Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

Optimism opens the door to great things.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

The National Guard is not Batman.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / New EPA Regulations: “Coal Comfort”

New EPA Regulations: “Coal Comfort”

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Well, Professor Krugman likes the new plan:

… The power-plant proposal isn’t enough, by itself, to save the planet; and like heath reform, it could be undone if enough justices on the Supreme Court decide that their partisan loyalty trumps the law and sound policy. But if the plan does go into effect, it could have huge implications. Climate diplomacy could resume; and if something like cap and trade is actually implemented, it will prove far cheaper than the doomsayers claim, undermining anti-environmentalists in much the way that the success of the ACA has undermined enemies of universal coverage…

.

From the Washington Post, “Everything you need to know about the EPA’s proposed rule on coal plants“:

The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday proposed a rule designed to cut carbon dioxide emissions from existing coal plants by as much as 30 percent by 2030, compared with 2005 levels. The regulation has prompted heavy lobbying from industry and environmental groups, and the ensuing battle promises to become, as the Natural Resources Defense Council Climate Director Peter Altman put it, “the Super Bowl of climate politics.”…

Existing power plants are the largest source of the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions, accounting for 38 percent. (The transportation sector comes in second, at 32 percent.) Much of this pollution stems from aging, coal-fired power plants….

After the EPA finalizes its proposal in mid-2015, it will give states a year to design their implementation plans. It will let states meet emission targets for power plants in several ways, including through plant upgrades, switching from coal to natural gas, or by improving energy efficiency or promoting renewable energy “outside the fence,” meaning outside the plant site. That approach will give states greater flexibility in designing plans to meet the EPA’s targets….

.

The NYTimes seems pessimistic:

… The regulation takes aim at the largest source of carbon pollution in the United States, the nation’s more than 600 coal-fired power plants. If it withstands an expected onslaught of legal and legislative attacks, experts say that it could close hundreds of the plants and also lead, over the course of decades, to systemic changes in the American electricity industry, including transformations in how power is generated and used.

It is also likely to stand as President Obama’s last chance to substantially shape domestic policy and as a defining element of his legacy. The president, who failed to push a sweeping climate change bill through Congress in his first term, is now acting on his own by using his executive authority under the 1970 Clean Air Act to issue the regulation…

The timing of the rule signals that Mr. Obama may be more interested in achiev- ing a legacy-making global deal on climate change than in short-term political concerns. While the rule could make things politically difficult for incumbent Democrats from coal states in November, it could make things easier for American climate change negotiators this fall at the United Nations General Assembly, where governments are expected to hold side meetings intended to forge a global climate change treaty that negotiators hope to have signed by 2015…

But the President will not be deterred, per the AP:

… Obama, in a conference call with public health leaders, sought to head off critics who have argued the plan will kill jobs, drive up power bills and crush the economy in regions of the U.S.

“What we’ve seen every time is that these claims are debunked when you actually give workers and businesses the tools and the incentives they need to innovate,” Obama said…

That’s the kind of leadership I like to see!

Reader Interactions

104Comments

  2. 2.

    Bubblegum Tate

    But the Heritage Foundation has estimated that these regulations will cost over a billion jobs, so….

  3. 3.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Bubblegum Tate: I’m sure that new Heritage hire Cherly Atkinson and the rest of the staff of The Daily Signal, Heritage’s new “hard news” site, will get right on vetting that estimate from their hard-news research facility and hot tub.

  4. 4.

    J.Ty

    Credit where credit is due, of course, but he should’ve made this power grab in 2011 when it was obvious that we couldn’t even get the conservative Cap and Trade bullshit passed. But I’m glad the WH has finally wised up to the whole anthrax-and-tire-rims thing.

  8. 8.

    Botsplainer

    Here in Kentucky, the fiction that coal is an integral part of the state’s well being proceeds apace.

