Category Archives: Progressives

Environmentalist Dresses Rhetoric In Economic Terms To Advance His Marxist Goals

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Der Spiegel posted this headline:

Less Is More: Rogue Economists Champion Prosperity without Growth

Reading the headline you would think an actual economist has something new to say about the leftists wonders of a no growth economy.

You would be mistaken.

Until a few months ago, Welzer specialized in studying the psyche of Nazi criminals. He has also written about climate wars. His current bestseller, “Selbst denken,” has now made him the figurehead of a movement that radically questions the growth model of the Western economy.

Welzer was also recently named a professor in transformation design at the University of Flensburg, in northern Germany. When a local journalist asked him what transformation design is, he replied: “We don’t exactly know yet ourselves.” But the goal of the discipline, he added, is to counter the “systematic scam” created by an industry that produces things that break unnecessarily or are hardly capable of being repaired. Welzer wants to “design corridors” in which companies would be given time to transform faceless, no-name products into durable products with an origin and a history.

Transformation design is, we don’t exactly know yet ourselves… Brilliant.

The article continues.

Economists have largely disregarded the environmental consequences of growth. For them, the key benchmark of prosperity is gross domestic product (GDP), the sum of all products and services produced in a given country. However, GDP does not factor in the overexploitation of resources, the destruction of biological diversity, air pollution, noise, the expansion of impervious surfaces known as soil sealing, and the poisoning of groundwater.

But for many people, a wealth model built on chronic growth is no longer a desirable goal. They are deciding to opt out of this model by establishing “repair cafés” or “transition towns,” communities that try to run things differently at the local level. But doubts about the growth dogma are even beginning to creep into politics. For instance, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), recently argued that Western countries should “espouse limiting economic growth” at home.

It seems this type of nonsense is gaining traction. Long time MCT readers will remember this post (circa 2011) discussing the “no growth economy” and its Marxist roots. As pointed out in the MCT post:

I’ve been seeing many variations of the “shrinking economy is really a good thing” articles of late. It seems, since the ‘green collar’ economy really isn’t panning out, hard-core environmentalist are trying a different tack.

Remember, many bad ideas that start in Europe tend to find their way here.

Lastly, here is a short, common sense video explaining why economic growth is a good thing.

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Exactly…

U.S. Government Considering Ban On Anti-Bacterial Soap

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Seriously, why don’t the nannies in Washington get it over with and simply bubble wrap everyone:

It’s a chemical that’s been in U.S. households for more than 40 years, from the body wash in your bathroom shower to the knives on your kitchen counter to the bedding in your baby’s basinet.

But federal health regulators are just now deciding whether triclosan – the germ-killing ingredient found in an estimated 75 percent of antibacterial liquid soaps and body washes sold in the U.S. – is ineffective, or worse, harmful.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is planning to deliver a review this year of whether triclosan is safe. The ruling, which will determine whether triclosan continues to be used in household cleaners, could have implications for a $1 billion industry that includes hundreds of antibacterial products from toothpaste to toys.

After 40 years of use in consumer products, we would know if there is a problem with the germ killing ingredient.

Then there are the helpless types who need hand holding from Uncle Sam.

Some Americans are shocked that the FDA has taken so long. Mallory Smith is troubled to learn that the government has never confirmed the safety of antibacterial soap’s key ingredient.

Smith, who works for the federal government, says she keeps antibacterial soap in the kitchen to clean her hands after she’s handled raw meat.

“As a regular consumer I rely on the government to identify products that are safe for me to use,” Smith said. “If something is brought to their attention, they should look into it, and ban the chemical if necessary.”

Relying on the government… What could possibly go wrong.

Our bubble wrapped future

Our bubble wrapped future

Detroit Mayor Calls For Increasing His Executive Protection Detail & Restricting Our Right To Bear Arms

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Do as I say and not as I do… Via the Detroit News:

City Council members expressed concern Wednesday over a proposal to eliminate their police protection unit, a move they fear will create a greater safety risk to the council and the public.

The plan, part of a massive restructuring of the Detroit Police Department, would divert the council’s four dedicated police officers to Mayor Dave Bing’s Executive Protection Unit.

There are 26 officers currently assigned to the mayor’s protection unit. The council’s own unit has provided four officers for its nine members.

Mayor Bing took time out from pushing his proposal to increase his Executive Protection Unit to call on Congress to restrict the right of ordinary American citizens to protect themselves:

We are all engaged in reducing violent crimes and we need to fight this battle together. Therefore, I support Mayor Bloomberg’s efforts to get Congress to toughen gun laws so that gun violence is reduced in Detroit, New York, and across this country.

