July 2, 2009
Quote of the Day
On CNBC today, WH economist Christina Romer said the president is committed to “doing whatever it takes” to turn around the economy. And she did not rule out a second stimulus plan. Yet the president will not cut corporate taxes or investment taxes — even temporarily much less in a permanent way that would boost confidence and certainty. I think the WH believes it can pretty much ride this out, 2012 being a long way a way and Dems have structural advantages in 2010. -- James Pethokoukis
2012
Forget about climate change. Forget about preventing a second term for Obama. The world is coming to an end the month after the election. "It could really happen." And that is a quote.
[What a waste of the category "art." I promise to do better in future.]
Too bad the Mayans did not see the closer cataclysm of the Spanish. I'd have to call them 0 for 1 -- too harsh?
Yet I embrace the premise wholeheartedly -- no need for Cap'n Trade now...
Good Week at the Coffeehouse!
Great week! Blog friend SugarChuck has the guest slot, and I had one more with Kurt O on vibes for today.
My name is jk and I'm a PC
My new computer just came in. Sorry, ac, it's not a Mac.
I have been pretty happy with my old one, but editing video for the virtual coffeehouse taxed my old box. The new baby has 8GB, a quad core processor, and 3/4 TB of disk -- for $651. NED bless the free market, free trade and comparative advantage!
Brave you are - admitting this in public.
Any props from me would be counterproductive but my new "friend" socalragamuffin, who is now inexplicably following my wholly unused Twitter account, looks like a girl with enough street cred to innoculate you against charges of "un-hip-ness."
[WARNING: I don't advise anyone follow any links on the linked page. No tellin' where this "girl" has been.]
And an awesome guitar from Sugarchuck -- better than Christmas. Now if Rep. Conyers and Senator Stabenow go down in that scandal...
I remember when i rolled out the 386/40 with 20mb RAM and a 150mb HD in high school....
we were like "how are we ever going to fill up that hard drive?!"
I bought an Atari 800 (to upgrade my 16K 400) and the box asked -- in very large letters -- "What will you do with 64K?" I wish I still had the box.
Oy Vey!
Sorry, Children of David, you've been had. Alan Dershowitz writes in the WSJ Ed Page:
Many American supporters of Israel who voted for Barack Obama now suspect they may have been victims of a bait and switch. Jewish Americans voted overwhelmingly for Mr. Obama over John McCain in part because the Obama campaign went to great lengths to assure these voters that a President Obama would be supportive of Israel. This despite his friendships with rabidly anti-Israel characters like Rev. Jeremiah Wright and historian Rashid Khalidi.
At the suggestion of Mr. Obama's Jewish supporters -- including me -- the candidate visited the beleaguered town of Sderot, which had borne the brunt of thousands of rocket attacks by Hamas. Standing in front of the rocket shells, Mr. Obama declared: "If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop that. And I would expect Israelis to do the same thing." This heartfelt statement sealed the deal for many supporters of Israel.
Dershowitz's IQ is probably three times mine. I've enjoyed several of his books and even though he has gone pretty far left in recent years, I always appreciated his commitment to personal civil liberties (if not property rights). But do they never listen to The Who? They get fooled again. Every Time.
Who (not, The Who, I have moved on from that) seriously thought that Obama would be a friend to Israel? I was very happy with his choice of Clinton for SecState because I felt she would balance out an administration that I was sure would be anti-Israel,
But they will get fooled again (back to The Who again). Every time.
I've often thought there is a Heinlein quote for every occurence in human events. Here's one for this story:
"Human beings hardly ever learn from the experience of others. They learn; when they do, which isn't often, on their own, the hard way."
-Robert A. Heinlein
July 1, 2009
Lone Star Envy
Listen to Professor Reynolds's interview with Texas Governor Rick Perry -- and tell me you don't feel like callin' U-Haul...
