BART shuts down cell phone use in subway stations

Cell phone use in San Francisco subway stations was halted Thursday. BART, the authority that operates the subways, “learned” that protests were planned in some of the stations. People wanted to express their anger over the shooting death of a man by BART police. So, electricity was cut off to cell phone towers in the stations from 4 to 7 pm on Thursday in response.

Communities are given the responsibility to protect its citizens. Collective self defense was one of the first reasons people gathered in communities. But, the defense of the community must be kept in balance with the rights of individuals.

According to news reports, it is illegal for people to assemble in subway stations in San Francisco to protest. The law to prevent these assemblies is a reasonable act. The dangers that would exist if many angry people were protesting on subway platforms would go beyond a mere inconvenience of commuters. It is reasonable to think that people would be injured or killed. Also, the law most likely doesn’t choose sides, it just simple states no protests of any kind. There are plenty of other places in the city for people to assemble to express their grievances without endangering the lives of people.

When BART authorities “learned” that something was planned, it sounds like they did develop a plan to protect commuters and prevent a violation of the law. But, sense the plan they developed involved the violation of everyone’s rights, not just those involved in the protests, they should have sought judicial review. This review would have allowed a public examination of the evidence and a evaluation of the dangers that would be presented if the protest were not preempted. (Courts would have responded quickly to a request from BART due to the nature of the issues.)

I used the word preempted about the plan to negate the protests. The plan that was developed by the BART authorities was based on what might happen, as opposed to what is happening. It is dangerous to image a community that would preempt political activity without judicial review. If political activity was allowed to be preempted communities would walk right in to the issues that were explored in “Minority Report”. It was a movie from a few years ago that arrested people based on what they might do, with convictions and confinement based on action they hadn’t taken.

This action by BART authorities is similar to laws that are being considered on a national level, the so called “internet kill switch.” This law would allow the president or some other authority to kill the internet in part or whole to prevent illegal or dangerous action by individuals or groups. In that law, I supported the law as long as there was a review of the intelligence that suggested great harm was going to happen if the internet was not shut down. Even then, the action should only take place temporarily.

If intelligence provides evidence that an illegal activity was going to happen, present the evidence to a court. If approved by the court, then stand ready to take action when the activity happens, as opposed to cutting everyone’s rights short.

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Rick Perry and his call to prayer

Rick Perry may be the most politically dangerous man in America right now.

The Texas Governor’s call to prayer at Reliant stadium over this past weekend in Houston isn’t the reason. On his free time he can practice his religion with abandon. His deep faith in his religion isn’t the reason either. There have many religious people that have been public officials, including Presidents, in the past and present.

Rick Perry is a politically dangerous man because of many other reasons.

One is my concern that Perry’s beliefs will direct his decision making process. He would like government to a religious and spiritual guide. He, like strong and vocal groups of Americans, believe that this is a Christian nation. This, despite the fact that John Adams, one of three people that are credited with being the primary authors of the Constitution, and many others that helped create the Constitution, have said it is not. They have said this in writing many times. This government’s primary purpose, and what should be the primary purpose of any government, is to protect the rights of people regardless of their belief. The only time government should take action is when harm will or can happen to an individual. Perry, it seems from all of his campaigning up to this point, thinks that laws should be in place that protects morality. A morality in this case that is based on Perry’s own religious beliefs.

Another is my concern that Perry will attempt to excluded people that do not share his religious beliefs from the public forum. It’s hard to image that the governor will allow freedom of religion in American that isn’t Christian. This will mean more intense pressure will be applied to groups like the Muslims that are already having a difficult time building their own religious houses.

Another is that Rick Perry, if he becomes President, will be a divider. Those that don’t believe that Christian morality should be the guide for government’s action will be side lined. This will cause incredible strife between other religious groups and those that have no faith in a spiritual being. They will be forced to live under the religious mandates of a religion they don’t believe in. This is the very thing our nation finds so abhorrent in religious countries around the world. We call them terrorists when they take over a country and enforce a strict adherence to a religious doctrine.

