Monday, August 24, 2009

The toy police.

"Those who resell recalled children's products are not only breaking the law, they are putting children's lives at risk," said Inez Tenenbaum, the recently confirmed chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The crackdown affects sellers ranging from major thrift-store operators such as Goodwill and the Salvation Army to everyday Americans cleaning out their attics for yard sales, church bazaars or — increasingly — digital hawking on eBay, Craigslist and other Web sites.

I'm trying to remember when I signed up for this crap.

There is apparently no corner of your life into which the government doesn't feel justified poking its regulatory snout, from your light bulbs to your toilet tank to whether or not the teddy bears at your garage sale have too much arsenic in their improperly sewn-on button eyes.


(H/T to SurvivalBlog.)

41 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congress signed this last year and has shown zero interest in reviewing it.

Anonymous said...

"The Toy Police are inside of my head."

Apu

Tam said...

"They're going to arrest me now, oh noooo!"

Anonymous said...

They aren't going to arrest anyone...the threats are too draconian, all the old toys and things will simply go the landfill.

But remember kids, reuse and recycle!

staghounds said...

O NO!!!

Lives!!!

At Risk!!!!

Chiiiiildrennnn!!!!!

Quick, here's some liberty, take as much as you need!

Funny, no matter the problem, giving my liberty to someone in government seems to be the solution.

At least, that's what the people who will get to do my choosing for me tell me.

I'm sure that's just coincidence.

Steve Skubinna said...

Imagine how secure and safe you'll be when a complete serf, staghound. Makes you get all misty, doesn't it?

Tango Juliet said...

Somewhere Mustapha Mond is smiling.

atlharp said...

Why even bother following laws begin with? I think if Congress makes stupid regulations like this the best course of action is to just ignore them. If indicted- Jury Nullification. I know in practical terms how this sounds, but I do think it can realistically achieved.

wolfwalker said...

There is apparently no corner of your life into which the government doesn't feel justified poking its regulatory snout,

No offense intended, but ... did it really take you this long to figure that out? I've known it since I was in college and took a class on constitutional law. Modern constitutional interpretation can be summarized as "the federal government can do anything it damn well pleases in the name of 'promoting the general welfare' and 'regulating interstate commerce,' and you can't stop it." The system of "checks and balances" that the Founders envisioned was dismantled decades ago.

Crustyrusty said...

But...

But...

But...

It's for the Chilllllllldrennnnnnnnnn!

Anonymous said...

Our local library system sold hundreds of beautiful, undamaged children's books recently by the pound. I wonder if this legislation had something to do with it, since many had copyright dates in the early 1980s. Not print dates - copyright dates.

It could be true, true and unrelated, but still . . .

milton f said...

Hey, here's an ideah:
Why don't we ask our rulers (or is it Rulers?) if we can haz a "Cash for Dangerous Children's Toys" program?

That way, we could make those greedy rich people pay to rid the world of all these dangers, that us uneducated, unclean, unruly parents that never pay any attention to what our children are doing might allow the kids to endanger themselves with.

While we are at it, maybe a federal program to pay the unemployed to go around throwing rocks through the windows of (still operating) businesses, so we can improve the outlook for the window manufacturing business.

(Atiharp- I am kinda leaning your way)

Anonymous said...

And now all the poison toys that are now NOT being (re)sold, will be thrown away, to pollute the local landfill and trash dump.

B Woodman
III-per

Ed Rasimus said...

When toys are outlawed, only children will have toys...or not.

What Would Santa Do?

Marja said...

And they are destroying history, too...

R.L. Hunter said...

"And now all the poison toys that are now NOT being (re)sold, will be thrown away, to pollute the local landfill and trash dump.

B Woodman"

Right on top of the cash for clunkers vehicles that low income people could be driving.

og said...

"I'm trying to remember when I signed up for this crap."

That would be when you refused to hogtie all the idiots in your neighborhood to keep them from voting for the Won. Try a litte harder next time.

My strategy has always involved plenty of Mendecino Greeno distributed the day before.

"What, super wednesday? Ok, I'll be there right after I finish this bowl"

theirritablearchitect said...

"...That would be when you refused to hogtie all the idiots in your neighborhood to keep them from voting for the Won. Try a litte harder next time..."

Ooooh, so close.

El Capitan said...

They can have my steel-tipped armor-piercing lawn darts when they pry them from my cold dead hands!!!

Rabbit said...

That Fall Congressional Guillotine Reunion Tour just keeps looking better every day.

It goes up to 11!

Regards,
Rabbit.

perlhaqr said...

Og: Sadly, this legislation passed under the W.

I don't think it matters. Yes, ok, President Zero is the next tooth in the ratchet. But it's not really a surprise, is it?

