That's The Best They've Got?

Perhaps you saw this broadside attacking Morgan Griffith in your local paper the other day, paid for by the radical environmentalist group, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC):

It would have been hard to miss.  It was a full-page ad (click on the image to enlarge it).

When I saw the background imagery and the verbiage, I laughed.  This is all they've got?  Can you say ...

LAME?

Here's what it says (in part):

Morgan Griffith Is For Creating Jobs - In China

Morgan Griffith wants to block clean energy legislation that will create thousands of jobs in Virginia - good jobs that can't be outsourced.

Rejecting American leadership in clean energy manufacturing and innovation will leave Virginia factories closed and allow countries like China to pull ahead.

First off, do you get the impression, based on the fact that the attack is so generic, that the NRDC drew up this ad with the intention of plugging a politician's name - any politician from anywhere in the country - in the wording and have the message remain the same? The intent being to use the ad in newspapers across the U.S. and simply change the name of the target. There's nothing specific to Virginia, or especially Southwest Virginia, here. It could easily have read: Every Republican in the country is for creating jobs - in China.

But to the point. I've been in marketing about as long as the NRDC has been in existence. And when I first saw the background photo showing wind turbines - in an ad promoting jobs in the U.S. - I said to myself, "Are these people nuts?" Couldn't these jokers have picked an industry that has more negative connotations these days?

1) First and foremost, there are indeed some jobs - relatively speaking - in the wind industry. And most all of them are overseas already. See "China Leading Global Race to Make Clean Energy."

Besides China, here's a list of the top ten wind turbine manufacturers in the world (with megawattage estimates next to each) (source) and where they are from:

1. Vestas (Denmark) 35,000 MW[1]
2. Enercon (Germany) 19,000 MW[2]
3. Gamesa (Spain) 16,000 MW[3]
4. GE Energy (Germany / United States) 15,000 MW[4]
5. Siemens (Denmark / Germany) 8,800 MW[5]
6. Suzlon (India) 6,000MW[6]
7. Nordex (Germany) 5,400 MW[7]
8. Acciona (Spain) 3,211 MW[8]
9. REpower (Germany) 3,000 MW [9]
10. Goldwind (China) 2,889 MW[10]

There is only one company in the United States that makes the list.  One.  And even that one - GE Energy - isn't really a "U.S. manufacturer."   GE produces parts and finished wind turbine products in Germany, Britain, and Korea as well as here.

And isn't that the same GE Energy that announced just a few months ago that it was closing its manufacturing plant in nearby Kentucky and moving the jobs to Mexico?  Want to blame that on Morgan Griffith, you nitwits?  That happened on Rick Boucher's watch, if I'm not mistaken.  Time for a full-page ad.

2) With all that megawattage shown above, the uninformed might think there's some serious energy being produced in this country (with a corresponding mountain of jobs to make it happen).  In fact, wind energy amounts to no more than 2% of our production.  2%.  That's not much more than a rounding error.

And how many of those wind jobs are here in the 9th Congressional District?

I know of 2.

Two.

How much damage could Mr. Griffith do if he wanted to?

3) Then there's the whole "clean energy is our salvation" mantra.  The numbers are in.  We couldn't afford it if we had all the money Obama could print.  Just ask the Spaniards.  They went from this in 2005:

Spain's Wind Power Industry on a Roll

To this in 2007:

Spain: Renewable Energy Powerhouse

To this in 2010:

Leaked Spanish Report: Obama’s Model ‘Green Economy’ a Disaster

An excerpt:

As predicted was inevitable, today the Spanish newspaper La Gaceta runs with a full-page article fessing up to the truth about Spain’s “green jobs” boondoggle, which happens to be the one naively cited by President Obama no less than eight times as his model for the United States. It is now out there as a bust, a costly disaster that has come undone in Spain to the point that even the Socialists admit it, with the media now in full pursuit.

La Gaceta boldly exposes the failure of the Spanish renewable policy and how Obama has been following it. The headline screams: “Spain admits that the green economy as sold to Obama is a disaster.”

Yet the NRDC wants us to go there.  Why?

Shouldn't a medal be pinned on Morgan Griffith for his wanting to keep us from Spanish style economic ruin?

4) Let's not forget the most important point:  Jobs in Southwest Virginia.  What might those "green" jobs do for us here?  Get a load of this:   

Two jobs will be lost for every green job created.  Bloomberg, March 27, 2009:

Subsidizing renewable energy in the U.S. may destroy two jobs for every one created if Spain’s experience with windmills and solar farms is any guide.

For every new position that depends on energy price supports, at least 2.2 jobs in other industries will disappear, according to a study from King Juan Carlos University in Madrid.

U.S. President Barack Obama’s 2010 budget proposal contains about $20 billion in tax incentives for clean-energy programs. In Spain, where wind turbines provided 11 percent of power demand last year, generators earn rates as much as 11 times more for renewable energy compared with burning fossil fuels.

The premiums paid for solar, biomass, wave and wind power - - which are charged to consumers in their bills -- translated into a $774,000 cost for each Spanish “green job” created since 2000, said Gabriel Calzada, an economics professor at the university and author of the report.

“The loss of jobs could be greater if you account for the amount of lost industry that moves out of the country due to higher energy prices,” he said in an interview. 

And the impact, should Obama adopt Spain's clean energy policies, will be devastating here in Southwest Virginia where so many are dependent today on the coal industry for their very existence.  You know that "clean energy" bill that Griffith's opponent, Rick Boucher, helped pass a year ago?  The one that went into the history books as "cap-and-trade"?  Here's what Boucher's own Congressional Budget Office estimated would result if his plan were adopted:

"According to the three studies that CBO reviewed, under an emission reduction program, by 2015 employment in the industry would decline by 10 percent to 18 percent relative to employment without such a program. Over the longer term, employment in the [coal] industry would decline even further. By 2025, it would fall by nearly 20 percent according to the Brookings study, by nearly 30 percent according to the RFF study, and by more than 35 percent according to the CRA International study."

That means thousands of jobs will be lost in the 9th District. The legislation that Rick Boucher, Democrat, supports will result in thousands of Southwest Virginians being thrown out of work.

And what will be gained?

The most expensive, the most job-destructive energy ever devised by man.

Yeah, let's go there.

Here's my take: Morgan Griffith should have helped pay for this ad.  It couldn't be more favorable to his cause.

- - -

Let's not forget this.  Even Rick Boucher is running from his own handiwork when it comes to the legislation that the NRDC is so enamored of.  The Kingsport Times-News, one year ago:

U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher voted for cap-and-trade legislation but said he doesn’t endorse the House-passed version of the bill.

What in God's name does that even mean?  He opposes that which he supported with his vote?

Can he get away with that?

There's a headline for a full-page ad if there ever was one:

Rick Boucher Opposes That Which He Supports

November 2, baby.  November 2.  This bullshit has to be stopped.

The Boucher Snow Job

Will Rick Boucher be able to convince enough voters in Southwest Virginia, before November 2, that he isn't who he's been since Obama came along?  Time (63 days) will tell.

But between now and then there'll be a whole lot of voters shaking their heads in embarrassment over the blatant pandering that we're seeing today in his campaign ads.

To wit, here's Republican Party of Virginia chairman Pat Mullins:

"Watching this ad, my heart goes out to Rick Boucher. Rick has always been somewhat liberal, but he didn't truly go off the rails until he met Barack Obama. Since then, he's supported — in one form or another — every single liberal priority that President Obama has sought.

"I'd never claim to know what's going on in another person's mind, but it looks to me like Rick woke up one morning in Washington and realized just how far he's strayed from the 9th District's values. Now he's running ads touting the record he SHOULD have had. Watching your own campaign distort the truth — to cover up your mistakes — over and over again has to be just awful.

"I can't imagine how hard it must be to suddenly realize you've turned your back on the people who trusted you to express their views in Washington. The honorable thing would be for Rick to gracefully admit he's lost touch with the district and ask for forgiveness, rather than act like he's the same Rick Boucher who went to Washington 28 years ago."

Rick Boucher. Man of the people.

The people of Washington D.C., that is.

Oops. Sorry.

I guess I should have watched Obama's speech on Iraq last night so that I could comment on it this morning.  Is he still in favor of declaring the war lost and calling for our immediate retreat in the face of a determined enemy?

I'm sure he hasn't wavered from that ... core ... belief ...

- - -

Hey, maybe I should have watched for its entertainment value, if nothing else.  Here's how an L.A. Times synopsis of the speech begins:

"Barack Obama gives weird Oval Office addresses."

OK.  That's got my attention.

- - -

I took some grief recently when I called upon Obama to withdraw from Afghanistan and not sacrifice another precious American in a cause that he doesn't believe in.  I want us out now.  His speech last night - in big, bold words - outlined why:


"Wars distract us from more important stuff at home."

Can anyone argue that Obama sees Iraq and Afghanistan - even the War on Terror as a whole - as anything more than a "distraction"?

An honorable commander doesn't send men and women off to die in an effort that is but a distraction from that which most interests him (in Obama's case - that interest being a non-stop vacation).  Not one more American should die in such a setting.  Not one.

- - -

Memo to President Obama: Next time you feel the need to make an address to the nation, please don't do it at a point in time that preempts my favorite TV show (one that's on a network channel, no less!).  Glee.  A show that should have swept the Emmies, if only because it is totally unique, but also because it is uplifting, superbly acted and directed, and wonderfully creative.

Just askin' ...

