Climate Politics

So says Jim Henley, and yours truly

Jim Henley says that "energy independence" is the most ridiculous phrase in the American political lexicon: The concept of "energy independence" is a sham. I think it’s generally code for "Then we can stop being nice to the fvcking A-rabs," but this gets gussied up with terms like "instability" and references to Hugo Chavez, who […]

Why does Bush never veto legislation?

Because he can just direct federal agencies to ignore it instead. And speaking of corrupt federal agencies, check out the latest clowning at Interior, involving Steven Griles, one of the A-list hacks of the Bush years. The cojones on these guys …

More victories

Sweet! Here’s a press release I just got from Friends of the Earth: —– WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate today voted against two attempts to encourage the use of liquid coal, rejecting a pair of amendments to the energy bill that would have alternately mandated 6 billion gallons of liquid coal use annually by 2022 […]

We Can’t Bear to Look

U.S. Senate squares off on ambitious energy bill All eyes are on the Senate this week as it debates a controversial Democrat-penned energy bill. (Hey! We said “all eyes”! Don’t go away.) The legislation contains several provisions that make Big Oil, Big Auto, and Big Republicans squirm: it would shift nearly $15 billion in tax […]

Chalk up a win for Pelosi

Well hey, look at that! No sooner do I write a post on the horrible legislative proposal out of Dingell’s Energy Committee than I find out that Pelosi has more or less beat it back. A memo Dingell sent to the committee today (PDF) says that he and Boucher are removing most of the controversial […]

Wherein I chat with House types

Hi! I’m back. And — if you’ll indulge me in a little whining — I’m sick as a dog, woefully behind on the news, buried under work, and just generally frazzled and bedraggled and haggard. And what’s with time zones? They’re stupid. Woe is me, I tell you. I wanted to do a quick post […]

TNR gives good Gore

After reading so many awful stories about Al Gore, it’s nice to finally come upon a good one. The reliably excellent Ryan Lizza gets it right in The New Republic. It’s also worth reading the transcript of his interview with Gore, which contains much tasty goodness, including this compact, dead-on description of modern presidential campaigns: […]

And not just for S&M types either

Finally, someone figures out that tax policy is actually sexy!

Record a message to the candidates about warming; win prizes

If you had 30 seconds on camera to convince the presidential candidates to take global warming seriously, what would you say? How would you say it? Would you sing? Use visual aides? Do it in the buff? Why not give it a whirl? LCV is having a Hot Spot Contest, gathering 30 second videos from […]

More intransigence on climate change

Hello! I just wanted to drop by Gristmill to give all of you an update on the energy bill. To no one's surprise, the Republicans are throwing sand in the gears and trying to block any meaningful progress.

The energy bill, as it stands, is not nearly strong enough, so there are a number of amendments that must be adopted to give us a bill that actually gets us started on that path of dealing with our energy crisis and our climate crisis.