Rick Perry is dangerous because those that support his campaign with money and infrastructure will demand and expect that their beliefs will become policy. Just one of the groups, The American Family Association, with over 200 radio stations under their control, provided a million dollars to the Houston rally. Another group, the Cornerstone Church lead by John Hagee, sent 700 members to help in the organizing for the Houston Rally. (Another blog will be posted on the Cornerstone Church’s leader John Hagee in the near future as soon as the research is completed.) With that kind of investment and the infrastructure of 200 radio stations and staff, they will expect a return. If you think that they won’t have a say in policy decisions, think again please.

Finally, because Rick Perry believes that the Christian God will deliver us from all the social ills that may befall us. Problems that we face as a nation will not be solved by deep faith but by critical action. To fall to our knees and pray may help us understand our inner selves better but will not provide the solutions. Hard work and cooperation between all individuals will solve our problems.

This blog post may sound anti-religious. It is not. Spiritually is a strong influence in the personal lives of every human. To allow our own spiritually to guide us as individuals is important for personal peace. But, to allow a single spiritually to be forced on all American citizens through government action will only cause dissension and conflict.

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FAA employees are laid off while Congress is on vacation - tell me this is right!

Congress is on vacation. Senators and representatives went home to be with their families, enjoy the summer and raise some money for their campaigns. They continue to collect their pay checks, their travel expenses are paid, their health insurance is covered and their office expense fund continues to pay for who knows what more.

The members of congress went on vacation while 4,000 FAA workers and thousands more that work on construction projections around the country are laid off or are forced on furlough. The FAA also could lose more than a billion dollars in taxes – just so you can have a good idea of the amount of a billion dollars, here is the number: $1,000,000,000. The amount of loss in tax revenue doesn’t include the unemployment payments that the FAA and construction workers will be collecting.

I hope the 535 members of congress are enjoying their time off. I doubt that the 4,000 FAA workers are enjoying their vacation because they don’t have a pay check. No health insurance if anything happens to them or their kids. There might be a few mortgage payments missed. This time of year, kids that are going to college need to purchase books. Sorry kids, congress went on vacation and didn’t pay their bills.

The fight that went on with the debt limit is similar to the fight that is happening with the FAA financing. Some members of congress would like to stop federal payments to rural airports. The payments help keep the cost of commuter flights to major hubs down to something that is affordable. Those members think that it would save about a billion dollars – remember that number from above? That is the amount that the United States has lost in tax revenue because 535 people thought it was more important to go on vacation then to keep 4,000 people employed. It is fair to debate the continuation of subsidizing rural airports for the commuter flights. So, can’t that portion of the funding bill for the FAA be separated from the overall bill?

There is a group in congress that will not compromise on anything to get their way. Kids play like that when they are raised as spoiled little brats. The members of this group are mostly backed by the Tea Party. Instead of a compromise to keep people working and keep collecting taxes, the no-compromise group would not even consider short term legislation to keep people on the job for another month while they sorted it all out.

I hope that the members of congress who allowed this to happen are enjoying their iced tea on the porch during the hot summer. If it is too warm for them outside, they can step inside of their homes and country clubs with the air conditioning on high. That should relieve them of any memory of 4,000 people that are out of work.

If you want to make change, work for it. But, to force change while honest, hard working people are suffering is wrong.

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Israeli Chamber Orchestra played Wagner Tuesday evening

Richard Wagner’s music was played in Germany on Tuesday evening Israeli Chamber Orchestra.  Wagner was an 18^th century composer that had a dramatic influence on opera and music overall.  But, during his lifetime he wrote anti-Semitic essays that said Jews had no place in German society.  Hitler hijacked Wagner’s music to advance Hitler’s vile cause.

Many refuse to support any public playing of Wagner’s music, especially after World War II.  They would like to banish his music to the trash bin of history in hope that Wagner’s music, along with his views, would be forgotten.  But, his influence on music is so dramatic that Wagner’s concepts are used by many composers since he published and preformed.

