Red Tory v.2.0
I'm definitely in for that left-lib-sponsored Don't Slash Your Wrists Day.
PS: I thought you liked turtles. I enjoy coming here to feed yours. I could spend hours feeding your turtles.
LOL. I adore turtles. I used to have a few as pets when I was a little kid. (Sadly, they all kicked the bucket in rather short order for mysterious reasons…) But let’s face it — these wonderfully purposeful creatures aren’t exactly intellectual dynamos of the animal kingdom. I believe some people even make soup out of them…
I'm still amazed that the BTs were up in arms about this? I had no idea they were so rabid until I read your links. (I don't normally read them because they are so incomprehensible.)
I read your reply to me back on your first link, RT, and yes, I do get the point of it, and it wasn't a big deal, I guess I just get peeved about the endless array of things I am required to do, for example, this whole new recycling regime in Toronto? (They are redoing the plan for like the 45th time...) Yet not one business or condo or apartment building is required to participate. They can volunteer, but no one does.
And homeowners create almost no waste in our city compared to the rest. If I mix up my recycling and garbage, I get a $100 fine, if a condo refuses to recycle, no one gives a shit.
So yes, I would like something concrete done. Nothing like watching our Mayor David Miller on TV yelling in delight about how much good has been done by this event, when with one teeny vote on council, he could do so much more, and yet---he declines to bother.
Miller makes SDA look like a braintrust.
So I will agree with you that it is painless to participate----but oh lord, how easy it would be to do something concrete. Very frustrating...
We did it, and it was good opportunity to talk, reflect, and connect. I told my Bride about the BT outrage and threats to counter the event with stupid over-consumption, and at least she now fully and completely understands my contempt for these people.
I really am dumbfounded by the reactions of those BT idiots.
And its not like Earth Hour was a huge deal for me...I usually have most of the lights off in my house at night, save for a lamp in the living room, the TV and a laptop. Because I love the earth? Because I'm an environmental weanie? No, because I'm cheap and don't like wasting things. Dare I say when it comes to spending my hard earned money, I'm conservative...I gladly pay for what I use but I won't waste and have to pay for what I don't. I would rather conserve energy and pay less for my electrical bill than not.
And yes, I'm certain these fools don't get the irony of their supposed "conservative" position.
Mike: I think the real irony is that the BT's are basically a bunch of dim bulbs themselves...
What amazes me about the BT crowd's contempt is that apart from this being an exercise in raising awareness, it was generally an attempt at conservation. Are these people not Conservatives? By Ontario Hydro's numbers, there was a dip of 250MW over 2h, which (at 4c/kWh) comes to around $22000. This is not a lot of money, granted, but when we factor in the number of opposing morons that were actively tripling their output to cancel three participants, it really makes me wonder what principles are at work here. After all, I don't believe in the religious meaning of Xmas, but I don't actively go out to ruin Xmas for those who do believe.
It's purely partisan, and manifestly so. On SDA, some were even suggesting they run their generators, cars, motorbikes, etc...because, as we ALL know, it's ALL the same treehugging, Earth-loving, hippy bullshit to them, whether it's power conservation, reducing particulate pollution, or reducing greenhouse gases. Actually, that's not *quite* true - they will happily point out the minute, detailed differences between these efforts when, e.g., they are pointing out how pointless greenhouse gas reduction is in reducing particulate pollution, as if we're all abject morons and haven't realized the disconnect already.
I don't really see why it was such a difficult thing to do - it was only an hour - but if you're not going to participate then it really is the height of ignorance and spite to actively *counter-participate* by trying to ruin the efforts of others.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. My husband and I talked by candlelight without the usual distractions of TV, etc.
Pssst - want to know a secret? Shhhh...don't tell anyone but the BT's are afraid of the dark and the boogy man.
RS: Actually, that was something I forgot to mention - my wife and I found the time to be enjoyable. It gave us something different, firstly, but also allowed us an excuse to take time together away from the usual schedule. It felt almost like hiding away.
Aurelia — I can appreciate your sense of frustration when you put it into the context of Toronto’s dysfunctional local government. I worked in Toronto (well, Etobicoke to be accurate) for a couple of years, but never actually lived there or had any interest in doing so.
Thanks RT,
I also went out to dinner with my husband and our youngest. Candlelight dinner with a seven year old--which was actually kind of fun, surprisingly. Especially because he felt like going to bed early and leaving mom and dad alone.
