Congress to require sounds from 'quiet' cars. Is there nothing they won't regulate?

Yet another regulation: electric and hybrid cars are apparently too quiet for Congress, so they will put in noisemakers in these vehicles that will 1) drive the operator crazy, and 2) cannot be disabled. The installation will look something like this:

I mean really - why the heck not? From The Detroit News:

The House will vote on legislation today requiring federal safety regulators to set minimum sound levels from quiet electric and hybrid vehicles to warn blind pedestrians within 18 months.

18 months is far too long a warning for blind people, no? Hey blind guy - I'll be driving down your street 18 months from now. Be ready because my car is like super quiet. Next up, Obama will require water pistols mounted on all cars shooting water in every direction just in case a deaf person is in the area.

The House briefly debated the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 on Wednesday — following last Thursday's unanimous passage by the Senate. The bill is being considered under fast-track rules reserved for mostly non-controversial bills and must win support of two-thirds of the House to become law.

It's the first piece of auto safety legislation expected to become law since Obama took office in 2009. Several other safety bills proposed in the wake of Toyota Motor Corp.'s sudden acceleration recalls have been stalled.

...Automakers in May agreed to voluntarily add chirps or other sounds under a deal announced to warn pedestrians of "quiet cars."

...Automakers will not be able to allow drivers to deactivate the sounds.

Just recently, car owners are suing claiming that their "new car smell" is leading them run people over. Just imagine the death toll when that irritating chirping sound will drive vehicle operators insane.

http://theblogprof.blogspot.com/2010/12/congress-to-require-sounds-from-quiet.html

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Good grief: ObamaCare lawyers argue that health insurance premiums is itself a tax

This is absurd. As a Professor in a University, I choose a healthcare plan from a pool that my U negotiate with providers. I make a choice based on coverage and cost. The Obama regime is arguing in court that no matter what I choose, I am paying a tax to a private company to cover myself and my family. Uh - what?!? By that reasoning, when I buy apples at the grocery store for $0.68 per pound, I am paying a $0.68 per pound tax. In fact, every product or service I purchase is a tax. It's absurd because 1) only government collects taxes, 2) I don't get to choose whether I pay a tax, and 3) I can choose whether or not to buy a private product or service. From Megan McCardle via memeorandum, Instapundit: Government Arguing That Health Insurance Premiums Are Really Taxes?

The arguments on the health care mandate in Florida went forward today, with the government trying to clarify how the mandate is a tax, (though not in a way that would mean Barack Obama lied about raising taxes on people with incomes below $250,000 a year), and not an attempt to grossly exceed the enumerated powers of the legislature.  

Note: recall that Obama angrily and adamantly denied the mandate was a tax to We the People on national TV:

Further:

This led to a rather novel formulation of what, exactly, the mandate is for, as chronicled by the Official Asymmetrical Information Spouse:

According to an Obama administration lawyer, you don't have to worry about the precedent set by ObamaCare's individual mandate to purchase health insurance. The government isn't going to make you buy vegetables or new cars. After all, with the mandate, the government isn't really forcing you to buy a "product," because insurance is just a way of financing health care. 

Wouldn't that imply that healthcare is not a private service?  With that logic, wouldn't a car just be a means of facilitating economic activity? After all, it's what gets most of us to our jobs. Therefore it would fall under the commerce clause and the government CAN force us to buy a car. Next year, everyone gets a Chevy Volt or pays a $10,000 fee.

From Bloomberg's report on the hearing regarding the health care law the took place in Florida earlier today:

[U.S. District Judge Roger] Vinson asked [lawyer for the states David] Rivkin whether the government's theory would allow regulation of any behavior with an economic impact.

"They can decide how much broccoli everyone should eat each week?" Vinson asked.

"Certainly," replied Rivkin, an attorney in the Cleveland-based law firm Baker Hostetler LLP.

"We've always exercised the freedom whether we want to buy or not buy a product," Vinson told the Obama administration's lawyer.

[Obama lawyer Ian] Gershengorn said health insurance is "a financing mechanism," not a product. "It's not shoes," he said. "It's not cars. It's not broccoli."

I am glad to see that the government's fine lawyers can make these sometimes difficult distinctions. But the issue here is not whether insurance is a financing mechanism or a physical good like shoes or vegetables. The issue is whether under the Constitution the federal government can compel an individual to participate in a private market transaction--purchasing health insurance from a private company--in which the individual had not otherwise chosen to participate.

Moreover, if it's really just a revenue-raising mechanism, a way for the government to pay for health care, then aren't they saying that the insurance premiums paid to health insurance companies actually taxes? This is different from the administration's argument that the penalty for not complying with the mandate is a tax. Instead, they're effectively describing the premiums themselves as taxes--financing mechanisms that the government uses to pay for care.

And this is a key point in the piece IMO:

But if that's the case, shouldn't the CBO have scored the total cost of these premiums--the cost involved for everyone to purchase insurance? That wouldn't be unprecedented. One of the things that  helped kill HillaryCare in 1994 was a decision by the Congressional Budget Office to score the cost of requiring private-sector employers and individuals to purchase insurance. Each and every one of those mandatory premiums was added to the cost, revealing just how expensive the scheme was. 

