Cowardice in the Marketplace of Ideas.

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WSJ Call for censorship on Climate

If they thought they had a case, wouldn’t they want a free and open debate?

Published by Don Tabor

I am a former Chairman of the Tidewater Libertarian Party and was the 2007 LP candidate for the 14th district VA Senate. Previously, I was the Volunteer State Director for the FairTax. I am married 50 years with two grown children and 5 grandchildren.

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40 thoughts on “Cowardice in the Marketplace of Ideas.”

  1. Would you expect anything less from Democrats? They try to conceal the failures of their pet policies through lies, censorship and distraction and outwardly lie about costs too. All this with a bold thumbing of the nose at anyone who challenges their lies. Texas was a prime example of Democrat lying even in light of the obvious evidence.

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  2. Why did Texas’ wind turbines freeze? Why did the natural gas pumps freeze? Why did the grid not help?

    A lot more to do with failed energy policies in Texas. The power companies refused to cold protect equipment after multiple warnings and a similar freeze years earlier.

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  3. RE: “If they thought they had a case, wouldn’t they want a free and open debate?”

    Too much work, I guess.

    The story highlights a trend which shows up here in the Forum with some frequency: that of labeling ideas or speech as dangerous.

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    1. “Too much work, I guess.”

      My oh my aren’t you special? So hard working! Not like us lazy ass “leftists.” I wonder why, though, you people state so many of your “alternative facts” without bothering to find evidence. It is a puzzlement. Since you have such a superior work ethic.

      Some speech IS dangerous.

      1. The Big Lie for example caused rioting and death.
      2. Labeling journalists “enemies of the people”
      3. Telling people that Covid vaccinations will harm them.

      I could go on and on, but SOME speech IS dangerous and those who indulge themselves spreading lies and bullshit are abusing their Freedom of Speech.

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      1. RE: “SOME speech IS dangerous and those who indulge themselves spreading lies and bullshit are abusing their Freedom of Speech”

        Spoken like a true fascist.

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          1. Putin and Trump have nothing to do with this.

            If you think suppressing ideas you find dangerous is good policy, wear you fascist hat proudly.

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          2. …”suppressing ideas you find dangerous i”…

            How about identifying misinformation as such? That appears to be more of what is being requested. Not idea suppression, just identifying lies as lies.

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          3. Arguing your case is always acceptable, but that’s not what the government wants. It wants Big Tech to silence those who do not fall in line.

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          4. There is a difference between silencing and identifying misinformation. All you THINK you see is silencing; when in actuality what is being requested is misinformation being identified as such.

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          5. “If you think suppressing ideas you find dangerous is good policy”…
            Begs the question: Is racist/bigoted speech dangerous when it involves threatening language? Is anti-democratic speech dangerous when you live in a democratic republic? Is lying to people about effective health care measures and passing it off as G-d’s honest truth dangerous?

            You seem to think that suppressing dangerous speech (Fire in a crowded movie theater is the one most often used) is in some way fascist. And if suppression was the goal in this, I could see your point. But you continue to IGNORE the idea is to identify misinformation.

            Unless of course you are the one spreading the misinformation and can profit from it. (Market based misinformation is kind of dangerous, doncha think?)

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          7. “If you think suppressing ideas you find dangerous is good policy, wear you fascist hat proudly.”

            I said some speech is dangerous. I gave examples. I have not weighed in on your whine of the day one way or another.

            Both Mr. Roberts and yourself show a remarkable lack of self-awareness when you call other people fascists.

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  5. Since I already know it will do no good to debate climate change here, let me tell you my own, personal experience with green energy. Last December, I had solar panels installed on my roof. My Dominion power bill has been $0.00 every month since. In fact, I have generated about $180 of excess energy that Dominion has as a credit on my account. I no longer worry about the cost of energy going up. Every time the cost of electricity goes up, I get more money from Dominion for the solar power I send them.

    Solar power is new and I understand the risks of installing solar panels. So far, solar power has been every bit as dependable as Dominion’s power. I am, in fact, still on their grid. If solar ever goes down, the system will automatically switch back to Dominion. Unfortunately, because the solar is interconnected with Dominion, when Dominion goes down so does solar. I have a whole house backup gas generator for that. I rarely use it and, since I have a gas furnace, the gas bill for the generator is hardly noticeable (about $5.00 per month is for the generator).

