More Of The Nanny State Gone Wild

O.K., I really, really don't think on the surface, this really constitutes child abuse in the true sense. Well, the Florida authorities charged Patricia Denault with child neglect, not child abuse per se. But just a little more investigating and I am sure that will be the end result.
Look, I'm 50 years old and back in my childhood, it was not all that unusual for parents to let their children try, usually, wine. I personally would not start my child at the top of the heap of spirits such as Cinnamon Fireball, but hey, if I did I would start more like at, well wine.
The real mistake, and the only reason I think that the authorities got involved in the first place is Mrs. Denault's lack of restraint and posting a photo of her letting not one, but two of her children taking a sip of the said Devil's urine on Facebook.
Of course a busy-body saw the said photo on Mrs. Denault's Facebook page and called the coppers.
So, your humble blogger did a little investigating, and this may be the photo's in question that set off the busy-body. To see the rest, one would have to ask Mrs. Denault to be her Facebook friend. I do not want to bother her but more or less defend her.
Here's something interesting. The ages of the children are never mentioned. Yet all one has to do is go over to Mrs. Denault's Facebook page and It appears that the Denault's have six children and the the oldest is 16 years old. It appears that the youngest is probably about three years old.
Now I am somewhat with Allahpundit over at HotAir and the age and amount and reason of consumption have to be taken into account.
The real crime, if there is one, is that Mrs. Denault thought it would be cool to put any photo of such things of Facebook.
Now, when I was young and stupid, I imbibed adult beverage. I remember sneaking homemade wine coolers at a nephew's birthday party. I was damn good at sneaking and drinking WAY TOOOO MANY and well, you know the rest of the story.
In high school, my best friends parents would let us consume adult beverage at their home. But we were hostages and could NOT leave until the next day no matter how much anyone consumed.
Was that a good thing to do?
Mrs. Denault said that she thought it was better that any of her children would consume any adult beverage at home in a controlled setting.
My friends parents knew the occasions that alcohol would be consumed and figured it was going to be done so do it somewhere safe. Sure, we were all under 21-the legal age even then in California. And it should be noted that this was when states determined their own minimum drinking age. But on our graduation night from high school, I'm glad we did not go out and get drunk and very possibly killed. In that case, my friends' parents were right.
So was Mrs. Denault trying to show her kids that maybe adult beverage is not all that good a thing? Or was she just maybe herself in an altered state of mind and figured, why the hell not?! HA! It's pretty funny seeing the kid's reaction. Especially to that Fireball.
Nothing indicates that Mrs. Denault has any history of child neglect and or child abuse. Nor is there any history that Mr. Denault, Patrick Denault, has any neglect or abuse on his record. This appears to be a first time happening. I'm not saying that Mrs. Denault should be hoisted up as mother of the year, but come on?  At worst, it showed a lapse of parental judgement. Maybe her real crime is trying to be too much of a friend to her children rather than a parent. It really is not a crime to be not the best parent. And maybe people could just mind their own business.
See, what might have been a good idea is if the person who ratted Mrs. Denault out tried to contact her and point out that it wasn't a good idea to post photos of that nature online, it may have avoided what could be a process that may end up with serious consequences.
Is it possible that children would be taken from the Denault family? Stranger things have happened once cases are put into the system. The ready willingness of the authorities to see abuse and neglect everywhere clouds logic and often times simple cases of parental lapses of judgement become cases of the century.
Another thought is that, as I suspect but do not have knowledge of, a Facebook friend called the coppers, was there some revenge being played out over some other issues? Think about that for a moment.
When people become front line soldiers of the excesses of the Nanny State and rat out others, it does lead to the Nanny State going wild and maybe do more harm than good.
Does letting kids have a sip of alcohol at home constitute child neglect? I do not think so but it is now up to the state of Florida to decide.

Hey Mayor Booberg, Leave Us The Hell Alone!

I agree with Erika Johnsen at HotAir.com on this one as to why do the people of New York City vote for truly the most loathsome person in politics today, Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
And from here on in this post a.k.a., Mayor Booberg.
And now from the man that has banned the Big Gulp soda, trans-fat in restaurants, making restaurants also post in plain sight calorie counts, banning smoking in outdoor public places, and I am sure that there is more, now is setting his sight and claws into. . .earbuds!
Yup, Mayor Booberg wants to, first by "education" of course.
But what if that $250,000 program fails? Actually, the real question is how to define whether it is successful or not?
The reality is that it is too open-ended. In other words, it will be easy for Mayor Booberg, Busy-Body or whatever he is, to say gee, I think that we have to actually go further and police how loud you listen to whatever with your earbuds.
What?! I can't hear you Mayor Booberg! I'm sorry but writing this inspires me to listen very loudly to Black Sabbath Vol. 4 right about now. It is quite honestly one of the heaviest metal albums, evah! And yeah Mayor Booberg, I WANT to listen to it loud! Yes, I want my frickin' ears to bleed! And maybe as I go off to sleep in a bit, I'll just settle down by going off to dreamland with KROQ radio.
See, I kind of get the other things Mayor Booberg is trying to do. But this, telling me how loud I should or not listen to something with earbuds in my ear?
The more that this guy opens his trap about all these nanny-state initiatives, the more he reminds me of a dictator trying to build some mythical type of man. It was a big deal in Nazi Germany. All the communist nations have tried similar things.
What is stupid about all of this is that the things he is making illegal or close to it is the responsibility of, get this, parents.
That's right, parents.
Parents to teach their children about all things in moderation.
But maybe an actual real problem is that many of said parents have not even been able to help their children read. If this report is accurate, a full 80%, that eighty percent of New York City's high school graduates can NOT read. CAN NOT READ, OR WRITE OR DO BASIC MATH!!!!!
And if the want to actually get in a local college, they have to take remedial classes. IN COLLEGE!
But hey, Mayor Booberg really cares about all because he wants you to tone down that earbud.
This is what is maddening about the people of big cities that elect these morons.
Real and pressing problems are often kicked to the curb and or ignored while non-existent ones are suddenly front and center.
Under the reign or terror of Mayor Booberg, he felt he was so above all that he concocted a scheme to lift term limits so he could run and eventually win a third term. One that he almost lost because his quest to keep the mayor's job was so disgusting. And this third term has been more or less a lesson in why people like him should not be in such an elective office.
Instead of leading the way that former mayor Rudy Giuliani did, Mayor Booberg has been spending the last 12 years all but undoing what Mr. Giuliani had reformed or was trying to reform.
So he has decided to become the Jack LaLanne-in-chief instead of the mayor that maybe reformed city spending, transportation issues, real quality of life issues (like how to bring real jobs to New York City), and at least using his bully pulpit to advocate for real and serious education reform. No, it is really more important that you know, those earbuds are really dangerous to you. Like Coca-Cola. Like trans-fat. Like smoking.
Duh! Most people really do know that.
But people, individuals, make choices all the time. Whether they are overloaded with information or not.
The thrust if what this post is about is simple.
It is about people like Mayor Booberg, et al, to do all of us a favor.
LEAVE US THE HELL ALONE!

