Slog - Comments on But What Will The Children Play With If We Take All Their Lead Toys Away?

Comment by joykiller

joykiller — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:21:46 -0800

Accoutrements, the Mukilteo-based company that makes the Sigmund Freud action figure and all that other lovable crap, is the parent company of Archie McPhee. So, once again, you're wrong.

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:25:42 -0800

What's a little GHB-drugged out kidlings between friends?

"Mommy, Timmy brought over his date-rape drug-dosed Devil Ducky again!"

Comment by NapoleonXIV

NapoleonXIV — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:28:38 -0800

Damn, No. 1: ECB comes out with a pro-child type post and still can't catch a break!

Comment by umvue

umvue — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:32:42 -0800

Read it. Seems to me that all "Toys" are "Children's products".

See (3)(a)(i).

Comment by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me

You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:45:33 -0800

This bill is anti environment. Arguably the primary cause of global warming is over population. The dramatic decrease in child mortality rates in the last 100 years conversely mirrors the increase in global warming. To damn many of those little buggers are living past infancy as it is. The environmentally responsible thing to do would be to make toys more dangerous, not less dangerous. I am shocked that ECB would support a piece of legislation that is so environmentally irresponsible.

Comment by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me

You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:47:47 -0800

We should be legislating to put the �selection� back in �natural selection�. Not further remove it.

Comment by w7ngman

w7ngman — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:49:08 -0800

#5, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/04/FSM_Pirates.png/250px-FSM_Pirates.png

Comment by ecbstrikesagain

ecbstrikesagain — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:49:11 -0800

As #1 pointed out, Accoutrements (the AM-parent company that makes most of their stuff) is a WA company. If ECB had done a minimum of fact-checking should would have known this.

Comment by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me

You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:51:01 -0800

Just think of it as �post birth abortion� and I�m sure you�ll agree that it�s not only desirable, but a Constitutional Right.

Comment by laterite

laterite — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:52:08 -0800

"Washington state accounts for less than 2 percent of all toys sold in the United States."

I'm curious where that stat came from.

Comment by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me

You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:52:51 -0800

@7: Yeah! That too!

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:00:15 -0800

Wow, so out of 50 states, we're only the source of 2 percent of the toys ... I am so shocked ...

Comment by tsm

tsm — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:01:13 -0800

No, Gregoire actually can be that spineless, as she has been time and time again, and - HOLY SHIT IS THAT A CORRECTION IN YOUR POST THERE?! WTF?

Comment by Julie

Julie — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:11:22 -0800

@12. Did you know that 40% of all absences occur on Mondays and Fridays? Crazy, huh.

Comment by NapoleonXIV

NapoleonXIV — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:16:13 -0800

Actually, a little more digging is probably required. Just because Accountrements is Archie McPhee's parent company, doesn't mean it has a manufacturing plant in Washington State (maybe it does--who knows?)

A Washington corporation can still contract out spec work to a semi-anonymous Chinese factory for manufacture, import it and market it under its own name.

Comment by Luigi Giovanni

Luigi Giovanni — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:20:45 -0800

I take a perverse delight when ECB whines and bitches about bias in the mainstream media.

Comment by kinaidos

kinaidos — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:28:53 -0800

GWB played with lead toy soldiers as a child (probably still does) and it didn't leave him mentally retarded or chimp looking or anything liket that.
If you want to eliminate dangerous toys outlaw Freud figurines.

Comment by mike

mike — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 19:00:59 -0800

As far as I know, ALL Accoutrements stuff is made in China - and it should be! Archie's started as an odds-and-ends dealer and grew into picking up odds and ends from Asia - leftover toy promos for Japanese SF shows from the 1960s and so forth.

The entire business is pretty much predicated on selling lead and irony. And what's irony without poison?

Comment by Samantha

Samantha — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 20:05:22 -0800

I'm torn. On one hand, I would be sad to see Accoutrements and Archie McPhee's go out of business. On the other hand, if they're mass producing their toys in China and possibly importing toys full of lead and other chemicals... Well, that shit needs to be regulated.

Comment by ROAG

ROAG — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 20:25:42 -0800

If the bill passes, would the 99-cent store at 15th and Republican go out of business? I think the entire inventory arrived in one container from China. The store's name could be Phthalatios. The gov has no right to veto this bill.

Comment by Gitai

Gitai — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:40:16 -0800

@16 I don't think she's bitching about bias per se. She's bitching about the pretension to objectivity. I believe that much like myself, she'd prefer that publications were up front about their biases.

Comment by J Loomnor

J Loomnor — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 02:18:40 -0800

ECB carping on Archie McPhee's s'like the Vice magazine carping on Diesel. Gotta dance with them what brung ya.

Comment by Simac

Simac — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 06:03:44 -0800

I can't believe the governor is attending to the interests of toy manufacturers over those of my 6-month-old. I cannot believe she is a mother and a Democrat.

The toy manufacturers have adapted to similar rules in other states and in the E.U. (so they have production mechanisms in place already to comply with these kinds of rules).

Archie McPhee's and other small toy manufacturers should not have a right to use toxic products, period. If they go out of business, it's because they were myopic and greedy--not because rational toy safety rules were passed.

Contact the Governor and tell her to sign the toy safety bill:

http://www.governor.wa.gov/contact/default.asp

If she vetoes it, I can't imagine voting for her next time around. Seriously.

Comment by Spoogie

Spoogie — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 07:17:15 -0800

Any proposed law that threatens the existence of Archie McPhee's is a bad law. In my opinion, this is not a kid's store. Adults who purchase a Sigmund Freud action figure or Boxing Nun with the intention of putting it their mouths have much larger issues to address. Leave this hallowed vendor of revered trash and trinkets alone. The other guys, go get 'em.

Comment by Gomez

Gomez — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:33:08 -0800

ECB, most European nations are socialists and thus probably funded most of the changes. WA will expect vendors and suppliers to pay out of pocket to obey the law.

Between you and Will braying about 100 story towers in Vancouver BC, sometimes I wonder if the perspectives of urbanites are so disconnected because they don't actually realize that places like their beloved Europe are actually completely different nations with different economic systems and laws from us. You can't just cut and paste something so complex from something that came from a completely different context.

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:48:05 -0800

@25 - Socialists? No, they're not. You must be reading Fnarf's wikipedia again.

Comment by joykiller

joykiller — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 09:49:06 -0800

I'm still confused as to why a Sigmund Freud action figure is considered a child's toy. Kids shouldn't be playing with it regardless if it's full of lead, so why should McPhee have to test it?

But seriously, Erica, when Market Street is nothing more than boutiques and cell phone shops, I'll know who to thank.

Comment by Gomez

Gomez — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:05:05 -0800

26. No wonder you think the way you do... you clearly slept through college.

Also, it was a mild typo... they have socialist (no s on the end) economic systems. People pay their assload of taxes and the government subsidizes commerce. The US does not do this, because we are a capitalist 'free market' country.

Comment by K

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:33:10 -0800

Practically everything at Archie McPhee is made by Accoutrements. And Archie McPhee is one of the few places that sells Accoutrements stuff. So, their toys and their store are fairly tightly associated.

Comment by subwlf

subwlf — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:52:54 -0800

Sometimes a Sigmund Freud action figure is just a cigar people.

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:57:04 -0800

@28 - no, from a global perspective, they don't. You regard nationalized health care as socialism, while 98 percent of first world nations don't, they regard it as Normal Sane Policy.

Comment by Dave Coffman

Dave Coffman — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:09:49 -0800

@28: What planet are you on? Can I say JP Morgan and Bear Stearns? How's that for a government subsidy? What other country (other than maybe the UK and France) would guarantee $30 billion dollars?

As a tax attorney I can say that our tax burden is often the same, or higher than many other countries, particularly if you're poor.

Comment by Gomez

Gomez — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:21:10 -0800

31. That's neat but it doesn't change the definition. Socialism is the government subsidizing commerce and services. Cross-applying policies enacted in countries that subsidize commerce to countries that don't isn't sound.

32. That was a special-case emergency bailout, and special cases are always bad examples when proving a point.

And no, if you're not paying 40-60% of your earnings to the Feds, your tax burden is not as great as companies in Europe. Maybe the process is more burdensome (thanks, IRS!) but your actual tax burden is much less.

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:59:11 -0800

Special Case Bailout?

Yeah, right ...

Sorry, it was Socialism in ACTION.

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:01:33 -0800

oh, and @33 - companies are not people. And they never will be, no matter what you neocons say.

The day they draft a company, or execute it for crimes it commits - then it's a person.

Comment by Gomez

Gomez — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:51:32 -0800

Are you on medication, Will? I don't even know what you think I'm saying, but that certainly isn't it. I'm referring this entire time to businesses, not individuals. Those last two comments, especially calling me a neocon for telling you how socialism works, approaches Poochie Kafelnikov levels of disconnected absurdity.