"LEEDING" AMERICA DOWN THE GARDEN PATH

 Below is an op-ed submitted to our local newspaper regarding our local Conference Center.  I wrote this in response to an article they published in today's paper, where city staff members and leaders are lamenting that the building they mortgaged our fire houses to build, didn't receive a higher "LEED" rating.  The Conference Center project has been in the red since it opened, since conception actually.  Now the thing on their minds is raising the "LEED" certification for this boondoggle?  Oh my....we have some seriously delusional people in government.  Anyway....read on....

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The Gastonia Conference Center could be the poster child for using taxpayer money to chase rainbows.  If common sense were more common, we would not have city leaders and staff looking for “LEED” pots of gold at the end of rainbows.  In order to satisfy some idiocy of global warming, which is also a scam played on the public, a group of self-appointed, unelected, false experts set themselves up to “LEED” an entire nation to economic ruin using mumbo-jumbo and tax dollars.  

The US Green Building Council (USGBC), a private non-profit dreamed up “LEED,” a third party rating system for buildings, and eventually became part of the World Green Building Council.   Ambition not lacking, USGBC and the World Green Building Council began to lobby the building industry, building trade organizations, architects, and governments simultaneously to adopt “LEED” certification for all new development and remodeling development.  At the same time, our government(s) began pushing the now trite and highly suspect word, “Sustainability.”   What does this mean to you?  Hundreds of millions of tax dollars going straight into other people’s pockets for chasing rainbows.

Speaking of pots of gold, USGBC states: “The USGBC advocates government incentives for green building practices. It states, “One of the most effective strategies to encourage green building is through financial or structural incentives. Rewarding developers or homeowners who adopt green building techniques spurs innovation and demand for green building technologies.” It also states, “Financial incentives, including tax credits/ abatements and revolving loan funds, are a highly successful means of encouraging developers to follow green building practices.”

“The U.S. Green Building Council is a private organization that is, “committed to supporting federal, state and local governments in their pursuit and development of green building programs and initiatives.”

Does it work? “Bank of America's Toxic Tower New York's "greenest" skyscaper is actually its biggest energy hog.” “And it wasn’t only the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification—the first ever for a skyscraper—and the $947,583 in incentives from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.” “According to data released by New York City last fall, the Bank of America Tower produces more greenhouse gases and uses more energy per square foot than any comparably sized office building in Manhattan. It uses more than twice as much energy per square foot as the 80-year-old Empire State Building.

Is this really good for you?   Just like the government mandate taking lead from paint now results in mold all over the exterior of your house, the so-called green / sustainability building practices are resulting in bad health effects for humans in the built environment.  HVAC systems are now more expensive while tasked with replacing dead air in buildings built too tight to allow a reasonable transfer of fresh air, a situation that older buildings never had. 

According to another “sustainability” expert who is looking to cash in on another aspect of this insanity,  ” We’re building projects that are progressively more energy efficient, and we’re building tighter and tighter boxes. If we fill them up with materials that are toxic, we’re creating the perfect gas chamber.”

Well, that sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?  Can’t wait to own, live and work in that gas chamber!  That hotel you stayed in last week that says they only wash the sheets and towels every other day?  You know, the one that has such horrible CFL light bulbs filled with mercury, so dim that you can’t see what’s in your suitcase?  They get “LEED” points for doing that.  “LEED” points lead to tax credits.  They pay less in taxes, while your taxes then go up to pay for “LEED” certified government buildings, costing you a bloody fortune and solving nothing, but making some very clever scammers a whole lot of your money.

Pots of gold at the ends of rainbows are for leprechauns.  Our city leadership and staff members need to get back into the real common sense world of reality.  In a perfect world, this type of scam would be prosecuted under RICO (racketeering) statutes.  But today, selling lies to the public for personal profit seems to be the order of the day.  Too many people are getting rich doing it.
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Sources:
(http://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=6247 “Financing and Encouraging Green Building in Your Community”)

http://www.architectmagazine.com/sustainability/qa-five-questions-with-skanskas-chief-sustainability-officer-beth-heider_o.aspx?utm_source=newsletter&utm_content=jump&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ANW_102414&day=2014-10-24&he=4d9abe91f1058fc7fc974c87be354fba9857bca6

http://www.leedexposed.com/questionable-science/

Henry Gifford, author of “A better way to rate green buildings,” sums up the criticism of LEED: “Going to so much trouble and expense to end up with buildings that use more energy than comparable buildings is not only a tragedy, it is also a fraud perpetuated on US  consumers trying their best to achieve true environmental friendliness.”

In testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, Dr. John H. Scofield of Oberlin College stated that “There then appears to be no scientific basis for institutions such as colleges, universities, or the Federal Government to require LEED certification as a GHG or energy reduction strategy for its buildings.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Green_Building_Council

FOLLOW THE MONEY TO THE ARTICLE V CONVENTION

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR.....seems like the apt phrase for this.
The Convention of States / Aritcle V Consitutional Convention / Con Con is appealing to people through deception. That is a fact.  And that is the tragedy of it.

Digging deeper into the Convention of States, I find that there is a Texas billionaire named Leo Linbeck III, who is the champion of the misnamed Fair Tax. Actually, his father who passed away recently, began that scheme, but his son, Linbeck III, is still in the Fair Tax game, only this time through the COS / Article V proposition.

