Quote of the Day: PJ O’Rourke

We’re told cars are wasteful. Wasteful of what? Oil did a lot of good sitting in the ground for millions of years. We’re told cars should be replaced with mass transportation. But it’s hard to reach the drive through window at McDonald’s from a speeding train. And we’re told cars cause pollution. A hundred years ago city streets were ankle deep in horse excrement. What kind of pollution do you want? Would you rather die of cancer at eighty or typhoid fever at nine?

P. J. O’Rourke

Tales From Your Police State: FEMA Keeps Family From Rebuilding Their Home

Tags

fema, government corruption, government regulation, housing regulations, new orleans, unintended conequences, zoning laws

“It was just a fire. It can all be replaced,” said Brad Taylor. But it’s not quite that simple in the era of government meddling and mismanagement.

The Taylors bought a house in New Orleans. They’ve been assiduous in paying their mortgage. They purchased proper home insurance. Then their home burned down.

Problem: FEMA has reclassified the land they are on, and now they are required to rebuild to government specifications that are ludicrous, and — as local officials admit — are a de facto moratorium on post-Katrina construction.

Just keep this in mind as the president ramps up his global warming crusade. Like elections, laws have (unintended) consequences.

EPA Has a New Pollutant…Water

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abuse of power, environmental protection agency, epa, government corruption, government regulations, water

First carbon dioxide, now water: Why does the Obama administration hate plants?

The Environment Protection Agency is the vanguard of idiotic, ideological meddling, and should be sharply curtailed in its activities.

Here’s How the Government Helps Small Businesses

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department of the interior, drakes bay oyster company, government corruption, ken salazar

Here’s a little story about the 100 year old Drakes Bay Oyster Company, just put out of business by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar…

Sackett v EPA: No, You Cannot Rule By Bureaucratic Fiat

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environmental protection agency, epa, government corruption, sackett v epa

No, the bureaucracies cannot rule without judicial review. No, they cannot force people into “voluntary compliance.”

Sandy Shows It Wasn’t Bush, Just Politicians In General That Suck

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fema, government incompetence, hurricane sandy, janet napolitano, michael bloomberg, new jersey, new york, new york marathon

New Jersey and New York are still reeling from the punch Hurricane Sandy gave them, Pennsylvania is already starting to recover. (My mother and sister in two different locations in the state had power within 48 hours.) Why is the extent of the damage so bad? Global warming? Nope — the storm, as in New Orleans a few years back — slammed a major population area. It was inevitable. What was not was the pathetic work being done by the super-smart politicians in charge (just as in Katrina/Rita, or even Hurricane Andrew.)

Staten Island is apparently a wasteland with up to 80,000 people in dire need of food, water, fuel, clothing, and power…none of it forthcoming. “We’re going to die! We’re going to freeze! We got 90-year-old people!” Donna Solli told visiting officials. “You don’t understand. You gotta get your trucks down here on the corner now. It’s been three days!”

Hmm…about the same time it took officials to get off their duffs during Andrew and Katrina/Rita. Maybe Obama hates white people, as Bush “hated blacks?” Maybe running for re-election is more important than managing the crisis, or responding to an attack on an American embassy in a foreign country? Or could it be that the federal government is generally inept at pretty much anything they do?

And it’s not just the feds — Mayor Michael “Super Nanny” Bloomberg may have saved you from the evils of large-sized drinks, but apparently he could give a shit about the people under his watch freezing to death. There’s three generators that could power hundreds of houses (or a bunch of relief tents, perhaps) available, but Bloomie needs them for the New York Marathon. That’s right, a bunch of people running around Manhattan is more important than getting aid to people. For a guy that is making a big deal over the threat of global climate change, you would think he might have prepared better for weather-related disasters…or maybe he was going to get to it after his smoking ban, salt ban, trans-fat ban, big drink ban…

“Since emergency executive orders have been issued, the governor, mayor — or even President Obama — could take the generators for a more important use, explained Pace University law professor Bennett Gershman.” So once again — your would-be aristocrats have more important things to do than their jobs. Maybe the residents of Staten Island should have a run up to Central Park and hang the old boy. I’m sure there’s canapes there for the guests. As for the rest of you…it’s dumpster diving for food. [Video here.]

