Saving the world again. Illegal to release balloons in the air.

[K9Buck]

With liberals one step always leads to the next. First they will increase the penalties for releasing balloons. Then they will prohibit certain stores from selling them. Next they will prohibit the purchase of helium without a government permit. Who knows with those people?

I might be able to get onboard on such a law IF it could be demonstrated that releasing balloons is a big problem for our country. I doubt that they can, but I'm willing to be persuaded.

 

[Stormy Daniels]

Are all these other states having such a problem with balloons? I don't know. I don't live there. If any politician here would be wasting our time and tax dollars for balloons, I would vote them out next election.

Your own link answers that question, giving examples.

 

[K9Buck]

So if we're talking about litter, don't you think that because of the so few people that release balloons, that they should be the target to reduce litter on the roads and yards?

Liberals certainly don't have a problem releasing thousands of MS-13 gang members, rapists, drug dealers and murderers into our communities, but they're happy to draw the line with balloons while criminalizing decent Americans.

 

[TNHarley]

Today I saw a picture of a dolphins stomach with a couple balloons in it.
They fall to earth. They don't float into space.

 

[K9Buck]

This seems to be a fair point. From the article:

In Rhode Island, commercial lobsterman John Peabody said he’s generally anti-government but he supports limits on balloon releases based on what he sees from his boat.

“You see tons of those things. You see them floating on the surface, you find them in the traps below. You wouldn’t believe how many of them are out there,” he said.

 

[TNHarley]

This seems to be a fair point. From the article:

In Rhode Island, commercial lobsterman John Peabody said he’s generally anti-government but he supports limits on balloon releases based on what he sees from his boat.

“You see tons of those things. You see them floating on the surface, you find them in the traps below. You wouldn’t believe how many of them are out there,” he said.

I was just sitting here thinking they probably mostly end up falling on water. A large majority of the planet is water..

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

With liberals one step always leads to the next. First they will increase the penalties for releasing balloons. Then they will prohibit certain stores from selling them. Next they will prohibit the purchase of helium without a government permit. Who knows with those people?

I might be able to get onboard on such a law IF it could be demonstrated that releasing balloons is a big problem for our country. I doubt that they can, but I'm willing to be persuaded.

That's kind of the point I'm getting to. This is all a dog and pony show for votes. After all, when was the last time you launched some balloons into the air for kicks? What about anybody you know?

I remember the last time we did that. It was about 30 years ago when we were younger, and used balloons to send out M-80's with a cigarette delay on the fuse. We did it at night time to see the explosion since it floated away so far and so fast. Thinking back now, that was a hell of a lot of fun.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

This seems to be a fair point. From the article:

In Rhode Island, commercial lobsterman John Peabody said he’s generally anti-government but he supports limits on balloon releases based on what he sees from his boat.

“You see tons of those things. You see them floating on the surface, you find them in the traps below. You wouldn’t believe how many of them are out there,” he said.

I was just sitting here thinking they probably mostly end up falling on water. A large majority of the planet is water..

If they are launched from land, how would most of them be finding their way into water?

 

[Rustic]

With liberals one step always leads to the next. First they will increase the penalties for releasing balloons. Then they will prohibit certain stores from selling them. Next they will prohibit the purchase of helium without a government permit. Who knows with those people?

I might be able to get onboard on such a law IF it could be demonstrated that releasing balloons is a big problem for our country. I doubt that they can, but I'm willing to be persuaded.

That's kind of the point I'm getting to. This is all a dog and pony show for votes. After all, when was the last time you launched some balloons into the air for kicks? What about anybody you know?

I remember the last time we did that. It was about 30 years ago when we were younger, and used balloons to send out M-80's with a cigarette delay on the fuse. We did it at night time to see the explosion since it floated away so far and so fast. Thinking back now, that was a hell of a lot of fun.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

This seems to be a fair point. From the article:

In Rhode Island, commercial lobsterman John Peabody said he’s generally anti-government but he supports limits on balloon releases based on what he sees from his boat.

“You see tons of those things. You see them floating on the surface, you find them in the traps below. You wouldn’t believe how many of them are out there,” he said.

Then the question would be WTF are they coming from? I don't see any balloons floating around here. Most people have better ways to get their jollies.

 

[K9Buck]

After all, when was the last time you launched some balloons into the air for kicks? What about anybody you know?

Never.

I live in Florida. I now understand that releasing 10 or more balloons at once is a crime punishable by up to a $250 fine. I'm just not aware of anyone actually being ticketed. I guess if someone releases a few balloons, it's legal.

I love nature and I love wildlife. I'm sure you do too. If it's truly a major problem, then I support the prohibition. The comments by the lobster trapper seem to carry some credence.

 

[TNHarley]

This seems to be a fair point. From the article:

In Rhode Island, commercial lobsterman John Peabody said he’s generally anti-government but he supports limits on balloon releases based on what he sees from his boat.

“You see tons of those things. You see them floating on the surface, you find them in the traps below. You wouldn’t believe how many of them are out there,” he said.

I was just sitting here thinking they probably mostly end up falling on water. A large majority of the planet is water..

If they are launched from land, how would most of them be finding their way into water?

Balloons go high up and then float down. They can float up to around 25 miles and then explode into little pieces. Weather ballons can hit 40 or 45 miles high.
Thats a lot of ground it can cover.
Water covers 70 percent of the earth.

 

[K9Buck]

This seems to be a fair point. From the article:

In Rhode Island, commercial lobsterman John Peabody said he’s generally anti-government but he supports limits on balloon releases based on what he sees from his boat.

“You see tons of those things. You see them floating on the surface, you find them in the traps below. You wouldn’t believe how many of them are out there,” he said.

Then the question would be WTF are they coming from? I don't see any balloons floating around here. Most people have better ways to get their jollies.

Well, when someone releases a balloon into the sky, it seems that someone else will have to pick it up and properly dispose of it, assuming it doesn't first end up in a river, ocean, etc. or an animal's stomach. I get the argument for wanting to prohibit the release of balloons. Upon further reflection, it's probably a justifiable position.

 

[K9Buck]

This seems to be a fair point. From the article:

In Rhode Island, commercial lobsterman John Peabody said he’s generally anti-government but he supports limits on balloon releases based on what he sees from his boat.

“You see tons of those things. You see them floating on the surface, you find them in the traps below. You wouldn’t believe how many of them are out there,” he said.

I was just sitting here thinking they probably mostly end up falling on water. A large majority of the planet is water..

Upon further review, it's probably appropriate to ban balloons from being launched. Now, if we could only persuade the left to ban the release of MILLIONS of illegals into our communities.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

This seems to be a fair point. From the article:

In Rhode Island, commercial lobsterman John Peabody said he’s generally anti-government but he supports limits on balloon releases based on what he sees from his boat.

“You see tons of those things. You see them floating on the surface, you find them in the traps below. You wouldn’t believe how many of them are out there,” he said.

Then the question would be WTF are they coming from? I don't see any balloons floating around here. Most people have better ways to get their jollies.

Well, when someone releases a balloon into the sky, it seems that someone else will have to pick it up and properly dispose of it, assuming it doesn't first end up in a river, ocean, etc. or an animal's stomach. I get the argument for wanting to prohibit the release of balloons. Upon further reflection, it's probably a justifiable position.

It's a lot of wing flapping and no flying. How many balloons have you picked up in the last ten years? I don't recall picking up any, and I have a lot of kids here.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

This seems to be a fair point. From the article:

In Rhode Island, commercial lobsterman John Peabody said he’s generally anti-government but he supports limits on balloon releases based on what he sees from his boat.

“You see tons of those things. You see them floating on the surface, you find them in the traps below. You wouldn’t believe how many of them are out there,” he said.

I was just sitting here thinking they probably mostly end up falling on water. A large majority of the planet is water..

If they are launched from land, how would most of them be finding their way into water?

Balloons go high up and then float down. They can float up to around 25 miles and then explode into little pieces. Weather ballons can hit 40 or 45 miles high.
Thats a lot of ground it can cover.
Water covers 70 percent of the earth.

I'm sorry, but that still makes no sense. How would a ballon explode into little pieces? Try that at home. Take a ballon and pop it and see how many pieces you end up with.

 

[K9Buck]

It's a lot of wing flapping and no flying. How many balloons have you picked up in the last ten years? I don't recall picking up any, and I have a lot of kids here.

None. For that matter, I can't say that I've seen much of any litter in my community. Cigarette butts are probably the most commonly seen form of litter. I suppose cigarette butts aren't as harmful to wildlife as balloons.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

After all, when was the last time you launched some balloons into the air for kicks? What about anybody you know?

Never.

I live in Florida. I now understand that releasing 10 or more balloons at once is a crime punishable by up to a $250 fine. I'm just not aware of anyone actually being ticketed. I guess if someone releases a few balloons, it's legal.

I love nature and I love wildlife. I'm sure you do too. If it's truly a major problem, then I support the prohibition. The comments by the lobster trapper seem to carry some credence.

Well "some lobster trapper" doesn't provide any evidence as far as I'm concerned. Somebody asking you about something they can't see is kind of like the internet. You can say anything you want and nobody can prove you right or wrong.

Now if releasing balloons was a fad or something where many kids were doing it, that might be one thing. But kids today seldom go outside yet alone practice entertainment like when we were kids. They have video games, cell phones, cable television, the internet. The last thing they could find exciting is letting balloons go up in the air.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

It's a lot of wing flapping and no flying. How many balloons have you picked up in the last ten years? I don't recall picking up any, and I have a lot of kids here.

None. For that matter, I can't say that I've seen much of any litter in my community. Cigarette butts are probably the most commonly seen form of litter. I suppose cigarette butts aren't as harmful to wildlife as balloons.

I don't really know if it's all that much of a threat to wildlife. Perhaps at some event where thousands are released at one time and they mostly go in the same direction. That's probably where those earlier pictures came from. But outside of that, I don't see it as a threat of any sorts.

 

[TNHarley]

This seems to be a fair point. From the article:

In Rhode Island, commercial lobsterman John Peabody said he’s generally anti-government but he supports limits on balloon releases based on what he sees from his boat.

“You see tons of those things. You see them floating on the surface, you find them in the traps below. You wouldn’t believe how many of them are out there,” he said.

I was just sitting here thinking they probably mostly end up falling on water. A large majority of the planet is water..

If they are launched from land, how would most of them be finding their way into water?

Balloons go high up and then float down. They can float up to around 25 miles and then explode into little pieces. Weather ballons can hit 40 or 45 miles high.
Thats a lot of ground it can cover.
Water covers 70 percent of the earth.

I'm sorry, but that still makes no sense. How would a ballon explode into little pieces? Try that at home. Take a ballon and pop it and see how many pieces you end up with.

Apparently, it has to do with the helium expanding as the atmosphere gets thinner. The pressure causes multiple cracks, not just one.