Stupid Lawyers...

I know my last post was a political rant, and I really don't want this to be a political blog, but I have to get this off my chest.

A couple of weeks ago, NBC had this story about some senator in New York that wants to ban the use of cell phones, blackberries and iPODs while walking across the street. This started a discussion with my coworkers about other legislation in the works, such as;

• Texas wants to make it a misdemeanor to miss a parent/teacher conference (story).
  
• Various states are trying to ban smoking in a car with a child in it - even if it's your car(story).
• Mandatory traffic stops if a police officer sees that seat belts aren't being worn (story).
• Florida would like to make the term "Illegal Alien" illegal(story).
• A bill that would make video game makers responsible for any crime committed by a minor - if they think that the game had any influence (story).
• Arizona tried to force teachers to have "alternate assignments" for students that were offended by their reading material (story).
  

The list could go on ad nauseum. While there are certainly a few things that I agree with (wearing seat belts, not smoking around children for example), I really don't feel they need to be laws. If you're not willing/too stubborn to wear a seat belt - then don't. It's your life. Even the smoking thing bothers me, is it the government's place to control every aspect of our life?

I understand and agree that the government is in place to protect and rule us. However, at what point should the line be drawn? Do we really need the boneheads in Washington to go out of their way to protect us from ourselves? Is it necessary to have a law to remind me that I need to watch where I'm going when I'm on a cell phone?

Being a gamer, I'm REALLY offended by the bill to make game makers responsible for the actions of their customers. I suppose I should be happy, I can now play GTA and go steal cars and assault police - but it wouldn't be my fault. The game made me do it.

Didn't we go through this with heavy metal and D&D a couple of decades ago?

Stupid politicians.....