Hillary Clinton Joins Fight for National Seatbelt Law

CNSNEWS.com ^ | 12/10/03 | Susan Jones

[Constitution Day]

Bbbbbuuttt... it's for the chillun, Bill!

[Mo1]

States that do not meet either goal would have a small percentage of their Highway Trust Fund monies withheld. This is the same approach Congress used to pressure the states to beef up their drunken driving laws.

Isn't this kind of like extortion??

If you, the states don't make these laws, we the feds will hold back money??

[spectre]

She'd do alot better going for the safety of our kids who have to ride in those big yellow School Busses, and don't have seat belts to wear.

"It's for the children"...Hillary!

sw

[billbears]

Well the same crap worked for Republican Senator Elizabeth Dole when she did this as Secretary of Transportation under President Ronald Reagan

[mvpel]

I've been thinking that the perfect antidote to seat belt laws is the recent Supreme Court ruling in Echazabal v. Chevron.

In that case, the US Supreme Court derided Chevron's efforts to protect Echazabal from possible medical harm, that would have been caused by refinery chemicals interacting with a previously undiscovered liver condition, by firing him as "paternalistic."

There's that and a few other cases that very clearly establish a right to medical self-determination. Even a prisoner serving time has the right to refuse unwanted medical measures.

I think that this principle could be easily applied to seat belt laws, since they're consistently pushed as a way to protect an individual from harm.

My only problem is that I now live in New Hampshire, the only state without mandatory seat belt laws, so I can't get myself pulled over and ticketed to bring this kind of challenge.

Let me know if you got a seatbelt ticket and I'll send you all the materials I worked up for a case that I won (but only because the officer didn't show) in California.

I think that by taking this tack, there's a reasonable chance at overturning seatbelt and helmet laws. The problem people like ABATE faced in their fight against the helmet laws was that they didn't have the Supreme Court on their side yet.

[bc2]

A national seatbelt law would weaken the 4th Amendment, because at least here in New York, not wearing a seatbelt is "probable cause" to get pulled over and have your motor vehicle searched by police.

[CJ Wolf]

I agree with your sentiment, have for years.

[CJ Wolf]

"States that do not meet either goal would have a small percentage of their Highway Trust Fund monies withheld."

So using this logic, unless you follow this law and buckle your seatbelts, we are going to make sure your roads are unsafe. Makes sense to me.

[Ff--150]

"Don't blame this on Clinton. This was introduced in its first form by then Department of Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole back in the 1980s"

Again, the rhetorical question: For whom does your "Senator" actually work for??

Hint: The Di Vinci Code.

[TigersEye]

So using this logic, unless you follow this law and buckle your seatbelts, we are going to make sure your roads are unsafe. Makes sense to me.

Extortion. The hostage is the citizen, the threat is to his/her safety and the reward is the return of the taxpayer's own money. I believe Mafia 'protection' is a better deal. More ethical anyway.

[Pagey]

The Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety noted that only 20 states and the District of Columbia have "primary" seatbelt enforcement laws, meaning police may stop and ticket motorists simply for failing to buckle up.

ONLY 20, HUH? The mere fact that there is a law, even in one state, allowing a policeman to pull you over for lack of wearing a seatbelt (as if that's a priority for any cop anyway) is ridiculous. "You can't help yourself, so I'll make yet another law to tell you how to behave".That sounds just like something Hillary Rotten would be for----one more law infringing on Americans personal freedoms/ individual responsibility. QUOTE Of The Millennium:"The American People will never knowingly adopt Socialism, but under the name of Liberalism they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist Program until one day America will be a Socialist Nation without ever knowing how it happened----"Comment courtesy of Norman Thomas, six-time Socialist Party presidential candidate and one of the Founders of the ACLU. (Feel free to ponder that one.)

[MegaSilver]

If we want safety, we should push for a National Concealed Carry law.

For some time now, I've flirted with the idea of getting my representative to introduce a Responsibility to Bear Arms amendment to the Constitution.

My logic is something like this. Outlawing guns won't stop criminals from getting them. Concealed Carry permits are too few and too far between. So if everyone was forced to take gun safety classes and was pressured to carry a concealed weapon, what are the chances that a criminal would try to hold up a bank or rob a little old lady? Slim to none. Someone would undoubtedly be pointing his/her own gun at him in three seconds.

Yes, I know, this idea has many, many hols and it's not going to happen. But it was a fun idea, ya gotta admit. :)

[MegaSilver]

'Primary' enforcement laws are essentially tools for police to pull over anyone they want and search `em.

Yup.

These are the same people pushing for affirmative action and integration of schools, as well. Don't you love seeing how much they manage to work backwards?

[Mudboy Slim]

"Big Bad Jawn"
(To be sung to Jimmy Dean's "Big Bad John")

(Big Jawn, Big Jawn)
Ev'ry mornin' on the Hill you can see him arrive
An effete, white-haired man, about seventy-five
Kinda slump'd at the shoulders and feeble at the hip
And everybody knew ya didn't give no lip to Big Jawn.
(Big Jawn, Big Jawn) Big Bad Jawn (Big Jawn)

Everybody knows where Jawn calls home
A big, marble palace called the Capitol Dome
He went from Committee Chair to the RINO head
And if you ever thought to cross him, you could end up dead - Big Jawn.

Some say he got rich on Liz Taylor cash
And landed in the Senate just 'cuz Obenshain's plane crash
With 50 per cent against his DemonRAT foe
Was all he needed to grab his power-hungry hold - that Jawn.
(Big Jawn, Big Jawn) Big Bad Jawn (Big Jawn)

Then came the day; it was Farris versus Beyer
Mike needed help to douse the LeftWing's fire
Christians were prayin' and hearts beat fast
And the RightWing smelled Victory at last-'cept Jawn.

Through the haze and the smoke of that election-year hell
Came Jawn's Deal with the Devil that Conservatives knew well
RINO Jawn and RAT Don made the RightWing groan
And “Radical” Mike stood all alone – thanks to Big Jawn.
(Big Jawn, Big Jawn) Big Bad Jawn (Big Jawn)

And in ’94 it was Ollie North against Robb
Then Big Jawn screamed, "Hey, Chuckie, I'll help save yer job!”
And Medyuh Whore’d scrambled like a pack of Sosh'list Knaves
To do their duty, Chuck Robb’s butt to save- for Big Jawn.

With lies and Nancy, they tore Ollie down
And ran that RINO Coleman that Big Jawn found
As the dust finally settled from that awful fight
Jawn was the TV hero that election night - Big Jawn.
(Big Jawn, Big Jawn) Big Bad Jawn (Big Jawn)

The VA Right barely recovered from that cowardly s***
The GOP wants to build a statue in honor of it
And in Two Thousand and Two there’s one plan
And that’s to insure no one run against this awful man...Big Jawn.

(Big Jawn, Big Jawn) Big Bad Jawn (Big Jawn)

FADE (Big Jawn, Big Jawn) Big Bad Jawn (Big Jawn)

FReeped by...Sultan88

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"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves." -- William Pitt, 1783