Illegal Everything

[Arminius]

I recommend watching "Illegal Everything" tonight on Fox News Channel. I already watched it the first time it aired. Some stuff will make your blood boil.

Tonight's Special: Illegal Everything (airs SATURDAY at 10 PM ET on Fox News)
Posted by John Stossel | February 24, 2012



Tonight, I argue that America has become a country where no one can know what is legal.
Kids who open lemonade stands are now shutdown by police. I tried to open a lemonade stand legally in NYC. That was quite an adventure. It takes 65 days to get permission from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
With government adding 80,000 pages of rules and regulations every year, it's no surprise that regular people break laws without even trying.
A small businessman spent 6 years in federal prison for breaking Honduran regulations (and, to make it worse, the Honduran government said he didn't). A family in Idaho can't build a home on their land because the EPA says it's a wetland-but it only resembles a wetland because a government drain malfunctioned and flooded it.
TAXI TROUBLE: Want to start a taxi business? Too bad - it's illegal. Illegal, that is, unless you buy a government-issued "taxi medallion" that can cost as much as a million dollars. One city has a free market for cabs - Washington, DC - but lobbyists there are pushing to regulate.
ILLEGAL FOOD: Increasingly, government tells us what we can and can't eat -- bans on trans-fat, happy meals, "raw" foods. California officials raided a raw food club, and arrested clerks for selling unpasteurized milk. Farmer Joel Salatin, author of "Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal," explains why Americans DON'T have the freedom to choose the food they eat.
ILLEGAL DRUGS: Drug use is illegal - but should it be? Where drugs are legal, businessmen replace gangs as the dealers and pay taxes. Portugal decriminalized all drugs 10 years ago--including crack, ecstasy, and heroin. What has happened since then? We go to Portugal and get the facts from police, politicians, and drug addicts.
ILLEGAL SEX: Our government bans prostitution because people think it's a dirty, dangerous business. But in brothels where prostitution is legal there is no crime or disease. On this show, three sex workers confront a prosecutor.
One bit of good news is that while there may be so many laws that no one knows if he's a lawbreaker, it has never been easier to "watch the watchmen." Tiny cameras in our iPods and cell phones allow citizens to film law enforcement and hold our government accountable. But in the last few years, cops have arrested and jailed people for taping in public. The arrests are not legal, but they happen anyway. Fortunately, arrests are caught on tape.


Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/s...airs-saturday-10-pm-et-fox-news#ixzz1nR7EH2tj

 

[elbacalao]

Sounds interesting. Despite it being on FOX, I'll look to watch it.

 

[Arminius]

Sounds interesting. Despite it being on FOX, I'll look to watch it.

Don't hate the messenger and don't be closed minded. Even I watch MSLSD to get different perspectives. This show isn't a left or right thing, it's about what has been and is going on right now in this country. You or I could be a victim just like the people in the stories you will see.

 

[kevin 714]

while I agree with the sentiment, we have too many laws and need to remove a huge chunk of them, I wont be watching(in no way will I support or contribute to faux news)

I hate all the laws in this damn country and how much(especially on the left) people feel a law should be used to deal with an issue they dont like.

 

[Papi-C]

The medallions on cabs is an NYC thing it's to limit the number of cabs on the road. If you've ever been to NYC and tried to drive you'd know it was a good idea. Therefore the scarcity makes them expensive.

 

[Arminius]

Well the argument is that the medallions are to limit the competition therefore keeping the little guy from threatening the business of the big players. The medallion costs something like one million dollars.

 

[kevin 714]

unfortunately I think ever increasing laws are a by product of democracy.

 

[Papi-C]

Well the argument is that the medallions are to limit the competition therefore keeping the little guy from threatening the business of the big players. The medallion costs something like one million dollars.

You're basically buying a business when you buy a medallion. Lots of medallion owners rent/lease their cabs to people w/o medallions instead of driving it themselves. My godfather was a cabbie he `splain much to me about it.

 

[Damn True]

This

If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law. ~Winston Churchill

 

[kevin 714]

^^ and that is part of it, by having so many laws, that tons are ridiculous and no one pays attention, people begin to lose respect for ALL Laws, including the ones that matter

 

[Blankpage]

ILLEGAL SEX: Our government bans prostitution because people think it's a dirty, dangerous business. But in brothels where prostitution is legal there is no crime or disease.

I find that hard to believe. Testing doesn't prevent desease it only tell you if you are positive. If your livelihood is as a whore and you are now desease positive do you stop working at your trade and finance a tech startup instead?
Unlikely, you probably continue working as a whore.

