Just had a chance to catch some of Rush Limbaugh on the car radio -- El Rushbo was kind of all over the map but among the things that he was attacking President Obama for, the one that really stood out was that the president had the nerve to endorse low-energy lightbulbs today. He played a soundbite from this:
President Obama on Monday announced new federal efforts to promote energy efficiency in the United States, through stricter standards on fluorescent and incandescent light and other measures.
"I know light bulbs might not seem sexy," Mr. Obama said, "but this simple action holds enormous promise because 7 percent of all energy consumed in America is used to light our homes and our businesses."
Paraphrasing, Rush was like: "Folk, this is Jimmy Carter all over again -- with the cardigan sweaters and lowering the thermostat to 68 degrees in the White House....There is no shortage of energy."
This is what talk radio has to fall back on -- the glory days of Reagan beating Carter and thus proving to the world that any kind of sacrifice is for wimps and the only energy problem is that we're not drilling hard enough. The only thing Limbaugh's stirring rhetoric lacked was any facts.
For one thing, the world's long-term oil picture has not improved:
"The biggest oil fields are past peak production. Truth is these fields are declining in reserves by some 6% to 7% a year. We have to find 3 million to 4 million more barrels a year just to offset this decline in the oil that exists," he says. Exxon Mobil, for example, has proven reserves 21% less than what was reported in 2007.
That's not even addressing the greenhouse gas benefits of reduced energy consumption. Truth be told, Jimmy Carter was dead right:
To contrast the two speeches is like comparing the screeching of a cat to the miracles of Mozart. Yet today, Carter's speech reads as prescient. Most of his dire predictions -- "It is a problem we will not solve in the next few years, and it is likely to get progressively worse through the rest of this century" -- have generally come true, although not quite as soon or as calamitously as he had warned. The pity of it all is that in American politics, being right is beside the point.
Yup. Paul Krugman has an outstanding column today on the global warming deniers:
Do you remember the days when Bush administration officials claimed that terrorism posed an “existential threat” to America, a threat in whose face normal rules no longer applied? That was hyperbole — but the existential threat from climate change is all too real.
Yet the deniers are choosing, willfully, to ignore that threat, placing future generations of Americans in grave danger, simply because it’s in their political interest to pretend that there’s nothing to worry about. If that’s not betrayal, I don’t know what is.
Rush Limbaugh is the ideal spokesman for this movement. His rants are making him a lot of money today, and he has no offspring, which makes it a lot easier to not give a damn about tomorrow.
Posted by Will Bunch @ 3:00 PM
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60 comments
Figure I'd pre-emptively address the wingnuts preferred response to CF's - "but but but they have MERCURY"....Once they figure out how to navigate the tubes and use the google, you see that CF recycling is as close as the local Home Depot. But of course, that would involve INDIVIDUAL EFFORT, maybe even COORDINATING drop offs with neighbors......which should be right up the 'nuts "individual responsibility" alley.....Speaking of 'nuts who all of a sudden found logic - check out David Brooks on what the GOP has to do to rise above Free Soil Party status - HINT: It involves talking to urban dwellers and involving community action with prodding from - GASP - Government!
Americans spends about 500 billion dollars on imported oil annually. Just think where America would be if we used a fraction of that money to develop green energy in America.
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"...the one that really stood out was that the president had the nerve to endorse low-energy lightbulbs today." You see, here's where you can't even be honest with yourself. This is far more than an 'endorsement'. Tommy Teleprompter is mandating it. How many lies or half-truths can you print in one day? Don't worry though. I don't expect a guy mourning the loss of a pedophile as the voice of his generation to make much sense, let alone be honest. Speaking of mandates, cue the Sloth to ride to bunch's rescue once again.
chasing history,
How about this: Just think of where we would be energy-wise if Reagan had not repudiated all of the energy saving requirements that Carter implemented?
How about this: Just think of where we would be energy-wise if Reagan had not repudiated all of the energy saving requirements that Carter implemented?....we'd be energy independent. But we do have momentum to undo a past wrong. Not only are environmental issues a concern, but also our national security.
