Poolmageddon
The conservative blogosphere has exploded today with the story of poolmageddon. Poolmageddon is the name that has been given to the deadline set by the Department of Justice for all public pools to either have a handicapped accessible ramp and/or permanent elevator to allow wheel chair bound people into the pool or face staggering fines and lawsuits. Some in the blogosphere have called this a payback to the trial lawyers. That’s a great sound bite but as we conservatives should know better than anyone, sound bites are usually completely wrong.
So what is wrong with “poolmageddon?”
Poolmageddon comes from the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Department of Justice has issued new regulations, catching most operators of pools by surprise, telling them they had to put these elevators in. This is a regulation, not a law. The ADA gives the Justice Department the authority to issue regulations concerned the ADA.
The spin is this is payback for the trial lawyers. The ADA provides for what is called a “private right of action,” which means if someone has their rights violated under the ADA, they can sue without involving the government.
There will be lawsuits under the ADA for poolmageddon. The problem is not the lawyers. The problem is a very bad law.
If you study economics, you understand that people act in their enlightened self-interest. The government by creation of a bad law has created an economic opportunity for lawyers. The problem is not that the lawyers are following the laws of economics; the problem is we have a bunch of nitwits in Washington.
The ADA is the classic case of a good law gone bad. When the ADA was originally introduced and signed in 1990, the handicapped access we see today was not nearly as universal. My late mother-in-law was confined to a wheelchair because of polio she had when she was a child. She worked for over four decades for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Until the ADA passed, she did not have a bathroom in the building she worked in. She worked ten to twelve hours a day and could not use the restroom.
The problem we have is the insanity of ever growing rules and regulations that strangle business and freedom. If ordering every pool in America to have a handicapped elevator was such a good idea, then the Congress should have voted on it. Instead this rule is given to us by a bunch of unelected lawyers at the Department of Justice.
The problem we need to address is the out of control government that we have that continues to create so many new laws, rules and regulations that the average person cannot keep up. Harvey Silvergate has a book out called “Three Felonies a day,” in which he argues the average person commits three felonies in a day because they do not know what the law is. Laws have become so extreme, so all encompassing and so tyrannical that we cannot help but by accident commit felonies.
The good news is Senators Jim DeMint and Lindsay Graham of South Carolina has introduced legislation to prevent the Attorney General from enforcing these new pool rules.
That is a start, but what we really need is to stop creating new laws. There is almost nothing that is going to come down the pike this year that requires a new law.
Perhaps today, the words of Tacitus ring true today. “The more corrupt the state, the more laws.”
Tags: Poolmageddon, department, justice, lawyers, trial
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Virginia Neill on -
But this is how lawyers gin up lawsuit opportunites. It will be hard to change since there are so many lawyers in DC.
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Permalink Reply by Nancy on -
Has anyone else noticed that since the first of the year--DOJ/HHS, etc are moving at "warped" speed to implement their radical agenda before November 2012?
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Permalink Reply by Bill O'Connor on -
Not to mention that the actual effect will be massive pool closings converted to basketball courts etc.
Commissioner Bill
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Permalink Reply by Katie Kalpin on -
I am sick of laws. And yes we all commit crime everyday, why? Because as stated above, WE DON'T know them all. The other day my husband got pulled over for breaking a law he had never heard of. He passed a cop that had someone pulled over in the slow lane, hubby found out the hard way...that's a no no. He WAS a cop and never heard of that one. The cop told him that it was a law passed in 2005 (My hubby quit being a cop in 1981.) He was shocked, he never heard that this law was passed, netiher had I. They pass these STUPID law's and then don't tell anyone! Even dumber is that they allow thugs like ADA to pass laws, giving them power, and thugs like that should not have power. I feel for those that are disabled, but to hurt others for their own personal power struggle is INSANE! They should NOT be allowed to do this plain and simple!
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Permalink Reply by Debrajoe Smith-Beatty on
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If you want something screwed up involve the government in it.
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Permalink Reply by George Albert Cornelson on
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The little Island State of singapore. Now there is a well run Country with respect to THEIR system of laws and juris prudence.
Singapore ENFORCES the laws on IT'S Books. In Singapore You can be cained. Yes, I said "cained" with a bamboo rod that is kept soaking in water. When some one is cained for an offense such as "Outraging the Dignity of a Female" or any other offense that stipulates "caining" as a punishment the caining is conducted under the auspecis of a present "medical authority".
Michael Fay an America Teen ager was nabbed vandalizing high end cars. He was to be subjected to six licks with a cain. The ACLU immediately got into it with Singapore Authorities and tried to prevent the punishment. NO DICE. The punishment was carried out with the number of licks reduced from six to four.
