Go Green!…..*uh*….YOU first! June 18, 2009
Posted by Andrew Berkuta in Other Rants.Tags: carbon, emmissions, Go Green, Green
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I have had enough of various people/groups/countries that say we ought to “go Green”. Call me old fashioned, but I value leadership as the one who takes initiatives first, and has his/her/their house in order before “suggesting” that I change what works for me. Let me give examples…..
Eg #1) Japan: wants the US to sign the Kyoto protocol to limit/reduce/ban Green house emissions, and other type of airborne materials. My counter point: This is the SAME Japan which continues to hunt Whales (illegal), source out their manufacturing to other countries which have not restrictions, and, oh yea, have it in for the US in knocking them off the leadership board in various industries……*um* OK….you first.
Eg #2) <*insert non-profit org here*>: These groups want you to go green, adopt new standards, reduce waste…etc..etc, basically creating a “Green Czar” in your companies, and other such locations. My counter point: Maybe they do have a way of stimulating the economy by creating useless jobs, but again, I am of the strong “old fashioned” opinion, that everyone is responsible to pickup their own litter, dispose of things which are broken, and be a responsible person as a whole, and your community matters. Why do we need extra jobs and careers to tell us something we have been brought up with?! Secondly, their advertisements are the papers I see posted on telephone poles, flying down the city streets from the handouts, and lets face it, are causing undo additional labor, effort, and resources because now we have to calculate emissions. Please….give me a break. Again, it doesn’t take rocket science to figure some of this out, just common sense- that everyone *does* posses, but do not employ.
Eg #3) Corporations: There are many corporations which are touting “green” alternatives, products, etc for your existing, fully functioning, in working order – widget. They are trying to make a buck by saying you are saving trees, or some resources by purchasing their products. My counter point: If my widget is in good working order, I save money by not buying another item, prevent landfills from filling with my old one working AND saving additional “carbon units” by not manufacturing something I don’t need because mine still works! What ever happened to fixing what you have? Your car – does it blow up after 3 years? No – not if you have maintained it, and, even if you have poor gas mileage, it still is cheaper per year to operate a “guzzler” that is fully paid off than having payments, and still paying for gas to feed the new car. Sure your burn rate is slower -LONG TERM- , but lets face it, unless you maintain anything, it wont last long anyway. It is marketing at it’s best.
Lets face it, we (humans) breathe air, and exhale carbon dioxide and ingest oxygen. We ARE carbon units… Trees, exchange oxygen for the carbon dioxide. Are you seeing a symbiotic relationship, and how we have to be good stewards to begin with??? Net-net, this is the new “vogue” thing to talk about. If you really want to have some fun, go to your local gym – the one which has a green construction program and recycle even air, and ask the “green” soy, artificial sales person this question: ” Do you have a green carbon displacement program where I can offset or save carbon credits by having others exercise for me?” It makes for interesting stares, and if they are “really Green” they will walk away and look into that for you. BTW…don’t wait for the answer or a call back.
I will wait for this fad to pass, and hopefully not witness people limiting their breathing in order not to get a ticket for excessive emissions! … time for a ride in my safe, paid for SUV. 
O-Commerce…. (coining the phrase with Obama) June 17, 2009
Posted by Andrew Berkuta in Other Rants.add a comment
Well, with a LONG vacation…and career 2.0 of sorts, I AM BACK!!
So what is the “new economic trend” you ask….. I call it (and you heard it HERE first!) “O-Commerce“.
Here is what O-Commerce is:
* The Executive branch (Obama) gets to
1) Change the free market economy by firing executives of well established, publicly held companies (GM). The danger is that *although GM did accept the money, which should not have been offered in the first place*, now the Government ala Executive branch steps in and appoints another individual who’s charter is to make the Government happy, and is in the process of striping off brands of car divisions, and making the #1 car company in the world into a former shadow of itself. (Read point 2.) This is an abuse of power from the Executive Branch, and I am WAITING for the Judicial branch to check and balance this as UNCONSTITUTIONAL!!! I am not holding my breath.
2) Encourages and approves the wholesale of Chrysler / Dodge to Fiat. First, a foreign investment, which is still part of a free market economy. But more brazen, is that FIAT is a holding company which has FINANCIAL TROUBLES ITSELF!! What?!! I can see an approval to some profitable company…but Fiat??? Wow. (Anyone want to buy California? Maybe sell it back to Mexico with the drug money surplus they have now thanks to our boarders!) Really this takes the cake. Thank God FORD did not accept the blood money! We at least have ONE company left.
3) Employment statistics: Well, apparently we are at 9% reported unemployment. A jump UP of 3%. Roughly translates to 4 Million unemployed. SO….Obama decides in a press conference to suggest he saved 110,000 jobs…… First, how does one collect those statistics (*hint* you can’t as this is not collected and speculative at best – vapor stats), and secondly, did I miss that part of the formula where the unemployment went up and he is selling /parsing off America and it’s assets like Dodge, etc?!!!
4) “When all else fails…re-write History and the facts”: Where to begin. Read Obama’s claims, his “historical prospective” , and get a sanity check. He is the master of spin. Wake up, smell the coffee, and get your head out of the sand. It is convenient for him to even change the history of his family contributions to World War II. (reference: Uncle freeing up a particular concentration camp, which he referenced and was not even in the country he said it was!) Remember, he IS a Lawyer…and as such, is a master of spinning the facts into half truths and convincing you what truth is.
5) Congress: OK. So a “harmonic convergence” of sorts for the Democrats happened where the Executive AND Congress is Democratically controlled. So where did that get us? No where, and more PORK than at a Barbque. What happened to “Controlling run away spending”, “A Change we can believe in”, or a balanced budget? Lets do a sanity check here…..My local county Emergency shelter for Child Protective services just got shut down for lack of funds….but the Speaker of the House (Pelosi) is including $30 MILLION in Pork to save a wild wetlands mouse in the San Francisco Bay area. (Fast forward a few years….it is a rodent…they will breed…..will be an over population, become a pest, then spend $60 Million in exterminating them). Also the House Speaker has her private Jet parties to Europe that cost taxpayers $10,000 for every hour in the air, not to mention it was a Junket. Ok Obama…where is the change…oh..I get it….out of every dollar of tax revenue…you get 50 cents in CHANGE….got it…you keep the change. I guess Americans thought you meant a switch in direction, not You keep the change (money)….We forgot…you are a lawyer….
There is more…but this is a BLOG, not a rant, or a venting (although I could).
So here is the definition of “O-Commerce” : n. 1) the systematic abuse of power from the Executive branch which methodically strips freedoms, restructures government from a Republic (not a democracy!! read your history books again!!!) to a Socialist model, and revises history to suit the agenda (hidden or public) of the Executive.
-ed v. 2) “I’ve been O-Commerced”, when said policy is applied to affects individuals, agencies, and/or corporations; usage – “GM was completely O-Commerced when it was called Government Motors” <*insert picture and sound byte of Obama*>
So here we go….in for a hopefully 4 year (ONLY) term….. I hope I do not have to wear red and celebrate “May day” instead of “4th of July” at the end of the term. Then again, why change it, just change history to say “July 4th” was Obama’s first 100th day in power…and the day the earth changed. God help us all.
