For the past decade, Austin's ambition to become the world's clean-energy capital has been best exemplified by one effort: GreenChoice, a program that sells electricity generated entirely from renewable sources such as wind.
Now the nationally renowned program is struggling to find buyers — the latest allotment is 99 percent unsold after seven months on the market — and Austin Energy is looking for ways to bring down the rising costs.
But those are short-term talks.
Austin Energy officials say that times have changed and that the nation's most successful (by volume of sales) green-energy program, which offers the renewable energy only to those who select it, might no longer be the best way to carry out the city's goals. It now costs almost three times more than the standard electricity rate.
He was like a grandfatherly institution in the early days of TV. People believed him. Uncle Walter wouldn't lie, America believed.
Thus, when he gave his opinions, they had impact. One example was his report on the Tet offensive in Vietnam, which is credited with swinging the tide of opinion against the war.
He became the host of "You Are There" in which key moments of history were recreated by actors. Cronkite was depicted on camera interviewing "Joan of Arc" or "Sigmund Freud." But somehow, he managed to make it believable. From that entertainment series, he went on to be named host of "The Morning Show" on CBS, where he was paired with a partner: a puppet named Charlemagne. In 1961, CBS named him the anchor of the "CBS Evening News" – a 15-minute news summary anchored for several years by Douglas Edwards, thanks to prodding from a socialist activist who edited The Nation.
Just a few years later, his commentaries on the Vietnam War were credited with turning the tide of American opinion against that conflict.
"But Walter was always more than just an anchor," said Barack Obama upon his death. "He was someone we could trust to guide us through the most important issues of the day; a voice of certainty in an uncertain world. He was family. He invited us to believe in him, and he never let us down. This country has lost an icon and a dear friend, and he will be truly missed."
After leaving his position with CBS, Cronkite's political activism and offbeat ideas had no restraints.
In 1989, Cronkite spoke to a dinner organized by People for the American Way, a group founded by Norman Lear. His candid politics surprised even that audience.
"I know liberalism isn't dead in this country," he said. "It simply has, temporarily we hope, lost its voice."
"About the Democratic loss in this election ... it was not just a campaign strategy built on a defensive philosophy. It was not just an opposition that conducted one of the most sophisticated and cynical campaigns ever. ... It was the fault of too many who found their voices stilled by subtle ideological intimidation."
"We know that unilateral action in Grenada and Tripoli was wrong. We know that Star Wars means uncontrollable escalation of the arms race. We know that the real threat to democracy is half a nation in poverty. ... We know that religious beliefs cannot define patriotism. ... God Almighty, we've got to shout these truths in which we believe from the housetops. Like that scene in the movie 'Network,' we've got to throw open our windows and shout these truths to the streets and the heavens. And I bet we'll find more windows are thrown open to join the chorus than we'd ever dreamed possible."
In 1999, he appeared at the United Nations to accept the Norman Cousins Global Governance Award from the World Federalists Association. He told those assembled, including Hillary Rodham Clinton, that the first step toward achieving a one-world government – his personal dream – is to strengthen the United Nations.
"It seems to many of us that if we are to avoid the eventual catastrophic world conflict we must strengthen the United Nations as a first step toward a world government patterned after our own government with a legislature, executive and judiciary, and police to enforce its international laws and keep the peace," he said. "To do that, of course, we Americans will have to yield up some of our sovereignty. That would be a bitter pill. It would take a lot of courage, a lot of faith in the new order."
In his acceptance speech, Cronkite added, "Pat Robertson has written in a book a few years ago that we should have a world government, but only when the Messiah arrives. He wrote, literally, any attempt to achieve world order before that time must be the work of the devil. Well, join me. I'm glad to sit here at the right hand of Satan."
Later, in an interview with the BBC, Cronkite described this new order as something that sounded like a militaristic world dictatorship.
"I wouldn't give up on the U.N. yet," he said. "I think we are realizing that we are going to have to have an international rule of law. We need not only an executive to make international law, but we need the military forces to enforce that law and the judicial system to bring the criminals to justice before they have the opportunity to build military forces that use these horrid weapons that rogue nations and movements can get hold of – germs and atomic weapons."
He spoke openly about the need for America to give up its national sovereignty.
"American people are going to begin to realize they are going to have to yield some sovereignty to an international body to enforce world law, and I think that's going to come to other people as well," he said. "It's a fair distance to get there, but we are not ever going to get there unless we keep trying to push ourselves onto the road."
Cronkite also opined on Larry King Lives that George W. Bush and Karl Rove must have conspired to get Osama bin Laden to release his video message before the 2004 Presidential election.