I don’t begrudge Mayor Bing a little extra security. I just wish he would do the same for his fellow citizens.

****h/t: TS & MCM ****

Six of the 25 Most Dangerous Neighborhoods are in Michigan

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Detroit sweeps first, second and 3rd place:

It’s a clean sweep for Detroit, but nothing to be proud of, as the city takes the top three spots on a list of the most dangerous neighborhoods in America.

The study by NeighborhoodScout.com analyzed FBI statistics from 17,000 local law enforcement agencies to pinpoint neighborhoods across the country with the highest predicted rates of violent crimes per 1,000 residents. Researchers drilled down deep into cities and towns to find specific census tract areas that had the highest rates of homicide, forcible rape, armed robbery and aggravated assault.

According to the survey; Flint (#19) and Saginaw (#10) Michigan each have one of the 25 most dangerous neighborhood’s in the survey. Detroit has four neighborhoods listed in the survey (#7, 3,2 &1).

Way to go Democrats.

Denmark Repeals Fat, Beer & Soda Taxes

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Ultimately, the taxes simply drove up food prices and put jobs in jeopardy:

The Danish government is abandoning a beverage tax that it says is costing the country millions of euros as consumers cross the border to shop in Germany instead.

The tax on soft drinks is to be halved by July and completely abolished by next year, making a 1.5-liter bottle of soda three kroner (€0.40) cheaper in the end. The lesser tax on beer is to be cut by 15 percent by July.

Finance Minister Bjarne Corydon told public broadcaster DR on Monday that the tax’s repeal, which has broad support in parliament, would provide a “powerful growth spurt” to the Danish economy.

And…

Lothar Raasch of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Schleswig-Holstein told news agency DPA the changes would have “substantial implications” on cross-border trade, and that soda and beer are “the core business.” However, he added that German businesses have long adapted to attract Danish consumers, stocking greater varieties of goods and diversifying the products they can offer at cheaper prices.

The decision comes months after the government in Copenhagen repealed a similar tax on foods with high concentrations of saturated fats — dubbed the world’s first “fat tax.” The measure was introduced with the intent to incentivize healthier eating, but authorities said it ultimately just drove up food prices and put jobs in jeopardy.

The soda tax repeal is part of a broader plan by the center-left government of Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt to make the Danish economy more competitive. She also plans to cut local business tax and tax credits for apartment and home renovations, coupled with reductions in spending on social welfare and state aid to university students.

Nanny’s Bloomberg and Obama were unavailable for comment.

Today Physicians Can Take Away Your Car Keys; Tomorrow Who Knows

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“Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

C. S. Lewis

This has bad written all over it:

A new Michigan law allows doctors to alert the Secretary of State if they think patients’ medical conditions make them unsafe behind the wheel.

That may be a welcome change for Michigan families whose elderly loved ones should hang up the car keys.

“It’s a big issue with the growing population of seniors,” said Roberta Habowski, who connects seniors with transportation services through the Southfield-based Area Agency on Aging. “It’s a difficult talk to have and not always well-received. How would you feel if I took away your car keys today?”

A doctor’s ability to alert the state might ease the burden for some families, she said, and it can offer a sense of authority and objectivity to a senior who faces a loss of independence.

Of course, this is for our own good. It’s for public safety:

Like laws in more than two dozen other states, Michigan’s new law shields doctors from liability if something goes wrong on the road — whether the doctor reports the patient or not, said Dr. Marianna Spanaki, a neurologist at Henry Ford Health System. Spanaki, who works with epilepsy patients, lobbied for the law.

All this makes it legally clear that concern for public safety can outweigh patient privacy at times, she said.

“This protects the patients themselves, public safety and physicians,” Spanaki said.

Why don’t they cut to the chase, wrap everyone in bubble wrap and stick us on a bus. Then we will all be “safe.”

After ObamaCare is sufficiently implemented with the government having a large hand in what goes on in doctors offices across the country, laws such as this will become the model for all kinds of new and exciting regulations. Imagine you are a heavy machine operator having trouble sleeping. You see your physician and he prescribes a strong sleep aid then informs you he is required by law to report this information to OSHA. I bet your next day at work will be an interesting one.

It goes without saying gun grabbers (Democrats) are eying laws similar laws leveraging physicians to restrict firearm ownership.

