Politics is a dirty business, as is pollution. Mixing the two is a very dirty and potentially explosive proposition. Let’s try to shed some light on this corner of our economic landscape. For evidence of this ‘dark and dirty’ enterprise, we need look no further than the energy bill recently passed by the House and on its way to the Senate. This legislation, formally known as the Waxman-Markey Climate Bill but commonly referred to as ‘cap and trade,’ was recently highlighted by Bloomberg rep

Climate Change Bloomberg writers Lorraine Woellert and Simon Lomax reported yesterday that, “U.S. House Democrats cheered when they won a vote to impose the nation’s first limits on greenhouse-gas emissions. Senate Democrats didn’t join the party. “‘They don’t have my vote yet,’ said Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio. ‘In the Senate this bill will not pass [...]

Senate Panel Summons Egwu, ASUU From Sufuyan Ojeifo in Abuja Senate Committee on Education has summoned the Minister of Education, Dr. Sam Egwu, and representatives of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for a meeting on the ongoing strike that has crippled academic works in the universities. Both parties are to appear before the Senator Joy Emodi-led committee today in Senate Committee Room 304.The summons was contained in a letter dated yesterday and signed by the Cl

Calafia Beach Pundit submits: HT: Rich Karlgaard The Waxman-Markey bill that was rammed through the House last Friday—so fast that no one had a chance to read the 300 pages that were added to the bill in the wee hours of the morning, much less to give the thing some healthy debate since it purports to do nothing less than drastically alter the way the U.S. economy uses energy while saving the planet—makes some heroic assumptions that really need exposing before the Senate takes

Well, the 2009 Legislature has come to a close. Of course, they'll be coming back into session in February 2010 for a special session (partly to consider a constitutional amendment for real annual sessions.) Here's how the Oregonian summarized things: With an efficiency rarely seen in Oregon politics, Democrats took advantage of supermajorities in the House and Senate to push an aggressive agenda, rolling through Republican resistance and facing down Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski.