Common Sense Lost

Hands down this is the most asinine opinion piece I have ever read, but what can you expect from a person who supports waterboarding.

The Unwelcome Mat is Out 

Rick Martinez, Correspondent N&O

North Carolina is the Tar Heel State. One of the many stories about the origin of the moniker “Tar Heel” has it that Confederate soldiers from North Carolina were so dogged in their determination on the battlefield that they fought as if they had tar on their heels.A fine tribute. Unfortunately, that characteristic no longer applies. Instead, North Carolina has become the “No Can Do State.”The vision and long-term perseverance that once defined us and manifested themselves in the boldness that produced Research Triangle Park have been replaced by selfishness and risk-aversion that produce — well, next to nothing.

Recent history tells the story of the new North Carolina.

THE NAVY’S OUTLYING LANDING FIELD — The phrase “Support the Troops” rings hollow in North Carolina, judging by the way this project has been torpedoed. The OLF isn’t some supply depot but a crucial element in training and keeping Navy pilots proficient in landing jets on aircraft carriers. Even so, the NO-OLF group that spearheaded the campaign that knocked the Navy off a site in Washington and Beaufort counties deserves credit. Its members made their case, played by the rules, and beat the Navy fair and square.

Then, once it became known that the Navy was looking at sites in Camden, Currituck and Gates counties, public officials and some citizens weighed in with knee-jerk reactions based on little more than an intellectually empty desire to preserve the rural way of life. Bluntly put, protecting the American way of life — the top job of naval aviators who desperately need the OLF — is far more important than preserving a few farms.

NO MORE COAL PLANTS — Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue said last week that the recently approved coal unit at Duke Energy’s Cliffside plant should be the state’s last. The gubernatorial candidate is the latest in a long line of state and federal officials who, in essence, oppose energy from fossil fuels. Perdue and others naively or mistakenly think we can we conserve and bio-fuel our way to energy independence.

That’s a prescription for economic disaster and possibly an environmental one as well. The tax investment required to make green energy economically viable will be enormous, and the environmental wisdom of devoting precious land and water resources to grow crops for fuel has yet to be seriously explored and debated.

The few serious studies that have assessed the environmental impact of renewable energy conclude that green doesn’t necessarily mean clean. Green does mean expensive, particularly for the poor. The Cato Institute has analyzed Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing food prices growing faster than in the past, due in part to government support for corn-based ethanol fuel.

Regardless of the food argument, it’s highly unlikely that a mix of conservation and bio-fuels can meet the future energy needs of North Carolina’s burgeoning population.

If Perdue’s advice is taken and new coal plants are banned in North Carolina, the burden of generation will simply shift to other states. That will increase energy costs in this one, a move that’s politically plausible, but morally irresponsible.

PROPOSED NATIONAL BIO AND AGRO-DEFENSE FACILITY — Butner is among five finalists nationwide for this facility, a federal laboratory that will research the world’s deadliest germs and potential biological weapons. Thus, this lab is a critical element of national security.

Already, environmental groups have assembled Chicken Little safety arguments, oblivious to the fact that some of the world’s most lethal germs have been studied and handled for years in Research Triangle Park.

The opponents have one point. The Department of Homeland Security needs to explain better the risks and benefits associated with the proposed lab. U.S. Rep. David Price is using his considerable influence to make that happen. The challenge is whether that information will be objectively received and decisions based on science and fact, not on hysteria that demands risk-free guarantees.

Environmentalism is the common thread in all this opposition. Nothing wrong with protecting the environment, but the movement’s current opposition threatens to deny all Tar Heels the economic development, social progress and innovation North Carolina once was known for.

 

NC fought to keep a OLF (Outlying Landing Field) from Washington County because it was a “Danger to Navy pilots, aircraft, civilians and wildlife due to the likelihood of aircraft collisions with the hundreds of thousands of large migratory birds and it would devastate one of the poorest areas of North Carolina”. But since NC said no to the OLF we don’t support our troops? So supporting the troops calls for putting them in more danger? Hey with thinking like that he could be president.

“Perdue and others naively or mistakenly think we can we conserve and bio-fuel our way to energy independence”. I’m confused by the we’s in think we or can we, Ah, shoot the we’s have it.

“Already, environmental groups have assembled Chicken Little safety arguments, oblivious to the fact that some of the world’s most lethal germs have been studied and handled for years in Research Triangle Park”. Man, I bet the Granville County Commissioners, Stem Town Council and Creedmoor Town Council in their wildest dreams never thought that they would be called Chicken Little environmental groups. Who knew? 

 Oh and Bravo, you just proved my point. If we have studied some of the world’s most lethal germs for years in Research Triangle Park, why do we need the National Bio Agro Defense Facility?