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Why don't they just ban everything and be done with it?
Some New York City officials have proposed a requirement of a police permit to own an air pollution detector or a geiger counter. Why? Well, if people use them, they might detect something, guess that it was terrorism, and flip out and cause a public panic. Hasn't happened to date, but you never know when it might.
When one councilman asked why groups testing for pollutants in schools couldn't be exempted, the reply was "It becomes a very slippery slope, and it would then be possible for many other entities to sort of drive things through that loophole."
Hat tip to Mechanic...
Comments
This according to Wikipedia: In 1633, Galileo was convicted of heresy and sentenced to house arrest for the rest of his life for daring to support Copernicanism, that is, believing the earth revolves around the sun. In 1600, another Copernican Giordano Bruno was prosecuted in Rome and was burned at the stake as a heretic. Maybe the homeless can warm their hands at the bonefires planned for us.
Posted by: Matthew Carmel at January 28, 2008 03:33 PM
So when is Nanny Bloomers going to launch his fraudulent sting and lawsuits against out-of-state peddlers of detectors of mass confusion?
Posted by: Eric at January 28, 2008 03:42 PM
Guiliani and Kerik and Co. wouldn't have had to be so heroic if pistol carrying pasengers had blown out the terrs brains, 911 would just be a forgotten footnote of news stories. Take any social problem we got, the government IS the problem!
Posted by: The Mechanic at January 28, 2008 04:21 PM
I'm a legislator. I need my name on a law to prove it. But what is there left to legislate? Never mind. Anything will do, and entrepreneurial law enforcement will back me up because it means a new class of criminals, a new LEA department and a growing, thriving emmpire, as well as new prison guard jobs for their relatives. Hmm. But we most regulate something that won't arouse any real opposition . . . .
Posted by: W. Bailey at January 28, 2008 06:07 PM
The real reason for this legislation is right in the article. Nanny New York got caught lying about the airborne risks at Ground Zero when independent testers disputed the EPA. They can't have that again.
The risk of anxiety will be increased rather than reduced as knowledge is what conquers fear and this ordinance is designed to keep the public from knowing one way or another about CBN risks.
If they were really about controlling fear and panic, the ordinance would be that any positive test can only be made public by the government.
Posted by: JKB at January 28, 2008 07:58 PM
Given this is NYC the chances of it passing are good but what are the chances of it surviving a challenge?
When I was a kid surplus g-counter were the rage just as were the radium watches which we used to test the counter :)
Posted by: rich at January 29, 2008 06:41 AM