To Those 400,000 Climate Change Marchers: Here is how to Make an Even Bigger Impact. VOTE.

The march was impressive by any objective measure: people across the world held similar events, but none approached the size or intensity of the NYC protest. The media kinda-sorta reported on it in a desultory manner (if at all), as usually happens when Lefties do something significant (but let one Teabagger hold up a misspelled sign and it’s “breaking news” for days). So the questions of “what good did it do?” and “what next?” are very important today.

Sadly, because of the Infotainment industry’s biases and the general lack of mainstream political support for the climate change movement, the march itself may or may not have much of an impact at all. If it didn’t make a big impression on the nation, it won’t result in pressure on the politicos. And pressure on politicos was the point of the exercise.

This makes “what next?” an even bigger and better question. And the answer is plain and simple: VOTE. Vote at every election, on every race, every issue, every time.

Voting can make changes that the biggest marches cannot, the more so since politicians assume that you won’t do it. They ignore the electorate and focus on the big-money types who bribe our “public servants”: those bribing bastards ALWAYS participate in politics, because they know it is important.

If those 400,000 marchers would all show up at the polls, the outcome of any number of races in the 2014 election would be changed for the better. Deniers would lose and reality-based candidates would win. Legislation would be written to change the way we pollute.

Marches and civil disobedience are powerful tools to help effect change. But unless we take that same spirit and work ethic to the polls as well, nothing will change. Only when politicos are afraid of being voted out of office will they respond to the will of the people.

March. Then vote. But if you can only do one of the two, vote.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

“Safe water” sickens WV kids and puts teachers in the hospital.

This post is for all you idiot Reagan-worshipping fools who still believe that “government is the problem”: because of all the deregulation St. Ronnie championed, there is no way to tell if water from the Elk River is fit for human use. So the locals trusted the unregulated chemical industry, declared the water to be safe, and a load of kids and teachers got very ill indeed.

The licorice smell typical of MCHM contamination resurfaced in schools early in the week. Several students reported burning in their noses and eyes as well as skin irritation. Multiple people were hospitalized, including a teacher who fainted and a cook at one of the schools, according to Ashton Marra at West Virginia Public Broadcasting. The reported symptoms are consistent with exposure to “crude MCHM.”

Note: saying “Duuuh, I dunno, sure, I guess it’s probably kinda sorta safe-ish” is NOT good public policy. When our elected officials have become so lax in their civic responsibilities that we can’t tell if our drinking water will hospitalize us or not, it is time to make a few changes. And the first step towards change is admitting that we have a problem.

A little further south, a load of toxic coal ash is fouling the river that another city uses for its water supply. The locals there have also said the water is OK. They are absolutely maybe guesstimating the water to be pretty much safe-ish to drink. Until it isn’t.

It’s time we knocked Ronald McReagan off his pedestal and realized this harsh truth: government is not always bad. In fact, it can do a lot of good. A well-managed regulatory system can protect us from harm.

Think about that, America, as you play Russian Roulette with each and every drink of water. Richard Nixon gave us the gift of safe water. And since 1979, his fellow “Republicans” have been busily taking that safety away from us.

Think about it, America, as you drink with one hand, and prepare to call for an ambulance with the other.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Libertarians think Fiction is Reality.

300,000 people in West Virginia can’t use their tap water for anything but flushing their crap down the dumper because an unregulated toxic chemical facility just upstream from Charleston’s water supply sprang a leak: it’s so bad, people in 6 counties can’t bathe, wash their clothes, cook, clean, and such. Sensible people asked for some regulations, but the Libertarians blocked them, because the “free market” would magically make the tank farm’s operator do everything necessary to make the place safe and squeaky-clean. Of course, that turned out not to be the case.

