Sen. John McCain has reaffirmed his promise that, if elected president, he will veto any legislation containing "pork-barrel spending."
Meanwhile, I see a record developed over years as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation as a devoted adherent of the belief that the science of man-made global warming is "settled."
I see, too, that the federal taxpayer expenditure on climate-related research now approaches $6 billion — more than we send to the National Cancer Institute, and far more than we spend on AIDS. Seeking the cures for these diseases is even more "settled," no?
As such, the reasonable conclusion is that Sen. McCain would agree that, yes, billions of this is wasteful spending that can be trimmed from the budget or, at least, spent elsewhere (a good test for scientists spouting the same dogma, one might add). Or, at least, he will surely be the first candidate to clarify this contradiction.
It is, after all, a glaring contradiction. One that rivals McCain decrying high energy prices — calling for a gas tax holiday, even — and vowing that the worst thing for the economy right now is raising taxes, while at the same time adamantly supporting imposition of a CO2 cap-and-trade scheme that even the Congressional Budget Office recognizes is an energy tax — if a far more expensive one, due to its inefficiencies.
That is, if anyone were to ask such questions. We can always hope.
Opec’s president on Monday warned oil prices could hit $200 a barrel and there would be little the cartel could do to help.
Cellulosic ethanol—derived from wood scraps and other forms of inedible plant mass– may or may not turn out to be a real technological breakthrough. On the one hand, it could reduce the ruinous impacts of grain-based ethanol on food prices. On the other hand, the extensive set of federal mandates and subsidies for cellulosic ethanol is not a good omen—good technologies rarely need federal help, and the existence of federal aid is often a tip-off that a new technology is a loser.
But here’s another question: if cellulosic ethanol does take off, what impact would that have on the clichés we use? Would we have to scrap the old saying about separating the wheat from the chaff, and instead talk about separating the chaff from the wheat?
Big-government, command-and-control technocrats believe that when central planning fails, the solution is a better plan and smarter planners. They never step back and look at whether planning makes sense in the first place. This was true of the Soviet Union, with tragic five-year plan after five-year plan. It was true of Communist China, with Mao’s revolutionary upheavals. And today, here in the United States, it is true of government energy policy.
The US has said post-Kyoto protocols to tackle climate change will not make any sense if India and China are given a "pass" and that Washington will not be a signatory to any such framework if the two Asian giants are not on board.
Russia will not accept binding caps on its greenhouse gas emissions under a new climate regime, currently being negotiated to succeed the Kyoto Protocol after 2012, top officials said on Monday.
They don't have enough to eat. Five people are dead in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after a week of food riots. Unions in Burkina Faso have called a general strike to protest the high cost of grain.
Last week, Time magazine featured on its cover the iconic photograph of the U.S. Marine Corps raising the flag on Iwo Jima. But with one difference: The flag has been replaced by a tree.
At one point, expanding biofuels made sense for America's energy security. But the recent surge in food prices has forced us to adapt. The global demand for energy and food is expected to rise about 50% in the next 20 years, and the U.S. is well-positioned to be a leader in both areas.
That will require a careful, finely tuned approach to America's farm products.
By freezing the biofuel mandate at current levels, we will go a long way to achieving that goal.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tyfd6IHCCPM 285 234]
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