    Yertle is outraged, Grimes is pandering (forgivably, but pandering, nonetheless). It isn’t as if she’s going to win her victory in the Appalachian hills or the stripmined hellscapes – her victory is going to have to come from Louisville, Frankfort, Newport, Covington, Owensboro, Henderson and Lexington, whose individuals and businesses have been fucking sick of seeing money poured into Eastern Kentucky road projects so that Duke Energy’s coal trucks can destroy them, for Medicaid services so underpaid coal miners made sick from their jobs at out of state owned mines can get medical treatment for themselves and their sick kids. This also includes oversubsidizing Eastern Kentucky schools, courthouses and local government infrastructure, since the out of state owned coal mines are underassessed for tax purposes.

    And don’t get me started on including black lung in statewide comp premiums, that went on for many, many years, and absolutely gutted any available funds for repetitive motion injuries at regular manufacturing facilities.

    If it was up to me, if you simply give the entire portion of the state bounded on the north by I-64 and west by I-75 to Virginia, Kentucky would be a shitload more healthy on an economic level. Since those stupid fuckers refuse to either leave or do something to take care of themselves, they’re a yoke round our necks while screaming about socialism, moar gunz and Benghazi. Sadly, they also tend to ascend into legislative leadership positions if they’re GOP (primarily through the ruralcentric gerrymander), trying to make the entirety of the state resemble the shitholes they represent.

  10. 10.

    BGinCHI

    @Botsplainer: Great points. Seriously, if the shit that is making you poor while killing you is not something you want rid of then you are insane in the membrane.

    Coal is the new tobacco.

  14. 14.

    burnspbesq

    It’s not enough and it’s too slow, and I don’t understand the political calculus behind making it not enough and too slow.

    ANY regulation is going to be challenged in the D.C. Circuit, and the Republicans are going to try to derail ANY regulation by prohibiting the use of appropriated funds to administer it.

    There’s no downside to making an effort to, you know, actually promulgate a good regulation. At least not as far as I can see.

  15. 15.

    Just One More Canuck

    @Villago Delenda Est: it’s like when the Progressive Conservative Party and the Reform Party up here in Canada merged they became known as the Conservative Reform Alliance Party

    For some reason they changed names pretty quickly

  16. 16.

    Southern Beale

    I just posted about this too. My view: I am SO FUCKING TIRED of having to pull out all the stops and fight for some weak little piece of shit thing because the GOP is gonna fearmonger about death panels and Socialism and “taxes” and crap. Jesus on a saltine, why oh WHY can we not do the Big Things in this country any more? Whatever happened to our “Apollo project for energy”???

    This is health reform ALL OVER AGAIN. IOW, a shit sandwich.

  18. 18.

    Botsplainer

    @BGinCHI:

    The culture there is just wretched, and centered around pretty weird concepts:

    1. Never leave home and move away or take vacations out of the area, because that means you’re putting on airs.
    2. Louisville is the devil.
    3. Lexington may not be the devil but is the devil’s 1st cousin, because you can see signs there directing you to Louisville.
    4. N*****s are taking all the welfare, and Obama is their prophet.
    5. You always have to go take care of mama, even when she’s 40 and physically capable of doing everything around the house.
    6. Worship the stupidity of the old. They’s wise!
    7. A big pickup truck is something to aspire to.
    8. Those final high school years don’t do much, so why bother?
    9. You can pop pills, drink shine, fuck skanky cousins and make meth on Saturday, and go to church Sunday.
    10. Uncle Joe didn’t get emphysema until he was in his 50s. Why should I quit smoking?
    11. Mmmmm – lard makes everything taste better, even this cake.
    12. I love Jesus; He forgives me for treating you like shit, so why can’t you?

  19. 19.

    D58826

    Let me get this straight Obama’s plan is to reduce coal emissions by 30% or 15 years. Now that’s about 2% a year. Surely the country that built the transcontinental railroad, dug the Panama canal, invented the mass produced car, and put a man on the moon in less than 8 years can figure out a way to reduce carbon emissions by 2% a year. We seem to have gone from a country whose motto is ‘can do’ to one that is ‘don’t want to even try’

  20. 20.

