Things That Are Ridiculous... In The News

Welcome to the first weekly edition of "Things That are Ridiculous...In the News." My goal is to bring this to you each Saturday.

Proposed Tax on Smelly Farm Animals
Because the US Supreme Court determined that "belching and flatulence" becomes air pollution, The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a tax on ranchers who own "more than 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle or 200 hogs to pay an annual fee of about $175 for each dairy cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle and $20 for each hog."
To some decent sized ranchers, the annual fee could amount to $40,000! Bruce Friedrich, a Washington spokesperson for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said, "It makes perfect sense if you are looking for ways to cut down on meat consumption and recoup environmental losses." Since when were "we" trying to cut down on meat consumption? I know that I am not the only one who craves a big juicy burger every once in awhile! The government shouldn't try to reduce production of businesses to help encourage a change in eating habits. If this happens, you will see plenty of ranchers out of business before long.
Rhode Island and Taxing Mileage to Help Pay to Fix Better Roads
Rhode Island has said that they want to, "impose a half-cent-per-mile fee, raising an estimated $50 million per year." If Texas ever did that, do you know how many people would be screwed? A lot of people here in Texas drive over 45 miles each way to work! I understand that Rhode Island is a VERY VERY SMALL state, but what happens if this type of legislation becomes a hit with other states?

Army Trash-Talking
This isn't really ridiculous, but I just had to share it anyway. Today Army played Navy in football. At the time of this video, Army had lost to Navy 6 consecutive years. So you can see why Army would be so ticked off! Oh... by the way... Army lost again.


Judge Sends Attorney to Jail for Six Months for Using the F-Word
Oh... I am not kidding! I hardly ever swear... but six months jail time? I am not about to go into a long post about judges and some judges' overuse of their power, but this is ridiculous. Sure... I think this might justify sending someone to jail for contempt for maybe a night (depending on who it was addressed to and how it was used)... but six months? Isn't that just a little... ridicilous?

Well, that is this for this week's edition! I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend and stay warm!