NEWSLETTER
2.20.2007
STORE OWNER FRIES OVER HIS FISH
Not even fake pets are safe! Norm Pepper and his “perturbing” catfish.
According to a story in Louisville’s Courier-Journal newspaper Metro Attorney’s Office is continuing to uphold their policy of “selective enforcement” of existing laws by forcing store owner Norm Pepper to take down his giant catfish. Metro City Council’s troubles with selective enforcement started with a smoking ban last year on all Louisville businesses—except Churchill Downs racetrack—a move which got them sued for their efforts. Next was the passage in early January of a revised “dangerous dog ordinance”, which allows not only for selective enforcement, but selective penalties as well (fines from $150 to $1,000 and either a civil or a criminal charge, depending on the whim of the Animal Control Director, Dr. Gilles Meloche). They’re getting sued for that, too.
Apparently, Louisville’s leaders are the victims of Game Show Overload and, zombie-like, are determined to replace the democratic model of government with one that looks more like Wheel of Fortune, (sans Vanna White).
I’ll take a vowel please, Jerry
And what stranger place for all this to happen, but the home of ‘Mayor For Life’, Jerry Abramson who claims as his personal hero US Attorney General Bobby Kennedy? Well, all I can say is Bobby must be spinning in his grave, because the MFL is acting more like Huey Long than a champion of civil rights these days!
The Mayor has a personal vision for Louisville, and it has no place in it for things that aren’t beautiful (or at least re-made that way like downtown), healthy (now that you’ve quit smoking, get ready for your food choices to be legislated to you), or aesthetically pleasing, (pets—real or fiberglass are a nuisance). And it doesn’t matter what you think, or what you want, or what you’d rather choose. If you personal property or civil rights get in the way of Jerry’s Grand Vision, too bad. This isn’t about you--it’s about what’s best for Louisville!
Here’s what the C-J had to say about Norm’s dilemma:
“Jeff Caldwell, a comedian based in Hoboken, N.J., poked fun at the catfish during recent performances at the Comedy Caravan in Mid-City Mall. "I made jokes, saying that the muffler shops and massage parlors were complaining that the catfish ruined the aesthetics of Dixie Highway," Caldwell said. But the situation isn't funny to Norman Pepper, the owner of Pepper Tackle Shop on Dixie. Pepper filed a lawsuit this week to fight for the 25-foot catfish, which cost him $8,000 and stands on a 12-foot pole next to his store. Louisville Metro Inspections, Permits and Licenses gave Pepper a notice of violation in December alleging that the catfish is an illegal sign that has to come down. Pepper said there's no way the fish is a sign. "If I'd wanted it to be a sign, I would have put words on it," he said. "It doesn't say anything. It's just a catfish." Metro officials "selectively enforce" sign regulations by ignoring displays that attract attention to numerous other businesses. Selective enforcement violated Pepper's right of due process and free speech. Bill Schreck, director of Inspections, Permits and Licenses, denied that sign regulations are selectively enforced. Notices and citations usually follow complaints, he said, and for the most part, inspectors aren't out looking for sign violations.”
Our money goes on that call having been made by HSUS’s Pam Rogers being ‘irritated and perturbed’ by it on her way to Frankfort to introduce yet another piece of junk legislation aimed at animal owners at the state level.
THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF LOUISVILLE GOES STATEWIDE!
While we’re on the subject on Civil and Property Rights, (not to mention weirdness), what could be stranger than Metro County Attorney Irv Maze running for Lt. Governor? The whole concept of “selective enforcement” is allowed to exist because Irv’s office doesn’t get it. The County Attorney or his staff approve every piece of legislation that goes through Metro Council before it gets voted on, and then after it’s signed into law it is ‘blessed’ by Irv. They are either a herd of nincompoops, or are complicit in what is fast becoming official government policy in The ‘Ville.
While it may not seem like much on the face of it, the whole concept of selective enforcement violates everyone’s constitutional rights, as well as undermines the very concept of democracy. Let’s say there’s a law that requires everyone to mow their lawns once a week. In protest, your entire neighborhood decides to boycott mowing and three weeks goes by. There’s a knock on your door, and you’re the only one who gets a ticket for having a scruffy-looking lawn. That’s selective enforcement. Fair? Legal? What if laws such as your rights to vote or free speech were selectively enforced? The very definition of a democracy is that the same laws apply to everyone, not just to a few or those with brown eyes or red hair or who don’t own pets. (That’s called a dictatorship.)
One year ago, Irv’s office sent a memo to Metro Council, cautioning them that their draft version of the new Anti-Pet Ordinance/Penalty Lottery was unconstitutional, unenforceable and unintelligible. This advice was completely ignored by Metro Council and, when the final version of this ordinance was beached and signed into law, Irv’s office gave it the Good Lawkeeping Seal of Approval without a whimper—despite it having been worse than any of the previous draft versions they reviewed!
