A long-but-worth-it report by John Stossel on how governments at all levels are criminalizing and regulating more and more. The segments on the EPA and taxis are especially infuriating. But I'll be honest; I found the whole video to be frustrating.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBiJB8YuDBQ]
There were several things in here I found disturbing, especially the parts about filming police. While I can understand live TV/video being an issue in police situations I will never understand where recording police actions should ever be a problem. I really liked the California LEO that was all for it - good for him! I doubt if the Super-Troopers here would object either, though there are some small-towns and rookies that would probably have kittens and overstep. That's a matter of training and experience.
As far as the EPA story goes, I have to wonder about the details in that story. He fleetingly mentioned the Corp of Engineers, which means that it may have been a flood/elevation issue. If you do the proper research, which basically means doing an actual survey of your property instead of just guessing everything, then the flood control issues are covered. My guess is they didn't have a survey done.
The taxi problem in DC may be a scam, IDK, but having driven a taxi for a couple of years
here I'm glad they limit the number of cabs here. We simply don't have enough taxi business here to merit having 1000 taxis. If there were that many then no cabbie could make a living because there wouldn't be enough business to support anyone. You'd have 4 hours worth of work (in 24) spread out over 1000 cabs instead of 16 hours over the ~250 we have. Rates are controlled locally, not by the cabbie or company, though driver's often give discounts to repeat customers.
Overall I don't think it's the legislation that gets out of hand as much as enforcement. I've been saying since HS that any cop can follow anybody for a day and write at least one ticket, probably several. No one drive's perfectly - but I understand everybody thinks they do.
Good police officers ignore most infractions they see and concentrate on the ones that really count - or might count in court, like when there's an accident. The two officers who bought the lemonade were being good officers and probably bumped it upstairs, instead of making a scene. The ones afterward were most likely following orders.
I don't think there would be a problem with a lemonade stand here. We have roadside fruit stands (run by adults out of pick-up trucks) all over the place beginning in July and going through Sep/Oct. Never seen one shut down yet as long as it's on private property and doesn't obstruct traffic.
