Below (scroll down):
- The Midnight Patriotism of Paul Revere
- No photo needed to vote in Virginia
- Fairfax Don’t Need No Education
- When Equality Becomes the Enemy of the Good - Fake News or Just Plain Lies
- Actually, the Corona Virus Is Exactly Why We Shouldn’t Do the Green New Deal
- This is the Crisis that Every Citizen Can Not Let Go to Waste
- Gun Owners, We Support You!
- It’s Not Fair, Change the Rules - Why We Have the Electoral College
- Capitalism is Books
- The Three-Fifths Clause
- The Ruling Class and the Unruly Class
- We the Deplorables
- Frederick Douglass to Governor Blackface - Don’t Take My Guns
- The Grasshopper and the Ants (a fable)
- Thanking Our Volunteers
- Don’t Drink the Kool-Aid
- Seeing Through the Fake Narratives of the Left - Three reasons socialism will never succeed
- The Problem with ‘Red Flag’ Laws
- African Americans Don’t Need Reparations. We Need To Take Responsibility For Our Lives
- America, America, I Love You, Let Me Count the Ways
- Social Security and Medicare Still in Actuarial Deficit on a Long-Term Basis
- Do the rich pay their fair share?
- Are You a Tea Partier and Don’t Know It?
- Ending Civil Asset Forfeiture Abuse in Tennessee
- The Rhetoric of Ronald Reagan
- Even a Bad Investor Can Beat Social Security
- Celebrating Freedom in a Country That Seems to Be Throwing It Away
- Making the World Safe for Democracy – One Therapy Dog at a Time
- A Graphical Update on the National Debt
- In a Perfect World, the Government Would Protect Our Rights, But....
- Why I Oppose a 'Single-Payer' or 'Public Option' Medical Plan
- Leftist Battlecry: “No Borders! No Walls! No USA at All!”
- D.C. Sights for Tea Partiers
- Social Security and Medicare Trustees Issue Yet Another Warning
- Enough with the Government Dependency, Already!
- What If You Had No Right to Life, Liberty, or Property?
- Insider Reveals How the Media Distort the News on Guns
- U.S. Becoming More Economically Free, and That’s a Good Thing
- Why Do We Have the Second Amendment Right to Bear Arms?
- The Forgotten Black Patriots of the Revolutionary War
- Let the Opportunity Society Work Its Magic
- MORE - try the search box on the homepage
The Midnight Patriotism of Paul Revere
PERMALINK
An implicit core value of the Tea Party movement is patriotism - love of country. One way to refresh feelings of patriotism is to revisit the inspiring stories of the early American patriots like Paul Revere. There’s always something new to learn. Did you know the colonists patrolled the streets of Boston all night to watch for British troop movements, or that Paul Revere borrowed the horse for his famous ride? One of the accounts Revere left of his ride is an 8-page letter which you can read and explore here and here. Revere’s patriotism is part of America’s founding, well worth revisiting in a time when the political Left is trying desperately trying to strip America’s foundation away to make it easier to impose their will upon us. Stories of our heroes are one good antidote.
No photo needed to vote in Virginia
by Reagan George
April 27, 2020
Reprinted with Permission of the Author
PERMALINK
Below is my actual bill from Dominion Energy. It took me all of 10 minutes to prepare both bills the real one and the fake one. I did not have to buy any sophisticated software; in fact you probably have it on your PC or Apple. It was Microsoft’s PowerPoint. This is all you need to present the fake utility bill to vote in Virginia. NO PHOTO ID REQUIRED!
The reason given by Democrats is to open up our elections. This it does, it opens it up to rampant voter fraud, which is the real reason for doing it in the first place.
by Reagan George
April 27, 2020
Reprinted with Permission of the Author
PERMALINK
Below is my actual bill from Dominion Energy. It took me all of 10 minutes to prepare both bills the real one and the fake one. I did not have to buy any sophisticated software; in fact you probably have it on your PC or Apple. It was Microsoft’s PowerPoint. This is all you need to present the fake utility bill to vote in Virginia. NO PHOTO ID REQUIRED!