    Some solar systems come with a battery for backup but because I already had the generator, I didn’t pay extra for the battery.

    How long will the panels last? I don’t know. Probably longer than I will. What will maintenance be like? I’m told the most maintenance cost I can expect might be to pay somebody to clean the panels every few years. Since they’re only 6 months old, I can’t answer that. I put the panels on my homeowner’s insurance in case of hurricanes or hail, etc. and it didn’t increase my premiums.

    I don’t expect places like Texas to go green in my lifetime, but I’ve gone green… and I like it.

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    1. At some point in the future, I can imagine every home being energy independent. Right now we are still using power generators miles away and connected to every customer with wires hanging from poles.

      Save fossil fuels for steel making and air transport.

      It is estimated that a 100 x 100 mile array of solar panels in the Mojave could generate enough electricity to power all of the US. Obviously that would still have a transport problem, but the point is that a good mix that relies less on gas and coal is very doable.

      For now, the debate is centered on economics versus environmental costs. Follow the money.

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    2. My brother just moved from Portsmouth to Norfolk and has started the process for solar panel installation on his new hose.

      I hope he ends up in a similar situation to yours, Lois. I will mention the backup generator as a necessity.)

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    3. Shame on you Lois. Don’t you know you are killing millions of people in Africa by going green. I know that is true because our local expert on everything has told us that countless times.

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        1. Not what you wrote?

          Maybe not explicitly in that article. In that one you claimed a price in “dead babies” for green policies. I think that is close enough to the point I made.

          And, in many other postings you have accused people who support moving the USA off of fossil fuels of indifferently killing millions in the third world with our misguided green policy preferences.
          Go ahead and deny it. That is what you do.

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          1. It’s not just green policies. any uneconomic policy forced on the marketplace by mandate or subsidy will have a cost in dead babies.

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    4. If you want to make the investment, it is your choice but that is no reason for the government to suppress articles on the cost of grid scale conversion or the practicality of large scale use of electric cars.

      If it works for you fine, but that does not support censorship.

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        1. He has told us repeatedly that electric vehicles are just for the “elite” and that there is no way for such a product as the F-150 to be economically possible for real Americans. Admit he was wrong? Maybe. But I will not hold my breath.

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        2. Hardly, If I were going to live and drive another 30 years I might consider getting a Tesla for running errands but Gas is still more practical for my tow vehicle

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    5. Glad you basically prepaid your electric bill for the next 15 to 20 years just in time to buy new panels. Woo hoo. Hope you don’t need a new roof or roof repairs any time soon or that’s an uninstall and reinstall all over again on your dime if you can find someone to do it. Whoops there goes the ranch. Add maintenance, battery, back up system and it costs alot more than DP. Solar installers hand you lofty “savings” estimates but start asking a few questions and they start stuttering real quick. But whatever works for you, it’s your dime. It’s like electric car costs until you have to use public charging and realize you just paid the equivalent of $10 a gallon and had to wait a long time for it.

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      1. …”you just paid the equivalent of $10 a gallon and had to wait a long time for it.”

        You just proved you don’t know DICK about EV’s and charging. 18 minute charge for less that $10 for the new Ionic 5 all electric vehicle. Which my father just picked up last Friday.

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  6. Adam, my solar company is Blue Raven. I know there are other companies out there and their deals may be different. Blue Raven works with Dominion more as a partner than a competitor. I don’t know if all companies do that or not.

    Also, I had the generator years before I got the solar panels. I have a medical condition that makes temperature extremes dangerous for me, so I need to have dependable heat in the winter and dependable AC in the summer. That puppy cost me over $5K several years ago. I think the price has gone up since then. If your brother is looking for a backup system, a battery may be a better option for him.

    I think solar has great potential for individual homeowners. The technology is new and improving every day. I foresee a time when every house will have its own, dependable power supply that doesn’t need backup from an outside company or generator. The costs for the panels goes down every year. And it’s providing good paying jobs for our young people just going out into the labor market. TCC has outstanding classes on solar technology.

