No environmentalist would ever allow their child to be treated in a hospital fully powered by “renewables”. They would not take the risk that the wind might stop whilst their baby was on the operating table. They would insist that the hospital and the life support systems had a fossil fuel powered back-up.

And so it is with “sustainable development”. It just isn’t sustainable. At least it does not sustain a lifestyle that those who promote it would consider acceptable for themselves. But of course that is the key. Renewable energy and sustainable development are for “other people”.

Even though environmentalists come from societies and very often families that became rich because of their use of non-renewable energy and unsustainable development they will not allow these opportunities to be extended to the poor in the developing world.

Environmentalists come from wealthy societies and families who cut down forests and burned coal and oil to make their families and societies healthy and prosperous. But, nowadays, for the poor in Africa and Asia and even middle America their path out of poverty must be “sustainable.” No fossil fuels or factories for them. But what this really means is sustainable poverty. It is a system that condemns people to a lifetime of drudgery and subsistence farming because modernity and industrialisation is “unsustainable.”

Which brings me to Bono, the lead singer of rock band U2 and more lately a campaigner for sustainable development in Africa, Asia and south America. In 2005 Bono and his wife Ali Hewson set up Edun a clothing range that was going to prove there is a different way to end poverty. It was going to be a non-corporate and of course “sustainable”.

At he time MSNBC said it would be “clothing with a conscience”. Vogue magazine said Edun was going to “flip capitalism on its head”.

But now it seems that Bono has now discovered that big companies with their big carbon footprints are useful if you want to keep paying the wages and produce the goods and sell them. Last week the rock star announced he has sold out to LVMH, the worlds largest luxury goods company. Announcing the deal Bono all but admitted that his touchy feely version of capitalism and development just didn’t work. Selling out to LVMH was a great deal, said Bono, and would “bring greater and longer-term stability to our manufacturers and the communities they support”.

In other words my Clooneyesc view of business is plain wrong and I now have to admit that I can’t pay the workers salaries without a proper business running the company. They, with their international marketing skills and economies of scale will make the business truly sustainable – that is – they will ensure that the workers have work and a salary every week and for years to come.

It is an admission that capitalism works and is the only way to ensure a better future for some of the world’s poorest people. And now Bono’s clothes with a conscience will be marketed and sold by a company that also sells Louis Vuitton, Donna Karan and Givenchy. LVMH’s also make and sell the delightfully unsustainable Moët & Chandon, Dom Pérignon and Veuve Clicquot. It also makes and sells parfum Christian Dior and Givenchy and luxury jewellery and watches such as TAG Heurer, Christian Dior and De Beers Diamond Jewellers.

Neither side felt it necessary to say how much Bono got for selling half the company to LVMH. Edun has, in the past, made much of the company’s transparency. However it seems that the transparency only extends to poking our noses into what the workers earn. Bono and his wife are exempt from such questions. But good luck to them. It is really not important to know how much money they have.

But it is important for them to stop keeping people in poverty in the name of sustainability. We used our resources – we burned coal and oil and chopped down our forests. We drove our cars and flew our planes. We have used capitalism to conquer disease and poverty and as a consequence our children are the best-educated and healthiest in history.

But it seems that now some of these children want to stop the poorest on the planet from having what we have. Bono loves sustainable development but only for other people. U2’s latest album was recorded in separate sessions in France, the UK, Morocco, the US and Dublin. The band is now going on a worldwide tour to promote it.

This is not “sustainable” but it is necessary to keep people in work and to keep Bono’s bank balance healthy. And this is a good thing. U2 will provide employment for hundreds if not thousands through selling the album and going on tour. But it is being done the old fashioned way – through unsustainable but wealth creating capitalism.

If it is good enough for Bono and his band of Irish multi-millionaires then it should be good enough for the poorest on the planet.

Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney are the directors and producers of “Not Evil Just Wrong,” a documentary which looks at the true cost of Global Warming hysteria. noteviljustwrong.com

Last week, while Barack Obama was busy apologizing for America and lauding the laughable hokum of “Europe’s leading role in the world” in front of qualified world leaders at the G20 summit, Michelle Obama was apparently charming the unmentionables off the marveling Euros with her alleged grace and beauty. The on-going media orgasm over the first couple reached an indecently sloppy crescendo in Europe as the groupthink fiction which now passes for mainstream news bizarrely acclaimed the Obamas the new American royalty.  

In a previous article, I lamented the Obama administration’s perverting of the English lexicon to further its cultural mythology.  The president’s media confederates lovingly disgorged some of this mythology last week under the guise of summit coverage. 

In a particularly unsettling display of sycophantic idol worship, former Vanity Fair and New Yorker editor Tina Brown gushed: 

It was smart of France’s ravishing first lady, Carla Bruni, to let her husband go to the conference without her. The second Madame Sarkozy was a big wow when she visited London last March, but she’s a shrewd enough PR hand to know she would suffer in comparison to the first and only Mrs. Obama.

