The Pink Flamingo :: Don't Turn My GOP Green! Oh, the Humiliation!

Are you are annoyed with the narcissism of "green"? I know I am. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with doing the non pollution thing. I like the idea of "personal" wind power, where you can attach a small windmill to your electrical system and stick it to the money sucking power company. That desire has nothing to do with "Green" and everything to do with a way that, until power companies get smart and have the laws changed, you can generate your own power and force your local power company to credit your for it.

Oh, while I am thinking about it, have you been stuck behind someone being green by carrying their own "Green" grocery bags? They take forever to load. They hold up the line. And, the people using them are always grouchy and never smile. They have no sense of humor.

I digress.... Actually, I am furious for this pandering to the most radical of the left. This current version of "Green" is nothing but prostitution to the ultra brain-washed liberals who think the planet is more important than people. The worst part of this whole mess is the fact that, as usual, the RNC is behind the curve. Green is no longer as popular as it once was. People are starting to figure out that it is a crock. Too back Marie Cino is so beyond the curve here.

"...It's not just the economic downturn that has harmed the green order. People have become wary of environmental causes that can turn out to do more harm than good. They don't want wind turbines marching across Britain's moors when nuclear power stations can do more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They worry that washing and bleaching all those non-disposable nappies may be damaging the ozone layer, that the massive incentives for biofuels have distorted the world food market, and that green taxes are actually stealth taxes...."

I like personal generators, not because they can be "Green" but because if the power goes out I still want to have electricity. Same thing goes for solar power, which, until there is a way to truly store the energy produced by solar in batteries, it's basically a crock. (Please find me another word to use). Green is a scam. It is a con. It is nothing but making people feel good about doing something that is probably more destructive than their original "pollution".I think people who practice it as a religion are narcissistic in their self-righteous look at me, I'm better than you idiocy. Imagine my dismay, after making fun of the Dems for being so stupidly "Green" that the RNC is doing the same thing for the Convention!

"..."Republicans are committed to making next year's nominating convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul the 'greenest' in party history. From transportation to venue selection to staff workspace — convention planners are working to implement the best environmental practices," Maria Cino noted yesterday.

She is president of the 2008 Republican National Convention, scheduled for Sept. 1-4. By then, the GOP better be green, green, green.

It could be a bilious green for some Republicans. Convention headquarters have been furnished with "recycled furnishings" — which might have been called "used" in a less-excruciating era. Recycled office supplies are a must, along with room-to-room climate control, which shuts down automatically at 5 p.m. every day to save energy. And all staffers "live within walking distance, or utilize public transportation to travel to work."

News clips are distributed electronically to preserve paper, and employees are expected to utilize two-sided printing and recycle their paper, plus cans and bottles.

"A greener convention will use fewer resources and leave a smaller footprint, showcase Minneapolis and Saint Paul as leaders in environmental preservation and sustainable development, and underscore the Republican Party's commitment to responsible stewardship of the environment," Ms. Cino explained...."

Can I use the word "crock" again? This is just plain stupid. All the water bottles are going to be recycled and all the canned sodas are going to be recycled by Coke. Who wants to drink soda out of a can, anyway? It tastes terrible.

"...."Waste Management will collect all waste and recyclable material during the convention and take it to its facility in Minneapolis where all of the recyclable material will be sorted and baled. The polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottles and aluminum cans will then be shipped back to the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Eagan, Minn., and ultimately processed by Coca-Cola into new bottles and cans," according to a release from the Host Committee. Nearly 300 "single stream" recycling containers will be used during the convention meaning any recyclable material - aluminum, paper, plastic, or glass - can be deposited in the container.

In addition to this first-of-its kind recycling program, other efforts to remain eco-conscious include utilizing hybrid vehicles; providing information and applications online versus in print for volunteers, delegates and media; printing materials on recycled paper or other alternative types of material including producing the 45,000 GOParty Cards for delegates and media on a bio-plastic material derived entirely from plants; conducting volunteer training virtually; and creating an office environment for convention planners that is equipped with recycled furniture, carpet and office supplies. In addition, 80 percent of employees live within walking distance to the offices. ..."

