Totalitarian Do-Gooders Target Pools
Just how far will dictatorial do-gooders and the greedy lawyers who circle them like flies push the insane Americans With Disabilities Act? Far enough to close down many swimming pools:
Owners and managers of swimming pools at hotels, city recreation centers and public parks are scrambling to install mechanical chair lifts to comply with new federal requirements that all public pools be accessible to disabled swimmers.
Some hotels fear the cost of the equipment or fines for noncompliance could put them out of business, and an industry lobbyist says others may close their pools this summer if they can’t upgrade in time…
Changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act in 2010 say pools must be upgraded with chair lifts, essentially mini cranes that move wheelchair users into the water. …
It’s a massive and expensive undertaking. The Association of Pool and Spa Professionals says its research shows that between 235,000 and 310,000 pools require the upgrade. Manufacturers estimate the lifts run $3,500 to $6,500, and installation can double those costs. Altogether, owners could face combined costs exceeding $1 billion. …
Once the requirements take effect, the Justice Department will investigate complaints and can fine businesses up to $55,000 for the first offense and double that for further violations.
It’s not just the crippling expense. There is also the time-fraying, nerve-wasting hassle of trying to stay on top of our moonbat rulers’ latest decrees.
The Justice Department now says chair lifts must be bolted down. That declaration came as most hotels were buying portable lifts that don’t require expensive installation and can be wheeled into storage until a guest needs them, said Kevin Maher of the American Hotels and Lodging Association.
Kids will inevitably play on the otherwise almost entirely unused fixed chair lifts. This adds the benefit that when they injure themselves, lawyers can sue.
When liberal utopia has been achieved, we will have total equality. No one will be allowed to do anything that everyone can’t do.
On tips from Jeremy and Alan.
How would you like to be the lifeguard who is responsible for a pool full of paraplegics? You would really have your work cut out for you. (LOL)
Nanny State on Parade! If our local pool shuts down because their lift is on wheels instead of bolted down, hundreds of people who use the pool to keep themselves in shape will suffer – but the liberals will be happy.
We are being ruled by a bunch of unelected bureaucrats!
I am really looking forward to the future. “NOT!!” It will no doubt be filled with blandness, sameness, boredom, stress, group hugs, forced inclusion, group think, phoneys, everyone is a winner and some are more winner then you (insert special group tag name here), white walls, grey uniforms, gloomy downtrodden daily grind on some forced mass transit death trap.. That is if the future is run by the same bureaucratic Marxist that are clustering in the dark regions of our Government, and that will only go into hibernation once we kick Obama out. If we kick the SOB out.
When a disabled swimmer drowns, the pool will be closed anyway by the ensuing lawsuit.
I heard about this insanity a month or so ago. Where the hell is the Republican party in all this??? This is a made-to-order campaign ad! Obama is going to shut down swimming pools and/or make his lawyer buddies rich.
There’s so many other things the RNC could be shouting from the housetops about this administration. I swear the RNC is being run by an inept bunch of people. It’s so frustrating, i’m ready to apply for a job there.
HOW can we stop this insanity?? It should be the Department of INjustice. And the EPA? Another overbearing waste of money that is costing jobs every day. Does it do any good to write to your congressman?
We will not know until we try it.
Hiding in a corner, afraid to take on the lawyers and bureaucrats with bold rhetoric, for fear that the moonbat spin doctors in the mainstream media will frame it as 1%ers picking on the disabled and infirm.
Just give them giant pairs of water wings and they will be fine. They are like 5 bucks or less at some dollar store.
Of course the owner of the pool better supply a flotation device to keep the oxygen tank that some “handicapped” people are tethered to. Lifeguards better be prepared to keep the swimmers from tangling in the tubes and drowning.
BTW, how much of the hot tub “real estate” will be occupied by these pool lifts?
Since our Federal Justice Department is no longer pursuing real crime (voter intimidation, threats against the lives of citizens, “color of law” violations, treason, etc., it is clear that we need to shut down that department and start over. After all, most serious crime is prosecuted and criminals punished by the states. Most of the federal criminal code is apparently counterproductive to actual justice.
It is truly sad to see so many Republicans afraid to become conservative leaders.
If Romney had been president in the 1980′s, he would have said, “Mr. Gorbachev, I’d like to invite you to a multilateral UN summit to discuss letting a few more people emigrate from behind your wall.”
Fortunately for us and the world, Republican leaders were bold back then, and on the right side of history.
“Fairness” now trumps liberty. Freedom was once the uniquely American promise, now supplanted by “equality.” Fairness is the stuff of fairy tails and socialists; the world is NOT fair and there is nothing man can do to make it so.
You can thank “my” Senator, Tom Harking, IA for this ridiculous bill.
Check that, “Harken”. Coffee time.
“The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it.” H.L Menkin
has anyone realized that disabled people can’t swim? IR1, I know! and this is beyond stupid!
Gee, ya think people that are just too effing obese to get in and out of a pool will abouse these things? Just like they do the parking spots?
What happens when the $6000 lift breaks trying to pull a 1/2-ton tessie out of the water?
Call the lawyers! And say goodbye to that business.
@dan. Sir, you are on target. Thank you for quoting Menkin. Just when I think it is possible to hate lawyers any more, this comes a long.
Republican leaders were bold back then, and on the right side of history…..
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Then again, not always. After all, how many republicans stood against the creation of the EPA, the Department of Education, OSHA, Nixon’s wage and price controls, etc.? Or the DEA?
How many stood against the Firearms act of 1986..signed into law by St. Reagan?
Men of principle have been few and far between, even within the republican party.
In a nearby city, they have a huge public pool; there’s actually a ramp that goes all the way down into the water – it’s kind of cool. I’m wondering if this is compliant with the new requirements.
In another nearby city, they built a huge aquatics center a few years ago; on their website, they proudly proclaim they have a portable lift. Due to previous “unsatisfactory” dealings with officials in that city, I have a feeling they will be getting a visit from DOJ in a few weeks… heh heh.
Unfortunately, too few. The Reagan revolution stalled out when Bush 41 took over. Things were bad back then and BJ Clinton and Obama have made them even worse. We need another Reagan to stop the madness before the economy collapses under the weight of debt and bureaucracy and we lose our superpower status.
FOPA was a good bill which upheld our rights and stopped ATF abuses, apart from the ridiculous grandfather clause applied to MG ownership.
That’s certainly true, and when we desperately need them, in one of our nation’s darkest hours, the best they’re willing to give us is Mitt McRINO.
AC said- “Hiding in a corner, afraid to take on the lawyers and bureaucrats with bold rhetoric, for fear that the moonbat spin doctors in the mainstream media will frame it as 1%ers picking on the disabled and infirm.”
I’m afraid you’re right. But try telling that to a soccer mom with a car load of kids on a hot summer day who shows up at the local neighborhood pool only to find it closed due to Obama and his idea of “fairness”.
The RNC could knock this out of the park if they wanted to. It’s so depressing I can’t even bare it.
Next up: Wheelchair accessibility on every roller coaster. Every American car with wheelchair accessibility (you may have to start a carpool to go anywhere once gas hits the Dumbtopian price of $10/gallon). The list goes on and on and on until we’re all equal (except those that are more equal).
It’s only fair, people.
AC says:
April 19, 2012 at 8:34 am
Things were bad back then and BJ Clinton and Obama have made them even worse. We need another Reagan to stop the madness before the economy collapses under the weight of debt and bureaucracy and we lose our superpower status.
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Bush II didn’t help with the Patriot Act, the Department of Homeland Security, and Medicare Part D. Just saying…
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That’s certainly true, and when we desperately need them, in one of our nation’s darkest hours, the best they’re willing to give us is Mitt McRINO.
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“They” didn’t give us anything. Romney was the “conservative” candidate. He hasn’t been forced upon us by the republican establishment; simply put, no conservative candidate entered the race without one or more fatal flaws.
Herman Cain was my guy. But he unsuccessfully answered the “girlfriend” charges levied against him. Bachman, too, made a lot of unfortunate comments, plus her resume is a bit thin. Palin was a don’t show. Gingrich is a big government guy…much more so than Romney. Plus he has way too much personal baggage.
So that is why Romney is the last man standing and our presumptive nominee. Hate him as much as you wish, but no one else threw their hat into the ring.
I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but where in the US Constitution does the federal government get the authority to dictate how private business must treat those with disabilities?
The exchange would go something like this:
HOST: “Welcome back to liberal news hour with your host, Moonbeam Lovebunny. Next up, we have a Republican emissary of the Koch brothers corporate empire who wants to talk about swimming pools. Get this, George Bush wrecked our economy, and the Republicans want to talk about swimming pools. Mr. Republican, what’s going on here?”
REPUBLICAN: “Well, the Justice department is pursuing misplaced priorities and imposing unnecessary burdens on hundreds of thousands of swimming pools. They’ve proposed the requirement of disabled access devices for public pools, backed up by the threat of trial lawyers.”
HOST: “Okay, let me see if I understand you. The disabled want to use swimming pools like the rest of us, and you have a problem with that?”
REPUBLICAN: “No, Moonbeam, my problem is with a burdensome regulation with a poor cost:benefit ratio. The federal government is unnecessarily imposing heavy bureaucracy from the top down, and that’s going to drive up the cost of public swimming pools. When I was growing up, I loved going to our town’s public pool, because my working class father couldn’t afford a house with a private pool. All I’m saying is that cash-strapped public pools will have great difficulty in meeting this cost, one which provides limited to no benefit. How often does this situation arise?”
HOST: “So what you’re saying is that you used a government pool, but you don’t want disabled people to have the same and fair opportunity?”
REPUBLICAN: “No, that’s not what I was sayi…”
HOST: “Let me cut you off right there. We have this photo of a disabled black woman trying to use the pool just like you. I can see what’s going on here. You want to go back to the days of Jim Crow when white people didn’t want colored in their pool.”
REPUBLICAN: “No, I just want to make sure that money is being spent wisel…”
HOST: “Wait a second, this is about race. It’s clear that you don’t want to share a pool with African-Americans.”
REPUBLICAN: “That’s not true. I’ve always supported equal opportu…”
HOST: “There you have it folks, the mouthpiece of the Koch brothers doesn’t want minorities in the pool. The GOP War on Women continues. This heartless bastard doesn’t want a woman, a black woman in his pool. The Republican plan for disabled people in public pools, we can sum it up: drown quickly. That’s right, if your disabled and using a public pool, drown quickly, that’s the Republican plan, disabled women, disabled minorities, drown quickly.”
HOST: “Now we have to take a short commercial break, brought to you by Al Gore’s carbon credits. After the break, we’ll speak with a Republican whose plan for disabled kittens involves a woodchipper and some very racist Korean stereotypes.”
Sam Adams: “So that is why Romney is the last man standing and our presumptive nominee. Hate him as much as you wish, but no one else threw their hat into the ring.”
That’s an important point. Ronald Reagan didn’t run for the 2012 nomination. The perfect candidate, with a spotlessly conistent conservative record going back to Kindergarten didn’t run either.
The most important thing this year is that Barack Obama be defeated, that Eric Holder is no longer heading the DOJ, that the Senate is retaken from Harry Reid’s hands. If people sit this out in hopes Mr. Perfect decides to materialize in 2016, there may not be anything left to run for by then.
Elections have consequences.
don’t forget that the ADA was signed into law by Bush senior. Worst law ever passed! Opened up decades of “trip and fall” lawsuits regarding accessibility and perverted the definition of a “disability”.
We wrote about this several weeks ago at http://www.determinatus.com
Like him or not it looks like Romney is the guy, so we just need to inundate his campaign advisors with the conservative message.