Walmart*
Those who love liberty are pretty reliable to step up and defend Walmart from its many enemies. We'll fight off the back-to-the-cavers who want a 1900 grocery with a pickle jar. We'll fight religious wackos upset that the company sells pants to women.
And in the end, as Adam Smith predicts, we'll be sold out by the firm's rent-seeking. Will they make a case for liberty? No. Jimmy P details Walmart's coming out in favor of government mandate that employers provide health insurance. In short, they can afford it and many competitors cannot. Pethokoukis links to Heritage and CATO:
An employer mandate to provide health insurance would enhance Wal-Mart’s cost advantage. Wal-Mart has 1.4 million U.S. employees, and can negotiate a health insurance contract for them all at once. As a large multi-state employer, they can self-insure and provide coverage under federal ERISA regulations, which exempts them from costly compliance with most state health insurance regulations.
Wal-Mart's small competitors have neither of these advantages. Employers with less than 20 employees often pay more than twice as much per employee for the same coverage, and small employers must comply with sometimes-onerous state regulations.
Now is time for ThreeSourcers to shove back in my face my frequent suggestion that a corporation exists only to maximize value for its shareholders. If Walmart can crush Target as it crushes liberty, I should cheer, right?.
yay.
You hit the nail on the head, but it's not a new concept. In business school (lo these many years ago)we learned about companies using regulations as a competitive weapon - increase barriers to entry for innovative companies and increase the costs of your competitors. We studied it more as an observation than as a "how to," but there's a fine line in that distinction.
Companies are, or at least should be, dispationate objects. Otherwise, the become like GM. However, they are run by people and therein lies the weak link.
And yet it hurts to have this company that all but defines capitalism treat it so cavilerly.
Was meaning to blog about this myself. This is just the latest case demonstrating the adage, "Government makes criminals of us all." Wal-Mart is put in the unenviable position of having to choose between Bad and Really Bad. Consider this: if it were so advantageous for Wal-Mart to push for mandated employer-provided health insurance, why didn't it before?
Wal-Mart's actions prove that it prefers the status quo. However, now it has to support some sort of health care "reform" BS, in the hopes that it will placate the feds and stall the nationalization movement. So, I'm willing to give Wal-Mart a bit of a break here. It's not to the level of Standard Oil, which lobbied for hefty insurance requirements as artificial barriers to entry for its competitors.
That Damn Balance of Powers Thingy Again!
Even Glenn Greenwald (not a frequent linkee 'round these parts) finds the following quote "creepy."
It's "stunning that he would ignore the wishes not just of his president, but of his constituents and the country," said an administration official.
This directed at a Democratic Congressman from Texas who had the temerity to vote against Cap'n Trade. Greewald:
This has become an emerging theme among both the White House and House leadership: that progressive membe ers of Congress have an obligation to carry out "the wishes of the President" even when they disagree (now, apparently, it's "stunning" when they defy his dictates).
Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) was not opposing the bill to protect Texas families from a 300% tax on electricity, mind you -- he felt that the bill was too lenient on polluters.It remains a story without a hero -- but with a couple more villains.
Birds of a Feather
Even if you've already seen this one you'll appreciate it again:
Indeed. If you aren't already familiar, here is the real story on the "military coup" in Honduras.
Excellent. It's refreshing to see major sources pointing out that this was not a real coup, but the removal of a proto-dictator. What does it tell you when Chavez and the UN insist that someone be returned to power?
Billy Hollis at QandO has been publishing stuff from his friend in Honduras. Must-read.
So now you know, when U.S. and AFP news talk about "protestors" battling with police, whose side the protestors are actually on. And think about what will happen if Zelaya returns. He'll virtually flood the streets with the blood of his opponents, making Robespierre look like Mother Theresa.
Governor Sanford
Now that we have broached the topic of Michael Jackson and Billy Mays, we have to say a few words about the governor of South Carolina. My brother emailed an insightful thought:
In all fairness to Governor Sanford's staffers, "I'm getting some Argentinean tail." sounds a lot like "I'm hiking the Appalachian trail." on a fuzzy, cell-phone connection!!