Saayyy, maybe that's what the problem is with the BTs? Maybe they had no possibility of getting laid last night, dark or light? Chuckle....someone needs to tell them about some battery operated fun, no generator needed. The poor, lonely, souls....
Could well be.
By the way, best of luck on your forthcoming arrival...
Thank you!
I'm still in shock about the whole thing. I don't think I'll believe I'm having an actual real baby until it arrives. 8 weeks to go...isn't that when your new hip arrives?
We can celebrate together!
Good grief, we all know CPC's don't like sex - it's only for making babies.
We should slip Viagra in their tea and watch what them go crazy.
Aurelia — Well, kids certainly make life “interesting” if nothing else. Mind you, it’s a lot easier to appreciate them now that they’re all grown up for the most part.
Just over six weeks to go for me with the hip… I can’t wait to be bionic. I’ll have to work on the sound effects to go with my slow motion jumps and such…
Oh RuralSandi, sex doesn't make babies, only fertility treatment does that, haha.
Red:
The SDA graphic on the "Update": you've outdone yourself. Hilarious.
And, yes, despite being an egregious violation of Waffen SS field-craft, KKKate would wear a flamboyant, camouflage-destroying party armband into battle. She's just that kind of idiot.
I had that kicking around in my "bin-o-images" and was waiting for the right time to use it. I plan on wheeling it out now and again. It seems to capture the zeitgeist of SDA.
Flick off a few lights, turn down the thermostat, shut off the TV, power down the computer for a short while...Like any of those minimal gestures impinged in the least bit on your absolutely fabulous lifestyle to any appreciable degree, or resulted in the slightest inconvenience at all...not much of a big deal at all really, was it?
Wasn't a big deal for me. I don't place much faith in AGW, but I certainly don't object to the notion of using energy intelligently, i.e., not at all, when it's not necessary. I do that anyway.
Now, I wonder how long it took Al Gore to power down the Gulfstream? Or if he even bothered to? Maybe the great man was able to get his power usage down to just 15 times the average home in honour of Earth Hour.
Did David Suzuki power down BOTH his estates, d'ya think? Maybe he finally had his 30-seat diesel bus converted to biodiesel, even though that would (gasp) void the engine's warranty.
Nahh, I doubt it.
Gee Darrell, did it take you all day to come up with that stupid non sequitor bashing Gore and Suzuki, or did you steal it from the brain trust at SDA?
Kate is not a gopher; Kate shoots gophers.
Good to see nothing changes. Liberals talk and are good at symbolism. Conservatives get things done. I enjoyed the NCAA tournament with my lights on. Had my 2'nd tv on to the hockey game. Yep two tv's going, God I love Capitalism.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. My husband and I talked by candlelight without the usual distractions of TV, etc.
All the while the candles were giving off greenhouse gasses as they burned away...
How much energy went into the manufacture of those candles? How much energy went into transporting those candles to the store where you purchased them? How much energy did you consume traveling to the store to purchase them? How did you lite them? Did you use a match? How much energy went into making and transporting those matches?
I hope you feel good about yourself because your little candle party just destroyed the planet...
Vandalism??
Give me a BREAK! The next thing you know you will be calling it racism. Isn't that the liberal way. If you can't win the argument then use some outrageous comment like racism or-or-or-vandalism.
You want vandalism. I''ll show you vandalism. Its is applying a political tax like the carbon tax in B.C. and calling it revenue neutral. On the one hand you collect it from people who can't afford it (i.e. the poor) then you SANITIZE it through the government, skim off 50% then give it back to big business. Then to rub salt in the wounds you tell the poor schlucks that pay the tax that it really won't cost them anything extra. Yea, revenue neutral all right.
While SDA didn't influence my decision I will credit Kate with at least making me aware of this useless
publicity stunt.
I Did notice though, that while Dion was "supping"(probably drinking zee wine) in the dark(where he usually is) the lighte were burning bright in the PM's office cause he was hard at work-a concept I'm sure is foreign to most liberals.
Horny toad
We should do this more often, it seems to get the BT's all ruffled, and it ups their power bills....
And besides, I found it easier to just buy "light credits" so I can burn the lights all I want and it doesn't make any difference.Isn't that what Suzuki cdoes?
Horny Toad
Aurelia,
So you feel so gooooood because you ate by candlelight.....in a restaurant WOW!