And now he wants to move on to Frankfort. Is this the kinda guy we really want in our state capital? Only if your favorite read is Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book or Das Kapital. Well, okay, Frankfort/Frankfurt, that last one might have something going for it. Or not.
Irv is either a really bad attorney, not paying attention or, like Mr. Lubner on Saturday Night Live, hasn’t any spine to stand up for what’s right. Anyway you cut it those aren’t the credentials he needs to move to the big time.
WHAT”S UP WITH THOSE DEM’S ANYWAY?
Maybe all those years of servitude under the Republicans have atrophied their brains (or their good judgment). Perhaps, like Rip Van Winkle, they’ve awoken from such a long slumber that they’re disoriented to the point where they can’t remember what their party stood for in the first place. All I know is that they’re reading out of the wrong playbook.
The Democrats didn’t get voted into office; the Republicans got voted out. They need to realize that people didn’t sign up for these goofy agendas, and that if the electorate was willing to switch party lines and throw the other guys out of office for having fumbled the ball, guess what? People don’t want or need their lives legislated down to the nit-picky last detail. We want good basic legislation passed that lets us live as free as possible, make our own choices and for the government to stay the heck out of our lives, our homes, our refrigerators and our houses of worship. When the government begins ignoring our input, it’s a sad day for America.
Don’t take my word for it. Check out someone who has plenty to say on the subject: bluedogstate.blogspot.com
GIRL SCOUTS INDICTED IN HEALTH SCANDAL
Think we were kidding about that earlier remark about your food choices being legislated to you? This, just in from the Center for Consumer Freedom:
“Americans can sleep well tonight, secure in the knowledge that food activists have outed another dangerous criminal front group: Girl Scouts. In a press release today, National Action Against Obesity (NAAO) charges the girls with endangering public health by trafficking sweet, sweet cookie contraband.
The Feds needed tax fraud to take down Al Capone, but the food police indict 3.2 million all-American girls based on their "high-calorie, high-sugar" cookies and urge people to teach these scouts a lesson by boycotting their primary fundraiser. According to NAAO president MeMe Roth, campfires and merit badges only serve as window dressing for a baked-goods crime syndicate.”
Roth, whose organization considers obesity “child abuse” works to eliminate ‘fake foods’ by banning junk food from schools and encourages all women to take the ‘Wedding Dress Challenge’ where they commit to being able to fit into their wedding dress for the rest of their lives. (Apparently, it’s OK for single women to be overweight and there’s no word yet on the ‘Tuxedo Challenge’ for hubbies.)
She claims that the “Girl Scouts of the USA have a flawed business model in direct conflict with their posted mission statement -- 'Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.' "Profiting off cookies -- it's the wrong message, the wrong product and the wrong era. Girl Scouts have an economic, medical and moral imperative to dump junk food as their $700 million fundraising source. “
Put the box down and step away from those Thin Mints!
I suggest a compromise: We get the Girl Scouts to rename America’s favorite cookie ‘Fat Mints’ and promise never to engage in false advertising again. Where do these people come from? We dissed the Taliban for making women wear veils, this broad wants them to wear their wedding dresses for the rest of their lives—that’s enough to make any girl run for the closest church exit!
On a more serious note, many of the groups lobbying to ban trans fats and other foods like dairy products from our lifestyles have solid connections to the Animal Extremist Lobby. Why? Because trans fats are primarily animal fat by-products and by eliminating them you also eliminate a financial resource for animal agriculture. By working to remove dairy products from our lives, you damage the dairy industry. PeTA has an extensive anti-milk campaign on their website for kids called ‘Got Pus?’ which instructs children that milk and milk products are loaded with pus, cause disease, obesity and acne among other things. Kids can send away for ‘Got Pus?’ stickers to share with their friends along with “educational material” that instructs them that the entire dairy portion of the food group pyramid is unhealthy.
New York City has already banned trans fats, and Louisville will be taking up the crusade here shortly. Louisville Metro Health Department was recently renamed the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness.
“Words are important, and the new name points to the new proactive direction that the department is taking to improve the lives of residents in our hometown,” Jerry Abramson said. ‘Proactive’ is a word Abramson easily confuses with ‘legislative’.
Since 2003 the department has launched two community-wide wellness programs - The Center for Health Equity and the Mayor’s Healthy Hometown Movement. Abramson established the Center for Health Equity last June. The center is working with neighborhood leaders to coach families about approaching nutrition in a “holistic way”.
The Mayor’s Healthy Hometown Movement is an effort to motivate Louisville citizens to exercise, eat well and adopt healthier lifestyles. The initiative has sponsored biking, hiking and other events and has been instrumental in creating bike lanes and “Mayor’s Miles” since its inception. Abramson has not yet made brown the official shirt color of Louisville, or blonde the official hair color, but then it’s only February.
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