Repeat after me: "Wise latina woman. Wise latina woman."
Which one, johngalt - the one that that got served by SCOTUS, or the one that gave service in Argentina?
On the serious side, no politician's wife ever showed more grace."
"I don't know whether he'll be with me, but I'm gonna do my best to work on our marriage because I believe in marriage. I believe in raising good kids; it's the most important thing in the world."
How Sanford could love anyone else but the mother of his children who can say something as profound as this is beyond me. Here's hoping he's got sense enough to recognize a genuinely wise woman.
June 30, 2009
Excellence
ThreeSources has been a sacred and quiet bastion from celebrity death news. But we who love the free market cannot not offer a loud REQUIESCAT IN PACE!!!! to the King Of Pitch, Mister Billy Mays.
Popular Mechanics has five of his infomercials posted and they are really quite compelling. Ed McMahon was proudest of his abilities as a pitchman as well. Goodbye to both -- it's great to see something done well.
On topic, this jazz snob has to actually spin off a few nice words about Michael Jackson as well. Looking at his productive years over the tabloid years, I offer a one glove salute to a performer who was known for working hard. I know a lot of players who rest on their abilities and I know a lot who work hard. Jackson was that rare breed who did both. He used to rehearse those dance chops pretty severely and was known to be pretty demanding at the quality of his recordings and videos.
Sorry to break our perfect record in non-Jackson coverage, but I don't hear anybody else saying that. If you're gonna be a pop star or a pitchman, do it right. And a few guys who did died last week. We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.
The Brevity Act
Or "Omnibus Legislation to Ensure Succinctness and Eschew Obfuscation and Circumlocution" when our 535 editors-in-chief are done with it.
Bob Gale makes an important point. He prints out the Constitution in 12 point Times New Roman (Dan Rather's favorite) and it clocks in at 20 pages.
Yet the bill that was passed on June 26, 2009 by 219 of our elected representatives — people to whom we’ve entrusted our Constitution, men and women who have sworn an oath to uphold it - was more than 1200 pages long. That’s over 100 times longer than the U.S. Constitution! And not one member of Congress, NOT ONE, read the whole thing!
A word comes to my mind to describe this: "INSANE."
In "Tempting of America" Robert Bork makes the point that the Constitution is understandable. He objects to the Justices' getting too lawyerly because it breaks this bond of undestanding between the people and the law that defines their government. Bastiat's "The Law" says that just law is "understandable and avoidable."
What's in the 1200 pages of Cap'n Trade? Pure mischief. Rent-seeking opportunities for campaign donors, special carve-outs for supporters. And, perhaps most importantly a net obfuscation-through-tonnage that keeps anybody from knowing enough about it to debate it or discuss it seriously.
Gale suggests a brevity amendment:
No law, bill, resolution or any act of Congress shall exceed 2000 words, including all footnotes, amendments and signatures. Congress shall not vote on any item longer than that. Each item requiring a vote shall be read aloud in its entirety in session to a majority of members. Those not in attendance may not vote on the item.
We could do (and have done) a lot worse.
Hat-tip: Instapundit
Before Bastiat, there was Hammurabi. Hammurabi's code included some three hundred separate laws, not one of which is more than two sentences long. He was believed to have said that to be enforceable, laws must be simple (so that all could understand) and on public display (so no one could claim ignorance).
My, how we've evolved over the centuries.
I'll endorse the brevity amendment, and propose a rider: that for every one of those up-to-2,000 words enacted, two must be deleted; and for every new law passed, two old ones must be made to go away.
Both of the examples of good law cited above were created before not just the modern age, but the post-modern age. When the very idea of knowable reality is obliterated then what use is knowable law?