Reading stories like this makes me want to grab the nearest pitchfork and head to DC. THIS IS BS!!!! Our “lawmakers” are out of their goddamned mids.
Any Nurse will tell you that the #1 problem facing para and quadriplegics is skin breakdown (aka bedsores). What causes skin breakdown? The lack of feeling, and therefore hygiene, in the legs/buttocks areas. My point is: would you want to get in a pool with or after a person who may or may not have bed sores on their buttocks caused by feces/urine residue that they may or may not be aware of? Just sayin.
It’s naive to believe that discussions among party elites behind closed doors don’t shape the narrative, influence what is heard in the media, and keep would-be conservative candidates from running.
Why is it that, despite the groundswell of conservatism from the Tea Party Movement, we have an establishment House speaker who increased spending over Nancy Pelosi’s already insane levels? That is the will of Washington politicians, not the American people.
We need to ask ourselves why fine leaders like Paul Ryan, Jim DeMint, and Tom Coburn didn’t throw their hats into the ring.
Gary Johnson tried, but the Republican establishment ran him out of the party, forcing him to pursue the LP nomination to get any airtime for his ideas.
If Romney wins in 2012, we won’t have true conservative leadership until at least 2020. Debt-fueled moonbattery will have brought us down by then.
Even if Romney is the best we have, he’s too little, too late. His Massachusetts progressivism won’t reverse the corrosive effects of Obama’s Marxism.
There’s an ill wind blowing our way, and Romney will not shelter us from the storm. We have to do that ourselves.
If you think Nixon’s actions following his withdraw from BW were extreme, then you haven’t seen anything yet. Failure to embrace bold conservatism in our currently dire situation will result in misery and hyperinflation, with hell following close behind.
AC: If Romney wins in 2012, we won’t have true conservative leadership until at least 2020. Debt-fueled moonbattery will have brought us down by then.
If Obama wins in 2012, we will never have true conservative leadership, because that debt-fueled moonbattery will have been terminal.
I’ll take 2020 over never.
@AC: OMG…LMAO!! You nailed it.
But even still, the average soccer mom wants to take her kids swimming, so this BS won’t fly, no matter how hard they try to spin.
I predict a future with many kidney-shaped rock gardens at hotels and motels.
Here in Florida, you can’t just fill a pool in if you want to get rid of it. The concrete and plumbing have to be removed from the ground. So it’s time to start a new business. Taking pools out and filling the hole left behind. Should do pretty good.
“What happens when the $6000 lift breaks trying to pull a 1/2-ton tessie out of the water?” Thanks Jezbo for the laugh! How do they move Shamoo? They should just install a Gantry crane to pull the whales from the water
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I am not joking when I say that the day will come where liberals will propose involuntary handicapping of all non-handicapped people in order to make us all “equal”.
I AM NOT JOKING EITHER.
They are already lobotomizing our children in school with medication and LIEberal indoctrination.
THEY WILL STOP AT NOTHING.
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Liberals and moslems are THE BORG.
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Don’t forget the bunji cable network (redundancy rules in SAFETY) and strap on paddle machine to motivate the hulks of disablentitlements. Medical supervisors and rescue divers with underwater hardware should be a given.
Probability sounds low.
[...] problem with big government: Totalitarian Do-Gooders Target Pools. I’m all for helping disabled people, but some things are just so bizarrely [...]
Lets just say for an instant that I own a nice motel and I get this ridiculous order to install a 5 to 6 thousand dollar lift to allow disabled patrons to swim. Knowing I could be hit with a fine of over 50 K I think I would fill in the pool with dirt and call it good. Then NO ONE SWIMS! And thank you Lawyers and the DOJ.
[...] This is related: Owners and managers of swimming pools at hotels, city recreation centers and public [...]
“I am not joking when I say that the day will come where liberals will propose involuntary handicapping of all non-handicapped people in order to make us all “equal”.”
Harrison Bergeron
@Ummah Gummah, if you haven’t already read the short story “Harrison Bergeron,” you must. It’s available online and deals with that very concept.