Posted on 06/19/2012 7:21:39 AM PDT by 92nina
In this week’s Nanny State Update, not even the most trivial matters are too mundane to escape the attention of lawmakers, from sofas on citizens’ private porches to the songs played at your local kindergarten graduation ceremony. At the national level, 1,934 pages of regulations and notices were added to the federal register as 84 new rules went into effect last week covering everything from rural electricity to the interstate travel of captive elk.
Porch Sofa Fines Threaten Southern Comfort Living: One common southern tradition may no longer be acceptable in Durham, North Carolina where the city council just outlawed what some consider to be the South’s greatest design achievement -- the outdoor living room. The new law prohibits bringing any piece of upholstered furniture outside of the house. Hammocks and rocking chairs are still permitted, for the moment, but porch sofas and outdoor comfort are now a thing of the past in Durham.
New York Campuses Go Smoke Free: Only days after New York walked back restrictions on smoking in state parks, the Nanny State regulators were back in action banning smoking at all 64 of New York’s state colleges. The New York college system already strictly regulates where college students and faculty are allowed to smoke on campus, but now it will no longer be an option at all.
St. Louis Bans Local Brews from Festivals: Home brewers in St. Louis who made hundreds of gallons of beer for this past weekend’s St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival are going to have a lot of extra brew on their hands after the city banned them from participating on Monday. Home brews have been a staple at local festivals for years, but new city licensing requirements make it illegal for them to participate in the time-honored tradition of tapping the keg. Over a thousand gallons of freshly brewed beer will have to find a new venue this weekend as the Nanny State claims another casualty, and hopefully starts one hell of an illicit party.
Nanny State Clamps Down on Profanity: A few citizens in the small town of Middleborough, Massachusetts want to wash out their neighbors’ dirty mouths. Police in this town of 22,000 residents will now be issuing $20 dollar fines for swearing after 183 citizens voted to institute the city-wide ban. For the moment, the list of forbidden words will be entirely up to the discretion of local law enforcement who will also be in charge of collecting the fines and managing the funds, which are being dubbed the town’s “swear jar.”
What Are They Teaching Those Kids Anyways: Residents of New York City should be wondering what the local kindergartens are teaching their kids after one Brooklyn principal removed the song “Proud to Be an American” from a kindergarten graduation because she claimed it contained age-inappropriate lyrics. Instead, parents and their four-year-old children listened to Justin Bieber’s hit song “Baby” and its lurid depictions of teen romance while celebrating. As New York representative Michael Grimm put it, “When a Justin Bieber song is deemed an appropriate substitute for a song about patriotism and love of country, what message are we sending our youth?”
Not All is Lost: While the Nanny State gained ground in some areas of Massachusetts this week, the town council of Greenwich rejected a blanket leaf blower ban after a year of political wrangling. The town of Arlington, Massachusetts passed a similar ban several weeks ago, but public outcry in Greenwich overwhelmed the temptation to follow their example. Next fall, Greenwich’s residents will enjoy the small fruits of their victory as they decide how to best take care of their lawns.
Across the pond, a young Scottish girl and her legions of blog supporters prevailed against the school district censors and city council officials this week. After 9-year-old Martha Payne posted photos of her pitiful student lunches that went viral, local officials cracked down on her blogging by preventing her from photographing the school’s lunch offerings (the little girl had been rating her lunches using such metrics as "taste" and yes, "piece of hair"). Yet after tremendous backlash from her millions of supporters, the Argyll and Bute school council rescinded their decision. Martha’s photos have drawn international attention and her website, Never Seconds, has raised thousands of dollars for charities like Mary’s Meals.
Take this article and others I found to the fight to the Libs on their own turf; put the Left on the defensive at Digg and at Reddit and in Stumbleupon and Delicious
The first thing that I thought after reading this article is that the HOA Grass-measurer’s have taken over.
For some reason this also brought back a memory of a Cartoon. It had this businessman walking into the large office area of his business yelling at the employee’s for making too many long distance phone calls. One of his employees said “But Sir, we spend millions of dollar’s every week here.” The businessman got a reflective look on his face and said “I really don’t understand millions of dollars” And then he yelled “But I DO UNDERSTAND a $45 phone charge!”
The point is, that many people in charge just don’t get the big picture and what their actions do within it. But they DO understand the little piddling things that annoy them so much.
Can I still keep my washing machine on the front porch?
No surprise here. After decades of communist union teachers in K-12, followed by Marxist professors in our universities, why would we not expect an all powerful, all interfering, all intrusive government? After all government is good, private enterprise bad.
What is amazing though, is anyone with a few functioning brain cells can easily look through what history has not yet been washed by the communist at how many people are DEAD thanks to governments.
The stronger the government the more people dead. There is a direct connection yet again, thanks to the brainwashing in public schools, we are still cranking out kids who think government is the solution to every problem. Ah, you commie union teachers have done a great job pushing the agenda of the communist manifesto.
The right thing to do is to contact these brewers and offer to make the sacrifice and but up all that delicious beer.
When we visited my grandmother, one of my duties was to invert the cushions on the porch chairs & couch if a thunderstorm was approaching.
Maybe the nannies are afraid of killer mold spores growing out of wet outdoor upholstery.
Wow, pretty pathetic to ban local brewed beers in STL. Gee I wonder who may have pushed that ? Budweiser ? Big brand beers taste like crap and all I do are the small breweries.
That is the socialist solution. Not to improve their socialist culinary offerings - but to crack down on any that spread the information that they are substandard.
It would be of interest to me to see how much is spent per meal per student - it is probably something absolutely outrageous! The Scottish taxpayer probably pays a pretty penny for a lunch so abhorrent that they want to make it a crime to photograph it.
Come on Durham! Toilets aren’t upholstered! Give them something to really worry about!
I am starting to get the attitude, **I just don’t care if these idiot americans vote the jackass’s into office** they deserve what they get...
Come on Middleburough! Do like Ralphie’s father and say “Butterfinger” instead.
seems to me there was an article not long ago where some peaceful demonstrators—maybe Chicago—were arrested for possession of beer making equipment...beware homebrewers...
Yes. Many people forget about thousands of dollars they pay in taxes via payroll deduction but get excited over a lousy $300 refund. They accept ridiculously low dividends on thousands of dollars in savings but whine about a $1 ATM fee. If it is not an explicit bill it doesn’t hit their radar. If everyone got a monthly tax bill and had to write a check things would change awfully fast.
Busch’s fault!
Too many things to comment on, so I’ll pick one. Kids should bring their own damn lunch to school.
If your lawn furniture used to be your living room furniture...!
What a few have noted @ Anheiser Busch’s likely involvement - it’s not new:
http://www.newser.com/story/142953/flailing-anheuser-busch-tries-new-beers-intimidation.html
Those complaining about a furniture ban have obviously never seen Morgantown after a big win. Or a big loss.
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