Odious Chuck Schumer (D) Plans Continuing To Try And Pass Gun Control Legislation

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Not only does Democrat Chuck Schumer think you are incapable of handling wire brushes used on outdoor grills, he is still trying to restrict your Second Amendment Rights:

On guns, the senators — both of whom supported bipartisan legislation to extend background checks on certain firearms purchases — each said they expected the bill to come up for a vote later this year.

Mr. McCain did not make any predictions about whether the measure would pass. But Mr. Schumer, who helped pass an assault weapons ban in 1994, drew an analogy to that time, saying the ban passed because Americans were worried about crime and “the broad middle rose up” to demand tighter gun laws.

He said the failure of the background checks bill last week is causing similar reflection among ordinary Americans “and senators who thought it was safe to vote against” legislation to restrict gun ownership. “When I went around to my state last week, for the first time in very conservative areas, I heard not only from the pro-N.R.A. people but I also heard from the people who said, ‘Keep at it.’”

Schumer trying to be slick at the end of the above quote. If you read it quickly, you would think he is getting support from “Pro NRA” people. “I heard not only from the pro-N.R.A. people but I also heard from the people who said, ‘Keep at it.’”

I’m sure he got an earful from those ”Pro NRA” people and equally sure Schumer ignored them.

Lib’s Push Clean Water; California Rejects Desalination Plant To Create Clean Water

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Ah, eco-warriors and their shortsightedness.

Today on Vladimir Lenin’s birthday…. I mean Earth Day, the lib’s at Google have another one of their infamous ‘doodles’ highlighting the importance of clean water, as if this is some great revelation:

This year’s Earth Day doodle has a serious side as well.

It underscores one of the Earth’s most precious natural resources, and one that we in the United States may take for granted: fresh, clean, safe water.

According to UNICEF, nearly 4,000 children die each day due to unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation standards. Moreover, 783 million people worldwide do not have access to clean drinking water.

The Earth Day 2013 Google Doodle captures the water cycle, documenting the ties among snow-capped mountains, icy lakes, evaporation and rain, and groundwater.

If you’re wondering what you can do this Earth Day to save the planet, here are some suggestions from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Among them: Don’t waste water and other resources, use human powered modes of transportation (instead of your car), or plant a tree.

Sure glad the EPA has extra money laying around to publish those helpful ‘earth saving’ hints.

If clean water is the goal, why did California environmentalists reject a new desalination plant in 2011? Longtime MCT readers will remember this story:

Why would U.S water districts want to set up desalination plants in Mexico? You guessed it, overbearing environmental regulations in the U.S.

The proposed plants have also sparked concerns that American water interests looking to Mexico are simply trying to dodge U.S. environmental reviews and legal challenges.

Desalination plants can blight coastal landscapes, sucking in and killing fish eggs and larvae. They require massive amounts of electricity and dump millions of gallons of brine back into the ocean that can, if not properly disposed, also be harmful to fish.

But desalination has helped quench demand in Australia, Saudi Arabia and other countries lacking fresh water.

Fish larvae are more important than humans according to the EPA.

It seems environmentalists are more concerned about stopping progress than making life better for people.

Video: 8th Grader Arrested and Suspended for Wearing NRA T-Shirt at School

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It seems public schools have moved to thought police mode.

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I wonder how the teacher and school would react if Jared Marcum wore a Che Guevara T-Shirt to school?

The cult of Ernesto Che Guevara is an episode in the moral callousness of our time. Che was a totalitarian. He achieved nothing but disaster. Many of the early leaders of the Cuban Revolution favored a democratic or democratic-socialist direction for the new Cuba. But Che was a mainstay of the hardline pro-Soviet faction, and his faction won. Che presided over the Cuban Revolution’s first firing squads. He founded Cuba’s “labor camp” system—the system that was eventually employed to incarcerate gays, dissidents, and AIDS victims. To get himself killed, and to get a lot of other people killed, was central to Che’s imagination. In the famous essay in which he issued his ringing call for “two, three, many Vietnams,” he also spoke about martyrdom and managed to compose a number of chilling phrases: “Hatred as an element of struggle; unbending hatred for the enemy, which pushes a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him into an effective, violent, selective, and cold-blooded killing machine. This is what our soldiers must become …”— and so on.

But all the cool kids wear Che t-shirts, and they don’t get arrested…

tshirt-che-guevara-start-revolution

H/T Matt @ the always excellent CH2.0