How many BTU's do you think the restaurant used making your supper? How much energy was burned keeping their lights on so you could pretend to be the sanctimonious Earth Mother? How many CO2 emissions did your car emit into the atmosphere on your drive to this quaint celebration?
Stick to screwing and your vibrator...maybe throw in a few extra sex toys if your miniscule brain can manage to read the instructions.
I would dare say the only lonely souls were the two neurons in your cranium calling to one another across its vast cavern.
Pity, the lights were out in more ways than one!!
Had a great Earth Hour with the Christmas lights blazing and the floods up.
Some interesting reactions and comments here.
Let me just say that I didn’t actually regard this little awareness stunt as especially “political” because I think the virtues of environmental conservation and the responsible, non-wasteful consumption of energy is something that isn’t really ideological at all — it’s just common sense and is something we’d all perhaps be a little better for subscribing to as a matter of course within our means. If you look at the amount of power that we utilize here in Canada, America and to a somewhat lesser degree in Western Europe on a per capita basis compared to the rest of the world, it’s pretty obscene — there’s an awful lot of needless waste. We need to do something to level things out a bit and while this gesture obviously doesn’t do much of anything in and of itself, it does demonstrate how individuals can come together to make a positive impact. How this can be viewed as a bad thing, really quite escapes me.
Also, as a few people have pointed out there’s an attractive sort of “cheapness” involved too and I’m all for being thrifty, especially if it barely inconveniences me in the least bit and doesn’t appreciably compromise my so-called “quality of life” (which is pretty minimal to begin with). I’m not a skinflint by any stretch of the imagination, but I will confess to actually enjoying saving money and cutting costs whenever I can (it helps offset my ridiculous indulgences like smoking, for example). I also happen to appreciate the virtues of efficiency. At one time, all of these things might have been described as “conservative values”… go figure.
Why some people would think that it’s “anti-capitalist” to express concern about the environment and do something on a personal level to reduce our individual consumption of energy is quite incomprehensible to me. I’m all for robust capitalism and healthy free-market competition… within bounds, of course. And perhaps I’m an optimist after all, because I’m one of those folks who, quite aside from anything else, looks at environmentalism as a financial opportunity; both in terms of saving money in the short-term and in developing and exploiting new technologies for the long run. SDA and others in that camp of hidebound, ideological reactionaries will undoubtedly keep flogging their buggy whips for as long as possible, but eventually, I’m quite confident they’ll just end up being the butt of jokes.
Oh, and Richard…you’re correct, candles do produce more CO2 than lightbulbs on a per lumen basis or whatever, but generally they aren’t burning 24/7 and generally (I would hope) aren’t left unattended for hours or days at a stretch. So it’s really a false comparison.
Vandalism! Sabatoge! You mean the people that kept their lights on in counter protest? I'm quite impressed that you can, in the same post as that, refer to the dim witted animus of the Bloggingstiens and post a (Nazi themed?!) totem of Kate for a ten seconds hate. You have a beautiful way of putting ideas... unfortunately less the (often desirable) thinking aspect.
btw, don't forget the extra co2 produced when the enviro-freindly candles burn your house down. On the other hand this should be weighed against the benefits of the deaths caused by the fires which should be better for the planet in the long run. The main environmental problem with burning candles in a house would be the smoke - as an emphysema risk factor. Yes, there are in fact pollutants that hurt humans directly out there! (This is why it is a regular facet of naughtily unconserving conservatives opposition to global carbon caps to argue that western style profligacy would be a very good thing for third world countries where people live in smoky hovels heated by the rapidly denuding local forest. Even coal powered electricity would do a lot for the environment of these people. And it would save trees!)
Candles? It makes it pretty clear what's motivating the Dions of this debate. (did he really read a speech by candlelight?) Ascetisism.
Robbie — It wasn’t that people kept their lights on… as I said, it would have been a quite legitimate reaction of indifference or disagreement to simply ignore “Earth Hour” altogether. But no… some obdurately stupid assholes went out of their way to petulantly launch a counter movement to “offset” any potential benefits by deliberately cranking up their consumption of energy for no good reason. By any reasonable measure, that was just rank stupidity.
As I noted to Richard, I’m under no illusion that candles are “enviro-friendly” except that they tend to be used in a rather limited fashion and most sentient, responsible people are quite careful to ensure they don’t burn down their houses out of neglect or misuse of this particular form of crude illumination. If you can point to a story of a “tragic candle fire” I’d be most interested to read it…
And with regards to the Third World, it seems a kind of laughable to be morally spanking them for the way in which they utilize the available sources of energy given they live in fairly desperate conditions and really have little choice in the matter when it comes to providing themselves with whatever modest forms of heat and light they can access.
