Monday Moanin'

I think gov't is far too big, particularly on the national and state levels.  Here's some evidence that we need less of these arrogantly elitist legislators.

In Michigan, it is illegal to operate a barge with the owner's contact information it.  There must have been, at some point, a reason for that law.  I can't imagine what it is.  An automobile, new or used, can't be purchased on a weekend.  And one is violating the law if one transports a Chris tree without having a bill of sale.  One guy was fined $10,000 and sentenced to 9 months in prison for disposing used tires at a facility he didn't know wasn't duly licensed.  Instead of the facility's owners facing the fine and time, this unwitting guy was in violation.  How about that woman, from somewhere around here (maybe Brighton?), who was charged for illegally operating a child care service although all she did was to agree to help out her neighbor.  The neighbor had to leave for work before the school bus picked up her kids.  The woman said she'd watch and make sure the kids got on the bus.  I think I remember that one.  I don't know the final result.  But just that she was charged under an existing law tells us a lot.

There are well over 3,000 criminal offenses in Michigan alone!  And dozens are added to that number each year.  Criticism of the overcriminalization of Michigan residents comes from the liberal ACLU and conservative Mackinac Center--and other organizations from all over the political spectrum.  Granted, most people who are such criminals don't know it and won't face penalties.  But it only takes one zealot, in the name of the law, to exploit such things.

Now these are different from the very silly ones, such as tying one's alligator to a fire hydrant in Detroit.  Yes, these are far more serious.

Just one example on the federal level, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  First, the legislation that created the CFPB explicitly exempted auto dealers from its oversight.  The CFPB, though, found a back door in which to oversee auto dealers by going after the financial companies that work with the auto dealers.  One such company was recently ordered to pay a $100 million fine for alleged racial discrimination.  Now, how was "racial discrimination" proved, in light of the fact that racial and ethnic identification are prohibited from lender date?  Perhaps the CFPB merely extrapolated (that is, guessed) as to appliants' race based on names or addresses.  And an independent study found that CFPB's charges of "racial discrimination" are not at all supported by data; of course not--proof came from guesswork.  Oh, the CFPB gets to keep the fines it forces on companies.  Hey, isn't that a conflict of interest?  Where is the gov't watchdog which watches the gov't??????

If this is what our elected officials have time to do, then maybe legislators aren't needed full-time.  "That government is best which governs least."  (That's often attributed to Jefferson, but sometimes Thoreau.)  The problem with such massive gov't is that it feels like it must do something, as if to justify its existence.  "Something" doesn't have to be good or worthwhile or beneficial.  In fact, "something" is often bad, harmful, etc.  I still like the WSJ's take on "Don't just stand there; do something."  Instead it suggested that members of Congress "Don't do something; just stand there."

Of course, many people might like being told what kind of light bulbs, toilets, televisions, etc. they must use.  They might like being told they can have only one large soda or French fries cooked with the oil that makes them virtually tasteless.  Maybe many do.  Then why don't they do that stuff on their own and leave the rest of us alone?  I know why......

ISIS now beheading more and more people--Muslims and Christians.  Boko Haram enslaving and/or murdering thousands of young girls.  Other extremists throwing gay men off of buildings.  And US Muslims protest the murders of three of there own in North Carolina.  Of course, the murders of those three young people in Raleigh (?) is/was hideous.  Whoever committed those killings should be punished to the fullest extent of the law--and, yes, maybe even receive the death penalty.  (I'm still conflicted over capital punishment.)  Yet, where are those US Muslims in criticizing ISIS, Boko Haram, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Taliban, etc.?  OK, maybe they are criticized such groups.  But, if they are, it's very muted.  It certainly doesn't make my newspapers.  (Of course, maybe that's the newspapers' fault if they aren't covering such protests.  But, in light of their other coverage, one would think they certainly would.)  Where are there demonstrations?  After all, it's their religion that is being perverted by the Islamofascists.  C'mon--beheading, enslavement, etc. in the 21st Century!?!?!

There is danger in fundamentalist Christians citing the Bible to oppose gay marriage.  Oh, they can quote the exact Scripture in their opposition.  But do they know we can also find Scripture to keep women in their place?  Ephesians, Corinthians, Colossians, and more books talk about women's need to be "submissive" to men, their husbands.  There are other such terms, too, such as "subject."
Wives should submit to husbands as, onne passage from Ephesians reads, "for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is also the head of the Church." ,Now, of course, we can cherry pick our phrases throughout the Bible, but if some verses can be used in such manner, so can others.  If Christian churches, or some of them, want to oppose gay marriage and not recognize it in their own churches, that's fine--and their right.  But to try to force their own religious beliefs on all people is not their right.