Rand Paul on the Daily Show

Son_of_a_Rich · January 14, 2016, 4:26am

Apologies if the wrong forum…

I caught of bit of the “debate” between Noah and Paul. Paul, as an example of overregulation, mentioned someone getting 10 years for dumping dirt on their own property. Was that a real thing?

running_coach · January 14, 2016, 4:31am

This appears to be the story.

Here’s where the “dirt” part of the story comes in:

He hired an engineer to design and approve sewage systems, which were installed in the soil and **then covered with topsoil (i.e., “dirt”).** Inspectors warned Lucas that sewage systems in wetlands need to meet state and federal standards, so that waste is properly filtered and disposed without contaminating drinking water.

But no one had applied for or received any such permit, according to the 2004 grand jury indictment.

Big Hill Acres then was advertised and sold mostly to low- or fixed-income families. Lucas represented to potential buyers that the lots were “habitable and suitable for home sites when in fact they were not,” the indictment said. **Some residents later testified that they were not told that their homes were on wetlands.**

So, it’s not that Lucas was just putting dirt onto his land, he was potentially poisoning poor people. I guess it makes sense that Paul would relate to this guy – libertarianism is all about buyer beware.

Son_of_a_Rich · January 14, 2016, 4:37am

Thanks Coach!

Grsz11 · January 15, 2016, 12:49am

He’s made this argument before. It wasn’t truth then and it isn’t now but his supporters aren’t really the kind of people to do their own fact checking.

wolfpup · January 15, 2016, 1:52am

People like Rand Paul just have no shame in peddling their malevolent agendas.

I’m imagining a scenario in which some lunatic walks out onto a crowded street and starts shooting pedestrians. Hearing the gunshots and screams, a panicked resident nearby calls the police, who eventually overpower and arrest the gunman. He is later convicted and sentenced.

This would be Rand Paul’s version of the story: “Government over-regulation is out of control. Recently, a man was arrested and given a life sentence for making too much noise!”

This is exactly how the increasingly important practice of end-of-life counseling for the elderly turned into “death panels” in the hands of right-wing demagogues, and funding for a vital medical service had to be curtailed to calm the low-information lunatic contingent.