The reason given by Democrats is to open up our elections. This it does, it opens it up to rampant voter fraud, which is the real reason for doing it in the first place.
|
|
The left is always complaining about the low voter participation rates after our elections. The participation rate is calculated by taking the number of votes cast divided by the number of registered voters.
What they ignore is they have intentionally corrupted the voter rolls in Virginia by not maintaining the central registration database of registered voters (VERIS). Virginia has many counties where the number of registered voters exceeds the number of eligible voters based on official census data.
They have also retained voters that should have been removed from VERIS. Such as:
To actually improve Virginia’s voter participation rate, we need to demand that our State Board of Elections clean-up the VERIS database, which by removing approximately one million ineligible voters reduces the denominator significantly. By the way, this is the same database that Democrats from Pelosi, Schumer, on down want to use to send mail-in ballots to everyone, whether they should have a ballot or not. This will be massive voter fraud on steroids across America, not just Virginia.
The Left wants greater participation in our elections, which is great. Unfortunately, participation by ineligible, non-existent, dead, moved, and non-citizens pump up of the number of votes cast, but decreases the public’s trust in our elections. Election integrity is much more important to our Republic than increasing the number of invalid votes; unless of course one of your leftist objectives is to fundamentally change America.
_________________________________________
What they ignore is they have intentionally corrupted the voter rolls in Virginia by not maintaining the central registration database of registered voters (VERIS). Virginia has many counties where the number of registered voters exceeds the number of eligible voters based on official census data.
They have also retained voters that should have been removed from VERIS. Such as:
- Voters that have moved out of state, estimated to be over 350,000 people;
- Dead voters, currently over 11,000, based on the most recent VERIS data from the State Board of Elections;
- Thousands of active voters that have never, ever voted;
- Thousands of non-citizens that leftist groups, such as the League of Women Voters, have registered to vote, thereby diluting legal votes cast by eligible voters;
To actually improve Virginia’s voter participation rate, we need to demand that our State Board of Elections clean-up the VERIS database, which by removing approximately one million ineligible voters reduces the denominator significantly. By the way, this is the same database that Democrats from Pelosi, Schumer, on down want to use to send mail-in ballots to everyone, whether they should have a ballot or not. This will be massive voter fraud on steroids across America, not just Virginia.
The Left wants greater participation in our elections, which is great. Unfortunately, participation by ineligible, non-existent, dead, moved, and non-citizens pump up of the number of votes cast, but decreases the public’s trust in our elections. Election integrity is much more important to our Republic than increasing the number of invalid votes; unless of course one of your leftist objectives is to fundamentally change America.
_________________________________________
Mr. George is a founding member of the Fair Lakes Area Tea Party. He is also a member of the Northern Virginia Tea Party, Fairfax County Republican Party, as well as, the Virginia Tea Party Patriots Federation. Currently, Mr. George is involved in establishing the Virginia Voters Alliance which is a state wide organization devoted to improving the voting process by sponsoring legislation, recruiting election officials/poll watchers, and combatting voter fraud in the Commonwealth. The Virginia Voters Alliance is empowered by the True the Vote organization located in Houston, Texas where it was successful in reducing fraudulent voter registrations in Harris County. Mr. George is a Management Consultant specializing in strategic planning, post-merger integration, enterprise system architecture, and project management. He resides in Chantilly, Virginia with his wife and daughter.
Fairfax Don’t Need No Education
- When Equality Becomes the Enemy of the Good
By Brother Bob
April 21, 2020
Reprinted with Permission of the Author
PERMALINK
The Fairfax school system has become a case study in the worst of our public education system. As much as it pains me to link the Washington Post as a source of reference, this article by Hannah Natanson gives a thorough blow by blow of the many mistakes that were made (emphasis mine).
As schools across America, shut down by the novel coronavirus, scrambled to kick-start online learning, one of the largest and best-ranking school systems in the nation took its time.
Fairfax County Public Schools, in Northern Virginia, waited four weeks, including a week of spring break, before launching virtual school for its 189,000 students. It finally started on Tuesday, when teachers and children sat before screens to embark on a plan the superintendent promised would allow students “to continue learning . . . while being mindful of their health and wellness.”
