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Special Report

Environmentalism and the Leisure Class

By on 1.20.12 @ 6:08AM

In playing Keystone cop, President Obama protects his environmental flank for no good reason.

This week President Obama handed down what may prove to be one of the most fateful decisions of his entire administration when he rejected the plan to build the Keystone XL Pipeline carrying oil from the tar sands of Canada to the refineries of Houston. The decision did not win him one new vote but was crucial in protecting his environmental flank. The movie stars and Sierra Club contributors were getting restless and had drawn the line in the sand.

In turning down Keystone, however, the President has uncovered an ugly little secret that has always lurked beneath the surface of environmentalism. Its basic appeal is to the affluent. Despite all the professions of being “liberal” and “against big business,” environmentalism’s main appeal is that it promises to slow the progress of industrial progress. People who are already comfortable with the present state of affairs — who are established in the environment, so to speak — are happy to go along with this. It is not that they have any greater insight into the mysteries and workings of nature. They are happier with the way things are. In fact, environmentalism works to their advantage. The main danger to the affluent is not that they will be denied from improving their estate but that too many other people will achieve what they already have. As the Forest Service used to say, the person who built his mountain cabin last year is an environmentalist. The person who wants to build one this year is a developer.

Environmentalism has spent three decades trying to hide this simple truth. How can environmentalists be motivated by self-interest when they are anti-business? Doesn’t that align them with the working classes? Well, not quite. You can be anti-business as a union member trying to claim higher wages but you can also be anti-business as a member of the aristocracy who believes “trade” and “commercialism” are crass and not attuned to the higher things in life. Environmentalism is born from the latter, not the former. It has spent decades trying to pretend it has common cause with the working people. With the defeat of the Keystone Pipeline, this is no longer possible. Too many blue-collar and middle-class jobs have been sacrificed on the altar of carbon emissions and global warming.

In 1977, I wrote a cover story for Harper’s called “Environmentalism and the Leisure Class,” my first story for a national magazine. Environmentalism was very young at the time — born supposedly on Earth Day in 1970 — but had already achieved a seat in the upper echelons of the Carter Administration. These freshly appointed bureaucrats began canceling dams, preaching the sins of fossil fuels, and raising obstacles to nuclear power. In its place they promised distant, over-the-horizon technologies of wind and solar energy. I remember one iconic photograph of Andrew Young, Carter’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, holding a pyramid over his head on Earth Day in the fashionable superstition that pyramids had mysterious powers to concentrate the sun’s rays.

My story in Harper’s was built around the devastating 1977 New York City blackout (the subject of the book The Bronx is Burning) and the almost forgotten fact that Con Edison had been trying for 15 years to construct an upstate power plant designed to prevent blackouts. The Storm King Mountain facility was a pumped storage plant 40 miles up the Hudson that stored power overnight by pumping water uphill and then releasing it the next day to generate hydroelectricity. The idea was to avoid building more coal plants in New York City. As an added attraction, the utility never failed to mention, the floodgates could be opened in an instant to provide power in the event of an emergency, while ordinary generators took the better part of an hour to get up to speed.

Pumped storage was considered an engineering marvel of the time and many were built. There are now about 30 around the country. In the Hudson Highlands, however, Con Ed had unwittingly disturbed a nest of New York aristocrats who had escaped from the city in the 19th century. As Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (who now lives in the area) would write 30 years later without a trace of irony:

The committee [the Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference] quickly found support among the well-heeled residents of the Hudson Highlands. Many of its founding members were the children and grandchildren of the Osborns, Stillmans, and Harrimans, the robber barons who had laid out great estates amid the Highlands’ spectacular scenery and whose descendants had fought fiercely since the turn of the century to preserve the views for themselves and the public. [John Cronin and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., The Riverkeepers,Scribner, 1997.]

Well-connected both in New York society and the editorial pages of the New York Times, Scenic Hudson began an opposition campaign that eventually engulfed the entire city. The battle to “Save Storm King” was the nation’s first great environmental crusade, becoming a legal landmark when the Federal District Court allowed Scenic Hudson to intervene on environmental grounds for the first time in history. The case is still cited. Several Scenic Hudson members went on to found the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Throughout the campaign Scenic Hudson insisted they were not opposed to electricity but only this particular way of generating it. There were plenty of alternatives — fuel cells, mine-mouth coal generation, gas turbines and even nuclear power, which they supported briefly before turning against it. What became obvious, however, was that at bottom they were opposed to everything. Industrial progress itself was the enemy. This was a useless undertaking that only tore at the fabric of nature in order to produce “common kilowatts.” The attitude was fairly new at that time in America.

What finally focused my attention on the aristocratic roots of environmentalism, however, was a chapter in Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class. Although the book is justly famous for coining “conspicuous consumption” and “conspicuous waste,” there is a lesser-known chapter entitled “Industrial Exemption” that perfectly describes the environmental zeitgeist. Veblen posed the question, why is it that people who are the greatest beneficiaries of industrial society are often the most passionate in condemning it? He provided a simple answer. People in the leisure class have become so accustomed affluence as the natural state of things that they no longer feel compelled to embrace any further industrial progress:

The leisure class is in great measure sheltered from the stress of those economic exigencies which prevail in any modern, highly organized industrial community.… [A]s a consequence of this privileged position we should expect to find it one of the least responsive of the classes of society to the demands which the situation makes for a further growth of institutions and a readjustment to an altered industrial situation. The leisure class is the conservative class.

My article generated 150 letters, including a response from a member of the Federal Power Commission who said that construction of new power plants wasn’t necessary. I was often criticized, however, for claiming only affluent people are concerned about the environment. The one response I ever got from the press was in the middle of Three Mile Island when National Public Radio called to ask, “What do you say about all those farmers worried about radiation? They’re not aristocrats, are they?”

But that was not the point. It is not that the average person is not concerned about the environment. Everyone weighs the balance of economic gain against a respect for nature. It is only the truly affluent, however, who can be concerned about the environment to the exclusion of everything else. Most people see the benefits of pipelines and power plants and admit they have to be built somewhere. Only in the highest echelons do we hear people say, “We don’t need to build any pipelines. We’ve already got enough energy. We can all sit around awaiting the day we live off wind and sunshine.”

Environmentalists have spent decades trying to disguise these aristocratic roots, even from themselves. They work desperately to form alliances with labor unions and cast themselves as purveyors of “green jobs.” But the Keystone Pipeline has brought all this into focus. As Joel Kotkin writes in Forbes, Keystone is the dividing line of the “two Americas,” the knowledge-based elites of the East and West Coasts in their media, non-profit and academic homelands (where Obama learned his environmentalism) and the blue-collar workers of the Great In- Between laboring in agriculture, mining, manufacturing, power production and the exigencies of material life.

It’s going to be very difficult to erase that line during the election.

 

About the Author

William Tucker is news editor for RealClearEnergy.org.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (225) |

Appleby| 1.20.12 @ 6:37AM

IGM ("I've Got Mine") is very commonplace in every class, and for every person. When I lived in Atlanta, the people of Gwinnett County rose up against the only indoor ice rink in the Atlanta area because it was built at Stone Mountain, where the hoi polloi could take the bus to get to it. The place was maxed out (the ice was divided in 4 so that 4 skating classes could take place at any one time) and we loved it -- but the class who wanted Stone Mountain "pristine" for them to drive there with their mountain bikes, finally got it closed and torn down. There were plenty of places to skate in non-MARTA areas, they said, FOR PEOPLE WHO OWNED CARS. Today this attitude is held also by sports car racing fans, who campaign to have races held only on natural road courses where nobody but those who drive can attend. It's not just rich people who campaign against the encroachment of Them on the goodies. It's everybody.

VonMisesJr| 1.20.12 @ 10:26AM

Appleby is describing his experience that Von Mises wrote about in "Socialsim." Ludwig Von Mises tome explains exactly what Mr. Tucker is speaking of: once they have climbed the ladder, the wealthy are happy to kick it out from beneath themselves so no one else can join their ranks.

This is for many reasons. First, it solidifies their station in life. It virtually eliminates all competition to their business ventures that led them to wealth. You can see this in its practical glory in GS, GE, GM and AIG all in bed with the government under crony capitalism (fascism) so that small banks, manufacturers and insurance companies that do not get bailed out and get tax free deals cannot displace them. It doesn't matter if their products and service sucks, you have no options.
Second is that the wealthy own land and hard assets. Their socailism leads to inflation that renders money near worthless over time. But they own land, businesses, jewels and commodities that increase in value with inflation. They become the Noble landowners and the common person slides into serfdom. Do you not understand that is what Hayek was saying in "Road to Serfdom," and Daniel Hannan in "The New Road to Serfdom?"

SpiralArchitect| 1.20.12 @ 1:17PM

The POTUS' agenda is driven by his Lennist based ideology.

He is a Marxist that uses the tool of Socialism to his endgame of Communism (because it has always worked so well everytime it has been used).

The quickest way to destroy capitalism is to eliminate the middle class.

Consider what & who (the middle class) pay the price for subverting the Keystone Pipeline.

We are following the pied piper, like rats, to the promised utopia: the land of communism.

Trish| 1.20.12 @ 11:30PM

So true. The paramount objective of the marxist is the destruction of the middle class.

Phil| 1.26.12 @ 4:55PM

Actually, the Marxist goal is to raise the proletariat or working class. If the bourgeois are in the way, then Marxists call for their overthrow. In the US, the proletariat is the middle class so I do not understand your thinking.

Proviser | 8.2.12 @ 1:24AM

Or at least the effect of the marxist is the destruction of the middle class...

Pete| 1.20.12 @ 2:22PM

Well said. Von Mises nails it as usual. That is why we should not confuse large businesses with Capitalism. They favor Socialism. They want to be in bed with government so that it can keep away its competition. That competition usual comes from small businesses who figure out a better way to do things.
This not only applies to businesses and corporations but also to schools and professional organizations. We have the AMA as well as Big Pharma stacking the FDA so that it can maintain its monopoly on health care. I get a kick out of my MD brother complaining about socialized medicine. I just ask what do you think we have had since the 1930's.

David H Dennis | 1.20.12 @ 4:32PM

These people are not NIMBYs, they're NIABYs - much worse! Yes, Not In Any Backyards. Nothing should be built anywhere.

For more, please see my reaction in my new blog: http://davidhdennis.com/articles/4

SUBVET| 1.21.12 @ 10:53AM

America need not fear so much the enemy at the gates, but high vigilance must be paid to the enemys from with in....

Adolph Hitler..."What luck for rulers that men do not think".

Timothy L. Pennell| 1.21.12 @ 11:59AM

Where ya been?

I was just thinking of you.

SUBVET| 1.23.12 @ 1:11AM

Running Hot Straight and Normal......having fun reading your comments ......I say "Dam the torpedoes full speed ahead...TLP

stmichrick| 1.22.12 @ 4:48PM

The rejection of new development phenomenon just culminates in the very rich from a full continuum up to that level.

I observed this first hand as a member of the local planning commission while grappling with the approvals necessary for construction of a medium sized subdivision on the edge of our posh little resort town. Several of the more vocal opponents readily admitted to having been developers themselves in past lives and now, revelling in retirement, had become huge Protectors of the Earth. The issue was construction of an upscale traditional neighborhood development on the shoreline of our 'fragile' estuary. More dwellings, like the waterfront splendor that the existing IGM class had retired here to purchase for themselves, might be built and offered for sale to other Newcomers. For shame!! Exclusivity Inflation!!!!

I came away from the episode having witnessed how members of the Greatest Generation could turn into Occupy brats.

oldfart| 1.20.12 @ 6:53AM

Spot on!

Timothy L. Pennell| 1.20.12 @ 11:52AM

Hey.
I wanted to apologize. I don't know what I was thinking? I was probably just what you said I was: Arrogant, and a Stupid Bastard. This is fun, for me, and like any 54 Year Old adolescent, I get carried away, sometimes.
I'm Sorry.
I Apologize. And, I ask your forgiveness.

