Liberals, bless their hearts, always think they are working to improve the world.
The problem is that, too often, they are not really t-h-i-n-k-i-n-g.
Liberal “solutions” to “problems” are too often poorly planned, impulsively enacted, and they deliver not solutions, but more problems.
Case in point:
Libs believe that we must decrease our dependence in foreign oil
So far, so good.
But instead of drilling, we now have gasoline blended with ethanol, which is extracted from corn.
The result?
The Ethanol Effect: Food prices have skyrocketed, causing more hunger in Third World countries, as well as economic difficulties here in the U.S.
And now, another unintended consequence of liberal activism:
via The Daily Caller: Plastic Ban Leads to Nationwide Increase in Shoplifting Rates
On Friday, New Jersey Democratic operative James Devine was arrested for attempting to snatch $22 worth of merchandise from a local ShopRite pharmacy. Devine tried to smuggle lettuce, shampoo and protein powder out of the store, perhaps trying to hide the fact that he was about to make the world’s most disgusting salad. To avoid detection, he stashed the goods in a reusable grocery bag.
What seems to be just another edition of Democrats doing dumb deeds actually represents a nationwide problem. Thanks to laws in several major cities banning the use of plastic carryout bags in retail stores, there has been a spike in shoplifting incidents over the past couple years, a trend that business owners, law enforcement officials and customers have duly noted….
This suspicion solidified into disturbing data a year later on the other side of the country. When a Seattle ordinance banning plastic bags took effect on July 2012, 21.1 percent of surveyed Seattle business owners said that the plastic bag ban led to an increase in shoplifting problems. Seattle’s Lake City Grocery Outlet, for instance, had thousands of dollars worth of goods stolen that year….
Many cities have instituted plastic ban bans or taxes amid environmental concerns, though many policy experts are not convinced of the productivity of these laws.
“Moving consumers away from plastic bags only pushes people to less environmentally friendly options such as paper bags, which require more energy to produce and transport, and reusable bags, which are not recyclable,” environmental policy expert Mark Daniels said in a 2011 New York Times interview.
Hey Libs:
Sometimes an idea seems so right but is so wrong.
Liberal activism. Libs really ought not to be active. They should just go sit down and be quiet and let the growns up handle things. The seniors in my family used to tell us kids: “children should be seen, and not heard, unless spoken too.” In other words, stay outta grown folks business.
My top 3 favorites in the Socialist brain of a leftie: (in no particular order)
1-Common sense particle
2-“American”
3-Patriotism node
Question: Who sells lettuce in a pharmacy?
Dumb liberal. He probably had money to pay for those things, but thought he shouldn’t have to pay for it.
LOL! My fav is the “sense of humor cell.” You can see this played out on twitter; Conservative tweeps are generally a clever bunch. Libs? Not so much. More into insults/name-calling.
You’re right, NO sense of humor. That’s cuz they sit on the wrong side of most issues. There’s nothing funny about that. Always in defense mode, ready to regurgitate all over you. They got nuttin else.
Got to make a copy of this for my 5th Annual 1st cousin’s reunion coming up in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. 🙂 That oughta be fun!
Some consequences ARE intended. The farming states and some unions urged Obama to let go of the Ethanol mandate, but he doubled down on it, He knows what is happening to our food.
And to our cars. A mandated increase in ethanol to 15% will decrease engine/car life increasing cost of personal automobile transportation. With high gas prices and higher car costs, everyone onto the bus. He wants everyone to have to take buses, the better to keep us down.
Alain41,
“everyone onto the bus” — Do you mean the bus that Obama throws everyone under?
Yes. 🙂
It is all about “feeelllings” for the lefties….no concept of critical or analytical thinking; which are always required when dealing with infrastructure or economic changes as significant as those in a country as large as ours…..
and the bacteria count in those (unwashed) reusable bags increased substantially
I’m an efficiency nut. It pains me to see resources used to no purpose. I embrace the concept of reuse and/or recycle. I’d rather walk or bike or (when it’s not awful) take public transit than drive. Save money, save the planet, send less money to evil oil exporters, keep in shape…good stuff! In a word, I consider myself a true “green” and a true patriot and a good steward.
That being said, the “green” stuff the government does is mostly corrupt and fascistic and dehumanizing and counterproductive. We shut down our industries, run up the debt, micromanage the lives of citizens entitled to their liberty, and funnel vast sums of money into the pockets of political cronies. For this, our political leaders pat themselves on the back, take a victory lap, and condemn anyone that opposes them as evil Neanderthals.
Ethanol is one of my particular pet peeves. The concept of renewable ethanol replacing depleting oil sounds great in principle. But the devil is in the details. The monstrous ethanol industry the government has created is a gigantic boondoggle; a payoff to the corn belt and such players as Archer Daniels Midland. The resources consumed to grow and process the corn do not justify the end production. I’ve blogged about this at length.. Our ethanol policy is overtly and undeniably stupid and destructive, but unstoppable. Thus we are doomed by politics.
Maynard, I put this in the NewsWire this afternoon: ‘Ethanol lobbyist admits subsidies designed to raise corn prices’ http://freebeacon.com/ethanol-lobbyist-admits-ethanol-subsidies-designed-to-raise-corn-prices/
Shifra, that’s not surprising. It’s obvious there’s a cost to a massive program like this, although it’s often less than obvious to the guy in the supermarket line that the higher prices are because of some idiot in Washington and not because the supermarket is greedy. That’s why I say liberalism is the disease for which it claims to be the cure: The guy in the supermarket line will cry to Washington about the cost of food, and he’ll get assurances that the government is working to nationalize the nasty supermarket and issue more food stamps.
But aside from the crazy politicking, I’d take some comfort if we were actually getting something for our money…that is, practical renewable resources and reduced dependence on foreign oil…the stuff that would benefit the nation economically and strategically. If that were the case, then it might be worth the cost to us. Alas, there is no such benefit. It’s just posturing and boondoggles, and money is siphoned out of our pockets and into the pockets of cronies.
Here’s a political conundrum issue. German law says that refugees can only earn 1.05 euro/hour ($1.39/hr). I’m guessing that the reason was to not encourage asylum seekers for economic reasons. However, a city decided to use, and advertise, that it was using refugees to carry traveler’s luggage at a train station being remodeled. The advertising informed the public and now there’s a discussion about refugees being used as slaves. Article is long and not really worth reading, but it does include comments from a refugee from India who approves of the law allowing refugee work because it got him involved in the country and he learned German. Eg, he doesn’t want the solution to be, refugees can’t work.
http://www.dw.de/refugees-as-luggage-porters-politics-gone-wrong/a-16980132
In math, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. With that brain configuration, I see difficulty in connecting dots with straight lines. In the real world of management, there’s no way I could’ve functioned with a brain like that. No way would I’ve earned employee loyalty and respect because I had to know what I was doing at all times. From his decisions and actions, Obama has done irrational things which leads one to think he has altered thinking from either upbringing or medical reasons. Thank you, Shifra, for the visual. 🙂