The Original Musings

Talk about overstepping your bounds … 

A Georgia woman took her twin autistic sons and their service dog and went to a local McDonald’s. As they were getting ready to leave the establishment, an off duty manager (with her own child in tow) approached the woman and told her that the dog was not permitted in the restaurant. By the time the incident was over, the off duty manager had punched the customer in her face.

Jennifer Schwenker explained that Barkley is a service dog, allowed by federal law in all public places including restaurants. Schwenker offered to provide proof of the permit for the dog, Marietta police said.

It wasn’t enough for Allen, they said. The tape shows her following the family around the McDonald’s, even down the hall to the restroom.

When Schwenker tried to leave, she lost track of one of the boys. In a panic, she threw her drink on the floor and it splashed on Allen, police said.

The tape shows Allen running after Schwenker in a rage, police said. Marietta police Detective Gwen Lewis told Davis that she has never seen anything like it.

Schwenker did not want to speak to Davis about the incident, but her husband said they are talking to a lawyer.

Allen is charged with battery assault and disorderly conduct.

JM and Jan Owens, who run the store where the incident occurred, released a statement:

“At our McDonald’s restaurant, we respect and value our customers. Their safety and well-being is always a top priority.

“We strive to comply with all applicable laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act. It is our policy to make our restaurants accessible to all customers, including those with disabilities and special needs, whether or not they need the assistance of service animals.

“We are fully cooperating with the police department in their investigation, and the individual involved is no longer employed by our company. ”

Thankfully, the owners are handling it right.  The video showing it all unfold can be found here on WSBTV.

And no, we’re not talking Casey Anthony.

Instead, we’re talking 28-year old Olga Zajac. Olga runs her own hair salon, and she just happens to have a black belt in karate.  So, when 32-year old Victor Jasinski decided he was going to rob Olga’s hair salon, he wound up with a whole lot more than what he bargained for.

After a single, debilitating blow to the head, Olga dragged her semi-conscious robber to a back room, stripped him, tied him up with hair dryer cable, and then force fed him nothing but water and Viagra while using him as a sex slave for the next three days.

She released him after he “learned his lesson” she said, adding, “Yes, we had sex a couple of times. But I bought him new jeans, gave him food and even gave him 1,000 roubles when he left.”

Both now face charges in Meshchovsk, Russia.

I dunno … what she did was wrong, sure, but he kinda deserved whatever he got, didn’t he? If she’d shot him, would she face charges now? Seriously, does “kidnapping” even apply (SHOULD it even apply) when the person you’re kidnapping was intent on doing you harm?

Atlanta Journal Constitution

Am I a Good Conservative?

Apparently not.

I am not — repeat NOT — a liberal. In my unguided youth, I was a liberal. I became a conservative the day I found out Ronald Reagan was running for President in 1980. Perhaps my reasoning at the time was questionable, but I had been listening to Ronald Reagan for years on my car stereo. The only person I would have trusted more than Reagan for president of the US was my own father. Or maybe Paul Harvey.

As a conservative, though, more and more I am learning that I am something of a failure. Continue reading

Thank God for the TSA!

I don’t know about you, but I’ll sleep better tonight, knowing that this dangerous terrorist was stopped before she boarded the plane.

Jean Weber of Destin filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security after her 95-year-old mother was detained and extensively searched last Saturday while trying to board a plane to fly to Michigan to be with family members during the final stages of her battle with leukemia.

Her mother, who was in a wheelchair, was asked to remove an adult diaper in order to complete a pat-down search.

“It’s something I couldn’t imagine happening on American soil,” Weber said Friday. “Here is my mother, 95 years old, 105 pounds, barely able to stand, and then this.”

Sari Koshetz, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration in Miami, said she could not comment on specific cases to protect the privacy of those involved.

“The TSA works with passengers to resolve any security alarms in a respectful and sensitive manner,” she said.

Weber’s mother entered the airport’s security checkpoint in a wheelchair because she was not stable enough to walk through, Weber said.

So, a 95-year old woman in a wheelchair is a serious terror threat? Come on. They were just being power-tripping assholes, which seems to be the norm for the TSA, doesn’t it? And sensitive and respectful manner? I beg to differ.

Panama City NewsHerald

… contains a “but only if you’re not breaching the peace” clause?

I didn’t either.  So let’s think about this. Have you ever seen a protest up close and personal?

• I’ve seen protests at nuclear plants and military bases, electric companies and boards of education.
• I’ve seen protests outside of abortion clinics where people were screamed at and names were called, people were blocked and horrific photos were displayed for all the world to see.
• I’ve seen people protest at the funerals of American soldiers where grieving widows, children, siblings and parents were taunted and placards declaring “God Hates Fags!” were displayed in proclamation that God allows the deaths of soldiers to somehow make a point about gays being sinners.
• I’ve seen protests outside of businesses with strikes going on where workers are screaming at customers and non-striking employees.
• I’ve seen the KKK march down the street screaming about how they hate blacks while angry crowds shout and protest their “freedom of speech” that allows them to be so openly offensive.
• I’ve seen angry customers picketing businesses complete with shouting and exhortations not to patronize the offending store/vendor/whatever.
• I’ve seen gays gathered to demand their right to equal protection, right to marry, right to raise children, etc. I’ve seen the crowds of protesters demanding no consideration for what they deem “lifestyle choices.”
• I’ve seen teachers try to block students from attending school, and substitute teachers harassed and blocked as they try to report to work.
• I’ve seen people gathered outside the homes of suspected criminals — especially murderers and child molesters — and I’ve seen their innocent families taunted and tormented with no recourse.