Kenny| 1.20.12 @ 7:04AM

The Democrats will not be able to square the circle of the Greens with the square of private sector unions, jobs, and America's energy needs.

Patrick| 1.20.12 @ 9:13AM

No, they intend to just have the squares starve in the dark.

fckewe| 1.20.12 @ 9:21AM

The will by taking subsidies from Big oil and Big Ag and putting into research and development of alternative fuels. When Ronnie Reagan spent $80K to remove solar panels from the White House roof, he set back America 50 years.

it would have cost America nothing to leave then there and in the last 30 years, we would be able to SEE the White house power bills. Solar works, it's just NOT short term cost effective yet. But Neither was petroleum for the first 4 decades. Gas cost $.25 in 1920 and the average wage was $1236 dollars annually.

Today, annual earnings $26,380 and gas is $3.22 here in Colorado. But remember, there were 150 million less cars in America in 1920 and only the rich could afford them. Being able to sell fuel to so many means the profit margin only needs to be pennies to make you stinking rich. Stink 10 times your Federal subsidy for oil production rich.

Kruel Hunter| 1.20.12 @ 10:05AM

If we installed solar panels covering the entire state of Texas we could generate all the electricity needed in the U.S. almost a decade ago. During the daytime, in good weather. Read Bjorn Lomberg's Skeptical Environmentalist for more on the real costs of environmentalism and it's devastating effects on the poor and middle class.

Teaghan| 1.20.12 @ 11:07AM

Those who have don't give a damn about the poor or us in the middle class. They only pretend to when they need us for reelection.

Curtis Rasmussen| 1.20.12 @ 2:09PM

Wind and solar impoverish all citizens, especially when state governments like looney California foolishly mandate it. The real cost of these alternate energy sources drives up taxes AND electricity bills, making it harder for businesses to make a profit. So, what do businesses do? They leave the state and the citizens who can't afford to pull stakes and go must contend with higher prices in a diminished economy.

Look up capacity factor. Wind runs at 20% of full capacity in a given year and solar is even less. Due to weather conditions, these numbers cannot be improved. You want to help the poor? Get rid of wind and solar utilities.

craig| 1.20.12 @ 2:40PM

It's worse than that.

Whenever wind and solar are not running at full capacity, another kind of power generation system has to stand ready to supply the public's power needs at this minute -- in other words, you have to have twice the generating capacity you need because the 'green' half can't produce on demand. Or else you have to bully the public into accepting brownouts/blackouts in winter and bad weather as the new normal.

Curtis Rasmussen| 1.20.12 @ 2:47PM

Thanks for reminding me. Not only do conventional sources have to be built to back up solar and wind if the breeze dies on a cloudy day, they have to be constantly running as well, even when they're not making power. It takes too much time to bring them online from a dead stop.

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 4:11AM

What exactly IS your long term plan? I mean for when OIL is so scarce it's $1600 BBL? Do you have a way to light the world?

your skeptical author may have a valid ppoint, but HOW wrong would he be if America invested 40 years into alternative fuels? how wrong will he be in 40 years from now?

Louis Jenkins| 1.21.12 @ 10:57AM

Dear Mr. fckewe:

The following comes from a Bloomberg news release:

"In 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that the Bakken Formation in North Dakota and Montana contained up to 4.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil. Two years later, with more wells drilled, Continental Resources released its own estimate: 24 billion barrels.

By comparison, Prudhoe had 13.6 billion barrels of recoverable crude when discovered, according to the Energy Dept., and the Ghawar field in Saudi Arabia has 70 billion barrels of remaining reserves.

Other companies aren’t as optimistic as Hamm, but analysts are growing more confident that the government estimate is low. The state-of-the-art drilling technologies used by Continental and others have produced a boom that “proves the old adage that people tend to find oil and gas in places where they’ve already found oil and gas,” says Andrew Coleman, an analyst with Raymond James. The U.S. geological agency is redoing its assessment. "

So you see, Mr. fckewe, the oil is out there, Obama and the environmentalists just won't allow us to get to it. What is Obama and the environmentalists going to do next week when Cuba begins its off shore drilling, off shore of Miami I might add? I guess they'll line up on the Miami docks and protest. Unfortunately for those people Cuba is over 90 miles away, and I doubt Castro would be interested anyway.

fckewe| 1.23.12 @ 5:33AM

Why are less than 40% of the existing leases being worked? Until 95% of the bought but not paid for leases are operational... the oil reserves elsewhere can stay nice and safe right where they are.

I am a little skeptical about some of your numbers, it wouldn't be the first time that major industries lied about their business practices. Big tobacco killed millions of people with fraudulent advertising for more than 40 years.

If Big Oil was such and honest group of guys, why did Bush minimize the investigation and prosecution of his Enron friends? Why are the oil subsidies, granted by Ford and Reagan still draining the treasury if Big Oil is just sitting on oil leases?

Cuba has a right to drill in international waters, just as much as we do. SO does Venezuala and Israel (if it wantedto actually HAVE a value to the world that supports it) could secure the field rights, set up a rig and drill to their hearts content. NO one could stop them. SO you point is less than moot.

IF, there is so much oil, then OTHER than artificially maintaining high prices and blaming it all on OPEC and Chavez... WHY are they NOT drilling on the 60% of the unworked leases?

Why are 7 out of ten wellheads rusting in Texas and Oklahoma IF finding more oil in the old wells is so naturally easy? Simple, because KEEPING the supply short, keeps the profits UP. Just like DeBeers with Diamonds.

Oldefarte| 1.21.12 @ 1:24PM

Moron, any oil geologist will tell you that oil supplies are [and have been] extremely plentiful in this country and should be fully developed [but aren't due to the wacko environmental policies of the Democrats who favor the karibu/spotted owl over the citizens of this country]!!!!!!!

john| 1.22.12 @ 6:00PM

You forget that we have 450 years of coal.

fckewe| 1.23.12 @ 5:35AM

But NO clean way to burn it and we have 125 years of natural gas. With the 2005 fracking bill that EXEMPTS gas drillers from the Clean Water Act and other Clean up regulations... Whle communities are getting comtaminated ground water and an "Opps! Sorry, but we aren't obligated to care so F***you Citizen, you are not as much of a person as Exxon/Mobil.

the wolf| 1.20.12 @ 4:25PM

Government reaps more in taxes off of gas prices than oil companies do. So if you're concerned about the price of a gallon of gas, you should look to the politicians at every level instead of the oil companies.

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 4:13AM

NO gas taxes , NO roads. That simple. We can't keep up with the failing bridges in America with the current tax structure. We are a huge lot less than the rest of the world as far as actual taxation is concerned.

Bill Woods| 1.20.12 @ 5:25PM

"When Ronnie Reagan spent $80K to remove solar panels from the White House roof, he set back America 50 years. it would have cost America nothing to leave then there ..."

They were removed because the roof needed fixing.

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 4:20AM

Why weren't they reinstalled?

A consensus thinks "He stated the solar panels interfered with the 'historical' look of the White House. Plus he didn't want to be caught in a catch-22 while he was promoting oil, oil, more oil... all the while having solar panels on his home."

MOre accurately: "In 1986 when the price of energy was temporarily cheaper and Americans’ minds were less focused on environmental issues, President Reagan ordered the panels removed from the White House roof. Reagan, who didn’t think much of solar energy, also allowed the tax credit Carter had instated to lapse.

Then came “a clear, calculated campaign by the [Department of Energy] in the years of the Reagan administration to crush the solar energy program of the federal government” according to Denis Hayes, an expert on solar energy who worked for the government at the time. According to another expert involved in Carter’s original solar panel installation, Reagan’s Administration “felt that the equipment was just a joke… and he had it taken down.”

So, considering the Oil Subsidies Reagan replaced the solar panels with... I think you are full of shit!

chemman| 1.20.12 @ 6:06PM

Do you live on solar power? If not, why do you think it works? Solar has benefits and it has limitations. Individually people might weigh them and choose. But government interference distorts the picture and makes it difficult to construct a good CBA

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 4:21AM

I would if I didn't have $40K less in equity thanks to Bush and Co's management of fiscal policy and regulation.

Oldefarte| 1.21.12 @ 1:22PM

No moron, gas is expensive today due to Democrats' historical [for their wacko environmental reasons] preventing oil companies from domestically producing our domestic oil supplies [and correspondingly having to depend upon the Middle East/Russia for same], which is monopolistically controlled by their OPEC. If we developed our domestic oil supplies, gas would sell for $2.00/gallon or less and the radical Muslim terrorists would be un-funded and ineffectual!!!!!!!!!

fckewe| 1.23.12 @ 5:37AM

See above post about unused, unexplored leases.

Oldefarte| 1.24.12 @ 10:08PM

I lived/worked within the oil patch of Louisiana for 30+ years, and have discussed same with oil industry executives. Unexplored/unsed leases are either dry holes or undrillable due to governmental regulations. Obama's Interior under Salazar purposely prevented drilling permits to be issued after the BP spill, which
prevented oil companies revenues to Louisiana, and the eventual loss of producing oil rigs and good paying jobs to thousands of oil rig workers. The oil companies simply moved same to Brazil, Africa etc as a result. Same BS as with the Keystone Pipeline, as he's giving a political hum job to the wacko environmentalists for political payoffs!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Marc Jeric| 1.23.12 @ 3:08PM

However how many more years are needed for you to understand that there is no such thing as "green" energy? It is a) unreliable; b) extremely expensive, and c) environmentally truly destructive. I should know - I spent 40 years designing all kinds of power plants, including solar boondoggles, wind turbines that acted as cuisinarts for birds, geothermal plants that spewed horrific amounts of arsenic and radioactive Strontium and Cesium...

snipelee| 1.23.12 @ 4:54PM

The panels would not have lasted 30 years. Another minor detail not shared by the solar lobby. In fact, most solar and wind devices will not last long enough for a reasonable payback.

finkleman| 1.20.12 @ 7:37AM

enviro-nazis are pawns of the commies seeking the destruction of the U.S.

fckewe| 1.20.12 @ 9:40AM

Nazis and commies don't work together. The have separate water fountains and separate rest rooms and separate restaurants. Been that way since Hitler ass raped Stalin in Poland in '41.

Doowleb| 1.20.12 @ 2:44PM

Of course they work together. Nazi's and Communists are the same. Hence the word socialist in the Nazi name. Stalin and Hitler worked together during the run up to the war with their famous 'non aggression' pact. Then, as with all Socialists, one side (Hitler) decided they wanted all the marbles and stabbed their supposed ally in the back.

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 4:22AM

Thankyou for proving My point. hitler's deal for poland with Stalin was a ruse.

VonMisesJr| 1.22.12 @ 8:52AM

Ignore fckewe, he is a low-life troll. He pays for prostitutes with the $15/hr he collects from Soros through MoveOn. Or perhaps he is herding sheep? The hookers probably turn him down.

fckewe| 1.23.12 @ 5:40AM

Junior, I can only imagine how heartbreaking it was to find out you gave your Mommy's cat AIDS. I know that all your talk about 'gettin' pussy' makes her think she raised a stud, but really, can't you see how painful it will be when you Mommy finds out what you did?

richard ryan| 1.23.12 @ 10:58AM

YEP. A huge waste of effort. This sort of back and forth is no longer an intellectual argument, because liberalism does not get along well with facts. It's emotional for them. The primary emotions are ENVY and GUILT.

Oldefarte| 1.24.12 @ 10:10PM

Nah, liberals are mostly stupid who eventually run out of mindless arguments and resort to their gutter political trashtalk imbicilic arguments!!!!

Patrick| 1.20.12 @ 3:21PM

Oh what a naive child you are. Nazism and Communism are two sides of the same coin. One blames class, the other race, but in the end, the government rules through blame and envy.

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 4:23AM

Sounds like RED party agenda in the USA.

