The entire world is a buzz over Arlen Specter’s defection to the Democrat Party. Many conservative Republicans (it is sad that we have to make that distinction these days) considered him a RINO (Republican In Name Only) and feel that we have not lost much. It is all the Main Stream Media can do to contain themselves. Rumour is that Chris Matthews had a MAJOR tingle up his leg.
Unlike everybody else today, my thoughts on the first 100 days of the new administration are all about me. It has been an interesting and enlightening period in my personal history. These lessons are in no particular order of importance or chronology.
This will be an unusual post for me. I am going to use mostly quotes to tell a story. A story that I hope will propel you to action.
“The crash was the honest acknowledgement of the breakdown of capitalism…caused by speculating margin traders brought down the nation.”
“The country, he believed, had grown too fast:Â beyond ‘our natural and normal growth.’Â The problem was that there had been ‘an era of selfishness.’Â There existed ‘throughout the nation men and women, forgotten in the political philosophy’ of the last years.”
“As soon as A observes something which seems to him to be wrong, from which X is suffering, A talks it over with B, and A and B then propose to get a law passed to remedy the evil and help X. Their law always proposes to determine…what A, B, and C shall do for X.” But what about C? There was nothing wrong with A and B helping X. What was wrong was the law, and the indenturing of C to the cause. C was the forgotten man, the man who paid, “the man who never is thought of.”
It is hard to stop writing about all of the misinformation spread by the extreme environmental movement. I do distinguish between the extreme activists and those like me. I do recycle, I maintain two compost piles and a worm compost bin, I am using native species in the landscaping at my house, and my wife and I both drive SUVs.
I recently attended an Earth Day event and an auto dealer had some vehicles on display that probably catered to the environmentalist crowd. One was a small Subaru station wagon. I noticed that the estimated mileage for that car was several miles per gallon worse than for my SUV. My car is not a full-sized Ford Excursion, but it is much bigger than the Subaru on display.Â
As a follow up to my Earth Day posting I would like to address some of the environmental issues that are frequently in the news. A common thread of the news seems to be that the solutions are simple “if we spent enough money to promote” whatever solution is being purported.
Take wind power as an example. I participate in some school presentations as part of my job and I talk about energy. Invariably solar, wind, or hydropower comes up as part of the discussions. Most students are taught or at least exposed to the benefits of these renewable sources of energy. We need to build more windmills.
As someone who works in the environmental field, Earth Day is the super bowl. It is a day when many folks alter their behavior and do things that are “earth friendly” for a day and then go back to the way they always do things. There are a lot of slogans and events and wearing of t-shirts with earth symbols.
Earth Day is an unusual time for me as a conservative, an environmentalist and someone who works at an environmental regulatory agency. It is my experience that most people who work in the field are left-leaning and are probably registered as Democrats. You might be surprised to learn that there are a lot of us conservatives.
Penny wise and dollar foolish is a way my mother might describe someone who pinches their pennies yet wastes many dollars. There are many examples of this in our culture. How many of you knew someone last summer when gas prices were over $4.00 per gallon would drive out of their way to save 1 or 2 cents per gallon? They probably spent $2.00 in gas to save 50 cents for their fill up.Â
I have to admit, that I paid close attention to gas prices and would plan my errands around where the cheaper gas was. I did not make special trip, but would top off my tank if I passed a station with lower priced gas.Â
Stimulus is defined as:
“Something that rouses or incites to action or increased action; incentive”
Synonyms:Â inducement, provocation
Can you use it in a sentence?
President Barack Obama said the $787 billion economic stimulus plan is beginning to take hold and that work is coming in “ahead of schedule and under budget.”
Can you give me an example?
The stimulus package was hoisted on to the taxpayers as a means to “rebuild crumbling roads and bridges, modernize airports and shipyards, develop high-speed rail networks and restore aging public transit systems.
The mainstream media (“MSM”) showed their true stripes again during their coverage of the hundreds of Tea Parties held yesterday. When confronted with a true grass-roots effort to protest excessive taxation and what is turning into an ever intrusive federal government, the MSM fell back on their typical, tired playbook. They tried to diminish the efforts of the planners and attendees like the elitists they are.
Over the years, Anderson Cooper had seemed to be different, but we probably saw the real Cooper yesterday. During his coverage of the tea parties and in response to a statement from David Gergen about the Republicans needing to “find their voice,” Cooper made the smug, off-color statement:
