Instead of banning mobile phone use, enforce the law Re: “Cell phone use in moving vehicles should be prohibited,” From Readers, Dec. 15
Where does it end? The National Transportation Safety Board’s call for banning mobile phone use by drivers is ridiculous. We already have laws for “distracted ” and “reckless driving” even though using a mobile phone does not necessarily cause either. Why not enforce the laws we already have?
Almost anything can distract a driver. What about eating while driving? Viewing your mobile navigation device? Changing the radio station? Chatting with passengers? Smoking a cigarette? Adjusting your tie? If we continue down this road, before long it will be illegal to drive without a full cross-body restraint system, a helmet and our hands in the 10 and 2 positions.
Since Maryland passed its ban on mobile phone use, I see just as many drivers using them without “hands free” Bluetooths or headsets. The only difference is that we now have a state full of lawbreakers. If the NTSB gets its way, we’ll have a whole nation of lawbreakers. The more laws we have, the more control government has over our lives.
A better idea is to allow police officers the discretion to stop someone they see driving recklessly, rather than mandating they stop everyone using a mobile device.
Jeff Underwood
Simpsonville, Md.
Dead people get lots of other entitlement benefits
Re: “Maryland Medicaid pays dead people,” Local Editorial, Dec. 13 Wall Street Journal
The Examiner noted that millions of dollars were wasted by the state of Maryland in fraudulent Medicaid payments for dead people — such as payments to a nursing home that began 11 months after an individual died — because Maryland ignored state and federal death records.
Dead people also have received countless millions in benefits under other programs, such as food stamps and the $800 billion stimulus package. The Social Security Administration sends millions of dollars to recipients who are also dead.
Sadly, this is government as usual. As James Bovard recently noted in the Wall Street Journal, when some states attempted to prevent fraud in the food stamp program, they were thwarted by the Obama administration, which responded “by cracking down on state governments’ antifraud measures.”
Hans Bader
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Washington
National Park Service inaction is political favoritism
Re: “Patience wanes with Occupy DC protest,” Dec. 11
Here’s a question for Park Police spokesman David Schlosser: Would my First Amendment rights be protected if I decided to set up an “Occupy the Womb” tent on the Ellipse in support of fetal rights?
My bet would be on me being kicked out faster than The Examiner
could snap a photo of my arrest.
The federal government must take great care not to endorse one political viewpoint, which is exactly what the National Park Service is doing by looking the other way and allowing Occupy DC to remain at McPherson Square.
Christina Ojala
Fort Belvoir
