Tyranny of Good Intentions

Proposal could put seat belts on dogs

"Where Fido finds a breath of fresh air, Marc McCann, 11, sees a road hazard."

"The Green Tree boy helped a state lawmaker craft a proposal that would make it illegal for dogs and other pets to stick their heads out the car window, which McCann says is a danger to animals and a distraction to drivers. "

Thanks kid. Go away.

This kid is 11 years old. Does anyone really believe that he is acting on his own? In my opinion it is contemptible to use a child like this as a front for an agenda.

How many laws do we need to govern us? Worse, how many laws do we need to protect us from ourselves? My answer is, none.

My dog loves to ride with his head out the window. Is he at slightly greater risk? Of course he is. Life is involves risk.
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Bush stands firm on Kyoto pact

"President Bush yesterday stood fast in his rejection of the Kyoto climate treaty,...."

Its contemptible how some people - ahem - pretend that Bush is somehow the obstacle to the ratification of the Kyoto Treaty. Kyoto is dead. First of all the Senate recognized that its an economic treaty and rejected it 98-0 long before Bush came into office. Second, European nations are not and will never in compliance. Third, nothing is required of nations like China which is a major polluter.

Clinton spitefully pulled Kyoto out of the waste bin and left it on the President's desk before he left office. If I might wax metaphoric, Bush walked into the Oval Office, smelled Kyoto's corpse mouldering on his desk and had it decently buried.

I recall in the 80s as a kid reading predictions that carbon dioxide would be demonized as a pollution emission since real toxic pollutants were under control. At the time I dismissed the idea as stupid. Everyone knew CO2 is plant food, right? Now I know better. One cannot underestimate the willingness of self serving interests to cynically deceive and the willing gullibility of some segments of the population.

No amount of nagging is going to change America's position on Kyoto. Even after Bush is out of office, even if Kerry had won office in 2004, Kyoto will be and would never have been ratified.

In this case I DON'T believe that intentions of the pro-Kyoto advocates are good.