"SUNY Albany Young Americans for Liberty 2nd Amendment Rally" http://www.hudsonvalleysportsman.com/index.php?topic=11717.0
"The pushback against the state's SAFE gun control act heads to campus today, when the local chapter of the conservative group Young Americans for Liberty will hold a rally titled 'Rights That Secure All' at 10 a.m. in Collins Circle on the University at Albany's uptown campus.
"The pro-Second Amendment rally will feature speeches from local Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin, whose opposition to the SAFE Act has led many upstate to tout him as a possible 2014 gubernatorial candidate."
Seiler, Casey. "Rally to protest state gun law; Conservative group plans gathering today at UAlbany campus." Albany Times Union. October 14, 2013. http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Rally-to-protest-state-gun-law-4895559.php
McLaughlin, governor? As horrendous as "Android" Cuomo is, McLaughlin's particular brand of thuggish, brainless politics would decidedly not be an improvement.
Zettel, J.C., Khamballa, Barden, Murthy, and Macarthur. "Gas fireplace contact burns in young children." J Burn Care Rehabil. 2004 Nov-Dec;25(6):510-2.
Becker, L. and Cartotto. "The gas fireplace: a new burn hazard in the home." J Burn Care Rehabil. 1999 Jan-Feb;20(1 Pt 1):86-9; discussion 85.
"Gas fireplaces cause serious burns, warns The Hospital for Sick Children." http://www.sickkids.ca/aboutsickkids/newsroom/past-news/2003/gas-fireplaces-cause-serious-burns,-warns-the-hospital-for-sick-children.html
"Protect children from gas fireplace burns during the holiday season, urges Safe Kids Canada." http://www.sickkids.ca/aboutsickkids/newsroom/past-news/2004/protect-children-from-gas-fireplace-burns-during-the-holiday-season-urges-safe-kids-canada.html
"The temperature of the glass is so extreme that when touched, skin is likely to melt and stick to the glass, causing devastating injuries."
"Requires warning labels on fireplace glass panels advising consumers of the grave risk of burns when the fireplace is operating." http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S4029-2011
Seiler, Casey. "Tales of actual legislation, or: Fire bad!" http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/119098/tales-of-actual-legislation-or-fire-bad/
While I didn't think the above bill was likely to help much, if at all, I do think the sponsors' hearts were in the right place and would take issue with Seiler and to an even greater degree with McLaughlin (discussed below). What seemingly is needed is for glass fireplace screens to be designed so that they don't get so very hot, or perhaps a double pane of some kind: the one that gets hot, and another in front of it, extended out by pegs that don't conduct heat, with air flowing freely in between. Something like that. Or just get rid of them entirely.
One NY politician, Steve McLaughlin, very much wanted to blast and ridicule the sponsors of the bill in front of the assembly. I tried to encourage him to criticize the bill without ridiculing the sponsors' intentions. He refused; he wanted to score political points with his base that likes for political discussions to be mean-spirited, evidently. I was hoping he could raise the bar for how politicians conduct themselves, but I hoped in vain.
He calls himself a pro-lifer, but wrote "If you are too stupid to realize that fireplace glass will get hot, please don't reproduce. Thank You." OK, McLaughlin: then let at least stupid people get sex education, free contraception, and access to abortions. But no, like many pro-lifers, he seems to be a terrible hypocrite. Even supposing it's the fault of stupid parents: should kids continue to be burned because they have stupid parents, as if that's somehow the kids' fault and something for which the kids should suffer? In McLaughlin's mind, evidently so?
He also doesn't appear to care at all if kids get injured, taking the position that they'll learn their lesson. It's my understanding that many kids don't intentionally touch the screens, but clumsily stumble into them, kids' coordination still developing as they age. He also claimed that skin does not actually "melt" off.
.
"True the metal screens don't get as hot. But they also let sparks through thereby increasing the fire danger. The glass screes are there for looks,to stop sparks,and actually to throw heat. Also, the skin is not melting off. That's hype in the bill and not fact. Human instinct would have the person,baby or not, recoiling in pain. No ones skin is being melted off. And the truth is, touch it once and they'll never do it again."
"Chris I love ya, but my God you over think everything. It doesn't need to be qualified. It's an idiotic bill. I spoke to the sponsor today and let him know that. The good news is, the bill isn't going anywhere and will die in committee, although I was SO looking forward to pounding this thing to death. Fire hot, glass hot, don't touch."
