My Letter to Representative Tyler on Texting While Driving, followed by her answer

August 4, 2009

Dear Representative Tyler,

I saw on the news today that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is convening a special panel to decide what federal rules (laws) will be put in place to prohibit texting while driving.

Once again the feds are sticking their noses into a matter that should be the sole province of the several state legislatures. This is only the latest example of federal bureaucrats showing their contempt for our state legislature; they believe they are much wiser than the hayseeds in Middle America. As already demonstrated on other issues, you can be sure that when they enact these new rules they will coerce the states to comply on penalty of losing federal highway funds.

Let me be clear – I have no objection to a state law that prohibits texting while operating a motor vehicle. I actually think such a law would be a good idea and would support it. But such a law should be a state initiative, not a federal mandate backed by threats of withholding tax dollars that the states sent to them in the first place.

We continue to lose our state sovereignty in dribs and drabs. I fear for our children and grandchildren.

Sincerely,

Thomas W. McCort
New Troy, MI 49119


Dear Mr. McCort:

Thank you for your email regarding texting while driving. It is important to me to know the concerns of my constituents, so I am grateful that you have taken the time to contact me regarding this issue.

I agree with you that we need to be careful of becoming entirely beholden to the federal government. There is a proposal to ban texting while driving that is already before House Transportation Committee, and they hope to vote on it sometime in the fall. While the practice does pose a risk to driving, I am also concerned with more freedoms being lost. I appreciate your thoughts on this matter, and will keep them in mind as I continue to evaluate this legislation.

Again, thank you for taking the time to write to me. It is an honor to serve as your state representative, and I hope you will feel free to contact me again with any other questions or concerns.

Sincerely,


REPRESENTATIVE SHARON TYLER
78th District
1097 House Office Building
P.O. Box 30014
Lansing, Michigan 48909-7514
Phone: (517) 373-1796
Toll Free: 888-373-0078
FAX: (517) 373-5918
E-MAIL: SharonTyler@house.mi.gov

Pickles

Well, it's that time of year again... time to make fermented pickles (sometimes called brined pickles). The natural fermentation is what imparts the deliciously unique taste that you simply can't find in the store-bought kind.

Stuff you'll need: A wide-mouth one-gallon glass jar with a tight fitting lid, 4 pounds fresh pickling cukes, cold water, vinegar, canning salt, dill, garlic, hot pepper (optional).

Rinse the cukes under cold water. Slice 1/8" of blossom end off each cuke (this keeps pickles from going soft). Fill jar with cukes, layering in several heads of dill & several cloves of diced garlic. If you like a little bite to your pickles, add one or more cut-up hot peppers, seeds and all. Fill jar about half way with cold water. Add 3 Tbs. vinegar and 6 Tbs. canning salt. Complete filling jar with cold water. Place some plastic-wrap over the mouth of the jar and secure the lid tightly. Now grasp the jar with both hands and slowly turn it upside down, then rightside up; do this several times until all the salt is dissolved.

The pickles will be ready in about 2-3 weeks depending on temperature. You can speed up the process by placing the jar outside where the sun will shine on it. Do an occasional taste test until optimal flavor is achieved, then store them in the refrigerator. Be sure to keep pickles under the brine during fermentation. If it's necessary to add brine, use the same proportions of water, salt & vinegar. The brine will become cloudy which is the normal formation of lactic acid and is nothing to worry about.

Easy All-Purpose Summer Salad

I found this while browsing the web, and it is REALLY GOOD!

Easy All-Purpose Summer Salad

1 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp. vinegar
1 tbsp. prepared mustard
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
8 oz. cooked macaroni
1 cup sliced celery
1 cup chopped green pepper
¼ cup chopped onion

Combine first six ingredients in a large bowl; stir until smooth.
Add remaining ingredients, folding them in to cover with dressing.
Cover bowl and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

The reason it’s called an “all-purpose” salad is that the basic recipe
can be easily tweaked. For example…

Add tuna, chicken or ham and turn it into a main course entrée.
Substitute bite-size chunks of boiled potatoes for the macaroni
and you’ll have a great potato salad.
Skip the macaroni and add 6 chopped hard-cooked eggs for asuper egg salad.

My Letter to Representative Sharon Tyler, followed by her answer

Dear Representative Tyler,

My purpose in writing is to register my displeasure with the U.S. Department of Transportation intruding into state matters. As you know USDOT regularly funds additional patrols by state, county and local police departments, specifically targeting alleged DUI offenders. USDOT has made it mandatory that state & local agencies participate in these federally sponsored sweeps by threatening the loss of federal highway funds for their respective states if they do not comply.

I strongly object to this federal intrusion into a matter which should belong solely to the states. While USDOT’s motives may be noble, that is beside the point and has nothing to do with the reason for my objection. There are an infinite number of good and noble causes to be addressed in our state. That is why we have an elected state legislature to decide the priorities in addressing them. If the Michigan Legislature should decide to expend more resources on apprehending and punishing drunk drivers, that is well and good. I would then have an opportunity to express my pleasure or displeasure with that decision at the next election.

But it is very difficult for me to express my displeasure with the policies of faceless federal bureaucrats who believe they are wiser than our state legislators, and who take it upon themselves to decide what is good for me and where my tax money should be spent. This is a bad precedent. If we continue allowing USDOT unchecked authority in this matter on the basis that eliminating drunk drivers is a noble cause, who is to say what their next “noble cause” might be?

