none plus one equals minus two...

So today's piece of nonsense, a bit less pernicious on the surface than others is the latest executive order, this one directing any agency that promulgates any new regulation to simultaneously eliminate two others. The executive order does not direct how this is to be done. It does not direct the head of the agency to conduct any kind of review to see what two regulations are to be eliminated, the cost of eliminating the regulations, or the effect that elimination of the rregulations would be.

I understand the desire of the president to eliminate what he believes are regulations that hinder business, and more important for him, business profitability. Certainly there are federal regulations out there that are outdated, silly or onerous without any benefit to anyone. Logically, we do not willy nilly eliminate the first two regulations we see so that we can implement a new one. No, logically, you ask all agencies to conduct a review of their regulations to see which ones truly are unnecessary, outdated, or just a waste of time and federal funds. Then you do not wait for a new regulation to be implemented. you just rescind the old and useless ones.

But that requires a bit of thought and a bit of effort, something that has already been proven to be lacking in this administration.

Instead, we are left with the ridiculous display of plus one, minus two, even if the one added is nonsense, or another gift to large multinational corporations, or more likely the president's friends, and the two eliminated are critical regulations for the health and safety of we the people.

For instance, let's assume for a moment that a friend of the president, let's say it's the nominee for the post of secretary of energy, is on the board of a company trying to build a pipeline that traverses sacred Native American land and potentially threatens their water supply. The project, for argument's sake, is being complicated by protests from the Native Americans and their supporters, who have entered the area of the project and stood in its way. Just a hypothetical mind you. In order to facilitate the construction of the pipeline, the secretary of energy announces a new regulation that states that any oil pipeline running through sacred Native American land must be constructed with American steel from a company owned by a company that is run by a pair of brothers in the mid west, who happened to donate, for argument's sake, somewhere in the neighborhood of one or two hundred million dollars to oil company interests and sympathetic pacs to the oil companies during the recent election. Hypothetical only. Where do i come up with this stuff? Now, two regulations have to be eliminated. So let's eliminate the regulation that requires an environmental review and impact statement prior to the construction of the pipeline through the Native American sacred lands. Tthis eliminates public comment, which also happens to take care of a large percentage of the legal grounds for the protesters, but that is just a coincidence. Now, let's eliminate the requirement that the steel used for the pipeline has to meet certain quality requirements.

There you have it. One new regulation. Two eliminated regulations.

While we're at it, why not have the civil rights division of the justice department pass regulations encouraging states to pass laws outlawing protesters at sites where pipelines are being constructed through sacred native american lands. Yes, I'm making this stuff up. To offset this rule, we can eliminate the rules requiring the justice department to enforce civil rights laws of the Native Americans and their supporters, and those which prohibit erosion of rights of Native Americans as a voting block.

One in. Two out. I can't believe my mind can think up fantasies like this.

And hey, while we are at it, why don't we have the department of education pass a regulation that requires every single privately owned charter school to be fully funded by a tax on NativeAamericans, who are otherwise costing us money by their protesting a pipeline being constructed across their sacred lands. To offset this, we can eliminate that pesky regulation requiring all schools to be fully accountable for meeting certain educational standards. and since it's so expensive, eliminate the rule requiring free school lunches for children of indigent Native Americans, but only those who are costing the rest of us money by their irritating little protests.

One more in. Two more out. i'm getting feverish.

And I'm practically solving the national debt all by myself at the same time.

Ain't math easy?