Liberal Indoctrination At Its Disgusting Worst
This morning, the SC Times is running an editorial explaining why Rep. Michele Bachmann’s energy plan is wrong for America. The editorial is titled “Letter: Preteen has a better plan than Bachmann”. This is the epitome of despicable. It’s obvious that this preteen had help writing the letter. Here’s what I’m basing my opinion on:
Frankly, the whole act is politically motivated and short-sighted. The federal Energy Information Administration says drilling in Alaska wouldn’t be able to start until 2018 if approved today and that production wouldn’t reach its peak until 2027.
How many 12 year-olds talk about “politically motivated and short-sighted” legislation? Better yet, how many 12-year-olds know about the “federal Energy Information Administration“? Or that drilling in ANWR would take 10 years to start drilling? Or that it’d take another 9 years for it to start producing?
What are the odds that this child’s parents ‘helped’ her research this editorial? North of 95%? A point or 2 south of 100%?
Then there’s this line:
Is ruining Alaska worth about $1.35? I hope not!
Ruining Alaska by drilling on a 2,000 acre plot of land? FYI- 2,000 acres is just a bit more than 3 square miles. ANWR alone is 19,000,000 acres, which translates into 29,687.5 square miles. Alaska is 663,267 square miles. In other words, ANWR is about 4 percent of Alaska’s land mass.
Here’s the key question on this subject: How will drilling on 3 square miles in far northern Alaska ruin a state that’s 670,000 square miles? You’ll forgive me if I don’t buy into that argument.
The environmentalists’ desperation is exposed in this editorial because they have to hide their arguments behind a 12-year-old girl. That’s a feeble attempt to win an argument. Frankly, it speaks volumes about the environmentalists’ confidence in their arguments.
The editorial finishes with another political shot:
We can’t completely change this world, but we sure can try! Help by voting in El Tinklenberg, who would actually promote the use of renewable energy sources and alternative transportation options!
El Tinklenberg has criticized Rep. Bachmann for having an overly simplistic energy policy but the truth is that he’s got it wrong. Rep. Bachmann’s approach isn’t just drilling. It also includes extending tax credits to incent entrepreneurs to build alternative energy supplies.
Rep. Bachmann’s approach is an all of the above approach whereas Mr. Tinklenberg’s approach is best categorized as alot of the above as long as the environmentalists give me permission.
The bottom line is that Democrats obviously think that the only way they can win the energy debate is by using a 12-year-old girl to repeat their arguments. That’s disgusting. Liberals should be ashamed of themselves.
Technorati Tags: Gas Crisis, Indoctrination, Oil Exploration, Environmentalists, El Tinklenberg, Michele Bachmann, ANWR, Energy Policy, Election 2008
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
June 26th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
It was Michelle Bachman who suggested that the warmth of the pipeline which will divide the Alaskan tundra and, as study after study has shown, cause the native Caribou to die off. I believe she even plumbed the depths of desperation when she went to far as to suggest that the Caribou would have “coffee klatches” while starving to death unable to migrate past the pipeline.
Now, maybe the girl’s parents helped her write the letter, and maybe it was written by an environmentalist directly. The point that she was making is valid. Perhaps the letter was framed as from a child so that the simple language used to explain why drilling in ANWR was — and is — a bad idea will reach the conservatives in a manner in which they can understand, because obviously cold, hard facts have little effect on a faith-based approach to energy policy.
The latest drilling-everywhere tactic that conservatives have championed in the face of high gas prices is what’s despicable here, not some environmentalist or the child of one writing a letter to the editor. Why is it that conservatives can use children to promote their goals all the time, but when an environmentalist does it, it’s “despicable?” Perhaps it is equally as despicable as the conservative use of children. Or not. Its the children who are going to have to deal with the mess we’re making of the planet.
And frankly, there are 12-year-old children out there with a better handle on energy policy, drilling, and climate change than Michelle Bachman.
June 26th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Rocky, you have no idea what you are talking about. The same things were said about the existing Alaska pipeline way back in the late ’60s when it was proposed.
All of these arguments were proven to be false…in fact the Alaska caribou herds increased dramatically from 1970 to 1989. Recently they’ve shown some decline but Alaska Biologists equate it to natural variation in herd sizes…the present herd size is still +10% over the 1970 census.
It is sad that a 12 year old is motivated to write such a letter…she is a child and her parents should be encouraging her to enjoy childhood rather than fearing the future.
I expect in about 10 years we’ll see her sitting on top of some trees at UC Berkley…
June 27th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
It’s always entertaining when someone out of the blue tells you you don’t know what you’re talking about, and goes on to refute your argument with unsubstantiated claims, anecdotes and generalizations, all easy to knock out of the sky with a single shot:
Take a look at that scholarly study, BigDaddy, and you’ll see why the Caribou herds survived and thrived (hint: constant pressure from the Sierra Club of Canada had something to do with it).
What’s sad is the consistency of conservative ignorance and avoidance of the facts as they relate to energy and specifically the US independence from foreign oil, so let’s be blunt: we cannot drill our way out of this mess. The US does not have the domestic natural resources necessary to achieve independence from foreign oil, period. Even if we drilled everywhere and results were instantaneous, the only outcome would be big oil making even greater and obscene profits.
There are steps we can take today that will impact the price at the pump almost (within 30 days) immediately. If Democrats in Congress would grow a spine and close the Enron loophole, estimates in the reduction in price of a gallon of gas range from 25% to as much as 50%! Imagine, $2 a gallon gas by Labor Day… not to mention the corresponding boon to the economy and ease off inflated prices on everything else!
Twelve-year-olds should be enjoying their childhood, I agree, but 12 is not too young for a child to be aware of his or her environment. Sometimes it is little children that force adults to reevaluate situations and make changes for all children’s welfare.
June 27th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Thats nice Rocky, but Congress is elected to represent THE PEOPLE, not redwoods and caribou.
Yeah, we all hope our grandchildren can walk into a grove of old growth forest too, but not at the cost of other people loosing their homes and livlihood because some nut job environmentalists have caused unrealistic conservation policies to be placed on state and national forests, and starved us from using our own natural resources when we need to.
We dont know how much oil and natural gas we have, and its not going to take anywhere near ten years to find out.