In short, Walter Cronkite was an internationalist, a liberal and an America hater. He used his influence as a broadcaster to shape public opinion.
Perhaps his epitaph should read, "Father of the American Liberal Media."
Tea Party Protestors Outside Sen. Jim Webb's Arlington Office
I wasn't able to make it yesterday, but Americans for Prosperity held a rally outside the Arlington, VA office of Democrat Senator Jim Webb, where about 50 people showed up to protest Obamacare and Crap & Tax.
40 Years Ago: What Liberals Want You To Forget About Ted Kennedy
This post is not intended to be mean-spirited towards Sen. Ted Kennedy, especially in light of his fight with brain cancer (and I pray for his good health). However, I feel compelled to write this because, as the surviving member of the Kennedy brothers, there are attempts to whitewash or cover up certain unpleasant things about his past and act like they didn't happen.
Sometime around midnight, on July 18, 1969 Kennedy drove his Oldsmobile 88 off of a small bridge on Chappaquiddick island, into eight feet of chilly water. The vehicle landed upside-down. While Kennedy managed to free himself from the wreck and swim to safety, his passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne was left in the car to drown. Once he reached shore, Kennedy claims to have made seven or eight attempts to rescue Kopechne, but could not free her.
Kennedy then walked back to the cottage where he and four other men, were partying with several young women known as the “Boiler Room Girls“ who had worked on Robert Kennedy‘s campaign. Though Kennedy passed by a fire station and a private home to return to the cottage, he never stopped to ask for help for the trapped Kopechne.
He returned to the party and according to Kennedy himself, informed his cousin and a friend of the situation. The two men, Joseph Gargan and Paul Markham claim to have returned to the scene of the accident and made several unsuccessful attempts to free Kopechne.
Then Kennedy’s story takes an even stranger turn.
After the failed rescue attempts, Kennedy claims to have jumped back into the water and made the 500-foot swim across the channel back to Edgartown. He then walked back to his hotel and spent the night. He even took the time to change clothes and pay a visit to the front-desk, to complain about a noisy party--no doubt Kennedy's sloppy attempt at securing an alibi.
The next morning, Gargan and Markham around 8:00 a.m., and were supposedly shocked to discover that Kennedy never reported the accident to police. According to Kennedy‘s own testimony, he told them: "about my own thoughts and feelings as I swam across that channel ... that somehow when they arrived in the morning that they were going to say that Mary Jo was still alive"
The two men along with Kennedy went back to Chappaquiddick, where Kennedy spent some time making phone calls, seeking advice from various individuals as to how to proceed.
Meanwhile, two fisherman had discovered the submerged car and notified police. At 8:45a.m. a diver recovered the lifeless body of Mary Jo Kopechne.
It was not until 10a.m., over nine hours after driving-off of the bridge that Ted Kennedy went to the police station in Edgarton to report the accident.
Had Kennedy sought help after the accident, it is possible Mary Jo could have survived.
The diver who recovered Kopechne’s body, John Farrar testified at the official inquest that her body was found where the air pocket would have formed. He said: “Had I received a call within five to ten minutes of the accident occurring, and was able, as I was the following morning, to be at the victim's side within twenty-five minutes of receiving the call, in such event there is a strong possibility that she would have been alive on removal from the submerged car.”
A week after the incident, Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received a suspended two-month sentence. Kennedy then went on national television to repeat his rather implausible story, and to ask for the public’s “prayers.”
Why is this story still important? It is an illustration of how power, prestige, and an influential name could rescue someone from a crime for which any other person, had they not been a Kennedy, would have surely ended up in jail.
Similarly, it speaks volumes of Kennedy's self-serving arrogance, as well how he, nor the Democrat Party, never considered having him resign his Senate seat or vote him out.
What has Kennedy done for this nation in the last forty years? He cozied up with Communists in giving aid and comfort to the anti-Vietnam war movement and tried to help the KGB in undermining Ronald Reagan before the 1984 election. Kennedy sat in judgement of Sen. John Tower, and aided in derailing his nomination as George H.W. Bush's defense secretary under allegations he was an alcoholic and a womanizer. A couple of years later, Kennedy sat in judgement over Clarence Thomas and the allegations by Anita Hill of sexual harassment. Never mind that Kennedy was also known for making waitress sandwiches with corrupt Sen. Chris Dodd.
More recently, Kennedy was one of the most treasonous voices on Capitol Hill against the Iraq War and George W. Bush, accusing Bush of telling "lie after lie" and "concocting the war in Texas for political gain," also slandering our military as "torturers" reopening Saddam's Hussein's prisons "under new management." The photo below was taken last year, during the Petraeus hearings, as Kennedy walked by veterans who asked him to "support the troops." Like Mary Jo, he just walked away.
