Well, last week went by too fast, and too much on my plate, so lets start out with some interesting news items.
The MAJOR story – to my mind, at least – is that Sequestration-Armageddon has not yet hit. I just drove over about 800 miles of Federal highway on Friday and Saturday, and another 100 or so today – and they ALL worked! No planes have fallen from the skies – that I know of (they might be keeping things like that hidden, of course). The post office even delivered mail yesterday, a Saturday (for now, at least). I have not heard of ANY classes canceled at local government-run, tax-funded schools because the teachers all got laid off. And North Korea didn’t launch that dreaded doomsday strike with all the DoD civilian technicians out panhandling for food and rent money (and I went near several military bases on that 800 mile trip, and didn’t see a SINGLE panhandler – in civvies OR in uniform). (Of course, now that I think about it, North Korea might have wanted to wait until Dennis Rodman was back so that he would be inside the blast radius.)
Face it, once more Chicken Little has gone screaming across the farm yard shouting out her warnings. And once again, what do we have? Nada – zip – nothing. Obama-hysteria, maybe? Or is he just lulling us into a sense of security and WHAM, everything shuts down all at once until we beg him to enslave us (more)?
Of course, all the other versions of tyranny are busy galloping towards us, swords drawn and eager for our blood. Here are a few examples, all tied to the religion of Gaea (saving Mother Earth from us eeeevillll humans) and tyranny at various levels.
New religions: environism – Federal tyranny
Nineteen EPA Challenges for 2013- and How to Deal with Them
(Environmental Bulletin) Brace yourself for a flood of new EPA regulations in 2013 as President Obama enters his second term.
Nathan: Along with every other agency in the Executive Branch, as the REAL crackdown on liberty and free markets gets underway. We will not recognize the world of 2013 when we look back at it from 2017 because so much of what we have now – whittled away though it has been by decades of ever-growing tyranny – will be gone. We are indeed frogs boiling in water.
Mama’s Note: Or not… Those who survive to 2017 may just look back and marvel at how long humankind put up with the controllers. Either way, it’s not going to be a comfortable time.
New religions: environism – Local tyranny
Minneapolis requiring buildings to report water and energy use
(EC&M) A new city ordinance will require large commercial buildings to annually report water and energy usage. Minneapolis is now the seventh city to pass such a law.
Nathan: Think about this: it is the City itself that provides water (and sewer) service to these buildings, and frankly, Xcel Energy (electric power) and CenterPoint Energy (natural gas) are in effect city agencies anyway, managing inside a straightjacket of city and state rules that dictate everything they do. The information is already available to the City – but THIS just rubs the fact of such control into the noses of commercial real estate owners and tenants and occupants. “We can demand this information because WE are government” and of course, it makes it easier to control – even ration – these utilities. “ABC Strip Mall is using too much energy as compared to Green Star Strip Mall, so we will FORCE ABC to cut back on heating and cooling and lighting.” More power to local tyrants, more power for arrogant and officious bureaucrats. Power to the government ‘rats! As in the next story.
New religions: environism – World tyranny
Scientists urge plastics be classified as hazardous
(Waste Recycling News) A group of scientists believe they have a way to keep plastics from ending up in oceans or being littered across the countryside: classify plastics as hazardous waste. “We believe that if countries classified the most harmful plastics as hazardous, their environmental agencies would have the power to restore affected habitats and prevent more dangerous debris from accumulating,” a group of 10 scientists wrote in an article posted Feb. 13 on the journal Nature’s website. … “…if the most problematic plastics are classified as hazardous immediately and replaced with safer, reusable materials in the next decade,” the scientists wrote. “We feel that the physical dangers of plastic debris are well enough established, and the suggestions of chemical dangers sufficiently worrying, that the biggest producers of plastic waste – the United States, Europe and China – must act now.”
Nathan: It isn’t that they really THINK that that empty soda bottle or milk jug or Loaf-n-Jug drink cup or packing peanuts ARE hazardous, but they want them declared so for the sake of CONTROL. Just like cannabis is a Schedule whatever substance: for control’s sake. If you add PVC or HDPE to the list of “Extremely Hazardous Substances” (EHS), then leaving one in a empty hallway or having one blow out of the back of your pick-up becomes an environmental crime – a felony. Having a bag of them (a plastic bag, itself now hazmat) in your back seat becomes another excuse for a cop to pull you over and taser you into a coma or shoot you as full of holes as Jesse James. These so-called scientists are nothing but devoted disciples of some weird syncretic religion in which the State is God and “Science” is its willing toadie.
Meanwhile, we can still note some interesting things.
Theft by government – The “messiah”
President Obama’s Golf Trip Could Have Saved 341 Furloughed Jobs
(Townhall.com)
Nathan: Of course, “furloughed jobs” doesn’t mean these people go without a job: it seems to be about a 10% cut: one day in two work weeks – and presumably one or two paid holidays become UNpaid holidays. Still, would YOU give up a chance to play golf with that well-known sex-fiend and golf pro just so 341 federal workers don’t have to take a temporary pay cut?
Mama’s Note: Consider also how many small businesses might be able to create ongoing jobs and provide much needed goods and services if the Imperial president and his court actually paid for all their recreation and “vacations” like the rest of us do… with their own money. Unfortunately, most of the money they have has been stolen from taxpayers as well. But it would be a start.
Theft by government – The “messiah”
Obama: Sequester Won’t Be Apocalypse – ‘Just Dumb’
(CNSNews.com)
Nathan: Still pretending it wasn’t his idea in the first place. Well, we know what kind of guy we have there at 1600. Sad, but looking at this nation as a whole, he PROBABLY IS the kind of guy we deserve. Uggh.
Mama’s Note: Don’t include me in your “we.” Those who voted for him – or any other such, yes, but I’m not taking any responsibility for this one.
About TPOL Nathan
Follower of Christ Jesus (a christian), Pahasapan (resident of the Black Hills), Westerner, Lover of Liberty, Free-Market Anarchist, Engineer, Army Officer, Husband, Father, Historian, Writer, Evangelist. Successor to Lady Susan (Mama Liberty) at TPOL.
The Price of Liberty 
Libertarian Commentary on the News #13-10A: Environist Tyranny
Well, last week went by too fast, and too much on my plate, so lets start out with some interesting news items.
The MAJOR story – to my mind, at least – is that Sequestration-Armageddon has not yet hit. I just drove over about 800 miles of Federal highway on Friday and Saturday, and another 100 or so today – and they ALL worked! No planes have fallen from the skies – that I know of (they might be keeping things like that hidden, of course). The post office even delivered mail yesterday, a Saturday (for now, at least). I have not heard of ANY classes canceled at local government-run, tax-funded schools because the teachers all got laid off. And North Korea didn’t launch that dreaded doomsday strike with all the DoD civilian technicians out panhandling for food and rent money (and I went near several military bases on that 800 mile trip, and didn’t see a SINGLE panhandler – in civvies OR in uniform). (Of course, now that I think about it, North Korea might have wanted to wait until Dennis Rodman was back so that he would be inside the blast radius.)
Face it, once more Chicken Little has gone screaming across the farm yard shouting out her warnings. And once again, what do we have? Nada – zip – nothing. Obama-hysteria, maybe? Or is he just lulling us into a sense of security and WHAM, everything shuts down all at once until we beg him to enslave us (more)?
Of course, all the other versions of tyranny are busy galloping towards us, swords drawn and eager for our blood. Here are a few examples, all tied to the religion of Gaea (saving Mother Earth from us eeeevillll humans) and tyranny at various levels.
New religions: environism – Federal tyranny
Nineteen EPA Challenges for 2013- and How to Deal with Them
(Environmental Bulletin) Brace yourself for a flood of new EPA regulations in 2013 as President Obama enters his second term.
Nathan: Along with every other agency in the Executive Branch, as the REAL crackdown on liberty and free markets gets underway. We will not recognize the world of 2013 when we look back at it from 2017 because so much of what we have now – whittled away though it has been by decades of ever-growing tyranny – will be gone. We are indeed frogs boiling in water.
Mama’s Note: Or not… Those who survive to 2017 may just look back and marvel at how long humankind put up with the controllers. Either way, it’s not going to be a comfortable time.