And expanding on some prior comments, when a person is taught that "nothing is certain" and "perception is reality" then when the otherwise predictable effects of reality take him by surprise the only thing he can call it is "magic." In other words, blame the schools. Specifically, the philosophers who train the professors who teach the educators who write and administer the curricula. (In other societies they call these philosophers "mullahs.")
Keith, The Refugee's father used to aspouse a similar system to pass one law/remove another. However, he passed before such legistation did. Unfortunately, you and I are likely to suffer the same fate.
Civil Evil
I must, in fairness, link to a WSJ editorial today that strongly takes my blog brother br's side of the Madoff sentence.
On sentencing 71-year-old Bernard Madoff yesterday to 150 years, federal Judge Denny Chin said, "Here the message must be sent that Mr. Madoff's crimes were extraordinarily evil."
"Evil" is a word that has fallen out of political fashion, suggesting as it does intent or action that is irredeemable. Politicians, especially now, prefer to routinely insinuate vaguely defined moral failure against individuals, corporations and entire industries for opposing an equally vague standard of the public good.
No such problem attends Bernard Madoff, who himself yesterday described a personality willing to defraud and debase all who came in contact with him. Madoff's sentence and Judge Chin's remarks fit the crime. They are a rare exercise in moral clarity.
I'm all for moral clarity and agree that Madoff clearly showed premeditation and
mens rea. It still seems out of line to me with typical sentences for physical violence and murder, but perhaps my father and G.K. Chesterton were right about this not being a perfect world.
Dr. Helen asks my question. Many interesting comments.
June 29, 2009
But with good behavior, he'll be out in 130...
Does anybody really think that Bernie Madoff deserves 150 years?
NEW YORK – Convicted Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison Monday for a fraud that the judge called so "extraordinarily evil" that he needed to send a message to potential copycats and to victims who demanded harsh punishment.
Again, my preference would be to have fewer but more just laws and enforce them fully. But I suspect that if some kid kills me in a botched carjacking, he'll tell the judge that Mommy didn't love him and he'll be out in a few years. I'm glad this judge comprehends the importance of property rights, but I suggest that this sentence is part-and-parcel of a current bias against "money folk."
Would you feel better if he'd only been sentenced to 100 years? Or 50? He'd be eligible for parole at age 110.
For years, liberals have decried the sentences meted out to drug offenders as being overly harsh compared to white collar crime. Just proves the old adage that some people will complain if you hang 'em with a new rope.
Personally, I don't find the Madoff sentence excessive. He should spend the rest of his life cleaning toilets with his toothbrush. It's not like he was picking the pockets of unsuspecting tourists in Times Square to feed his kids. This guy ruined the retirement for thousands of people in order to live better than a king - and knew exactly what he was doing.
Ricci Overturned!
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court has ruled that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge. -- AP
But Jimmy P points out that the betting markets still call her a 95% sure thing for confirmation.
UPDATE: Maybe a quote of the day for Justice Alito's concurrence, joined by Scalia and Thomas (C/O Jonathan Adler):
Petitioners were denied promotions for which they qualified because of the race and ethnicity of the firefighters who achieved the highest scores on the City’s exam. The District Court threw out their case on summary judgment, even though that court all but conceded that a jury could find that the City’s asserted justification was pretextual. The Court of Appeals then summarily affirmed that decision. The dissent grants that petitioners’ situation is “unfortunate” and that they “understandably attract this Court’s sympathy.” Post, at 1, 39. But “sympathy” is not what petitioners have a right to demand. What they have a right to demand is evenhanded enforcement of the law—of Title VII’s prohibition against discrimination based on race. And that is what, until today’s decision, has been denied them.
Now, Some Nasty Words about Lord Keynes
I found myself in the peculiar position if defending the Keynes multiplier last week. On this very blog. It was not any fun but I felt that it needed to be done.
To get my mojo back, I pass along a Mankiw post and a recommendation that you click through and read Scott Sumner's original post. Sumner details an incident when a young JMK was caught in a quick currency flip and leaned on friends and family.
