Mmmmm, Malthusianism. Tastes Like the Easter Bunny

Lenna Harding's environmentalist wacko ramblings grow more bizarre with each new column.

Here are some quotes from her latest one in today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

At what point is population growth no longer sustainable? Why are we so concerned with defining the family as a couple with children? Instead, should we not be applauding those who choose not to bear children?

Democrats: The party of "No Family" values.

We need to rethink our diet and look to better sources of protein than beef. I like beef and am not advocating abolishing it as a food source. I merely suggest that chicken and rabbits might be more resource-efficient sources. Sheep and goats also should be more in the mix.

Why not Soylent Green? Then we could kill two birds with one stone (so to speak.)

Who can take these people seriously?

I Think That I Shall Never See A Petition Lovely As A Tree

With regards to the planned "deforestation" in front of Avery Hall on the WSU campus, I could really care less. WSU is not the center of our universe and there is a lot more that goes on in this community than the undergraduate penchant for revolutionary drama encouraged by their mentors in the ivy-covered halls of academe.

On the one hand, those are trees that were planted by the university, not some old-growth cedar grove, and the university can do with them as they please. On the other hand, there is a certain delicious hoist and petard element to this whole situation. As long as the professors professional activists are busy biting the hand that feeds them and are not agitating and meddling in the city of Pullman's business, I'm happy.

But the online petition started to save the trees has provided for some rather amusing comments:

46. Don't Destroy Our Campus!!!!
I love the big old trees on campus. The forest-y look is what attracted me to WSU in the first place. The trees make campus beautiful and wonderful to walk around. HOW DARE YOU DESTROY A TREE!!! Trees are irriplaceable. They make our air cleaner and our environment gorgeous. This is disgusting! I cannot believe I am associated with a university that would do such a horrible, phallic act!!!
7/17/2008 9:09:47 AM

"irriplaceable?" Yikes. A mind is also a terrible thing to waste. With spelling errors like that, it seems the English Department's biggest problem is not trees being cut down. "Phallic act?" Must be a Women's Studies major.

527. When There's Nothing Left To Sustain, Why Talk About Sustainability?
A military officer boasts of destroying a village in order to save it; a bomb is labeled a "peacemaker;" and institutional racism is labeled "diversity." So we shouldn't be surprised to see the cutting down of trees labeled "beautification." But it doesn't change the truth. Save the trees and cut down the lies.
John Streamas, Comparative Ethnic Studies
7/14/2008 3:56:01 PM

Ah, yes. War, racism, cutting down trees...It's all the same to ExStreamas. What a maroon.

579. Save the Avery Grove Trees and the Murrow Yard Trees too
This is ridiculous. Cutting down a tree here and there that is diseased or otherwise problematic is one thing, but this sort of clear cutting is absurd and, I would add, anti-environmental.
Christopher Lupke, Associate Professor, Foreign Languages and Cultures
7/13/2008 9:40:16 PM

I'm suprised Lu Laoshi didn't implicate the "Forbes Gang" for the "clear cutting."

585. Cougar pride?
Where is the pride in our heritage when we propose to cut down so many trees that in addition to their important shading function and great beauty are a rich part of WSU's history? And where is the imagination of our planners that they cannot find a way to keep the trees while making useful improvements?
T.V. Reed, Professor of English, Avery Hall
7/13/2008 3:24:07 PM

And where is the UFCW and their big-shot Seattle lawyers?

Prayer of the Day

Mile Kepka/San Francisco Chronicle, AP Photos

Michael Hanly figured crews were only trimming the trees when he saw them carrying tools to the old spruce and pine outside his office at Washington State University's Avery Hall last week.

But they kept cutting, and the trees eventually were gone.

Hanly did some digging and learned that more trees are on the chopping block around Avery, Bryan and Murrow halls during the third phase of the Library Road project, slated for completion in Sept. 2009.

