No smoking in cars carrying children: Big Brother or good idea

iriiiish. wanna go for a ride, boy? come on. let's go for a ride. goood irish.

 

To be consistent then fast food restaurants like McDonald's should be outlawed also. I would submit that feeding a child a super sized meal would be worse for their health.

Speed of vehicle should be looked into also - perhaps no more then 50 MPH with kid on board.

Also require special license plate that authorities you to transport children.

 

This is an important point -- up here, because of universal health care, this does become an issue of economics more than anything else.

If little Timmy McStogey gets fourteen ear infections because mommy smokes in the car, then that affects all of us -- that's more money out of the health system, longer wait times in doctor's offices, and probably a lifetime of chronic health issues for the child that could have been avoided. Hence, the government intervention.

Besides, if you're enough of an asshole to smoke with your kids in the car, you probably need some kind of kick in the ass to get you to stop.

I have no problem with this law.

And the cellphone one, too. I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone driving so bad I thought they were drunk, only to pull up beside them and see them yacking on the phone. It affects your driving. Don't do it.

 

But just the same bad diet habits might even be a bigger burden on a universal health care system. Does that mean a nationwide manditory wellness plan next? How about goverment dictated body weights?

 

What I come back to is that the kids are paying a price for the actions of their parents. You would think common sense would tell the parents not to smoke in the car.

 

The "no shit" part was my point. I'm not saying the laws are perfect as they are. My point was that what people do inside their own cars is already being regulated, and it should be. Special seats for infants and toddlers are just a clear example.

And Boom, the fast food example doesn't hold up. The child can refuse to eat it. The child cannot refuse to breathe in the parent's smoke.

The example of the speed limit doesn't hold either. Speed limits are theoretically based on safe driving. Notice I say "theoretically." If it is considered a "legally safe" speed, it doesn't have to change based on who is in the car.

But you just keep on reaching for those ridiculous comparisons that don't match up.

 

It holds up if you relate it to Jones example of health care expenses

 

I'll bring a thermos of very good coffee and a copy of "Astral Weeks."

 

No, it doesn't, for the reason I explained. But of course, you're avoiding that point because it doesn't suit your argument.

 

awesome.

 

Let's set aside the McMeal parallel: If I eat a Big Mac, my kid doesn't get arteriosclerosis.

Carry on.