Translation, without help from his rich daddy and rich friends, this cocky, arrogant, smart-aleck would have fallen on his face, ended up digging ditches somewhere and we would never have heard of him. But he did have a rich daddy, who bailed him out...
Interstin'... While on topic, click over to scrivener.net to read
"An odd thing about Keynesian deficit spending:"
"Despite the fact that the economics of deficit finance began with the Keynesian Revolution, it has been conclusively established by Kregel (1985) that Keynes himself did not ever directly recommend government deficits as a tool of stabilization policy. Keynes played a conservative political hand and viewed budget deficits with a 'clearly enunciated lack of enthusiasm'."
That's true. He was a "fiscally responsible" liberal, after all, in the same way that Bill and Hillary, and Robert Rubin, are. Government can borrow and spend if it needs to, but preferably it'll just tax the hell out of people and control all the spending.
The Weakest Link
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
One selling feature of the model condo that I bought was the inclusion of three very nice, high-end ceiling fans. Attractive and quiet, I have really enjoyed them.
Clicking it on this morning, the cheap pull-chain broke off flush with the switch and the office fan is now stuck on "Liquefy." The wall switch controls only the light, there is no other place to cut power (except the breaker).
Charming illustration of an old aphorism, and, yet, crap!
Good news! The chain broke with the fan switch on instead of off. Just install one of these wireless fan controls and you're all set. No new wiring is required.
Then the weak link will be the lack of a self-dusting feature.
Get outta town -- assume all fans have remote?
No no. This control comes with its own remote receiver that is installed under the fan housing below the ceiling. That's how it is compatible with all fans.
Okay, got it. That should work perfectly. I have one on the way from Amazon.
Holler if'n you need someone to hold the ladder.
RomneyCare Post Mortem
After Senator McCain's disappointing campaign in 2008, I saw Gov. Romney on TV and wondered if I had made the wrong choice. Romney understood capitalism and did not seem to hate business. I passed on Romney because of RomneyCare. I figured that if he were rolled by the Democrats in the Commonwealth, he'd be sure to get rolled by the ones in Washington.
By then, there were not any good choices left, so I don't know if was right or wrong. But I was not wrong on RomneyCare. A big story in the Boston Globe yesterday highlighted its problems. Author Joan Vonnochi gets a mention in the WSJ's "Notable & Quotable" feature (their cheap imitation of the ThreeSources Quote of the Day):
The fuzzy math behind the Massachusetts universal healthcare law is starting to add up -- just as Washington studies the law as a possible model for the nation.
Because of a recession-related drop in state revenues and a surge in enrollment by the recently unemployed, the truth is emerging at an inconvenient time. Massachusetts doesn't have enough money to pay for the coverage envisioned by the law.
In June, state officials announced they are cutting $100 million from Commonwealth Care, which subsidizes premiums for needy residents. The poorest residents, along with the newest -- legal immigrants -- will take the hit.
This outcome is not surprising, but it is instructive as President Obama pushes for a national healthcare plan.
On the day that Republican Governor Mitt Romney, for once, made Bay State Democrats happy, by signing the sweeping new healthcare bill into law, the Globe headline said it all: "Joy, worries on healthcare. As Romney signs bill, doubts arise about revenues.''
In Massachusetts, the numbers never added up, as everyone involved in crafting the new law understood. But for a variety of reasons, ranging from Romney's presidential aspirations to Senator Edward M. Kennedy's longstanding commitment to healthcare reform, everyone smiled for the cameras and hoped for the best out of this noble experiment.
UPDATE: Don't pack up that moisturizer just yet:
Mitt Romney says publicly he's not considering another presidential campaign, most recently on Sunday during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press." But many of his loyalists expect one and remain at the ready for 2012.
Really, what thinking person was surprised?
Show me one person who believed the projections about staying in the black, and I'll show you a goddamn dolt.
June 28, 2009
The Didn't Take Long
Obama administration politicizing science?
