Odious and Peculiar do not typically go in for the political agitation line. But on occasion even we are distracted from our Chinese poetry, geomorphology and cephalopod attacks. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act is certainly such a distraction. Best case scenario seems to be that it will spell the end of any cottage industry producing children's products. Worst case, it may spell serious trouble for children's clothes in thrift stores and even children's books in libraries*. Hysteria over toxins in plastic crap from China may soon make plastic crap from China the only legal game in town. Read more here and, if you see fit, importune your humble servants in Washington.

*Note the absurdity of the devil's advocate statement in the Forbes piece: "Defenders of the law point out, for example, that item-by-item enforcement at thrift shops is unlikely to be an enforcement priority any time soon for the Consumer Product Safety Commission's 100 field investigators." Lord willing; but if it's not intended to be enforced, change the damn law! If it is law, it will eventually be enforced somewhere, whether such was intended or no.