I’ve received emails about a court ruling from England, in which an English judge ruled against the right of anonymity for a blogger. The ruling’s specific and technical, and of no precedent for America. Britain does not have a written constitution, unlike America, France, or Japan, for example. Her system of government is unlike our own in several principal respects — a constitutional monarchy, without a written constitution, dependent on custom and Parliament for her laws and constitutional order, with a government (administration) derived from and dependent on her legislature.
I’m quite sure that Britain hasn’t produced a single worthy man since Churchill, nor a single worthy woman since Thatcher.
I have absolutely no concern about this English ruling; on the contrary, it’s a great opportunity….for Whitewater’s very own, City Manager Brunner and Police Chief Coan.
I have noticed how very much Whitewater Police Chief Jim Coan likes to travel. (See, What Happens in Vegas…) Why should he limit himself to America, and ride alongs with American police forces? Why not fly across the Atlantic, and spend some time — as much as he’d like, really — in England?
He could visit Scotland Yard, try to find 221B Baker Street, or help Britain’s finest minds determine the true identity of Jack the Ripper, etc. (After all, Coan did such good work tried as best as he’s probably able as sleuth here in Whitewater, Wisconsin.)
And for our City Manager, Kevin Brunner, I’d guess England would be equally inviting. Our city manager loves quotations, and the English are always saying something pithy, or at least, it sounds like they are. (See, Quotations, Rights, and Hope). They’re very big on politeness, on being well-mannered, on the look and feel of civilization intself.
Messrs. Coan and Brunner could while away their afternoons in a posh salon, near Cambridge, thinking about Plato, a unified field theory, the power of PowerPoint, re-accreditation, Shakespeare, whatever.
Best of all, it’s now harder than ever to criticize a self-interested politician public servant in Britain. They could do whatever they wanted, without criticism from anonymous bloggers, and nothing but a compliant press and local incumbent politician’s website on their side.
Woo! How’s that not fun?
Every local American bureaucrat’s dream: Britain — The Way America Should Be™.
Let it not be said — because it would be so unfair — that I’ll not do my part, to make this trip of a lifetime possible.
Here’s a quick itinerary that I think would work so very well — American Flight 3972, leaving Milwaukee for Chicago at 8:35 a.m. on June 18th, connecting in Chicago O’Hare with American 0086, leaving Chicago for London’s Heathrow.
First Class, with tea and crumpets, too, probably, or fish and chips, or whatever English people eat.
I know that it’s quick notice, but there’d be a day to pack, and England’s dark, dank, and foggy, so there’d be no need to run out for suntan lotion, even. It’s always better to travel light, anyway.
They’d love it, and we’d be just as happy, I wouldn’t wonder.
Cheerio!