Until we put people like *you* (and yes, I know we've squabbled here, but I'd still rather have you in Congress over anyone currently there except Ron Paul) and Tam and Kevin Baker and Chris or Mel or hell, even me, we're going to just keep walking up the teeth of that ratchet.

Eventually the strap will be tight enough to cut off circulation entirely, and we all die.

Joy!

Jenny said...

Why Tam - you signed up for it by driving on the gov't maintained roads, going to a gov't school, and not being invaded 'cause of a gov't army.

What, you didn't read the fine print on the Social Contract?

I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further

Bram said...

What f*cking law is this? There are so f*cking many I can't keep track. We used to assume only the most obvious harmful activites were illegal - now every damn thing is against some law.

Also, where the f*ck in the Constitution does it give Congress this authority?

Billy Beck said...

It's the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, Bram, and it was that fucking idiot Bush who signed it.

So much for the idiot partisans.

Fucking idiots.

staghounds said...

People use that word so often, Do you really imagine that Commissioner Tenenbaum or most of the other nut and bolt safety Tsars are getting all that much?

I for one believe the opposite, they are such interferers because they are NOT.

og said...

Bush may have signed it but didnt we already have a dem house and senate by then? this didnt happen in a vacuum

Bram said...

Billy - I don't care who signed the fucking bill - it isn't Constitutional.

Unix-Jedi said...

I've made 2 political contributions so far in my life.

The first was to Thune, to help get Daschle out of the Senate.

The second was to DeMint, once I found out who he was running again.

At the time, I knew little about DeMint, but I knew a lot more about Tenenbaum. We've met, albeit briefly, a few times.

After turning the SC Department of Education into a (complete) oxymoron, I'm sure she felt the CPSC to be the perfect place to continue her crusade to prove why limited government is required to avoid putting power into some people's hands.

og said...

Bush did have an aversion to using his veto pen like nobody else. But he signed a lot of crap, I think, because of the political struggle which would have resulted in him not signing. Doesn't make it right, still.

Tam said...

I think now that all is said and done, Florence King's derisive term for Dubya during the '00 primaries has shown to be Truth: "Lyndon Baines Bush".

og said...

Painfully, that's true. The clintons mostly governed more to the right than did W. Never thought I'd look with nostalgia on the Clinton administration. Plus the clintons did more to advance the cause of conservatism than anyone before.

Maybe not since, though.

George said...

Although I can't imagine we don't, I'm going to say that particular piece of ass hattedness is absent fror the Great White North.

I was in one of our food banks the other day. In one corner of the waiting area, there is a large wooden box ... full of used/surplus toys. Most of them are stuffies ... and I know that a lot of kids have a little better time of it because of those donations.

Yea ... yeah ... the children. I only wish the do-gooders would tend to their own, leaving us alone.

Regards.

wv = werma

Reminds me of a Billy Cyrus song!

Anonymous said...

Seeing as you mentioned it, I was watching the sports channel while I was out for some chow the other night. One of those lumberjack sports shows came on, and there was a scene where the three-year-old son had a little tiny (dull) axe and a log to play with, and the seven-year-old had a proper one and a log of his own. They were both going to town, and it was... comforting to know that somewhere there are still people who haven't freaked right the fuck out.

Jim

staghounds said...

We HAVE limited government! As in,

"Billy won't be going to regular school.

He's, you know, limited."

Ken said...

What, you didn't read the fine print on the Social Contract?

I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.

Jenny wins the thread.

Whilst adjusting my tinfoil beanie, I'll also innocently ask "Cui bono?"

Remind me...who is it holds north of $700 BN in Treasury debt, and presumably would like to get at least some of it back?

Will said...

They ARE charging people for violations of this stupid law. There are so many things wrong with the way it's written, it's amazing. Hmmm, Congress, riiight, maybe not so much...
Anyway, you can be in violation even if there is NO lead content, and proving it doesn't change anything, you're still guilty. Think the article was in Time Magazine?

wv: thili Yep, sure is

ibex said...

Jenny wins the thread, indeed.

I'm so using that one. Hell, I may even make a clip of that scene and keep it on my iPod, for extra effect when debating lefties.

I hope that counts as "fair use" under the DMCA.

Billy Beck said...

"Billy - I don't care who signed the fucking bill - it isn't Constitutional."

Oh, yeah? Well, who cares?

How many divisions does the Constitution have?

Get the picture?

Owen said...

Is this th same Inez Tenenbaum that was the head of the Department of Education in SC?

Tam said...

Looks that way.

She's bad, and now she's nationwide.

og said...

"She's bad, and now she's nationwide."

Oddly enough, I'm smoking luckys and wearing nylons.