In the news today…
Today we learn that “Producing 2.2lb of beef generates as much greenhouse gas as driving a car non-stop for three hours.”
“Su Taylor, the press officer for the Vegetarian Society, told New Scientist: “Everybody is trying to come up with different ways to reduce carbon footprints, but one of the easiest things you can do is to stop eating meat.”
Hmmm….the Vegetarian Society cares about Global Warming? Who knew?
In other news, we see at the Huffington Puffington Post, Generation Chickenhawk: the Unauthorized College Republican Convention Tour. Max Blumenthal has a video piece on “a vivid portrait of the hypocritical mentality of the next generation of Republican leaders.” The Chickenhawk paradox is one of the great philosophical debates of all time. Perhaps the great philosopher Toby Keith will write a song about the bravery of our protesters. They are the real patriots aren’t they?
Blumenthal makes an interesting point, why should we be fighting them “over there”? Which makes you wonder if Blumenthal would prefer that we fight them “over here”? Whether or not you agree with Max Blumenthal no one can doubt his courage.
July 19th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
They can take my steak… from my cold dead hands…. er um. yeah.
July 19th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Except what they don’t tell you is that the same UN report they cite praised US production systems (while the enviros and anti animals guys attack it) because the US livestock and therefore provide a means of capturing emissions (and are capturing emissions).
What the UN was worried about were so called “free range” animals – which is the condition of most livestock in the rest of the world (and specifically Africa).
July 19th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Greg,
If you have a steak in your cold dead hands, and it is still good, I bet I could warm it up and enjoy it 🙂
As for the ChickenHawks
I would have had a much different view of the war in Iraq if I saw more of the people who called for it and cried for the need of it putting their own asses on the front line.
July 19th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Hmmm….the Vegetarian Society cares about Global Warming? Who knew?
People become vegetarians for a number of reasons. Some are ethical, some are resource-related. It takes on the order of 10 lb of feed to create 1lb of beef. I know a couple of people who are vegetarians on the grounds of the resources that it takes to produce meat. Some of them will eat seafood as seafood has less of an impact on the environment.
July 19th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
I would have had a much different view of the war in Iraq if I saw more of the people who called for it and cried for the need of it putting their own asses on the front line.
Please correct my memory if I am mistaken, the United States, the UN, and the World told Saddam Hussein very clearly that he must allow inspectors in Iraq and Hussein choose to play games until time ran out. This went on for a very long time.
Who chose this war? Saddam Hussein did. Has this been forgotten or just revised?
If I also remember correctly the great majority of people in this country wanted those inspections and supported U.S. Armed Forces making those inspections if negotiations with Hussein failed.
The Chickenhawk reductio absurdum gambit is asinine because it depends on revising history.
July 19th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
“Producing 2.2lb of beef generates as much greenhouse gas as driving a car non-stop for three hours.”
How much greenhouse gas does a whining Su Taylor generate?
July 19th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
If I switched from beef to beans, I would probably produce enough methane to make up for the cows…
July 19th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
I was thinking the same as markm, where is the study on how much greenhouse gas is produced by the farm making all the beans for your lentil soup, and then how much is produced by your diet that relies on it?
July 19th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
This flatulence bit goes way back, but a mere 10 to 12 years ago there was that futurist sci-fi TV show about that submarine with the talking dolphin as part of the crew. In one episode it came up that one of the crew had been illegally eating hamburgers– beef had been banned because of all the bovine farts…
Damned good thing we slaughtered all those buffalo back in the 1800s. Who knew we were helping Mother Earth in the process? Now what about bears, deer, elk and moose? Maybe we need to hunt more so as to reduce their fart output.
Bill Whittle at ejectejecteject.com put to rest the whole chickenhawk mantra a long time ago in his essay, “Seeing the Unseen”. In short: If you can only support the war if you serve in the military, that pretty well nukes the whole Constitutional concept of having a civilian-controlled military doesn’t it? Furthermore, it would mean that only military people should be deciding what to do in Iraq. Since they are overwhelmingly in favor of completing the current missions, it means we stay as long as it takes.
