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Yglesias

Is Bicycling Transportation?

By Matthew Yglesias on Sep 15, 2008 at 5:36 pm

07_commuter3_bk_1.jpg

Apparently Mary Peters thinks it isn’t. And she’s Secretary of Transportation, so her opinion counts for a lot. Thus, her department’s plans for improving transportation in the United States includes a proposal to cut funding for bike trails in order to free up money to be spent on good old fashioned highways.

Now clearly it’s true that a lot of people bike for recreational purposes. That said, I got to work today by . . . riding my bike. And I got to work Friday by . . . riding my bike. Indeed, I commute to work on my bike most every day. And to buy groceries. I use it, in other words, to transport myself from place to place. That sounds a lot like transportation to me. And encouraging people, at the margin, to substitute cycling for some of their driving trips would be good for the environment and good for public health. So I don’t see a really compelling case for shifting funding further in the direction of highways.

Climate Progress

‘Clean Skies’ Front Group Pushes Natural Gas Subsidies

By Brad Johnson on Sep 15, 2008 at 5:31 pm

The American Clean Skies Foundation, a greenwashing front group for natural gas giant Chesapeake Energy, is celebrating its “newly renovated offices and studios” on Capitol Hill. And you’re invited:

American Clean Skies Foundation

ACSF is selling the message that natural gas, also known as methane, is “clean energy” on its 24-7 Internet video station, CleanSkies.TV. Launched on Earth Day, CleanSkies.TV features professional reporters interviewing politicians, energy analysts, and environmentalists on topical issues — surrounded by advertisements for natural gas. In an email interview with the Wonk Room, Sierra Club press secretary David Willett praised ACSF for “going out of their way to have the environmentalist perspective represented.” CleanSkies.TV prominently presents Sierra Club videos and documentaries in a non-exclusive deal. “If natural gas wants to foot the bill to host our completely unedited message,” explains Willett, “that’s fine with us.”

Since June 8, ACSF has been producing “Clean Skies Sunday,” a weekly infomercial in the guise of an energy news program that runs on WJLA-TV, the Washington DC ABC affiliate.

Billionaire ACSF founder and Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon is now using the popularity of the Pickens Plan to promote taxpayer subsidies for compressed natural gas for cars, in a joint campaign with T. Boone Pickens called CNG Now. McClendon and Pickens are making this push as California considers Proposition 10 to subsidize CNG vehicles.

The Conservation Report’s Buck Denton responds:

Undoubtedly, wind power and natural gas should be part of the energy mix of the future, but natural gas shouldn’t be a solution at the expense of cleaner renewable resources, and natural gas shouldn’t be wasted on vehicles when more efficient and cleaner technologies exist. Furthermore, cleaner gasoline engines and the almost similar greenhouse gas emissions between natural gas and diesel vehicles are factors that make an aggressive push towards natural gas seem ridiculous from a policy standpoint (more information regarding these claims can be found here).

Natural gas, like all other fossil fuels, comes with a huge health and environmental footprint, from drilling to burning. The natural gas industry is responsible for 18.6% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Praising natural gas for being less cancerous and less polluting than coal should only underscore how dirty a fuel coal is — not promote the false impression that natural gas is “clean.”

Politics

Palin cut funding for Alaska Special Olympics.

By Ali Frick on Sep 15, 2008 at 5:29 pm

Campaigning in Colorado today, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) promised renewed attention to kids with special needs. She declared, “Ever since I took the chief executive’s job up North I pushed for more funding for students with special needs,” and cited her own family’s experience with the issue. Watch it:

It’s a stretch to say she “pushed” for any policy improvements. Though Palin did sign a law increasing special education funding in Alaska, “she had no role whatsoever” in its development, according to the bill’s author, Rep. Mike Hawker (R). Moreover, as governor, Palin vetoed $275,000 in Special Olympics Alaska funds (Page 100, SB 221 with vetoes), slashing the organization’s operating budget in half.

Update

To clarify, the documents show that Gov. Palin proposed cutting the Special Olympics budget in half. The actual budget as passed slightly increased Special Olympics funding, though by only half of what the organization had requested.

Yglesias

Bad Day

By Matthew Yglesias on Sep 15, 2008 at 5:06 pm

Wow. I’d stopped paying attention sometime in the middle of the day when it looked like the Dow had partially recovered from its dramatic first-thing-in-the-morning plunge. But there was a late-day sellof and it’s closing down more than 500 points.