McLaughlin might underthink everything, or simply not think at all. I took all of a minute to consult MEDLINE to find the above articles. Politicians should be doing research on anything they're going to vote on, and in this case the research was exceptionally easy to begin - plus he has a staff to do research for him. Evidently they're every bit as bad as he at their jobs.
He acted as if I'd spent hours trying to undermine him. There was also mention of the McDonald's coffee case, with the poster being ignorant of the facts of it. McDonald's knew people want to drink coffee in the car, but claimed they thought people want to take it home and that they superheated it for that reason - something like that, as I recall. I may have cited the specifics. My posts are gone because I deleted my Facebook account. I had long disliked Facebook's practices, and also felt Facebook makes for poor communication. McLaughlin's behavior was about the last straw for me, illustrating just how stupid people get there.
"Honestly Chris, this is tiresome and I'm done with it. While you may have all day to sit around and research every single aspect of every single statement that someone says so that you can be contrary and strive mightily to prove your point, I do not. All you really did was point out that yes, some people have been burned. No kidding. What a shock. How you make a connection between me saying that once they touch it they won't do it again and family values is insulting and nonsensical. At what point do you believe that I or anyone else would purposely let them touch the glass to teach them a lesson? Give me a break. It's not very likely true. It's true. Unless of course, that child has absolutely no common sense or human instinct. So in that rare and almost impossible scenario you may be correct. Let me tell you a story that someone just told me the other day. They have a cat and a cat I would guess that even you would agree, and maybe even without researching it, is not as smart as a human. Well....the cat, when it was a kitten, actually went up to the fireplace glass, stood up on it's hind legs, and touched the hot glass. Guess what? That cat to this day will not go anywhere near the fireplace glass. Lesson learned. So if a cat can figure it out, I'm going to out on a limb and say a human could. And, if you've ever burned yourself, which I have, you could classify that as melting as its surface is temporarily changed. Should we put a bright orange sticker on firewood saying this can get really hot when used in a campfire? While you may think it's ok to legislate every single aspect of our lives, I do not."
https://www.facebook.com/SteveMcNY/posts/389700167724785
"While you may think it's ok to legislate every single aspect of our lives, I do not": Typical idiotic fallacious remark, that. I don't think that, and if he genuinely thought I did, he would seem to be a rather stupid man (he hasn't followed his own Social Darwinist advice about "breeding," though).
"Days shy of her first birthday, Marin Montgomery stumbled into the glass of her family’s fireplace. The pane was so sizzling – hot enough to cause third degree burns at the slightest touch – that the toddler severely scorched her hands, arms and face.
"It happened four winters ago, but for her mother, Deirdre Wooldridge, the memories are fresh – of melted skin sticking to the glass, Marin’s agonized screams even after morphine shots and painful surgery to graft skin from the toddler’s groin to her left hand.
"Marin was one of the more than 2,000 children ages 5 and under who, according to federal estimates, have suffered burns from the glass enclosures of gas fireplaces since 1999.
"While everyone knows the danger of an open flame, many fail to recognize the risk from the superheated glass. It is an 'insidious and unappreciated hazard,' said Carol Pollack-Nelson, a psychologist formerly with the Consumer Product Safety Commission and an expert witness in a case against a major fireplace manufacturer. [...]
"the industry polices itself under a voluntary standard that allows the glass to reach a peak temperature of 500 degrees. The limit is meant to keep the glass from cracking, not to prevent people from getting burned.
"The standard, written by a business-dominated group, doesn’t require a screen to prevent contact with the glass. Rather, it relies on warnings that many consumers never see.
"However, a leading manufacturer, Hearth & Home Technologies, has taken steps to protect consumers by attaching a mesh safety screen on all of its glass-enclosed fireplaces. The screen 'is a huge help,' said Joel Ginsberg, a division manager with the Lakeville, Minnesota-based company.
"'If you touch the screen, you reduce the risk of a serious burn significantly,' Ginsberg said. 'If you touch the glass, you can potentially leave skin on the glass.'"
"According to some industry observers, the company began using safety screens several years ago after a child related to a company executive was burned on the superheated glass. Hearth & Home representatives would not confirm or deny the report. [...]
"It’s wrong to 'sticker over' a hazard of this type, said R. David Pittle, a former commissioner of the CPSC. 'What you really need is a product that is designed so that predictable experiences don’t end in tragedy.'"
