As the United States of America marks the 234^th anniversary of declaring itself an independent nation, free from British control and monarchic subjugation, here’s a collection of articles and commentary contrasting the  enumerated rights the Founding Fathers believed necessary to enjoy Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness with recent events in the news to explain, in part, why only 21 percent of American voters said in a recent survey that the federal government enjoys the  consent of the governed.

 

And given the routine overreaching by state and municipal governments, it’s a sure bet that a sizeable percentage of Americans similarly do not consent to many of the actions being taken by local officials, either.

 

† First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

 

A particularly glaring case of government restriction of press freedom is the Obama administration’s limiting access to the gulf oil spill and cleanup as a means of damage control. The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reports that National Incident Commander Thad Allen has made it a federal felony for the media to access any oil spill clean up site, boom site, areas where there are clean up workers:

 

The Coast Guard has put new restrictions in place across the Gulf Coast that prevent the public - including news photographers and reporters covering the BP oil spill - from coming within 65 feet of any response vessels or booms on the water or on beaches.

 

According to a news release from the Unified Command, violation of the "safety zone" rules can result in a civil penalty of up to $40,000, and could be classified as a Class D felony. Because booms are often placed more than 40 feet on the outside of islands or marsh grasses, the 65-foot rule could make it difficult to photograph and document the impacts of oil on land and wildlife, media representatives said. …

 

Associated Press photographer Gerald Herbert, who has been documenting the oil spill, raised concerns about the restrictions within his news organization. … He has asked for a sit-down with Coast Guard officials to discuss the new policy - and the penalties - but has not received a response.

 

Photographers have had similar problems viewing the oil's impacts from the air. Photographer Ted Jackson of The Times-Picayune was trying to charter a flight with Southern Seaplane in late May to photograph oil coming ashore on Grand Isle, but the pilot was told that no media flights could go below 3,000 feet, due to restrictions from the Federal Aviation Administration. …

 

"Often the general guise of 'safety' is used as a blanket excuse to limit the media's access, and it's been done before," Herbert said Thursday. "It feels as though news reporting is being criminalized under thinly veiled excuses. The total effect of all these restrictions is harming the public's right to know."

 

† Second Amendment: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

 

It took 234 years for the U.S. Supreme Court to explain explicitly that the Founding Fathers indeed intended for the Second Amendment to be a fundamental individual right, as were the other nine comprising the Bill of Rights. As with the Heller case, a follow-up suit will be necessary (fourth item) in Chicago and other jurisdictions to determine just how much regulation local jurisdictions can impose on gun-owners without violating the right to bear arms that they’ve long believed they had, and that the high court just affirmed that they have. As he promised threatened to do, just days after the ruling Chicago Mayor Richard Daley (D) introduced an ordinance to restrict the use, sale and transport of guns restrictions that was unanimously approved by the City Council, reports the Los Angeles Times:

 

Key provisions of the ordinance:

 

Firearm sales will be banned in the city.

 

Gun training totaling four hours in a classroom and an hour on a firing range will be required before getting a permit. But firing ranges are banned, so training must be completed outside Chicago.

 

To transport a gun, it will have to be "broken down," not immediately accessible, unloaded, and in a firearm case.

 

Firearms may be possessed only inside the dwelling. It will be illegal to have a gun in the garage, on the front porch or in the yard. Guns also will not be allowed in hotels, dorms and group-living facilities.

 

Note that in order to exercise their Second Amendment rights, Chicago residents  who live in single-family homes – apartment dwellers are forbidden to own and keep firearms in their residences, according to The Stiletto’s reading of the regulations - must travel outside the city limits to buy a gun and to demonstrate the proficiency in its use necessary to obtain a permit. For someone who relies on mass transit to get around, this will be onerous. It seems that these regulations are meant to keep guns out of the hands of the very law-abiding citizens living in high-crime areas on whose behalf the Chicago plaintiffs took their case to the Supreme Court.

 

† Fourth Amendment: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

 

Syndicated columnist Deroy Murdock puts the impending ban of incandescent bulbs (“a quintessentially American innovation”) in patriotic terms in this Washington Times op-ed:

 

As American as the grand slam, the Mustang convertible and the constitutional republic, Thomas Alva Edison's incandescent light bulb is among this nation's most enduring gifts to mankind. Granted U.S. Patent No. 223,898 on January 27, 1880 (after enduring some 1,200 experiments), Edison's "Electric Lamp" essentially made night optional for most earthlings. Days stopped ending at sunset. Simple, convenient and cheap, Edison's greatest invention also was far safer than the flammable kerosene lamp it replaced. …

 

"I think the incandescent light bulb was one of the great contributions to the art of architecture in the 20th century," says Howard M. Brandston, a legendary lighting designer renowned for relighting the Statue of Liberty before its rededication on July 4, 1986. "Lighting played a huge role, as essential as the structures themselves. That was thanks to Thomas Edison."

