Soon-to-be-Dr. Al Gore is now encouraging citizens "to engage in peaceful protests to block major new carbon sources" stating that he "‘can't understand why there aren't rings of young people blocking bulldozers, and preventing them from constructing coal-fired power plants.'''
I kid you not.
Yet, as amazing as it might seem, these weren't the most absurd statements penned by the New York Times' Nicholas D. Kristof yesterday in a column available only to TimesSelect subscribers.
Some of the real inanities included (emphasis added throughout):
If we learned that Al Qaeda was secretly developing a new terrorist technique that could disrupt water supplies around the globe, force tens of millions from their homes and potentially endanger our entire planet, we would be aroused into a frenzy and deploy every possible asset to neutralize the threat.
Yet that is precisely the threat that we're creating ourselves, with our greenhouse gases. While there is still much uncertainty about the severity of the consequences, a series of new studies indicate that we're cooking our favorite planet more quickly than experts had expected.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, anthropogenic global warming now represents a bigger threat to the planet than terrorism. That's how far liberal media members are willing to go to elicit public hysteria on this issue.
How disgraceful.
Of course, as Kristof cited recent alarmist reports about global warming, he conveniently ignored last week's changes to the historical climate record by NASA which now demonstrate that the warmest year in recorded American history was 1934, or am I splitting hairs?
Regardless, no truly alarmist piece of detritus would be complete without hearing from the Global Warmingist in Chief himself:
I ran into Al Gore at a climate/energy conference this month, and he vibrates with passion about this issue -- recognizing that we should confront mortal threats even when they don't emanate from Al Qaeda.
''We are now treating the Earth's atmosphere as an open sewer,'' he said, and (perhaps because my teenage son was beside me) he encouraged young people to engage in peaceful protests to block major new carbon sources.
''I can't understand why there aren't rings of young people blocking bulldozers,'' Mr. Gore said, ''and preventing them from constructing coal-fired power plants.''
So, folks like Gore and his ilk successfully forced American electricity companies to totally abandon nuclear power generation in the '70s thereby moving towards coal. Now, these same folks want to prohibit the use of coal.
Isn't it clear that they just don't like energy, and that whatever we power our houses with, it's bad?
—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.
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Comments Policy
I'll consider protesting
August 17, 2007 - 13:18 ET by Mean Gene Dr. LoveI'll consider protesting the construction of coal-fired power plants when Al Gore (and the rest of the Greenie Weenies) stop protesting the construction of nuclear power plants.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! There's still plenty of meat on that bone. Now you take this home, throw it in a pot, add some broth, a potato, baby you've got a stew goin'!" -- Carl Weathers
Good Point
August 17, 2007 - 13:22 ET by allanfGood point.
So according to Dr. Gore, no coal fired power plants and no nuclear power plant. That just leaves us with wind mills to chase.
Don Quixote Gore
Chasing windmills is
August 17, 2007 - 14:35 ET by Mean Gene Dr. LoveChasing windmills is exactly what they'd be doing.
One of the largest wind farms in the world is in Higueruela, Spain (fittingly in La Mancha, BTW) with 244 turbines that generate 161.04 Megawatts (MW) of electricity. I tried to find the acreage of this farm but couldn't find it. However, the average output per turbine in this farm is .66 MW/turbine.
An average sized (and older) nuclear reactor in Washington state is the Columbia Generating Station, it produces 1250 MW on a 1089 acre site...that's 1.1478 MW/acre.
I read here where 27 1.5MW windmills were planned for a 1400 acre site...that's 0.028MW/acre. Somewhere between 45-90 acres is needed per wind turbine. This article has some great info.
