SubscribeDemocrats Plan A Totalitarian Convention
From The Wall Street Journal:
Democrats gear up for greener convention in Denver
By Stephanie Simon
June 30, 2008
DENVER - As the Mile High City gears up to host a Democratic bash for 50,000, organizers are discovering the perils of trying to stage a political spectacle that’s also politically correct.
Consider the fanny packs.
The host committee for the Democratic National Convention wanted 15,000 fanny packs for volunteers. But they had to be made of organic cotton. By unionized labor. In the USA.
Official merchandiser Bob DeMasse scoured the country. His weary conclusion: "That just doesn’t exist."
Ditto for the baseball caps. "We have a union cap or an organic cap," DeMasse says. "But we don’t have a union-organic offering."
Much of the hand-wringing can be blamed on Denver’s Democratic mayor, John Hickenlooper, who challenged his party and his city to "make this the greenest convention in the history of the planet."
Convention organizers hired the first-ever Director of Greening, longtime environmental activist Andrea Robinson. Her response to the mayor’s challenge: "That terrifies me!" …
[S]he quickly modified the mayor’s goal: She’d supervise "the most sustainable political convention in modern American history." …
To test whether celebratory balloons advertised as biodegradable actually will decompose, Robinson buried samples in a steaming compost heap. She hired an Official Carbon Adviser, who will measure the greenhouse-gas emissions of every placard, every plane trip, every appetizer prepared and every coffee cup tossed. The Democrats hope to pay penance for those emissions by investing in renewable energy projects.
Perhaps Robinson’s most audacious goal is to reuse, recycle or compost at least 85 percent of all waste generated during the convention.
To police the four-day event Aug. 25-28, she’s assembling (via paperless online signup) a trash brigade. Decked out in green shirts, 900 volunteers will hover at waste-disposal stations to make sure delegates put each scrap of trash in the proper bin. Lest a fork slip into the wrong container unnoticed, volunteers will paw through every bag before it is hauled away.
"That’s the only way to make sure it’s pure," Robinson says…
But Matt Burns, a spokesman for the Republican convention, looks on with undisguised glee at some of the Democrats’ efforts — such as the "lean ‘n’ green" catering guidelines.
Among them: No fried food. And, on the theory that nutritious food is more vibrant, each meal should include "at least three of the following colors: red, green, yellow, blue/purple, and white." (Garnishes don’t count.) At least 70 percent of ingredients should be organic or grown locally, to minimize emissions from fuel burned during transportation. "One would think," says Burns, "that the Democrats in Denver have bigger fish to bake — they have ruled out frying already — than mandating color-coordinated pretzel platters." …
"It’s the new patriotism," Hickenlooper says. ..
But it’s almost inevitable that principles, politics and profit will conflict. To wit: Coors Brewing Co., in Golden, Colo., will donate biofuel made from beer waste to power the convention’s fleet of flex-fuel vehicles. A green star for the convention — but it has rankled die-hard liberals, who boycotted Coors in the 1960s and ’70s to protest hiring practices that they said discriminated against blacks, Latinos, women and gays. Heirs to the Coors fortune have long been active in conservative causes and Republican politics.
Convention officials say Coors is a good corporate citizen. And a Coors spokeswoman says the donation was a gesture of civic pride, not politics.
No matter, grumbles Anna Flynn, a longtime union member from Denver who objected to the donation. "Any way you put it, it’s still Coors," she says…
Robinson, the greening director, says big showy conventions are part of the American political tradition, and thus worth a few emissions here and there. Also, she hates to be a killjoy.
True, she did try (unsuccessfully) to get bottled water banned from the convention hall. But remember those balloons? She checked the compost heap last week — and found them still intact. She has added more liquid to try to get them to degrade.
And if they don’t? "The balloons will be there," she promises.
So will the fanny packs — made in the USA of undyed, organic fabric. DeMasse vows to get a union shop to print the logo, but he says the ink will be petroleum based. Unless, that is, he decides to get the logo embroidered — with biodegradable thread.
