That is totalitarianism pure and simple.

"Highest social purpose"????

What do you want to bet that there will NEVER be a day when the highest social purpose of electricity would be to keep the lights on in the homes of Conservatives.

No worries, the fucksaw uses disposable batteris.

(via Dennis Prager)

Heard Rush talking about this on today's program.  Amazing.  Words don't begin to describe how FAR Britain has fallen, and in a remarkably short time.  I can't believe Winnie or Thatcher could have ever foreseen such idiocy from their countrymen.

And of course the worst part is that it's only a matter of time before it comes here.

Hey, speaking of unwanted British imports, how about that socialized medicine?  Here's what one influential British healthcare official - Dr. Daphne Austin, Consultant in Public Health Medicine for West Midlands Specialised Commissioning team - says in a new documentary, in regards to babies born at 23 weeks (emphasis mine):

"...We are doing more harm than good by resuscitating 23-weekers. I canÂ’t think of very many interventions that have such poor outcomes. For me the big issue is that weÂ’re spending an awful lot of money on treatments that have very marginal benefit. (MWR note: "There's no such thing as RATIONING under socialised medicine.  Don't be silly!") I would prefer to free up that money to spend on providing support to people who have much more lifelong chronic conditions.”

In even more stunning comments, Austin says that while parents should get a say, in reality they don’t speak for the baby: “There’s a lot of emphasis on the parents’ views and what they want. (MWR note: You mean like wanting their baby to live?) But somewhere in there, there needs to be an advocate for the baby.” The assumption seems to be the baby would rather die.

(via the Blaze, via Weasel Zippers, via Daily Mail UK)

I'm not here, this isn't happening. I'm not here, this isn't happening. I'm not here, this isn't happening...

I really don't know enough about Britain's political system, how did the decent citizens agree to give up so many of their rights?  Why aren't these totalitarian luddites voted out of office? 

I'm afraid the answer is that Britons got hooked on socialism and free stuff, and they lost their freedom as they voted for and accepted the freebies.  It's like the free stuff they vote themselves (out of other people's wallets) eventually will kill their desire or even ability to think and act for themselves.

, to ensure that it meets the highest social purpose

Hospitals and the homes of government officials

Until a complex system is proven out in actual situations, there's always the chance that the designers made mistakes or oversights.

Uh, no. Mistakes are guaranteed, not just possible.

Posted by: Soothsayer, Republican Whip at March 07, 2011 03:59 PM (uFokq)

Under a wind power scenario, we'd all better be praying for a Hurricane Katrina every couple of weeks or we're all boned.  Cold and boned.

I really don't know enough about Britain's political system, how did the decent citizens agree to give up so many of their rights?  Why aren't these totalitarian luddites voted out of office? 

voted out and replaced by whom?

Tell me what English, or UK political party is against this type of thinking.

It's what worries me about America, I tend to hate it when the two parties agree on things because then their isn't really an option for those of us who disagree.

The Tories, Labor, and Lib Dems are all the same

Posted by: Mr Pink at March 07, 2011 04:01 PM (OgbAh)

Posted by: A Balrog of Morgoth at March 07, 2011 04:01 PM (0IPsJ)

And they say CONSERVATIVES are anti-science? 

Microwaving popcorn and melting the cheese on nachos are both essential purposes.  1500 watt hair blow driers, curling irons, and straighteners are not.

Of course, I expect a certain segment of the population will strongly disagree...

Well, it's the next logical step.  If you want a TV in the UK, you have to pay the monthly TV tax or they come in your house, take it, then send you a bill for violating the law.

ON This Subject.

They have a van that goes around neighborhoods that can detect how many TV's you have to see if you've lied to them.

I remember seeing it online.

Where to start...

$10.00 a gallon gas might be enough to bring it all crashing down.

Actually, it looks like Sheer Human Stupidity will manage it long before at this rate.

I really don't know enough about Britain's political system, how did the decent citizens agree to give up so many of their rights?

What Boots said, plus the fact that half of the UK's 'system' isn't written down anywhere.  If you think it's bad here with the courts making shit up as they go along, imagine how it is when there isn't a written Constitution to have to go through the motions with.  Near infinite potential for tomfoolery of this sort...

What'd you want on hand when you can't access the ye olde powerful internet?

First, I wouldn't suggest loading them on your Kindle...

The Tories, Labor, and Lib Dems are all the same

Again, I've never paid enough attention to British politics to understand what's going on over there.......is that why the powers that be over there call the British National party a bunch of fascists, simply because the BN is opposed to fascism? 

Occasionally I'll follow a link to one of the British on-line papers, and what I find striking is that the papers are all celebrity gossip, who's sleeping with whom, who just lost/gained weight, or had a boob job, or had some sort of interaction with the royal family. 

Any "dark age" imho, would be relatively brief and relatively light.  We could very quickly restore ourselves to early-mid 20th century levels of technology.  The main thing would be the burst of violence and social upheaval in the beginning.  

Time to limber up the harpoon throwing arm!

I see a lucrative future in whale oil lanterns!

Sorry, but we are all out of Rum.  You may have as much of the other two as you like.

Alcohol has been banned as it offends Islam.

I really don't know enough about Britain's political system, how did the decent citizens agree to give up so many of their rights?  Why aren't these totalitarian luddites voted out of office? 

I'm afraid the answer is that Britons got hooked on socialism and free stuff, and they lost their freedom as they voted for and accepted the freebies.  It's like the free stuff they vote themselves (out of other people's wallets) eventually will kill their desire or even ability to think and act for themselves.

Posted by: Boots at March 07, 2011 03:59 PM (neKzn)

All true, I'm afraid.  I think I read or heard somewhere that something like 50% of Britain's population is on the dole (can anyone verify that for me?).  That's why there's such an uproar over there now that Cameron & Co. have come out with sweeping Welfare Reform legislation.  All the layabouts are pissed that they'll have to actually work for their money instead of getting to enjoy their free time.  No joke, that is an actual quote from an actual Brit moocher.  It's amazing.  They have no shame.

"Are we not men?"

YGTBKM

Posted by: Dale in San Antonio (not Dave) at March 07, 2011 04:07 PM (0ihy/)

BIG-UNS!!

Recently tangled with an author of a green investing book on FB - she was all like "imagine a world where we all rode bikes,"

Yes, because that's how I want the fire department to respond to a call at my house.

Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at March 07, 2011 04:14 PM (7utQ2)

Also, that world already exists. It's called every Third World piece of shit with raw sewage running down the middle of the street.

Children!

This is all part of the European Unions' attempts to make all those immigrating Muslims feel at home now that they're no longer in their dysfunctional 3rd world hell hole.

Next they're gonna import a LOT of sand....

Malthus wrote a book about organic farming.  The ending was quite a downer.

Ah yes, crop yields have linear growth, but population has exponential growth. Math is hard.

If you like your rolling blackouts...

Posted by: Abhullah Al-Lancaster, Minister of Justice at March 07, 2011 04:18 PM (0IPsJ)

But goats.  Goats are okay.  Have at it with the goats.

Oh, and beat your wife.  Because she's a woman, and that's what they're for. 

Malthus wrote a book about organic farming.  The ending was quite a downer.

I hear that that Jonathan Swift fellow also tackled the topic of hunger, poverty and overpopulation.  YMMV.

The fact is that there are very few power plants under construction in the US yet our power demands increase regularly. out of necessity, grid operators and utilities are going more and more to "demand response" or energy users voluntarily cutting consumption when the grid is stressed. But as we found out continuously, voluntary just means pre-mandatory. (FMLA) it won't be long, without more generating capacity that demand response becomes mandatory and in comes the social engineering and eventual energy riots.

Renewables? HAH! wind power doesn't work all of the time and utilities are required to maintain "spinning reserves" to handle the load that wind power frequently drops. This spinning reserves are becoming more expensive. Solar is the same way, a little more constant but those clouds can piss in your punchbowl.

A nearby town full of libs has decided to remove the parking lot for the public library, and replace it with "green space".  The parking lot will be relocated to a multi-story parking structure several blocks away, and will require that patrons trudge up & down the stairs in the lot, and then walk those couple of blocks.  With their books of course.

Ask yourself, who are the primary users of public libraries?  (Besides hobos)

The elderly and parents of small children that's who. 

One more thing - snowfall this winter is around four feet of the white stuff!  The "green space" will be in use for maybe three months of the year.

Heh, so far I'd come up with a few basic idea, but not many titles.  In no particular order:

Boy Scout Handbook, complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica. Basic and advanced First aid books, possibly a couple covering more advanced procedures. Dean Ing's Pulling Through, Books on Carpentry, Metal Smithing, Gardening, Basic Chemistry, Something on canning and preserving, a guide on reloading, things like that. 

 I remember reading about several books that were preserved in "Lucifer's Hammer" something like the 'Big Book of things, or The Way things Are part 1 and 2" but can't remember the titles. 

It was just one of those ideas about what you'd like on your bookshelf when the world went to pot, you know?

What he said:  "Governments may, for example, decide that the needs of key industries take precedence over others, or that the needs of industry trump that of residential consumers. Governments would also be able to price power prohibitively if it is used for non-essential purposes."

What he really meant:  Governments would, for example, decide that the needs of favored industries that donated heavily to the current administation's campaigns take precedence over others that donated smaller amounts and certainly over disfavored, easily scapegoated industries, or that the needs of people, unions, and PAC groups that voted for and donated to the current administration trump those of loser chumps who did not.  Governments would also be able decree which purposes are favored and receive an electricity ration and which purposes are politically incorrect and will be banned.

Also, if you lurk or comment at AoSHQ, your electric service will be immediately disconnected and made irrepairable with extreme prejudice.