Megan asks at the end "would it be constitutional to effectively declare that the nation's health insurers are branch offices of the Internal Revenue Service?" Not any more than it would be to make such a declaration about a car dealership or a grocery store. Lastly, always remember that Obama promised not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 annually:

http://theblogprof.blogspot.com/2010/12/good-grief-obamacare-lawyers-argue-that.html

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You Won't Believe What They Claim Global Warming Causes NOW

When last we left the official crazy list of things Moonbats say global warming causes it contained  Incredible shrinking sheep, Invasion of jellyfish in the Mediterranean, Surge in fatal shark attack, Boy Scout tornado deaths, Severe acne, Global conflict,  Beer tasting different, Suicide of farmers in Australia, Bigger tuna fish,Longer days, Shorter days,  Collapse of gingerbread houses in Sweden, Cow infertility, UFO sightings in the UK, Rise in insurance premiums, and Heroin addiction and a rise in bear attacks in Japan  and Frigid Cold Winters in Great Britain, and Cancer just to name a few.

Maybe because its so close to Christmas, the folks at the Huffington Post ran an article with a long list of things caused by global warming; illness and death from heart disease, diabetes, stroke, respiratory disease and even accidents, homicide, suicide,water -borne disease outbreaks,heavier, wetter snowstorms treacherous for travel and ambulation, Lyme disease, swarms of allergy-inducing, stinging insects, along with mosquitoes and devastating pine bark beetle infestations and the spread of forest and crop pests--all in one article. Damn these guys are good!

In the past two decades, extreme heat events have killed tens of thousands around the globe, including populations here in the United States. Heatwaves are more frequent, of longer duration and more intense -- and the lack of nighttime relief accompanying climate change makes today's heat waves all the more lethal. Heat waves can cause illness and death from heart disease, diabetes, stroke, respiratory disease and even accidents, homicide and suicide.

At the same time, increased evaporation arising from warming seas is generating heavier downpours. (The world ocean has accumulated 22 times as much heat as has the atmosphere since the 1950s.) Across the continental U.S., two, four and six inch-a-day rains have increased 14, 20 and 27 percent, respectively, since 1970. This year, sudden, heavy downpours -- some lasting several days -- caused lethal flashfloods in Rhode Island, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Rains two inches a day and above are associated with water-borne disease outbreaks, when flooding overwhelms sewer systems and contaminates drinking water.

Increases in winter weather anomalies are emerging. Though winters have become shorter (two-to- three weeks shorter in the Northern Hemisphere, depending on latitude), they have grown more perilous. With warming, more winter precipitation is falling as rain rather than snow, increasing the chance of ice storms when temperatures do drop. Globally, westerly winds are also changing with climate change, affecting the shifts in weather fronts. And such conditions -- along with heavier, wetter snowstorms -- can be treacherous for travel and ambulation. (In Boston, we've dubbed this "orthopedic weather.")

Meanwhile, warmer winters favor insect migration. In the past decade case reports of tick-borne Lyme disease rose ten-fold in Maine and northern counties are experiencing Lyme for the first time. In Alaska, especially warm winters have ushered in swarms of allergy-inducing, stinging insects, along with mosquitoes and devastating pine bark beetle infestations. The spread of forest and crop pests -- requiring chemicals for control -- pose additional long term health and environmental risks.

There's more. Elevated carbon dioxide levels from burning fossil fuels boosts pollen production from ragweed and the pollen grains hitch rides on particulates from diesel and coal combustion, helping to deliver the allergens deep inside our lungs. Meanwhile, the allergy and asthma season has lengthened some two-to-three weeks with climate change, while, since 1980, asthma rates have more than doubled in the U.S.

 I must admit after reading all this I was totally bummed, it was if the authors were trying to make everyone cranky for new years. But then I read a sentence that made me feel much better.

The American Medical Association is working actively to educate health care professionals about the projected rise in climate-related illness

 OH! This was written by the AMA, the group who abandoned its membership to promote Obamacare. Now it makes sense.  Non of the charges above were actually tied into global warming and none of it proves that any possible warming is man-made. Just like the other Moonbat scare tactics,  these submitted by the AMA is long on spooky and short on evidence.  Possibly because there is no evidence.

Please email me at yidwithlid@aol.com to be put onto my mailing list. Feel free to reproduce any article but please link back to http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/NWlS/~3/iKWcYyEfaWg/you-wont-believe-what-global-warming.html

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Awesome: Dave Ramsey calls Durbin a thief after Dick Durbin calls the rich Scrooges

After voters repudiated Democrats' class warfare rhetoric, Dick Durbin trots it out again... and gets taken behind the woodshed by Dave Ramsey for his effort:

