Posted on 07/25/2010 4:12:49 AM PDT by Scanian
It's called the "Law of Unintended Consequences" -- the fact that politically motivated, well-intentioned (but poorly conceived) legislation results in situations that wreak havoc far beyond what was originally supposed to be remedied. A classic example -- and fortunately one of the least serious -- is the congressional toilet. As a conservation measure, the government decreed that all new toilets use no more than one gallon of water per flush. Because politicians are neither plumbers nor experts in fluid mechanics, they failed to visualize the fact that a single gallon would frequently not be enough water to complete the flush, with the result that the toilets require two or three flushings, thereby using more water than older toilets.
Unfortunately, legislation currently under consideration or recently passed indicates that the inability to think beyond the high sounding rhetoric of the moment continues to be a reality in multiple areas affecting the lives of our citizens; and the consequences could be much more threatening and tragic than an annoying toilet.
The hybrid automobile is currently being touted as the ideal transitional solution to the problems of fossil fuels and air pollution. Major auto manufacturers continue to introduce new versions, to the accolades of the politicians and the press. It is predicted that in the near future there will be more than a million on the road. Unfortunately, there are some inherent problems that few seem to be considering.
The hybrid vehicle utilizes an internal combustion engine in conjunction with an electric drive and a battery array. By alternating between both power sources, the car achieves substantial mileage and cuts down on emissions. What nobody seems to be talking about are the potential problems associated with the batteries.
Batteries contain some pretty nasty stuff, including lead or other heavy metals, acid, and carbon-related components. All batteries have a finite life, and these are really BIG batteries. With a million and more hybrid cars on the road, battery disposal could become a major problem as regards hazardous materials and pollution. When even conventional 12-volt batteries require careful disposition, it's hard to imagine, at present, how we are to go about recycling or disposing of so much potentially dangerous waste. Two things are certain -- it's not going to be cheap, and it's not going to be easy.
Comprehensive immigration reform involves amnesty or some other process for legalizing millions of illegal immigrants already in the country and bringing them into the mainstream, either through limited visas, guest worker programs, path to citizenship or some other means.
What is being missed by the politicians who see today's illegals as tomorrow's voting block is that their entire appeal to the unscrupulous employers who hire them is the fact that they fly beneath the radar. Frequently willing to work for less than the minimum wage, they are not given benefits, insurance or, in most cases, workman's compensation. Sad as it may be, this is their primary competitive advantage.
All else being equal, few employers would choose an employee base unable to speak or read their language -- especially in industries where serious problems can result. Several years ago, the top executives of an industrial plating firm in the Chicago area were convicted of murder when Polish émigré workers died after being subjected to toxic fumes because they could not read warning signs.
The minute illegals are inducted into the system and are on the record, their costs rise and their desirability drops. Ironically, any path to legalization will, in many cases, effectively disqualify them for the job opportunities they sought here in the first place.
Obamacare carries so many unintended consequences that it is hard to know where to begin. In fact, more are being discovered every day. One particularly egregious example, though, is the effect that healthcare rationing would have on the older population. Most senior citizens politely disagree with Senator Tom Daschle's "duty to die" philosophy and refuse to believe that they should bear patiently with the pains of old age when modern medicine has the capability of relieving them.
Under rationed healthcare, those with the wealth and means to do so can seek treatment at exclusive off-shore facilities or through other private means -- much as affluent Canadians and others currently do in the United States.
Those less fortunate or without the financial resources but equally possessed of a will to live will have to make do with a black market of dubious practitioners and spurious cures. The same progressives who justify their extreme pro-abortion stance on the fear of women being relegated to "back-alley abortion mills" have just enabled the creation of an equal or more horrendous curse to prey on our older and least defensive citizens.
Nothing destroys the Utopian dreams of ideologues faster or more completely than reality, but the dreamers never seem to learn, even as the dream becomes a nightmare. It would be better for all concerned if we could, at last, funnel their energies into something a little more harmless -- like designing toilets.
Which is exactly why even more new illegals will rush into the USA after this shamnesty is passed. The same thing happened with each previous shamnesty.
I have to dispute that this is an unintended consequence of shamnesty though. These newly minted "citizens" will almost all vote Democrat. This is the main reason shamnesty is so popular in the Democrat party.
Sadly though, the GOP, being as stupid as it usually is, believes the same thing.
Ah, but there's nothing more important than that high sounding rhetoric.
Except diversity. (Almost forgot.)
This is perhaps the greatest problem we have today. Many of these laws once on the book never seem to go away and each attempt to fix them only makes them worse.
Laws made during the 1960s referred to as The Great Society turned poverty from a sometime thing to generations stuck living off the public teat. (Poverty was not static. The percentage of poor may have remain the same but the individual that were "poor" did not. People became poor and then worked their way up. Today, with a gurantee income from the state, and disincentives to work, many are reluctant to take the risk of improving themselves.
Before 1960s only a relatively small number of children were concieved out of wedlock. The unintended consequences of welfare was the government replaced the need for a father in the home, and in fact actively discouraged it. (I should note there were other factors but this one certainly made being a single mother easier).
I would rather congress did not make any law trying to "help" shape our society but if they have to, there should be a provision that the law expires after so many years (perhaps ten). This would do two things, one let them see if it is doing what they wanted it to do, and second there may be a new majority in Congress willing to see the law expire which is easier then repealing it.
“...legislation currently under consideration or recently passed indicates that the inability to think beyond the high sounding rhetoric of the moment...”
That may be very true for the rank and file who don’t think but just vote “Yea” because they are told to do so.
But the real authors of these laws know exactly what they are doing: scatter nuggets of high sounding rhetoric to obscure the rotten inner workings of the bill. Its why they are so huge and cumbersome.
Its sorta like scattering cherries on steaming piles of bullshLt.
Gotto throw that "carbon" reference into the mix no matter what.
Someone please tell Frank Burke that he has more carbon-related material in his body than that battery.
Dual flush is the way to go on this. Flush one is chosen for urine. It flushes with very little water. Flush two is chosen for feces, it flushes with the full amount of water. Europeans use it because of higher water costs. Retrofitting toilets is expensive, usually have to buy new ones. There are products that are inexpensive and allow dual flush retrofitting (can’t vouche for them, my association pays for my water so I have little incentive to check it out — tragedy of the commons once again).
Liberalism is figuratively a bête noire, Obama literally.
Oh, I thought he was going to talk about how Congress has become one big toilet.
This guy is just as out of touch as the people he tries to decry.
They hire one guy who speaks the language and couldn't care less if the minions speak English.
Nothing destroys the Utopian dreams of ideologues faster or more completely than reality.
Must be why Obama&Co, are working so hard to keep the truh hid see Fox,WSJ.............
A guy starts with such a stupid lie and he wants us to read the rest of the article?
The toilets are 1.6 gallons, not 1 gallon, and why would someone be flushing twice after urinating, even if they flushed twice out of some bizarre compulsion every single time they used a current toilet , it still would use less water than the previous water saver mandated toilets that used 3.5 gallons per flush, which themselves saved water over the 5.5 to 7 gallon toilets of the past
French...literally "dark beast"
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