Thanks to reader Rick who spotted this vehicle in Ithaca, and writes:
I was hoping to catch the plume of greasy black smoke which I had previously seen coming out of the exhaust pipe, but I shot too soon. But we gotta stop that fracking.
Talk about small world, I had spotted the same vehicle about 15 months ago parked not too far from my house, but I ran only one of the stickers in my post. I’m sure that the 99% sticker was not on at that time since there was no 99% back then.
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It should also be mention, IIFC, that this VW is powered by a diesel engine – a diesel engine of the vintage that the environmentalists rail about that cause so much regulatory hardship for manufacturers of heavy duty diesel engines and for those companies that purchase them and rely upon them to make a living.
Back in the 1970s, during Carter’s administration, I remember diesel engines being the desired auto engine – because they burn “cleaner and more completely”. Not true, really, after all? Or just another feint to force people to jump to avoid the impending doom, the manufactured crisis du jour? So shocking! /sarc
Nothing is real with environmental extremists. It’s always “the sky is falling! the sky is falling!” no matter how good things are, how much improved, or how much money is being poured into the sucking black hole taking care of Gaia (aka Mother Nature).
You’re more correct than you realize – I say this as a guy who makes his living applying pesticides.
With environmentalists, the entire argument is emotion based. Conclusions are formulated upon emotionally, not scientifically, based premises, often concocted and false to begin with – truly a tail wagging the dog scenario.
Diesel engines are a good example, as you have noted. Environmentalists buy into the emotional argument that they are more earth friendly, and if they burn used cooking oil, all the better.
A conservative judges the utility of a diesel engine upon the merits. What is its capacity to do work, what is its efficiency (e.g., the CSX advertising that they can move a ton of freight x hundreds of miles on a gallon of diesel fuel), what is its projected life cost, etc.
I read an EPA report yesterday that concluded that if phosphorus were eliminated from lawn fertilizer in Massachusetts alone, the savings realized to remediate estuarial damage not caused by phosphorus in lawn fertilizers would be…
Take a guess…
$184,000,000
When we have a government so beholden to moonbat environmentalism that is driven by such preposterous and factually incorrect views of how the world works, it is no wonder that food prices are skyrocketing – not that you’d know because food prices are (surprise, surprise) not included in determining the rate of inflation.
After reading my comment, I see that I wasn’t clear about the phosphorus thing.
The state wants to ban phosphorus from lawn fertilizers because phosphorus is polluting rivers and estuaries, that kind of thing. No research exists to conclusively prove that the pollution is caused by lawn fertilizers – indeed, any first year student in soil science knows that phosphorus is tightly bound by organic soils. Nor is it mentioned that lawn fertilizer manufacturers voluntarily removed phosphorus from most lawn fertilizers years ago in an attempt to thwart this kind of onerous legislation (a mistake, in my opinion).
Further, environmentalists are pushing cities and towns to install sewer systems to replace the already highly regulated Title V septic systems that are currently in place in homes. The cost of these sewer systems is projected to run into the BILLIONS of dollars for towns that are struggling already. The chief reason that it will cost so much is the effect of unions upon the competitive bidding process – prevailing wage laws distort the cost of labor to absurd levels, union rules drive down productivity, and so on.
All of which are the legacy of the left, the moochers, that those of us on the right, the producers, have to abide by.
The end is coming soon to this nonsense – it cannot sustain itself too much longer.
I ask my 20-something children if they are so gung-ho on this global-warming-be-good-to-the-earth stuff, why aren’t they running around in the woods naked, without fire?
Environmental damage has made our lives better. Yes, we need pesticides. We need them reasonably and responsibly applied. The good from pesticides far out ways the damage their misuse may have caused. (Note: pesticides are not free. Misapplication is a costly mistake. Generally, people try to avoid making costly mistakes.) Not using chemicals in food production can create serious problems. Below is the URL of an article about an organic farmer from Ohio visiting an organic farm in Hawaii. He ingested feces from a rat which was infected with rat lungworm parasite. Nearly killed him, and put him in a world of hurt.
The problem is that if we scare the shit out of people: “everything you eat with either make you fat, give you diabetes or cancer, or worse yet, make you an ugly liberal”, then unreasonable sense of the world arises.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2089727/Rat-lungworm-Man-paralysed-parasite-dream-holiday-Hawaii.html
I point that out to the eviromental wack jobs all the time ….they’ll sniff and point out that that anything no matter how small we can do is a step in the right direction. I tell them well I’ll make a deal with ya ….turn off your computer …leave your home which is likely heated and built using evil energy sources ….shuck your clothing as it was transported using these evil energy sources….. take no food with you that was transported using these evil energy sources ….go into the woods ….lead the way you show me how its done and I’ll follow suit in a couple of weeks …if the critters haven’t sucked the marrow from your bones
Seems appropriate that those Socialist bumper stickers are on the Volkswagen – The “Peoples Car” which was founded in 1937 by a Nazi trade union.