 

"Our homes are our castles," says Mr. Brandston, also a former adjunct professor of architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. "The government should not enter our homes, tell us how to live, endanger our health and ruin our quality of life." [Emphasis, The Stiletto.]

 

† Fifth Amendment: No person shall be held to answer for any capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

 

In a post for CBS MoneyWatch’s “Devil in the Details” blog, Kathy Kristof highlights two eminent domain cases involving both federal- and state-level property confiscations that should get your dander up:

 

[W]hat happens when the government takes the land, but abandons the project? Or wants to take the land for a project to be named later? …

Consider the story of some 70 families in Harris Neck, Georgia, who had their land seized back in the 1940s to build an Air Force base, according to a story in the New York Times. The government apparently passed up acres of uninhabited grassland to oust this predominantly black community and then abandoned the base, which has since become part of a national wildlife refuge.

The former homeowners, who got $26.90 per acre if they were black and $37.31 an acre if they were white, want to be able to settle back on their land, taking up just 10% of the refuge area. They’ve already agreed to significant development restrictions aimed at ensuring they’d live in harmony with the nature preserve around them. But it apparently requires an act of Congress to make that happen. Nothing in the eminent domain law anticipates restoring ownership rights when the government’s “public use” of your land expires.

Another battle is raging between a group of suburban farmers and the Illinois Department of Transportation. IDOT wants to condemn some 500 acres of property in idyllic Beecher, Ill., to clear the land for a suburban airport that has yet to be mapped out. According to the Chicago Tribune, the state is in a rush to seize the land because they want buy it while property prices are still depressed. Eminent domain laws require that property owners get “just compensation” and the Tribune reports that current homeowners are getting offers that amount to about half of what their neighbors (who were willing to leave) sold for two years ago.

† Eighth Amendment: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

 

According to the Congressional Budget Office, between 2014 and 2016 when Obamacare kicks in fully, as many as four million middle class Americans will be fined more than more than $1,000 each if they have not purchased health insurance. The Associated Press reports:

 

Under the new law, the penalties will be phased in starting in 2014. By 2016, those who must get insurance but don't will be fined $695 or 2.5 percent of their household income, whichever is greater.

 

After 2016, the penalties will be increased by annual cost-of-living adjustments. People will not be required to get coverage if the cheapest plan available costs more than 8 percent of their income.

 

The penalties will be collected by the Internal Revenue Service through tax returns. However, the IRS will not have the authority to bring criminal charges or file liens against those who don't pay.

 

About 3 million of those required to pay fines in 2016 will have incomes below $59,000 for individuals and $120,000 for families of four, according to the CBO projections. The other 900,000 people who must pay the fine will have higher incomes.

 

The government will collect about $4 billion a year in fines from 2017 through 2019, according to the report.

 

† Tenth Amendment: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

 

In this Washington Times op-ed about the Obama administration’s intention to sue AZ over its new law, Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, writes that the feds mean to “intimidate other states where similar legislation is being considered”:

 

A lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice is no idle threat. This administration is working in concert with amnesty advocates such as the American Civil Liberties Union to try to make Arizona's defense as burdensome and costly as possible. Even if Arizona ultimately prevails - as many legal scholars believe the state will - victory is unlikely to come swiftly or cheaply.

 

For Arizona, which is saddled with an estimated $2.6 billion a year fiscal burden as a result of the federal government's refusal to enforce immigration laws, the cost of mounting a legal defense may be worth it.  …

 

In filing suit against Arizona, the administration is delivering an only slightly veiled and deeply troubling message to other states: Enforcing immigration laws locally may be right for your state; it may be popular with the voters; you even may prevail in the end. But we would rather fight you - American citizens - than fight illegal immigration. Upping the ante appears to be the latest strategy not only of the Obama administration, but also of others who want to prevent enforcement of immigration laws. In the case of the illegal-alien advocacy network, the threat is explicit, not implicit. "Local legislation is going to end up costing taxpayers millions of dollars," warned Ali Noorani, who runs the National Immigration Forum, an amnesty advocacy group.

