Daily Briefing - 1/19/07

H.R. 6: CLEAN Energy Act passes!

A great step in the fight against global warming has been taken. Momentum is building...

First 100

MW

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Daily Briefing – 1/19/07
654 days until the NEXT election… and global warming is an integral part of our nation’s agenda!

Key Issues in the News
Global Warming
- Speaker Pelosi creates the House Select Committee on Energy Indepenence and Global Warming
- Crunch year for planet Earth
- A coalition for a firm limit on emissions
- China starts thinking alternative energy
- Energy giants back cap-and-trade program
o Houston Chronicle’s Blue Bayou: Global warming and cap-and-trade
- Thomas Friedman wants a “green new deal”
- Students use civil rights tactics to combat global warming
- Will Bush address global warming?
- Weather forecasters duke it out
o National Review weighs in
First 100 Hours: Energy
- House repeals tax breaks for Big Oil
o Also from NYT and Houston Chronicle
Washington/Legislation/Politics/People/etc.
- Pelosi gains as Democratic priorities get high marks
- Four powerful Democrats, one house, hilarity ensues… not really
- Former Congressman Bob “Coingate” NEy (R-OH) gets 2 ½ years in jail
- Senate passes ethics package comparable, if not stronger than the House’s
- House approves page program reforms
Potential ‘08ers…
- Edwards (balanced priorities), Obama (about that resume…), Clinton (the Iraq shuffle), Obama again (rolling the dice)
Other News from the Media
- Wall Street is betting on the farm, investing in ag-related energy futures
- Oil will rise to $100 after “correction”
o High prices prod developed world to curb usage
- Gov. Perry sued over coal plants
…and the Blogosphere
- The Fix has its Senate Line
- Kos on the possible Dem nominees
- Speaker Pelosi: Progress is possible again
- Congressman Hensarling: 100 Hours of Big Government
- The Caucus runs down the 100 Hours
- Grist:
o A school lunch revolution
o A denier’s mea culpa
o Robert Redford hates climate change
Miscellaneous… or just plain weird
- Humorist Art Buchwald dies
- Ann Coulter: Baghdad is just like L.A.
- Methodist ministers protest putting the Bush Presidential library at SMU
- Umm, what guy was stupid enough to partake in something that resulted in this?
Quotes O’ the Day
“I spoke earlier, and after I spoke I went out of the Chamber and I bumped into some people from the National Wildlife Federation, and they gave me 30,000 signatures of people who want this bill to pass, people who care about the environment. People who care about global warming, people who believe in national security, who believe in economic security, signed this in the last 3 weeks. The American people obviously are way ahead of us.” ~ Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA)

Daily Briefing - 1/18/07

As I write this, debate "rages" on the floor of the House over H.R. 6: The CLEAN Energy Act, which cuts subsidies and reforms royalities forcing Big Oil to pay their fair share. It is a solid step in the right direction in our ongoing fight against global warming. It is an odd feeling to have Congress do the right thing with regards to global warming.

Even more surprising is the traction global warming bills are beginning to get, from the great Boxer-Sanders bill which will cut emissions 80% by 2050 to the less stringent but quite worthy McCain-Lieberman bill to the less-than-stellar Bingaman-Specter bill. The fact that Congress has put global warming at the forefront of its agenda shows that they are finally catching up to the majority of the American public. Bout darn time.

MW
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Daily Briefing – 1/18/07
655 days until the NEXT election… and global warming is an integral part of our nation’s agenda!