New religions: environism – Local tyranny
Minneapolis requiring buildings to report water and energy use
(EC&M) A new city ordinance will require large commercial buildings to annually report water and energy usage. Minneapolis is now the seventh city to pass such a law.
Nathan: Think about this: it is the City itself that provides water (and sewer) service to these buildings, and frankly, Xcel Energy (electric power) and CenterPoint Energy (natural gas) are in effect city agencies anyway, managing inside a straightjacket of city and state rules that dictate everything they do. The information is already available to the City – but THIS just rubs the fact of such control into the noses of commercial real estate owners and tenants and occupants. “We can demand this information because WE are government” and of course, it makes it easier to control – even ration – these utilities. “ABC Strip Mall is using too much energy as compared to Green Star Strip Mall, so we will FORCE ABC to cut back on heating and cooling and lighting.” More power to local tyrants, more power for arrogant and officious bureaucrats. Power to the government ‘rats! As in the next story.
New religions: environism – World tyranny
Scientists urge plastics be classified as hazardous
(Waste Recycling News) A group of scientists believe they have a way to keep plastics from ending up in oceans or being littered across the countryside: classify plastics as hazardous waste. “We believe that if countries classified the most harmful plastics as hazardous, their environmental agencies would have the power to restore affected habitats and prevent more dangerous debris from accumulating,” a group of 10 scientists wrote in an article posted Feb. 13 on the journal Nature’s website. … “…if the most problematic plastics are classified as hazardous immediately and replaced with safer, reusable materials in the next decade,” the scientists wrote. “We feel that the physical dangers of plastic debris are well enough established, and the suggestions of chemical dangers sufficiently worrying, that the biggest producers of plastic waste – the United States, Europe and China – must act now.”
Nathan: It isn’t that they really THINK that that empty soda bottle or milk jug or Loaf-n-Jug drink cup or packing peanuts ARE hazardous, but they want them declared so for the sake of CONTROL. Just like cannabis is a Schedule whatever substance: for control’s sake. If you add PVC or HDPE to the list of “Extremely Hazardous Substances” (EHS), then leaving one in a empty hallway or having one blow out of the back of your pick-up becomes an environmental crime – a felony. Having a bag of them (a plastic bag, itself now hazmat) in your back seat becomes another excuse for a cop to pull you over and taser you into a coma or shoot you as full of holes as Jesse James. These so-called scientists are nothing but devoted disciples of some weird syncretic religion in which the State is God and “Science” is its willing toadie.
Meanwhile, we can still note some interesting things.
Theft by government – The “messiah”
President Obama’s Golf Trip Could Have Saved 341 Furloughed Jobs
(Townhall.com)
Nathan: Of course, “furloughed jobs” doesn’t mean these people go without a job: it seems to be about a 10% cut: one day in two work weeks – and presumably one or two paid holidays become UNpaid holidays. Still, would YOU give up a chance to play golf with that well-known sex-fiend and golf pro just so 341 federal workers don’t have to take a temporary pay cut?
Mama’s Note: Consider also how many small businesses might be able to create ongoing jobs and provide much needed goods and services if the Imperial president and his court actually paid for all their recreation and “vacations” like the rest of us do… with their own money. Unfortunately, most of the money they have has been stolen from taxpayers as well. But it would be a start.
Theft by government – The “messiah”
Obama: Sequester Won’t Be Apocalypse – ‘Just Dumb’
(CNSNews.com)
Nathan: Still pretending it wasn’t his idea in the first place. Well, we know what kind of guy we have there at 1600. Sad, but looking at this nation as a whole, he PROBABLY IS the kind of guy we deserve. Uggh.
Mama’s Note: Don’t include me in your “we.” Those who voted for him – or any other such, yes, but I’m not taking any responsibility for this one.
Share this:
About TPOL Nathan
Follower of Christ Jesus (a christian), Pahasapan (resident of the Black Hills), Westerner, Lover of Liberty, Free-Market Anarchist, Engineer, Army Officer, Husband, Father, Historian, Writer, Evangelist. Successor to Lady Susan (Mama Liberty) at TPOL.