Riding the crazy train.
“I hear my train a coming…It’s coming round the bend..”
WILLISTON — Vermont visionary David Blittersdorf has bad news and good news
The bad news, he says, is that the nation and world will run out of oil and face catastrophic collapse at local, national and global levels. The good news is that a combination of conservation and renewable energy sources can avert a crisis, but it will require a concerted effort — and commitment — to do so.
Blittersdorf’s latest pitch on the renewal energy front is to bring back passenger rail service in central Vermont with 1950s-era self-propelled diesel rail cars. It’s his latest salvo that has included pioneering progress in wind and solar energy programs in the state. For Blittersdorf, the writing is on the wall, but he hopes to help rewrite the dismal history of the future.
More than once, he described his plan as “Back to the Future” that will transform the way Vermonters travel while helping to cut the state’s dependence on fossil fuels and combat climate change in an effort to become 90 percent net-zero carbon free by 2050…..
————————————————————————————————————————-
He said “Peak Oil” — when demand exceeded supply — occurred in 2007, only delayed by the fracking of oil and gas for another 10-15 years, with an exponential increase in carbon emissions and untold environmental damage.
————————————————————————————————————————-
“IntheAmericanempireand where we think we are, we’re going down the other side… we don’t have the resources in the future that we think we have,” Blittersdorf said. “Everyone thinks we can grow into infinity forever. Sowe’resettingourselves upfor something really bad.
————————————————————————————————————————-
“We have to start somewhere, and the efficiency gain over getting people out of cars is we can be 50 to 100 times more efficient, so we’ll cut emissions immediately, and we can do it as a reasonable price. That’s key,” Blittersdorf said.
Here is a rebuttal..
From the Ethan Allen Institute.
It is a canon of Green theology that irresponsible, selfish Americans must be taxed or subsidized out of their personal vehicles and into a group carriage like a rail car, all to save the planet from the menace of global warming.
Guess who is behind the new push for commuter rail? Mr. Green enterprise himself, VPIRG donor David “Wind Farm” Blittersdorf. He laid out $6 million for some reconditioned rail cars from Dallas in the hope of marrying them with the state owned rail lines and stations, to whisk commuters to Burlington from Rutland and maybe Montpelier.
And here’s the inevitable kicker: Blittersdorf “readily acknowledged that he won’t get this project rolling without public or private subsidies, or both. He imagines that some of Vermont’s large employers such as UVM, Global Foundries and state government will subsidize the trains in exchange for free transit for their employees.”
Oh, really? Are Vermonters dumb enough to fall for this costly foolishness all over again?
Let me state one thing from the beginning…I love trains/railroads. As a kid I would hear a train whistle in the distance. I would get on my bike and race down to the bridge that went over the tracks. When I would first see the head light from the locomotive then hear it’s roar I would get tense from excitement. I would wave to the engineer and he would wave back. I would listen to the click-ity clack of the wheels and try to count the freight cars. I would then wave at the guys in the caboose (yes..it was a long time ago).
Commuter trains certainly have there place…in large populated urban centers. of which Vermont is not one…yet. Perhaps if we only allow another 200,000 refugees from the middle east and central America to come to Vermont for a better life, commuter trains will be a much positive asset.
When Mr. Blittersdorf and the state of Vermont work out the details I and I’m sure many others will have to check it out and take a ride just for the joy of riding the rails. And I’m sure more then a few will utilize it for regular commuting.
But I certainly doubt that it’d going to break even cost wise. And Vermont taxpayers will be forced to watch public money used to subsidize a religion, the church of climate change.
But this is what “Progressives” consider progress.
A comment from Muldoon Via Ace of Spades
Can Taxpayers have dreams too?
338 I’m going to carry this forward from an earlier thread.
Welcome one of your newest fellow citizens. Let’s say just for the sake of discussion that this is a hypothetical scenario:
46 year old woman. Gets pregnant. No father listed on birth certificate. Unemployed, gets no prenatal care, presents to hospital in labor, baby born slightly premature and very small size. Has Down syndrome. Has significant medical abnormalities. Will probably be hospitalized for weeks to months in intensive care. May need major surgery. Mother speaks not a word of English. Immigration status? Who knows, not allowed to ask. Mom on Medicaid. Baby on Medicaid.
