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By now you are probably familiar with a powerful EPA administrator discussing his theory of environmental regulation. He famously analogized EPA policy to that of the Roman practice of crucifying people to make examples to others. I tend not to find that objectionable insofar as he was trying to make a point. However, it seems that he was in the process of crucifying an innocent victim as he made those statements. We can only wonder how many other crucifixions of innocents have happened.

Our point today is two-fold. First, in my weekly appeal to consistency, I’d like to see someone who is serious about the environment come out and argue seriously that we should “crucify” the government. Seriously. This is not even close to being tongue in cheek. The US Department of Defense is probably the U.S.’s leading polluter. Does anyone believe that they are held to the same standards of protection as private businesses who actually, you know, don’t make war for a living? Furthermore, as we discussed a few days ago, among the worst polluters in the entire country today are the Municipal Water Authorities who continue to struggle with the problem of effluent running out into clean waterways during storms. Again, both of those risks are orders of magnitudes worse than, say, what risks we face from a melting Arctic ice cap. I suppose someone may want to chime in on the nature of the relationships between federal regulatory bodies and other government agencies, and that’s fine. But it seems incredibly inconsistent to not read any “E”nvironmental sites with 17 year old kids writing things like,

“Im 17 and been into water for my whole life. Im sad. I cry at night sometimes, sometimes i wonder if its even worth trying in school and life, since civilisation is pretty much screwed,try and enjoy life while its good. And if any municipal water managers are here i have one thing to say: I hate you.[snip: wintercow: the blogger JR seems to have removed the original, which read: “I hope you all die a horrible death, preferably caused by poisoned water. If there’s a hell I hope you burn in it] everyone i know pretty much accepts that the future will suck but few know how bad. 🙁 🙁 🙁

You’ll get a kick out of the comment the blog editor made right after that post.

Our second point today is that I think to be consistent, wouldn’t we have to apply the same thinking to people in the past who did not do something to prevent the current “catastrophe?” I hereby ask why we don’t ask for the burning in effigy of President Zach Taylor? After all, if  ol’ Rough and Ready and his selfish, greedy, evil Administration had implemented a carbon tax in 1850 maybe we’d all be fine today? Or maybe someone was onto this, after all it is thought that he was poisoned to death. It turns out he wasn’t actually poisoned, but clearly the environmental gods were onto him – his death, as was not uncommon back then, was pretty awful and it included his doctors bleeding him just as they tortured President Washington.

9 Responses to “Crucify President Zachary Taylor!”

  1. Speedmaster says:

    I wonder the eco-footprint of these things are?

    Leaked Memo: Afghan ‘Burn Pit’ Could Wreck Troops’ Hearts, Lungs | Danger Room | Wired.com
    “For years, U.S. government agencies have told the public, veterans and Congress that they couldn’t draw any connections between the so-called “burn pits” disposing of trash at the military’s biggest bases and veterans’ respiratory or cardiopulmonary problems. But a 2011 Army memo obtained by Danger Room flat-out stated that the burn pit at one of Afghanistan’s largest bases poses “long-term adverse health conditions” to troops breathing the air there.”
    http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/05/bagram-health-risk/
    http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/05/burn-pits/

  2. […] Liberty / Govt. Reason TV Replay: Remy’s “Why They Fought” Lucky French Taxpayers: All Hail Francois the Merciful! Crucify President Zachary Taylor! […]

  3. chuck martel says:

    Bluegills in Pool 2 of the Mississippi River can contain 250 parts per billion of PFOS. This would be comparable to a little over 4 minutes in 32 years. The Minnesota Department of Health recommends that you eat one meal per week or less of fish from Pools 2 through 6. No study has ever indicated that PFOS in the environment has ever had a negative effect on humans. If you want to kill your wife, don’t make her eat Mississippi catfish until she dies. She might well bury you.

  4. Student says:

    The first point about consistency is the one something that I’ve thought about myself. From my experience (the conversations I’ve had throughout many classes or with others in environmental (and especially “E”nvironmental) clubs and other gatherings), I’ve found that there are in fact some of my fellow college students who would “like” to criticize (or maybe even crucify) the government, but think that the government is the only thing that can protect us from the “evil” (I’ve heard it more times than I would like…) corporations, so the priority has to be to go after and finish the oil companies, etc, before we get to tackling the government. Even when this isn’t the case, there seems to be some reason that many individuals have a strange sense of perspective when it comes to the scale of damage various institutions cause to the environment (as in, non-government institutions always cause more damage to the environment than government institutions, or they are even inherently more harmful).

    I’ve made lots of other observations over the past few years. I’ll try to write them all down and share them another time.

    A final note, when appealing to individuals for consistency, make sure they understand that they can choose not to crucify anybody (I think that would be the better option for all of us!).

  5. wintercow20 says:

    “A final note, when appealing to individuals for consistency, make sure they understand that they can choose not to crucify anybody (I think that would be the better option for all of us!).”

    Worthy of many posts of its own! Well said.

  6. Harry says:

    That kid got it right about everything going down the drain, even if he does not know why. For example, he cannot understand QEForever, and neither do I.

  7. Harry says:

    WC and Student: right on! In my first pass I missed the terse phrase “finish the oil companies”. That really gets to the point. I get sick of vile bloodshed being called “violence” as if it were in the same category as a bar fight. As in, “We all abhor the violence in killing the ambassador to Lybia and the genocide in Syria committed by Bashar Assad, son of the Butcher of Hama.”

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