Wind power is good on a small scale, like for an individual home or small community...it does not have economy of scale. It is not a good use of land, it has expensive maintenance, and if there's no wind, there's no power.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! There's still plenty of meat on that bone. Now you take this home, throw it in a pot, add some broth, a potato, baby you've got a stew goin'!" -- Carl Weathers
It's kind of funny seeing
August 17, 2007 - 16:53 ET by ahusserIt's kind of funny seeing this blog. Here I am watching "Modern Marvels" (History Channel) about Engineering Disasters #19. One of the segments concerns a Nuclear Power plant that came close to a meltdown in 1958. They then show, of course, 3 mile Island. They have a spokesman give some commentary. I was suspicious as the commentary by this guy-labeled as "Dan Hirsch, Nuclear Policy Analyst-The Committee to Bridge the Gap" were subtle, but decidedly anti-government, anti-nuke. To paraphrase 2 statements he stated that back then the NRC was a bunch of "cowboys" and that the Government "claims" that the containment structure at 3 mile Island was not damaged during the reactor problem in 1979. I googled "Committee to Bridge the Gap" and voila' a lefty organization shows up which is anti-nuke. Check out the links, a very extensive links page to just about every lefty enviro nut organization out there. Just shows you how subtle the bias can be at times and whomever on the Modern Marvels production crew didn't just pick this guy out of the yellow pages.
Timed
August 17, 2007 - 17:20 ET by allanfThe Three Mile Island "disaster" fit in nicely with the publicity for the China Syndrome. It might not have gotten such attention if not for the movie.
The most disturbing thing
August 17, 2007 - 17:39 ET by ahusserThe most disturbing thing about the segment is that it was Modern Marvels, no bias right? Engineering? Sheesh! and here is this mystery spokesman with the requisite lefty/lib creds giving his lefty 2 cents. I have started googling these "spokespersons" to see their true colors. The bias runs very deep.
Here's more on
August 17, 2007 - 17:23 ET by Mean Gene Dr. LoveHere's more on windmills:
"Despite their being cited as the shining example of what can be accomplished with wind power, the Danish government has cancelled plans for three more offshore wind farms planned for 2008 and has scheduled the withdrawal of subsidies from existing sites. Spain began withdrawing subsidies in 2002. Germany reduced tax breaks to wind power in 2004. Switzerland is cutting subsidies as too expensive for the lack of any significant benefit. The Netherlands decommissioned 90 turbines in 2004. Many Japanese utilities now severely limit the amount of wind generated power they buy because of the instability they cause. In 2003, Ireland halted all new wind power connections to the grid. In 2006, the Spanish government ended, by emergency decree, its subsidies and price supports for big wind. In 2004, Australia reduced the level of renewable energy that utilities are required to buy. On Aug. 31, 2004, Bloomberg News reported that "the unstable flow of wind power in their networks" has forced German utilities to buy more expensive energy, requiring them to raise prices to the consumer. In the U.K., the Telegraph has reported that rather than providing cheaper energy, wind power costs the electric companies £50 per megawatt-hour, compared to £15 for conventional power." From Do commercial ‘wind farms’ work? by Dr. Thomas D. Arkle Jr http://www.windaction.org/opinions/9816
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! There's still plenty of meat on that bone. Now you take this home, throw it in a pot, add some broth, a potato, baby you've got a stew goin'!" -- Carl Weathers
He's heavily invested in
August 17, 2007 - 20:10 ET by pbanks7He's heavily invested in Occidental Petroleum and "carbon credits," so he'll be happy to sell carbon credits to petroleum-fired plants, I'm sure.
Ignorance is bliss. It's easier to repeat a mindless slogan than to do some actual research.
Meet Saint Pancake
August 17, 2007 - 13:21 ET by HelenSRecent experience shows us what happens to young people who try to block bulldozers!
Meet Rachel Corrie, aka "Saint Pancake"
(I did not make that up. Google it and you'll see it's been used before. I'm just sayin')
"Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war" - Shakespeare
Anyone that doesn't take
August 17, 2007 - 13:26 ET by Mean Gene Dr. LoveAnyone that doesn't take Israel seriously is not firing on all cylinders.
Israel doesn't play games with anyone.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! There's still plenty of meat on that bone. Now you take this home, throw it in a pot, add some broth, a potato, baby you've got a stew goin'!" -- Carl Weathers
When you play the part of a
August 17, 2007 - 16:47 ET by bassndudeWhen you play the part of a "human shield", you gotta expect to stop the arrows and swords. Question is, how do human shields expect to stop a bomb?