Levin, Myron and Elise Craig. "Glass fireplace enclosures present severe burn danger." 89.3 KPCC. January 13, 2011. http://www.scpr.org/news/2011/01/13/22924/gas-fireplaces-present-severe-burn-danger/
The article is well worth reading in its entirety.
In McLaughlin's cruel world, Marin Montgomery got what she deserved. Perhaps he'd look at the photo of her wound and dismiss it, or joke about it? In McLaughlin's world the things he says that he pulled out of his ass are the gospel truth, like his claim that skin doesn't stick to glass. The industry itself says that skin does stick to glass and the responsible companies among them take measures to reduce or prevent the chance of such severe burns, yet McLaughlin chooses to side with the companies that evidently don't care about protecting children.
McLaughlin also had (in a separate matter) compared Cuomo to Hitler, Mussolini, and "Moscow." Cuomo is (like McLaughlin!) a very bad politician who should be voted out of office if not outright expelled or required to resign, but he's of course no Nazi, and definitely not a Communist. McLaughlin again seems to like blasting his opponents - and doing so in particularly nasty ways to please his evidently nasty base.
“'Sometimes in the heat of the moment you say things that you regret,' said Republican Steven F. McLaughlin of the Capital District in Albany, in a YouTube video posted Tuesday. 'I made an analogy that I should not have made … I called the governor to apologize. He did not deserve that.'
"In the latest of a torrent of statements in public discourse by others likening stricter gun control measures to the Nazi era since last month’s school massacre in Newtown, Conn., McLaughlin said 'Hitler would be proud. Mussolini would be proud of what we did here. Moscow would be proud.'"
"Assemblyman Apologizes For Cuomo-Hitler Remark." The Jewish Week. February 5, 2013. http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/news-brief/assemblyman-apologizes-cuomo-hitler-remark
The "heat of the moment" indeed! He's a hothead: what moment isn't the "heat of the moment" for him?
Apologies from politicians are by and large meaningless, particularly when there's patterns of behavior as in McLaughlin's case. Was the "apology" accepted? If so, why?
I do have problems with the SAFE Act, but also have problems with interpretations of the 2nd Amendment that don't adequately account for the part about a "well regulated militia" and the intent of the framers. McLaughlin should find plenty of like-minded droogies at UAlbany, though. The College Republicans had welcomed in future Craigslist Killer Philip Markoff, and had high-fived each other at a debate on campus over more or less comparing torture at Abu Ghraib to fraternity hazing, holding that fraternity hazing is acceptable and therefore the torture at Abu Ghraib was as well. If they had knowledge of any fraternity hazing, especially fraternity hazing that had risen to the level of the torture at Abu Ghraib, they had a responsibility to report it to law enforcement. Or don't they believe in the rule of law?
McLaughlin's at least somewhat familiar with UAlbany's lawlessness and the lawlessness of the UAlbany Police.
From: Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin
Subject: Re: constituent issue with corruption in Albany
Date: February 22, 2012 2:36:23 PM EST
Hi Christopher,
Which university or college are you talking about? I don't know whether this falls within the purview of the legislature but if it's a public university the most appropriate recourse would be to speak to the Inspector General's office.
Steve
Assemblyman Steven F. McLaughlin
108th Assembly District
1654 Columbia Turnpike
Castleton-On-Hudson, NY 12033
(518) 479-0542 – Office
(518) 479-0653 - Fax
Christopher K. Philippo wrote:
Another Assemblyman suggested I might try contacting you about an issue I have. Given your interest in "reducing outrageous spending and cleaning up corruption in Albany" and "substantive ethics reform," hopefully we have some common ground to work with there!
[...] [Clarence L. McNeill] issued *me* a "'cease and desist' order" stating that I could not enter the entire building on campus in which the department is located (not that I had any desire to enter it!). The reason stated in that order was his claim that I'd violated a prior "'cease and desist' order." In reality, there was no prior order at all, thus it was impossible for me to have violated a prior one.
He cc'd the fraudulent order to the chief of campus police (requiring them to remove me from that building if I entered it), my student file, and to the professor I'd reported for sexual harassment, plagiarism, and other faculty ethics violations. The order included my home address, even though it was never sent to my home address, which I found rather inappropriate to say the least. I thought falsely reporting an incident to the police and offering a false instrument for filing were both misdemeanors under the N.Y. Penal Code?
I did try following his advice about contacting the NYS Inspector General, but the NYS Inspector General's office is a black hole where complaints go to die.
Steve McLaughlin would make a great corrupt, incompetent governor - but I hope New York has had its fill of those.
