rumitoid

I was talking with a friend this morning who has a morbid fascination with unnecessarily costly and i***tic regulations. It pretty much ruined my day. I had already spoken for ending the life of the EPA and other agencies in am Elwood blog not too long ago. I do so again here with added fervor. Here are a few scattered examples from a list of thousands of examples.
My friend’s father delivers hogs to slaughter houses. It was deemed cruel ity to animals to use a cattle prod to get them off the truck (and into a place where they hammered in the head and k**led. So a slap stick ( and this should be slap stick instead of reality) was approved that simply hurts the animal that must be hit repeatedly instead of giving it a single jolt with sufficient oomph.
An endangered mouse in my neck of the woods is causing the Forest Service to fence off all wateholes so that the little creature can drink undisturbed at its leisure.
New York is considering banning the sale of the leftover mash from micro-breweries to farmers, which will on average increase cost to both of around 200,000 dollars. The present system has not produced any problems or ill-effects. Why? No direct answer just a vague concern a problem may one day occur.
EPA either has or is about to enforce a “methane” tax on a hog herds over 500, which will either end this industry or make pork meant only for billionaires.
You can’t make this stuff up. Crazy.

Here is an excerpt from http://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2012/08/16/how_to_get_rid_of_unnecessary_regulations_257.html
That just might give Americans back some sanity and control from these burdensome agencies.
“You can’t avoid death and taxes. Unless you’re a government agency, in which case, you gain immortality from other peoples’ tax dollars. More than 3,500 new regulations from 60 or so agencies hit the books every year, but almost none are repealed. There are hundreds more agencies that don’t issue regulations, but run spending programs and give subsidies to private businesses. This problem has many possible solutions. It is well past time to try at least one of them: automatic sunsets for new regulations.
“Just as every carton of milk has an expiration date, sunset provisions automatically end agencies, programs, and regulations after a fixed period of time, unless specifically reauthorized by Congress. We already know the idea works. Several states already have sunset laws in place. They typically establish a sunset committee or commission, which reviews programs and agencies whose time is almost up and makes recommendations to the legislature. The National Conference of State Legislatures estimates that Texas saves $42 for every dollar it spends on sunset reviews.”

Patty

The way to take back control is to get your wealth out of their system.

Loki Loc: Georgia

Many years ago, I lived in South FL. A friend of mine was retiring from the Navy and bought 40 foot "fixer upper" sailboat to be his retirement liveaboard. He paid me to live on the boat and do part of the work while he went "up north" for about 2 months to take care of personal business.
During his absence, I was boarded by the Marine Patrol for a routine inspection. They issued a citation for not having a holding tank. (This boat WAS a "fixer upper," remember? That's not the important part. According to Federal Regs, you cannot have a flush head on your boat that flushes directly into the ocean. You can, however, crap in a bucket and THROW it overboard, and it is perfectly legal. Bureaucracy at it's finest.

Patty

Gets more insane everyday.

rumitoid

Love that one! Should start a thread where people can bring their battiest Federal regs.

Patty

I liked the one last week where they drained a reservoir because the kid peed in it. Of course the reservoir water is before it is treated. What do they think the fish are doing in it?
Think it cost the tax payers close to $50,000.00 for that pee break.
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/kid-pees-in-reservoir-ruining-38-million-gallons/2sopszurn

"There that's better"

Loki Loc: Georgia

It took them a while to convince me they were serious. I thought it was one of Ray's damn practical jokes he was infamous for. He was buddies with all sorts of MP and Coasties.

rumitoid

Too funny. I was a little that way with my friend this morning, looking around for the hidden camera or someone jumping out and saying, "You've been punked!" Bizarre beyond imagining or typical bureaucratic denseness.

grace scott

I spent 20 years dealing with regulations and they are no fun. You think you have it all figured out, send the regulation to the governing body for passage, and have a heart attack when you get it back. They, of course, made it better??? Then you have to convince someone to sponsor your correction.

Regulations are a necessary part of life, unfortunately common sense is not.

vernon

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :lol:

rumitoid

Here are a few Crazy regs that will tickle the Right. Cut and paste from: http://www.opposingviews.com/i/politics/top-10-worst-federal-rules-2011#sthash.LWDLs0AK.dpuf

1. The Dim Bulbs Rule. As per Congress, of course, for issuing an edict to phase out the incandescent light bulbs on which the world has relied for more than a century. With the deadline looming in 2012, Americans by the millions spent the past year pressing lawmakers to lift the ban which, contrary to eco-ideology, will k**l more American jobs than create “green” ones. (Congress evidently overlooked the fact that the vast majority of fluorescent bulbs are manufactured in China.) The 2012 appropriations bill barred the use of funds to enforce the regulation, but it remains in law.

2. The Obamacare Chutzpah Rule. The past year was marked by a slew of competing court rulings on the constitutionality of the individual mandate, the cornerstone of Obamacare. The law requires U.S. citizens to obtain health insurance or face financial penalties imposed by the Internal Revenue Service. Never before has the federal government attempted to force all Americans to purchase a product or service. To allow this regulatory overreach to stand would undermine fundamental constitutional constraints on government powers and curtail individual liberties to an unprecedented degree.

