I’ve held off as long as I can with commenting on the presedential election, as it tends to suck all the oxygen right out of the room, but this issue needs to be aired. There’s more to Obama’s energy plan than bankrupting coal power plants. He also intends to make energy prices “skyrocket”:
This doesn’t sound sustainable to me. Hat tip to Jon Jewitt.
UPDATE: here is video from the San Francisco Chronicle of the actual interview:
Hat tip to Fred for this one.
I had a premonition you would get to this, Anthony. You neglected to mention that the S.F. Chron suppressed this information in their original article. I find that as outrageous as Obama’s remarks!
Journalism may not be dead, but the “lame stream” is doing it’s best to kill it. The economy may be in trouble but with a president and congress who thinks it the duty of government to bankrupt energy producers and expropriate the profits of legitimate businesses it will soon be dead.
Alice,
Is this really any different, politically, from any other President? It’s clearly within the purview of the office to put whatever judges he wants in a seat, so I fail to see why this is a problem.
I remember the same thing being lobbed at Bush (he doesn’t believe in the Constitution! He’s packing the Court!), but I found it equally silly then. The appointments clause clearly states that, “The President may also appoint judges, ambassadors, consuls, ministers and other officers with the advice and consent of the Senate. By law, however, Congress may allow the President, heads of executive departments, or the courts to appoint inferior officials.”
To me, your argument sounds like the hardcore pro choice people who said that the second Bush appointed judges, they would turn around and repeal Roe v. Wade and force women to have a thousand babies each. It didn’t come to fruition because the process itself is very very stable and historically the SCOTUS has recognized that the sum of its power rests on the fact that it’s respected for being a responsible judiciary body. Let’s not forget that the same justices that many presidents have appointed have turned around and gone against those presidents because the law inclined them to do so.
I think what I would recommend to you guys is this: don’t worry so much. Don’t be like the people I knew in undergrad who said that Bush would represent that downfall of the US. It never happened, and no single President will likely ever do it.
Instead, get involved. Lobby your representative. Trust me, unless your rep is a jerk, you can usually at least get to talk to a legislative assistant/consultant and make your case. I’ve even gotten to spend five minutes with my rep, and he did listen to what I had to say. And I was in a very busy district (San Fernando Valley).
Follow THOMAS.gov. Follow it like a hawk. See what your reps are actually doing! I shocked many of my friends by showing that my rep, who they thought was going to save them from big bad nuclear, was actually voting in more funding for nuclear year after year. Now, he’ll definitely get my vote (I’d rather that we just put all our “clean coal” money into “more nuclear”, but I’m not in public office…) but they’ll be able to make better informed decisions, for better or for worse.
Lobby your parties. The quality of the candidates is a direct representation of what the party thinks its constituencies want. Think McCain is bad? Think Obama is bad? Well get up and lobby them to give us better candidates! Tell them that you want Mr. Smith or Ms. Brown instead.
I’m not saying that it will necessarily go the way you want it to– after all, the whole process is a prisoner’s dilemma (in the game theory sense)– but sitting around and despairing is such a, dare I say it, liberal thing to do?
Once the Cap & Trade (or Emissions Trading Scheme or other trendy name) is in place, will the wind generator companies have to pay for:
1. the CO2 generated for the 000’s of tons of concrete required to build their sites
2. the building of new roads necessary to haul these monsters onsite
3. clearance of vegetation required to give free wind access
4. running new distribution cables
or will they be ‘subsidised’.
I agree with gibsho, quoting Obama and playing back his own words is the worst kind of alarmism, it is, to coid a phrase “double plus ungood.”
On the plus side Palin is very much against Kyoto and these cap and trade schemes and has said she intends to work on McCain once elected.
Biden is as big a govt control guy as Obama.
Anthony, I agree with the other readers that heading off on political tangents defeats the fine work you are doing on the climate front. For my perspective, neither McCain or Obama support a position on AGW that I feel confortable with, but I do feel that Obama is much more inclined to listen to other points of view and include them in his policy decisions, whereas McCain has proven to be a far more impulsive individual.
