Rights Versus Privileges

A couple weeks ago Say Uncle raised a question on whether driving was a “right” or a “privilege.” A few days prior to that, the right/privilege distinction had been raised in my mind when I read this quote, courtesy of Condoleezza Rice:

The US National Security Adviser seemed confident that the Bush trip will go well and insisted that Bush and Blair still share the same vision. ‘Look, we are realistic,’ she said. ‘We know that people will spend a lot of time reporting the protest. That is fine. Protests are a part of our democratic heritage and our democratic privilege.’

Protesting–a privilege? What about that Bill of Rights thing?
This may seem like semantical nitpicking, but there is a notable difference between a right and a privilege. Black’s Law Dictionary defines the terms as follows:

RIGHT: “Rights are defined generally as ‘powers of free action.’ And the primal rights pertaining to men are enjoyed by human beings purely as such, being grounded in personality, and existing antecedently to their recognition by positive law.”

PRIVILEGE: “A particular and peculiar benefit or advantage enjoyed by a person, company, or class, beyond the common advantages of other citizens. An exceptional or extraordinary power or exemption. A peculiar right, advantage, exemption, power, franchise, or immunity held by a person or class, not generally possessed by others.”

So are protesting and driving rights or privileges?
The First Amendment clearly addresses the first question:

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.

While government can put reasonable limitations on the manner we protest, we don’t need Dr. Rice or anyone else in the Bush administration to give us permission to protest.
As for the second, courts also consider freedom to travel to be a right. However, the verdict appears to be mixed on whether the freedom to drive is a right or not. I’m frankly not sure how to categorize it.
It’s important to be vigilant on how those in power attempt to define our rights. For, as Benjamin Franklin said, “It is the first responsibility of any citizen to question authority.”

Referrer Appreciation

According to Site Meter, visits to this weblog during November increased 50% over the October total. Thanks to everyone who has been stopping by. And a special thanks to the folks here and here for making this growth rate possible. I sometimes feel for all the people who click on search results link with such high hopes . . . only to end up here. 8^)
Speaking of Google, not everyone is happy with the company these days:

Many businesses are angry that changes to the Google search engine have made it difficult for customers to find them.
For internet businesses – or any company trading online – it’s vital that they can be found easily through web search engines.
The search engine operators want users to get the most accurate results, so websites must often comply with exacting rules.
But Google’s changes have puzzled computer users – no-one can work out what they are or why they have been made.
. . .
“How it works is a bit of a mystery – it’s like knowing what goes into a can of Coca-Cola,” says Andrew Craig of Webuser Magazine.
“People are constantly trying to guess what’s going on inside Google and trying to manipulate their sites so their ranking is as high as possible.”

Maybe those people should just set up blogs. I haven’t done a thing to manipulate my site’s rankings and people seem to be findng their way here.

Moon Shot

There’s a lot of media buzz about President Bush’s supposed upcoming announcement about another manned venture to the moon. Today’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight” had a representative cable news segment with a couple interesting highlights:

KING: The administration review includes setting a target for retiring the shuttle fleet, a plan to phase out the International Space Station, picking a new space vehicle for manned flights, debating the costs and benefits of a permanent moon base, and developing a proposal for a mission to Mars.
NASA is urgently debating and refining proposals. And Vice President Cheney is consulting key members of Congress.
SEN. SAM BROWNBACK (R), KANSAS: Great countries need to have visions to pull them on forward.
KING: The last moon flight was 31 years ago, December 1972. Sources tell CNN, NASA’s target for returning to the moon is about 15 years from now.

Fifteen years from now? Why might it take so long? As I recall, in the 1960’s they met Kennedy’s goal of making the initial moon mission in under a decade. Now that we’ve already done it, why should it take longer to do it again? I thought production times were supposed to speed up with experience.

BROWNBACK: You’ve got the Chinese now going into space and saying that they’re interested in going to the moon. We don’t want them really to beat us to the moon. And, instead, we’d rather be there and be able to develop the resources, the areas, the sweet spots for observation.

Beat us to the moon? Uh, Senator . . . haven’t we already been there? Or do we need to set up a moon military base for it to count?

Al Qaeda Website Downloads

NBC found more interesting downloads on a purported Al Qaeda website:

The tape appears to be real, because it was posted late Wednesday night on a known al-Qaida Web site � produced by a company that has made other bin Laden tapes.
The tape also contains what U.S. counterterror experts say may be never-before-broadcast video of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York�s World Trade Center shot from across the East River in Brooklyn. The FBI says it is familiar with the video, which was provided by a friendly bystander.
But that raises the question � how did a tape that was not widely circulated end up on a known al-Qaida site?

That is a good question.