What happened to cap and trade?

CC photo by Flickr user riptheskull

David Roberts at Grist places the blame on the Senate’s failure to pass climate legislation not on environmentalists, but on the insane political situation in the Senate itself:

But step back for a moment and think about it. Climate and clean energy are incredibly difficult issues for any number of reasons. Yet environmentalists pulled together a huge coalition of businesses, religious groups, military groups, unions, and social justice groups. They got a majority of U.S. citizens on their side, as polls repeatedly showed. And — here’s the kicker — on the back of all that work, they got a majority of legislators in both houses of Congress on their side.

In a sane world — and in other developed democracies — that’s what success looks like. Environmentalists did what they were supposed to do, and they did it well! They should be proud of themselves. It’s not their fault Republicans are abusing idiosyncratic features of Senate governance to make reform prohibitively difficult.

The fact is, on a consequential, far-reaching, forward-looking, regionally charged set of issues like climate and energy, getting 60 percent of the country on your side is difficult enough. But getting 60 votes in the already-unrepresentative Senate is just an absurdly high bar. Theoretically, 40 senators representing under 10 percent of the population can block the will of the other 90 percent!

Not to mention the House passed a cap-and-trade bill last summer by a 219-212 vote. No wonder House members are getting annoyed by the Senate.

Continue reading »

Friday Funny: Dana Carvey is “DARWIN”

DARWIN: First came action-packed Sherlock Holmes now comes action-packed Darwin. From Dana Carvey & Spike Feresten’s new show ‘Spoof.’

New York Times Columnist Line of the Day

If you’re one of the four-or-so frequent readers of this here blog, chances are you also occasionally check out the New York Times op-ed page. You may even know the names: Thomas “Friedman’s Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. Well, I’ve decided to devote a daily feature to these folks, by daily pointing out one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy.

Today’s from Paul “The Little Professor” Krugman, who in his column, “Curbing Your Enthusiasm,” writes:

Just to be clear, progressives would be foolish to sit out this election: Mr. Obama may not be the politician of their dreams, but his enemies are definitely the stuff of their nightmares. But Mr. Obama has a responsibility, too. He can’t expect strong support from people his administration keeps ignoring and insulting.

Morning Constitutional – Friday, 30 July 2010

Good morning, everybody. Ellen’s leaving American Idol, and Diddy wants in. Now, your morning constitutional:

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia are meeting in Beirut to work together to help stabilize Lebanon if a UN tribunal indicts members of the Hezbollah movement for the killing of Rafik Hariri.

Republicans succeeded in filibustering a Senate bill that would create a $30B fund for small business lending.

July has been the deadliest month for American troops since the beginning of the war nine years ago.

Economic growth in the U.S. slowed to 2.4% in the second quarter, an ominous sign that the recovery is slowing down.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that allows those who declare bankruptcy to keep their guns.

As Democrats pick up some momentum in generic polling, has the Republican wave hit its peak?

Could just controlling soot, as opposed to the much larger task of controlling all greenhouse gasses, stop climate change?

The case for $320,000 kindergarten teachers.

Why there’s no need for “safe departure” border checkpoints for illegal immigrants.

How LEGO revitalized its brand.

Finally, a mother bear rescues her cub from a fishing net in Alaska, with video.

Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning), or Welcome to the “No-Spin Zone”

Filed under “Science is freaking crazy.” Witold Fraczek from Esri ran some models using ArcGIS on an interesting—but unlikely—question: What would happen if the world actually stopped turning? The answer is actually rather fascinating:

If earth ceased rotating about its axis but continued revolving around the sun and its axis of rotation maintained the same inclination, the length of a year would remain the same, but a day would last as long as a year. In this fictitious scenario, the sequential disappearance of centrifugal force would cause a catastrophic change in climate and disastrous geologic adjustments (expressed as devastating earthquakes) to the transforming equipotential gravitational state.

The lack of the centrifugal effect would result in the gravity of the earth being the only significant force controlling the extent of the oceans. Prominent celestial bodies such as the moon and sun would also play a role, but because of their distance from the earth, their impact on the extent of global oceans would be negligible.

