Commonsense is Illegal

Lately we have been hearing quite a bit about the drought in Georgia. However, we have not heard much about one of the reasons. I only caught a short mention of it on the radio several weeks ago. Since then nothing. No, its not because of over usage by some faceless company. The state of Georgia is loosing billions of gallons of water to endangered mussels!

Because of the endangered species act, the Army Corp of Engineers is required to release this water daily to flow down stream. They must do this to maintain adequate water levels for the mussels.

Now to be fair they claim the release is also to maintain minimum amounts of water for a coal-fired power plant located in Florida. However, if they shut down the plant, water levels would still have to be maintained due to federal mandates. To read more on the story click here.

My friend/pastor, Richard, works part-time for a fire-alarm company. Yesterday he mentioned those fire call boxes that you see in larger buildings. These boxes are for Firefighters to use during emergencies. They require a special connector that is only available to fire departments (keep this in mind for a second).

These boxes are required to be 48 inches high so that they are accessible to those that are in wheelchairs. Did you catch that? This is due to the "Americans with Disabilities Act". Due to the physical standards to become a firefighter, there are not many that are in wheelchairs.

I'm all for helping those people or species that are less fortunate but, at what cost? And where is the commonsense in all this legislation? It seems like it has got lost in all the legal jargon.