Caught by the wind of politics, plastic bags are floating out of Cuyahoga County. In May, County Council passed a law banning them. Environmentalists cheered, store owners clutched their balance sheets and state legislators tried to smother it. Whether the law goes into effect or not, it reminds us that banning things is a favorite Cleveland pastime. Here are three very serious things that should be absolutely banned right now.
Anonymous commenters on Cleveland.com. We were tempted to go on a rant here about the sewage-mouthed iniquity we still find in the Cleveland.com comments section. But no. We’re going to take the high road and offer this idea to fix it instead: make commenting a privilege reserved for paid The Plain Dealer subscribers, who must use their real names. Good commenting could even be further incentivized, like The New York Times does, by displaying the best comments chosen by staff first, by default. Ban the anons.
“I want to start by thanking our great partners…” Must every press conference kick off by media-mailing verbal thank-you notes? County Executive Armond Budish and Mayor Frank Jackson are the worst top-of-talk thank-you parade offenders. But they’re not alone. Ban this boring rhetoric and lazy politicking. Thanks.
Losing Browns seasons. Listen up, Baker, OBJ, Haslam and the rest of the Dawg Pound crew. Remember Ed FitzGerald’s “win tax” idea, which would have made public support dependent on wins? We’ve made it law and added criminal penalties for losing. Losing. Is. Banned. Under threat of prosecution.
