Thoughts

I have been asked ... what do you want (or not want) from the government and / or your representatives to the Legislative Branch, given your political views? So, over the next day or so, I shall look inwardly and try to say what I believe.

I would like for the government to:
1- maintain a strong military
2- keep the highways in good shape
3- have a strong and fair judiciary that looks out for citizens and not well heeled breakers of the law
4- protect our borders and prosecute people who enter this country illegally or stay here illegally after their visas, etc run out
5- take care of our country's interests throughout the world

I would like for the government to stop:
1- Loaning money to every country in the world .. even some who do not need it, ... but not taking care of folks at home
2- Involving themselves with every little facet of daily life.
3- Telling me what to eat, how to live, where to go .. unless it harms or seriously inconvieniences someone else.

It is not the governments business if I wear a seat belt, or a motorcycle helmet, or decent shoes. It is not their business if I smoke (I don't), or drink, or eat fattening foods. It is not their business if I worship or whom I worship.

I understand that this is very simplistic, but unless I write a full blown theses, I must remain simplistic.

Another matter ....
There are so many warning labels around these days we're starting to ignore them. Your
computer keyboard "can" cause carpal tunnel. Your monitor "may" cause eye strain. Funny newsletters "could" cause you to blow coffee through your nose. When everything has a warning label, how will we know when we REALLY need to pay attention to a warning of something serious?
(Tip: a sign blaring "WARNING! Be Sure to Read All Warning Signs!" won't help.)

WHY are there warnings everywhere? Because manufacturers are trying to reduce their legal liability -- they're hoping not to be sued by people who don't seem to have any remnant of common sense.

And it's not just companies trying to cover their butts: governments are adding to the clutter too. The doors at every supermarket in California are plastered with "warnings" which supposedly inform consumers that certain foods have "chemicals known to the State of
California to cause cancer." I remember rolling my eyes when the sign for saccharin went up, but since then it's gotten worse: Now it's mercury. What foods have added mercury in them? None. But seafood has it naturally -- and darn it, people need to be WARNED!

It's all mandated by Proposition 65, more formally known as California's "Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986". Since the ballot proposition was passed by voters, the list of chemicals requiring warning signs has ballooned to 750. (Yet this "Safe Drinking
Water" law exempts public water works from having to post warnings.) Efforts to reduce the sign requirements to only cover things people REALLY need to know about have been blocked. The result: no one really sees them anymore -- not the goofy ones, and not the IMPORTANT ones.

But don't think it's just those wacky Californians. The situation nationwide has gotten so ridiculous that, just like I have plenty of dumb lawsuits to report on, others have plenty of dumb warning labels to hold up for ridicule. Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch has a "Wacky Warning Labels" competition each year for the dumbest warning labels. Some of the ones that have NOT actually won include:

1) a pan that warns, "Ovenware will get hot when used in oven."
2) a cocktail napkin with an arty map on it that cautions, "Not to be used for navigation."
3) a kitchen knife with the label, "Never try to catch a falling knife."
4) a heat gun and paint remover that produces temperatures of 1,000 degrees and warns users, “Do not use this tool as a hair dryer”
5) Texas gets an honorable mention for a warning label found on a bottle of dried bobcat urine made to keep rodents and other pests away from garden plants. It says: “Not for human consumption.”

With those losers, imagine the ones that actually win.

“Warning labels are a sign of our lawsuit-plagued times,” said Robert B. Dorigo Jones, M-LAW president. “An unpredictable legal system – in which judges allow anyone to file a lawsuit on almost any theory – has created a need for product makers to plaster wacky warnings on everything. When judges see it as their job to dismiss cases that are rooted in frivolous theories, we’ll see fewer wacky labels and more fairness in the courts.”

Anyone who brings a frivolous lawsuit should have to shoulder both sides legal fees lpus the cost of the proceedings. If you do not have enough common sense to know that there are dangers out there ... like hot coffee is 'hot', products are to be used with some semblance of common sense ... then you need to die young and suffer. The gene pool needs cleaning.