The trouble started immediately, as many students and teachers found it impossible to log on. For some who could get online, things only got worse: Classes were hijacked by racist, homophobic and obscene language. Students appeared on screen naked or flashed weapons.
Fairfax canceled school for the rest of the week. In the days since, teachers and families have demanded to know how and why things went so wrong.
“Our families patiently waited for us to roll out this distance learning,” said Fairfax County School Board member Megan McLaughlin. “What happened this week — it just never should have happened. There’s going to be a great deal more of extensive review by this board of why and how it did happen.”
Interviews with more than a dozen Fairfax employees and families suggest initial answers: Needed technology updates were neglected for more than a year. Basic privacy features were ignored. And teachers were left adrift with scant guidance.
We’ll come back to the emphasized points in a minute. The article gives a good look at the many issues, from lack of testing, failure to install software updates for over a year, lack of controls, etc. Let’s get to the real cause of this, again, emphasis mine:
Soon after Gov. Ralph “Coonman” Northam (D) ordered schools closed on March 13, Fairfax teachers began clamoring for ways to reach their students.
“From the get-go, they were grasping at the fastest and easiest way to get back in touch,” said Becca Ferrick, president of the Association of Fairfax Professional Educators, which represents 1,800 educators.
Some delays were understandable. The Virginia Department of Education had recommended districts refrain from grading or requiring schoolwork, in an effort to allay concerns about students having unequal access to resources. Some employees spent the first part of the closure setting up meal distribution sites. Others were intent on delivering devices and Internet access to families.
“We’re dealing with a pandemic, which is a little bit more important than dealing with education,” said Kimberly Adams, president of the 4,000-strong Fairfax Education Association. “At least for a bit there.”
But teachers said they were given little to do, and almost no guidance, for the first week after schools closed. Some tried to contact children by emailing and calling. The second week of the closure brought a handful of staff meetings. By the third week, teachers were taking brief trainings on how to use the video platform offered by Blackboard, an education technology company that Fairfax has contracted for about two decades.
OK, I might have made a minor edit at the top of this last excerpt. But the biggest problem is that damnable Leftist sacrament of punishing everyone in the name of phrases like “unequal access”. Fairfax’s public school system will be remembered as an easily explained demonstration in how top down central planning does not work. Note the last paragraph in the last excerpt how teachers’ attempts to do their jobs was spotty at best. If unionized public school teachers are the gods among us that the anti-school choice crowd tells us they are, why were teachers not given more leeway?
Here in The People’s Republic of Arlington, our situation is far from perfect. After the return from spring break it was decided that students would be given no new concepts for the rest of the year. Parents in the elementary school system were given lesson plans designed to take @ 45 minutes each day. And the schools had the thick booklet of printouts at the schools for parents to pick up if they didn’t want to print at home (so much for unequal access). That said, parents at least have guidance to go beyond the lesson plans. At the outset Little Bob’s teacher reached out with lesson plans. Several different apps were put out for kids to be able to download and use. Links to websites for science and art were provided. Yes, a lot falls on the parents, but at least Arlington had the flexibility to give every child in its system the opportunity to learn.
The Fairfax School system has a lot to answer for, but at least they achieved their primary goal of Fairfax equality. The residents of Fairfax now get to decide if this is how they want their kids to get educated. They certainly got an education, and now we’ll see if they learned from it.
_________________________________
Blogging by the credo of "Making the world a more offensive place, one blog post at a time", Brother Bob started writing posts around the beginning of the Obama presidency over at Brother Bob's Blog. A born-again Existentialist and self-professed libertarian with conservative tendencies, he has ironically chosen to live in the Washington, DC area - deep behind enemy lines. He believes in the "Happy Warrior" approach, and tries to inject humor in his posts, sometimes successfully. Brother Bob lives with his very patient wife known as Sister Babe, and their fantastic son, Little Bob.
- When Equality Becomes the Enemy of the Good
By Brother Bob
April 21, 2020
Reprinted with Permission of the Author
PERMALINK
The Fairfax school system has become a case study in the worst of our public education system. As much as it pains me to link the Washington Post as a source of reference, this article by Hannah Natanson gives a thorough blow by blow of the many mistakes that were made (emphasis mine).
