Tracy, I think watching and questioning the government is both prudent and necessary. I'm just not convinced however, that behind every single action lies an ulterior, dark motive.
Which is odd, because I'm usually the paranoid one. Am I assured that they are coming for my water? No, not at this time. Am I confident that they are keeping the truth about alien activities on this planet secret from the public? Damn straight!
Sparkie, I'd have to agree that most regulations, even laws creating new agencies, start with good intentions. Yet, I can not think of one single regulation, agency, or overpaid bureaucrat that did not need to expand it's role and intrusion into areas never intended to justify bloating a budget more and more annually. Can you imagine an honest employee telling congress..."we're just not really needed, there is no problem here"...? As it is now, they get fired for reporting misconduct....it's about the ONLY way to get fired as a government employee I've seen lately.
In this case, the EPA was created to help clean up some specified areas of contamination and the Clean Water Act was to clean/regulate specified stretches of NAVIGABLE water ways, yet almost immediately, it expanded it's jurisdiction and created regulations that made any agent's field order, unable to even be appealable in civil court, till just last year.
I can't see ANY good coming from a regulation that gives an agency sole decision power without oversight from any other governmental entity.