Politics

Cheney Turned Down Request To Oversee Katrina Recovery Because ‘He Doesn’t Do Touchy-Feely’

By Ryan Powers on Sep 15, 2008 at 4:40 pm

cheneykatrinatour.jpgJust after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005, Vice President Dick Cheney refused President Bush’s request to head up a “cabinet-level task force” aimed at speeding the recovery effort, writes the Washington Post’s Barton Gellman in a still-embargoed section of his new book, “Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency.”

When asked by Bush if he would “at least go do a fact-finding trip for us,” Cheney responded saying, “That’ll probably be the extent of it”:

Days after the storm had passed, when he finally returned to Washington from Crawford, Bush assembled his senior staff in the Oval Office. He was going to set up a cabinet-level task force, he said.

“I asked Dick if he’d be interested in spearheading this,” Bush announced. “Let’s just say I didn’t get the most positive response.” Bush nodded ironically toward the vice president, putting on a show for the others: Card, Rove, Bartlett, Condi Rice. His expression, the tone of voice, had a hint of edge. Can you believe this guy? [...]

“Will you at least go do a fact-finding trip for us?” Bush asked.

“That’ll probably be the extent of it, Mr. President, unless you order otherwise,” Cheney replied.

Gellman writes that White House counselor Dan Bartlett “came to see Cheney’s demurral ‘quite frankly as pretty good judgment.’ Cheney ‘doesn’t do touchy-feely,’ Bartlett said.”

Cheney’s refusal to lend the weight of his office to the Katrina recovery effort is not surprising, as he has a record of underestimating the seriousness of Katrina’s devastation. As the storm hit, Cheney was reluctant to cut his vacation short. In September 2005, Cheney commented dismissively, “I think we are in fact on our way to getting on top of the whole Katrina exercise.”

During his fact-finding trip to the affected region, Cheney was famously insulted on live television. As 2005 came to a close, Cheney scrambled to take advantage of the Katrina tax relief act, which was aimed at spurring Katrina-related increases in charitable donations. When his tax returns were released, however, it appeared that “none of [Cheney's] charitable contributions actually went to Katrina-related charities.” Since then, Cheney has reportedly “tried to kill proposals to increase…aid for Hurricane Katrina victims.”

Visit Gellman’s site here. Murray Waas has more here.

Yglesias

Thanks But No Thanks

By Matthew Yglesias on Sep 15, 2008 at 4:12 pm

I somehow find this more shocking than the initial lie:

McCain cut off a question about the “Bridge to Nowhere,” which Palin claims to have killed in Alaska even though Washington pulled back money for the project before she turned against it.

“The important thing is she’s vetoed a half a billion dollars in earmark projects–far, far in excess of her predecessor and she’s given money back to the taxpayers and she’s cut their taxes, so I’m happy with her record,” McCain said.

I mean, come on! Palin was introduced to the public, quite specifically, as the governor who said “thanks but no thanks on that Bridge to Nowhere.” Among other things, there’s a huge difference between what you’d think of a governor who actually turned down federal pork and a governor who just trimmed some local projects. I assume all governors equipped with a line-item veto find themselves vetoing some stuff. Few governors, including Sarah Palin, turn down major federal dollars. But John McCain wanted us to believe that Palin did turn down federal dollars! But she didn’t! And now he says it’s no biggie. Even as he has her running around the country bragging about this!

Yglesias

McCain: I’ll Pretend to Reign In CEO Pay

By Matthew Yglesias on Sep 15, 2008 at 4:10 pm

John McCain lies yet again today, saying in Orlando: “We will stop multimillion dollar payouts to CEOs who have broken the public trust.”

But as Doug Holtz-Eakin has previously admitted by “stop” McCain means “do nothing”

Republican presidential candidate John McCain has spoken out about lavish pay packages for corporate chiefs, but his top adviser said on Monday the senator wants to shine a light on the issue and is not offering specific new proposals to rein it in.

Back two or three months ago when McCain was regularly making statements about his policies that were at odds with the actual content of his policies, it was possible to see that habit as a form of carelessness or confusion, but after the recent turn in his campaign’s tactics and their admission that they see lying to the American people as an effective campaign strategy, it’s hard to see this kind of thing as anything put an extension of the general “let’s lie all the time” approach.

Health

‘Pro‐Life As Any Candidate’ Palin Picketed Abortion Doctor

By Igor Volsky on Sep 15, 2008 at 4:00 pm

For pro-choice activists, Gov. Sarah Palin’s (R-AK) short time in public office is characterized by her strong opposition to reproductive rights and sensible sex-education.

