Why I support Obama's Energy bill

If you are driving from Texas to Mexico and driving north, slowing down isn't "solving the problem" it isn't even "improving the situation". You have to turn around.

That's why I support the energy bill. For the first time the U.S. will commit to reducing are carbon footprint. It isn't going to be 40% in 20 years or even 20% in 20 years, but for a country that is increasing their carbon footprint every year, committing to reducing it is pointing the car in the right direction for once.

What really kills me is that the Republicans have the gaul to be against Cap and Trade. For decades the Republicans have blocked environmental laws saying "your proposal is stupid. we should do cap and trade so that the market can fix the problem". I was always very against cap and trade mostly because it had "Republican Trickery" written all over it. However, some economists that I trust have said that it actually works in the countries that have tried it. Thus, I've come around to support it. I've even come to appreciate the science behind why that cap and trade works for carbon but not for mercury. It's pretty cool.

The "let the market solve the problem" people say that the worst legislation is when the government strong-arms people into a particular solution. Cap and trade is the idea for the opposite: the government sets high-level goals, and the market works out the best way to get there, possibly inventing entirely new solutions. One company may buy carbon credits from another one, but some companies might go solar and make megabucks selling excess carbon capacity. That's pretty cool, especially if you have a new idea for solar. It inspires invention and encourages innovation. Great.

But now that we're on the verge of passing a cap-and-trade bill the people that used to use it as an excuse to not do other plans are giving it bad names ("cap and tax") and calling it a heavy-handed strong-armed governmental solution. Nice switch-a-roo, folks.

Well fuck you.

Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.

We used to be a country that was inspired to be better, to innovate and achieve. Now we will spend millions for the right to stagnate.

If cap and trade doesn't become law I will be so freakin' pissed.

For info abou this bill, check out the OpenCongress page: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h2454/show

A great, short, explanation of the Obama healthcare plan

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/01/health-reform-made-simple/

Kudos to the Times for a story that, for once, emphasizes the remarkable unity of vision health reformers are showing, rather than the squabbles that are an inevitable part of passing major legislation.
The essence is really quite simple: regulation of insurers, so that they can’t cherry-pick only the healthy, and subsidies, so that all Americans can afford insurance.
Everything else is about making that core work. Individual mandates are a way to prevent gaming of the system by people who don’t sign up until they’re sick; employer mandates a way to hold down the on-budget costs by preventing a rush by employers to drop insurance; the public option a way to create effective competition and hold costs down further.
But what it means for the individual will be that insurers can’t reject you, and if your income is relatively low, the government will help pay your premiums.
That’s it. Any commentator who whines that he just doesn’t understand it is basically saying that he doesn’t want to understand it.

I'm a sucker for graduation speeches

"Rare footage of Conan O'Brien's famous speech to the graduating class of Harvard University in 2000"

http://www.guba.com/watch/3000034406

His advice? "Fall Down. Make a mess."