Senator James Inhofe was recently ambushed by a few Global Warming alarmists. They wanted to know why he opposed their legislative agenda. Unfortunately for the ambushers, Inhofe was friendly and prepared to answer their questions.
In the video below, Inhofe explains why the science doesn’t justify the horrible policies that they are advocating.
This might make things interesting, as the past few years have demonstrated the extent to which certain aspects of G.M. have clout in Washington: Automakers want House to block 15 percent ethanol blend. Also consider the obvious irony of a partially government-funded/owned company opposing policy supported by the Obama administration — the “slam on the breaks while hitting the gas approach.”
The Big 3 hadn’t been too loud on this issue, though they did join a lawsuit attempting to prevent EPA from approving the fuel late last year. Representative Sullivan (R-OK), as previously mentioned here, has introduced an amendment (of which there are almost 600 introduced amendments) to be attached to the CR which would de-fund EPA’s ability to introduce E15.
Much like the strange bedfellows who opposed the extension of the VEETC last year, the article notes:
“Our organizations rarely agree on any public policy issue, but we are united in opposing the premature introduction of E15,” said the letter that was also signed by the American Bakers Association; American Meat Institute; American Petroleum Institute; National Petrochemical & Refiners Association; National Turkey Federation; Outdoor Power Equipment Institute; and Specialty Equipment Market Association.
While testing done on vehicles from MY 2001-present have been confirmed by the EPA as able to handle blends of E15, a positive conclusion has not been reached for a number of other engine types (motorboat, lawnmower, etc.). Some manufacturers of non-automobile engines have stated they already struggle with E10, which is commonly sold throughout the United States, and are very concerned with the declining availability of gasoline without ethanol in it as well as increased damage by misfueling.
It’s hard to tell who would support this amendment. Most Congressman don’t consider ethanol to be a big issue, and the farm-belt will stand behind it. Many Democrats don’t support the extension of ethanol policy but might see this issue framed as an attack on the EPA which they would feel inclined to defend.
Tech:
Meet the Android Malware That Sucks Your Bandwidth:
“Mobile malware is still a fringe development, but it’s not inconceivable that you’d run into it. If you use an Android device, here’s one example of what it would look like.”
House Passes Amendment to Block Funds for Net Neutrality Order:
“The House passed an amendment Thursday that would bar the Federal Communications Commission from using any funding to implement the network-neutrality order it approved in December.”
Global Warming / Environment / Energy:
Enzi introduces bill to repeal incandescent light bulb ban:
“On Thursday, Republican Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming introduced legislation to reverse a 2007 ban on incandescent light bulbs that is scheduled to take effect January 1, 2012.”
Sen. Inhofe turns tables on global warming ambushers – and gets it on tape [video]:
“In recently released footage, a pack of global warming alarmists, led by journalist Mark Hertsgaard, attempt to surprise Inhofe after waiting an hour and a half outside a hearing of the Committee on Environment and Public Works.”
Insurance / Gambling:
Internet Gambling Law Delay:
“Jersey will have to wait a little longer before new laws on e-gaming are introduced.”
Health / Safety:
A Cure For Baldness?:
“A study investigating a new treatment for gastrointestinal disease had an unexpected side effect: It reversed baldness.”
Economics:
Republican Amendment Would Strip Funds For Obama ‘Czars,’ Plus Elizabeth Warren:
“House Republicans are ramping up efforts to hamstring the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. One key amendment to the GOP’s 2011 budget plan seeks to strip federal salaries from President Barack Obama’s so-called “czars,” effectively removing them from their offices — as well as Elizabeth Warren, the consumer watchdog tasked with setting up the CFPB — while another would prevent the bureau from hiring any staff at all.”
House Votes to Overthrow ‘czars:’
“The House voted Thursday to dethrone nine White House “czars.””
Legal:
Administration asks judge to tell the states that healthcare law isn’t optional:
“The Obama administration is asking a federal judge who struck down the healthcare reform law to clarify that states must still implement the overhaul as the appeals process plays out. “
Wal-Mart Security Employees Fired for Disarming Store Gunman:
“Four Wal-Mart employees have been fired after management said they violated company policy by disarming an alleged shoplifter who had pulled a gun inside the store.”
