Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

Who Watches the Watchers?

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In our free societies, we must always ask ourselves: “Who watches the watchers?”

Of course we need governments and authorities. We need police, investigators, and courts. In some cases, we need wiretaps and video cameras. When used properly, all of these things increase the security and stability of our society—reducing crime and enforcing laws. Unfortunately, however, these things are powerful weapons in the hands of the unscrupulous. That’s why we need some mechanism of ‘watching the watchers’ and being sure that the authorities are not abusing their powers.

When it comes our law enforcement officials, I have the utmost of respect for them and their work. However, there are a certain percentage of police officers who chose their profession merely to lord power over the rest of us . . . folks like Ofc. Graham Buck, Det. Mike Baylor (who was not fired for waving his gun around during a snowball fight), or the officers who arrested a man for trespassing on his own property, or the officers who invaded a mayor’s home and shot his dogs.

And folks like Maryland State Trooper Joseph D. Uhler who, after pulling Anthony Graber over for speeding on a motorcycle, waved his gun around like a madman. And folks like the members of Uhler’s department who then had Graber arrested and charged with wiretapping violations for posting a video of the encounter on YouTube. Adam Cohen, writing for Time, asks the obvious question: Should Videotaping the Police Really Be a Crime?

Read more . . .

D.C. Area: Grow Up About Weather!

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So, we had some thunderstorms today . . . normal, D.C.-area summer thunderstorms. Yeah, maybe they were a little on the rough side of the scale, but they were really pretty normal. We have storms like this many times every year. It’s part of our local climate and it shouldn’t take any of us by surprise. By the breathless blathering of the local media, the number of power outages, and the flurry of major road closures for downed trees, however, you might be forgiven for thinking we were just hit with the storm of the century (just like the last storm of the century we had . . . last week).

This area has always been a bit on the wimpy side. We get an inch of snow and all the schools close. We get a minor tropical depression blowing through and the government shuts down for a week. We have an earthquake that barely registers—a hiccup by California standards—and it’s the talk of the town for a week. Come on people, grow up.

The madness is exacerbated this year since, after a couple years of economic instability, our governments and utility companies have failed to do any preventive maintenance. Power companies are supposed to try and keep large limbs and unstable trees away from power lines, thus minimizing power outages. Our local and state governments are supposed to be doing the same kind of work along our thoroughfares. This kind of maintenance can never completely eliminate weather-related power outages and road closures, but it can certainly help if they bother to do it.

It’s obvious they’ve been asleep on the job though. Today’s thoroughly normal storms knocked out power for 80,000 D.C. area customers and closed (wholly or partially) the George Washington Memorial Parkway, U.S. 50 in Loudoun County, I-295, and a ton of smaller highways. The storms did come with some high winds, so it’s unsurprising that there were some trees down . . . but seriously, since when do our standard summer storms shut down multiple major highways.

What’s worse though is how, at the first sign of storms, drivers around here turn into blithering morons who think they need to get in a line across the highway and match each others’ speed 30 miles-per-hour below the limit. Come on people, act like adults when you’re driving and act like adults when faced with bad weather or other natural events.

Does the FBI Have Any Real Work to Do?

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) apparently doesn’t have anything to do these days, since they are amusing themselves with threatening spurious legal actions against Wikipedia for illustrating the FBI’s entry with the FBI’s logo. According to the FBI’s letter (PDF link), using the FBI seal as Wikipedia does is a violation of federal law.

There are many, many, many problems with the FBI’s contention here. First and foremost, the law clearly only deals with people displaying the logo “in a manner reasonably calculated to convey the impression that such [work] is approved, endorsed, or authorized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” Wikipedia is doing no such thing in their entry, which clearly shows the seal in a merely informative context.

The FBI argues that Wikipedia facilitates the illegal use of the logo (although it’s unclear how the FBI’s own web site doesn’t do the same thing). Of course, anybody can take the high-quality version of the image from Wikipedia and do whatever they want with it . . . and they, not Wikipedia, are responsible for what they do. Wikipedia clearly explains the legal limitations on the seal’s information page: “Public domain from a copyright standpoint, but other restrictions apply. In the US, unauthorized use of the FBI seal, name, and initials are subject to prosecution under Federal Criminal law, including 18 U.S.C § 701, § 709, and § 712.”

I would think that the FBI has better things to do than harass online media outlets for something that isn’t even illegal, but just in case they don’t here’s some more work for ’em. I’m displaying the FBI logo on my site, just like CNN, CBS, CNET, BBC, the New York Times, the Examiner, AOL News, Google, Microsoft, and more. Oh, the horrors. Come arrest me, I dare you.

Washington Post Endorses Fenty

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The Washington Post has endorsed Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) in the Washington, D.C. Democratic primary. In heavily-Democratic Washington, a win in the Democratic primary essentially guarantees election as Mayor in the general election. I am not a citizen of the District and, as such, Off on a Tangent will make no formal endorsement in this race. Having said that, I do take an interest in D.C. city politics since the policies implemented there have regional impact.

The Post editorial board makes a sound and well-reasoned argument for re-electing Fenty and, watching as an outsider, I have been generally pleased with the city’s direction under his leadership. Fenty’s government has noticeably improved many parts of the District over his four years in office and, most importantly, he has presided over a controversial and much-needed series of public school reforms (led by his appointed Schools Chancellor, Michelle Rhee). In a very short time, D.C. schools have gone from being the laughing-stock of the nation to being regarded as an ascendant system with a chance at real success.

For his (and Rhee’s) ‘no-holds-barred’ reformation of D.C. city schools alone, Fenty deserves praise. D.C. government has many serious problems—crime, corruption, and incompetence leading the list. Education is the key to solving each of them. Well-educated citizens will choose productive careers instead of a life of crime. Well-educated citizens will participate in their government and reject cronyism and corruption. Well-educated citizens will rebuild their blighted neighborhoods and decaying infrastructure. If Washington is to continue to improve, it will only do so with a sufficiently effective public education system. Fenty and Rhee, seizing control after decades of academic institutional failure, have finally started to turn things around.

Once again, I make no endorsement in this race and would not presume to lecture the citizens of Washington, D.C. (any more than I already have) on who they should elect as their mayor. But I’m not going to bite my tongue either: despite their flaws, Mayor Fenty and Michelle Rhee seem to be the best things to happen to the District in a while. I am hoping that the citizens of the District will give them a chance to keep up their very important work.

Taxes and Recovery

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It is counter-intuitive, but has been proven time and time again: If the United States federal government has a revenue problem, it can increase its income (over time) by lowering tax rates. This is acknowledged by honest politicos on the left and the right—including Democratic idol, President John F. Kennedy (D) who lobbied during his presidency for lowering taxes to fund government programs and improve the economy. “Lower rates of taxation will stimulate economic activity and so raise the levels of personal and corporate income,” Kennedy said, “as to yield within a few years an increased—not a reduced—flow of revenues to the federal government.”

This works because lowering the tax burden leads people to do one of two things: Some put more money into savings; some spend. Whichever people do, they are helping the economy with that money. Money spent on goods and services enriches businesses, which then can pay their employees more, hire more employees, or buy more products and services from others. As this propagates through the economy, it reduces unemployment and increases incomes, which increases tax revenue for the government. Even money put in savings accounts provides more investment dollars for the banks that fund capital improvements and investment spending across the economy, leading to similar results in a different way.

Read more . . .

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.