From Jo Nova: Tyranny: How to destroy a business with environmental red tape
[Note: I visited with the Thompsons at their farm during my visit to Narrogin. While time did not permit me to do the full scale story that Jo Nova does below, I’ll point out that I grew up in farm country of the Midwest, I milked cows when I was 11. I also cleaned toilets at the county fair at 14 (a job nobody else would do but it paid $100 for the week, a fortune for me then). I know what smells and how. If you want to smell a poorly waste managed feedlot, try driving on I-5 near Coalinga, and get a whiff of the Harris Ranch feedlot.
While I’m on the subject of issues in Australia having to do with environmental red tape, I’d like to remind everyone of this story from Australia’s terrible wildfires: “We’ve lost two people in my family because you dickheads won’t cut trees down…” – Anthony]
Matt and Janet Thompson are at the end of the rope
Did you know in Australia it’s possible to ruin a business if you don’t like the way it smells? This is a heartbreaking story — that a government could effectively ruin a family by slowly strangling them in red tape, and that they would have apparently no protection from the courts or the ombudsman. It eats away at our sense of justice. Can we speak freely? Are we all treated equally under the law, or are some laws only enforced according to a capricious whim?
This is the price we pay for vague laws where business people can run ventures, do everything to the letter of the law, with best-practice procedures, winning customers and contracts, yet go broke despite all that because of onerous, impossible-to-meet conditions, that are unmeasurable, and change suddenly, with the added bonus of inordinately long delays. At the moment, Janet and Matts farm, Narrogin Beef Producers, lies empty, unstocked, while debts accrue by the minute.
This is also a story of sovereign risk. Investors in Australian industry beware.
Unused equipment that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars lies idle.
How can any business survive the need to get two-yearly licenses which take more than 12 months to arrange; where after four years of planning and preparation, capacity can be suddenly halved without warning; where an appeals process can take 18 months and when the original capacity is finally restored, not only are many new stipulations added, but the expiry date is not extended. After 30 months of a grinding process, the farmer is only left with 6 months before the amended license expires and no way to take out loans based on such an uncertain future.
If the government were a private business paid to arrange licenses, and expected to be evidence based and to respond in a reasonable time, then they would have no customers. Indeed, they could be sued.
Matt and Janet were told their license would be a formality, and they took out loans and contracts for water and grain in advance. Their input costs last year added up to around $10 million dollars. When the capacity was halved there was no way under the laws of biology and commerce that they could bring in the cash flow to meet those costs. When they appealed, there was no timeframe, no indication it would take 18 months to be resolved, so they took out loans, bore the costs, the interest, and paid for water they did not use, and grain no cow would eat. Their money was effectively squandered by the unpredictable rulings of the state government.
Bear in mind, the Thompsons have broken no laws. Most of this case boils down to a small number of complaints about odour. I would not wish foul smells on anyone, but the evidence there is suggests the problem is minor, and the level of complaints has no relation to the number of stock on the Thompson’s farm in any case. There is the troubling possibility that if someone took a dislike to another party, or had another vested interest in property nearby, or in a competing business, theoretically they could solicit complaints and exaggerate. How would we know? It’s hard to photograph a smell. It’s an avenue ripe for exploitation. Lets keep things in perspective, Janet and Matt live at their farm, closer than anyone else to any odours and emissions, and their farm is next to a piggery (ferrgoodnesssake) which has been there for more than 20 years.
Read the whole story at Jo Nova: Tyranny: How to destroy a business with environmental red tape
As they say, “Green is the new Red”.
I am glad to see this over here.
The two terrible parts are that they approved this farm, the people built it up and now they are playing games with permits.
The farm can’t stay in business if they rescind a permit after it was been granted.
We are seeing more Marxist control endeavors from politicians that want to throw their weight around.
In my farm neighborhood, 100,000 cattle feed lots are common. This is small.
Social engineering is the new doo gooders pastime.
I have seen the same system used by the government with using “statutes of limitations”. By the time you figure the game plan from the delays…toooooo late.
@Henry:
“doo gooders”
Ha!
But we need more government involvement for things like this because there’s a big oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico!
(Doesn’t make sense to me, either, but isn’t that the latest justification for ever-increasing government regulations?)
Drill baby drill.
Appeals court denies government’s bid to keep offshore drilling moratorium
Obama’s cronies are 3 losses in a row to create an illegal drilling moratorium.
Here is an example oof a court looking out for commercial interests. Australia needs to allow courts do move quickly.
Even the worst totalitarian regimes in history never treated their own productive people this way.
What is the price of beef in Oz?
Is it going up?
How fast?
Do the voters care?
“Henry chance says:
July 8, 2010 at 4:13 pm
We are seeing more Marxist control endeavors from politicians that want to throw their weight around.”
I am not a Marxist, never will be close to one, but let’s be clear that Marx and Marxism is in favour of high levels of industrial production. What we are seeing in the environmental movement is something beyond ridiculous. It’s a totalitarian ethos which seeks to completely subjugate and oppress all human natural functions in favour of unnaturally sitting around and dying of idleness in order to bring about some sort of natural eco-utopia. It’s a a stupid religion to keep the elites in every stronger positions of power because they have lost vision of the future and don’t give a shit about the rest of us anymore.
The United States is not that far behind. We have been protected by the Constitution which enforces the idea of rule of law. Once the Constitution is gone it becomes rule of Judge meaning however the judge feels today is what the law is. A few courts already rule this way and most of the time are reversed on appeal but if the Constitution is made a worthless paper as the progressives would like it, we are gone as well.
If you don’t mind me saying, it comes across that the ‘piggery’ is the likely cause of the complaints: Beef vs pork, and beef wins hands down all the time — in the marketplace.
As far as odors go, pig scat is way more odoriferous that cow pies, any day.
It would be interesting, to say the least, to see who buys the failed venture, lock, stock and odour. (been there, seen that)
regards
“Can we speak freely? Are we all treated equally under the law, or are some laws only enforced according to a capricious whim?”
Uhmmm… no and no.
Are some laws only enforced according to capricious whim? As we are witness today, our US immigration laws are not being enforced AND Our Dear Leader is spending precious taxpayer millions to file and pursue a federal law suit to prevent the State of Arizona from enforcing the federal immigration laws. It really doesn’t get much more capricious that that!
As for speaking freely, we have the skeptics black lists, IRS audits of outspoken opponents to Obamanation, and the newly acknowledged “Perfect Citizen” web monitoring system to provide the answer to that.
The State Control beast and its marxist supporters are gathering power and strength in both Oz and US. They can only succeed if people of good conscience fail to reject their twisted philopsophies, both with honest words and direct actions. The much maligned Tea Party (in the US) is but one grass roots expression of US citizens emphatically rejecting State Control of our lives.
We have an excellent opportunity to ‘retire’ a bunch of socialist US politicians, on election day Nov 2, 2010, and put the bloody socialists on the defensive. I urge each of you to seek out candidates of integrity that you want to support and then commit your time and money to support their election campaigns. We can progressively fire their socialist opponents and regain control of our respective countries, but only if we are firmly committed in both words and actions. Let truth and good humor be both our sword and shield. It will only make their deceits and venomous spite that much more apparent!
Kiss a Conservative…. Because it Feels Sooooooooooo Right!
My family built a family resort 20 years ago in northern Minnesota. The permit process was pretty atrocious, but with a little know how and sweet talk, it can be done. The biggest issue was where we wanted to put our swimming beach. The army corps and MN DNR were constantly arguing about whether the proposed site included wetland (which meant a big “NO” for the beach) or if it was, in fact dry lakebed due to the dry conditions seen from 1987-1990. Well, the DNR insisted it was just dry lakebed, but the Army Corps, geniuses that they are (NOLA anybody?), determined it was wetland by sticking their boots in the mud about 2 feet from the lakeshore.. and since it filled in with water, it was wetland. So finally my mom just had the guy come out and put the sand in and we made the beach. About 4 months later, 2 months after the resort opened for business, she got a notice that the Army Corps had finally approved the site for a beach. The Minnesota DNR can be pretty nasty sometimes (usually for good reasons.. like burning during a drought or dumping chemicals into lakes, etc.).. but they certainly know what they are talking about. The Army Corps seems to be authority first, knowledge later.
The Thompsons are a warning to productive people arriving in Australia to do business. I have been down a similar road.
The lesson is:
Australia is essentially a one party state.
The so-called elected representatives are appointed by the party and owe allegiance to the party. These representatives are generally trash from Arts/Law faculties with limited work experience.
The public servants who at one time made decisions, essentially from the bottom up. now avoid decisions in fear of political repercussions.
Essentially, Australia is on its way to a soviet style wasteland, governed by a remote and self-rewarding politburo that survives by digging up raw materials and flogging them.
These sorts of increasing fiefdom rules applied to the peasants of the land are what has led to revolution in the past. What has happened in Australia has happened in the US.
To wit: I live in a very rural part of NE Oregon. We used to grow and make what we needed, with some left over to export in exchange for what other nearby counties could grow or make that we could not. That meant small dairies. Small meat packers and markets. Garden to store veggies. Weavers and tailors. The people lived within their means and quite comfortably.
Then came regulations that when applied to small industries, made it impossible to turn a profit to live on. So these small industries closed and now we import what we need in order to export what we can. No one here who tries to make a living, lives comfortably. We are all slowly losing money.
Then along comes high gas prices. Now we can’t afford to buy what we import. And since our energy, whether it be wind or water, is also now imported, we are dependent on outsiders for our lights, just like the US is dependent on foreign oil.
So more and more people I know are both voting with their pocket books (and no longer for the current form of the Democratic Party), and arming themselves in case the government goes too far in this return to de facto over-ruler kings and queens with peasants living hand to mouth just so we can go to the castle and clean their commodes.
Being a past life long Democrat and quite the liberal thinker, I almost feel as if the Democratic Party and those we elected have committed treason.
Ah, the Harris Ranch feedlot. Earlier this century I commuted one way each week on I-5 between Silicon Valley and LA. The feedlot became a familiar, if often fragrant, landmark on those long monotonous drives.
Looks like they’ll soon be exporting to Australia…
The Property Rights Australia Youtube channel has been set up, and more stories are forthcoming. I beg people of all ages. From all countries. Watch them. Watch them again. Watch them as often as you have to, to help understand that our democracy is under serious threat from extreme green lobbyists, who are funded under the guise of the “do good” Green groups.
I have lived a great big life and have had the opportunity to meet people from countries like Bosnia, like Cambodia and others who risked their lives rather than live with oppression. And now I see our freedoms slipping away, because of “Noble Cause” tyrants.
http://www.youtube.com/user/PropertyRightsAustr
http://www.propertyrightsaustralia.org
http://agmates.ning.com/
Communism. This is all about monopolizing every industry, and make us all poor, so we’ll beg for health care, bread care, house care…. ie comply to become slaves.. It has nothing to do with protecting the environment. CO2 emission is a measure of living standard, poor people emit less. When these commies say “we want to reduce emissions”, they mean “we want to make you poor.”
I personally buy Australian or New Zealand meat. It tastes a lot better than corporate factory meat produced here in the states. Once all civilian(small) business are exterminated with ridiculous regulations, we’ll be left with unhealthy $hit tasting meat. Just like slaves; work your shift, eat the scraps than repeat.
Ed Caryl says:
July 8, 2010 at 4:42 pm
What is the price of beef in Oz?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Substantially higher than the US because we don’t have ridiculous subsidies on corn /shrug.
The Aussie dollar is creeping back up to US$0.90 so knock 10-15% off Aussie prices to get an idea of US$ equivalents. Most meats sell in Australia for Aus$10-20 per kilo ($Aus10 being the approximate range for chicken breasts* and mince etc, on upwards). I guess you could roughly divide that by 2 to get a US price per pound**.
* I am basing that on the Perth Woolworths price where chicken breasts are about Aus$10 per kilo in the deli section, for some reason you pay about Aus3-4 per kilo more for the pre-packed stuff in the chilled meat section.
** Yes, you guys are still using that crazy British system? I will keep niggling about that, cos that’s teh way I roll…
nevket240 says:
July 8, 2010 at 5:09 pm
It would be interesting, to say the least, to see who buys the failed venture, lock, stock and odour. (been there, seen that)
regards
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Thompsons had it on the market last year, but it is a bit hard to sell a farm without a licence to operate…
They should have a chat to our dishonorable ex Prime Minister, Keating … he knows how to make money out of a piggery and without any of that silly red tape:
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/stories/s20229.htm
The look on that mans face is so sad. Marxism targets farmers. Could this be why they are suffering from their government?
Just nauseating. I wish these bureaucrats could be made to suffer equally for all the suffering they mindlessly mete out in their air-conditioned, sealed off offices.
Anthony,
I have been one of those fighting this battle for several years. The battle is disguised as a “food Safety” issue.
Since the ratification of the World Trade Organization in 1995 there has been a running fight between farmers around the world and the new food cartel inspired government regulations. Here in the USA we managed to kill NAIS (National Animal Identification) after a lengthy fight only to see it reorganize and sprout back up as “Animal Disease Traceability” This time the USDA got smart, they are having only a couple of “listening sessions” Farmers must pay $250 each for the three minutes they will be allowed to “express their concerns” – http://naissucks.com/wordpress/?p=492
Here is a history:
1.) According to one source 5 corporations control 80% of our food supply Actually from my research there are about ten transnational corporations that control most of the food supply in the world.
2) The intentional removal of farmers from the land started around world war II
US business and banking leaders formed a group to direct domestic policies. “.. the Committee for Economic Development, was officially established in 1942…. CED has influenced US domestic policies in much the same way that the CFR has influenced the nation’s foreign policies.” The CED had “…determined that the problem with American agriculture was that there were too many farmers. But the CED had a “solution”: millions of farmers would just have to be eliminated….
In its 1945 report “Agriculture in an Expanding Economy,” CED complained that “the excess of human resources engaged in agriculture is probably the most important single factor in the “farm problem’” and describes how agricultural production can be better organized to fit to business needs.[2] A report published in 1962 entitled “An Adaptive Program for Agriculture”[3] is even more blunt in its objectives, leading Time Magazine to remark that CED had a plan for fixing the identified problem: “The essential fact to be faced, argues CED, is that with present high levels farm productivity, more labor is involved in agriculture production that the market demands ” in short, there are too may farmers. To solve that problem, CED offers a program with three main prongs.””
Why would CED member corporations want to destroy farms? Easy – for corporations, unemployed farmers and farm workers provided an excess of cheap labor to choose from. Why would bankers want to destroy farms? Easy – all of the personal income tax the IRS collects goes into the bankers pockets as interest on government loans. It is easier to get those tax dollars from corporations BEFORE wages are paid than from independent entrepreneurs AFTER the money is in their hands. Bankers are also very eager to support expensive socialist bureaucracies because the government borrows nonexistent money from them and then pays them back with real wealth plus interest. Corporations want more regulations to stifle start up and smaller competitors.
So what happen to the well integrated society of the forties and fifties?
” CED’s plans resulted in widespread social upheaval throughout rural America, ripping apart the fabric of its society destroying its local economies. They also resulted in a massive migration to larger cities. The loss of a farm also means the loss of identity, and many farmers’ lives ended in suicide [6], not unlike farmers in India today who have been tricked into debt and desperation and can see no other way out.”
Source: http://www.opednews.com/articles/History-HACCP-and-the-Foo-by-Nicole-Johnson-090906-229.html
More recently the food cartel formed a group called the IPC or the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council – International Policy Council, for short. They were instrumental in placing food and agriculture on the international trading block. The VP of Cargill, Dan Amstutz, wrote the World Trade Organizations Agreement on Agriculture. After the WTO was ratified control of agriculture and food passed from local governments into the hands of international “committees”
The FDA has plainly stated its position on international Harmonization of Laws,. ”Failure to reach a consistent, harmonized set of laws, regulations and standards within the freetrade agreements and the World Trade Organization Agreements can result in considerable economic repercussions.” The FDA even names the International Organizations the FDA is now taking its orders from:
* Codex Alimentarius
* International Office of Epizootics
* International Plant Protection Convention
* World Health Organization
* Food and Agricultural Organization
* Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA)
* Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues
* Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Microbiological Risk Assessments
* Pan American Health Organization
* Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
So how did the United Stated manage to give up its sovereignty on such important issues as food and medicine? The answer is we did not.
During the debate on approving the WTO Agreement, Congress was justifiably worried that the multinational pact was in conflict with U.S. Sovereignty. Arguments for ratification were vehemently endorsed by Clinton Administration officials who were eager to get the agreement passed Congress. Congressional fears were lulled by pointing out Congress is ultimately responsible for changing the laws of the United States; and second, the U.S. is entitled to withdraw from the WTO. Also a feature of the Uruguay Round agreements are described as follows:
“United States Law to Prevail in Conflict The URAA puts U.S. sovereignty and U.S. law under perfect protection. According to the Act, if there is a conflict between U.S. and any of the Uruguay Round agreements, U.S. law will take precedence regardless when U.S. law is enacted. § 3512 (a) states: “No provision of any of the Uruguay Round Agreements, nor the application of any such provision to any person or circumstance, that is inconsistent with any law of the United States shall have effect.” Specifically, implementing the WTO agreements shall not be construed to “amend or modify any law of the United States, including any law relating to
(i) the protection of human, animal, or plant life or health,
(ii) the protection of the environment, or
(iii) worker safety”, or to “limit any authority conferred under any law of the United States, including section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.” http://www.eastlaw.net/research/wto/wto2b.htm
I will stop there or I will end up writing a book
Google “Nicole Johnson” “Food Safety” or “John Munsell” HACCP for more information.
How about – backyard, hot, humid, little wind and dog poo from neighbors …
Where: Suburban America (neighborhood outside Dallas, TX)
.
Al Gore’s Holy Hologram says:
July 8, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Even the worst totalitarian regimes in history never treated their own productive people this way.
________________________________________
You forgot about Stalin’s deliberate starvation of Ukrainian farmers. “the breadbasket of Europe” still hasn’t recovered.
““The Collective Farm Policy was a terrible struggle, Ten million died. It was fearful. Four years it lasted. It was absolutely necessary.” Joseph Stalin http://www.faminegenocide.com/resources/quotes.html
This stinks! I can’t smell the cattle, but something smells fishy. This smacks of corruption and attempted extortion, employ the right person as your legal advisor and they will fix it with the organisation they run. Don’t employ them and you are out of business.
I have only been in Aus for about 5 months now, and I have noted an incredible amount of government driven climate change guilt through advertising, and legislation.
As an Albertan and from a rural community, it breaks my heart to hear stories like this because the agricultural business is not an easy one at the best of times. And, if you think that a family managed farm is hard to do have as a neighbour well, wait until that farm goes under, and a factory farm goes in. THEY are much harder to deal with.
Until the Labour party is out of power, there is no way I will invest in Aus businesses. Mr. Rudd whom I relentlessly criticized (yes, I am a registered voter) was apparently the more reasonable one in the caucus. Apparently Ms. Gillard is farther left than he was.
All animals are equal, except that some are more equal than others.
I read this over at Jo Nova’s site, good to see it placed here too.
It’s a terrible situation the Thompson’s find themselves in, and the thing is, I’m not surprised. Australia is becoming a place where the enterprising cannot do business, only the politically favored can.
It’s not the Australia that I remember anymore. This eco fascism must stop. This out of control bureaucracy must be curbed.
I just hope this is the start of a push back. A reexamination of our draconian eco laws like Native Vegetation Legislation and land clearing laws, water allocations, etc and the biased and militant bureaucrats that now interpret and administer these laws in conjunction with activist green allies.
Time it was all brought undone and the power given back to the private sector and its hard working productive families.
Hey R. Ed Neck. lol. I am a fellow Canadian who found warm weather and a great lifestyle here. We just need to tweak the government a bit.
Click my link if you want to say howdy.
Pamela Gray says:
July 8, 2010 at 5:43 pm
These sorts of increasing fiefdom rules applied to the peasants of the land are what has led to revolution in the past. What has happened in Australia has happened in the US.
