More and more laws all the time...

[ratso]

I was just sitting around thinking the other day, mainly on how much boating and other things have changed over the years. Heck, we never thought about BUI a few years ago... and although they enforce it more, it seems more people are dying from boating accidents... doesn't seem the laws have helped that much... yet someone is reaping the benefits from it. It's .08 now... used to be .10... and my memory fails me as to whether it was higher before that. Years back it was nothing to sit at the lake and sip a few cold ones, but now if you even have a hint of alcohol on your breath, you're gonna catch Hell... If someone is drinking and being an idiot, arrest them! Basically it's just more laws to harass people.
Then we have the good ole noise laws now too. Who gives a fukk... except these fukkin' pricks making the laws. I think in general, most boaters aren't offended by the noise, it's the idiots that don't really spend time on the water that's making the real "noise" and causing these assnine laws to be imposed on the boating community. I still remember one night at Kokomos and hearing this boat fire up in the channel... wicked sounding and that loping idle as he made his way out... I didn't hear anybody bitching... just this calmness with everybody standing around listening and every few seconds you'd hear someone say "Badass" or "Man, that's fukkin' awesome"... Nah, I don't think the boaters mind it too much.;)
Speed limits on lakes... mark my words... it's coming to a lake near you eventually. Not so much that speed kills... I think it's more about inexperience... and fast boats, the same as fast cars or riding a motorcycle... there are some people that simply should not be doing it.
We have a couple of nice beaches here at our local lake, with buoys marking off these gigantic swimming areas... mainly for all the people that can't afford a boat. It looks like a gang war is about to happen on any given weekend with all the low lifes that come out... I mean it's getting worse every summer. If you own a boat and want to pull up to the beach though, they will ticket you. Now if you are one of the people on the beach, you don't have to stay inside the designated area for swimmers... but the boats have to stay about 50 feet away... where there is no beach area, only rocks... and the other nice beach is even worse... you have to park your boat out by the dock... and walk a quarter of a mile (no shit) walk a quarter of a mile to even get to the beach. I guess it's really no big deal now since it's mostly trash hanging out and taking over, but still yet another law to discourage boaters... Really, the Corp Of Engineers and Texas Parks and Wildlife SUCK here.http://www.***boat.com/ubb/graemlins/yuk.gif
Also just found out today, every entrance possible to get near the water has been blocked off by the Corp and Waco PD, and although I agree with not letting boats on the water due to flooding, they will ticket you if you even try to take your lawn chair and fish off the bank!http://www.***boat.com/ubb/mad.gif
Heck, years back, we'd go to the lake, pick out a camp site and mow the grass around it and park on it too if we had that big of a crowd. We would go skiing and tubing when I was a kid, my parents and all their friends would have a few beers, the cops never harassed us and they didn't have to worry about a felony if they were .08 with kids on the boat. After the weekend was over, we'd pick up our trash and head home. Good times, fewer laws... man how times have changed...:(

[eliminatedsprinter]

All it takes is a few busybodys and some members of the party who's name is a cross between Demagogue and Rat ,then bingo, another new Ca style restriction.

[framer1]

That is one true statement. Another reason i'm losing interest in boating:( I liked it better when it was like the wild west it seemed like it was the last place you could really let loose. Just to many people boating now. Seems like the only place I feel save to let loose and party is at my own house. Now that sucks:jawdrop:

[ratso]

That is one true statement. Another reason i'm losing interest in boating:( I liked it better when it was like the wild west it seemed like it was the last place you could really let loose. Just to many people boating now. Seems like the only place I feel save to let loose and party is at my own house. Now that sucks:jawdrop:
It's really BS when you can't have a good time without being harassed... What's even worse is that around here they "dream up" their own laws... totally out of control.
Funny, a few years back they had "a new Sheriff in town" with Texas Parks and Wildlife... and this guy had a MAJOR hard-on against speed or performance boats. He told me directly to my face he was going to run all the speedboats off the lake (there were about a dozen of us that hung out)... and we were checked for everything every chance they got. We were pulled up to the bank in a cove one day, every single one of us, and this jerkoff went to the first boat and asked who owned it and to show life preservers, throw cushions, fire extinguisher, registration... if you had an outboard he wanted the unit lifted up to see that the exhaust wasn't drilled, you name it, he checked every freakin' thing on every freakin' speedboat... that's right, speedboat. After the first 3 or 4, he came to my buds ski boat, stepped over the rope where it was tied up, proceeded to the next speedboat and asked "Who owns this one"... while my bud with the ski boat hollers out "Hey, aren't you going to check me"... and this prick just ignored him and kept checking the rest of us... These guys are flat out pricks... I've ended up in court over bogus charges with my business... run in's galore. Heck, if they're with TPWD or Corp of Engineers, we won't even work on their boats... Fukk em...http://www.***boat.com/ubb/graemlins/yuk.gif

[westair]

Thats always the solution ..... just make more laws and everybody
will be safe and happy.:rolleyes:

[ratso]

Thats always the solution ..... just make more laws and everybody
will be safe and happy.:rolleyes:
...and the ones making the laws are about as corrupt as you're gonna get.

