The EPA has just proposed a rule that would require medium and large companies in a variety of industries to report their emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. This would allow the EPA to better track who is polluting and where. It’s a fabulous idea. It’s such a wonderful, not to mention obvious, idea that you have to wonder why we haven’t been doing this all along.
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Mar 112009
Energy policy is one of those tough topics to talk about intelligently. The problem is that everybody knows what the problems are (fossil fuels are bad for the environment and have a finite supply), everybody agrees what the ultimate solution has to be (we need to find new sources of cheap, plentiful energy), and no one has the slightest clue how to get from here to there. But because politicians don’t get elected by saying “I don’t know”, they make stuff up, and end up sounding vague, clueless, or both.
So my goal for today is to have a reasonably intelligent discussion of energy policy. Continue reading »
May 282008
Humility. Temperance. Stewardship. Modesty. These are all good Christian values. They are good conservative values as well. Jesus taught them (as have most of the world’s great religious leaders of all faiths). In most cases, our parents and grandparents taught them as well. Christians, and I think most others, recognize the opposites of these values (pride, extravagance, waste, boastfulness) as sins. When we apply these concepts to our daily lives, they all add up to a basic concept that I still can’t believe is controversial: conservation.
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Clinton had a Stephen Colbert moment yesterday. It doesn’t suit her. Here’s the transcript from This Week with George Stephanopoulos:
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I’m generally for treating animals with respect and kindness. But laws like those the Swiss are implementing are ridiculous! It may sound noble to make sure that guinea pigs are never kept alone in their cages, but it misses an important point. Humans are different from and more important than the animals they keep. When we blur the line between the two with misguided laws in an attempt to bring them together, we’re more likely to degrade the dignity of humans than improve that of animals.
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