CSotD: Burning issues
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There seems to be a bit of dissension among British cartoonists over the government's plan to limit wood stoves, and Patrick Blower evokes memories of classic Punch or at least of C. Aubrey Smith, who wouldn't put up with such balderdash.
(Though it's worth noting that this is how the C. Aubrey Smith crowd also responded to proposed fox-hunting bans, and the days of dashing through standing crops on horseback in order to watch the hounds tear little Reynard to bits have come to an end.)
Meanwhile, Mac (Stanley McMurtry) expresses equal dudgeon from the other end of the economic scale.
(As long as we're noting things parenthetically, it's worth noting that only the British express dudgeon, unless you count those pretentious New Yorkers who also wait "on line" or, worse, who "queue up" for things.)
(I'd also note that you don't encounter nearly so much "high dudgeon" anymore, which is too bad because the singing was so lovely.)
We have similar, though less stringent, limitations on use of renewable resources in this country, and perhaps that phrasing betrays the fact that I've met a fair number of loggers in my time.
"Restrictions" are fine, and when those wood-burning boilers — little outhouses in which a wood fire heated water that then ran into the house in pipes to provide heat – first came into fashion, I remember some genuine fury from neighbors because they were very smoky and being downwind was unpleasant, regardless of whatever health risks it posed.
Part of that problem has been since dealt with by required modifications, but the other part has to do with whether your neighbor uses well-seasoned wood or whatever is on hand, because green wood doesn't burn cleanly end of discussion.
Or not the end of the discussion, because British regulators are also concerned about people stacking their wood outside where it becomes "wet wood," and we could have a lovely argument over whether seasoned wood burns any less cleanly when it is wet, but I'm sure there would be some very expert experts arguing either side and it's easier to just stack the stuff in your garage and avoid the whole topic.
My own preference is for pellet stoves, which not only burn far cleaner than wood stoves or wood boilers or, certainly, fireplaces, but provide a secondary market for bark, branches and other logging waste.
This not only puts a little more money in the pockets of loggers and mill operators, but cuts back on biomass wastage and — for those who were not aware that trees grow like corn only more gradually — that means cutting fewer trees.
(It's worth noting that several schools have added wood boilers to cut their heating costs. Pellets are more expensive than chips, but chips are not as clean and, over time, will leave tiny beads of silica on the burner from melted sand that will ultimately require difficult and potentially expensive clean-up.)
(It's also worth noting that you can sure learn some odd facts by covering school board meetings.)
Anyway, we also have environmental regulations in our country, but we're not supposed to pay attention to them, and, as Nick Anderson notes, if you try to report on the EPA's meetings, Scott Pruitt's goons will grab you and throw your ass out.
(It's worth noting that you shouldn't try to sit next to him on an airplane either. It makes him very upset.)
Scott Pruitt being the exception to the rule that Americans are incapable of dudgeon.
Speaking of Cowards
While Scott Pruitt is hiding behind his phalanx of guards in his bullet-proof limo running lights and sirens to expensive restaurants, mere Congressmen are limited to duck-and-cover protection, as Michael de Adder suggests.
Trump said it himself: They're afraid of the NRA.
That's one time the man didn't lie.
Meanwhile, watching the Parkland kids reach out to the Santa Fe kids is a beam of hope in an otherwise dark world, not for their compassion so much as for their dedication.
I was looking for a quote from Davy Crockett about how a little fella can always beat a big fella if he knows he's in the right and keeps on a-comin', but couldn't find a source.
Well, the Parkland kids already know that anyhow, and they're keepin' on a-comin'.
They've allied themselves with HeadCount and have been asking musicians who express sympathy with the movement to set up voter registration tables at their concerts.
And they've expressed solidarity with the kids who got busted for staging a sit-in at Paul Ryan's office.
And they're urging support of candidates who pledge to refuse NRA contributions.
They're doing all this without needing advice from their grandparents' heroes.
Though I did come across something Crockett said after his opposition to Jackson's Indian Removal Act had cost him his seat in Congress:
I would rather be beaten and be a man than to be elected and be a little puppy dog. I have always supported measures and principles and not men. I have acted fearless and independent and I never will regret my course. I would rather be politically buried than to be hypocritically immortalized.
We need to put a few Davy Crockett types in the Senate before Ginsburg or Kennedy step down, because Matt Wuerker is right and that's what happens when fools say "They're all the same."
Merrick Garland would not have cast a vote to keep workers from confronting violations of employment law in a meaningful, practical manner.
And an honest Senate would not have allowed his nomination to be blocked.
We shouldn't dwell on the past but, then again, we'd be damn fools if we didn't learn from it.
And the thing to learn from 2016 was that a lot of people didn't bother, and that a lot of people assumed it would work itself out.
Let's hope their indolence works to the advantage of those who keep on a-comin' in November.
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