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Thursday, November 25, 2010

The dim bulbs of anti science Republicans

There is a war going on in the GOP world about incandescent light bulbs. Fred Upton who sponsored a bill in 2007 to wean America off traditional high energy consuming light bulbs to more efficient ones is angling to become Chairman of the House energy and commerce committee. It looks like he doesn't stand a chance.

Here is a quote from Freedomworks, the Tea Party favoring group run by former Congressman Dick Armey.

Fred Upton, currently considered the front-runner for chairmanship of the critical House Energy and Commerce committee, is far out of step with the Tea Party movement, the GOP and the American people as a whole. You may have heard Glenn Beck talking about Fred Upton introducing a bill to ban incandescent light bulbs in favor of so-called “environmentally-friendly” alternatives. The truth is, Fred Upton has a Big Government record a mile long, and light bulbs are just the beginning.

Nevermind that the bill doesn't actually ban the traditional light bulb as Freedomworks claims, the bill has spurred more innovation in the past three years with incandescent lights than the previous two decades. Upton is backtracking as fast as he can

There was, in fact, no bill to ban incandescent light bulbs. Because of the advanced light-bulb standards Upton helped pass in 2007, “the incandescent bulb is turning into a case study of the way government mandates can spur innovation,” the New York Times reported last year. “There have been more incandescent innovations in the last three years than in the last two decades.”

The Tea Party movement is increasingly attacking American innovation and 21st-century jobs on all fronts: Rush Limbaugh is leading the charge against the breakthrough Chevy Volt, Republican governors are killing high-speed rail, Glenn Beck is cooking up conspiracy theories about smart grid technology, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) is trying to kill the wind industry, and the entire right-wing movement is convinced green jobs are going to destroy the United States economy.

The full article here.

Joe Barton who apologized to BP and suggested taxpayers foot the bill for the cleanup and John Shimkus who doesn't worry about global warming because God promised he wouldn't destroy the world again after he spared Noah and the all the animals.

They hate science, want to teach creationism in schools and refuse to use government policies to spur innovation. Meanwhile the rest of the world is passing us by. Their atavistic worldview, longing for a time that of smplicity and prosperity that exists only in their minds will probably prompt some idiot to suggest bringing back the horse and buggy to create jobs and bury us all in horseshit.

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