Left wing fallacies, foolishness and the bursting of the bubble

  We approach the end of the incandescent light bulb. Why? Because Congress said we should in 2007, signed by President Bush.
  The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 is a debacle. It has destroyed jobs. It is mandating the use of unsafe mercury bulbs (that giddy activists love to give to each other as Xmas gifts) which are a hazard to clean up after if you drop. 
  And, above all, it will not save energy.
  And, of course, they cost more, which shouldn't be a problem for those of us who can afford to fly to Spain to luxuriate for a few days in a castle.
  Oh, and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 will increase carbon emissions. Read about it here.
  In their wisdom, the politicians are intent on running our lives, right down to the toilet. Once again, when you limit the amount of water you can use to flush a toilet, not everything is flushed, so it takes more than one flush, thus using more water than the previous toilets.
  But it makes them feel good to pass these laws. Why? It is about control, but it's also about presenting the right image to the world.
  In that case, it really doesn't matter if there are unintended consequences to laws you pass because these things aren't passed because they are right, or principled or have a good effect on society.
  They're passed because they make the politicians/left wingers feel good about themselves.
  The health care law is just the latest debacle to be passed with too-many-to-be-counted unintended consequences to be listed, not the least of which is the paralysis of businesses as they wait to see how the law will impact their payrolls.
  (Ironically, this last item hasn't resulted in left wingers feeling better, even though at the time they thought it would, and exulted in their moment of glory by marching victoriously through the crowd of angry citizens who had come to DC at great expense to oppose the arrogance of Congress's reach into our lives. The moment is perfectly captured here in this image. Note the new suit, color coordinated with matching shoes, the jubilant smiles, the holding of hands, the hilarity, as they forego the congressional tunnel and choose instead to pose for the press and enjoy their moment of making history. )

  Another popular left wing fallacy (bordering on fantasy) is the apotheosis of the criminal Che Guevera. 
  Frequently useful idiots can be seen wearing or displaying Che Guevera gear, including ties (in formal settings), shirts, and purses. When queried, said useful idiots grin impishly, claim you know nothing or pass smugly into the next phase of conversation, secure in knowing that they know the truth, unlike stupid you.
  To dispel this fallacy, read this article over at American Thinker. It's quite revealing. In short, Che was crazy and enjoyed killing people, in fact through mass murder. Those who knew him recall the specifics:

Even as a youth, Ernesto Guevara's writings revealed a serious mental illness. "My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood. Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any vencido that falls in my hands!” This passage is from Ernesto Guevara's famous Motorcycle Diaries, though Robert Redford somehow overlooked it while directing his heart-warming movie.

  Not only Che, but Mao has been elevated to apotheosis status by leftists, to the point of offending people who have been hurt by him and the effects of his murdering rampages. Murder, murder, murder. This is what these two liberal icons represent, along with Castro and Chavez and every other mass murderer who ever stripped a government down to who he liked and who he didn't like. Rense from The Independent:

 Mao must be understood, at last, as an Olympian monster, with abilities but not virtues. Once he was in a position to wield power over and against others, his inner circle knew that "Mao liked killing," but with rare exceptions, were too terrified and mesmerised to resist. In 1966, Mao Tse-tung met a young Red Guard from a school where the headmistress had just been murdered. His advice to her? "Be violent."

This ignorance about murderers, of course, isn't limited to bubble headed actresses, but rather has been carefully crafted and the image nourished by left wing historians, politicians and writers. Crosswalk:

Reviewing the evidence, Arthur Waldron agrees: "Mao was the greatest mass murderer of the 20th century. Much of the killing was direct, as in the torture and purges at Yan'an. After the Communist seizure of power in 1949, the practice became countrywide. Mao set his numerical targets openly, and stressed the 'revolutionary' importance of killing."

  Why do these fatuous leftists live in this world of make-believe? Why do they believe such fantasies, when all around them is the truth, easily identifiable if you are only willing to pursue it?
  Of course, some people are simply uninformed. These are truly the useful idiots.
  Some people read only one side of an issue (sometimes including the right wing). These Daily Kos, Jon Stewart fans are often passionate in their beliefs, and sometimes violent in the execution of their disagreements with those who do not think the way they do. These people can also be professionals, such as teachers, who are willing to stoop to almost any measure to get what they want, not just out of selfishness, but also out of entitlement.
  Some people simply want the power that comes with controlling other people's lives, even if it means creating lies and anxieties that are detrimental to the culture. They are called the ruling class.
  Some people want to believe that their obviously fallacious conclusions are right because it makes them feel better. This is a primary motivator for many leftists. They aren't afraid of backlash for their behavior, because we conservatives have made it easy for them to get away with wearing their Che t-shirts and spouting their divisive rhetoric.
  When was the last time someone mocked you for watching Fox News? It happens frequently, as if FNC is a bully, a bigot, a shill for the Republican party, yet many stories that have been negative for Republicans have aired first on FNC, including the Bush drunk driving story.
  Did you, a conservative, ever mock someone for watching MSNBC, ABC or CNN?
  The urge to feel good about oneself seems to be endemic to the culture; it comes with believing God is only a kindly old gentleman, everyone's going to heaven, and that no one should be judged for anything they do. Ever. 
  Even if it's a matter of national security.
  This line of thinking is quite twenty first century.
  Everywhere, Americans are surrounded with the merchandising of products to improve our looks, make us feel and look younger, pamper our bodies and add to the ever burgeoning wardrobe, which a few decades ago would have been a quarter the size of what many of us have now.
  It's probably a natural outgrowth, then, for political positions to evolve into beliefs that cost nothing in terms of saying, "No!" but rather just to make us feel better. The hippies have taken over, along with their fleas, their dirty feet and their stinky shirts, which are now metaphorical rather than literal (in most cases).
  This is how we've gotten where we are today in terms of profligate spending, laws that only add to the spending and irresponsibility, and a culture that gets progressively weaker by giving people everything they want, until we get to the point of bursting.
  And that's the point where we are now.
  The bubble is bursting, and people who have believed the foolishness are having to face the facts. 
  Let's hope we're close to the day when the Che t-shirts will voluntarily be hidden in the closet behind the Mao posters, under the shining light of a light bulb that isn't dangerous.