Will The Compact Clause Trump The Tobacco Settlement?:
“There’s a good backgrounder over at Balkinization on how the Supreme Court could invalidate the 1997 tobacco settlement as a violation of the Compact Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The author, Michael Greve, is the J.D. Searle Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, so liberals and pragmatists of all stripes can cue the laugh track. Another quixotic right-wing attack on established law, right?”
Labor:
I Stand with Scoot Walker Rally (organized by American Majority):
“It’s time the voices of the Wisconsin people are heard.”
Support Wisconsin: Trumka storms Madison Tomorrow; Walker supporters to rally Saturday; a disgusted teacher calls out unions:
“AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka — refresh your memories of his violent rise to power here — announced that he’ll be storming Madison, Wisconsin tomorrow to join all the Hitler/Mubarak-sign toters and teachers ditching their jobs.”
Public Employee Union Protests Spread From Wisconsin to Ohio:
“In what union leaders say is becoming a national fight, protests against legislation to restrict public employees’ collective-bargaining rights spread from Wisconsin to Ohio.”
Walker: Wisc. GOP Won’t be ‘Bullied’:
“In an interview with Fox News host Greta Van Susteren tonight, Gov. Scott Walker emphasized that the thousands of protesters had not cowed Republican state legislators.”
Athens in Mad Town:
“For Americans who don’t think the welfare state riots of France or Greece can happen here, we recommend a look at the union and Democratic Party spectacle now unfolding in Wisconsin. Over the past few days, thousands have swarmed the state capital and airwaves to intimidate lawmakers and disrupt Governor Scott Walker’s plan to level the playing field between taxpayers and government unions.”
Transportation/ Land Use:
Will Massive Debt Derail China’s High Speed Train Plans?:
“Is China’s much-hyped and fast-expanding network of high-speed railways bracing for a slowdown?”
1. A Red Cross employee accidentally tweeted about Dogfish Head beer on Red Cross’ official Twitter.
2. These roommates have decided to start selling freshly-baked cookies from their second-story window using the system that characters in The Wire employed to distribute drugs.
3. Artist Sean Hartter reimagines classic movie posters.
4. Groups are urging the FDA to regulate caramel coloring in sodas like Coca Cola.
Brian McGraw, a policy analyst for CEI’s Center for Energy & Environment, talks about the coming incandescent light bulb ban, who it benefits (bulb manufacturers), and who it hurts (consumers who no longer have a choice). Brian also touches on the important distinction between pro-business and pro-market thought. Pro-business thinkers would tend to support an incandescent ban, given what it could do for bulb manufacturer’s bottom lines. Pro-market thinkers, prefer an open, competitive market process where consumers decide which type of bulb is best, instead of lobbyists and politicians.
As the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement languishes, the U.S. stands to lose some of its influence with that staunch and critical ally in South America. The agreement was signed in 2006, then, in mid-2007, at the behest of the Congressional leadership under Nancy Pelosi, had stringent environmental and labor provisions inserted, and since then, has been largely ignored by the administration.
The major opposition all along the way has been from U.S. trade unions, which charge the Colombia is not doing enough to stop violence against domestic trade union leaders and members. Yet Cato research has shown that “the rate for union killings was 5.3 per 100,000 unionists in 2010, six times lower than the homicide rate for the overall population (33.9 per 100,000 inhabitants).” Colombia is still a violent country, but the strengthening of the legal system in Colombia under former President Alvaro Uribe and continued under the new President Juan Manuel Santos has meant that a larger percentage of perpetrators of union violence have come to justice.
Meanwhile, Colombian leaders were gracious even though they were pushing for fast action on the pact. The U.S., after all, is Colombia’s chief trading partner, and they were looking for assurance through the trade pact that the tariff preferences in the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA) would continue into the future, without having to be reauthorized each year as is now the case.
Colombia’s patience may be wearing thin, and that wouldn’t be good news for the U.S. Already China is Colombia’s number two trading partner and may overtake the U.S. if the FTA isn’t implemented. There’s also a new twist that increases the odds that this will happen. China and Colombia are having very serious discussions about China building a transcontinental railroad across Colombia – from the Atlantic to the Pacific — that would be a “rail canal” rivaling the Panama Canal for moving imports and exports across Latin America.
Now that would be a real coup of a different kind.
The Obama administration should get its head out of the sand and put the three pending FTAs on the fast track. Colombia already gets preferential tariffs under the ATPDEA. With the U.S.-Colombia deal, Colombia would remove more than 80 percent of Colombian duties on U.S. imports, with the remaining tariffs being phased out over ten years.
