"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:49:39 -0500, "Robert Green"
wrote:
stuff snipped
The number of deaths and injuries of kids using adult-sized ATV's alone
is
proof to me that too many parents don't provide the common sense training
that kids need to successfully operate dangerous equipment.
The pre-teen
German kids that learned how to use anti-tank guns and operate AA
batteries
in WWII is proof that kids can do amazing, adult things, especially if
properly trained. That's the rub. Do they get that training in time to
prevent death or injury to themselves or others? It seems that far too
many
don't get good safety training.
I agree that too many kids are injured and killed. That said,
government meddling in the family is still wrong.
The farm family is an interesting hybrid animal, much like the family-owned
store or restaurant. Those other family entities long ago yielded to child
labor laws, although I believe they both managed to carve out exemptions for
family members.
A law may top a kid
from using a power tool, so since he cannot drill a few holes to mend
a gate, he takes the ATV out and wrecks it and himself.
Interestingly enough,
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/84/4/694
Talks about how people *thought* 3 wheeled ATVs killed SO many kids that
manufacturers and the government both agreed to withdraw 3 wheeled ATVs from
the market. But the numbers seem to indicate that more kids were injured in
4 wheel units. Sometimes it takes a while before the solution emerges.
Kids need to be trained on using ATV's the way they are sent to driver's ed.
Unfortunately the normal "back and forth" between concerned parties to reach
a balanced conclusion seems to be a relic of the past. Nowadays, both sides
are resorting to scare tactics and FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) to
falsely present the other side's agenda. Suddenly any attempt to regulate
is portrayed as a total ban on everything. I call it "Death Panelism."
To reach a good compromise solution, sometimes all it takes is raising
awareness on an issue so that the points can be debated fairly. It's easy
to see from this and other discussions is that people are naturally inclined
to examine and evaluate proposals. I doubt a push to ban ALL power tools is
realistic. That's not happening in the rest of America where I see 10 year
olds running gas mower businesses so why would anyone EVER expect farmers to
have to put up with it that sort of draconian restriction? It's common in
negotiations for both sides to ask for things they don't really want so they
have something they can yield on to get something they really want.
You cannot legislate common sense.
So true. That, unfortunately leaves a bunch of unpalatable options for
dealing with those who lack it. We've discovered that people are no damn
good and need regulatin' when it comes to automobiles. What do you think
the chances are of people buying car insurance if they weren't forced to?
Would you want to drive on roads alongside completely unlicensed or
uninsured drivers or 12 year old kids?
Just a little bit of it would do more than a hundred laws.
How do you beat it into people? (-: I've taken to watching "Hard Core
Pawn" and "Parking Wars" and it seems to me that the US is pretty "long" in
very stupid people. People who think they are somehow being cheated when a
pawnbroker refuses to lend them *anything* on a fake watch. Then they sit
there and say "I am not leaving until you give me something!" How do you
deal with people TFD? Figuring out what to do with the people at the
fringes who are few in number but make much of the trouble is a vexing
problem. The USMC uses company punishment (punish the group for the actions
of one man) to rein in the bad ones but civilians can't be run like the
Marines. And "Full Metal Jacket" demonstrated that company punishment can
backfire.
Because a few kids are not properly trained or capable of performing a
task, thousands
of others are forbidden to do those things. I have a hard time with that,
especially coming from
Washington.
It's not just Washington. I doubt in this day and age that you will find
very many high schools like mine that offered hands-on classes in foundry,
machine shop, woodworking, electronics, broadcasting (we had a 25KW station
on the roof of an eight story building that covered a city block),
metallurgy, drafting, etc. It's not the government that's behind the
disappearance of shop programs, it's litigious parents who think any injury
a child receives at school is "cha ching" like winning the lottery.
Insurance rates for such programs soared until they were unaffordable. It
seems at least part of the push to reform farm labor laws is coming from
insurers who want to clearly define (and then limit) their risks writing
farm policies.
In some ways it was like the big bulb makes pushing the CFL law so they
could sell bulbs for ten times what they used to charge. There's nothing
business seems to like more than to blame the government for something
they've done. They're doing it now with anti-cancer and RA drugs and many
more. Blaming the new healthcare law so they can increase prices sometimes
eighty-fold.
--
Bobby G.