VonMisesJr| 1.22.12 @ 2:15PM

Exactly right, Patrick. Fascism is actually a clever ploy since it still uses the private sector as a foil and scape goat.
Crony capitalism is actually the same thing as fascism from the other direction. Fascism is the government controlling business, and crony capitalism the likes of Immelt, Blankfein and Buffet using government to their advantage. So it might better be said that crony capitalism is the flip side of the coin of fascism.

But according to Von Mises in "Socialism," both communism and fascism are socialism. Private property that is necessary in capitalism does not technically exist in fascism since the alleged property owner cannot use or dispose of his property as he wishes. It is sort of like a father that tells his son he bought him a car, but he can't take it without permission and the title is in the father's name.

Ignore the vile f-word troll. He is a poor excuse for a man. He is so stupid that he doesn't even realize or admit that his Dear Leader could not give a crap about him. Obama and Moochelle are too busy stealing the nations wealth and sharing it with Pelosi, Kerry and Soros. The dopes that wanted "change" did not understand that the "change" was food stamps and a tent in OWS.

merlin| 1.22.12 @ 6:55PM

A few year back I read a book comparing Stalin and Hitler. The book listed the platform of Hitler's National Socalist party. With one or two exceptions, our liberals could happily run on the Nazi platform.

fckewe| 1.23.12 @ 5:42AM

I concede, there is no legitimate discussion with you.

Curtis Rasmussen| 1.20.12 @ 3:38PM

Naziism and Communism are two sides of a coin. One is a dictatorship of a working class figurehead and the other is a dictatorship of the wealthy elite. The end result is the same, murder and oppression.

If the fascists here have their way, people will also die before their time.

Obamacare will restrict your ability to see your provider and get potential life-saving procedures, leading to premature death.

Rolling power brownouts from enviro-nazi promoted energy legislation will lead to death from extreme weather conditions.

Ethanol mandates have already led to starvation as fertile fields are used to make fuel. Water use is taken away over concerns for a fish, leading to massive loss of food production.

Oil extraction is stopped by executive fiat.

And on and on and on... Excellent article Mr. tucker.

markenoff| 1.20.12 @ 6:58PM

Call them "rolling Barackouts". You heard it hear first.

"Under my plan electricity rates will necessarily skyrocket." - Barack Obama

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 4:25AM

Oil is being produced in record volume, There is so much fallow irrigated land in the midwest that agribusiness is subsidied NOT to plant and harvest to support prices, ( A leftover from NIXON!) and the brownouts are from RWEAGAN/Bush and BUSH not spending a penny on infrastructure upgrades.

Curtis Rasmussen| 1.21.12 @ 11:00AM

You can't get find someone more stupid than this idiot. So what if oil is produced in record volumes, brownouts and blackouts are in our future because current politicians are playing utopian games with our economy. Also, Barack Obama is doing everything he can to prevent the the U.S from developing it's own natural resources.

"Under my plan electricity rates will necessarily skyrocket." - Barack Obama

As fuel rates increase because of the Marxist-douche Obama, farmers will sell most of their food crops to ethanol distilleries to make more money. The food stuffs available for livestock and human consumption will be threatened. The hunger stage has already been set.

Oh wait. I must be wrong! How can I match wits with such intellect?

Hat tip to Skip:

"I am a 1%er, in Mensa."
(ovinesodomizer 1.16.12 @ 2:00PM)

fckewe| 1.23.12 @ 5:46AM

Where did you quote that from? And B) a part of the jobs bill was transmission lines to carry more power from the underutilized Western Hydro plants. It's not that we can't sell it or give it away, it's that we can't get it through the 70's era grid Reagan, Bush and Bush never upgraded to meet population increases and demand.

If you wanna know why Clinton didn't get it done, ask Newt Gingrich.

Oldefarte| 1.24.12 @ 10:12PM

Who told you that oil was produced in record volume? Ken Salazar no doubt!!!!!!!

Marc Jeric| 1.23.12 @ 3:09PM

Finally a definitive word - except I call them eco-nazis.

PattyMor| 1.20.12 @ 7:52AM

Enviromnentalism = build nothing, no where in the U.S. And its ceding control of your property to others whether it be the EPA, Greenpeace, or the Wildlife Fund. Its all part of making you into a serf on your own land, your own country.

fckewe| 1.20.12 @ 9:07AM

SO you want freedom from a 2 billion dollar regulatory agency. MOVE! seriously, Mexico has non EPA water. I'll sponsor your Visa so you are not an illegal there.

Kruel Hunter| 1.20.12 @ 10:07AM

I've got a better idea, you move to one of the many failed envirosocialist states. I'll buy your ticket.

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 4:26AM

Decent people are reclaiming America. I have a use and a purpose here.

Oldefarte| 1.24.12 @ 10:13PM

Yeah right, the OWS crowd of distinguished citizenry!!!!!!

ChrisL| 1.20.12 @ 3:03PM

Congrats on executing the either/or fallacy. Did you come up with that on your own, or did it require some research on your part?

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 4:27AM

What garbage is this?

carnot| 1.20.12 @ 3:46PM

but it's more cost effective to simply remove you!

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 4:27AM

you'll go broke Redhead.

Diane| 1.20.12 @ 7:55AM

Yes, the East and West Coast may be elites, but they certainly are not "knowledge based". The real knowledge base is with the "Inbetweeners", the folks of the middle of this country who know they have to protect this great resource if they intend to keep living there. Not only do East and West coasters NOT understand the concept of "folks", but also they look down their noses at the great universities of the midwest who teach real land conservation. We love our dirt! and protect it because we know that our livelihood comes from its protection.

c| 1.20.12 @ 8:35PM

Please don't lump all East coast citizens as elites. There are plenty to go around, but actually you'll find many ordinary "folks" in the suburbs and rural areas of the mid-Atlantic and the South (and I'm sure elsewhere- probably West Coast as well).

Indy| 1.20.12 @ 7:57AM

When these elites are grounded and no longer fly, drive, when they sell their big home(s) and live in a middle income house and walk or bike to wherever they need to go, I just might listen to what they have to say but please, don't preach to us and hop in your private plane.

fckewe| 1.20.12 @ 9:05AM

LMFAO But seriously, these richbitches are the backbone of the environmental cause. They NEED the tax deductions.

Teaghan| 1.20.12 @ 11:09AM

Kind of like Algore?

Timothy L. Pennell| 1.20.12 @ 7:59AM

This is one more reason NOT to vote for the King of Pain. One more reason to have Faith. The Great Darkness (CODE WORD!) will soon be over. If we had a REAL Free Press. If we had a Media that INFORMED THE PUBLIC. This would already be a Faite au Compli.

If we had a Strong Opposition Party. An Opposition Party, FOR the People, instead of themselves. The Election would be an afterthought. If we had more MEN, who were not afraid to draw a line in the sand, and make a Stand against this THING (Racist!) in the White House, not with Malice, but with the TRUTH. We'd be looking at New Drapes, and Paint swatches, right now.

The Days of Reagan, don't have to be over. We're a Country of Laws (At least, we were) but these Campaigns are about Men. Reagan was just a Man. There was nothing special about him. He didn't come from a Political Family. He didn't have Hundreds of Millions of Dollars. He didn't run his Campaigns on Pie in the Sky, and Focus Group Tested Slogans. And, he didn't promise the people, anything, except the TRUTH.

A simple man, from simple roots. A man who BELIEVED in the Wisdom of our Founders, and the Providence of the Almighty. And, he BELIEVED that God had blessed this Country, and made her Unique. And, like the Star of Bethlehem, 2000 years ago, people came here, to be free of ROME and of HEROD.

He BELIEVED in the power of the individual. In a Man's right to be free to pursue his own destiny. His own Dreams, without the shackles of an All Powerful Government. He Believed, he Believed, he BELIEVED! And he took the Lashes from a Press, that had long ago, thrown in with the State. And he was called names. And he was Vilified, and Mocked, and he was CRUCIFIED by his enemies. But, he still believed. Because he knew that it was the Truth.

So, the XL Pipeline is dead. The Jobs President, with the stroke of his pen, has just KILLED thousands more Jobs for the people.

He's shutting down Coal Fired Electrical Plants. Thousands of Jobs are going away. His ILLEGAL Drilling Moratorium KILLED, tens of thousands of Jobs in the Gulf, and up the Eastern Seaboard. His NLRB (Who's destruction, I would be promising, on Day 1 of my Administration, if I was running) and its' ILLEGAL Harassment of BOEING, has shown to all the World, that America is NOT where you wanna be doing business. He uses REGULATIONS to get around Congress, to implement his CAP and TRADE, and his CARD CHECK. And, his Interior Dept. stands in the way of Mining Interests, out West, when it's not Buying up all the land, where the Metals and Minerals, and Ore, are located. And, as the price of Oil, and Gasoline, and Diesel, and Jet Fuel, continue to rise?

Do the Math.

We need someone to tell the Truth. That's all. Just tell the Truth. You're gonna be Spun. You're gonna be attacked. They are gonna come after you with everything they've got. They're gonna play the Race Card.

(Please. No more Blacks. They say they wanna be treated equally, but whenever they get any Criticism, out comes the Race Card. Everybody who doesn't like the Black Guy, is a RACIST.)
This Guy has set back Race Relations, 30 Years. What's that, Peggy Noonan? What's that, Kathleen Parker? What's that, Mort Zuckermann? You thought that by Electing a Black man, President, that Race Relations would get better?

We have TRUTH on our side. We know what works (Reagan) and what doesn't (Hussein). We believe that Government is the Problem, not the Solution. We Trust the people, to make their own decisions, as to what's best for them. We have faith in the American People, because it's always been them, not Washington, that has made this Country, what it's always been: The #1 Destination for Everyone, who yearns to be Free, and to build a better life with Liberty, and Justice for all.

The other guy?

He, too, has a RECORD. And, it's one that Denounces everything that we believe in. It is the OPPOSITE of Reagan. The OPPOSITE of our Founding Fathers. The OPPOSITE of our Founding Documents.

The Death of the XL Pipeline is just one more Symptom of the DISEASE that has infected our body, politic. The CURE, should be obvious. ANYBODY but the Marxist/Muslim.

It's easy.

What would REAGAN do?

fckewe| 1.20.12 @ 8:59AM

Considering Reagnaomics IS the reason CORPORATE America is DESPERATE to defile the last 1% of preserved land left, I think perching an immortalization of your idol on a mound of bull feces is appropriate. I think most remember Ronniepoo as a grampa in a flannel shirt chopping firewood at his cabin in the pristene forests, and talking about conservative values.

You must have sold a lot of Girl Scout Cookies in your day, with all that sales savvy and enthusiasm. I can just see you assaulting shoppers at the grocery, like a PETA freak with a tanker full of pigs blood. hehehehe

Considering that all the private industry job losses you claim actually happened...Then Obama would has actually created more then THREE MILLION jobs in his 3 years as compared to HALF that in 8 under your GOD Bush. The 2.5 million net jobs this Administration created in a DEFICIT recession economy is actually VERY impressive. Considering how many Tim Clones there are out there, impeding the growth of America.

OH, and gas prices are lower NOW than they were at the most successful moments of the RED party Bush administration, when they hovered at $5.00 because of Bush Oil Groups Petro policies. Oil is a diminishing resource and only fools will keep digging their hole deeper. The long term future of America is in Renewable fuels given the time, finance and research space in University labs to solve the headintheoilsands suicide dogma.

The pipeline is a bridgeto now where. By the time it is built at TAXPAYER expense (for the sole profit of the Bush Oil Group) we won't need it for more than a decade or so. Research into biodiesel/heating oil/electric power plant fuel will made renewable energy far cheaper than any investment in Middle East wars could EVER achieve.

If EXXON et al wants a pipeline, they can pony up the entire cost, including the environmental impact protections and the cost of Federal oversight by the Corps of Engineers. Or Big Oil can stop their FRAUDULENT 'pro environment' advertising.

I REALLY liked the part about Rome and Herod!!

fckewe| 1.20.12 @ 9:03AM

If Reagan worked so well, why are 99% of Americans broke and getting broker? if Reagan worked so well, why do so many OLD people have 1/2 the retirement they saved in IRA's? If Reagan worked so well, why wasn't John McCain elected to preserve the reality of Reaganomic success?

The TRUTH on our side is that REAGAN didn't pan out so well.

Timothy L. Pennell| 1.20.12 @ 9:28AM

Ladies and Gentlemen. I give you the "TRUTH" according to fkewe.

Let's play a game. Find all of the mistakes in this dumb MFer's comment.

I count 12.

Your turn.

Timothy L. Pennell| 1.20.12 @ 9:38AM

After reading fckewe's 2nd comment, I'm reminded of Stewie's reaction, when he first met Brian's Girlfriend - Jillian: "Is she Retarded?"

There it, for all the world to see.
THE BIG LIE.

Courtesy of fckewe.

There's no Game involved in this one. Think of it as one of those Pictures, that you have to stare at, out of focus, and then, MAYBE, you can see what it really is.

They say a Picture paints a thousand words. I disagree. Perhaps. But, I believe, that a person's NAME, really tells you all you need to know about them.

Especially, fckewe's.

Don't you agree?

Teaghan| 1.20.12 @ 11:12AM

Tim, I love you! You're post keep me coming back for more! who would have such a screen name like Mr ewe? A bent and twisted soul, comes to mind.

Timothy L. Pennell| 1.20.12 @ 11:34AM

Yeah. Okay. I love you, too. But, what about the GAME?

You didn't play the GAME.

And, remember. The GAME is for Mr. ewe's 8:59AM Diatribe, not the 9:03AM one.

Although, if you wanted extra points? You can add in any of those lies, you can find, as well.

Remember. I found 12. See if you can tell what they are.

What are you wearing?
(Hat Tip: Mark Levin)
Seriously....................

Louis Jenkins| 1.21.12 @ 11:08AM

Well for one thing Reagan never chopped fire wood in front of a cabin.

1% prestine land left? What is that all about?

"The 2.5 million net jobs this Administration created in a DEFICIT recession economy is actually VERY impressive. " What 2.5 million jobs? Is this what you're looking for?

Mr. fckewe's posts are spattered with Obama been lyin' stories. Only Joseph Stalin could have come up with tales that were better.

skip| 1.20.12 @ 4:07PM

"I am a 1%er, in Mensa."
(ovinesodomizer 1.16.12 @ 2:00PM)

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 4:32AM

With no facts, you lose, not only your dignity, but any worthwhile respect. Prove me wrong with MORE than a FOX news style yak yak. PROVE your case, as if you had a single fact and data to back it up.

Ain't man enough are you Tiny Tim? Ask God to help you find a source that's not just plagarizable, but has data you can pilfer too.

skip| 1.21.12 @ 2:47PM

"I am a 1%er, in Mensa."
(ovinesodomizer 1.16.12 @ 2:00PM)

~

"With no facts, you lose, not only your dignity, but any worthwhile respect."
(ovinesodomizer 1.21.12 @ 4:32AM)

"The EPA is NOT anti business and has never been."
(ovinesodomizer 1.20.12 @ 8:43AM)

"SO you want freedom from [the EPA] a 2 billion dollar regulatory agency."
(ovinesodomizer 1.20.12 @ 9:07AM)

~

"Some 60 agencies have a hand in federal regulatory policy, ranging from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Together, they enforce over 157,000 pages in the so-called Code of Federal Regulations."

"Still, all regulations have a cost. You can think of the total burden of all regulations--good, bad, or indifferent--as a "regulatory tax" imposed on all Americans."

"First, there are direct costs."

"Then there's the cost of compliance."

"Next is the economic cost on American firms, which now have to compete with foreign firms that are less burdened by regulations."

"Finally, there are the "invisible" costs."

"Of course, there's no bottom line indicating how much we pay for these regulations. We don't file regulatory tax forms on April 15. Yet hidden regulatory costs--just the ones we can calculate--are staggering. According to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), the White House office responsible for reviewing and tracking federal rules, regulations adopted in the last 10 years cost Americans $34 billion to $38 billion annually. All federal regulations, OIRA states, could be costing Americans 10 times this amount: some $380 billion."

"However, these numbers are low compared to estimates prepared by economists for the Small Business Administration. In 2005, they concluded that regulations cost Americans $1.1 trillion. This is almost half the amount collected in federal taxes and close to the $1 trillion paid in personal income taxes each year. The total cost of regulation is almost a tenth of gross domestic product (a way of measuring the size of our economy) and more than half of the manufacturing sector's output."

"Even these numbers may underestimate the regulatory tax."

(heritage.org/research/reports/2010/06/the-economy-hits-home-regulations)

~

"A researcher who has spent over a decade examining the economic impact of abortion finds that the approximately 50.5 million abortions in the U.S. since 1970 have cost the American economy $35 trillion."

(lifenews.com/2008/10/13/nat-4440/)

~

"I am a 1%er, in Mensa."
(ovinesodomizer 1.16.12 @ 2:00PM)

fckewe| 1.23.12 @ 5:58AM

That's $693,069.30 each. HAHAHAHa. Just making stuff up will never change the world for the better. You had no credibility before you junked up your case with this crap. Even NEWT knows enough to have a little bit of the truth in his story to make the suckers THINK it might be possible.

I know why the 'researcher' didn't leave his name. BTW, simple math like that I do in My head.

skip| 1.23.12 @ 10:20AM

"I am a 1%er , in Mensa."
(oveinesodomizer 1.16.12 @ 2:00PM)

"With no facts, you lose, not only your dignity, but any worthwhile respect."
(ovinesodomizer 1.21.12 @ 4:32AM)

"The EPA is NOT anti business and has never been."
(ovinesodmizer 1.20.12 @ 8:43AM)

Provide one reasonable fact, shit for brains, refuting that Americans pay what is in essence a regulatory tax that is equal to what Americans pay in income tax, as the researcher stated.

Provide a reasonable explanation, shit for brains, why you didn't visit the website at the web address provided to examine the research and the researcher.

Provide the simple math, shit for brains, that you used to determine that Americans owe just under $217 trillion dollars based on the statements quoted in the post you have replied to.

"I am a 1%er, in Mensa."
(ovinesodomizer 1.16.12 @ 2:00PM)

skip| 1.23.12 @ 12:55PM

Provide a reasonable justification, shit for brains, for responding to a post that revealed the stupidity and dishonesty of your statement that the EPA is not anti business with sourced facts showing that Americans in essence pay regulatory taxes at least equal to the amount Americans pay in income taxes, by not only not responding but providing no facts to support your statement that the EPA is not anti business.

Provide the amount of dollars required, shit for brains, that needed to be invested initially in January 1973 in order for the initial investment to have been worth $700,000 in January 2008, if the compound annual interest rate for the entire 35 year investment had been at ten percent.

Provide a reasonable rationale, shit for brains, why a reader needs to be a mensan to comprehend that a trillion is a million million, that 35 trillion is also 35 million million, that 35 million million spread among 50 million is seven-tenths of a million each, that 35 million million spread among 50.5 million is slightly less than seven-tenths of a million each, and to determine this without the use of a calculator.

George S| 1.20.12 @ 10:29AM

And all the mistakes in his genome sequencing...

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 4:34AM

Which 12. let Me help you oldman.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Just fill in the blanks dude. Ask Jesus to guide you to and honest testimony.

Indiana Alex| 1.20.12 @ 12:01PM

99% of Americans broke and getting broker?

It is indeed entertaining to watch the angry left become even more unhinged, but you are quickly becomming a parody of yourself.

Dmac| 1.20.12 @ 12:26PM

Tim,
Loved your rant, it was great. As for Mr. Ewe, we are not living in a time of Reaganomics. We are living in a time of Bush1anomics. Ronald Reagan despised the greedof corporate America. He was apalled by how much more CEO's were making than their average employee, at that time it was about 80 times the average employees salary. Now it is over 300 times the avergae employees pay.
Ronald Reagan fought tooth and nail to keep it the law that you had to hold a stock for, and I may be wrong, 3 quarters before you could sell it. He wanted long term investment so the market would be stable. He knew what would happen once day trading became legal and he was right. Unstable markets and total manipulation of the middle class and their retirement funds that were invested in the market. Gee I miss Ronnie.

Timothy L. Pennell| 1.20.12 @ 2:46PM

We are living in OBAMANOMICS.

Try and stay FOCUSED.

fckewe| 1.23.12 @ 6:07AM

If A jobs bill, a debt bill, a programs cutting bill or even a compromise committee of the RED/BLUE congress could function, Obamnomics would have trimmed unemployment below 7 by now, mortgages would be being renegotiated by judges in bankruptcy court, and CEO's would be facing juries by now.

But thanks to obstructionist power mania, fueled by the KKK Tea Party, nothing can go forward until the old goats and dinosaurs are dead.

fckewe| 1.23.12 @ 6:03AM

Reagan initiated massive deregulations that created boom cycles in various industries, all of which led us to Sept 21, 2008... And 'the Midnight Ride of John McCain' to save the Economy. LMAO.
YES Bush uno and duo BOTH added to the madness, but the wisdom of disenfranchising most of the people for the benefit of the few was much to diabolical for the crook Nixon to dream up. it took a senile genius like REAGAN to sell it to a foolish constituency.

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 4:37AM

In inflation adjusted dollars, we are not much further along than we were 3 decades of RED party fraud ago. inflation adjusted minimum wage should be just over $10/HR. Even union wages have been negotiated down, but ONLY because ofthe Reaganomic concept of sending jobs wholesale overseas grew massive between the Bush regimes.

Oldefarte| 1.21.12 @ 1:09PM

BS, moron! The minimum wage and labor unions should be eliminated/destroyed. If not for the housing welfare governmental policies of the Democratic Part going back decades, we would not be in the economic/financial cesspool that exists today. Grow up and grow a brain, IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Redstateboy| 1.20.12 @ 2:45PM

that's right Liber-ul.... when confronted with factual arguments you can't possibly overcome, switch back to some past Republican admin. or some other diversion.

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 4:39AM

History ALWAYS starts before the present. Didn't you figure that out in school? YOUR flaw is that you disregard THAT reality because you want the Black President to be wrong SOO bad, your teeth hurt.

Twists your guts that RED party obstuctionism just isn't going to make him look as bad as the Foxaganda your believe in like theEaster Bunny.

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 4:51AM

What was the peak DOW and S&P during Clinton?
Dow 13,895 S&P 1394.1
Where were they when America voted the bush Policies out as failures? 7949 Dow S&P 805.22

Today Dow 12,720 S&P 1315

By October, save any REd party sabotage... We should see a few hundred more points up. Obama salvaged in 3 years what Bush took 8 to destroy.

But we all still have to clean up the 16 trillion in debt Baby George left us when he went to sit on the porch under that "mission Accomplished" banner he had the Navy save for him.

Timothy L. Pennell| 1.21.12 @ 9:10AM

And, the mask comes off.

The RACE CARD. It's because he's Black. It's not because of Record Unemployment, or Record Foreclosures. It's not the Record Number of Bankruptcies, and Bank Failures. It's not the Record Homelessness, and the Record Suicides. It's not the Record Number of Americans on Food Stamps, or the Record Number of Americans (46 Million) living AT, or BELOW, the Poverty Line. It's not the Highest Black Unemployment is 28 Years, or that we've been over 8% Unemployment for 35 Consecutive Months.

It's not even his Record Number of Golf Outings, Hollywood Parties at the White House, the record number of Multi-Million Dollar Vacations, using "His" and "Hers" JUMBO JETS, while Admonishing the Rest Of Us, that we need to "SHARE in the SACRAFICE"!

No.

It's cause he's Black.

See? White America? See what you have gotten for "Doing the right thing, and Voting for the Black Guy. You assuaged your "Guilt" and we are Paying the Price, now, for your Altruism.