Darned straight! The rich in this country pay far more than their fair share. And not only does bottom 47% of taxpayers pay no federal income tax, but the bottom 40% GET MONEY BACK! That goes right along in consistency with a prior post of mine: 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll: 50% of Americans that don't pay taxes thinks "rich" people ought to pay more, even though top 1% pay more than bottom 95%
Note that the bottom 50% pay almost no taxes, while the top 5% pay about 60% of the federal tax bill. I agree with one thing - this isn't fair. But I think it is the rich that are paying too much, only to be sneered at by those that pay nothing at all and get OUR money back from the government. It's now gotten so bad, so unfair, that the top 1% pay more in federal taxes than the bottom 95%: The rich are paying far more than their fair share, and instead of being thanked are demonized by Obama and their ilk. Dave Ramsey is right - Dick Durbin and those of his mindset are thieves. In addition, all data clearly shows that conservatives and the evil rich give far more of their money to charity than liberals. Liberals are very generous... with other people's money. But not their own. They are the true scrooges.

http://theblogprof.blogspot.com/2010/12/awesome-dave-ramsey-calls-durbin-thief.html

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Unreal. Red Cross Bans Christmas in Great Britain to Avoid Offending Muslims

This is insane.
The Red Cross ordered its offices to remove Christmas decorations this year to avoid offending Muslims.
The Daily Mail reported:

Christmas has been banned by the Red Cross from its 430 fund-raising shops.

Staff have been ordered to take down decorations and to remove any other signs of the Christian festival because they could offend Moslems.

The charity's politically-correct move triggered an avalanche of criticism and mockery last night – from Christians and Moslems.

Christine Banks, a volunteer at a Red Cross shop in New Romney, Kent, said: 'We put up a nativity scene in the window and were told to take it out. It seems we can't have anything that means Christmas. We're allowed to have some tinsel but that's it.

'When we send cards they have to say season's greetings or best wishes. They must not be linked directly to Christmas.

'When we asked we were told it is because we must not upset Moslems.'

Mrs Banks added: ' We have been instructed that we can't say anything about Christmas and we certainly can't have a Christmas tree.

' I think the policy is offensive to Moslems as well as to us. No reasonable person can object to Christians celebrating Christmas. But we are not supposed to show any sign of Christianity at all.'

Labour peer Lord Ahmed, one of the country's most prominent Moslem politicians, said: 'It is stupid to think Moslems would be offended.

'The Moslem community has been talking to Christians for the past 1,400 years. The teachings from Islam are that you should respect other faiths.'

http://gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com/2010/12/unreal-red-cross-bans-christmas-in-great-britain-to-avoid-offending-muslims/

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Here are the Democrats who voted against the tax deal

from Beltway Confidential by David Freddoso


Here are the Democrats who voted against the tax deal: "In case you're wondering, these are the 112 Democrats who voted against the tax deal. Defeated members are in bold, and retirees are italicized.

Ackerman

Baird

Baldwin

Becerra

Blumenauer

Boyd

Braley (IA)

Brown,...

"

Uh-Oh: Elmo Is Suddenly Very Concerned About School Lunch Menus

from JammieWearingFool by Dan Cleary


Uh-Oh: Elmo Is Suddenly Very Concerned About School Lunch Menus: "Shoot, and my kids love Elmo too.I hope this doesn't mean they're gonna start guilting the family into having veggie shakes for dessert every night.Sesame Street's Elmo visited the White House this week just as President Barack Obama signed the Hunger-Free Kids Act into law.Elmo's visit took him to the White House kitchen where he helped Assistant White House Chef Sam Kass with food -- and a"

Paul Ryan on Taxes -Its Actually Your Money!

from New Zeal: Security Risk? More Evidence of Mary Jo Kilroy's ... by Trevor Loudon


Paul Ryan on Taxes -Its Actually Your Money!: "Wisconsin Republican Congressman Paul Ryan is a leader for the future.

Here he tells Congress some 'home truths' on taxes.

"

It’s On… O’Reilly Slams Far Left CNN Host Fareed Zakaria After His Attacks on American Consumers (Video)

from The Gateway Pundit by Jim Hoft


It’s On… O’Reilly Slams Far Left CNN Host Fareed Zakaria After His Attacks on American Consumers (Video): "

Earlier this week, CNN host Fareed Zakaria bashed selfish Americans for complaining about increased taxes. Zakaria told Americans to cut down on their consumption and give more of their wealth to the government.

Bill O’Reilly slammed the far left CNN host for his attacks on American taxpayers tonight.

"

Crazy Pelosi: “Obama Was A Job Creator From Day One” (Video)

from The Gateway Pundit by Jim Hoft


Crazy Pelosi: “Obama Was A Job Creator From Day One” (Video): "

What a horrible woman.

Crazy Nancy told Congress before the vote tonight to extend the Bush tax cuts that,

“Obama was a job creator from day one.”

Real Clear Video reported:



We wish.

Unfortunately for Americans the the lowest the unemployment rate has been the last two years was the day Barack Obama took office.



Nice work, Barack. (BB’s Chart)

Barack Obama is the worst jobs president since the Great Depression. The Obama-Pelosi regime blew a Trillion dollars promising to create jobs and all they did was triple the deficit (another Pelosi lie). To add insult to injury the unemployment rate went back up to 9.8% last month and federal spending is up 84% under the Obama-Pelosi regime.

January 5th cannot get here soon enough.

"