Disabled Navy Vet Says that POA Won't Let Him Keep His Service Dog

http://www.pawnation.com/2013/10/09/fla-disabled-navy-vet-says-poa-wont-let-him-keep-service-dog/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl12%7Csec3_lnk1%26pLid%3D388921?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000058&

A disabled Navy veteran is fighting with his property owners association to keep his dog, Scarlett, who is a service animal that was trained to help him with his disabilities. The POA says that Scarlett is in violation of the 20 pound limit (she weighs 40 pounds) and that he is not allowed to have her according to their rules. Spagnolo argued that Scarlett doesn't fall under those restrictions because she is not there as a pet, but as a service animal. Although Spagnolo has given them paperwork showing her registration as a service animal, the POA is still requesting more detailed information about his actual medical disabilities. Spagnolo refused to give them that information stating that it is a violation of his rights to have to divulge.

The whole idea that they would be so ridiculously worried about a 40 pound dog compared to a 20 pound dog is hard for me to believe. People these days are more and more concerned about everything that their neighbors are doing, whether it has anything to do with them or not. Why would a dog's size make any difference even as a pet? In this case, the dog is a service animal and is providing emotional support for a man that has served in the armed forces for his country. To go even farther and tell him that they are going to continue to have his dog removed if he does not provide them with the medical information they are asking for is beyond crazy. Why is it any business of their's what his medical problems are? The dog has been trained and certified as a service animal and he would be able to provide paperwork stating that. Why shouldn't that be enough for these people?

To me, the bottom line of this whole argument is that this man's service animal is a Pitbull. People become sheep so easily when they are confronted by an argument that a animal or a person is a threat. Although these dogs are higher ranking in the number of fatal dog bites, it must be pointed out that there have been less than 300 fatal dog bites since 2007. When you are talking about the entire country, that really is a tiny number. Although I'm not trying to make light of anyone that lost their loved one to a dog attack, I'm merely pointing out that there were that many people killed last week in drunk driving accidents.  Perspective people.

I personally feel that people need to pay more attention to their own business rather than worrying about everyone else's. This is just a prime example of people with way too much time on their hands and the need to manipulate someone else with their way of thinking. Ridiculous.

Arkansas Prisoners Continue to be Paid While the Guards Have to go Without

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/10/10/amid-slimdown-arkansas-prisoners-get-paid-while-guards-do-without/

While the prisoners are still paid for jobs such as tending the lawn, the prison guards have to go without. In Arkansas, the prisoners are paid out of a local source while the guards are actually paid through the government causing their pay to be radically effected.

The government shutdown is nothing more than an elaborate process to annoy enough for those employing it to get what they want. I know that when the founding fathers put our country together and drew up the US Constitution, that this is not the type of behavior that they would have supported. If the representatives of the government would act more like adults than insolent children, the country would find itself in a much better state that it currently finds itself in.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Philadelphia School "Cancelled" Halloween

"LANSDALE, PA. –  Officials at a suburban Philadelphia elementary school have decided to cancel a Halloween parade and other Halloween celebrations, citing a ban on promoting religious beliefs.

WPVI-TV says parents received a letter from the principal at Inglewood Elementary School in Lansdale on Tuesday.

The letter said parents were told that holidays like Halloween are seen by some as secular and viewed by others as having religious overtones.

But it said school districts are barred from promoting religious beliefs, and while they can teach about religious and cultural practices, they cannot sponsor them."

Are you kidding me?! Halloween? These kinds of things really annoy me to no end. I realize the whole church/state thing. I get it. But just because there are some people that have it in their mind that Halloween is some kind of pagan holiday and that's all it is, does not make it so. Halloween is one of those holidays that kids really look forward to and enjoy. Why should anyone, including the school, make them suffer because they are hung up on an idea? 

It seems almost shocking to me that, in this advanced day and age, people find themselves wrapped around an outdated and misunderstood religious connection with Halloween. Kids do not celebrate any kind of religious holiday when they dress up and gather candy. They are simply enjoying a holiday that is very much geared towards their entertainment and adventure. For a school to cancel an event for them because of the hang up of select parents, is simply ridiculous.

People need to get over themselves and learn to have a little bit thicker skin. It is less about what twisted ideas we have as adults and more about allowing the kids to have a good time.  Are they going to cancel a "hat day" because some religions do not wear hats? If people and schools continue down this path of being hung up on such outdated ways of thinking, where will it stop?

"America has never been unnited by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgroudns, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens."
- George Bush (9/11)

The anniversary of September 11th is quickly approaching and it's always a time (at least for me) for reflection. We take our own freedom for granted and rarely reflect on the many lives that have been given to assure that it remains. I remember that the country felt so united after 9/11. It seemed more important for us all to remain there for each other to be able to work through the tragedy. People that never helped or donated their time to volunteer, were making a contribution to help. It was a horrific event that allowed to country to actually seem to work together to mend.

It's unfortunate that only a handful of years later and the country is willing to gnaw at itself and people are more concerned with what car the neighbor next door drives rather than trying to help someone that actually needs help.

If there is anything that we could take away from 9/11, I wish it was that our time in this life is short and that, unless we learn to help each other and take care of the country, we are doomed to repeat our past mistakes and failures. We are an amazing group of people living in an amazing country during an amazing time - it would do us all a great deal of good to remember that.