Bill Nye The AgitProp Guy.

What does it say about all that 'settled science' when Al Gore and Bill Nye can't even get a simple high-school physics experiment right?

I know, I know; Bill Nye and Al Gore aren't real scientists (they just play them on TV). But it begs the question: If a simple high-school experiment they claim proves anthropomorphic global warming actually disproves anthropomorphic global warming, what else has been faked in the name of the Green crusade?

The Greatest Food In Human History.

And it's not organic, free-range arugula. I won't argue with the writer's conclusion, but clearly they have never sunk their teeth into a #4 with Hickory Sauce.

Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun.

WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!  I Blame Man-Made Global Warming. Or, CFC's.  Yeah, that's gotta be the reason.

Quick, send the Sierra Club a donation.  That should help.

It'll Be A Cold Day In Hell...

...Before Republicans fall for something this stupid.

But wait! Now the "experts" are saying a cold day in hell could well be where we are heading. It's the 1970's all over again! Get that carbon back up in the air!

Guess What Isn't Selling?

Going "green". First, Walmart bails (they've even resumed selling guns and ammo in many stores). Now General Electric's CEO - Obama's top lackey poster boy for corporate greenism - is having second thoughts.

UPDATE: Even the greens aren't buying it.

King Barry I, Or Hugo Chavez II?

Team Hopenchange thinks their agenda is just too important to let that Rule Of Law thing get in the way.

THE core question for next 18 months:

It all boils down to this: Are we to be a constitutional government with three distinct branches, or a single executive entity that makes policy, carries it out and decides for itself whether it's constitutional or not?

That's what the next presidential race is really all about.

Indeed it is.

So, How Are Those "Green" Jobs Working Out?

Obama's promised land of milk and windmills may not be so promising after all. In the scad of adverts in my inbox this morning was one from a company offering to do LEED certification for buildings - a "green job" if there ever was one. I get (and trash) these all the time, but this one was a bit different - it was offering a hugely reduced, flat rate to do LEED certification on any building of any size. It was substantially less - like, half - than we paid a for a LEED consultant just a year ago. (We have only done one LEED building, and we - and our banker - pray we never have to do another.)

RUN-EPA

Just in time for Earth Day, dear readers, we are pleased to present government-funded Prius Rap:

Nothing But Comrades, Or, I'm Glad I Have A Lawn Mower.

Besides being one of the most sacred days in the Christian Faith, today is also one of the most sacred in today's Marxist Faith: It's Earth Day.

So in celebration, take it away, Mr. Byrne:



For our Marxist friends today is really a toofer - since it's also Lenin's birthday. With May Day just around the corner, and the birthday of Pol Pot (an early advocate of combining spread-the-wealth with back-to-nature) on 19 May, I guess this is the 'holiday season' for Marxists.

Yin/Yang.

Apple Computer:

Good: Apple named least "green" tech company. Companies exist to make things and provide services, not be butt-kissers for busy-body moralists. That doesn't mean dumping old SE30's in the Bay is OK - it means they shouldn't have to require employees wear all-natural, free-range, fair-trade skivvies because the Natural Resources Defense Fund or Al Gore thinks it's a nifty idea.

Bad: Apple is tracking you via your iPhone and/or iPad. I'm sorry, but what do they need this for? And, who will try to get their hands on it?
(cough) The government via lobbying by busy-body moralists (cough).

Burnin' Down The Garage, Part II; Or, Bringing Back The Firebird.

Remember the story the other day about a garage fire in Connecticut, wherein a Government Motors 'Volt' - Obama's vision of a "green" auto future - was suspected of causing the fire? Well, dear readers, seems it caught fire again.

Forget Carbon Footprint - Electric Cars Can Reduce Your Building Footprint, Too.

Ruling Class Irony Alert! Garage with two recharging electric/hybrid cars burns down; the cars are suspected culprits. Gee... I wonder how much carbon was put into the atmosphere by that garage going up in flames?

2008-2012 is looking more and more like 1976-1980 every day. Back then it was 'Pintos' going up in flames - now it's Obama's 'Volts'.

