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Time Passes Quickly                        #277

By Hank Silverberg 

           

We are at spring break for my college classes this week, and I need the rest. This past week I had to listen to about 35 speeches from two classes. For the most part, the students are catching on and doing their work. But sometimes one of them does something unintentionally that really irks me. And ironically it ties into all the fuss over the age of the two major party presidential candidates. 

This particular student did an Informative Speech on the value and function of Electric Vehicles in comparison to the traditional internal combustion engine. 

He made a few mistakes, but that's okay. You learn that way. However, I called him out for one line. 

In reviewing the history of electric vehicles, he said, "and in your time, Professor..." Well dawg, gone that got me angry. First, he's talking to the entire class and he shouldn't be singling me out. But he also included some ageism, implying that MY time had passed. 

Sorry, no! I'm 12 years younger than Joe Biden and we are both still going strong. To imply that the "Boomers," as we are called in a derogatory manner these days, are over the hill and unable to contribute is just plain wrong. As a group we should be looked up to as a source of experience and wisdom from which younger generations can learn. 

(White House.gov)
Mr. Biden's firebrand SOTU speech should put to rest all the talk of dementia, senility, or being over the hill. You may not agree with anything he said, but to deny his knowledge of his job and his ability to do it is just darn ridiculous.  

To anyone out there running for office, please note that Boomers are still relevant, and we vote in larger percentages than Gen Z or the Millennials.  

While on the subject of the SOTU, I must turn to the Republican response from Alabama's junior Senator, Katie Britt.  

(Sen Katie Britt,R, Al)
I was unfamiliar with the Senator prior to this week. And frankly, she made a poor impression in her first jaunt into national prominence. 

Her speech was weak, full of inaccuracies, and delivered in a totally wrong setting.  

It was a bit misogynistic to put a young female senator in her own kitchen for such an important address. She is the youngest Republican female senator ever elected (she's 42 now), and she came across as a whiney teenager who almost cried when she talked about illegal immigration. The other Alabama senator, Tommy Tuberville, a retired football coach, said Britt was picked because "she's a housewife!" Sorry, GOP. That's the wrong image for this occasion and for this election when women's rights are under attack. 

As for Senator Britt, she needs to work on her delivery after a speech where she went from whisper to whine to lecturing, back to whining again. I'd give her a C. 


Women Power 

In case you missed it, this past week was #Internationalwomen'sweek. As the father of two competent, educated and compassionate adult women, it irks me to no end that they have fewer rights now than they did when they were born in the 1980's.  

The overturn of Roe v Wade, the Alabama court ruling on IVF, and other recent decisions, including attempts in some places to ban birth control, have set back the cause of gender equality at least three decades. The glass ceiling has yet to be broken for women in many corporate settings, and it appears Gen X men continue to be the main reason. Somehow they feel threatened by their sisters, daughters, and maybe even their mothers, and are unable to acknowledge that women are 50% of the population. In most states, men still dominate legislatures that make all the decisions. 

According to the Rutgers Center for American Women in Politics, in ten states women make up less than 25% of state legislatures. West Virginia has the lowest percentage at only 12%, with Nevada in the top spot with 60%.  There's been very little change in those numbers, even though women are now registering to vote at much higher rates than men across every demographic, including race, education level or economic status.    

The Center says women are less represented in southern states. Why? Women are much less likely to get recruited to run, particularly in Republican-dominated southern States. 

Center for American Women in Politics Director Debbie Walsh, told The Los Angeles Times there's more money and support for Democratic females, while the GOP often shies away from "identity politics". 

The end result is fewer women get the experience necessary to be effective lawmakers, and never get to higher office.  

It should be noted that things are getting better. The current 118th Congress is 28% female, the highest number ever. There are 153 women among the 540 voting and nonvoting members of the House and Senate.

Again, the difference in party is prevalent. Women make up 41% of Democrats but only 16% of Republicans.  


 Executive Summary | Rethinking Women's Political Power (rutgers.edu)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/women-remain-vastly-underrepresented-in-state-leg


Order on The Court!

 Sometimes sports can get a bit ridiculous. And so it was in New Jersey this past week when a judge in Ocean County had to rule on a buzzer shot at the end of a high school basketball game.

Manasquan was losing to Camden 46-45 when Manasquan's Griffen Linstra took a last-second shot that swished through the net as the buzzer sounded.

The refs said no basket. Camden wins and will go onto the state tournament title game.  

But wait. Replays showed the ball left Linstra's hands before time expired. The refs admitted later they blew the call, but there's no provision in the league for a replay or reconsideration once everyone leaves the court. An appeal to the State Education Commissioner got the same answer.  

The result: Manasquan filed a lawsuit. An attorney for Camden called that "ridiculous," and he's right.  The court agreed.  The state appellate court ruled against Manasquan:

 "Judges should generally refrain from interfering with internal matters of sports associations," citing legal precedent.  

In the end it's a lesson for the Manasquan students. Sometimes life just isn't fair. 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/new-jersey-high-school-legal-offensive-overturn-game-107930906

  https://nypost.com/2024/03/07/sports/new-jersey-judge-denies-manasquan-basketball-teams-filing/



Dumbest Quote of The Week

I noted this week's dumbest quote earlier in this blog. It belongs to Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, a repeat offender in this category. 

Reporters asked him if he had any concerns about Katie Britt's speech and how it came across. 

Tuberville said he didn't because:

"she was picked as a housewife, not just a Senator. Somebody who sees it from a different perspective, you know--education, family all those things." 

Just the term "housewife" is offensive enough in this case. Britt is not a "housewife" anymore. She's a member of the United States Senate, and her own party won't even show her proper respect.  

 

 (Your suggestions and comments are welcome)   

My recent book "The Campaign" can be purchased at the links below. Or you can buy a copy by emailing me at:

HankSilverberg@gmail.com  for instructions on how to get a copy at a reduced price and with my signature)                       

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084Q7K6M5/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-campaign-hank-silverberg/1126429796


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