Forget these fringe technologies. Just think of where we'd be if we had the foresight to go nuke with Reagan and bury the waste deep in the earth. If the French can do it we most certainly can.
LJL you have figured out the front end....putting them into the receptacles at Home Depoit: then what? do they dissappear into a black hole never to be seen again? the fact is they have no way of disposing of them yet that is satisfactory. The future of lightiung is LED. Has similar cost savings but contaiins no mercury. But GE doesn't have a branch in that biz so they can't dump $ into Barrys campaign coffeers
"Just think of where we would be energy-wise if Reagan had not repudiated all of the energy saving requirements that Carter implemented?" I wasn't aware that Reagan repudiated sweaters.
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Actually, I dont agree with Krugman at all. I for one, think Global Warming is a hoax not because its politcally conveniently, but because I see no proof of it. And common sense tells me that a group of humans does not have enough impact to effect an entire planet's climate. Thinking otherwise is grossly arrogant. As an independent thinker and outsider, I would think that its the left that uses climate change as a politcal tool more than the right
"Yet the deniers are choosing, willfully, to ignore that threat, placing future generations of Americans in grave danger, simply because it’s in their political interest to pretend that there’s nothing to worry about. If that’s not betrayal, I don’t know what is." Two things, Will. First, with the debt that Obama is throwing onto his two girls with his reckless spending, one could have an interesting argument about who truly "gives a da*n" about tomorrow. Second, in reference to Krugman's high horse, it's not just Americans who question this: "Steve Fielding recently asked the Obama administration to reassure him on the science of man-made global warming. When the administration proved unhelpful, Mr. Fielding decided to vote against climate-change legislation.
If you haven't heard of this politician, it's because he's a member of the Australian Senate. The Australian Parliament is preparing to kill its own country's carbon-emissions scheme. Why? A growing number of Australian politicians, scientists and citizens once again doubt the science of human-caused global warming. -- In April, the Polish Academy of Sciences published a document challenging man-made global warming. In the Czech Republic, where President Vaclav Klaus remains a leading skeptic, today only 11% of the population believes humans play a role. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to tap Claude Allegre to lead the country's new ministry of industry and innovation. Twenty years ago Mr. Allegre was among the first to trill about man-made global warming, but the geochemist has since recanted. New Zealand last year elected a new government, which immediately suspended the country's weeks-old cap-and-trade program. -- Dr. Kiminori Itoh, a Japanese environmental physical chemist who contributed to a U.N. climate report, dubs man-made warming "the worst scientific scandal in history." Norway's Ivar Giaever, Nobel Prize winner for physics, decries it as the "new religion." - www.online.wsj.com
I saw the difference in my electric bill with the lightbulbs. Haven't had to change any of them in two years either since I moved in to my new house. How can Rush knock that? There are bigger issues to be concerned with.
Will, you wont be happy until you and the Obama marxist regulate everything in America. What hot dogs can we eat, Will? Is it ok to buy shoe laces? You are an unbashed marxist...why don't youy defect to Cuba or North Korea and live in the "utopia"
coordinating dropoffs with neighbors? dumbest thing I've ever heard. People will drive, by themselves, to the dropoff. Sure you might have a few wingnuts who carpool to drop off light bulbs but most people aren't that insane.
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Did Little Willy see the FDA report that was hidden which indicated that the earth was cooling. Global warming is a hoax.
[The Phils have been all over Boston's Brad Penny - "I've seen Penny three times, and every time the Phillies have had someone there," a scout said -] So Chasing Literacy, would you still like to contend "the Phils have no interest in Penny" or your ammended version, "the Phils have no 'serious' interest in Penny"? What fruad. LOLZ, LOLZ, LOLZ. Have fun organizing your lightbulb droppoffs, moron.
Krugman's column is resoundingly stupid, and it's full of...gasp..."fear-mongering," that most inauspicious of political tactics. Krugman's environmental scare tactics are about as credible as those of another figure with whom he shares a name, Paul Ehrlich of "The Population Bomb" infamy.
