“Clusterfu#k Nation” takes down NYT’s Tom Friedman. Hilarious & Devastating

[autorank]

This guy is a trip. Enjoy



Blowing Green Smoke
April 16, 2007

Tom Friedman, celebrated New York Times columnist and author of The World is Flat, riffed on (or around) the issues of climate change and energy in that newspaper's Sunday Magazine this week ("The Power of Green"), and managed, in the process, to misunderstand just about every implication these conjoined problems present. Friedman's specious thinking is symptomatic of exactly what is wrong with our public discussion of these matters generally and their presentation in mainstream media in particular.

I'm fond of saying that if America could harness the power it wastes blowing smoke up its own ass, we could magically escape our energy-and-climate-change predicament. I say this repeatedly to counter the increasing volume of lies we tell ourselves in order to maintain the illusion that we can continue living the way we do. Like so many other commentators suffering from cranial-rectosis, Friedman believes that we can keep on running our Happy Motoring utopia if we just switch fuels.

Friedman gives no indication that he understands the fundamentals of the global oil situation. He writes:

People change when they have to -- not when we tell them -- and falling oil prices make them have to. That is why if we are looking for a Plan B for Iraq -- a way of pressing for political reform in the Middle East without going to war again -- there is no better tool than bringing down the price of oil.

This is a fascinating statement. It's predicated on the idea that the US can achieve "energy independence," which is itself predicated on the further idea that we can accomplish this by switching out gasoline for ethanol. This is such an elementary error in thinking that it would be funny if it wasn't the lead story in the flagship of the mainstream media. As a Pennsylvania farmer put it to me in February: "It looks like we're going to burn up the last remaining six inches of Midwest topsoil in our gas-tanks." Friedman's statement also ignores the facts that running cars on ethanol would make no material difference in the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, or that ethanol is 20 percent less efficient than gasoline, meaning we would have to produce and use that much more of the stuff just to stay where we are.

[Karenina]

1. Smackdown!!!!

:rofl:

[Atman]

2. Friedman is hosting an energy special on Discovery Channel

Just the guy, right? Obviously he's got a good agent; the article, a book, his Discovery Channel special...trying to give him some undeserved cred.

Besides your other issues, is NOW the time, during a period of serious climate flux, to be switching our fuel source to a freakin' CROP? Can you say "Dust Bowl Days" anyone? Am I the only one who finds this ethanol idea absolutely nuts?

.

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Of course you're not the only one.

Ethanol makes no sense, but I dare you to say that in front of an audience of Iowa corn farmers. Far as I can tell, the midwest is divided into 2 camps: those looking forward to turning their golden corn into golden shekels, and those appalled at the insanity of the whole thing. The two "alternative" fuels the gov't wants to support, ethanol & hydrogen, are the 2 that make the least sense.

Personally, I vote for the electric car, charged by solar/wind/wave action/whatever power sources.

[autorank]

6. I agree. It just takes initiative and determination.So meting that's lack

ing in our national policy. We're ruled by fools, that's for sure. They're planning to colonize Mars or something, the way that they behave. It's the "Brownback effect!"

[Atman]

7. Ethanol and hydrogen are the only ones WE CAN'T DO ON OUR OWN.

There's your reason.

I can go to Costco and get a solar power system big enough to run a small house. I can buy a modern windmill for $9000. But I can make my own ethanol or hydrogen. It's all about keeping control (read: profits) in their own hands.

.

[Marr]

16. Exactly. And the all-knowing free market fucks up yet again.

I really don't know how so many people manage to keep themselves convinced of the infallibility of the market as a guide for policy when the world is repleat with examples of it working against our best interests.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. Not to mention public transit, intercity rail, and better routes for

pedestrians and cyclists.

There ARE alternatives to driving, especially for short trips. One day a most unusual vehicle came through my neighborhood--a bicycle bulit for four. It sort of looked like a very early automobile (like Ford's pre-Model T contratptions), but it was powered like a paddleboat by the two people in the front seat pedaling. The backseat was for passengers, in this case, children. I could easily see making a weekly family grocery run in such a vehicle.

