Spare the rod, spoil the plane ride

AirTran had to boot a couple and their out-of-control kid off a plane because they were delaying takeoff. The 3-year-old refused to sit in her seat and was "climbing under the seat and hitting the parents."

Hitting the parents.

I've blogged before about my frustration with bratty kids who think nothing of assaulting their own parents. The 16-year-old who bruises her mother, as I witnessed one woman talking about, I'm sure started out like the 3-year-old on this plane.

In a not-unrelated item, a California assemblywoman wants to ban spanking of children under 4. She said she hasn't figured out exactly how to define spanking for the purposes of this bill, but she was quoted as saying, "I think it's pretty hard to argue you need to beat a child," [Sally] Lieber said. "Is it OK to whip a 1-year-old or a 6-month-old or a newborn?"

"Whip." Oh, geez. No one is advocating taking a cat o' nine tails to a three-month old. Anything that would cause injury to a child (apart from a tender bottom) is already against the law. And certainly she knows that.

Liber then invokes the tired canard that spanking breeds societal violence. Does that not collide with common sense? How many of you were spanked as children? Okay, put your hands down. How many of you have committed a violent act? That's what I thought.

Note to self: Never move to California, and ride AirTran at the next possible opportunity.