Miscellany (stuff that keeps me awake at night)

Did the Founders ever contemplate the wide disparities in population between the states of our union? They were probably not that great among the 13 originals. While there had to be compromises to protect the smaller ones (the Senate and the Electoral College) it seems unlikely that anyone could have forseen the California/Wyoming population disparity …

Infrastructure (Planes, Trains and…..)

One of several items the Biden Administration has been able to pass is a big infrastructure package, decades overdue. (His predecessor held Infrastructure Weeks, but got nothing done). Perhaps Mitch McConnell supported it because of a crumbling bridge over the Ohio River into Kentucky which is slated to be rebuilt. Doesn’t matter. Recently, we needed …

Treason, Bribery (and other High Crimes and Misdememors)

POTUS #45 has been in the news lately (when hasn’t he been)? If I may cherrypick a single area, namely, his recent travails concerning stewardship of documents, I kinda wonder what his motives were, and perhaps still are. Many of us who failed to get draft exemptions for fallen arches (or whatever got him out …

QA and QC (Your FDA in Peace and War)

Earlier in my illlustrious career with Uncle Sam, I was a chemist with the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). This was in the ’60s, back when everything seemed possible. I worked for the New York office, which encompassed the New Jersey pharmaceutical industry. Some bright people far above my pay grade started a new program, …

Legalized Pot: Are We Ready for this?

About a year ago, I posted some thoughts on aspects ol marihuana legalization. At this point, it would seem that the cat is out of the bag, so to speak – about 36 states have taken some steps to decriminalize the stuff. As I’ve said in other posts, I am wholeheartedly in favor of legalization …

An Endangered Species

We don’t often think of male humans as being in peril. My generation was brought up to think of guys as the “stronger” sex, probably because men were the ones fighting WWII. (Nowadays, there are more sexes which tends to further confuse the issue). What “they” never adequately explained was that the “weaker” sex outlived …