The Milwaukee Post

Last week was a smorgasbord of news upon which the wayward columnist could feast. Any one of a dozen subjects could fill this space with relative ease. Here's a look at some of them: In state news, there was the titanic smackdown delivered to Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisolm and his partisan witch hunt of a secret John Doe investigation. In a strongly worded ruling, federal Judge Rudolph Randa ordered an end to the investigation. Not only are the John Doe pros- ecutors' actions an abuse of power and an illegal quashing of the defendants' First Amendment rights, but the crime that the pros- ecutors were trying to prove that the defendants committed is not even a crime according to Randa. The point that Randa is mak- ing should not be lost in the parti- san rancor. The judge is reaffirm- ing that the First Amendment does protect citizens' right to advocate on political issues – even if such advocacy may benefit or harm a particular candidate. Issue advocacy is distinct and separate from express advocacy and the government has no legal or moral authority to keep the people from speaking out on the issues about which they care. The next steps in this legal marathon will be very interesting. First, hopefully Randa's ruling is appealed all the way to the S u p r e m e Court so that the high court can affirm this clear right that has been eroded by campaign f i n a n c e reform zealots for the past few decades. Second, the John Doe defen- dants are actively pursuing a civil rights lawsuit against the prose- cutors both in their official and personal capacities. Up until now the prosecutors have been able to hide their actions behind the veil of secrecy that a John Doe investigation affords. Now the public will get the opportunity to see what they were actually doing with the tax- payers' time and money. *** On a sad note, former Gov. Patrick Lucey passed away Saturday at the age of 96. A Democrat from a different era, he served the state and nation with dignity and verve. May he rest in peace. *** Even sadder and utterly outra- geous is the continuing bloody campaign of Boko Haram in Nigeria. These vile Muslim ter- rorists recently kidnapped hun- dreds of Christian girls because the girls dared to get an education. The fate of the girls is unknown, but the leaders of Boko Haram claim they are selling the girls into slavery on behalf of their god. This is not, unfortunately, new for Boko Haram. This Muslim gang has been terrorizing Nigeria for years. To date in 2014, they have reportedly killed more than 1,500 people – mostly Christians. And their brutality is well known. They are known to burn people alive, cut off limbs, behead people, and even cook young boys in front of their families in order to ter- rorize them. While we have known this about Boko Haram for years, the Obama administration has remained silent and impotent until the kidnapping of the girls captured their fascination. For years, President Barack Obama's State Department, under the lead- ership of Secretary Hillary Clinton, refused to classify Boko Haram as a terrorist group, thus denying resources to track them and aid Nigerian authorities in fighting them. Why? Who knows, but one questions whether the fact that Boko Haram justifies their butchery with the Koran has something to do with it. But do not fret, my fellow Americans. First lady Michelle Obama took to Twitter last week with a hashtag protesting the girls' kidnapping, so it will all work out. *** In other foreign policy dis- graces by the Obama administra- tion, the search for the truth in Benghazi took on new life. For almost two years the Obama administration has been stonewalling efforts to find out exactly what happened when four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador, were killed in Benghazi and who was behind the lie that the attack was the result of a spontaneous protest over an Internet video. Even after two years we still do not know the answers to questions like: why were requests for more security leading up to the attack denied? Why were American forces not deployed to thwart the attack? Who pushed the story of the Internet video for weeks even though the evidence now shows that high-level officials knew within hours that it was a coordi- nated terrorist attack? What were Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton doing during the attack? Two years and we still do not have answers to basic questions. A letter that was released as part of a lawsuit unveiled a letter from Obama aide Ben Rhodes telling United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice to push the Internet video story line even though the administration knew that was a lie at the time. This doc- ument was illegally hidden from Congress when it requested all documents related to Benghazi be handed over. The House of Representatives is creating a select committee to try to get to the truth. The Democrats are predictably blovi- ating that it is a partisan attack, but the honest investigation of the events surrounding the death of Americans on foreign soil is the business of all Americans. And frankly, given that the Obama administration has been caught dead to rights in lying and with- holding evidence, they lack the moral authority to claim victim- hood. *** In much brighter news, Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day in Wisconsin to celebrate our moms. Conservatives, liberals, Christians, Buddhists, men, women, Packers fans and Bears fans can all agree on one thing: We love our moms. I wish all moms out there a belated happy Mother's Day. So much news, which one should I write about this week? Oops. I am out of room. (Owen Robinson's column runs weekly in the Milwaukee Post.) 8 • Milwaukee County Post • May 16, 2014 OPINION So much news to talk about Robinson LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Gun regulations violate citizens' rights To the editor: The state of Wisconsin recently made it "legal" for people to carry a concealed weapon. The way I look at it: The creator of the universe made it OK for me (gave me the right) to put a gun in my pocket; a just (legitimate) government recog- nizes this and realizes that it has no rea- son or power to infringe upon that right without my consent (at least since I harm nobody). To require me to pay a fee, undergo a background check, the nature and extent of which is determined by government, and sign away my (eternal, irrevocable) right to keep and bear arms for a tempo- ral (limited to five years) government- granted privilege is actually an infringe- ment of my right, not the exercise of my right. When I wrote to Governor Walker expressing this, he said that what I am calling an infringement (what is unar- guably an infringement for those who understand the difference between rights and privileges), he (more likely one of his intellectually or morally stunted staff members) responded that he was protecting the right to keep and bear arms. Can you imagine any other right being subject to government prior approval in this manner, for this price? Would anybody do this to speak freely, worship in accordance with the dictates of their conscience or publish a newspa- per? Who should be expected pay such a price as this to be free in his papers, effects, and home? The understanding of – and exercise of – rights in this country is diminishing rapidly and unbeknownst to many Americans who confuse rights with license. The conspiracy theorists (and they were) who wrote the Declaration of Independence knew this would happen and attempted to give the people the tools they could to prevent it. But only a moral people could hold onto a republic such as ours and, well, it's easy to see that our eternal morals as a people are dying, replaced by temporal values which change daily, if necessary, to justify the license we enjoy. Mike Smith Greendale NBA could pitch in for new arena To the editor: Let me throw in my "two cents" on this subject. I understand the NBA could pony up $575 million if a deal for a new arena is not done by 2017. I have a better idea: Why don't they just pony up a mere $200 million to pay for it? That would solve the problem and they (the NBA) could get continuing revenue for their portion of the cost. Net result: The city gets its new facility and the tax- payers pay zero toward it. Sounds like a win-win situation to me. If that is not a popular idea with the NBA for whatever reason, perhaps either the Potawatomi casino or the proposed Kenosha casino could step in and save the day – again at no cost to the taxpay- ers. Brad Fluyeras New Berlin Send your letters to: The Milwaukee Post, c/o Dwayne Butler, 3397 S. Howell Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53207, or by e-mail to: dbutler@conleynet.com. We reserve the right to edit letters for style, length and clarity. Letters should be typewritten or printed and include full name, phone number and address. Please keep your letters to no more than 400 words. Letters policy

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