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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

There is a reason that the United States doesn’t resemble Sweden, and that is it’s harder for billionaires to become multi-billionaires.

Life in America is deeply rooted in corruption, in which rich people buy favorable legislation from Congress.  This type of criminality simply does not exist in countries like Sweden.

While the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer.  Look around.  Is homelessness getting better or worse?

Voltaire said something like “The enrichment of the few depends on the impoverishment of the many.” We seem to have an implicit understanding of that over here, and it’s perfectly fine with us.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

From his Wikipedia page:

Thomas Sowell is an American economist, social philosopher and political commentator. He is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. With widely published commentary and books—and as a guest on TV and radio—he is a well-known voice in the American conservative movement as a prominent black conservative.

Still going strong 94 years old, Sowell has given us plenty of valuable quotes, like the one at left.

Has a certain relevance to the U.S. president-elect, doesn’t it?

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

In my recent post: Trump Voters Got Fleeced, But It’s No Big Deal, I pointed out that the MAGA crowd has no interest in calling Trump out on his BS.

This is fundamentally how he won the 2024 election: he has a huge advantage over any Democratic opponent.  You didn’t hear Kamala Harris making ridiculous claims about bringing down grocery prices (while departing the people who pick our crops), improving healthcare (while promising to can Obamacare), etc.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Yes, Trump lied to the MAGA crowd, but hearing the truth from their hero isn’t a big deal; it never was, and it never will be.

Where the price of eggs will be 12 months from now really doesn’t matter.  If it happens to be lower, Trump will take credit for it, and his supporters will hail him as the greatest president in U.S. history.

In the more likely event that the price isn’t lower, they’ll be onto to something else.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Which U.S. state will be most profoundly affected if Ontario cuts off power transmission in retaliation of the imposition of tariffs?  A quick look at a map answers that immediately.

The answer is the swing-state of Michigan. which went for Trump in 2024.  It’s unclear how folks will feel when their hero’s policies turn their state cold and dark–in the middle of winter.

This may hurt, but it may be an important lesson.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

At left is a quote from 19th Century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer.

With all this pessimism, I think I would call him more “disturbed” than “insightful.”

Long-time readers know that 2GreenEnergy tries to maintain a certain level of optimism (even after the re-election of Donald Trump) insofar as people who believe that life is hopeless normally wind up in a kind of torpor.  In turn, inactive people don’t do much to change the world.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

If you tried to list all the elements of hypocrisy associated with the commandment “Thou shalt not kill,” you’d be busy for a very long time.  War, the death penalty, genocide via bombs or starving out entire populations, refusing women life-saving abortions when their lives will certainly perish if they carry a diseased pregnancy to term…there really is no end.

The reference in the meme here, of course, is to the U.S. health insurance industry, whose greed routinely condemns uncountable Americans to death every year.

That the United States is the only developed country on Earth that allows a for-profit healthcare industry to put its boot on the neck of its citizens like this runs counter to the desires of the vast majority of its people, ca. 70%, who favor universal healthcare.

But the idea that “thou shalt not kill” means exactly zero.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Biomass

I’m surprised to see the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) make such a broad statement, since there are numerous situations in which biomass is a boon to our environment.

Take forest waste as an example.  Here’s woody mass that would otherwise either decay, or worse, catch on fire, in either case releasing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

Using some form of gasification to break the mass down and extract the energy is a great idea.

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Anyone who lets a philosophy destroy his perception of the world is an idiot.

A possible exception to this is Schopenhauer’s statement (which I paraphrase): We live our lives in such a way to distract us from the fact that we’re all going to be dead soon. 

Now that’s a downer, but is it true?    Unless you’re emotionally ill, or knocking on death’s door, no one really lives his life this way,

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

I’m not sure an atheist can answer this question, other than to say, “One either believes in things where there is evidence, or one doesn’t, and I was wired to be the former as opposed to the latter.”

Speaking for myself, I knew when I was three years old that the God thing wasn’t going to work for me.  How I was born like this I have no idea.

In the off chance that I leave this world and confront a God who takes me to task for my position, I plan to explain, “I’m sorry.  I simply didn’t see enough evidence to support that belief.” A loving God cannot have a problem with that.

If there is a God and it turns out He’s the angry old guy from the Old Testament, we’re all screwed anyway.

 

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