The media feeds are like a combat zone full of mines, tripwires, and pitfalls. I’m constantly setting off something as I stravage along.

BOOM!

Hey buddy, wanna buy a bridge?

As I sipped my morning coffee and staggered through the media feeds, I realized that my assessment of this preposterous pandering predatory production is more appropriate than I first realized. I know their sole purpose is financial. There’s no goodwill or thought of community or humanitarian outreach, as their charters insist. It is pure greed that spurs them on.

There was a time when I considered myself well educated. But as Socrates (So-crates Johnson in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure) reminds us: “The only true wisdom is in knowing that you know nothing.”

It is a humbling and sobering thought for an aspiring polymath.

Socrates’ appeal to my arrogance became part of my dogma. I hope my karma doesn’t back over it.

Not that I want to learn everything, but I do want to remain open to learning what I can from life as the lessons are presented. I also firmly believe God provides these lessons to shepherd me through life, albeit I do it grudgingly.

There is an obvious fork, a divergent path here. And as Yogi Berra said: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

Every word in print or burbling sound from the media talking-heads is selling you a bridge. They aim to convince you that they’re more intelligent than you, enlist you emotionally, and persuade you to buy that bridge.

I’ve wandered through the jumble most of my life, and during my seventy-some years, I’ve been misdirected more times than I care to admit.

In fact, I own several bridges.

What does it mean to buy a bridge?

This phrase indicates that someone is incredibly gullible. It refers to a master con man George C. Parker best known for selling property he didn’t own, most famously, the Brooklyn Bridge.

I just hit tripwire – KABLOOY!

Dictionary.com defines gullible as easily deceived or cheated. The synonyms include the word ‘green.’

As in “The Green New Deal.”

How incredibly appropriate. That’s precisely how I feel about Al Gore and John Kerry‘s Cult – The Greeniacs!

Telling the entire story would take more space than is practical, and besides, it’s all available from trustworthy sources on the interweb.

Green New Deal
Several brief videos are full of information in the “Start Watching” banner toward the bottom of the page.

It fascinates me that these Eco-Cultists would associate and define their ideology using a word that implies gullibility, naive people, and fraudulent ideas.

Wow, who knew – Me for one and several others.

There is a milieu of complexities here, mainly as they apply to elitism. Only those in the know, the intelligencia, would understand these complexities and possess the background necessary to embrace the pseudo-science of Global Warming and the Looming Climate Calamities to become Greeniacs.

Buy the bridge, and join this elite and intellectual club? The Inteligencia – bridge to the future!

It is also striking that only the elite can afford the solutions proffered by the Greeniacs. John Kerry, this administration’s climate czar’s personal $5M jet, emits 325 metric tons of carbon. He justifies this by his station in life, after all, the champion of the Greeniacs. He is above the law like most elites.

Hey Buddy, wanna buy a bridge?

Facturds:

* The recommended annual output level is 16 tons per person in the US. The Paris accord, the Greeniac holy gospel, requires 2.1 tons per person per year.

* The average salary in America is $56,310.

* KBB suggests the electric car’s average price is $62,876 compared to the fossil-fuel-powered car at about $47,000 – over $15,000 to join the Greeniacs Club. The estimated loan payment is $1,186.55 per month for 60 months – $8,316.86 interest = Total purchase $71,192.86.

* Battery life for electrics is about 65,000 miles (best guess), and replacement costs per battery are about $15,000.

Hey buddy, wanna buy a bridge?

* There are an average of 200 sunny days in Phoenix, AZ, my hometown.

* America’s average is 210 days, roughly 85% clear days.

* Solar panels work best in full sun. Their effectiveness drops to 10% to 25% during cloudy days.

* A 5 kW solar panel energy system in Arizona costs about $14,000. Add another $4,000 – if you add a battery system. That comes to about $18,000.

* kW is the measure of energy 1 kW = 1,000 watts.

* System life expectancy is about 25 years. Mileage may vary depending on weather conditions and driving habits; see your dealer for details – but wait, there’s more…

* A 5 kW solar system requires 18 panels. The maintenance cost is based on a 2kW (8 panel) system = $400 annually – $50/panel. But the 5kW system has 10 more panels. This larger system’s maintenance costs are $900 per year based on the average cost per panel. That’s an undisclosed requirement.

* If you need maintenance on your roof, it will cost about $3,750 to remove and replace the solar panels – your homeowner’s insurance may not cover it.

* Most insurance carriers will cancel your coverage after two, maybe three, claims in 24 months. Our insurance carrier of 24 years canceled us after two claims for storm damage four years apart.

