1.     Another Endangered Species

2.     A Not-So-Divine Comedy, Part 5

3.     Announcements

4.     Fun Facts about Maine

5.     The Flashback Quarterback:  Granny Has a Gun

6.     Beware and Share:  Children on Drugs

7.     About Montebello E-News and “My Montebello”

Another Endangered Species  

With or without the Patriot Act, civil liberties in the United States are an endangered species.  Why?  

“Civil liberties” as most of us understand the phrase refers to personal rights and privileges, as envisaged by civil libertarians and enforced by government.  The right to privacy is one such liberty.  

Civil liberties are endangered, even if we did not have the Patriot Act.  Why?  Civil liberties are a function of wealth and space.  As wealth and space decrease, and foreign cultures represent proportionately more people, civil liberties decrease.  Society could not function otherwise.  

A wealthy society can spend money to accommodate dissenters, thereby sustaining the civil liberty of dissent and maintaining order.  But as wealth decreases, as is happening in the United States, less expensive means are sought to maintain order, like increased law enforcement or increased surveillance by technology.  

A concrete example:  a wealthy society can ignore complaints about fraud, but when fraud drains scarce money, there is intervention into people’s lives in order to reduce fraud.  One intervention is longer forms;  another is extensive background checks;  yet another is site visits.  

Space is another factor.  When one’s rights and privileges impinge on those of others, civil liberties have to yield.  An example is crowded freeways with the electric signs giving an 800 number to report drunken drivers.  

As land becomes more valuable and people add to their houses, the population density increases.  One consequence is more teenagers beating their acoustical drums and strumming their electric guitars at a neighbor’s houses.  

There are foreign cultures in which security is primary.  As immigrants bring these cultures to the United States, security has relatively more importance, civil liberties relatively less.  Also, there are cultures in which peaceful dissent is not as ingrained as in the United States, leading to a reaction by our society and government to ensure peaceful dissent.  

Society could not function unless civil liberties yielded, unless draconian measures were taken to deal with wealth, space, and immigration.  But such measures would contradict what civil libertarians stand for.

If you answer the multiple-choice questions below and e-mail to lessonanswers@mymontebello.com with “Lesson answers” in the subject field, you will be credited toward a “certificate of recognition in community affairs” to be awarded in 2007 by a local nonprofit organization.  

1. Which are three reasons leading to a reduction in civil liberties?

(a) Television addiction.

(b) A reduction in wealth in society.

(c) A large influx of cultures without a strong tradition in civil liberties or in peaceful dissent.

(d) A reduction in space in which to live and move about. 

2. What solution do you see to reverse the reduction in civil liberties?

(a) Limit population growth.

(b) Limit immigration.

(c) Add a Constitutional amendment.

(d) Increase school lessons about civil liberties.

  No one can earn a million dollars honestly.
William Jennings Bryan, 1860 – 1925,
an American lawyer, statesman, and politician, three times the Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States.

The decadent international but individualistic capitalism in the hands of which we found ourselves after the war is not a success. It is not intelligent. It is not beautiful. It is not just. It is not virtuous. And it doesn't deliver the goods.
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Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest [sic] of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.
John Maynard Keynes, 1883 – 1946,
a British economist whose ideas, called Keynesian economics, had a major impact on modern economic and political theory, as well as on many governments’ fiscal policies.  

In part one, we looked at the features of modern-day capitalism as practiced here in the United States.  In part two, we read of the role played by natural disasters in boosting a local economy.  In part three, we saw the tie between commercializing holidays and keeping the economy strong.  In part four, we saw that capitalism was not the solution to every problem or opportunity.  

Capitalism can and does interfere with the public good.  

On “World News Tonight,” January 11, 2008, Charles Gibson reported on an eleven year-old who was chosen “Person of the Week.”  

Jack Davis is only 11, but he had a pretty grown-up idea: He was disturbed to learn that Florida restaurants throw out food that could be given to the hungry and the homeless -- because the restaurant owners could be sued if anyone who ate the food became ill or developed food poisoning. ...

Jack's idea was to pass a law that would give restaurant owners' some protection from lawsuits. He got his dad to float the idea to some Florida legislators. ...  

