Tuesday - December 21, 2010

Too Much On My Plate

I simply can’t keep up with the sudden whirlwind of activity in DC.

Now we’ve got the Food Safety Modernization Act to deal with, nearly 250 pages of expanded government power that will require another huge federal workforce to enforce, cost a giant fortune, and allow the government to intrude even more on your life.

Lots of articles have spoken out against it. Lots of nanny-state wieners are all in favor of it. A few articles have tried to take a middle of the road approach and just reported on what the bill contains.

But if this isn’t another episode of DC Kabuki Theater, it may already be too late. The Senate passed the latest version of this thing, with significant bipartisan support.

The Senate unexpectedly approved food-safety legislation by voice vote Sunday evening, rescuing a bill that floated in limbo for weeks because of a clerical error.
...
Reid announced he would send the legislation — this time properly attached to a House-originated measure — back to the lower chamber for final approval.

“Our food safety system has not been updated in almost a century. Families in Nevada and across America should never have to worry about whether the food they put on their table is safe,” Reid said in a statement. “This is a common-sense issue with broad bipartisan support.

“Tonight we unanimously passed a measure to improve on our current food safety system by giving the FDA the resources it needs to keep up with advances in food production and marketing, without unduly burdening farmers and food producers,” he said.
...
Sen. Tom Coburn, the outspoken conservative Republican from Oklahoma, had been blocking the legislation, and lifted his objection at the final moment.

Because both sides of the aisle believe in ever increasing the powers of the state. So now the “battle” goes to Congress.

Funny thing ... you always have to read between the lines ... and now, after many the op-ed saying how this bill is not needed, how it’s another power play, how it gives Homeland Security and the FDA even more power ...

Congress has a full legislative plate to clear before the lame-duck session ends, including a measure that would vastly expand federal regulation of the food supply. But that scheme—a costly and unwarranted intrusion—is best scrapped.

Proponents tout the so-called Food Safety Modernization Act as the salvation of our supposedly imperiled food supply. It would authorize the FDA to dictate how farmers grow fruits and vegetables, including rules governing soil, water, hygiene, packing, temperatures, and even what animals may roam which fields and when. It would also increase inspections of food “facilities” and tax them to do so.

In fact, Americans enjoy the safest, most abundant and affordable food supply on the planet. The incidence rate of food-borne illness has declined by a third in the past decade alone. What risks remain won’t be remedied by intermittent visits by regulators or new legions of FDA bureaucrats shuffling through piles of additional paperwork.

Nor would this crackdown fill what gaps exist in the food-safety system. Meat, poultry and dairy products—the most common sources of food-borne illness—are regulated by the Department of Agriculture and aren’t addressed in this bill.

Expanding the FDA’s regulatory reach would require additional spending of $1.4 billion between 2011 and 2015, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The costs to the private sector have not been calculated, but likely would reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

… if lawmakers are vested in heeding the undeniable message sent by Americans last month, they will take note of the facts about the nation’s food system. Americans don’t want and cannot afford still more unnecessary regulation and expansion of government.

... suddenly the media is doing what it can to spin the Fear Factor dial up to 11 on this issue. How? Why, the terrorists are gonna get us if we don’t watch out! By going after our food supply! The inference being that we NEED more government control. For our safety. For the chiiiiiiildren!

The group behind last year’s failed Christmas Day bombing and the recent attempt to send two explosives-laden packages to the United States wants to attack U.S. food supplies, but U.S. authorities don’t believe the group has the capability to do so, Fox News has learned.

A source with knowledge of the situation said authorities obtained information “a while ago” indicating a possible plot by associates of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to target food at hotels and restaurants inside the United States, perhaps slipping harmful agents into salad bars or buffets.

“We don’t have a specific target or time frame, just the intent,” the source said.

Granted they are saying that the risk is low. And that AQ may not really have the structure in place to even carry out this kind of attack. But this is not new news. It’s olds. This information has been around for years and years now. But suddenly, coincidentally, it gets published? I smell a (non-federally inspected) rat.

And today’s the day that another branch of the government will vote on how much - because I consider it totally unlikely that they’ll Just Say No - how much of your freedom to usurp in another realm. The FCC wants to take control of the internet, freedom and economics be damned, even though they have no authority whatsoever to do so. Like that ever mattered.

FCC to Vote on Internet Regulation Plan Despite Economic Warnings

Lawmakers are on high alert as the Federal Communications Commission prepares to vote on a plan to regulate the Internet despite warnings that it could choke industry investment and hurt the economy as a whole.

The five-member commission plans to unveil, and vote on, the so-called “net neutrality” proposal on Tuesday.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been saying for months that Congress, not the Obama administration, should take the lead role in deciding whether and how much to police the web. But despite a brief backing-off earlier in the year, the FCC has pushed ahead with its new regulatory plan.

The move raises concern that the FCC could soon have its regulatory foot in the door of the wild West of the Internet—with an eye toward eventually exerting tighter control over content at a time when sites like WikiLeaks openly snub the government.

The FCC proposal is viewed as a major breakthrough, for better or worse, for Internet oversight. And if the plan passes, it could trigger a nasty showdown with Congress next year.

“Congress has not given us the authority to do this,” Robert McDowell, one of two Republican commissioners on the FCC, told FoxNews.com. McDowell, who plans to dissent, said that if the FCC follows through on Tuesday, “there really are no bounds to what the FCC could do, so long as it’s done in the name of promoting the Internet in their view.” That potential ranges from price control to content control, he said.

Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., the author of a net-neutrality bill in Congress, issued a statement commending Genachowski for his latest plan earlier this month—though he called for the concerns of net-neutrality proponents to be addressed. Some proponents have criticized the FCC plan as not strong enough, complaining that it lets mobile carriers off the hook and still could allow companies under some circumstances to pay for better service.

The White House, meanwhile, continues to support the idea. Aneesh Chopra, the chief technology officer in the administration, called the plan an “important step in preventing abuses and continuing to advance the Internet as an engine of productivity growth and innovation” in a White House blog earlier this month.

In theory the Net Neutrality measure would just force “equal bandwidth” to all web sites, even though that isn’t how the internet works at all. It’s all dynamic. Higher demand places get higher bandwidth. On the fly. And when demand goes down they get less. On the fly. That’s what dynamic means. But that’s “inequality” to certain dingbats in DC, who couldn’t tell a packet switching network from a game of musical chairs. So let’s make a law!!!!!!  Although this one may be just the tip of the camel’s nose, it a certainty that there’s a whole camel behind that nose, and a whole herd of camels, camel drivers, camel care centers, and extended camel welfare and benefits packages lined up behind it.

And don’t give me WikiLeaks while trying to spin the Fear Factor dial on this one. You want military data security? Make it so. Shoot spies and traitors on the spot, and build secure data centers, secure data highways, and fully and continually vet your staff. Having Uncle Shitheels Sam wear the apron of Net Nanny isn’t going to do one flipping thing to close that can of worms.

Let me say it again: The job of the Tea Party is just beginning. One election means very little. We will have to fight, and fight hard, and continue to fight every single day for the rest of our lives to win back any freedom from those in power. The concept of a limited federal government was flushed down the toilet when FDR arm twisted the Supremes to bend the definition of “regulate” in the Commerce Clause, and it’s been snowballing downhill ever since. Now we have an anti-American fascist in the White House, and the ski slope is a double black diamond.

Posted by Drew458     on 12/21/2010 at 12:25 PM   
Filed Under: • Government • Nanny State •  
• Comments (0) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner