Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke walks up to the 10th green during the third day of the British Open Golf Championship at Royal St George's golf course Sandwich, England, Saturday, July 16, 2011.
And what's that I see in the background? Three nuclear cooling towers? Off a golf course, no less? And not even worth noting in the AP blurb?
Of course, we rarely see photos like this in America. Nuclear activities have pretty much stopped the use of this clean-burning, planet-friendly power source here, despite the fact it produces a large portion of Europe's energy safely. We also rarely see background shots of those magnificent windmills we are assured will power our nation either, special interests groups - mostly groups on Congressman, actually - have always thwarted projects where they live or play, forcing them into "wind farms" in the desert or scrub brush, where again environmental activists try to stop them as there is a threat they may force a bird to take a roundabout trip home.
You can sometimes see offshore oil rigs in photos of the beach taken on the West Coast...which enrages residents, as it interferes with their view of the sunset by 1/100th. Then they pack up and leave when the cost of living becomes to high, and blame...the oil companies.
All I'm saying is this: If we are so worried about how the production of energy looks, and constantly seek out excuses not to produce it, we will soon find ourselves paying a ton of cash for every mile we drive (or fly), and have energy cost-induced inflation as the price to manufacturing anything increases exponentially.
Oh, wait...
Time to stop worrying less about how it looks and more about what it's going to cost us, and and if we are ready to let our great nation stagnate and die because we can't stand the sight of a few windmills and oil rigs.
Is this really so bad?
Outside my window at the Bellagio Hotel, Atlantic City, New Jersey. I thought it was picturesque, actually. Next time I'll pose in front of it...
UPDATE: As per the comments, it appears as if the picture elading this post is not of nuclear cooling towers, but was once part of a plant that burnt coal, then oil, then Orimulsion, a a bitumen-based industrial fuel that apparently fell out of favor with British politicians. The plant is now closed. Yet it changes nothing, as we here in America would never dream of putting any type of power generation plant near the playgrounds of the rich, famous, or politically connected...