Bribing You With Your Own Money

Aren’t you just so excited that the Energy Secretary announced spending another $34 million bucks we are borrowing from our great-grandchildren?

Colorado will get more than $34 million in federal stimulus money for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Wednesday.Of the total, $9.5 million will be used to expand the Renewable Energy Rebates and Grants Program, Chu said. The other $24.6 million will go to the State Energy Program.

I know that in the context of federal spending $34 million is peanuts, but take a minute to think about it.  If you assume the average family in Colorado has an income of $50,000 that would mean that this is the equivalent of taking the entire working wage for a whole year of 680 families (assuming they actually netted $50,000) just to pay for this silly scheme.  And what will it buy this wonderful $34 million?

“This funding will allow Colorado to make major investments in energy solutions that will strengthen America’s economy and create jobs at the state and local level,”

Without the political baloney please

Part of the money will be used for rebates that will reimburse homeowners for a portion of the cost of activities such as energy audits or the installation of attic insulation, air sealing, duct sealing, and high-efficiency furnace replacements.

Energy audits, insulation, and furnace replacements.  Just how many furnace replacements will this buy?  At $5000 per for the highly efficient ones they will subsidize – believe me I know since we were forced to replace our furnace – and assuming they took the entire $34 million and paid for the whole thing that would be 6800 furnaces!  That would also assume none of this will go to the bureaucrats and bean counters and porn surfers in the state government.  So at max 6800 homes affected in this way – with approximately 2 million total homes in the state.  A whopping .34% of Colorado homes could be helped with your tax money!

What is that?  People will replace their furnaces without government subsidies?  Oh you silly goose.  People would sit in the homes and freeze to death without the government coming and telling them that their furnace needed to be replaced.

But it isn’t all being spent on furnaces what about all those energy audits and insulation and duct tape – so that .34% overstates the impact a bit.  And don’t forget that there’s much more:

It will also be used for incentives for residents and businesses that use onsite renewable energy technology, particularly home heating systems, and the state will also offer $400 rebates for the purchase and installation of efficient biomass-burning stoves that can make use of the state’s wood-pellet resource.

Biomass burning stoves?  There is an EPA restriction on the whole of Denver that pretty much outlaws the burning of anything in order not to offend Mother Gaia, so Denver and its surrounding counties don’t get this lovely benefit.  And I think the ecoFreaks consider the cutting of any tree as the equivalent of murder.  But I know I want to get in line for my $400 stove subsidy.  Well, except for the fact that putting it into my house would mean completely redoing the heating system and putting in a chimney and it would probably end up costing me thousands of dollars to actually get my $400 bucks.  So I guess I will pass – as will anybody who actually has a brain and thinks will also do.

And there’s even more:

The money will also be used for programs to help state agencies, including public schools, reduce their energy use and carbon emissions. The state says it will promote greater energy efficiency in new and existing homes with programs such as a “whole house tune up” that bundles efficiency incentives.

Note that first sentence there – state agencies will use it.  How they will use it is not specified, but it will be used I’m sure.  But somehow you just know that when it comes time to actually account for how this money is used (and we all know that will happen when pigs develop the ability to levitate) all these wonderful audits, and insulation programs, and wood pellet stoves, and furnace replacements will be a drop in the ocean.  This money is going to help keep your state government running and interfering in your life.

This isn’t about energy or carbon credits or anything.  Its just a transfer of your federal tax dollars to the state government for them to pay people to run around piously proclaiming their green credentials.  Aren’t you so glad your taxes are being used in this way?  Because children unborn will be paying interest on this useless waste of money.

Good Luck In Iran

Hidden somewhere in the news lately is the fact that Iran announced that they had detained 3 people on their border.  The Iranians call them CIA spies of course, while the news reports have been about ‘hikers’.  Well, it turns out that they are died-in-the-wool kooks from Bezerkley:

Three Americans whose disappearance in Iran has prompted concern from U.S. officials are idealistic UC Berkeley graduates whose interest in Middle Eastern culture and human rights led them abroad to study and do freelance journalism, friends and colleagues said Monday.

Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal, who are 27, once lived in the same Oakland co-op and taught a student-led class at Berkeley that envisioned a harmonious, postcapitalist society. Sarah Shourd, Bauer’s 30-year-old girlfriend, describes herself on one Web site as a lover of “fresh broccoli, Zapatistas and anyone who can change her mind.

Perhaps its just me, but how stupid can you be to decide to go ‘hiking’ on the Iranian border?

Bauer graduated with honors from UC Berkeley in 2007, earning a bachelor’s degree with a major in peace and conflict studies and a minor in Arabic. He went to Sudan’s Darfur region to research a thesis on the crisis there.

Shourd is described by those who know her as passionate about teaching, traveling and politics. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in English in May 2003, she worked as a tutor with Americorps, a tutoring service in Berkeley and a charter elementary school in Oakland.

Fattal, who earned his bachelor’s degree in environmental economics and policy, is a Pennsylvania native who recently worked and lived at a sustainable living research center in Oregon.

Good luck in that Iranian prison you twits.

Energy Nonsense

In an April 4 Newsweek guest editorial, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu also proved that — his Nobel Prize notwithstanding — common sense and rudimentary knowledge are lacking. First he did not offer one sentence on securing the 87 percent of energy supplies that the US needs other than to discuss “advanced biofuels.”

Not to be outdone in slogan-style exaggeration, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar chimed in…Salazar, the Wall Street Journal reported, “raised eyebrows when he said offshore wind farms could replace 3,000 coal-fired plants.” Never mind that the US only has 600 of them. He also claimed that offshore wind in the Atlantic could deliver 1,000 gigawatts of capacity – approximately equal to the entire electric generation capacity of the US…Salazar’s statement should raise a lot more than eyebrows.

clipped from www.energytribune.com The Obama Administration seems to be unmoved by the fact that according to almost all estimates, by the year 2030, while the world energy demand will increase by 50 percent, oil, gas and coal will still account for 87 percent of world energy. The EPA of course does not offer solutions to the 87 percent problem and defers to Congress to do so. Surely Congress will find the right solution from a position of knowledge as demonstrated by the honorable Nancy Pelosi who on NBC’s Meet the Press said “I believe in natural gas as a clean, cheap alternative to fossil fuels,” and lest one thought she misspoke, she went on to say in the same interview that natural gas “is cheap, abundant and clean compared to fossil fuels.” Let me make two predictions which for most who understand energy may generate chuckles for the dearth of daring: By the end of Obama’s first term, oil consumption in the US will rise and the imported portion of that consumption will increase.

Tax Facts To Make Your Head Explode

Peace N Love N Eternal Utopia

Behold the voice of the progressive masses from the Democratic Communist People’s Republic of San Francisco:

After the laws banning all guns are passed, there should be an amnesty period that would allow gun owners to voluntarily turn in their guns. After that, a system of rewards for informants could be put in place, with upgraded rewards for turning in family members who still own guns.

We should not only get rid of the guns in circulation now, but melt down those in museums; they have no place in our world. When all guns are gone, everywhere, the world will return to the peaceful, nurturing society that existed before the scourge of firearms made us violent.

Of course, warrantless personal/vehicular/home searches would be necessary, but what a small price to pay for a safe, orderly, peaceful society!

JEFFREY L. SUITS Kensington

So somehow the whole history of the world before firearms has passed recognition by Mr. Suits.  The piles of dead by the Egyptians and Hitties and Romans and Mongols and so many others were accomplished without guns.  The utter tyranny and slavery that has been almost all of human history seems to have completely slipped by this utter moron.  And to get it he wants a) family members to snitch on each other, b) absolute and utter government tyranny to take anything they wish and c) absolute government authority to search anything they want.

Don’t these people understand that the people with the guns are probably the ones most well positioned to resist this kind of idiocy – as the founding fathers foresaw and the reason why they put that whole second amendment thing in the Constitution – and that the power to destroy goes both ways.  They won’t be in power forever and if we then decide that kicking down doors in San Francisco to find say drugs or illegals doesn’t need a warrant, do they think that will be a fine and wonderful use of government initiative?

Utopia apparently means Stupidity.

Somebody Actually Listened To the Nitwit Last Night

Thanks to Robert Tracinski who waded through last night’s good and dribble to come up with the main points The Messiah and His Minions will do in destroying America:

• The government will take over lending directly.

• The government will take over lending indirectly.

• The government will vilify and punish bankers. – show of hands, who wants to graduate and go into banking today?  thought so

• No one can know when all of this intervention is going to end or how much bigger it’s going to get.

• Obama will subsidize inefficient and unprofitable “renewable energy” projects.

• Obama will artificially increase the costs of all other forms of energy.

• He will seek socialized medicine. Oooh – question.  Just how many trillions will this cost?  on top of the porkulus and the Social Security Ponzi scheme?

• He’ll soak the rich.

Elections have consequences and we are getting an idea of just how expensive this last election will be for everyone.

