How seldom we hold our dear leaders accountable for those results, but Randall Hoven over at American Thinker has compiled a nice synopsis of some results of action in the name of social justice and other silliness.
On the environment:
Electric cars were studied by a German branch of the World Wildlife Foundation . "What surprised us was that the carbon dioxide savings were so small." In the best-case scenario, the savings would be 0.1 percent. In the worst-case scenario, electric cars would be 25% worse than gasoline-powered.
Acid Rain was once the environmental biggie, the Global Warming of the 70s and 80s. So the government spent 10 years and $550 million to look into it. The National Acid Precipitation Assessment Project (NAPAP) essentially concluded it is not a problem. For example, "The NAPAP study found that among thousands of U.S. lakes, only 4 percent were somewhat acidic. One-quarter of those were acidic due to natural causes, leaving only 3 percent somewhat influenced by human activities." The NAPAP report came out in 1990, suspiciously about the time Global Warming became the new big thing in environmental causes.
Carbon credits (a) are costing a lot of money, (b) may do nothing to lower greenhouse gas emissions, and (c) incentivize the destruction of the environment and people's homes. Or so the Associated Press reported. The carbon credit system "is an excessive subsidy that represents a massive waste of developed world resources," said Stanford University's Michael Wara.
On Doing The Right Thing:
"And how do you know when you're doing something right? How do you know that? It feels so. What I know now is that feelings are really your GPS system for life. When you're supposed to do something or not supposed to do something, your emotional guidance system lets you know." Oprah Winfrey
Oprah's feelings were touched by "A Million Little Pieces," by James Frey. She was so touched by this come-back-from-hard-times story that she chose it for her book club, where "more than two million copies were sold, making it the fastest-selling book in the club's 10-year history." Trouble is, the supposedly non-fiction story was entirely made up; it was a hoax.
Oprah was also touched by "Angel at the Fence," a story of love during the Holocaust written by Herman Rosenblat. Lo and behold, it too was a hoax.
On Public Policy:
From 1900 to 1965, life expectancy for men in the US rose from 46 to 67 years. In 1965, health spending in the US was 5.9% of GDP. That was the year LBJ gave us Medicare. Life expectancy continued to go up after that, but more slowly. Today it is about 75 years for men. And by 2007, health spending took 16.2% of GDP. Medicare is now about to go completely broke. It paid out more than it took in for the first time in 2008. The Medicare "fund" is expected to be depleted by 2017.
Please, continue, you were saying something about best intentions. What's the matter? Oh, you were finished! Well, allow me to retort.
There is a group called Beyond Good Intentions, for example, that recognizes that most international aid is not only ineffective, but also counterproductive. The MIT Poverty Action Lab appears to be using evidence to guide global anti-poverty policy.
I have no idea if these groups are being effective, but it is nice to know there are at least a few liberals willing to go beyond good intentions, their own feelings, and showering problems with other people's money.
Head over and read the whole thing. Read the comments, too, with gems like this: "I have found that liberal behavior can be better explained when liberalism is thought of as a religion.... And like any religion, liberalism becomes the most important aspect of life to the true believer.This is why liberals tend to be more fanatic in their views than conservatives. ... liberalism ... is a devotion to the belief that the state knows better than the people and should be the main focus of power and resources."
11 comments:
Democraps and libtardsI stand in absolute AWE of your towering intellect, not to mention the sheer hilariousness of your writing. Except that you sound like a moron. Have you been taking lessons from OBH?
Note that bobn doesn't even mention the issues.
Typical.
Guess they're over his head.
Not at all. I might agree with them, but I've learned not to bother with morons. "Bob in LA" self-qualified in the first 3 words he wrote, so I never got any further than that.
Even though I voted for McCain and hate most of what Obama is doing.
Bobn I wish I had been quick enough to see the post that you had removed. Perhaps I'll have Carl email it to me, I don't know.
Libtard is an accepted contraction of liberal retard. "A libtard wants to live in a fantasy world (in which life is the way that they WISH IT WAS) as opposed to dealing with life the way it actually is." That is actually a wonderful word to use in this article.
Democrap I just made up, although upon investigating it wasn't too original; there are plenty of web resources on that topic as well.
You know I don't come over to your place to slap you around eoungh. Thanks for coming and letting me do it here!
> Not at all. I might agree with them, but I've learned not to bother with morons
Hey bobn, good thing the world doesn't feel that way about you, huh?
As suek notes, Ghu forbid you should actually bother to attack the issues. Much easier to whine about the terms used.
> "Bob in LA" self-qualified in the first 3 words he wrote, so I never got any further than that.
Thereby identifying yourself as a moron, without doubt.
All those terms do is identify, within some vague limits, his stance and view on things. That's useful information even if you are likely to take an opposition PoV.
> Democrap I just made up
You're not the first, as you note. Kudos for inventiveness, none for uniqueness or thinking outside the box. ;-D
> You know I don't come over to your place to slap you around eoungh. Thanks for coming and letting me do it here!
Yeah, I generally limit myself to one bitch-slapping a month, and I usually find that without going looking for it. But bobn is a great source for subject matter when the 31st rolls around and my admittedly meager quota remains unfilled... :oD
His byline goes something like this:
Logic? Logic? Weee don' neeeeed no steenkin' logic!!!
... any it's usually trivially easy to nail him on that.
Bob, as obvious evidence of your flagrant bias, I note that you haven't devoted a single thread to Obama bowing before a foreign leader, despite making a big deal, with pictures, about Bush kissing the same leader (IIRC) on the cheek, a far more benign action by any rational argument.
Apparently, your outrage regarding such is limited to the GOP doing it...?
bobn
^
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| < --- (bobn's petard)
> "And how do you know when you're doing something right? How do you know that? It feels so. What I know now is that feelings are really your GPS system for life. When you're supposed to do something or not supposed to do something, your emotional guidance system lets you know.".
I feel disgusted, abused, and ill when I think of this woman holding sway over millions of lives. Does that mean my resulting urge to kill should be followed?
Good thing I don't follow my feelings... huh?
LOL.
> There is a group called Beyond Good Intentions, for example, that recognizes that most international aid is not only ineffective, but also counterproductive. The MIT Poverty Action Lab appears to be using evidence to guide global anti-poverty policy.
I'd also point out Bob Geldof. There's no question, he's a liberal, but he is at least capable of doing a couple things:
1) Grasping that working with Bush on humanitarian goals is a higher focus than partisan bashing.
2) Actually observed that much of the money and food produced as a result of Live Aid (his baby) got diverted away from the purpose it was intended for, and saw that his approach needed to change.
Geldof is still a liberal and, I think, fairly foolish. but he's not a libtard, or even a liberal twit.
He demonstrates that rare capacity among liberals of grasping that actions have consequences outside their intentions, and that such consequences also need to be dealt with in one's approach to problem solving, regardless of how one "felt" about any of it.
The shame about Geldof is not that he's a liberal, but that so few modern liberals are like him. A lot more like him would, in fact, represent a good balance to the bad qualities of The Right.
Instead, he's merely a highlight to the bad qualities of The Left.
>>I might agree with them, but I've learned not to bother with morons>>
Now _that's_ an interesting statement. They're morons, and you _might_ agree with them - that is, if you deign to favor them with your thoughtful consideration.
So...doesn't that make you a moron as well?
> So...doesn't that make you a moron as well?
No, but his distinctive and visible lack of logical capacity fills in for that trait nicely on a regular basis.
bob's problem isn't that he's an actual moron, but that he tries so hard to be one as often as possible. Every once in a while you see a glint of intelligence, then he goes right back into drooling libtard mode.
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