Our System of Liberally controlled Juris Prudence is a JOKE. When something horrendous takes place in America We simply legislate more "laws" but the root of the problem always remains, basically unaddresed. Just smothered by more "laws" that enforced with "kid gloves" so as not to "offend anyone", i.e. the crimminal, or the crimminal's race, or socio-economic background or whatever. Never mind the victim of the crime, WE molly coddle the Crimminal for whatever reason. So as not to "offend"
Very little crime in Singapore. In a word Their laws are minimal and Their "laws" are ENFORCED.
Compared to the U.S. of A. Singapore is a bastion of civil security and sanity.
Been to Singapore the civility of the average citizen is to be admired.
Especially when considering Our American system of Justice and what that System has produced within American Society.
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Permalink Reply by Richard Wohltmann on
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Once again, bigger government out of control. The bigger it gets, the more out of control it becomes. It is the single most important issue of our time. Period.
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Permalink Reply by Virginia Neill on
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So, once again Judson characterizes the bloodsucking, shameful, parasitic behavior of trial lawyers as "following the laws of economics", when in fact, they are following their own greed, avarice, and total disregard for right and wrong, in my opinion. Judson's tune never changes. Every single issue is framed for the benefit of lawyers and to fight the tort reform that will revive our economy.
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Permalink Reply by Charles F Nichols on -
The problem is we have a bunch of nitwits in Washington. Your words Judson! Finally you got it. DC is only good for a big museum. Yep go there and see the historical sites. I mean who wants to go see the little worm reid who complains about the smell of Americans coming? Or the drunkard pelosi. Forget about it. These people see themselves as grandiose but without their abused power and money could not last a second in the real world. So pathetic. The president who is some twisted freak who as we all know came from an assembled life. Comprised of the worst type of human beings anyone could dream of. Now carrying all those flashbacks wondering should he follow mr marshall or maybe wright or should it be farahakan? What a pathetic soul not having a life of his own and no skills what so ever to be able to take care of himself. Sorry you bleeding hearts but we must rid ourselves of these spineless fools who only can survive off the blood of other lives.
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Permalink Reply by John Smith on -
Some 'enlightened' public pools already provide, and have been for quite some time, a Hoyer lift for folks with special needs.
They didn't need some law to tell them or teach them about access.
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Permalink Reply by Rondo on -
Rick Perry was right. These law makers and bureaucrats have way too much time on their hands. There is an old expression: "...if your only tool is a hammer, all problems will look like nails...". If you combine this, with the excess amount of time bureaucrats and law makers have to create mischief, the result is excess laws and regulations. Factor in the corruption and influence peddling, and the recipe is guaranteed to create legal bloat, excesses of government, and utter nonsense.
The Madd Hatter's Tea Party in the Alice and Wonderland yarn comes to mind. What we now have is a dark fantasy that looks like it was written by Tim Burton. This is no Disney classic with cute bunnies. It is more like a cross between an Oliver Stone movie and something out of the "Twilight Zone".
The people who joined the real life TEA Party movement should want to eject all the Madd Hatters from the table. It is time to evict these clowns and start over. Rick Perry suggested cutting the pay and the calendar of elected representatives. He further spoke of requiring each of them to go back to their home districts and states to refresh their purpose as representatives by actually having contact with their respective constituencies. Term limits and Perry's ideas would be a good start.The argument that only the seasoned pros can govern has been tested and proven false. In fact, it is the "seasoned pros" who are the worst examples of "...if your only tool is a hammer, all problems will look like nails...". They are like last month's fruit and vegetables that got lost in the back of the frig - wrinkled, rubbery, and tasteless, if not completely rotten and spoiled.
If the AG did not have all these clown rules to address, maybe the staff at the AG could be cut in half as well. There is a need for an AG. That need does not include this nonsense. It also should not include developing gun running pseudo CIA operations using the BATF as their private black ops arm. This whole system is corrupt inside and out. The structure lends itself to becoming corrupted. It is time to clear the tables.
as I see it, a Vietnam Vet,
Ron
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Permalink Reply by Tom Wright on
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When Ron Paul returned from his first term in the Congress, I was sitting on his brother's front porch.
I asked Ron Paul about his first term. His response was: that while conservatives control the congress there is almost no hiring of new bureaucrats; However, when liberals are in control, they go on hiring binges and hire only left-leaning bureaucrats. After many years of this, the government offices in Washington DC is replete with leftist bureaucrats. They remain in control of DC whether the Republicans or the Democrats are in control.
Since individuals cannot be fired, what must be done is to eliminate entire Departments, Bureaus, and Agencies.
I vote for eliminating the Departments of Energy, Education, and HUD, together with the BATFE and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Tom
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