What happens when political correctness and enviro-extremism go haywire? It's called the Democrat National Convention. This article by Stephanie Simon of the Wall Street Journal is laugh-out-loud funny. Here is a sample with the link to the full text and new terms like Director of Greening. Just remember, these are the same buffoons who want to take over OUR health care system and promise to save social security. Enjoy!
DENVER -- As the Mile High City gears up to host a Democratic bash for 50,000, organizers are discovering the perils of trying to stage a political spectacle that's also politically correct.
Consider the fanny packs.
The host committee for the Democratic National Convention wanted 15,000 fanny packs for volunteers. But they had to be made of organic cotton. By unionized labor. In the USA.
Official merchandiser Bob DeMasse scoured the country. His weary conclusion: "That just doesn't exist."
Ditto for the baseball caps. "We have a union cap or an organic cap," Mr. DeMasse says. "But we don't have a union-organic offering."
Much of the hand-wringing can be blamed on Denver's Democratic mayor, John Hickenlooper, who challenged his party and his city to "make this the greenest convention in the history of the planet."
Convention organizers hired the first-ever Director of Greening, longtime environmental activist Andrea Robinson. Her response to the mayor's challenge: "That terrifies me!" FULL TEXT
Friday, June 27, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
More insanity...
Further supporting the suspicion that the global warming debate is degenerating into the Salem witch hunt of the 21st century, here is a recent story from Fox News:
The heads of major fossil-fuel companies who spread disinformation about global warming should be "tried for high crimes against humanity and nature," according to a leading climate scientist....."Special interests have blocked the transition to our renewable energy future," Hansen writes in an opinion piece posted on the institute's Web site. "Instead of moving heavily into renewable energies, fossil fuel companies choose to spread doubt about global warming, just as tobacco companies discredited the link between smoking and cancer. Methods are sophisticated, including funding to help shape school textbook discussions of global warming." FULL STORY
Hansen provides no proof of his accusations, only a typical "I told you so" and a "last warning". He goes on to say that in the next 5-10 years, the arctic will be completely free of sea ice in the summer months. And even though he calls for prosecuting the oil barrons, he makes no mention of the environmentalists who repeatedly lobby and block expanded nuclear enery.
On the flip side of this, here is a link to a petition urging the US government to reject the Kyoto Treaty along with the ideas behind human induced climate change. The petition states:
The proposed limits on greenhouse gases would harm the environment, hinder the advance of science and technology, and damage the health and welfare of mankind. There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gasses is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate.
This petition has been signed by over 31,000 American scientists, all of whom have almost certainly been bought off by the oil industry...at least that's what the Left would have us believe, since they constantly tell us that human induced climate change is the consensus opinion of the scientific community.
My opinion on human induced climate change has been thoroughly documented on this site. It interests me that this issue is as polarizing as any political issue in America today, even though the scientific evidence is hardly conclusive. Still, people who believe in global warming defend it as furiously as they defend a woman's "right to choose", as if there is no debate and no question in the scientific data. That suggests a certain arrogance, yet small-mindedness, among the Leftist elites.
No wonder they nominated Barack Obama.
I posted this to exemplify the global warming crowd. This NASA nut wants to prosecute people for crimes against humanity without providing a shred of evidence of such crimes. But, hey, who needs evidence? It's never been of much importance to the "believers".
The heads of major fossil-fuel companies who spread disinformation about global warming should be "tried for high crimes against humanity and nature," according to a leading climate scientist....."Special interests have blocked the transition to our renewable energy future," Hansen writes in an opinion piece posted on the institute's Web site. "Instead of moving heavily into renewable energies, fossil fuel companies choose to spread doubt about global warming, just as tobacco companies discredited the link between smoking and cancer. Methods are sophisticated, including funding to help shape school textbook discussions of global warming." FULL STORY
Hansen provides no proof of his accusations, only a typical "I told you so" and a "last warning". He goes on to say that in the next 5-10 years, the arctic will be completely free of sea ice in the summer months. And even though he calls for prosecuting the oil barrons, he makes no mention of the environmentalists who repeatedly lobby and block expanded nuclear enery.
On the flip side of this, here is a link to a petition urging the US government to reject the Kyoto Treaty along with the ideas behind human induced climate change. The petition states:
The proposed limits on greenhouse gases would harm the environment, hinder the advance of science and technology, and damage the health and welfare of mankind. There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gasses is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate.
This petition has been signed by over 31,000 American scientists, all of whom have almost certainly been bought off by the oil industry...at least that's what the Left would have us believe, since they constantly tell us that human induced climate change is the consensus opinion of the scientific community.
My opinion on human induced climate change has been thoroughly documented on this site. It interests me that this issue is as polarizing as any political issue in America today, even though the scientific evidence is hardly conclusive. Still, people who believe in global warming defend it as furiously as they defend a woman's "right to choose", as if there is no debate and no question in the scientific data. That suggests a certain arrogance, yet small-mindedness, among the Leftist elites.
No wonder they nominated Barack Obama.
I posted this to exemplify the global warming crowd. This NASA nut wants to prosecute people for crimes against humanity without providing a shred of evidence of such crimes. But, hey, who needs evidence? It's never been of much importance to the "believers".