Now, forty years later, Kennedy wants to drive this nation off an economic bridge, with his "socialized medicine" bill, never mind the damage it will do to our economy, and to quality health care.
But, thanks to liberal propagandists like O'Donnell and others, Kennedy will be allowed to "walk away," heralded only as the great "liberal lion."
Can't Pass Up Video Of Barbara Boxer Getting Smacked Down
This video was too good to not post.
Harry Alford of the Black Chamber of Commerce, called Barbara "Call Me Senator, Don't You Know Who I Am?" Boxer "condescending" and accused her of being "racial."
Why? Babsy used statements by the NAACP and another black endorser of the phony liberal "green jobs" farce in an attempt to threaten Mr. Alford back on her liberal plantation.
Joe "Plugs" Biden, the dumbest Vice President in history, made this statement today to the AARP (CNSNews).
“And folks look, AARP knows and the people with me here today know, the president knows, and I know, that the status quo is simply not acceptable,” Biden said at the event on Thursday in Alexandria, Va. “It’s totally unacceptable. And it’s completely unsustainable. Even if we wanted to keep it the way we have it now. It can’t do it financially.”
“We’re going to go bankrupt as a nation,” Biden said.
“Now, people when I say that look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe? You’re telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?’” Biden said. “The answer is yes, that's what I’m telling you.” (Listen to Audio)
The event, sponsored by the AARP – which supports the Obama administration’s plan – was attended by mostly AARP members who were bussed in for the meeting.
Translation, "We'll spend your money, after we tax the Hell out of you."
That wasn't the only whopper which that fountain of misinformation named Joe Biden told the liberal group.
Biden told the group that the Obama health plan will not eliminate people’s ability to choose their health care insurance and that people who cannot afford insurance will be covered by the plan.
I wrote earlier how IBD has proven that statement above is false. Obamacare will force private insurance out of business.
I remember a few years before they died, my grandparents (who were members of AARP) told me they were terminating their membership because they didn't want their money going to fund liberal activism. It's unfortunate there are too many seasoned citizens who listen to these liberal demagogues that scare them every election cycle into voting for them, only to take away the things the libs claim Republicans will.
The only thing Obama or the Democrats are planning to spend on our nation's seniors is the bus fare to have them transported in as props for their liberal propaganda. Make no mistake, their healthcare will be the first to be rationed under Obamacare.
If Obamacare Passes, Say Goodbye To Your Private Health Insurance
Investor Business Daily breaks the news that there is no option.
When we first saw the paragraph Tuesday, just after the 1,018-page document was released, we thought we surely must be misreading it. So we sought help from the House Ways and Means Committee.
It turns out we were right: The provision would indeed outlaw individual private coverage. Under the Orwellian header of "Protecting The Choice To Keep Current Coverage," the "Limitation On New Enrollment" section of the bill clearly states:
"Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law.
So we can all keep our coverage, just as promised — with, of course, exceptions: Those who currently have private individual coverage won't be able to change it. Nor will those who leave a company to work for themselves be free to buy individual plans from private carriers.
From the beginning, opponents of the public option plan have warned that if the government gets into the business of offering subsidized health insurance coverage, the private insurance market will wither. Drawn by a public option that will be 30% to 40% cheaper than their current premiums because taxpayers will be funding it, employers will gladly scrap their private plans and go with Washington's coverage.
Sotomayor Accused Of Ethics Breach By Prominent Attorney
With everything else going on, I haven't commented on the confirmation hearings of the (politically correct) racist Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, but I did find this interesting item from Kristinn at FreeRepublic.com
The following letter was confirmed to me by Mr. Greenberg with the following statement:
"The letter was sent to Senators Sessions, Hatch, Grassley, Graham and Coburn. It was also sent to Cong. Peter King (R) NY. The story is being covered extensively by the photo blogs, the trade publications and the NY Times. No politician has responded. The NY Times quotes attributed to me are accurate and therefore I assume that the quotes of my adversary Mr. Fairhurst are accurate as well."
Text of the letter:
I am an attorney in NYC who represented White House Photographer Chris Usher in litigation against Corbis, a privately held company wholly owned by Bill Gates. The case principally concerned lost Presidential and campaign photography during the 2000 Bush v. Gore Campaign and the US Supreme Court case related thereto.We won at the trial level in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York but the award to the victorious plaintiff was absurdly low.
