Babysitting Without A License

Has neighborly kindness been outlawed in Michigan? A West Michigan woman has been threatened with a $1,000 fine and 90 days in jail... for babysitting her neighbors' children:

Lisa Snyder of Middleville says her neighborhood school bus stop is right in front of her home. It arrives after her neighbors need to be at work, so she watches three of their children for 15-40 minutes until the bus comes.

The Department of Human Services received a complaint that Snyder was operating an illegal child care home. DHS contacted Snyder and told her to get licensed, stop watching her neighbors' kids, or face the consequences.

"It's ridiculous." says Snyder. "We are friends helping friends!" She added that she accepts no money for babysitting.

... A DHS spokesperson would not comment on the specifics of the case but says they have no choice but to comply with state law, which is designed to protect Michigan children.

But, who will protect the children from the road to hell paved with the good intentions of the Department of Human Services?

[Hat Tip to RSM at The Other McCain]

Green Velvet Fascism? little moma state?

Since some at Covenant Zone are always struggling to come up with a more precise nomenclature for our social and political betters, I thought the following story was noteworthy. It's often remarked that today's Green political religion is some kind of fascism in its desire to control peoples' behaviours. But what happens when the Greens themselves come to admit this? Do they make a real effort to accommodate greenism to human freedom?

globeandmail.com: Vancouver plan to prod citizens into behaving more green

Vancouver has come out with a 44-point plan to make you a better person and save the planet.

In an effort to make Vancouver "the greenest city" in a crowded field of municipal competitors, the plan will give you more encouragement to ride your bicycle with more routes and a public bike-share system. You'll be prodded to install low-flush toilets and insulation when you renovate or sell your home. Your garbage pickup will be reduced by half and you'll be nudged to start recycling your food scraps into green waste bins.

City council advocates of the plan swear they're not going to scold people to be green.

Penalties are pointless right now, "given that the opportunity hasn't existed for people to make good choices," Vision Vancouver Councillor Andrea Reimer said. "Generally speaking, this is like raising a child. You don't take a child outside and then start screaming at them for doing everything wrong."

I don't think I've ever seen a nannie statist be so frank about it... how does that change the statist?

Mayor Gregor Robertson concurred. "We're seeing examples of incentives working in other cities. So to add more initiatives that are punitive didn't make sense."

So instead of having monitors check your garbage to make sure you're recycling (the way San Francisco does) or banning certain kinds of packaging (the way Toronto does) or forcing you to install low-flush toilets when you're selling your house (like Berkeley does), the plan is all about creating opportunities, the politicians said.

Even the enforcement suggested in the Greenest City action plan - requiring that people make energy-efficient improvements if they sell or renovate their buildings extensively - will be done gently, the mayor said.

"Given that there's a significant cost, we'll look at an appropriate level of requirement," Mr. Robertson said. I think we can make that one work without being heavy-handed."

He also said the city would consider creative financing tools, such as breaks on property taxes and utility bills, to help people finance retrofits and upgrades.

Such approaches are more likely to succeed, environmental specialists said, because changing people's environmental behaviour takes a lot more than just telling them they have to be better or punishing them if they're not.

"There's quite a bit of evidence that the general carrot approach is better than the general stick approach," said Robert Gifford, a University of Victoria professor in the relatively new field of environmental-behaviour psychology, which has documented the lines of reasoning that people use to justify not altering their bad environmental ways.

Those reasons, which Mr. Gifford called the "12 dragons" of resistance, range from "how can just me riding my bike change anything" to "no one else I know is doing this" to "I don't think climate change is that big a deal." But one of the triggers to resisting is also a mistrust of authorities who appear to be acting like nannies.

Their thinking, Mr. Gifford noted, is "I don't like it when experts tell me what to do."

Or what to believe, mate... dragons? come on, Prof. "altering bad ways".

So the trick is to get people to buy into changing their behaviour by appealing to the flip side of all their resistance. So if one of their reasons for not changing is that they don't like being told what to do, a more positive approach led by someone like Mr. Robertson might work better.

"They might say, 'Oh, he's a cool guy who makes organic juice. I'll listen to what he has to say.' "

Sorry to say it, Dag, but your type obviously isn't on the behaviouralist's radar screen.

Anyway, alas, some will never have full faith in "show, don't tell":

Bans and penalties are sometimes useful because, while giving people opportunities is an important beginning, it's not always enough.

"At some point, you have to enforce some penalty," Ms. Reimer said. "But that's not the first step."

Honey, carrot or stick?

Osama Barka Campaign '84.

I don't believe everything I hear. You have to show me. There is a report that a tv station in Missouri is making threats against those who slag Osama Barka. I'm not sure what to make of it. I'd like some input.

Watch the video: http://www.kmov.com/video/index.html?nvid=285793&shu=1

Link available at Free Republic.

Here's a text synopsis of O Soma Merica.

September 27, 2008

Missouri's Obama Truth Squads

Lee Cary

Last Tuesday, CBS affiliate Channel 4 TV News in St. Louis reported that some Missouri sheriffs and prosecutors have formed a truth squad to target anyone who engages in misleading ad or statements about Senator Obama.

Here's the transcript of the lede on the CBS story:

"Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign is asking Missouri law enforcement to target anyone who lies or runs a misleading television ad during the presidential campaign."

The implied threat in the Channel 4 report is that prosecutors and sheriffs across Missouri will enforce "Missouri ethics laws" and conduct criminal investigations of "anyone who lies or runs a misleading television ad" against Barack Obama. Although the report did not directly state that intent, that implied message was clearly conveyed.

Two high-profile officers of the court spoke on camera: Jennifer Joyce, St. Louis Circuit Attorney, and Robert P. McCullouch, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney. No one was available at either of their offices on Friday to comment on the story.

Channel 4 mentions the expected support of Jefferson County Sheriff Glen Boyer in the truth squad efforts. Captain Ralph Brown, in charge of press relations for the Sheriff's Department, could not be reached for comment on Friday.

Scott Holste, speaking Friday on behalf of the Missouri Attorney General's office, was available for comment. He said he had already been contacted about the Channel 4 report, that the Attorney General's office was not involved in any way with truth squads, and that he found the CBS news item to be "a mangled story."

Also on Friday, Joe Carroll, Director of Campaign Financing, Missouri Ethics Commission, said that he is "not familiar with any campaign law that applies."

John Mills, the Channel 4 reporter, was unavailable for comment Friday.

Was the St. Louis CBS affiliate complicit in the attempt, by some elected Democrat court officials in the St. Louis area, to stifle free political speech in Missouri on Senator Obama's behalf?
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/09/missouris_obama_truth_squads_2.html

Please feel free to leave a comment on this story. O Brave New World.