Posted on 06/13/2004 2:06:07 PM PDT by JPhill9123
Free Parking is For Monopoly Boards, Not Pregnant Women
May 5, 2004
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- by John Phillips
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fearing that the state of California isn’t dishing out enough special perks at Wal Mart for those who forget to use condoms, one state assemblyman is proposing a bill that would allow pregnant women to park in spots designated for those with physical handicaps. Pregnant women across America are hailing the event as the biggest win for expecting mothers since NBA superstar and seven-time illegitimate father Shawn Kemp agreed to pay child support.
Republican Assemblyman Tony Strickland said he was sparked to introduce the legislation after hearing complaints from angry constituents who – gasp – couldn’t find parking next to the front door at Macy’s. He tells the L.A. Daily News, “a lot of them [pregnant women] gave me stories about how they didn’t go to the mall or supermarket because they couldn’t walk all the way from a normal parking spot.”
While it’s understandable that nine months of pregnancy would teach some women the virtues of keeping their legs together – walking an extra four spaces in the parking lot isn’t exactly the ‘trail of tears.’ Even for pregnant women.
Handicapped spaces aren’t meant to be some sort of ‘employee of the month’ perk for whatever group whines the loudest in Sacramento. If so, the prison guards’ union would have had it in their contract long ago. These spaces are meant for people with serious physical disabilities. Pregnant women are literally demanding that triple amputees and paraplegics stop being so damn greedy!
Without getting too biological, these are apples and oranges. You choose to get pregnant. You don’t choose to have cancer. With the possible exception of Ethel Kennedy – no woman has ever been born pregnant.
In addition, it is highly possible for those with physical handicaps to be single and childless. Paranoid Vietnam vets with missing limbs who sport pirate eye-patches and suffer from dementia aren’t exactly known for cleaning up in the singles bars.
Since asexual reproduction is still just an apple in Murphy Brown’s eye, pregnant women incapable of walking long distances should expect their ‘baby daddy’ to do the shopping. These men should just think of it as their second official automobile related contribution to the pregnancy – just the first one occurring from the front seat.
However, I don’t expect the ‘married with children’ types to back down from this absurd request. They are emboldened by the fact that they always get what they want and have no problem asking the general public to do more sacrificing than an Aztec at a nun convent.
They are also impervious to logic, debate and compromise. If single and childless people ever dare to oppose any of their idiotic, self-serving programs they are branded as being ‘against the children.’
If you don’t want your property taxes raised for the umpteenth time to pay for another school bond…you are ‘against the children.’ If you think that rated R movies are peachy for network television…you are ‘against the children.’ If you think ‘per child’ tax credits are unfair and discriminatory…you are, all together now, ‘against the children.’ You get the picture.
To these people, if you don’t blindly and completely go along with their agenda you are doing the political equivalent of sending America’s children over to Neverland Ranch for a sleepover. Leaders of mind-altering cults would kill for this kind of orthodoxy.
Enough is enough!
The single, childless people aren’t the greedy ones – we pay astronomical taxes (at higher rates) for services we largely don’t use. And then, as a parting gift, we get lectured for not forking over more of our income!
The true leeches in our society are those that have children they can’t afford – and then demand that the rest of us pick up their tab.
Their entire life is one big game of the ‘Price is Right.’ Every time they have another kid they get another plinko chip. ‘Here comes baby Junior, have another plinko chip! There it goes…clink, clink, clink, clink, clink, clink, clink…Nameless replacement for Rod, tell them what they won!’ ‘Well, Bob….Mike and Judy are now the proud owners of a shiny new handicapped parking permit! Now you can cruise the mall in style, acing out any mutilated burn victim for the privilege of parking your brand new car in a prime time spot!’
It’s time to stop this madness.
Instead of spending millions of dollars on ‘No Child Left Behind,” how about instituting a policy of ‘Every Child Left Behind” at movie theatres, restaurants and on airplanes? What about dropping the “credit” part of the $500 per child tax credit? Or replacing ‘Spin City’ with ‘Sex and the City’ on network television? How do you like them apples?
It’s not so much fun when the shoe is on the other foot – or in the case of the handicapped parking spots, if the wheelchair is under the other derriere.
Those in our society who are married with children need to accept the fact that they have a pretty damn good deal. Most childless people don’t complain when the breeders get another tax credit, pass another school bond or go completely insane when Justin Timberlake checks up on Janet Jackson’s mammarian health.
But taking parking spots away from those who truly need them is a new low. Even worse than being ‘against the children.’
John Phillips
DISCUSS THIS IN THE FORUM!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Phillips is a freelance writer and operates the website www.johnphillipsworld.com
Got Asbestos?
Freebilly
when the breeders get another tax credit
Let me guess, you...um....know what color mauve is?
That's about the end of that discussion. What a crank. What a fanatic.
The term "breeder" is a disparagement usually heard from homosexual men. JP needs to take his "discussion" to the Gay Blade Blog.