As schools across America, shut down by the novel coronavirus, scrambled to kick-start online learning, one of the largest and best-ranking school systems in the nation took its time.
Fairfax County Public Schools, in Northern Virginia, waited four weeks, including a week of spring break, before launching virtual school for its 189,000 students. It finally started on Tuesday, when teachers and children sat before screens to embark on a plan the superintendent promised would allow students “to continue learning . . . while being mindful of their health and wellness.”
The trouble started immediately, as many students and teachers found it impossible to log on. For some who could get online, things only got worse: Classes were hijacked by racist, homophobic and obscene language. Students appeared on screen naked or flashed weapons.
Fairfax canceled school for the rest of the week. In the days since, teachers and families have demanded to know how and why things went so wrong.
“Our families patiently waited for us to roll out this distance learning,” said Fairfax County School Board member Megan McLaughlin. “What happened this week — it just never should have happened. There’s going to be a great deal more of extensive review by this board of why and how it did happen.”
Interviews with more than a dozen Fairfax employees and families suggest initial answers: Needed technology updates were neglected for more than a year. Basic privacy features were ignored. And teachers were left adrift with scant guidance.
We’ll come back to the emphasized points in a minute. The article gives a good look at the many issues, from lack of testing, failure to install software updates for over a year, lack of controls, etc. Let’s get to the real cause of this, again, emphasis mine:
Soon after Gov. Ralph “Coonman” Northam (D) ordered schools closed on March 13, Fairfax teachers began clamoring for ways to reach their students.
“From the get-go, they were grasping at the fastest and easiest way to get back in touch,” said Becca Ferrick, president of the Association of Fairfax Professional Educators, which represents 1,800 educators.
Some delays were understandable. The Virginia Department of Education had recommended districts refrain from grading or requiring schoolwork, in an effort to allay concerns about students having unequal access to resources. Some employees spent the first part of the closure setting up meal distribution sites. Others were intent on delivering devices and Internet access to families.
“We’re dealing with a pandemic, which is a little bit more important than dealing with education,” said Kimberly Adams, president of the 4,000-strong Fairfax Education Association. “At least for a bit there.”
But teachers said they were given little to do, and almost no guidance, for the first week after schools closed. Some tried to contact children by emailing and calling. The second week of the closure brought a handful of staff meetings. By the third week, teachers were taking brief trainings on how to use the video platform offered by Blackboard, an education technology company that Fairfax has contracted for about two decades.
OK, I might have made a minor edit at the top of this last excerpt. But the biggest problem is that damnable Leftist sacrament of punishing everyone in the name of phrases like “unequal access”. Fairfax’s public school system will be remembered as an easily explained demonstration in how top down central planning does not work. Note the last paragraph in the last excerpt how teachers’ attempts to do their jobs was spotty at best. If unionized public school teachers are the gods among us that the anti-school choice crowd tells us they are, why were teachers not given more leeway?
Here in The People’s Republic of Arlington, our situation is far from perfect. After the return from spring break it was decided that students would be given no new concepts for the rest of the year. Parents in the elementary school system were given lesson plans designed to take @ 45 minutes each day. And the schools had the thick booklet of printouts at the schools for parents to pick up if they didn’t want to print at home (so much for unequal access). That said, parents at least have guidance to go beyond the lesson plans. At the outset Little Bob’s teacher reached out with lesson plans. Several different apps were put out for kids to be able to download and use. Links to websites for science and art were provided. Yes, a lot falls on the parents, but at least Arlington had the flexibility to give every child in its system the opportunity to learn.
The Fairfax School system has a lot to answer for, but at least they achieved their primary goal of Fairfax equality. The residents of Fairfax now get to decide if this is how they want their kids to get educated. They certainly got an education, and now we’ll see if they learned from it.
_________________________________
Blogging by the credo of "Making the world a more offensive place, one blog post at a time", Brother Bob started writing posts around the beginning of the Obama presidency over at Brother Bob's Blog. A born-again Existentialist and self-professed libertarian with conservative tendencies, he has ironically chosen to live in the Washington, DC area - deep behind enemy lines. He believes in the "Happy Warrior" approach, and tries to inject humor in his posts, sometimes successfully. Brother Bob lives with his very patient wife known as Sister Babe, and their fantastic son, Little Bob.
