We’ve all laughed, or at least some of us have, when we've seen the man or woman texting on a cell phone, then suddenly trip over an unexpected curb. But it isn't always funny. In a story on this problem reported by the Redwood City-Woodside Patch back in the summer, it was reported that injuries from distracted walking resulted in emergency room visits more than quadrupling in the past seven years.
City and transportation officials across the country have labeled distracted walking as a serious public safety issue that needs addressing.
Salt Lake City pedestrians face a $50 fine for using cellphones, headphones and other distracting electronic devices while crossing the light rail tracks, the Utah Transit Authority decided and Philidelphia and a New Jersey city banned texting while walking. Other cities in Arkansas, Illinois and New York, however, have unsuccessfully tried to pass distracted walking bills. The Redwood-Woodside Patch reported on an April Fool's Day joke last year that had Philadelphia officials taping off a e-lane for distracted pedestrians using electronics. People didn't realize it was a joke.
Are bills and fines banning communicating while walking in a public place necessary for our own good or too limiting on our freedoms?
Writing a check to giverment and saying "Handle it, handle it... simply won't get it. It's been that way since the temple stood in one piece in Israel, and will most likely stay that way until its rebuilt. Dark humor? Well everything can at some point make somebody, somewhere cry...
You just have to ask yourselves who were the power brokers during those eras?
I'm glad you have him, too. I'm sure there's no room in your corner for anyone but conservo-types. Besides, I would be in the corner with the children and helpless. :)
Conservatives clearly understand this concept better. Shows why those on the right give more in time and money to charities than those on the left. The left figures they've done their jobs by getting the government to rob from the rich and give to the...well...not-rich.....
You are the one who said no sparring with me until April 1 so that you don't break your covenant. I guess you included in that promise what you define "sparring" to be. Huh? You see, here's my problem with you and your Patch sister-in-kind: Until I started writing comments on Patch, I had never experienced a Christian using their "faith" as a weapon of aggression, as in badgering, judging, humiliating and shaming. I have known of "Christians" who think only their denomination or specific church is populated by those going to heaven, being saved. That and your kind of Christian treatment is so wrong as to probably turn unknown souls away, not toward, Jesus. You have no way of knowing who is reading these public forums and how your rigid, wrong-way views may negatively influence them. That's why it's really hard for me to believe in your alleged Lenten discipline. I believe the focus should be on your own preparation, not to publicly judge, harass and condemn someone else. It's why your story seems like a prank in bad taste. I know my relationship with God. It is not defined and confined to what you think. I'll take a pass on your strange kind of "love".
Kind of a scary thought, to be honest with you. The problem is that you'll be teaching them that nothing is their fault, there's nothing they can do to fix their lot in life, and they may as well be relying on the government, because they will be taking money from the evil rich and giving it to them. It's thoughts like this that make me weep for our future....
Luke 6:37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Romans 2:1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Romans 14:10 You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. James 4:11 Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. We are all sinners. Some just work harder at it.
PS I never said the ladies didn't drive. Although, my mother-in-law didn't drive. She had to be at home to make 3 meals a day and tend to the kiddies. No venturing out in the world for her. She did get to watch her stories, though. She was a lovely person and my father-in-law was a very good man. It was the times in which they lived.
Pause and reflect. Do not allow evil to rule your speech.
It goes back to the OP - Should disctracted walkers be fined? This is a classic way of pitting the pro-government against the too-much government crowds. Not that that's what the OP was trying to do, it's just what happens. Especially in this day and age. Common sense and the thought of actually expecting people to do something because it's truly in their best interest has given way to regulating good behavior. Which, to my way of thinking, isn't really good behavior at all, if the only reason you keep from doing something is to not be fined or harrassed. The real problem I see with the pro-government crowd is the end result. Socialism and Communism have never worked, not in anything close to a pure state. It has to be forced. And that's the only logical end result of more and more government intervention in the hope of forcing equality or even success. We need to not be scared to offend people by expecting them to succeed.
You're the party of zealous posts in your mission to always insult, rather than contribute. And, you're such a gentleman in your writings . . . never.
I know you will be so relieved when April 1 gets here so you can really give me what for. You should stop breaking your covenant and save up more.
If I were seeking respect by posting on L-G Patch, I would pretend to be extreme right wing :D It is really quite the compliment that you and your band of naysayers zero in on anything I write.
No one entity, group or individual can do it all.