Keep Your Hands Off Your Child!

Friday, January 19, 2007

Some nutball Democrat (Sally Lieber) in California doesn't like the discipline of "spanking" and has introduced legislation that would ban parents from doing it to their own children who are under the age of three. Unfortunately for her a new poll finds most California residents oppose the bill:

(CBS 5 / KCBS) SAN FRANCISCO Do parents have the right to spank their children? It is a controversial issue, and while a Bay Area lawmaker wants it addressed in Sacramento -- a majority of those surveyed for a new CBS 5 poll expressed opposition to a spanking ban.

A poll of 500 Bay Area adults conducted for CBS 5 by Survey USA on Thursday found 57% would oppose such a bill, while only 23% would support it. The poll, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4%, showed 11% undecided.

The proposed law would make spanking a child under 3 misdemeanor child abuse, an extenstion of current corporal punishment laws.

Violators could spend a year in jail, and pay up to $1000 in fines. Enforcement is unclear.

Not only is enforcement unclear, but so is the definition of "spanking." I cannot imagine how you would make this an objective law. Would even the slightest tap on the rear be illegal?

But rather than debate how we can make this a good law, let's just scrap it all together and allow parents to raise their own kids how they see fit. What’s next: banning parents from serving dessert before Johnny eats his peas?

Give me a break.

24 is Back

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Season six of 24 kicked off tonight with a two-hour premiere and will continue tomorrow with another two hours on Fox. The plot once again revolves around terrorism and a bit of political discourse was injected into the first hour as the president's cabinet debated brining back internment camps but for Muslims.

In one scene an Islamic kid was assaulted by a white neighbor after his father was arrested by the FBI for ties to terrorism. Turns out the kid himself is working for the bad guys.

More commentary after tomorrow's two episodes.

Deadly European Union Policies

Saturday, January 06, 2007

We can only hope the United States is still far from membership to a harmful intergovernmental organization such as the European Union whose insane overreaching social policies has claimed another victim (emphasis mine):

A MAN died after two ambulance crews could not be sent to his aid -- because they were on EU-enforced lunch breaks.

The victim collapsed in a betting shop, five minutes from his local ambulance station. But under the barmy European Working Time Directive, exposed by The Sun last month, crews couldn't be disturbed.

A paramedic was sent in a car and realised the unnamed man was having a heart attack. He dialled 999 but an ambulance did not arrive for half an hour. By then, the patient had died on the floor in Edmonton, North London.

Last night London Ambulance Service chiefs ordered a full probe. The EU rules -- which have angered staff -- mean crews in the capital can be called out only in the last ten minutes of their 30-minute breaks. Otherwise, they are banned from helping, even if there is a road crash outside their building.

Other UK ambulance services have chosen to opt out of the rules.

A London spokesperson said last night: "We can confirm crews were on a rest break at the time. Our sympathies are with the patient's family."

No position that serves the interest of public safety should ever be tied to mandatory "rest breaks," but that is the case in countries that are members of the European Union. It is one of many policies that strap resources for the sake of uniformity across Europe and often cause more harm than good.

In addition to these "rest breaks" employees controlled by EU policies are limited to working 48-hours per week, even if the overtime work no longer allowed is essential to a comfortable living.

This is why I oppose the smoking bans and trans-fat bans, and whatever ban comes next week at the orders of some regulatory body that has no basis for getting involved in affairs best handled by those who are affected by them.

Yes, employees should be afforded lunch breaks during their duties, but in an effort to secure a midday rest hour the safety and wellbeing of others has been severely jeopardized.