    ? Martin

    Fuck this debate. We solved this shit decades ago in California by establishing a mechanism that incentivizes energy producers to sell less energy. Effectively, if they cut demand by 10% they can raise rates by 5%. Consumers still come out with bills 5% lower and producers get a 5% boost in profits.

    Here’s what it looks like.

    California first pioneered new energy efficiency policies in the 1970s and since then, the state’s per capita electricity consumption has taken a starkly different path than the rest of the nation. Californians have saved over $65 billion and avoided at least 30 power plants due to investment in research and development of more efficient technologies, utility programs that help customers use those technologies to lower their bills, and minimum energy-savings standards for new buildings and appliances

    Per capita consumption in California flatlined starting in 1975. We’ve dramatically improved air quality:

    Number of smog alert days per year:

    The results of the ARB’s emission reduction initiatives can clearly be seen. In the state’s most populous area, Los Angeles’s South Coast Air Basin, ozone levels are declining sharply. A Stage 1 smog alert is called when ozone levels reach .20 parts per million (PPM). In 1977 the South Coast Air Basin had 121 Stage 1 smog alerts. The number of Stage 1 alerts dropped to 66 in 1987, one in 1997, and there have been no Stage 1 alerts since 1997. There have been no Stage 2 alerts (.35 PPM ozone) in the South Coast Basin since 1988, when there was just one. Most other areas of California have also made significant progress in reducing smog.

    Through Air Resources Board (ARB) regulations on vehicles and fuel, today’s new cars pollute more than 95 percent less than the cars of thirty years ago.

    + On August 1, 2013, the large IOUs reported in their Preliminary 2012 Annual RPS Compliance Reports that they served 19.6% of their retail electric load with RPS-eligible generation in 2012. PG&E served 19.04% of its 2012 retail sales with RPS-eligible renewable energy, SCE served 19.9%, and SDG&E served 20.31%. Pursuant to the procurement requirements in SB 2 (1X), the IOUs must average 20% renewable energy during the first RPS compliance period (2011-13).

    + Since 2003, 7,267 megawatts (MW) of renewable generation capacity have achieved commercial operation under the RPS program. 2,769 MW of renewable generation capacity came online in 2013 and 2,721 MW is scheduled to come online in 2014.

    The California economy relative the nation grew through this entire time. The per capita GDP for the state relative to the nation grew through this entire time. Fuck the doubters. This isn’t some untested theory – we did it, and we’ve been doing it for 40 fucking years. We have a working cap and trade program generating $1B in revenue annually. We’re adding solar capacity faster than anyone in the country by far. Just fucking do it, and quit whining.

  22. 22.

    burnspbesq

    @Southern Beale:

    This is health reform ALL OVER AGAIN. IOW, a shit sandwich.

    No, it’s not. It’s not even remotely a shit sandwich, and I’m sure you know that perfectly well.

    It’s a decent regulation that could have been a good regulation.

    I’m not happy about it, but I’m not jumping into any circular firing squads, and I’m not running away to Gumdrop Mountain and refusing to vote for any Democrats because they didn’t do exactly what I wanted.

    Get a grip.

  23. 23.

    WaterGirl

    If the usual suspects are screaming, then President Obama is doing something right.

    Or, just another day in Paradise.

  24. 24.

    Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)

    @D58826:

    Liberals: yes we can, now let’s think about how to do it
    Conservatives: mommy, I don’ wanna .

  25. 25.

    Davis X. Machina

    @? Martin:

    Fuck this debate.

    You can’t refute a theology. The believers will, faced with evidence, and beliefs that conflict with it, simply reject the evidence. And they’ll crawl over broken glass to vote, too. Doesn’t matter if they tell pollsters the problem is real — team spirit is realer.

    As a species, we’re really not cut out for any polity that doesn’t fit around a campfire, are we?