I could go on and on but I think my point has been made.  People get passionate and heated about their beliefs.  Their beliefs are not always noble or just; they’re not always right and sometimes not even understandable. They’re not always quiet about it and they’re not often friendly, nice or polite about it.  ”Peaceable” protest is not often exercised, no matter what the topic du jour may be.

And yet, not once have I ever seen the cops show up and do more than insure that the protesters (and counter-protesters) don’t physically assault someone, interfere with the conduction of business, trespass onto private property or block traffic.

I don’t care how big a whackjob you are, how stupid your protest, or how wrong you may be, as long as you are not crossing the line into violence or property destruction, you’ve got a guaranteed right to do it and that’s how it should be.

So why, then, is a Pastor being denied the right to protest outside of an Islamic Center in Dearborn on the grounds that it *may* (not has, not did, not even “is likely to” but simply *might*) breach the peace and/or incite violence?

This is not right. You cannot penalize someone for something that *might* happen. That’s like saying “you can’t drive a car because you might run someone over” or “you can’t own a gun because it could kill someone.” You cannot punish someone for something — anything — that *could* happen, only for what *does* happen.

WXYZ Action News

Don’t tell me this is keeping our country safe.

There is no excuse for this. NONE.

There is absolutely no reason why a little child like this should be subjected to this kind of search. If you or I — or a teacher — put our hands on a child like that, we would be in jail.

Subject: Gun Control

Go check it out! I think there are 14 pictures in there. Linda D. sent ‘em along.

Chicks wielding pink handguns can be deadly …

Meghan Brown, a 25-year old former beauty queen who tips the scales at a whopping 110-pounds knew just what to do when the home invader started beating her fiancee about the head …

[42-year old Albert Franklin] Hill barged into the home at around 3 a.m. after Brown responded to a knock at the front door, according to a police report. He allegedly grabbed the 110-pound Brown around her nose and mouth and dragged her to an upstairs bedroom.

The woman’s fiance, Robert Planthaber, said in an interview that he was quickly awakened by the altercation and ran to Brown’s side.

“I attacked him and took a severe beating to the head,” Planthaber told FoxNews.com. “But I got him off of her long enough for her to scramble to the room where she keeps her pink .38 special.”

Meghan shot the suspect several times — hitting him in the chest, groin, thigh and back. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Today’s post is brought to you by the letters S and W and the number 38.

FOX News

Show me the term “separation of church and state” in the Constitution.

Please.  Show me where the term appears.  Actually, don’t bother wasting your time trying, because you can’t since there is no such clause. The clause widely touted as the separation clause (more accurately, the establishment clause) reads:

“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.”

That’s what the Bill of Rights says. There is nothing about “separation.” Article VI establishes the Constitution as the supreme law of the land and the first amendment prohibits Congress from establishing an official US religion or preventing citizens from their own personal beliefs about religion — be they atheist, agnostic, Christian, Judaic, Muslim or the worship of pink unicorns in leotards.

Although the Supremacy and Establishment Clauses might seem to preclude the judiciary from grounding a decision on Scripture or religious doctrine, state and federal courts have numerous times referred to various sources of divine law.  The  tenets of religious law can be (and are) applied in courts of law provided they do not violate any state or federal statutes.

And for the record:  That doesn’t mean “no school prayer,” “no ten commandments in the courthouse” or “no nativity scenes on the statehouse lawn.”  It doesn’t mean you have the right to never see a Star of David or feast your eyes upon a fifty foot tall cross.  It doesn’t mean the Muslims can’t build a mosque at ground zero or that the Druids can’t hold a parade down Main Street.

It also doesn’t mean that “Sharia law” cannot be legally applied in this country if the portion of law in question does not conflict with state or federal laws.  While one would think much (all?) of Sharia law would be in conflict with some existing law, there is no such guarantee (did you know Sharia covers a WHOLE lot more than just men’s supremacy over women?  Did you know it even has rules for doing business and so on?).  While it seems silly of Oklahoma to have passed a bill stating that Sharia law cannot be applied in the state of Oklahoma, and while it seems ludicrous for Missouri to be debating the very same thing, it’s not.  It’s also not Islamophobia or freaking out about nothing, since CAIR has stated that one of their goals is for Sharia law to be legally acknowledged and respected in the US.

Incidentally, in Missouri, the constitutional amendment sponsored by Don Wells, a Cabool Republican, stipulates that Missouri courts “shall not look to the legal precepts of other nations or cultures” and specifically bars judicial consideration of Sharia law.  Protecting the state from being influenced by legal precepts of other nations or cultures is not just a good thing, it’s common sense.