It now seems certain that Jack's idea will become a law. ...  

"If you think there's a problem in the world," he said, "you don't wait for other people to fix it. You have to try to fix it yourself." ... http://abcnews.go.com/WN/PersonOfWeek/story?id=4123327&page=1

This seems so obvious, why is this not law in every state?  

To say that this would protect the homeless from bad food is specious.  There would be no benefit to a restaurant to give bad food to the homeless, unless the restaurant be malicious, in which case a different law would apply.  

So why is Jack’s idea not the law in every state?  Could it be that, if the liability were removed, trial lawyers would have one fewer cause of action through which to make money?  

Who does not remember the toy scare of 2007, when large numbers of toys were pulled off the shelves by retailers because of possible poisoning danger to children?  Did not Chinese manufacturers know the applicable law?  Did they ignore the law in order to maintain or maximize their profit?  (It could well be that, in a booming economy, the supply of manufacturing parts fall behind the demand for those parts.  So as not to loose a contract, Chinese manufacturers might look for substitutes.  That flexibility shows the strength of capitalism, but, at the same time, the weakness when not subject to inviolable standards to protect the public.)  

I find myself in a front-row seat to another example.  One Laptop per Child, www.laptop.org, is a nonprofit organization distributing a two-hundred dollar laptop to children in the developing world.  Intel, the microchip giant, was on the One Laptop board until the second week of January, when they parted ways because of a disagreement.  One Laptop said that, by manufacturing and promoting a competing laptop, Intel was undercutting One Laptop.  Intel said that competition would be good.  I side with One Laptop, because Intel has been unethical in the pursuit of profit, as when the company, years ago, failed to inform users about a faulty microchip.  

My English teacher at Montebello High School, Joann Barro, had us read Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People some thirty-five years ago:  

Dr. Stockmann is the popular citizen of a small coastal town in Norway . The town has recently invested a large amount of public and private money towards the development of baths, a project led by Dr. Stockmann and his brother, the Mayor. The town is expecting a surge in tourism and prosperity from the new baths, said to be of great medicinal value and as such, the baths are the pride of the town. However, as the baths are starting to succeed, Dr. Stockmann discovers that waste products from the town's tannery are contaminating the baths causing serious illness among the tourists. He expects this important discovery to be his greatest achievement, and promptly sends a detailed report to the Mayor, which includes a proposed solution, which would come at a considerable cost to the town.  

But to his surprise, Stockmann finds it difficult to get through to the authorities. …  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Enemy_of_the_People  

Capitalism is not synonymous with the public good.  In fact, we must give thought as to when capitalism would promote the public good, given that capitalism’s goal is primarily, if not solely, the pursuit of profit.

Eastport is the most eastern city in the United States. The city is considered the first place in the United States to receive the rays of the morning sun.  

Maine is the only state in the United States whose name has one syllable. 

Maine is the only state that shares its border with only one other state.  

Maine produces 99% of all the blueberries in the country, making it the single largest producer of blueberries in the United States.  [A reason to move there.]  

Maine's earliest inhabitants were descendants of Ice Age hunters.  

Acadia National Park is the second most visited national park in the United States.  

90% of the country’s toothpick supply is produced in Maine.  

Portland is the birthplace of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who was considered the most influential poet of his day. The writer was born in Portland, on February 2, 1807. His most popular works include “The Courtship of Miles Standish”, “Evangeline” and “Hiawatha”.   

Senator Margaret Chase Smith stood up in the Senate and gave the famous Declaration of Conscious speech, speaking out against the McCarthy era.  [Do high schoolers know what “McCarthy era” refers to?]  Senator Smith was the first female to have her name placed in nomination for her party’s presidential candidate.  [But Senator Barry Goldwater became the party candidate, this in 1964.]  

Author Steven King is a resident of Bangor.  

Former President George Bush has a summer home in Kennebunkport.  

Eastport is the only United States owned principality that has been under rule by a foreign government. It was held from 1814 to 1818 by British troops under King George following the conclusion of the War of 1812.  [Now, who knew that?]