Weekly Comments Archive
Archived Issue
Sunday, May 26, 2024
ISSUE #1208
Memorial Day. The President Speaks. Electric Policy Sparks Concerns.

Will Rogers wrote, “Another Decoration Day passed and Mr. Abraham Lincoln’s 300-word Gettysburg Address was not dethroned. I would try to imitate its brevity if nothing else.”  (May 31, 1927)

President Biden’s speeches are imitating its brevity (if nothing else). He keeps ‘em short.

If you are in a Toastmasters Club you know we count ahs, ums, and other word fillers used during a speech. For the President we count the number of words he misread or mispronounced off the teleprompter. In a short speech to the NAACP, he messed up 9 words.

President Biden also messes up facts. When he took office inflation was 1.4%. He claims it was 9%. He claims he created 15 million jobs when, compared to March 2020, we have only added about 3 million jobs. (The other 12 million were shut down temporarily because of Covid, then returned naturally.) He says the border is secure while welcoming more than 10 million immigrants into the country illegally.

In his speech to the graduating Cadets at the U. S. Military Academy, he told them he was recruited to the Naval Academy to play football. He never received any kind of appointment offer to the Naval Academy.  He challenged them to keep fighting for Democracy. Of course, they will fight abroad for democracy. But the President wants them to “fight for democracy” at home by voting for him and other Democrats. I’m surprised he didn’t accidentally brag about canceling student debt. That would have gone over big for West Point grads who are committed to 8 years of service in the Army and Reserves to “pay off” their debt.

Words matter. And we can joke about misused or mispronounced words.

But policies are what counts for most of us. The federal government is shutting down power plants at the same time the demand for electricity is growing faster than any time in recent history. Do you remember the first time you heard that instead of our personal computers storing everything, it would instead be stored in the “cloud?” I bet you looked up. We thought it was a magical storage system in the sky. But the “cloud” is actually huge Data Centers that use vast amounts of electricity. More than 5000 are in the U.S. And Artificial Intelligence (AI) services are adding vast electricity demands to these data centers. Data centers require electricity constantly, not just when the sun shines or the wind blows.

Add the push for Electric Vehicles and pressure to ban gas stoves and furnaces in favor of “all electric” homes. While environmentalists, led by John Kerry and Energy Secretary Granholm, are shutting down coal and natural gas power plants, they pretend that solar and wind energy will provide 100% of our electricity.

This nutty policy for electricity would be like convincing us to eat more vegetables while forcing farmers to grow less vegetables by cutting irrigation, fertilizer and pesticides.

NOTE: One of many tornadoes this weekend hit Claremore, Oklahoma. A lot of damage. Electric lines are down. Fortunately, the Will Rogers Memorial Museum and the immediate vicinity were not hit.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

 (Many politicians in both Parties suggested Will run for President.) “I would be the only President this country ever had that was funny purposely!” Republican National Convention, 1928

“The President [Roosevelt] made one of his best speeches in Tupelo, Miss., Sunday. He told that the people could make their own electric energy cheaper than they were getting it.” [promoting the Tennessee Valley Authority], DT #2586, Nov. 19, 1934

“Scientists say that the next war will be fought with electricity. I’m glad to hear this as it means it will be a light war.” WA #59, Jan. 27, 1924

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