Was there a point to this tirade? If so, it got drowned out by all the sneering. What a kook.
With that said........this article is very anti-woman and anti-family and deserves every single flame it gets.
Oh... I finished reading it :)
man does that guy just need to get laid....
ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!
My only problem with maternity parking is that very few who really are expecting park in the maternity parking.
I've seen guys park there, and I've seen people who aren't pregnant park there.
This article also dims my view of my gender.
I have seen this also at the Babies R Us, which is the only place near me that has them. I have also seen the misuse of Handicap parking by people who are waiting for someone and just "pull in for a sec"
I don't disagree with you - but I admit it was a nice convenience provided by stores for their customers.....not madated by Big Brother.
I ignore the rantings of mysoginists (sp?) - I just focused on the government putting more requirements on private businesses.......that's what bugged me about this piece.
There are no stores here that have expectant mom parking except the babies r us out here! That must have been nice towards the end...
Of course, men don't know what it feels like the last few weeks of pregnancy when you think your *whole* reproductive system is going to fall out of your cha cha at any minute and you have no balance left so you are waddling like a duck. The will never know how your hips feel like they are separating and you can't get comfortable in any position, sitting, standing or laying down. Lastly, they don't know how grumpy a very pregnant lady can be, especially when living off of about 3 hours sleep each night because the baby's kicks now feel like a jackhammer in your tummy, you have to pee every 5 seconds, and of course, you are never comfortable...
Oh, and the children he so despises I bet when they grow up he wants them to pay for his SS, medicaid, and so on...
Don't have a Babies R Us near here anymore, it closed.
*ugh*
The mall has one single maternity space, as if that makes any sense.
Why only one, and it's by the hardware enterance at SEARS.
Expecting mothers are more likely to park near Filene's, JC Penny's, and Target than they are to park near the hardware department of SEARS.
Though I do have to admit that there are plans for more parking spaces elsewhere on site, they just redid the road around the building and are looking at redoing some of the parking.
I agree, it's a good idea as a convenience provided by the business.
Mandated by government, it becomes a hassle and a nuisance.
(Who's going to sit there and make sure that only pregnant mothers park there? And how will they verify the previous status? Lunacy.)
It should be a voluntary service by business, not mandated by governmental fiat.
And the misogynists can go jump, they make men like myself look bad and justify the radical feminist view of men as knuckle dragging drooling idiots.
Then I guess I was lucky :) Late June weather can be horrendous in Delaware (or anywhere when 9 months pregnant), and I was due in early July. The only place I ever saw them was in one shopping center and they had them at both by the supermarket and by the drug store (go figure).
Of course men don't know anything about how we feel, but at least most are willing to try and be understanding........."men" such as those who wrote this will never get it.
Knock on wood, I have never, to my knowlege, met a person like this in real life.
OK, lady question, did you deliver early or late? I am due June 25th... I know a few more days but I cannot wait anymore! Husband wants a 4th of July baby, if I am overdue I will scream.
Yeah, most men try to understand, and I feel lucky enough to be married to one...
I'm sick and bloody tired of the government fiats against private businesses..........not only who is going to enforce it - but who is going to be covered and who isn't? Lunacy is correct.
It was a very nice convenience, but one I only used at the very end of my pregnancy and even then on the very rare occassions that I was going to the store alone. If my husband or a friend was taking me to the store they dropped me at the door and then parked. But I don't want to see any business forced to provide it.
You're right about the misogynists...........which is why I'm not bothering to give him the attention he is so obviously craving.
To me the issue is unwarranted government intrusion into private business decisions.....not flaming or coddling some poor misguided soul that has some obvious issues beyond government intrusion!!!
I hear that!
I personally wonder what, why, or how people that are misogynistic 'happen' or 'become'.
Not that it's relevant at the moment, btu it's weird.
Wonder how many businesses will chafe at a government mandate to have such parking available or presumably be fined?
I smell parking enforcement revenue generation in this somewhere, and how will one prove to the ticketing officer that one truly is pregnant?
A doctor's note?
A special sticker?
*ugh*
This isn't just a bad idea, it's the Titanic of stupid ideas.
My OB and her partner both had different due dates for me - July 8th and July 13th. I had my normal Monday appointment on June 29 and my OB (7/13) said to me, I'd like to wish you a happy July 4th, but I'm going to see you sooner than that. She was right. My daughter was born the afternoon of July 2!!!!
I was thrilled - it was so HOT that spring - I had been miserable for months. And like you - I'm very lucky to married married to one of the men that tries as best he can to understand......though I do remember one night him practically begging me to please just tell him out right what it was I wanted or needed - he couldn't understand my hints and couldn't read my mind....LOL
(Let the misogynist cringe with this talk)
I hope MOST businesses will chafe at something like this...........unfortunately it is California......and I've come to expect most businesses just roll over and play dead when it comes to issues of government mandates on how they attract or retain or market to their chosen clientele. Think about it.......a men's clothing store required to have "pregnant parking?" How ridiculous is that?
