« May 2009 | Main | July 2009 »
|
Date |
04/27/09 |
05/30/09 |
06/15/09 |
|
Approve |
34% |
31% |
41% |
|
Disapprove |
52% |
57% |
51% |
|
Not Sure |
14% |
13% |
8% |
|
Approve |
36% |
44% |
44% |
|
Disapprove |
54% |
49% |
51% |
|
Not Sure |
10% |
7% |
5% |
|
Total |
100% |
100% |
100% |
|
Composition of Adults |
32% |
47% |
18% |
I can’t believe that Senator Bunning is doing better with Democrats than Republicans. I have checked these data twice. You can check them at SurveyUSA
June 28, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sponsor: WHAS-TV Louisville
|
47% |
Approve |
|
51% |
Disapprove |
|
3% |
Not Sure |
By Region
North
Western Lou Central Eastern
|
Approve |
49% |
50% |
40% |
53% |
|
Disapprove |
50% |
47% |
57% |
45% |
|
Not Sure |
1% |
4% |
3% |
2% |
Western Kentucky is mostly rural, religious area, with tobacco farms and coal mines.
Lou (Louisville) has the most diversity of any area in the state.
North Central Kentucky encompasses the conservative suburbs of Cincinnati.
Eastern Kentucky is the strong hold of the mineworkers' unions in Kentucky.
June 27, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sources close to Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson say he is on track to report raising close to $500,000 in the second quarter of the year. Grayson had only two months to fundraise this quarter after filing his exploratory committee in early May.
Grayson, who has said he does not plan to challenge Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) and has said he will only run if the incumbent decides to step aside, has fundraisers scheduled for Monday in London, Ky., and Tuesday in Lexington.
June 27, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE---June 25, 2009
Contact: Kim Geveden 502.682.2010
[email protected]
Significant Increase in Electric Rates
Will Hurt Working Families / Devastate KY Economy
Calls for Climate Warming Bill that does not “unfairly target Kentucky”
FRANKFORT – U.S. Senate candidate, Lt. Governor Daniel Mongiardo today said that a Global Warming Bill that contains a “cap and trade” provision would “hurt Kentucky families and devastate Kentucky’s economy” and urged Kentucky’s House delegation to vote against it when it comes up for a scheduled vote this week.
Citing the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Mongiardo said the bill would dramatically increase electric rates on Kentucky’s working families and businesses over the next ten years.
“While I believe global warming is real, placing a huge energy tax on the backs of Kentucky’s working families and businesses is not the answer. The cap and trade provisions in this global warming bill unfairly targets Kentucky, which will cause residential electric rates to rise significantly; cost thousands of jobs; devastate numerous communities, and cause steel and aluminum factories to lay-off workers or leave the state. With our economy hurting, the last thing Kentucky families need are higher electric rates,” said Mongiardo.
Over 90% of Kentucky’s electricity comes from coal generated power plants. Kentucky is third in the nation in coal production, generating over $3 billion in sales and hundreds of millions in tax revenue. The Kentucky coal industry employs more than 11,000 people. 30% of the nation’s steel and aluminum is produced in Kentucky.
“I agree we need to take steps to reduce global warming, but let’s not do it in a way that punishes the good hard-working people of Kentucky with dramatically higher electric rates, “said Mongiardo.
Mongiardo’s opposition to the ‘Cap-and-Trade’ bill is founded on five fundamental concerns:
• Will substantially increase electric rates, placing a disproportionate share of the cost to comply with the legislation on the backs of Kentucky families and businesses
• Will destroy large segments of Kentucky’s manufacturing base and devastate the communities in every region of the Commonwealth where these industries are located
• Will result in massive job layoffs for Kentucky’s working men and women in those industries that are most adversely affected – coal, steel, aluminum smelters and other energy intensive industries
• Unfairly punishes Kentucky’s electric utility companies, particularly the 26 non-profit electric cooperatives which currently supplies affordable energy to hundreds of thousands of families and small businesses in rural communities throughout the Commonwealth
• Benefits Wall Street speculators – not Kentucky families and businesses on Main Street
# # #
June 26, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Approximately the same number of Blue Dog (fiscally conservative) Democrats voted for and against this measure. The Blue Dog Dems voting yay included Ben Chandler (KY-06), Baron Hill (IN-09)), Heath Shuler (NC-11), and Linda Sanchez (CA-47). Baron Hill is the Caucus’ Co-Chair for Policy and Heath Shuler is the Whip for the Caucus.