"If they had said from the beginning that these trees were going to come down with this project, you can bet there would have been a protest," said Hanly, an English professor.

Hanly claims the university did not adequately make its plans known to the public, and he is trying to generate support from others concerned about the trees' removal. He's gathered some English department staff to protest and hopes to involve other departments if a compromise can't be reached with WSU's Capital Planning and Development Office.

- "Tree removal surprises some faculty and staff; 80 trees being cut down as part of university's Library Road project," Moscow-Pullman Daily News, July 11, 2008

Oh Lord, if a bunch of middle-aged WSU English professors are going to protest trees being cut down on the WSU campus, please do not let it be a nude "sit-in" as we have seen down in Berkeley. Amen.



UPDATE: Perhaps former Whitman County Democratic State Committeeman Dave Gibney would care to apologize to Christians for commenting that the Rapture would get rid of all the "stuck up assholes." Perhaps Democratic House candidate Tyanna Kelley would like to apologize to 9th District farmers for attacking their "gaz-guzzling" trucks.

Grow up.

Pass The Class Hatred, Comrade

Speaking of anti-bourgeoisie manifestos, did anyone catch some of the Pullman League of Women Voter's ballyhooed "non-partisanship" on display in Lenna Harding's colmnn in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News today?

What kind of people can be happy with failure to address some of our country's most basic problems? It is this smug head-in-the-sand satisfaction with the status quo that the author of that message shares with our current leadership that has got us deeper into the morass that I have described. Things are just peachy with them. They have their flashy gas-guzzling SUVs or sports cars along with speedy boats and ATVs that tear up our pristine wilderness. They have enough money to buy corn-fed beef and the latest electronic gadget when it hits the market.

These same head-in-the-sand types often are the same folks who equate pledging allegiance, flag-waving, wearing flag lapel pins with patriotism, and who decry those who don't follow protocol or criticize our leaders as unpatriotic. Like the flowers that bloom in the spring - tra la - these have nothing to do with the case.

Aren't you glad that so-called "progressives" are not bigoted, don't question others patriotism, don't play to stereotypes, don't practice the politics of division, and don't encourage class warfare?

Let me skewer the myth of the wealthy, selfish conservative one more time. A recent study by Arthur C. Brooks, an economist at Syracuse University, found that on average, liberal families annually earn 6 percent more than conservative families. Furthermore, conservative households give 30 percent more money to charity than liberal households.

They Call Me MISTER Hussein

I am now demanding that I be called Thomas Hussein Forbes. My middle name does start with an "H," but to paraphrase one starstruck suburban worshipper of the Obamessiah quoted in the New York Times, “My name is such a vanilla, white-boy American name.”

Speaking of the New York Times article, don't these poor brainwashed slacker rejects from Superbad II realize that the poster of the Obamalord that they are holding up is a little too reminiscent of the controversial Cuban flag featuring Che Guevara hanging in Obama's Houston headquarters?



Maybe this is the one I'm thinking of:

"Change comes through education, not tax"

Brilliant Town Crier column in today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News from our very own Scotty Anderson. Very classy, Scotty, mentioning Don Pelton. I'd love to see some kind of memorial to him on Bishop Blvd. He did as much as anybody to see the growth there happen.

Stay tuned for my response to Mr. Civil Discourse's ludicrous attempt at recreating East Berlin on the Palouse.

Though I am thankful the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed the right to keep and bear arms, I am disappointed that it even had to go to the Supreme Court.

There have been many laws that have assaulted the right to keep and bear arms. Many of the laws are advocated by people exercising their First Amendment rights to trample on Second Amendment rights, when it is because of the Second Amendment rights we have been able to secure the First Amendment rights.

When someone thinks back to the time when America was getting organized and people were fighting and dying to make this country work, you can't help but realize some of the issues we face today pale in comparison.

