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Grass Roots Manual Labor Frustrates Bureaucracy!

7/28/2014

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The executive branch, with an army of bureaucracies, professes to implement legislation passed by congress. The trouble is, these vast and callous government agencies have assumed the authority to make regulations having the force of law, without deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed: they're not elected! There's inadequate feedback. 

Yet, when designing the American form of government, our founders created a separation of powers, so that congress would have a check on the executive branch, and they gave the executive branch the veto power over congress. The way congress checks the executive branch is by refusing to fund it. There are several agencies that are in dire need of a reigning in of the purse strings. WE take you to Cle Elum, where citizens decided they'd had enough ... 


The rebellion against bureaucratic tyranny might have started in a Washington town conveniently named Liberty. 

Last month, residents there decided to work together, defy the iron fist of the local federal bureaucrats at the U.S. Forest Service and help a neighbor named Tony Nicholas, a 75-year-old disabled Vietnam veteran, access his historic small mining claim. 

Many of these volunteers had never met Nicholas before, but they knew that he was being treated poorly and dishonestly by the Forest Service, and they were not willing to stand idly by twisting their hands in despair.  
This is what citizen action looks like. 

The story began about four years ago, when a small rock slide covered the entrance portal to Nicholas' mine ...
Continue reading ... 

Citizens should not have to take time off from their day jobs, don overalls and manually push back against our own government by hard labor. We should be able to prevail on our representatives in congress to defund our oppressors. Well, maybe not our representatives west of the Cascades, because they really like big, oppressive government, but you get the idea. 
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More EPA Spin on "Waters of the United States"

7/25/2014

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The feds, the EPA - our eco-friendly overseers - they're here, they're there, they're everywhere.  In a wet place like Whatcom County, each day presents a new opportunity to snoop and harass the public.  Seems like any puddle may be enough to lord over.

Reposted from Pacific Legal Foundation's PLF Sentry
July 24, 2014 - "Troubled Waters"

When federal regulators at the EPA step out of line and assume power they don't lawfully possess, PLF hauls them into court to stop them - as we did in our unanimous 2012 victory at the Supreme Court in Sackett v. EPA.

Well, the EPA is at it again.  Last March the agency proposed a new rule to redefine "navigable waters" under the Clean Water Act.  The feds claim the new rule "clarifies" which waters are regulable without expanding the scope of the Act.  But PLF Principal Attorney Reed Hopper stated in a recent blog post* that "this is utter nonsense, which only the uninformed believe."

Be assured that PLF is watching the EPA's new rule like a hawk, and we're prepared to challenge it in the courts, if necessary.  Stay tuned.  


*[Here's that recent blog post] by  Reed Hopper, "More EPA Spin ..."

We have documented here and here how the EPA is misrepresenting its proposed rule to redifine “navigable waters” under the Clean Water Act.  The Administration unabashedly claims the new rule is compelled by Supreme Court decisions interpreting the Act and that the rule will not expand the government’s jurisdiction.  But this is utter nonsense, which only the uninformed believe.  So we give kudos to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee for calling the EPA on its blatant misrepresentations.

Yesterday, the committee issued an interesting Fact Check showing how the actual language of the rule is contrary to the EPA’s claims about the rule, including such claims as;

The rule does not regulate new types of ditches;

The rule does not regulate activities on land;

The rule does not apply to groundwater;

The rule does not affect stock ponds;

The rule does not require permits for normal farming activities; and,

The rule does not regulate puddles.

The Fact Check is revealing.  Check it out here.



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Don't believe your eyes?  Gaslighting

7/23/2014

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If you attempt to follow the mass of confusion evident in Whatcom County government these days (left or right), WE think you'll relate to this.  Whether you agree with Whittle or not about the issues he's describing (about what happens in Washington D.C.), this "Firewall" episode is about crazy-making as a tactic.  There's a very good chance that the  smoke, mirrors, and "process" that make it difficult for citizens in Whatcom County to know who's in charge of what (and accountable for what), what's being spent, and on what authority - all the fog related to "advisories" and overlapping regulations etc - serves those in control very well.  If you find government impossible to follow nowadays, perhaps "You're not crazy dear."  WE think a great deal of what happens is gaslighting, on a local scale.
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Bureaucracy's Got a Brand New Bag

7/9/2014

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WE were alerted to a new article at Freedom Foundation about Puget Sound Partnership's latest "environmental" project. It seems they just haven't been able to accomplish anything approaching the mission they were created to do, and so they decided re-branding would help. It reminds us of when the United States Postal Service was hemorrhaging money to UPS, FedEx and that newfangled e-mail thang. What did the post office do? Why, instead of solving their systemic problems, and maybe addressing the realities of a changing world, they redesigned their eagle logo, to make it faster looking. And raised the price of stamps.

So in the fine tradition of government agencies, Puget Sound Partnership is getting a new look, for $60,000.00, give or take. Now, WE realize that's less than one modest house in the Seattle area, but still. If the Puget Sound is really so all-fired threatened, it seems like a real, functional agency would want to spend every dime fixing that. Oh, yes, image does affect contributions, but this is taxpayer money we're sending down the rat hole, and contributions to PSP have never been great. 

WE only mention this because PSP has a nasty habit of poking its funnel into local Whatcom County government affairs all too frequently, politically molesting citizens who are happy the way things are, and just want to be left alone. 

So, what is this agency, and how effective are they? Well...


By way of introduction, the Puget Sound Partnership was founded in 2007 to help coordinate cleanup efforts in Puget Sound by:

1. Setting restoration targets;

2. Establishing clear links between completing restoration projects and progress towards restoration;

3. Creating a prioritized list of projects to allocate limited funds for environmental restoration; and,

4. Monitoring progress from completed projects.

Unfortunately, as reported by nonpartisan legislative auditors and ultimately confirmed by the Freedom Foundation’s own report, the Puget Sound Partnership has been unable to perform any of its core responsibilities as a state agency.
If you have the belly for it, you can find out how that re-branding is going to shape up. Continue reading...
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Hate Is Such an Ugly Word

7/5/2014

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The Town Hall blog featured an article entitled I'm A Conservative And They Lied When They Said I Hate You. The article highlights the tendency for the opposition to engage in ad hominem attacks, instead of debating the issues. In fact, marginalizing the opposition really is the objective in all too many cases. 

The article begins,

Are you Hispanic, black, Asian, Jewish, gay, young, old, poor, or a woman? Well, then you may have heard that conservatives like me hate you. In fact, I'm sure you've probably heard some version of it a hundred times since it seems to be the standard rap for liberals these days. "Those conservatives are racists! They hate Hispanics! They're homophobes! They're Nazis! They're engaged in a war on women!"
Yeah, sure. As if WE have time for that. If you are a liberal or a conservative who is concerned that things are drifting away from your ideals, are you really going to burn processor cycles hating people? Where exactly does that get you? WE thought so. There are too many truly important things going on, to get all bigoted on someone's hiney. As if WE wanted to. Which WE don't. 

Sliming the opposition is an effective strategy to win over the low-information voter. If you can paint the opposition as an evil person, the weak-minded will automatically dismiss any argument, candidacy or policy proposal the opposition may present. WE think this is a horrible state of affairs, and sadly, it seems to have permeated the dialog in good ol' Whatcom County. 

WE could go on, but the article pretty much says it all. Continue reading...
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