Last year, a town in Texas suffered a devastating and deadly explosion because a barely-regulated fertilizer plant blew up. This being Texas, only a few sensible people argued for regulations, and the Libertarians blocked them too, because the “free market” is a peachy and perfect way to ensure safety and cleanliness in industry. In fact, the libertarians are STILL blocking new regulations even after that blast, so that town (or another) could blow up again at any moment.

Time after time, this silly-arsed idea that businesses are somehow innately good and will always do the right thing when left to their own devices has been proven false. And yet its adherents still insist that it is true, that we just need to get rid of even more government and then it’ll work, honest, really, pinky-swear. That’s like a compulsive gambler telling you that if he just had more money to bet, he’d be on Easy Street.

This ideology does not work in real life. Smart people who live in the real world and have read Adam Smith know that a regulated free market is what works best. But because a czarist Russian exile had an understandably huge hate-on for Commies and wrote a few novels, somehow a lot of otherwise sane and intelligent individuals decided that a whole philosophy should be based on those novels; and indeed, a new economic theory be created out of the whole cloth and immediately declared valid, based largely on those novels. Fiction, to libertarians, is reality.

And that, friends, pretty well sums up Libertarianism: it is a theory, based on fiction, that has no basis in reality. People have been trying for decades to make it real, to make it work, to take it from marionette status and turn into a real boy. All that has been realized from their efforts is that Libertarians have grown a very large set of donkey ears as their Ayn Rand-based Pleasure Island has gone morally, intellectually, and financially bankrupt.

Libertarianism has failed. It is dead. Stop trying to make the corpse move; bury it and try something based in the real world next time.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

On Edit – more than one cranky reader has pointed out that the band Rush is no longer espousing libertarianism in their more recent lyrics. Apologies to Rush, and anyone else offended by the reference, which I have removed. Thanks to those who pointed out the error.

Ohio’s Governor is for Rent.

And a pretty cheap rent, at that. For a mere $50,000.00, Ohio coal companies were able to wreck a man’s career and gain the ability to pollute at will. Pocket change for such a result. Yep, Kasich is a good buy as politicians go.

The back story: a competent and even-handed civil servant was enforcing the environmental laws on the fossil fuel industries. Said industries did not like that, so they bribed the Guv: Kasich then fired the man.

“The administrator who oversees the state’s efforts to protect streams, lakes and wetlands from pollution says he will resign in September, after the governor asked him to step down over disputes with the coal industry.

In an email sent to his staff yesterday and obtained by The Dispatch, George Elmaraghy, chief of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s division of surface water, wrote that the coal industry wants “permits that may have a negative impact on Ohio’s streams and wetlands and violate state and federal laws.

“Now, due to this situation, the governor’s office and the director have asked me to resign my position.”

Guess that’s how Kasich became a millionaire: fifty grand here, a hundred grand there, pretty soon you’re talking real money. Of course, if you are neither Kasich nor someone who bribes him, these “rental fees” add up to something far less attractive.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

The Bulls*** People Say About Barack Obama

A two-post day in honor of tomorrow’s election: this post about the Prexy, the other about the man who would replace him.  Each man has said some bull*** of his own, or course.  Today, Mr. Blunt and Cranky  shall talk about the stuff  that others say about them.  So grab your nose as we dive straight into the manure pile that is political “discourse” in these degenerate times:

“Obama will take away your guns”: there is no evidence of this. No laws, no proposals, no regulations have come from the White House on this topic during Obama’s time there. This bit o’cowflop comes from the people who make and sell guns and ammo: if you’re scared that the evil Obaminator will take away your guns tomorrow, why, you’ll buy lots and lots of them today. That means big bucks for the gun industry, and less money in your pocket.

“Obama is Bad for Business”: look at the numbers from Wall Street, Congress, and any other non-partisan business metrics indicator you care to cite. The numbers tell you the truth: The past 4 years have kicked a lot of ass for corporate profits, across all sectors.

