Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh, Regulating us into Economic Destruction
In accordance with the law, the Executive Branch must document annually the number of new regulatory actions it plans for the coming year. The Administration’s current regulatory agenda has 4,257 new regulatory actions. At least 219 will have an economic impact of $100 million or more. That is an increase of nearly 15 percent over last year when it had 191. Americans have heard the Administration stating that some of these new economically significant regulations will have an economic impact of tens of billions of dollars.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) sent a letter today, August 26, 2011, to President Obama, asking the White House to provide Congress before it returns this fall, with a list of all regulatory actions that would have an economic impact of $1 billion or more. Boehner sent a similar request for information last August 16, 2010 when he was the House Republican leader. The requested data was never provided.
- Saturday, August 27, 2011
America used to mean something. The Statue of Liberty represented independence, what it meant collectively to be an American. There was a reason why millions risked life and limb to come to our shores. We are a nation of immigrants with a strong work ethic. America was built on hard work, sweat, self-determination, and freedom. We were free and we were proud to be Americans.
We are not who liberals decide us to be. We are not children who need to be told by the government how to live and to be shameful and apologetic about our American exceptionalism. We are patriots and love our country because we feel so in our hearts, because we are free. We are not children who have to stay in their parents’ homes until the age of 26, finding ourselves, because some misguided elected official says we should be on welfare and free healthcare.
This Floridian island is a tropical paradise in the Gulf of Mexico. Sandy white beaches, golden shimmering sunsets, emerald green waters, and pink sunrises make these beaches the most beautiful in the U.S. The lush green vegetation is home to geckos and lizards of various colors, darting rapidly from fuchsia-flowered bushes behind sizzling rocks and Palmetto trees, like a miniature army of velociraptors.
White cotton cumulus clouds dot the azure blue sky. The intense sun casts my shadow on the bottom of the ocean; darting fish glitter like silver lightning through the crystal-clear waves.
Almost every day, the clouds discharge a quick rain shower, quenching temporarily the thirsty sand and the hot asphalt. Sand dunes absorb moisture and feed the many grasses that grow wild and prevent beach erosion.
Last week, at Reagan National Airport I was chosen in line to be screened by the naked scanner. I knew that this technology had been rushed to market and had not been properly tested for the amount of radiation exposure and its concentration in skin, which increases the risk of cancer.
AIT (Advanced Imaging Technology) uses backscatter x-rays, which emit ionizing radiation. The cumulative effect is absorbed almost entirely by skin and underlying tissues. The dose is believed to be 20 times higher than estimated by the manufacturer. Repeated scanning may cause significant health risks particularly in people who are more susceptible/sensitive to radiation and are prone to DNA mutation.
Liberal social critic Michael Harrington published in 1962 a book entitled, “The Other America,” describing those who were ill clothed and fed in the land of plenty, in a nation where obesity was a problem. Harrington proclaimed that there was a “cycle of poverty” that could be broken only by government action. His book profoundly influenced Lyndon Johnson who declared “War on Poverty” in 1964. Forty-seven years later, after we have spent billions of dollars on the poor, so-called downtrodden Americans, we have lost this war on poverty.
The government adopted an official definition of poverty. In 1964, those families who made less than $3,000 a year were poor. President Johnson’s goal was to get every American above the poverty line by 1976, the bicentennial of our country. The poverty line was adjusted every year to reflect changes in the cost of living.
A few days ago, my childhood dream to see Niagara Falls became a reality thanks to my patient husband who loves to drive and explore. This is the best way to see our beautiful country, from the passenger seat of a comfortable car while gasoline is still available although not exactly cheap.
“Thunder of Water,” as the Indians call Niagara Falls, is a long journey from our home. We crossed Virginia into Maryland, central Pennsylvania, and western New York to the border with Canada.
Northern Virginia is a maze of traffic-congested highways sandwiched between lush forests and the mighty Potomac River. It is amazing that the woods are still populated by so many critters and birds, considering the heavy traffic and constant construction in all directions, at all hours of the night and day. The population is a hodgepodge of 225 different nationalities, most of whom do not speak English in public. There is a constant cacophony of languages no matter where you go. The population growth exploded in one county alone since 2000, according to the U.S. census, by 43.1 percent.
To become part of the fabric of this society and its melting pot, you have to learn English. It is illogical to refuse adopting the language of the majority – there are too many missed opportunities and self-marginalization in a society where the sky is the limit.
If your goal is to reject 235 years of U.S. history and culture by changing it into your vision of Latin hood, then Spanish-only barrios make sense. There is also the option of going back where you came from if this country’s customs, language, religion, and culture offend you.
If you ask Americans what the Department of Energy does, the majority will tell you, they are tasked with generating electricity and other forms of energy. The real mission of the DOE is quite different.
The Department of Energy was formed after the oil crisis on August 8, 1977 by Jimmy Carter who signed The Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977. It began operations on October 1, 1977. The DOE operates 34 science laboratories.
Most people do not understand what drives the price of oil but readily accept the explanation pushed by this administration that it is the unbounded greed of oil companies and their “fat cat owners.” Oil companies are publicly traded and many Americans and other foreign nationals or entities can own stock or bonds in these firms.
Most economists agree that the oil industry is an oligopoly, a market dominated by a few sellers, synonymous in developed countries with “big business.” An insidious form of oligopoly, which dominates the oil industry, is the cartel. The cartel’s firms join forces to control production, sale, and the price of oil.