Well that's a stretch

Chronicle article:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/09/EDGRJN7ATQ1.DTL&hw=jennifer+nelson&sn=001&sc=1000

The author, Jennifer Nelson, makes a stretch of reality in some of her arguments. Her premise is the government is trying to regulate everyday life but cannot fix the big stuff that we should expect them to fix. Generally, I'd agree with this statement.

It is a stretch that only pure bred dogs can be bred (SB1634), but I agree that government ought to stay out of this issue. The train is on the track, as I would say, and I don't think there will be many riders, yet... it is there. Point goes to Stupid Law.

She makes a point about lightbulbs in our homes (and elsewhere I would assume). Incandescent out by 2012, replaced by more expensive fluorescent bulbs. I hate fluorescent light. It is unpleasant and doesn't produce enough light to do anything by. But the market ought to win out not a law. Point goes to Stupid Law.

I totally disagree with Ms. Nelson on the trans-fat legislation issue. She says let us pay attention to our diet and pick and choose foods from restaurants that would be good for us. Well, how much lying has happened to us in the past? Alot. How many labels that say "trans-fat free" are like the "organic" labeling? Hey, the industry needs only meet a certain percentage of organic to be labeled "organic." Can you see the future with the trans-fat labeling thing? So, point goes to Good Law (being one that has the greater good as its focus).

Vaccinating girls for human papilloma virus (HPV) before they enter junior high school isn't reasonable. There isn't enough known about the vaccine yet. One day, perhaps. Vaccines can affect people in bad ways that sometimes are not warranted for a "shot-gun" approach. For instance, the over abundance of autistic kids after we began mandatory immunizations. I think tackling the issues around the dangers of vaccinations before mandating them for everyone should be first. Make the vaccine available and allow parents to decide to vaccinate or not. Point goes to Stupid Law (being a big brother, slippery slope kinda of thing here).

Ms. Nelson made comment on SB7, which outlaws smoking in your car with your child in the car. Duh! But people are going to do it. I don't want cops to have to be tasked with enforcing this. It makes there job more dangerous - it is true that people get quite upset when other people, in this case a cop, acts like a parent or interferes with there parental decisions. Stay out of the car, as we should stay out of homes. After all, there is no law that says you can't smoke in your home when a child is present (yet). I can see another issue here blooming: when would health care providers start making illnesses from second hand smoke your, or your parents, fault? Point goes to Stupid Law.

Ms. Nelson makes a great point - the California legislature is too cowardly to take on big issues; that is left up to citizens, or actually in these days, special interest groups, to do that with the initiatives that we see. Poorly written, the initiatives are cumbersome and make bad law. They make bad law mostly because the initiatives are knee-jerk emotional reactions to things that our legislature was too cowardly to tackle. What a circle (jerk).