"Just think of where we would be energy-wise if Reagan had not repudiated all of the energy saving requirements that Carter implemented?" Just think of where would be be if Regan had not repudiated Jimmah's economics and foreign policy... we would probably still have 21% interest rates, the USSR, and the Berlin Wall... and sweaters.
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Yeah, as everyone knows, this Krugman guy is a real genius. We should most definitely listen to his every word, what with his awesome track record and stuff. Here he is in 2002: "To fight this recession the Fed needs more than a snapback; it needs soaring household spending to offset moribund business investment. And to do that, as Paul McCulley of Pimco put it, Alan Greenspan needs to create a housing bubble to replace the Nasdaq bubble."
Even the Obamamessiah can't mandate innovation. Sorry, it's true. He keeps saying we should develop new sources of energy in 10 yeqrs. What sources? How? Where is the technology? What green jobs. All of this feel good pie in the sky.If the technolgy was here now, somebody would be making a s**load of money exploiting it.Government invents nothing but was to take money out of our pocket! Period! You want energy independence? Try building some nuclear electicity plants (not in this political climate). How about drilling for oil in our own country? Can't do that, but it's OK to drill in other countries. NIMBY. Just flat out stupid!
I didn't know about the Mercury in Compact bulbs, been using them for 15 years. But then, I've had 50% Mercury fillings, for about 40 years!
Maybe that's why I'm so MAD.
Will,
The problem with the bulbs has nothing to do with Mercury or political convience. The main problem wiht these bulbs is where thay are made. All of these bulbs are made in China and costing people in places like St. Mary's PA their jobs. Sylvania keeps cutting the output because it cost to much to keep up with environmental laws here so they just make them there.
Dissent = Treason according to Krugman and Bunch. I remember back in the day, 5 months ago, when dissent was something very different. For a good insight into what will be the largest tax increase in American history, look up John Boehner's sppech on the house floor befor the vote. The authoritarians on the left threw a 300 page amendment into the bill at 3:09 am, hoping it would slip through. Boehner went for an hour, skewering the amendment page by page, then Waxman tried to shut Boehner up on a pocedural issue, Waxman got his a** handed to him. It runs for a hour, but it's worth a look.
“Climate dissent is the highest form of planet patriotism.”—Stuff Jefferson Said, vol. 3
I like politicians who know their place. Their job isn't to reinvent the light bulb. Neither is it to explore the Argentina coastline. I just want them to bring home the bacon. Wind power, solar power whatever ...... Our boy Dan Murtah knows the routine. Let's not kid ourselves guys like Obama aren't surrounded by scientists and economic geniuses. They are surrounded by political hacks and pollsters who want to keep their jobs.
Who is more stupid? Is it the global warming deniers or the fools who actually think it can be changed? I vote for the moonbats. Also funny the title of this drivel is treason against the planet by someone who daily commits treason against his country.
It is about as important as Michael Jackson's contributions to maintaining the social order to listen to Rush. His world is dead and gone with the wind. The coming solar energy economic boom, the 2nd stimulus infusion of over $1.5trillion combined with universal health care will change the country so radically that Rush will get addicted to a brand new set of prescription drugs for mood stabilization. We won, will continue to win and will shove the 21st century down your throat if you open your mouth to complain. Just cash your paychecks until you retire and let the adults run the world.
It's funny that when liberals dissent, it's patriotic. But when conservatives do it, it's treason.
Why don't you write about the suppressed EPA report from Obama's EPA talking about the lack of scientific evidence of Man-made Global Warming??? Wasn't this one of the complaints of the Bush Administration? Didn't Obama say he would restore science to its rightful place? Why is he suppressing a report that shows that the planet hasn't shown any warming for the last ELEVEN years, even though the CO2 in the atmosphere is at all times high? Where is the hockey stick graph that Al Gore uses like a crutch? Why has Chicago had their coldest day in June on record? Open your eyes and stop believing the Liberal tripe that gets spewed by the likes of Bunch and Krugman.