One such issue is a Seattle-like mandatory 20-cent tax added to each and every plastic bag someone uses when shopping at a Pullman-area store. To think that people have enough time on their hands to petition the government to tax its citizens even more is embarrassing when compared to the founding of a nation.

On the other hand, there is a group of individuals who wear a pager day and night ready to drop what they're doing to help someone in need. Sometimes at 3 a.m. these volunteer firefighters are needed to clean up somebody else's tragedy.

Several times a year I see people standing outside of local grocery stores volunteering their time to collect food for the food bank. Others volunteer hundreds of man-hours to put together the Fourth of July celebration at Sunnyside Park.

In their own way all these people are giving up something of their own in order to make our community a better place. In all cases what they give up is time. In some cases these volunteers also give up their own money to help pay for materials or gas to get around. They give up a good night's sleep, and when asked to do it again, they do.

In their own way each of the volunteers is helping to make our community safer, more comfortable, and more fun. Our community is a better place because of these people.

Those petitioning the Pullman City Council to make grocers charge 20 cents per plastic bag used at the store probably think they're helping to make our community a better place.

A recent article in the Daily News mentioned someone seeing 22 plastic bags on College Hill, but there was no mention of an effort to clean them up.

It was suggested that residents start to carry reusable bags and use those instead of plastic bags. No one, however, has volunteered to hand out these shopping bags.

It is argued that we shouldn't view the proposal as elitist, instead we are showing respect and care for our community. But no one is standing in front of the stores to educate people.

It is suggested that we can use the new tax to donate the money to the local food bank or help pay for community improvements.

I would like to see this group of people go to the community and try to change their habits through education. Educating people is better than forcing the government to tax its citizens.

Some people see a need and they volunteer their time, their sleep, and their money to the cause. Others see a need and they want to use the strong arm of government regulation to further the cause.

Why stop at charging for plastic bags? Maybe there should be a tax on glass bottles, aluminum cans, and even "keg" cups. That tax could be used to clean up the broken glass, empty aluminum cans, and keg cups that litter some of the streets in Pullman. This may seem far-fetched, but I would wager targeting plastic bottles is the next item on the list.

Is this group of citizens using Seattle as inspiration? If so, the city of Seattle is no longer buying plastic water bottles. How long until that is proposed in Pullman?

Final thoughts: Don Pelton - the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development is done holding Pullman hostage and Wal-Mart's coming. I wish you were here to see it.

T-85 goes the countdown.

"Family requests rezone in east Moscow; Thompsons were denied request in 2006; hope to have 38 acres rezoned for motor business"

Whitman County really doesn't need an economic development advocate thanks to Mark Solomon and his fellow Wal-Mart Derangement Syndrome sufferers who see the "Bentonville Bully" behind every bush. I'm sure the No Super WalMart group feels that Wal-Mart is back in play in Moscow after last November's election. They could be right....

From Tuesday's Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

The Thompson Family LP will ask the Moscow Planning and Zoning Commission on Wednesday to rezone a large chunk of its property along Mountain View Road from agriculture/forestry to motor business.

Thompson Family attorney Susan Wilson said no businesses "are knocking at the door" to locate on the 38-acre piece of land between the Troy Highway and Palouse River Drive. The family plans to continue farming the land until a suitable development opportunity comes up.

The Thompson Family attempted to have a larger parcel encompassing the land rezoned in 2006. The controversial request stemmed from Wal-Mart's plans to build a super center on the 77-acre parcel and met resistance from the Moscow No Super Wal-Mart group.

The City Council at the time decided to reject the rezone. Then-City Councilmen Bob Stout, Aaron Ament and John Dickinson said the parcel was too large.

Wilson said the smaller size of this request is in response to the council's concerns.

Councilmen John Weber and Bill Lambert, who still are on the council, voted in favor of the 2006 rezone request.

No Super Wal-Mart member Mark Solomon said community members are not pleased with the new rezone request.

"I know there are people who are as concerned now as before as to whether or not that's an appropriate site for motor business," he said.