As mayor of Wasilla, the Palin administration “cut funds that had previously paid” for rape kits “and began charging victims or their health insurers the $500 to $1200 fee.” Palin expressed support for a constitutional amendment outlawing abortion, opposed abortion in cases of rape or incest, strongly supported failed abstinence-only initiatives, and generally described herself as “pro‐life as any candidate can be.”

In her exclusive interview with ABC’s Charlie Gibson, Palin moderated her rhetoric, saying that she respected the views of the pro-choice community:

I am pro-life. I do respect other people’s opinion on this also, and I think that a culture of life is best for America. What I want to do when elected vice president with John McCain, hopefully be able to reach out and work with those who are on the other side of this issue…I do understand McCain’s position on this, I understand others who are very passionate about this issue who have a differing view.

Watch it:


But Palin’s wasn’t alway so understanding. In fact, according to at least one report, Palin may have physically prevented or intimidated women from exercising their right to have an abortion.

Salon reports that in 1996, as “evangelical churches [in Alaska] mounted a vigorous campaign to take over the local hospital’s community board and ban abortion,” Palin participated in a “boisterous picket line” against an OB-GYN who opposed activists’ efforts to “take over the local hospital’s community board and ban abortion”:

At one point during the hospital battle, passions ran so hot that local antiabortion activists organized a boisterous picket line outside Dr. [Susan] Lemagie’s office, in an unassuming professional building across from Palmer’s Little League field. According to Bess [a priest who often clashed with Palin and the evangelical community] and another community activist, among the protesters trying to disrupt the physician’s practice that day was Sarah Palin.

The protest came two years after President Clinton signed the Freedom of Access to Clinics Entrances Act (FACE), “legislation that makes it a Federal crime to attack or blockade abortion clinics, their operators or their patrons.” Not surprisingly, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who has consistantly received a score of zero from NARAL, voted against the bill.

Digg It!

UPDATE: Dr. Susan Lemagtie’s 16-year-old daughter reflected on anti-abortion protests in a 1998 essay:

Picketers began protesting at the hospital across the street from my mom’s clinic. In late ’94, when the national papers carried stories about bombed abortion clinics and murdered doctors, they moved to the sidewalk outside the clinic. My mother no longer talked about managed care and AIDS; she talked about buying a bulletproof vest.

Politics

Addington wrote in Gonzales’ signature line while re-authorizing Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program.

By Matt Corley on Sep 15, 2008 at 3:46 pm

addington.jpgIn 2004, after top Justice Department lawyers refused to re-certify the legality of President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program, the Bush administration re-authorized the program anyway without the Justice Department’s approval. Previous accounts of the program’s re-authorization reported that the “line for the attorney general’s signature remained blank.” But in the Washington Post today, Barton Gellman reports that Vice President Cheney’s lawyer, David Addington, actually signed then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales’s name to the document’s signature line:

Addington opened the code-word-classified file on his computer. He had a presidential directive to rewrite.

It has been widely reported that Bush executed the March 11 order with a blank space over the attorney general’s signature line. That is not correct [15]. For reasons both symbolic and practical, the vice president’s lawyer could not tolerate an empty spot where a mutinous subordinate should have signed. Addington typed a substitute signature line: “Alberto R. Gonzales.”

Gellman writes that “Only Richard M. Nixon, in an interview after leaving the White House in disgrace, claimed authority so nearly unlimited” as the authority Addington claimed for the president in the document he signed with Gonzales’ name.

Yglesias

King Corn

By Matthew Yglesias on Sep 15, 2008 at 3:32 pm

A Rich Lowry correspondent has a truly crazy idea — John McCain could talk about an issue where, without lying about his record or Barack Obama’s record, he could genuinely say that he’s on the right side of a public policy question: Ethanol.

Doesn’t seem to be his style, but I thought that was worth tossing out there.

Meanwhile, via Ezra Klein we can see Simon Donner’s chart of American corn:

corn2_thumb_485x289.jpg
There’s been a steep rise in the amount of corn going to ethanol lately, but animal feed is still the overwhelming dominant use. And while ethanol subsidies are bad, they’re not nearly the end of our bad corn policies. There’s opportunity for someone to go after not just ethanol, but the whole suite of bad corn-related policy we have in this country. It’s bad for public health, bad for the environment, and bad economics. I once did a draft speech for Chuck Schumer about ethanol that included a line about crucifying mankind upon a cross of corn but that got vetoed as over-the-top. But I say it’s about time for some anti-corn populism from some politician from outside the corn belt.

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