Behold the Word of The Messiah

Why Its Sometimes Painful to Be Republican

Idiots like these:

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (Utah), the second-most senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, which is charged with reviewing Geithner’s nomination, called him “brilliant” and “honest” and said that, despite his tax errors, “I don’t think we can get a better person for this position. . . . He has the kind of background that should be very helpful to us at this time.”

Sen. Robert F. Bennett (R-Utah), a close associate of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), said: “If I was a traffic officer, I’d say he may have exceeded the speed limit, but he wasn’t weaving out of lanes, he wasn’t drunk and he wasn’t endangering anybody. He may have some explaining to do, but in the end, I think he’s going to be just fine.”

But Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), appearing with Obama at a photo shoot yesterday, urged his colleagues to back off.

“These are huge times. These are not the times to think in small political terms,” Graham said, praising Geithner’s involvement with the Bush administration in crafting the U.S. response to the global financial crisis. “We need a new secretary of Treasury that understands where this country is at financially and has a game plan to move forward. I think he is the right guy.”

Auto Company Bailout Proposal

Hey! Here’s a GREAT idea: Any executive of any company which has received any kind of federal support MUST purchase and drive an American-made car and donate their BMW, Mercedes, Lexus or whatever to the Salvation Army.

——————

Since the 1950’s Japanese automakers have been concentrating on the quality of their products, having bought into the theories of MIT professor Dr. Edward Demmings.

And that the Germans had pretty much cornered the market on excellence in engineering.

All that US manufacturers have excelled in is marketing gimmicks and it has finally caught up with them.

The Germans and the Japanese (and the Koreans) have been building cars consumers want to buy. US manufacturers have been building cars that the companies want to sell.

Once again the federal government will reward bad behavior.

Quote of the Day

I’d give Joel Klein the lead for this one:

I fear that the Senate’s solution to the looming Social Security crisis will be to make more old people.

Republicans for Obama

Oh the joyous sight of Republicans for Obama:

After many months of emphasizing his crossover appeal, Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign rolled out some actual Republican supporters today — including former Iowa Rep. Jim Leach, a prominent moderate, who said foreign policy was part of his decision to switch sides.

“A lot of Republicans and independents are going to be attracted by his call for a new era,” Leach said in a conference call with reporters.

Joining Leach on the call were Rita Hauser, a former White House intelligence adviser, and Lincoln Chafee, the former senator from Rhode Island. Leach pushed the idea of Sen. Chuck Hagel as Obama’s running mate, saying the Nebraska Republican would bring a “wonderful balance to the ticket.”

Well – if its a PROMINENT moderate calling for Obama then it must be right.  How pathectic a monkier could you get?  prominent moderate.  Why not just emasculate him right there on stage?  Of course that assumes he actually has a pair on him at the time.  They are probably in his Life Partner’s Testicle Lock Box ™.

And if Obama wants a really angry VP candidate – Hegel would fill the bill.  Of course, he decided to “spend more time with his family” and not run for re-election to the Senate this year.  This was based on his great need to spend more time with his family and the fact that he would have gone down in flames in the Republican primary.  Funny how something like that might happen when a Republican Senator spends his whole term very publicly bashing a Republican administration which is actually supported by his very Republican constiuents.

And of course Little Linc has to stick his mug in the picture.  After the Senate Republican committee spent millions of bucks to get him re-nominated in Rhode Island – while trashing his opponent who was an actual Republican – this walking pile of pig feces gets trounced.  Why not have a real Democrat instead of a fake one?  Because as soon as he lost he declares he is switching parties to the Democrats – so how he even qualifies as a Republican for Obama I don’t know.  He says he’s a Democrat now.

But as for taking cakes on this particular story, the “intelligence advisor” has the whole thing:

Hauser said the candidates’ responses to the recent conflict in Georgia demonstrated an important contrast — with Obama’s being preferable. “John McCain’s was very bellicose. It was calling to kick Russia out of the G-8, ignoring all the strategic interests we have with Russia.” Obama, she said, was “very firm in calling for [Russia] to withdraw” from Georgia, but did so with a diplomatic tone.

And the Messiah did firmly, but diplomatically, call upon Russia to stop their invasion – and lo his very words caused the tanks to stop, the planes to cease their bombing and the very waters in the rivers to stand still.

Update:

What a surprise – the non-entity Rita Hauser is a mouthpiece for terrorists:

There was Rita Hauser, the PLO apologist whose law firm, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, racked up millions of dollars in legal fees over the years as a registered foreign agent of Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority. Ms. Hauser met with Mr. Arafat as early as 1988, when America still considered him a terrorist and refused even to allow him access to the United Nations headquarters in New York.

The Skies Are His To Command