But of course like most Democrat rules (and promises) these are made to be broken.
Even so, aren’t these the people you want to see running every aspect of our lives?
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10 Responses to “Democrats Plan A Totalitarian Convention”
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July 1st, 2008 at 12:12 pm
“It’s the new patriotism,”
Liberal Fascism
July 1st, 2008 at 12:35 pm
“Decked out in green shirts, 900 volunteers will hover at waste-disposal stations to make sure delegates put each scrap of trash in the proper bin. Lest a fork slip into the wrong container unnoticed, volunteers will paw through every bag before it is hauled away.
“That’s the only way to make sure it’s pure,” Robinson says… ”
Pure . . . garbage.
Irony is wasted on the stupid.
July 1st, 2008 at 1:02 pm
In the interest of caring for this fragile, almost-dead planet, the Democratic National Convention should be cancelled. If the democrats are serious about a ‘going green’, then a complete cancellation is the most responsible course of action.
Denver is physically located in the middle of the country and most rabid, liberal democrats (who are the ones most likely to go to this event) live on either coast - which means that the amount of gas used to get to Denver will be substantially increased over what it would be if the event were held in San Francisco, LA, Boston, Atlantic City, or some other city closer to the liberal population base. What ever happened to ‘Act Locally’ as a means of ‘changing the planet’? Once again, the democrats show their utter disregard of the common citizen by using up a larger-than-normal amount of oil, reducing the amount of oil and gas available to everyday people, driving the cost of gas up even further.
Denver is located on the Front Range area of Colorado - which means that all that carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide released from the increased traffic (not even considering the amount of CO released just from all those speeches…) has a good change ofstacking up against the mountains, reducing the air quality over the life of the convention. Just think of all those people with allergies and lung disorders who are going to suffer by the stale and stagnant air produced by the convention. Once again, the democrats show their lack of compassion on those less fortunate people by their flagrant, excessive burning of fossil fuels in a city known for air quality issues.
All those poor people who work for companies that produce balloons and streamers and party hats and name tags, living in third-world countries - barely surviving - are now going to be even poorer because the democrats only want to line the pockets of rich, American unions. The lack of compassion by the democrats on those less fortunate born in third-world countries - through no fault of their own - is appalling. In many places, making balloons and party favors are the only jobs that these poor people can get, and look forward to the bounty that comes every four years with Political Conventions.
Democrats are being, once again, myopic in their vision of farming. The American Farmer is suffering through-out this great land - especially along the flood-ravaged Mississippi valley - and the democrats are excluding the American Farmer from outside of the Denver area from selling their produce to convention-goers. It’s a travesty unparalleled in the history of American farming for a major political party to exclude the hard-working American Farmer from the market - effectively adding a major burden to a segment of the population that unselfishly grows - year after year - the stuff that feeds us.
The fact that the democrats are going to ‘pay penance’ for actions means that they are knowingly doing ‘wrong’ (otherwise, what’s the purpose of penance?). They are going to knowingly act irresponsibly. What a horrible example to the future generation! - “it’s ok kids, as long as you say you are sorry, you can act any way you want”. That democrats are flagrantly touting their irresponsible behavior in the heart of America should cause pause to Americans throughout this land. If the democrats really wanted to avoid hypocrisy and irresponsible behavior towards this fragile planet, they would cancel the convention entirely - after all, they have an annointed candidate; what’s the real purpose of annointing him even further, except to harm the American (and global) people?
Note: This is what would be released from the Democratic National Office if it were Republicans having this convention in Denver. Obviously, Republicans are more intelligent, and wouldn’t think of playing loose and fast with facts and figures like I have done above - in fact, it was very hard for me to ‘dumb myself down’ - I probably didn’t succeed in a few places - and write like a liberal.
July 1st, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Just watch all of those limo’s and private jets. Whatta Carbon footprint! LMAO
July 1st, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Yet they will be the first to scream when you refer to them as Latte sipping elitist tree hugers.
