CDR: Re: Here's an interesting twist on gun control ...

[Ray Dillinger]

On Tue, 7 Nov 2000, David Honig wrote:

>At 09:00 PM 11/6/00 -0800, Ray Dillinger wrote:
>>On Mon, 6 Nov 2000, David Honig wrote:
>>>* running water
>>>* N toilets per hectare
>>>* electricity
>>>* walls, stairs, floors made to certain state minima (standards)
>>>* N metres of terra between A and B
>>
>>Um.  Not true.  Many of my relatives do without the first three 
>>owing to religious proscription.  

>Wow, you're related to the Amish? 

Yeah. They really are an amazing bunch and have done an astonishing 
amount of work on the civil-rights front. One of my grandfathers was 
born to an Amish family but eventually married outside that community 
and, um, left.  But we still go occasionally to family reunions, and 
we are still welcome there. 

>Anyway the English :-) may make exceptions for the Amish, but generally,
>and even in rural america, you can't sell a house for human (chiiiildren)
>occupation
>that's not wired for classical infrastructure ---water, wires, N lbs/ft^2. 

I don't think so.  As I understand matters, the laws in most of 
the US are that *IF* there is electrical wiring, then it must meet 
certain standards, and *IF* there are indoor toilets then they must 
meet certain standards, and etc.  These laws simply do not apply to 
homes built without these things. 

:-)  FWIW, referring to those outside the community as "English" 
is a Pennsylvania thing.  In other centers, where the Amish are 
themselves mainly english-speaking, the term in use is "Outlander".  
So when my cousins refer to me as having "Outlandish" ideas or 
ways, I know exactly what they mean. Unlike most of the people 
who use the word about me, they are just being literal.


				Bear