RGF Research Director Dowd Muska recently had a column published around the State that argued against subsidies for wind power. Taking on “big wind” in a liberal town like Santa Fe is sure to generate some opposition and a letter to the editor (below) appeared in the Santa Fe New Mexican recently.
We normally don’t respond to all the silly statements people make about us, but the letter below was too good to pass up. For starters, they say RGF is “a cesspool of deceit.” They take us to task for using data from the Institute for Energy Research although they don’t actually question the data or why it is wrong. Nor do they explain why the Keystone pipeline is bad or why wind subsidies are good. It is just stated.
And yes, the RGF is a “libertarian” organization (usually we call ourselves free market) that believes in school choice (vouchers are one option) and opposes the money-losing Rail Runner and film subsidies. So, in many ways the author accurately portrays our views but because he disagrees with them he says they are “deceit.” Funny.
The ONE thing he really gets wrong? RGF is not a “global warming denier.” Our position has never been about the science of global warming, but about the policy of how or whether government should address the issue. Oh well, it’s an amusing way to conclude a letter that claims opposing the Rail Runner or film subsidies is somehow “deceitful.”
I must address D. Dowd Muska’s opinion piece of “facts” regarding wind power (“What Big Wind doesn’t tell us,” Looking In, May 1). While it reads as a reasonable depiction of “facts,” it is actually a cesspool of deceit. Muska uses information from the Institute for Energy Research, seemingly an objective source. A very brief search reveals that the Institute for Energy Research is funded almost entirely by energy companies like Exxon and the American Petroleum Institute, approves of the Keystone pipeline and opposes wind energy tax credits.
Muska belongs to the Rio Grande Foundation. Sounds good — but the Rio Grande Foundation is a libertarian organization that believes in school vouchers and opposed the New Mexico Rail Runner Express, film tax credits and more. The Institute for Energy Research and the Rio Grande Foundation are rated among the worst global warming deniers. Unbiased? You decide.
Cesspool of Deceit is nothing more than an ad hominem attack. Rather than refuting anything Muska says, the author (Brian O’Keefe) attacks Muska’s association: if you are a libertarian, you must be wrong. Ad hominem is a logical fallacy.
In a second letter, writer Pam Parfett claims the NRA outspent all other groups in its opposition to a 2016 background check bill. I don’t think Pam checked any sources, as the NRA, if it spent 44k, appears to have been outspent by Everytown, based on publicly available documents. Like the letter attacking Muska, Ms. Parfett goes on to attack her target using guilt by association as her target appears to have Communist Party, er, I mean, National Rifle Association tendencies. Shades of left wing McCarthyism….
Was not a good day for letters in the People’s Republic Daily.
I actually made the exact same point in a reply in the online edition of the SFNM:
“Brian O’Keefe, your argument would be more compelling if you could actually point to something in Musaka’s opinion piece that was factually incorrect. Instead you jump to the logical fallacy of ad-hominum style attacks, which immediately makes one question your own biases.”
Another irony, is that O’keefe seems to think that numbers from an outfit associated with the petroleum industry (IER) have zero credibility but apparently those from the American Wind Energy Association are completely believable.
Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience – Mark Twain
Keep doing what you’re doing RGF
Thanks for turning bilge water into almost readable nonsense.
But if it comes from NASA it must be accepted, because the government would not lie to achieve its ends? (Keep your doctor and insurance)
And George Soros’ donations are more American and palatable than those of the Koch brothers?
And national socialism is a right-wing political philosophy? Who dreamed that up?
And the Russian people think most highly of their top-five, including Stalin and Putin?
And the Cuban/Venezuelan elections were fair?
Winds here today were 60+ mph; tonight, they will stop. Got batteries?
Small “l” libertarians are generally Jeffersonian democrats, a good thing.
The leftists who highjacked liberalism, and the left progressives (collectivists), and statists, are so wrong.
How can I, a registered democrat of 50 years, hold such thoughts?
Because I read. A lot. And rarely from a lighted screen.
That person’s kind of non-think/group-think are wrong, and exemplify the worst among us. Deadly.