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"A conservative environmental group is arguing in new television and radio spots that a Democratic cap-and-trade proposal is bad for both trees and the economy," Roll Call says. The group, CO2IsGreen.org "is spending $600,000 on the 10-day buy that will run through July 13. Television ads will air nationwide on the cable news giant Fox News, as well as on local network affiliates in the Washington, D.C., area. The group is also running 60-second radio spots and newspaper advertisements in Louisiana, Tennessee, Nebraska, Ohio and Indiana publications."
"Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and John Cornyn (Texas) have sided with the state of Arizona in its battle with the Department of Justice over a controversial state immigration law," The Hill notes. Yet: "Graham’s declaration of opposition to the Justice Department law suit comes as a surprise because Graham called the Arizona law unconstitutional in April."
"Queens Congressman Gregory Meeks made no payments for three years on a secret $40,000 personal loan - and repaid the cash only when the FBI started asking questions, the Daily News has learned."
An "unidentified Internet prankster, or group of pranksters, has been sending e-mails announcing that Democratic Sens. Reid (Nev.), Patrick Leahy (Vt.), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) and Frank Lautenberg (N.J.) have died of cancer," Roll Call reports.
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Ok, so the CBO has scored this bill as SAVING $19B. Let the chorus of dissent from the right begin...
I authored the following article to my Newsvine column and felt it might also be nice to post this here as it would seem this topic will get some discussion. Is there any way we might be able to discuss these issues pursuant to the optimistic hopes I express below?
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I have been active on Newsvine for a few weeks now and feel like I have a pretty good sense of what takes place here and the way debates generally flow. I am becoming more and more concerned for the future of America as I see us continuing to slide down a slippery slope to utter polarization and the cessation of any meaningful discourse on the vital issues that confront us in the world today.
America is sorely challenged in many areas these days. From the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the unrest in North Korea and Iran we are facing oppressive and almost overwhelming challenges in navigating these issues. Turning to the domestic front, we are grappling with an economy teetering on the brink and an ecosystem, culture, and way of life are under attack in the Gulf. Let's also not forget the plight of those unemployed that are now without the ability to provide for their families, the immigration problems that threaten to further choke Congresses' ability to do anything, and the many other things that are all on the President's plate vying for his attention and priorities.
Against this backdrop of turmoil, how can America move forward, face our challenges, and forge ahead as the global leader in morality and might (both military and economic)? Will we be empowered to overcome these challenges by questioning the nationality of our duly elected President? Will stalling, blocking, and opposing any effort to even DEBATE the issues in Congress going to enable us to fully evaluate our options, choose the best course for ALL Americans, and progress the way this country has always been able to do?
In times like these, what has always made America great was the foresight that the Founding Fathers had to create a structure for government that brought the best and brightest minds together in one place, opened the floor to vigorous and thorough debate of ALL sides of a given issue, allowed time for deliberation and discussion, and then come together to forge a consensus and move forward. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, did it take a motion for cloiture to end debate and declare war on Japan? When FDR faced a massively crumbling economy, did congress decide to throw up their hands and take NO action on ANYTHING because they did not like the choices that were made by the MAJORITY party that was ELECTED to take those actions?
These days, one cannot even express an opinion on any issue without being attacked personally by the opposing side. People choose not6 to go after a position or an opinion, rather, they choose to attack personally. People are accused of being stupid or ignorant if they do not agree with an opponent. People are called unpatriotic for expressing their personal views and beliefs to the point where discourse, discussion, and debate stifled or suppressed. I long for the days when people would agree to disagree RESPECTFULLY and would allow ALL parties to a debate the time and the opportunity to present their position and to justify their reasoning and why they feel the way they do. It was actually possible that you could be made aware of a fact or a position you had never considered before and that might actually make more sense than the positions previously held to vehemently. Without the ability to fully discuss and analyze a given situation and without the ability to weigh all sides of an issue and attempt to determine the natural outcome of any given course of action, how is America to navigate these troubled waters we find ourselves adrift in?
If Congress (and the American media and public as a whole) cannot find a way to fully and RESPECTFULLY evaluate all sides of these complicated and vital issues we face, we are doomed to follow the clamor of the echo chambers on BOTH sides of the political spectrum to our ultimate demise. If we are too shortsighted to see that we are ALL in the same ship and we are all in peril if the ship runs aground, we will never again be able to find the strength, courage, and determination to do the difficult tasks, make the tough decisions, and right the course that we set this fine country on.