He said any motor business development on that side of town will affect traffic flows and downtown Moscow businesses, and also could block the expansion of adjacent Alturas Research and Technology Park.

The Thompson Family wrote in its new application for rezone that the motor business designation would fit with the city's comprehensive plan. The plan designates the area for "extensive commercial" uses.

The application also states that the rezone would meet the plan's goal of economic development. Wilson said the family wants to open up a motor business area to compete with the proposed 714,000-square-foot Hawkins Companies development, just across the state line in Whitman County.

She said Moscow needs an area to attract large businesses from within and entice businesses to come to Moscow "rather than just having Hawkins take the commercial development away from the state of Idaho and Moscow."

The Thompson Family's application packet includes the minutes of a meeting with the property's neighbors. Sue and Ken Chamberlin and Karen and David Douglas were "very supportive" of the rezone, according to the minutes.

The neighbors asked whether any businesses were lined up to use the property and said they would rather see commercial development than multi-family housing. The Chamberlins and Douglases did not return calls seeking further comment.

Calm Down Ted, Soylent Green Is Movie, Not People

Ted Turner was on Charlie Rose's PBS show the other night discussing not taking drastic action to correct global warming:

Not doing it will be catastrophic. We'll be eight degrees hotter in ten, not ten but 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow. Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals.

Apparently Turner's been watching too many old sci-fi movies on Turner Classic Movies. Is it any wonder people can't take all the global warming hysteria seriously? Celebrity nitwits like Turner couldn't do more damage to the environmental movement if they were paid saboteurs for the oil industry.

Livin' in the AmeriKKKa

The WSU College Republicans sent the following e-mail to the faculty members of the WSU Comparative Ethnic Studies department:

CES Department,

I would like to cordially invite you and your students to an eye-opening guest speaker, Dinesh D'Souza. A former Reagan Policy Analyst, now one of America's best selling authors, Dinesh D'Souza is coming to Pullman to discuss the state of American race politics and other issues surrounding the modern era. This eye-opening speaker will be hosted on Tuesday, March 25, at 7:30pm in CUE 203. This is going to be a great learning opportunity for all of those in attendance. It may be conducive to offer extra-credit to your students to entice them away from their busy schedules to experience this prominent speaker. I hope to see you there!

Featured sponsors: The Foley Institute, Young America's Foundation, ASWSU, RHA and the WSU College Republicans

Kelvin Monroe, a CES instructor, responded as follows:

This is great learning opportunity indeed for our students to witness neo-conservative race politics (masquerading as Liberal universalism) in our modern era. D'Souza and his contemporaries--W. J. Wilson, F. Fukuyama, S. P. Huntington--are a great example--and indeed a good learning moment--of a revitalized enlightenment project (liberal at its absolutely best) in the Amerikkka. Lack of response to Katrina is only one many great examples of this country's Race politics. Reagan, I think of de-industrialization, New jack drug policies, trickle down economics, the list goes on....

I would suggest that the college republicans go learn some history. We got it over here in CES...

Our students should be more concern with the persistence of a War fought on ghostly premises. Do the research. Stop watching Fox, drink water and not Kool-aid.

Take care and see you there.
Peace
K.J.M.

Another CES instructor, Sarah Hengtes, forwarded the CRs e-mail and Monroe's response to her students with this note:

Dear Class,

Sometimes students take this class and want to hear "the other side." While this class presents a variety of opinions as well as "the other side" to much of what we learn in elementary and high school, there is also another "side" that we don't spend time on in class. This other side is the Neo-Conservative view of race and racism. While we don't discuss these views much, we have been discussing some of the effects of such views in class. (For instance, what happened in Tulia or Jena.)

This being said, there is a unique opportunity for you all to hear this "other side" and to get some extra credit in the process. In fact, you all have been invited by the College Republicans to attend a talk by Dinesh D'Souza entitled, "Racism is Not the Problem." March 25, CUE 203 7:30 pm. I highly reccommend this event and I would like to hear your thouhts about, and critical analysis of, D'Souza's talk.