And, Red Tory, we had a great time doing it!
The snogging, you mean? Well, I missed out on that... being somewhat disabled in that regard these days, but it amused me to think that others were have a bit of the old rumpy-pumpy for the environment.
To clarify, we walked to the restaurant, and it burned paraffin candles, which do not have CO2 emissions because they are not made of petroleum byproducts.
And yes, with 2 kids and another on the way, it is a WOW to go out to a restaurant for dinner.
Earth Mother? Bwa-ha-ha-ha, considering all the plastic in my house, I'm framing that comment and hanging it on the fridge!
If you had checked my earlier comments you might have noted that I am not a fan of Earth Hour, but went along anyway, mostly because I am cheap and lazy.
And over-sexed.
But thanks for the chuckle!
Sigh...
Aurelia, paraffin IS a fractional distillate of the same oily goo from the ground whence comes asphalt, diesel, propane, kerosene, etc. Ever heard of parafinic asphalt? Describes asphalt with a measurable parrafin content resulting in it being unsuitable for use in asphaltic concrete (commonly referred to as asphalt by laymen) because it will not properly adhere to the agregate required for the structural integrity of the pavement.
I appreciate you are not a fan of the whole earth hour thing, but you do serve to illustrate the woeful ignorance of the majority of the population regarding basic sciencce. I don't know how people can jump on the bandwagon - in either direction I might add - without a basic understanding of the underpinning science to be able to read, understand (or know where to look to get the building blocks that they need to grasp the concepts) and evaluate the information much less make a judgement on it. To me AGW/Climate Change is like Bre-X, there are people with no knowlege buying into to this bigtime while others are making out like bandits based on people's ignorance. When the whole thing comes crashing down, there will be a very big mess to clean.
"To clarify, we walked to the restaurant, and it burned paraffin candles, which do not have CO2 emissions because they are not made of petroleum byproducts"
Wikipedia and google are your friend.
Paraffin precipitates out of crude oil as it cools. That is the main reason that pipeline companies have to pig their pipelines.
I hope I didn't just cost you a bunch of money in candles.
I will give you kudos for leaving both for and against comments in your blog. It ssems there are a few places that like to cherry pick their comments.
Sylia,
Your comment is the crux of this entire global warming hoax. The earth has actually been cooling since 1998. But, AGW has become big business and it is apparent that the average brain-dead person can be easily conned into believing anything.
These fools would rather be a lemming and part with their money than actually go onto the internet and become informed.
But, you have to give credit to Al Gore, Maurice Strong, George Souros, David Suzuki etc. for thinking up the scam of the century that has bilked billions and billions of dollars from stupid believers like Earth Hour participants. Wish I had thought of this myself.
And the kicker....none of these men has given up one little bit of their excessive lifestyle, but they expect others to. Every house with the lights off during Earth Hour shouts out "SUCKER".
And Aurelia, at least the "rabid" people on SDA actually ask questions and illustrate how illogical and unscientific the supposed AGW data is.
In the end, it will be this same "rabid" SDA crowd who will save your sorry ass when temperatures cool in the next few years and you haven't got the means and resources to sustain yourself.
It is also we, the hard, pragmatic and innovative people who will save you from terrorism because you'll be the sitting duck in the dark, singing kumbaya around your candle when the "muzzies" come calling.
Red Tory said: "...at least they established the regulatory framework needed as a preliminary step towards taking positive action..."
Yes, at least the Liberals had the foresight to put in place the means to bludgeon the unwilling public into line with your enlightened vision of Earth Friendly (TM) behavior.
Leading inexorably to me turning my outside lights ON from 8-9 when I usually leave them off. Some things are just too objectionable to let slide.
Here's a truly radical idea. Why don't we let people decide for themselves if they want to leave lights on or turn them off? Decide how much energy to consume based on their ability to pay for it?
That'd be called "freedom". Crazy idea I know, but it seems to work every time its tried.
