July 2010

Police State

Last week I came across a news article that left me feeling uneasy. For perspective, I read various news sites every day, everything from the New York Times, Washington Times, and even the Times UK. I look to CNN, Pravda, Huffington Post and Breitbart for a variety and balance of news. As you know, I have previously written about CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) and the invasion of cameras creating questionable civil rights questions. Additionally, we have seen the expansion of citizens using cameras to capture incredible moments on tape: plane crashes, auto accidents, tornadoes, and questionable arrests and police brutality. It is the last category that concerns me.

About six months ago I noticed a trend in some of the news articles I was reading: police were arresting those who videotape them! I came across these articles on fringe, strong civil liberties web sites commenting on states that were using outdated wiretap laws to prevent citizens from videotaping an arrest. Under this premise, the states require both parties to give consent. Of course, law enforcement was not consenting and instead threatening arrest if videotaping continued. Last week I saw a similar article, but this time it was carried by ABC news, Growing Number of Prosecutions for Videotaping the Police”, by Ray Sanchez (07/19/2010)“. The article describes cases in New Hampshire, Maryland, and Florida where wiretapping laws are used to arrest citizens as I described.

I believe law enforcement officers are employees of the public; ultimately they work for us. In countries like China, North Korea, the former USSR, and former East Germany the police worked for the government and were charged with watching citizens. In these countries law enforcement runs rampant with brutality, torture, and intimidation. I argue, like Florida’s governing laws, that operating in the sunshine eliminates these horrors. Like our right to bear arms, or speak freely, our rights to hold public government and law enforcement officers accountable is paramount to our personal safety.

What would have happened to Rodney King had news helicopters not caught his beating? As hard as I try, I cannot come up with a valid argument to justify preventing a citizen from videotaping his own arrest. When a law enforcement officer dons his uniform he is a servant of the public, not a Gestapo officer given free rein to operate in darkness with no one looking.

Videotaping Police
ACLU of PA Announces Settlement for Man Arrested for Videotaping Police Officers in Public
FAQ: Can I videotape?
Police Cuff Citizens for Videotaping
Teen Arrested for Videotaping Police
Boston Police charge those who videotape arrests
Police investigate Videotaped Arrest
NM Journalist Asserts His Rights
Police and Democracy
Jail Time for Videotaping Police

Blaming Others

Most weeks it is easy to write this column; I find a plethora of news and political stupidity that easily becomes fodder. Sometimes though, like this week, it becomes more difficult and I will ask for suggestions from friends. I was intrigued when my friend Bob suggested I write about the trend these days to blame others for our problems. In our short conversation I realized he was right, the whole idea of personal responsibility in America is gone. When I think about changes like this I always try to look back in time, through the eyes of my grandfather, to see how America has changed.

Examples abound regarding blaming others: Hurricane Katrina, Attention Deficit Disorder, Restless Leg Syndrome, liability litigation, Obama on Bush, and even the Toyota sudden acceleration. For example, one-hundred years ago if our children misbehaved they were disciplined, re-directed, and strong parenting was done; today we give them a pill. The same holds for new diseases, like Restless Leg Syndrome, heavily promoted by pharmaceutical companies and appearing weekly. The recent Toyota sudden acceleration claims were repudiated by the NTSB as driver error pushing the accelerator; I am sure the liability attorneys are profoundly disappointed.

Falling off a curb at a merchant, or falsely stepping in front of a car has grown into an entire industry. These attorneys do not go after millions, instead they seek a nominal amount, about $25k, from the defendants insurance company; just enough to make settling easier and better for the insurance company, but a cash cow for the law firms. Successful industries advertise; watch television or read billboards to see the proliferation of attorney’s offering to “help”. Hurricane Katrina was the ultimate blame game, as it appears the people of New Orleans had nothing to do with their decision to remain in the path of a Category 5 hurricane, and President Obama has continued that mantra by using the former President as his scapegoat at least ten times by my count in various speeches. My grandfather would have owned his failures and handled issues facing him, as I believe most people would have 100 years ago. Sadly, it is far easier to blame others, take a pill, and avoid personal responsibility. I wonder what our country will look like in another decade after blaming all of our problems on others.

Liberty – Part II

Last week I wrote about my trip to Washington, D.C. to celebrate Independence Day with my wife and children. As I traveled through our nation’s capital I saw references to freedom and liberty; celebrating our successful independence from England. Later in the week we journeyed to Williamsburg, VA and toured the Colonial Williamsburg settlement. Experiencing history again, the history I learned as a school child brought renewed appreciation to the freedom fight our forefathers faced.

I believe all men are equal in the desire for a single objective, freedom. Last year I wrote about the requirement and acceptance of taxation in trade from living in a civilized society. Similarly, our Revolutionary Heroes did not object to taxation, but to their loss of representation. In Boston the revolt began and soon the other colonies had to decide to whether to offer their support for independence. Like a child leaving home, these English subjects living in the colonies had never faced life alone and were heavily dependent on England. Facing this fear meant gaining the freedom to self-govern and envelop the spirit of the Magna Carta.

In Williamsburg, while sitting in the Courthouse I was treated to a speech and review of laws in 1770. Although subject to English law, the residents enjoyed many freedoms for which we now fight. For instance, all men were required to own a gun, and to not do so required a license for exemption. Licenses were required to do things outside the law, not those already guaranteed by the law. Today we seem to have traveled backward, requiring licenses to own guns, fish, drive a car, practice medicine, or even work as a beautician; none of which are against the law. It is this strange change, or incrementalism which silently erodes our freedom and steals our liberty.

Sadly, in my own lifetime I have seen my experience in airports change, bag searches at theme parks begin, and my newborn children required, by law, to get a social security card although he will not work for nearly two decades. “Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and lost it, have never known it again.” — Ronald Reagan

Family

Life in North Georgia is very different than Volusia County. One noticeable difference is the number of foster families I have met. Fathers’s Day last week made me think, “What is family?” My version of family was the 1950’s Nelsons, Ozzie and Harriett, not my own family of Nelsons, although, my grandparents would have been similar in just about every aspect.

Today’s kids come from many different backgrounds. In the last week I met three different people, but they all share the same thing, they have given of themselves to raise other people’s kids. The first conversation was with a woman in her mid-30’s who has six children. Two of the six are biological and the other four were foster children, all adopted now. Yesterday I met a man who for the last seven months has been a foster parent to a five-year old boy and his eight-year-old sister, both born to a drug addicted woman and who will forever suffer issues tied to their start in life. Last, was a 50-year-old man whose daughter was murdered by a drunk driver two years ago; he has now adopted his grandson and is raising him. A far different vision of retirement than he expected to have. Even my own children have learned to deal with divorced parents and managing two distinct homes. They have a half-brother from my remarrying and step-siblings from their mother’s remarrying. Blended families bring issues, but yet we work through them.

Some kids are fortunate, or maybe not, to have a stable nuclear family. Others are thrust into circumstances we would not wish on anyone. We have an incredible society where unrelated people give of themselves to take care of other people’s children. We have a disgusting society where parents will choose to selfishly indulge themselves and neglect their own children. On Father’s Day I put my priority on my kids – the four people I would not trade for anything. In the following days I watched news reports with dismay as Tony Hayward of BP was criticized for taking several hours off to spend time with his son, but yet he had been discharged of his duties related to the Gulf four days earlier. Contradictorily, President Obama was given a pass to play golf, on Father’s Day, for many hours absent his children. Family is what we make of it, even under pressure we have to find time to support our children first.