Sunday, April 30, 2023
Needless To Say, It's Toxic
The latest term, and one with which I fell in love right away, is “petro-masculinity.” It is somehow perfect in its idiocy.
The idea behind the concept is pretty simple: the attachment to fossil fuels has nothing to do with the fact that without them human civilization would collapse, billions would die a horrible death, and that ever since we began using them human lifespans have increased, poverty has declined, and quality of life has blossomed for billions.
It’s because we love bathing in oil. It buttresses our hate for women.
Proof of this is obvious: so-called “climate deniers” don’t bow down to the goddess Greta.
Now in my little corner of the universe, we don’t generally set public policy and upend civilization based on the tantrums of a high school dropout. This is, I admit, an apparently idiosyncratic view. The UN, for instance, disagrees with my principle of using reason to set policies. But there are still a few stubborn people who do not worship youth and ignorance married to shrill whining.
Income Redistribution: "Green" Energy Edition
In a saner world, the “impact on disadvantaged communities” would be averted by using cheap and reliable energy sources, as we have in the past. The “impact” comes exclusively from liberals’ mania for expensive, unreliable energy. Unable to deny the adverse impact of their policies, the best liberals can do is shift the burden to people who comprise a minority of voters.
Offshore Wind is Nonsensical
We are living in the era of stupid energy projects, but offshore wind must be the worst. If there is a dumber way to generate electricity, I don’t know what it might be. The environmental impacts are obvious, which is why well-connected liberals like the Kennedys nix offshore wind projects near where they live. And one can only wonder what will happen as more offshore wind turbines are erected off the Atlantic coast, and a hurricane comes along.
You Go First
Most rich people who take part in politics are on the Left, which is a major reason why the Democratic Party and its candidates consistently have so much more money than the Republican Party and its candidates.
I have long been bemused by rich liberals like Warren Buffett, who tell us their tax rates are too low. Really? Guess what: the IRS will cash your check! If you seriously think you aren’t paying enough taxes, or you actually believe the government spends money more wisely and effectively than you do, there is an easy solution. Write the IRS a check, I guarantee they will cash it.
Yet, strangely, I have never heard of a rich liberal doing this, even though most of these people are second or third generation beneficiaries who cannot comprehend how hard their ancestors worked to accumulate the wealth that they enjoy.
Germany is Losing the War On Physics
So far, Germany’s government is persisting in its green delusions, but a collision with reality is inevitable. The question is what will be left of Germany’s economy when the green dream is finally abandoned. For more on the unfeasibility of generating and storing enough wind energy to power an economy, see this post by Francis Menton, which focuses on the U.K.
Physics always wins.
Anti-Humanists
The liberal philosophy, reduced to its essence, is that most people need to be poorer, to consume fewer resources. To do less. To enjoy less. But not them, of course. Us.
Class Action
I think there is good reason to think that most, or all, electric vehicles manufactured today are being sold on the basis of misrepresentations amounting to consumer fraud. Why shouldn’t this be the basis for class action lawsuits?
Everyone knows there are two systems of justice in the United States, one system for favored people, industries, and organizations, and another system for disfavored people, industries, and organizations. Electric vehicles are the pets of both the federal and many state governments. Still, the plaintiffs’ class action bar goes where the money is. Class actions, filed in courts not dominated by the Left and ultimately decided by juries, could be one way to bring the incipient EV disaster to a screeching halt.
