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Welcome to REASON
Express, the weekly e-newsletter from REASON magazine. REASON Express is
written by Washington-based journalist Jeff A. Taylor and draws on the
ideas and resources of the REASON editorial staff. For more information on
REASON, visit our Web site at www.reason.com.
Send your comments about REASON Express to Jeff A. Taylor (jtaylor@reason.com)
and REASON Editor-in-Chief Nick Gillespie (gillespie@reason.com).
REASON Express
August 7, 2001
Vol. 4 No. 32
1) The Senate Gets Safety-Minded
2) Canada Ablaze Over Smoking
3) Hey, Good Lookin'. Wanna See Your Credit Report?
4) Quick Hits
- - Safety Dance - -
There might not be a dime's worth of difference between Democrats and
Republicans, but there is probably at least a nickel's worth. And those
few
cents provide enough of a margin to add up to some real policy
differences.
Democratic rejection of President Bush's choice to run the Consumer
Product
Safety Commission (CPSC) is one ironclad example. The Senate Commerce
Committee voted 12-11 against Mary Sheila Gall for confirmation as
chairwoman of the CPSC.
The Committee's reluctance to confirm Gall arises from her rejection of
the
idea that consumers are always blithering idiots constantly waylaid by
shady
products churned out by greedy big business. Exhibit A in the campaign
against her was her unwillingness to ban baby bath-seats that nanny-staters
said
tricked parents into putting their children in danger. Gall voted against
such
a ban as a member of the CPSC.
Bath-seat ban proponents don't actually mean the seats tricked parents
into
bathing their kids. Their beef is that the seats do not fully and
completely
remove all risk from the operation. And as a risk-less society is a good
society, it follows that Ms. Gall must be a very bad person indeed.
Bush could go ahead and show he stands against such nonsense by appointing
Gall to the post while Congress is out of town. But he has repaired to his
Texas ranch and seems unlikely to do anything that would contravene the
will
of the Senate.
Be sure to drop him a line after his CPSC starts banning labor-saving
devices
left and right.
http://www.dallasnews.com/national/4345
47_consumer_03nat.html
*************************************************
- - Smoked Class - -
Call it the tale of two tokes. Canada has become fairly schizophrenic in
its
handling of smokers depending on what they smoke.
Health Minister Allan Rock says he has an "open mind" regarding
decriminalizing marijuana as the country moves to set up a wide-ranging
medical marijuana program. The first official crop of
government-sanctioned
marijuana is being grown in an abandoned mine.
A special legislative committee will soon begin debate on further changes
to
pot laws with all options--including legalization--on the table.
Contrast that with a new law that went into effect July 31 in Ottawa.
Tobacco
smokers face a $5,000 fine for repeat offenses in bars, restaurants, and
other
places of public accommodation like baseball games. Court challenges
likely
loom for the law.
The strange thing is that while debate on the pot issue seems to be at
least
familiar with science and the pros and cons of marijuana smoking, the
campaign
against tobacco features Dark Ages zeal that willingly ignores the facts
of
the matter.
If pot smoking were legal, would it face the same restrictions? Would bong
water be classified as a toxic waste? Stay tuned.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/national/01
0803/5032532.html
http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?
/news/2001/08/01/smoking010801
************************************************
- - Enemy Within - -
With jurisdictions from Tampa to San Diego debating face-scanning cameras
or remote-controlled photo radar, police in Michigan provide a useful
reminder of
what can happen when tools of surveillance are delivered to the state.
It turns out that over the past five years, more than 90 Michigan police
officers, dispatchers, federal agents, and security guards used the
state's Law Enforcement Information Network (LEIN) to do things that would
land a private citizen in serious trouble.
Stuff like running a license plate on cute woman they spot--or using the
system to track former spouses or lovers. Stalking, in other words.
In one case, sheriff's deputies ran the plates of cars sporting bumper
stickers of the candidate running against their boss in a Democratic
primary. The candidate claims his support dried up after word of the
surveillance leaked out. One deputy was later suspended, but his boss won
the election.
It is virtually certain that the new methods of surveillance coming around
will be abused in similar ways. If running a "plate for a date"
is common, imagine how popular it will be to track a looker's comings and
goings at public venues the better to "bump" into her later.
http://www.freep.com/news/mich/lein31_
20010731.htm
************************************************
QUICK HITS
- - Quote of the Week - -
"One popped down right in front of me. At least it wasn't
grenades." North Carolina state Rep. Bob Hensley (D) after some 600
anti-tax protestors, calling themselves the Tar Heel Tea Party, descended
on the state capitol to
toss tea bags at legislators debating a $600 million tax hike.
http://www.newsobserver.com/wednesda
y/front/Story/805949p-803944c.html
- - Home on the Rise - -
A U.S. Education Department survey finds that 850,000 of the nation's 50
million children are homeschooled with the number expected to top a
million
next year. A better education was the top reason given by respondents for
choosing to home-school. The average homeschooled student was also found
to
have two or more siblings.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,3
1232,00.html
- - Fish Tale - -
Four firefighters who died in a blaze in Okanogan National Forest in
Winthrop,
Washington, last month had a request for a heli-drop of water delayed for
several hours to make sure fish from a nearby stream wouldn't be harmed.
The
Chewuch River is home to federally protected species of salmon and trout,
which meant a Forest Service biologist had to be consulted before
helicopters
could use water from it.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,3
1019,00.html
- - Site Unseen - -
Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.) has introduced a bill to protect school
Web
sites from hackers. As worded, unsolicited email sent to a schoolteacher
care of the site could be construed as a federal crime to be investigated
by the
U.S. Secret Service.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,12
83,45752,00.html
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Later,
JAT
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