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Gephardt takes a swing and

ArchPundit September 21, 2002 No Comments

Gephardt takes a swing and gets a base hit. Some highlights:

“A lot of his verbiage is loose, unhelpful and not appropriate,” Gephardt said in an hourlong session with Post-Dispatch editorial writers and reporters.”

“It is sensible for the president to give the speech he gave at the U.N. the other day,” the congressman said. “I frankly wish he’d made it six months ago.”

My reactions are:
1) Thanks Dick, where were you 6 months ago? Holding his feet to the fire? Not well enough.

2) He seems to have read the New Republic article on the Dems needing to get their act together. He makes a coherent policy statement supporting action while differentiating himself from the Bumbler in Chief.

3) This man cannot be the nominee–he won’t win. I like him and he is one of the most honest men in government. He isn’t going to capture enough swing votes and for me, he is too protectionist.

Via Welch, Laura Crane takes

ArchPundit September 21, 2002 No Comments

Via Welch, Laura Crane takes environmental groups to task here and is correct.

One of the more amusing stories I’ve heard from some Earth Scientist types is Al Gore going out and overreaching on global warming. After he finished James Hansen came on and essentially corrected most of the speech. Hansen is an example of a real scientist and environmentalist who is serious and offers the information up in a manner that allows one to calculate the risk. Most of the environmental groups have resorted to screeds unfortunately. I pretty turn off anything from the NRDC and even treat claims from groups like the EDF with some skepticism.

The traditionally moderate groups have started to become more partisan in recent years. Audobon, a traditional bastion of Republican conservationists, has started to really take on harder issues and become less pliant. EDF actually links to an article that I think is unfair to the administration here.

The administration seems to be changing policy because the Court has forced it too. While I don’t trust this administration, I don’t know that they have a choice in this case.

What does this mean? Lowry and Shippan, in a recent paper, argue that the parties have diverged on the environment normed across time. It seems logical then that the environmental groups become more rabid as well. If the distance widens, keeping control of policy becomes more important and doing that requires scaring people in elections.

They no longer have influence in both parties and so there is no incentive to moderate themselves. The EDF still talks about market incentives, but it largely treats everything the administration says as suspect. This is a natural consequence of having the Republican Party becoming terribly hostile to any environmental initiatives. Boehlert may still be around, but so what–he is marginalized in his own party.

The challenge for environmental groups is to remain relevant in such an environment and to remain relevant, they must rely on solid science. The Skeptical Environmentalist isn’t taken too seriously except by those who want to believe it. That will change if environmental advocates trade in their trustworthiness for short-term political gains. James Hansen should be the model.

History vs. Development and unfortunately

ArchPundit September 21, 2002 No Comments

History vs. Development and unfortunately it appears that that development may win. What exactly does a nation do when it loses its history?

This is an interesting view

ArchPundit September 21, 2002 No Comments

This is an interesting view of what starting it means. First, no one but hoosier 1 and hoosier 2 saw anything of the sort. Second, generally one doesn’t ‘start it’ by having one’s back turned, doing one’s job, and being tackled in front of 10,000 fans.

Roesser fires, aims ready into

ArchPundit September 21, 2002 No Comments

Roesser fires, aims ready into the circlular fire squad that is the Illinois Republican Party. Actually, the most recent numbers suggest the Dems aren’t going to sweep. Topinka is leading Dart and Madigan is in a tight race with Birkett. Then again, more talk like this and Rs aren’t going to turnout. This seems to be driving the most recent results in the 19th where Phelps surprisingly has a slight lead.

Roesser than makes some rather telling comments about homosexuality.

“School sports teams objecting to homosexual or transsexual behavior may be barred from participating in the state’s interscholastic sports. State workers with homosexual partners can receive equivalent benefits for partners at state expense; nonprofit groups such as the Boy Scouts of America may be fined up to $150,000 for refusal to hire homosexuals. ”

The first sentence is hard to figure–I’m guessing it means a school’s sports team can’t discriminate based on sexual orientation. I see no problem with this as long as there is some flexibility on religious ground. Anyone know if California allows for thisl?

I see no reason why state workers with same sex partners shouldn’t get the same rights as I have with my wife. And in Illinois, G-Ry has suggested he is open to such rules even. That is a moderate position. I’m guessing the fines are related to if the non-profits are working with state agencies and then we have long held that states may enforce non-discrimination with partnering organizations.