Ans: Wear an orange jacket and wave your hands and yell at the bomb to stop.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
I think being a human
August 17, 2007 - 17:01 ET by Mean Gene Dr. LoveI think being a human shield is the manifestation of a dangerously out-of-control ego and extreme sense of self-importance.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! There's still plenty of meat on that bone. Now you take this home, throw it in a pot, add some broth, a potato, baby you've got a stew goin'!" -- Carl Weathers
Well that all but poves it.
August 17, 2007 - 13:24 ET by c5thenAl Gore is almost definitely heavily invested in oil companys and oil futures. If coal fired electric plants are stopped, then only oil benefits.
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic
What a joke
August 17, 2007 - 13:29 ET by general companyOf course I am sure he only means the plants that supply everyone else with power? Has he ever suggested what means we should be getting power from? This man is a Quack, people really need to start asking this fool a few serious questions.
Given that Al "the
August 17, 2007 - 13:39 ET by jdhawkGiven that Al "the Occidental Trust Fund Baby" Bore has been proven to use more energy for just one of his homes in a single month than ten Americans use in a single year, wouldn't it be a hoot if that young man he was talking to got a bunch of his buddies together and engaged in peaceful protests to block AlBore's home - a major carbon source!
And, I thought he just made a poor Vice-President. If he keeps this up, he will even surpass Jimmy "I never met a communist dictator I didn't like" Carter in stupidity after leaving public office.
Thank you for the comment
August 17, 2007 - 13:39 ET by buddycThank you for the comment "So, folks like Gore and his ilk successfully forced American electricity companies to totally abandon nuclear power generation in the '70s thereby moving towards coal. " We should be reminded of that every single day. While France, Germany, Spain and most of Europe built small safe nulcear plants our liberal media elites totally shut down our nuclear construction. We are 30 years too late. Had we constructed small safe nuclear plants for about 30% our our needs we would have solved two major problems;
1. paying nutball oil barons espeically in the crazy middle east
2. we would have significantly reduce carbon emissions.
But Noel you missed the 3rd strike. You can thank the liberals for stopping all new dam construction that generates hydroelectic power. It has actually reached the point were dams are being REMOVED.
Where the heck do they propose we get energy from. You cannot eliminate nuclear, hydro, domestic production and replace it with solar and windmills. It is NUTS.
Young people should understand what the liberals have done and when they start seeing the gasoline bills go higher, the power bills climb through the roof and our continued dependence on the unstable middle east maybe they will be imune to the MSM attempt to brainwash them into believing it was the fault of evil "big business" or those nasty republicans.
Great Comments, BC!!
August 17, 2007 - 13:42 ET by Cape ConservativeI believe our young people are smarter than falling for his message!
I don't. Where I work, I'm
August 17, 2007 - 20:15 ET by pbanks7I don't. Where I work, I'm an eeeeevvviillllll Republican. I tell them I'm not, I just vote against socialists. I don't think they get it.
Ignorance is bliss. It's easier to repeat a mindless slogan than to do some actual research.
The liberals
August 17, 2007 - 14:12 ET by smitty031don't care where the electrical power is going to come from...they just want POWER POWER. The kind that squishes democracy and free thought.
Anti-Progress
August 17, 2007 - 14:42 ET by mattmThey don't want nukes, coal, oil or, even solar (because it requires such a high level of industrialization to produce solar panels and batteries etc...) They are against human progress - so they protest anything, regardless of how little sense it (their protest) makes.
They want us all living like this...while they live like this, and this.
Buddy
August 17, 2007 - 14:27 ET by Noel SheppardBuddy,
Thank you for pointing this out concerning hydro. Do you have any idea the amount of electricity that is being squandered in this country due to environmentalists preventing the damming of rivers?
A friend of mine works for a major electric company. He told me a few years ago that California (where I live) could generate all of its electricity through hydro and have capacity to sell to other states. Consider the vast rivers throughout this state, and you can imagine the possibilities.
Alas, you can't get a dam passed here. No chance. Some environmental group will block it for some reason. Forget the inexpensive nature of the electricity, and the lack of pollutants. Nooooo. Some species of salmon or beaver might have to relocate.