The story is as follows for those of you who have the courage to read something from the "other side" Put your biases behind you and take a look: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/29/gop-senator-calls-inquiry-supressed-climate-change-report/
Maybe this is why the Inquire and D.N. are in bankruptcy. No one reads thaem anymore because they allow idiots like this Bunch moron to post . And " chasing history , you are as dumb as bunch . What exactly are these energy saving req. from Jimmy boy you speak of ? Dopes like you two deserve the mess we are in .
Sounds like the pride of Mayfair is on his mother's computer again. Shouldn't you crackers be stockpiling ammo, you know, cuz Obama's gonna replace bullets with tofu?
Bunch, why don't you talk about the Dems jamming a 300 page amendment onto the devastating 1100 page cap n tax bill on Friday morning after the presses were rolling. Where's the outrage bunch?
Why do they label fanatics like Rush conservatives? They surely don't conserve the environment.
LMAO! I'm laughing hysterically at the usual neo-con propaganda on here. Rush Limbaugh is a disgusting pig.
Regulation sucks. Do what you want Conservatives, get in your 61 Corvette, leave the seatbelt off, cig in mouth, beer in hand, six pack on the front seat and drive on up to Limerick, and when you get too hot, freo the lack of A/C in that ozone poluuting machine, dig a deep trench under one of those "bunkers" where their storing the used uranium rods, let it fill wiht ground water and dunk your lead lined can into it and take a big drink knowing in yourt hear tof hearts that Americans our free, Goverment doesn't look out for our best interest, the free market will correct all wrongs in society, the strong will survive, the weak shall perish, and Peco(Exelon), has YOUR best interest in mind, they never would do anything to influence public opinion and they could care less what any kind of corrective action would do to their stock price. Neither does their board or shareholders. Big Gov Sucks, long live the corporation.
Please do not say what talk radio has fallen back on. I am conservative but in no way does Rush represent me. I think all of his callers are props and he gives conservative radio a bad name.
And if that's not good enough for you, come on down to my desk for a few weeks at a Manufacturing plant in Ridley Park, And you'll notice that your desk gets real dusty awfully quickly. And when you clean that dust, if you look real closely you'll notice that it's black and heavy, and really it's not dust, it's discharge from the Coal energy plant next door, that you breathe in and out every day. But I guess I should take Rush's advice and suck it up. Why should I expect better of Corporate America, when their is money to be made and energy needs to be filled. Stay out of it Obama, maybe when i die of lung cancer aftee not spennding a lifetime as a non smoker some report will be published that actually proves that this residue caused my death, and even thought the conservatives will side with business as some coal-energy industry scientists will deny the link, the marketplace will demand new sources of energy. See capatalism does work, forget about the fact that if the american consumer is not nearly educated anough about products wihtout the Government or the media's intervention to work quickly enough to have a real time impact.
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Hey, more OPINIONS on the front page of a supposed NEWS site. Get control of whoever's dictating your front page, philly.com - it's unbecoming of a so-called reputable daily rag site.
What lefties like Will can't understand is that we don't object to things like cfc bulbs and hybrid cars per se, it's that we object to the government taking our freedom by forcing us (through regulation and taxes) to buy them. I for one think they could care less about global warming and are using the dubious claim that it is "man-made" into forcing us to live in a way they think is best.
Wow TR, I really hope that post was a joke. I guess according to you the ozone layer depletion, extinction and near extinction of animals(passenger pigeon, buffalo, great apes, etc.), lakes and rivers catching fire in the late 60's, mercury & PCBs showing up in fish everywhere and consistent poor air quality are all make believe too? I mean, how can humans actually impact the environment around us, everything just goes away when it rains right?
VanessaJ-your hate filled screed is bad enough, but why post it three times? Typical pathetic lib.
