[George M. Middius[_4_]]

Big Brother is interfering in individuals' private lives again. Remember
that terrible train crash in California a few days ago? Investigators
pinned the blame on a slack-brained train driver who was fiddling with his
cell phone instead of watching the track. Now a regulatory "solution" is
being instituted. From the NYTimes:

California Bans Texting by Operators of Trains
SAN FRANCISCO — A day after federal investigators said an engineer in last
week’s deadly train collision outside Los Angeles had been text-messaging
on the job, California’s railroad regulators temporarily banned the use of
all cellular devices by anyone at the controls of a moving train.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/us/19crash.html


Scottie, since you're in abeyance this week, I'd like to speak in your
behalf. Every time somebody screws up, the pinheaded legislators or
bureaucrats overreact. Yet another infringement on citizens' freedom of
speech. Train drivers are now to be considered mindless children who need
constant supervision. How does this empower the underclasses? It doesn't,
that's how. It infantilizes them. You want to drive a train? Well, you
can't be trusted to keep your mind focused on your job. That's what this
intrusive regulation says.

[Clyde Slick]

On 19 Sep, 22:44, George M. Middius wrote:
Big Brother is interfering in individuals' private lives again. Remember
that terrible train crash in California a few days ago? Investigators
pinned the blame on a slack-brained train driver who was fiddling with his
cell phone instead of watching the track. Now a regulatory "solution" is
being instituted. From the NYTimes:

California Bans Texting by Operators of Trains
*SAN FRANCISCO — A day after federal investigators said an engineer in last
week’s deadly train collision outside Los Angeles had been text-messaging
on the job, California’s railroad regulators temporarily banned the use of
all cellular devices by anyone at the controls of a moving train.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/us/19crash.html

Scottie, since you're in abeyance this week, I'd like to speak in your
behalf. Every time somebody screws up, the pinheaded legislators or
bureaucrats overreact. Yet another infringement on citizens' freedom of
speech. Train drivers are now to be considered mindless children who need
constant supervision. How does this empower the underclasses? It doesn't,
that's how. It infantilizes them. You want to drive a train? Well, you
can't be trusted to keep your mind focused on your job. That's what this
intrusive regulation says.

Say he weren't talking on the phone. Suppose
he was distracted by a homoerotice sexual fantasy,
should Congress pass a law banning people
from having homoerotuc sexual
fantasies while driving a train?
the guy was an idiot, such an idiot
that he probably still would have been text
messaging even if it were illegal.