To wit: I live in a very rural part of NE Oregon. We used to grow and make what we needed, with some left over to export in exchange for what other nearby counties could grow or make that we could not. That meant small dairies. Small meat packers and markets. Garden to store veggies. Weavers and tailors. The people lived within their means and quite comfortably.
Then came regulations that when applied to small industries, made it impossible to turn a profit to live on. So these small industries closed and now we import what we need in order to export what we can. No one here who tries to make a living, lives comfortably. We are all slowly losing money.
Then along comes high gas prices. Now we can’t afford to buy what we import. And since our energy, whether it be wind or water, is also now imported, we are dependent on outsiders for our lights, just like the US is dependent on foreign oil.
So more and more people I know are both voting with their pocket books (and no longer for the current form of the Democratic Party), and arming themselves in case the government goes too far in this return to de facto over-ruler kings and queens with peasants living hand to mouth just so we can go to the castle and clean their commodes.
Being a past life long Democrat and quite the liberal thinker, I almost feel as if the Democratic Party and those we elected have committed treason.
Pamela,
As painful as it is for me to say this: You get the government you deserve.
More and more people here in Washington –your northern neighbor– are finally getting a clue: There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch (TANSTAAFL).
Should they eat cake?
Is this farm a genuine victim of climate change?
Gail:
Write the book.
It may right the wrong.
While I understand and agree with the tenor of your statement regarding the Thompsons, there are incredibly worse examples of totalitarian government’s treatment of their citizens. As an example please consider the fate of the Kulaks under Stalin. Please see Stalin&Kulaks brief account
Al Gore’s Holy hologram – “Even the worst totalitarian regimes in history never treated their own productive people this way.”
Robert Mugabe and the farming hell-hole that is Zimbabwe comes immediately to mind. Check out Rhodesian farm productivity before Zimbabwe and now.
From the CIA World Factbook: “…The government’s land reform program, characterized by chaos and violence, has badly damaged the commercial farming sector, the traditional source of exports and foreign exchange and the provider of 400,000 jobs, turning Zimbabwe into a net importer of food products. The EU and the US provide food aid on humanitarian grounds…”
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/zi.html
899: WA has a long way to go before they “get it”. The usual rule of holes (if you’re in one, stop digging) has yet to be even understood by our rulers in Olympia.
This is happening in the US here and now. Ask any small business. We are being devastated with illogical government regulations. To top it off, the banks won’t lend because they are being over-regulated. America is trying to be so safe that we have now placed ourselves in very small a rubber room. No one in their right mind would risk becoming an entrepenuer in America right now, some lefty might bring a lawsuit or government regulation that would force them out. Can’t be too successful, doncha know. Greed is bad, except for union and government employees. People who are both are twice as sanctimoniously greedy.
Thumbnail says:
July 8, 2010 at 5:49 pm
The Property Rights Australia Youtube channel has been set up, and more stories are forthcoming….
http://agmates.ning.com/
________________________________________________
Thanks Thumbnail.
I love Agmates and the UK Warmwell site both are good for getting the real stories about what is happening to our food supply.
GM free Ireland and for the USA R-Calf are also good sites for information along with NoNAIS and NAISstinks
We live in an age of petty tyranny, where the authoritarian state is finding its feet and testing its powers to see how far it can go. This form of tyranny always starts off slowly and gradually, little steps at first so the population fails to notice and as the flow of little steps increases so does the confidence of the budding tyrannical state.
We in the west have made the mistake so often made before, we as a population have delegated executive powers to a particular group/class of people and left them to get on with it without check or intervention. This group is called the ‘political class’ and they have all the traits of a seperate and superior mindset, they have been left to govern and they cannot resist attracting more and more power to themselves.
This governing class becomes insular and cut off from the population and becomes hostile to their electorate who can evict them via elections, so the road to removing that power from us and the building of their own power becomes irrestistable. The number of petty restricting laws increases and when people obey and do not complain then more and more laws are made up. The effect of this build up of petty laws is to show the litle people who is boss and who is the serf, nothing the budding tyrannical state does during the time of the build of petty laws will overtly scare the population, the aim is to slowly smother them with with small steps toward slavery where many fail to notice until its too late.
As the state builds up its power and confidence the steps become bolder and the punishments for infractions of the increasing wall of petty laws becomes harsher, the budding bully state is hypnotising the population and imposing its mastery by stealth.
The myriad of laws are not meant ot protect us, they are meant to show us who is boss and the more the population gives in the more the state pushes, its called the legal ratchet and it works only one way.
We are all to blame for allowing this oh so obvious and preventable disaster to unfold, we gave our trust to a professional political insular group and enabled them to acrue greater and greater power without checking them, when will people learn that human nature is as predictable as it is obvious? Freedom is the most precious gift any of us possess, our wanton disregard for this gift has nearly landed us in the laps of the tyrannical state.
Aldi says:
July 8, 2010 at 5:51 pm
….I personally buy Australian or New Zealand meat. It tastes a lot better than corporate factory meat produced here in the states. Once all civilian(small) business are exterminated with ridiculous regulations, we’ll be left with unhealthy $hit tasting meat. Just like slaves; work your shift, eat the scraps than repeat.
__________________________________________________________
Try finding a local who raises grassfed beef, much better tasting and better for you.
The USA has spend years and billions of dollars eradicating livestock disease. Because of WTO Agreement on Agriculture and “free trade agreements” the USDA has cut testing and wants to rely on tracing the disease back to the farmer after it hits you table. (note it is the FARMER not the mega-corporation responsible who is to be held liable. WTO open border policy has already resulted in eradicated diseases being imported across our borders.
Here is some info I put together a couple of years ago on US supermarket beef/food:
New York Times article “The Safety Gap” written by Gardiner Harris, 11/2/2008
“This year, 18.2 million shipments of food, devices, cosmetics and drugs are expected to enter more than 300 U.S. ports; the FDA. had 454 investigators in 2007 — one and a half per port — to scrutinize them..”
