILD. WHY DOESN'T ANYONE STATE THAT REASON, THE MAIN ONE REALLY, IN PUBLIC SO ALL CARDS ARE ON THE TABLE. THIS REALLY IS A FIRST AMMENDMENT ISSUE; KEEP RELGION OUT OF POLITICS.

Serena Williams's behavior at U.S.Open 2009

Destroying a tennis racquet. Yelling at and threatening

an official. Are these the acts of a seasoned professional?
As one reaches the apex and denouement of a career
you would hope that it would be done with grace and
dignity. Hard commodities to come by, apparently.

Health Care: I am my brothers keeper

Has this nation become so lost and degenerate that we have abandoned our often touted Judeo-Christian commitment to the common welfare of all of mankind? Does economics trump the right to basic health care, especially in a wealthy, even if economically stressed, nation? If we are the noble, free and resourceful people we usually claim to be, can’t we simply make a commitment to provide healthcare to all of our citizens and visitors (o.k. with some restrictions for those who came in through the back door)? Then we would have an easier time working out the details of how to go about achieving that goal.

Some of our fine citizens are so worried that the healthcare industry might suffer financially or that someone might get an aspirin to which they were not entitled that they would rather have no universal health care system at all.

We are our brothers keepers. It is morally, and actually financially, in our best interest to state it and to be guided by this fundamental principle of a civilized people. And the world is watching as we turn our backs on and seek to avoid providing for those who cannot care for themselves.

For shame.

NYTimes Comment

Regarding Clean Water project in Africa:

Clean, Sexy Water

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By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Published: July 11, 2009

People always ask: What can I do to make a difference?

"Mr. Scott Harrison founded Mercy Ships, a Christian aid group that performs surgeries in poor countries with volunteer doctors."

Not only is this good charity, it is good economics for the U.S.A. Since the first world is built out, any new future economic growth will occur in the undeveloped and emerging nations. By carrying the flag in this way, Mr.Harrison is assuring that we, the U.S.A., will have a leg up on the future economc development in those nations. I hope the recipients of the water know what nation it came from. It does not diminish his work to be laying the groundwork for the economc recovery of this nation. In this case, charity does begin, and end, at home

BUILDING BEYOND THE Urban Development Boundary - Miami Herald May 17, 2009 as published - UDB ruling

UDB ruling wrong

I testified as an intervener on behalf of the state of Florida in the administrative hearing against Miami-Dade County regarding the Lowe's and Brown requests to build beyond the Urban Development Boundary. I disagree with administrative law Judge Bram D.E. Cantor's decision in favor of Brown. The law should be enforced as it is now, not as it might be in 2014.

What if the UDB is not moved; will he vacate his decision? This was not a zoning matter. The judge did not see the wider significance and implications of permitting any building beyond the UDB in relation to future building requests.

The county's Building and Zoning staff and the mayor recommended not approving Brown. Do their opinions count for nothing? How can you live hundreds of miles away, drop out of the sky for a few days, hear limited arguments and render a decision in a complex case with an informed understanding of the subtleties of the issues?

Administrative law judges should live close enough to the jurisdictions where they are rendering decisions so as to be familiar with the context of the matters before them.

BARRY J. WHITE, Miami