A cross-border kerfuffle over a popular chocolate treat nearly cost a Winnipeg woman a $300 fine and saddled her with a bureaucratic headache.Here's the dangerous threat.
Lind Bird was recently stopped at the U.S. border and selected for a random search of her vehicle. She was warned she could have faced a fine after the customs official found — and seized — her $2 Kinder Surprise egg as illegal contraband.
I can think of a lot of "threats" on the store shelves right now that aren't banned. Those big-ass candy-coated gumballs for one. Surely they pose a choking hazard. Yet they are sold openly.I think we have a lot of people on the government dole trying to find busywork. I think we'd all be better off without so many nannies.
4 comments:
Incredible. $300 fine?!?! Yes, the desk jockeys and safety fanatics have far too much time on their hands to make up new rules and enforce them.
On a related note, have you seen that drop-side cribs are now banned by the US authorities. We are so lucky that our kids survived those death traps before the government came in to save us!
But seriously, they are talking about 5 or less deaths per year, mostly attributable to BROKEN cribs like that.
And by banning these cribs that are a real back-saveer, what's a back-aching mum to do? Put the kid on a regular bed for a night, of course! Whence the poor little one rolls off -- and then we have another injury that should be, but never will be, attributed to the safety regulations themselves!!
The problem with the drop-side cribs was that the plastic hardware found on most models would break.
If you chose one with metal hardware there was _never_ an issue.
And so the government finds it easier to just ban them all outright! Nice.
This is one of the big irritants and annoyances about government: Collective punishment. And punishment that is unavoidable for the innocent.
It's too hard (administratively, politically, technically, take your pick )to select precisely who should straighten up their act, so you burden EVERYONE, right? Hey, it's easy!
And unlike when it's a corporation in a free market, with a ham-handed government decision the rule is ubiquitous (save for some handy political exemptions in some areas); there is no competitor or market choice to punish dumb moves.
Thanks so much for your post, really effective data.
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