Dare Answered: Final Chapter
on October 1st, 2012 at 7:13 am
Here is our final installment of answering Gene Marrano’s dare to post his response to my questions on ICLEI. I got another email Sunday from Gene stating that he didn’t write this answer. I will remind the reader that of his original quote.
Your questions allowed us to narrow down our response and develop our own talking points. Many thanks again. (PS: I dare you to post this on your blog/Tea Party Facebook page)
“Us” would imply someone helped, but Gene had at least a part in answering the questions. He also gave me this feedback on my articles.
And just because you blather on and on in response doesn’t mean you know what you are talking about.
Well if Gene would like to have whoever is feeding him information find the factual issues with anything I have written, please let me know.
With that being said, here is the rest of the Gene Marrano dare. My original questions are italicized. His are are regular font. My comments are in red.
Can they impact the traffic on I-81, since that was according to Sean McGinnis, the main cause of carbon emissions in the county? 7. Of the approximately 1.5 billion vehicle miles traveled in Roanoke County in 2010 which is the most recent complete data we have, from VDOT, I am not sure, but I doubt traffic on I81 is the main cause of carbon emissions in the County since that figure comprises all vehicular travel on primary and secondary roads and I81 is only a portion of all those miles. Additionally, GHG emissions from all transportation accounts for 36% of the total while residential is close behind at 33%, commercial at 20% and industrial 9% so you see there is a lot of potential to reduce emissions in all 4 sectors despite the perceived lack of influence over traffic on I81. Also, a portion of the traffic on I81 is local which theoretically could be influenced.
This question was based on the defense of ICLEI published by the county, which stated that “The valley’s environmental efforts deflected direct costs to businesses by reducing the ozone in the air enough to avoid being designated a non-attainment area by the EPA. As I mentioned in my analysis, the Roanoke Valley has entered into a Local Government Ozone Early Action Compact with the DEQ and EPA in March of 2004, long before ICLEI membership. According to ICLEI’s ‘expert’, Sean McGinnis, “An increase in traffic on I-81 is the main contributor for CO2 emissions for the Roanoke Valley. The annual miles traveled (along I-81) is up almost 11 percent.” Again, it seems a couple of audits and some fliers reduced carbon emissions enough to keep us off the Feds bad list. There is no provable way they can take credit for this…
The opportunities for reducing carbon emissions are endless, which is why turning harmless carbon emissions into the Great Satan is the greatest left wing boondoggle of all. There is always an evil to address. And if you have an affinity for government regulation like Gene and his merry crew, you always will have something to regulate. There will never be an end to the things the left can regulate if they continue to brainwash our society with the hogwash.
While the long term goals of A21 are nefarious, I have no doubt the short term goals of RCCLEAR are nothing if not well intentioned. But the stated long term goal of every group you are affiliated with is the implementation of A21. Does RCCLEAR not want Local Agenda 21 implemented?
8. Neither RCCLEAR nor Roanoke County has any involvement with Agenda 21. The County only signed on to Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) as stated in the Board Resolution 081407-3, authorizing membership in ICLEI. RCCLEAR was created by Board action to facilitate creation of a climate action plan that would help reduce emissions as well as support conducting a GHG emissions inventory, establishing a reduction target and implementing and monitoring the action plan. Sigh. Well I have already covered this in detail numerous times including in this article. The left scoffs, I provide iron clad irrefutable evidence that there is a connection between ICLEI and the U.N. and they scoff more. But no one ever actually refutes the claim because YOU CAN’T. If you have an ICLEI membership you are involved with a U.N. partner. It’s that simple.
Also notice I didn’t say RCCLEAR was following Agenda 21. But whether they support the implementation of Agenda 21. Agenda 21 seeks to reduce carbon emissions through education and government regulation. They don’t support that?
Gene you need to get a better ghost writer. Gene ends with a testimonial…
** Regarding the free audits offered as part of the RC Clear program, see the following testimonial from a Roanoke County resident: My home electric bill had become a tremendous burden on my budget. Being retired and on a fixed income, the $400+ monthly bills were increasingly harder to pay. I really didn’t think there was an option available to me that I could afford to ease this burden. I didn’t even know home energy audits existed until I saw the news program that talked about the free audits offered by Roanoke County. I called and received one of the free audits, which I certainly could not have afforded otherwise. The gentleman who conducted the audit was most courteous and helpful with his suggestions. I was able to implement most of his suggestions myself and only had to contract out two of the recommendations. I am happy to report that my electricity usage has decreased each month since then form 20 to 40% based on the previous year’s usage. This means more funds available for other uses in my household, such as medicine and the increasing cost of gasoline. I’m glad to have been a part of the program and am thankful for all the help I received.”
I have no doubts this audit helped this woman with her electric bill. I also have no doubt that a woman on a fixed income was helped by reducing her electric bill. That being said, I am presuming this limited income is, at least in part, Social Security and Medicare or Medicaid. The federal government’s seemingly endless string of grant money for projects like this is worsening the already hopeless situation with the Federal Deficit. By 2025, the entire budget of the Federal Government will be debt service, Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. Yet we continue blithely down a road where we deny to voters anything is wrong.
According to the left, people dependent on the Feds can continue to get these government handouts without any cuts. That the stream of programs to redistribute wealth is bottomless. The only thing that has to happen is for the rich to “pay a little more.” This concept is not only intrinsically flawed mathematically; every policy maker in Washington knows it can’t be done.
But what is worse is that the left has convinced those that are dependent on this money that there isn’t a problem. They have sold the lie that soaking the rich MORE can somehow turn around this issue. The math and the logic don’t work. And this lie is intrinsically evil, leaving woman like this NOTHING, after they were promised by their benefactors the money would never end.
When this woman is left high and dry, a 40% reduction her energy bill isn’t going to matter much. And that lie, and those that perpetrate it, are doing something completely evil.
But they have effectively sold this lie to what Romney has called the 47%. The $50,000 RCCLEAR spent on their program isn’t going to break the government. But how many of these grants, programs and such are out there at time when the government adds over a trillion dollars in debt every year?
It’s like counting the sand on the beach. Gene started this little exchange by telling us to focus on taxes and spending.
Gene, we never took our eye off of it…
Chip Tarbutton
