Mis-representation
Alaska is blessed with untold bounty. No other state can compare with it's natural wonders and resources. The largest state in the union with ~572,000 square miles, it has the lowest population density – 1.1 people per square mile. Compared with MA at 810 people per sq mi, RI with 1000/sq mi, and NJ at 1,134/sq, Alaska is a quiet paradise. Considering their extremely low population, it is especially amazing how Alaskans can be doubly honored with having a US Representative like Don Young. Not only is Mr. Young their lone representative, he is apparently one of their premier scientists: The world's leading climatologists may agree that burning fossil fuels is a significant contributor to global warming, but Alaska's congressman isn't buying it. "I am a little bit concerned when everything that is wrong is our fault, that the human factor creates all the damages on this globe," Rep. Don Young said during a debate on the U.S. House floor last week. "That is pure nonsense."
Young also told his colleagues that alarmists are too quick to blame America for the carbon emissions. "It is always the fault of the Americans," Young complained during the debate. "It is never the fault of the bigger countries that burn as many barrels of oil as we are doing today _ not per capita, but as many barrels of oil .... It is never their fault." It was unclear what other big oil-consuming countries he was referring to.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the United States burned 20.6 million barrels of oil a day last year. The second biggest consumer, China, burned just under 7 million.
Rep. David Obey, D-Wisconsin, suggested Young sounded like one of the "charter members of the Flat Earth Society."
Posted on The Human Stain
posted by James Roberts at
5/23/2006 08:03:00 PM
4 Comments:
As possibly the sole Alaska blogger on the "internets" I would like you all to know I did not vote for Don Young and would be very happy if Don Young would drop dead and stop making me and my fellow Alaskans look like assholes.
He and Ted Stevens are shaming all of us within an inch of our lives.
By
Gryphen, at 5/27/2006 9:43 PM
No comment on the Alaskan thing- but I would like to talk about the lack of respect that our country holds for previous men of honor. I wonder if on this past memorial day, the teenagers of our society even thought twice about what that day used to mean. More likely was it that they relished in their day off from school, time spent either playing graphically advanced video games simulating war, or walking around a mall with their mother, who set the example of coming home simply exhausted because of the weight and stress of all the things they had to buy. Where is the thought given to that if men and women had not given up their time, their energy, their lives for us, we could not go into a Target and buy just the cutest pair of brown kitten heels to go with my new outfit. One day of the year is all we have been given to remember how we got here and to be thankful for what we have, and it got covered up by the selfish consumerism of our neglient society. Parents should teach their children. Businesses should be closed on that day if not out of respect for their workers, but for the acknowledgement of the ideals of the soldiers who risked everything in order for the word business to actually mean something. It is sad. I am dissapointed in our nation. Some are for the current war, some are not, but if we did not have previous wars that debate would not exist. Our comfort in our sheltered lives is hypocritical and selfish. Please tell me a mans life means more than new curtains.
By
Anonymous, at 6/02/2006 7:02 PM
In answer to the blue lady - yes I am going to post again. Have been quite busy with house/yard projects and work. Will be starting again soon. Thanks for reading the blog.
James Roberts
By
James Roberts, at 7/09/2006 3:06 PM
For many of us the days of summer are filled with relaxation, enjoyment, and quality time spent with family and friends. Throughout those months we devout ourselves to the things that we do not have time for during the rest of the year. With all this new found time and energy, when did being a socially and environmentally conscious person get replaced for the hardship of relaxation? We find time to enjoy the finer things, but ignore the responsibility that comes with actually having them at all. In this disposable society we have time to waste but no time to reuse. Quality time to spend watching television with the kids, or mindlessly shopping for the perfect item to sit in the corner has replaced the time to be doing the dishes. Over scheduled sporting events that self conscious parents who have longed to be popular, push upon their dummied children for the ultimate lesson in self gratifiaction, is the picture of our new society. SUV parents who think thay are doing the best for their children, who think their time is quality, where is that level when your child develops cancer, or when he is born with autism, or simply when he cant breathe due to your negliegence. There is no room for ignorance. To truly care about your children you must care about the world in which they live in, the air in which they breathe, the water which they drink, and the ground upon which they walk. Your actions no longer have no consequence. You teach them to be lazy, they will have no future. When did everyone stop caring? When did we all forget we are not the last generation? When did having a baby and raising a family become a status symbol? You never really wanted to teach your children to be the best they could, did you. You only wanted to raise them to be just like you.
By
Anonymous, at 7/12/2006 11:09 PM
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