Comments on: CPSIA chronicles, February 26

By: Unachievable Urbanism « Plumb Lines

Unachievable Urbanism « Plumb Lines — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:55:16 +0000

[…] state governments systematically subsidize sprawl and the destruction of whatever is local (viz. CPSIA, New Hampshire HB367, the war on raw milk, mindless road “improvements,” and on and on […]

By: CPSIA chronicles, February 27

CPSIA chronicles, February 27 — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:50:26 +0000

[…] you missed it yesterday, Overlawyered gets results! Although sometimes the opposite of the kind we intend. Yesterday we hailed as a breakthrough the […]

By: Happymom4

Happymom4 — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 05:42:39 +0000

My 2 oldest who are old book lovers are furious at what has been done to them and their younger sibs. They love old books–and if lead is affecting them, it must be making them smarter and wiser . . . . Ds aceses his exams, and tests out in the near-brilliant category on an official IQ test . . . . and other kids AND adults are always claiming that our kids “use lots of big words that we don’t have a clue what they mean”. Hmmm. That lead must be really beneficial.

By: April E. Coggins

April E. Coggins — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 04:49:09 +0000

Maybe we need to have childrens tea party. I have a lot of inventory that I might as well dump in the bay, river, at the feet of Congress.
I am not a politico, but wouldn’t children protesting the new law have more impact? My ten year old grandson is ready to march on Washington because his favorite sport/pastime is now banned. Surely there are other children that are personally impacted.

By: Valerie Jacobsen

Valerie Jacobsen — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:59:29 +0000

Rick Woldenberg has bad news up. The invitation is canceled.

By: BG

BG — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:51:07 +0000

Evil HR Lady,

Our City Mission is still taking clothing for their programs and that includes children.

Our local Salvation Army is taking children’s items. I bought some nice stuff just yesterday. I get the girls nice dresses there–they only wear them a few times and we pass them back–and the Boy Scout some clothing he can destroy on campouts w/o breaking the family budget. When I mentioned to the cashier how glad I was they still had children’s items she scoffed and said, “We need our children’s items.”

At the Cub Scout Blue and Gold celebration on the same day at the local Episcopal church the Cubmaster gave away a used shirt to a new Cub Scout and there was a sign that the church’s 2nd hand shop would no longer take items for children ages 12 and under. They always had some nice quality toys for kids there–wood blocks and the like. It really bugs me that the church has caved in on this. You are right, those who should be advocating for the less affluent are abandoning them over very real fears of fines, etc. How can we help our neighbors if BB is going to sock us with big fines?

Please keep looking for a place to donate your items.

By: Evil HR Lady

Evil HR Lady — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:30:26 +0000

One thing that I haven’t really seen covered is what happens to the stuff that thrift stores can no longer “safely” sell, other than it ends up in landfills. But, there’s something else as well. In the past, I’ve taken all my old baby toys and clothes to the local thrift store. Our favorite thrift store has all children’s clothes for $0.50 each, so people with little income can still nicely outfit their children.

Now, I don’t have a place to take my used clothing/toys/baby gear. So, I (who am firmly upper middle class) give my clothing away to my firmly upper middle class friends. In the past, people who couldn’t afford to pay retail would benefit. Now, people who can afford to pay retail benefit. And those who couldn’t, still can’t.

It really bugs me.

By: John

John — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:26:29 +0000

“So it seems to be mostly the librarians who are the most literal-minded …”

I’ve been wondering about this. The KCBA article linked above touches on it, but there doesn’t seem to be any other coverage elsewhere. Doesn’t the library argument apply to basically every single thing found in a school or daycare center as well? Aren’t those lunch trays, made of recycled plastic, just full of phthalates waiting to leach into Little Johnny’s pizza? Or what about the lead solder in Jenny’s desk, does she really have a prayer?

Why are the libraries the only ones concerned with testing?

By: Tristan Benz

Tristan Benz — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:01:16 +0000

My French is a disaster – haven’t spoken in 20 years!! But I left a comment on that French article – thanks for this post -I’ll come back and go visit the Italian one and sabotage my own grandparents language next :-). If you find one in Spanish, I’m ALL OVER IT!!! Keep this list coming – fabulous!

By: Walter Olson

Walter Olson — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 20:59:45 +0000

Received this from a normally well-connected Washington source:

“On the House subcommittee hearing, trouble is, the committee’s only jurisdiction is the Small Business Administration – which is to say, there will be no legislation to result from any hearing there.

“I bet someone on Waxman’s staff said, ‘They keep sending letters and calling. Let’s get Nydia Velasquez to hold a hearing so we can say Congress listened.’

“The D.C. media rarely cover the committee, which is considered a backwater, so if there is going to be a useful effect with the press, someone’s going to have to do some work on producing it.

“Energy and Commerce is the committee that counts, and Waxman’s not interested in doing anything (or so we hear).”