Fake News or Just Plain Lies
by Robert Harrison
Special to Potomac Tea Party
April 2020
PERMALINK
It has become clearer every day the true cost of fake news. In China the news media is controlled by one party, the Communist Party. Not surprisingly this media covers for them, and by that, helps perpetrate the lies of the Communist Party. The corona virus pandemic is today much worse than it had to be because the Chinese media chose to ignore warning signs of the virus put out by their own scientists. That made it possible for the government of China to suspend domestic travel and yet leave open international travel allowing the disease to spread around the world before it was reported.
In the United States we have the same problem, a news media controlled by one party and being used to further their agenda, and not to inform the American people. The only difference is that we are not a one-party dictatorship, we are a representative democracy with two parties. It should be different here.
When this situation first appeared, President Trump stopped all travel to and from China. Democrats, through the news media, stated he over reacted. As the situation became more serious the Democratic Party, through the news media reversed its position saying that President Trump was doing too little, too late. Throughout the crisis, the news media has taken a vision opposite that of the president no matter what was being done to the point of even supporting China and their lies. The president’s daily press conferences have been so effective that there have been calls by democrats for such news sources not to broadcast his portion of the press conference. He is speaking to the American people and we are listening. Only the democrats are not.
Prominent democrat and television personality Bill Maher said some months ago he would sacrifice this great Trump economy and put the country in to a recession if it meant not electing Trump to a second term. That seems to be the mantra of the Democratic Party. They are not dealing with this situation except to politicize it and no matter what the president does. They will call him names and denounce all his efforts to protect us. But not once have I heard any of these people make one constructive suggestion or do anything to help. They would rather see the country destroyed if that meant they can could run what was left.
by Robert Harrison
Special to Potomac Tea Party
April 2020
PERMALINK
It has become clearer every day the true cost of fake news. In China the news media is controlled by one party, the Communist Party. Not surprisingly this media covers for them, and by that, helps perpetrate the lies of the Communist Party. The corona virus pandemic is today much worse than it had to be because the Chinese media chose to ignore warning signs of the virus put out by their own scientists. That made it possible for the government of China to suspend domestic travel and yet leave open international travel allowing the disease to spread around the world before it was reported.
In the United States we have the same problem, a news media controlled by one party and being used to further their agenda, and not to inform the American people. The only difference is that we are not a one-party dictatorship, we are a representative democracy with two parties. It should be different here.
When this situation first appeared, President Trump stopped all travel to and from China. Democrats, through the news media, stated he over reacted. As the situation became more serious the Democratic Party, through the news media reversed its position saying that President Trump was doing too little, too late. Throughout the crisis, the news media has taken a vision opposite that of the president no matter what was being done to the point of even supporting China and their lies. The president’s daily press conferences have been so effective that there have been calls by democrats for such news sources not to broadcast his portion of the press conference. He is speaking to the American people and we are listening. Only the democrats are not.
Prominent democrat and television personality Bill Maher said some months ago he would sacrifice this great Trump economy and put the country in to a recession if it meant not electing Trump to a second term. That seems to be the mantra of the Democratic Party. They are not dealing with this situation except to politicize it and no matter what the president does. They will call him names and denounce all his efforts to protect us. But not once have I heard any of these people make one constructive suggestion or do anything to help. They would rather see the country destroyed if that meant they can could run what was left.
Encouraging you to stand up for the truth
© Robert Harrison 2020
© Robert Harrison 2020
Actually, the Corona Virus Is Exactly Why We Shouldn’t Do the Green New Deal
By Brother Bob
April, 14, 2020
Reprinted with Permission of the Author
PERMALINK
A recent headline in the dead tree edition of the Opinion section in The Washington Post bore the ominous headline, “Coronavirus is Killing You, but Climate Change is Killing Us!” I figured this would be an entertaining read, and of course it did not disappoint. When I searched for the ones and zeroes version for blog purposes, the title didn’t come up. I finally found it, with the changed title of “Politicians blew off Gen Z’s climate goals. The coronavirus shows we can act fast.”
