National Bankruptcy Day is coming to a store near you!

One of my favorite moments in the movie Finding Nemo is when Squirt the sea turtle gets thrown outside of the current and his wise father stops Marlin (Nemo's dad) from going to get him and says something to the effect of "let us see what Squirt decides to do about this". (probably not an exact quote, but you get the idea)

We must all be incredibly stupid. We must all be so ill-educated and naive that we need the government to step in in nearly every portion of our private lives to tell us how to act.

In August Congress passed a law called the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. This law takes effect on Feb 10, 2009...many free thinking and level headed individuals have nicknamed 2/10 National Bankruptcy Day.

The reason for this is one facet of the new law requires any product of any kind that is marketed towards children to be tested for lead by an unbiased third party. The law is also retro-active. Testing can range in price but the lowest price I've found anyone quote so far is $100, I've heard as high as $1,000, per product. It all sounds a little benign until you begin to think about the ramifications of the law.

Sarah, my lovely and talented wife has begun to make these adorable little head bands and clips for girls. She has collaborated with her sisters on a few things and I think there were some very earnest aspirations to begin selling some home-made products online. However if the goon squad found her clips (which at the high end would probably still cost less than $2) were intended for children and she hadn't tested them for lead...no mas. All products would be pulled immediately and she could probably even get herself a tidy little fine.

So all hand-made, home-made stuff (if a kid ever touches it) now has to be tested. So long to ingenuity and craftiness. This is going to put many, many people out of business. Places like second hand clothing stores with children's clothes, children's book sellers, discount shoe stores, "dollar" stores, and many other small time businesses are going down. Hence National Bankruptcy Day.

On ABC radio today I heard with my own two ears that "some are considering banning children from libraries as the ink in some of the books may contain trace amounts of lead."

I understand some people are trying to protect us, but here's how you do that. If the market finds that a product is unsatisfactory word will get around and people will stop buying it. People will boycott China. This is a consumer decision, one I trust myself and anyone with a pair of brain cells and one good lung to make on their own. We don't need the government to do it for us.

So what is likely is there will be a new bureaucracy formed in order to watch over us and enforce this new law and its provisions. The price of every conceivable children's product will go up substantially and many of your favorite, small time stores are going to be put out of business. This will then cause many people to join the ranks of the unemployed (here's to economic stimulus). The makers of raw materials, distributors, store fronts and consumers are all going to be affected tremendously.

The reason I'm so upset about this is because it is yet another encroachment on our freedom. What products we purchase is our decision, the same with food, the same with services. I can think, my momma taught me how.

I have heard some rumors among people who are Washington observers state that some legislators think that they should implement a law requiring all children be tested for psychological or personality disorders. What will result is the long-term medicating of our children without knowing the long-term affects of the medication. This is likely the brainchild of a pharmaceutical company.

Anyhow if you decide that you think your kid is fine, they don't need to be tested, they will probably have you reported to family services and your kid will be medicated and you will go to prison while they are put in to the system.

Once again, you do not need the government to decide for you and your children if they should be medicated. That is a family decision. You don't need the government to tell you anything. I trust you to act in your own best interests and by so doing you will likely not adversely affect me.

The funny thing is, the free market system worked for a long time, a very long time and the economy thrived during most of that time. It has only been the government's interference in our personal lives that has stymied so much of what could and should have been. The only thing that is more disappointing to me than the crooks in DC is that most people don't even care about this kind of stuff. As long as people are entertained and well fed....right?

Can you imagine if they banned pornography. There would be rioting in the streets.

So happy MLK day. Happy Barak Obama is the new god day in advance (I hope you're getting the sarcasm here). Let the unconstitutional, illegal and immoral rubber stamping continue, who am I to question it?

(just a short aside...I told many this already but HR 4040 passed on a vote of 424-1 in the House.....Ron Paul was the 1. In the Senate the vote was 89-3 Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz were the 3. Congratulations gentlement on having read the Constitution.

here is another article about the impact of HR 4040

if you want to do something you can contact your congressmen or senators.

And may God continue to bless the good people of Texas' 14th district for continuing to give us Ron Paul.