I'm Free!

I believe in freedom of religion.

It's in the Constitution, right?

So as an American, I believe.

JUST NOT FOR ANYONE WHO BELIEVES DIFFERENTLY THAN I DO!

Got that?

If they had proposed a new Presbyterian church two blocks from Ground Zero, do you think there would have been a conservative uproar?

Of course not.

They believe the same things I do.

But not a mosque. They're not American, are they? They shouldn't get freedom or religion.

Just my religion, right?

Hint: The first Europeans came to the New World in order to practice THEIR religion they way THEY wanted to. Because the government in the Old World said you have to worship the way WE say.

What, exactly, is the difference?

The Muslims own the property. They are allowed to build what they want on their property, right? Or do property rights only apply to good, Christian Americans?

Think about it, folks.

Does the Constitution apply to all Americans.

Or just the ones YOU approve of?

And so it goes.

Switching gears

Let's assume that legal justice includes some kind of punishment for those found guilty.

Whether the punishment be in the form of a fine, loss of privileges, loss of freedom and/or other.

Then let us assume that punishment is, in fact, punishment, i.e. something the guilty party does NOT want.

The most heinous criminal I've heard about in many years is Messac Damas.

You remember him. He's the guy who is accused of (and has admitted to) killing his wife and their 5 children by stabbing them and slitting their throats.

Real fun guy. He admitted he committed the crime when a Naples Daily News reporter caught up with him in Haiti.

Last week Damas appeared in court as part of the ongoing process in which he will, no doubt, be found guilty. (Let us hope he doesn't use or get off on an insanity plea. He may be insane now, but he wasn't when he was executing his children.)

He begged the judge to 'throw the switch,' i.e. give him and enforce the death penalty.

He wishes the death penalty, he said in order to join his family in the afterlife.

Back to the top now.

Punishment means forcing someone to DO WHAT THEY DON'T WANT TO.

In other words, Damas wants the death penalty. For him, he sees it as no penalty. He'll just be able to rejoin his family.

What justice would be served by fulfilling his wishes? Why allow him to 'join his family' in the afterlife.

DO NOT GIVE HIM WHAT HE WANTS.

Throw the book at him.

The incarceration book.

Give him life in prison without parole. Life in prison in solitary confinement.

Separate him from society permanently.

But don't give him what he wants.

That's not punishment.

And it's not justice.

And so it goes.

Cook 'em, Danno

I am not a supporter of the death penalty.

I do not support corporal punishment.

For the most part, I eschew violence at every level and at any time.

However.

When some jerk does something like this, I begin to question myself.

A family left its small poodle mix in the car outside HealthPark Medical Center in Fort Myers on Monday and it died.

Maybe a couple hours in a hot, dark-colored car in the Florida sun would do this jerk a little good.

C'mon, guy. That's a little, essentially defensless animal, dependent on you for everything: food, drink, shelter, love.

And you cook it in a car.

When the dog was removed from the car, its temperature registered 115 degrees — the maximum temperature of the thermometer.

115 degrees! Or more!

Some people, some people ....

And so it goes.

Gov't 101

Two letters to the editor in today's Naples Daily News almost had my chin dropping into my morning Cheerios.


To quote:

Reprehensible, that’s what it is. Why do we allow a handful of individuals functioning under the guise as county commissioners to act on the behalf of 300,000 citizens of Collier County?

And 

The vote by the Collier County commissioners to bring Jackson Laboratory to our county equates to taxation without representation.

Folks, it's called representative government.
That's the way it's supposed to work.
We allow a handful of individuals functioning... for us, a handful of individuals we have hired, to to act on our behalf,


Representative government.


I guess it's only representative when my representatives act EXACTLY how I demand they act.
Otherwise, it's taxation without representation.
Figure it out, folks.
Would you have written the same letter if the decision had been different?
Of course not!


REP- RE-SENT-A-TIVE GOV-ERN-MENT.
Look it up.
Then shut up.


And so it goes.

Pathetic

Some people have such a low opinion of themselves that they have to invent an 'underclass' from which to feel superior.

Hence the pathetic sign that showed up in my neighborhood over the weekend:

Although some sorry souls found this humorous, personally, I found it disgusting and pathetic. 

And ugly.

If you think so little of yourself that you have to denigrate another human being, just what does that make you?

Sub-human?

Just gotta feel superior to someone/something, don't you?

Didn't work, did it?

And so it goes.