Off Topic ForumThis is the place for mature discussions not necessarily related to cars. This is however also moderated and only registred members are allowed to post. No religion and no vicious attacks.
It makes sense to me. Big brother should approve of every child and family related decision one makes. If not, how can we be sure people will choose what's best for them and their children? People never make the most rational choice, so government must be there to choose for all of us.
The US didn't arrest anybody. The county arrested someone who violated a law on the books. It may seem silly because it is a grandmother in this case, and the law seems relatively simple to circumvent, but apparently it has been an effective method of stopping a local meth problem. We've got similar controls in NY, and there are plenty of laws on the books that restrict the sale of other narcos/chemicals/drugs whatever.
On the other hand, stopping someone from watching a neighbor's kid under the guise of operating an unlicensed day-care facility is so far out of the ballpark it's in outer space.
Last edited by glowrider; 28th September 2009 at 01:03.
The law violated by the grandmother is not merely silly. For most of us it is a big nuissance, but was considerably more than that for her and many others. If you believe that this is effective at diminishing meth additiction/problems, you apparently haven't been following the issue. Meth availability - what this law ostensibly addresses - has been getting easier as evidenced by lower prices. It just pushes the production to other methods and places (e.g., Mexico). As usual, the dreadful war on drugs proves itself to be some combination of stupid and evil.
The pretense for the babysitting laws is fundamentally no different: government apparachiks are smarter than we are and need to force us to do the right thing, regardless of how idiotic it apparently is.
Back to granny, I was surprised by this given that I thought the registration BS we go through when we buy a box of Claritin was a Federal database, not just a state/local one. I also thought it denied people the ability to exceed the legally-allowed amount instead of tracking those that do for ultimate arrest. Maybe the implementation is different in Texas vs. Indiana.
bern - the article itself states their law has been effective in the county - to them, that's what matters.
I'm the #1 opponent of the "war on drugs." I'm not a user, don't know any, but I think it does more harm than good - gets in the way of honest people. However, this town has results and they stand by them. You can't argue that for this county, it hasn't been effective.
I am not saying that fundamentally that the idea of either issue is different - government is stupid - however, there is a law on the books in one case and not one in the other case. THAT'S the difference. One place is enforcing their laws, another is going out of their way to find new, even more ridiculous ones.
Plenty of nuisance laws out there.
Last edited by glowrider; 28th September 2009 at 17:11.
Meth availability - what this law ostensibly addresses - has been getting easier as evidenced by lower prices. It just pushes the production to other methods and places (e.g., Mexico). As usual, the dreadful war on drugs proves itself to be some combination of stupid and evil.
There is no more confused topic worldwide than drugs and their control. Some years ago a man in my local pub proposed that we should stop creating gang warlords and criminal billionaires. We should manufacture high quality narcotics ourselves and make them free of charge. Then anyone stupid enough to take the associated risks could kill themselves in their own time. Nobody came up with solid reasons why we shouldn't do this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bernhtp
The pretense for the babysitting laws is fundamentally no different: government apparachiks are smarter than we are and need to force us to do the right thing, regardless of how idiotic it apparently is.
I agree, it's a control-freaks heaven in Government. We have a dipstick called Milliband, our UK Energy Secretary, a highly educated mental pygmy. He said last year that anyone who objected to windfarms being built in their local area is as antisocial as someone who smokes in public. Now he is accusing the same people of being NIMBYs. To avoid any risk of the public having an inconvenient democratic input to these decisions, the Government has introduced a new piece of legislation that allows them to approve windfarms without any consultation at all. I sense a communal response of **** off brewing up.
__________________ **** it, let's do it - Australian proverb
LOL, England!
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