I am still hopeful and optimistic and choose to take solace in the fact that America has ALWAYS found a way to come together for the common good and put our MUTUAL best interests ahead of our individual interests. I am hopeful that we will once again realize that unless America as a whole can thrive and flourish, there is a limit to what ANY of us can accomplish as individuals. I pray that we are not too late to correct our course and can once again set sail on a course that will bring us together to face the challenges that face us all. God Bless America.
"These days, one cannot even express an opinion on any issue without being attacked personally by the opposing side. People choose not6 to go after a position or an opinion, rather, they choose to attack personally. People are accused of being stupid or ignorant if they do not agree with an opponent."
Disgusted, I would take you seriously if you, yourself, weren't guilty of doing exactly what you criticize in the above quote.
KLM,
Thank you for your response and I will not dispute that I have been known to hurl a few epithets or engage in ad-hominem attacks. I defy you; however, to point to a post where I have engaged in such behavior without having FIRST been set upon by my opponent. The only exceptions to this are those members that have clearly demonstrated that the only way to deal with them is to point out their inneffectual intellectual positions.
Now, if you would like to engage in an actual debate on a substantive issue, I am happy to do so and eager for the opportunity. What say you?
Very good. Today I'm going to join you in that hope that once everybody gets done making ugly faces at each other suddenly the light will come on and we'll all remember that we are Americans first last and always with more in common than the pitiful little issues that so many are so determined to use to divide us. Let's see what happens.
IR
The CBO has lost all credibility with the rank and file of America. They got behind the health reform bill when even if we wanted it to pass we knew that the numbers were wrong. Why would anyone believe them now? They always have the excuse that they only have the numbers that they are given. We as Americans need to feel that the numbers they are working with are correct.
The NON-PARTISAN GBO has no reason to be anything but honest. To say what you do, Maggie, is because they happen to have a different view of the bill than YOU do. If they agreed with you they would be as truthful as a Gospel preacher. They are the experts with all the tools and information the rest of us don't have or don't have time to investigate. Until we can do their research and with the resources they have I suggest we take them seriously and remember that they are NON-PARTISAN.
I'm sure the corrupt conservatives are going to Whine Baby Whine that the CBO estimate that climate change legislation would save $19 billion because they've been lying about it costing more money and killing jobs. The plain truth is that cap and trade will create millions of new green jobs as someone has to put the trapped CO2 in the ground.
The ultimate oxymoron is conservative environmental group, that should be conservative anti-environmental cabal! What a joke that cap and trade would be bad for trees, yeah and logging is good for trees right? Ofcourse lying Fox and Freaks would push this nonsensical ad, but then the Braindead Beckerhead crowd will believe any lie they hear on Fox and Freaks. We're overtaxing the ability of trees to cope with all the carbon dioxide we're pumping into the atmosphere and we need to cut down on CO2 emissions before it's too late and global warming happens, then watch the damage caused as Nature goes wild.
Of course you left out that to achieve the 19B in savings it required raising 751B through carbon credits which is lib speak for additional taxes on corparations. Since corporations don't pay taxes they just pass them on as incresed costs to the consumers or respond by laying off employees to lower overhead. If unemployment hits 15% will it be Bush's fault too.
I agree, Rico. Anything that purports to "save" the government money usually ends up costing the taxpayers more.
"CBO says", has been the opening line of far too many bad jokes and fairy tales told to the American People, the most recent being ,the Universal Health Care fiasco. The problem with CBO estimates is that they can only report based on the assumptions they are given from Congress, if Congress chooses to manipulate or intentionally mislead with the data, (which they often do to further their own agenda),it makes a CBO estimate good only for propaganda, the actual value , less than worthless.
I have to agree that "cap-and-trade" is a charade of environmental reform, and I don't see it accomplishing its goals at all. The strange, secret alchemy of the idea is very frustrating for me. Exactly how is it positive that the government will allow you to pollute this estuary if you buy up a tract of scrub forest somewhere else and pinky-swear not to develop it? I'm more conservationist than conservative on this issue, and a lot of environmental activists seem to support this program, but it seems like it enables pollution more than it combats it.
Cap and trade will do NOTHING but make a few people and the government rich at the expense of the rest of us, especially the poor. EVERY BIT of the costs will be passed down to the consumers. In the end it wont do anything to curb CO2 production.
Don't see any numbers. Don't see any facts. Don't see any figures. All we have is a "CBO sez..." CBO also said that Obamacare would lower the deficit, and yet more and more as time goes on we see that the opposite is true and that Obamacare will increase the cost of medicine while increasing the deficit. Garbage in. Garbage out. The CBO gets its figures from Congress, which is desperate to pimp cap & tax in order to increase its revenues and use them to fund more programs and spending. Sorry - this announcement goes in the "load of crap from government" file.