  26. 26.

    rikyrah

    93-year-old black man disenfranchised by Alabama voter ID law
    06/03/14 02:14 PM—Updated 06/03/14 06:13 PM
    By Zachary Roth

    With Alabama’s voter ID law debuting today, state Republicans are offering a big cash reward to anyone who helps them dig up some voter fraud. But finding voters disenfranchised by the law isn’t difficult, even without financial incentives.

    Willie Mims, 93, showed up to vote at his polling place in Escambia County Tuesday morning for Alabama’s primary elections. Mims, who is African-American, no longer drives, doesn’t have a license, and has no other form of ID. As a result, he was turned away without voting. Mims wasn’t even offered the chance to cast a provisional ballot, as the law requires in that situation.

    Mims talked about what happened in this video shot by Empower Alabama:

    Published on Jun 3, 2014

    Willie Mims has been voting since he first registered — back in World War II. But today when he went to the polls he was turned away because he lost his drivers license.

    youtu.be/ks-4YRZWaNY

    msnbc.com/msnbc/voter-id-law-disenfranchises-93-year-old-black-man

  28. 28.

    rikyrah

    The Government Crackdown On Offshore Tax Dodging Just Got Real

    By Alan Pyke
    June 3, 2014 at 9:16 am

    Over 77,000 separate foreign banks and financial firms will start sharing information on their American accountholders with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in cooperation with a major crackdown on offshore tax evasion, the Associated Press reports.

    Under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), banks that continue to withhold information on their American clients from U.S. authorities have to pay substantial fees on any business they conduct in the states. Since that law passed in 2010, American authorities have gradually worked with international governments and bankers to implement its information sharing requirements. The list of 77,000 cooperating institutions released Monday by the Treasury Department is the first comprehensive look at which banks have chosen to cooperate with FATCA, and future lists may be even longer. It remains to be seen how U.S. officials will use this new information.

    FATCA also establishes a process for the U.S. government to strike direct information-sharing agreements with foreign governments. Almost 70 countries have made such deals, including Switzerland and other common tax havens that have often fought to protect their clients’ privacy. The government of the Cayman Islands struck a FATCA deal last August that requires the government to collect, filter, and pass on information from banks in the Caribbean island chain. Switzerland’s deal leaves the information handling to individual companies, which are increasingly cooperating with American authorities in part because some Swiss banks have faced costly criminal prosecutions over their role in helping Americans duck the IRS.

    thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/06/03/3444090/fatca-tax-evasion-list/

  29. 29.

    Tommy

    @Southern Beale: My parents live near the largest coal power plant in the world that isn’t in China. This place:

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson_Generating_Station

    I recall coming from Evansville. Mom in the hospital there. I was worried she might not might not make it out of that hospital. I saw this cloud and thought there was hope. I thought that was the most beautiful cloud.As we got closer I realized it was just steam from the power plant. I might have lost it and abused the car with my fists.

  31. 31.

    Trollhattan

    The China card is a sticky one, but “solvable.”

    China is the largest user and producer of coal. IIRC their coal is shite–dirty brown crap that translates into their dirty brown skies. And–the important bit–China is the largest coal importer. If we can get Indonesia to play along (a big “if”) then we can bloody well limit furher growth of China’s coal use and “coax” them to dial it back, even if their divine leadership declares their smog to be “an internal matter.” Screw them, sideways on that. Japan’s in a weird position, as their understandable nuke rollback has them cranking up fossil fuel use at a time they should be reducing same. India is probably staring down the barrel of climate change worse than any other major importer, so will be interesting to watch.

    Coal exporters and amounts:

    Indonesia 383Mt
    Australia 301Mt
    Russia 134Mt
    USA 114Mt
    Colombia 82Mt
    South Africa 74Mt
    Canada 35Mt

    Coal importers and amounts

    PR China 289Mt
    Japan 184Mt
    India 160Mt
    South Korea 125Mt
    Chinese Tapei 64Mt
    Germany 45Mt
    UK 45Mt

    ETA
    worldcoal.org/resources/coal-statistics/

  32. 32.

    the Conster

    @rikyrah:

    My sister and her husband is friendly with an old rich couple, and the wingnut husband who is well on his way to being fully demented, told them recently that Obama was going to cause the currency to collapse on July 1. They laughed at him, but it didn’t come from nowhere so I googled it, and FATCA is the reason, because… reasons, mostly having to do with parting old white wingnut farts with money from their money. So, when July 1 comes and goes and the world continues to turn, it’s back to Obama watched the people die in Benghazi with his feet up on the desk.

