Activate the Mechanism!

Tyranny in the Private Sphere: History and recent events demonstrate, private powers, especially in our age of international business behemoths, are equally capable of denying liberty.

The large, tyrannical state has always been one of the greatest threats to freedom and liberty. And even in our current age, unchecked government power continues to stifle human progress and expression, not only abroad but in the United States as well. For, in even in our country, the state, both at the federal and local level, still punishes its citizens for indulging in the “wrong” types of narcotics—it still denies equal rights to those of a different sexual orientation, it still retains the unchecked, lethal authority of one person, the executive, to sentence death upon any citizen the president deems a “terrorist.”

Yet, although the illiberal actions of the state still need to be combated  government is not the only source of tyranny—it is not the only enemy of freedom. As recent events in Bangladesh attest, with the death 112 factory workers as the result of atrocious working conditions, the private sector has its share of tyrants.

This is where most libertarians and current day liberals seem to differ. The former sees only the state, the government as the perpetrator of oppression. However, as both history and recent events demonstrate, private powers, especially in our age of international business behemoths, are equally capable of denying liberty.

read more

Great read and food for thought. There is a large set of people in the U.S. who seem to have forgotten that private entities can be just as tyrannical as government entities.

Any intrusion on my rights (or the rights of others) is just as egregious to me no matter what entity it’s coming from.  

Mining companies deliberately sabotage regulations designed to prevent Black Lung

Thousands of coal miners continued to suffer and die from black lung during the 40 years that tough new limits on exposure to coal dust were supposed to provide protection.

Control of the mine dust was plagued by weak enforcement by regulators and loopholes exploited by mining companies, according to a joint investigation by NPR and the Center for Public Integrity (CPI). The protections were “set up for failure,” says Dennis O’Dell, the safety and health administrator at the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA).

As NPR and CPI reported Monday, a 1969 law slashed the legal limit for exposure to coal dust to as little as 1/4 of the amount many coal miners were breathing at the time. Although diagnoses soon plunged 90 percent, the decline didn’t last.

In the mid-1990s, medical experts began noticing an increase in diagnoses, along with disease in younger miners and rapid progression to severe stages of sickness.

The trend is most acute in a triangular region of Appalachia that includes eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia.

“Since [federal regulators] started protecting us … 70,000 of us have died,” says Mark McCowan, a 47-year-old former coal miner from Pounding Mill, Va., who worked 21 years underground.

McCowan suffers from progressive massive fibrosis, the worst stage of the disease. “I don’t feel very protected,” he says.

Federal data confirms the death toll cited by McCowan. In the same 40-year span, federal and industry compensation for black lung victims and their families topped $45 billion.

read more

Oh, but guys, we don’t need to regulate industry, free market and liberty and such.

Republicans fighting to repeal the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards - says he has 29 other supporters of the bill, won’t name them.

Between now and June 18, the U.S. Senate is expected to vote on a proposal to repeal the Environmental Protection Agency’s recently-issued safeguards to protect kids and their families from the mercury and dozens of other toxins spewed by U.S. power plants.

The attack on our health is being led by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Ok.), who claims to have 29 other supporters in the Senate - enough to force a full vote on the issue according to the obscure rules of the Congressional Review Act.

But the senator refuses to name his “Dirty Thirty.” 

We think that if any elected official is going to help revoke a clean air health standard that that will protect kids’ developing brains and save tens of thousands of lives, their constituents should know who they are. 

Which is why our Clean Air Director John Walke, wrote Inhofe on Wednesday requesting the names of the Dirty Thirty the Senator says are committed to using the Congressional Review Act to gut EPA’s first-ever mercury and air toxics standards for power plants. 

So far, we haven’t heard back.

read more

Funny how all these huge companies are making record profits, but now all of a sudden these clean air standards need repealed, because they’re “bad for business”.

Lobby group objects to new regulation banning gifts to all federal employees

By Kevin Bogardus - thehill.com

The American League of Lobbyists on Monday called for the withdrawal of a new ethics regulation that would prohibit all government employees from accepting gifts from lobbyists.

The regulation, proposed two weeks ago by the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), follows a tough executive order issued by President Obama in the early days of his administration banning political appointees from accepting gifts from lobbyists. The proposed rule expands the ban to career employees.

“The administration has offered no reports of even a single abuse of its current regulations to warrant the severe restrictions it has proposed on the mutual flow of information and expertise between lobbyists, their employers, and federal workers,” said Howard Marlowe, the lobbyists’ group president, in a statement. “If it is not withdrawn, this rule will prevent government workers from having even casual social contact with registered lobbyists. Does that mean if they find themselves at a luncheon table at a professional conference that they have to ask the others to raise hands if they are a lobbyist?”

Watchdog groups are pushing for the proposed rule to be stronger, but several lobbyists believe the regulation could hinder communication between K Street and the executive branch. Trade associations have begun to worry that federal workers will no longer be able to attend their trade shows and conferences.

“Lobbyists and their employers have knowledge that federal employees can use and they have knowledge that we want to tap. Federal workers develop policies and regulations that affect every aspect of our society. To prevent interaction of almost any kind between lobbyists and federal employees is not in the public interest. It will result in the dumbing-down of government at a time when public trust is at an all-time low,” said Marlowe, also president of lobby firm Marlowe & Co.

OGE is accepting public comments on the proposed rule until Nov. 14.

Link to the proposal

How you can make a difference: (per reddit user mamanakis)

Written comments are invited and must be received before November 14, 2011.

You may submit comments, in writing, to OGE on this proposed rule, identified by RIN 3209–AA04, by any of the following methods:

• E–Mail: usoge@oge.gov. Include the reference ‘‘Proposed Amendments to Part 2635’’ in the subject line of the message.

• Fax: (202) 482–9237. • Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier: Office of Government Ethics, Suite 500, 1201 New York Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20005–3917, Attention: Richard M. Thomas, Associate General Counsel.

Instructions: All submissions must include OGE’s agency name and the Regulation Identifier Number (RIN), 3209–AA04 for this proposed rulemaking.