Now, lo and behold: "Because you want the Black President to be wrong SOO bad, you're teeth hurt".

So. Have you LEARNED anything, from this? Maybe: No good deed goes unpunished? How about: Stop feeling guilty, about these people.

They've been voting for DEMOCRATS for 60 YEARS. The Black Unemployment Rate under is 17%. And that's using that Lying B*tch Solas' Bogus Numbers. It's probably closer to 25%, if you actually COUNTED all of the Unemployed. The Rate for Black Youth, is over 50%.

Does anyone wanna BET who they'll pull the Lever for, this Election?

Black America is where they are, not because of Whitey. But, because of their own Slavish Support, for a Political Party that has DESTROYED their Family Structure, and turned them in to REFUGEES, in their Country. Always in need of assistance. Always Dependent. Always in need of Help. Unable to function on their own. There are 4th Generation Welfare Families, in the Black Community!

Whatever problems they have? They are of their own doing. They DESERVE everything they get. And, so do all you bleeding heart Whites.

Wake Up!

Oldefarte| 1.21.12 @ 1:01PM

Ya boy has done more economic/financial damage to this country in three years than any other president has done in a double eight year term. His Welfarecare, non-stimulus, governmental regulations, and governmental department lawsuits and harrassments upon states and business in general is destroying this country; but THAT IS HIS INTENDED PURPOSE POLITICALLY, right???????

Oldefarte| 1.21.12 @ 1:05PM

It's not dependent upon what others [according to your twisted mind] WANT. He is 'wrong' because of his community organizing mental attitude and hatred of the successful within this country [as indicated in 'DREAMS']!!!!!

Oldefarte| 1.21.12 @ 1:15PM

ANSWERS: If Reagan worked so well, why are 99% of Americans broke and getting broker?[BECAUSE THEY'RE STUPID LIKE YOU AND VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS]; if Reagan worked so well, why do so many OLD people have 1/2 the retirement they saved in IRA's? [BECAUSE OF THE MARKETS CRASH/IMPLOSION THAT OCCURRED DUE TO DEMOCRATIC PARTY HOUSING WELFARE GOVERNMENTAL POLICIES OF THE LAST CENTURY] If Reagan worked so well, why wasn't John McCain elected to preserve the reality of Reaganomic success?[BECAUSE OF THE STUPIDITY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE/VOTERS SUCH AS YOURSELF WHO ELECTED BARRY ON HIS H&C BS AGENDA]!!!!!!!!!

Kruel Hunter| 1.20.12 @ 10:23AM

The main reason for the current recession is that too many politicians, led by Democrats who pretend at 'populism', are far too willing to sell their influence in order to assure their re-election and path to unearned wealth. In the process they use the relationships that they establish to enrich themselves at your expense. They are properly called Professional Politicians, the ones with the 'experience' that we the people need to fight the establishment. Sound familiar? All of them claim to be of the people while deceiving the electorate in order to become part of the ruling elite.

These are not the sort of people that the founders hoped that we would elect to control our federal government. We were warned in the eighteenth century but the citizens didn't listen and now we're paying for our, and our ancestor's, failure to use due diligence in protecting our future and our freedom.

Good luck...

Timothy L. Pennell| 1.20.12 @ 11:22AM

Don't blame the Founders. They KNEW this was gonna happen. They Predicted it.

Benjamin Franklin said that: 'The Constitution would only be followed, until the Inevitable Corruption of the People, took hold'.

Jefferson expressed that: 'Once the people realize that they can Vote themselves, Money, this would all come undone'.

And, John Adams said: 'For this form of Government to work, it needs a Religious People, steeped if Faith. People of Honour, and a Strong Work Ethic'.

I'm paraphrasing, but you get the point.

Plus, Franklin put it all on the table when he said: "A Republic, Madame. IF YOU CAN KEEP IT".

Indeed.

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 4:55AM

I agree. We NEED term limits, line item veto and a Supreme Court review method to overturn corrupt judges findings.

I plan to elect no incumbent, save Obama and My Senators. the house jackass can go.

As far as Libby, Abramoff and others being preferential to Democrats... Well... I'd need to see a LOT more evidence of that to believe it.

Oldefarte| 1.21.12 @ 12:57PM

Your senators are no doubt Dick Durbin and Jesse Jackson Jr huh?????

carnot| 1.20.12 @ 3:49PM

awesome! I feel the same way about entitlements, government funded student loans, welfare......who kew?! we share common ground!

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 5:02AM

Citizen PAY for SocSec and Medicare/medicaid. To steal their investment AFTER grafting them of their retirments savings and home values seems a little bid Communist doesn't it? Almost like Nationalizing an oil company ala Chavez.

private BANKS have done such a FINE job milking students for all they can be leveraged with before they graduate, with the credit card solicitations, the retroactive oops/gotcha rate increases because your insurance premiums went up... Before Reagan, Government grantseducated the current tribe of reprobates in office at far less per student than any bank EVER charged.

Welfare reduction would be closing loopholes for Mitt the Shit and the 7 home owning crooks like John McCain. The special mortgage bribetaking Santorums of the REd party... the nonstopprofit making corporate freeloaders.

Fix that welfare and I will help you starve single mothers on minimum wage. NOT!

goodspkr| 1.20.12 @ 8:29AM

There's an old saying. Someone with four aces will never ask for a redeal. I think you are right about who the enviros are. They are the folks with the four aces.

fckewe| 1.20.12 @ 8:43AM

Starting with just the basic lies, not the usually RED party distortions, but outright lies in this undocumented alien of journalistic nonintegrity. There is no "line in the sand". The pipeline was never going to happen until it has a biohazard free, ecoterrorism free design. Period.

2) The EPA is NOT anti business and never has been. The American people of ALL tax rates just want to make sure that children have clean water and air as basic considerations of their citizenship. Recent public opinion polls indicate that Americans strongly support clean air, water, and land - our shared environment. It was not always so. In fact, environmental concern is a fairly recent phenomena in American history, initially expressed by groups of outdoor enthusiasts and preservationists in the past 150 years. The Sierra cLub, the Audobon Society and the Izaak Walton League were originated by the gilded age entreprenuers, to protect their treasured fishing and hunting ranges. Ask any 2nd Amendment WARRIOR how he will justify owning automatic weapons if there are no deer or rabbits to subdue with them. Just ASK!!

3)Environmentalism is born from environmentalism. Dig up Teddy Roosevelt and ask him! Ask Him WHY he set aside natural beauty and resource land to be CONSERVED.
Check the tax returns of any of the top 10%ers and I BET you find huge gifts to these and many other ANTIBUSINESS organizations that they support. Either that or they are all gaming the tax system.

4)Does the RED party greed surpass that of Mitt Bains? The ANTI LIFE party swarming to repeal ALL the protective environmental legislations want ALL rivers and lakes to be visible from space. The right to a free pollution economy is a CORPORATE RIGHT, even to the point of combustion like the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland. Do they need the last 1% of America to turn into Brazilian or Ecuadoran Rainforest wastelands too?

If ANY of this guys crap were true, it would fly in the face of Industrialism and the Right to Profit. That's right! the Scenic Hudson issue was a group of rich bitches fighting against THEIR OWN FINANCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL SELF INTEREST for a greater purpose. Preservation and conservative values.

dcd| 1.20.12 @ 9:00AM

No, no. What the common working man really wants is water that causes cancer and air that stinks so badly he will choke. For lower class people this tastes like victory and puts a little spring in his step, only wealthy people find it unpleasant. And the lower classes are scared of trees and birds so its best to cut those all down and keep the rest locked up in gated communities where the weakthy can watch it so none of that natural horror can escape.

fckewe| 1.20.12 @ 9:35AM

heheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheeeee

Remember what happened in HG Wells "Time Machine" when the Morlachs escaped the underworld slavery of the mines and powerplants?

Kruel Hunter| 1.20.12 @ 10:32AM

Utter self delusional nonsense. The EPA was invented specifically to curb what was perceived as the sins of the business community just as OSHA was created to limit the ability of business to extend America's infrastructure by pricing such work out of reach. The Hoover Dam complex could not be built today thanks to environmental and labor regulation. San Francisco has illustrated the problem of EPA, OSHA and union interference by hiring a Chinese firm to rebuild the Bay Bridge, which project has taken nearly three times as long as the original construction. And it's not even complete yet.

RICHARD| 1.20.12 @ 11:42AM

Did you know the Grand Coulee Dam and related irrigation system is only 2/3 done? No way it will be completed now. PS Grand Coulee Dam is truly a wonder of modern humanity--if you haven't been there and toured the dam and related farm lands you should do so.

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 5:06AM

It IS fabulous. Been inside Bonneville, btu not Coulee. Of course, the revocation of infrastructure funding starting in the early 80's and continuing through Newt's Congress and Bush's fiasco are WHY it will never be complete.

merlin| 1.22.12 @ 7:17PM

I think that the fact that there is more money for the utilities in generating electricity than in providing water for irrigation is a factor in why the project will not be completed.

Mr. ewe, please do not come to Grand Coulee. Or if you must, come from Spokane and go back to Spokane. Any other route would bring you to close to where I live and you might pass up wind from us.

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 5:05AM

If you weren't so deeply a part of a conspiracy to defraud, you wouldn't be seeing conspiracies behind every tree.

Oldefarte| 1.21.12 @ 12:55PM

Are those conspiracies named Barry, David, Nancy, Dick, and Harry perhaps?????

Brubaker| 1.20.12 @ 10:56AM

Two snaps up for ideological purity.

Another two snaps up for incredible stupidity.

Jimmy| 1.20.12 @ 11:36AM

My goodness - thousands of pipelines all over the country, with nary an ecological disaster that I know of, that is, with the environmental issues understood and accounted for --- and you want to stop this ONE pipeline?

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 5:09AM

Was last years in Minnesota or Montana into the Yellowstone River?

How many in Alaska due to failure to pig the pipes on schedule?

Valdez? BP who didn't inspect the well stops?

BE glad you are not a fucking DUCK! The Republicans would throw you out of the club if you looked too much like the president!

Oldefarte| 1.21.12 @ 12:48PM

Ducks don't depend upon oil to transport them to/from work, the heat/cool their homes, to power-run their factories, to deliver goods/services to their homes/retail stores etc, IDIOT. Try depending on a DUCK instead of an oil powered source next time you need one of these items!!!!!!

Dmac| 1.20.12 @ 1:08PM

fckewe,
What the common man wants is to be able to have ajob and pay his bills. You see sir, self preservation copmes before charity, whether that charity is to the enviroment or ones neighbors.
The average american also wants to be warm in winter. Children are very succeptible to pneumonia, so we'd like to keep our children and infants warm.
Does the average American want clean water and air, of course he/she does. The enivormental elitist think only they can make that claim and it has to be done their way, well they're wrong. Others can want clean air and water and still move forward without the name calling, or threats or any of the other crap that some of the enviromentalist do these days. Progress is not going to stop, it is inevitable. We can do the pipeline and keep it safe.
Only losers like Obama and those like him who have little or no faith in America or her citizens would try to stop progress. American by nature are doer's.

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 5:10AM

Then why is the RED Congress in such a hurry? And why are the so quick to defeat ANY other jobs proposals?

Oldefarte| 1.21.12 @ 12:44PM

They are in such a hurry IDIOT because this country now has nominally 10% [actually 20%] unemployment, that's why you IDIOT!!!!!!!

fckewe| 1.23.12 @ 6:11AM

Was that the last erection of your useless existence... from name calling in a blog about environmentalist origens? WOW! you really ARE senile! Bettter put a bell around your neck so your grand kids can find you before you escape into traffic...

fckewe| 1.23.12 @ 6:14AM

Oh, BTW, your own RED party funded Fox news says 8.5% and maybe 12% including the partimers nOT collecting benefits and all those the RED party bankrupted into foreclosure by forcing a 35% cut in unemployment insurance attached to the BOnehead agreement just before Christmas.

