Soccer Mom: Unplugged

Apparently, parking lot rage got the better of Derry Schmidt.  After dropping his child off at elementary school, Derry became furious at being blocked into the school parking lot by a bus.  During his attack on the bus driver, for which he has been charged with 3 counts of misdemeanor assault, Schmidt addressed his victim using a racial slur.

No doubt, Derry is a jackass and should do some time but these are the lines from the article that got my attention:

Derry Aimo Schmidt, 46, of 120 Frohlich Dr., was arrested and charged with three misdemeanor charges of assault and a Class I felony charge of a hate crime in connection with the case....

If convicted, he faces a maximum of 150 days in jail for each misdemeanor charge and three to 12 months for the felony charge.

Does it seem absurd that he could do more than twice as much time for saying the "n" word as he could for each assault charge?  The max for assault is 150 days and for the epithet slinging is 365?  Guess we're officially under the surveillance of the thought police. 

It is clear that Mr. Schmidt attacked Ms. Farrar because of the position of her bus and not the color of her skin.  Isn't the hate crimes law supposed to apply when the prejudice/bias motivates the attack?  Are bus drivers a protected group?  Weird.

Here's a suggestion - how about a much stiffer penalty for assault and we add "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me" to the Pledge of Allegiance.

This story makes me think twice about getting a gun.

Al Sharpton reveals himself as a bigot (no surprise there) implying in a comment this week that Mormons don't believe in God.  Sharpton seems to have forgotten that while he was waggling his fat, accusatory finger at Washington over FEMA's slow response to "his people's suffering" Mormons were already on the ground delivering food and clearing debris.  According to last week's PBS special, The Mormons, trucks filled with food and emergency supplies were en route to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast from the LDS church before Katrina even made landfall. 

Hmmm.  Cutting trees with chainsaws, scrubbing moldy homes and serving meals to displaced gulf coast residents or browbeating the government in front of television cameras to hype your own image as a civil rights leader... which of those actions seems more godly to you?  Yeah, me, too.

Eco-friendly spermicide?  Biodegradable condoms?  Nope.  The greenies now want us to reduce mankind's carbon emissions by limiting childbirth.  2 kiddos per family is apparently the new limit, according to an Orwellian proposal by John Guillebaud, co-chairman of the Optimum Population Trust.

I'd like to offer the following counterproposals:

(1) Limit bean intake across the planet. (Rationing could also be applied to other cruciferous vegetables.)

(2) Eliminate Hollywood and the acting profession entirely.  No more trips to the theater or Blockbuster.

(3) Reduce the USPS delivery to twice weekly for packages only.  Standard mail would be completely eliminated and e-mail would become the new standard. (Already in progress)

(4) For every child over 2 a family has, stone one enviro-nazi (or global warming endorsing celebrity) in the public square.  Oh relax!  I wouldn't really stone them - that's so brutal.  I think we should take a more reasoned approach using the partial birth abortion model and bash their heads in, then suck their teeny tiny brains out. LOL. 

Hmmm.  I think that would be a good start to reducing our carbon footprint.  Any more ideas out there?

called Liberalism a religion and the American left balked at the audacity?

Now Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth" has replaced the Gideon Bible on the night stands of a California hotel and spa. 

According to the article, there is a growing trend of greening the hotel biz.  Folks want to travel with a clear conscience.  Do you suppose they fly into town via hang glider?  Perhaps they drive two hours a day with electric cars.  I wonder if these hotels will charge extra for patrons who leave the water running while they brush their teeth or fall asleep with a light on.

All sarcasm aside, I like the idea of taking care of the earth - I believe it's a stewardship that humans were given in the original garden.  What I don't know is whether or not it's can be considered a sincere concern for the environment to fly to California on a jet, get picked up at the airport by a limo service and then check into a green hotel.  And, if you're John Edwards, swing by the barber's to pay $400 for a haircut that you are going to plaster with half a can of Aqua Net.

Just me thinking aloud again.