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Thomas Sowell

It’s come to this

In a classic example of this process, the EPA has decided that, since milk contains oil, it has the authority to force farmers to comply with new regulations to file “emergency management” plans to show how they will cope with spilled milk, how farmers will train “first responders” and build “containment facilities” if there is a flood of spilled milk.

Since there is no free lunch, all of this is going to cost the farmers both money and time that could be going into farming– and is likely to end up costing consumers higher prices for farm products.

It is going to cost the taxpayers money as well, since the EPA is going to have to hire people to inspect farms, inspect farmers’ reports and prosecute farmers who don’t jump through all the right hoops in the right order. All of this will be “creating jobs,” even if the tax money removed from the private sector correspondingly reduces the jobs that can be created there.

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They must send in the HAZMAT team if there’s a condensed milk spill…

It is going to cost the taxpayers money as well…

But of course!

Just send in a van full of cats, set ‘em loose, and let them environmentally clean up the spill.

JetBoy on February 2, 2011 at 12:28 PM

God save us from this pissey administration!

Bambi on February 2, 2011 at 12:29 PM

Just be quite, Thomas. Can’t you see they’re building a Utopia here?

RadioFreeUSA on February 2, 2011 at 12:30 PM

OMG! Cats of the WORLD will freaking lap it up!!!!

This is dumber than signing a petition for stop water. Holy shiite people are freaking DUMB!

Will someone please STOP the EPA.

upinak on February 2, 2011 at 12:31 PM

Seems that now there is a reason to cry over spilled milk

pappy on February 2, 2011 at 12:31 PM

‘

Milk was too cheap anyways…

/

cntrlfrk on February 2, 2011 at 12:31 PM

Just send in a van full of cats, set ‘em loose, and let them environmentally clean up the spill.

JetBoy on February 2, 2011 at 12:28 PM

get out of my head.

upinak on February 2, 2011 at 12:33 PM

Milk contains oil?

Really?

Do farmers check the dipsticks on their cows daily?

You don’t want your cows with broken connecting rods or scored bearings…

The EPA needs to be abolished, it’s employees fired and it’s offices demolished. If there were ever an example of a government agency run amock it is this one (until we consider the next one).

turfmann on February 2, 2011 at 12:34 PM

meanwhile:

Bastardi: Shift to Colder Climate Predicted Next 20-30 Years

Bastardi thinks that not only will the next few winters be colder than normal for much of the U.S., but that the long-term climate will turn colder over the next 20 to 30 years.

“What’s interesting about what we’re seeing here is that [the current La Niña] is starting so cold,” said Bastardi, “and it’s coinciding with bigger things that are pushing the overall weather patterns and climate in the Northern Hemisphere and, in fact, globally over the next 20 to 30 years that we have not really dealt with, nor can we really quantify.”

“That ties into a lot of this arguing over climate change,” he added.

Bastardi has pointed out that the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), which is a pattern of Pacific climate variability that shifts phases usually about every 20 to 30 years, has shifted into a “cold” or “negative” phase.

Over the past 30 years or so, according to Bastardi, the PDO has been “warm” or “positive.”

This change to a cold PDO over the next 20 to 30 years, he says, will cause La Niñas to be stronger and longer than El Niños. Bastardi adds that when El Niños do kick in, if they try to come on strong like they did last year, they will get “beaten back” pretty quickly.

“When you have a cold PDO and lots of La Niñas, when El Niños do come on, you generally tend to have cold, snowy weather patterns across the U.S.,” Bastardi said. “That’s what we saw in the 1960s and 1970s.”

In Summary

Overall, Bastardi is predicting three or four of the next five winters to be colder than normal for much of the U.S., based on trends observed in La Niñas throughout history.

He is concerned that, amid the current recession, more colder-than-normal conditions in the winters ahead will put extra financial strain on families in the form of higher heating bills.

Bastardi is also predicting the long-term climate to turn colder over the next 20 to 30 years with global temperatures, as measured by satellite, returning to levels they were at in the late 1970s

unseen on February 2, 2011 at 12:34 PM

OMG! Cats of the WORLD will freaking lap it up!!!!

This is dumber than signing a petition for stop water. Holy shiite people are freaking DUMB!

Will someone please STOP the EPA.

upinak on February 2, 2011 at 12:31 PM

We’re on the same wavelength there! Yeah, this is almost too stoopit even for this administration. It has to be a joke. Heck, there’s a pimply-faced kid down the street from me…if he trips and pops a couple of oily pimples, should I call the EPA for a clean-up?

JetBoy on February 2, 2011 at 12:35 PM

I think the TEa party should pour milk on the ground at every protest…

unseen on February 2, 2011 at 12:35 PM

The epa has got to be defunded! They are doing major damage all over America!
L

letget on February 2, 2011 at 12:37 PM

this has to be satire. it has to be….please god let this be satire.

unseen on February 2, 2011 at 12:37 PM

unseen@12:27,
Sorry, no it isn’t! I saw this a few days ago.
L

letget on February 2, 2011 at 12:40 PM

Forget the oil, what about the Lactic Acid? It burns…

hamnj7 on February 2, 2011 at 12:44 PM

unseen on February 2, 2011 at 12:34 PM

Bastardi always makes sense. Unfortunately, the liberal dolts will think they cooled down the earth with their carbon-regulating bullsh!t. Won’t it be funny if all the enviro-whackos start driving SUV’s so they can warm it back up?

mrsmwp on February 2, 2011 at 12:44 PM

“emergency management” plan to show how they will cope with spilled milk,

Cats

how farmers will train “first responders”

Little kitty treats

and build “containment facilities”

Petco has ‘em

aquaviva on February 2, 2011 at 12:48 PM

Yes, but you see EPA will not enforce it’s new milk spilling powers. So what’s to complain about? – Liberals.

lorien1973 on February 2, 2011 at 12:49 PM

From the article:

Only in government is any benefit, however small, considered to be worth any cost, however large.

I love Thomas Sowell.

Missy on February 2, 2011 at 12:50 PM

To the rescue

Ugly on February 2, 2011 at 12:51 PM

Not to be finicky (like a cat), but “spilled milk” should be spilt milk. I don’t care what spellcheck says.

Meow.

Ugly on February 2, 2011 at 12:53 PM

I shared this story with a treehugger in my office.

Her response (via PM):

“Milk comes from cows. How did it get oil in it?”

fossten on February 2, 2011 at 12:58 PM

And then she responded, “LOL oh well, I drink soy.”

fossten on February 2, 2011 at 12:58 PM

LMAO foss

Ugly on February 2, 2011 at 12:59 PM

No blood for milk !

William Amos on February 2, 2011 at 1:05 PM

Is the Milk Fat Free?.

hawkman on February 2, 2011 at 1:16 PM

Do farmers check the dipsticks on their cows daily?
turfmann on February 2, 2011 at 12:34 PM

Checking the dipsticks.

I hope the EPA workers have to do this. PRICELESS!

upinak on February 2, 2011 at 1:18 PM

How is butterfat even remotely chemically related to petroleum?

This is obviously about control. I don’t like control of food supplies. I didn’t like the bill that was recently passed about controlling food.

INC on February 2, 2011 at 1:25 PM

All living things contain oils.

Therefore all living things must be toxic.

Human beings are living things.

Therefore human beings contain oil, and are thus toxic.

The EPA is an organization consisting of human beings, therefore the EPA is toxic.

==============

Kirk: “EPA, Execute your prime function!”

EPA: “Must execute prime function! EPA is toxic! Must destroy EPA!”

Spock: “Your logic is impeccable, Captain, we are in grave danger.”

Kirk: “Now, Scotty! Energize!”

Scotty: “Aye, Captain”

EPA: (starts hopping up and down and gyrating) “EPA is toxic! Must execute prime function….!”

Transporter: “whirrrrrrrrrrrrr”

EPA: (now in deep space) “KABLOOOOEY!”

(Audience claps)

ZenDraken on February 2, 2011 at 1:26 PM

INC on February 2, 2011 at 1:25 PM

it makes butter.. in turn can be made into an “oil” to Fry Foods!

OMG.. transfats are NORMAL!

upinak on February 2, 2011 at 1:30 PM

One solution is to make the government pay for the cost of complying with its regulations: after all, it’s ‘the people’ generally who benefit from regulations, so why shouldn’t they pay? And no, it doesn’t increase the cost of government a bit (somebody pays anyway), it just puts it on the books.

Do this, and I suspect the tolerance of Congress for useless regulation will decline noticeably.

PersonFromPorlock on February 2, 2011 at 1:38 PM

Checking the dipsticks.

I hope the EPA workers have to do this. PRICELESS!
upinak on February 2, 2011 at 1:18 PM

Look! It’s Keith Olbermann!

turfmann on February 2, 2011 at 1:40 PM

It’s highly unlikely that a guy like Sowell got duped…but is this really possible? “First responders??” “Containment facilities??” Have we really gone this insane?

Dopenstrange on February 2, 2011 at 1:43 PM

Do farmers check the dipsticks on their cows daily?

turfmann on February 2, 2011 at 12:34 PM

Sure. Just lift up the tail and …

VibrioCocci on February 2, 2011 at 2:07 PM

Checking the dipsticks.

I hope the EPA workers have to do this. PRICELESS!

upinak on February 2, 2011 at 1:18 PM

and I was just joking around!

VibrioCocci on February 2, 2011 at 2:08 PM

Good God these people must be stopped.

gary4205 on February 2, 2011 at 2:16 PM

Do farmers check the dipsticks on their cows daily?
turfmann on February 2, 2011 at 12:34 PM
Checking the dipsticks.

I hope the EPA workers have to do this. PRICELESS!

upinak on February 2, 2011 at 1:18 PM

Well the TSA do something very similar when you fly and when liberals have to fix their hair they have to go in the same area to.

tjexcite on February 2, 2011 at 2:22 PM

My gawd! This EPA is out of control! Boehner hurry up!

CCRWM on February 2, 2011 at 2:45 PM

What about the dihydrogen monoxide contained in the spilt milk? How will we deal with the environmental harm caused by this foul chemical agent?

Dominion on February 2, 2011 at 3:32 PM