Key Issues in the News
Global Warming
- Bill on climate move to spotlight in new Congress
o Here is a graphic that compares the three bills
o Feinstein and Boxer differ
o Akaka joins with Boxer and Sanders
- Bush might finally get real
- Insurer trade group launches global warming web site
- Nuclear energy should be a part of fight, says PG&E chief
- Rutland Herald: Vermont can lead on global warming
- Global warming “just a natural cycle”
- Grist: Bright lining
First 100 Hours: Energy
- Democrats say House energy bill will pass
- Grist: Enviros delighted by House energy bill
- Oil lease chief knew of error
- TomPaine.com: Energy control and political power and Funding an energy future
- Washington Times: Democrats’ taxing energy policy
Washington/Legislation/Politics/People/etc.
- House approves cut in student loan rate… WOOHOO
o Senate to consider bill
- U.S. will revise trade pacts to meet Democrats’ demands on little things such as labor rights
- Wow, talk about transparency… Sen. Tester’s schedule
- Franken for Senate?... He’s thinking about it.
- Novak: GOP is in a quagmire
Potential ‘08ers…
- Obama (Got Hillary scrambling), Edwards (throwing his $.02 in on the surge), Biden ad Hagel (cosponsor a no-troop-rise bill), Clinton (steps up criticism of war)
- WSJ editorial: It’s Hillary versus everybody else
Other News from the Media
- The White House likes “clean coal” too
o Response from Grist
- Looking at California’s water scenario
…and the Blogosphere
- MYDD: National trends for ’08 Dems
- They don’t like H.R. 6 over at RedState
- Instapundit gives us a porkbusters update
- Grist:
o The political climate: Senate and House
o Checking on Canada
Miscellaneous… or just plain weird
- We had to know this was coming
- Hugh Hefner, 80, wants another kid
Quotes O’ the Day
“I guess there is a little bit of a manhood thing here where one side is going to show the other.” ~ Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) giving a reason why the ethics bill was stalled in the Senate.

“I’ve been losing arguments to a good-looking brunette for 22 years, so I’m used to this,” Mike Pence (R-IN) said, referring to his wife, Karen, and now presumably, to Nancy Pelosi, the new speaker.

Daily Briefing - 1/17/07

My apologies for the long absence. Nonetheless, we are back.

Support the CLEAN Energy Act by going to www.first100.org and sign the petition!

MW

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Daily Briefing – 1/17/07
656 days until the NEXT election… and global warming is an integral part of our nation’s agenda!

Key Issues in the News
Global Warming
- Evangelicals and Scientists unite on global warming… scaring the crap out of Republicans
o Also from Houston Chronicle and Kansas City Star
- President to outline global warming policy in State of the Union
o Better Late than Never, says the Concord Monitor
o Top investor sees Bush embracing biofuels
o According to the Financial Times, the White House denies the u-turn
- UN leader urged to lead global climate change plans
- Sen. Bernie Sanders reintroduces legislation that seeks deep cuts in emissions
o Also from The Hill
- Americans speak out about climate change… but is Washington listening?
- GE to tackle global warming
- Connecting the global warming dots
- Moratorium on An Inconvenient Truth sparks controversy
- The warming of Greenland
- Human Events proposes renaming The Weather Channel, the Al Gore Channel… and calls America insane. I’m surprised, they’re usually so subtle.
First 100 Hours: Energy
- Democrats drying up oil industry tax breaks
- Carl Pope: Big Change, not big oil
- Philadelphia Inquirer: Plugging a leak
- A first step toward a new energy policy
- Why Texans should be for a rollback of oil subsidies, by NWF’s own Susan Kaderka
Washington/Legislation/Politics/People/etc.
- Senator Webb picked to give Democrats’ response to State of the Union
- The Doctor eyes a comeback
Potential ‘08ers…
- Obama (he’s in), Edwards (denies picking fight with Clinton), McCain (looking for support on Christian right), Dodd (introduces troop cap), Clinton (agrees with Dodd), Hagel (support from the Huffington Post), Tancredo (starts his bid)
- Gender and race make ’08 field historic
Other News from the Media
- Conservation group, unions joining forces
- Brazil gambles on monitoring Amazon loggers
- Environmental rules waived for border fence
- Rolling Stone: Big Coal’s dirty move
…and the Blogosphere
- National Review’s opinion on the CLEAN Energy Act
- The Caucus on the blogosphere’s reaction to Obama’s announcement
- The Fix likes Obama’s team
- MYDD has a catalogue of the free media race
- DC wasn’t built on a swamp!!
- Grist:
o Bill McKibben: One step closer
o It must be opposite day as Ted Stevens delights enviros and Obama disappoints
o Craig Venter and his microbes
Miscellaneous… or just plain weird
- Hickory-dickory-dock… Andrew Dice Clay gets his own reality show
- Weapons of mass destruction located in Syria… ancient ones… from a battle over 5500 years ago.
- Escaped chimp gets snack, cleans bathroom
Quotes O’ the Day
"I woke up one morning and I was quite hung over," Cohen said. "I accidentally shaved my mustache off, and I had no choice." ~ Sacha Baron Cohen on why he resumed his own persona, instead of his alter ego Borat