Month: June 2014

Apostate Louisiana singled out for EPA’s punishment.

The last sentence in the excerpt from this article (‘Despite low coal use, La. must reduce CO2 by 40%’) is inaccurate.

When the Obama administration announced its new plan to cut carbon dioxide from power plants to combat climate change, Louisiana found itself on the hook for a 40 percent reduction over the next 15 years or so — one of the bigger decreases demanded in the state-by-state goals.

The size of the proposed cut surprised many because Louisiana doesn’t rely heavily on coal, which generates more carbon dioxide than most other fuels.

Neither state regulators nor the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can provide a clear reason for why Louisiana’s reduction is so large.

It is more accurate to say that neither wants to provide said clear reason.  But we’re all adults here, right?  Louisiana got hit by this because of three things. Continue reading Apostate Louisiana singled out for EPA’s punishment.

So, basically, it’s just the Right that upgrades its politicians? …Weird.

So I’m reading this Hot Air post about an Arkansas state legislator who lost a state senate primary over, essentially, Obamacare, and I was struck by something. Basically, it’s that you only hear these stories in relation to conservatives. If the Left is doing a comparable job of removing their own wobbly legislators and replacing them with solid liberals and progressives, I’m not hearing about it.  Admittedly, I could just be missing examples, but: when’s the last time that progressives have toppled an incumbent Democrat in a federal race? How often do they do that?

I mean, thank God that the Left doesn’t, but you’d think that they’d get tired of almost never having the satisfaction of replacing an under-performing legislator.

Moe Lane

So Eisenhower- sorry, Obama – is going to send advisors to South Vietnam – sorry, Iraq.

Temporarily, to be sure.

The White House is considering sending a small number of American special forces soldiers to Iraq in an urgent attempt to help the government in Baghdad slow the nation’s rampant Sunni insurgency, U.S. officials said Monday.

While President Barack Obama has explicitly ruled out putting U.S. troops into direct combat in Iraq, the plan under consideration suggests he would be willing to send Americans into a collapsing security situation for training and other purposes.

Mind you, sending advisers and trainers is not something that I am against doing.  Then again, I was against pulling out our troops in Iraq in the first place, largely because it was far too early to leave and I figured that we’d just have to go back.  Which is what is appearing to be happening, here.  And if you think that I’m going to pass up this opportunity to remind the least-historically ignorant of the Left about their own misty-hued past via noting the parallels between this situation and the one in South Vietnam… well, I’m not. This is how it starts, ye Democrats.  Have fun kicking yet another one of your principles in the testicles a few times.

Via

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: You can, I suppose, make the argument that the Democrats will actually fight tooth and nail any reintroduction of American troops in Iraq. That argument reminds me of a Dorothy Parker poem:

Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
A medley of extemporanea;
And love is a thing that can never go wrong;
And I am Marie of Romania.

The real question is, are Democratic politicians done with Barack Obama?

I don’t often do this, but I feel that this Hill article about how much Barack Obama hates Washington, wants to leave it, and doesn’t like hanging out with all the other Democrats is missing a couple of key paragraphs at the end.  I intend to now provide them.

Barack Obama’s detachment from, and disdain of, Washington DC reportedly concerns many Democrats, particularly those running for re-election this year.  While the President continues to raise funds for the Democratic party, it is unclear how much campaigning he plans to do for at-risk candidates – or, indeed, how much campaigning those candidates want him to do.  As former Democrat (and current online Republican contributor to a major conservative website) remarked, “Going into 2010 Barry’s best assurance to candidates was that they had him in their corner.  So they [Democratic Members of Congress] trusted him.  And they got clubbed like baby harp seals for it.  Now the President’s best assurance will be, what? That he’ll stay holed up in Washington?”

Polling suggests that this may be a smart strategy.  Today’s RCP average shows that President Obama has a favorable/unfavorable rating of 42/54.  By comparison, former President George W. Bush’s comparable daily numbers in 2006 were 38/57: while President Obama enjoys a slightly higher amount of regard, many question whether his presence on the campaign trail in battleground states would be more welcomed by Democrats, or Republicans.  This may add some poignancy to the President’s choice to stay out of the limelight: it may be the best chance the Democratic party has to retain control of the Senate.

…or something like that.

Via Instapundit.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

You may not be aware that the Turkey/Not-Kurdistan situation has calmed considerably.

Well, isn’t this an interesting little article.

Years ago, the Kurds turned away from Baghdad to Ankara, in the hopes of finding a new regional champion. And, surprise surprise, in Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, they found such a partner. In a striking turnaround from 2007, when the Turks were so afraid of Kurdish secession they positioned 200,000 troops on the Kurdish border, Turkey has more recently embraced Kurdistan as a moderate partner and an important steady source of oil, as Turkey seeks to cement itself as the oil gateway from the Middle East to Europe.

Turkey doesn’t yet support Kurdish independence, but Erdogan has been making progress to normalize relations with his own Kurdish population in the south, freeing the head of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) resistance group and recognizing Kurdish as a language. The border, once lined with troops, is now open and flowing with goods and tourist traffic that moves both ways.

Translation: the Turks don’t care if the Kurds keep Kirkuk. And they very well might not care if the Kurds take Mosul, either.  Or any other parts of Kurd-populated territories that aren’t in Turkey itself.