From the Goddard Institute: " In our analysis, 2008 is the ninth warmest year in the period of instrumental measurements, which extends back to 1880 (left panel of Fig. 1). The ten warmest years all occur within the 12-year period 1997-2008. " You who dispute the science should get your facts straight. Of course, temperature like weather changes up and down, so 2008 was actually cooler than any year in 2000-2007, but the general trend continues up and at a pace faster than early computer models predicted. Even with a cold 2008, I can tell the difference in the plants and birds as we gradually warm up--I am a gardener and it was safe this year to plant tomatoes as much as two weeks earlier than the traditional date (which I did, with great results). Congress, not Obama, has mandated the eventual phase-out of incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescents. But I do agree that when some of the technical problems have been solved, LCD lighting is even better and will be the way to go in the future.
---}}} Why don't you write about the suppressed EPA report from Obama's EPA talking about the lack of scientific evidence of Man-made Global Warming??? {{{--- LOL! Hmmm. Um, maybe because the authors of the memo aren't climate scientists? Um, maybe because they based their memo on flawed science? Check out what actual climate scientists have to say about the memo. http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/06/bubkes/#more-691
---}}} Second, in reference to Krugman's high horse, it's not just Americans who question this: {{{--- LOl!!! Yeah, Vandy, it's only American libz that are concerned about climate change --snip-- In March the biggest climate conference of the year took place in Copenhagen: 2500 participants from 80 countries, 1400 scientific presentations. Last week, the Synthesis Report of the Copenhagen Congress was handed over to the Danish Prime Minister Rasmussen in Brussels. Denmark will host the decisive round of negotiations on the new climate protection agreement this coming December. The climate congress was organised by a "star alliance" of research universities: Copenhagen, Yale, Berkeley, Oxford, Cambridge, Tokyo, Beijing - to name a few. The Synthesis Report is the most important update of climate science since the 2007 IPCC report...So what does it say? Our regular readers will hardly be surprised by the key findings from physical climate science, most of which we have already discussed here. Some aspects of climate change are progressing faster than was expected a few years ago - such as rising sea levels, the increase of heat stored in the ocean and the shrinking Arctic sea ice. "The updated estimates of the future global mean sea level rise are about double the IPCC projections from 2007″, says the new report. And it points out that any warming caused will be virtually irreversible for at least a thousand years - because of the long residence time of CO2 in the atmosphere. --snip-- In case you're interested in what the 2500 participants at the conference had to say, Vandy: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/06/a-warning-from-copenhagen/#more-690
Limbaugh is nothing but a hate spewing moron who should move to another country if things are so bad here. He brings nothing, I repeat, nothing to the table when it comes to intelligent thought!
Whether you believe in global warming or not, isn't it a good idea to save money and depend less on foreign oil? Isn't a good idea to have cleaner air and water? But I guess if Obama says its a good idea, then it automatically must be bashed by Rush and co.
That's the bottom line Lenny. Reducing our dependence on foreign oil. To do that, alternative fuels must be developed. Limbaugh doesn't care about this country. All he cares about is complaining about anything Obama does. He's an entertainer with scared little rabbits and lamebrained idiots for listeners. You can't silence him (that's against freedom of speech) but you can ignore him which is what the average person with half a brain does.
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I think the bankruptcy is hitting this publication hard. Recycled stories and hand-me-down news. Even the commenter’s are a skeleton crew now. It is dead.
"Isn't a good idea to have cleaner air and water?" Who says it's not? Did you know that the total number of Stage 1 smog alerts in Los Angeles declined from over 100 in the 1970s to virtually 0 in the Bush years. The FACT is that overall air quality in this country improved significantly in this past decade.
Judging by the brilliant posts above, I think it is safe to say that our fate is already sealed. Truly sad. This is not an issue of Dem vs. Repub. This is an issue of preserving life itself.
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How pitiful of a writer to have to listen to the most popular talk show host in America just to cherry pick statements and take them out of context.
Guy who peck at keyboards in basements have more interesting blogs than that!
If this whole cap and tax bill is so popular, why rush it through late on a Friday after Rush Limbaugh gets off the air on the lowest rated news night of the week, in the summer, the day before the slowest newspaper circulation (Saturdays)?
All during Michael Jackson 24/7 hype?
You would think the Democrats would want the spotlight on this one?
Why so sneaky in the cover of darkness?
Hummm?
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About Will Bunch
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Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
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