A simple google images search of the two first ladies reveals that one always looks like she just came off a runway, while the other… doesn’t.  To suggest that Ms. Bruni would be somehow upstaged by First-Lady-In-Training Obama is pure, uncut, Atlantic Coast hackery. 

The Washington Post’s Michael Gerson explained on NBC’s Meet the Press that he “was impressed by Michelle Obama’s grace, which is a national asset.”  In an effusive abcnews.com article comparing Michelle Obama to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, various observers are quoted saying things like “she has a fresh glamour;” “she’s very stylish, always looking amazing;” “she’s probably in the Top 10 of being best dressed, in the world.”  

Welcome to the media’s reinvention of Michelle Obama.  Evidently, Jackie O. has been reincarnated in the person of Michelle O.  This former campaign liability; this bitter, congenitally angry woman; this America-basher who needs a teleprompter to cue a forced, awkward smile is the new Jackie O.  

After this Jackie O. redux demonstrated her exalted grace by trying to manhandle the Queen of England to the horror of the slightly more decorum-conscious Brits, The Houston Chronicle tapped Syracuse University professor Bob Thompson for an explanation:

The power, the voltage of the Obama family is so great it not only can make the queen of England forget her own protocol but invite a violation of it. The whole Obama thing is like an unstoppable cultural force. Even the queen of England is all of a sudden playing footsie.

So powerful was this “voltage” that it was all the Queen could do to keep from knuckle-bumping Michelle. Indeed, it’s only a matter of time before the Obama “unstoppable cultural force” makes England the 57th state.

As for Michelle’s better half, MSNBC’s heart-smitten Chris Matthews effervesced:

He is the new us! That’s right, President Obama is in London tonight as the new emblem of the American people… We’ve got Barack Obama as our president and Michelle Obama as our First Lady. We’re all immensely proud… I thought about that scene for months, the first time they get to come as our American couple. To represent us, really in a new way. A kind of a sophisticated new leadership.

So what are the indicators of this “sophisticated new leadership”? Insulting the mentally-challenged on a late night talk show? Giving the British Prime Minister unplayable DVDs of ET and Star Wars? Suggesting Sarah Palin is a pig? Leaking information about a political rival’s peculiar sex habits to the press? Traveling with 12 teleprompters?  Attending the church services of a racist preacher for 20 years? Fear-mongering the financial markets to 12-year lows? Nominating a procession of tax cheats for cabinet positions? Filling out an NCAA tournament bracket on ESPN? Voting ‘present’? Snorting coke? 

When he wasn’t bowing down to Saudi kings, marginalizing the US, or doing to the European Union what my neighbor’s over-excited poodle sometimes does to my leg, BHO was engaged in his favorite pastime, blaming George W. Bush for stuff.  Percolating diplomatic tensions, increasing worldwide anti-American sentiment, international financial crises, etc… Bush did it.  Duh?! But now “the new emblem of the American people” will clean up the mess. 

Insulting the former regime at every available opportunity is the stuff of little men with inferiority complexes dressed in store-bought army general’s uniforms speaking to the unwashed masses from tall balconies in countries with more coconuts than pavement.  In his own, sophisticated way, our current president keeps telling us, “We won. You lost. Get used to it.”  

So this is class?  This is the new American royalty?  It seems more like the tacky overcompensation of the nouveau riche desperately trying to fit into a social stratum beyond its provincial qualifications.

The more the Obama mythology is repeated, the more it takes on the facade of authenticity.  Through outlets like this website, hopefully we can eventually transition the reality about the current administration from the politically incorrect underground to the sunshine of conventional wisdom.  

How do you say, “glorified community organizer” in Austrian?

Parcbench does not profess to be like most other publications, although we have derived much inspiration from Big Hollywood and its founder, Andrew Breitbart, who has agreed to join our Board of Advisors.  And we believe that we share a common mission.  Specifically, we strive to bring people pop-culture that reflects mainstream America.  

While we intend to deliver a fair share of policy and political coverage as well, we will focus on the culture that makes our nation the richest and most diversified in the world.  We will do it not just through parcbench.com but in person, in your town, on your college campus, and without the liberal spin that one finds in virtually every other cultural media outlet.  

Our magazine will feature stories on current events, television, music, celebrities, movies, fashion, style, art, architecture, health, food, books, sports, and the military.  We aspire to promote a brand that explores everything and cultivates a following that is intensely curious and patriotic.  

Most importantly, Parcbench is beholden to no one.  We owe no allegiance to any corporations or politicians.  We will tell it like it is, including who and what is threatening America, and who and what is preserving it.  And we will do it with your help.  Because we believe that Parcbench is fundamentally a grassroots American experiment. 

Although we live in tumultuous times, we believe that hope is not a new feature of the American landscape, but a fundamental part of our ethos.  Parcbench will reflect that hope, optimism, love of country, and American sense of entrepreneurship.  And best of all, Parcbench will be fun, something that is all too easy to forget these days. 

Brett Joshpe is co-author of the book Why You’re Wrong About the Right: Behind the Myths: The Surprising Truth About Conservatives (Simon & Schuster). He graduated from Harvard Law School and is currently General Counsel of The American Civics Exchange.