baldilocks

Do As I Say! (T)

Just don't do as I do!

Al Gore’s Personal Energy Use Is His Own “Inconvenient Truth”: Gore’s home uses more than 20 times the national average

Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359.

Since the release of An Inconvenient Truth, Gore’s energy consumption has increased from an average of 16,200 kWh per month in 2005, to 18,400 kWh per month in 2006.

But, you know, unlike us little people he's important, so it's not hypocritical or anything.

UPDATE: Others blogging the story...

The Anchoress

Gore has bought his indulgences, so his soul is green and pristine and he will still go to ecology heaven. Whew. Thank goodness! Now the rest of you, just buy your indulgences and you can pollute all you want - it all evens out! Can’t you figure that out, yet? And that means, btw, that really is no emergency, after all. But there are good things you can and probably should do. And if you don’t start doing them soon…you’ll be made to.

I think she nailed it earlier, with carbon offsets as the indulgences of the Church of Global Warming. Why quit sinning when you can BUY forgiveness? Heck, you can sin even more and still look down on the masses--if you've the cash. In fact, the more you sin, the more indulgences you buy, the more virtuous you can be!

WizBang

George Bush lives environmentalism whereas Al Gore only gives it lip service, yet he's is hailed as God's greatest gift to the environment. Meanwhile, he greedily consumes far more energy than the average American who, by the way, would be footing the bill for Kyoto if we hadn't pull out of it.

Every single one of those actors at the Oscars last night who was applauding Al Gore and nodding his or her head in agreement when Gore said global warming is a moral issue not a political one, needs to take lessons on how to be eco-friendly from President Bush. Next time liberals smugly announce that they drive Priuses, laugh in their faces.

Hypocrisy, thy name is Gore.

Captain's Quarters

...purchasing offsets only means that Gore doesn't want to make the same kind of sacrifices that he's asking other families to make. He's using a modern form of indulgences in order to avoid doing the penance that global-warming activism demands of others. It means that the very rich can continue to suck up energy and raise the price and the demand for electricity and natural gas, while families struggle with their energy costs and face increasing government regulation and taxation.

Indeed. As many have noted, the number of "indulgences" available is limited, so increased demand will only raise the price of them.

UPDATE: The whole thing had a tune rumbling in the back of my head, one I couldn't quite nail down. Until now.

[Cross-posted to Stubborn Facts.]

UPDATE (baldilocks): A detailed description of some of the eco-friendly features at President Bush's Crawford residence:

Geothermal heat pumps located in a central closet circulate water through pipes buried 300 feet deep in the ground where the temperature is a constant 67 degrees; the water heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer. Systems such as the one in this "eco-friendly" dwelling use about 25% of the electricity that traditional heating and cooling systems utilize.

A 25,000-gallon underground cistern collects rainwater gathered from roof runs; wastewater from sinks, toilets and showers goes into underground purifying tanks and is also funneled into the cistern. The water from the cistern is used to irrigate the landscaping surrounding the four-bedroom home. Plants and flowers native to the high prairie area blend the structure into the surrounding ecosystem.

(Thanks to Gerard van der Leun via Instapundit)

The Art of Communication

(Almost Den Bestian/Whittle-esque in length, if not in quality. It's just something that's been on my mind for a long time.) The reason I think that the majority of bloggers begin their endeavors is a very simple one: most of us want to transmit ideas without interruption. That certainly was one of my reasons for creating this site. Conversely, those of us bloggers who allow comments realize that feedback allows uninterrupted transmission of ideas for our readers as well. This simple exchange of ideas which, hopefully, puts forth ideas is called communication. And, unfortunately, the art of face-to-face communication is nearly a lost one--listening and responding to what one has heard, rather than listening one's own inner conversation with self about the person speaking and/or ideas being expressed. People don't want to do the most important part of communication--active listening--nor do they want to make it easier for the other person to do so.

***BREAKING BIG*** (T)

Al Sadr Fled Iraq, Fearing U.S. Bombs

The story tonight in Iraq is not the arrival of more U.S. troops, but the departure of one of the country's most powerful men, Moqtada al Sadr and members of his army. According to senior military officials al Sadr left Baghdad two to three weeks ago, and fled to Tehran, Iran, where he has family. Al Sadr commands the Mahdi Army, one of the most formidable insurgent militias in Iraq, and his move coincides with the announced U.S. troop surge in Baghdad.

[Cross-posted everywhere.]

The Law of DUH! (T)

For years those pushing for minimum wage hikes have cited the poor underclass, trying to raise families on minimum wage--and opponents have pointed out that those geting minimum wage are mostly live-at-home teenagers and those just gaining entry into the job market. For years economists have pointed out that raising minimum wage will translate into fewer jobs for those in the lower end of the workforce, and been mocked by wage-boost-proponents who say economists don't know what they're talking about, while "activists" do. A field report from one of our laboratories of social policy, in this case Arizona:

New wage boost puts squeeze on teenage workers across Arizona:Employers are cutting back hours, laying off young staffers

It's not just teenagers getting the squeeze, of course. Anyone falling in the "slot" between the old wage and the new one is facing the old cost/benefit evaluation from their employer, and some of them will lose their jobs. Those who stay employed will have to work harder to pick up the slack without busting payroll budgets--which means overtime will definitely be frowned upon.

But hey, those who still have jobs are making more money! DUH!

[Cross-posted to Stubborn Facts]

Anna Nicole Smith

You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

--Revelation 3:17

A woman died today, one who had money, fame and good looks. She had everything—and nothing. Here was a woman who seemed to go every which way in her public and private lives to gain “love” but it seemed to elude her nonetheless.