Those voting against included Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD), Charlie Melancon (LA-03), John Tanner (TN-08) and Mike Ross (AR-O4). S Stephanie Herseth Sandlin is the Caucus’ Co-Chair for administration and Charlie Melancon is the Co-chair for communications. John Tanner was one of the founding members of the Bluedog Democratic Caucus.
Only two members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus voted against this measure. They were Dennis Kucinich (O-10) and Pete Stark (CA-13). A few other members of this caucus might have also voted nay.
H R 2454 RECORDED VOTE 26-Jun-2009 7:17 PM
QUESTION: On Passage
BILL TITLE: American Clean Energy and Security Act
| Ayes | Noes | PRES | NV | |
| Democratic | 211 | 44 | 1 | |
| Republican | 8 | 168 | 2 | |
| Independent | ||||
| TOTALS | 219 | 212 | 3 |
| Abercrombie Ackerman Adler (NJ) Andrews Baca Baird Baldwin Bean Becerra Berkley Berman Bishop (GA) Bishop (NY) Blumenauer Boccieri Bono Mack Boswell Boucher Boyd Brady (PA) Braley (IA) Brown, Corrine Butterfield Capps Capuano Cardoza Carnahan Carson (IN) Castle Castor (FL) Chandler Clarke Clay Cleaver Clyburn Cohen Connolly (VA) Conyers Cooper Courtney Crowley Cuellar Cummings Davis (CA) Davis (IL) DeGette Delahunt DeLauro Dicks Dingell Doggett Doyle Driehaus Edwards (MD) Ellison Engel Eshoo Etheridge Farr Fattah Filner Frank (MA) Fudge Giffords Gonzalez Gordon (TN) Grayson Green, Al Green, Gene Grijalva Gutierrez Hall (NY) Halvorson |
Hare Harman Heinrich Higgins Hill Himes Hinchey Hinojosa Hirono Hodes Holt Honda Hoyer Inslee Israel Jackson (IL) Jackson-Lee (TX) Johnson (GA) Johnson, E. B. Kagen Kanjorski Kaptur Kennedy Kildee Kilpatrick (MI) Kilroy Kind Kirk Klein (FL) Kosmas Kratovil Lance Langevin Larsen (WA) Larson (CT) Lee (CA) Levin Lewis (GA) Lipinski LoBiondo Loebsack Lofgren, Zoe Lowey Luján Lynch Maffei Maloney Markey (CO) Markey (MA) Matsui McCarthy (NY) McCollum McDermott McGovern McHugh McMahon McNerney Meek (FL) Meeks (NY) Michaud Miller (NC) Miller, George Moore (KS) Moore (WI) Moran (VA) Murphy (CT) Murphy (NY) Murphy, Patrick Murtha Nadler (NY) Napolitano Neal (MA) Oberstar |
Obey Olver Pallone Pascrell Pastor (AZ) Payne Pelosi Perlmutter Perriello Peters Peterson Pingree (ME) Polis (CO) Price (NC) Quigley Rangel Reichert Reyes Richardson Rothman (NJ) Roybal-Allard Ruppersberger Rush Ryan (OH) Sánchez, Linda T. Sanchez, Loretta Sarbanes Schakowsky Schauer Schiff Schrader Schwartz Scott (GA) Scott (VA) Serrano Sestak Shea-Porter Sherman Shuler Sires Skelton Slaughter Smith (NJ) Smith (WA) Snyder Space Speier Spratt Stupak Sutton Tauscher Teague Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Tierney Titus Tonko Towns Tsongas Van Hollen Velázquez Walz Wasserman Schultz Waters Watson Watt Waxman Weiner Welch Wexler Woolsey Wu Yarmuth |
| Aderholt Akin Alexander Altmire Arcuri Austria Bachmann Bachus Barrett (SC) Barrow Bartlett Barton (TX) Berry Biggert Bilbray Bilirakis Bishop (UT) Blackburn Blunt Boehner Bonner Boozman Boren Boustany Brady (TX) Bright Broun (GA) Brown (SC) Brown-Waite, Ginny Buchanan Burgess Burton (IN) Buyer Calvert Camp Campbell Cantor Cao Capito Carney Carter Cassidy Chaffetz Childers Coble Coffman (CO) Cole Conaway Costa Costello Crenshaw Culberson Dahlkemper Davis (AL) Davis (KY) Davis (TN) Deal (GA) DeFazio Dent Diaz-Balart, L. Diaz-Balart, M. Donnelly (IN) Dreier Duncan Edwards (TX) Ehlers Ellsworth Emerson Fallin Fleming Forbes |
