Green for thee but not for me

IMO today's Democrats are beneath contempt, but there are things I have to admire. For instance, they have to have something on the ball to manage to get votes both from blacks and the unions.

Another mismatch is working class people and rich environmentalists. Greens are the moral descendants of the wardens who would have peasants killed for eating the King's deer. And today, if they had their way, the greens would ruin the economy by making entire industries noncompetitive.

Greens know that, and to compensate have created asinine concepts like "environmental racism" to tie these odd couples together. You see, it seems that some of them claim that when waste disposers site undesirable neighbors like toxic waste dumps, they base their decisions more heavily on their proximity to minority groups than on considerations like distance from the source, cost of the land, etc.

Has Jane Galt found a real example of environmental racism?

BOSTON - The rich and famous have long flocked to the beaches of Cape Cod and the island seclusion of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket — a land of sailboats and quaint vacation homes.

Now some of these celebrities want to make sure wind turbines don't become a part of the scenery.

They are fighting a proposed $700 million wind farm in the Nantucket Sound that would provide electricity to thousands of homes in the area, saying the giant turbines will mar the landscape of one of the nation's most pristine areas.

Awwww. I wonder if any of them ever traveled to the Netherlands to see the windmills? I don't have census data handy, but I'll bet that those islanders aren't exactly a United Nations of ethnic diversity - isn't that alone a good enough reason to force them to accept the windmills? Even if it affects people like Patrick "I never worked a [bleeping] day of my life" Kennedy.

I'll confess that I'd be amused if the windpower is put right smack in front of some rich liberal's mansion. But really now, the fact is that good sites are limited in number and location. There is an opportunity cost associated with keeping such sites unavailable, and it should be borne by those getting the corresponding benefits.

So let there be a special NIMBY charge on power bills for those who would rather have scenery than for the rest of us to have power. And make it sting.