Here in the Cayman Islands we celebrated Constitution Day on Monday 2^nd July and in America they likewise celebrated their Independence from England on Wednesday 4^th July.

The American celebrations, were of course, big and loud, whilst ours passed with hardly a murmur except for a stupid blog (what else is news?) on kirkwells.blogspot.com that boasts it is a “personalised newspaper built from articles, blog posts, videos and photos selected by Kirkwells Planning.” Notice the word “selected”

We proudly published the press release we received concerning the Cayman Islands flag flying at Eland House in Whitehall, London. “Nothing wrong in that,” any normal person might say and if you are a Caymanian and/or live here it might have made you feel a little proud. It did me. Our flag flying along with the mighty Union Jack. Great. No. Apparently this act of flying a flag from an overseas territory is squandering the UK taxpayers money and “wasting civil service time”!!

I publish it below as it so laughable:

Pickles Opens his Account with the Caymans

We have pointed out the oddity of Armchair Auditor in Chief Eric Pickles flashing the public cash, and wasting civil service time, to fly county flags on Eland House previously.

It seems that now he has his sights set on flying the flag of every overseas territories. All whilst staff numbers in his Department have been cut by 28% in the last year.

First up is the Cayman Islands. Famous for “banking, hedge fund formation and investment, structured finance and securitization, captive insurance, and general corporate activities.” (Wikipedia). Nothing to do with our current economic mess then.

What next? Former colonies? Countries we wish had been former colonies? Or just miscellaneous flags of the world? Should be back to English Counties in time for the 2015 General Election. http://kirkwells.blogspot.com

There is also the same photograph we published of the Cayman Islands flag. Note the word tag at the bottom.

Isn’t it nice to know the English public is so proud of their overseas territories and so poor they shouldn’t even fly their flag!

On a happier note look at Sarah Cooke’s article we republish below from our favourite website: care2. Much of what she writes is also applicable to us here:

Independence Day: Balancing Liberty and Equality

Happy Fourth of July! I hope you’re all doing something fun to celebrate. As for me, I feel it’s important on this Independence Day to reflect upon how we balance liberty and equality in this country.

The principles that the United States were founded upon include the concept that all people are created equal, and should therefore be equally free to pursue what makes them happy. But I feel we sometimes emphasize the freedom part and forget about the equality part.

Many on the right feel that government involvement in our lives necessarily infringes upon our freedom and liberty. That is why conservatives were outraged last week by the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act, including the individual mandate. It is why they often do not support social programs. They view all of these programs as government intrusion and they believe such programs compromise our freedom. They also argue that, since we supposedly have equal opportunity in this country, it is unfair for some Americans to have to spend money on the well-being of others, who could just pull themselves up by the bootstraps.

However, the government must be involved in our lives to the extent that it helps us to enjoy true equality of opportunity. I am not talking about equal circumstances (although that wouldn’t be a bad thing). What I am suggesting is that Americans are not truly equal when it comes to their ability to pursue happiness. Those born in underserved neighborhoods who must attend failing schools and who have no healthcare do not have the same opportunities as those born in wealthy suburbs. Social programs can help to level the playing field somewhat. It is important to remember, therefore, that this country was not founded upon the principle of liberty alone. It was liberty working together with equality that the founders understood to be a powerful philosophical foundation.

For more on this story go to: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/independence-day-balancing-liberty-and-equality.html#ixzz1zr96ZfWV

 

For Americans read “Caymanians”.