Fortenberry Foster Foxx Franks (AZ) Frelinghuysen Gallegly Garrett (NJ) Gerlach Gingrey (GA) Gohmert Goodlatte Granger Graves Griffith Guthrie Hall (TX) Harper Hastings (WA) Heller Hensarling Herger Herseth Sandlin Hoekstra Holden Hunter Inglis Issa Jenkins Johnson (IL) Johnson, Sam Jones Jordan (OH) King (IA) King (NY) Kingston Kirkpatrick (AZ) Kissell Kline (MN) Kucinich Lamborn Latham LaTourette Latta Lee (NY) Lewis (CA) Linder Lucas Luetkemeyer Lummis Lungren, Daniel E. Mack Manzullo Marchant Marshall Massa Matheson McCarthy (CA) McCaul McClintock McCotter McHenry McIntyre McKeon McMorris Rodgers Melancon Mica Miller (FL) Miller (MI) Miller, Gary Minnick Mitchell |
Mollohan Moran (KS) Murphy, Tim Myrick Neugebauer Nunes Nye Olson Ortiz Paul Paulsen Pence Petri Pitts Platts Poe (TX) Pomeroy Posey Price (GA) Putnam Radanovich Rahall Rehberg Rodriguez Roe (TN) Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rogers (MI) Rohrabacher Rooney Ros-Lehtinen Roskam Ross Royce Ryan (WI) Salazar Scalise Schmidt Schock Sensenbrenner Sessions Shadegg Shimkus Shuster Simpson Smith (NE) Smith (TX) Souder Stark Stearns Tanner Taylor Terry Thompson (PA) Thornberry Tiahrt Tiberi Turner Upton Visclosky Walden Wamp Westmoreland Whitfield Wilson (OH) Wilson (SC) Wittman Wolf Young (AK) Young (FL) |
| Flake |
Hastings (FL) |
Sullivan |
June 26, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (5)
H RES 587 RECORDED VOTE 26-Jun-2009 11:22 AM
QUESTION: On Agreeing to the Resolution
BILL TITLE: Providing for consideration of H.R. 2454, American Clean Energy and Security Act
| Ayes | Noes | PRES | NV | |
| Democratic | 217 | 30 | 8 | |
| Republican | 175 | 3 | ||
| Independent | ||||
| TOTALS | 217 | 205 | 11 |
| Abercrombie Adler (NJ) Andrews Arcuri Baca Baldwin Bean Becerra Berkley Berman Berry Bishop (GA) Bishop (NY) Blumenauer Boccieri Boswell Boucher Boyd Brady (PA) Braley (IA) Brown, Corrine Butterfield Capps Capuano Cardoza Carnahan Carson (IN) Castor (FL) Chandler Clarke Clay Cleaver Clyburn Cohen Connolly (VA) Conyers Cooper Costa Costello Courtney Crowley Cuellar Cummings Davis (AL) Davis (CA) Davis (IL) DeGette Delahunt DeLauro Dicks Dingell Donnelly (IN) Doyle Driehaus Edwards (MD) Edwards (TX) Ellison Ellsworth Engel Eshoo Etheridge Farr Fattah Filner Frank (MA) Fudge Giffords Gonzalez Gordon (TN) Grayson Green, Al Green, Gene Grijalva |
Gutierrez Hall (NY) Hare Heinrich Herseth Sandlin Higgins Himes Hinchey Hinojosa Hirono Hodes Holden Honda Hoyer Inslee Israel Jackson (IL) Jackson-Lee (TX) Johnson (GA) Johnson, E. B. Kagen Kanjorski Kaptur Kildee Kilpatrick (MI) Kilroy Kind Kirkpatrick (AZ) Kissell Klein (FL) Kosmas Kratovil Langevin Larsen (WA) Larson (CT) Lee (CA) Levin Lipinski Loebsack Lofgren, Zoe Lowey Luján Lynch Maffei Markey (CO) Markey (MA) Massa Matsui McCarthy (NY) McCollum McDermott McGovern McIntyre McMahon McNerney Meek (FL) Meeks (NY) Michaud Miller (NC) Miller, George Moore (KS) Moore (WI) Moran (VA) Murphy (CT) Murphy (NY) Murphy, Patrick Murtha Nadler (NY) Napolitano Neal (MA) Oberstar Obey Olver |