 

[Arminius]

^^ and that is part of it, by having so many laws, that tons are ridiculous and no one pays attention, people begin to lose respect for ALL Laws, including the ones that matter

You have to understand that it does not matter if you haver respect for a law or not because there is always some fanatic in charge that has no problems with prosecuting you for a law you didn't even know you were breaking in the first place. This special has some great examples, especially the family who lost everything because the federal government came in and declared their property a wetland. It was only a wetland because logs dammed up a drainage ditch, a ditch that was owned by and supposed to be maintained by the county. The property owner asked the county to clear the logs because his property was being flooded. The county said they could not do it right away but if he wanted to remove the logs himself he could. Well he used his backhoe to remove the logs and then later found himself battling the federal government who had declared his property a wetland. The feds threatened him with huge fines and or prison time.

There is another story of a woman who was video taping a police stop. She was on her own property filming the police stop. The police did not like being filmed demanded that she stopped filming. When she didn't she was arrested. The cops, at least 3 of them, later came to her property again to harass her by writing her a parking ticket because her wheels were too far from the curb. The regulation said they should be no more than 12 inches from the curb but her tires were about 13 inches from the curb. It was a clear case of retaliation by the cops. The city dropped the charges but the vengeful cops were never held accountable.

edit
BTW Kevin, you would only be supporting Fox News if you purchases something one of their sponsors was selling. It's not as if Fox tracks tracks every channel you are watching and gets some money every time you're watching them.

Charging an outrageous fee for a license to operate a cab company is an example of the city picking choosing the winners and losers. The established cab companies are greasing the palms of the city officials, but I guess that is the way business always has been and always should be.

 

[sanjuro]

I hope people realize legality is an evolution.

120 years ago, the Johnstown Flood
60 years ago, Separate But Equal was still in effect
30 years ago, Erin Brockovich was helping to sue PG&E for toxic dumping

12 years ago, the Glass-Steagall Act was repealed
In 2010, Eric Mar was successful in banning the free Happy Meal

We benefit from the evolution of our laws, but the idea of a Nanny State is comical given the injustices over the last 100+ years.

 

[AbsolutEnduser]

TAXI TROUBLE: Want to start a taxi business? Too bad - it's illegal. Illegal, that is, unless you buy a government-issued "taxi medallion" that can cost as much as a million dollars. "

what kind of a f-king normal country will it be if you're allowed to "just start a taxi service"?
No, it's not illegal, there simply are laws about it .

If there weren't , it'd be chaos with cabs probably, just like in any Cairo, Libya or who knows where.

This is cheap sensationalism. "Oh my, you can't even START a taxi-cab company" .. LOL

 

[bluenoser]

what kind of a f-king normal country will it be if you're allowed to "just start a taxi service"?
No, it's not illegal, there simply are laws about it .

If there weren't , it'd be chaos with cabs probably, just like in any Cairo, Libya or who knows where.

This is cheap sensationalism. "Oh my, you can't even START a taxi-cab company" .. LOL

Thank you. My parents were almost taken by a faux cab service in London. You let any Joe Schmoe operate a "taxi cab", and once the luggage is loaded in the trunk, the riders are now their hostages. Putting a million dollars up front reduces the chances of this from happening.

ILLEGAL SEX: Our government bans prostitution because people think it's a dirty, dangerous business. But in brothels where prostitution is legal there is no crime or disease. On this show, three sex workers confront a prosecutor.

I still stand by the theory that the sex trade was established by the womenfolk to keep the ties between sex and marriage strong (and thus giving women a bargaining chip in providing a service for a lifetime of room and board, as opposed to a making it a service industry).

 

[Arminius]

Some of you are getting tunnel vision by focusing one one thing and failing to see the bigger problem.

 

[kevin 714]

Some of you are getting tunnel vision by focusing one one thing and failing to see the bigger problem.

Agreed. Tho they do bring up good points on those specific topics. While I agree with the sentiment, it shows that faux may have done little research on their choice of topic

 

[mlm]

There's no shortage of regulations, but there's also never been a shortage of ethically challenged businesses or scumbag lawyers. Sad thing is that the little guy is usually the one who gets screwed.

...and the news article is just more peddling up outrage to the target demographic over misrepresented facts.

 

[jpl]

John Stossel is no FOX sycophant. He’s Libertarian, which is about as far from neo-conservatism as it is from liberalism. FOX is the only cable channel that will let him on.

 

[Blankpage]

John Stossel is no FOX sycophant. He’s Libertarian, which is about as far from neo-conservatism as it is from liberalism. FOX is the only cable channel that will let him on.

John Stossel had a part in this . I missed that little detail.
Carry on, nothing to see here.