Sunday Propaganda

When you read this headline, what does it make you think?

Solar power outshining Colorado's gas industry

Well, it made me think that people in Colorado are turning off the gas and turning on solar power, to such an extent that it's hurting the natural gas industry. What systems has Colorado's power distributors developed, I wondered as I clicked, that has cheapened the notoriously expensive alternative-energy option?

Well, it turns out they don't have a new system, but a new partner - the federal government - which is helping alternative energy concerns survive (not thrive, as the headline would mislead you to believe) by simply destroying the competition, Soprano-style:

As La Plata County in southwestern Colorado looks to shift to cleaner sources of energy, solar is becoming the power source of choice even though it still produces only a small fraction of the region's electricity. It's being nudged along by tax credits and rebates, a growing concern about the gases heating up the planet, and the region's plentiful sunshine.

The natural gas industry, which produces more gas here than nearly every other county in Colorado, has been relegated to the shadows.

Tougher state environmental regulations and lower natural gas prices have slowed many new drilling permits. As a result, production — and the jobs that come with it — have leveled off.
With the county and city drawing up plans to reduce the emissions blamed for global warming and Congress weighing the first mandatory limits, the industry once again finds itself on the losing side of the debate.

In a nutshell: the fact that solar power is an option at all ("a small fraction", indeed) is due to the fact the government, both local and federal, are handcuffing the state's gas industry. The headline could equally read as follows:

Limits on energy production leave Colorado's future under a cloud

...but that wouldn't help the president, or the Democrat's radical energy agenda, would it?

I guess the AP/Yahoo see this type of thuggery as something to yahoo! about...except when the time comes, of course, when the government sees fit to choose winners and losers on the Internet...

And just imagine what will happen when the government takes over health care, and your plan becomes a loser, according to the government....

Don't worry! When the cost of your plan doubles so that the ER can be crowded with illegal immigrants, AP/Yahoo will be sure to provide you with propaganda such as..

Health Care Plan a Boon To Undocumented Visitors


UPDATE: in a similar vein, Paul Krugman advises using different words to describe unpopular governance, in a piece aptly titled The Uneducated American:

Congress needs to undo the sins of February, and approve another big round of aid to state governments. We don’t have to call it a stimulus...