Government payouts for those who suffer, or may suffer, from global warming?

Government has gone completely crazy.

Climate bill could trigger lawsuit landslide: Allows action from those 'expected to suffer'

Self-proclaimed victims of global warming or those who "expect to suffer" from it - from beachfront property owners to asthmatics - for the first time would be able to sue the federal government or private businesses over greenhouse gas emissions under a little-noticed provision slipped into the House climate bill.

Environmentalists say the measure was narrowly crafted to give citizens the unusual standing to sue the U.S. government as a way to force action on curbing emissions. But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sees a new cottage industry for lawyers.

"You could be spawning lawsuits at almost any place [climate-change modeling] computers place at harm's risk," said Bill Kovacs, energy lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

This is pure insanity. How could Bill Kovacs be a lobbyist? Isn't this a "lobbyist free administration?"

Interestingly, I thought that the scientific community came to a consensus about the reality of global warning? Were we mislead by the media? Global Warming Petition Project.

California Wants to Ban Your Big Screen TV

California "nanny-state" update:

They are coming for your television. The Orange County Register reports the California Energy Commission is considering banning the sale of big-screen TV sets that don't meet new, higher energy efficiency standards. The proposed regulations will make many big-screen sets illegal. By 2011, the commission wants all large-screen TVs to use 33 percent less power. By 2013, sets must consume 49 percent less power. The bureaucrats say the regulations will reduce global warming and save consumers $18 to $30 a year.

If the law was enacted today, the Consumer Electronics Association says about 25 percent of TVs would be non-compliant, most of those being sets with screens of 40-inches or more. Considering that most manufacturers already work to meet voluntary Energy Star standards, it is questionable how much more state agencies can demand from manufacturers without forcing them to pass on these added costs to consumers, which means more expensive TVs.

There is also a huge question about how such a law would be enforced. Many California consumers would simply choose to purchase non-compliant TVs on the Internet, or drive to stores in nearby Nevada, Arizona or Oregon. As a result, local California-based retailers, who provide jobs and income to state residents, stand to lose the most from the ban.

The "fairness" doctrine

FCC Commissioner: Return of Fairness Doctrine Could Control Web Content : "There’s a huge concern among conservative talk radio hosts that reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine would all-but destroy the industry due to equal time constraints. But speech limits might not stop at radio. They could even be extended to include the Internet and 'government dictating content policy.'

FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell raised that as a possibility after talking with bloggers at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. McDowell spoke about a recent FCC vote to bar Comcast from engaging in certain Internet practices – expanding the federal agency’s oversight of Internet networks. "

A huge concern among conservatives? What about anyone who despises the idea of the government dictating what we listen to (and watch and read online)? How about anyone who thinks that the UNfairness doctrine interferes with the freemarket and unfairly dictates what radio stations (non-government entities) broadcast?

Whose fault is it that the radio stations broadcast what earns money? Radio stations are businesses built to make a profit (Oooooh, "evil" profits). Since liberals failed at talk radio they want to make things "fair" by using the power of the government to "even the playing field." Is Congress going to start dictating that rap stations give equal air time to classical and country music....just for the sake of "fairness?" What a bunch of complete and total oppressive government crap.

Comrades, everyone be quiet and let's all be good citizens!

No more trans fats for you!!!

At least not in California.

Schwarzenegger Terminates Trans Fat in Calif.: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has made it official: California will be the first trans-fat free state in the nation. All-natural palm, rice and soybean oils will soon be king, and life in the Golden State will be forever altered. The California legislature pushed the bill through last week, and Schwarzenegger signed it into law Friday, July 25. The ban will require food providers to begin phasing out trans fat oils by July 1, 2009. Thereafter, noncompliance with the ban will result in fines of up to $1,000."

[sarcasm on]

That's so friggin' awesome that some governments are willing to protect us from ourselves by telling us what we can and can't eat. I'm so glad that they're making up our own minds for us. What a relief...this whole "personal responsibility" thing was starting to wear me out.

/sarcasm off