Say it ain't so.
With this and the firing of the Inspectors General, it is almost worth abandoning liberty to see our friends on the left contort themselves. Almost.
As I have observed from my liberal co-workers....
Never underestimate the power of willful ignorance.
You want to talk about co-workers... Remember that woman who said "He's going to help me pay for gas and my mortgage"? I work near two just like that. The one good thing that came out of Obama's primary victories is that these two actually learned the names of some states they probably hadn't heard of before.
As long as whitey gets stuck with the cost, they don't care.
June 27, 2009
Clean Energy "misinformation"
I'd barely finished yelling at my television during C-SPAN coverage of the H.R. 2454 vote before the president started in on the senate:
"My call to every senator, as well as to every American, is this," he said. "We cannot be afraid of the future. And we must not be prisoners of the past. Don't believe the misinformation out there that suggests there is somehow a contradiction between investing in clean energy and economic growth."
Misinformation? I think John Boehner said it best during his "fillibuster" yesterday (via DVR):
6:04 PM EDT [Reading from the 300 page back-door amendment.] "Now let me get to page 83. Consumer Behavior Research. The Secretary of Energy is authorized to establish a research program to identify the factors affecting consumer actions to conserve energy and to make improvements in energy efficiency. Through the program the Secretary will make grants to public and private institutions of higher education to study the effects of consumer behavior on total energy use."
"Do we really need to spend government money to do a study on why people don't want to pay twice the cost and get half the quality?"
Then there's this:
Obama said the bill would create jobs, make renewable energy profitable and decrease America's dependence on foreign oil.
Does nobody recognize this tacit admission that renewable energy is NOT profitable?
Obama practices true faith-based politics. You have to believe he has some kind of magic, otherwise this whole planet is so screwed.
Of course, I'm just being logical when I point out that whatever profitable "renewable" energy there is, by definition entrepreneurs look at it without any need for government. Government action can only direct us away from what is genuinely profitable.
"Obama, practices faith-based politics." So true. So do the people who voted for him; they were true believers in that magic.
When I was in the Philippines during the run-up to the 2004 Presidential election there, I read an article in one of their newspapers in which a number of ordinary people were asked who they were voting for and why. I laughed as I read about one older woman who answered "I am voting for Fernando Poe Jr. because he has magic, and he will use that magic to fix the economy!" (One of Poe's best-known movie roles was as the character Flavio, a blacksmith who forges a magical sword to right wrongs in "Ang Panday.")
Yeah, I laughed because it's funny when stupid happens to someone else's country. It's not so funny now. Thank you, 52%, for all that magical thinking.
Which is worse, voters who ascribe supernatural powers to the politicians they support, or people who support politicians with full knowledge of how "democracy" will give them by taking from others?
Well said, Perry, I think I'll take the witch doctors.
Perry: I think you've just given us what may be the perfect description of the difference between stupid and evil.
As for your question, I'm with jk, and I'll go with the former: the unsmart are so much easier to live among without being harmed than the ungood.
Don't Tell Blake Carrington!
Colorado ranked worst place for energy industry to do business
Surveys and magazine rankings routinely list parts of Colorado as the best places to live. But one survey says for oil and gas companies Colorado is the worst place in the country to do business.
The survey covered 143 locations worldwide. Colorado ranked last among the states and 81st in the world.
In 2007 Colorado was among the best places for oil and gas.
Some executives say Colorado has fallen out of favor because of new regulations.
Hat-tip:
@RockyMtnRight
Don't you see what a good idea Obama's cap-and-trade is? The One will make Colorado equal with everywhere else...by bringing down everywhere else to Colorado's level.
On the plus side, the Rockies have won 19 out of their last 22 and are just 7 1/2 games out. Who cares about economics when you have baseball?
More Blue Horse Lore
We had a little fun discussing the Blue Demon Public Art Horse at Denver International Airport last February.