More importantly, Roesser demonstrates the circling fire squad isn’t learning a lesson from this year. Why have the Republicans controlled the Governorship for 26 years? Jim Thompson, Jim Edgar, and G-Ry are moderates of sorts. Thompson (with questions about his orientation rampant) never race or gay baited. Neither did Edgar. G-Ry did back in the good ‘ole days when he was shooting down the ERA, but has since turned into a social moderate on everything, but abortion. The Republicans haven’t won because they are pure conservatives. They have won because they aren’t Chris Lauzen, CPA, O’Malley, Al Salvi or Gary Bauer.

Who is going to win this year? Topinka–a moderate Republican woman from the ‘burbs. Who should be the future of the R’s if they want to win? Topinka and those like her. Who are the R’s likely to turn to? O’Malley and the jihad wing. Who is going to win state elections for a long time if that happens? The Dems.

The Illinois Republican Party can be right squared (meaning ideologically pure and conservative) or they can choose to be competitve. The most successful Rs in the last 26 years are telling them how, but will they listen to Thompson, Edgar, and G-Ry? Or will they delude themselves into believing ideological purity will somehow win over an increasingly liberal state?

For those outside of the

ArchPundit September 20, 2002 No Comments

For those outside of the St. Louis region, Hoosier has a different definition here. I’ve seen people try and explain the meaning of Hoosier to people from Mexico and China with no luck. I now have a solution to explain what Hoosier means.

Hoosiers

There may be a St. Louis connection as well. The kid is apparently from Blue Island, which pretty much explained everything to me when I heard it. Blue Island is a pretty rough refinery town–or it was until Premcor shut down its refinery. And everything is pretty much toxic in Blue Island because of the refinery (most of the damage before Premcor bought it). So on top of meth, there is a good reason these guys are morons.

A great take on the clowns is here at ESPN

A very real problem with

ArchPundit September 20, 2002 No Comments

A very real problem with limiting citizen suits is explored by Rich Miller. The Illinois Supreme Court has stopped a citizen suit to recover state money spent on G-Ry’s election campaign. This is especially relevant since Daniels will be indicted probably after the election for similar use of state funds and Madigan is under investigation.

The more important point is, citizen suits are a check on government. Federal suits have limited standing, as this case essentially echos, but limiting the ability to sue limits checks on the powerful. This is exactly the principle that Bush is trying to subvert in both forest fire reduction and transportation projects. Democracy is often slow, but that is okay—the process is the point in democracy.

By Wayne Allard’s standards I’m

ArchPundit September 20, 2002 No Comments

By Wayne Allard’s standards I’m a trusted pal of Dick Cheney and the RNC which amusingly sends me membership cards on occasion.

Eat this Greg Easterbrook. The

ArchPundit September 20, 2002 No Comments

Eat this Greg Easterbrook. The administration is that bad on the environment. For those not familiar with Easterbrook’s argument concerning the Bush administration, he made some good points on the initial criticism of the administration. Anyone paying attention knew they would pull this crap later on when fewer people were paying attention.

I actually greatly enjoy Easterbrook’s work–I just disagree on this issue.

One of the better articles

ArchPundit September 20, 2002 No Comments

One of the better articles on the freedom of speech in academia is written in Slate by Dahlia Lithwick.

The key paragraph is here:

Free speech does not encompass the right to fire, suspend, or riot your way into a universe in which everyone agrees with your views, even if you have legitimate grievances. The courts are well aware of this, but it seems that universities, both here and in Canada, are not. On campus, you may “speak” freely?with fists, chairs, and broken glass?so long as you are a member of an aggrieved minority with delicate sensibilities and a narrative of oppression.

The important part of the article is it addresses the suppression of speech from all angles and it doesn’t equate it strangely with Colorado College’s choice to have a Palestinean speak.

I’ll add one more problem. There is an increasing tendency for colleges to include a counterpoint view at a talk from an controversial figure. This is a horrible precedent to set. Alternative points of view should be invited on a regular basis and not because of some concern that someone can’t speak at a given time. The notion that students aren’t smart enough to see different points of view when they listen to them is condescending and silly.