WTF - Van Jones back in the news again
From Benjamin Todd Jealous writing at
CNN/Opinion:
NAACP president: Van Jones a misunderstood treasure
Van Jones is an American treasure.
He is quite simply one of the few Americans in recent years to have generated powerful new ideas that are creating more jobs here.
He penned the national bestseller, "The Green Collar Economy," which provided the definitive blueprint for retooling American industry to create pathways out of poverty and generate a national economic recovery. He was a driving force behind passage of the 2007 Green Jobs Act. In fact, Van's ideas have helped lead to the creation of tens of thousands of jobs across the industrial Midwest and throughout the nation's decaying urban and rural areas.
Van Jones also may be the most misunderstood man in America.
He resigned from the White House last year after some sought to discredit him for missteps, such as political statements made years ago. However, we can never afford to forget that a defining trait of our country is our collective capacity to practice forgiveness and celebrate redemption. This is a nation built on second chances.
Political statements made years ago? More like last year where he said that he was an
American Communist. From the link above:
This is somebody who was involved in radical politics out in San Francisco, California. He was arrested during a demonstration/riot following the Rodney King verdict. And he said himself that he was radicalized in jail, that he found communism and anarchism. And then he started a pretty radical, kind of communist, socialist, utopian group that was supposed to end all racism though central planning. And then he decided that the real path the sort of progressive nirvana, was the this green jobs idea.
Back to the CNN tongue bath:
The real Van Jones story is about how a young leader became the father of the green jobs movement. In response to a longstanding jobs crisis in Oakland, California, he helped initiate the Oakland Green Jobs Corps, one of the nation's first job training programs targeting low-income people for work in the solar and green industries. This program has become a renowned model for numerous initiatives that are now up and running across America.
Today, Van's vision for seizing the opportunity created by the global shift to solar power and other forms of renewable energy is becoming a reality. Policies he has promoted are bringing change to downsized economies across America. In Ginsburg, Pennsylvania, workers have gotten new jobs from a county wind turbine plant and from other wind energy projects generated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Long before joining the administration, Van was America's champion for green jobs. He helped found three national organizations, including "Green for All" in 2007, that are pushing for green energy jobs for Americans who urgently need work.
Jones is all about creating make-work union jobs funded through government subsidies. All alternative energy projects are Federally Subsidized for one very specific reason -- they would not be financially able to compete otherwise. There is no technology shift "around the corner" that can be jumpstarted and although the commercial power companies pay lip service to the alt.energy people, they consider it to be a very very expensive joke on the American public. Less than
three percent of the power in the USA is sourced from wind, solar, geothermal, etc...
Posted by DaveH at February 23, 2010 6:15 PM