Dark Bilious Vapors

But how could I deny that I possess these hands and this body, and withal escape being classed with persons in a state of insanity, whose brains are so disordered and clouded by dark bilious vapors....
--Rene Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy: Meditation I

Home » Archives » January 2005 » Ironic and tragic....

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01/10/2005: Ironic and tragic....


but arguably natural selection in action: Anti-seat belt law advocate is killed in automobile accident.

[W]e note with a sense of both sadness and irony a couple of articles recently called to our attention. The first is a 17 September 2004 editorial published in the Daily Nebraskan and entitled "Individual Rights Buckle Under Seat Belt Laws," by Derek Kieper, a 21-year-old senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, in which the writer inveighed against mandatory seat belt laws, opining that "Uncle Sam is not here to regulate every facet of life no matter the consequences," and that "Democrats and Republicans alike should stand together to stop these laws that are incongruous with the ideals of both parties." In the midst of his editorial he noted:
As laws become increasingly strict for seat belts, fewer people will respond positively by buckling up in response to the laws. There seems to be a die-hard group of non-wearers out there who simply do not wish to buckle up no matter what the government does. I belong to this group.
Evidently his words were far more prescient than any of us might have wanted, as an article in the 4 January 2005
Lincoln Journal Star reported that Mr. Kieper not only died in a car crash, but the tragic mishap that claimed his life was the very type of accident in which seat belts have proved so effective in saving lives--preventing passengers from being ejected from vehicles....


Len on 01.10.05 @ 06:15 AM CST



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Replies: 2 comments

on Monday, January 10th, 2005 at 1:49 PM CST, cube said

I would just like to point out that i agree with him, but also wear my seat belt when traveling on the highway or traveling fast.

Also i would like to mention that automobile accidents are one of the three main killers of men in his age bracket (so it is espically a good idea to wear a seatbelt if you are a young male)

on Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 at 7:01 AM CST, Len Cleavelin said

I don't know where I stand on seat-belt legislation, myself. Fact of the matter is that I wear it, just because I have this thing about being launched through the front windshield, and the law doesn't have to scare me into it.

And I agree about it being a good idea to wear a belt, though it doesn't cease to be a good idea as you get older. :-)

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