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Date: Wed, 14 May 2008 16:33:26 -0400
From: Ernest Christley <echristley@nc.rr.com>
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To: Rotary motors in aircraft <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Subject: Re: [FlyRotary] Politics
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Al Gietzen wrote:
>  That's true - pretty much, that's their job; and most of them over do it.
> You give them too much credit to think the bad things are a result of
> intelligent scheming.
You misread me, Al.  I'm not attributing any intelligent scheming at 
all.  Mostly it is a lot of disconnected selfish scheming running amok.  
For instance, how did this country get into a situation where we spend 
billions each year to hunt down and jail citizens for possession of a 
plant that at one time was required by law to be grown by every farmer?

The players:
An overzealous bureaucrat in need of a new target after prohibition in 
order to grow his department (and hence his career).
A newspaper publisher intent on preserving his timber investments and 
selling newspapers.
A group of Congressmen concerned that they be seen handling a perceived 
problem (perception created by the newspaper publisher).
A large unknowing, and mostly uncaring, populace willing to believe 
anything they read in the newspaper, and happy that someone else is 
doing something to a group they consider unsavory.
One lone representative from the medical association to tell them all 
that they're nuts.

No central schemer controlling everything.  Just a great big fubar.
How about something closer to home?  User fees...

The players:
Airlines that are deathly afraid of smaller jets coming in to eat their 
lunch and have a desire for someone else to pay their bills.
An FAA that wants to maintain its own budget without Congressional 
oversight.
Congressmen that want to be seen as doing something to "upgrade the 
nation aviation system"
A large unknowing, and mostly uncaring, populace willing to believe 
anything they read in the newspaper, and happy that someone else is 
doing something.
EAA, AOPA, various local and regional associations to rile the troops 
and expose the truth.

It's not a clandestine conspiracy, but we keep coming awfully close to 
user fees.

There are a lot of sharks circling, wanting to be the new base for all 
our energy needs.  When I see a potential shark claiming to have a 
patent on key technology and then looking to buddy up with a government 
agency for "approval"... I get scared.