statism

‘Let’s tax the sun’: new law shocks world press

"A new tax on solar power introduced two weeks ago by the Spanish government has been described as 'ludicrous' and 'stupid' in two leading international publications. Business Spectator interviewed people who plan to ignore the new law, including Sergio Pomar, chief executive of energy-efficient installation firm INEL. He said: 'If I spend €600 to install solar panels and get fined €6 million let the judge decide.' Private individuals who fail to hook their solar panels up to the national grid to be metered and taxed could face fines of up to €30 million ($40 million) under the new law. Some homeowners have removed their solar panels rather than face fines of up to €30 million." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Let’s tax the sun’: new law shocks world press

Global Warming Alarmists Seek to Restrict Air Conditioning

"New York University sociology professor Eric Klinenberg said it is 'indefensible' for people to use air conditioning the way we do. Klinenberg argues that air conditioning requires too much electricity, the generation of which accelerates global warming. 'What’s indefensible is our habit of converting homes, offices and massive commercial outlets into igloos on summer days, regardless of how hot it is outdoors,' wrote Klinenberg. Klinenberg also argued for laws requiring businesses to keep summer temperatures at their facilities above a government-dictated mandatory minimum." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlobal Warming Alarmists Seek to Restrict Air Conditioning

Turn Your Desk Into a Pharmaceuticals Factory

"The Week's Chris Gayomali frets that '[t]oday's primitive psychedelics and artificial mood-boosters may be just the beginning' once 3D printing transforms chemical engineering. The Customs Minister from the land o' hobbits, Maurice Williamson, worries on Radio New Zealand, 'If people could print off ... sheets of Ecstasy tablets at the party they're at at that time, that just completely takes away our border protection role in its known sense.' Cronin, among others, suggests that controlling the 'chemical ink' is the key to preventing DIY recreational chemistry with 3D printers. But much current research uses bathroom sealant as the ink, and that's not the easiest material to restrict." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTurn Your Desk Into a Pharmaceuticals Factory

Taxpayers funding study of link between marijuana, domestic violence

"The National Institute on Drug Abuse, a part of the Department of Health and Human Services, is granting $1.86 million to the University of Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions to investigate the drug’s link to aggression. The study will run from 2013 to 2017 and will follow couples in which one or both partners use marijuana to determine whether its use 'results in affective, cognitive, or behavioral effects consistent with partner aggression.' NIDA has a $1.05 billion budget for 2013 and has publicly acknowledged that it does not fund research into the potential benefits of medical marijuana." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTaxpayers funding study of link between marijuana, domestic violence

California hunger strike: judge approves force-feeding of prisoners

"Jail officials in California have been given permission to force-feed hunger strikers who are entering their seventh week of a statewide protest against prison conditions. The order strikes out directives recently signed by some prisoners that they be allowed to die. US District Court Judge Thelton E Henderson ruled that California prison doctors may force-feed selected inmates who are near death, even if they had previously signed orders asking not to be resuscitated. About 136 California inmates are taking part in a hunger strike that began on 8 July demanding an end to a policy of housing inmates believed to be associated with gangs in near-isolation for years." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCalifornia hunger strike: judge approves force-feeding of prisoners

Federal court upholds California ban on foie gras sales

"A US federal appeals court upheld California’s ban on the sale of foie gras Friday, 13 months after the block on the controversial delicacy came into force. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected claims that the ban interferes with free trade, made in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles by a group of Canadian and US foie gras producers. California lawmakers agreed the ban in 2004, but gave the western US state’s only foie gras producer seven-and-a-half years to comply before it came into effect on July 1 last year. Restaurants serving the gourmet item — made by force-feeding ducks or geese, a practice some animal rights campaigners regard as cruel — can be fined up to $1,000." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFederal court upholds California ban on foie gras sales

Fleeing Oppression

"The mayor of Los Angeles has declared a 'state of emergency'. Hollywood’s movie industry is being ceded to other states and countries whose favorable tax 'credits' are increasingly luring away movie and television production. As competition both in the US and abroad continues to grow, the state’s market share and longtime stronghold on production jobs and spending are fast evaporating. The main problem is taxes. California’s government has so destroyed the state that its only option to keep afloat is a continued rise in taxes. In response, people with money have been fleeing the state for other states. New York and California have lost the most in the last decade." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFleeing Oppression

From the Files of the Nineveh PD

"At some point within the last decade or so, American police adopted a modified version of the Assyrian model of law enforcement. This helps to explain why it is now considered permissible for a police officer to assault an uncooperative but non-violent pregnant woman. Rochester, New York Police Officer Lucas Krull was recently captured on videoassaulting a 21-year-old expectant mother. In an earlier incident, a young pregnant girl was kneed in the stomach by one of three Rochester Police Officers who were restraining her during an arrest. A pregnant mother and an elderly woman were collateral victims in yet another episode involving 'tumultuous' behavior." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrom the Files of the Nineveh PD

Parents from faith-healing church charged in diabetes death of daughter

"On Thursday, authorities in Albany, Oregon arrested the parents of a 12-year-old girl who died because they withheld treatment for her type 1 diabetes. Syble Rossiter, the daughter of Travis and Wenona Rossiter, died at her home from complications related to untreated type 1 diabetes. It is unknown to what degree the couple embrace the doctrine of prayer healing, but as of this moment, they are facing first- and second-degree manslaughter charges in the death of their daughter. The Department of Human Services will look after their two surviving children while the couple awaits trial in jail." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingParents from faith-healing church charged in diabetes death of daughter

Police Groups Furiously Protest Eric Holder’s Marijuana Policy Announcement

"A broad coalition of law enforcement officers who have spent the past three decades waging an increasingly militarized drug war that has failed to reduce drug use doesn't want to give up the fight. Organizations that include sheriffs, narcotics officers and big-city police chiefs slammed Attorney General Eric Holder in a joint letter Friday, expressing 'extreme disappointment' at his announcement that the Department of Justice would allow Colorado and Washington to implement state laws that legalized recreational marijuana for adults. If there had been doubt about how meaningful Holder's move was, the fury reflected in the police response eliminates it." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPolice Groups Furiously Protest Eric Holder’s Marijuana Policy Announcement