Thursday, June 12, 2008
WEP is relocating due to recent change in jobs, so my posts will be a bit less frequent until things get settled. But this is one I've been wanting to write for a while, and Congress's recent vote to NOT drill for offshore oil is a perfect opportunity. This is the second bill they've recently debated on the Hill, the other being a motion to restrict emissions and implement a new carbon credit system for pollution. In light of Congress' action, I am reminded that politics will always be politics. Very few of our representatives actually want to solve problems since such problems are why we vote people into office to begin with. Thus, solving a problem would potentially threaten the need for their existence. Be they Republican or Democrat, our representatives are impotent when it comes to action. So, I have a few words of advice for either President McCain or President Obama. If they truly want to solve our energy problems, it starts with these steps. I call it the WEP-Plan.
First, oil is a commodity, which means that it's price is determined mainly by 2 factors: supply/demand, and speculators who wager on what supply/demand will be like in the near and distant future. So here's how we reduce the price of oil, for our economy, for the environment, for energy independence. Here is the bipartisan WEP-Plan.
1) Drill. Yes, we must tap our own natural resources. I acknowledge that oil is a finite resource and that we must find a renewable alternative to ensure our long-term survival. Yes, I get it. But that doesn't help us in the short-term. Simply demanding that people stop using so much gas is impractical. People have to work. So, let's increase oil supply and drill, both off-shore and in ANWR. The beach bums in Florida and caribou in Alaska will have to deal with it.
2) Build more nuclear power plants. Again, I realize this may not be the long-term solution, but nuclear power is cleaner and more efficient than what the majority of us use now. There is no reason for us to NOT build more of these power stations.
3) Build more refineries. See number one. The environmentalists will have to live with it.
4) End grain subsidies. Obviously grain subsidies don't lower the price of oil, only raise the price of grain. So now we pay more for both gas AND milk (as well as other grain-based products).
That's the easy stuff. The hard part comes next, mainly because of the nasty politics that would be involved.
5) Close ALL government offices every other Friday. The military does this at some places. You basically work at 10 hour day, and every other week is a 4 day work week.
6) Adjust the thermostat in ALL government buildings. No less than 73 degrees in the summer, no more than 68 degrees in the winter.
7) Deliver the US mail only on Monday, Wed, Friday. And only deliver to rural routes 2 days a week. Eliminate package delivery service, UPS and FedEx can take care of that stuff. The USPS should only deliver envelope-type mail. That way, the suburban mail carrier can be resurrected, walking the route on foot.
8) Lower the federal speed limit back to 55mph.
9) Release 10% of the strategic oil reserve into the market. If anything, this will scare the speculators.
10) Encourage police departments to increase foot-patrols, decrease cruisers on the street, more motorcycles, more horses.
11) Implement an "energy independence" holiday. This is a day where businesses will be encouraged to close, and local communities encouraged to plan activities that would contribute to energy independence, with the major goal of this day being as many Americans as possible stay home, on foot or bike and do NOT buy gasoline. Again, sounds cheesy, but will likely scare the speculators.
That's the WEP-Plan. Not perfect, but it's a start. Do these things, and the every day American will see more affordable oil and it will buy us more time to develop better alternatives. But this won't happen without bipartisan cooperation, which makes it unlikely for Obama.
First, oil is a commodity, which means that it's price is determined mainly by 2 factors: supply/demand, and speculators who wager on what supply/demand will be like in the near and distant future. So here's how we reduce the price of oil, for our economy, for the environment, for energy independence. Here is the bipartisan WEP-Plan.
1) Drill. Yes, we must tap our own natural resources. I acknowledge that oil is a finite resource and that we must find a renewable alternative to ensure our long-term survival. Yes, I get it. But that doesn't help us in the short-term. Simply demanding that people stop using so much gas is impractical. People have to work. So, let's increase oil supply and drill, both off-shore and in ANWR. The beach bums in Florida and caribou in Alaska will have to deal with it.
2) Build more nuclear power plants. Again, I realize this may not be the long-term solution, but nuclear power is cleaner and more efficient than what the majority of us use now. There is no reason for us to NOT build more of these power stations.
3) Build more refineries. See number one. The environmentalists will have to live with it.
4) End grain subsidies. Obviously grain subsidies don't lower the price of oil, only raise the price of grain. So now we pay more for both gas AND milk (as well as other grain-based products).
That's the easy stuff. The hard part comes next, mainly because of the nasty politics that would be involved.
5) Close ALL government offices every other Friday. The military does this at some places. You basically work at 10 hour day, and every other week is a 4 day work week.
6) Adjust the thermostat in ALL government buildings. No less than 73 degrees in the summer, no more than 68 degrees in the winter.
7) Deliver the US mail only on Monday, Wed, Friday. And only deliver to rural routes 2 days a week. Eliminate package delivery service, UPS and FedEx can take care of that stuff. The USPS should only deliver envelope-type mail. That way, the suburban mail carrier can be resurrected, walking the route on foot.
8) Lower the federal speed limit back to 55mph.
9) Release 10% of the strategic oil reserve into the market. If anything, this will scare the speculators.
10) Encourage police departments to increase foot-patrols, decrease cruisers on the street, more motorcycles, more horses.
11) Implement an "energy independence" holiday. This is a day where businesses will be encouraged to close, and local communities encouraged to plan activities that would contribute to energy independence, with the major goal of this day being as many Americans as possible stay home, on foot or bike and do NOT buy gasoline. Again, sounds cheesy, but will likely scare the speculators.
That's the WEP-Plan. Not perfect, but it's a start. Do these things, and the every day American will see more affordable oil and it will buy us more time to develop better alternatives. But this won't happen without bipartisan cooperation, which makes it unlikely for Obama.
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