Evan Dorkin ([info]evandorkin) wrote,
@ 2009-01-30 00:55:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend  Next Entry
Entry tags:cpsia

More On CPSIA
Here's one rebuttal to the Snopes take on the CPSIA situation:

http://overlawyered.com/2009/01/cpsia-continued/

As Sarah says -- unfortunately, people are going to believe whom they want to believe, but I actually read through the relevant sections myself and Snopes is wrong. It's not murky. Enforcement will probably be murky, but the law is not. 

I think they're wrong, too. We've seen a lot of people slamming the Snopes article, but apparently the people at the site have made up their minds and are sticking to their guns. So, who debunks the debunkers? I dunno. Life is sticky.

Anyway, more from Sarah:

The legislation is here:
http://www.cpsc.gov/ABOUT/Cpsia/legislation.html

Anyone who wants to poke their eyes out should read the second doc, "Consumer Product Safety Act, As Amended". It sticks all the amendments into the original law so you can actually look back and forth at stuff.

A friend of Sarah's is working on a post about the CPSIA and points out that no-one can amend the law right now except one person: Henry A. Waxman, Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

His contact info.

Honorable Henry A. Waxman
Chairman
Committee on Energy and Commerce
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington D.C. 20515
http://www.henrywaxman.house.gov/contact.htm

FYI, folks.

 

(12 comments) - (Post a new comment)


[info]lois2037
2009-01-30 06:50 am UTC (link)
Thanks. I'll make sure that Henry will hear from me and my pals.

(Reply to this)


[info]vee_ecks
2009-01-30 08:27 am UTC (link)
Snopes.com shouldn't be taken as anything close to authoritative on *anything* except "Yes, this email has been all over and it's mutated and it's probably a bunch of crap." It's where you point stupid people who post those emails because you hate them, not any kind of real resource.

The Mikkelsons are nice people, or were when I knew them back in pre-Snopes Usenet days, but they're just geeks who look shit up online and report back what they've found. It's depressing, the thought that anybody would actually take *legal* advice, especially, from the site.

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Ditto on Snopes
(Anonymous)
2009-01-31 08:38 pm UTC (link)
They're hardly authoritative. I recall a case from several years ago; I think it was in 2002, after the Afghanistan war started, when a peace activist was denied boarding on a plane to attend a peace conference. The whole thing was very suspicious: it wasn't "You have been chosen for a random search", it was more like "You're *who*? You're going *where*? No you're not. Come with us."

But the Mikkelsons "debunked" it on the grounds that there was no "evidence" that the woman's detention was politically motivated. Apparently the fact that the government denied it was good enough for them.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: Ditto on Snopes
[info]vee_ecks
2009-01-31 08:46 pm UTC (link)
It's been kind of disturbing, actually, watching Snopes.com morph into what it's become. I never got a complete picture of the Mikkelsons' politics when I knew them, but gathered that it was somewhere right of me, in the Libertarian space, maybe.

The site started out as a combination library of urban legends/tool for quickly debunking crap that gets passed around. Which is doable for online geeks - you can check your Brunvand books and check online and get a good picture of what's crap or not, and that's a good service, IMO.

The problem is that online nerds who know how to assemble arguments quickly (and I am one of them) can tend to start thinking themselves experts on anything. And I don't know about anybody else, but one of my personal metrics is "If I'm talking like I'm a doctor or a scientist or a lawyer or a freaking *car mechanic,* even, I am heading into Full of Shit area, so stop talking." This thing, this comment on this act, amounts to a policy statement. Who the fuck are they to make any such comment?

Edited at 2009-01-31 08:49 pm UTC

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: Ditto on Snopes
(Anonymous)
2009-02-01 01:55 am UTC (link)
It sounds like you remember them from the old alt.folklore.urban days. It's kind of a shame, because one of the watchwords of that group in the mid-90s was "Don't post if you don't know what you're talking about." Unfortunately, it seems like that rule now only applies to "thee" and not to "me".

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]doodlesthegreat
2009-01-30 04:54 pm UTC (link)
Waxman's my congresscritter, so perhaps the voice of someone who can actually vote for him will have slightly more impetus.

(Reply to this)


(Anonymous)
2009-01-30 05:28 pm UTC (link)
Snopes has a lot of interesting and sometimes useful information. However, the site seems to be run by dogmatists with an insecure need to think they KNOW what the truth is, as is typical of organized skeptical movements (much like organized religions). In spite of their ridiculously inflated belief in their own accuracy, their credibility is far more questionable than the notoriously dodgy wikipedia, where at least an editor with an agenda can be easily corrected.

Steven Stwalley
stwallskull.com

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]patrickdean
2009-01-30 07:34 pm UTC (link)
After checking it every couple of weeks for the past several years, you can kind of see how off they are most of the time.

Man, I'm sorry I ever linked to that SNOPES article. At least it draws attention to how they didn't cover all the bases and how the red lit FALSE heading is misleading.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
cpsia
(Anonymous)
2009-01-30 08:43 pm UTC (link)
went to congresmans office today and they are now aware of problem. local paper carried story. ALA letter willcarry the day. fat john

(Reply to this)


[info]odessasteps
2009-02-03 04:28 am UTC (link)

FYI, Henry Waxman was the guy in charge of the steroids hearing involving baseball and later the testimony that involves the McMahons and the WWF.

You can also see him on display not at his best in the movie about steroids, "Bigger Stronger Faster" which I recommend to lapsed wrestling fans like Evan. (the movie was made by former WWF writer Chris Bell and his brother (now deceased) was a WWF job guy.)

(Reply to this)

Dr. Seuss Meets CPSIA
(Anonymous)
2009-02-25 05:12 am UTC (link)
Here is a Dr. Seuss style story about the CPSIA to cheer you just a little!

http://easyfunschool.com/the_CPSIA_meets_Dr_Seuss.html (http://easyfunschool.com/the_CPSIA_meets_Dr_Seuss.html)

(Reply to this)

Snopes, Mommy Bloggers, and More
(Anonymous)
2009-03-03 01:43 pm UTC (link)
"People BELIEVE what we say, yes they do!
Whatever we say they'll believe that it's true!

They won't check their own facts; they'll rely upon us --
We'll lull them to sleep and they won't make a fuss..."

http://www.easyfunschool.com/snopes_is_wrong_about_the_cpsia_spoof_seuss_story.html (http://www.easyfunschool.com/snopes_is_wrong_about_the_cpsia_spoof_seuss_story.html)

(Reply to this)

(12 comments) - (Post a new comment)

Create an Account
Forgot your login or password?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…