laws | Ain't Complicated

Shop. Drop. Hop.

Shop — as in, shop all you want and set up shop all you want.

Drop — as in, drop the above notion(s).

Hop — as in, hop right along to other ventures and venture-ers.

Now, before any further explanations of the title or of the above explanations, a quote to rivet in your head:

“We don’t make haphazard decisions about risks here at CPSC.”
Scott Wolfson, CPSC spokesman

Good. That sounds commendable enough to me. I mean, any reasonable person should be in favor of not making that kind of decision.

With no further introduction or commentary….

New Government Policy Imposes Strict Standards on Garage Sales Nationwide

Americans who slap $1 pricetags on their used possessions at garage sales or bazaar events risk being slapped with fines of up to $15 million, thanks to a new government campaign.

The “Resale Round-up,” launched by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, enforces new limits on lead in children’s products and makes it illegal to sell any items that don’t meet those limits or have been recalled for any other reason.

[…]

In order to comply, stores, flea markets, charities and individuals selling used goods — in person or online — are expected to consult the commission’s 24-page Handbook for Resale Stores and Product Resellers (pdf) and its Web site for a breakdown of what they can’t sell.

Violators caught selling anything on the enormous list face fines of up to $100,000 per infraction and up to $15 million for a related series of infractions.

Waddle that do for eBay, Craig’s List, Amazon, Roth’s Curiosity Corner, Anabaptist Bookstore, and your great aunt’s garage sale?

😯

Breaking Discovery: I was ready to publish this post. I decided to pause long enough to have a peek at the CPSC site. Here’s a quote:

CPSC’s Internet surveillance team
is monitoring
online retailers and auction sites
for sales of recalled and hazardous products.
CPSC 9 Aug 09 Press Release

Driving in Arizona

No, this isn’t to let you know where I am. Nor is it to post photos taken on an drive through Arizona.

The masked speeder: Photo-radar scofflaw is a beast at the wheel

Speed-camera photos of the man in the monkey and giraffe masks have generated lots of chuckles. But the cops aren’t laughing.

Dave VonTesmar, 47, started getting the $181.50 tickets last year, but it took Department of Public Safety officials several months to realize the same driver was repeatedly triggering speed cameras and refusing to pay the fines. By the time they did, more than 50 of the tickets had become invalid because the deadline for prosecution had passed.

[…]

In Arizona, people who get photo-enforcement tickets in the mail have four options: agree they were driving and pay the fine; say they weren’t driving and send in their driver’s license photo as proof; request a court date and fight the ticket; simply ignore the ticket because law enforcement can’t prove alleged violators received it. The ticket becomes invalid if a violator who ignores it isn’t served in person within three months.

That last provision is extremely interesting (and amazing) to me. So if I’m driving home to Oregon from a visit to Mexico and get in photo speeding ticket while transiting Arizona, I don’t have to pay it…unless they serve me the ticket in person?

And that’s the way their photo radar law is set up?

Well, anyway, the story continues:

VonTesmar, who said he simply drives with the flow of traffic, said that if the DPS does have surveillance photos of him on the road, it proves he’s not a danger to other drivers. If he were, the DPS would have pulled him over, he said.

Because the speed cameras begin snapping photos of drivers going 11 mph or more over the limit, the backlash against them has been fairly constant. Arizonans have used sticky notes, Silly String and even a pickax to sabotage the cameras.

I am very picky about staying within the speed limit. I believe that’s how Christians should drive. So the presence of photo radar cameras doesn’t affect my driving. Even so, something about their use just doesn’t seem right.

Oh. And if you were a law breaker and got a ticket, pay it.

PS: This guy works as a flight attendant for which airline? Southwest? Their stewards tend to be clowns. I think.

Oh…and another thing: To get to the full story, you’ll need to go to

Ireland Blasphemy Law

One of my friends from Hopewell Mennonite Church recently moved to Ireland. So this story caught my attention this morning:

Ireland’s new blasphemy law labeled return to Middle Ages

The Irish government plans to bring into force a new law in October that critics say is a return to medieval justice.

The legislation, aimed at providing judges with clear direction on the 1937 Constitution’s blasphemy prohibition, imposes a fine of up to 25,000 euros – about $39,000 – for anyone who “publishes or utters matter that is intentionally meant to be grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion.”

Police with a search warrant will be able to enter private premises and use “reasonable force” to obtain incriminating evidence.

