GOP Corruption and Obstruction

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Thanks for getting my back. As you know, I've been covering the lefty thread with my current attack of Obama indigestion. ;)

At least this guy's unit did actually get the award, which is maybe one notch higher on the Scum-O-Meter than getting five deferments and saying you served. However. being a higher grade of scum is not the most ringing character endorsement.
 
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Senate rejects move to block greenhouse gas regs

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100610/ap_on_bi_ge/us_greenhouse_gases
Thursday's Republican-led resolution would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from moving ahead with rules under the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and other major sources. Support from several moderate and coal-state Democrats should make vote close.

It's one of the first this year to put lawmakers on the record in the climate change debate.

Those trying to block the EPA rules argue that Congress, not bureaucrats, should be crafting climate change policy. But there's little prospect that the Senate will act soon on the broader energy bill, and the administration and most Democrats contend steps must be taken in the meantime to hold down greenhouse gas pollutants.
 
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Wow, two in one day!

Hayworth hits McCain for fundraiser's Ponzi scheme

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100610/ap_on_el_se/us_mccain_fundraiser_ponzi_scheme

A now-disbarred Florida lawyer who admitted to orchestrating a huge Ponzi scheme gave more than $180,000 to Arizona Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign, contributions that McCain's Senate rival is now making an issue in their competitive primary.

Scott Rothstein was sentenced Wednesday to 50 years in prison after he confessed to running a $1.2 billion fraud using faked legal settlements.

Rothstein also was a key contributor and fundraiser who bundled more than $500,000 in campaign contributions for McCain's 2008 race, according to the campaign finance watchdog Center for Responsive Politics.

The exact amount he raised from others is unknown, but Rothstein boasted to the Wall Street Journal in 2008 that he raised as much as $1.1 million for McCain.

The campaign of former U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth, who is challenging McCain in Arizona's Aug. 24 Republican primary, demanded that the four-term senator account for and donate all of the money connected to Rothstein.

"McCain can't have it both ways. He can't be the champion of campaign finance reform one day and then take more than a million dollars from a convicted felon the next day," Hayworth spokesman Mark Sanders said.

McCain's campaign has attacked Hayworth's ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was sentenced in September 2008 to four years in prison on charges of mail fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion.

In his unsuccessful 2006 bid for a seventh term in the U.S. House, Hayworth donated to charity the $2,250 he received directly from Abramoff but declined to donate thousands more that he received from Abramoff's lobbying clients.

Rothstein had close relationships with politicians in Florida and elsewhere, who quickly moved to distance themselves from him as his scheme came tumbling down late last year. The Florida Democratic and Republican parties returned contributions connected to Rothstein, along with Forida Gov. Charlie Crist and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, both Republicans.
 
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Actually, the EPA is overstepping the bounds of the Clean Air Act with the screwball scam they're running. The bill only seeks to force the EPA to stop making it up as they go along. Not really a rip-down bill at all.
 
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The whole scam is based on the EPA's decision that global warming is hazardous to one's health AND that it's solely caused by CO2 emissions. That's not what the Clean Air Act is all about.
 
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Yeah, some people forget that we've been having Global Warming since the end of the last Ice Age!! :)
 
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FWIW, The Clean Air Act is available online, as well as the assessment by the EPA that higher level of greenhouse gasses is hazardous to the public's health.

Clean Air Act

http://www.epa.gov/air/caa/

Findings

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/endangerment.html

Report

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/en...l_Register-EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0171-Dec.15-09.pdf

It all seems rather reasonable to me. In summary the hazards from the report are:

1. Direct Temperature Effects - "Hot temperatures have also been associated with increased morbidity."
2. Air Quality Effects - "Climate change is expected to increase regional ozone pollution, with associated risks in respiratory illnesses and premature death."
3. Effects on Extreme Weather Events - "Increases in the frequency of heavy precipitation events are associated with increased risk of deaths and injuries as well as infectious, respiratory, and skin diseases." More hurricanes also predicted and we know how deadly those can be. Also more flooding events, similar deadly effects there.
4. Effects on Climate-Sensitive Diseases and Aeroallergens - "There will likely be an
increase in the spread of several food and water-borne pathogens among susceptible populations"
 
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See, that's just further proof of how badly the EPA is overreaching on this one.

1) Television viewing has a much stronger association with increased morbidity. Don't see the EPA complaining about that being a hazard to human life. Reach.
2) I'd love to see a documented case of premature death due to atmospheric ozone. Hell, I'd be impressed if you could find a death due to concentrated ozone from some industrial accident. You get more ozone from a good lightning strike than an operating motor. Is the EPA going to outlaw lightning? Reach.
3) What's the biggest story over the last decade when it comes to weather patterns? El Nino. Been going on for a couple centuries. Is the EPA going to outlaw ocean currents? Reach with a capital R
4) It's safe to say the USA does not include susceptible populations. The EPA does not regulate for the benefit of citizens of Yemen that haven't discovered the joys of refrigeration. They're supposed to work for us. Beyond reach, right into outright irrelevance.

Like I said, this is a poorly manufactured justification to smooth the legal road for Obama's carbon vouchers, and nothing more.
 
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The BIG risk, of course, is coastal flooding due to increasing sea levels.

Curious as to why it was left out.

1. Watching television has nothing to do with clean air, unless one considers flatuence caused by highly correlated activities of eating junk food. ;)
2. Higher levels of ozone have been shown to cause respiratory illness. That's clearly hazardous.
3. El Nino currents weren't mentioned in the report.
4. The USA does include susceptible populations. This includes people with allergies and immunodeficiencies…
 
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1) Morbidity has nothing to do with clean air, either. Besides, I thought heat was supposed to help lose weight. Certainly worked like a charm back in my wrestling days.
2) Show me the corpse, Thrasher. Habeus corpus. The exchange of germs via handshakes has caused more respiratory illness than ozone ever dreamed of. Will the EPA outlaw that next?
3) Exactly. Why confuse some friendly activist hooey with measurable facts?
4) Last time I checked, US citizens with AIDS or kick-ass hayfever still had refrigerators for their food and drink and modern (hygenic) food preparation. It's a spurious argument for US citizens. Perhaps the people living under bridges would have a concern, but somehow I think global warming wouldn't make their top 20 of health threats…
 
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1. This is a nonsequitar.
2. Lab and field studies are all that's needed to show that increases in ozone cause increased respiratory illness. It's a well-accepted fact.

Here's one of many studies:

http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/153/5/444

3. This is another nonsequitar.
4. You're missing the point, I believe, perhaps due to my poor summary. Higher temperatures increase the number of allergens and pathogens in the air and outdoor environments, and since we all have to go outside sometimes…. Well I hope you can see the line of reasoning.

Here's more in the report I didn't have time to get to earlier regarding larger scale environmental effects like coastal flooding:

Air Pollution Is Reasonably Anticipated to Endanger Public Welfare
1. … "the body of evidence points towards increasing risk of net adverse impacts on U.S. food production and agriculture, with the potential for significant disruptions and
crop failure in the future."
2. … "greenhouse gas air pollution endangers U.S. forestry in both the near and long term"
3. "The adequacy of water supplies across large areas of the country is at serious risk from climate change."
4. "The evidence on risk of adverse impacts for coastal areas from
sea level rise provides clear support for finding that greenhouse gas air pollution endangers the welfare of current and future generations."
5. "Climate change presents risks of serious adverse impacts on public welfare from the risk to energy production and distribution as well as risks to infrastructure and settlements."
6. "Greenhouse gas air pollution leads to predominantly negative consequences for biodiversity and the provisioning of ecosystem goods and services for ecosystems and wildlife important for public welfare in the U.S., both for current and future generations."
 
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Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, is apparently a shameless BP lapdog.

While most of the opening statements by members contained harsh criticisms of BP, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, turned the tables and apologized to BP, accusing the White House of conducting a "$20 billion shakedown" by requiring BP to establish the fund to compensate those hurt by the spill.
"I'm ashamed of what happened in the White House" on Wednesday, said Barton, who has received at least $100,470 in political contributions from oil and gas interests since the beginning of 2009, the second-highest amount among all the committee members.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs responded: "What is shameful is that Joe Barton seems to have more concern for big corporations that caused this disaster than the fishermen, small business owners and communities whose lives have been devastated by the destruction."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100617/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill
 
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He's right--it was a presidential shakedown. That doesn't mean it was wrong to do it, though.
 
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There are some conspiracies floating around that since it appears that BP caved to easily and quickly on this, that there is also some sort of back room deal with them.

Considering the way Obama handled the pharmaceutical companies during health care reform, I think this theory is not without reason.
 
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