A few weeks ago I did a Thursday Thirteen about why "Green is a Crock". In the piece, I found an article about NYC and their recycling program.

"...“…It is better to recycle than to throw away. This is the most enduring myth, the one that remains popular even among those who don't believe in the garbage crisis anymore. By now, many experts and public officials acknowledge that America could simply bury its garbage, but they object to this option because it diverts trash from recycling programs. Recycling, which was originally justified as the only solution to a desperate national problem, has become a goal in itself -- a goal so important that we must preserve the original problem. It's as if the protagonist of "Pilgrim's Progress," upon being informed that he could drop his sinful burden right there on the road, insisted on clinging to it just so he could continue the pilgrimage to get rid of it….EVERY TIME A SANITATION DEPARTMENT CREW PICKS UP A load of bottles and cans from the curb, New York City loses money. The recycling program consumes resources. It requires extra administrators and a continual public relations campaign explaining what to do with dozens of different products -- recycle milk jugs but not milk cartons, index cards but not construction paper. (Most New Yorkers still don't know the rules.) It requires enforcement agents to inspect garbage and issue tickets. Most of all, it requires extra collection crews and trucks. Collecting a ton of recyclable items is three times more expensive than collecting a ton of garbage because the crews pick up less material at each stop. For every ton of glass, plastic and metal that the truck delivers to a private recycler, the city currently spends $200 more than it would spend to bury the material in a landfill…."

Have you ever been to Minneapolis-St. Paul in the summer? It is hot, humid, and absolutely miserable. So they are cutting the air off in the "offices" at 5PM. I sure am glad I'm not going to this stupidity and an embarrassment of a Republican convention. I do hope we aren't selling carbon off-set credits like the Dems are. FYI, they are a scam, also.

BTW - 1000 bicycles in the heat of Minneapolis-St.Paul + turning the air up at a certain time of day = very smelly people and a heck of a lot of body odor.

Even if I had accepted my (very early) invitation to blog the RNC, and I learned about all this "green do-do" I'd cancel my reservations and stay home.

I don't do "Green".

In a speech, Michael Crichton said,

"...“…In recent years, much has been said about the post modernist claims about science to the effect that science is just another form of raw power, tricked out in special claims for truth-seeking and objectivity that really have no basis in fact. Science, we are told, is no better than any other undertaking. These ideas anger many scientists, and they anger me. But recent events have made me wonder if they are correct. We can take as an example the scientific reception accorded a Danish statistician, Bjorn Lomborg, who wrote a book called The Skeptical Environmentalist.

The scientific community responded in a way that can only be described as disgraceful. In professional literature, it was complained he had no standing because he was not an earth scientist. His publisher, Cambridge University Press, was attacked with cries that the editor should be fired, and that all right-thinking scientists should shun the press. The past president of the AAAS wondered aloud how Cambridge could have ever "published a book that so clearly could never have passed peer review." )But of course the manuscript did pass peer review by three earth scientists on both sides of the Atlantic, and all recommended publication.) But what are scientists doing attacking a press? Is this the new McCarthyism-coming from scientists?

Worst of all was the behavior of the Scientific American, which seemed intent on proving the post-modernist point that it was all about power, not facts. The Scientific American attacked Lomborg for eleven pages, yet only came up with nine factual errors despite their assertion that the book was "rife with careless mistakes." It was a poor display featuring vicious ad hominem attacks, including comparing him to a Holocaust denier. The issue was captioned: "Science defends itself against the Skeptical Environmentalist." Really. Science has to defend itself? Is this what we have come to?

When Lomborg asked for space to rebut his critics, he was given only a page and a half. When he said it wasn't enough, he put the critics' essays on his web page and answered them in detail. Scientific American threatened copyright infringement and made him take the pages down.

Further attacks since have made it clear what is going on. Lomborg is charged with heresy. That's why none of his critics needs to substantiate their attacks in any detail. That's why the facts don't matter. That's why they can attack him in the most vicious personal terms. He's a heretic.

Of course, any scientist can be charged as Galileo was charged. I just never thought I'd see the Scientific American in the role of mother church….”

Deliver me from Green! Please...

FYI, have you ever heard of the problems created in Africa by the banning of DDT?