Doggone right with Mark Brighton

January 10, 2008

Martha Clark and Carbon Credits

According to today’s paper NH’s far left are at it again. In the name of the religion of environmentalism they are screwing up the marketplace. Portsmouth’s own State Senator Martha Clark is co-sponsoring a piece of legislation that “would force Public Service of New Hampshire and the big power plants in Newington and Londonderry to reduce their carbon emissions and pay for the harm they do to the climate.” It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy – until you get to the bottom line.

See Story

The details of the bill can make your eyes glaze over, but involve auctioning carbon credits and assessing huge fines to the power company when goals aren’t met. What’s important to realize is that these carbon credits are a far left fabrication meant to show what they believe the market’s reaction should be to carbon usage. The market (as in you and I) is too stupid and incompetent to react appropriately without their interference.

The far left believe that they are smarter and better than the rest of us and have the gift of second sight. They must impose their divine guidance on us lower orders. Invariably this guidance comes in the form of fines, fees, and taxes that destabilize the economy and burden middle class and working class consumers. As often happens, the far left want you to believe that evil corporations will pay these monies. That is fantasy thinking, which is age appropriate in 5 year olds. Look in the mirror. It will be you and me opening our wallets even further. And it will be people who can least afford it.

Walking through Portsmouth during the Christmas season I observed that Martha Clark’s house was well lighted. Enjoyably so, and I thank the Senator for her efforts. But it’s obvious that the cost of electricity is of no concern for her. This bill won’t cause any reduction in her home energy usage or in her Senate office located across the street from her residence. Or cause her to walk more and drive less. Perhaps the Senator would feel better if she personally absorbed these fines. I know I would.

But if you are working paycheck to paycheck just remember, it’s your far left “friends” who are making you pay more for their whimsy – and for their “Cadillac liberal” guilt.

Posted by Mark Brighton at 12:49 AM | Comments (0)

October 14, 2007

Al Gore - Eco terrorist

We were recently treated to a letter on the editorial page of the Herald proclaiming Christopher Columbus a terrorist. In the interests of open mindedness I would like to make a counter claim. I believe Al Gore to be an eco-terrorist.

On the face of it, my claim is as equally absurd as that about Columbus. After all, Al “The Sky is Falling” Gore just won a Nobel Prize for Peace for his Magnus Opus concerning global warming. But at least my claim seems to have the backing of a British High Court Justice.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22559777-25717,00.html

As a the result of a law suit filed by a British truck driver who did not want his children exposed to Gore’s fabrications, this Justice ruled that there were 11 misstatements of fact (aka lies) in Gore’s documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.” Who would have thought, that inconveniently for Al, polar bears can drown for reasons other than global warming?

The judge ruled that before British school children could be terrorizedand have the living snot scared out of them (my words - not his) by watching this movie, they had to have these 11 misstatements of fact clarified for them. It would appear our British cousins still have something to teach us.

Since Gore won a million bucks along with this Nobel, it appears that the Stockholm committee sells itself pretty cheap. It works out to something less than $100,000 per lie. Er … sorry - per misstatement of fact.

Posted by Mark Brighton at 09:10 PM | Comments (27)

October 08, 2007

Edwards - Carbon Credits

I would like to thank the Herald for hosting the candidates’ forums. Any candidate who doesn’t take advantage of these would be a fool. Here’s a word to the Thompson campaign: call the Herald immediately. I don’t believe they are charging anything and we would certainly like to here from Fred – something… anything! At least let New Hampshire know you haven’t dropped off the face of the earth.

I just finished listening to John Edwards at the most recent of these forums and was struck by several things. He gave impassioned, thoughtful answers to questions about the central issue of this election cycle – Iraq. He didn’t equivocate. Whether it can be done safely or not was not addressed adequately, but under his administration troops would be out in a year.

Edwards kept a good cadence as he spoke. The only thing missing from the choir at the end of each thought was a resounding “amen.” It was a lonely place to be.

As he spoke I became mesmerized, no, I would say hypnotized, by his hair. I was close to the front and there was a good light gleaming off the aforementioned locks. It wasn’t a halo effect, but each strand was perfectly in place. As I was listening, I was waiting for one of these strands to move, especially the small piece strategically lying across his forehead.

As he ran his fingers through his hair and it quickly fell back into place, I thought I heard the crack of a whip. But my hearing isn’t what it used to be, so I may have imagined it.

By the conclusion of the event, I realized I had to take back everything I have ever said about John Edwards.
His haircut WAS really worth 400 bucks. Some of us don’t have much hair left, but if you do, and are going out in a strong breeze, I recommend getting the name of his barber.

Posted by Mark Brighton at 06:08 PM | Comments (19)

September 04, 2007

Federal Grants and Dog Poop

According to a headline in today’s Herald, “Town gets federal funds to help scoop the poop.” Apparently the town of Greenland got federal monies to teach homeowners to pick up their dog’s calling card. I am all in favor of owners doing this, and I carry a baggie whenever I walk my dog. But a federal grant?

http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070830/NEWS/708300421/-1/ARCHIVE

I don’t claim to be an expert in excrement, although many on the left would say that I am – especially of the bull variety. But this leads to several questions. Is it possible to identify E. coli by the species producing it? Why pick on dogs? Why not cats?

