If something sounds too good to be true but makes you feel really good, just pretend that it’s true and accept the feel-good.
A CNSNews.com article reports that the Environmental Protection Agency granted “Energy Star” qualification to a “gas-powered clock radio” and 14 other phony products.
The clock and 14 other phony products were part of an investigation into the Energy Star program conducted by the Government Accountability Office, which submitted 20 fraudulent Energy Star applications from four fake companies. The EPA evaluated 16 of those products while the Department of Energy (DOE) evaluated four.
Fifteen of the phony products – including the gas-powered alarm clock – and all four of the fake companies were certified by EPA/DOE under the Energy Star program.
The arrogance in the name of the agency alone is stunning. Can a conservative or libertarian thinker even get inside the head of people who think that they should decide for the rest of us what needs “protection” — protection from us. The Government Accountability Office (GAO)…
…found that companies can easily submit fictitious energy-efficiency claims in order to obtain Energy Star qualifications for a broad range of consumer products. …the current process for becoming an Energy Star partner and certifying specific products as Energy Star compliant provides little assurance that products with the Energy Star label are some of the most efficient on the market.
Ah, but you see, the GAO is overlooking the feel-good factor. Let’s call that “FGF.”
Progressive’s Rule of Thumb: If FGF exceeds 1.0, then no matter how bad the reality of a situation is, the situation should be called “good.” Mathematically speaking, FGF = [warm fuzzies measured in arbitrary feel-good units] divided by [bad results measured in jobs lost, people made sick, length of health care queues, fictitious products certified as energy efficient, or other real world measurable result]
As long as this equation yields a result greater than 1, the progressive “mind” is at ease.
The CNS article reports:
Energy Star is administered jointly by the EPA and the Department of Energy, which provides grants and certifications for some products. GAO said it submitted most of the fake products to the EPA.
Priceless.
The EPA is headed by pseudoscience-loving global warming zealot Lisa Jackson. Furthermore, energy czar Carol Browner was a member of Socialist International. There’s gotta be a helluva feel-good fest every time those two get together.
The GAO further reports that…
…manufacturers are allowed to provide their own proof of energy efficiency, claims that EPA and DOE do not regularly verify.
Kind of like “progressive” education. Let the kids determine what they want to learn and just how they want to learn it — and then don’t give tests or issue grades to determine if any learning took place.
All sounds rather progressive.