3. The Nationalization of Internet Networks Rule. Regulations that took effect on November 1 prohibit owners of broadband networks from differentiating among various content in managing Internet t***smissions. (In other words, the Federal Coercion Communications Commission effectively declared the broadband networks to be government-regulated utilities.) The FCC imposed the “network neutrality” rule despite explicit opposition from Congress and a federal court ruling against it. The rule threatens to undermine network investment and increase online congestion.

4. The Equine E******y Rule. As of March 15(the Ides of March, no less), hotels, restaurants, airlines, and the like became obliged to modify “policies, practices, or procedures” to accommodate miniature horses as service animals. According to the Department of Justice, which administers the rule, miniature horses are a “viable alternative” to dogs for individuals with allergies or for observant Muslims and others whose religious beliefs preclude canine accompaniment.

5. The Smash Potatoes Regulation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed stricter nutrition standards that would prohibit school lunch ladies from serving more than one cup per week of potatoes per student. Instead, schools would be required to provide more dark green, orange, and dry bean varieties (think kale) in order to foster vegetable diversity. The cafeteria mandate will affect more than 98,000 elementary and secondary schools at a cost exceeding $3.4 billion in the next four years.

6. The Bring on the Blackouts Rule. The EPA is proposing to force power plants to reduce mercury by 90 percent within three years—at an estimated cost of $11 billion annually. A significant number of coal-fired plants will actually exceed the standard—by shutting down altogether. Indeed, grid operators, along with 27 states, are warning that the overly stringent regulations will threaten the reliability of the electricity system and dramatically increase power costs. Just like candidate Obama promised.

7. The Wal-Mart Windfall Amendment. One of hundreds of new regulations dictated by the Dodd–Frank financial regulation statute requires the Federal Reserve to regulate the fees that financial institutions may charge retailers for processing debit card purchases. The prospect of losing more than $6 billion in annual revenue is prompting financial institutions to hike fees on a variety of banking services to make up for the much smaller payments from stores. Thus, consumers are picking up the tab for retailers’ big regulatory score.

8. The Plumbing Police Rule. The U.S. Department of Energy began pr********ns for tightening the water efficiency standards on urinals. It’s all spelled out in excruciating detail in the Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products Other Than Automobiles, which also regulates the efficiency of toilets, faucets, and showers. And refrigerators and freezers, air conditioners, water heaters, furnaces, dishwashers, clothes washers and dryers, ovens and ranges, pool heaters, television sets, and anything else the Energy Secretary deems as electrically profligate. (Urinals also are regulated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which requires at least one urinal for every 40 workers at a construction site for companies with less than 200 employees and one for every 50 workers where more than 200 are employed. The Americans with Disabilities Act also delineates the proper dimensions and placement of bowls.)

9. The Chill the Economy Regulation. The EPA issued four interrelated rules governing emissions from some 200,000 boilers nationwide at an estimated capital cost of $9.5 billion. These boilers burn natural gas, fuel oil, coal, biomass (e.g., wood), refinery gas, or other gas to produce steam, which is used to generate electricity or provide heat for factories and other industrial and institutional facilities. Under the so-called Boiler MACT, factories, restaurants, schools, churches, and even farms would be required to conduct emissions testing and comply with standards of control that vary by boiler size, feedstock, and available technologies. The stringency and cost of the new regulations provoked an outpouring of protest, including 21 governors and more than 100 Members of Congress. On May 18, the EPA published a notice of postponement in the Federal Register,but the regulations remain on the books.

10. The Unions Rule Rule. New rules require government contractors to give first preference in hiring to the workers of the company that lost the contract. Tens of thousands of companies will be affected, with compliance costs running into the tens of millions of dollars—costs ultimately borne by taxpayers. The rule effectively ensures that a non-unionized contractor cannot replace a unionized one. That’s because any new contractor will be obliged to hire its predecessors’ unionized workers and thus be forced by the “Successorship Doctrine” to bargain with the union(s).
- See more at: http://www.opposingviews.com/i/politics/top-10-worst-federal-rules-2011#sthash.LWDLs0AK.dpuf

rumitoid

More madness from the EPA: http://wastefraudandabuse.org/stupid-epa-regulations/

One excerpt: "American farmers have been saddled with a myriad number and variety of regulations. A major threat to farmers is Title V of the Clean Air Act. Title V, a CO2 emissions standard, would apply to “dairy facilities with over 25 cows, beef cattle operations of over 50 cattle, swine operations with over 200 hogs, and farms with over 500 acres of corn.” The EPA puts the first-year cost of each Title V permit at $46,500 and the pre-construction permitting program at $84,500. The EPA has temporarily raised the threshold for CO2 emissions but this waiver is on shaky legal grounds." (Bonkers!)

Patty

I thought this fit into the conversation here.

docwill

Kind of tangential to the O.P., at the Cali state level, a cosmetologist friend of mine had her shop "inspected." This girl is good and says she can tell within minutes if a salon is compliant. Never mind; the inspection lasted an hour and a half resulting, finally, in a $100 fine for an "improperly stored pair of hair-scissors." Said scissors were unopened in the original packaging in her desk drawer waiting to be returned. And never mind the desk scissors lying next to them...

rumitoid

This perfectly goes with my post just above yours. Wacko!