Citizen Tom

HUG A POLAR BEAR!

Do you like killing jobs, destroying businesses, creating economic havoc, and promoting poverty?  Then you will love the so-called climate change bill, H.R.2454.

Charlie Fugate of Good Sense just put up a post that describes the economic dislocation that passage of H.R.2454 would produce in his congressional district, the 9th Virginia (see here).  His post is based upon projections provided in a Web Memo from Heritage.  Here is a link to the table reference in the web memo.

Never fear.  We in the 11th Congression District will not be left out of the fun.

(See the web memo for a definition of terms.)

• GSP Losses in 2012 (in Millions) = $649.96
• Average GSP Loss, 2012-2035 (in Millions) = $1,294.03 mil
• Personal Income Loss in 2012 (in Millions) = $642.72
• Average Personal Income Loss 2012 –2035 = $372.24
• Non-Farm Job Loss in 2012 = 5,202
• Non-Farm Job Loss 2012-2035 = 3,263 per year

Moreover, our industrious new congressman Gerald Connolly (D) (who without doubt was too busy getting his beauty rest to read the bill before he voted for it), voted for H.R.2454 (see here).  The congressional leadership released the 1200 page bill at 3 AM on the day of the vote.  Thus you may rest assured that your congressman is working diligently to make absolutely certain your air will be clean of green house gases.  In fact, one wonders if he will do such a great job that we will be around to enjoy the results.

The news is full of stories about imaginary people.  Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett are dead.  The stories of a big star and a little star have ended; their innumerable fans are in mourning, escaping into wise and knowing commentaries about the profound importance of two diverting entertainers.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has passed H.R.2454 (story here).  The title of the bill should reassure us.

To create clean energy jobs, achieve energy independence, reduce global warming pollution and transition to a clean energy economy.

Don’t we all know that our leaders always have our best interests at heart?  None of these honorable men and women have any desire except to be servants of the public.  Ambition is the farthest thing from their minds.  None would dare to think of themselves as our all knowing overseers.

The Washington Post, that wise spokesperson for Truth, Justice, and Traditional American Ways, describes the key provisions of the legislation here.  This is a list of the wonderful things that will happen if the Senate passes the climate bill.  So again, we should be reassured.  Anything that is in print must be true.  We can be certain our country is in safe and knowing hands.

Nonetheless, there are reports from alarmists determined to find fault in this 1300 page bill.

• The bill was unveiled at 3 AM yesterday, the day before the vote.   So these alarmists complained they had not had time to read the bill.  Don’t they trust the leadership?
• CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimate that over the 2010-2019 period enacting this legislation would increase federal revenues by about $846 billion; and increase direct spending by about $821 billion.  CBO also estimates that implementing H.R. 2454 would increase discretionary spending by about $50 billion over the 2010-2019 period.  (from here)
• In its own article, the Washington Post noted peculiar behavior by our legislative leaders.
  

  The bill’s co-sponsors, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman  Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and Markey, rejected Obama’s proposal to auction all emission allowances and use most of the revenues for tax cuts. Instead the measure would give away 85 percent of the annual emission allowances to consumers, coal-intensive manufacturers and utilities, as well as a variety of clean-energy interests, such as biofuel developers and superconductor makers. Most of those free allowances would be phased out in 10 to 20 years.That set off a lobbying feeding frenzy, with 880 business and interest groups registered to lobby on the bill.

• Some Republicans regard the H.R.2454 as an organizational nightmare that kills jobs.
  

• Others fear the bill as overreaching tyranny.
  

What is this complex bill about?  Will it do what it is advertised to do?  Do you know, or are you more interested in escaping into the lives of  people you will never know and may not have want to have known except on a TV?

By the way, the Washington Post shows how our congressmen vote here.  You may wish to let you congressmen know how you feel and tell your Senators how you feel about this bill (start here).

Other Views

From On High questions what the bill was about here.

Blue Virginia posts a statement (here) from Congressman Tom Perriello, the blogger’s hero.

Fred2Blue raves about Congressman Tom Perriello’s balls (here).

Silver Lake Aerial Photo,
originally published in
the Potomac News

There are times when I must admit I have no idea how dumb people can get.  We can do the most idiotic things. 

Consider where we started.  Toll Brothers gave the county the Silver Lake Recreation Area  (For some background, see this post at The Prince William Conservation Alliance.).  When somebody offers you a gift, that is usually considered a good news.  Nonetheless, our Board of County Supervisors (BOCS) seems determined to make this gift bad news. 

After acquiring the Silver Lake Recreation for FREE, the Bull Run Mountains Conservancy (BRMC) offered to more than DOUBLE the size of the park, but the BOCS could not bring itself to say yes.   Anybody else offered a gift horse, a saddle, a stable, and feed would say yes.  Unfortunately, even when allowed to examine the horse’s teeth and set conditions for the saddle, the stable, and the feed, our BOCS could not bring itself to say yes.  

Did the BOCS have a good reason for saying no?  Perhaps.  Nonetheless, it has yet to demonstrate a viable alternative.

Now ANTI-BVBL has this story, Silver Lake…the new training ground for the FBI? So much for “passive recreation” !  Is this some kind of joke?  I hope so, but the BOCS keeps postponing its decision.   The BOCS was suppose to decide the issue June 2.  That did not happen.  At the last minute, the BRMC had to put out a notice to its members — again.

Silver Lake- New Public Hearing Date

Dear Members,

The June 2 public hearing and vote on Silver Lake is cancelled and rescheduled for June 23 at 2:00 p.m.

The PWCPA’s plan for Silver Lake initially showed intensive recreation uses. They later responded to citizen input and revised the plan to focus on passive recreation uses and equestrian trails. However, their current proposal provides no information about what recreation uses will be developed at the Silver Lake property. After two years of public hearings and discussions, it is time to finalize recreation uses and open Silver Lake to the public. By placing deed restrictions on Silver Lake BEFORE the land is transferred to the PWCPA, Supervisors can ensure that what we see is what we’ll get.

Share your views at the June 2, 7:30 p.m. public hearing at the McCoart Government Center on Prince William Parkway.
Warm Regards,

Bull Run Mountains Conservancy
703-753-2631
www.brmconservancy.org

Of course, when the folks at the BRMC rehashed their last notice, they forgot to change the June 2nd date in the last paragraph.  It is hard to keep up with the fickled folks on the BOCS.

Why did the BOCS cancel this time?   Supervisor Stirrup was unable to attend.  Why?  

Silver Lake Aerial Photo,
originally published in
the Potomac News

The political wrangling over the Silver Lake Recreation Area continues.  On one side, some people have plans to develop the area to suit their purposes.  On the other side….well, here are a couple of emails from the other side.

On May 14, the Bull Run Mountains Conservancy (BRMC) issued an alert to its members.  The subject was a pristine piece of undeveloped property on the west end of Prince William County.

Dear Members,

A public hearing is set for Tuesday, May 19, on whether the Prince William Board of County Supervisors (BOCS) will give the 233-acre Silver Lake property to Prince William County Park Authority (PWCPA). Silver Lake, if given to the PWCPA, must have deed restrictions to protect the public interests. People have overwhelming spoken up at numerous BOCS meetings demanding a passive recreation park. Without any restrictions the Park Authority will be free to develop the park through the normal master planning process. Please, make sure that the county adheres to the use guidelines that we agreed on last year (4-30-08 Meeting Minutes).

We have attached meeting minutes prepared by Susan Roltsch, Assistant County Executive, from the April 30, 2008, meeting where BRMC, PWCPA, and the County Executive, County staff, and County Attorneys where all parties agreed on the use guidelines for Silver Lake. We encourage our supporters to attend this meeting to make sure that the county follows through with what they promised. The Prince William Board of County Supervisors will meet May 19th in the Board Chamber of the James J. McCoart Administration Building, 1 County Complex Court in Woodbridge at 7:30 P.M.

Thank you for your support,

Bull Run Mountains Conservancy

Then on May 19 the BMRC issued a second alert.

The meeting has been moved to June 9. We will keep you informed of any other changes.

Bull Run Mountains Conservancy

The Prince William Conservation Alliance (PWCA) also continues to monitor this issue.  As the PWCA sees it, the PWCPA seems more interested in slowly wearing down opposition than explaining what it intends to do with the Silver Lake.  Check here.

Fantasy Ideology

I was introduced to the concept of fantasy ideology when I read Civilization and Its Enemies: The Next Stage of History by Lee Harris (My review is the book is here).  Here is how Harris defines the expression.

For want of a better term, call the phenomenon in question a fantasy ideology–by which I mean political and ideological symbols and tropes used not for political purposes, but entirely for the benefit of furthering a specific personal or collective fantasy. It is, to be frank, something like the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons carried out not with the trappings of medieval romances–old castles and maidens in distress–but entirely in terms of ideological symbols and emblems. The difference between them is that one is an innocent pastime while the other has proved to be one of the most terrible scourges to afflict the human race.  (from here)

How do people become captivated by a fantasy ideology?   One thing that helps is that fantasists do not appreciate the significance of concrete reality.   Consider the Al Qaeda terrorists who crashed jet aircraft into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.  How could they have been so naive as to believe they were accomplishing anything useful?  In his book, beginning on page 26, Harris observes following about the source of Arab wealth.

If we look to the source of Arab wealth, we find nothing that the Arabs created for themselves.  Wealth has come to them by magic, much as in a story from The Arabian Nights, and it allows them to live in a feudal fantasy land.  What the Saudis and Saddam Hussein have in common is that they became rich because the West paid them for natural resources that the West could have simply taken from them at will and without so much as a thank-you, if the West had been inclined to do so.  They were, by one of the bitter paradoxes of history, the preeminent beneficiaries of the Western liberalism that they despise and reject.  Their power derives entirely from the fact that the West had committed itself, in the aftermath of World War II, to a policy of not robbing other societies of their natural resources simply because it possessed the might to do so.  Nor does it matter whether the West followed this policy out of charitable instinct or out of prudence, or out of a cynical awareness that it was more cost-effective to do so.  All that really matters is the quite unintended consequence of the West’s conduct:  the prodigious funding of fantasists who are thereby enabled to pursue their demented agendas unencumbered by any realistic calculation of the risks or costs of their actions.

Too many Arabs achieved wealth without the benefit of confronting the hard work.  They bypassed the learning and experience that ordinarily comes with prosperity.   So they have unrealistic expectations about the way things work.

Environmentalism as Religion

Some years back I ran into Michael Crichton’s assessment of Environmentalism.  He begins thusly:

I have been asked to talk about what I consider the most important challenge facing mankind, and I have a fundamental answer. The greatest challenge facing mankind is the challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth from propaganda. Perceiving the truth has always been a challenge to mankind, but in the information age (or as I think of it, the disinformation age) it takes on a special urgency and importance.  (continued here)

Crichton goes on to explain how Environmentalism has become the religion of modern urban atheists.  Instead of providing age old wisdom that informs, Environmentalism teaches the restoration of an Eden that never was.  What worries Crichton is that by making a religion of environmentalism, we have so politicized environmental science, we must inevitably make bad decisions.

Environmental Fastasies Run Amuck

On Friday, the EPA took a big step.

Cars, power plants and factories could all soon face much tougher pollution limits after a government declaration Friday setting the stage for the first federal regulation of gases blamed for global warming.

The Environmental Protection Agency took a big step in that direction, concluding that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases are a major hazard to Americans’ health. That was a reversal from the Bush administration, which resisted such a conclusion and said it would be costly for companies to meet new emission limits and therefore could harm the national economy.

