Tim Douglass responds:
There are literally thousands of these asinine laws on the books, some funny, most just moronic...but capable of great twisting at the hands of authorities who lack moral tone. Such laws should automatically be phased out after xxx years. Maybe 5?
Charlie Self "Abstainer: a weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure." Ambrose Bierce
... and some that downright hurt. The appraisal on my residence for 04 just jumped $44K in the 6 weeks since the market value was agreed upon, after protest, for the year 03 ... simply because the law allows them to automatically increase valuation for tax purposes by 10% per year without regard to reason.
I am now almost afraid to go down to the appraisal district's eight story, tax payer built, Taj Mahal and argue with the bastards again ... I stand a good chance of ending up in jail this time.
Swingman responds:
Yeah. There is no such thing as property ownership. You just rent it...from your local government.
Charlie Self "Abstainer: a weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure." Ambrose Bierce
Yep ... and there are any number of law firms standing by to collect the principle, penalty and interest, for them.
Swingman responds:
And with a pal standing there on the courthouse steps, to collect the property itself at maybe 5% of real value, if the penalty and interest aren't paid.
Charlie Self "Abstainer: a weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure." Ambrose Bierce
Yeah, just think. If all laws had a sunset provision the legislatures would be so bogged down re-inacting old stupidities they wouldn't have time to enact new stupidities. Oh, well, I suppose we can always dream.
Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA
Maybe the appraiser looked in the winders and saw that Stickley 708??? :)
Sucks if you plan on living there for a while. Not so sucky if you're selling, I guess.
|Tim Douglass responds: | |>>: And in Oregon it's against the law to flash your lights at someone to |>>: either get them to move over or to get them to dim their lights. |>>
|>>Now that's a stupid law! |>
|>As I understand it, the law was enacted to prevent people from |>flashing their lights to warn oncoming motorists of a speed trap - the |>other things are just side effects of badly written legislation.
To get from my house into the city I have to drive through Saguaro National Park. The road is a winding, up and down, two-lane road with lots of blind curves. The park actually expanded to include the road, which is basically a commuter route. Nevertheless, it is a national park and visitors are often gawking and otherwise lollygagging, bicyclists are bicycling, walkers are walking, etc. while others are late for work.
We "Friends of the Park" often flash our lights to warn oncoming traffic about some hazard or another. Just makes sense to tip off the unwary. 'Course it works the same when the park ranger is on patrol [g].
|>
|>I might add that I don't think it is actually enforced, either. | |There are literally thousands of these asinine laws on the books, some funny, |most just moronic...but capable of great twisting at the hands of authorities |who lack moral tone. Such laws should automatically be phased out after xxx |years. Maybe 5?
Even better would be a rule that in order to enact a new law they have to rescind two old ones.
Wes
Make it three and I'll bite. Get rid of the nonsense a shade faster.
Charlie Self "Abstainer: a weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure." Ambrose Bierce
May have also been enacted because (at least as they taught in drivers' ed many years ago) flashing one's lights to get someone to dim their lights might blind the idiot with their brights on and cause them to lose control.
Can you imagine how deeply the congresscritters would be digging into old laws to find those that they could eliminate without actually giving up any power? I can imagine deep mining into the congressional archives to find laws restricting how one hitches their horse. That would work for a little while, then they'd really have to start trimming real laws. (Ah well, one can dream).
Mark & Juanita responds:
As they told us, two blind fools don't make for safe driving.
A quick flash, up and down, though, shouldn't really blind an oncoming driver unless he's in the advanced stages of cataract formation, at which time any glare is blinding.
Charlie Self "Abstainer: a weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure." Ambrose Bierce
Mark & Juanita responds:
And after a time, they'd have to abolish the abolishment law to keep from abolishing the few laws that shouldn't be abolished.
Charlie Self "Ambidextrous, adj.: Able to pick with equal skill a right-hand pocket or a left." Ambrose Bierce
Then there was one of my "pet peeves" when still driving truck - - the PDOT! Seems they, in their infinite wisdom, while reworking the Northeast extension of the PA Turnpike(Philadelphia to Scranton) decided to replace the old steel guardrails between the lanes with your standard concrete construction dividers, EXCEPT - - instead of the standard height ones, they made them about 55" high. This is just dandy for all those brain dead idjits driving up & down the road with their high beams on, as they don't bother each other at all. But, they sure do blind trucks going the other way, and you can flash yor high beams all night long, they never even see it because those lovely high dividers prevent them from even knowing it!
Rant off.
In Robert Heinlein's "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress", the protagonists have just staged a revolution and are trying to decide on a new government structure.
IIRC, one of them suggests that they have one body that creates new laws by a 75% majority vote, while another body does nothing but rescind laws by a 66% vote.
I just love this idea.
Mike Patterson Please remove the spamtrap to email me.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.