You should get the candystriper at the Geriatric Palace you call home to read you a 2012 newspaper while you wait for those prunes to work.

carnot| 1.20.12 @ 3:51PM

unless...of course...one happens to know people who work at EPA and have insider insights.

pass your undocumented, unquantified bumpersticker thinking off someplace else.

oh...I forgot...you hold an MBA!!!!

Oldefarte| 1.21.12 @ 12:53PM

You're an IDIOT and your FORESTRY DEGREE from Cow College A&M is reflective of the liberal brainwashing propaganda from its egghead professors who crank out other IDIOTS such as yourself yearly!!!!!!

SGT Baker (native Coloradoan)| 1.22.12 @ 10:23AM

"Ask any 2nd Amendment WARRIOR how he will justify owning automatic weapons if there are no deer or rabbits to subdue with them. Just ASK!!"

2nd Admendment has NOTHING to do with hunting, and EVERYTHING to do with self defense of yourself, your family, your property, and others as needed, from the robber at night to a oppressive government gone mad. That is the ONLY justification needed. Why the hell would you hunt with an automatic weapon? Have you ever even fired a firearm, let alone a fully automatic weapon. I felt safer in Iraq with insurgents firing away on full auto at me than when I would see ONE insurgent taking the time to aim and fire each time at me. Too much TV and video game inaccuracies concerning automatic weapons are considered factual and it is quite laughable.
Long live the Republic!

bill| 1.20.12 @ 9:26AM

Abolish EPA, Dept. of Energy and Dept. of Interior.

fckewe| 1.20.12 @ 9:33AM

WHy? Stand on your bandwagon, but explain WHY. Do you even KNOW what these organizations do?

Kruel Hunter| 1.20.12 @ 10:33AM

Yes indeed I do. They exist almost entirely to displace the will of the people with the will of the elite.

Boar Hunter| 1.20.12 @ 1:51PM

I think ewe picked a good name. He is apparently led about as easily as a sheep to the slaughter. Like most of these dim witted willfully ignorant liberals he does not realize the consequences of his own misguided actions.

The problem with the fine, fine government agencies these bleeding heart liberals subject us to is that they start out with a mandate to protect us from things like obscenity on the internet or some other equally nobel cause.

After all, we must protect the children and obscenity is so easy to identify, isn't it? But the obscene complain and the department of obscenity eradication needs more people to handle the complaints of the obscene and the people who enjoy the obscene. OOP's, we forgot about the religious extremists who are pissed off at us for the opposite reasons.

Soon they need attorneys and more secretaries. They hire people to construct and maintain their web page so everyone can learn about their fabulous and necessary work. They grow and grow until they are too big to fail.

They never stop obscenity on the internet or drugs in the street. They never eliminate the poor from among us. What ewe does not understand is that the same people who are tired of the government meddling and overreaching are protecting the rights he is so willing to give up.

In their attempt to justify their existence, these agencies have long ago forgotten their authorized functions and have begun reaching ever farther, simply to justify their budgets which is the only thing obscene they actually control.

Death panels will next decide what treatment and medication I am entitled to, whether I can pay or not. Obama care gives the government an an open door into every aspect of my life because my health is dependent on everything I do, eat, drink, smoke or have sex with (gays will be excluded from the actuaries of course).

Failing to understand history, this self deluded youth also fails to understand the consequences of having a government like the one he strives to usher in. Hopefully he will extract his head from his rear end before he he hears a knock at the door from the federal department of obscenity who wants him to explain the use of his vulgar and offensive name.

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 5:12AM

That is their function in blind yes. I asked what to they DO! now go ask your mommy for some warm milk and come back out to play when you have finished your homework.

Oldefarte| 1.21.12 @ 12:42PM

Yes, I can answer your original question. They do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING and they WASTE TAXPAYERS' HARD EARNED MONEY in the process of same, that's what they do!!!!!!

Jimmy| 1.20.12 @ 12:06PM

I do too -- they do some protecting which needs to be done, and a lot of damage that is unnecessary. And they do things that the states could do just as well or better. What is worse, environmentalists too often use questionable science.

So: drying up the Central Valley of California for the sake of an inconsequential fish; banning DDT which has led to the deaths of how many thousands of African children; getting phosphates of of dishwasher soap because of ONE river in Washington, the damage to which is highly questionable -- by the way, I am on a septic system, so nothing any phosphate would do would have any effect on my water, or any fish.

Shall I continue? How about regulating not only navigable waterways (the original intent) but classifying as wetland any place on which rainfall can put a puddle?

They problem with environmentalists -- and I exaggerate only for effect -- is that they want to make the Mississippi into a trout stream.

Don't know if you are amenable to considering all these issues, but I had to try :)

fckewe| 1.23.12 @ 6:20AM

Actually, the opposite is tue. Enviromentalists in the 50's warned of the damage draining the Everglades and the Atchafalya River Delta would cause. 3/4 of the glades are gone, hundreds of species of birds and now insects are ravaging the tourist traps.

Worse still, it is costing 5 times as much to PUT THINGS BACK TO original in Florida.

HOW are DDT bans in the US killing African children? you need to stop buying wholesale the FOX News garbage.

carnot| 1.20.12 @ 3:54PM

can you quantify the cost/benefit ratio of what "these organizations" do? given mission creep...can you even make a case that a substantive mission statement even exists? can you quantify the tradeoffs in "benefits" versus sacrificed freedoms that most certainly exist? heck with that...where can you even find unbiased, semantically sound data to even build an argument?

fckewe| 1.23.12 @ 6:21AM

What freedom does the EPA cost you? How does the NTSB impede you sit on your ass and type gibberish agenda?

Teaghan| 1.20.12 @ 11:14AM

Please put the Dept. of Education on your list too.

Bill| 1.20.12 @ 9:26AM

Robert Kennedy wrote of some environmental organization, "Many of its founding members were the children and grandchildren of the Osborns, Stillmans, and Harrimans, the robber barons who had laid out great estates amid the Highlands' spectacular scenery and whose descendants had fought fiercely since the turn of the century to preserve the views for themselves and the public."

They tried to preserve the views of the Hudson Valley for THE PUBLIC??? I believe that they started up their green organizations to preserve the views for themselves, all right, but the public? Yeah? Try living, say, in Tarrytown and going to some rich guy's estate on the Hudson and going on their property to view the Hudson from their lawns; you'll wind up in jail before you can say "Nelson Rockefeller."

Bill| 1.20.12 @ 9:29AM

Or, come to think of it, "Hyde Park."

fckewe| 1.20.12 @ 9:32AM

"As Joel Kotkin writes in Forbes, Keystone is the dividing line of the "two Americas," the knowledge-based elites of the East and West Coasts in their media, non-profit and academic homelands (where Obama learned his environmentalism) and the blue-collar workers of the Great In- Between laboring in agriculture, mining, manufacturing, power production and the exigencies of material life."

Sounds like HG Wells "Time Machine" utopia with white collar criminals enjoying the fruit of 'Morlach" sweat. But we working people want places to fish, hunt, hike, camp and picnic more than rich slob journalists, oil barrons and stock brokers do.

carnot| 1.20.12 @ 3:56PM

"we working MBAs"...cmon now......don't stray to far from your "credentials"!!!!

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 5:15AM

Earning a degree while laying block and driving trucks rounds My education. Figuring out that your IQ and your FoxNews Station are the same # does NOT qualify as higher math skills.

Oldefarte| 1.21.12 @ 12:36PM

Are you perhaps another ART HISTORY educated moron ???????

fckewe| 1.23.12 @ 6:21AM

you don't READ very well anymore do you grandfarte.

G.S. Patton| 1.20.12 @ 10:36AM

Wo unto us poor, lowly neanderthals of ilk IQ, and lack of moral environmental fortitude. For it is only the progressive who truly holds understanding and possesses true virtue. Let us all together bestow grace upon those with such a blessed, higher understanding of enlightenment. Forgive us our trespasses, as we could have never known Ronnie was the devil incarnate..... and the root of true evil as the prophet Marx so wisely told of. If only I would have got just one more ppm mercury in my water.....at the hands of the demons. May we truly see the light ..... pray for us, that we may receive true understanding in the next step in human evolution; understanding and wisdom in every subsidized GE turbine, every solar panel, and bicycle. May we aspire, to that shining city; every ghetto infested, crime laden, entitlement provided, and broke major metropolitan area you fck'rs have ran for 50 years. It just ooozes with humanity and environmentally safe playgrounds. Please offer atonement, for our poor souls who have had to participate in the evil practice of capitalism and running a business. Only the commune, and The State have the moral relevancy to advance the human condition and environment wisdom. I am a fool. If only I would have seen the light. Have a nice day, and Fckewe.

P.S. Automatic weapons have been illegal since WWII... but we all hunt rabbits with a .50 Browning BAR; I'm sure you knew that though.

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 5:16AM

This is funny. GO fck gts.

Nick| 1.21.12 @ 3:15PM

One small correction, Mr. Patton.
The B.A.R. was a .30 caliber weapon.

I'm afraid that your sarcasm is lost on those bleeding heart liberals whose reasoning skills are infantile, incoherent, and impotent.

G.S. Patton| 1.23.12 @ 9:19AM

Yes, you are correct Nick. The M2 was .50, b.a.r. was .30-06 My fury over-looked that.

George S| 1.20.12 @ 10:39AM

Hey, what other "for the people" nature loving guy had a mountain retreat to escape the day to day stresses of the world? And made sure to build the smokestacks in Poland, so as not to spoil the air?

This is the mindset we are dealing with.

Say Baptist| 1.20.12 @ 10:41AM

Clear water and air are important but bureaucratic overreach has raised the stakes absurdly. While many "greens" are really statists, many are more sinister; they hate humanity. Read "green building and see that the ideal is mud huts and Igloos. Notice the green love of abortion and euthanasia. They are vultures feeding on Prometheus's liver.

Gary| 1.20.12 @ 11:07AM

The elitism of the environmentalists has long been a pet peeve of mine. Being from a blue collar working class back round, I in particular have no use for their knee jerk opposition to any development of oil and gas, timber, etc. and general opposition to manufacturing and petro chemical plants. The only things they support are solar and wind farms, which they in their ignorance can't see the huge areas of land that would be required to use the latter to a great degree. They also favor "organic" farming which would also require the use of many more acres if it was the main way we raised crops. I also doubt whether there is any scientific evidence that people who eat this expensive food are healthier for it. The rich actors who are big on ecology live in mansions, own more than one residence, fly all over the world, and leave a "footprint" big enough for hundreds of we peons out here. THEY are the ones who have their rustic homes, can afford to travel and view the wonders of nature they worship, while looking down their collective noses at the rabble who have to scratch out a living daily and whose jobs the elite oppose as shown by Obama's actions.

Dmac| 1.20.12 @ 1:12PM

Very well put sir!

Jimmy| 1.20.12 @ 11:29AM

"People in the leisure class have become so accustomed affluence as the natural state of things that they no longer feel compelled to embrace any further industrial progress"

It's even worse. People in the leisured class have become so accustomed to affluence that they truly believe it could never end. But they are simply living off the wealth created by others, which they themselves are unwilling to replace.

RICHARD| 1.20.12 @ 11:37AM

There are others besides the two classes: Those who love and understand the modern world and Americanism and want all to participate in them. In order to do so cheap energy is required and it is available with coal, oil and natural gas (and don't forget nuclear). Providing prosperity for ourselves and future generations is a noble goal.

megapotamus| 1.20.12 @ 11:41AM

The bleating sex doll has not read The Time Machine nor even seen the movie although it aspires to its riches. The Eloi were free-range cattle, moron. They populated a game preserve.

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 5:17AM

And who slaughtered, butchered, sold and consumed them?

Oldefarte| 1.21.12 @ 12:32PM

Certainly NOT the OWS and the environmental wacko crowd, since they're too stupid to do so!!!!!!!!!!!