Ortiz Pallone Pascrell Pastor (AZ) Payne Perlmutter Perriello Peters Peterson Pingree (ME) Polis (CO) Pomeroy Price (NC) Quigley Rangel Reyes Richardson Rodriguez Rothman (NJ) Roybal-Allard Ruppersberger Rush Ryan (OH) Sánchez, Linda T. Sanchez, Loretta Sarbanes Schakowsky Schauer Schiff Schrader Schwartz Scott (GA) Scott (VA) Serrano Sestak Shea-Porter Sherman Sires Skelton Slaughter Smith (WA) Snyder Space Speier Spratt Stupak Sutton Tanner Tauscher Teague Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Tierney Titus Tonko Towns Tsongas Van Hollen Velázquez Visclosky Wasserman Schultz Waters Watson Watt Weiner Welch Wexler Wilson (OH) Woolsey Wu Yarmuth |
| Aderholt Akin Alexander Altmire Austria Bachmann Bachus Baird Barrett (SC) Barrow Bartlett Barton (TX) Biggert Bilbray Bilirakis Bishop (UT) Blackburn Blunt Boehner Bonner Bono Mack Boozman Boren Boustany Brady (TX) Bright Broun (GA) Brown (SC) Brown-Waite, Ginny Buchanan Burgess Burton (IN) Buyer Calvert Camp Campbell Cantor Cao Capito Carney Carter Cassidy Castle Chaffetz Childers Coble Coffman (CO) Cole Conaway Crenshaw Dahlkemper Davis (KY) Davis (TN) Deal (GA) DeFazio Dent Diaz-Balart, L. Diaz-Balart, M. Doggett Dreier Duncan Ehlers Emerson Fallin Fleming Forbes Fortenberry Foster Foxx |
Franks (AZ) Frelinghuysen Gallegly Garrett (NJ) Gerlach Gingrey (GA) Gohmert Goodlatte Granger Graves Griffith Guthrie Hall (TX) Halvorson Harman Harper Hastings (WA) Heller Hensarling Herger Hill Hoekstra Holt Hunter Inglis Issa Jenkins Johnson (IL) Johnson, Sam Jones Jordan (OH) King (IA) King (NY) Kingston Kirk Kline (MN) Kucinich Lamborn Lance Latham LaTourette Latta Lee (NY) Lewis (CA) Linder LoBiondo Lucas Luetkemeyer Lummis Lungren, Daniel E. Mack Manzullo Marchant Marshall Matheson McCarthy (CA) McCaul McClintock McCotter McHenry McHugh McKeon McMorris Rodgers Melancon Mica Miller (FL) Miller (MI) Miller, Gary Minnick |
Mitchell Moran (KS) Murphy, Tim Myrick Neugebauer Nunes Nye Olson Paul Paulsen Pence Petri Pitts Platts Poe (TX) Posey Price (GA) Putnam Radanovich Rahall Rehberg Reichert Roe (TN) Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rogers (MI) Rohrabacher Rooney Ros-Lehtinen Roskam Ross Royce Ryan (WI) Salazar Scalise Schmidt Schock Sensenbrenner Sessions Shadegg Shimkus Shuler Shuster Simpson Smith (NE) Smith (NJ) Smith (TX) Souder Stark Stearns Taylor Terry Thompson (PA) Thornberry Tiahrt Tiberi Turner Upton Walden Wamp Westmoreland Whitfield Wilson (SC) Wittman Wolf Young (AK) Young (FL) |
| Ackerman Culberson Flake Hastings (FL) |
Kennedy Lewis (GA) Maloney Mollohan |
Sullivan Walz Waxman |
June 26, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whom I greatly admire, will (in the next few days) push the Waxman and Markey clean air bill (better known as the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act through the House of Representatives. Of course, amendments to appease the Blue Dog Democrats and (some) environmentalists (e.g., The Sierra Club) will also pass.
The environmental amendments to this act (which I applaud) are:
Ø Hold polluters accountable: restore EPA authority to regulate coal plants
Ø Increase investment in green jobs and in protecting vulnerable communities against the impacts of global warming.