New “Speed” Limit

I just learned that Mexico decriminalized small-scale drug possession:

Mexico decriminalized small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and heroin on Friday — a move that prosecutors say makes sense even in the midst of the government’s grueling battle against drug traffickers.

Prosecutors said the new law sets clear limits that keep Mexico’s corruption-prone police from shaking down casual users and offers addicts free treatment to keep growing domestic drug use in check.

“This is not legalization, this is regulating the issue and giving citizens greater legal certainty,” said Bernardo Espino del Castillo of the attorney general’s office.

The new law sets out maximum “personal use” amounts for drugs, also including LSD and methamphetamine. People detained with those quantities no longer face criminal prosecution.

Espino del Castillo says, in practice, small users almost never did face charges anyway.

I think this is dumb.

But I’ve been wrong before.

On the other hand, they have decriminalized small amounts of driving in excess of the posted highway speed limit. For which I’ve been glad.

But that kind of speed is different than the kind featured in the story above.

Don’t Be So Negative!

When the law says, “Do not kill,” is it presenting a negative or a positive?

Come now, that isn’t such a difficult question, is it? I mean, you see that not there, right? So that makes it a negative law.

Maybe; maybe not.

Interestingly, I’ve never heard anyone complaining about that law, “Oh, there you go being negative again. You just like to tell people what they can’t or shouldn’t do. Why can’t you be more positive? All this negativity is bad. Lighten up!” No, people don’t respond to “Do not kill” that way.

Do you know why not?

Because they realize that if that law keeps a potential killer from killing them, that law is extremely positive. In other words, they see a positive personal benefit in a “negative” law.

Now think of some other “negative” Biblical commands. For example:

“Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14).
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth” (Matthew 6:19).
“Speak not evil one of another” (James 4:11).

You won’t have to think for long before seeing that these are extremely positive despite sounding negative. Don’t allow anyone to mislead you!

(originally written in mid-2001 and posted here: Liberty, Not License)

Religious Freedom Exemption

If you’re interested in Oregon and/or in religious freedom legal issues and/or public schools, this will interest you.

A bill passed by the Oregon Legislature that broadens religious freedom in the workplace has prompted protests by some faith leaders because it exempts schools.

The bill requires employers to allow workers to wear certain clothing, grow beards and take certain days off to observe their religious practices. But it specifically carves out school districts in Oregon, one of two states that expressly forbid teachers from wearing religious clothing.

[…]

The bill, titled the “Oregon Workplace Religious Freedom Act” grants workers wide religious leeway as long as the activity, clothing or other practices don’t cause an undue hardship on the employer. Religious organizations typically applaud such measures.

But the school exemption has highlighted what some think is a glaring hole in Oregon’s efforts to expand religious freedoms.

[…]

Oregon has had a law on the books for decades that states: “No teacher in any public school shall wear any religious dress while engaged in the performance of duties as a teacher.” Pennsylvania has a similar law.

Oregon’s law was tested in the 1980s, when a Sikh teacher was suspended from her job as a Eugene special education teacher for wearing a white turban and white clothes to class. The case went before the Oregon Supreme Court, which upheld the suspension. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

I saw this night before last, saved it as a draft to post yesterday, and forgot.

Source: The Oregonian

My Car, My Castle?

I suppose back in the good old days, if I could buy a Model T, I could drive it.

Then the liberties began to be chipped away.

Licenses — We must have them in order to legally drive a motor vehicle.
Registration — Our motor vehicles must be registered with (and license plated by) the state.
Speed Limits — Do bicyclists and joggers have speed limits?
Fueling Up — In Oregon we’re not free to pump gasoline into our own vehicles.
Insurance — first, optional; then, liability mandatory.
Seat Belts — first, optional use; then, mandatory use
DEQ Tests — first, in metro areas; then, further and further out into the country
Fueling up II — As of July 1, topping off you fuel tank is illegal as well.
Cellphone Use — after the first of next year, I won’t be able to drive and talk on a hand-held device in Oregon. (That’s already the case in Washington and elsewhere.) I guess that will make it easier to shave, hold a cup of coffee, and drive.

I could give more examples, but I’ll ask some questions instead:

When will we have to start wearing helmets?
When will our passengers have to be quiet?
When will single-person (ie, driver-only) vehicles be mandated?
When will we not be allowed to listen to radios and other acoustic devices?

Oh well. I could just go back to walking.

I’ll just have to be careful to stay in my lane while crossing the street. 😯