.... This post is just short enough that I can go blow by blow through the article. It starts off with:
By Jamie Margolin
Jamie Margolin, an 18-year-old Colombian-American climate justice activist, is a founder of the international youth climate justice organization Zero Hour, and author of the upcoming book, “Youth to Power: Your Voice and How To Use It.”
I’m 18 years old. In the four years I’ve spent fighting for climate justice, I’ve constantly heard the same excuses from the leaders who are supposed to protect me, my future and the future of generations to come: “We just can’t do that. We can’t transform our economy. We can’t change that fast.”
First off, I’m sorry that you went through high school without any parents in your life. To clarify, for all I know you may have been raised by your biological mother and father, they just haven’t been parents to you for the last four years. When you could have been developing life skills, enjoying your youth, and maybe getting an education, you’ve been instead following this crazed death cult that’s been calling for the Apocalypse in 5-10 years for, what, a half century now? And how do I know you haven’t had an education? I’m impressed that in four years of high school you haven’t had an English teacher who taught you about that mysterious, exotic thing known as the adverb. Between the title and opening paragraph you’ve already made two grammatical errors – you should be calling for us to move/act quickly. Save the adverb!
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi mocks the Green New Deal as the “green dream or whatever.” President Trump dismisses the idea that the United States should ditch fossil fuels: “I’m not going to lose that wealth. I’m not going to lose it on dreams, on windmills, which frankly aren’t working too well.” Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, who unrolled a “middle ground” climate plan last May, instructs critics who want more drastic action, like a refusal to replace old natural gas pipelines, to “go vote for someone else.” When I testified in Congress last fall, Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) told me that the United States shouldn’t take urgent action because other countries aren’t doing their share to reduce emissions. These climate proposals simply aren’t realistic, I keep hearing.
Maybe part of the reason people aren’t feeling a sense of urgency to adopt The Green New Deal is because one key component missing from it is… the impact it will have on the climate. Yes, unlike you I actually read the entire bill, and you might want to do the same. This dreck was such a powerful message that Democrats actually got offended when Cocaine Mitch called for a vote on it.
Well, the coronavirus pandemic has blown their cover. It has exposed how government leaders, and the American public, actually can make immediate, dramatic behavioral changes — even when those changes have serious consequences for the economy and our quality of life. It’s just that, until now, they haven’t been willing to.
[In Ron Howard’s Arrested Development Narrator Voice]: “Actually, it didn’t.” The biggest difference between the two issues? The Kung Flu Virus and the Boogie Wuhan Flu is real.
Don’t get me wrong: I am strictly following public health guidelines. I am staying indoors and self-isolating. I canceled all the events and travel that I had planned for the next few months. I am doing all my schoolwork, socializing and activism online. I gave up my freedom of movement and my ability to fully pursue my passions, and I did this immediately and gladly, because I will make sacrifices to keep us all healthy. I’m encouraging all my friends and peers to do the same. I do not want to catch the disease or transmit it to older and more vulnerable people.
Excellent on all counts, and good on you! Note that the big difference between the two crises is that the Corona Virus is calling for temporary changes (although plenty of Democrats want them to be permanent). You’re demanding we permanently surrender our freedom. As appealing this may sound in your drum circle, this one is a hard sell with the Normals.
But the way the coronavirus disproportionately affects older people is the exact way the climate crisis disproportionately affects young people. According to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the coronavirus fatality rate is as high as 11 percent among people between the ages of 65 and 84, but 0.1 percent for those between the ages of 20 and 44. In China, more than 80 percent of deaths occurred in adults older than 60; in Italy, that proportion is more than 96 percent. While those in my generation are indeed at risk of getting the virus, and no age group is safe from covid-19, older generations have the highest risk of dying from it.
When it comes to the climate crisis, most of the statistics are flipped: Young people will suffer the most. A United Nations study estimates that countries have roughly 10 years to take “unprecedented” actions to cut carbon emissions, before it’s too late. In a decade or two, many of today’s most influential politicians won’t even be around. But my generation will be. And we will be suffering and dying in massive numbers from the countless harms of the climate crisis: air pollution permanently damaging our lungs and immune systems; more pandemics of infectious diseases; severe and frequent natural disasters, droughts and famine; a projected 150 million people displaced by sea level rise.
