President Joe Biden addresses the topic of climate change at Seward Park on Earth Day, Friday, April 22, 2022, in Seattle. (Daniel Kim/The Seattle Times via AP, Pool)
Mitch Daniels is the former governor of Indiana and the current president of Purdue University. Speaking at his institution’s May 2021 commencement, and referring to decisions concerning the country’s response to the COVID pandemic made at every level of government, Daniels said;
Sometimes they let what might be termed the mad pursuit of zero, in this case zero risk of anyone contracting the virus, to block out other competing concerns, like the protection of mental health, the educational needs of small children, or the survival of small businesses. Pursuing one goal to the utter exclusion of all others is not to make a choice but to run from it. It’s not leadership; it’s abdication.”
It is becoming increasingly clear that the “mad pursuit of zero” during the pandemic created much more harm than it prevented. Thousands of small business owners stood helplessly as a lifetime of hard work and sacrifice was rendered worthless in a matter of months. The education of millions of school children suffered what is likely to be permanent, life-limiting damage. Even today, as an outward appearance of normalcy has returned, the rates of suicide, depression and drug addiction remain significantly higher than they were pre-pandemic.
The total economic and social costs attendant to the pandemic shutdowns are proving to be staggering even as those costs are still being tallied.
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As that tally progresses, another ‘mad pursuit of zero’ is underway. This time it’s the mad pursuit of a “zero emissions” energy policy. Zero emissions are to be attained via the Biden administration’s stated goal to “end fossil fuels.”
Based on concern for the climate that is computer-model based and utterly devoid of empirical, verifiable data, and ignoring the fact that none of the “expert” prior predictions of pending climate doom have come to pass, administration energy policy is inflicting what may prove to be irreversible economic harm.
Two things are immutably true. The first is that energy is a primary input to all economic activity. And the second is that there is no environmentally benign source of energy. Deriving the energy necessary to fuel any economy entails one or a combination of drilling, mining, scraping, cutting down or digging something out of the Earth. Every energy source has its price.
The purported benefits of ‘zero emissions’ are amorphous, uncertain and far in the future. The economic pain attendant to an ill-advised attempt to abruptly abandon oil and gas – reliable, proven, affordable sources of energy – is immediate and staggering. And, as is always the case, that pain falls disproportionately upon the people who are least able to bear it.
When Fauci & Co. convinced the Trump administration to shut down the economy the ‘Mad Pursuit of Zero COVID’ precluded anyone asking, “Will the benefits of doing this outweigh the costs?”
The same is true but to a much larger and ultimately more consequential extent with respect to Biden administration energy policy. The ‘Mad Pursuit of Zero Emissions’ will come at the cost of increased poverty and decreased national security — while likely having minimal, if any, impact on the climate.
Mad pursuit indeed.
Yes indeed Mr. Gleiser. You’re absolutely correct. It’s a mad aka insane pursuit!
The counterfeit Biden is most assuredly “Bedlam-eque.” He is not unlike the evil Dr. Frankenstein character of infamy in the Shelley novel. What he is doing in NOT by accident but is being done ON PURPOSE.. to harm and destroy our freedom loving AMERICAN WAY of living that our Founders established in 1776. A Christian nation formed under GOD in FREEDOM.. whose citizens want to build, to create, to raise up traditional families, and to use our natural God given plentiful fossil fuel natural resources –oil, coal, and natural gas– for the benefit of our Nation’s citizens. Yet, Biden & Company are working like a “colony of termites” to undercut and rot the very foundation beams that gird our nation’s economic “house” of prosperity.. ENERGY.
Joe Biden is clearly a leftist fascist communist as demonstrated by his actions. He is MORE loyal to the globalists and their anti GOD Marxist agenda than to AMERICA and Freedom! He doesn’t care an iota about We The American People and should have never been allowed to dawn the door of The Oval Office. Yes, he and his dem cohorts, to say again, STOLE the 2020 Presidential Election from Donald J. Trump.
Note, in regards to the upcoming 2024 election, conservative Trump Republicans must start voting earlier.. don’t wait till the last moment or “the day of the election.” As Ms. Harmeet Dhillon said last night on “The Ingraham Angle” on Fox News Channel, we must play the game we have, not the one we wish for.
TRUMP in 2024.
Richard, I find myself in agreement with Paul’s comments and likewise with many of your own impressions. I especially liked your description of the woke/progressive/left as termites eating out the foundation of our democracy. But I do not think Biden is any of those things. He is simply a doddering dimwit opportunist, always on the hustle and on the take, as is virtually every member of his family, not just his shining example of a son, Hunter.
Richard, here’s a further thought regarding your comments about the need for conservatives to vote early like the Democrats. It doesn’t matter whether one votes early or on election day so long as every vote is valid and counted only once. But that’s not what the Democrats are doing. They are using early voting options–long early voting periods, mass mailings of voter forms, drop boxes, and vote harvesting–to steal elections. It absolutely happened in the last presidential election. It happened in the midterm election as well.
The thing to do is to eliminate those voter options that are so clearly susceptible to corruption. The only other option is to learn from the Democrats, so that we ourselves become as skilled as they are at stealing elections. But, my God, who in their right mind would want to be more like a Democrat?
I do not know who this Harmeet Dhillon is, but my take on the statements made are very different from how some may take it.