If only those who serve may comment on the war, it also means that the leftist anti-war, anti-American BDS types should be the first to shut their festering pie holes. Not being military people, they are the most unqualified bunch in the country when it comes to commenting on the military or its missions.
July 19th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
“If I also remember correctly the great majority of people in this country wanted those inspections and supported”
Was there a vote I missed?
July 19th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Lyle, that post from Bill Whittle at ejectejecteject.com is a must read. I really appreciate you posting that. I know a lot of people here may have already seen that but it was a first for me and it is very well written and thought out.
Some highlights from Bill Whittle’s post SEEING THE UNSEEN Part 1:
Salute to Bill Whittle. That is fine writing. Thanks Lyle for a great link.
July 19th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
We get some insight into the Leftist mentality from the following bumper sticker I often see near the local natural foods co-op:
“Thank you for not breeding”
They see humanity as an ugly stain on an otherwise pristine and beautiful Earth. Accordingly, they want to reduce human activity and reduce the human population.
To them, anything people do, or especially anything that makes people successful, capable, or is enjoyable, needs to be attacked, defaced, taxed, and eventually stamped out.
July 19th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
>“Thank you for not breeding”
This assumes that they are talking about humans.
July 19th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
“Thank you for not breeding”
Metulj I have often wondered about this. The conservatives and libertarians breed like rabbits. Yet the liberal/progressives etc will actually think about that bumper sticker and some will succumb to it’s logic. That Mother Earth is more important.
You love to quote Dr. Strangelove Metulj, do you not see the inherent “mineshaft gap”?
July 19th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
“Heinlein said that the only people who should be allowed to vote are those that have served in the military, since only they are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of the state.”
And Heinlein was no libertarian either. Bad source from a children’s book.
July 19th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
“I know a couple of people who are vegetarians on the grounds of the resources that it takes to produce meat.”
World hunger doesn’t occur because we have too few resources. There’s more than enough food to have every single human on the planet be obese just with current output.
The problem is trying to actually get that food in place. See Somalia, et all. Africa has incredible resources available, they just aren’t actually used properly if at all.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
I’ve am a firm proponent of total fertility rates of 2.1.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Africa has incredible resources available, they just aren’t actually used properly if at all.
This is not exactly correct. The statement as written suggests that Africa simply lacks the infrastructure to harvest and distribute those resources. This passive problem is true, but is not the actual cause of the problem. The cause is that the gov’t actively pursues using the lack of resources as a weapon against their subjects. They redirect the resources away from their enemies and toward their goons as political favors.
Famine is no longer about a simple lack of food, but intentional murder by the gov’t.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
What I want to know is why all those who want to enforce our laws aren’t signing up to be policemen.
Especially those that want to create new laws. How dare they send other peoples kids to go out and enforce them and not be willing to do it themselves.
I propose all lawmakes be policemen.
I, for one, welcome our police state overlords.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
I’ve am a firm proponent of total fertility rates of 2.1.
Including wingnuts?
July 19th, 2007 at 6:58 pm
Max’s dad, Sid, who was Clinton’s apologist in chief during his second administration, sued Drudge for $30,000,000 for libel.
Sid ultimately paid Drudge $2,500 in court-imposed sanctions so he could drop his own suit against Drudge.
Then, reminiscent of his theatrics in front of the D. C. Grand Jury courthouse after his Grand Jury testimony, he issued a statement saying that he and his family could pay no more to defend themselves against the evil Drudge, ignoring the inconvenient fact that it was he who was suing Drudge.
Always a victim.
July 19th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
I know what “Thank you for not breeding” means.
This meme first came to my attention as an elementary school student in the early 1960s, but it probably goes back much farther. In school we were taught to live in morbid fear of the ticking “Population time bomb” which was going to wipe out civilization as we know it.