  35. 35.

    Tommy

    @Southern Beale: Yes she did. I guess I should have noted that. Things were terrible, but alas in the grand scheme of things, well they turned out well.

  36. 36.

    Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    Raging Pope lashes out at lifestyle couple John G. Cole and Shaun:

    theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/03/pope-tells-couples-have-children-not-pets

    In a homily on Monday in the Vatican guesthouse where he lives, the Argentinian pontiff railed against “a culture of wellbeing” which he said had convinced some people they were better off shunning procreation and getting a pet instead.

    “This culture of wellbeing … convinced us it’s better not to have children. It’s better! That way you can see the world, go on holidays; you can have a house in the country and be carefree,” he said. “Maybe it is better, more convenient, to have a little dog, two cats; and the love goes to the two cats and the little dog,” he said.

    But such couples their ways, he said. “Eventually this marriage gets to old age in solitude, with the bitterness of loneliness. It is not fertile; it does not do what Jesus does with his church: he makes it fertile.”

  37. 37.

    WaterGirl

    @rikyrah: That gives me hope, but the final two paragraphs are depressing:

    But despite having received a raft of accountholder records from Swiss banks under these various agreements and prosecutions, DOJ and IRS investigators “have bogged down” in their efforts to hold Americans accountable for tax cheating, according to Senate investigators. Fewer than 100 of the nearly 5,000 UBS accountholders identified to the DOJ have been prosecuted, subpoenas against other banks have gone unenforced, and the IRS has relied on voluntary disclosure from tax evaders to recoup back taxes rather than taking a more aggressive approach.

    In light of those criticisms of the tax crackdown, the coming flood of information from the 77,000 institutions on Monday’s list is no guarantee of improved outcomes for the Treasury Department. It is an unprecedented level of cooperation between international financial firms and U.S. authorities, but the tangible outcomes of that cooperation depend on how the IRS and the DOJ make use of the information. At the same time, political machinations are making things harder for those agencies. The most recent GOP budget cut IRS funding for tax enforcement, and the Republican National Committee is calling for a full repeal of FATCA.

  38. 38.

    Anne Laurie

    @Litlebritdifrnt: But this is John Cole, who can’t even be trusted with a mop — much safer for him & the piglets to get one of the plug-and-play models, like the Remote Fetch Machine.

    (Anyone with better mechanical skills, if you google ‘dog flyball’ or ‘flyball sport’ you can no doubt find plans for building a box of your own, too. “Ball motivated” dogs, even the not-so-smart ones, quickly learn to push the lever & keep themselves busy. Doubt Lily actually cares, but Rosie might like it. Also, I’ve heard stories about Maine Coon cats learning to press the lever to send the dogs out… )

  43. 43.

    Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)

    @Mnemosyne:

    I just want to know how Jesus makes his church fertile and by what means – also, when is the baby due?

  47. 47.

    Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)

    @WaterGirl:

    You mean it was all a metaphor? But then, what do the cats and dog symbolize?

  48. 48.

    Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    No-one has ever seen your mom and the pope in the same place at the same time, have they?

  53. 53.

    WereBear

    Geez, and here I was thinking nice thoughts about the latest Pope.

    How hypocritical IS that line of thinking from a huge hierarchy of celibate men who live pretty darn well?

  54. 54.

    Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)

    @WaterGirl:

    So ,it’s like the Cthulhu mythos? The more I know, the more insane I shall become, to the point where I can’t communicate to anyone what I know and will be compelled to use the words “squamous”and “unutterable” in every conversation.

  56. 56.

    Baud

    Is there a back story on these parenthetical nyms someone can point me to? Thanks.

  57. 57.

    Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)

    @Baud:

    Are you prepared to pay the Iron Price?

  59. 59.

    Mnemosyne

    @WereBear:

    Kinda-sorta in his defense, the whole be fruitful and multiply thing was always going to be far, far down the list of potential reforms from this Pope. The economic stuff is probably the best we’ll get, possibly with some gay people aren’t inherently sinful talk.

  61. 61.

    BBA

    @WaterGirl: There are valid criticisms of FATCA. Many foreign banks are refusing to open accounts for US citizens rather than deal with FATCA. This hurts Americans living and working abroad who can’t deposit their euro-denominated paychecks anywhere, while simply forcing plutocrats to find slightly more obscure hiding places for their filthy lucre.

    But I don’t think the GOP has the expats in mind.

  62. 62.

    Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)

    @Baud:

    You, sir, are a killjoy, not a Greyjoy and you Reek of bourgeois complacency!

    I am not saying that’s like a bad thing, mind you.

  64. 64.

    David Koch

    “This momentous development raises the bar for controlling carbon emissions in the United States,” said Andrew Steer, president of the World Resources Institute.

    Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), one of the lawmakers who spoke with Obama Sunday, said in an interview the rule will make it easier for politicians to make even deeper carbon cuts a few years from now. “This decision is going to unleash the same kind of technology revolution that the tighter fuel economy standards for automobiles unleashed,” Markey said.

    The EPA plan resembles proposals made by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

    Daniel J. Fiorino, who directs American University’s Center for Environmental Policy, said in an interview that using this approach is “a really nice example of smarter regulation,”

    the Solar Energy Industries Association, said the rule will have an enormous impact

    Sierra Club said, “the centerpiece of Obama’s climate action plan curbs carbon pollution from existing power plants, will save billions of dollars and countless lives. Today, the president made good on his promise to American families that his administration would tackle the climate crisis, and clean up and modernize the way we power our country.”

    So, every environmental expert from the NRDC to the Sierra Club to the Solar Industry to long time advocate Ed Markey hail the move, but, … surprise, surprise, … arm chair environmentalists on bulletin boards whine and carp.

  65. 65.

    JPL

    I am so sick of MSM.. please let there be a god so they can all rot in hell. That is all.

  67. 67.

    Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)

    @Baud:

    You say Hodor and I say No Door…

    Let’s call the whole thing off!

  69. 69.

    WaterGirl

    Hey, guys, maybe you can send a few good thoughts my way tonight? The tree crashed on my house a year ago this week, and this normally great sleeper has had a combination of sleepless nights & nightmares three nights in a row. Last night, the holes in the roof where the tree crashed through had suddenly reappeared, only in a bunch of rooms, and the ceilings were all about to fall in.

    Thankfully, the tree impaling itself straight down over my bed hasn’t appeared in my dreams as it did in reality, probably because I wasn’t in the bed at the time. Thank god for that! In spite of the 6 months of chaos, I count myself so lucky that I wasn’t in bed, as I should have been. If that had happened, I would still be rocking in the corner, and nightmares would be the least of my worries.

    Anyway, hoping to work through whatever got stirred up by the anniversary date and then Soonergrunt’s thread about their tornado, which happened a week or so before the tree came crashing in around me. My house and my property felt like a war zone, and all I could think about those first few days is how at least I could look around my neighborhood and everything else looked normal, and how awful it must be to have the war zone around you, everywhere you look. Which is probably why Soonergrunt’s post brought it all back for me.

    All good thoughts accepted!

  71. 71.

    WaterGirl

    Well, my laptop battery is at 3%, so I will close my laptop and head off to watch mindless TV, hoping for sweet dreams, or at least sleep (!) tonight.

    Have fun, you all.

  72. 72.

    Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)

    @gnomedad:

    I keep hearing this (doubtless objectively pro-demonic) voice saying:

    “It rubs the church upon its skin, or else it gets the hose again.”