My concern applies to all federal agencies, not just the DOT. For example, it is not a stretch to envision a Department of Health and Human Services, emboldened by the DOT’s example, to limit the number of BigMac cheeseburgers Michiganians eat based on the "noble cause” that obesity must be reduced in order to control health care costs. Where does it end?

I respectfully ask if you are opposed or in favor of this federal intrusion and circumvention of our state legislature, and what action, if any, you intend to take on it. By the way, I’m not interested in a form letter stating your opposition to drunk driving. As I said, that misses the point.

Sincerely,

Thomas W. McCort
PO Box 133
New Troy, MI 49119

Dear Mr. McCort:

Thank you for your email regarding the intrusion of the federal government into the affairs of state government. It is important to me to know the concerns of my constituents, so I am grateful that you have taken the time to contact me regarding this matter.

I appreciate your information about this specific way in which the federal government is usurping state authority. Unfortunately, I believe that actions like this have been going on for quite some time. It seems that ever since the rise of the New Deal, the citizens of this country have relied less on themselves and their local units of government and more on the federal government. While I believe that there is a proper place for the federal government, it is my desire to allow Michigan to keep as much of its autonomy as possible. Please be assured that I will do all I can to work toward that end while in office.

Again, thank you for your email; I am grateful that you have expressed your concerns. It is an honor to serve as your state representative, and I hope you will feel free to contact me again with any other questions or concerns.

Sincerely,


REPRESENTATIVE SHARON TYLER
78th District
1097 House Office Building
P.O. Box 30014
Lansing, Michigan 48909-7514
Phone: (517) 373-1796

Baltimore Orials

The orials showed up at my feeder today, April 26. As is my practice, I put out quartered oranges and grape jelly for them every year beginning about the last week of April. The first humming bird of the season also arrived today and I scrambled to get their feeders filled as well.

My Cancellation of the Herald-Palladium

(By the way, they didn't have the courage to publish this letter)

Editor,

You will undoubtedly be happy to learn that this is the last time your readers will have to endure another letter from that right-wing kook, Tom McCort. My subscription to your paper will expire soon and I will not be renewing it.

I have been reading The Herald-Palladium or its predecessor The Herald-Press for nearly sixty years. While I have not always agreed with your editorial positions, they were usually well reasoned and reflective of traditional, centrist/conservative Midwest values. In recent years that has all changed. It has now reached a point that most national and world news in your paper comes from the Associated Press, an organization that has views to the left of the country as a whole, and even further to the left of most residents of southwest Michigan. I suppose your near-exclusive use of this left-wing “news” source has conditioned a portion of your readership to shrug-off the leftward editorial direction your paper has taken as well. Whatever the reason for this hard left turn, I can no longer support a publication that espouses views and values that are regularly 180 degrees opposite of my own.

When you published left-wing political hit-job editorials from the Associated Press (you call it “analysis”) on your front page, rather than on the editorial or opinion page, I viewed it as an exercise in journalistic dishonesty. But I gritted my teeth and moved on. The final straw came, however, when you endorsed Barack Obama, a man with the most liberal voting record in the United States Senate, for President of the United States.

You couldn’t even be honest about your reason for the endorsement, blaming it mostly on Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s lack of qualifications. Her lack of qualifications? That’s a good one. Since when isn’t a governorship enough qualification to be vice president? Being a governor was the only qualification Bill Clinton had to be PRESIDENT! Being a governor was the only qualification Jimmy Carter had to be PRESIDENT! But in its infinite wisdom, the editorial board of the Herald-Palladium cited Governor Palin’s lack of qualifications as one of the primary reasons for endorsing Senator Obama for president. That is a textbook example of convoluted logic.

Speaking of qualifications, have you ever editorially bemoaned Senator Obama’s lack of executive/managerial qualifications to be president? Not that I recall. But we are to believe it’s Sarah Palin’s lack of qualifications that caused you to endorse Obama. There seems to be no end to the convoluted logic. Why not dispense with the “qualifications” nonsense and just admit that an intelligent, straight-talking conservative, traditional values-type woman, who has higher approval ratings in her state than any other governor in the country, doesn’t fit the required liberal template for high office?

On a final note, I do give you credit for finally coming out of the closet and showing your true liberal colors. Now we know exactly where you stand, and I thank you for that. With all of the Chicago people moving into the area, perhaps you can maintain a niche market for your left-wing paper.

Goodbye and Good Luck,

VJ Day

Although I didn't realize at the time what all the commotion was about, I remember the day Bridgman celebrated the surrender of Japan, ending World War Two. It was August 14, 1945.  I was just 4-1/2 years old on that warm Tuesday afternoon and was riding my tricycle on the sidewalk in front of our house on Maplewood. All at once the fire siren began wailing and the church bells started clanging. Soon the bleating of automobile horns joined the din, all sounds that I was familiar with but not on a simultaneous and continuous basis. Pretty soon the town's 1942 Chevrolet fire truck came down Maplewood with its siren blaring. There were half a dozen old men riding on the truck (I say old men because most all of the young men were still in the armed services) and one of them had a fire hose in his hands. As they raced by our house he pointed the nozzle at me and gave me a good dousing of cold water. This startled me and I jumped off my trike and ran into the house to report to my mother what had happened. She tried to explain what all the excitement was about, but I was too young to understand the concept of victory over the Japanese. Mom and I went back outside where neighbors in small groups up & down the street were excitedly discussing the event.