A friend of mine has just joined a Facebook Group: I'm Afraid of the big blue horse at DIA.
Science and politics at EPA
JK asked for proof. Here's a start. Anthony Watts has more on the CEI charge that EPA ignored science disproving the absurd notion that carbon dioxide is a pollutant. Watts also has one of the internal EPA email messages and a conversation back and forth between a San Francisco journalist and an anonymous EPA employee. Fascinating.
UPDATE: Investor's Business Daily is now reporting the story above, citing them as sources. This could be a stepping-stone to the MSM next week. Maybe not Diane Sawyer, but there's got to be one journalist and editor out there who are willing to risk administration blacklisting to get props for "breaking" the story.
Quod erat Demonstratum, jg. Nice sleuthing.
Emissions scheme passes Australia's House - stalls in Senate
In 2007 Australian PM John Howard became Global Warming's "first major political victim." His successor, Kevin Rudd, pledged to sign the Kyoto Protocol. This year Rudd sought passage of a government mandated emissions reduction plan.
The rise in skepticism also came as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, elected like Mr. Obama on promises to combat global warming, was attempting his own emissions-reduction scheme. His administration was forced to delay the implementation of the program until at least 2011, just to get the legislation through Australia's House. The Senate was not so easily swayed.
Mr. Fielding, a crucial vote on the bill, was so alarmed by the renewed science debate that he made a fact-finding trip to the U.S., attending the Heartland Institute's annual conference for climate skeptics. He also visited with Joseph Aldy, Mr. Obama's special assistant on energy and the environment, where he challenged the Obama team to address his doubts. They apparently didn't.
This week Mr. Fielding issued a statement: He would not be voting for the bill. He would not risk job losses on "unconvincing green science." The bill is set to founder as the Australian parliament breaks for the winter.
The preceding account by Kim Strassel uses this and many more instances to show that the US is out of step with the international community on climate change.
The number of skeptics, far from shrinking, is swelling. Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe now counts more than 700 scientists who disagree with the U.N. -- 13 times the number who authored the U.N.'s 2007 climate summary for policymakers.
Nancy Pelosi's House clearly didn't care about any of this in today's vote for global economic suicide. It's hard to imagine that the Senate will ignore it too.
Awesome post (My Kim Strassel quota was exceeded or I'd've linked). Her editorial is a great compilation of serous grounds for skepticism -- just in case anybody needs an article to forward to a fence-sitting friend or relative or Senator.
June 26, 2009
"Balanced" and "sensible" climate change bill passes House
That's the spin thrown on the bill by President Obama yesterday. Surely it was far from either of those qualities at the time, but prior to passage another 300 pages were shoe-horned in ... at 3 am this morning! [What in the hell is the fixation that Washington politicians have with that time of day?] Minority Leader Boehner said the obvious:
And here are a few floor quotes:
Rep. Geoff Davis, a Republican from Kentucky, said the cap-and-trade bill represented the "economic colonization of the heartland" by New York and California.
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) called the bill a “scam” that would do nothing but satisfy “the twisted desires of radical environmentalists.”
Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.) called it a “massive transfer of wealth” from the United States to foreign countries.
Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio countered that, without the bill, the United States would remain energy-dependent on people who want to “fly planes into our buildings.”
I'd hoped to insert a bulleted list of ways that this bill is a colonoscopy for America but then I realized, Who the hell knows what it does... it jumped from 1200 pages to 1500 overnight!
But it's far from law yet. Next stop: the Senate.
(Note that as the lions share of H.R. 2454 was written by the environmental lobby this post qualifies for the coveted "dirty hippies" category.)
And kudos to JK for naming the 8 RINOs who voted for this treasonous piece of crap. Just four of them switching sides would have spiked it.
That jagoff Kirk wants to run for Obama's former Senate seat.
Good luck with that.
Of the 44 Democrats voting no, one is from Colorado and four are from PA. I'll tell you what - my respect for John Salazar (CO-3) just grew three sizes larger.
