Free Talk Live

Here’s an interesting question about the proper scope of government arising from Obion County, Tennessee. The county does not have its own fire department, and instead relies on the fire protection services of the nearby City of Fulton. But there’s a catch: The City of Fulton does not automatically serve residents of the county. If Obion County residents want to be protected by the City of Fulton Fire Department, they need to pay a $75 fee to the City.

Environment Canada struggling to enforce law

The federal environment commissioner warned Tuesday that Environment Canada is struggling to enforce environmental protection regulations, and those who break the law aren't always properly punished.

"We concluded that the enforcement program was not well-managed to adequately enforce compliance with the Canadian Environmental Protection Act," wrote Scott Vaughan in his annual report tabled in Parliament.

The proposed National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act would let the agency waive 36 federal environmental protection laws in the name of better border patrols on public lands. But it would give Homeland Security unchecked authority to disregard major environmental laws covering wilderness areas, national parks and wildlife refuges.

The Environmental Protection Agency is going to require all consumers to buy at least four gallons of gasoline from certain gas pumps after the new E15 ethanol-gasoline blend is introduced into the market.

when you hear congress and their media cronies come out whining about how they need to squeeze a little more money out of your pocket or they’re going to have to lay off police and fire fighters, and throw old people into the snow, and let children be educated by wolves, and the roads, the roads, for God’s sake WHAT ABOUT THE ROADS!!! … Keep in mind that while the whole nation teeters on the edge of that fiscal cliff, Obama and Congress just gave themselves a raise.

Robert “Bob” Burton is a deadhead logger in the Florida panhandle. In the course of his business, he stumbled upon some illegal activities carried out by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), including state employees dumping toxic waste in Florida water reclamation areas.

“Fiat” is money with no intrinsic value beyond whatever an issuing government is able to enforce. When it enjoys a monopoly as currency, fiat inevitably turns the free market functions of money inside out. Instead of being a store of value, the currency becomes a point of plunder through monetary policies such as quantitative easing. Instead of greasing society as a medium of exchange, the currency acts as a powerful tool of social control.

When the Environmental Protection Agency said in late June that it would force Western coal-fired power plants to install haze-reducing pollution-control equipment at a cost of $1.5 billion a year, it said it had to in order to settle a lawsuit by environmental groups.

One organization involved in the suit, the Environmental Defense Fund, has a long history of taking the EPA to court. In fact, a cursory review finds almost half a dozen cases in the past 10 years.

Gov. Jerry Brown today signed into law a $150 annual wildfire protection fee for property owners in rural areas of California. The Democratic governor announced that he signed the bill, ABX1-29, to ensure rural property owners pay their share of the state's wildland firefighting costs, citing it is essentially a fee for service. Brown's finance spokesman, said the fee is appropriate because the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection provides an added benefit to rural property owners by attacking wildfires before they reach residential areas.