Wednesday, June 09, 2010

R.I.P. Climate Legislation | Mother Jones
Today probably marks the official death of climate legislation in the United States. Lindsey Graham, the only Republican even nominally favorable toward any kind of carbon pricing plan, has announced that he can't support the Kerry-Lieberman bill because it doesn't allow enough offshore drilling (!), and without Graham there's pretty much zero chance of getting any further Republican support. So the odds of passing climate legislation, already slim, have now dropped to zero. The only option left is a pure energy bill, something that accomplishes very little, and accomplishes that little solely by offering up subsidies to every special interest you can imagine.
...We are, in this case, getting exactly the government we deserve. A government of children.1

1Yes, I'm feeling bitter about this at the moment. Anyone have a problem with that?
Twitter / David Roberts
Republicans are the Chamberlains of our day, laying down arms as climate change advances. Our children will curse their memory. #feh
Climate-change Science
Your correspondent would like to give Dr. Art Robinson, president of the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, the last word on this subject. His plans to be at the Chicago conference were sidetracked by his campaign for the Oregon 4th Congressional District Republican nomination (which he won quite handily). In videotaped remarks, Dr. Robinson sent the following message to the conferees: “Never before in the history of science have so many resources been spent to disprove such a miserably poor hypothesis.”

Thanks to those like Dr. Robinson and the sponsors and participants at this 4th International Conference, we are well on the way to finally scuttling this “miserably poor hypothesis.”

No comments: