Has the EPA Met the End Of Its Usefulness?

Posted on 23/03/2012 by Grumpa Joe


It figures, Obama caves on the Keystone pipeline and it is a joke. It is not April Fool’s Day yet “O.”

Today, I drove west on US Route 30 through a construction zone. This road is the original cross-country highway across America stretching from New York to San Francisco, but now it is a local road replaced by Interstate eighty. It doesn’t really matter which direction I drive, the road is under construction. It is a nightmare slalom course through colorful orange barrels. All along the route there are signs, paid for by you, and me declaring “WETLAND NO INTRUSION.” Often they attach them to a temporary fence stretched across a property in question. Route 30 crosses several creeks, forest preserves, and genuine wetlands. Each area is defined by a fence that is patrolled by the EPA for intrusion . What in the world does it mean, and what protection does it afford to you and me? With a little research I determined that the EPA intention is to decrease the impact of a project on a wetland.

So, here I sit in the Department of Transportation Office designing a major road improvement that widens a road from two lanes to four. My road crosses several creeks which means I have to build more bridge lanes to cross. Now how in the world do I do that without encroaching on the wetland? The EPA wants me to minimize encroachment. As an engineer, it is my job to get the project done to specification on time, and within the estimated cost. Why would I destroy more stream than is necessary to build my bridge? Isn’t that I am building a bridge evidence it is not my intention to destroy the creek? Why do you make me add cost to survey the line of allowed encroachment, build a fence and hang a sign to remind me where the line is?

A sensible engineer would lay a couple of pipes across the  span and fill in over it to create a roadbed.  In doing this he gambles that pipes he laid will accommodate the largest rush of  water nature supplies. If he loses the road floods and or washes out. In order to prevent that he builds a bridge which minimizes restriction to water flow. He doesn’t need a stupid reminder from the EPA about his responsibility. His job is to keep traffic moving safely and quickly.

How many road projects are there in America, and how many creeks and wetlands with fences and signs?  The cost is horrendous. So what?  Well, I just paid my 2011 income tax and I’m pissed about my contribution to the cause.  I am not in the one percent being picked on by Occupy Wall Street, and Obama, and by now I am probably no longer in the middle class since I haven’t earned a penny in ten years. Every dollar I pay in tax hurts, and every dollar I pull from my 401K advances me a bit closer toward  SSI and Medicaid. All you youngsters out there better be praying that I die off  before that happens or the burden of providing for my welfare will fall upon you. That is why I say get rid of the EPA, and a number of other burdensome agencies that have no useful purpose in society other than to harass the citizenry, and stop real progress from happening..

Related articles

Filed under: Cartoons, Conservative, family, Government | Tagged: , , , , , | 5 Comments »

PPACA is Creeping Into Our Lives

Posted on 23/03/2012 by Grumpa Joe


Questionnaire required by Obama Care

Today, I had the misfortune to need a doctor. It wasn’t an emergency, I just needed relief from a nagging sinus infection. I checked in at the window and the receptionist handed me the above  questionnaire.

“Fill it out and give it to the nurse.”

“Okay.”

I sat down and read the questions. At first, I thought it was the sinus affecting my thinking, but as I read further and pondered how to answer, it made little to no sense. Even so, I completed the questions and added a lot of extra words in order for it to make sense to me.  A good form design allows one to circle answers without having to write an essay on each question.

I quickly surmised that two of the four questions targeted women, so I didn’t answer them I don’t think I need a mammogram, nor a bone density scan.

I had a colonoscopy last summer, so I circled  yes, and wrote 2011 to answer when? What threw me for a loop was the second line

“No/Do you wish to have one?” Suppose I didn’t have one last year, do I circle “No/?” Where do I reply for “Do you wish to have one?” Do I circle the “Yes?”  But, that means I had one, and what if I don’t want one?  What if I had one and answered yes, but want another one? Where and how do I answer?

I did my best and signed it.

I handed it to the nurse when I entered the exam room, and told her this form gives me the impression it is from the PPACA. She looked confused, “Obama Care,”  I said. She smiled and asked me to step on the scale.

My Doc came in and I hit him between the eyes with his dumb form, he glared at me. We’ve known each other for twelve years so I knew he could take my shit. In spite of my antagonism, he examined me, and we discussed my symptoms, he wrote three prescriptions. As he left the room he said, “You know that form is from the  man who currently resides in a big White House, don’t you?”

“I kind of figured that is where it came from, it is probably page 1913.”

Doc explained that Obama Care requires screening for diseases, if doctors can’t prove they are doing the screening they won’t get paid. I can tell you that my doctor does plenty of pre-screening which is why I had a colonoscopy last summer and I got my flu-shot in September. The difference is now he has to make his patients fill out a dumb form and he has to keep it for future inspections to prove he screened me. Now that is saving a lot of money for you and me isn’t it? I bet the guy who comes to audit the Doctor will make $150,000 a year, won’t have a high school diploma, he will belong to the SEIU, and the talent agent who recommends him will be ACORN.

Happy Anniversary Obama Care!

Please take the  pol below on healthcare.

Related articles

Filed under: Conservative, health care, Satire | 11 Comments »