Links...

by: Jay Stevens

Mon Feb 25, 2008 at 17:50:25 PM MST

At the recent National Governors' Association meeting, coal was a hot topic. The coal-state governors - including the Good Guv - brought up a serious of pressing issues that need clarification for states who have an interest in mining coal: property rights, CO2 laws, emissions sequestration, carbon caps and taxes, etc & co.

Missoula's Justice Molloy could put Forest Service head, Mark Rey, behind bars for using environmentally damaging fire retardant on forest fires.

Jon Tester brings rail service to Missoula one step closer.

Cece mulls upcoming ballot issue C-44, and comes out against it.

The Montana Chamber of Commerce is going to hold a conference on the economic impact of climate change proposals.  The keynote speaker is from an Exxon-funded organization that lobbied against the Kyoto treaty. I'm guessing you won't hear much about the current economic and taxpayer costs of a carbon-burning energy economy (costs of street and road systems, Superfund sites, medical costs associated with pollution, the Iraq war, subsidies for energy corporations, etc &co), and the costs associated with not implementing climate change proposals. You know, there's a lot of coin to be made in the new alternative energy economy. I don't get why places like the CoC resist change so much. Isn't innovation supposed to be a positive attribute in the business community?

The Billings Gazette on the recent recall of 143 million pounds of beef you've already eaten: "Only one large plant is at fault here, but the reputation of the entire beef industry is suffering. This crisis of consumer confidence is the first major challenge for Ed Schafer, new secretary of agriculture. He needs to implement effective inspection upgrades. Until that happens, assurances that beef is safe will be harder for many consumers to swallow."

Yeah, I'm sure that editorial will cause the inspection agencies to suddenly shape up. The problem, of course, isn't simple disorganization, it's the effect of years of e. coli conservatism. The problem is political.

In Ohio, a PPP poll (pdf) has Clinton up by four, 50-46; an ARG poll shows Clinton by ten, 49 to 39; and a Quinnipiac poll has Clinton up, 51-40. All three polling companies noted larger Clinton leads earlier this month.

Rasmussen has Obama up 57-33 in Vermont, and Clinton up 53-38 in Rhode Island.

Meanwhile, a Pennsylvania man and Clinton supporter stabbed his brother-in-law and Obama supporter after a heated exchange on primary politics.

Bill Kristol: "[Obama's] riding a wave of euphoria. She [Clinton] needs to puncture it. The way you puncture euphoria is reality, or to be more blunt, fear. I recommend to Senator Clinton the politics of fear." Looks like we have a preview of the general election, folks!

Obama won't wear an American lapel pin! (Not like these fine gentlemen.)  Steve Benen: "For far too many, wearing a pin is itself a patriotic exercise, which in and of itself, is rather hollow. Someone can oppose American civil liberties, prefer to stifle dissent, support un-American policies like torture and the elimination of habeas corpus, but so long as the stars and stripes are on his or her lapel, their patriotism should be considered unimpeachable.

"What nonsense.

"It'd be easy for Obama to simply wear the pin and avoid the question, but instead he articulated a more important point about ideas carrying more weight than symbols. It was a small gesture, but it's an admirable one."

Clinton camp: Obama's a dirty Muslim! Peter Wehner: "For the record, Obama is a Christian, not a Muslim, and the photo should not bother anyone (I recall President Bush had to wear some pretty wild outfits when he attended the APEC summits). And...this will backfire in a big way. Twenty-four hours from now I suspect we'll see virtually the entire Democratic establishment, and many others, condemning this tactic. It'll advance the storyline that the Clinton campaign is spinning out of control - lurching from melancholy valedictory comments one day to faux outrage the next - and in its dying days."

The DNC files a complaint with the FEC against McCain for violating spending limits set under a law McCain himself helped champion.

You haven't read comedy until you've read the crazy rightwing WorldNetDaily accuse Senator McCain of being a "whack job" and "unhinged." Among other accusations, WorldNetDaily claims McCain got an apartment and prostitutes during his imprisonment in Vietnam; Bill Clinton's working for the CIA (a far-left organization); McCain's mentally unstable; etc & co. Proof of McCain's mental instability is his previous willingness to raise taxes, his concern about global warming, and that he "won't appoint strict constructionist judges." I think someone associated with this article is unstable...

Speaking of comedy, I might not have voted for Mike Huckabee, but he sure is fun to have around.

Seems like we have this canard each and every time it snows, or it's cold: "...it is at least fair game to use this winter's weather stories to wonder whether the alarmist are being a tad premature." Um, apparently despite the snow, 2007 was the tenth hottest year since 1985.

The Notorious Mark T notes that conservatives are all hot for government regulation and quota systems when they're underrepresented in a particular public sphere.