WORDS AND JUSTICE SIRICA AND LAW

The Affordable Care Act, with all its flaws and problems has many supporters and users. However, its opponents have now taken the Act to the Supreme Court.  

In a well-researched article in the May 26 edition of The New York Times, columnist Robert Pear

says the opposition may be based on an error in the use of words.  Pear bases his assessment on interviews with members of Congress, their staff, committee members and the process of  drafting and reviewing the Law.

If Pear's assessment is correct, it seems to me the words which may have been written in error

 could indeed cause legal scholars, and politicians grounds for debate.

The dictionary defines the word "law" in six different ways.  Each definition is broken down in several different categories and usage.  Synonyms for the word are also listed. 

One of the main definitions is that law is the basis for civil and communal behavior.  Even so

our history as a nation reminds us  that sometimes laws can be less than just or fair.

Mr. Pear concludes his article with a quote from Justice Antonin Scalia who said "it is not what Congress would have wanted, but what Congress enacted."  With all due respect to Justice Scalia, I wonder as a nation are we unable to admit mistakes and correct them?  

     

SO WHAT IS SHELL'S OIL DRILLING IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN REALLY ABOUT?

Even in the face of one failure after another less than three years ago, Shell still plans to drill in the Arctic Ocean.

The reason given?  We need the oil to provide the energy Mr. & Mrs. America,  and the world needs. Say what?

Have we come to a point in our civilization that neither  fish nor foul nor the lives of people who will work in one of nature's most awesome and unpredictable environments are worth little? Are we about to be taken in once again by false promises that we can beat the will of Mother Nature?

Are we so enticed by prospects for pay-offs, for returns on the dollar that this lark by Shell is a must-have for the benefit of humanity?  Or is it another futile effort to benefit a handful of investors?

Have we become so greedy or so disrespectful of human limitations that we can now accept that the environment of which we are a part is now to be considered as fodder for unworthy endeavors?

I do not know why the Obama administration gave Shell and the Petroleum industry a green light to go ahead with this folly in face of the drilling, fractoring and other sure-fire remedies that have failed and created more chaos than benefits in our hunt for energy.

I do know that I wish I had a kayak and a paddle so I could join the activists  to block Royal Dutch Shell from using the port of Seattle for their drilling fleet.