When my elders are gone, and I no longer have to drive to run errands for them, I want to get rid of the %$&*# car and meet my transportation needs with an electrically-assisted bicycle, public transit, and a car-sharing membership for those occasions when I absolutely have to visit the relatives in the burbs.

[Marr]

15. That's because what makes sense is decentralized energy production,

but neither corporate America nor our government wants to let go of our necks.

[autorank]

4. "A Freaking CROP!" - good Stephen King title. You're not the only one.

When there's pretty much unanimous scientific opinion on a matter and Congress folks bloviate about the scientific virtues of a process or product (I call it the "Brownback effect") I then asume, with little doubt, that the process or product is a joke.

Jaded minds think alike.

[lectrobyte]

12. This whole E85 thing is basically a regulatory scam to get SUVs through

the CAFE rules by use of a formula that says since they are E85 capable, then something like a Yukon is rated at 27MPG. Or in other words, short circuiting the one thing we could be doing much better, and that's conservation.

[Atman]

13. Did you see the story about Prius's NOT passing emissions tests in GA?

I think it was MSNBC the other day...all cars are required to pass an emissions test in GA. But the Prius' engine shuts down instead of idling, so there is no way to test them. But the state is still requiring Prius owners to take -- and fail -- the test for $20, then apply for a waiver.

.

[lectrobyte]

17. Yes, I heard that. I have a Prius, and even the good ol' boys here in

NC know that all you have to do is turn on the defroster to max to make the engine run continuously for testing or other purposes.

[Strelnikov_]

5. Friedman is a visionary

He is the pinnacle of our neo-pundit class which specializes in transforming things pulled from their arse into literary gold.

[autorank]

8. Sort of a scatalogical Midas touch...

...turns good things into a waste. Tom "Waste Product" Friedman, the Midas of Bad Ideas! Am I getting it right:) I like this writers attitude.

[mod mom]

9. Harvey Wasserman spoke at my Stepitup event on Saturday and discussed the absurdity

of using planted crops (especially food crops that must be replanted (ie WASTED ENERGY) every year) to fuel the energy we need.

He also STRONGLY said we have to put effort to STOP NUCLEAR advocation. He spoke about how we almost had a disaster of epic proporations with the First Energy Davis Bessie reactor problem. He said the contamination would have included killing Lake Erie. He said there is no way to protect these nuclear energy sites from a disaster, which would make 9/11 seem small in comparison. Corporations first goal is to cut costs and increase profit and as we saw with First Energy, this could result in serious. He said we need to push Al Gore and progressive senators such as Sherrod Brown (who is suggesting one near Portsmouth) from allowing corporations to influence their decisions. He spoke how Germany has closed down all facilitites, because they realize the potential danger. He also talked about what energy hogs they are to operate. Anyway, I'm off on a tangent here. I recommend his new book: Solartopia: Totally Green by 2030.

[lectrobyte]

18. Yeah, but those of us who grew up on sci-fi dreams would probably

think that a war between humans and machines over the food supply would be way cool. After all, we've seen what happens when a space craft breaks up on re-entry, and a jumbo jet slams into a high rise, this just seems like the next episode...

[autorank]

21. "Heavens Gate" or, if we survive, "Scientists as Gods"

80% of Americans will worship Darwin and bear those fish with feet (what's that about anyway?)

Pondering will replace prayer. It's all good. We'll get to see the light at the end of the
tunnel and understand it as just another manifestation of the wave - particle duality.

Then the singularity (the revelation) when our dogs not only talk to us, they tell us the
mysteries of the universe in a droll and condescending tone.

Talk about science fiction, we're going to explore science faction(s).

Friedman will be studied like we study abnormal psychology. Can't wait!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

10. cranial-rectosis!

:rofl:

[lectrobyte]

11. Kunstler is always worth reading, k & r

[autorank]

19. I'd read some more serious pieces, but this is sublime;) n/t

[Me.]

20. Love ThIs

And I've never heard a better description of Friedman than "cranial-rectosis".

[autorank]

22. .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=675333&mesg_id=677098

[zippy890]

23. kick - good article

worth reading the whole thing
:dem:

[lectrobyte]

24. direct link to blog and comments

http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/

http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/clusterfuck_nation/2007/04/blowing_green_s.html#comments

[AX10]

25. Friedman is a delusional corporate pig!