The Total Collapse Of California

Living here in the once Golden State of California, I get a front-row seat to the disaster that the politicians, the bureaucrats, the big-labor unions and what big business is left here, hath wrought on this state.
This wonderful piece by the former mayor of San Diego and current radio talk-show host Roger Hedgecock sums up the politics of it quite well. The disaster of the Welfare State. The high unemployment. The attempt to regulate almost all aspects of life here in Cali.
This is the second paragraph of the piece and it sums it up pretty well:

California is a one-party state dominated by a virulent Democratic Left enabled by a complicit media where every agency of local, county, and state government is run by and for the public employee unions. The unemployment rate is 12%.

Mr. Hedgecock covers politics, the big-unions and the cost of doing business in this state.
One of the problems as to why we are in the state we are in is the iron-fisted rule of the Democrats.
This year is the first year of the citizens redistricting committee. They had the unenviable task of redrawing all the legislative lines throughout California. It was supposed to be independent of the major parties. Taking and going right down the middle so no party has an unfair advantage.
Funny how that worked out.
The Democrats were able to essentially hijack the process and potentially lose seats for the Republican party. The so-called gaining of centrist candidates for office from both parties? Ain't. Gonna. Happen.
The Democrat control of all state government is bad in and of itself. What makes it worse is the state legislature and the way the lines have been drawn. It gives total advantage to the most left of the left in the Democrat party. It is the Nanny State writ large.
Take just a few posts that I have written on the Nanny State that California has become.
There is the attempt to force cities to ban free parking. That is so people will ditch their cars for inefficient public transportation.
And of course it is the role of the state government to ban styrofoam boxes. Of course it is all about the material and "climate change" agenda of the left.
And the Nanny Statism does not just permeate the halls of state government.
No, no, no siree Bob!
Here in Pasadena, hometown of RVFTLC, last year the Pasadena city council passed a city ordinance that will make it illegal within a years time for me, in my town home that I own, to smoke in said town home. Of course the justification is that dreaded second-hand smoke.
And this is the same state that made it easy to get a marijuana joint than tobacco.
Amazing, doncha think?
So lets go back to Mr. Hedgecock and his piece.
One of the problems that is severe is that Cali Dems are addicted to big government like a crack whore. Seriously. Take this from the Hedgecock piece:

After trimming legislators' perks and reducing the number of cell phones provided to state civil servants, the governor intoned that drastic budget reductions had already hollowed out state programs for the needy, law enforcement and our schoolchildren. California government needed more money.

And do you know how they are going to try to get that money?
By asking the voters to sign the death warrant on tax hikes. And it is not just Gov. Jerry Brown's tax hike that will be on this November's ballot.
There are going to be two other competing measures that will seek to raise taxes to feed the state crack whores habit.
Yet amazingly over the last several election cycles, California voters have voted down every attempt to hike taxes. Yet once again, the crack whores threaten armageddon and think that yeah, yeah, this time we can fool the voters and they will finally open the flood gates of taxes and we can keep going.
As I have noted, it is not just government and economics, but the urge to force some people's will against others.
Which is where the real Axis of Evil, Big Government, Big Labor and Big Government get into the act.
However, big business is getting very tired of the anti-business in general attitude of government.
So many firms and businesses have left this state for greener pastures. Such as Texas. Oh yeah, and those of means are doing the same thing.
And because of that, it weakens the opposition party, the Republicans.
Well, it did not help to have former Gov. Benedict Arnold Schwarzenegger at the helm for the previous seven years.
As more and more people leave the state, that leave dare I write, the freeloaders. The people that want, want, and want. And do not want to work or produce.
California is on the road to becoming the first American state to mirror the distress that is Greece.
And it has been a team effort.
What is truly needed is a leader to come in and truly rewrite everything. How state government should work. How revenues should be raised. The proper role of the state government. An overall attitude of California is really open for all business. Not the government-approved ones.
I am literally witnessing the total collapse of my state, California. It is sad on the one hand, but on the other a lesson for the rest of the United States.
Do not keep voting for the people that continue to lead us down this path. Starting at the top, the president, the congress, the governors, state legislators, all that can cause more damage than good.
America, you have your warning and that is California.