Not only does the USA import more beef than we export but we import from countries with disease. Because of “free trade” open borders the USA has imported BSE, tuberculosis, Blue tongue and “cattle tick fever. The USA exports top dollar premium beef and imports, ….well you figure a name for it
1000 lb carcass wt…………………..Imports of 2007……………………………… Exports
beef/veal…………………………………… 3,052,164……………………………….1,433,964
live cattle……………………………………. 2,494,965……………………………………..66,383
pork carcass…………………………………….968,438…………………………………3,141,181
Hog……………………………………………10,004,348……………………………………136,816
Lamb………………………………………………159,271………………………………………..1,288
mutton…………………………………………….43,376…………………………………………8,138
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/MeatTrade/LivestockMeatYearly.htm
Total American Beef…..live Cattle…………exports (Carcass wt. 1,000 pounds)
2004…………………………460,314………………..15,721
2008…………………………1,888,226……………107,492
Now for the fun Stats. make sure you are not eating
Beef and veal imports (Carcass wt. 1,000 pounds)
Country…………… 2004……………2008………..diseases
Uruguay ………402,898………..65,549………..2001 FMD outbreak
Brazil……………219,393…………… 212,907……………2005 FMD outbreak, Vesicular stomatitis, Bluetongue (now found in USA)
Lymphatic filariasis, Leishmaniasis, Onchocerciasis (River Blindness), Trypanosoma cruzi,
Argentina……116,606……………55,966……………2008 FMD outbreak
Nicaragua……..65,397……………99,384……………Trypanosomiasis (Chagas disease),leptospirosis
Costa Rica……………23,632……………19,239…………… Naegleria fowler, Encephalitis, vesicular stomatitis viruses, Leptospirosis, Trypanosomiasis (Chagas disease)
Mexico……………19,495……………43,783……………tuberculosis, brucellosis “cattle tick fever,” Trypanosoma cruz, Vesicular stomatitis
Canada……………1,062,420…………… 841,242…………… tuberculosis, BSE
Live cattle imports
Country………………2004……………….2008
Mexico………….1,370,476………….. 702,661
Canada…………………. 135……………1,581,303
I have all the references if any one wants them.
“….FDA detected food safety problems at more than 40% of the 2,002 plants inspected, yet half of those plants were inspected only once. The plants with food safety problems received only warning letters from FDA, and even those ended in 2005…
Salmonella Source Found
The Salmonella strain associated with the lastest foodborne illness outbreak has been found, in irrigation water as well as in a sample from some serrano peppers at a Mexican farm. The farm is located in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. “The agency seized no fresh produce, sought no injunctions and prosecuted no firms” http://www.americanvegetablegrower.com/veggie_bytes/page.php?page=crops_markets#fdafouled
Stanley Painter, Chairman of the National Food Inspection Unions, stated in his testimony at the congressional hearing on the Hallmark Dower Cows:
“..when we see violations of FSIS regulations and we are instructed not to write non-compliance reports… Sometimes even if we write non-compliance reports, some of the larger companies use their political muscle to get those overturned….Some of my members have been intimidated by agency management in the past when they came forward and tried to enforce agency regulations and policies….”
Cutback in Testing
The USDA has cut back on disease testing by up to 90%. and has shifted what testing is done to dead animals at slaughter instead of testing live animals at the farm. This allows a disease years to be passed from one farm to another before the animal is finally sent to slaughter.
The USDA is also closing down testing labs. “USDA is moving toward supporting fewer labs nationwide, with the remaining labs serving as regional labs and supporting larger geographic areas..” http://www.tahc.state.tx.us/agency/TAHC_Strategic_Plan_2009-2013.pdf
“Cattle crossing facilities on the U.S. side of the border are operated primarily by private firms… at Santa Teresa, NM, Chihuahuan [Mexican] cattle producers operate both sides of the cattle port-of-entry” http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/Agoutlook/june2001/AO282d.pdf
“Free trade makes it easier for Mexico to sell us cattle,” Mr. Suppan said. “Mexico does not have in place the infrastructure to eradicate tuberculosis.”…Bovine tuberculosis is fast becoming an important reason that carcasses are being condemned as unsafe in American beef packing plants. The number of carcasses found infected is 15 times higher than in 1986. Dr. Billy Johnson, said about 80 percent of the condemned carcasses were traced back to animals raised in Mexico.” http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE5D91431F935A25752C1A965958260&sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=all
The USA exports 700,000 tons of quality beef while importing 1,500,000 tons from countries with: Naegleria fowler, Encephalitis, vesicular stomatitis viruses, Leptospirosis, Trypanosomiasis (Chagas disease), and foot and mouth disease. The US imports 2.5 million live cattle from Canada with BSE (now found in USA) and from Mexico with tuberculosis (now found in USA), brucellosis (now found in USA) cattle tick fever, (now found in USA) Trypanosoma cruz,, (now found in USA), Bluetongue (now found in USA), and Vesicular stomatitis.
“..new disease challenges are emerging. Some are domestic diseases that are increasing in significance. Others are foreign diseases that may be imported as result of the exponential increases in international importations of animals and animal products. Our industries and our economy are threatened by diseases and pests that heretofore we only read about in disease text books…” http://www.tahc.state.tx.us/agency/TAHC_Strategic_Plan_2009-2013.pdf
Again I have only scratched the surface on the subject.
So what happens if they just ignore the government and operate without a permit?
I’d like to put in a plug for Jennifer Marohasy’s blog, which has been in hiatus since last Fall. Just as WUWT and CA are the very best websites for the science and politics of climate-related stuff, Jennifer’s blog was the very best for most other aspects of evidence-based environmental policy, especially for Australia. And it’s organized in such a way that you can call up all of the archived threads in a general category, like Australian bushfires. Speaking of the devil, here’s a link to that category.
http://jennifermarohasy.com/blog/tag/bushfires/
If you want to learn a lot more about the Victorian bushfires of 2009, this the the place to visit. One of the regular commentators at Jennifer’s blog happens to be an outspoken expert on fire management.
Jennifer has a libertarian-leaning perspective, and that fact is reflected in the occasionally colorful language–even from yours truly–that has been allowed to punctuate her blog. One consequence of this editorial policy is that the Green Australian trolls have plenty of rope with which to hang themselves. If the Australian Greens who participate in Jennifer’s blog are representative of the larger Green Aussie demographic, they must be a truly nasty bunch.
One thing that I’ve wondered about: Is it possible that the American Greens are just as nasty, but haven’t come all of the way out of the closet yet?
The countryside smells? Who knew? Well this permit tyranny is probably all about that nasty methaney stuff moo cows produce innit?
Message from the eco-loon Australian government as national food production crashes because townie politicos haven’t got a freaking clue how freezer cabinets get stocked – let them eat (reposessed) grain silos…
April E. Coggins says:
July 8, 2010 at 9:16 pm
This is happening in the US here and now. Ask any small business. We are being devastated with illogical government regulations…..
________________________________________________________________
It is worldwide read the joint UN/WTO ” Draft Guide To Good Farming Practices” http://www.oie.int/eng/publicat/rt/2502/review25-2BR/25-berlingueri823-836.pdf
Your jaw will drop reading the insanities they want to foist on the poor farmer (think granny with her chickens, your daughter with her bunny or a third world African farmer as you read). Your farm ends up looking like a freaking prison complete with double fences, sign in/out sheets and dossiers on visitors! A friend actually had a USDA inspector snoop in his refrigerator and bath medicine cabinets, I kid you not!