Gypsy — I can’t help but wonder what runs through the minds of nitwits who are always shrieking about AGW being “a hoax” when they’re filling up their tanks at the local petrol station. It’s kind of amusing that you’re quite happy to side with the monopolistic, uncompetitive cartel of oil companies who are all raking in massive, record-breaking profits in the billions of dollars for the grim, rather pointless satisfaction of sniping at the alleged hypocrisy of someone like Al Gore — who by the way has contributed millions of his own money to a cause that the vast preponderance of scientific evidence tells us is quite real. Even if you choose not to believe in AGW for whatever reason, there is still the matter of “Peak Oil” and this is something that even the petroleum producers themselves confess (and have done so for decades now) is an imminent problem we’ll be forced to inevitably confront. And yet you turtle on and take comfort in the ludicrous notion that the “SDA crowd” will somehow save our sorry asses when it’s finally revealed by some likewise improbable miracle that the sun revolves around the earth.
Phantom — Your petulant, quite juvenile concept of “freedom” is counterproductive, self-defeating and deliberately harmful. So-called “freedom” is not a virtuous end in itself. It’s morally and ethically conjoined with the notion of responsibility and also must at times be restrained for the sake of its own preservation.
Well, my last comment was a bit of a joke, obviously the people who reacted are kind of not getting it.
Paraffin/beeswax whatever, I typed that on the way out the door...so I made a typo...chill people, take a valium.
I won't say anything more because I promised myself to stay calm today and keep my BP down.
Besides, isn't it be nice to other bloggers day or something? Or is it just don't swear day? Can't tell the 'effin difference...
You have to love how all the Google-empowered instant “experts” pile on like that, don’t you? And yes, today is "Hey, watch your &%$@^@#$ mouth" Day over at CC’s place. I’m having none of it, but it will be fun to watch the overcompensation tomorrow and also to see the lying douchebaggery exposed for our edification and amusement.
Aurelia,
Unfortunately, the typo makes no difference. Burning anything, whether or not it comes from petroleum products, that contains hydrocarbons will release CO2 - so beeswax is no better than parafin, just as (as I saw in the Star's coverage) the bonfire something EV activist had in the backyard also released CO2.
Listen, creating "awareness" is all good and well, but one begins to think that the "coming together and share our feelings about important issue raising moral implications..." is not a means to an end, but an end in itself. Or, if global warming is a bad as everyone says (i.e. Harper passed on Kyoto, and now its too late) why does the Star need to print a honking big extra section to cover Earth. How many trees must be chopped down, hyrdocarbons burned in processing, transport, used to make the ink, run the pressess, etc. to tell us that we should chop down less trees and use less hydro carbons. The awareness already here. The problem is, besides the romantic candlight evening (with imported wine from France, shipped across the Atlantic no doubt) NO ONE really wants to do anything. Global warming is like aid to third world countries...all talk, no action, solutions that are designed to make you feel good/enrich certain white NGO dogoodes, but achieve squat.
Small Dead White Fascist Male asks: Extravagant Vision Facilitation As Violent Fascistic Sabatoge?
Sorry I took so long to reply again, my computer is taken over by a virus. Getting candles out of the way, I remember a fire or two in the news but not specifically so I typed "fire caused by candle" in Google. First three links:
"A candle in an apartment without electricity was believed to have caused one of the city's deadliest and most heartbreaking fires "
"Avoid candles during Earth Hour: fire chief"
"The safety commission also stated that candle-related fire deaths increased from 20 to 170"
Anyhow.
Apropros of Disraeli, the nature of burning is to give off CO2. I think I learned this in Grade 7 - I've skipped remedial liberalism which apparently teaches that carbon is evil and hydrocarbons are the fount of evil. Did a bunch of enviro-hippies really light a bonfire for Earth Hour?? To what degree is this whole scare animated by an unthinking bias against Unseemly Proportioned Oil?
Morally spanking was I RT? Well I was - not people who have no option but to burn wood, but the people who think its quaint and wholesome that the ethnics of faraway countries should live that way. It's not very wholesome for their lungs. I was trying to say that conservatives don't want carbon warriors stopping them joining us non-quaints in our immoral carbon burning lifestyles - its one aspect of the "animus" we have against the anti-carbon crusade. When I'm violently sabatoging Earth Hour by obdurately facilitating my vision... its for their sake.
If that makes me a small dead fascist (better ring to it than dead white male anyhow) in your eyes, I'm honoured - but the dimwitted animus is all yours.
And allow me to observe the further irony of your attribution of fascist sensibility to us and then making a counter-arguement to Phantom's post for freedom. Fascists for Freedom? Fascist has no meaning for you other than what you are against - you are another purveyor of the damned bastardization of the word to mean 'not-Liberal'.
You come in the name of Anti-Fascism.
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