I'm inclined to agree with you about the parking revenue scheme. I blew up like a ballon when pregnant, but I know many woman that didn't look like they were pregnant until practically the last minute.........so proving is another nightmare of this entire nightmare issue.
As I said earlier, as far as I know I haven't met anyone like this..........heck even my friends who are homosexual have no use for misogynists.
I know we all dislike government meddling... but IMO any man who doesn't go out of his way to assist a pregnant woman isn't worth a bucket of spit.
Please - reread what the females on this thread are saying - we are against this...............
I've personally met a few misogynists.
Here's the weird part: they liked male/female sexual relations just fine, they just hated women for some reason known only to them.
(Maybe it's some Freudian mental wackiness?)
That'd be worth a humor photo, a maternity parking sign in front of a men's clothing store.
Please reread what the ladies are saying.
Or better yet - a Strip Club!!!!!!!!!!
I apologize for not reading your post more carefully.
!!!!
LOL!
My uber-liberal fancy pants neighbors would find that horribly offensive, but if they're going to FORCE businesses to put up the signs.. why not have one in front of a Strip Club?
[OMG this is horrible]
Oddly, with that sign placement mentioned, the stupid sign enforcement idea sounds like it may be worth seeing just to prove what a dumb idea it is.
LOL!!!!!!!!!!
I wish I was savvy enough with the photo shop ptype stuff to come up with something like that - it would be a screaming riot!!!!!!!!
And then send it to this STUPID Kookiefornie legislator!!!
Registered can do the photoshop stuff.
Don't know if he'd take it as a request, but someone can ask him.
Kalifornistan.. gotta 'love' the legislative ideas they get.
(reminds me of NY at times, only worse.)
OH, I'm sorry if I implied that I was for expectant mom parking, it was part of another conversation teasing the type of guy that would post this.
I would never condone the use of Handicap parking for those other than the disabled, there are few enough spaces as is, and the more walking the later in pregnancy the better, because it is *suppose* to help bring on labor.
:)
That was a happy thought. I noticed though a lot of older guys are always there with a nice comment and a helping hand, but yesterday at the mall I was almost run over by a group of 20 somethings trying to get to the movies in a hurry without an "excuse me"....
You guys are naughty....
oh, and expecting mother parking at strip clubs would be in the rear, reserved for the dancers...
Right along side the smoking section..............
But to stay on subject, in the parking lot where I go to the Market and Post Office a few years back they posted a few signs on some of the parking spaces.
They said "Parking provided by Codding Industries for Mothers with Infants or Toddlers."
Well, even though I am not a "Mother", I parked there with my toddlers anyway.
A few months later they changed the sign to say "Parents" instead of "Mothers"
Now that was nice.
At that time I always had a car seat in my vehicle, so I would park in that space if it was available.
If anyone questioned me when I didn't have a kid with me, I would say "Oh my goodness, I left my toddler in the store!"
LOL
Actually I am kidding, but I did use the parking spaces whenever they were available. At that time I had a hip and knee medical problem as well as a hernia, and it helped to not have to walk so far to the store.
Eventually they took down the signs, and only the Handicapped spaces are there now.
It's one thing to make the argument that it's silly for the government to require special spaces for pregnant women; it's quite another to call them "breeders" and suggest that they have kept their legs together.
Hey, I have an even BETTER idea. Almost everywhere I drive, I have a dog in my car. How about reserving the shady parking spaces for "dogs only"?
Just an idea..........
~</;o)
LOL!
You two!
Most with handicaps do not choose to have them. Pregnancy is chosen. Make good use of your tax credits and purchase your own special parking space. Singles and those who choose to not have children should not have to pay for your special parking space. I pay exorbitant tax rates and get no credits and have very little tax shelter. I could have written that article, many are thoughts I have at tax time. Another good comparison is a woman with a 50 pound bag on an airplane. "Can you put my bag up for me sir". No. Pack lighter next time. I am not responsible for the consequences of your personal decisions.
BTW--somewhere around my 20th hour of labor with my firstborn, my OBGYN finally made me realize that having an epidural isn't any more unnatural than not having one and then screaming, barfing, and writhing in agony for hours on end. The result is the same! Bets of luck and God bless!
that would be nice thanks! Yeah, I am opting for the epi, I am not really good with handling pain!
To group mothers who found ourselves with a narcissistic man who flew south as "breeders" is incorrect. You sound very angry and you must hang out with my son's educated father, who, despite his good white-bred upbringing, used to call all people with children "breeders". Wow, now he's one and where the hell did he go? We're still looking for him to help pay for a pack of diapers now and then, so you don't have to! And yes, because I waited to have children, I'm 39, I had a hard time walking in that last trimester and it was really disgusting to get cut off trying to pull into a "primo" parking space by some man, who probably thought of me as a "breeder". Too bad the innocent baby I was carrying had to endure mom's breathless walk to work downtown, NOT Macy's.
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