On the front page of the same issue there was an article discussing the burgeoning skunk and squirrel populations. We then must also consider foxes, rabbits, raccoons, deer and all other manner of land and water creature inhabiting the Great Bay water shed. So, what percentage of the offending poop actually belongs to dogs? This leads to the even broader more philosophical question, how does one diaper Mother Nature?

In 5,000 years when archeologists start discovering millions of plastic bags filled with dog poop, what will they postulate about us? Do we need a federal grant to help us figure out what to do with those millions of non-biodegradable bags?

I have to admire the Town of Greenland for trying to teach its citizens to be good neighbors, but we all know that even if we gave each of our neighbors $4,770 (the sum total of the grant) most would still let their dogs do whatever - wherever.

Perhaps local communities could develop a market for “doggie-carbon” credits.

Posted by Mark Brighton at 01:17 AM | Comments (2)

July 22, 2007

Bovine Flatulence and Treason

Live Earth cannot go unchallenged, especially the part where Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., accused me of treason. Well, he didn’t actually name me personally. He did accuse Exxon, John Stossel, Glen Beck – in fact, all corporate toadies past, present and future - of this high crime and said that they should be treated as traitors.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Heku9oTLysg

Since I do not support the dogma of Global Warming as the indisputable Word of the One Most High, I must be a traitor as well. Wow. So much for my electing not to own an SUV, airplane or motor boat or for the recycling and composting I’ve done for over 20 years.

Clearly, the only question remaining is punishment. In a time of war, execution is appropriate, but I’m not talking about the war in Iraq where our troops are fighting and dying for our right to pursue this foolishness. The Left considers that little more than a bumper sticker. No, I’m talking about the only war the Left considers serious: the war against Mother Nature and global climate change.

The Left is against capital punishment so they wouldn’t want to see me shot. Well, most on the Left wouldn’t. I could be branded with the scarlet letter “A” for adulterer of the earth, but the Left views branding as torture, so I would have to be stenciled.

Or, there is the possibility of spending a week in the public stocks right on Market Square. “Greenies” could walk by hurling devastating insults like, “meat eater”, “non Prius driver,” “carbon emitter.” They could throw organic vegetables at me and gather them back up for recycling in their compost piles.

The most frightening prospect would be to be strapped to a chair in a theater, Al Gore on the stage delivering a wooden, ponderous, hypocritical lecture on carbon emissions, with an Inconvenient Truth flashing in the background. I’m afraid it would take twelve Amazons from Code Pink to hold me down.

The hypocrisy of these pontificating, bloviating, politicians and rock stars is staggering. It is estimated that 222,623.63 miles were flown by these people to make an extravaganza that a mere 2 million people in this country elected to view. The 298 million who wisely did something else must all be traitors, like John and Glen and me. Carbonfootprint.com, hardly a right wing group, estimates that these concerts produced 31,500 tons of carbon emissions in one go. The average Brit produces 10 tons per year.

I may be guilty of treason as defined by RFK, Minor, but Al Gore is guilty of assaulting the intelligence of humanity. He is also guilty of murder. He is boring us to death.

Posted by Mark Brighton at 05:09 PM | Comments (10)

June 26, 2007

Martian Warming

While perusing the Internet last night, I came across an interesting article in the London Times of 4/29/2007. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1720024.ece

It appears that the Martian climate is changing so rapidly that it may lose its southern ice cap. This information came originally from NASA’s Mars Global Explorer. Oddly enough it is being reported that the change is similar to that which appears to be occurring on earth - +0.5oC.

Granted, at minus 81 degrees Fahrenheit Mars is significantly cooler than earth, so it will be a while before any Martian sunbathing occurs. This does, however, raise several interesting questions. When did the Martians develop carbon spewing SUVs? Do they plant trees to offset the carbon? Will Martian polar bears drown before their Nancy Pelosi can save them? Did their Al Gore win an Oscar for his movie? Is there a Bush/Cheney oil conspiracy on Mars? The list of questions is endless.

The article speculates as to what the Martian heating mechanism could be. Logic has long since left the scene when discussing climate change with a far left Earthling or far left Martian, but I would speculate that the one common element between the two planets – Mr. Sun – might have something to do with the cause.

This gives a whole new slant to the term “little ‘green’ men from Mars.”

Posted by Mark Brighton at 11:06 PM | Comments (4)

June 04, 2007

Indulgences

“I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree.” Multiply that by 400 and you will have the gist of what some environmentalists are currently experiencing, at least according to the Associated Press in the Herald (5/28/2007.)

http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070528/NEWS/705280326/-1/NEWS09&sfad=1

“For $40, Trees for the Future will plant 400 trees in a developing country to handle your car emissions.” These are also called carbon offsets. The writer of the story quotes someone who nails it dead on by calling them “offset indulgences.” In the Church of old one could buy one’s way out of purgatory by purchasing an indulgence. A certain amount of cash or commodity could trim your time in the middle ground between heaven and hell. The Church of old used it as a fund raising scheme before they had bingo.