Well done, Mister Leader!
I tend to give up before trying on my representation, but Colorado's two freshman Democrat Senators could well feel a little heat on this issue.
To take up an Instapundit riff, having the next Tea Party outside of Senator Udall's or Bennett's office might be a better blow for freedom than a photo-op outside the Capitol.
If Mark Udall might face heat on this issue in 2010 he doesn't seem to feel it at the moment. One of the stories I read yesterday said a few senators were working the halls of congress twisting arms for a yes vote. Mark Udall (D-CO) was the one mentioned by name.
I'm in for a TEA (Taking Energy Away) party at one of Markey's offices. Instead of pitchforks we'll carry empty gas cans. (Shall we try to organize something for next week?)
I'm thinking we'd have better luck with Bennett, but that it would be a good exercise to scare Senator Udall. He is used to catering to CO-2 collectivists and a reminder that Boulder is not the whole state, dude, might be a good lesson.
They're pushing on Twitter for GOP defectors (great Twitter tag #capandtr8tors) to change their vote as you suggest with Markey. Is that realistic? I cannot imagine that the same effort would not be better directed at the Senate, but I am open to discussion.
Best quote:
“I look forward to spending the next 100 years trying to fix this legislation,” said California Republican Brian Bilbray.
Cap'n Trade
I was stuck at the hospital all day (drug trials, I'm fine!) but blog friend SugarChuck reports that some Congressional Republicans put up a good fight today. But, as you've no doubt heard, 219 house members thought that the Federal government should control energy use and only 212 did not.
I have no consoling words, but at least we get a good Quote of the day:
Never have so few stolen so much from so many to achieve so little -- @VodkaPundit
Stephen Green (VodkaPundit) also retweets the GOP defectors: "GOP votes for #capandtrade McHugh(NY) Reichert(WA) Smith(NJ) Lance(NJ) LoBiondo(NJ) Bono Mack(CA) Castle(DE) Kirk(IL)"
Hello, Justice Brandeis?
The WSJ Ed Page has a home run lead editorial today. They point out that the key agenda items of the Obama Administration and the Democratic-led 111th Congress have been tried in the progressive states of New York, California and New Jersey.
They go item by item and show how these have failed in the States that have tried them.
So goes the real-life experience of progressive governance, with heavy tax burdens financing huge welfare states, and state capitals dominated by public-employee unions. Formerly rich states, they are now known for job losses, booming deficits and debt, wage stagnation, out-migration and laughing-stock legislatures. At least Americans have the ability to flee these ill-governed states for places that still welcome wealth creators. The debate in Washington now is whether to spread this antigrowth model across the entire country.
Justice Brandeis famously touted Federalism as providing "laboratories of democracy" in each of the states. I don't think he suspected that we would elevate the failed experiments.
UPDATE: Instapundit links to the same editorial and suggests they should emulate Texas but not Illinois. He missed teh Brandeis reference, maybe I should send him a link. He so enjoys it when I send him a link.
June 25, 2009
Stimulating Refunds
This is awesome.
Senator Specter said that he will not be "voluntarily" returning the five thousand donations made to him when he was a Republican.
So the Club for Growth will be helping out those thousands.
In an advisory opinion request to the Federal Election Commission made public by the agency today, Club for Growth asked for approval for its PAC to mail individual donors of Citizens for Arlen Specter with information on how to request a refund, including a preprinted form letter and envelope addressed to the Senator’s campaign. The FEC is required to reach a decision within 60 days, and the mailing would follow soon after.
"Senator Specter agreed to return the contributions he received before switching parties, and we want to help him make good on that commitment,” Club President Chris Chocola said. “It’s easy to request a refund with a preprinted letter and envelope, and I expect a lot of people will want their money back.”
A free enterprise solution to a knotty problem. SALUTE! I hope whoever at Club for Growth thought of this is getting a lot of Attaboys this morning!