Remember that part about the continuously moving target of how the end is coming in ten years for a few decades? Your case isn’t helped by the smartest president in American history bought a $15 Million mansion that’s going to be underwater in a few years.
You want young people to sacrifice — to stop socializing, to shut ourselves inside — so older people can live. But many older people aren’t sacrificing so the youth can live.
Our leaders say shutting down extractive fossil fuel industries would be too disruptive. They say factory farming and animal agriculture are here to stay, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. They say it’s too expensive to build mass transit. They say it’s simply impossible to get to net zero emissions by 2030. They say rapidly transitioning to a renewable-energy economy is too inconvenient, too expensive.
It’s true: Those things are hard. But the coronavirus has proved that they are not impossible — that people will act in an emergency when they understand that it threatens them. Under normal circumstances, the climate catastrophe seems remote, or at least remote enough. Corporations think in terms of next quarter’s results, and politicians worry about the next election, which is at most six years away. There is no incentive to take inconvenient action, so the powerful claim they “can’t.”
I’m going to be constructive here, and offer some serious advice that will help you get taken seriously – show us a plan. In simple, broad strokes:
- How have you determined what the “correct” global temperature or rate of change is? And what are those starting benchmarks?
- Show us a a timeline, and what results we should expect to see by your drastic action. And no, “The fact that our model wound up wrong is further proof of how drastically the climate is changing!” If it wasn’t accounted for in your original plan, then you’re wrong.
- How are you rolling this out? If we’re going to move on from fossil fuels, where is all of the alternative energy going to come from? Where will all of those solar/wind/turbine sources going to be placed?
- And of course, what will be the cost? And no, “It will pay for itself with the bazillions of dollars in health care savings and the world not being destroyed!” isn’t research or data.
This pandemic shows that they simply won’t. We’ve seen schools and businesses and churches closed, and sports and entertainment events canceled. The social and economic consequences of this emergency response have been dire, including mass layoffs and losses in profit. Our leaders have demonstrated a sudden, passionate willingness to make corporations completely modify the way they operate and to shame people into changing their habits. All of this contradicts the usual excuses for climate inaction.
This pandemic has brought business as usual to an official halt. When the worst of the illness has passed, instead of rushing to return to “normal” — the old, comfortable pattern of destroying the planet — we can take this opportunity to restructure our economy and society in a way that will ensure today’s children can live.
My generation is giving up our youth — our schooling, our fun and our freedom — so that you can see next year. When this is over, you may have to keep giving something up so that we can see the next century.
Whoah – you are not “giving up your youth” for us. I’m not belittling what you’ve given up, whether it be spring break trips, proms, or graduations. But many grown ups are giving up these things called “their livelihoods”. And when this is over, we’ll go back to producing things like the energy that charges your smart phones, your organic/fair trade/free range coffee beans, and everything else that generates the wealth that funds your ability to pretend that working for some parasitic activist group grants you some kind of sainthood.
You gave up your youth when you joined this cult. I’ll leave you with one prediction that I make with 100 percent certainty – you’re going to be miserable until the day you leave.
_________________________________
Blogging by the credo of "Making the world a more offensive place, one blog post at a time", Brother Bob started writing posts around the beginning of the Obama presidency over at Brother Bob's Blog. A born-again Existentialist and self-professed libertarian with conservative tendencies, he has ironically chosen to live in the Washington, DC area - deep behind enemy lines. He believes in the "Happy Warrior" approach, and tries to inject humor in his posts, sometimes successfully. Brother Bob lives with his very patient wife known as Sister Babe, and their fantastic son, Little Bob.