We appealed to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals where the award was inexplicably upheld. The New York Times reported on this high profile case today, please see:
It was revealed therein by opposing counsel hat Judge Sotomayor and Mr. Gates’ counsel have known and (possibly worked with) each other for decades. Such relationship was never disclosed to me as plaintiff’s attorney by the Court. No opportunity for us to request that Judge Sotomayor recuse herself was afforded as this information was never disclosed.
The appearance of impropriety is astounding as Judge Sotomayor could have recused herself and we could have had another Appeals Panel within days.
Please contact me so that this apparently unethical judicial behavior is brought to the attention of the judiciary committee immediately.
Edward C. Greenberg, Esq.
Let's just say that, despite her assurances she gave about her "wise Latina" statement said the wrong way, as well as to other questions, this accusation warrants further investigation. She clearly does not have the temperament to sit on the highest bench in the land, and it is clear she will judge with her biases intact.
Democrats Socialized Health Care Nightmare: More Taxes, Higher Unemployment, Less Coverage
It appears from the news of a last couple of days that a bad economy and rising unemployment isn't going to keep the Democrats from shoving socialized medicine down our throats.
Look at this chart (House Min. Leader John Boehner), illustrating the nightmare of socialized medicine in America. It's worse than a trip to the post office during the Christmas season, and you know how much of a nightmare that is. On top of everything else, Democrats are planning on taxing those "evil rich people" in order to raise money which will hardly pay for the true cost of this risky liberal scheme.
Higher taxes and a health care bureaucracy: what does that mean, especially in this recession?
1. Higher taxes (leading to....) 2. Higher unemployment 3. Less personal freedom 4. Move government control 5. Higher health care costs (leading to....) 6. Rationing (loss of coverage)
From everything I've heard, there will still be millions of Americans who will be uninsured.
Why the rush?
Simple. Democrats feel their power slipping and they may never have this opportunity again to impose their socialist scheme on this nation. The longer they wait, the more the citizenry will catch on. That's happening already.
For any doubters, ask yourself, what has the government taken over or done that has made anything better?
I repeat. Think of a post office during Christmas season. Is that what you want your health-care to be like?
I don't watch baseball, but Gateway Pundit has video of President Barack Hussein Obama throwing out the first pitch at the All Star Game in St. Louis tonight.
While there's a fair amount of cheers, you can hear a good rumble of boos as well.
At about 28 seconds into the video, look at the driver of the cart. He looks like he'd rather be someplace else, especially when it comes time to shake, "That One's" hand.
A Last Minute Discovery Prevents Kook Who Promotes Holocaust Denial & 9/11 Trooferism, From Serving On Reston, VA Association
While at the Reston Festival with my family this past Sunday, we heard from friends something that shocked us.
A candidate to the Reston Citizen Association who was running unopposed for a position on the board was a Holocaust Denier.
It was a last minute discovery which saved Reston, VA from having Ken Meyercord, who calls himself a "Holocaust Revisionist" serving the citizens of this Western Fairfax County town, according to the Washington ComPost.
Meyercord, 65, said he and his wife, Samira, 64, have lived in Reston since 1977. In writings and interviews, Meyercord has attempted to challenge historical accounts of the Holocaust, expressing doubt that Nazi Germany embarked on a mission to annihilate European Jews, a plan known as the Final Solution. He has also denied that Nazis used gas chambers to murder Jews, saying such chambers did not exist, and expressed skepticism that the number of Holocaust victims reached 6 million.
(Debra) Steppel, 41, said she heard about Meyercord's provocative local TV show about a month ago in a flier distributed by a religious organization. When a newsletter from the Reston Citizens Association came around about a week ago with a list of candidates for the board, she recognized Meyercord's name and swung into action, lining up 20 or so volunteers to canvass for votes during the weekend festival.
Another ComPost article had this other background information on him, which gives an interesting insight on where he picked up his extremist views.
Meyercord said his views of history changed after living in the Middle East. After attending Dartmouth, he obtained a master's degree at American University in Beirut, where he also met his wife, who is Palestinian, and became more sympathetic the Arab view of the conflict with Israel.
Opposition to him was successful, Meyercord only received 23 votes. The write in candidate, Colin Mills, received 1,157 votes, according to the ComPost article.
2/18 9/11 Revisited – a physics professor’s skeptical look at the official story 2/25 Venezuela Rising – the referendum to recall President Hugo Chavez
Hmmm, 9-11 Revisited, a physics professor... that wouldn't happen to be Professor Steven Earl Jones, would it? Yep.
