That Free Speech stuff was nice while it lasted

47% want to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine for radio and television, and 31% want government regulations against bloggers. 

Lame.

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 02:34 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Lisa saves Illinois (from itself)

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is protecting the good people of the Land of Lincoln from the dangers of a product called "Meth Coffee" (which the article notes doesn't really, you know, contain any actual methamphetamine) because it "violates the Illinois Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practices by comparing itself to illegal drugs," and because it supposedly (horrors!) "glorifies drug use,"  by banning its sale throughout the state.

Which is actually a fairly stupid and pointless gesture, as it turns out:

The San Francisco-based makers of Meth Coffee said their product was designed strictly for sale online.

"(Meth Coffee) was never marketed or sold in stores in Illinois, and it is now no longer available online for purchase from, or shipment to, Illinois."...the company said in a statement.

Whew. Crisis averted. Illinois consumers can rest easy knowing that they're now unable to buy this not-actually-dangerous product which was never really meant to be sold there, anyway.  Way to go, Lisa!

Posted by: Sean M. at 02:13 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Yet another L.A. ban For Your Own Good™

Gee, who could have seen this coming?

Smoking is already banned in Los Angeles restaurants and bars, as well as parks and beaches. However, one Los Angeles City Council member wants to ban smoking from all public places, both inside and out.

[...]

"Wherever people congregate, or there is an expectation of people being present, smoking should be prohibited," said L.A. City Councilman Bernard Parks.

Parks says current restrictions are a patchwork put together by many city leaders.

"Greg Smith is talking specifically about parks, just as Jack Weiss talked specifically about beaches ... So we're saying there is a larger number of places, public places, where people congregate beyond these specific locations," said Parks.

Parks, who is also running for County Supervisor, is calling for a countywide measure for all unincorporated areas.

Parks favors a ban similar to Calabasas, where offenders are fined $500 and repeat offenders face jail time.

Well, ain't that just fuckin' great?

Look, somking is a nasty habit. I know because I'm a smoker. If I didn't smoke, I'd be a lot healthier and a lot wealthier. I know people don't like second hand smoke, too. That's fine. When I go out for a smoke in public, I try not to do it right around other people, especially little kids.

But you know what, Bernard? Tobacco is legal. Furthermore, we smokers pay a lot of taxes that the rest of you use for all sorts of things. We also go to places like bars and restaurants and concert venues, where we spend more money, generating more tax revenue. If you don't want us in L.A., maybe we'll spend that money elsewhere.

Put that in your pipe and...well...

Posted by: Sean M. at 09:45 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Attention California Morons!

Were you aware that our betters in the State Legislature are trying to pass a 25 cent per bag tax on plastic grocery bags?  According to this site, that's going to cost each of our families around 400 bucks per year!

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to tell all your friends and family (especially those who aren't as interested in politics as you are) about this travesty and urge them to contact their State Senators and Assembly members that this kind of punitive crap, designed to legislate plastic bags out of existence, is unacceptable.  We put up with enough of Sacramento's bullshit as it is.

Posted by: Sean M. at 01:10 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Garbage Day!

Told you this Nanny State nonsense would make its way to our shores.  San Francisco is going to start mandating that serfs separate their waste into different types of recyclable and non-recyclable bins.  Sanitation workers will be inspecting their bins and they can be fined up to $1000 for not complying to the diktats of Big Brother. 

Here's just part of what happens with these idiot Nanny Laws.  I immediately thought of the problems that these idiotic nanny laws are causing in Britain, in particular the abuses of power.  Of note is a story of a 96 year old veteran, a Desert Rat in WWII, who was denied garbage collection for two weeks for the unspeakable crime of putting a ketchup bottle in the blue bin, when it belonged in the green one.

Then there's this, some guy has the collectors refuse to take his garbage twice because of frivolous trash ordinances, so he wheeled his bin to city hall and dumped his trash in city hall.  This sort of nonsense is already here, and we have to keep it contained to Soviet enclaves like San Francisco. 

Obligatory,

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 10:20 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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First They Came For The Bacon...

By now, making fun of the Nanny Staters in Europe has become par for the course. But this time, those bastards have gone too far. They want to regulate bacon! Those nitwits want to lower the salty goodness in a slab of that processed pork.

But Big Bacon in England isn't going to go down without a fight.

But ham and bacon processors say the move will reduce the shelf life of products, and put customers off.  A 10-slice packet of ham contains just under two teaspoons of salt.

Claire Cheney, director-general of the Provision Trade Federation, representing leading processed meats companies and supermarkets said the targets were a potential health risk.

She told The Grocer magazine: 'If you have not got sufficient preservative in a product like ham you get pockets where the salt levels are too low to prevent the formation of the botulism toxin.

'This will force us to reduce the shelf life further and with that come serious food safety concerns, not least the risk of botulism.'

This is a travesty. We cannot let this assault on the greatest foodstuff to ever exist to go uncontested. And besides, that whole botulism thing is a bit of a downer as well.

Posted by: eddiebear at 10:53 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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