This is the Crisis that Every Citizen Can Not Let Go to Waste
By Brother Bob
April 8, 2020
Reprinted with Permission of the Author
PERMALINK
Fairfax County, Virginia is facing a budget crisis. However, unlike most issues that we hear about around the DC Beltway, this is a crisis that affects every level of government across the country, from the largest states to the smallest towns. The title of this post is paraphrasing the famous quote from President Obama’s former Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel:
... One of the surprisingly underreported stories (or not so surprising given what passes for journalism today) is how states and local governments are facing massive budget shortfalls, as the nationwide shutdown has basically strangled the tax revenue to these government entities. Fairfax is just one all too real example of what is happening across America. This means that all of these government bodies are going to have to make some hard choices as to what gets funded and how to pay for it. And this is where we come in.
Since raising taxes will have the effect of trying to draw blood from a stone, budget cuts are coming down. And this is the opportunity for us to shine a light of what is being cut and what is being kept. If we see schools talking about laying off teachers, maybe ask why having someone with a title like “Director of Diversity and Inclusion” on staff is more important than teaching. Are library hours being cut? Maybe cut out whatever funds are being used for Drag Queen Story Hours, or as I like to call it, “state sponsored child endangerment“. How about expensive, unreliable school buses?
While we can’t do much individually about how the federal government mismanages our tax dollars, we can start making a difference on local and state levels. Who knows? If we start small, maybe at some point it will get the attention of the federal government?
_________________________________
Blogging by the credo of "Making the world a more offensive place, one blog post at a time", Brother Bob started writing posts around the beginning of the Obama presidency over at Brother Bob's Blog. A born-again Existentialist and self-professed libertarian with conservative tendencies, he has ironically chosen to live in the Washington, DC area - deep behind enemy lines. He believes in the "Happy Warrior" approach, and tries to inject humor in his posts, sometimes successfully. Brother Bob lives with his very patient wife known as Sister Babe, and their fantastic son, Little Bob.
By Brother Bob
April 8, 2020
Reprinted with Permission of the Author
PERMALINK
Fairfax County, Virginia is facing a budget crisis. However, unlike most issues that we hear about around the DC Beltway, this is a crisis that affects every level of government across the country, from the largest states to the smallest towns. The title of this post is paraphrasing the famous quote from President Obama’s former Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel:
- “Rule one: Never allow a crisis to go to waste,” Mr. Emanuel said in an interview on Sunday. “They are opportunities to do big things.”
... One of the surprisingly underreported stories (or not so surprising given what passes for journalism today) is how states and local governments are facing massive budget shortfalls, as the nationwide shutdown has basically strangled the tax revenue to these government entities. Fairfax is just one all too real example of what is happening across America. This means that all of these government bodies are going to have to make some hard choices as to what gets funded and how to pay for it. And this is where we come in.
Since raising taxes will have the effect of trying to draw blood from a stone, budget cuts are coming down. And this is the opportunity for us to shine a light of what is being cut and what is being kept. If we see schools talking about laying off teachers, maybe ask why having someone with a title like “Director of Diversity and Inclusion” on staff is more important than teaching. Are library hours being cut? Maybe cut out whatever funds are being used for Drag Queen Story Hours, or as I like to call it, “state sponsored child endangerment“. How about expensive, unreliable school buses?
While we can’t do much individually about how the federal government mismanages our tax dollars, we can start making a difference on local and state levels. Who knows? If we start small, maybe at some point it will get the attention of the federal government?
_________________________________
Blogging by the credo of "Making the world a more offensive place, one blog post at a time", Brother Bob started writing posts around the beginning of the Obama presidency over at Brother Bob's Blog. A born-again Existentialist and self-professed libertarian with conservative tendencies, he has ironically chosen to live in the Washington, DC area - deep behind enemy lines. He believes in the "Happy Warrior" approach, and tries to inject humor in his posts, sometimes successfully. Brother Bob lives with his very patient wife known as Sister Babe, and their fantastic son, Little Bob.
|
Gun Owners, Potomac Tea Party Supports You! Join Us!
PERMALINK Supporting your Second Amendment rights is part of promoting our core value of limited government under the Constitution. We created a video ‘Citizens, Give Up Your Guns - Why We Have the Second Amendment’, which you will find on our video page. We cordially invite you to visit our website (www.potomacteaparty.com) and join our mailing list (mail@potomacteaparty.com). The list is free and your contact information is never sold or shared. |
|