Posted on 08/31/2011 10:08:07 AM PDT by NevadaPolicyResearchInstitute
No joke.
Here's what Secretary Steven Chu, a top official in the Obama administration who's in charge of the U.S. Department of Energy, claimed today at Sen. Harry Reid's National Clean Energy Summit:
So the government played an incredibly intimate role in all the technologies that led to prosperity in the United States, and we must not lose sight of that fact.And if you don't believe he said that and given how ludicrous that statement is, I wouldn't blame you here's video of his comment (30:50 mark).
Browse through these lists of 10 popular inventions and the top 50 inventions of the last 50 years. Notice anything missing? Oh yeah, government's "intimacy" in creating the telephone, the television, the automobile or even the TV remote.
If you have some extra time and want some laughs, go back to the 28:25 mark of Chu's speech and watch him try to explain how the government was really responsible for airplanes.
Of course, the Wright brothers invented it, Chu says, but if it weren't for military spending or allowing private companies to deliver the U.S. mail (amazing how he considers deregulation to be intimate government involvement, but I digress), no doubt airplanes would have faded away.
Sure, mankind has been trying to fly for thousands of years, but absent some military spending, I'm sure this technology would have been lost to history, and we'd all be traveling on a rail system that would make Dagny Taggart envious.
What garbage.
Of course, given that Chu was at a conference designed to promote government subsidies to private businesses, false claims are par for the course.
For more coverage of Reid's Clean Energy Summit (and to find out what other ridiculous things government officials are saying), check out NevadaJournal.com.
Did Chu say anything about AlGore inventing the Internet??
Steve Chu reporting from where? ‘The State Science Institute’?
I swear, the Obama regime seems to have read Atlas Shrugged as some sort of reference guide on how to develop a failed socialist state.
Lies, lies anymore lies. Nothing else seems to come out o9f Washington anymore. And the rougher, tougher uneducated crowd 2ill believe those lies, as the Lefitsts build their army!
We are in a pretty pickle, people!
Chu’s on first?
It’s not lies in their minds. I’ve argued with internet idiots who really honestly believe that government is the source of ALL things, including technology. There’s no way to reach these people by reason, they need to be pushed out of any level of public power.
Sounds like the Nuns in Catholic School where nothing EVER happened in history without at least a Priest being involved or actually doing it.
It’s going to take everything we’ve got to restore the country to what it once was. The government has become our nemesis, not our savior!
Certainly not true of Thomas Edison, Samuel F.B. Morse, Henry Ford or any of our other great innovators of that era.
However, if he is speaking of the last half-century he may have a point. Many companies have stopped doing internal R&D all together, instead opting to farm it out to universities. And the universities as we all know need Federal money even more than oxygen.
To me - it is different if a politician or a lawyer were to stretch the truth a bit.
But with the new Left - even Technocrats and Scientists - don’t seem to have any respect - at all - for making statements that just can’t be supported by facts.
This reveals a deaply flawed character. This is a “junior engineer” mentality - where all the guys in the room roll their eyes, and wonder when the real engineer will show up.
It demonstrates - the guy has never really been around serious people. Just a bunch of chuckle head yes men.
May I add here that there is only one Savior? His name is Jesus Christ. He gave His life that Sinners become white as snow to live forever with Him in perfect peace.
By specific design, Satan’s agents have drawn the American people gradually away from the rules for life that God, in all His wisdom, gave us. So the people sampled Satan’s tempting and evil wares. Now Satan has the country in a death hold!
Yes,the bad news is that the magnificent country to which God led His people in the 15th century is now sinking in the quicksand of evil!
The good news is that He still answers prayer for those who love Him and are obedient! Please read your Bibles with your families every morning and pray for His forgiveness. Pray that the people He loves turn back to Him. Only when they do will our country be saved, for He is far greater than he who is in this world.
Chu’s a socialist, this is not an unexpected remark from him.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.