Matt Blunt Protects Businesses From Reckless, Careless, and Thoughtless

Bill defines risks of floating: Measure would aid paddling industry:

The members of the extended Hall family had traveled for hours to get to this moment. They were about to board an old yellow bus that would take them to the drop-off point for their family canoe trip on the Meramec River.

As part of his routine, the bus driver asked whether they needed life jackets.

"We all need life jackets," 64-year-old matriarch Karen Hall said in a half-assertion, half-question to her family.

"I don’t need a life jacket," her 38-year-old son, John Hall, quickly responded as others added their own denials. "It's knee-deep. If you fall in, you can lay on your back."

Missouri floaters who refuse life jackets soon could be taking an even greater risk.

Legislation pending before Gov. Matt Blunt would provide special protections for Missouri's booming paddle sport industry, shielding canoe rental stores from some legal claims arising from what the bill describes as an inherently risky activity.

Ponder for a moment this journalist's risk assessment prowess. A greater risk than is not being able to sue.

Kudos to Matt Blunt, who understands that lawsuits hinder business, which in turn hinders life in the state of Missouri more than the risks and responsibilities of being an adult, reading the directions, and playing it safe:

Blunt already has signed separate, broader legislation that, beginning Aug. 28, will place new restrictions on all wrongful death, injury and product liability lawsuits. The bill caps how much money juries can award and limits where lawsuits can be filed, among other things.

Undoubtedly, the rest of the article lines up the anti-business advocates that have desks in the pressrooms of America, who explain that citizens are children who must be protected from business but should be provided all the benefits of a vigorous economy by the state.