Rants

Americanism and sacrifice

If giving $10 of one's own money to charity is good, thus reducing one's assets so that others might do better, what is the matter with sacrificing un-needed energy use (turning out lights, getting a higher efficiency car, etc.)? -In response to the Republican response to the State of the Union address, 2010, in which I picked up both the message that Americans shouldn't make sacrifices, but that it was good to donate to Haiti rescue efforts.

Matching greed

EnergyTeachers.org received an e-mail from ElevationWeb today, a web design company. They were offering what they call a "matching grant" which was actually just a 50% off sale on web services. I replied with an ornery message about what a matching grant really is, giving money to charity, not taking it from them, even if at a discount. They have a whole page devoted to this illusion: http://www.elevationweb.org/one_for_one.php