Posted by: tangonine at March 07, 2011 04:28 PM (x3YFz)

That won't last you long. Backup?

132 Compassionate conservatism is the wordy way to say liberal.

Contradiction in terms. Kinda like intelligent retard.

It's time to start selling portable generators in the UK. 

And isn't this how Saddam Hussein ran the power grid in Iraq: deciding who got power and when?  That worked well. 

...decide when and where power should be delivered, to ensure that it meets the highest social purpose.

Britain's going to start using the electric chair?

Great news!

@49

That's a joke, right?  Nitrogen is, eh, well over half our atmosphere. 

Posted by: Bevel Lemelisk at March 07, 2011 04:52 PM (TpXEI)

yes, but those people just happen to be the ones most often related to those in the mil. Trust me you think those guys want their family members to sit in the cold and dark for some ecoweirdness? Nope. My bet is someday, somone will decided its gotten just about weird enough and certain people will start saying NO.

personally i think thats why they are dumping money into the UN. So they can call them in to deal with that little problem. If i was a very bad person, thats how i would do it.

well i would also do other things. Frankly my imagination give me nightmares because i really am very good at thinking like a very bad person.

personally i think thats why they are dumping money into the UN. So they can call them in to deal with that little problem. If i was a very bad person, thats how i would do it.

The US would be exponentially worse than Iraq when if comes to occupations.  The amount of weaponry, and more importantly technical knowledge that is available to the population would ensure this.  Forget plastic jugs of HME, I could get a couple of engineers and chemists together in the mountains with a fully loaded machine shop, and be pumping out some nasty weapons in under a year.

The sheer idiocy here is breathtaking, as well as the rampant opportunities for abuse, corruption, and social engineering (but I repeat myself). To see a 21st Century world power deliberately embrace aspects of a third-world lifestyle boggles the mind.

The idiocy is not limited to England.  From Reader's Digest:

"The forecast from Dan Sturges, chairman of IntraGo, a transportation-solutions company in Boulder, CO:  "Fifty percent of Americans can't access public transit without a car now, but the average car is driven only one hour per day.  Soon you'll drive yourself to the train station, and someone else will pick up the car and drive it to the store and the doctor.  Then you'll find a car at the station that night.  It might be a different car, though - unless you spend a little extra for the original so you can leave your tennis racket in the trunk.  Large numbers of people will have to participate for this to work, like with the fax machine, which didn't make sense until everyone had one."

The ultimate collectivist dream...no personal property, mass transit, big brother control, everyone must conform.  This text was part of RD's "Next Big Thing" article.  As if.

personally i think thats why they are dumping money into the UN. So they can call them in to deal with that little problem. If i was a very bad person, thats how i would do it.

The US would be exponentially worse than Iraq when if comes to occupations.  The amount of weaponry, and more importantly technical knowledge that is available to the population would ensure this.  Forget plastic jugs of HME, I could get a couple of engineers and chemists together in the mountains with a fully loaded machine shop, and be pumping out some nasty weapons in under a year.

I don't think the US is 'occupiable'.  They'd have to put soldiers in every house...

oh wait, that didn't work out to well

that 3rd ammendment thingy, was not made out of hot air

This is already being tried here in the U.S.  Google "Zipcar".  But even in Socialist San Francisco, it's been an abject failure so far.

Who ever could have predicted that?  I hope they lose their shirts.  Although it's kind of scary they're already testing this kind of thing...further along than I thought.

Posted by: Jake_in_Idaho_ at March 07, 2011 05:35 PM (vrDK+)

Agreed.  At best you'd be able to hold the coasts.  Of course, most NE liberals would love to live under the governence of the UN and leave us flyover hicks behind... at least until the money runs out.

Large numbers of people will have to participate for this to work, like with the fax machine, which didn't make sense until everyone had one."

Oh, and this guy is really delusional, equating the acquisition of a new technological device to giving up your car, your convenience, and your personal freedom.  Yep, it's just like buying a fax machine.

#156

I'm not sure the coasts could be kept.  Maybe some large cities but on the East Coast, I'm not sure anything south of Delaware could be occupied.

On the West Coast. Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, LA

not sure will have to noodle on ths more

You know what would be funny?  When the R's return to power, for them to announce that all of the Dem wet dreams will be implemented, but only for libs/Dems/progressives, and only paid for by them.  Everybody's happy! 

I'm not sure if the left would collectively melt down, or if they'd jump for joy, not realizing the trap they'd just walked into.

On the West Coast. Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, LA

Posted by: sifty at March 07, 2011 03:53 PM (u4JjU)

Shrek??? That you?

Y'all might want to check and see if your county/city/locality has signed on to a sustainable development plan.  If so, the UK is on its way to your neighborhood.  Look up Agenda 21 if you're not familiar with it.  It's a great idea from the UN.  They don't like the fact that the US is the last country in the world with property owners. 

Beck talked about this over a year ago.  They're going to control every aspect of your life -- if you let them.