Despite protests from the secular left that they don’t believe in religion, dealing in “offset indulgences” is the act of an organized religion with its dogma outlined in “An Inconvenient Truth” by Saint Al of the Carbon Footprint. Saint Thomas Aquinas once queried, “How many angels can dance on the point of a needle?” But, we now have a deeper theological conundrum: how much carbon does a tree offset? Obviously, it depends on whether it’s a Giant Sequoia or a lowly Juniper.

Penance is still big business and one wonders how an earnest “greeny” would define purgatory? A vision of Al Gore wearing a hair shirt made of stiff polyester fiber manufactured by a carbon spewing Union Carbide plant in
Indiana, while flagellating himself with a whip made of thick nylon comes to mind - all the while chanting, “Repent, all yea SUV owners! Repent!” And to make up for driving that gas guzzling behemoth, all you need do is spend $40 to align="left" plant a few trees on someone else’s land in someone else’s country..

Do these “greenies” actually think that there is someone in a third world country counting out 400 trees? Has anyone asked any third world country if they want all these trees? What hubris! Some entrepreneurial spirit on this newly sanctified ground with a big grin on his face is pocketing the 40 bucks saying, “Take that, you colonialist idiots!”

Our bet is that these countries would prefer the Union Carbide plant making Al Gore’s hair shirt along with the 2000 jobs it would bring so that people can feed their families.

Those on the far left are truly burdened by guilt. And this represents the ultimate in outsourcing – the outsourcing of guilt. But this raises an excellent opportunity for the city of Portsmouth. The difference between the Islington St corridor and the Middle St corridor is easy to isolate. It’s trees. I bet that for $80 Trees for The Future will plant all the trees we need along Islington with enough left over to cover the Jones Ave landfill. That ought to get some “greenies” out of their self inflicted purgatory.

Posted by Mark Brighton at 07:08 PM | Comments (10)

April 21, 2007

A Not So Silent Spring

As we consider Earth Day 2007, it is important to realize that there is a genocide being perpetrated in Africa. It is bigger than either George Clooney or Allison Janney of West Wing fame can imagine, as they piously reprimand George Bush for the tragedy that is Darfur. It is linked to Earth Day because this current genocide began simply enough with the publishing of the Bible of the environmental movement –“Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson.

Miss Carson’s book almost single-handedly led to the banning of DDT. This chemical is quite possibly the cheapest, most effective pesticide ever developed. Because of this miracle chemical, Malaria, a mosquito borne disease, was in the process of being eradicated from the face of the earth. Typhus was also facing the same fate. It is estimated that Malaria has caused more death than any other single event or disease in history.

Rachel Carson believed DDT to be a cancer causing agent. A study conducted by one Kemeny T, Tarjan in 1969 found a higher incidence of leukemia and liver tumors in mice fed DDT than in unexposed mice. Numerous scientists protested saying that this flew in the face epidemiology, “given that DDT had been used widely during the preceding 25 years with no increase in liver cancer in any of the populations among whom it had been sprayed.” The WHO (World Health Organization) investigated and found that feed contaminated with aflatoxin, a carcinogen, had been given to both groups of mice. When the test was repeated using non contaminated feed, neither the control group nor the group fed DDT had tumors.

http://www.inchem.org/documents/ehc/ehc/ehc009.htm#PartNumber:1 Link to WHO study.

In addition Miss Carson believed that it made the shells of certain birds eggs thin resulting in high mortality and possible extinction for these birds. In the forty-five years since its publication no actual causal link has been established with regard to DDT and cancer. In fairness to Rachel Carson some bird species do indeed suffer effects from DDT. But as often happens when we solely consider the effects on wildlife, we lose track of the human cost.

http://www.reason.com/news/show/34742.html Link refuting eggshell thinning.

Malaria has made a raging comeback and since the publishing of “Silent Spring” has killed 100 million souls in Africa and Asia. This figure represents more death than Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse-tung, Pol Pot, Edi Amin, and Al Qaeda can lay claim to -COMBINED.

http://dwb.unl.edu/Teacher/NSF/C06/C06Links/www.altgreen.com.au/Chemicals/ddt.html Link

Yes, we need good stewardship of the Earth. But as we plunge madly ahead trying to prevent the climate from changing, we must remember the law of unintended consequences. This year as we listen to the birds and the other sounds of a not so Silent Spring, let’s pray for Rachel Carson and the 100 million souls who no longer have that luxury.

http://dwb.unl.edu/Teacher/NSF/C06/C06Links/www.altgreen.com.au/Chemicals/malaria_toll.html Link to Malaria death toll

Posted by Mark Brighton at 08:44 PM | Comments (4)