NOTES ON A SHABBY CUFF #4

NOTES ON A SHABBY CUFF #4

What in the world are we coming to in this country?  Down in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a pretty nice town I understand, a 90 year old man was arrested for feeding hungry people.  From ABC News, by Christopher Donato, writing on November 6^th, and his headline reads…90-Year-Old Man Charged With Feeding Homeless Says He Won't 'Give Up' ...and he says Every Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. for the past 23 years, 90–year-old Arnold Abbott has been feeding the homeless at a public beach in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  On October 21, the City of Fort Lauderdale Commission passed an ordinance that banned public food sharing -- something that went into effect last week. Under the ordinance, organizations distributing food outdoors would have to provide portable toilets for use by workers and those being fed.   "We hope he feeds. He has a very valuable role in the community,” said Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler. "All we're saying is he can feed the next block over. He can feed at the church. We want them to be in safe secure settings. We wanted them to be in a sanitary matter. We them to have facilities available before and after."    On November 2, just days after the ordinance took effect, Abbott had handed out his third meal of the day when he was approached by police officers. He was cited for breaking the ordinance and given a notice that he must appear in court.   Abbott, a World War II veteran and civil rights activist, told The Associated Press that he has been serving the homeless for more than two decades in honor of his late wife. He has several programs, including a culinary school to train the homeless and help find them jobs in local kitchens.

"One of the police officers said, 'Drop that plate right now,' as if I were carrying a weapon," Abbott told ABC affiliate WPLG.   Abbott continued his tradition of feeding the homeless on a public beach Wednesday night when he was approached by officers again and his food operation was shut down.   But he plans on being back at the public beach, as usual, next Wednesday.    "I don’t plan to give up the beach,” he said.   The Fort Lauderdale Police told ABC News that Abbott will get his court subpoena in the mail and a judge will decide whether he will spend up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.   "Arnold thinks he can feed wherever he wants and the laws say differently. Despite the fact that he's a super nice guy and he's a gentleman and a kind soul we have to enforce the law,” Seiler said.   Although Abbott has been cited twice in less than a week, he has no plans to stop feeding the homeless, telling ABC News over the phone from his non-profit organization, Love Thy Neighbor, that the only alternative he has is to go to court.   Abbott sued the City of Fort Lauderdale in 1999 after they tried to stop him from feeding the homeless on a public beach. Abbott won the case three times in circuit court and twice in the court of appeals.   He was invited by a local church to feed the homeless in their parking lot this coming Sunday where he expects to feed up to 200 people. Abbott doesn’t believe he will receive any citations during this feed because he will be on private property.

Mr. Bumble had little use for judicial reasoning. In Dickens' Oliver Twist, he put it rather bluntly: "'If the law supposes that', said Mr. Bumble, 'the law is an ass — an idiot.'"  I quite agree, Mr. Bumble.  Just because something is the law, doesn’t make it right, fair or logical.  One only has to look at the “stuff” that’s come out of the White House in the past six years to understand that.   Here’s what Francis Bacon said about the law, "That laws were like cobwebs; where the small flies were caught, and the great break through."

Now, on a different subject…immigration.  A brief note…when my grandparents came here, with literally thousands of others, they waited in line.  First they waited in their home country, to get permission to emigrate to America.  Then they waited until they saved enough money to get on the boat.  Then, arriving in America, either broke or almost so, they scrimped and saved and made their way in the New World.   You can trace famous families of this country back to their immigrant roots and see how they worked to get ahead. 

Now contrast that to the Muslims that are being imported into this country.   They cannot wait to get on the welfare rolls, to suck at the government teat, to contribute nothing of value to the society in which they live and, they are “offended” at everything that takes place!   You can make all the excuses you want, for them, but they are not compatible with anything in the civilized world, and they’ll do anything, say anything, so long as it furthers the cause of Islam.   We don’t need that in a free(for now) country.

Larry Usoff, US Navy Retired   www.AirHumanityRadio.net