I was hoping to catch the plume of greasy black smoke which I had previously seen coming out of the exhaust pipe, but I shot too soon. But we gotta stop that fracking.
But she’s bought carbon credits. Or intends to, as soon as somebody else pays for them.
Entitlement America
http://www.therightscoop.com/how-entitlement-america-is-strangling-the-rest-of-america/
“Born to Rock. Forced to Work.”
Which one of the 10 Commandments does fracking violate?
“Thou shalt not frack thy neighbor’s wife.”
The fact that Volks is changed to Vol is important.
As to diesel engines, it was well-known in the 60s and 70s that diesel exhausts were dangerous; they contain high concentrations of carcinogen-harboring soot. But, the federal government (and the EPA when it appeared) supported diesel for its energy efficiency, which is real. Soot wasn’t even in the regulations. Eventually, soot became regulated, and diesels became rare, because most European car companies couldn’t/wouldn’t produce a diesel that was clean. Nowadays, there are some, but they may have sacrificed some efficiency. The Jeep Liberty diesel failed the efficiency test.
VW for sometime has has a diesel that matches hybrid efficiency.
And yet, you will not make it though the day without realizing benefits accured to you thought the widespread use of diesel engines.
Start your gasoline powered car? Can’t do that without the gasoline being transported to the gas station in a diesel powered truck.
Buy organic groceries at Whole Foods? Can’t do that without transporting the groceries in a diesel powered truck, if chilled, they are kept cold by a diesel powered refrigeration unit.
Take a train to work to save the Earth? Locomotives are powered by diesel engines.
Anything plastic is manufactured with the byproduct of petroleum distillation, transported to factories in either diesel powered trucks or diesel powered locomotives.
Does all this make you feel sick, like you need to go to the hospital? Don’t worry, the ambulance is diesel powered, too.
It’s not the cost of gasoline that will bring this economy to its knees, it is the cost and availability of diesel fuel. Keep your eye on the price this summer. In 2008, it reached $5.00 per gallon – and the economy began its slide into its current recession/depression.
Fuel prices can go high and the economy will (over time) cope. For example – expensive airplane tickets will cause companies to do more tele-conferencing. More people will tele-commute where possible, rather than drive to work. I’m actually in favor of both – if everybody who could, worked 1-2 days from home, then traffic congestion would drop dramatically for the rest who have to drive. And when you work from home, you get to see your kids more. So it’s good for everybody.
Part of our gas price problem is the EPA. They have mandated many different kinds of blends of gas, for different parts of the country for different parts of the year. Forcing refineries to jump through those hoops is expensive.
I like Newt’s suggestion on the EPA. Shut it down. Replace it with a common sense board. (B. Franklin: Nothing as uncommon as common sense.)
Feminism is the radical notion that women are men and men are pigs.
It would seem that the anti-fracking sticker (lower left center – “Hydrofracking is immoral: Thou shalt not poison thy neighbor’s water and air”) shouldn’t be all that uncommon in the Ithaca area, at least according to one blog which discusses the anti-hydrofracking rally which reportedly took place there last summer and showed a movie called “Frack,” which featured Mr. Tony Ingraffea, Cornell University professor of civil and environmental engineering.
http://www.preservethefingerlakes.com/2011.06.01_arch.html
Speaking of organic foods, my son was extolling the greatnes of this farce a few weeks ago. I listened to him until he ran out of steam and then said “you do know what fertilizer these organic farmers use, don’t you?” He said he hadn’t thought about that only that it was not chemical. I told him they used sh*t. He almost turned green. I doubt he bought anything else organic and probably threw away what he had.
Exactly. But not as gross as it may seem. The problem with the biosolid fertilizers isn’t that it is derived from human excrement but rather that it contains heavy metals.
In Massachusetts, the MWRA is the authority that handles the wastewater treatment and the fertilizer that they manufacture is top notch. The problem is that the threshold for heavy metals in Massachusetts is ten fold lower than the Federal standard. At certain times of year, they cannot release fertilizer for use within the state. The fertilizer keeps on coming, though, as you might imagine. What they do is to load the fertilizer on to rail cars and ship it to Florida for use on citrus crops.
Drink up!