…

If the earth stood still, the oceans would gradually migrate toward the poles and cause land in the equatorial region to emerge. This would eventually result in a huge equatorial megacontinent and two large polar oceans.

Via Boing Boing.

Poem of the Week

Have you ever before encountered a poem with a camel in it?  I hadn’t.

Man and Camel

by Mark Strand

On the eve of my fortieth birthday
I sat on the porch having a smoke
when out of the blue a man and a camel
happened by. Neither uttered a sound
at first, but as they drifted up the street
and out of town the two of them began to sing.
Yet what they sang is still a mystery to me—
the words were indistinct and the tune
too ornamental to recall. Into the desert
they went and as they went their voices
rose as one above the sifting sound
of windblown sand. The wonder of their singing,
its elusive blend of man and camel, seemed
an ideal image for all uncommon couples.
Was this the night that I had waited for
so long? I wanted to believe it was,
but just as they were vanishing, the man
and camel ceased to sing, and galloped
back to town. They stood before my porch,
staring up at me with beady eyes, and said:
“You ruined it. You ruined it forever.”

Connecticut Senate candidate Rob Simmons wants to remind you he’s still in the race

Today’s Hartford Courant, the largest newspaper in Connecticut, makes an interesting endorsement today:

Former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons has a gold-plated public-service resume. His votes over time have been in line with the mostly moderate traditions of the Republican Party in Connecticut.

It is for those reasons that The Courant’s editorial board, with hesitation, recommends that Republican voters in the Aug. 10 primary choose Mr. Simmons to be their standard-bearer in the fall election for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Christopher J. Dodd.

Interesting because, well, it’d be a surprise to many in Connecticut that Rob Simmons will even be on the ballot.

It’d be easy to forget that he’s actually still in the race. Simmons was the front-runner for the Republican nomination before World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon decided to run (and self-fund, at that). After McMahon won the party’s endorsement (different than the upcoming primary, which actually determines the nominee), Simmons basically all but dropped out of the race months ago, and hasn’t kept more than a deputy scheduler and a bookkeeper on staff since.

But, Simmons is still on the ballot, and last weekend, he started running a series of ads to remind people of that: “In the Republican primary on Aug. 10th, you do have a choice. I’m Rob Simmons, I’m still on the ballot, and I approved this message.”

So, why is Simmons so suddenly back in the race? Well, for starters, the Democratic nominee, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, made a recent gaffe in claiming to have served in Vietnam; Simmons actually did serve in Vietnam. McMahon is also having trouble capturing the enthusiasm of grassroots party activists:

“We didn’t stand outside in the rain and cold so someone could come along with $30 million and buy herself a Senate seat,” says Bob MacGuffie, a local activist who played a role in stoking last year’s nation-wide town hall protests. “Over the past thirty years, she’s focused her mind on an industry that peddles soft-core pornography.”

On Tuesday, Simmons appeared at a candidates forum with another Republican candidate Peter Schiff (McMahon didn’t attend), and made it clear that he’s still running:

“I am running for the U.S. Senate,” adding that he is still an active candidate and that he chose to restart his campaign “because I love my country and I don’t like where it’s going.”

Despite only having a couple of weeks left to make his case and, maybe, try and catch up with McMahon, with the endorsement, at least he is getting some momentum. He’s got some serious catching-up to do, though: according to the most recent Quinnipiac poll of the race, he trails McMahon 52%-25%. And, regardless of who eventually wins the nomination, though, Blumenthal’s going to be tough to catch, as he leads both by at least 17%.

New York Times Columnist Line of the Day

If you’re one of the four-or-so frequent readers of this here blog, chances are you also occasionally check out the New York Times op-ed page. You may even know the names: Thomas “Friedman’s Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. Well, I’ve decided to devote a daily feature to these folks, by daily pointing out one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy.