Oh yes you might enjoy the blog by the author of First They Came for the Cows
First they came for the cows – blog http://henwhisperer.blogspot.com/
book: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1440454434?tag=postmenoppond-20&camp=213761&creative=393545&linkCode=bpl&creativeASIN=1440454434&adid=1ZQ9E9TQEF6A1BGM5ZCY&
a contrast:
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/happy_mann.jpg?w=640&h=516
&
http://jonova.s3.amazonaws.com/politics/thompsons/matt-janet-thompson-web.jpg
One happy. One sad. What’s wrong with these pictures? Upside down world.
RACookPE1978 says:
July 8, 2010 at 8:56 pm
Gail:
Write the book.
It may right the wrong.
____________________________
Sharon already has (with a little help from the rest of us) : First They Came For The Cows: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1440454434?tag=postmenoppond-20&camp=213761&creative=393545&linkCode=bpl&creativeASIN=1440454434&adid=1ZQ9E9TQEF6A1BGM5ZCY&
And also Mad Sheep: The True Story Behind the USDA’s War on a Family Farm by Linda Faillace http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dca-books-english-tree&field-keywords=mad+sheep&x=0&y=0
Cassandra King says:
July 8, 2010 at 9:46 pm
We live in an age of petty tyranny, where the authoritarian state is finding its feet and testing its powers to see how far it can go. This form of tyranny always starts off slowly and gradually, little steps at first so the population fails to notice and as the flow of little steps increases so does the confidence of the budding tyrannical state.[–snip rest for brevity–]
Well, you know? All of what you speak has everything to do with the way our governments have been ‘designed for us.’
I say ‘designed for us,’ because that is the essence of the matter.
For far too long, people have come to accept the notion that government must work a certain way, and it is that which we’ve come to accept as ‘inevitable.’
But WHY is it so?
WHY IS IT INEVITABLE?
Because it’s the ONLY thing we’ve been taught, and the only thing we’ve been allowed to comprehend, if only that the powers that be WILL NOT ALLOW anything else to happen.
Is there a better way? Of course! In the U.S. we have a constitution which supposedly limits the government’s power. But does it work? No.
It doesn’t work for this reason: It was INTENTIONALLY designed to allow government to get away with murder and not be held to account for that murder.
The better way is just this:
[1] Keep the constitution, but amend it to remove from the Congress and the President ALL power to make law, regardless.
[2] Disband the permanent Congress and have the states assign representatives for a one year term to represent the states, with no person allowed more than one term in a period of 30 years.
[3] ALL propositions for whatever law MUST be placed before the people in a general election
[4] ALL LAWS MUST contain a sunset clause of not more than (3) years
[5] ALL LAWS MUST have an 80% BOTH show and vote in order to pass. What that means is just this: If 80% of the voters show, but only 79% vote in the affirmative, the measure does not pass.
[6] Any proposition which does not pass may not again be put before the people in a period of not less than ten years.
[7] NO LAW, RULE, OR REGULATION may be enacted which infringes –in any way, manner, fashion, shape, or form– the natural rights of the people, and that includes the right to a credible self-defence.
[8] No corporations or other such entities, and no banking institution allowed to exist. Rather, only limited liability companies and credit unions will be allowed. This negates the whole matter of multinational ownerships and their covetous incestuousness.
[9] No declaration of war or other military action may pass but upon the approval of the people themselves, by a margin of not less than 90% of the registered voters.
What all of that accomplishes is: NOBODY in government will be bribed, because they won’t have the ability to make things happen, and those with the wherewithal won’t have the ability to influence the outcomes of matters.
Larry Fields says:
July 8, 2010 at 10:29 pm
… If the Australian Greens who participate in Jennifer’s blog are representative of the larger Green Aussie demographic, they must be a truly nasty bunch.
One thing that I’ve wondered about: Is it possible that the American Greens are just as nasty, but haven’t come all of the way out of the closet yet?
_______________________________________________________________________
Try the “greens/socialists/marxists in the Boston, MA area.
I was wearing a pro-gun/pro-Constitution type T-shirt and actually had a guy come up to me on the street and shout in my face “When we take over we are going to kill people like you” I had another tell me “I rather see horses extinct than owned by humans”
MA has strict gun control laws and “the foremost Marxist scholars in the world” Those strict gun laws and the “critical mass” of progressives in MA made them much bolder, so you see the “progressives” with the polite veneer pealed of and it isn’t pretty. This was 15 years ago and one of the reasons I left the state. I could not stomach the insanity any more.
Wilky says:
July 8, 2010 at 10:25 pm
So what happens if they just ignore the government and operate without a permit?
So what happens if you stop paying your taxes?
A legion of Jackbooted Government Thugs –armed to the hilt– comes to pay you a friendly visit …
Need I say what happens next?
Oh, and in Aussie land, they have very strict gun-control, so self-defence is a rather iffy proposition against an out-of-control legion of men in kevlar who likely couldn’t care less about your matters.
899 says:
July 8, 2010 at 11:15 pm
Well, you know? All of what you speak has everything to do with the way our governments have been ‘designed for us.’….
What all of that accomplishes is: NOBODY in government will be bribed, because they won’t have the ability to make things happen, and those with the wherewithal won’t have the ability to influence the outcomes of matters.
_______________________________________________________________________
Not too bad an idea although we do need some government and you plan would make the federal government very hard to run.
I would very much like to see,
no lawyers may run for office (conflict of interest),
the sunset clause in all laws.
the read the bills act,
term limits of four years max,
no bill idea allowed to come up for vote more than once every ten years,
the ability of voters to do a vote of no confidence on the whole blasted government and demand a complete re-election if needed (like now)
no megacorporations, no cartels or corporate lobbying, a maximum size limit to corporations, no interlinking corporate boards, no corporate/government revolving door. If you serve on a Congressional Committee or bureaucracy you may never ever be employed in that industry again – period.
The biggest thing however is to keep Congress from delegating law making to bureaucrats. NO MORE blasted bureaucratic regulations like the EPA CO2 endangerment finding or the USDA NAIS regs or the FDA HACCP regs. And above all get rid of the Federal Reserve blood suckers.
Gail Combs says:
July 8, 2010 at 11:22 pm
[–snip for brevity–]
MA has strict gun control laws and “the foremost Marxist scholars in the world” Those strict gun laws and the “critical mass” of progressives in MA made them much bolder, so you see the “progressives” with the polite veneer pealed of and it isn’t pretty. This was 15 years ago and one of the reasons I left the state. I could not stomach the insanity any more.
You too, eh?
My parents escaped from Taxachusetts soon after I joined the USN, and later I bought 45 acres of land adjacent to theirs which I gave to them.
When they left (Marshfield), they were paying over U$1200 a year in taxes for a measly 1/2 acre of land and 12oo sq. ft. house.