Where is the responsibility of this woman who is old enough to know better? Where is the responsibility of the father who gets his pleasure with no skin in the game? Where is the responsibility of this mother’s nation of origin who outsourced her dependency onto us? Where is the concern from our politicians for the taxpayers, the hardworking citizens of this country who are going to pay for this child’s medical care for years to come? Where is a simple thank you America, for being kind hearted and generous. But no, the Dreamers have a dream. Screw the taxpayer and his/her dreams. Screw the future of the taxpayer’s child and his/her dreams. This woman and her child are entitled to the sweat of your brow, comrade!
Posted by: Muldoon at September 15, 2017 10:48 AM (wPiJc)
This is one(of many) reason(s) our country is the way it is.
When I was in high school we were required to take a class called “Civics”. Do they teach anything like that anymore?
Europe is Doomed!
But we already knew that.
Least we lag behind “our betters” in Europe the left in the U.S. is doing their best to follow their example and a least gain parity.
Here is a the latest video from Mr. Pat Condell
Mr. Condell is an atheist which doesn’t bother me in the least. He is honest and consistent. A critic of Christianity, Islam, and especially political correctness. He says what he thinks.
Its been sixteen years.
How the time seems to fly.
What will happen when there is no more road to kick the can down?
“May you live in interesting times” Indeed we do. The southern U.S. has been struck by one Major Hurricane with another tearing through Florida. Much to the delight of the disciples of climate change who have been waiting over a decade for a big storm(s) to strike the U.S.
The evil Telly Tubby that rules North Korea has openly threatened the U.S. with an E.M.P. attack. Such an attack would be devastating to all of North America. How so, you might ask? Well think of 21st century America suddenly being knocked back to 1840. Think of life before electricity, refrigeration, cell phones, telephones, television, radio, automobiles et. al. When the nations aging electrical grid gets fried that’s what is going to happen. and it will not be repaired overnight. America has never experienced famine like many socialist countries have. That is how serious that can be.
Another little “can” that the legislature has constantly kicked down the road is the National debt. And the debt ceiling it appears that it’s going to be raised again to pay for not one but two devastating hurricanes. Taking measures for natural disasters is one thing but this cannot go on. The national debt is nearly 20 Trillion dollars. And lets not even talk about unfunded liabilities.
Today America is probably more divided now then at anytime since the Civil War. For that we can thank fifty years of, hell no more like eighty years of slow insidious indoctrination of American citizens and the body politic to Marxism.
They have taken over academia, all the way down to kindergarten, the media, down to the local level, and they have completely taken over the Democrat party. JFK would not recognized it today.
And the Republican establishment is next to worthless, loving their perks and power more then their country and its Constitution.
Together they make up the “Deep State” and their goal is to ensure that “government of the people, by the people, for the people'” does indeed perish from the earth.
Of course they call themselves “Progressives”, the progress to historical inevitability.
Coupled with the previous administrations eight years of turning over every rock to expose the tiniest hint of racism. And if they couldn’t find it then created it out of whole cloth. Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream of a color blind society is further away then ever.
We are certainly living in “interesting times”.
Yet we can try to keep things in prospective. On more then one occasion our country has faced deep crisis.
Abraham Lincoln on the eve of a national crisis that was to become the Civil War gave reference to this fable to give him comfort.
It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words: “And this too shall pass away” How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction![4][5]
The American Civil War happened because the “can” was kicked to the end of the road.
Today another “end of the road” is approaching fast. And only God knows what will happen.
Are the eyes and minds of (some) Millennials beginning to open?
A very interesting article from American thinker.
Included was this video .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHv8B6piTxo
And this video is not the only example. There are other “red pill” stories to see on You Tube . For now, possibly.
The “Antifa” movement may perhaps be the best thing to happen to conservatism. They take the position that you are either with them 100% or else your a racist, homophobe, misogynist, non-person who deserves to have the shit kick out you.
People who consider themselves “Liberal” should take note.
First they came for the Trump supporters (ugh) But I wasn’t a Trump supporter.
Then they came for the “conservatives” (yuck) but I wasn’t a conservative.
Then they came for the “Christians” but I considered myself “enlightened”
Then they came for the “Constitution”, but I considered it antiquated, written by white slave owners.
Then they came for me…