  73. 73.

    Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)

    @WaterGirl:

    Good thoughts heading your way. Sleep well.

  74. 74.

    gnomedad

    Anyone else wonder whether Obama timed the Bergdahl thing to draw flak from these new regs? Good on him if so — the rage machine seem sun impressive so far.

  76. 76.

    dmsilev

    @WaterGirl: Yikes. Probably too late to suggest this, but maybe take a short vacation right around the anniversary date so that you’re sleeping somewhere else on that night?

    In any event, for whatever it’s worth I’ll send some good thoughts your way.

  77. 77.

    Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)

    @gnomedad:

    I suspect it’s more about the wingnuts howling about one of their pet syndromes in the dementia ward.

  80. 80.

    Baud

    @gnomedad:

    Are you kidding? Obama planned Bergdahl’s capture 5 years ago just for this moment. I mean, c’mon, this is a guy who forged his American birth in utero. The Bergdahl stuff is child’s play.

  82. 82.

    Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)

    @WereBear:

    The problem is getting Basil to sit in the damn kettle for long enough.

  85. 85.

    dmsilev

    @Baud: No no no, Obama didn’t forge his birth certificate in utero. You’re forgetting that Obama is a Time Lord. He traveled back in time to forge the evidence of his own birth. After that, he helped the Clintons cover up Whitewater, framed Nixon for Watergate and *personally* killed the people at Benghazi. Only after that did he have room on his schedule to arrange Bergdahl’s capture (using his alternate persona of Osama bin Laden of course). After that, a relaxing afternoon of being Hitler again.

  86. 86.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Stupid question, but why did the US Military send a boat load of people, some of whom died, out to recover a deserter? Sean Hannity has been trumpeting the parents of the dead soldiers on his show today, so why would the US military send rescue missions out to rescue a deserter? Am I not getting something here? If the guy was a deserter as the RWNJs have been portraying him today why would US forces risk the lives of their forces to rescue him? You can’t have it both ways here. Either he was a scum bag deserter or he was taken in combat. Make up your mind.

  87. 87.

    AkaDad

    Yeah, we need to switch from coal to natural gas.

    I’m amazed that thousands of people would inject chemicals into themselves, their children, their pets and livestock, produce fakeumentaries, falsify data, create earthquakes, and taint water supplies in order to destroy the reputations of good companies who just want to provide jobs and energy to keep America vital and strong.

    It’s absurd to think natural gas companies would hurt people and the environment for profits. Have you not seen all their commercials telling us how much they support our communities and the environment?

  88. 88.

    David Koch

    “the clean power plan is a powerful step in the fight to protect our health & environment. It will make a real difference. I offer my strong support.” ~ Elizabeth Warren

    Are the purity ponies and unicornists gonna attack her, as well?

  92. 92.

    Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    First of all, the people who say lots of soldiers died looking for Bergdahl seem to be including everyone who died in the same province at the time.

    Second, no-one at the time would have known for sure (and indeed we still don’t know) whether Bergdahl deserted or not.

    Third, even if he was a deserter, it might have made sense to try and retrieve him before he could tell the Taliban too much or possibly give them some skills they didn’t previously have.

  93. 93.

    Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)

    @Baud:

    White chocolate Hitler just doesn’t taste as good and melts too quickly when you have it with coffee.

  97. 97.

    Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)

    @Anne Laurie:

    Anne Laurie, have you clicked on David Koch’s name and read the comments he’s posted elsewhere? I think if you do, you’ll want to rethink your denunciations of him.

    Just a blog-friendly suggestion.

  101. 101.

    Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)

    @WereBear:

    Ah, so Holy Basil is the name of a frog, not a Russian staryets. I was confusticated there for a while.

  102. 102.

    catclub

    has anyone pointed out that reduction is from 2005 levels and we have already beaten those by 9%, so the actual reduction needed is 21% ? So it is not 2%/year reduction. More like 1.5%/yr.

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