Category: Nanny State

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Nanny in Pasadena

On Tuesday July 19th the Pasadena Environmental Advisory Commission had a public hearing on a proposal to ban the use of plastic bags in the city.

This is the Nanny State mentality on Hyper-drive.  It is bad enough to ban plastic bags but to implement a charge for paper is the state playing favorites in a battle that should be fought in the marketplace.  If there is a disposal cost to plastic bags add it on don’t ban them.

Here are a few facts that sensible people should use to defeat the plastic bag ban:

  • Reusable bags are unhygienic.  What was spilled in them before you put them on the checkout conveyor?  You wouldn’t reuse ziplock bags
  • Charging for papers bags is a tax on the convenience shopper.  It will unfairly impact the poor who tend to be less organized.
  • What will we use to pick up dog poop and scoop cat litter if there are no more plastic bags?
  • The bags that consumers use represent less than 10% of the total packaging that end up in landfills.  The rest is boxes, cartons and plastic liners etc.
  • In the margin it will cause people to shop in sensible town like Arcadia and Glendale where they are free to choose the packaging they want.

Note to Pasadena City Council people: How you vote on this one could be an issue in the next election.

My previous posts about the Nanny State

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Plastic Bag Ban Fails

Even the Democrats in the California Legislature couldn’t bring themselves to vote for this Nanny State Ban on Plastic Bags.  The LA Times thinks it was defeated by plastic industry lobbying.  I think it was defeated by millions of people taking a stand for a convenient product that does no more harm than many others.  Anyway without plastic bags how would we pick up dog poop?  My previous story on this Nanny State overreach.

Leave us alone.

Note to California Assembly:

“Don’t use the power of government to force us to live the way you choose.”

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Nanny and the Cell Phone

While driving it is legal to eat, talk to passengers even put on make up or comb your hair.  But it is against the law to talk on your cell phone.  Why?  It seems that the Nanny State wants to micromanage what you do while you are driving your car.  This kind of behavior by legislatures will turn us all into libertarians.  I can’t  decide whether I’m from the “leave me alone wing” of the Republican party or the “leave me alone wing” of the Democrat party.

Gratuitous picture of Lillian’s new car.

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Burka Ban Nanny

In France this week they are getting ready to ban wearing burkas in public.  Isn’t this a Nanny State act by the right.  Telling people what they can and can’t wear is the state intruding into an area that it should leave alone.

Photo Credit for this redesigned Burka

A test:  If a government wanted to ban women wearing pants would we consider it okay.  Probably not.  It is like Jimmy Carter telling me to turn down my thermostat and wear a sweater.  Except he tried to use moral suasion not pass a law.

I’m not a fan of burkas or the ideology that would make women wear them but in my opinion this is a matter of taste and should not be legislated.  Leave us alone.

All of the NANNY STATE stories

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Nanny State History: Protecting Children

Years ago some children were killed on bikes.  So the governments, state and federal, passed laws that required children to wear helmets when they rode bicycles.  The laws were of course supported by helmet manufacturers but they had unintended consequences.  The laws were fought by the folks who oppose government imposed rules but in this case they lost.

What were the results.  Parents perceived that if a helmet was required to ride a bike then riding a bike must be dangerous so; many less children’s bicycles were sold.  And as a result many less children could enjoy the freedom of riding around.

Later they passed laws that required adults to wear bicycle helmets and since the state had now taken responsibility for protecting children we now have taken teeter-totters and merry-go-rounds out of playgrounds and they are working on removing the swings.   Leave us alone.

All of the NANNY STATE stories

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Nanny Bags

No surprise that California is the source of this Nanny State story.  AB 1998 would ban plastic single use bags from grocery stores and make the markets charge customers for paper bags if they forgot their reusable bags.  You can read a lot more about it here

This is the Nanny State mentality on Hyper-drive.  It is bad enough to ban plastic bags but to implement a charge for paper is the state playing favorites in a battle that should be fought in the marketplace.

Here are a few facts that sensible people could use to defeat the plastic bag ban:

  • Reusable bags are unhygienic.  What was spilled in them before you put them on the checkout conveyor.  You wouldn’t reuse ziplock bags
  • Charging for papers bags is a tax on the convenience shopper.  It will unfairly impact the poor who tend to be less organized.
  • What will we use to pick up dog poop and scoop cat litter if there are no more plastic bags?
  • The bags that consumers use represent less than 10% of the total packaging that end up in landfills.  The rest is boxes, cartons and plastic liners etc.

Note to Nanny State Legislators; “Government is a blunt instrument.  Don’t use it to micromanage people behavior.”

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Nanny Vending

This Nanny Report came from alert Swcamborne reader Stephanie M.  It seems that San Francisco has banned regular sodas from vending machines on city property.  Mayor Gavin Newsom implemented the policy by executive order a few months ago and it is now taking effect. Read the story in the SF Chronicle Mayor Newsom thinks that we should have less sugar in our diets and that he can use the mechanism of the state to force us to adjust.

Newsom tried to run for Governor in California in the Spring but he found little support.  I wonder why?

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Nanny State Alert

California is talking about banning trans fats in foods served in Restaurants.  I smell Nanny State.

A city in Northern California is talking about banning toys in kids meals.  Nanny State Alert.

A friend asked me; Why doesn’t the government do something about the pension crisis or the entitlements problem?

My answer: For a Politician it is far easier to be the Nanny than it is to be the Responsible Adult.

I’m collecting “Nanny State” data points.  If you have some send them in.

More Nanny News

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Boiled Wood Restaurant

Here is an idea whose time has come:

Boiled Wood

The PC Restaurant

Nanny State Approved

Coming soon to somewhere in Southern California

  • No Trans Fats
  • Strictly Vegetarian
  • Low Salt
  • No Fried Food
  • Teflon Free Kitchen
  • Low Calorie
  • High Fiber
  • Carbon credits with every order
  • All wood from sustainable forests.
  • Fair trade certified
  • A Prius only parking lot

In fact BOILED WOOD is so environmentally and politically correct and that just thinking about eating here will make you glow with self-righteous pride.