Right Step on Coal Plants
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on June 3rd, 2014 11:08 pm by HL
Right Step on Coal Plants
Eugene Robinson, RealClearPolitics
WASHINGTON — Even for people who don’t believe in it, climate change just got real. It’s about time. The Obama administration’s proposed new rule for existing power plants — reducing heat-trapping carbon emissions by up to 30 percent by 2030 — is ambitious enough to get anyone’s attention. No, this one measure will not halt or reverse human-induced warming of the atmosphere. But the rule is necessary in the context of seeking international consensus on solutions — and also significant in its own right. Before Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy could announce the…
The Apology Game
Charles Kesler, RealClearPolitics
Apologizing is rampant these days. Hardly a week goes by without some public figure (or unlucky private citizen, become a public figure) offering to apologize, usually at the demand of some group or other who has taken offense at something said or done. If extorting apologies were an interstate crime, the FBI’s hands would be full fighting the crime wave spawned by the apology mafia. “Taking offense” is certainly on the offensive in our highly sensitive age. For some people it is a living. What else does Al Sharpton do, exactly, except lie in wait for someone who utters a…
Poll: Majority Unhappy With Obama’s Handling of VA Woes
Michael Cipriano, RealClearPolitics
More than half of Americans disapprove of the way President Obama is handling the recent scandal involving Veterans Affairs medical facilities, according to a CNN/ORC International survey. The poll found that 58 percent are unhappy with the president’s response to the VA’s problems, which include long waits for treatment and the falsification of records to mask those delays. Just 37 percent of respondents say they approve. Obama accepted VA Secretary Eric Shinseki’s resignation “with considerable regret” last week after a report by the VA inspector general…
Four Key Questions on Primary Day in Iowa
Scott Conroy, RealClearPolitics
An open U.S. Senate seat in Iowa is a rare and precious commodity. After all, Republican Chuck Grassley has won re-election by at least a 30-point margin since he was first voted into office as part of the 1980 Reagan wave. And while Democrat Tom Harkin has had some closer shaves, he will have held his seat as the state’s junior senator for three decades by the time he retires at the end of his term in January. Among the Republicans aiming to succeed Harkin, there are four credible — but still largely unknown — candidates vying for their party’s nomination in Tuesday’s…
