Second Best Part
ArchPundit
The $500 Sales Tax Credit for buying a fuel efficient/alternative fuel car. Jack has the details again.
2006
The Best Bit of the Speech
The Mercury restrictions. Jack Darin covered it over at the Sierra Club blog . Mercury pollution is a pretty straightforward problem of, if it costs more to remove it, then those using the power should pay more to remove it. The technology is there and doing it in short order makes a lot more sense than 2018. Frankly, if the specific plants can’t be retrofitted, it’s time to build new plants.
It also produced the best quote of recent weeks from Steve Rauschenberger:
“I like clean air, but…
And it didn’t get better in context:
….I’m not sure what he’s talking about is practical or affordable,
The question isn’t whether it is practical or affordable, but whether it is important to protect human health. Practical or affordable goes to methods to reach a goal, not what the goal should be. That is the basis of the Clean Air Act and the State of Illinois is clearly going to have to move ahead since Bush seems to think a twelve year phase in is reasonable.
Watch Conservatives Take the Bait
On the pharmacy rule–G-Rod has 80% approval nationally on the issue
It’s a great issue for him and expect him to keep highlighting it to secure the base and get conservatives foaming at the mouth over it.
State Presidential Numbers
Bush’s numbers in Illinois are at 35% The same as December, up slightly from October/November.
Running Against Washington
It’s what you do when the President’s approval is even below yours in Illinois.
Quote of the Other Day
“I’m not opposed to gambling at all. I just object to using children as casino chips.”
–Phil Kadner AKA the only man with more of an obsession over school funding than I do.
In the Daily Southtown
40 Minutes?
Can he do it?
UPDATE: Damn, he did it or pretty close.
It’s not the revolving door–it’s using lobbyists to analyze policy impacts
Rich’s column is good this week pointing out that the close relationship to lobbyists and politicians isn’t that unusual and the G-Rod Administration isn’t much different from others–other than the Governor’s penchant for claiming to be different and ending politics as usual. I’d generally agree, though my take on the Keno story is that using estimates from a company that would be a leading bidder for the contractor, even while saying the administration didn’t take the numbers seriously, is the greater problem.
Quote of the Day
“We should never fund education with anything anonymous — Gamblers Anonymous, Smokers Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous,”
–Chicago Teachers Union President Marilyn Stewart in the Sun-Times