But that’s not the only reason, as CEI noted:
The agreement can also promote the national security interests of both Colombia and the U.S. Colombia faces increased tensions with its near neighbors, as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez stokes anti-American sentiment. Ecuador briefly suspended diplomatic ties with Colombia after Colombian forces raided a narco-terrorist camp located in that country. Approval of the FTA will bolster Colombia’s ties with the U.S. and standing in the region, and help counter Chavez’s influence.
Image credit: tanya~b’s flickr photostream.
Politico headline from today: “Qualcomm exec calls for small-business research funding.”
Alternative headline: “Businessman asks government to give money to businesses.”
Government should not give money to private businesses, period. Businesses should compete in the marketplace, not Washington. There is a lot of money to be made by selling people things they want. Companies that do a good job of that deserve every cent they earn.
Subsidies are not earned. Nor are they given to companies make things people want. Companies already doing that don’t need handouts. In short, corporate welfare is allocated by politics instead of economics.
What Mr. Jacobs is asking for would be a boon for lobbyists and politically favored businesses. But it would be a drag on everyone else. And not only because they would be paying for the handouts. Lost innovations are part of the price. The money spent on corporate welfare is money not spent on more worthy projects.
See also Wayne Crews and I on corporate welfare in the new edition of CEI’s Agenda for Congress.
Yesterday, Florida’s newly elected governor, Rick Scott, announced he was rejecting the $2.4 billion he had received from the federal government to subsidize the proposed 84-mile Tampa-Orlando high-speed rail line along the I-4 corridor. Here is Scott’s letter to an “extremely disappointed” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, in which the governor lists several non-HSR transportation projects that would offer better returns on investment. Similar to the response from the Department of Transportation following mere skepticism on the part of of the governors-elect of Wisconsin and Ohio of the Obama administration high-speed rail plans, it is expected that the Department will pull the funds out of Florida and redirect them to other states, such as California.
As the Reason Foundation’s report on the I-4 corridor found, high-speed rail in Florida was destined to become a massive infrastructure boondoggle. Author Wendell Cox noted that canceling the project would result in $280 million in state matching funds being freed up to spend on more sensible transportation infrastructure projects. Having an administration that has demonstrated itself to be hostile to an efficient, mobility-enhancing transportation system — preferring instead to subsidize high-speed trains for wealthy urbanites, wasteful transit, and “livability” projects — means states have to be far more careful with how they allocate their own transportation funds.
Not everyone is thrilled with Gov. Scott’s wise move. Mitch Perry of Tampa’s Creative Loafing alternative weekly blames “Rick Scott’s ego,” sanctimoniously claiming:
And Rick Scott’s decision to kill the Tampa-to-Orlando high speed rail route has maximum impact, as an untold number of jobs won’t be filled, and the dreams and aspirations of many in the Tampa Bay region are at least for now, thwarted.
If “the dreams and aspirations” of many Tampa residents hinged on the proposed high-speed rail line to the Orlando airport, the city has far bigger things to worry about. Of course, Perry fails to mention that Tampa metro voters in November killed a proposed rail transit system. Most pro-rail transportation cheerleaders admit integrated rail transit is a prerequisite for high-speed intercity passenger rail success (or, as I’d put it, for the project not becoming as huge of a fiscal black hole).
For more on Scott’s decision, see Reason Director of Transportation Policy Bob Poole’s post here.
Tech:
‘Watson’ the computer creams human ‘Jeopardy!’ champs:
“An IBM computer creamed two human champions on the television game show “Jeopardy!” today in a triumph of artificial intelligence.”
‘Kill Switch’ Internet bill alarms privacy experts:
“A raging debate over new legislation, and its impact on the Internet, has tongues wagging and fingers pointing from Silicon Valley to Washington, D.C.”
GOP blasts FCC on net neutrality:
“Republicans took the FCC to task for enacting a net neutrality order without any sound market-based analysis to justify it at a House hearing Wednesday.”
U.S. Government Shuts Down 84,000 Websites, ‘By Mistake’:
“As part of “Operation Save Our Children” ICE’s Cyber Crimes Center has again seized several domain names, but not without making a huge error. Last Friday, thousands of site owners were surprised by a rather worrying banner that was placed on their domain.”
Foreign hackers attack Canadian government:
“An unprecedented cyberattack on the Canadian government, apparently from China, has given foreign hackers access to highly classified federal information and forced at least two key departments off the internet, CBC News has learned.”
