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Federal
Register Watch by Mike Powers January
27 - February 7, 2003
The Federal
Register is the official daily publication for Rules, Proposed Rules,
and Notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as Executive
Orders and other Presidential Documents.
This column attempts to summarize the highlights (or lowlights)
of the Federal Register during the preceding week. Instructions
for subscribing to the Federal Register can be found at the end of the
column. Department of Housing and Urban Development – $35 Million Initiative to “End Chronic Homelessness” The
U.S. Interagency Council on the Homeless announces the collaborative
effort to “end chronic homelessness by seeking to create a
collaborative and comprehensive approach to addressing homelessness.” How
many times before has the government tried this?
Remember LBJ’s “Great Society” and the “War on
Poverty”? Forty years
later and billions spent on anti-poverty programs have not improved the
situation one iota. Like
every other social ill that bureaucrats try to solve using confiscated
tax revenue, more government intervention simply worsens the problem.
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2003/03-1801.htm Agency
for International Development – Notice of Meeting of the Voluntary
Foreign Aid Advisory Committee This
notice begs the question: When
does the Coerced Foreign Aid Advisory Committee meet? http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2003/03-1856.htm Agricultural
Marketing Service – The
“Raisin Diversion Program” pays approved growers to “curtail
production” (not to grow grapes) in order to “control
overproduction” (limit supply) and to “help reduce burdensome
oversupply affecting the Herein
lies the difference between the voluntary market sector and the
involuntary government sector. In
the open market, producers are rewarded for production.
In the coercive government sector, producers are awarded for
NON-PRODUCTION with money stolen from other people.
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2003/03-1964.htm
Department
of Health and Human Services – $1 Million Grant for Terrorism
Preparedness Measurable
outcomes of the program include: “to help the American public prepare
for the unexpected; and reduce stress and make the public feel at ease
should another emergency arise.” Give
the statists a perceived emergency, and they will give you an excuse to
steal your property and deny your freedoms. http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2003/03-1824.htm Fish
and Wildlife Service – Proposal to Designate Critical Habitat for the
Preble’s Meadow Jumping Mouse According
to their own estimates, implementation of this proposal will cost
taxpayers between $72
million and $174 million
over the next ten years! Now,
that’s really throwing money down a rathole!
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2003/03-1803.htm Presidential
Documents – Establishment of the President’s Council on Service and
Civic Participation (Executive Order 13285) The
mission of the Council is to “facilitate
awareness of the ways in which Americans throughout our history have
helped to meet the vital needs of their communities and Nation through volunteer
service and civic participation.” If
participation levels in the “volunteer” program are deemed
unsatisfactory, how long before it will become mandatory!?! http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2003/03-2606.htm Community
Development Financial Institutions Fund – Bank Under
the Bank Enterprise Award Program, banks are awarded taxpayer cash for
increasing their lending and investment activities within distressed
communities that meet certain minimum poverty and unemployment criteria. According
to this document, the mission of the fund is “to increase the capacity
of financial institutions to provide capital, credit and financial
services in underserved markets.”
In other words, taxpayer subsidized lending to high-risk
(low-to-moderate income) customers. I
must admit--these bureaucrats are very creative in the methods they
choose to disburse their stolen goods. http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2003/03-2336.htm Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS) – Meeting of the Children and
Terrorism Advisory Committee The
purpose of the committee is to make recommendations to the Secretary of
HHS on matters related to bioterrorism and its impact on children. Nanny
state? What nanny state? http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2003/03-2651.htm Department
of Transportation – Withholding of The
DOT is implementing a new program (don’t you just love new
programs?) that requires the withholding of state-aid federal highway
funds from any State that does not lower its blood alcohol content (BAC)
level for DUI offenders to 0.08 percent.
The principle of “state’s rights” vanished long ago.
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2003/03-2790.htm Federal
Transit Administration – Over-the-Road Bus Accessibility Program
Grants Bus
service providers are mandated to provide access to the handicapped,
thanks to the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century.
Wheelchair lifts and tie-downs must be installed to allow
passengers to ride in their own wheelchairs.
Oh,
did I mention that $24.5 million of YOUR money would be
given to bus operators to ensure their compliance with this law? http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2003/03-3080.htm
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