It just slays me

So I kinda...appropriated...the title of Chef Kevin's blog

It Just Slays Me

. But this post definitely fits the criteria.

The other day, as I was flipping through some of the news channels to get my required news fix, a little story caught my attention.

I believe they said it was Pennsylvania, but I'm not positive.

It was about wind power. Ya know? Those huge windmills? Which, as an aside, I just happen to think is a marvelous idea. It's clean. It's relatively quiet. It's environmentally friendly. Well. Except for the occasional bird that happens to be unfortunate enough to fly into one of the gigantic blades. And frankly, they're just cool as hell to see...in my opinion, anyway. Have you ever seen one? They're HUGE.

So the story related how some farmers were taking advantage of offers from these power companies to rent land and erect these huge windmills. The farmers get something like $6,000 a year for each of the windmills. This particular farmer had 32 or 34 windmills on his property.

Pretty damned good wages for doing nothing, I'd say.

It's a win-win situation, right? Clean, efficient, relatively inexpensive energy and the farmers make a bundle without having to work their asses off.

Well, ya just knew somebody had to bitch about something, right?

So some of the farmer's neighbors are complaining about the windmills being "visual pollution".

Gimme a fucking break.

I have no doubt that some of those very same complaining neighbors are farmers, too. Farmers that drive huge, gas guzzling trucks with big tars. Farmers that pollute the land with all manner of pesticides and herbicides and other carcinogenic crap.

And probably farmers that sit on their asses and let their land lie fallow whilst taking advantage of every subsidy and governmental program they can get their hands on. Governmental programs, by the way, that probably prevent the farmers from renting out their land to the power companies. It'd be like double-dipping.

I'm thinkin it's just a case of sour grapes. And even if it's not, it's a ridiculous argument. Ya can't have it both ways. You either keep using fossil fuel which, as we all know, really isn't a renewable resource...and it's gettin damned expensive...or you evolve...start using something smarter, cheaper and plentiful, even though your visual "senses" might be a bit offended. It's a trade-off, but one that's worth it, in my opinion.

Personally, I'd like to see some ginormus nuclear power plant go up near those complainers.

They wanna bitch about "visual pollution"...that'd give 'em something to really bitch about.