If the polls are anywhere close, Obama will be the next president, so it will behoove us all to email our positions on the problems with cap and trade and other problems with much of the current “climate science” to him after the election. As a previous writer expressed earlier, it is the Congress that ultimately controls such matters.
UCLAri (12:39:31) :
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In all probability, the Democrats will have super majorities in both houses.
Whatever the Democratic leadership wants, will be passed.
Wil the unemployed coal workers still be allowed to “cling to guns and religion,” or will those be taxed as well?
No, I think they are going to use the guns after Obama closes up the mines.
If Obama wins Tuesday and if he and the Congressional Democrats accomplish just a quarter of what they intend, there will be a huge backlash come 2010. This could be the last time US voters go to the polls so uninformed. The GOP’s problems aren’t so bad that large scale unemployment, cold homes, and hungry children cannot cure.
Personally, I’m more concerned with the the US Senate races. If the GOP can hold on to at least 41 seats, they can fillibuster the most radical legislation. If the Dems do in fact in the Trifecta (The White House, Fillibuster proof Senate, and large House Majority), the next 2 years will indeed be long.
Alice F., with all respect, I think you might be confusing the issue with Cheney-Bush? As far as deconstruction of the Constitution and threatening Checks and Balances, nobody in U.S. History has done what Cheney-Bush have in the last 8 years. While facts in politics can swing a little loosely, your statement is a little “far out there”. Talk about an “Alarmist”, as so many like to say. Please try harder to Keep it real folks.
I’m looking forward to more scienctific discourse and sure will be glad when this miserable campaigning-mud slinging is over-with. Whichever candidate wins this time, let’s just hope it’s better than the last round!
John D.
If he really believes that we are going to get rid of coal or the carbon dioxide emitted by burning it anytime soon, he’s an idiot. Apparently, he didn’t learn anything from this summer’s gas price spike. When energy costs go up, people get mad and some of them lose their jobs. And then the politicians bend over backwards trying to find some way to get those energy costs down.
If the polls are correct, this guy is going to be our next president. It will almost worth it just to enjoy all the times he falls on his face and has to scale back his “change” every time reality teaches him how stupid his ideas are.
“I read this site mostly for the science content…Calm down, everyone.”
As do we, the `&omicron&iota &pi&omicron&lambda&lambda&omicron&iota, yet we all love supercilious condescension. Please, may I have some more?
I agree with Pierre. The ground was prepared for this takeover by 30 years of left wing public school and university indoctrination. There is not going to be any easy way to turn things around. Many Americans and Europeans are unwilling or unable to think for themselves at this point, and very few have an essential knowledge of history.
We are now just dangerous creatures who threaten Gaia.
Just a reminder, to those who want to see the basis for what is unfolding, read (or re-read) “Atlas Shrugged”.
If… there is one thing. which I learned from Sir Anthony Watts. is the profound respect that this site, reserve for the president of the United States of America.
Luck is released. ( ‘Alea jacta est’).
Obviously it is not valid for ex-vice president.
I hope not suffer. with the democratic choice of the American people.
FM
OT. Has anyone else seen the Antarctic ice extent reluctant to fall?
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/current.365.south.jpg
MarkW:
Obama has no credibility on any issue economic. McCain isn’t great, but at least he tried to reform Freddy and Fannie back in 2000. A move that was blocked in part by Obama.
You might want to rephrase; Obama wasn’t in the Senate in 2000.
For perspective, one would benefit greatly by a review of Plato’s “Republic”. He outlined quite perfectly what’s going on here; “Hocky-Mom’s”, “Plumbers” and all. And to boot, he got the timeline just about right (~200 years).
I need some fresh-air..
John D.
Mark:
“In practical matters, this means that whenever there is a Democrat in the White House, the govt will force the company to accept whatever demands the union makes.”
Think about the American car companies and the costs that they have incurred by having union labor. They are already folding under the expense. Obama’s policies will only make it worse. How much union money does Obama think he is going to get out of bankrupt companies?
