Archive for Enviromanticism

Confession: It’s Not About Drilling

Posted by: Jason | August 5th, 2008 · 5:37 PM

Don’t look now, but Nancy Pelosi may have finally revealed the true nature of her Democratic Party’s opposition to domestic oil drilling; environmental extremism.

On the Stephanopoulos Sunday news show, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi underscored her refusal to allow a drilling vote. Asked about the Republican rebellion in the House, she said, “What you saw in the Congress this week was the war dance of the handmaidens of the oil companies.” She went on to say, “We are spending all of this time on a parliamentary tactic, when nothing less is at stake than the planet, the air we breathe, our children breathe.”

Generally, the Democrat response to the domestic drilling question ranges between various stages of dishonesty. Some pose their opposition by suggesting the benefits can’t be felt for five, ten, twenty… even thirty years (it seems according to Democrats the more domestic drilling gains popularity the longer it will take to reap the benefits).

Pelosi’s response however shows a different take. It’s not that domestic drilling is bad because it can’t “help” you fast enough; your need for transportation to work, to daycare, for energy to heat your home, is a threat to the planet and your children themselves.

Let’s remember congress’s stance on election night shall we?

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Artificial Crisis: Confronting the Myths and Realities of Global Warming

Posted by: Jason | July 30th, 2008 · 11:35 AM

(image: extreme mortman)

Throughout man’s relation to the earth, we have questioned the boundaries between progress and ethics. Like every other generation in human history, we face those same challenges today. While advancements in communication and travel have made the world a smaller place, they have also increased our need for energy and technology.

The world is using more of its natural resources than ever before, but are we trading something in return? Many scientists today claim that man’s industrial creations are to blame for global warming, that our greed and contempt for the planet have compromised the future for life itself. They sight examples of common daily luxuries such as automobiles, new development for homes, and techniques in farming, as dangerous to the greater globe. But is there alarmism within this message? Are these same projectors of a future to fear not guilty of their own contemptible actions in the areas of political power and financial gain?

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Will Ferrell as Bush

Posted by: Jason | June 25th, 2007 · 10:05 PM

Regardless of party affiliation, you cannot dislike comedian Will Ferrell’s hilarious impersonations of President Bush. Here’s a favorite excerpt of mine on “global warmings”:

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Bush the Moderate

Posted by: Jason | June 4th, 2007 · 9:48 PM

(image: usda)

You may recall a recent post of mine entitled Learning from Arnold. Within it, I suggested that President Bush, during the final years of his crippled presidency, might be better served by saving the GOP some face and pressing moderate issues.

I’m no moderate, but I do see certain benefits in appealing to bipartisan positions such as energy independence, AIDS prevention in Africa, and solutions to the conflict in Darfur, when your poll numbers are hovering around 30%. Pressing these issues may serve useless, in that the president is doing everything he can to destroy the loyalties of his base through insanely stupid immigration policy (among other mistakes), but humor me none-the-less.

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The Green Party and National Security: An Interview with Alan Augustson

Posted by: Ion | May 29th, 2007 · 11:55 PM

A few weeks back I posted a facile little rebuke aimed at the national security implications of Green Party presidential candidate Alan Augustson’s political platform. Alan responded to this in such a way that I realized I had little idea what the Green Party’s position on security matters was, relative to its environmental policies. Indeed, rarely have I seen anyone even ask Green Party figures questions about this subject.

In continental Europe, Greens are expected to have a broad agenda on all conventional political issues from foreign policy, to funding for the humanities. However in the United States, Greens seem to have been ghettoized into answering questions solely on subjects like global warming or genetically engineered foods. This has the natural effect of marginalizing them into niche political interests within the broader Left. A Left that the media seems quite content to have dominated by the Democratic Party alone.

So, toward a better education in the broader politics of Greens, Alan was kind enough to sit down with us for a short interview on security policy.

From the outset, it should be noted that Alan is a fierce critic of current US security policy and naturally his ideas won’t find much agreement with me, or among postpolitical’s predominantly conservative audience. But I think you’ll agree with me that we managed to ask some fair questions and the interview turned out to be an interesting and instructive exploration of a radically different political perspective.

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We’re All Gonna Die!

Posted by: Jason | May 17th, 2007 · 11:30 AM

(image: sustainability)

Will this guy just go away already? As if we weren’t depressed about politics enough, Al Gore has a new article out at Time entitled The Assault on Reason. It discusses the “dumbing down” of Americans, our lack of interest in current events, and how this phenomenon is promoting the interests of evil in the world. Aside from a few points which conservatives might actually agree with, it’s yet another hodgepodge of doom and gloom from Gore, expressing a sense of demise for the entire population of the United States, and the world for that matter.

I’ll refrain from going into a long winded rebuttal of the full statement, but rather pick apart certain pieces which I found of interest.

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Serf’s Up

Posted by: Ion | May 11th, 2007 · 1:15 AM

Green Party presidential candidate Alan Augustson, on his political platform for the 2008 general election:

As your President, I will mobilize American industry and the American people to transition from the “unlimited growth” economy that has brought us to the brink. Together we will reposition our families and our communities to care for themselves, protect themselves and even educate and govern themselves — all at the community level.

Together we will re-tool our industries, using the resources we have left, to produce the simpler, more durable, non-oil-powered tools and machines, and the renewable energy sources that every household and every community will need, and the additional shared power plants that will help us to preserve and share knowledge in the post-oil economy.
(Augustson2008)

How long do you believe it would take for this new Green Luddite, neo-feudal utopia –which would still be sitting atop of the most valuable piece of real estate on the planet– to be attacked and occupied by anyone with a gasoline engine or two?

a) one week b) one day c) one hour d) I’m a Green Party member and thus don’t believe that any of these plans have security implications.

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Vegans Starve Baby, Get Life Sentence.

Posted by: Jason | May 10th, 2007 · 9:06 AM

(image: static)

This isn’t the type of story that’s fun to report, but it’s one that has a certain political message to it. My wife is a partial vegetarian, mainly due to an aversion to meat since she was 10 years old, and not necessarily any “animal rights” argument. Vegans on the other hand are a completely different bird, seeing harm in any use of animals for human consumption.

I have always been concerned with children being raised in vegetarian or vegan homes. Clearly, as God has created us, it is unnatural to not consume meat for food. All throughout our history on this earth, we have understood the importance of using animals as a means of providing nutrition in our daily lives. Aside from other purposes, animals, according to God, are on this earth to serve this way. And it is clear, to the common sense person, that our lesser friends are in no way equal to humans regarding intellect or value, as cute and cuddly as we might see them.

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Global Warming Poll

Posted by: Jason | April 20th, 2007 · 4:38 PM

(image: askaprice)

A third of Americans say global warming ranks as the world’s single largest environmental problem, double the number who gave it top ranking last year, a nationwide poll shows.

So says a new story at the Post today. The poll, conducted by The Washington Post, ABC News and Stanford University, while showing that a majority of Americans agree that global warming exists, also underlines division over what the US government should do about it.

The main development in this poll is in the increase in those who say they view the issue as “extremely” or “very” important, up to 52 percent, which is about double from where it was last year.

Also, there appears to be a real NIMBY issue when it comes to global warming. According the poll, when Americans are asked about a blanket regulation such as “requiring power plants to reduce emissions”, 62 percent are for it. However, when it comes to personal sacrifices, the numbers ch