[kronikenergy]

man you hit a nerve with this one. Let's not even get into what's happening at the desert or the fact that I need to buy an "adventure pass" to even so much as step foot into a national park.
A friend had a story about an ancient city that loved it's laws so much that if anyone wanted to change them they were to arrive at the proceeding with a noose already tied around their neck so that if their motion didn't pass they could be hung with the least amount of inconvenience.
I know what you mean though, with all these laws added year after year are any laws ever taken off the books? Do any expire? pretty soon we'll get to the point where anything that isn't mandated is outlawed.

[ratso]

man you hit a nerve with this one. Let's not even get into what's happening at the desert or the fact that I need to buy an "adventure pass" to even so much as step foot into a national park.
A friend had a story about an ancient city that loved it's laws so much that if anyone wanted to change them they were to arrive at the proceeding with a noose already tied around their neck so that if their motion didn't pass they could be hung with the least amount of inconvenience.
I know what you mean though, with all these laws added year after year are any laws ever taken off the books? Do any expire? pretty soon we'll get to the point where anything that isn't mandated is outlawed.
We had a bunch of acreage near the lake for as long as I can remember, at least since I was 10 years old. We would ride out there year round. You'd see dune buggies, 4 wheelers, dirt bikes, everywhere. It was great trail riding, gravel pits, creek bottoms, and all just a few miles from our house. I guess about 15 years ago, they decided to put pipe fencing around the entrance from the lake frontage to the next property owners land. Didn't think too much about it at the time, but it seemed they wanted to keep the 4X4s and dune buggys out... a little safer with just 4 wheelers and bikes I guess. Out of nowhere then just maybe 3 or 4 years ago, they blocked the entrance entirely. Now you can't get in at all anymore... no explanation, no nothing from you guessed it, those pieces of shit with the Corp... Corp owned lake, Corp owned land. If you're having too much fun, leave it to those shitheads to fukk it up.

[Riverdog1]

I remember...No age restrictions, alcohol restrictions, noise restrictions or even idiot restrictions. Guess what? Lake lice was invented and hence, the idiot boater. Our last sanctuary from the common idiot was invaded by the common idiot so now we just need to pull it together and buy our own lake:D :D No idiots allowed:mad:

[Flyinbowtie]

Hey ratso..
Howyadoin?:D
Your statement, in some respects, is right on the money.
There are a helluva lot more laws relating to human behavior than there used to be. Having been on the pointy-end of the deal for awhile, and now fighting like hell to help keep some dunes out in the middle of BFE open, I'm with you on a lot of this.
Let me start with an admission; there are a handful of folks out there wearing the badge that shouldn't be. If you really think you are being hassled for no good reason, get a badge number, take some notes, and talk to his/her boss. The sergeant can't be in more than about three places at once, and he don't know if the peeps under him are screwing up unless somebody tells him.
How many of the laws out there (that both of us think are inanane) are directly related to controlling and dealing with stuff we both used to think was common sense? Regulating stuff we don't do just because it is stupid, lame, or put people in a bad place who didn't ask to be there?
A bunch of 'em, imho.
I love the sound of an uncorked V-8 spinning the number as much or more than the next guy. What has happened is that too many people have built their houses around lakes and on rivers that used to be out in the middle of nowhere. They get thier panties in a bunch, and bitch to their local elected, "officals" and the next thing you know we have db rules for everything but the lawnmower.
Then, we have a whole 'nother bunch of people out there who have decided that it is their life calling to engineer every aspect of how you live. Many of them are jealous because they have no life, (they really can't justify the oxygen they are consuming, so worrying about their "carbon footprint" seems a little , well, self-important)
Just to give them a name, let's call 'em Eco-Socialists. They are socialists at heart, and are using some eco-whacko shiznit to try and control everything you do, say, and sometimes what you think. I've dealt with these losers at every kind of protest you can imagine, most are profesional protestors, living on the public dole or a trust fund, and have no concept of what it is like to get home tired from work and get up 6 hours later to do it again. I even had one sittin' in a tree on a timber harvest on 9-11, and he was pissed because all the media was focused on the attack on America, and not paying attention to him. Small mind, huh? The timber co. wasn't gonna cut down the tree he was sitting in, but I talked 'em into it after the little jerk climbed down.
He got to watch it fall from the air-conditioned comfort of the back seat of my cop car.:D
Since they ain't at work, they have all day to go to meetings, circulate petitions, write letters, and generally screw with the lives the rest of us are living, but are too busy working to fight back.
I am retired, but when I was working, it bugged the hell out of me everytime the glorious legislature down in Sacramento passed some new law that tightened up personal freedoms. Those clowns down there are too far removed from the real world we live in to think about anything beyond re-election. They listen to a few elitists Eco-Socialists who write big checks.
Sometimes it is a knee-jerk reaction to a tragedy, but most of the stuff that I think is grinding on you is driven directly by the E-S folks, and they get leverage when people don't use common sense.
Since common sesne is now an endangered species, and money is so cheap, we have people that shouldn't get beyond the distance a $500.00 car could take them from home out there "buying" :rolleyes: jetskis, boats, quads, sandrails, and other stuff that their inherent idiocy would, in a properly functioning world, prevent them from attaining.
The world, tho, ain't functioning properly.
rant off, sorry for the long-winded post.

