“There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kinds of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of lawbreakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that’s the system, Mr. Rearden, that’s the game, and once you understand it, you’ll be much easier to deal with.”
That famous quote comes from Ayn Rand’s masterpiece, Atlas Shrugged, published in 1957.
Keep it in mind when you read this story: A Fine for Not Using a Biofuel That Doesn’t Exist
I must remember to tune into Rush Limbaugh this aft.
That famous quote from Atlas Shrugged also pertains to what is happening in Canada.
Pssst…I have a culvert to replace secretly. Just happen to have one inside my coat.
Now we understand why Oblamer needs to shut down pipelines, off shore drilling,
make fracking illegal.
Charge the refiners future billions of dollars for an ingredient not invented yet.
If the refiners threatened to move all their operations to Mexico,
How would the government charge tax on gas they can’t get?
Vote Republican,
Get Rid of The Oblamer Clowns!
http://www.ckom.com/sites/default/files/JGL%20MINING.mp3
I think that Environment Canada is on the same track too.
Is crude oil not cellulosic biofuel? Oh, one is synthetic and the other is natural, environmentally friendly.
” “From a taxpayer/consumer standpoint,it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense ”
That implies that to someone it does make sense. I wonder who?
There is currently a case at SCOTUS, Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, that may finally start to roll back powers of the EPA (at least in one area)
“Conservative members of the Supreme Court seemed outraged Monday by the Environmental Protection Agency’s actions in a four-year battle with an Idaho couple who want to build a house on land the EPA says contains sensitive wetlands. Justices across the ideological spectrum appeared troubled by the EPA’s position that Mike and Chantell Sackett do not have the right to go court to challenge the agency’s wetlands decision.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-appears-sympathetic-to-idaho-couple-in-4-year-battle-with-epa/2012/01/09/gIQAP9zSmP_story.html
The case, like the bio-diesel one, involves bureaucratic incompetence combined with crippling financial penalties without ant legal recourse.
“The case started four years ago when a married couple named Mike and Chantell Sackett received an EPA compliance order instructing them to stop construction on what was supposed to be their dream home near Priest Lake, Idaho. The government claimed their .63-acre lot was a federally-protected wetland, but that was news to the Sacketts, who had procured all the necessary local permits. Their lot, which is bordered by two roads and several other residential lots, was in fact zoned for residential use.
The Sacketts contend that the compliance order was issued erroneously and they would like the opportunity to make their case in court. Yet according to the terms of the Clean Water Act, they may not challenge the order until the EPA first seeks judicial enforcement of it, a process that could take years. In the meantime, the Sacketts risk $32,500 in fines per day if they fail to comply. And complying doesn’t just mean they have to stop building; they must also return the lot to its original condition at their own expense.”
http://reason.com/archives/2011/12/15/the-epa-vs-the-constitution
The tragedy of Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency is that the bureaucrats who precipitated this will face no consequences should the EPA lose….and will probably be rewarded.
Any damages the Sackets receive will come from the public purse.
The EPA is part and pacel of the THUNDERBALL Oblambush administration.
We note that all these alleged ecological abominations the EPA and similar green Fascist institutions obsess over, can all be fixed with the proper fine or taxing regime.
It’s not about the environment people it’s about money and power. A generation of domestic commies have discovered the place to be is large government legislative enforcement institutions with draconian regulatory regimes, no oversight and escalating budgets. A ready-made soviet playground for domestic leftists.
There is wide public backlash against not only the EPA for their petty vindictive behavior with property owners, but other enforcement agencies as well like the ATF, FDA, and other poorly overseen enforcement juntas.
The government scheme in the biofuel story is another scam created by government bureaucracy to extract millions from companies that can afford it.
The moneys the companies pay, is very likely less than they would have to pay for putting the stuff in the gasoline. It is also less expansive to go to hearings, pay the scheming lawyers and so on.
So you have a government bureaucracy scam to extract money and then you have the companies that understand. The companies, through a reasoning process know that the government know that they know, that the whole scheme is an agreed upon, scam.
If any company run a scheme like that, they would be up for conspiracy to defraud.
Bureaucracy is 100% immune, isolated from prosecution, totally faultless, because politicians are afraid to be sued by them.
Everybody is happy. Everybody understand each other.
What’s the problem?
Steyn wrote on this topic in After America when he noted that the SEC, IRS can come after you but you have no right to go after them.
The EPA, FBI, CIA, agencies need to take note of Romney’s pink slip practice…..When agencies go rogue their usefull time line contracts..
They will ALL be participants in the Obama/Pelosi food Stamp unemployment program. They know it!
I took note of Romney’s pink slip practice remarks…..and the media’s bitter reaction.
I don’t give Romney credit for originality, he has just detected an unhappy undercurrent just waiting to erupt….
The EPA is not out of control. It exemplifies control. It has been ordered by Obama to put the (green theocracy) church police jack boots to every resource industry it can. It has been going after farmers dirt roads for dust pollution, forest road runoff as point source pollution and then there’s carbon which they have demonized to shut down coal-fired generating capacity. It was created by executive order from the big Dick (Nixon) and hopefully, it will be extinguished in the same manner. With these leviathan structures (all federal agencies), the entire nation is subject to comprehensive routine Chicago-style shakedowns.
Rand could portray evil within humanity in an uncannily prescient manner. Every villain in Atlas Shrugged can now be found personified in this Administration and its cheerleaders.
This is the exact thinking that saddled us in Ontario with mandatory 10% Ethanol content in all fuel except premium gasoline.
If you have a marine or small engine in Ontraio you likely are already familiar with phase seperation witch can occur in Ehtnaol blended fuels.
What the heck is the point of a cleaner burning fuel if you A. Burn more of it to get the same result. B. End up having to dispose of it more often because it goes stale faster?
This is the exact thinking that saddled us in Ontario with mandatory 10% Ethanol content in all fuel except premium gasoline.
If you have a marine or small engine in Ontraio you likely are already familiar with phase seperation witch can occur in Ehtnaol blended fuels.
What the heck is the point of a cleaner burning fuel if you A. Burn more of it to get the same result. B. End up having to dispose of it more often because it goes stale faster?
I think I hear an echo.
I think I hear an echo.
Import the stuff from CHINA….between suicides of course.
What the left never gets is after a time guilt dispersers with the law becoming a joke. With no respect for Law, or its process anarchy is not far behind. No respect for citizens means no compliance , indeed rebellion against the lawmakers.
What do you have to lose really. Your all just criminals in their sight anyway. The police become just tools of oppression, thus becoming targets.
A State like this is not long for the World.
Will eventually fall apart as the Soviet Union & others.
Mean while real criminals are eulogized by these people as heroes or victims of regular people just trying to live.
We see it every day now.
Imaginary laws based on fantasy for money or ideology, will just create more contempt for the officials of said Ideology.
Get Ron Paul elected and goodbye EPA.
John Chittick @ 12:57 p.m.: “[The EPA] was created by executive order from the big Dick (Nixon) …”
Memo to conservatives: Don’t ever throw leftists a bone of ANY kind.
Meanwhile, Occam’s second paragraph (@ 10:19 a.m.) nails it.
Never underestimate Albertans. If we have to dig a pipeline to China we will export our oil. Better to sell it to the States for sure, but sell it we will.
No matter what. Despite Arabs, Indians or Argentinians, or the Soros gang.
The EPA is perfect example of “Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy”:
In any bureaucracy there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself. Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representatives who work to protect any teacher including the most incompetent.
The Iron Law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions.
What next from the enforcers of The One – bricks without straw?