The Nanny State has an evil twin - "One Idiot Is Offended"
Don't get me wrong, being offended is annoying. This is not the point of my post, but just this morning as I was listening to WTMJ-AM 620 on my ride to work, they were interviewing Alderman Bob Donovan (who has never met a microphone or camera he didn't like). Ald. Donovan was whining about discussing how cars with the stereos blasting (or cars with bad mufflers, or Harleys, ect) were annoying while he is sitting on the porch or while in his living room watching TV. He even said (notice the quotations) "Noise pollution is a real problem in Milwaukee". While most of us normals can agree that stereos, mufflerless cars and motorcycles are annoying, in the big picture they don't cause a problem. We grumble about it, we turn up the TV volume, we might yell at the driver (safely protected by the offending sound), and then when the motorist leaves we go on to live our merry lives. Annoying, yes. Life altering, no.
So it is with true disdain that I read this article from San Diego County. Seems a pastor had the audacity to hold a private Bible study in his home. This unnamed pastor had received a written warning to cease "unlawful use of land" and told him to "stop religious assembly or apply for a major use permit". In other words, the county is using some hogwash about parking concerns to stop private prayer in a private residence.
Wait, it gets better. Yesterday I read this article from the Dallas area. In this case, a woman (with children on active military duty) has the unmitigated gall to display an American flag last week (just prior to Memorial Day). A fellow supervisor at the hospital in which she works (an African native who has been in this country for 14 years) felt the flag was offensive. After Internetland had a chance to bite this nugget and chew on it, the hospital decided, that er, um, (clears thoat) the size of the flag was the issue, not the flag itself. Yeah, right.
So now private prayer and displaying the flag are problems. What next?
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