Five at 8 – 9/15/09: Which rights would you defend?

1) – It’s not illegal to carry a handgun in Minnesota. It’s not illegal to fly an old airplane that’s a threat to nobody in Minnesota. But when a president comes to town, guess which one becomes illegal? The Star Tribune carries the report today of Josh Hendrickson, recently released from jail, who defended his Second Amendment right by bringing two guns to last Saturday’s rally. “The Second Amendment isn’t suspended just because the president’s in town,” said Hendrickson.

Meanwhile, over at my end of town — South St. Paul Airport — a man took off in his antique Stearman Airplane. Had people on the ground not radioed to him that he needed to land immediately, he would’ve shortly thereafter faced an F-18 jet. The government had clamped a no-fly zone around the area. Even RC airplanes and those Estes model rockets were prohibited. Of all these things, which represented the greatest threat?

People — and appropriately so — want to protect freedoms under the Constitution. And in the above scenario, the obvious conclusion to explain the unfairness of it all is that there’s no inherent right to fly in the Constitution (people couldn’t fly when the Constitution was written). But why is it always guns and not, for example, warrantless searches, dangerous people who are incarcerated even though they’ve served their jail time, or people held without formal charges that prompt people to action when it comes to the Constitution? How do we choose which rights to defend when all carry equal weight? Discuss.

2) How many people are running the shower a little longer before stepping in today? University of Colorado Boulder scientists have found that you’re bombarded with million of bacteria when you first step into the shower thanks to the shower head. “For most people, taking a shower is not dangerous, but if you are immune compromised, such as the elderly or pregnant, it could be,” the researcher says.

3) On a paw and a prayer. A good read from the Associated Press on an interesting program. This week, Pilots N Paws “is seeking to transport 5,000 animals to safety in a flurry of flights designed to raise awareness of the charity and draw attention to the importance of spaying and neutering,” the report says. Pilots fly to other areas of the country to pick up shelter dogs from overwhelmed shelters (the South seems to be a particularly bad place to be a dog), and bring them back to areas that know how to treat pooches better — Minnesota, for example.

Page 4 at this link has the story of one local man who’s part of the effort.

4) I’ve got to find this poem. It was Boxelder Bug Days last weekend in Minneota. A group of poets and friends of the late Bill Holm used the opportunity to honor the local poet who “was a party all by himself.” His next-door neighbor shared a poem Holm had written before his death. “Revenge of the Geese” looked at the “miracle on the Hudson” airplane landing from the perspective of the birds who struck the plane’s engines, the Marshall Independent reports.

5)

TODAY’S QUESTION

Much of the debate over health care reform concerns finances – how to cover more people and how to pay the costs of their coverage. Setting aside the problem of how to pay for it, what would you change about the health care experience?

WHAT WE’RE DOING

Midmorning (9-11 a.m.) – First hour: MPR News Fellows recently discuss environmental policy.

Second hour: Roger McGuinn.

Midday (11 a.m. – 1 p.m.) – First hour: State Epidemiologist Dr. Ruth Lynfield answers questions about the H1N1 flu. This morning on the CBS Early Show, H1N1 “sufferer” Harry Smith was again interviewed live from his bedroom. “I’m doing great,” he said in an interview that failed if the goal was to scare us, which it was.

Second hour: T.R. Reid, speaking to the Commonwealth Club of California about his book, “The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care.”

Talk of the Nation (1-3 p.m.) – First hour: How to turn 10 million books into digital form.

Second hour: LeBron James takes your phone calls. He was on Daily Show last night in another reminder of the New Yorkers’ keys to success: Buy it.

All Things Considered (3-6:30 p.m.) – It’s Primary Day in St. Paul, a day in which voters go to the polls to vote for candidates they don’t know much about.

President Obama is on a Rust Belt tour, speaking to autoworkers in Ohio. John McWhorter will discuss whether racism plays a role in criticism of President Obama, a topic which should keep the NPR Ombudsman occupied for a few days.