Thursday, July 05, 2012

Something MUST be Done, Dammit!

Despite being obscenely expensive and Bloomberg-esque in its degree of a paperwork frustration, all drivers in France are being treated like ex-DUI offenders:
In an attempt to cut back on the number of alcohol-related traffic accidents, each driver will from now on be required to keep a breathalyzer test in his or her vehicle. Those caught without the test, which cost between 1 and 3 euros a piece, can expect to pay a fine of 11 euros as of 1 November.
While that doesn’t seem like a lot of money, what we’re talking about here is a portable test that the police can make you take when they pull you over. YOU’RE supposed to have purchased it and have it on hand. Innocence not being assumed in the least, YOU need to have bought the test kit used to prove your sobriety.
According to an Ifop poll published in Dimanche Ouest France, only 39 percent of French drivers owned the test as of Saturday, just one day before the law came into effect.
Remember that Nanny doesn’t just loves you, but is always ready to hug you to death.

Also to include in Nanny’s pointless, morally vane strangulations is this sort of thing that the average European is so used to getting forced on them on a daily basis that they are conditioned into a sort of weird bliss of the servile:
In a measure to bring down electricity consumption, neon lights and illuminated advertisements will be forced off during the wee hours of the night. From 1 to 6 o’clock in the morning, even the town Christmas tree will have to go dark overnight.
Next week it will be something else. There always is.
The measure could cut CO2 emissions by 120,000 tons.
Irritating 60 million people in one small way or another, this will make up for the annual carbon dioxide output of a mere 7868 households.

They must be so proud.