Misplaced Guilt: Take up the White Man's Burden (of shame)

Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones. ~ Bertrand Russell

Atheists, Agnostics, and even large numbers of self-liberated Christians and secular Jews claim to have escaped the chains of shame and guilt.

Not so fast...

Charles Krauthammer (self-described as "not religious") exposes the secular guilt that infests the environmental movement:

Politically it's an idea of genius, engaging at once every left-wing erogenous zone: rich man's guilt, post-colonial guilt, environmental guilt.

Nevermind that our carbon belching factories built the modern world and lifted whole societies and chunks of humanity out of squalor, we must pay for our sins.  No good deed goes unpunished.  Does this spring from a poor self-esteem or a wretched self-loathing?

I am guilty of many things, but I feel not one shred of responsibility for the cesspools of ignorance and grubby fiefdoms that still pockmark the globe.  Liberal enablers need to look in the mirror. 

Real Guilt Serves a Purpose

Rabbi David Hochberg explains the purpose of a properly ordered guilt grounded in an ancient, unchanging morality:

Guilt is a very powerful and healthy emotion that keeps us honest with ourselves. It is our safeguard for inappropriate behavior. It is very difficult to do the wrong thing when we feel guilty. [...]

Guilt is the door to Teshuva (repentance).

God hatred knows no ideology

From loony lefty enviros to Ayn Rand objectivists, we see humanity's tendency to kill God and then invent a poor substitute.  Throw God away, and people will worship a golden calf (or the earth), inventing their own orthodoxy, dogma, and catalog of sins.

It has been said that when human beings stop believing in God they believe in nothing. The truth is much worse: they believe in anything. 
-- Malcolm Muggeridge

Can You Believe It? The Age of Unreason

Credulity [kruh-doo-li-tee] –noun:
Willingness to believe or trust too readily, esp. without proper or adequate evidence; gullibility.

One of the peculiar sins of the twentieth century which we've developed to a very high level is the sin of credulity. It has been said that when human beings stop believing in God they believe in nothing. The truth is much worse: they believe in anything.
-- Malcolm Muggeridge

Malcolm Muggeridge was a British journalist and editor of the humor magazine "Punch". He found Christ late in life and turned his acerbic wit on the ignorant, materialistic culture he saw taking root in Western Christendom. To make his point, he famously pondered the result of bringing an African witch doctor to a modern Western country and subjecting him to television advertising. He posited that the shaman would be green with envy.

In Africa, he had to peddle his dubious potions to a poor, skeptical public by going door-to-door and town-to-town. Here in the Western world, the most highly educated, the most progressive, the most advanced part of the earth, there is a reservoir of credulity beyond his wildest dreams.

So true. Back in the old days, people were much more skeptical. If someone leveled an allegation or posited a point of view without proof or reason he would be laughed out of town and marginalized.

Nowadays, it's a 24/7 party in Kooksville, where crackpots on 500 channels and multifarious media outlets peddle unsubstantiated drivel to a gullible public:

Obama is a Muslim, Hillary is a lesbian, Sarah Palin had an affair, George Bush was in on the 9/11 conspiracy, Bush-Cheney-Halliburton invaded Iraq to steal their oil...

Each of these could be true, but there is no credible supporting evidence.

A related malady is the global warming hysteria. There is still credible scientific disagreement on this issue. Regardless, our government is willing to bet trillions of taxpayer money that Al Gore is right.

I'm incredulous...

For a more in-depth discussion that completely guts the arguments of the Environmental left, visit Ontological Angst...

Coal-Powered Prius and Other Liberal Ideas

The law of unintended consequences, like the laws of physics, will catch up with you every time

I am not against health care reform or whatever they're calling it nowadays. We could use some tort reform and insurance deregulation.

I am against clueless crusaders trying to save the world by building monstrosities with my money. Having hope in our politicians is like having hope that those one-thousand monkeys pounding away on a thousand typewriters will eventually produce the great American novel.

Consider what our government has accomplished, or should I say destroyed, so far.

Starve People, Feed Cars!
What a great idea ethanol is! Food riots, skyrocketing prices in poverty-stricken nations that can least afford it. Grain shortages have also resulted in higher prices for grain-fed livestock. All brought to you by the US Government.

Killing people in the War on Terror, bad. Starving them to death so smug liberals can feel good about themselves when they tank up at that special pump, priceless!

Coal-Powered Environmentalism
So you think your electric car is environmentally friendly? Wrong! It runs on coal. More so if you live back east, less so out west. This will continue to be the case until you can plug that little self-righteous crap-box into a windmill or solar panel.

Do you really believe Obama when he says his health care plan will save money? Do you really think he and his confreres in congress believe it? Ask the food rioters in Oaxaca if they believe it.

CS Monitor - Price Shock
RCM - Bill Frezza
Monthly Review - Food Crisis
Truth About Trade
Liberal Government Perversity

Sue Here, Sue Now

Sue Here, Sue Now, is the liberal response to those who support immediate domestic energy production. Once the Totalitarian Trio of President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Senate Leader Reid is in place you can be sure there will be no new drilling. The OPECkers must be giddy with glee as they look to November 4th.

Sure, Democrats let the drilling ban expire, but it's already raining lawsuits citing protection of polar bears, beluga whales, jumping mice and any other excuse enviro-radicals can get their hands on. The Bush Administration has given ammo to the Dems by making dubious endangered species declarations. So Democrats can say with a straight face they support more domestic energy production knowing damn good and well federal regulations and endless lawsuits prevent it from ever happening.

The Mercury News reports:

The vote Wednesday in the House of Representatives — and in the Senate on Saturday — dismayed environmentalists and delighted oil companies. Yet experts on all sides of the debate say it will be years — if ever — before any new drilling comes to California.

A buzz saw of political opposition, certain lawsuits and existing marine protections all combine to make California perhaps the most difficult place in America to build new offshore oil platforms.

The Totalitarian Trio, backed by radical environmentalist lawsuits, guarantees the status quo: We pay 4 dollars for a gallon gas, transferring hundreds of billions annually to people who hate us, while we sit on a treasure trove of oil and gas. Only a liberal Democrat could devise such a scheme.

Hope and Change, baby...