It isn’t wise to criticize, in Spain:
Spain’s Dr. Gabriel Calzada — the author of a damning study concluding that Spain’s “green jobs” energy program has been a catastrophic economic failure — was mailed a dismantled bomb on Tuesday by solar energy company Thermotechnic…
The bomb threat is just the latest intimidation Dr. Calzada has faced since releasing his report and following up with articles in Expansion (a Spanish paper similar to the Financial Times). A minister from Spain’s Socialist government called the rector of King Juan Carlos University — Dr. Calzada’s employer — seeking Calzada’s ouster. Calzada was not fired, but he was stripped of half of his classes at the university. The school then dropped its accreditation of a summer university program with which Calzada’s think tank — Instituto Juan de Mariana — was associated.
Additionally, the head of Spain’s renewable energy association and the head of its communist trade union wrote opinion pieces in top Spanish newspapers accusing Calzada of being “unpatriotic” — they did not charge him with being incorrect, but of undermining Spain by daring to write the report.
Their reasoning? If the skepticism that Calzada’s revelations prompted were to prevail in the U.S., Spanish industry would face collapse should U.S. subsidies and mandates dry up.
Wow.
Ah, how typical of the side that brays about being o, so peaceful, tolerant, diverse, and inclusive.
So long as US subsidies and mandates are fueling it all, they don’t want the the gravy train to stop. Sounds a lot like how our political leaders get elected and what their incentives in legislation are these days, too.
Follow the money.
Chilling- Other countries don’t provide the same sanctity of our first amendment rights. Need to send a messsage? Send some bomb parts *with* your signature on it. Spain is not a banana republic either.
It also underscores the prevailing sentiment of most Americans …anything that is “green” is inherently good and few take a peek at the price tag.
A lively discussion in the comments over at PJM, greatly expanded from when I first saw the article yesterday–many of whom are knowlegable about local Spanish politics. Some claim it is all a hoax as no arrests have been made, the MSM hasn’t picked up on the story, and the President of the Company denies all, and the box contained auto parts–not a bomb assembly. Those who think otherwise point out that a) the MSM simply refuses to cover much that goes against the green-is-good meme until dragged in kicking and screaming, b) that obviously the President would deny (culpable or no) , c) the Police refusal can be explained by 1) lack of written threats or bomb parts and 2) nothing could be safer in today’s PC world than to threaten a “denier”–on a par with the rampant Euro anti-semitism which goes ignored by the police everywhere on a daily basis. It is further pointed out that it WAS a the company’s official label on the box and the company spokesman who answered the good professors call indicated they knew exactly what the contents were (hinting that next time it would be a real bomb.
There is much argument over there about the correct Spanish translation, etc. Go read all. And stay tuned. Looks like another John Edwards saga developing.. Deny, deny, etc.
Even if it was just auto parts, the threat was there. Kind of like faking a gun in your jacket pocket, the threat is there.
Even ignoring the possible bomb threat, the campaign of intimidation against Dr Calzada is pretty appalling.
The whole thing reminds me of Ibsen’s play “An Enemy of the People,” in which a doctor discovers that the local baths..on which townspeople are relying for their future prosperity”..are contaminated and very dangerous.
“To his surprise, Stockmann finds it difficult to get through to the authorities. They seem unable to appreciate the seriousness of the issue and unwilling to publicly acknowledge and address the problem because it could mean financial ruin for the town. As the conflict develops, the Mayor warns his brother that he should “acquiesce in subordinating himself to the community.” Stockmann refuses to accept this, and holds a town meeting at Captain Horster’s house in order to persuade people that the baths must be closed.
The townspeople – eagerly anticipating the prosperity that the baths will bring – refuse to accept Stockmann’s claims, and his friends and allies, who had explicitly given support for his campaign, turn against him en masse. He is taunted and denounced as a lunatic, an “Enemy of the People.” In a scathing rebuttal of both the Victorian notion of community and the principles of democracy, Dr. Stockmann proclaims that in matters of right and wrong, the individual is superior to the multitude, which is easily led by self-advancing demagogues.”
(from the Wikipedia plot summary)
Where’s Franco when you need him. Seriously, this type of trash would have happened by 1960, if not sooner, if not for Franco.
wow indeed.
This sort of reminds me of the ethanol debate. Depending upon where you live, ethanol production will either erase life on this planet or eradicate oil drilling, and there’s not a lot of middle ground to be found in the reporting.
Which, in truth, about 1/3rd of the corn crop in my county goes to the ethanol plant. They’re buying, we’re selling, if Mexico wants corn for tortillas they can bid in the markets like anybody else, and they weren’t bidding on this type of corn 40 years ago anyway, much less bidding today.
The corn that goes to ethanol plants is used to feed livestock, not people, and to make plastics and other industrial uses. Notice a rise in prices on those plastic toys from China recently? Wal-Mart is instead rolling back prices. How about on those pork ribs at the supermarket? I just bought 300lbs of pork ribs at $1/lbs at the supermarket and stashed them in the freezer — for that kind of money I can’t raise the meat myself.
So apparently all this corn diverted to ethanol has resulted in no tortillas for poor Mexican families 2000 miles away but around here pork is at an all-time low and gasoline flirts with the $2.50/gallon price. Somebody’s economic analysis of ethanol doesn’t jibe with what is happening in the Real World.
Point out that theory doesn’t jibe with facts and you’ll find yourself under attack.
– Max
I’d be a happier (not much, but happier) man if the corn went to alternative energy sources without taking money out of my wallet to pay for it. Ethanol, biofuel, solar, wind: fooey if I am forced to directly subsidize it.
I’m right there with ya, Ron. I’d be even happier if this country had an overall energy policy, four or five standard gasoline blends, and could make up its mind on diesel. That would drop prices at the pump by at least a quarter right there, not to mention allowing companies like Ford, Toyota, Honda, Audi, and most everybody else to sell the same 40mpg models here as they do in Europe.
– Max
If you want an example of a working “green economy,” look no further than the nearest nomadic clan still armed with spears. Even if you only want to maintain the same standard of living people had 200 years ago — such as it was, for most people — a “green” economy won’t sustain it.
LATEST UPDATE: Incident now being attributed to “courier error” say “some reports.” Sounds like grasping at straws by a bunch of people trying to throw oil on troubled waters, i.e., how do auto parts “accidently” get in pkg with Thermotechnic’s label? Don’t firms pack & label their own content? Stay tuned…
FedEx accidentally disassembled the bomb? That’s real courier error.