Do As Igoe, Not As I Say.

Richard Fernandez looks at my profession and concludes, if you want to know about the future don't ask an architect. As an architect, on the whole I couldn't agree more.

The starry-eyed Corbusian impulse to "remake" man by remaking cities, a movement that was driven far more by ideology, romance, and elitist guilt than by necessity or demand, failed utterly. It crashed under the weight of it's own totalitarian arrogance and lack of real understanding of the problem, since most of the people creating solutions for the working poor were, well, members of the ruling classes and had never been poor themselves. It especially failed here America for three reasons, I think. First, Americans, unlike Europeans, tend to value individual freedom more than we value collective security. When we look in the mirror we see "me", not "we". Or, at least, we used to, anyway. Second, we didn't have an entrenched aristocracy per se, especially one whose opinion the masses were conditioned over centuries to follow. We like the fact we have don't have a paternalistic ruling class determining our outcome. Or, at least, we used to, anyway. And third, unlike Europe we have the space to escape urban decay and start over, and have traditionally valued the freedom to make that choice when we had the means. Or, at least, we used to, anyway. Hence, the rise of American suburbia and exurbia - Wright's 'Broadacre City' became our solution instead of Corbu's 'Radiant City'. We started 'Learning from Las Vegas', and we liked what we saw. Or, at least, we used to, anyway.

I think the "green" movement, which is all the rage in architectural circles these days, will go the same way as the Corbusian movement of the last century, and for much the same reasons. It is ideologically driven with an apocalyptic, totalitarian bent, it is elitist in the extreme, and those wanting to impose it have little understanding of, or experience with, how they want others to live. Without restrictive laws and government regulations imposing this or banning that, or handing out tax-payer funded grants and subsidies to favored groups and solutions, the "green" economy we hear so much about would, if people were given a choice, never come to pass. That is why those who advocate "going green" want to limit personal choice as much as possible (buy only this kind of light bulb, or that type of toilet, or use this kind of window) and why, like those before them who advocated Corbu's outlook, they mostly ignore the wants, needs and values of those they claim to be helping.

"I'll Take 'The Green Economy' For 50 Billion, Alex."

"And the answer is... '928'."

"Alex, what is the total number of Chevy 'Volt' cars sold since it was rolled out in November?"

"That is correct."

'Volt'. The 21st century way to say 'Taxpayer Subsidized Edsel'.

Mother Nature And Physics: 1.

Urban Idealists and Toilets: 0. Yet again, another profile in LEEDership. And the solution: "8.5 million pounds of bleach either being poured down city drains or into the drinking water supply every year."

For anyone who knows anything about hydrology or engineering, this should come as no surprise. Design of sewer systems, or any other such infrastructure, should be decided on by adults using best engineering practices, not arrested adolescents who are convinced ideology can somehow trump basic physics.

Mother Nature and Reality: 1...

...Idealistic Urbanites and Wishful Thinking: 0. Apparently, a carbon-free, "green" future means "bitterly cold and uninhabitable" buildings. I can't wait.

Hattip: Midwest Conservative Journal.

You Can LEED A Scheme To Subsidies, But You Can't Make It Work.

Winning the future with another "green-jobs" success story:

To turn wood chips into ethanol fuel, George W. Bush's Department of Energy in February 2007 announced a $76 million grant to Range Fuels for a cutting-edge refinery. A few months later, the refinery opened in the piney woods of Treutlen County, Ga., as the taxpayers of Georgia piled on another $6 million. In 2008, the ethanol plant was the first beneficiary of the Biorefinery Assistance Program, pocketing a loan for $80 million guaranteed by the U.S. taxpayers.

Last month, the refinery closed down, having failed to squeeze even a drop of ethanol out of its pine chips.

But, think of all the STIMULUS!

Finally! Using 'Clean Energy' In A Way I Can Support.

Burning up stuff for fun:



From here.

Want To Know Why Oil Is $100 A Barrel?

Here's the answer. And a solution: Turn that red to green. Now.

Journalism 101.

Well, it beats having to find those icky facts.