 

 

Proud - And Grateful - To Be An American

 

Every July 4^th, The Stiletto says a special prayer of thanks that her mother and father chose to make their lives in this country.

 

The Stiletto’s parents are well-educated, and speak nearly a dozen languages between them – half fluently, half conversationally – so they could easily have applied for citizenship in any number of Western European or South American countries, Canada or even one of the far-flung nations comprising the British Commonwealth. But they were determined to become Americans, because this country offered a degree of personal and economic freedom unattainable even in other democracies. They wanted to give the children they hoped to have a birthright that ensured freedom from religious or ethnic persecution (no small concern in their case), as well as freedom from the despair of having their talents, drive and ambitions repeatedly stymied by a socioeconomic or gender-based caste system that keeps people “in their place.” 

 

The Stiletto got all that – and more. Having been imbued with the go-getting confidence of this always-striving nation, which shrugs off failure as a bump in the road while lavishly rewarding success, The Stiletto has an unshakable faith that the best is yet to come for her country, and for her. Next to life itself, this is the greatest gift The Stiletto’s parents could have bestowed.

 

 

The Stiletto Blog Celebrates Another Birthday

 

July 4, 2010 marks the start of The Stiletto Blog’s fifth publishing year (second item). Over the past year, The Stiletto was pleased to see her posts published on FOX Forum – and one of them, “Why Obama Is A Lame Duck” got nearly 400,000 page views. In the past year, The Stiletto also launched a Twitter feed, and counts amongst her followers several prominent Republican lawmakers and candidates, Tea Partiers, and media outlets.
 

In the coming year, The Stiletto plans to invite other like-minded individuals who have something to say but don’t wish to undertake the hassle of setting up and maintaining a blog or committing to a regular publishing schedule to contribute to the blog. In the coming days she will introduce the first two commentators who will be offering their perspectives on the events of the day.

Editorial Note: The Stiletto invites lurkers to become regular readers and readers to become subscribers. She also hopes commenters will engage each other in spirited debate. Finally, please follow The Stiletto on Twitter and tell family, friends, neighbors and co-workers about The Stiletto Blog!

 

 

Independence Day Bonus

 

No (Soda) Taxation (Even With) Representation

 

The New York Times explains why Gov. David Paterson’s (D-NY) cherished penny-per-ounce tax on sugared beverages “has apparently gone down the drain - despite strong support from good-government groups, editorial pages and health advocates”:

 

Now that it has been dropped from the state revenue bill, it has become a case study in the power of the antitax message. …

 

[B]y most accounts, the beverage industry has outspent the pro-tax side and has succeeded in painting the soda tax as a naked money grab cleverly disguised as a health policy. …

 

When the governor submitted this year’s budget proposal, he said the tax would go to offset health care cuts, a proposal that helped rally two powerful forces to his side: 1199 S.E.I.U., the health care workers’ union, and the Greater New York Hospital Association, the trade group for hospitals in the New York City area. The groups’ financial and strategic support became the mainstay of the pro-tax lobby, the Alliance for a Healthier New York. …

 

The idea that the soda tax would cut into the income of poor New Yorkers while doing nothing to improve their access to exercise or fresh, affordable, healthful food was echoed by some advocacy groups for the poor. For example, Triada Stampas, the director of government relations for the Food Bank of New York City, testified against the tax before a Senate committee.

 

Fun July 4^th Facts

 

Although 63 percent of American adults think the Fourth of July is one of our nation’s most important holidays, another poll finds that 20 percent of Americans are not sure what country we declared our independence from, and another six percent thought that country was France, China, Japan, Spain or Mexico (though a case can be made that Mexico thinks there is no end to its territory or a beginning to  U.S. territory). As it happens, the highest percentage of people who don’t know this basic fact of American history fall within the 18- to 29-year old age group. 

 

As a reader of this blog, you are not likely to be amongst this 26 percent of clueless Americans, but do you know which of our presidents was a real live nephew of our Uncle Sam, born on the Fourth of July? Or how many presidents died on July 4^th – and can you name them? Check out this trove of little-known  Independence Day trivia collected by LiveScience.  

And do you know this is one of two days of the year when the hearts of American vexillologists beat even truer ‘neath the red-white-and-blue?  

Finally, if you’ve ever wondered how pyrotechnic experts build dazzling, multi-colored fireworks, here’s a nice explanation from Life’s Little Mysteries. For hard-core geeks, About.com delves more deeply into the chemistry of incandescence, luminescence and color.