What has been going on for YEARS is the game we have. Has it been working? No. And it never will unless someone has the brass to change the game and the narrative. As far as wishes go? If wings were wishes, then we would all have them. When we go to vote, it is not wishes for an outcome but a definitive outcome we are aiming for. We can not keep playing the game we have. We have been doing that…it hasn’t been working. So we need to CHANGE what hasn’t been working to something that WILL work. Doing the same things over and over with the SAME outcome plants the seeds of insanity!
To clarify, the average length of time to vote in our nation across the fifty states is 23 days!, with some states having as many as 55 days BEFORE Election Day!
My point is this.. Democrats though extremely bad at governing are accomplished at one thing… VOTING EARLY.
Because they take full advantage of this long legal open window of time, by Election Day* (*i.e. the single calendar day) they are already thousands if not tens of thousands of votes ahead because of their emphasis on starting early “out of the gate.” Many Republican voters have traditionally voted on Election Day, the one single calendar day, and that’s NOT good enough! Republicans cannot afford to wait till the last moment to vote, already being in the hole –far behind in votes– when so many Democrats have already voted much earlier as this is the way “they roll.”
Republicans must MATCH them and BEAT them in early voting until such times as laws can be passed and changed to make voting better.. meaning PAPER BALLOTS, ONE DAY VOTING, and ALL BALLOTS COUNTED WITHIN 24 HOURS, as not long ago this was the rule NOT the exception.
One day voting? Do you mean a literal 24 hour day? Or just 12 hours? Maybe that’s too many? Let go with just a two hour window. Can you enlighten us on the proper number of hours and how you arrived at it?
Once upon a time, not so long ago, voting was done on Election Day with polls opening at 7:00am and closing at 7:00pm.. 12 hours. And vote counting was finished by 7:00am the next day. Absentee voting was only for a recognized excuse and early voting, mail in voting, drop box voting were not even heard of or yet a concept.
This whole issue of voting is really about one thing.. INTEGRITY OF ELECTIONS and this CANNOT be done without a verifiable chain of custody, signature verification, and voter ID.
One thing is for certain, drop box voting, and widespread uncertifiable mail in voting must be ended if we are ever going to STOP the fraudulent manner in which elections are currently being conducted in some states and precincts. That’s just a fact. You cannot have bona fide free and fair election results without signature verification, a certifiable chain of custody, and voter ID, period.
Texas, like Florida, does a very good job conducting elections.. BUT FAR TOO MANY STATES DON’T! and that is where these deceptive practices MUST be ENDED, especially when national election outcomes are at stake* *i.e the 2020 Presidential Election.
Let’s stay on topic. I specifically asked about early voting. I didn’t mention drop boxes, mail in ballots, or anything else … For various elections over the past 30 years or so, I’ve utilized both early and election day voting. The process for early voting has been identical to the process for voting on election day. The goal of any election should be to make it as easy as possible for any legal voter to cast their vote. Being forced to stand in a line for six hours just to cast a vote is ridiculous. I see absolutely no reason to limit the number of voting hours as you advocated.
In reply to John von Neumann.
I am not against early voting as long as it is done in the EXACT same manner as Election Day voting* *i.e. meaning “in person” with voter ID and signature being verified. Also, I too am in agreement with making voting accessible without having to wait in long lines, BUT VERY HARD for fraudulent voting to occur as I have made clear on the various points of concern that I have noted. I trust this answers your question.
No it didn’t really answer my question. Earlier you said that we need “ONE DAY VOTING”. Now you just said you’re “not against early voting”. Those are two diametrically opposed statements. Which one is it?
CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS like myself are for legal, lawful, verifiable legal chain of custody, signature voter ID ed and legally cast ballots by Americans to determine the winner and outcome of elections.
DEMOCRATS on the other hand, couldn’t care less!
I, for one, have supported conservative Republicans and the ideals they have espoused since I began voting starting with “The Gipper” aka Ronald Reagan long ago and recently President Donald Trump. Millions of Americans still believe in GOD, the traditional family, freedom, fairness, justice, honor, and integrity and will NEVER give up on these ideals nor the men above who stand up for them.
As a Christian nation established in 1776, conservative Republicans are more determined than ever to “up root the evil” that dems are attempting to foist on our land. But unlike dems, Republicans still trust in GOD and believe in the rule of LAW and ORDER.
Biden and the wokies are in mad pursuit of virtually everything but sanity and common sense. As I’ve said before, the global warming crowd that morphed into the climate change crowd have as much chance of making the sun rise in the west as they do in accomplishing their environmental goals. Were it not for the damage they are doing to our nation, they could simply be dismissed as the idiots they are. Powerless idiots can sometimes be entertaining, and even funny, if unintentionally so. But idiots with power are dangerous. And in Biden we have the supreme idiot.
Follow the money as many of us have mentioned on this blog before. These “Climate” folks are getting super wealthy off those who are ignorant or naive. Big Pharma and those who are aligned with them are raking in dump truck loads of worldwide currency off Covid (Plus I believe Covid was a military experiment to see what a really new infectious virus would do to the world’s population and how would the sheeple react to Government orders on said virus). From what my limited experience on all this madness is initially telling me, is all roads lead back to China; with the exception of fossil fuels. Where are all the “Green” stuff made, China. Where did the virus come from, China. Who was working with China all this time; CDC and the World Economic Forum people. Who makes the worlds antibiotics, China. See a pattern here?
There are tragic consequences to the other “zero” Biden policies not mentioned by Paul. Zero border enforcement and zero crime prevention or enforcement will have staggering long and short-term effects on our society.