Why I Don't Take Money For This

So you know, I turned down five offers last month alone for paid advertising on this weblog.  The lastest offer (yesterday) involved paying me just to provide an advertising link to one of my past blog posts. That's a first.

You should also know that I chose to avoid any income stream long ago for a good reason.  I'm beholden to nobody when it comes to my opinions and there'll never be a legitimate argument made that the perception exists that I'm in the pocket of anyone.

To date, I've not taken in one red cent for my efforts here.

And I'm proud of that fact.

I bring that up for a reason.  Again, it has to do with perception.  Take a look at a screen capture from yesterday.  It comes from one of the most widely read and influential blogs on the planet - Instapundit. Click on the image to enlarge it:

Notice that second entry?  The one that looks like a blog post?  The one that offers the perception of being an endorsement of the reelection candidacy of Democrat Tom Perriello (VA-5)?

Glenn Reynolds - Instapundit himself - will tell you that that is not the case.  That there is no endorsement.  And we know he's right.  Perriello's simply paid for campaign advertising on his site through Google.

But Perriello's people were also permitted to choose the placement of that ad.  It's not in the margins.  It's not depicted in a side banner.  It's not structured as a pop-up.  It's constructed such that it looks like a blog post.  Just another blog post.  One that reads, in a "blog post," "Tom Perriello, Hardest Working Man In Politics.  Join Us!"

Join us.

See a problem?

Reynolds will tell you there's not even the perception of one.  But ask yourself this: Would there be a call for Southside Virginians to "join us" - big and bold - in the blog post section (!) on the Instapundit site if money hadn't changed hands?

Perception.  Perception.

I accept no money for what I do here.  Because I will not dance.  And I don't wish to waste my time explaining myself and my motives.

I may die a poor man but I'll have a clear conscience knowing that nobody influences the content of this weblog.  Ever.

- - -

In truth, there's another reason I don't accept money for this.  I'm on firmer ground legally when this comes knocking at my door.

Why Are We Here?

To sustain government, of course:

Home Values Fell 16% in 2008, But Property Taxes Rose 4.2%

More tax revenue brings the need for more tax revenue as more people are bankrupted and dependent trying to pay their taxes to keep up with tax revenue needs of the government that is providing them relief with tax revenue.

A formula for complete and utter disaster.

Are They Simply Cowards?

I'm baffled - often- by how simple dialogue drives liberals insane.  What has the GOP and Fox News done to this fabulously wealthy Hollywood moron? 

John Cusack Calls for 'Satanic Death' of Fox News, GOP Leaders

Can't handle opposing views? He finds the arena of ideas to be a scary place? Does he want all of us conservatives to die or just the GOP leadership? (which is hardly made up of conservatives, alas.)

Strange bunch.  Really strange.

Why The Mainstream Press Is Going Bankrupt

There's a new sheriff in town:

FLASH: AUGUST 2010 IS LARGEST AUGUST IN DRUDGEREPORT'S 16 YEAR HISTORY. PAGE VIEWED 772,638,752 TIMES [UP FROM 669,392,126 IN '09 AND 614,577,960 IN '08]. FROM NEW ZEALAND TO NORWAY, BUCKHEAD TO BERLIN, AND BACK AROUND, THANKS A BILLION! 

Astounding.

He's serious about that billion, by the way.  He's well on his way.  In one month, no less.  Unbelievable.

Wow

You know the Democrats are in tough times when a politician - a sitting governor no less - who is disliked by nobody in his state is holding only a slim lead over his virtually unknown challenger.  West Virginia?  Is this even possible?

Keep Manchin in the Mansion?
Another Democratic Senate seat is in danger.
By John Fund, Wall Street Journal

As if Democrats didn't have enough headaches, it now appears another of their Senate seats is in play.

Rasmussen Reports has a new survey out showing West Virginia Democratic Governor Joe Manchin with a slimmer-than-expected lead in November's special election to fill out the unexpired part of the late Robert Byrd's term. The results prompted pollster Scott Rasmussen to move the seat into the "leans Democratic" category.

Mr. Manchin was expected to coast to victory due to his 70% approval numbers and near-universal name recognition, but Rasmussen now shows him beating Republican John Raese by only six points, 48% to 42%. Another finding by Rasmussen perhaps suggests why the race has become closer: 70% of West Virginians say they disapprove of President Obama, one of his highest negative ratings in any state. [link]

Manchin is, by all accounts, a decent guy with (almost) conservative positions on the issues that matter most.  And people there like him.  And few know his opponent.  So, for Manchin to be struggling - in a state that was deep blue not that long ago - is a shock.

Obama's magic sure seems to be working.  Just another instance.

A Fitting Puishment

Where punishment fits the crime:

Texas man slits [his] throat in court after sentencing

He pled guilty to slitting the throat of his niece.

Works for me.