A few years ago there was an epidemic of Mad Cow Disease in England. We eventually got a few cases of it here too. When the media got onto it they were ever so glad to tell us about each and every case and scare us into eating chicken. The media takes one news clip and shows it over and over again, sometimes two or three times during the report. They had one clip of a cow falling down! That was so depressing to me that I would close my eyes every time they started to talk about cows. Cows are not supposed to fall down! Cows are so peaceful, they don't fight with other cows or with humans, they stand around, eat grass and moo. They are outstanding in their fields!
Well now, guess what they are being accused of? While peacefully standing in their fields it seems they are burping and gaseous and this has become a concern of the government. Cows and hogs are now considered air polluting animals. There might be a "cow tax" in the future.
The Environmental Protection Agency report after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases from motor vehicles constitute air pollution, someone latched onto the fact that so also, do animals standing around eating grass emit greenhouse gases. Frankly I don't see the connection.
In Congress, today, Harry Reed got in a little trouble for pointing out that in the summer when Washington, DC is besieged with tourists standing in lines to visit the historical sites ,"You can smell them." Hark, is there a 'standing in long lines' tax coming? What about all those guys,(and I suppose some gals) guzzling beer and eating hot dogs at sporting events, are they emitting greenhouse gases?
At the end of football season at Papa John's stadium is it possible that the crowds emit more than 100 tons of carbon emissions per season? Especially a season like we just had? Ticket prices may well be on the rise. Our concern for this problem falls under the federal Clean Air Act. This stinks!
If they do begin to tax cows, the farmers say that they would go bankrupt because it would cost $175.00 for each dairy cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle and $20.00 for each hog. A moderate sized cattle or hog farm could cost $30,000. to $40,00 dollars a year. Vegetarians rejoice!
John Millett, a spokesman for the EPA's air and radiation division, said that there has been an oversimplification of the EPA's document "to the point of distortion." Whew, that's a relief!
Never mind!!!
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