Dissecting The Energy Bill

Bruce "McQ" McQuain from QandO, guesting over at Right Wing News, takes apart the energy bill that just passed the House of Representatives and examines the real impacts it will have on Americans. It isn't pretty, not at all.

Let's parse this a little, shall we?

It would raise vehicle fuel efficiency (Cafe) standards for the first time in over 30 years, by 40%, to 35 miles per gallon for both cars and light trucks and SUVs.

And that will do what? Increase the price of automobiles. As usual, it's a mandate for which you, not anyone else, get to pay.

Of course loopholes do survive - big loopholes. Dan Becker, an environmental consultant and lawyer and former official with the Sierra Club explains:

“If I am G.M., God forbid, and I produce a certain number of flexible-fuel vehicles capable of running on E85 ethanol, they will be assumed to be running on ethanol 50 percent of the time. So the fuel economy of a 20 m.p.g. truck that is technically capable of running on E85 will essentially be 30 m.p.g.

“Because the auto companies are not as stupid as they look, they have chosen to make most of their flexible-fuel vehicles their least-efficient vehicles. So they get the maximum fuel economy benefit.”

Why aren’t these vehicles running on E85 all the time? Because E85 is hard to find in many states. There are only about 1,200 stations selling E85 nationwide and only nine in New York, according to the Energy Department. Even if you can find E85 the mileage is often about 30 percent worse than with gasoline, because ethanol contains less energy per gallon.

Nevertheless, for more than a decade the federal government has joined the auto industry in what amounts to make-believe. That fantasy continues in this bill. No wonder Mr. Becker calls it the “Energizer bunny of auto industry loopholes.”

Indeed. Flexible-fuel Hummers, oh my.

There is quite a lot more, including a link to the same Smithsonian Magazine article I cited yesterday. The end result of this bill will be enormous increases in the cost of pretty much everything for people in this country. It will also deepen rather than improve the energy problems in this country. The price of energy is about to skyrocket - just as food prices are already. The energy bill is nothing more than a gargantuan tax hike on Americans which will funnel enormous amounts of money to special interests.

Communications And Mailing Lists

There's a bit of a kerfluffle right now being led by the left wing blogs about an interview at a fairly obscure magazine, Texas Monthly, with Dan Bartlett, fomer counselor to President Bush. The ruckus, such as it is, is about this quote:

-What about the blogs?

We had to set up a whole new apparatus to deal with the challenges they pose. Are they real journalists? The Washington Post, for example, has journalists who are now bloggers. Do you treat them as bloggers? Do they get credentials?

-Let’s think of it as a practical matter. If one of those journalists-turned-bloggers, Chris Cillizza, e-mails you to say he needs an interview, and at the same time one of the Post’s print reporters—say, Dan Balz—e-mails you and says he needs an interview, and you can do only one . . .

Balz.

-Because the print edition of the Post has more of an impact?

Because Balz is on multiple platforms. He’s booked more easily on television. He’s read by more people. He influences people a bit more. Now, the question might not be as much Chris versus Dan as maybe, “Is it Dan Balz or one of the guys at [the conservative blog] Power Line?”

-Yeah, or what if [conservative blogger] Hugh Hewitt called?

That’s when you start going, “Hmm . . .” Because they do reach people who are influential.

-Well, they reach the president’s base.

That’s what I mean by influential. I mean, talk about a direct IV into the vein of your support. It’s a very efficient way to communicate. They regurgitate exactly and put up on their blogs what you said to them. It is something that we’ve cultivated and have really tried to put quite a bit of focus on.

I think Ed Morrisey hits this one quite well:

As far as regurgitation and efficiencies of communication, we all wish Bartlett would have succeeded as well as he apparently thinks he did. Most of us have begged for more interaction at the White House, and have received little more than e-mails with speech transcripts. On one occasion, when the White House wanted to make its case on executive privilege, they held a blogger conference call, which I live-blogged here. There may have been one more, but at the moment I don't recall it.

The only other contacts that I've ever received from the White House communication team have come when they disagreed with me. For a while, they would submit on-the-record responses to posts I had written to rebut some criticism. On a few occasions, their staffer would comment on a post, and on two occasions I posted their rebuttals to the main page and then rebutted the rebuttals. That's hardly regurgitation.

Kevin Drum, meanwhile, gloats about it:

What makes this especially precious is that it comes right before Bartlett argues that the Bush White House didn't really treat Fox News any better than any other news outlet. So the right-wing blogosphere now has a new motto: Even more credulous and slavish than Fox News. It's a proud moment for them.

Now, for the record, I have never - not once - been contacted by the White House communications people. But I would be forced to ask Kevin Drum if he was ever a member of Kos' Townhouse mailing list. Not that I expect an answer. One would just like to know.

