# Rand Paul on the Daily Show

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-paul-on-the-daily-show/743112>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [January 14, 2016, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-paul-on-the-daily-show/743112 "2016-01-14T04:26:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-paul-on-the-daily-show/743112/1 "2016-01-14T04:26:29Z")

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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?

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**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-paul-on-the-daily-show/743112/2 "2016-01-14T04:31:53Z")

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This appears to be [the story.](http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/06/22/rand-paul-lies-again-this-time-about-a-man-being-imprisoned-for-dirt-yes-dirt/)

> [@](#):
>
> 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.

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**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-paul-on-the-daily-show/743112/3 "2016-01-14T04:37:06Z")

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Thanks Coach!

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**Author:** ![Grsz11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Grsz11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grsz11)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-paul-on-the-daily-show/743112/4 "2016-01-15T00:49:40Z")

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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.

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**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-paul-on-the-daily-show/743112/5 "2016-01-15T01:52:15Z")

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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.