Here’s an interesting consequence of reactionary legislation. Many of you will recall what I think of as last year’s Summer of Lead, where some 45 million toys were recalled over concerns about lead poisoning. It didn’t seem that a day could pass without another breathless press report about Chinese-manufactured toys that just might/possibly/could make American kids sick. Okay, I should probably be a little less breezy about it, as toy safety and lead poisoning are both serious matters. That said, it doesn’t appear that the politicians who were happy to slap together a legislative response took it seriously enough:
The law (CPSIA) to protect American children from lead and pthalate tainted mass produced Chinese toys is being used as a bludgeon by the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) to force toy stores to take all untested toys off shelves by February 10. The CPSIA goes into effect in February but the CPSC has not exempted handcrafted American and European toys made from natural materials and safe coatings. Individual toymakers cannot afford to pay for thousands of dollars of product testing designed by Congress for mass produced Chinese toys. Small shop owners cannot afford to test their inventory. Owners are threaten with $100,000 fines.
No more hand-carved dolls from the roadside stands around Pigeon Forge, TN? Probably not what everyone had in mind. Or maybe it wasn’t quite unintended - I’m sure Mattel and Hasbro had lots of input on the bill. I’m sure they’d be happy to supply any shop with certified toys.
here. Except for the part where no one explains to me how a card check preserves rights better than a secret ballot. I’m entirely sympathetic to the majority of the changes EFCA would effect, but I remain unconvinced about the central aim of the bill. That its proponents seem to skim over it every time it’s discussed makes me all the more sceptical.
A friend passed this along yesterday, and every time I watch it, I like it more. It’s Amanda Palmer’s Runs in the Family, and what you’re seeing is a terribly well done fanvid for it.
I think it pairs well with a video clip that Amanda Palmer herself posted on her site a few days ago. It’s of Bill Hicks (personally dear to me for his “looks like we’ve got ourselves a reader!” line) talking about what he wants to hear, in front of an audience that doesn’t really seem to get it:
According to multiplereports, the Treasury Department has allocated nearly $10 billion more in funds from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) than Congress has officially released, “effectively making more promises than it can afford to keep.”
More, if you care to laugh/cry a bit. Whenever I see things like this, I think back to my work with a Federal grants program in the mid-90s, where service programs focusing on unimportant little things like classroom assistants, community policing, and homeless shelters ground to an immediate halt because Congress was busy playing budget politics. Sure, we knew that the money was coming one way or another, but not a single program received a commitment nor did a dollar flow until it was actually authorized by law. Of course, it was only millions of dollars at issue, and didn’t benefit the right kind of people.
In (probably less than) two years, it will be commonplace to hear Republicans accuse the Obama Administration of “breaking” the US military. There will be howling and whining about Democrats not supporting the military Nine times out of ten, it will come loudest from the Congressman representing the district where the Admin has cancelled yet another ridiculous weapons system. But this meme of Democratic neglect of the military will be constantly repeated, with little challenge from a press that doesn’t understand or care too much about the truth of it. My advance response? Is in this story:
A veteran who has been out of the military for 15 years and recently received his AARP card was stunned when he received notice he will be deployed to Iraq. The last time Paul Bandel, 50, saw combat was in the early 1990s during the Gulf War.
Must have some super specialized skills for them to need to do this, right? I mean, they wouldn’t just call up a 50 year old just for his warm body?
The last missile system the veteran was trained to operate is no longer used by the military.
That’s where we are, with the US military, at the end of eight years of Republican rule. Dragging 50 year old men - who have already honorably served - out of their lives and sending them into a war that should never have been started. And no, the war isn’t over:
Two US soldiers died on Wednesday from injuries sustained in attacks in Baghdad and executed president Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, the US military said.
[ . . . ]
The deaths take to 4,220 the number of US military personnel who have died in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, according to an AFP tally based on the independent website www.icasualties.org.
And that is the state of the US military, courtesy of Republican policies and politics.
I’ve held a deep dislike for AirTran since it was named ValuJet and dumping people into the Everglades. Every contact I’ve ever had with the airline reinforces my notion that it is run by the cheapest and most incompetent labor force it can scrounge up. Which leads to incredibly stupid things like this scene that unfolded at National yesterday:
A Muslim family removed from an airliner Thursday after passengers became concerned about their conversation say AirTran officials refused to rebook them, even after FBI investigators cleared them of wrongdoing.
Atif Irfan said federal authorities removed eight members of his extended family and a friend after passengers heard them discussing the safest place to sit and misconstrued the nature of the conversation.
Irfan, a U.S. citizen and tax attorney, said he was “impressed with the professionalism” of the FBI agents who questioned him, but said he felt mistreated when the airline refused to book the family for a later flight.
Because an organization can’t be run entirely on stupidity, I presume that the issue eventually made its way up to someone with a little sense (if still completely lacking in tact), resulting in the airline issuing a statement that concluded with:
The nine passengers involved were all offered full refunds and may fly with AirTran Airways again after having been released from questioning and cleared by the law enforcement officials.
Yeah, probably not.
Update: Per the comments, they found someone at AirTran who managed to grind out an apology on behalf of the airline. Of course, they try to avoid responsibility and hide behind the usual security excuse:
“We regret that the issue escalated to the heightened security level it did on New Year’s Day, but we trust everyone understands that the security and the safety of our passengers is paramount and cannot be compromised[.]“
The part that is entirely AirTran’s fault had nothing to do with security, and everything to do with AirTran’s utterly ridiculous refusal to let the family rebook for the next flight.
Washcycle has a nice little summary of the projects DC area cyclists can expect to see completed or get underway in 2009. It will be nice to (finally) have the Wilson Bridge open to cyclists, and the Shirlington Underpass will be of great practical use.