The southern delegates are being denied their regional fried foods and also ethnic foods like greens are somewhat frowned on.
Years ago both conventions fought to be the most obvious Baseball , Apple Pie and Chevrolet all American types.
Now you have to wonder if Apple Pie is even able to make the cut there.
Eurowheenies!.
July 1st, 2008 at 3:39 pm
The extremists in any society usually self destruct eventually due to the very nature of their fanatic behavior. Either they will try to “out green” the other guy, or it will get so ridiculous that nobody will be able to get anything done. Trying to please everybody means invariably, you please nobody.
But, the greenies are a horribly selfish lot, and live in a self induced dreamland that cannot ever exist in this world. But they joust at the carbon windmill, mesmerized by their delusional realization that they are helping save the world.
They arent. They cant. In the future, they will be more concerned with saving their own lives to worry about CO2 in the atmosphere.
July 1st, 2008 at 4:48 pm
sheehanjihad,
Jousting at carbon windmills! Love it!
July 1st, 2008 at 7:02 pm
“Robinson, the greening director, says big showy conventions are part of the American political tradition”
I Hope for Change.
I saw a photo of Robinson…a real blonde? If not, where did the hair color come from? I thought we weren’t supposed to mess with pristine nature. I hope caribou aren’t scared by blondes.
Was her lipstick tested on animals and made from petroleum?
Just stinking out loud.
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:00 am
“That’s the only way to make sure it’s pure,” Robinson says…
It is just mind-boggling to me how exercised these dips can get over these materialistic issues and have no compunction about trashing living beings: poking scissors into the skull and sucking a baby’s brains out in the birth canal in partial birth abortion; leaving botched abortive babies to die in closets; euthanasia; banning DDT and abandoning millions to die of malaria; fighting abstinence education and condemning our youth to STDs which sometimes result in subsequent infertility and/or unwanted pregnancies; backing federal funding of embryonic stem cell research which has produced zip and fighting adult stem cells which have already proved hugely successful in treating many diseases and conditions, and on and on. But boy, can they get incensed over a plastic fork going into the wrong garbage can.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:49 am
In an effort to make this convention truly green, the following guidelines will be mandatory for all participants:
1) In order to have the least possible carbon imprint, all participants must walk or bicycle to the convention. All food must be stored in a backpack and come in biodegradable packaging, and no propane stoves will be allowed.
2) In fact, tent’s won’t be allowed, for the potential damage to the foliage. Just find a good place on the ground to curl up.
3) Please don’t use soap when you wash in the rivers, and please collect all your bodily waste in special containers. Human waste is bad for the ground.
4) Please be sure to have all documentation properly recorded on stone tablets. Paper is a bad material, because of the all the poor trees that are killed, and we’ve decided to ban internet registration. Internet means computer usage, and computers mean electricity, and electricity really does mean coal burning, because all those alternative resources we tout only supply maybe 5% of all energy needs. Besides, setting up a windmill next to the convention center endangered the local pigeon population, and setting up solar panels would mean displacing a disproportionate body of Denver’s poor.
5) In fact, we eventually decided that the convention would take place out of doors, so as to use all natural lighting.
6) The media has been asked to take notes with a hammer and chisel on stone tablets and hand deliver copies (also on stone tablets) to anyone interesting in learning what we have to say at this convention. Remember, television and radio require electricity, and electricity, despite our efforts at providing plenty of renewable sources of energy, really means coal.
7) We decided against any shirts, hats, fanny packs, or other apparel because honestly, why should we pay $60 for clothes we’ll wear once, when we could send that money to the poor, who need all the help they can get turning green?
8) We concluded decorations were a waste of money and a danger to the environment. The money we would have spent on those has also gone to the poor.
9) Alas, we concluded that we cannot, in fact, reuse or recycle any more than about 5% of the waste generated by this conference. Time, it seems, is a non-reusable resource.