[ratso]

Hey ratso..
Howyadoin?:D
Your statement, in some respects, is right on the money.
There are a helluva lot more laws relating to human behavior than there used to be. Having been on the pointy-end of the deal for awhile, and now fighting like hell to help keep some dunes out in the middle of BFE open, I'm with you on a lot of this.
Let me start with an admission; there are a handful of folks out there wearing the badge that shouldn't be. If you really think you are being hassled for no good reason, get a badge number, take some notes, and talk to his/her boss. The sergeant can't be in more than about three places at once, and he don't know if the peeps under him are screwing up unless somebody tells him.
How many of the laws out there (that both of us think are inanane) are directly related to controlling and dealing with stuff we both used to think was common sense? Regulating stuff we don't do just because it is stupid, lame, or put people in a bad place who didn't ask to be there?
A bunch of 'em, imho.
I love the sound of an uncorked V-8 spinning the number as much or more than the next guy. What has happened is that too many people have built their houses around lakes and on rivers that used to be out in the middle of nowhere. They get thier panties in a bunch, and bitch to their local elected, "officals" and the next thing you know we have db rules for everything but the lawnmower.
Then, we have a whole 'nother bunch of people out there who have decided that it is their life calling to engineer every aspect of how you live. Many of them are jealous because they have no life, (they really can't justify the oxygen they are consuming, so worrying about their "carbon footprint" seems a little , well, self-important)
Just to give them a name, let's call 'em Eco-Socialists. They are socialists at heart, and are using some eco-whacko shiznit to try and control everything you do, say, and sometimes what you think. I've dealt with these losers at every kind of protest you can imagine, most are profesional protestors, living on the public dole or a trust fund, and have no concept of what it is like to get home tired from work and get up 6 hours later to do it again. I even had one sittin' in a tree on a timber harvest on 9-11, and he was pissed because all the media was focused on the attack on America, and not paying attention to him. Small mind, huh? The timber co. wasn't gonna cut down the tree he was sitting in, but I talked 'em into it after the little jerk climbed down.
He got to watch it fall from the air-conditioned comfort of the back seat of my cop car.:D
Since they ain't at work, they have all day to go to meetings, circulate petitions, write letters, and generally screw with the lives the rest of us are living, but are too busy working to fight back.
I am retired, but when I was working, it bugged the hell out of me everytime the glorious legislature down in Sacramento passed some new law that tightened up personal freedoms. Those clowns down there are too far removed from the real world we live in to think about anything beyond re-election. They listen to a few elitists Eco-Socialists who write big checks.
Sometimes it is a knee-jerk reaction to a tragedy, but most of the stuff that I think is grinding on you is driven directly by the E-S folks, and they get leverage when people don't use common sense.
Since common sesne is now an endangered species, and money is so cheap, we have people that shouldn't get beyond the distance a $500.00 car could take them from home out there "buying" :rolleyes: jetskis, boats, quads, sandrails, and other stuff that their inherent idiocy would, in a properly functioning world, prevent them from attaining.
The world, tho, ain't functioning properly.
rant off, sorry for the long-winded post.
...long post, but I'm glad I came back and read it this morning...;)

[MKEELINE]

Come on guys, if these lawmakers don't protect us from ourselves then who will?:rolleyes: How else would you know that your 5 year old needs to wear a PFD or you should have a fire extinguisher on board? These focking people have made it their personal mission and livelyhood to do the thinking for all of us. God forbid that you use common sense and take responsibility for your own actions.
Some of it is the reaction to all the clueless people out on the water these days. Financing is ruining boating. By this, I mean that any yahoo can go down and get some kind of boat or PWC on credit. It's very rare that this new boater takes the time to educate themselves. So now new boater goes out there and wipes out someone and guess what, we get a new law to keep that from happening again.
DISCLAIMER: I'm not saying that everyone that finances a boat is a clueless idiot.

[Racey]

...

[Racey]

Revenue Policing.
You took the thoughts right out of my mind ratso. These laws put all the blame to something else:
It wasn't the fact that the guy driving the boat was an idiot, it was the fact that he was drinking that caused the accident. :idea:
I'll drive with a drinking experienced boat driver any day over an amateur sober one. end of story.

[eliminatedsprinter]

Thats always the solution ..... just make more laws and everybody
will be safe and happy.:rolleyes:
The only tool dim witted legislators know how to use is a hammer, therefore everything looks like a nail.

[SB]

Revenue Policing.
You took the thoughts right out of my mind ratso. These laws put all the blame to something else:
It wasn't the fact that the guy driving the boat was an idiot, it was the fact that he was drinking that caused the accident. :idea:
I'll drive with a drinking experienced boat driver any day over an amateur sober one. end of story.
How about age? I'll take an experienced 12 yr. old handling the boat, over an inexperienced, drunk 25 yr. old.
More and more laws until you want to scream, then revolution.