For the children!

Via Prester Scott: how have I not heard of this?

In the Wall Street Journal, Rick Woldenberg was quoted as describing February 10, 2009 as National Bankruptcy Day because that’s the day when many of us will go out of business due to the implementation of the CPSIA Regulations. I’m dismayed at how little it’s been discussed online and in the news. I’m shocked that so few manufacturers know about it. Of the ones that do know, most think it either doesn’t apply to them or it will magically disappear or it won’t be enforced so they can ignore it. Come February 10th, a lot of people will be hit hard by reality when their products are returned or their financing is declined.

Another key piece of awesome: Congress wrote the law and forced the CPSC to implement it before the regulations were written. Why do our lawmakers keep voting in laws that aren’t even completed yet? Anyway, the long and short of this bill is that it’s a backlash against the Chinese toy safety scare from last year, and imposes insanely strict manufacturing and testing standards on everyone who would sell, well, basically anything a human being might touch, all in the name of the children. So you want to buy that handmade doll for your kid that you saw at the craft fair? You’re now dealing in illegal contraband, unless she’s willing to eat the roughly $4000 it would cost to properly test her dolls. Scott wisely suggests stocking up on any sort of consumer product (especially child-related product) you might need before this law – and its associated costs – hit the market.

Notably, it passed the House with only a single “no” vote: Ron Paul. Three went “no” in the Senate: Tom Coburn, Jim DeMint, and my hometown hero Jon Kyl. And then, of course, Bush gladly tossed his signature onto it and sent it merrily along.

Scott also mentions a similar scenario coming down the pipe that’s devastating for small farms:

The USDA’s proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS) was originally designed to give the big beef producers help in getting export markets which required disease controls. The idea is that every single livestock animal in the United States will be identified and tagged. All livestock animal movements will be tracked, logged and reported to the government. The benefit is to the big factory farms who probably do need this type of regulation. They get to do single ID’s for large groups of animals. Small farmers, pet owners and homesteaders will have to tag and track every single animal.

The law is of course devoid of any common-sense provisions or exceptions and will needlessly bludgeon small farms and even some pet owners with costs and regulations to the point of having to close their doors, which very much limits the options for people who want things like hormone-free foods. It has been back-doored into law under the tag of national security (second only to “for the children” as a favorite bogeyman) by the USDA, and is scheduled to take effect January 1st. In the meantime, we get to enjoy SWAT teams coming to shut down our eeeeevil food co-ops.

Scott suggests the next step is weapons – I would say, why stop there? If this is the route the government wants to take, then it won’t be long before every posession we have is tracked by the .gov, which in turn leads to the tracking of the people themselves. It’s a nasty trail to go down, so let’s raise some hell while we can – I just finished writing my representative. How about you?

Weekend update and link round-up

Sorry about the lack of posting the last couple of days – I’ve been busy and somewhat out of sorts. On the other hand, my birthday’s coming up this week so I’ll be at least having a little bit of fun for that. So because I’m feeling totally out of the posting loop, here are a few things to check out from around the web in lieu of my usual posting spree:

Have a good weekend, all.

Obama’s cabinet selections made official, also, the war is cool now

Nothing surprising, but it’s official now:

President-elect Obama officially announced his national security team today, naming Hillary Clinton, a top rival for the Democratic nomination with whom he sparred on foreign policy, as his Secretary of State.

Obama also retained Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the Pentagon, named former Marine Commandant and NATO Supreme Allied Commander retired Gen. James L. Jones as his national security adviser, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano Secretary of Homeland Security and campaign foreign policy adviser and Africa expert Susan Rice as ambassador to the United Nations.

Additionally, Obama officially named Eric Holder attorney general.

I previously talked about the disaster Napolitano would be in this position, it looks like now we’ll get to see if I was right. The other really notable name on this list is Eric Holder – the same guy who was instrumental in the shady Clinton pardon of Mark Rich, the billionare tax evader who makes oil deals with terrorists. Holder also helped out with the strongly-opposed pardoning of 16 FALN terrorists who were responsible for at least 120 bombings on American soil which caused “6 deaths and the permanent maiming of dozens of others, including law enforcement officials,” according to Congress. The idea that such a man could be appointed to an office that requires him to enforce the laws he so blatantly disregards is so absurd it would take a Clinton to think of it. Yes, it appears we’re headed for Clinton’s third term – this time with even more Kool-aid and no economic wave to ride.

So instead they’re setting up to give Obama all the credit for the victory in Iraq. He hasn’t done anything yet, and we’ve already won, but somehow it will remain a hopeless quagmire until sometime around January 21st, at which point NBC will acknowledge what we already know by announcing a victory in Iraq. But they’ll redirect all the praise to the newly-appointed Messiah figure they’ve propped up for themselves and try to slather onto his cardboard image a bit of legitimacy. It will be desperate, and it won’t be pretty, but then again… what have they done lately that was?

h/t: Ace

Desperately grasping at straws

Because they don’t have anything legit to criticise him about, I guess?

After pardoning a Thanksgiving turkey in a public display of mercy Wednesday, President Bush will be served turkey as part of his holiday meal. Critics call the practice a “charade.”

Questioned about the apparent hypocrisy of the practice, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel was unruffled. “You should try your hand at open mic night at the Laugh Factory,” said Stanzel. He promised he would attend the performance.

A spokesman for president-elect Barack Obama declined to comment on the matter.

Oh, the humanity! He, and every president since Truman, has done this every year. This is nothing new and nothing to get worked up about. I bet you, though, that at least one of those reporters helped put away one of the 45 million turkeys that got cooked up this year. Hypocrisy, indeed.

h/t: Ace