This basically goes along with Obama’s ideas about sub prime loans. He strongly supported them, and the law firm that he once worked for sued financial firms that would not give them. Somehow Obama is stupid enough to believe that our nation can succeed while our businesses are crushed. His campaign adds have already specified that he will solve our health care issues by going after the health care companies; and he will get better insurance policies for people (like no checking on preconditions) by going after insurance companies. Along with his planned attacks on energy companies and his vow to raise minimum wages by 50%, we can soon expect our country to become an economic wasteland. Of course the notion of helping the economy with tax cuts is foreign to him. The only way that he can see to get an increase in government revenue is to simply raise the taxes to get what he needs. The idea that one might shrink the economy and get far less than one thinks has never crossed his mind.
When you think about Obama’s complaint about shipping jobs overseas, how is he going to prevent that by attacking American companies. More of them will be scrambling to leave with him in office. Is he going to nationalize these companies to keep that from happening? Is he going to shut down trade and practice protectionism?
Obama is simply a socialist that doesn’t recognize the cost of that ideaology.
I suppose that there is one bright side to Obama’s election. If McCain had been elected he would never have been able to get Congress into the hands of conservatives. With Obama in office, the voters will most likely see their mistake very quickly. The main stream media has basically shielded Obama so that most of the people who are voting for him simply don’t know what they are voting for. As his disasterous policies are implemented, voters will be forced to elect conservatives to Congress to save themselves from the man that they put into the White House.
David (13:33:13) :
Here you are alluding to something not to be underestimated.
It really doesn’t take much to spook the markets and send them into a spiral of mayhem.
Just a threat of a 2% cut in oil output here, or a buying spike there is enough to send crude prices through the roof. Now just imagine what a 50% cut in the US energy supply would mean?
I think the guy has surrounded himself with some real loons and zealots. Don’t be surpsised by anything.
“Bankrupt 50% of USAs energy supply.”
That’s profoundly radical. That’s why I’m not going to be surprised by anything.
It’s not that I’m ashamed of the politicians we have “running” (laughably) our country. I’m very much ashamed of the voters who comprise the electorate.
Our country, not meaning to offend others, was founded on an ideal that no one else has ever been able to replicate, particularly in scale. Now we, the voter, have decided our form of democracy needs to morph into social democracy or socialism.
The Founding Fathers are probably not only rolling over in their graves – but want to be exhumed and moved elsewhere.
“Obama is obviously very intelligent.”
A lot of people are saying that. But I have no idea why. To me, the man is a walking cliche machine. I don’t see how you can look behind any of his ideas, at the real substance and the long term concequences, and conclude that they come from an intelligent man. I suppose you could say that his cynical move of getting himself elected by promising to give most people someone else’s money is intelligent, but we don’t know how much of that is coming from him or his campaign managers. I will admit that the people who are running his campaign are very good. But then when you have most of the main stream media actively campaigning for you, it would be difficult to fail.
Isn’t this just last minute electioneering? I’m not a US citizen but obviously follow events since they are important for countries elsewhere.
Whoever wins will have an induction period until late (?) January and surely during this time some of the economic consequences of their promises will come home to roost. If they are lucky they will get a 100 day honeymoon. But it won’t be long before realities set in.
Sky rocketing the price of ordinary individuals energy costs is a surefire way to end your popularity.
This time they are going to make sure the dissent gets suppressed and that they control the information.
I’d argue that dissent was suppressed far more in 1980 than now. There was no conservative voice of any real note other than one or two very minor outlets. The fairness doctrine was in full force. McNiel-Lehrer was as fair and balanced at it got. There was no alternative media whatever. Schools were totally in the dumper, too.
Yet the electorate threw the bums out. A genuinely failed economy carries with it a certain rough logic. The toothpaste is out of the tube and nothing the left can do will get it back, and they’d be very foolish to try. (They may be that foolish, of course.) They can’t silence dissent, and if they try, there will be more of an outcry than before.