Lawmaker reintroduces WikiLeaks prosecution bill:
“New legislation in the U.S. Congress targets WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for espionage prosecution.”
Global Warming / Environment / Energy:
Biggest Solar Flare In Years Headed For Earth:
“OK, so it never really went away, but after years of relative quiet on our nearest star, activity has picked up as of late, resulting in a solar flare that marks the strongest since 2006.”
Insurance / Gambling:
Biddeford asks state to amend law for racinos:
“In a 6-3 vote Tuesday, the Biddeford City Council approved a resolution asking the Maine Legislature to amend state gambling laws to allow the proposed Biddeford Downs racino to move forward.”
Health / Safety:
DC pharmacists to start dispensing birth control?:
“The nation’s capital may soon allow residents to purchase birth control without a prescription, reports The Washington Post.”
Economics:
It’s come to this: Dems hold presser with cartoon aardvark to protest PBS cuts:
“Here’s what the Party of Ideas™ was up to while Chris Christie was over at AEI talking about Social Security and Medicare. I spent a half-hour looking for video, but no dice so far. Which seems strange: Why wouldn’t the Democratic leadership want to highlight a photo op with a fictional aardvark during our very serious national debate about the deficit? Is the clip embargoed? Free Arthur! Free the aardvark”
Jeffrey on Socialism’s Trajectory: Obama’s HHS Is Bigger Than LBJ’s Government:
“Anyone who doubts that the trend toward socialism is pushing America toward ruin should examine the historical tables President Obama published Monday along with his $3.7 trillion budget.”
GOP Moves to Cut Funding for Liberal Outfits NPR, PBS & the National Labor Relations Board:
“It’s a good thing NPR CEO Vivian Schiller thinks the taxpayer funding is insignificant…
The GOP is pushing to cut public funding for liberal outfits NPR and PBS.
ABC reported:”
Legal:
Two TSA agents busted at JFK Airport for stealing $160,000 from checked bags:
“Two TSA agents were busted today at Kennedy Airport for stealing $160,000 in cash from bags, authorities said. “
New subpoena seeks records on sweetheart loans:
“A House committee chairman renewed efforts Wednesday to obtain names of current and former federal, state and local policymakers – including congressional colleagues – who received sweetheart mortgage deals from the former Countrywide Financial Corp.”
Labor:
Opponents of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker call him ‘Mini-Mubarak’:
“No word yet on whether protesters will topple Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker, but the rhetoric against Walker portrays him as a petty tyrant in need of a Cairo-styled comeuppance.”
Transportation/ Land Use:
Florida Gov Rejects High Speed Rail Funds; ‘Too Costly to Taxpayers’:
“Florida’s governor is as uneasy as many Americans about getting on board with the “conductor of the train to the future” for a fast ride to economic disaster.”
Mont. Lawmaker seeks eminent domain over fed land:
“A lawmaker told a Montana Senate committee Tuesday that he wants to give the state the power of eminent domain to take federal land within its borders.”
Who got high speed rail money:
“The federal government already has more than $10 billion in stimulus and other money set aside for high speed rail projects. To date, it has made commitments to spend $4.5 billion of that.”
Schools were closed today in Madison, Wisconsin, because many teachers were planning to call in sick so they could protest at the state Capitol. Public employees in Wisconsin are upset by Governor Scott Walker’s plan to help bring down the state budget shortfall. The proposed bill would have state and local employees contribute more to their pensions and would end most collective bargaining rights for government workers. Wisconsin currently faces a budget shortfall of between $2.2 and $3.3 billion and a total state debt of $17.9 billion.
Walker’s plan asks state workers to contribute 5.8 percent of their salary to their pensions and to pay at least 12.6 percent toward their healthcare premiums. Public employees are twice as likely to receive pensions, which are often much more generous than pensions for private sector workers. Most of the pensions and benefits for public workers are paid for by taxpayers.
Collective bargaining for public employees has long been a controversial issue. Since governments take their revenue from the productive private sector through taxation, they often lack the political will to bargain effectively, resulting in waste and excessive benefits. Even President Franklin D. Roosevelt opposed unionization of public sector workers and said in 1937:
All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations … The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for … officials … to bind the employer … The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives …
Most union members today work in the public sector, but Wisconsin has a chance to achieve fiscal sanity by preventing public liabilities from getting out of control.
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