They bought a two-story 10 room house on 5 acres of land with a stream, for less than it cost to buy the one in Marshfield, and the taxes were less than U$400/year.
When I left, I never looked back.
What really tweeks me though is for them to come here and complain and whine about how different things are, like they want to ‘homogenize’ the whole nation to be like Taxachusetts …
Blech!
Gail Combs says:
July 8, 2010 at 11:43 pm
[–snip for brevity–]
Not too bad an idea although we do need some government and you plan would make the federal government very hard to run.
[–snip rest–]
As Thomas Jefferson once said: “The government which governs least, governs best.”
And yes: Let’s –PLEASE DO– get rid of that fed res.
Andrew Jackson fought like the dickens to get rid of the Second National Bank, and won, but he didn’t go far enough to expose the perfidies endemic.
Anyone familiar with the matter, will know that Nicholas Biddle was connected directly to the Bank of England and its cadre of banker insiders.
Some interesting quotes:
“History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling the money and its issuance.”
~ James Madison
“The system of banking we have both equally and ever reprobated. I contemplate it as a blot left in all our constitutions, which, if not covered, will end in their destruction, which is already hit by the gamblers in corruption, and is sweeping away in its progress the fortunes and morals of our citizens. Funding I consider as limited, rightfully, to a redemption of the debt within the lives of a majority of the generation contracting it; every generation coming equally, by the laws of the Creator of the world, to the free possession of the earth he made for their subsistence, unincumbered by their predecessors, who, like them, were but tenants for life.!
~ Thomas Jefferson
“We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debt, as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our calling and our creeds…[we will] have no time to think, no means of calling our miss-managers to account but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers… And this is the tendency of all human governments. A departure from principle in one instance becomes a precedent for[ another]… till the bulk of society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery… And the fore-horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression.”
~ Thomas Jefferson
“The few who understand the system, will either be so interested from it’s profits or so dependent on it’s favors, that there will be no opposition from that class.”
– Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild
“The study of money, above all other fields in economics, is one in which complexity is used to disguise truth or to evade truth, not to reveal it.”
– John Kenneth Galbraith
1858: Lionel De Rothschild finally takes his seat in parliament when the requirement to take an oath in the true faith of a Christian is broadened to include other oaths. He becomes the first Jewish member of the British parliament.
1861: President Abraham Lincoln (16th President of the United States from 1860 till his assassination in 1865) approaches the Rothschilds to try to obtain loans to support the ongoing American civil war.
The Rothschilds agree provided Lincoln allows them a Charter for another United States central bank and are prepared to pay 24% to 36% interest on all monies loaned. Lincoln was very angry about this high level of interest and so he printed his own debt free money and informed the public that this was now legal tender for both public and private debts.
1862: By April $449,338,902 worth of Lincoln’s debt free money had been printed and distributed. He went on to state, “We gave the people of this republic the greatest blessing they ever had, their own paper money to pay their own debts.”
That same year The Times of London publishes A story containing the following statement, “If that mischievous financial policy, which had its origin in the North American Republic, should become indurated down to a fixture, then that government will furnish its own money without cost. It will pay off debts and be without a debt. It will have all the money necessary to carry on its commerce. It will become prosperous beyond precedent in the history of civilized governments of the world. The brains and the wealth of all countries will go to North America. That government must be destroyed or it will destroy every monarchy on the globe.”
“The best way to take control over a people and control them utterly is to take a little of their freedom at a time, to erode rights by a thousand tiny and almost imperceptible reductions. In this way the people will not see those rights and freedoms being removed until past the point at which these changes cannot be reversed”
Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf
Stephen Brown says:
July 9, 2010 at 12:43 am
“The best way to take control over a people and control them utterly is to take a little of their freedom at a time, to erode rights by a thousand tiny and almost imperceptible reductions. In this way the people will not see those rights and freedoms being removed until past the point at which these changes cannot be reversed”
Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf
No ‘change’ is ever irreversible.
Hitler, along with that other cadre of fools –the Fabians– thought the same thing.
When enough people wake up to the facts, there’s only one sure way to put them down, and that’s a pogrom.
But that won’t get very far here in America, not anymore.
“Once the Constitution is gone it becomes rule of Judge meaning however the judge feels today is what the law is. ”
I live in a country without a constitution, and we do not have rule of law but, as you point out, rule by judges. They take any liberty they want.
The horrendous circumstance outlined in this posting is located in the state of Western Australia; across the other side of the Australian continent is the state of Queensland. Here the regulatory goal posts are always on the move. For an update into only one of areas severely impacting farmers go to this youtube link,
The horrendous circumstance outlined in this posting is located in the state of Western Australia; across the other side of the Australian continent is the state of Queensland. Here the regulatory goal posts are always on the move. For an update into only one of areas severely impacting farmers go to this youtube link, Unlimited Power of the State and Contempt of Court </a
Gail Combs says:
July 8, 2010 at 6:32 pm
‘and many farmers’ lives ended in suicide’
In the early 1990s the banks were foreclosing on rural properties as wool prices and the meat market bottomed out, any ideas and ventures for secondary on-farm businesses were, as the suicide numbers for young men skyrocketed (by census accounts which are only taken 5 yearly anyway), held up by red-tape and bank interests.
Austalia was fed a false story. And one based on weather (climate) rather than the ingenuity of our rural population to strive for success.
Those that lived in rural areas knew that young men were dying in extraordinary numbers. Families lost their young people, often in horrific circumstances. The deaths and injuries of these young men was put down to other ‘accidents/injuries’ or catalogued under other excuses.
Rural Australia was lost, and deaths, deaths of young working people and young men married, surged, as the environmental and feral thinkers controlled the local rural Councils and planning and regulatory regimes and there hence other local businesses and services – to do their deeds and ultimately lives were lost.
Presumably the boutique industries continue in these rural areas, serving the urban tourists?
Where then will the governments allow greenies to put up their rotting towers that’s supposed to be the next big thing for bio fuel I wonder?
in australia its the y generation with there i pods in there ears and texing 24 /7 thay seem to think, why should we worry about who is in government thay don,t give a hoot about what’s happening with over regulating the way we live our lives. if labour gets gets in again god help us . thay will try to bring carbon tax in again
It is far better to have politicians “on the take” than idealistic ones. At least the politicians “on the take” make sure that there are good profits from which they can get their cut.
The huge numbers of idealistic politicians that have been elected in all nations of western culture have passed legislation which are profit destroying, and in many cases have been with the intention of destroying profits.
The hue and cry lately is against “big oil” and “big coal”. Just take a peek at history and see what terrible conditions people (including the “elite”) had to live under before “big oil” and “big coal”.
