The Conservatarian

Well, Tennessee’s most famous (infamous?) treehugger has once again proven that eco-activists are not only wrong, most of them are hypocrites as well. According to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, Al’s energy consumption rose 10%. And that is WITH the energy conservation renovations he made to his home. At Snopes.com, one can also consider the inconvenient truth of Al’s energy hungry and decidedly enviromentally UNfriendly home, vs the alledgedly oil-crazed George W. Bush:

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LOOK OVER THE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FOLLOWING TWO HOUSES AND SEE IF YOU CAN TELL WHICH BELONGS TO AN ENVIRONMENTALIST:

House # 1

A 20-room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house all heated by gas. In ONE MONTH ALONE this mansion consumes more energy than the average American household in an ENTIRE YEAR. The average bill for electricity and
natural gas runs over $2,400.00 per month. In natural gas alone (which last time we checked was a fossil fuel), this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not in a northern or Midwestern “snow belt,” either. It’s in the South.

HOUSE # 2:

Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university, this house incorporates every “green” feature current home construction can provide. The house contains only 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms and is nestled on arid high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in winter and cools it in summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas, and it consumes 25% of the electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Flowers and shrubs native to the area blend the property into the surrounding rural landscape.

HOUSE # 1 (20 room energy guzzling mansion) is outside of Nashville, Tennessee. It is the abode of that renowned environmentalist (and filmmaker) Al Gore.

HOUSE # 2 (model eco-friendly house) is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas. Also known as “the Texas White House,” it is the private residence of the President of the United States, George W. Bush.

So whose house is gentler on the environment? Yet another story you WON’T hear on CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC or read about in the New York Times or the Washington Post. Indeed, for Mr. Gore, it’s truly “an inconvenient truth.”

Sources:

http://tennesseepolicy.org/main/article.php?article_id=764

http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/house.asp

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Now, what should the average American think of these facts? Well, for starters, he should immediately recognize the environmental agenda for what it is: it is a means of enslaving and impoverishing the populace through guilt and misinformation. The environmental agenda is DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for rising oil prices (because we cannot drill or build refineries), high food prices, and starvation in many areas of the world. It has crippled the freedom to dissent on global warming views, causing many scientists to become pariahs within their fields of study. It has created a sham industry of trading carbon credits, which actually allows companies to POLLUTE MORE if they buy credits from a company that has not polluted as much. One dare not blaspheme the name of Gaia, for her followers will see to it you are labeled as uncaring, unsymapthetic, and get this, even dangerous.

Don’t get me wrong. I do not litter, I am going to try to start a campaign to recycle aluminum cans at work, and I try to conserve whenever I can. However, I do it because it is common sense. The left’s version of doing the right thing ultimately leads to a point where the eco-elite have rule over the people, and place unfair and heavy burdens on them. Instead of each person doing the right thing because they want to, they are taxed into submission until they cannot afford to buy anything they can pollute with. Pretty nifty plan, huh? Oh, and get this, tax the evil corporations until they have to raise their prices, or go out of business. If they raise prices, tax them more so they pay for environmental evils their company has brought upon the earth. And then, when they shut down, the former employees will have to create fires (ooh, that is evil) to stay warm, because they have no other means and cannot afford anything else.

So much for leadership, Al. You are the finest example of the difference between leadership and eco-elitism, and quite frankly we could do much better without your hypocritical bully pulpiting.

A bill called “The Restroom Access Act” may soon bring some relief to 30,000 Tennesseans who suffer from inflammatory bowel diseases. I am opposed to this for quite a few reasons:

1) I’m sorry, but it is not the government’s problem to provide facilities for the bowel afflicted.

2) This adds to the slippery slope of government instrusion into private areas.

3) If government can force these businesses to provide this sort of service to people with bowel problems, when will the far stretch to providing quarter to soldiers be forced upon us?

Here is the whole story:

Restroom act would bring Tennesseans relief

http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?S=8205205

A bill called “The Restroom Access Act” may soon bring some relief to 30,000 Tennesseans who suffer from inflammatory bowel diseases. Those who suffer from inflammatory bowel diseases often need to instantly find a bathroom, or face an embarrassing consequence. Finding a restroom can be an issue for people like local bank executive Vickie Storm. “My daughter had been diagnosed three years earlier and for me to be diagnosed two years later, I was in denial,” the senior vice-president at Avenue Bank told News 2. Their condition was diagnosed as Crohn’s disease. Both control it through medication, but Storm said so many others out there need help. That is one of the reasons for “The Restroom Access Act.” The measure would provide entry to private restrooms, like those in small businesses without public facilities, for sufferers of inflammatory bowel disease. “We are a society and we all have to live together and sometimes we have to reach out and do things for citizens that have special needs and that is what we have done here,” said Sen. Doug Jackson, a sponsor of the bill. Storm thinks eventually it might mean that she would carry a card informing the business of facility of her disease. “Without having to go into an uncomfortable or embarrassing explanation, just the fact you have this card would allow you to present it so that you would have access to the restroom facility you so desperately need,” she said. The need appears to be heard on Capitol Hill. “The Restroom Access Act” is expected to pass both Houses and signed by Governor Phil Bredesen. 

