An Actual Goddamned Reason To Watch the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams Tonight…

David Harsanyi, author of the new book Nanny State and author of the November cover story in reason, "Prohibition Returns!: Teetotaling do-gooders attack your right to drink," is going to be, discussing risk aversion, "no fun" playgrounds, and the over-regulation of toys.

More info at the NBC Nightly News site.

Comments

[Juanita]

Anything and everthing that can help the cops to keep us all safe is inherintly a good thing, I'm all for it.

[Captain Chaos (now in thrall t]

Will this be on Reason tv? I'd love to see the interview, but don't think I can stomach more than a few minutes of tv nooze.

[JasonC]

Time for a new shtick, Juanita.

[ed]

I doubt you'll get much from the 30 seconds allotted to him. Best bet is to catch a rerun of a recent C-Span book-tour gig. I'm sure they'll repeat it. Well worth it.

[oread]

Ohhh, I hope someone posts a youtube (or whatever) link...i refuse to pay for cable and creepy commercials. I liked the story here with him writing very much.

[Adam]

No-fun playgrounds? I mean this sincerely -- it's my impression that playgrounds have gotten significantly more awesome than they were when I was a kid. And they don't seem any less dangerous. Lots of opportunities for scrambling around and falling.

I have noticed that a lot of playgrounds now put some of the squishy rubber padding on the ground beneath the equipment, but that kind of seems like a good thing...

[KingHarvest]

As a resident of the Denver metro area, I had the opportunity to hear David Harsanyi discuss his new book on a local NPR program called Colorado Matters. He presents a very level-headed and sane argument for resisting today's social engineering strategy of over-regulation. It's great he's getting this message out to the general public. And for the numskulls out there, his credibility is increased by the fact that he's a real, live, actual, parent!

[BakedPenguin]

I happened to catch this segment. It ran a good 45-60 seconds, but Hirsanyi got about 5.

[David E. Gallaher]

I usually watch the first 11 minutes of Brian's show anyway, so it wasn't that cruel and unusual for me to have to endure the whole show tonite to catch this segment.
The segment itself seemed to have a lot of rubber padding around it, but this is the "feel-good" time segment for all networks.
What struck me was why was Harsanyi holding himself out to be an expert on the subject?
That said, it was thought-provoking, considering the time slot, and a flashing of nannyism mind-set can't be a bad thing.

[Brian Ewart]

"Some of the Thomas the Train toys - not all, but some - are dangerous to the health of our children. And I say not all, but some. Why should it be up to the moms and dads to be able to figure that out? Is it too much to expect the government to live up to its responsibility to protect our children?" ~~ Nancy Pelosi

Should we banish forks because a child might play with that and poke it's eye out?

There is no clause in the Constitution that says that the Federal Government has a right, power, or responsibility to babysit your children for you. Maybe we should be encouraging people to be more responsible parents, rather than continuing to take responsibility out of their hands, and encouraging them to be lazy.

[David E. Gallaher]

Brian Ewart,
Over on the legalize medical marijuana thread we were kicking around having a "None of your business" amendment to the Constitution.
Children are a parent's responsibility only.

[Kris]

I agree with Mr. Gallaher.

[ed]

Nanny of the House Pelosi gets a little more senile every day.

[de stijl]

Thomas the Tank Engine scandal was about lead content in the paint and not that some dumbass kid poked her eye out cuz Daddy wasn't watching her.

Home lead tests for paint don't work well at all - a little problem with false positives but massive problems with false negatives. Pelosi has a point here.

[Colonel_Angus]

Lead is only dangerous if some dumbass kid likes putting shit in their mouth. And even then its not very dangerous.