Today’s is from Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, who in his column “1 Solider or 20 Schools?,” writes:

We won our nation’s independence for $2.4 billion in today’s money, the Congressional Research Service report said. That was good value, considering that we now fritter the same amount every nine days in Afghanistan.

Morning Constitutional – Thursday, 29 July 2010

Good morning, folks. Kanye performed at Facebook HQ and got a Twitter account. Now, your morning constitutional:

U.S. District Judge Susan R. Bolton has blocked some of the more controversial measures in Arizona’s new immigration law from going into effect while the federal lawsuit goes forward.

The Pima County morgue in Arizona is getting crowded as the number of immigrants found dead in the desert surrounding Tucson has soared.

Republicans who served with Elizabeth Warren on the TARP oversight panel offer praise for her work. Elizabeth Warren is widely rumored to be a potential nominee to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau mandated in the new financial regulation reform law, but her nomination may come under fire for her work on the TARP panel.

Maine Senator Olympia Snow becomes the fourth Republican to support the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court.

Russia has expanded the powers of the Federal Security Service, its secret police, in a move that is alarming human rights organizations. Russia has also blocked YouTube because over an extremist video.

Catalonia has banned bullfighting.

Desperate for new funding sources, Congress is rethinking the ban on Internet gambling.

In the Florida Democratic primary for the Senate, Rep. Kendrick Meek, the heretofore front-runner, is now surprisingly trailing billionaire Jeff Green 33%-23%, although the plurality (35%) goes to “undecided,” according to a new Quinnipiac poll.

FiveThirtyEight: It’s Like Mathematically Unpossible for Republicans to Win the House, or Something.

Despite his wide unpopularity in Nevada, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s electoral chances could be saved by his effectiveness.

High unemployment and the education deficit.

Paul Krugman: These really are the worst of times.

Could Ariel Sharon’s most enduring legacy be a massive landfill in Tel Aviv?

Chances are, you’re lacking vitamin D.

Finally, now you can buy Winston Churchill’s false teeth.

Meet Tennessee gubernatorial candidates Basil Marceaux and James Reesor

I’m Basil Marceaux dot com, the Republican candidate for governor. I’d like to recall all permits and registrations for guns. Everyone carries guns. If you kill someone though, you get murdered, you go to jail. And uh, I’d like to put—plant grass or vegetation across the state on any vacant lot and sell it for gas so we can use it for our expenses. Also I’m going to remove all gold fringe flags from the state and apply the real flag with three stripes. I also want to stop traffic stops. Set it up like the Supreme Court ruled in Knowles v. Iowa — can’t find an innocent car, you can’t look. I want you all to vote for Basil Marceaux. I want you to say a pledge of allegiance to a republic in the morning when you come out, and we all pray to God and say Amen, and everyone have a nice day, and I’ll see you all at the polls. Thank you, have a nice day.

The good news is from his website:

VOTE FOR ME AND IF I WIN I WILL IMMUNE YOU FROM ALL STATE CRIMES FOR THE REST OF YOU LIFE! (Except violating a citizen rights this would be a special punishment ) Making Tennessee the first state in the United States to actually listen to the U.S.and state Constitution ,and all cities charters

But, seriously, though, if you want to see some real, honest-to-God crazy, check out James Reesor and his AmeriJericho.

Shaping up to be a hell of a campaign season in Tennessee.

UPDATE: Basil Marceaux finally now has an official campaign ad!

The “news-and-information conveyor belt”

Mark Halperin, in his latest piece in Time, compares the “news” media coverage of O.J. Simpson (really) and the recent Shirley Sherrod ordeal, and actually comes out of it with a good point:

Just as there was something intrinsically interesting about one of America’s best-known and best-liked athletes being charged with a brutal double murder, the craven sacking of Sherrod contained some elements that are undeniably compelling. And both stories involved racial elements that increased their news velocity.