Jay Period has written an execllent piece at tenncva.com. Here is an excerpt:

The Tennessee legislature is actively working to reduce the grade point average, GPA, needed for lottery scholarship students to keep their free money.  Currently, the required GPA is 3.0.  That’s a middle B.  To get a 3.0, someone needs to show initiative and desire.  A little hard work and study, and that GPA is attainable.

Yet, our leaders don’t feel that students should study quite that hard.  They are working to reduce that requirement to 2.75, which would be a high C.  This is due to the fact that a large number of students are not able to maintain their scholarship.

Read the entire post at:

http://tenncva.com/2008/03/27/let-the-dumbing-down-of-tennessee-begin/

Now how many of us knew this was ever on the docket at the US Supreme Court?  Or perhaps knew that the justices were giving their ruling this week? I certainly didn’t. Don’t know what I am talking about? Read this excerpt:

States win over President on criminal law issue 

The Supreme Court, in a sweeping rejection of claims of power in the presidency, ruled 6-3 on Tuesday that the President does not have the authority to order states to relax their criminal procedures to obey a ruling of the World Court.  The decision came in the case of Medellin v. Texas (06-984).  Neither a World Court decision requiring U.S. states to provide new review of criminal cases involving foreign nationals, nor a memo by President Bush seeking to enforce the World Court ruling, preempts state law restrictions on challenges to convictions, the Court said in a ruling written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.

The Court explicitly, and with emphasis, rejected a presidential argument that the nation’s Chief Executive has power, on his own, to make an international treaty into binding law inside the U.S.  That can only be done by Congress, it stressed.

The decision, aside from its rebuff of presidential power, also treats the World Court ruling itself as not binding on U.S. states, when it contradicts those states’ criminal procedure rules.   The international treaty at issue in this dispute — the Vienna Convention that gives foreign nationals accused of crime a right to meet with diplomats from their home country — is not enforceable as a matter of U.S. law, the Roberts opinion said.  And the World Court ruling seeking to implement that treaty inside the U.S. is also not binding, and does not gain added legal effect merely because the President sought to tell the states to abide by the decision, the Court added. (For the full article, go to http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/states-win-over-president-on-criminal-law-issue/). Posted Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 10:10 am UPDATED 1:49 p.m. 

I have a great feeling about this Supreme Court. I believe they are going to be making rules according to the wording of the Constitution, and not make rulings based on the changing whims of societal mores. I especially liked this part:

The Court explicitly, and with emphasis, rejected a presidential argument that the nation’s Chief Executive has power, on his own, to make an international treaty into binding law inside the U.S.  That can only be done by Congress, it stressed.

Finally, checks and balances are being recognized by one branch of our government, at least! I just can’t help but wonder why there was so much in the press last week about the Heller gun case than there ever was over this HUGE case regarding states rights and national sovereignty. Makes you wonder about the agenda of the fourth estate, doesn’t it?

It seems some members of our our esteemed Tennessee legislature want to pay students for good grades. From what I read, similar programs in other states appear to work. I have a few problems with this idea:

• This sets a precedent for children that if they want to do something well then they should get paid for it.
• The only people who should pay for good grades are parents. The state paying for good grades simply brings about another aspect of the nanny state.
• No one is saying where the money is coming from. Is it current lottery money? Is it current tax money? Will it be in the form of new taxes or bonds? If it is tax money, let me remind our legislature: It’s not your money!
• If these rewards come from my tax dollars, will my home school students qualify (not that I would accept the money, out of principle)?

What are your thoughts on this? For more information, go to http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?S=8046201. There is a video there also.

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Here is the article:

State lawmakers are looking into paying Tennessee students for good grades.The “Education Pays” act is making its way through the General Assembly.12 states across the country have a similar measure it place that rewards students for good grades with cold hard cash.”I think kids respond to cash,” said Rep. Brian Kelsey.  “I think we all respond to cash and then we hope at that point they will also respond and appreciate learning.”The proposal is for a pilot program in the top four counties with the highest number of “At Risk” students.For instance, in Memphis, 175 students, the top students in one grade in one high school would get $100.$100 would go to the top 50 students in one Hamilton County high school.In Knox County, the money would go to 50 elementary students and in Davidson County, it would apply to 50 middle school students.One advocate from Georgia, who testified before lawmakers in Tennessee, said why not give it a try.
     
Jackie Cushman, “Education Pays” advocate, said, “The real question is does it work and that’s why you have a pilot program.  Does it actually work?  We know something’s don’t work.  The question is will this work and I think we won’t know until we try it.”Students wouldn’t be the only ones making the grade moneywise, their parents would get $50 as well.Kim Chambers, parent, said, “I think that would be good.  I think it would give the kids incentives to work harder.Patty Brown, parent, said, “I think anything that can encourage kids to do better in school is very important.”Sue Knowles, parent, said, “It would probably work for my kids but whether or not I agree with it? No, I don’t think I agree with that one.”The “Education Pays” act has now passed in the House Education Committee.  Its Senate counterpart may take it up next week.Texas is among the 12 states already trying some form of paying for grades at 10 schools in Dallas.Officials said they have seen a dramatic rise in the number of students passing advanced math and science exams, attending college and scoring higher on college entrance exams.