Really? That's all you can come up with?!

James Kunstler has this to say about flying to Maui (which he apparently did before his latest jaunt to Chicago):

For all of you out there disposed to twang on me for riding a jet airplane all the way to Maui, please consider that United flight 35 would have flown from San Francisco to Maui with or without me on it. Here's the deal: I had to go to San Fran to give a talk at the Commonwealth Club. From there, I had a lecture gig on Maui. I stayed three extra days and nights -- since I'd come all that way.

Where have I heard that argument before? Wasn't it Arianna Huffington justifying the use of a private jet because it happened to be going where she was going? All during that period of time that she was lecturing us on the evils of SUVs? Or was it Al Gore, whose prolific use of energy at his house and in his travels is justified by the fact that he has important stuff to do and lots of people to entertain (as opposed to you and I, whose lives are so much less significant)?

It's not that I really care if they do those things. I object to their telling me how to live my life while and insisting that I shouldn't do what they do. And this is such a lame rationale: every passenger just happens to be going to the same place the planes are going. Sometimes they have things slightly more important to do than "give a talk" ... which could have been done on videotape, via satellite, or over this newfangled internet thingy.