Posted on 03/09/2008 11:11:46 AM PDT by radar101
One of the annoying attributes of global-warming scolds is their inability to practice what they preach. The US Chamber of Commerce produced a very amusing video last month explaining how much in carbon emissions the UN generated by insisting on conducting endless conferences on the issue. Today, the Los Angeles Times takes a look at the travel practices of Arnold Schwarzenegger, another booster of energy-production limits, and notices the stench of hypocrisy:
Like many of the Californians he represents, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger now spends more than three hours commuting because he lives so far from the office. But his ride is a private jet.
After flirting briefly with buying a Sacramento abode for his family, then living alone for a while in a 2,000-square-foot hotel penthouse across from the Capitol, the governor has decided to stay nearly every night at his Brentwood mansion.
The commute costs hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, which aides say the governor pays for himself. Some environmentalists say the trips expand his carbon footprint enough to undermine his image as a crusader against global warming, despite the pollution credits he buys to offset the damage.
Arnold has his reasons, of course. He has teen-age kids at home and he wants to be with them. That’s not possible in Sacramento, because … well, who wants to live in Sacramento, for Pete’s sake? Even though the state has a 12,000-square-foot mansion built by Ronald Reagan for California’s First Families, Arnold’s Brentwood digs are tonier and closer to the Hollywood power base he courts.The Governator chooses to fly home every night instead, commuting between Northern and Southern California. That’s his choice; he’s footing the bill for the travel.
However, instead of catching regularly-scheduled commercial flights between the capital and Los Angeles, he’s traveling by private jet — a huge waste of resources and a large release of the very gases that global-warming activists such as Schwarzenegger claim are dooming the planet.
When global-warming Chicken Littles start living as though the crisis actually exists, then the rest of us will start believing it. Arnold could start by dumping the private jet and flying commercial. Even better, he could show a little sacrifice by moving into that 12,000-square-foot shack that the state has to maintain whether he’s there or not. Global warming activists want to limit our own living choices — they can start with their own.
We may have to dump the term limousine liberals. That came into vogue by describing the type of Hollywood political activist that demanded sacrifice from everyone but themselves. Given the escalation of the hypocrisy here, a better term might be private-jet progressives.
US Chamber of Commerce produced a very amusing video last month =
http://www.chamberpost.com/2008/02/walk-the-walk-d.html
We and they. There are now two standards in America, two sets of laws as well. The set for the government and its cronies, and the common citizen. The socialists continue their effort to eliminate the middle class, empower the government and its ilk, and make slaves of the working man by taxing him into financial slavery to the government....
Now where did I put my copy of the Communist Manifesto???
Reducing “carbon footprint” is only for “the little people”.
And infuriatingly, Republicans just aren't politically clever enough to force them to practice what they preach.
Take the recent conflict over regulating CO2 as a pollutant.
The Bush administration had the opportunity to give leftist California a taste of what radical reductions in CO2 output would mean. All hell would have broken lose as the economy of California fell into the dumper. People there, and the rest of the nation watching, would see just how much there is to lose by forcing big reductions in CO2.
But instead, Republicans save leftists from themselves.
Or how about the Federal income tax deduction for state and local taxes?
Big tax and spend leftists get a helping hand from the rest of the country through this deduction. Again, if Republicans had any sense, they'd agree with Democrats to a tax increase, but do it through removal of this deduction.
Instead, Republicans fight to protect this deduction, sparing tax and spending state/local governments from the full effects of their policies.
The home mortgage interest deduction might also be an example. Those parts of the country getting the biggest deductions aren't in the "red" states. They're in places like California, or Massachusetts -- "blue" states.
I say Democrats/rich left-leaners, should be given the government they deserve.
Instead Republicans shield them. And get nothing politically in return.
Good turn of phrase but it takes too long to say. How about just, "idiots?"
I think “Lear Jet Liberals” works, as well.
-bflr-
I was waiting during last Fall’s U.N. “global warming” meeting in Bali (Bali!!!) for some sceptical or at least sardonic reportage on the 2,000 attendee event, but nothing ever appeared.
Which is odd, since Bali is not exactly known for its Puritanical ways.
But no, the reporting was as serious and sombre as a King’s funeral.
My time and observations in SE Asia tell me that something was going on quite unreported.
later
Think of the changes I advocate as a kind of "tough love". The idea isn't to destroy people/the nation/etc. It's to let particular people with a particular ideology learn from their mistakes and change their minds. It the long run it makes for a better nation.
The Captain is already earning his keep at Hot Air.
Private Jet Progressives
It’s go just enough class warfare to connect with the lumpen proletariat.
Of course, I don’t begrudge him the air travel or the stretch SUV.
If I had the cash right now, I’d fly private too.
Just don’t lecture me about something that doesn’t exist. (AGW)
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