I was reared on a farm, in my case, northwest Iowa, and until after my 5th birthday we had no electricity. (REA came through in 1941) There were teens in my high school as of 1950 and later who lived on farms which still didn’t have electricity. We managed to live that way, but it sure wasn’t pleasant. Heat for the whole (small) house in the winter from a wood/corncob burning range in the kitchen, and sometimes some heat from a fireplace. Unheated(!) upstairs bedrooms. No refrigeration of course, and even after we got “wired up” even a simple thing like a fan was either unavailable (during WWII) or, even after the war, way too expensive to purchase. Once a week bathing, and once a week change of underwear.
There is a huge negative economic cumulative effect building up which will soon reach a climax which the citizens of the US are not prepared for and for which we can’t prepare.
We are indeed living in “interesting times” (as in the old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.”)
The catalyst for the victimisation of the Thompsons may possibly have been their handing out copies of Great Global Warming Scam DVD at a farmers meeting addressing bureaucratic problems engendered by the Australian National Environmental Protection Measures, with officers of the Department of Environment and Conservation – DEC – seemingly noting this and becoming interested in the Thompsons. It need hardly be said that DEC has apparently caused bureaucratic nightmares elsewhere – for small mining companies proposing to develop minerals projects through apparent imposition of seemingly arbitrary constraints and regulations. It is difficult not to assert that the DEC contains an individual or individuals of the far left determined to cripple those in the productive sector whose views on the environment, including climate change, conflicts with their own benighted world views. Do we not see a similar syndrome existing in the US Senate, with notables such as Waxman and Markey trying to impose their own benighted world views on the US productive sector through inappropriate and impractical legislation?
Douglas Haynes says:
July 9, 2010 at 3:32 pm
The catalyst for the victimisation of the Thompsons may possibly have been their handing out copies of Great Global Warming Scam DVD at a farmers meeting addressing bureaucratic problems engendered by the Australian National Environmental Protection Measures, with officers of the Department of Environment and Conservation – DEC – seemingly noting this and becoming interested in the Thompsons.
[–snip for brevity–] Do we not see a similar syndrome existing in the US Senate, with notables such as Waxman and Markey trying to impose their own benighted world views on the US productive sector through inappropriate and impractical legislation?
Waxman & Markey are foot soldiers for Gore Jr.
Gore Jr. is that ‘high priest’ of the S&B society who’s doing his level best to scare the hoi polloi –the unwashed masses– into submission.
THINK: When was the last time an uninformed community of souls were scared into believing that if they didn’t submit, that the Moon would swallow the Sun?
How many times throughout history has arcane knowledge been used to enslave a whole peoples?
Well, now comes Gore Jr. and company, and they KNOW that the weather is going to get cold. THEY are on the cusp of that point in time where action MUST be successful for them, or they will lose the window of opportunity to scare the hoi polloi into submission.
Ergo, they NEED to get that ‘cap and trade’ legislation enacted so that they mightIMMEDIATELY jump up and declare that the climate has now cooled –even though it’s already doing such anyway– and that the miserable taxation MUST continue, lest the climate get HOT once again.
Funny thing though: If no legislation happens, and the climate continues its trend, they’ll all be seen for the con men they really are.
Lord only knows what happens to them –and their followers– after that …
Looks to mr like a case of discrimination against Americans [ Yanks – aren’t the called septic tanks in Australia, prima facie evidence perhaps]. It looks obvious that a different set of “rules” are being applied to the pig farm down the road.
I would suggest the Thompsons approach it as a case of discrimination and appeal to the government authority that deals with such.
It’s also likely that we have a situation where someone locally would benefit, grandly, from being to buy up their property cheaply. Needs the Australian financial wiz equivalent of, say a Steve McIntyre, to do the forensic investigation to identify this.
Well, i don’t know about just picking on “Yanks” because my family went through a very similar “experience” – young children as well – i can tell you that extreme greens are not discriminating in their mission to “save the environment”.
I also know Janet and Matt – good people, honest hardworking people – this is just wrong – despair is something that we all experience when going through what the Thompsons are living now, but we Aussies will stand shoulder to shoulder with them – the grassroots people. We need help from grassroots Americans – please, please help us.
God help Australia, because our politicians wont – watch this story too…it is a night mare in perpetuity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGxzbCMQNSI
http://www.thecompletepatient.com/journal/2010/7/6/in-vonderplanitz-affair-sharon-palmer-is-left-to-wonder-if-s.html
read this for govt harrassment of the worst type.
Barry sotero thinks the new food control laws are dandy.
home baked cake stalls are basically banned, and its the same in Aus now, cake days are commercial crap onsold. to have a council inspect and approve your home kitchen is insane, no one dies from fetes , plenty die from big aggro agri products.
If you want to smell a poorly waste managed feedlot, try driving on I-5 near Coalinga, and get a whiff of the Harris Ranch feedlot.
The most offensive odor emanates along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C..
Tim Clark says:
July 10, 2010 at 10:45 am
If you want to smell a poorly waste managed feedlot, try driving on I-5 near Coalinga, and get a whiff of the Harris Ranch feedlot.
The most offensive odor emanates along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C.
Agreed! But most specifically from –of late– 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Anthony, thank you for posting our story. And all the commenters, we thank you immenseley. Joanne Nova has actually engaged in investigative journalism as it relates to our story, and there are heaps more details coming out. So if you are interested in “drilling down” on any issues, go for it. Here is her follow-up post:
http://joannenova.com.au/2010/07/smell-that-evidence/#more-9346
Pat D said above:
“I would suggest the Thompsons approach it as a case of discrimination and appeal to the government authority that deals with such.”
I think it’s very important for people to realise that we have NO independent appeals tribunals for environmental issues in Australia. We have just gone through another “appeals convenor” process. The Appeals Convenor is part of the DEC, and he sat in our house and told us that he thought we were right on some things, but that he would not go against the Department. It is Caesar investigating Caesar.
And then, our elected Minister for Environment (the single, solitary person who stands between voters and the monstrosity of departmental bureaucracy), implemented verbatim what the Appeals Convenor recommended.
If one positive thing comes from our horrific story, please let it be the establishment of an independent investigator into complaints against departments.
REPLY: If I had a tractor, I’d drive it into Perth right up front of the DEC and park it and ask others to do the same. The only thing left is protest. – Anthony
Janet H. Thompson says:
July 12, 2010 at 5:58 pm
[–snip for brevity–]
If one positive thing comes from our horrific story, please let it be the establishment of an independent investigator into complaints against departments.
In the U.S., that’s what’s referred to as an ‘independent prosecutor,’ such as has been used to investigate the various foibles and failings of whatever part of the executive branch.
Your travail is evidence enough of the fallacies of the English Parliamentary system of government which many have sought to foist upon the U.S., not –you understand– that the federalist system is much better.
In this case, you appear to be faced with the ironic dichotomy of the fox guarding the hen house, and legally making a killing in the process.
It may not be much, but: All my hopes for you.