Greenwire (subs. req’d) reports today:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday that he would try to bring a global warming bill to the floor before the end of summer, another indication that both sides of Capitol Hill want to send major climate legislation to President Obama during his first year in office.

I continue to believe that is both unlikely and a mistake — tactically and strategically — because “Obama can get a better climate bill in 2010.” Also, given that the Senate bill is going to go through multiple committees and be quite different from the House bill, again I just don’t see how Obama gets a bill on his desk this year (see “Breaking: Sen. Boxer makes clear U.S. won’t pass a climate bill this year“).

If environmental groups are pressuring Congress to move fast, then I think they will themselves share some blame if the bill ends up being weaker than it would have been if team Obama had the chance to move public opinion — something that is quite impossible during the next few months given the current economic collapse — or to get some serious Chinese commitment for action (see “Does a serious bill need action from China?“)

Here is the full Greenwire story (and their fascinating breakdown of how each Senator is likely to vote on a potential climate bill is here): Read more

Celebrating the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth, Part 1 looked at how Lincoln taught himself rhetoric, the art of persuasion through the systematic use of the figures of speech. Part 2 looked at his use of the figure of irony and Part 3 at his use of metaphor.

Extended metaphor is, for me, the most important rhetorical device. This figure is at the heart of some of Lincoln’s greatest speeches and Shakespeare’s greatest plays. Persistent metaphors pump life blood into the Bible, into Jesus’ parables and Psalms, such as the Twenty-third, with its famous extended shepherd metaphor:

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[Please Digg this by clicking here.]

After my debunking of George Will‘s recent column collection of error-filled denier talking points [redundant], it became somewhat of a sport on the Internet (see Island of Doubt). I had written:

I don’t know whether it is more pathetic that Will believes this or that the Washington Post simply lets him publish this lie again and again.

Now we know it is the latter, thanks to Brad Johnson at WonkRoom, who got this jaw-dropping email from Post ombudsman Andy Alexander:

Basically, I was told that the Post has a multi-layer editing process and checks facts to the fullest extent possible. In this instance, George Will’s column was checked by people he personally employs, as well as two editors at the Washington Post Writers Group, which syndicates Will; our op-ed page editor; and two copy editors.

Paging Woodward and Bernstein. [The CP fact checker notes that Woodward abandoned journalism based on facts, at least checkable facts, many years ago.]

Both of my parents were professional journalists, and I must say that response makes me want to cry. I could understand Will’s people stooges signing off on his crap — they drink from the same pitcher of Kool-Aid. And I could understand if the Post said that they don’t fact-check opinion pieces.

But there is no clearer evidence of how far traditional journalism has sunk than that five different editors associated with the Washington Post signed off on a piece that brings to mind Mary McCarthy’s famous quip about Lillian Hellman:

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Greenwire (subs. req’d) reports:

The Energy Department has created a “special organization” to distribute $40 billion contained in the economic stimulus package for energy projects, Secretary Steven Chu said today.

“It’s a challenge and something we take very seriously: how to spend that money wisely but also quickly,” Chu told reporters after speaking at DOE’s National Electricity Delivery Forum in Washington. Chu said he has assembled a team to start streamlining ways of delivering the cash. “We are looking at everything,” he said.

Leading the advisory team is Matt Rogers, director at McKinsey & Co.’s San Francisco office, Chu said. Rogers consults in many fields, including electric power, oil and gas, and private equity, as well as strategic transformations for industrial companies. Rogers is also a leader of McKinsey’s North American Petroleum Practice.

This is a very encouraging sign that the Administration takes this seriously, since they have a staggering amoung of clean tech to deploy (see “Progressives, Obama keep promise to jumpstart clean energy, economy“). The story continues:

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