SWCAMBORNE

In France this week they are getting ready to ban wearing burkas in public.  Isn’t this a Nanny State act by the right.  Telling people what they can and can’t wear is the state intruding into an area that it should leave alone.

Photo Credit for this redesigned Burka

A test:  If a government wanted to ban women wearing pants would we consider it okay.  Probably not.  It is like Jimmy Carter telling me to turn down my thermostat and wear a sweater.  Except he tried to use moral suasion not pass a law.

I’m not a fan of burkas or the ideology that would make women wear them but in my opinion this is a matter of taste and should not be legislated.  Leave us alone.

All of the NANNY STATE stories

Our Friend Paula B went to Morocco on a photography expedition.  She took some amazing photos.  Here is one:

You can see another 30 on Picasso.

Well done Paula.  You made me want to go to Morocco.

Years ago some children were killed on bikes.  So the governments, state and federal, passed laws that required children to wear helmets when they rode bicycles.  The laws were of course supported by helmet manufacturers but they had unintended consequences.  The laws were fought by the folks who oppose government imposed rules but in this case they lost.

What were the results.  Parents perceived that if a helmet was required to ride a bike then riding a bike must be dangerous so; many less children’s bicycles were sold.  And as a result many less children could enjoy the freedom of riding around.

Later they passed laws that required adults to wear bicycle helmets and since the state had now taken responsibility for protecting children we now have taken teeter-totters and merry-go-rounds out of playgrounds and they are working on removing the swings.   Leave us alone.

All of the NANNY STATE stories

This financial crisis is forcing California state and local agencies to make some tough decisions.
If things continue for much longer, there’s a real risk that we may have to lay off José.

Thanks to Joe S. for finding and forwarding this one.

No surprise that California is the source of this Nanny State story.  AB 1998 would ban plastic single use bags from grocery stores and make the markets charge customers for paper bags if they forgot their reusable bags.  You can read a lot more about it here

This is the Nanny State mentality on Hyper-drive.  It is bad enough to ban plastic bags but to implement a charge for paper is the state playing favorites in a battle that should be fought in the marketplace.

Here are a few facts that sensible people could use to defeat the plastic bag ban:

• Reusable bags are unhygienic.  What was spilled in them before you put them on the checkout conveyor.  You wouldn’t reuse ziplock bags
• Charging for papers bags is a tax on the convenience shopper.  It will unfairly impact the poor who tend to be less organized.
• What will we use to pick up dog poop and scoop cat litter if there are no more plastic bags?
• The bags that consumers use represent less than 10% of the total packaging that end up in landfills.  The rest is boxes, cartons and plastic liners etc.

Note to Nanny State Legislators; “Government is a blunt instrument.  Don’t use it to micromanage people behavior.”

This Nanny Report came from alert Swcamborne reader Stephanie M.  It seems that San Francisco has banned regular sodas from vending machines on city property.  Mayor Gavin Newsom implemented the policy by executive order a few months ago and it is now taking effect. Read the story in the SF Chronicle Mayor Newsom thinks that we should have less sugar in our diets and that he can use the mechanism of the state to force us to adjust.

Newsom tried to run for Governor in California in the Spring but he found little support.  I wonder why?

A year ago Hershey Chocolate bought Cadbury Chocolate or something like that.

The good news is that now Cadbury has better distribution in the US.  The bad news is that the two companies are homogenizing.

This does not bode well for either companies distinct product lines.  It is an opportunity for the next Godiva Chocolate.

We went to the Fourth of July Parade in Sierra Madre on the Fifth.

My favorite float was the Motorized Ice Chest.

Second Place went to the John Deere Drill Team

Click here to see all 12 photos on Flickr

We missed the float from Body Shop Fitness

I stopped at a Starbucks Coffee in Montclair, CA last week.  I was on the way back from Mexico and needed a restroom break.  They had a feature that I’d never seen in a Starbucks before.  A book exchange.

It was a small shelf tucked in next to the newspaper sales rack.

Anything that encourages reading is a good idea.  Well done Starbucks.