Wagner’s music can’t be disassociated from one of history’s most inhumane periods.  His music was played in nearly every corner of Germany society all while millions of people were killed in the most horrific way.  Most of those that died were Jews, but so did millions of other people.  The desire to banish his music because of the ugly memories is understandable.  Who would want to be reminded of that period in our history?

If we refuse to play Wagner because of his vile cultural views and its association with the Nazis, we then elevate Wagner and his music to cult status in the underground world of racial hated.  The only people that will play his music will be those that use it to gain support for their cause.  The truth is, if we look deep into the views of every artist, we are sure to find something that we disagree with.  Should we stop playing them also? 

Openly presenting Wagner’s beautiful music can be a source of enjoyment for many people.  But, it should be done with a clear understanding of the composer’s personal views.  With open discussion about Wagner’s music, his life and his philosophy, we can use art to instruct not to destroy.  It will balance those that would like to glorify Wagner’s and Hitler’s depraved views. 

Many people have worked hard to help all of us remember the terror that existed during World War II.  Their purpose is to hang in the open the events leading up to Hitler’s reign and its result on the world.  By understanding the past in this way we can be on guard to prevent the past from becoming the future.

Playing Wagner’s music coupled with open discussion of his view points is just one way of keeping the evils of history fresh in the public memory. 

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Herman Cain supports banning mosques

Herman Cain, Republican candidate for president, says that communities don’t have to accept mosques if its citizens don’t want them.  The Washington Post called it “buffoonery.” The definition of buffoonery is behavior that is ridiculous but amusing.  Cain’s statement is certainly ridiculous but it is not amusing.  It feeds the irrational fear of public opinion about Islam. 

During an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News, Herman Cain said that Islam is not a religion like other religions and Americans have the right to keep it out of their communities if they wish.  Cain said, “Islam is both a religion and a set of laws – Sharia laws.  That’s the difference between any one of our traditional religions where it’s just about religious purposes.”  So, according to Cain, because the Muslim religion has an established set of laws, communities can ban mosque if they so choose.

Cain continues with, “That’s not discriminating based upon their particular religion.”

Cain’s words are clearly political double speak.  First, he says that it is a religion.  But, because there is a code of conduct for its believers it should not be treated like a religion.   But, Mr. Cain, isn’t that what religion is… a belief that we need to follow some rules?   

So, using Cain’s logic, any religion that has a code of conduct for its faithful should be banned.  Communities should be able to ban Jewish temples.  Rabbinical law would be considered a set of “laws,” therefore communities could ban temples.  Then, there are the Catholics with their cannon law.  In fact, they have a country that enforces cannon law, the Vatican.  It is presumed that if given the opportunity, the Catholics would love to have the United States run by cannon law, therefore, since the Catholics have a set of laws, communities should be able to ban Catholic churches. 

Cain is baiting all those that believe that Islam attacked us on 9-11 and continues to threaten our national security.  Just because the individuals that attacked us on that fateful day claimed to be good Muslims, doesn’t mean that everyone that follows Islam is the same.  No matter the religion, it is individuals that should be held accountable for their actions.    

It is presumed that Cain is a conservative because he is running as a Republican.  Conservatives strongly believe, as they should, that individuals need to be held accountable for their actions, not groups.  Yet, he states on national television that a group of people should be separated from everyone else because of their religious beliefs.

All of this, of course, is not addressing the fundamental issue in Cain’s statement.  No community has the right to ban a religion nor its place of worship.  In the United States, the First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion.  To suggest that Islam can be narrowly redefined to separate it from other religions is to use a blunt object to disconnect it from protection under the amendment.  If communities can successfully do that, then they can find ways to redefine any religion that the majority disagrees with and ban them as well. 

Will your religion be next?

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Don't follow the leader

Lori Klein, an Arizona State Senate Republican, pointed her “cute” pink pistol at a reporter that was interviewing her and demonstrated how the laser aiming device works by pointing it at the reporter’s chest.  Klein did this while the .380 Ruger, that has no safety, was loaded. 

Let’s follow the leader.  All of us should pull out our guns and start pointing them at people just to show how fun it is.  After all, the leading proponent of the Second Amendment in Arizona did so it must be the right thing to do.