Rick| 1.20.12 @ 11:52AM

Obamas' polices do to work its just headwins. He will NOT loose! Your a bigget and a rasist!

iknownothing| 1.21.12 @ 9:23AM

Wow, Rick. Your first sentence makes no sense at all - I think you meant to say "it's just headwinds"? In your two short sentences, I counted at least 6 spelling and grammar sentences. You must be an Obama voter, and it explains why Obama, without fail, will win at least 45 percent of the electorate - no matter what happens.

Rick represents the huge and growing portion of the Democrat Party electorate who are products of the American public education system, and who are therefore too stupid to understand the Constitution, too stupid to dig up a photo-ID card to take to the polling place, who are too stupid to find the polling place without being bused there and be given a free meal for the privilege, and who are too stupid to figure out how fill out a butterfly ballot correctly once they finally get to the polling place.

Slacker| 1.20.12 @ 12:41PM

Isn't it funny how someone who has never studied physics or thermodynamics can state with absolute certainty that wind or solar is feasible?

Anytime I try to explain anything to a green believer I suffer the bizarre phenomenon of being called anti-science by someone who studied English lit.

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 5:21AM

Everytime one of you slackers requotes Greta Carlson or Van Susteren, I research it. Everytime you quote Sarah "Quit on My voters" Palin.... i just laugh.

Wind works fine, but building a wider power grid would make it more efficient. YES, the wind doesn't blow all the time, BUT... it WILL be blowing in 50, 100, 500 years.

Oil will be GONE in about 75. I personally favor nuclear energy simply because with a little wisdom in locating plants away from Faultlines and Tsunami flood plains... you can run them with the chips in a cell phone.

Oldefarte| 1.21.12 @ 12:30PM

You're an IDIOT!!!!!!!!

fckewe| 1.23.12 @ 6:26AM

I know you grew up on Whale oil lamps and this new fangled blogging is just incomprehensible to you, but I am actually grateful to your Oldefarte. It's been a pleasure bumping up your blood pressure and My greatest pleasure today would be giving you a stroke... just enough of one to render your fingers immobile.

cicero| 1.20.12 @ 1:12PM

As usual, our elites lack perspective, because they have lost all touch with reality. They seek environmental perfection, just as they sought human perfection. The campaign for human perfection (communism) resulted in the untimely deaths of as much as 200 million human beings. The campaign for environmental perfection will result in the poverty of the magority of humanity. However, its advocates will be insulated from the reality of matters due to their wealth and political power - until the revolt. It will not be pretty.

Anthony| 1.20.12 @ 1:36PM

This president is reckless and dangerous. He despises this country and all that America has come to represent to the free world. Obozo does not believe in the greatness of America, he believes, like his radical leftist base, that America is The Evil of the world.
Congress needs to vote on Articles of Impeachment, given Obozo's gross dereliction of duty to American economic and national secrutiy concerns. I don't give a damn what that reptile Harry Reid does with it in the senate.
No rational person charged with the protection and survivability of America can possibly justify Obozo's decision, save for his dedication to Marxism and the destruction of the American economy.
The radical enviornmental movment is atavistic and anti-capitalism. They believe they can survive in an 18th century America due to their wealth and its prophylactic effect on the hardships their radical agenda portends for America.
If there was any doubt about how dangerous Obozo and the radical Americn left is to the survivability of America, this is it.
These people must be DEFEATED!!!
Meanwhile, memo to Vice- Idiot Biteme: Take the points and the San Francisco Giants in Sunday's game!!!

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 5:22AM

CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP and not one bt of EVIDENCE to make a case. Just regurgitated KKK jabbering. LMAO

Oldefarte| 1.21.12 @ 12:28PM

'Crap' is the matter between your two ears!!!!!

Mattled| 1.20.12 @ 1:47PM

Looks we have a sheep rapist as a troll? Looks like he is missing a couple of s's.
Fcksewes.

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 5:23AM

you a Fox robot built by the makers of hot wheels Matteled?

Oldefarte| 1.21.12 @ 12:25PM

And you're AND IDIOT!!!!!!!

fckewe| 1.23.12 @ 6:27AM

The dementia is kicking in pretty bad now I see. you're down to remembering that one famous line you romanced your wife with...

Oldefarte| 1.20.12 @ 2:07PM

These morons are beyond what Rush describes as WACKY. Beyond the elitism of this article, there are the equal imbiciles of life formerly known as environmental terrorists that destroyed automobile parking lots full of new expenseive vehicles with paint in the name of protecting the environment. Envirnomentalists are just plain dumb. Everyone with common sense wants pristine lake, rivers etc; but the extremism of these wackos is way beyond same. They simply need to be shoved into a closet somewhere permanently. Correspondingly, in the mode of IT'S THE DEMOCRATS, STUPIDS, the following is another example of the radicaliness of said political party: '....States Begin Battle Over Tax Cuts, Increases Friday, January 20, 2012 11:14 AMBy: Greg McDonald.....Taxes are emerging as a key issue as state legislative sessions open around the country, with many Republican governors pressing for deeper tax cuts and Democratic governors looking for more ways to increase revenues.According to Stateline.org, the online news and research arm of the nonprofit Pew Center on the States, at least half a dozen GOP governors are proposing “sweeping tax cuts” while “just as many Democrats” are calling for tax increases.
Two of the biggest battles, Stateline reported Friday, are likely to unfold in New Jersey and in Maryland, where the budget situations are dramatically different. In New Jersey, Republican Gov. Chris Christie is pushing for passage of a 10 percent across-the-board cut in the state income tax. “This will send a loud signal,” Stateline quoted Christie as saying in his State of the State speech last week. “The New Jersey comeback has begun.”
The state’s Democratic lawmakers, however, are balking at the governor’s tax-cut plan even though they supported his call last year for pension and other reforms that have put the state on sounder economic footing.In Maryland, meanwhile, Stateline reported that Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley is calling for a tax increase on state residents who earn six-figure incomes to help close what he believes will be a $1 billion budget shortfall this year.
“I don’t like doing this,” O’Malley was reported to have said, arguing that it was necessary step “to get us through this recession........'

Pete| 1.20.12 @ 2:25PM

Unfortunately when the Democrats move further to the left the GOP tells us conservatives to move over to the middle. We see this as a way that Socialism gets ratcheted up. Lets have a conservative president and force the Democrats to move to the middle (or perish in the leftism).

Oldefarte| 1.20.12 @ 5:12PM

I seen the Democrats move from the Mike Mansfields of the 1960's to the Barack Obama's of today. Ain't no way they'll ever move to anything resembling the middle [the Clinton faction lost out to the Kennedy-Obama faction in 2008]. The only hope for conservatism is the Republican Party!!!!!!!!

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 5:26AM

Conservatism is a proven scam. Reaganomics just failed miserable for the people, but if you were in on the grift... your get fat like Dick ,Hank and their golf buddies.

How did Dick Fuld get paid from a bankrupt company before all the other employees?

Oldefarte| 1.21.12 @ 12:23PM

I'm being kind when I say that YOU'RE AN IDIOT!!!!!!!!!

fckewe| 1.23.12 @ 6:29AM

HAHAHHHHHHAAAAAAA. Yawn. you are a very boring toy, and your nurse dresses you funny.

Pete| 1.20.12 @ 2:29PM

No place makes me more incensed than the Escalante Staircase National Monument. This is land stolen by the federal government and turned into a giant reserve. The restrictions are so onerous that the people of Garfield County are prevented from visiting it themselves. The only visitors are the Sierra Club from San Francisco who bribed Clinton for the land in the first place.

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 5:28AM

I have been there. It's a 5 hour ride on a busy day. The only restrictions are to stay on the paths to avoid damaging the ecosystem.

Please make you lies a little less transparent Pete, it takes the fun out of catching you in them.

Matt E| 1.20.12 @ 2:44PM

Can we coin a new term: "Envirolitism"? Seems to capture the idea here....

H M Sheldon| 1.20.12 @ 3:32PM

Welcome article by Mr. Tucker. The particularly ridiculous nature of the Keystone Pipeline rejection is that the White House emphasized a threat to the Ogallalah aquifer, which is indeed a major aquifer underlying several states. Given that the pipeline would be highly engineered and monitored, and that it would be shipping a very heavy oil (bitumen), the threat to the aquifer is more theoretical than real. In most places aquifers like the Ogallalah are relatively deep down. Oil does not move down through earth very readily, especially heavy stuff. And it spreads slowly. the "environmental" threat is really more to a given surface water if a break in the line were to occur nearby. But numerous pipelines and extensive use of petroleum already exist nationwide, some crisscrossing Nebraska and throughout the Ogallalah region. The White House decision is dogma without serious foundation. Have we curtailed use of existing pipelines, automobiles, oil heat or any of the other oil based activities that are part of our daily lives for a century due to an aquifer risk? Nonsense. And the careful Environmental Studies on this were undertaken and finished moons ago show the risk is small and very manageable. The President and the Administration did not need any more time to make an arbitrary decision less arbitrary.

Esteban| 1.20.12 @ 4:21PM

Read Tom Clancy's "Rainbow Six" for a not-altogether-impossible scenario of how far the arrogant wacko environmentalists will try to go when they have sufficient money and power. To them humans are a pestilence. And what do we do with pestilence?

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 5:28AM

I think RED humans are pestilence... but Whom in the RED party is Human anymore?

O Tamandua| 1.21.12 @ 10:20AM

Esteban, reading this and thinking how much the modern left believes humans (those "great unwashed" of us) are pollution reminds me of the original Star Trek episode "The changeling".

The plot involved an American space probe (predating Captain Kirk and his crew by a long time) sent out to explore for life in space, which collided with an alien probe ("of great power", to quote Mr. Spock) sent to collect and sterilize soil samples of barren planets for study in possible colonization. The two badly damaged machines merged and repaired each other into one unit...but being an machine subject to malfunctions, their collective mission was now "seek out (imperfect) life and sterilize it (read: "terminate with extreme prejudice").

Long story short: Captain Kirk brings the probe aboard (the probe thinks Kirk is its "inventor"...no time to explain that sidebar) and Kirk realizes it is going to kill any creature that it deems imperfect, that is, has emotion and not pure machine logic. Captain Kirk proceeds, at episode's end, to tell the machine that it, too, is imperfect (after all, it mistook Kirk for its' "Daddy") and that this machine must execute its own prime function. You can almost see its internal eyes spinning in their sockets wildly as Kirk hastily has it teleported into deep space, where it explodes itself.

Why am I reminded of this? Because I'd really love to be at a convention of these affluent environmentalists where someone could make them see the light that THEY are just as much "pollution" as the rest of us, and that THEIR ideas are the ones which will more readily destroy the planet. A tall, fantasy order, I know...but it would be fun to watch their own eyes spin like the hands of a clock while contemplating this.

mary| 1.20.12 @ 7:13PM

Obama might be singing the blues when hears about this on the Ulsterman Report where the so called White House Insider is claiming that a prominent Dem Senator has some info that could destroy his Presidency and to shut the Senator up some strange things have been going on that may be connected to White House including the mysterious death of a key aide, stolen campaign funds, ethics investigations: Below is a comment from said site speculating who the Senator might be: January 20, 2012 at 10:13 pm Guess what? A brand new ethics violation story was put down on Senator Feinstein within days of Kam K found dead. Unbelievable how the timings all comes together. Where is the media on this? Nobody cares?

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 5:31AM

Who exactly said What exactly about Which Democratic Senator and which strange thing, about what anonymous aide...

That;s quite a plot outline you got there. your Editor choose the names ofthe characters yet? or are you goingto go 100% mystery fiction with it. All minimalist with the details and storyline too?

Hien| 1.20.12 @ 8:43PM

Great article. I believe there is another group of people who have very good reason to support environmentalism: the white racists. You see, the majority of blacks in this country and non-white people around the world are poor and environmentalism would keep them poor.

