Nexus - 0213 - New Times Magazine-pages

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America's draconian asset seizure laws are being quietly and devastatingly enforced. The media silence on this issue is alarming in itself. Read this and pray that Australia does not follow, yet again, in America's footsteps. ongress passed almost 2,500 new laws in 1992. Most of these laws carry both crimi- nal and civil penalties for violations. These laws are turned over to any of several dozen applicable federal agencies (i.e... FDA, EPA, BATF, SEC, IRS, OSHA, FCC, FAA, DEA, etc.) which write tens of thousands of federal regulations each year to imple- ment and enforce these new laws. These agencies employ close to 121,000 faceless bureaucrats to write the new regulations and enforce these laws and regulations. There were 67,715 pages of new regulations written and published (in fine print) in the Federal Register in 1992 and that suffices as legal public notice of the new laws and regula- tions. The public are responsible for following every one of those. It would take a large battery of Philadelphia lawyers to interpret and keep up with this avalanche of new regula- tions; but each US citizen is considered to be responsible to know, understand, and abide by these new laws and regulations. Heavy fines and/or jail sentences are associated with violation of many of these laws and regulations, and tens of thousands of Americans are now sitting in jail, or have been heavi- ly fined, or had their businesses closed for violation of these new laws and regulations. In many instances, agents from the various agencies run stings against unsuspecting citizens or businesses, and entrap them into violating the new law or regulation. A high profile example is then made of the new criminal, or violation, along with the fines, prison sen- tences, and media publicity, to intimidate the public, or other related businesses into going along with the regulations. America has more people in prison per capita today than South Africa, Albania (and most of Eastern Europe), or even Red China. We jail 6 times as many people per capita as Denmark, and almost 11 times as many per capita as Japan. These dictatorial new laws and regulations are costing Americans literally hundreds of billions of dollars per year, and are hamstringing tens of thousands of small businesses which literally cannot afford the paperwork, red tape, and expenses of compliance, and are therefore forced out of business. One small example: The Agriculture Department has made it a crime to sell peaches or nectarines which do not meet the minimum size of 2- 7/16" and 2-3/8" in diameter respectively. This new regulation (passed in 1992) will con- demn to rot over 500 million perfectly edible peaches and nectarines per year. The US Attomey General has already filed for a federal injunction and a $100 per box fine against California's largest nectarine and peach farmer, who was selling the forbidden fruit at a bargain price of under $10 per box to thankful inner city residents. The farmer is now a criminal who will be fined heavily for his crime. But meanwhile, the Agriculture Department has asked the California Nectarine Administrative Committee to undertake market research to determine the effect of fruit size on consumer preferences. America's draconian asset seizure laws are being quietly and devastatingly enforced. Extracted from an article written by Donald S. McAlvany, published in: The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor, January 1993 edition. Subscription Office: PO Box 84904, Phoenix, AZ 85071 USA. Tel: (602) 252 4477, or (303) 259 4100. USD$56- for 6 months (in USA) USD$72- for 6 months (Foreign) These may be the most dangerous of all, because the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and a host of other environmental laws and regulations passed in recent years give the gov- emment draconian, dictatorial controls over virtually every business and person, over every piece of private property, every car, and every action of every American in the US. Even as thousands of murderers and rapists are turned loose by our justice system each year on technicalities, room is being made in our jails for honest law-abiding citizens. A case in point is a Vietnam vet and environmental consultant, Bill Ellen, who is now serving a six month prison sentence for a ‘wetlands’ violation. (The US attomey had pushed for a three year sentence but the judge was more lenient.) What was Ellen's crime? In 1987, Ellen, who had a strong background as a conserva- Vol 2, No 13 - 1993 16*NEXUS THE EXPLOSION OF GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS