Bailouts, bonuses, and the public mood

Steve Chapman, as usual, keeps a cool head about things. And I’ve got some links at Point of Law on the remarkable House-passed proposal to slap a punitive tax on the compensation of many thousands of financial institution employees who are not even notionally to blame for the current crisis, as well as on the threats of violence to AIG employees, which are being met with complacency if not encouragement in some surprisingly respectable circles. Update: Point of Law post now considerably expanded, and with followups here and here.

CPSIA: a scorecard of reform bills

slothfultoad

Carter Wood at ShopFloor has a very useful compilation of what are probably all the current bills introduced in Congress related to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. (More, of course, may follow as the crisis continues.) Of the 10 bills, one is an omnibus appropriation bill, while the other nine (six in the House, three in the Senate) all appear from their descriptions to be aimed at reforming the substance of the law, its timetables and deadlines, or both.

Significantly, there was introduced this week the first bill with a Democratic (i.e. majority) sponsor, a bill by Montana Democratic Senator Jon Tester to overturn the dirtbike ban.

The three bills in the Senate are S. 608, the Tester bill on motorcycles and related vehicles; S. 374, the much-discussed bill by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) that would have injected common sense into several areas of the law, and which Congress (under pressure from Public Citizen and others) refused to incorporate into the stimulus package; and S. 389, a bill introduced by Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah) “to establish a conditional stay of the ban on lead in children’s products, and for other purposes.”

The six bills in the House are H.R. 1510 and H.R. 1587, introduced by Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.), both relating to cycles/vehicles; H.R. 968, by John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) and H.R. 1465, by Brad Ellsworth (D-Ind.), both of which are described as providing “regulatory relief to small and family-owned businesses”; H.R. 1046, by Adam Putnam (R-Fla.), to “ensure the effective implementation of children’s product safety standards under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008”, and H.R. 1027, by Bill Posey (R-Fla.), to “exempt second-hand sellers of certain products from the lead content and certification requirements”.

CORRECTION: I erroneously listed Indiana Congressman Brad Ellsworth above as a Republican, but he is a Democrat; fixed now.

March 20 roundup

  • Elena Kagan’s changing views of Senate confirmation process: “Lobster in Pot Re-Evaluates Pro-Boiling Stance” [Spruiell, NR “Corner”]
  • “Federal Courts React to Tide of Pro Se Litigants” [NLJ]
  • We get permalinks in nice places including a prominent Dutch business paper [NRC Handelsblad]
  • Someone who needs research done should snap up Kathleen Seidel, model practitioner of citizen journalism on autism-vaccine fray [Neurodiversity] When she got a call from a charity telemarketer recently, she began checking them out online. Results? Devastating. [Neurodiversity, Popehat]
  • How far does Britain’s new animal welfare law go? Does it really cover little Nicholas’s pet cricket? [Never Yet Melted]
  • Constitutionalizing judicial ethics: Caperton v. Massey case before Supreme Court is a bit more complicated than you’d think from the NYT editorial [Point of Law]
  • If you’re not in favor of government cracking down on what is said in online forums, are you “trivializing women’s harms”? [Danielle Citron/ConcurOp, Scott Greenfield] On the other hand, it doesn’t take a commitment to feminism to note that there are online bullies and they’re a nasty, overwhelmingly male lot [Popehat, language]
  • Attorney walks away from a whole bunch of cases after accusation he bribed a Royal Caribbean Cruise Line employee, and his troubles may not be over yet [Florida Daily Business Review]

CPSIA: a season of activism

A season of activism has begun:onanysunday

  • Today’s the day (4 PM Pacific time) that motorbiking legend Malcolm Smith intends to publicly break the law by selling youth motorcycles and ATV at his store in Riverside, Calif. in defiance of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. Smith starred with Steve McQueen in the 1970s documentary On Any Sunday, which did much to popularize motorcycle sports. More details at KidsLove2Ride.com:

    As a sign of support, a group of small business people and high-profile motorcycle industry celebrities, including racers Jeff Ward and Jeremy McGrath, Glen Helen Raceway owner Bud Feldkamp, and motorsport design guru Troy Lee have all agreed to be on hand to purchase banned units for use by their own children and grandchildren.

    No word on whether Public Citizen, or perhaps some on the staff of California CPSIA sponsors/defenders Rep. Henry Waxman, Sen. Barbara Boxer or Sen. Dianne Feinstein, will show up to perform a citizen’s arrest. More from Rob Wilson (“A year ago I would have been shy about supporting ‘illegal’ activities”), Pashnit Motorcycle Forums (“A stupid law that must be defied”), Motorcycle.com, Motorcycle USA, Cycle News, Racer X, Eastern Dirt (Smith has had so many offers of support that he changed the time of the protest to the afternoon so that more could attend).
    husqvarna
    Advance press notice has already been strong: Daniel McDermon, New York Times “Wheels” blog; USA Today (CPSC has gotten as many as 5,000 emails, letters and calls in one day protesting the ban); Riverside Press-Enterprise. Earlier here.

    Update: Early protest coverage at DirtRider and at Smith’s KidsLove2Ride.

  • Meanwhile, affected crafters, small business people and dealers are making plans to attend the Washington, D.C. fly-in rally, public hearing and CPSIA outreach events in Washington, D.C. April 1. A new website is up on the event titled AmendtheCPSIA.com (not “Repeal”?) and Rick Woldenburg has many updated details at his site. More: David Foster, Chicago Boyz.

CPSIA: transcripts, audio of Hugh Hewitt show

An audio is now up of my guest appearance yesterday on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show. And Canadian blogger Charles Henry has generously compiled a transcript of the segment, an especially useful resource because he’s embedded relevant links. He’s also posted a transcript of another segment of the show in which attorney/guest Gary Wolensky talks about this week’s big library/CPSC outcry, as well as vacant toy shelves (“That’s A CPSIA Toy, We Can’t Sell It To You“).