¹ If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

--1 Corinthians 13:1-3

The type of love discussed here is the agape sort: the “divine, unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, volitional, thoughtful love”--and the one person who probably loved her in this manner of his own volition died in September of 2006.

All her perceived blessings, listed above, could not bring her son Daniel back, so what good were they, really? And what did she have to cling to in her grief?

I’m betting that Ms. Smith recognized the magnitude of what she had really lost, but did not know how to get it again and did not realize that God had handed her a way of finding that sort of love again in the person of her newborn daughter.

Oh, I made fun of Anna Nicole Smith as much as the next person, but her death at a young age and under questionable circumstances is sobering—especially when viewed in the context of her crazy life. (For a contrasting example, last year’s death of the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin—in September, coincidentally--was also sad, but uplifting in its way. Discerning onlookers observed that he had lived a fulfilling--if short--life, doing what he loved and, most importantly, surrounded by love of all three varieties.)

As St. Paul stated in a subsequent verse of the First Corinthians chapter quoted above, faith, hope and love are all that is the essence of a person, but love is the greatest of the three. (And what is a person who is missing one, two or all three of these, especially the greatest of them?)

In the rather disturbing comments section accompanying a Hot Air post on Ms. Smith’s death, one guest said something at the beginning of it which jarred me to the core: “Makes me wish I’d prayed for her.” (As I told Allahpundit in an email last week, the agape love part of Jesus Christ’s first sojourn here on Earth is something about which we Christians often forget.)

Anna Nicole Smith probably died in despair—"wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked" in the spiritual sense--and, likely, some out there are feeling a bit of Schadenfreude.

Not me. I wish I had prayed for her, too.

(Thanks to Dad and to Jill Scott)

Random Late Night Thought

I was flipping through the channels last night, looking for something intellectually stimulating to watch when I lit up on the NASA channel. Therein, some lady was holding forth on her duties as a systems engineer. The lady happened to be black and as I listened to her speak, the random thought hit me...

It was really nice to see a black person other than the last two Secretaries of State discussing something meaningful which was totally unrelated to race.

Turning, Turning, Turning

Washington Post military affairs writer William Arkin says that the "mercenary – oops sorry, volunteer – force that thinks it is doing the dirty work" ought to be grateful for civilian support and need to shut up when the civilian doesn't give the troops any support, because

every rape and murder, the American public has indulged those in uniform, accepting that the incidents were the product of bad apples or even of some administration or command order.

Better Arkin: “So shut up you chickenh-...er, you rapists and murderers (and we know you really all are rapists and murderers, even the she-GIs). Shut up because we've been looking for a reason to tell you to STFU and looking for a reason to heap scorn upon you just like we did to your daddies and uncles."

We pay the soldiers a decent wage, take care of their families, provide them with housing and medical care and vast social support systems and ship obscene amenities into the war zone for them, we support them in every possible way, and their attitude is that we should in addition roll over and play dead, defer to the military and the generals and let them fight their war, and give up our rights and responsibilities to speak up because they are above society?

Better Arkin: “You have no right to tell us to shut up so shut up telling us to shut up because we pay your salary. What? You pay your own salary too? So what; you still should shut up because you're wrong!!!! Everything about you is wrong; everything you believe in is wrong!! And I know that your uniform gives you credibility when you say that you believe in what you're doing in Iraq, but I don't want to hear it and don't want to understand. I just know you're wrong and because you are wrong I'll do everything I can to make you shut up or shame you into shutting up. Now SHUT UP!!!”

Seriously, here's the bottom line for those like Arkin: it matters not whether you're an Iraq War Veteran or whether you're a civilian who doesn't know a helmet from a hole in the ground. All of the insulting and mendacious digs in Arkin's op-ed are merely the opposing side of the Chickenhawk sword (wielded ad nauseum by Tim Robbins to one of Bill O'Reilly's reporters during last weekend’s antiwar rally).
Such people don't care whether you've been in the military or not. All they want is for you to agree with their position and if you don't, it's "what the heck do you know, Chickenhawk?" and soon it will be "what the heck do you know, Baby-killer?" They're working up to it, trust me.

So don't be to hard on Arkin. He finally screwed his courage to the sticking place and said this out loud. Why? Because he believes that the time is right--just as last weekend’s antiwar types thought it was the right time to trot out that old anti-war horse, Jane Fonda.

Oh, everyone is in an uproar just like they were when Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) compared the military to the various fascists of the twentieth century or when 2004 presidential candidate Senator John Kerry (D-MA) botched his joke, but I'm beginning to think that we ought to be grateful to such people.

After all, how would you know who they were if they didn’t occasionally drop the mask?

(Thanks to Right Wing Nuthouse and many others)

UPDATE: Point-counterpoint from Iowahawk. (For the humor/satire-impaired, he's just funnin'.)

Eureka! (T)

Which is Greek for "I've found it!" I've found out why Pelosi and company are so anxious to cut and run. It's because that pesky war is diverting military resources from their much more crucial proper uses.

The office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pressing the Bush administration for routine access to military aircraft for domestic flights, such as trips back to her San Francisco district, according to sources familiar with the discussions. The sources, who include those in Congress and in the administration, said the Democrat is seeking regular military flights not only for herself and her staff, but also for relatives and for other members of the California delegation. A knowledgeable source called the request "carte blanche for an aircraft any time."

[Cross-posted to Stubborn Facts.]