Toxic Waste

John Hawkins must have worn full Haz Mat protection for this job. He waded through the "best of" from the Koz Kidz and came up with the top (bottom?) ten things written at that site. It's as ugly as you'd expect. All of the words are from diarists writing at Kozville - not from commenters. Once the usual ration of obscenity is removed from those there isn't much left other than 'at', 'the' and 'as'. I won't even excerpt it, just send you over. He's performed bleeps on the usual dose of language that that charming group uses regularly.

John, check that your shots are up to date.

A Tale Of Two Retractions

In the left corner, The New Republic. Fourteen pages of attempting to obfuscate, dissemble, lay blame, cast aspersions and one little paragraph at the end sort of retracting.

In the right corner, National Review Online and Kathryn Lopez:

Long story short: Questions have been raised about some reporting in NRO's "The Tank," which W. Thomas Smith Jr. addresses here.

Bottom line: NRO strives to bring you reliable analysis and reporting — whether in presenting articles, essays, or blog posts. Smith did commendable work in Lebanon earlier this year, as he does from S.C. where he is based, as he has done from Iraq, where he has been twice. But rereading some of the posts (see "The Tank" for more detail) and after doing a thorough investigation of some of the points made in some of those posts, I've come to the conclusion that NRO should have provided readers with more context and caveats in some posts from Lebanon this fall. And so I apologize to you, our readers.

I thank Smith for his good, brave work. He's a smart, reliable reporter with a great patriotic spirit and sense of service. We owe him and our readers better — we should have gotten you more context and information before a post or two went live. It's understandable how it happened — the nature of blogging being what it is — but given what an underreported tinderbox we're talking about, especially, we owed you more.  We weren't blogging about Dancing with the Stars there. 

So I'm grateful to the reporter who contacted Smith with questions. He brought them to my attention. We did due diligence. We've reported this back to him. And now we're reporting back to you.

You can go read Smith's defense of himself. But the fact is that NRO has stepped up and pointed out the problems practically as soon as they were informed of them. They did not stonewall for five months or more then do a spineless ejection of ink in an effort to escape further damage. (Incidentally, I'm pretty sure I have never read any of Smith's posts.) Bottom line: advantage NRO and TNR is still in the cellar.

Bits Blog and Sister Toldjah have good takes on it. See also: Right Wing Nut House, Flopping Aces, A Blog For All, Gina Cobb, Michelle Malkin, Captain's Quarters,  

Fourteen Pages And Run For Cover

UPDATED: Now with illustration! (Another update. Notice anything over at Memeorandum? Not one, not a single one, of the lefty blogs that pooh poohed the right for questioning TNR has posted a thing on this as of this update. Not one.)

(Click for full size)

The New Republic has, at last, retracted the Scott Thomas Beauchamp stories. It takes Franklin Foer fourteen long pages to do so, waffling and tapdancing the whole time.

When I last spoke with Beauchamp in early November, he continued to stand by his stories. Unfortunately, the standards of this magazine require more than that. And, in light of the evidence available to us, after months of intensive re-reporting, we cannot be confident that the events in his pieces occurred in exactly the manner that he described them. Without that essential confidence, we cannot stand by these stories.

He blames a lot of people, including Beauchamp's wife (does she still work there, one wonders). But in the end he has tried to shuffle blame away to no avail. How long until Foer "leaves to pursue other opportunities?"

Others: Patterico: I don’t think we’ve seen the last of the fallout. In fact, I think it may be just beginning.

Glenn Reynolds: AMIDST A CLOUD OF INK, TNR RETRACTS AND FLEES THE SCENE. (Winner: Best One Liner) (And inspiration for the illustration.)

Bob Owens: Stay tuned. I'll have much more later, including why Franklin Foer said nothing to justify keeping his job. (Ed Note: Yeah, I bet he will have. Get the asbestos underwear, Foer.)

Michelle Malkin: Buh-bye, Franklin Foer.

I'm quite sure there will be many, many more as word spreads.

UPDATE: Bob Owens, as expected, delivers a scorching analysis of Foer's "explanation" over at Pajamas Media. Need any burn ointment, Franklin?

Captain's Quarters: Iraq and a hard place.

Redstate sings a little song.

I'm just going to go to links here instead of quoting each. The post is getting too long. The Jawa Report, protein wisdom, Riehl World View, Sweetness & Light, The American Pundit, Winds of Change, Right Voices, Macsmind, BitsBlog, AMERICAN DIGEST, QandO, BLACKFIVE, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Power Line, A Blog For All, Dean's World, Jules Crittenden, GINA COBB, Six Meat Buffet, Right Wing Nut House, 4 Borders Pundit: The Fog of Foer. (Funny)

Exciting Debate News!