In New Jersey, another example of how public service worker unions are screwing you, volunteers coming to the state (and in this case, specifically Seaside Heights) were turned away by union workers. Hey, Seaside Heights…you have power yet? Maybe you should consider this next time you vote for pro-union, big government politicians.

And at least the sociopathic Janet Napolitano hasn’t let this crisis go to waste. When her FEMA response teams do f#$% all, she’s out trying to sell the onerous Cybersecurity Bill that has been — for good reason — stalled in the legislature.

Top Five Environmental Disasters That Didn’t Happen

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environmental hoax, environmentalism

Not the best predictive track record…

Arctic Ice Melting at Record Rates…Antarctica Ice Growing at Record Rates

Maybe…just maybe this is a natural occurrence?

 

Man Sentenced to 30 Days For “Stealing” Rain Water

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gary harrington, jackson county oregon, stupid laws, water usage

Good job, Oregon — you keep reminding me why I avoid the left coast like the plague (that and two years in California.)

In this episode of meddlesome gits jailing people for stupid reasons we have Gary Harrington of Jackson County, Oregon going to jail for a month for collecting rain and runoff water for drinking on his rural property thanks to a 1925 law. He was found guilty of nine misdemeanors for violating the state’s water use law by diverting water from streams running into the Big Butte River.

What They Really Want Is For You To Live Like a Pauper

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collectivism, environmentalism, government corruption, government regulation, statism

Increasingly, the actions of the political class and the meddlesome Progressive tits they represent are taking a familiar shape. Don’t eat this, don’t drink that, don’t feed your child from a bottle — it’s got to be breast milk or you’re not a real woman (or a responsible parent); you can’t travel without special permission or harassment and now the EU wants to tax international flights to raise the prices and limit your ability to move about the planet; you must conform to increasingly arcane regulation and tax laws that these would-be aristocrats can avoid; you can’t ride in a cheap limo — take the taxi, that’s for plebeians.

Nowhere is this more apparent than the environmental movement, where wealthy and connected folks couple with useful, alarmist idiots to try and “preserve” the planet from the evils of modern civilization. You should live in reasonable sized housing: treehugger.com’s founder tells us 420 square feet is more than enough (if you’re a rich single or couple with no kids, maybe) and we live in far too large domiciles. I have a 1700sf home or so…two adults and a 15 month old tornado barely fit.

Of course, if you don’t have a kitchen full of appliances — like a stove (Why do you need that? You’ll be eating garden fresh home-grown sustainable organic vegetables!) or microwave (radiation!), or a dishwasher…just a small refrigerator should do, right? Bill McKibbben of 350.org would love to see you emulating your 13th Century ancestors, “Forget your computer, your TV, your stereo, your stove, your dishwasher, your water heater, your microwave, your water pump, your clock. Forget your light bulbs, compact fluorescent or not…slash your stock of clothes to a comfortable (or even uncomfortable) minimum.”

Why would you want to have light? To read? You’ll be working in your garden, saving the planet! Computer, TV, stereo…those aren’t for you! Leave that to the important folks running things. You’ll be happy with a slower pace of life and not distractions — like gather ing information to make informed decisions or engage in the political sphere. Clothes!?! Peasants wore a set of clothes, maybe two. They were happy, were they not? (No…they weren’t.) Ride a bike to work, if you must labor outside of your postage-stamp sized croft. Cars are dangerous and dirty (but the politicians will need them to get around quickly — they have much more important work to do!)

Meanwhile, these “experts” and “leaders” spend our hard-earned money on ridiculous programs, projects, in meddling (unsuccessfully) in “investment” of sectors of the economy where their friends and family are ensconced…much like Louis XVI or George III.

But sooner or later, collectivist and statists get the same lesson taught (they never learn from it, mind you): society is made of individuals. And when you piss enough of them off, you’re for the chop.