"Every time I listen to Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota talk about how climate change is some fraud perpetrated by scientists trying to gin up money for research, I’m always reminded of one of my favorite movie lines that Jack Nicholson delivers to his needy neighbor who knocks on his door in the film 'As Good As It Gets.' 'Where do they teach you to talk like this?' asks Nicholson. 'Sell crazy someplace else. We’re all stocked up here.'”
Peculiar, however, how Tom forgets to mention that this past Friday Obama ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to drop a proposed rule to combat smog.
A little further down, Friedman complains that green jobs are under attack:
"Not only has the science of climate change come under attack lately, so has the economics of green jobs. Here the critics have a point — sort of. I wasn’t surprised to read that the solar panel company Solyndra, which got $535 million in loan guarantees from the Department of Energy to make solar panels in America, filed for bankruptcy protection two weeks ago and laid off 1,100 workers. This story is an embarrassment to the green jobs movement, but the death by bankruptcy was a collaboration of the worst Democratic and Republican impulses."
Solyndra? Excuse me, but wasn't Obama somehow involved in that fiasco? As reported in an NBC Bay Area article entitled "Solyndra Filing a Disaster for Obama" (http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Solyndra-Filing-a-Disaster-for-Obama-128816968.html) by Scott McGrew:
"During a visit to the Fremont facility in spring of 2010, the President said the factory 'is just a testament to American ingenuity and dynamism and the fact that we continue to have the best universities in the world, the best technology in the world, and most importantly the best workers in the world.'
It's not his statements the administration will regret; it's the loan guarantees. The President was celebrating $535 million in federal promises from the Department of Energy to the solar startup. The administration didn't do its due diligence, says the Government Accountability Office."
Sure, Tom, we all make mistakes. But wait, there's more. Friedman concludes:
"Would you rather cut Social Security and Medicare or pay a little more per gallon of gas and make the country stronger, safer and healthier? It still amazes me that our politicians have the courage to send our citizens to war but not to ask the public that question."
Excuse me, again, but wasn't it Obama who decided to escalate that nasty little engagement in Afghanistan at a cost of billions of dollars?
I'm no fan of Rick Perry, but let's also give Obama the "credit" (not carbon credit) that he's due.
No comments:
Post a Comment