POST American| 1.20.12 @ 9:59PM

---And speaking of the enviornment---

-------about that FUKSIHIMA fallout

-----------and those Aluminum CHEM-trails

-------------and that GMO food

----------------and the saturation of everything
with bisphenol A plastics

---------------------and the stuff in our water

------------------------and the weaponization of
injections and meds

---------------------------and massive microwaving
of everyone and every thing

---------------HUAC/ Nuremberg 2012----------------

POST American| 1.20.12 @ 10:57PM

---------------------KEY ALERT!------------------------

Speaking of deviant economy et al:

DO ---DO ----DO CHECK OUT

'The Great Internet Wars Have Begun'
-InfoWars
(latest video)

----------------------ESSENTIAL------------------------

SteveInPhilly| 1.21.12 @ 12:04AM

Mr. Tucker: I very, very well remember the Harper's cover article from the '70s; it was one of the more important political articles I've ever read, and I'm delighted that I can take this opportunity to thank you for it.
It was correct - hey, "Relevant!" - then, and your thinking behind it still is on target. You - and Thorstein Veblen - absolutely Get It. Another well-done article, and I thank you.
Still recalling the Harper's cover with the eco-flag flying off the stern of a yacht! How I wish that it didn't still apply.
Best to you, and thanks again.

Russell| 1.21.12 @ 12:25AM

It's too bad Bill Tucker's 1977 article has proved to be the high point of his journalistic career.

Nuclear powere deserves more thought and less lobbying skill than he has thus far delivered.

batman| 1.21.12 @ 12:28AM

The President did not kill the Keystone pipeline to please the environmentalists. He did it to kill the American economy and to weaken the United States, while at the same time making us more dependent on Middle East oil. Once this premise is accepted, all his actions for the past three years suddenly make sense -- not as acts of incompetence but as a competently pursued agenda hostile to American exceptionalism.

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 5:41AM

He didn't kill anything. The RED's, in their massive rush to sabotage recovery from the Bush Recession, gave Obama a deadline. Rather than make a bad decision, her just said no and is still open to building it, with proper and thorough environmental security.

Wish you pachyderms would learn to read.

Hmastercylinder| 1.21.12 @ 11:32AM

Wish you would learn to think, or shut up.
Your choice.
Oh, that's right! You can't think, because then you'd have to admit you're wrong.
Never mind. Carry on being stupid. I guess you can't help it.

Eric| 1.21.12 @ 3:06PM

The project has been studied for three years and the State Dept had already given its approval. There are already hundreds of thousands of miles of pipelines of all kinds criss-crossing the country. This was NOT about the environment. This was about putting the interests of very wealthy, anti-energy elitists above the interests of the public at large.

fckewe| 1.23.12 @ 6:33AM

The State Department is all about making nice to the neighbors and explaining why the Covert CIA crap were are doing in sovereign nations is NOT an act of war against them.

They don't know shit about science, economics OR public safety. What was the total damage from BP in the gulf spill? What did the Valdez cleanup cost? What were the economic losses that were never repaid?

Paul Bonnichsen| 1.21.12 @ 2:12AM

Mr. Tucker,

Great read... thanks!!!

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 5:38AM

House Republicans are eyeing an ambitious political and policy agenda for 2012, hoping to take action on tax reform and planning a major infrastructure spending bill and repeal of President Barack Obama’s health care law.

The wish list also includes GOP favorites like jump-starting the construction of the Keystone pipeline — and the party is planning another far-reaching budget blue print that seeks to reform Medicare.

Will any of this actually become law — or even get a second look in the Senate? Slim chance, but that’s part of the strategy — Republicans want to use their agenda to argue that the White House and Senate Democrats are the main obstacle for a conservative agenda.

More time wasting, just like Newt and the Clinton Witchhunts. We need some SERIOUS 2nd amendment remedies the night of the State of the Union.

fckewe| 1.21.12 @ 5:39AM

"Patriots" planning to fail, forcing another year of recession upon the voters... is THIS what you are so proud to be a RED for?

Ken (Old Texican) | 1.21.12 @ 8:07AM

Ewe,
you are wearing out my scroll button. Quit already.

Rosie| 1.21.12 @ 11:03AM

The same divide exists on the global level. The 1st world elites want to keep the third world countries from developing their natural resources and live forever in a primitive state by using Al Gore's clever climate credits to transfer welfare instead of progress to third world countries.

Howard Hirsch| 1.21.12 @ 2:39PM

William, I loved your original 1977 article in Harper's so much that I assigned it to my classes in energy and environmental policy at Metro State University in St. Paul, Minnesota back then. Although I was Jim Watt before anyone ever heard of him, my intent was to get my students back then to understand the consequences of policy choices, no matter what side of the issue they took.

While your points about the self-interest of the elite in embracing environmentalism are still valid, I think we've discovered over the past 35 years the emergence of environmentalism as a religion, and I think you might focus on this a little more in future efforts. It is a religion that holds that man's original sin is the despoliation of the planet, and the atonement for such comes only from reducing his numbers. See D. Keith Mano's 1973 novel "The Bridge", for example, for details.

Eric| 1.21.12 @ 3:03PM

Another question I'd like to ask of the environmentalists is why don't they speak out against illegal immigration? If America uses too much energy and natural resources then why aren't they fighting like heck to keep illegals out. Illegal aliens don't give a damn about the environmentalsts' agenda and are eager to become consumers themselves. They don't fight illegal immigration because it would cause too much tension within the Leftist coalition of interest groups. They do need to be called out on this publicly and repeatedly though.

Marc Jeric| 1.21.12 @ 11:11PM

Our communists and eco-nazis have finally merged into the same camp. "Kill USA!" is their common goal; then they can take perpetual power by "managing the crises". Unions under the communist management - both industrial and government employees ones - are the dupes here.

MarkInKansas| 1.22.12 @ 9:53AM

I read the whole comment section. You should ignore this FCKEWE. He/she/it tosses out a statement of disprovable information, someone responds with sourced material to disprove it, and FCKEWE changes the topic. You will never convince a leftist idiot of anything. Ignoring a leftist idiot however frustrates them to the point that they eventually go away.

Richard Baker| 1.22.12 @ 4:48PM

"Renewable" energy sources are about as likely a replacement for traditional sources as the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier will replace its nuclear reactors with lithium crystals used on the fictional Starship Enterprise.

mike| 1.22.12 @ 6:00PM

great article. but one minor point--andrew young was carter's un secretary. i believe moon landreau was hud secretary followed by patricia harris

magicbeans| 1.22.12 @ 7:06PM

Excellent

LizardLips| 1.22.12 @ 7:11PM

The Luddites are in charge. Who knew?

mixplix| 1.22.12 @ 7:34PM

Well said sir and as a Boilermaker I was on many sites building precipitators and scrubbers of flue gases that were planned years before the construction. Unknown to many but the products collected from these structures often more than pay for the construction and maintenance of the structure. Garbage burners are very lucrative besides making a high paying government job the fees involved are the dumping fees which are high but who gets the money for the metals collected? Glass? And believe it or not, money. Talking to one employee at a burner in Buffalo, NY said that thousands of dollars in pocket change is taken out of the hoppers explaining that people throw out very soiled or painted clothes forgetting the pocket change.

Banzaibob | 1.22.12 @ 8:22PM

The upper crust fly in private jets to the Sundance Film Festival which is put on by Robert Redford who called Obama to thank him for cutting the pipeline. The entertainment elites are driven in private limos to their perspective award ceremonies. Al Gore takes public transportation to pick up his Nobel Peace Prize but hires a limo to take his luggage to the hotel.

They all have their piece of the pie but they don't care a damn about you.

TimInGA| 1.22.12 @ 8:43PM

Regarding the Trollgolodyte Fck---....their chosen screen name alone should let one know what this poster is all about. Trolls get hungry when they don't get fed....let's try and starve this one.

Petronius| 1.23.12 @ 1:09AM

Once more after the usual tosh. Environmentalism is not about protecting the environment. It's about preventing commerce in natural resources. We have one nuke power generating facility in my state. When it was under construction and a certain hippy I knew was demonstrating against it and UE, I foolishly asked why. And his response was, "so the electric company can't sell it to you." The environmentalist of that stripe is a primitive slacker who desires a world without free trade because he believes that his obligation to earn his living and pay his bills will become a thing of the past. He hates the market because no other mechanism can establish material value. He wants the baby life. His legacy is the Occupier of today.

Chris| 1.23.12 @ 10:45PM

Wow, such high quality conversation here. Ec0-fascists. Envior-nazis. Simple brilliant.

One thing absent from this thread is any acknowledgement of NUANCE. Crazy, I know, but not all things are black and white. Not all current issues are Obama's fault. Even more crazy!

For all you so-called 'conservatives' out there, I got news for you. No one on your side stands a chance against Obama. Whoever it is, THEY WILL GET CLOBBERED in November. So get used to it, and try compromising, rather than being against anything he does, even when you used to support it.

Enjoy the next 5 years under President Obama :)

Periwinkel| 1.24.12 @ 11:35AM

Over the last 40 years wealthy environmentalists have delayed and ultimately stopped the building of a third, much needed, major bridge between Kentucky and Indiana over the Ohio River at Louisville. (They called themselves River Fields, a lovely, benign name for a real bunch cads and rascals.) In December during a routine inspection, one of the two heavily traveled bridges crossing the Ohio was found to have some serious cracks resulting in the closure for repairs.

Guess what?! Now we are down to one bridge major bridge and one tiny bridge to handle the thousands of cars, trucks, vans and 18 wheelers that daily make their way through Louisville headed either north to Indianapolis/Chicago and west to St. Louis.

The public in general knew exactly where to place the blame: River Fields and their lackeys to include Representative John Yarmuth (D) Kentucky.

I am happy to report the broken bridge is being fixed, the much needed new bridge is going forward and the mealy-mouthed enviros from River Fields have finally stopped telling us it is not their fault. Don't you just love liberals!?

Wayne| 1.24.12 @ 11:01PM

I would like to comment on one portion of Mr.
Tucker's article-that about one cabin builder an environmentalist and the next a developer. After years of living in cities I moved back to a rural area which until recently was under great pressure to develop by those who wanted to move to a "rural" area. I pointed out that if everyone who wanted to move to a rural did, the area would not be rural. The same would apply to the mountain top, if everyone moved to the mountain top, the mountain top would not be as a desireable place to live, if everyone moved to a wilderness then again the wilderness would not be the wilderness. Yes, I have a problem with "limosine environmentalists" , but not everyone can have what they desire i.e. living on a mountain top without ruining the it for everyone else incluing themselves. Not everyone can have it all.

Bleofeld| 1.26.12 @ 2:16PM

I'm from Alberta. We feel there is zero chance that Keystone of any sort will go through. The environmental left prefers tyrants to democracies it seems when it deals in fossil fuels.

This is fine with us. Today it was announced that Canada was putting tight deadlines on public submissions on environmental rulings. We WILL punch a line or 11 through to the west coast. Since our allies don't seem keen on buying our heavy oil, we will sell it to Marxists. It was getting hard to tell the difference between the U.S. and China on that ideological front anyway.

The most interesting and continually ignored fact is that the Ogalala aquifer is essentially dry. No more than 15 or so years of water left in it. Soon it will be useful only for storing stuff like salt water and oil.

My guess is the environmentalist think this to be a boon. No more nasty mid-West people to deal with, they will all have to move to the coasts so they have enough water to brush their teeth.

Not to worry though America, in a measly 100 million years the aquifer will be full again.

Meanwhile we Canadians sit on the most fresh water in the world, are self-sufficient in energy, and have as good a special forces as the Navy Seals. We are 2 and 0 against the U.S. at war, and a lot more of a handful to try to occupy than some third-world backwater. We like our freedoms, and will not let them be taken away lightly.

Besides, you will be pretty much frozen or broiling in the dark when the 2nd law of thermodynamics triumphs again over the idea of 'alternative' and 'clean' energy sources.

Cheers,

Bloefeld

elektrisk motorcykel | 1.28.12 @ 10:10PM

elektrisk motorcykel

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