In an exclusive score for the blogosphere, Jim Lynch, proprietor of bRight and Early, the essential coffee-fueled blog, has discovered the next sponsor for a Presidential debate. It is absolutely inspiring! None other than the Home and Garden Network!

In a cable television coup, the Home and Garden Network has landed the next presidential debate. It will be co-hosted by Martha Stewart and that irritating gardening guy with the goofy mustache.

“We heard about the large number of plants in the past two debates and realized that we would be the logical choice for the next forum,” a spokesman for the network announced.

(read it all, there's more.) But that, of course, got we inhabitants of the Crabitat thinking. So we called up our vast technical resources and brought the good folks from Magic 8-Ball Photography and Roadkill Removal, Inc. back with their patented Future Fotography® system (used so perfectly once before.) They managed to capture an image from the next debate. We're so proud.

Defending The Indefensible

Michael Van Der Galien does a masterful job of fisking Libby Spencer over at Newshoggers. I'll let him cover this one:

At The Newshoggers. Libby writes: “Now I don’t want to get into a debate over whether Chavez is crazy, or a communist or pursuing the right policies for Venezuela. I honestly don’t know the answer to that, but I do know that he is a democratically elected leader who still enjoys significant support among the majority of that nation’s poor.” And, more importantly to the left, of course: “These are the people who take to the streets to protest Chavez and his programs to help his country’s poor and in a way one can understand their hatred for him. Chavez, whom they consider to be an upstart meztito, has instituted socialist policies that have redistributed the wealth and power more equally and it came at their expense.”

To top it off, she also compares Chavez to Bush: “It strikes me that all this talk about his tyranny is more than a little misplaced considering Venezuelans have more of a voice in their government than we do under Bush.”

Now that is misplaced. Lord knows I respect Libby and consider her a friend, but she’s way out there on this one.

Firstly, it does matter whether Chavez is a wannabe dictator or not.

Secondly, he’s amassing so much power that it’s already difficult to say whether the majority truly supports his reforms or not.

Read the rest. MVDG points out one glaring fact here that explains much in the reasoning of the left:

Fifthly, it never ceases to amaze me that for all the talk about freedom, many progressives actually only care about one thing: distribution of wealth.

That insight is probably one of the best one-line descriptions of the left yet. Because economic egalitarianism does appear to be the main driver for many, if not the vast majority on the far left. No other issue comes close to it and it trumps everything else. Literally any behavior can be excused so long as the economic misery is spread evenly. (And it is misery under the socialist system.) Excusing dictatorial behavior because the dictator promises to spread wealth around until everyone gets a pittance is a horrible standard to use. Comparing the absolute power Chavez is taking - by using a mask of democracy - to Bush's behavior is more than disingenuous. It is dangerous. It shows a complete disconnect with reality.

Which American broadcast network has been taken off the air by executive order? Which loud, dissenting American voices on the left have been silenced by gunfire? How much trade in blood diamonds has the American government indulged in? Oh, that's right, none of those things happened here, it happened in Venezuela.

I have quoted this line by Winston Churchill before: "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries." Paying attention only to the even distribution of misery is a terrible philosophy.

UPDATE: Libby Spencer has updated her post with an explanation that she was misunderstood. Unfortunately, she then updates a second time and goes right off the deep end.

Meanwhile, even as my critics decry my equivalences, they make their own and suggest that dissent has not been stifled by this administration. Perhaps, they don't remember free speech zones, or how many have been arrested for wearing tshirts and holding signs, or that you can't get into a live speech by the president except by invitation. Perhaps they have forgotten the photos of injured demonstrators hit by rubber bullets. Oh wait, maybe they didn't see them because they only ran on Indymedia when they had their servers seized and didn't hear about them because almost all the low power broadcasters have been shut down by the FCC in deference to Clear Channel.

The servers seized thing may or may not be this event as documented by Truthout. I'd only point out that this is the same outfit that swore until they were blue in the face that Karl Rove had been indicted. I'd also just point out that not everything you read on the internet is Stone Tablet Truth® and that there may be more than a few liberties taken by the less than credible. But if you believe all you read, we know a good place to get some rat cheese.

Seriously, Libby, you really are making this worse - and sounding more unhinged by the minute.

*Pop* Goes The Left’s Heads!

Karl Rove has been hired by Newsweek to "balance" coverage that is to be provided by Markos "Kos" Moulitsas. Both will write several columns throughout the 2008 election cycle.

Less than three months after leaving the Bush White House, Karl Rove is becoming a member of a community not all that popular with administration officials: the media.

Newsweek has signed the president's former deputy chief of staff as a commentator who will turn out several columns on the 2008 campaign through inauguration day. The move is not likely to prove popular among liberals who believe the mainstream media have been too soft on the Bush administration.

"We want to give readers a feel for what it's like to be on the inside," says Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham. "Our readers are sophisticated enough to know that what they get from Karl has to be judged in the context of who Karl is…Readers will have to decide if he's simply an apologist."