Below is the e-mail invite from the president of the College Republicans as well as a response from a CES faculty member. I hope you will attend, ask questions, and formulate your own ideas.

Sarah

I don't know what's worse. Monroe's use of "Amerikka" or Hengtes' apparent acceptance of the term.

Your higher-education tax dollars at work....

Quote of the Day

Angela Congdon thinks the city of Pullman could have done better when planning Bishop Boulevard.

The 21-year-old Washington State University student said the boulevard's box stores (?) and strip malls add no quality to the Pullman community and detract from the well-planned, pedestrian-friendly downtown area.

"There's no cohesion," she said of recent construction along the boulevard. "Everything is random."

[...]

Congdon, who came to Pullman from the north Seattle area, said she likely wouldn't have initiated the protest without Rahmani's leadership. But she wanted to leave her mark on Pullman, since she soon will leave town to finish her degree at WSU-Spokane.

-"Students protest city's 'architorture'," Moscow-Pullman Daily News, March 28, 2008

Bye Angela. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Don't forget to e-mail Professor Ayad Rahmani at arahmani@wsu.edu and WSU President Elson Floyd at floyde@wsu.edu and let them how you feel about the taxpayer-funded insulting of Pullman during "Cougar Pride Days."

Quote of the Day

He simplified a really complex idea. It was frustrating because it’s not as easy or as simple as he made it out to be.

- WSU Progressive Student Union member Chelsea Tremblay, "Best-selling author talks about race", The Daily Evergreen, March 27, 2008

Apparently, however, the issues of globalization, international trade, and manufacturing in developing countries are pretty cut-and-dry for Ms. Tremblay.

We're On a Mission From God

This has certainly been the week for leftist hilarity, from Lois Blackburn's chum bucket to Janet Richards' four and twenty blackbirds.

Now it seems one of the local hippies has been communing with the Almighty. Was it a warning to turn away from a a life of sin and disbelief? No, it seems the Lord doesn't like shopping malls.

From the Vision 2020 message board:

If God is an omnipotent, all knowing and all good being, God does not have a problem. Only limited beings that lack the capability to comprehend such infinite capacities have a "problem." Having said that, the problem of evil, or suffering, in a universe created by "God," as it has been parsed in the history of theology and philosophy, is a subject that it is difficult to say anything new about.

There are far more opportunities to say something new about environmental sustainability, alternative energy, the problem of CO2/fossil fuel induced climate change, and the connections to these problems with the USA's out of control consumer culture, now to hit the Palouse with an inspiration to attain even higher levels of wanton consumption, with the Hawkins Mall. If someone has something new to say about the problem of suffering, or the problem of evil, given certain assumptions about a creator "God," theologically speaking, please, enlighten us.

Otherwise, perhaps we should focus on the critical problems of how humanity is to make peace with Nature, before we slide off the cliff of species extinction, ecosystem collapse, and resource depletion, as the human population keeps expanding, as we worship at the alter of materialistic consumption as the primary goal of the human race, as anthropogenic climate change portends to remake our planet into a world unrecognizable to the current generation.

The Hawkins Mall is a local focal point for these critical problems the human race is facing. And to deny this is to deny the reality of the impacts materialistic consumerism is having on the very fabric of life on our planet.

Hey, what do I know? I just read the latest science on environmental consequences of human activity and industry, and connect the dots to what we are doing here to the impacts globally. We are all a "wholly owned subsidiary" of the Earth as a living system.

I'll be long gone when we have reaped what we sow... In the meantime, yes, I am a beneficiary of the capitalist consumer culture, so to some extent, I am criticizing the hand that feeds me...

Ted Moffett

"The Hawkins Mall is a local focal point for these critical problems the human race is facing?" BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!