In the midst of upper economic echelons and now in the midst of middle class, disgruntled taxpayers, Mr. Linbeck has found he can manipulate politicians, and policies with his fortune. Sadly, I find some of my conservative tea party friends being sucked into the whirling toilet bowl he is stirring up.  I've been told by some of them that the Fair Tax is why they want the Convention of States / Constitutional Convention.  I wondered why the Con Con was going to be bringing in the Fair Tax, so I went looking for answers.  Mr. Leo Linbeck III is that answer.

Mr. Linbeck describes himself as a "conservative communitarian." (see below)  Don't you love double speak! In the Orwellian method of twisting words and combining opposite philosophies in the same phrase, Mr. Linbeck describes himself as two opposite points of view. (I describe myself as a “conservative communitarian.”) He has hired and convinced some lawyers to do the propaganda tour to convince the grassroots that a Constitutional Convention is the answer to all that ails our nation.

Mr. Linbeck is not the lone wealthy person behind COS, but is a major player. In 2012, Mark Meckler left the Tea Party Patriots to join Linbeck in a PAC called Campaign for Primary Accountability, the purpose of which was to unseat incumbent politicians. There was money from Campaign for Primary Accountability (CPA) spent with Karl Rove who was active in our state of NC, as my friends well know.  (Mike Huckabee was involved with one of the candidates during the primary.  Connection to Huckabee below.) Mr.  Meckler also set up another non-profit called "Citizens for Self Governance."  "Self Governance" is a favorite phrase of Leo Linbeck III.  Now Mr. Meckler, formerly with Tea Party Patriots, is on the sales tour for Convention of States.

According to Mr. Linbeck regarding descriptions of his actions and orgs. "Well, we've been described as conservative, liberal, anarchists, nihilists, right-wingers, and – my personal favorite – both pro-Obama and anti-Obama."

Having it both ways:

So, in North Carolina, perhaps that is why we hear from Thom Tillis (NC Senate Candidate) that Obamacare just needs tweaking...is mostly just fine? And Mr. Tillis is on board with North Carolina P3 toll roads, a "Third Way" financing of our roads.  Is this why we are hearing mixed messages from our Lt. Gov. who says he is against Common Core on the one hand, but then says 95% of it is just great? Perhaps this explains why our Lt. Gov. said something similar to me regarding "sustainability," i.e. "most of it is just great."  This evening, our Lt. Governor is at a promotional  presentation with Michael Farris, the National Director of Convention of Sates.  ("Farris and both Mark and Patty Meckler, founders of the increasingly influential Convention Of States, a division of Citizens for Self Governance. ")

Mike Huckabee tried to have it both ways on Common Core as well...and is all in for the Fair Tax. Now Huckabee is out there promoting the movie, "UnFair," which is nothing more than a propaganda film for the Fair Tax ....which IS the Linbeck scheme.  From what I've seen of Mike Huckabee, he would call himself a "progressive conservative," so being attached to Linbeck's Fair Tax scheme and promoting Common Core would fit like a glove.

Do you wonder who is driving this mind-bending duplicity campaign to the grassroots?  It's positively schizophrenic. 

Again, from 2012, a press release: (Mark Meckler) The Tea Party leader is joining a CPA leadership team that includes the libertarian O’Keefe, the “conservative communitarian” Leo Linbeck..."   

Between the misnamed, so-called "Fair Tax," the Convention of States / Article V / Constitutional Convention, and now finding a Communitarian with large sums of money behind them,  I am seriously concerned that our State legislators are once again being bought and led down a garden path....the wrong way and over a cliff with no return tickets. The Constitutional Convention, these people call a "Convention of States to propose amendments" has no return (to the Constitution) tickets.

Today, I want to hammer home the definition of "communitarianism," so my friends will understand the game afoot. Communitarianism is defined below. I would ask people read and realize who is shoving this Article V Convention at the grassroots tea partiers. And then ask, how does this fit with your beliefs and hopes for our Constitution.

Definition of Communitarianism:

Like Collectivism, which stresses human interdependence and the importance of a collective, Communitarianism focuses on community and society, and seeks to give priority to group goals over individual goals. However, for the most part, communitarians emphasize the use of non-governmental organizations in furthering their goals, and so differ from authoritarian or Communist sympathizers. Its exact premises and policy consequences are difficult to pin down, and most criticism of Communitarianism has come from individualist thinkers concerned that it just provides cover for collectivists.

Although a 20th Century philosophy, the term "communitarian" was coined in the 1840s by the British utopian Socialist Goodwyn Barmby (1820 - 1881) to refer to advocates of a communalist society (which refers to communal living and/or communal property, essentially a forerunner to modern Communism).

Ideological Communitarianism can be seen as a radical centrist ideology (a third way philosophy which includes the belief that, in affirming the core principles involved on both sides of a political argument, the disagreement can be resolved or rendered moot). It is sometimes marked by leftism on economic issues and conservatism on social issues. Communitarians seek to bolster social capital (the value to democracy of social networks and groups) and the institutions of civil society. It also affirms positive rights such as state subsidized education, state subsidized housing, a safe and clean environment, universal health care, extensive public works programs, and often even the right to a job, and laws limiting pollution, gun ownership, etc.

Communitarianism from Philosophy Basics

Sources:
Forbes
New York Times - Huckabee + Fair Tax

Linbeck Videos

Fair Tax - Tell the Truth on Them
="http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/sunday-commentary/20120406-point-person-our-qa-with-leo-linbeck-iii-of-the-campaign-for-primary-accountability.ece">I describe myself....