But the coverage of both sagas — Simpson’s, literally, for years; Sherrod’s for the better part of a week — was insanely overblown. The Sherrod story is a reminder — much like the 2004 assault on John Kerry by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth — that the old media are often swayed by controversies pushed by the conservative new media. In many quarters of the old media, there is concern about not appearing liberally biased, so stories emanating from the right are given more weight and less scrutiny. Additionally, the conservative new media, particularly Fox News Channel and talk radio, are commercially successful, so the implicit logic followed by old-media decisionmakers is that if something is gaining currency in those precincts, it is a phenomenon that must be given attention. Most dangerously, conservative new media will often produce content that is so provocative and incendiary that the old media find it irresistible.

So the news-and-information conveyor belt moves stories like the Sherrod case from Point A to Point Z without any of the standards or norms of traditional journalism, not only resulting in grievous harm to the apparently blameless, such as Sherrod, but also crowding out news about virtually anything else.

Kudos to Mark Halperin for finally making a good point.

Hump-Day Song of the Week: Fire Water Burn by the Bloodhound Gang

Just seemed fitting this week.

Also, interesting to note: Their name is a direct reference to the “Bloodhound Gang” segment from 3-2-1 Contact.

Morning Constitutional – Wednesday, 28 July 2010

Good morning, folks. Spain’s finally getting their own version of The Golden Girls. Now, your morning constitutional:

No matter who wins, whether it be Republican U.S. Representative Mary Fallin or Democratic Lieutenant Governor Jari Askins, Oklahoma is virtually assured of electing its first woman governor in November. Interestingly enough, Oklahoma ranks 49th in percentage of women in their state legislature; South Carolina, which ranks 50th, may also elect its first woman governor (Nikki Haley).

The oil spill in the Gulf seems to be clearing faster than anticipated, but of course, concerns about unseen effects remain.

A study by two leading economists show that that the economic policies of 2008 and 2009 prevented a second  Depression.

All 152 passengers on board a Airblue flight in Pakistan are dead after the plane crashed into the hills north of Islamabad.

Making it to only 57 votes, the DISCLOSE Act, which would have required fuller disclosure of money behind political advertising, fell to a filibuster in the Senate yesterday.

The rhetorical games over taxes is simplistic—time to diversify our terminology.

New study shows that credit cards move money from the poor to the rich.

China’s (government-guided) Global Times: “Panda death blamed on poison gas.”

Bill Murray dives into a dumpster pool.

Finally, a finger in a butt crack sparks a knife fight.

“Joe the Plummer” likes underdogs

Don’t tell Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher this, but the horse he’s betting on is down 62-13 according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. His horse would be state lawmaker Chuck Purgason (no, not Turd Ferguson, sadly), and the race is the August 3 Republican primary for the open U.S. Senate seat from Missouri. The odds-on favorite horse in this race is Rep. Roy Blunt (no, not Roy Blount Jr., sadly), who, based on the context, I guess is a “politician like Obama.”

What’s Next for Touchdown Jesus

Before

As you’ll recall, last month a 62-foot statue of Jesus burned down after a lightning strike.  It happens that this monstrosity is right along the highway I take from the airport when I visit my family in Ohio, so I got to see the skeletal remains of TD Jesus when I was there last week.  I was

After

curious about the church’s plans– perhaps after the fire, they’d had an epiphany that there are more worthy uses of $250,000 than reconstructing hideous flammable statuary?  Ha!  Of course not.  Pastor Darlene Bishop brushed off such suggestions, saying that Solid Rock Church gives plenty of money to humanitarian causes and that the statue has touched countless people’s lives (even, she said, causing some to reconsider their plans to commit suicide).  Plus the destruction of the statue was great PR for Jesus!  So plans are underway to rebuild the statue, though this time it will apparently be made of fireproof materials.

As it turns out, the natural disaster was no economic catastrophe for Solid Rock Church, since they’d actually had the statue insured for $500,000.  Said Darlene Bishop, “Now we get to build a whole brand-new one, paid-for.  We are blessed.”

Darlene’s husband, co-pastor Lawrence Bishop reiterated the plan to rebuild, saying rather ominously “The first Jesus was resurrected in three days. It’s going to take us a little longer than three days but he will be back. He’s like the Terminator. He’s coming back.”