over the cliff, onto the rocks.: Dear Santa Claus:

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Dear Santa Claus:

I've been very nice this year. I can even provide references. Please may I have a lump [or two] of coal in my stocking for Christmas?

On second thought ...

Coal mining is hazardous to people, hazardous to the environment, and not especially kind to the landscape.

Plus, we need that coal to make electricity. Oh, wait! We could get our electricity from nuclear power, and store the nuclear waste in the abandned coal mines, once we've got all the coal out. Preferably somebody else's abandoned coal mines.

And coal mining provides jobs. Jobs that can't be off-shored. A boon for the economy, no more unemployment worries! I mean, it's not like somebody in Pakistan or India could sit down with a computer monitor, gaming console, joy stick or what-have-you in hand, and operate a bunch of robots here in US coal mines. Oh, wait.

[sigh ...]

There's more. Stay tuned.

8 comments:

Keifus said...: Hey now, coal in the stocking was always a punishment.

Now it's an ironic punishment too.

K; Friday, December 22, 2006 6:19:00 PM
hipparchia said...: the punishment you don't yet know about:

coal-to-liquid led me to renewable vs non-renewable energy, which led me to biofuels, which led me to farming [our farm raises corn and soybeans], which branched off into [1] high-fructose corn syrup, which led to what we ought to be eating, which led to what we ought to be farming, and [2] farm subsidies, which which branched off into [a] corporate farms, which led to how we ought to be farming, which led to what we ought to be farming, and [b] the politics of farm subsidies.

which all reminded me that i've fallen behind on my economics and constituional law posting.

iraq and oil came up too.

anything anything anything to keep from battling the traffic to get that last little bit of christmas shopping done. that is truly my idea of punishment.; Friday, December 22, 2006 7:08:00 PM
Keifus said...: Get to your post on the politics of farm subsidies please. I'll be interested to read it.

Also, I thought you were giving to charity. And here I felt all guilty and stuff.

K; Friday, December 22, 2006 8:24:00 PM
obfuscati said...: charity, shmarity
[an itty bitty ditty]

i did
i do
i will continue to
give to charity
that is
and to
little kids too

faoulpsx

farm subsidy, especially when it comes to me on the topic of ... really, dude, you'd rather have a lump of coal in your stocking.

but i've got a draft post saved now, even as we speak.; Friday, December 22, 2006 9:15:00 PM
Keifus said...: (Sorry, I can only find the off-color solutions to that word game, and that's not even including the x. Think I'll decline.)

It's my feeling that farm subsidies--or rather, how they have been targeted and managed--may have been every bit the depth charge that the federal highway program has been.

On the other hand, the Post seemed to carry a lot of "welfare queen" stories, and I'm not sure the remaining local farms could be getting by very well without them--if you could somehow ignore how they've stacked the economy badly in the first place. But I'm not reading much heavy stuff till after the holidays.

K; Saturday, December 23, 2006 4:02:00 PM
obfuscati said...: i'm not really reading that stuff till later either [read some, skimmed some, skipped lots].

i just put it out there, just in case anybody else felt like slogging through it. i'll essay some essays on it all later.

ok, i'll stop with the word games.; Saturday, December 23, 2006 5:54:00 PM
Keifus said...: Oh hey, I love the word games! It's just that the last two have made me worried about the complexity of my cranial wiring. (Not really).

Just keep me away from the Rorschach blots and we'll be cool.

Keifus (celidu--I only see ceiling ducks there); Saturday, December 23, 2006 7:08:00 PM
hipparchia said...: ceiling ducks! way cool!; Sunday, December 24, 2006 7:21:00 PM