This is the full text of the First Amendment to the Constitution: “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.”
It is printed here for the benefit of Mayor Bloomberg, who continues to be baffled about what those words mean. He invokes the First Amendment, and calls himself a great defender of it, to explain his refusal to enforce criminal laws in and around Zuccotti Park.
“The right to protest, people say, ‘Oh, I understand it, but.’ There’s no but. There’s no but when it comes to the right to express yourself,” Bloomberg said.
Of course, there is a but. Lots of them. No right is absolute. Moreover, there is nothing in the First Amendment that gives political protesters immunity from ordinary laws.
New York routinely arrests people for the use of illegal drugs, public urination, disorderly conduct, excessive noise, fighting, open cooking, sexual assault and theft. Yet, at the direction of the mayor, Zuccotti Park largely has been turned into a sovereign nation of vagabonds, a legal free zone where almost anything goes.
Bloomberg’s explanation is that he doesn’t want to infringe on the First Amendment.
It’s a daffy defense that has no basis in law or fact, but it’s not the first time the mayor has revealed a flawed understanding of free-speech rights. His ardent defense of the proposed Ground Zero mosque was built on a misguided claim that it was “an important test of the separation of church and state.” He said opponents “ought to be ashamed of themselves” and accused them of denying Muslims “the right to pray.”
He was fundamentally wrong on two counts. First, the mosque is a land-use issue, and opponents have every right to speak out against it, as they do on any issue. While it would violate the First Amendment for a government entity to deny religious freedom to any group, it is not a violation for private citizens to oppose a building, even a house of worship.
Second, it turns out Bloomberg himself probably violated the First Amendment principle of separation of church and state because his aides were secretly using government authority to fast-track the religious project.
E-mails the mayor was forced to release under the Freedom of Information Act showed that regulators controlled by Bloomberg were told to quickly approve the mosque. Aides also pressed the local community board to support the project so the Landmarks Preservation Commission would have “political cover” to allow the existing building to be demolished.
A Bloomberg commissioner even ghostwrote a letter on behalf of the wife of the mosque promoter to push the project.
The whole twisted episode reflects Bloomberg’s contradictory impulses and arbitrary use of power. While he owns a multinational media company and contends “there is nobody that is a bigger defender of the First Amendment than I am,” he also tries to silence speech he doesn’t like.
Most journalists who criticize the mayor get an angry response that usually involves a phone call to their bosses. Some writers believe they have been unfairly silenced because of the mayor’s heated complaints to editors and publishers.
To be clear, Bloomberg’s complaints would not violate the First Amendment unless he used government power to thwart critical content. But neither are the complaints consistent with his claim to be the biggest advocate of free speech. To him, it all depends on what is being said.
Doubly dastardly corzine
Across the land the cry is heard: “String up the bankers. Make ’em pay for America’s suffering.”
In other precincts, other villains are targeted: “The real crooks are in government. They’re to blame for the disaster.”
Humbly, I nominate a candidate to satisfy both appetites.
Let Jon Corzine pay the piper for all our sins.
Corzine is the perfect poster boy for what’s ailing America. He went from Wall Street to politics, then back to Wall Street, and left a trail of wreckage everywhere. Yet he keeps failing upward, raising at least $500,000 for President Obama this year amid talk he could be named Treasury secretary.
Now he is under investigation for bringing down MF Global, a broker-dealer firm whose bankruptcy is the largest in the financial industry since Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008. With the FBI on the case, he jumped ship Friday and lawyered up.
Corzine used his connections to get the low-watt company admitted to the exclusive club of “primary dealers” of government debt.
He quickly borrowed billions and ramped up risky trading in European government bonds, assuming he could make a killing when they are bailed out. He can tell it to the judge and shareholders.
Corzine first made a fortune as a Master of the Universe at Goldman Sachs before being pushed out in 1999. He took his gilt and, running as a liberal Democrat, bought himself a seat in the United States Senate from New Jersey. He quickly tired of Washington and bought the Jersey governor’s chair.
All told, he spent about $100 million of his own cash on the two races, but that was a pittance next to the billions of taxpayer dough he wasted.
He nearly drove the Garden State into bankruptcy before voters tossed him out after one miserable term.
Republican Chris Christie defeated him and is winning bipartisan support for cleaning up the Corzine mess. Now the courts and G-men will have to clean up the MF Global mess.
If he dodges prison, retirement would seem the smart bet for Corzine. And a welcome relief for America.
Mr. President, we beg to indiffer
President Obama, taking a break from nonstop campaigning to attend the G-20 summit in France, was asked by a reporter if he can win re-election if the economy is bad. Obama feigned indifference, saying, “The least of my concerns, at the moment, is the politics of a year from now.”
Oh, please. For once, give truth a chance.
$pecial-ed warning
The Citizens Budget Commis-sion has an eye-opener of a report on special education in New York. It says the state imposes more than 200 mandates beyond those required by federal law.
“Some were put in place to protect due process or guarantee timely services, while others limit class sizes and caseloads,” the report says. “All translate into higher costs.”
In 2008-09, the last year available, the average cost for each general-ed student was $10,874; for special-education students, it was $26,551. The special-ed tab has grown more than 7 percent a year — for the last decade!
Red alert — iceberg ahead.
Heaven-sent numerology
A report says the agreement settling a sexual-harassment allegation against Herman Cain was dated September 1999 — or 9-9-9.
So God does have a sense of humor.