The Whole Foods Conundrum

So now I can't shop at Whole Foods?

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, spouts off in the WSJ.

The recent ("activist") Heller decision to apply the 2nd amendment to individuals,shows how the definition of "rights" evolves - even for supposed strict constructionists. The majority's reasoning is based on "historical background" and not on a strict reading of the Constitution itself.

So when Mackey writes that

Health care is a service that we all need, but just like food and shelter it is best provided through voluntary and mutually beneficial market exchanges. A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter. That's because there isn't any. This "right" has never existed in America

- it just makes me want to scream.

Based on the "historical background" surrounding the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, would Mackey support repeal of every amendment that granted "new" rights... to Blacks? to women? etc.? Because by "historical background" the majority concluded

What Congress did in drafting the Amendment, the Court said, was “to codify a pre-existing right, rather than to fashion a new one.”

By that standard, all but a sliver of American society - white male landowners - have any legitimate Constitutional rights to be ascertained by Mackey's "careful reading" technique.

The mind reels. Back to law school assignments...

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi convicted; sentence commuted.

From the New York Times:

“The outcome of this trial has never been in doubt,” Jared Genser, her international counsel in Washington, said Tuesday after the verdict was announced. “The real question is how the international community will react — will it do more than simply condemn this latest injustice?”

The charge against Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi was prompted by a strange incident in early May when an American intruder swam across a lake in central Yangon, Myanmar’s main city, and spent two nights in her villa, saying he wanted to save her from assassins...

According to news agency reporters allowed inside the courtroom to hear the reading of the three-year sentence, a five-minute recess was called after the verdict was given, and the country’s home minister, Gen. Maung Oo, entered the court and read aloud an order of commutation issued by Senior Gen. Than Shwe, the leader of the junta.

The 18-month term will ensure that Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi will be confined during a parliamentary election due next year. Many analysts have said they believe the case against her was intended to keep her from participating in the election.