“Obama’s War on Fossil Fuels”: America is now the world’s number-two producer of oil, right behind Saudi Arabia; we have drilled for so much gas the past three years, the price has hit the floor; and coal jobs are heading back up as we develop export markets for our black gold. If there were such a war, we wouldn’t see these numbers.

“Obama’s War on Religious Freedom”: absolute codswallop. ObamNeyCare does not infringe on the religious freedoms of American citizens in any way, shape or form. It does require certain religious organizations to obey the law, but that’s church hierarchies, not the rest of us. Natch, said hierarchies are screeching like demented, meth-addicted owls; but that’s them, not us.

And so on. So far as this writer can tell, the worst thing Obama has done has been to trust a lot of people he shouldn’t have.

Mr. B & C

There is no Obama War on Coal, Gas, or Oil. None. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

One of the lies that is being peddled of late is an alleged Obama “War on Coal”. This is repeated for natural gas and oil, as well. The idea is that massive over-regulation by our commienazisocialistkenyanmuslimchristianhawaiianohwhatthehellcallhimeverynameinthebookandseewhatsticks President is somehow dejobbing coal miners and well drillers, causing poverty, blight, and maybe even gum disease. There’s a little problem with this scenario, however: it is not true. Not even a little bit.

It is true that coal output is down, and mining jobs are being lost (in some parts of the country). But it has nothing to do with President Obama (or Bush, or any occupant of the Oval Office): it has to do with the free market. Here’s how it works:

Due to the lightly-regulated natural gas market, lots and lots of gas wells got drilled in the past few years. So many, in fact, that the price of natural gas is lower than a politician’s moral standards. So low that lots of power plants switched from coal to gas to save money and earn bigger profits. Less coal being burned means less coal needs mined, so fewer miners are needed. That is the free market at work, and the government had almost nothing to do with it.

Gas drilling jobs are down, because the lightly-regulated market had so many gas wells drilled of late that the market price of natural gas is so low, it isn’t profitable to drill more gas wells. That is the free market at work, and the government had almost nothing to do with it.

Oil drilling jobs are up, and the United States is closing in on Saudi Arabia for the title of biggest oil producing nation in the world; because the lightly-regulated markets have created a surplus of well-drillers who used to work in the natural gas fields, along with new technologies and more available land on which to drill. Plus the price of oil is high, so it is profitable to drill. That is the free market at work, and the government had almost nothing to do with it.

In other words, the Republican ideal of a free market is responsible for the current energy market and the jobs associated therewith. The government (especially the President) cannot be blamed for the jobs that are lost, nor given credit for the jobs that are gained.

So if you’re spreading these lies about an “Obama war on fossil fuels”, STFU. If you’ve been believing the lies about an “Obama war on fossil fuels”, stop.  It’s a bunch of bulls***, like most things we hear from politicians and lobbyists.

Mr. B & C

Mine Owner Throws his Workers onto the Street to Help Romney Win an Election

Mr. Blunt and Cranky does not believe in coincidence in general, and he sure as H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks doesn’t believe in it today: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/mine-lays-off-ohio-workers-647012/

On the same day that ol’ Willie M. Romney was a-campaignin’ in Ohio, the owner of an Ohio mine announced it was closing, and blamed it on Obama.  At the same time Willie was talking about Obama’s “War on Coal”. Oh, and shortly thereafter, making a speech praising said mine owner for…well apparently s***-canning some workers and blaming Obama, thus (hopefully) getting the Repubs some more votes.

All on the same day, in the same area, for the benefit of the same political party. Coincidence?  This writer does not think so. Especially given the fact that Bob  Murray, the mine owner in question, is the murderous scumbucket operator of the Crandall Canyon Mine: you know, the one that killed nine brave, hard-working Americans in 2007. Said killings due to flagrant safety violations, deregulation and lax oversight by MSHA under the Repub Bush Administration.

Killing workers or taking away their jobs, then bragging about it. THAT, if you like, is what Right Wing Republicans offer the middle class,

Mr. B & C