David Ray Griffin on 9/11 (USA, 2006) – a theologian suffers doubts on the 9/11 story dogma 5/08 - 3:30 PM; 10/07 - 6 PM; 10/12 - noon; 10/15 - 10 PM; 10/19 - 1 PM; 10/26 - 4 PM
SLC also found a Ken Meyercord who also lived in Pleasant Hill, CA; while he claims to have lived in Reston since 1977. Coincidence? Maybe, but the same Ken Meyercord in both the DC Area & the Bay Area promoted a book and theory about something called "Zero Growth."
I also found this interesting tidbit about, Ken Meyercord, when he was living in the Bay Area (Common Dreams).
Holding a vigil can be lonely outside the friendly confines of the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley axis of peace. Ask Ken Meyercord, a Pleasant Hill man who organized Sunday peace walks last year in Walnut Creek. They ended after three months and a peak turnout of 14 walkers.
"But I'm not discouraged, because of all the support I heard from people out there," said Meyercord, a 58-year-old computer systems developer who lives "in a neighborhood where everybody's got a flag outside."
He'll continue to seek ways to express his opposition to a war, like the time last year when he donned a Napoleonic outfit and flew an Earth flag over his boat -- right past Fleet Week spectators on San Francisco's Embarcadero.
"I'm out there because a lot of other people are afraid to express their opinions publicly," Meyercord said. "A lot of Muslims have come up to us and thanked us, because we're saying what they'd like to, but are afraid."
Regardless of where Ken Meyercord is from, at least this anti-Semitic, troofer kook was blocked from serving the citizens of Reston.
Public Hearing On Islamic Saudi Academy To Fairfax Board of Commissioners: Will Board Turn A Blind Eye To The Concerns Of Constituents?
In a public hearing lasting nearly four hours, the topic of the planned expansion of the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) was the topic of a public hearing in front of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
Almost 50 people (opponents and supporters) spoke in tonight's meeting. The Board of Supervisors is deferring a decision on the matter.
Supervisor of the Springfield District Pat Herrity stated he wanted the board's final decision to be based solely only on land use issues. Never mind that the members of the board have ducked their responsibility addressing the concerns of the Academy due to extremism against Jews and Christians brought up. That is in addition to several alumni who have been arrested for or suspected in acts of terrorism. It's enough to make one wonder, what is Supervisor Herrity (who claims to be a conservative) afraid of? Could it be that, since the school is in district, he is fearful of losing re-election due to possible ISA opposition?
Unlike the March 18th public hearing in front of the county planning commission, ISA supporters did not wear their badges of "I Support ISA." Using a tactic done by the Academy in March, the first speaker, James Lafferty of the Virginia Anti-Sharia Task Force asked opponents of the Academy expansion to stand. Most of the room stood up.
There were moments of obvious bias towards the Academy by liberal Board Chairperson Sharon Bullova, in which she chided opponents for applauding, even threatening to recess the meeting. However, Bullova did not offer the same reprimand to ISA supporters, and was called upon it by one citizen.
I also observed that ISA supporters who went over their allotted time were allowed to speak well over their time, while opponents were asked to finish their thought.
Many opponents of the ISA noted the planning commission meeting in March, which many commissioners displayed an open hostility to them.
"I sat in disbelief as concerned neighbors were disregarded (by the planning commission) as they spoke," Darci Walters told the Board this evening.
John Ziu had a petition to the board from his homeowners association, in which 90 percent were opposed due to "traffic concerns." Many other residents in the Popes Head Road express similar concerns as they did to the planning commission in March, yet wished to ignore the issues of the political and religious extremism, which has made news in recent years.
As the hearing went on, I went out in the main lobby and noticed several of the ISA supporters holding Muslim prayers.
In response, several opponents who spoke out against the school held a Christian prayer.
Later in the evening, as others spoke against the school many ISA supporters laughed at the comments of opponents.
Here, one ISA supporter laughs after the commenter finishes his statement, noting how Saudi textbook labels Jews as "descendants of pigs."
It remains to be seen how the Board will vote. Will they (like the planning commission) ignore the citizens in the Popes Head Road area, as well as those patriots who brought up the elephant in the room, the extremist textbooks and alumni links to Islamic terrorism?
Part of an endangered species in Marin County, CA (a flag-waving Conservative). I am also a former print journalist. My writing experience includes a stint as editor of my college newspaper and work at a daily newspaper as well as a business journal. Some of the people I've interviewed include former Texas Sens. Phil Gramm & Bob Kreuger, former Gov. Ann Richards and former San Antonio Mayor (& indicted former HUD Secretary) Henry Cisneros.
E-mail:
maroonedinmarin(at)yahoo.com