“In both magnitude and probability, climate change is an enormous problem (and) the greenhouse gases that are responsible for it endanger public health and welfare,” said the EPA, concluding the dangers warrant action under federal air pollution laws.   (continued here)

Is the threat real?  Even if it is, are we dealing with that threat appropriately?

Learning Science and Technology

Thinking is hard work.  Just like a complex puzzle, we put together difficult concepts with grueling effort one piece at a time.  Since most people do not like to work hard, that is probably one reason why People are Idiots! We refuse to make the effort or to take the time to connect the dots.

Many years ago I decided to be a scientist.   Why?  I grew when the United States was doing everything it could to put a man on the moon.  I had a fantasy that drove me.  I too wanted to be an astronaut, but those in authority confined my fantasy to its proper place.  So I made a commitment, and I believed some how some way I would fulfill my dream.  I got sidetracked into the Air Force and space defense instead.  The fantasy receded.  Eventually I retired and now maintain computer infrastructure, but along the way I learned a fair amount about mathematics, chemistry, physics and biology.  I also learned a bit about how people must work together to accomplish anything useful.

The process of gaining knowledge and experience can be profoundly frustrating.  We can never learn it all or do it all.   No matter hard I have tried, for example, many aspects of advanced mathematics left me baffled.  With time I might have learned some of the more advanced math, but that would have left little time for anything else.  I had to choose an area of expertise.

Some time back I read the The Dilbert Principle by Scott Adams.   Adams observed we live in a society invented by a few people.   Just consider all the details in the act of picking up a cell phone and calling someone.  How does your voice get from your phone to their phone?  Do you know?  I call people everyday with a phone I did not design.  I drive a car I did not assemble.  I eat food I did not grow.  I live in a house I did not build.  I wear clothes I did not stitch.  It is humbling to know I am not one of those few people who invented any portion of our society.  In fact, my labors produced almost none of it at all.

Under the Guidance of an Aristocracy of Lawyers

Now that the EPA has declared that stuff we exhale, carbon dioxide, a pollutant, what happens next?

The EPA’s action marks a major shift in the federal government’s approach to global warming. The Bush administration opposed putting mandatory limits on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, on the grounds that they would hurt business, and the EPA had resisted identifying such emissions as pollutants under the Clean Air Act.

What happens next is unclear. The agency’s proposed finding is likely to intensify pressure on Congress to pass legislation that would limit greenhouse gases, as President Obama, many lawmakers and some industry leaders prefer. But cap-and-trade legislation, which would limit emissions and allow emitters to trade pollution allowances, is fiercely opposed by a coalition of Republicans and Democrats from fossil-fuel-dependent Midwestern states who fear that such a system would raise energy prices and hurt the nation’s economy.  (from here)

Congress and the Executive branch, our aristocracy of lawyers, will try to come to a deal.  We have a question that should concern us.  Does our aristocracy of lawyers have any idea what they are doing, or are they living in a fantasy, one where we too fantasize — that they know what they are doing?  What do lawyers know about science and technology?  What have they done to demonstrate they can identify and solve environmental problems?

Some time ago I wrote a four-part post about our aristocracy of lawyers (last post here).   I observed that the lawyers who lead us too often refuse to recognize the limits of their knowledge.  At the time, I did not appreciate the significance of fantasy ideology.  It did not then occur to me to think just how naive lawyers might be about the nuts and bolts of our society.   Do lawyers really appreciate what it takes to build houses and power plants.  Do they understand how goods move to market and farmers grow their crops?  Do they believe scientists and engineers will just wish the technology for practical electric automobiles into existence if Congress makes a law?

If Congress really thinks carbon dioxide is a pollutant, then the simple, straight forward solution is to tax the production of carbon dioxide.   If Congress comes up with more complex and hard to understand schemes, such as cap and trade, we should be wary.   Instead of doing their jobs, our aristocracy of lawyers is fantasizing at our expense.

Will Congress and the President insist upon exercising authority in areas where they have no competence?  Of course they will, and that should make the rest of us very much afraid.  Try to imagine.  What would lawyers fantasize?