103. More isolated incidents: an ATF squad hits the wrong house in Miami, damaging the front door and breaking windows from tear-gas canisters fired into the house. Among the non-criminals in the house were a woman and her 3-year-old son.
104. Hey you damn kids, get off my monument: a group of libertarians observe Thomas Jefferson’s birthday by heading down to his D. C. memorial for a midnight dance (to music played through iPods). The National Park Police take exception to such a brazen display of revelry and break up the fun, arresting one of the participants in the process.
105. The Supreme Court heard arguments this week on whether Louisiana can put child rapists to death in a case that could have wide-ranging implications for other states looking to expand the death penalty to crimes other than capital murder.
106. Sheriff José, er Joe Arpaio uses Maricopa County tax dollars and funds from RICO seizures to provide training and equipment to Honduras police, although they’re tightlipped on why they’re doing it or how taxpayers in Arizona might benefit. Cheaper bananas, maybe?
107. But at least Arizona is cracking down hard on working mothers for driving under the influence, even when they’ve had hardly anything to drink.
108. Other things you can no longer do in motorized vehicles: stay in one spot for longer than an hour in a taco truck in Los Angeles (see #91, below), or smoke in the car when kids are present in Maine.
109. In the hallowed halls of public education:
- A philosophy professor at a Long Island community college demands that his students acknowledge that their religious beliefs may be in error in order to participate in his class. The American Center for Law and Justice is on the case.
- A high school student in Texas is suspended after receiving a phone call during class from his father, who is stationed in Iraq.
110. Apparently it’s a no-no in New Mexico to decline someone’s business on the basis of one’s religious beliefs. Remember, the First Amendment is just printed on a goddamned piece of paper.
Tags: atf, crime, death penalty, education, free association, nanny statism, police, regulation, religion
110. Well, people these days think they have some right to shop wherever they want. Like they have a right to a product, even if you don’t want to sell it to them. Or they have a right to walk into your place of business, even if they are dirty and smell bad.
The government encourages this kind of thinking when it changes the laws to make private businesses into “public” places. They now tell you what you can or cannot allow your customers to do, and they tell you that you have to sell things that go against your conscience.
I get the feeling that we’re all just working for the government, and not ourselves.