it ain't easy being green

the card to the right reads: "By the authority of all the saints, and in mercy towards you, I absolve you from all sins and misdeeds and remit all punishments for ten days."

no surprises here, but for those of you who still have your heads in the sand, beware the ongoing scams that are the carbon off-set programs coming to a town near you. just as johann tetzel absolved folks who bought indulgences through the church in the 16th century, so too will the green movement of the 21st century provide a “get out of jail free card” for those of you who want to do your part to save the earth. but remember tetzel’s little jingle: “as soon as a coin in coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.” the modern day equivalent would be something like, “as soon as check to off-set company you pay, the earth will live another day.” again – it’s not that i’m against being green. clean air and water are great and worthy of pursuing. but i gotta cry b#@! s$*! on scamming folks out of their money. as fiona harvey and stephen fidler so astutely note in the finacial times in an article titled "industry caught in carbon 'smokescreen'", so called carbon off-sets often “yield few if any benefits” while “making big profits from carbon trading for very small expenditure.” and you thought big oil was bad. if you are curious and not faint of heart follow the money trail. what you will find is that big green is every bit as money loving as you thought the oil industry is. and, as a supply side capitalist who thinks america is a great country where those with imaginations should be able to profit from their creativity, i hope the carbon off-set folks make a ton of money from those who claim to be pro environment and don’t put their money where their mouths are. beware - communism and wealth redistribution is creeping into our society via the green movement.

cultural shark jumpings

in the past months, the issue of global warming has reached a fever pitch, beginning with the oscar nomination/win of al gore’s fantasy film, inconvenient truth and continuing through the recent publication of sports illustrated’s “green” issue. incredibly, folks continue to fall for the chicken littles who claim know the pulse of the earth in spite of the fact that a mere forty years ago, these same groups claimed that man was responsible for the fast encroaching ice age. articles published by time magazine in 1974 and twenty years later in 1994 illustrate the absurdity of those who claim to know how the earth works and what exactly man’s impact has on a creation that was here eons before us and will continue to spin on its axis long after we’ve gone the way of the ivory billed wood pecker. oh, wait - that’s right - those things are not really extinct after all.

on other culture war fronts, al sharpton et al continue the crucifixion of don imus for his asinine statements in much the same way trent lott was strung up several years back for his statements at strom thurmond’s birthday gig. and yet, the black community and the media at large (with the notable exception of bill cosby) refuse to target a hip-hop and rap culture that largely degrades females and the black community. nelly, for the most part, gets a pass when he swipes a credit card through a woman’s butt cheeks in his video, tip drill. there is little backlash over snoop dogg’s depiction of leashed black women in where my dogs at?. for those of you who jumped on the msnbc fire imus bandwagon and who claim to be disgusted by imus’s statements, take two simple actions. #1 - turn him off of your radios and televisions; #2 – be consistent in your criticism of those who are flippant about issues of race and gender.