* It’s free energy! [Except for the cost of the solar panels, batteries, cables, mounts, and other necessary paraphernalia. These you lease or purchase outright.]

* My neighbor owns two Teslas S models. His system with 18 panels, batteries, the charging station, and installation was over $40,000.00. Approximately $250,000 for the two cars brings their investment to almost $300,000 to save the environment.

* The government is willing to pay for some installation! Or so the internet sales brochures advertise.

* John Kerry’s net worth = $103,001,362

* Al Gore’s net worth = $300,000,000

* Apparently, climate alarmism is a lucrative cause.

The facturds I presented are merely things to consider before you make an ignorant and impassioned decision to buy that bridge; you should investigate it thoroughly.

Hey buddy, wanna buy a bridge?

We allow our passions to dictate our resolve rather than by thoughtful decisions.

Think before you act!

We should know better!

My point –

Being predisposed to jump into a decision based on passions is typically American. We’re indoctrinated to react emotionally to every situation.

Listen to the impassioned pleas from the Big Guy at our sinking leader-ship’s pulpit. They hope to enlist you emotionally, short-circuiting and bypassing your logical mind to sell you the bridge.

Some people cannot separate emotions from decisions – I’m referring to logic or the Socratic method. Socrates was not the only philosopher to extoll the value of reason in decision-making. His idea of looking before you leap is as old as time itself. But we think we know better, don’t we?

Mid Term Elections are a primary example of a bridge for sale.

Partisan politicians and their mega-main-stream-media cohorts assail their opponents with accusations and innuendos of heinous wrongdoing.

Their claims…

* These are impeachable offenses.

* There should be consequences.

* You can remain free.

* We’ll forgive your student loans.

* We’ll cure poverty.

* We’ll make the air breathable again.

* Save the polar bears and the Arctic ice cap.

* We’ll make the crooks pay if you vote for us.

* Trade a little liberty for immediate security.

When a rational human being looks back through our political history, you can extract a precious few instances or examples of fulfilled political promises.

Unfortunately, Bungles the Clown‘s promise to destroy the fossil fuel industry in America is one of them. He’s keeping it in spades, but only to enrich his family’s fortune at our expense.

How much money did he make when he sold 6m barrels of our SOR to China?

Our vote is the most potent weapon in our arsenal, yet we squander it on appearances and rhetoric. A passional appeal and a pretty face are all it takes to sway most Americans.

* You can make a difference.

* You have a choice.

* Your vote can change the country.

In reality, it’s not the people that vote who count; it’s who counts those votes. We saw this firsthand in the 2020 presidential selections.

Substantive evidence is obscured; we live the results daily.

Evil begets evil – is the object lesson.

“They bend their tongue, [as if it were] their bow, for falsehood; and they are grown strong in the land, but not for truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they don’t know me, says Yahweh.” ~ Jeremiah 9:3

“Even so, every good tree brings forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a crooked tree bear good fruit.” ~ Mathew 7:17-18

These two biblical verses advise that the result follows the precedent and the values America exhibits follow the ethics of our leadership first, then those of the people. Liberty cannot foster restraint, and lies cannot nurture honor. Yet, this is what we are.

The world hears our words and sees our example, then wonders why America demands that they live up to expectations we refuse to back here. Our programming and passion blind us. Our willingness to buy that bridge exposes the arrogance and ignorance Americans fail to acknowledge.

Just as children are the product and mirror of their parents, we are the product and the mirror of our leadership – our sinking leader-ship.

We are America we create by complacency, uncertainty, and neglect.

Hey buddy, wanna buy a bridge?

July 27, 2022

~ The Author ~
Charles R. Dickens was born in 1951, is a veteran of the Vietnam war, for which he volunteered, and the great-great grandson of the noted author, whose name he shares.

He is a fiercely proud American, who still believes this is the greatest country on the planet, with which we’ve lost control and certainly our direction. He grew up in moderate financial surrounding; were not rich by any stretch, but didn’t go hungry – his incredibly hard working father saw to that. As most from that era, he learned about life from his father, whose story would take too long to tell, other than to say that, he is also a fiercely proud American; a WWII and Korean war, veteran Marine.

Charlie was educated in the parochial system which, demanded that you actually learn something, and have capability to retain it before you advance. He attended several universities in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree, and chased the goose further to a master’s, and has retained some very definite ideas about education in this country.

In addition, Charlie is a retired blues guitar and vocalist – a musician. This was his therapy career. Nothing brings him as much joy as playing music, and he wishes that he could make a living at it… but alas… life goes on!

That’s Charlie… a proud, opinionated, and passionate American.