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SDW2001
09-10-2007, 01:33 PM
More specifically, the Conservative Party. I was unsure of where to post this, General Discussion or here, but it's more political, so here goes....

THE Conservatives will propose banning plasma screens and other energy-guzzling electrical goods in a report to be unveiled next week.

The proposals target white goods like fridges and freezers, as well as TVs, personal computers and DVD players that use too much energy or operate on stand-by.

and what's worse:

The group will also suggest scrapping Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a measure of the nation’s success in favour of a model that measures people’s happiness drawn up up by Friends of the Earth.

Full article:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007420012,00.html

This is sheer LUNACY. With all the energy use issues the world has, we're going to make Plasma TVs the number one enemy? Let me tell you, I have a 42" plasma. My electric bill is more than reasonable. I didn't notice much different when I got it, and it's on a lot.

What's next, no air condition? Banning electric ovens?

But scrapping the GDP for a figure that measures "people's happiness" is the part where I think I threw up in my mouth a little. No one said GDP had anything to do with happiness. GDP has real uses and is based on real facts and figures. It's an important measure of the economy. If you want to track and publish a bogus "happy number" go ahead. I don't see what doing away with GDP is a good idea.

To me, this is another example of how people take their eyes off the ball in "freedoms" debate. While we're all screaming bloody murder on cameras, ID cards (and wiretapping and the Patriot Act in the USA), the real threat to out freedom comes from initiatives like these. We've already heard that so-called Global Warming is caused more my meat production than cars. Will the UK government ban meat sales at some point? Will it mandate a vegetarian diet? One has to wonder.

Fellowship
09-10-2007, 02:25 PM
More specifically, the Conservative Party. I was unsure of where to post this, General Discussion or here, but it's more political, so here goes....



and what's worse:



Full article:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007420012,00.html

This is sheer LUNACY. With all the energy use issues the world has, we're going to make Plasma TVs the number one enemy? Let me tell you, I have a 42" plasma. My electric bill is more than reasonable. I didn't notice much different when I got it, and it's on a lot.

What's next, no air condition? Banning electric ovens?

But scrapping the GDP for a figure that measures "people's happiness" is the part where I think I threw up in my mouth a little. No one said GDP had anything to do with happiness. GDP has real uses and is based on real facts and figures. It's an important measure of the economy. If you want to track and publish a bogus "happy number" go ahead. I don't see what doing away with GDP is a good idea.

To me, this is another example of how people take their eyes off the ball in "freedoms" debate. While we're all screaming bloody murder on cameras, ID cards (and wiretapping and the Patriot Act in the USA), the real threat to out freedom comes from initiatives like these. We've already heard that so-called Global Warming is caused more my meat production than cars. Will the UK government ban meat sales at some point? Will it mandate a vegetarian diet? One has to wonder.

SDW2001 I continue to suggest to you that it is both sides. Left and Right who are in on this broader scheme to erode personal liberties. We need to hold all political leaders accountable as opposed to pointing fingers and having a fruitless argument over who is worse left wingers or right wingers.

This is a global governance nanny thing which does not care what the people believe as far as left and right goes. This is why we force more vaccinations and outlaw smoking. It is an experiment to see just how much control the governments can have over we the people. A nanny state if you will ever growing and expanding at the cost of the liberties of everyone.

Fellows

Splinemodel
09-10-2007, 04:44 PM
I somehow don't think that this will go through.

I don't know if you listen to Dennis Miller's radio show, but he rants about these kinds of "half-step" measures to reduce emissions. It's not a novel argument, but it has prompted some discussion on his show of these sorts of proposals.

Politicians are rarely intelligent and practical in these kinds of matters. It simply an artifact of the sort of people that want to go into politics: they are mostly lawyers, who as a trade have had any degree of big-picture thinking whipped out of them.

segovius
09-10-2007, 07:29 PM
It's THE SUN ffs

:no:

SDW2001
09-10-2007, 09:10 PM
It's THE SUN ffs

:no:


I know the sun blows, but is the story inaccurate?

segovius
09-11-2007, 05:02 AM
I know the sun blows, but is the story inaccurate?

Kind of....they would ban appliances which do not meet a certain energy conservation standards rather than the appliances themselves.

The idea is that manufacturers would then comply with the recommendations - in fact, it may well be that most do already anyway and that the 'ban' would only apply to 'black' imports or crap cheapo products from China

knightlie
09-11-2007, 07:17 AM
The Sun works by publishing every possible variation of every possible story in the entire universe, in the hope that sooner or later they'll publish something accurate.

segovius
09-11-2007, 07:32 AM
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b5/Freddiehamster.jpg/180px-Freddiehamster.jpg

jimmac
09-11-2007, 09:15 AM
It's a proposal. Even if true we have lots of nutty groups over here proposing things that are kind of dumb. They usually never get very far.

giant
09-11-2007, 11:29 AM
SDW and drudge...a never-ending saga.

Mr. H
09-12-2007, 08:32 AM
This is sheer LUNACY. With all the energy use issues the world has, we're going to make Plasma TVs the number one enemy? Let me tell you, I have a 42" plasma. My electric bill is more than reasonable. I didn't notice much different when I got it, and it's on a lot.

What's next, no air condition? Banning electric ovens?

Like others have already said, the story is inaccurate. They just want to encourage better energy efficiency in a variety of common electronic/electrical goods. And the problem with that is...?


But scrapping the GDP for a figure that measures "people's happiness" is the part where I think I threw up in my mouth a little. No one said GDP had anything to do with happiness. GDP has real uses and is based on real facts and figures. It's an important measure of the economy.

And what is the point of measuring your economy and attempting to endlessly increase it?

segovius
09-12-2007, 08:36 AM
And the problem with that is...?

It's Un-American pinko-commie fag treason dammit....

midwinter
09-13-2007, 12:39 AM
It's THE SUN ffs

:no:

Heh. That's exactly what I was going to post.

SpcMs
09-13-2007, 03:32 PM
Enforcing energy efficiency standards for electronic devices seems like a pretty good idea. And while GDP is an important figure, considering other objective criteria that don't necessarily correspond to dollar amounts (such as poverty rates, income distribution, health care or literacy) is nothing to throw up about (unless of course you're a right-wing nutcase like some people in this thread).