Its been furthered with international birth-control efforts, held up as the answer to world poverty, and so on.
More recently its been pick up by the socialist, man-hating, enviro-fascist movement, who, by the way, have a higher rate of militant vegetarians among them.
July 19th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
Including wingnuts?
The proportions remain the same as a TFR of 2.1 is merely replacement. The US has a TFR of 2.1. The population only grows because of immigration.
More recently its been pick up by the socialist, man-hating, enviro-fascist movement, who, by the way, have a higher rate of militant vegetarians among them.
Yes, the Three Rivers Market is a hotbed of crypto-communist fifth columnists. Market?
July 19th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
em>Famine is no longer about a simple lack of food, but intentional murder by the gov’t.
Wouldn’t that fall under improper use? Just as the original point was made.
July 19th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
More recently its been pick up by the socialist, man-hating, enviro-fascist movement, who, by the way, have a higher rate of militant vegetarians among them.
It is a flashback to the days of the Chicken Little experts. DDT, overpopulation, the Ozone Layer, Nuclear Power Plants, processed foods, chemical additives, stress, coffee, alcohol, meat, poultry, pork, Global Cooling, plastics, cars, sex, motorcycles, bikes, computer radiation, junk food, lack of sex, Global Warming and the beat goes on.
Of course the humorous part is when revisions occur. Now coffee and alcohol are good for you. In moderation of course. And who decides what moderation is?
Chicken Little experts of course.
There is no measure of the gullibility of hippies. They want to believe. This makes them the easiest marks. Thank God for those that don’t have the need to believe. They serve a purpose few appreciate. Belief should be earned.
July 19th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
Belief should be earned.
Now we know how Joan of Arc felt.
July 19th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
It looks like there is a response to this post.
What a response it is:
Metulj, we understand some on the very far right might be just as crazy as some on the very far left.
July 19th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
Chickenhawk Part II
July 19th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
“we understand some on the very far right might be just as crazy as some on the very far left.”
Are you in therapy? Self-awareness is a wonderful thing.
July 20th, 2007 at 7:38 am
Self-actualization is a wonderful thing. All people have self-awareness.
July 23rd, 2007 at 12:59 pm
The classic Chickenhawk Parry Defense that the messenger is being confused with the message is the last slender thread available to those unwilling to fully support the administration’s military policy in the Middle East. There is nowhere else to go in the discussion. Either you are willing to serve in the work or go on to something else safer and more rewarding in which you are far more likely to be alive several decades from now.
No one is insisting that such individuals serve, only that they have honorable and justifiable reasons not to do so.
July 23rd, 2007 at 1:10 pm
When will politicians, media personalities, and country singers start calling for recruiting to help alleviate the problem of multiple tours? Not once have I seen or heard one of them make a patriotic call for service.
July 23rd, 2007 at 4:39 pm
That is such limited thinking. So the extension is only school teachers can serve on the school board? That is just the opposite of what people are saying now.
It is one thing to be against the war, but the chickenhawk gambit is a fools errand. It is not a logical construct. It’s appeal is emotion. Whether or not someone has served in the Armed Forces they have every right to expect and demand from our government that the nation be secured and protected from those who wish to do harm to America and Americans.
The chickenhawk thesis really states that no nation can have an army unless all people serve. It is an anti-war Utopian fantasy. Before you ask if I am pro-war, I am not. However, I have every right to demand the Armed Forces protect the country. They have to have troops to do that. If you feel a better answer is to reinstate the draft, then make that point.
July 24th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Reinstatement of the draft at this time would provide an unlimited supply of young men to this deranged regime–young men, of course, who lack the connections to run out the clock drunk in frathouses.
Here’s what I propose that those fervent supporters who opt out might do: Spend some time in our military hospitals helping amputees to the bathroom, drop by and visit a widow and two toddlers, and maybe attend a funeral or two.