Making Ripples: post-corporate adventures in Floyd County Virginia

The EPA is out of control - be prepared for anything

Keep your eye on the actions of the EPA. This organization is seriously out of control.

Obama’s America: EPA Officials Visit Man For Sending Email

On May 24, 2012, in big government, by TWB

About a month ago, EPA regional official Al Armendariz made news when a YouTube video of him describing the way the agency handles oil and gas companies surfaced. In it, Armendariz said an analogy he liked to use about enforcement was how the Romans used crucifixion to keep smaller towns and villages under their thumb. Since then, Armendariz has resigned his post at the EPA. Case closed, right? Wrong.

A local North Carolina man named Larry Keller didn’t particularly like the analogy that Al Armendariz used, so, along with thousands of others assumably, he set about to contact Mr. Armendariz to discuss his views on the oil and gas industries. One of our basic rights and privileges in a free society is to be able to petition our government for a redress of grievances without fear of repercussion from said government simply for voicing our grievance.

Keller proceeded to try and contact Mr. Armendariz by Googling him. His domain was a subset of Southern Methodist University, he was directed to contact a Dr. David Gray who is the Director of External Affairs for the EPA. Keller wrote a simple, one sentence email to Dr. Gray which said simply, “Hello Mr. Gray-Do you have Mr. Armendariz’s contact information so we can say hello?”

On May 2nd, just a little over a week after the Armendariz crucify comments had flared up, two special agents from the EPA and a local police officer showed up at Mr. Keller’s home. Here is the story in his own words:

On Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at about 1:45PM two Special Agents from the EPA and an armed police officer who stood 6’6” tall visited our house in Asheville, NC. Their visit was a total surprise as we had not received any communications requesting an appointment. The agents presented very official looking badges and asked if we could sit and chat awhile. We moved to the back porch and took our seats with the exception of the armed officer who stood by the door to the house the entire time.

California Declares War on Suburbia

Look at our own New River Valley Planning District Commission plans and you will see the seeds of this california fiasco are already sprouting.

Planners want to herd millions into densely packed urban corridors. It won't save the planet but will make traffic even worse.

By WENDELL COX

It's no secret that California's regulatory and tax climate is driving business investment to other states. California's high cost of living also is driving people away. Since 2000 more than 1.6 million people have fled, and my own research as well as that of others points to high housing prices as the principal factor.

The exodus is likely to accelerate. California has declared war on the most popular housing choice, the single family, detached home—all in the name of saving the planet.

Metropolitan area governments are adopting plans that would require most new housing to be built at 20 or more to the acre, which is at least five times the traditional quarter acre per house. State and regional planners also seek to radically restructure urban areas, forcing much of the new hyperdensity development into narrowly confined corridors.

Related Video

Transportation consultant Wendell Cox on why California pols want to force people into denser urban housing.

In San Francisco and San Jose, for example, the Association of Bay Area Governments has proposed that only 3% of new housing built by 2035 would be allowed on or beyond the "urban fringe"—where current housing ends and the countryside begins. Over two-thirds of the housing for the projected two million new residents in these metro areas would be multifamily—that is, apartments and condo complexes—and concentrated along major thoroughfares such as Telegraph Avenue in the East Bay and El Camino Real on the Peninsula.

We are invited to be the Earth Healers

I see that the Concerned Citizens Network has the solution to global warming, unemployment, and our huge deficit and it will only require a totalitarian government, presumably run by the CCN.

For those of you who are skeptics and unbelievers, the following quotes are taken verbatim from their latest letter which urges us to support their version of the 2012 Farm Bill.

The fundamental point of their ultimate solution is this:

"For the continual survival of the human race, food choice is no longer a personal preference."

How could we have overlooked that fact? We must obviously adopt a slave mentality and eat what the government tells us to eat.

Their way to attain this utopian state is unbelievably simple:

"A shift to plant-based Organic Agriculture is the quickest way to restore the health of each American and the health of our Planet."

Just in case you missed the flag they are waving, it is vegan totalitarianism:

"We urge you to help American recognize the cruel truth about the meat culture."

They want to subsidize plant-based organic agriculture, not sustainable organic farming. This isn't about making healthier people, it is all about taking control of your life and your diet. These are fascists masquerading as vegans.

Kiss those cheeseburgers goodbye if these zealots ever get their way.

Here is their letter in full:

December 6, 2011

Food Policy Determines Our Destiny

Dear Fellow Journalist David,

If you know of an important solution which could save millions of lives and the world, would you choose to keep quiet or to help to put out  the fire?

We all want a healthier nation with cleaner water, cleaner air, food free from toxic chemicals and genetic modification, and to curb the climate change crisis. With a huge financial deficit, high unemployment, food security issues, water shortage crisis, and rising health care costs, with just one single change in our food policy, we can significantly alleviate each  of the issues above and reset things back to the right track. Now is the time to do it.

The 2012 Farm Bill does not only impact to the future of United States, it also affects the welfare of people all over the world. Tell Congress to start subsidies for Organic Plant Farming. By helping farmers transition and succeed in Organic Plant Farming, United States will build a solid foundation for sustainable agriclture. It is a win win policy for the government, farmers, taxpayers, consumers and the world. This new food policy will determine our destiny.

A good practice goes a long way beyond staying with the law. We urge you to help American recognize the cruel truth about the meat culture. A shift to plant-based Organic Agriculture is the quickest way to restore the health of each American and the health of our Planet. For the continual survival of the human race, food choice is no longer a personal preference.

Join us. Sign the letter today and  share the solution.

For more information, please visit http://http://www.concernedcitizensnetwork.org/take_action/.