Before anyone thinks that I am a liberal that wants to take away all guns, leaving only criminals with guns, think again.  My father was a police officer and hunter.  He had guns in the house for his profession and his hobby.  I was taught gun safety just like being taught to say please and thank you.  When I was 14 years old I went through the NRA’s gun safety program.  For many years I was a hunter.  I am personally in support of gun ownership, if that is something people want to do.

There is also a little thing called the Constitution.  Regardless of the debate about a militia, it does, in some form, guarantee the right to own guns.  Citizens of any Responsible Community should not be required to give up the right to own guns. 

None of the above means that the right to “bear arms” is absolute.  When the authors of the Constitution wrote in a few of our rights, it was never intended to mean that communities could not place reasonable restrictions on those rights.  The reason we live in a community is to come to terms on the laws that provide for a safe environment.  To allow just any crazy person to have a gun because it is a right is wrong. 

Speaking of crazy people, Senate Klein from Arizona is not only out of line by pointing her gun at the reporter, she should be arrested.  While it is not illegal apparently to point a gun at someone in Arizona (I can’t find where it is anywhere in the country) it could be considered an assault.  The reporter was not acting threatening and was not carry a weapon.  Yet, a loaded gun was pointed at him for no cause other than to allow the Senator to have a little fun with her “cute” pink pistol.  By the way, “cute” is her term.

People follow leaders.  That is just the way humans work.  While some leaders shouldn’t be followed, like Senator Klein, it is certain that someone will do the same thing because the senator did it.  Next time, there may be an unintended firing of the weapon and someone will be dead.  That is why the senator needs to face the consequences of her action.

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Charter Schools are not the answer

It is suppose to be the quick fix for everything that is wrong with Detroit Public Schools and public schools in general.  Open many more charter schools in the Detroit district, let parents select where their children attend school and they will do so much better that everyone will want to shut down the city’s school district.

Or, at least that is the promise.

After all, charter schools have everything going for them.  Let’s go down the list.  First, since parents have to be motivated to enroll their children in the schools, the children would come from families that have higher expectations than those that don’t make any changes.  The charter schools can demand that parents attend meetings at the school, volunteer time and be involved in the education process.  Charter schools have greater control over the staff, especially the teachers, so they can discharge those people that are not performing well.  Charter schools are usually operated by a market based philosophy, with accountability standards that are higher than public schools.  Failing students or those that are disruptive can be released from charter schools and set back to public schools.  This list is not all inclusive, but it is the primary reason given in support of charter schools.

Well, guess what?  A new study conducted by a Detroit newspaper demonstrates that charter schools in the city of Detroit overall, are worse then the public school district.  Only 17 percent of the students that attend charter schools in the district perform better than the average public school student.  (Understand here, that half of the public school children do better than average, only 17% of the charter schools students do better.)  But, there is more.  Only about half of the students in the charter schools are on par with public school children.  Finally, about 33% of the children that attend charter schools did worse.   

The difference is what many involved in education know too well.  Until the student, the family, the institution and the community work together, education will not do well.  The student must be engaged and excited about getting a good education.  The family must be fully functioning and prepare the student for school.  The institution must be given the authority to make demands of the student, the family and the community.  Finally, the community must step up and make a full commitment to the future.  (The community in this case includes the private and public sector.)

An analogy here that people in Detroit can understand is what it takes to build a quality automobile (the student).  We can have great people working on the line (teachers/institution) but if the parts they install come from vendors (families) that are shipping defective parts, it will not matter.  If the company doesn’t pay its bills (community), vendors will stop shipping parts.  Until everyone involved in the building of the car is held accountable the product in the end will be sub prime. 

If has been a long held belief of mine that if one part of the quadrangle fails; the student, the family, the institution and the community; the other three have to work twice as hard to make up the difference.  If two parts fail, it will be nearly impossible to make up the difference. 

Detroit schools are not doing a good job at educating the youth of the community.  They do need to be held accountable for their failings.  But, until the other three parts are also held accountable, children will perform poorly.  

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