Ø Improve the renewable energy standard
(I thank my good friend, Carl Bowman, for providing me with this information.)
I do not believe that adding these environmental sweeteners would serve any useful purpose, as I have strong reservations about the ACES Act’s viability.
These strong reservations are not because of any doubts concerning global warming. I have drunk the global warming Kool-Aid.
These strong reservations are due to my doubts about the ACES Act’s underlying approach, capping and trading C02 emissions (which are the root cause of global warming). This approach is commonly referred to as the cap-and-trade approach.
Dr James Hansen’s (a noted NASA scientist and Al Gore’s science advisor) has testified before Congress that the empirical evidence for the cap and trade program is spurious, at best. He also recently said that:
“Trading of rights to pollute introduces speculation and makes millionaires on Wall Street…I hope cap and trade doesn’t pass because we need a much more effective approach.”
Under the cap-and-trade program, pollution becomes a commodity like oil, grain, or the dollar. Those who have been polluting for years and years to come can make money by trading it on a commodity board. I have ethical problems with that concept.
Dr. Hansen, Ralph Nader, and others have proposed a carbon tax approach. The IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change (IPCC) has calculated that a $50 fee/tax levied on every metric ton of GHGs, or carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e to use their terminology) would stabilize atmospheric concentrations of CO2 by 2020, at the latest.
Nordhaus and Shellenberger, two prominent environmental scientists, believe that the carbon tax and cap-and-trade approaches are bound to fail. This inevitable failure is because governments around the world have been (and will continue to be) unwilling to establish and sustain a high price on carbon.
Nordhaus and Shellenberger delineate a third solution to the global warming threat. Their approach focuses on funding very large public investments in innovative clean energy technologies. This project, which would be akin to the NASA project in the 1960s, would involve establishing very modest and politically sustainable carbon prices in developed economies.
Sounds like the plan to me.
However, I do not know if this plan is feasible.
Let us then make haste slowly on this very important issue of global warming.
I suggest that formation of a blue-ribbon panel of prominent environmental scientists (from around the globe) and public officials (from the political left, middle, and right) to evaluate the potential effectiveness of the three discussed approaches to climate control. This panel would have a year to report their findings to Congress.
We owe it to the Earth(and all future generations of its inhabitants)to develop the best possible approach (which could be a hybrid of several approaches) for controlling the gashouse effects of CO2 emissions
June 26, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (3)
(The following article by Sarah Lynn Cunningham comes from a May 24, 2009 posting on Kentucky Green.com. I have posted this article in its entirety and with permission from Sarah Lynn Cunningham.)
I spent last weekend at the North American Summit of www.theclimateproject.org(TCP)--three days of rousing speeches, moving videos and getting better acquainted with some of the inspiring TCP presenters working in the five-state district that I manage.
(The 500 tech-intensive TCP participants in attendance overwhelmed the newly opened, green Hutton Hotel's WiFi, precluding my plan to blog each day. I came home with so much good material that I needed this weekend to organize my thoughts.)
As our timing worked out, the highlight was the proposed federal American Clean Energy and Security Act (HR 2454 or simply ACES). It's 932 pp long! Here's a 22-pp summary.
This landmark bill--sometimes referred to as the Waxman-Markey bill, after its main congressional sponsors--was made public as we met last Friday. And was adopted by the House Energy and Commerce Committee this past Thursday.
A product of our messy political process, its numerous compromises brought reactions that spanned the predictable range between it-is-nowhere-near-good-enough to it-will-end-life-as-we-know-it.
Many organizations principally concerned with public health and the environment, such as Physicians for Social Responsibility, Oxfam and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, say it's too weak--and have science on their side.
Still, many activist groups, such as 1Sky, Repower America, the League of Women Voters and the pro-labor Blue Green Alliance, see the need for action as too urgent to not get behind the bill, albeit while urging that it be strengthened.
You may access those and other organization's position statements via the US Climate Action Network's web site.
Most industrialists, the US Chamber of Commerce, for example, accept that legislation is inevitable and are just trying to get the most favorable terms possible.
And, yes, despite concessions that--were it not for politics--would be unwarranted and wholly counter-productive, the fossil fuel industry, including the American Petroleum Institute, responded with hand-writing warnings of dire doom.
Though the coming weeks will surely include lots of debate and numerous modifications, the outcome will very likely be this nation's first federal legislation to slow the already unfolding global climate crisis.
June 26, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Wall Street Journal; December 3, 2008
A tax on CO2 emissions -- not a cap-and-trade system -- offers the best prospect of meaningfully engaging China and the U.S., while avoiding the prospect of unhinged environmental protectionism.
Cap-and-traders assume, without much justification, that one country can put a price on carbon emissions while another doesn't without affecting trade or investment decisions. This is a bad assumption, given false comfort by the Montreal Protocol treaty, which took this approach to successfully rein in ozone-depleting gases. Chlorofluorocarbons are not pervasive like greenhouse gases (GHGs); nor was the economy of 1987 hyperglobalized like ours today.
June 26, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Authorizes appropriations to DOD for: (1) procurement, including for aircraft, missiles, weapons and tracked combat vehicles, ammunition, and shipbuilding and conversion; (2) the Rapid Acquisition Fund; (3) the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Fund; (4) Defense Production Act purchases; (5) the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle Fund; (6) research development, test, and evaluation; (7) operation and maintenance; (8) Working Capital Funds; (9) the National Defense Sealift Fund; (10) the Defense Health Program; (11) chemical agents and munitions destruction; (12) drug interdiction and counter-drug activities; (13) the Defense Inspector General; (14) the Armed Forces Retirement Home; and (15) active and reserve military personnel, including end strengths.
Sets forth provisions or requirements concerning: (1) military personnel policy; (2) military pay and allowances; (3) acquisition policy and management; (4) DOD organization and management; (5) financial matters; (6) matters relating to foreign nations; and (7) matters relating to military construction, family housing, and real property.
Extends through FY2010 DOD authority to provide income equalization payments to reserve personnel experiencing extended and frequent active-duty mobilizations.
Provides a special monthly allowance to servicemembers recovering from combat or combat-related catastrophic injuries.
Authorizes certain private sector employees to receive instruction at the Defense Cyber Investigations Training Academy operating under the Defense Cyber Crime Center.
Provides enhanced DOD authority to acquire products and services produced in Central Asia, Pakistan, and the South Caucasus
June 25, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)