Omission/Commission

 So, I went to visit my mom at the nursing home this afternoon, and, in order to escape the crowded little closet they call a room for two, I wheeled her across the hall to the lounge.  As near as I can tell, the only thing worse than being in a nursing home is having to visit one on a regular basis.  Actually, my boredom while visiting brings on a heightened sense of awareness of the goings on around me.  I'm getting quite friendly with some of the inmates, although I have to renew their friendship each time I come by.  Just today, I met a man wheeling his guitar down the hall in his wheelchair.  I asked if I could play it, and when I strummed a chord, I realized that not only was it out of tune, it was missing one string, and the other strings were not in the right order.  I told him I would bring him some new strings the next time I visit, and I'm looking forward to finally playing in front of  people who can appreciate my talent.

I expect that the home will provide a lot of fodder for my sick sense of humor, so I will keep you, my dear reader, posted as anecdotes present themselves.  Back to the lounge.  There are only two distractions in the lounge.  One is that it is the direct pathway from the hall to the interior courtyard where the inmates go to wheeze and smoke.  Often they will stop in front of the fake fireplace under the TV to warm themselves  after their latest disappointing attempt at suicide by cigarette.  I'm pretty sure the fireplace does not put out any actual heat, but it looks warm.  The other distraction is the TV itself, which is a nice big flat screen with a remote that both does not have batteries, and is not a TV remote.  I figured this out almost right away.  Since 95% of the inmates are wheel chair bound, and the TV is mounted on the wall, it tends to be tuned to the same station almost all of the time.  I'll give you two guesses as to the station, and a hint.  It is not tuned to MSNBC.

Now,  to paraphrase the "most interesting man in the world" I don't always watch TV, but when I do, it is not Fox News.  But, when in Rome....  First up is Sheppard Smith, a man surrounded by the latest high tech video equipment who I suspect is not smart enough to dial out on a land line.  But enough about him.  I'm not sure who the next host was, although it might have been Neil Cavuto, at least according to the program guide I've consulted in researching this piece of petty journalism.

Once again, I have rambled around to the point I am trying to make, and I hope that my smarter readers will catch the ironic Segue  from  nursing home to Fox News.  Neil is outraged about the poor treatment by the liberal media of  Governor Christie concerning his involvement in a mere traffic jamb, while that same media have given a pass to Hilary Clinton on the Benghazi attack.  One has about as much to do with the other as landing men on the moon is related to Obama care.

Benghazi was a tragedy that might have been avoided if our attention had been focused there, much like the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut might have been avoided during the presidency of  Republican God Ronald Reagan, the bombing of Pearl harbor on Roosevelt's watch, or the 9/11 attack under George Bush. In each case, the most that can be said was that the parties involved were guilty of a crime of omission.

Here's the difference though.  If it turns out to be true that Governor Christie ordered or suggested to someone that the bridge be closed in retribution for some perceived slight by the mayor of Fort Lee, or he had it closed for any of the other theories going around., he is guilty of plotting to close the bridge.  This closing may have resulted in only a traffic jamb, or it may have actually cost lives and or money, but if he ordered or suggested it be done, he is guilty of a crime of commission.

I don't think that most people really appreciate the difference.  If a worker throws a wrench into the gears of a machine to sabotage it, he is guilty of a sin of commission.  If that same worker accidentally drops a wrench into a machine, and the machine is damaged, regardless of the extent of damage, he is only guilty of a sin of omission.  He may have been careless or clumsy, but he did not intend to be so.  In the case of commission, the worker should at least be fired if not prosecuted, but in the case of omission, the worker may or may not be fired, depending on his work record, his value to the company, and his likelihood to continue to drop wrenches into the machinery.  Even most of the inmates should be able to understand this.