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  7. Bob, my house could accommodate 23 solar panels. The total cost for everything was $44,000. I got a $12,000 tax rebate. Given my age, I chose to pocket the rebate and pay the finance costs on the $44K. Those costs will be $145 per month for the next 25 years. I was on the budget plan with Dominion and my monthly electric bill year around was $198 per month. For the first year of the loan, Blue Raven is sending me a check for $145 every month. I thought about just paying off the loan and saving the interest payments, but given my age, I may move into a senior complex before too long and sell the house. If I do that, I’ll just tack the cost of the rest of the loan onto the selling price of the house. The buyers will still be getting a good deal. That extra money will be part of their mortgage payment and they will have zero electric bills, with dependable backup power for at least another 25 to 35 years.

    I thought about roof replacement too. They do a thorough inspection of the roof before they begin. The roof is relatively new and still has about 30 years left on its warranty… it may last longer since it will be shielded from the worst of the weather by the panels. I figure the roof and the panels will probably need replacing about the same time. But, since I’d need to be well over 100 to see that, I don’t plan on worrying about that either.

    As I said, I don’t need a battery backup since I have a whole house generator. I also explained that maintenance on solar panels consists of having someone wipe them off every few years.

    I have a phone app that lets me monitor every panel every day so, if anything were to go wrong, I’d know right away. It also tells me which panels are performing best, how much electricity I have generated every hour of every day, and I can compare that to accumulated statistics from day one.

    Yes, it is my dime and yes, it works for me. Aside from having an extra $12K in the bank and saving $198 per month (to be reduced to saving $54 per month next year), not to mention the money Dominion is paying me for electricity, and not ever having to worry about the price of electricity going up, I can say I’m very happy.

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    1. Well a few things. Unless you are going total dark with no HVAC, lights. TV, cooking, laundry, etc at sunset the generator has to cost alot more than $5 a month, especially in winter. Second, your maintenance was what they “told” you. That’s never reliable. Third, your roof is the whole roof, what is under panels can’t stay at replacement. Fourth, you are only speculating recouping your investment. People do the same with pools and it never hsppens. Doubt you will come close but a solar guy once told me pigs fly too. Eyes of the beholder I guess…

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      1. Considering how misinformed you are about, well, damned near everything, I think Ms. Radford is smart enough to know what she has paid for, what she is paying now, and planning for what may need to be paid for in the future.

        And comparing pools, which offer nothing but heartache and maintenance costs (The two happiest days in a pool owners life is the day it is bought and the day it is sold.), solar provides her home with the energy needed, along with selling back to Dominion.

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  8. Bob,

    First: My generator does not run all the time. It is a BACKUP generator and only runs when Dominion goes offline. When we have a hurricane or a blizzard and the power goes off, the generator does run everything in the house, including HVAC, lights, TV, cooking, laundry, etc. Those times are rare and mostly only last an hour or two before Dominion comes back online. (The longest time the power was ever off was during Isabelle and that was about a week, but that was a one-time event.) It doesn’t even make a blip in the gas bill. Colombia Gas, however, charges me a minimum fee, whether I use it or not. That’s why I said $5 per month.

    Second: Solar panels have no moving parts. The only possible maintenance would be to clean off any dirt or pollen that gets on the face of the panel and blocks the sun. It is possible a panel could burn out, but if it did, it would be under warranty and the company would replace it for free. I’ve only had my panels for 6 months but I have talked to people who have had them for several years and they all say they have had no problems, not even with dirt and pollen. No one I have talked to has paid anything for maintenance.

    Third: Yes, I know the “roof is the whole roof” and, like I said, it is a relatively new roof and has a life expectancy of about the same time as the solar panels. If I’m still alive 30 years from now, I’ll worry about that then.

    Fourth: The house I lived in in Georgia has a pool and when I sold it, I got back my investment… and by that time, the in-ground pool needed a new liner. I have real estate agents bugging me daily, wanting to buy my house. At this point in time, I’m not interested in selling. Maybe I never will be interested. But if the housing market stays like it is today, I don’t anticipate any problems. If I was young and looking for my first house, I’d jump at a chance to get a solar house, with everything installed and up and running. And I wouldn’t mind paying more for such a house because I would have a guaranteed zero electric bill.

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