It's absurd. And, there are many other states that could be completely taken off the power grid if we were allowed to fully exploit hydro. But NOOOOOO. ns
I am an avid fly fisherman
August 17, 2007 - 16:40 ET by buddycI am an avid fly fisherman and would love to see the dams go or none built but what is left for us to produce energy??? I realize I have to give up something. They want to blow up Glen Canyon dam because some "humpback chub" does do well with the cooler dam water. They are even netting the trout there, killing them and using them for fertlizer to protect a couple thousand chub. THink of losing Law Powell. It will probably happen in your lifetime!!!!!!!!!! The liberals refuse to give up anything and then they get away with getting the public to believe our energy problems are the fault of republicans. Jane Fonda and Mike Douglas and people like them should be asked today how they feel about putting us 30 years behind the rest of the world in nuclear production and making us totally dependent upon one of the most crazy group of people in world history. It is not big oil. Big oil didn't kill the "perpetual motion machine" or the "clean car". Liberals destroyed our ability to have low cost energy and I fear it is now too late to fix it. It is beyond frustrating. 35 years ago Jerry Brown made SCE spend HUGE amounts of money on walnut husks, solar and wind and "bio mass" and thermal and we residents of California are still paying for those WASTED capital expenditures. The democrats in congress are now doing today what failed then. How do they get away with imposing these failed solutions on us.
buddy, isint the hump back
August 17, 2007 - 16:49 ET by bassndudebuddy, isint the hump back chub a member of the shad family? You know, some of the bait you buy to put on your grandkids hook?
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
buddy, I recall seeing
August 17, 2007 - 18:01 ET by Blondebuddy,
I recall seeing fish "stairs" on Vancouver Island. They were used by biologists to count the various species of Salmon running up that particular river, and the location of the stairs was at a waterfall that was so high most of the fish that tried that way didn't make it. Almost all of the fish ended up taking the stairs. (How odd does that sound?)
So that's a solution the enviorwacs could happily embrace, and you'd have your power and eat your salmon too.
Exactly
August 17, 2007 - 20:19 ET by pbanks7But you can't have the damn dam anyway.
Save the whales, damn the humans.
Save the whales, damn the humans.
August 17, 2007 - 20:34 ET by BlondeFunny,
I was trying to have my cake and eat it too.
These libs are just so overboard on anything that makes sense.....can you (or anyone else here) tell me how they got so stupid? It just really doesn't compute for me. At all.
Just comes naturally for
August 17, 2007 - 20:44 ET by bigtimerJust comes naturally for them...they do not even need to practice.
Just talking points.
They have a fish ladder at
August 17, 2007 - 20:46 ET by Mean Gene Dr. LoveThey have a fish ladder at the Ballard locks in Seattle. They built the fish ladder to allow the salmon and steelhead to continue on their regular runs, but it created a new problem. The sea lions and harbor seals know the fish ladder is prime fishing ground (like shooting fish in a barrel). The mammals decimated the runs because the sea lions and harbor seals are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. If they hand't put in the fish ladder, the fish run may have migrated to a new location and thrived, but now it's probably too late to know.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! There's still plenty of meat on that bone. Now you take this home, throw it in a pot, add some broth, a potato, baby you've got a stew goin'!" -- Carl Weathers
</
Wow, that's a fascinating
August 18, 2007 - 10:02 ET by BlondeWow, that's a fascinating article.
Thanks for putting that up here.
I was listening to NPR and
August 17, 2007 - 14:59 ET by Dan The Man 2I was listening to NPR and they were talking about a dam in Africa near teh source of the Nile. The program went on to say how it would destroy the rapids and the industry builtt up to serve the tourists using the rapids and how it would destroy native habitat and wildlife.
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.
All that time & energy
August 17, 2007 - 13:40 ET by Cape Conservativehe is wasting...wouldn't it be better for the earth's temperature if he devoted as much to promoting nuclear power???
But, I forgot, that would be productive...and if there is one thing a liberal does not want to do is promote something that could have positive results. Instead it is just NEGATIVE NEGATIVE NEGATIVE
Wonder how he intends to provide power to his mansion????
2,500 coal plants planned
August 17, 2007 - 13:44 ET by upcountrywater"to engage in peaceful protests to block major new carbon sources"
Most coal power plants are being built in China.
Go there hurry.
Entitlement over infrastructure every SINGLE time.
If we learned that Al
August 17, 2007 - 14:08 ET by Mr. KafirHuh? That is EXACTLY the threat from islamic jihadists and iran. Now. This very moment. And what is the left saying? "There is no threat...there is no war on terror...its a fraud...its the lies made up by the Bush regime...blah, blah, blah." What is the left doing? Appease and surrender.
So no, the American left would not be aroused into a frenzy. They don't do it when the threat is real, what makes Kristof think they'd do it when the threat is a fallacy.
Hello???? Is this mic on????
The WOT is a bumper
August 17, 2007 - 20:24 ET by pbanks7The WOT is a bumper sticker.
Ignorance is bliss. It's easier to repeat a mindless slogan than to do some actual research.
WOW! How much energy and
August 17, 2007 - 14:19 ET by drillanwrWOW! How much energy and time it must be taking for Al Gore to fabricate any degree of relevance in the political world ...
Protesting Al Gore's open pit Zinc Mine
August 17, 2007 - 14:21 ET by Gary HallOn Protesting Al Gore's open pit Zinc Mine:
''I can't understand why there aren't rings of young people surrounding Al Gore's Tennessee property demanding the earthly reclaiming of the ugly polluting eye sore of what was just recently the largest open pit zinc mine in the US of A."
Environmentalist Gore allowed zinc mine
Checking in from out of town, I yam. (;~>
I remember an indian tribe
August 17, 2007 - 14:33 ET by danboI remember an indian tribe protested the drilling for oil on their land. They protested at the campaign headquarters of the politician who's porogram caused it and whose family made a lotof money off of it. What did the politician do? Well Al Gore had them arrested.
Elk Hills. Occidental! Al Gore. The other oil man.
"There is a clear attempt to establish truth not by scientific methods but by perpetual repetition."
- Richard S. Lindzen, Ph.D. Professor of Meteorology, MIT
Maybe when Al lays down in
August 17, 2007 - 14:31 ET by Hero SquadMaybe when Al lays down in front of one, others will follow.
Then again, even they may be too smart to partake in such a foolish action.
*****
"Some people have a way with words. Other people, er, I don't know. Not have way, I guess." - Steve Martin
Al would make a rather
August 17, 2007 - 14:35 ET by Mean Gene Dr. LoveAl would make a rather large speed bump these days.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! There's still plenty of meat on that bone. Now you take this home, throw it in a pot, add some broth, a potato, baby you've got a stew goin'!" -- Carl Weathers
Mean Gene, In my
August 18, 2007 - 09:49 ET by BlondeMean Gene,
In my neighborhood there are signs which announce the presence of the dreaded "Speed Hump".
Which is one of the funniest things I've seen in a while.
Most likely Mr. Gore's
August 17, 2007 - 15:13 ET by MidAmericaMost likely Mr. Gore's mansion gets its electricity from a coal fired plant. Why doen't he insist that it be shut down?
He's got the money, why hasn't he invested in green technology and gone off the grid completely?
Isn't he in the TVA? That
August 17, 2007 - 20:27 ET by pbanks7Isn't he in the TVA? If he is, that means WE are subsidizing his electricity already.
Ignorance is bliss. It's easier to repeat a mindless slogan than to do some actual research.
The TVA no longer
August 17, 2007 - 21:30 ET by MidAmericaThe TVA no longer receives government subsidies.
What I can't understand is
August 17, 2007 - 16:01 ET by ckc1227What I can't understand is why Mr. Gore doesn't lead by example by cutting his carbon footprint to zero.
He won't do that until he's
August 17, 2007 - 20:28 ET by pbanks7He won't do that until he's done decomposing. =-)
Ignorance is bliss. It's easier to repeat a mindless slogan than to do some actual research.
pbanks... LMAO... ...and
August 17, 2007 - 20:32 ET by bigtimerpbanks...
LMAO...
...and that may take awhile to-boot.....
" He won't do that until
August 17, 2007 - 23:28 ET by ckc1227"
He won't do that until he's done decomposing. =-) "
Yeah, I know that, but according to Al's movie, we can all cut our carbon footprint to zero. And this is the guy who everyone turns to as THE authority on the science of global warming.
Noel, is that Arthur Fonzerelli
August 17, 2007 - 16:31 ET by Carl KolchakNoel, is that Al Gore, or Arthur Fonzerelli in that picture? Maybe Gore could hold a rally at Al's Diner and ban the jukebox, and ban motorcycles, so they can't jump over Al's Diner. Also, no motor boats either for water skiers to jump over sharks either.
"Sit on it bucko"
Carl
August 17, 2007 - 16:32 ET by Noel SheppardCarl,
Correctamundo! :-) ns
I wonder if Gore will ban
August 17, 2007 - 16:34 ET by Carl KolchakI wonder if Gore will ban Pinky Tuscadero's motorcycle too from Al's Diner.
"Sit on it bucko"
Al, forgive me
August 17, 2007 - 17:19 ET by DontFeedTheTrollsI don't understand why there aren't rings of young people blocking Gore's private jet, preventing it from wasting precious jet fuel.
D
Keep the ILLEGALS out, join NumbersUSA to send free faxes to your reps.
This ... is London
August 19, 2007 - 14:16 ET by dahliatraversActually, DontFeed, they're edging that way.
Al Gore, heed your acolytes. Don't make them make it personal.
British police with truncheons skirmished with groups of climate change protesters on Sunday near the headquarters of the operator of Heathrow airport.
The scuffles in a field close to airport operator BAA's building came after largely peaceful marches from a camp where campaigners, who want to draw attention to the impact of aviation on global warming, have been massing all week.
About 50 marchers skirted police and made it to the BAA car park by slipping through residential gardens but they were corralled into a designated area. Police chased another group into fields, hitting some with truncheons, before ringing them.
http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=allBreakingNews&storyID=2007-08-19T151132Z_01_L19523503_RTRIDST_0_CLIMATE-BRITAIN-HEATHROW-UPDATE-2-PICTURE.XML
I am to the point that I
August 17, 2007 - 17:27 ET by bigtimerI am to the point that I feel Algore, Ubermann and Matthews need to go on the buddy plan.... join hands, pool their money and all commit themselves to a nut-house for immediate help.
Run do not walk.
Do everyone a favor...especially your families....you are laughingstock's.
"...rings of young people
August 17, 2007 - 18:03 ET by Rackie"...rings of young people blocking bulldozers..."
Ah, right. The old Rachel Corey gambit. Give that big bad CAT a body block. That'll show'em who's in charge.
Let me hold your coats.
When I first saw the
August 17, 2007 - 17:54 ET by ahusserWhen I first saw the picture I thought Gore and friends were giving the audience the finger.
}}---> 2 Thumbs up Gore
August 18, 2007 - 08:00 ET by Cool Arrow1 2 3 4 I declare thumbgore.
~LYDSEXICS UNTIE!~
I suppose we will soon find
August 18, 2007 - 07:54 ET by annoyedmanI suppose we will soon find out that windmills off of Nantucket are bad because they interrupt the migratory patterns of a rare bird and a species of guppy... ...and that biofuels are bad because the vastly increased acreage in corn adds to the world's CO2... ...and that solar energy is bad because you have to either cut down a lot of trees to make room for all those solar panels, or you have to put them out in the desert, which creates too much artificial shade, upsetting the delicate desert ecosystem.
These folks are nothing more than friggin' luddites, whose vision means that, if you don't have a 20,000 square foot house with lots of room for solar panels on the roof, you're SOL. Poor folks with small roofs don't get to have electricity. Liberalism will soon lead to serfdom.
Feckin' eejits.
The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left. ~~ Ecclesiastes 10:1-2
I believe the true aim of
August 18, 2007 - 09:18 ET by ahusserI believe the true aim of these wackjobs. (That is if you add up all the basically insane stuff they want done.) Is to depopulate the earth by about 5 1/2 billion or more and turn back the clock about 4 or 5 thousand years so we all can be hunter gatherers living in tune with nature and singing kumbayah hunting with spears and bow and arrows (no firearms of course). That would be the only logical consequence of all their nutjob ideas.