Newsweek (which is owned by The Washington Post Co.) will announce tomorrow that it is granting regular space to both Rove and Markos Moulitsas, the liberal firebrand who founded the Web site Daily Kos. "I'm fully prepared for both the right-wing and left-wing blogosphere to be outraged, which means we're doing our job," Meacham says.

I did not comment at all when Kos made his announcement, figuring I'd wait. I didn't really see all that much outrage on the right over Kos getting hired. Let's see how the left handles Rove's new gig!

UPDATE: Not particularly well. 287 comments and counting and the love starts really quickly in the comments:

What was that? Karl Rove to become Newspeak distributor?

Why put Newstweak's reputation at risk with an immoral deformity?

Democrats and Progressives should seize all copies of Newsweek as soon as they appear on the stands, and then publicly burn them.

There are other, more violent fantasies as well. Yes, this is "nutpicking" from comments, but there really are some seriously deranged comments - and Huffington Post should not stand by while those kinds of people spew.

“On Kenneth’s Frequency Since 2003″

Best completely ersatz news of the campaigns so far this season. It's at Cold Fury. Do not have liquids any where near where you are sitting. You have been warned.

UPDATE: Well, if you didn't see this coming, you haven't been reading here often enough!

Chronicle

My friend and fellow blogger from Thailand, Agam, continues to chronicle the uprising in Burma and the brutal suppression of the people by the military junta that controls that nation. He put together a video montage, in chronological order, of the protests in Burma. I'm embedding that video here, but I urge you to go over to visit Agam's blog (Agam's Gecko) where he has much, much more.

Crossing America

Toby Harndon, the US Editor of of the British Telegraph, is making a road trip across America and blogging about it daily at his Telegraph blog. In his blog post from yesterday, he has an interesting observation.

At Oklahoma City airport, we met a soldier, Private First Class Karen Casteel, 36, a single mother who had just spent 10 months away training while her parents looked after her son Taylor, six – who was kitted out in fatigues and holding a sign that read: “Welcome Home, Private Mom”. It was a reminder that in much of Middle America support for the war against Islamofascism remains solid.

“You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” said PFC Casteel, an avionics mechanic on Chinook and Black Hawk helicopters, as she hugged Taylor. “It’s my job and I figure that every one person can make a difference.” She fully expects to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan any time.

Why would someone like this join the National Guard and be fully supported by her family in doing so? College credits and sign-up bonuses are certainly part of it. There’s also an individual’s get-up-and-go factor (which is where Michael Moore is almost 180 degrees out of whack) – plus the US armed forces are engines of social mobility.

But there’s also a deep patriotism, to which that the memorials to Americans who gave their lives in far-flung lands that dot the country bear silent testimony.

Exactly. Away from the East and Left coasts, America is quite different in many ways. Patriotism is not just a word in the heartland; it is a deeply held belief. Harndon also has some sharp observations on the problems Democrats are suddenly facing like Hillary Clinton's adventures in sockpuppetry to Barack Obama's apparently cold reception from the press over a recent press conference performance. It's worth a read.

Veteran’s Day And Project Valour-IT

Today is the day that is set aside to honor those who have served this country in the armed forces. What better way to express your support for veterans than by donating to Project Valour-IT?

Project Valour-IT, in memory of SFC William V. Ziegenfuss, helps provide voice-controlled and adaptive laptop computers to wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines recovering from hand wounds and other severe injuries at major military medical centers.

There is a button at the top of the sidebar that will take you to the Soldier's Angels website to donate. Or you can follow this link.

Please consider making a donation.  

Surrender Pancakes

Funny, funny post from Charlie Foxtrot. I'll send you over there to read it. Let's just say pancakes and Melodramatic Maple syrup feature prominently.

Distinguished Service Cross

John at Argghhh! posted this item. First Lt. Walter B. Jackson received the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in action at a ceremony on November 2, 2007. The medal is second only to the Congressional Medal of Honor as American military awards are ranked. Lt. Jackson is only the seventh person to receive the award since 1975.

Nov. 2, 2007: First Lt. Walter B. Jackson [Oak Harbor, Washington] became the seventh Soldier since the Vietnam War ended in 1975 to receive the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in action.

Secretary of the Army Pete Geren presented the DSC, which is second in precedence to only the Medal of Honor for valor in battle, at a ceremony held in the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes this afternoon.

A second lieutenant at the time of his heroic action on Sept. 27, 2006, Lt. Jackson was cited for selfless courage under extreme enemy fire while serving as a company fire support officer with company A, Task Force 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment in Al Anbar Province, Iraq.

Lt. Jackson was engaged in combat operations with his unit against insurgents and while he attempted to recover a disabled vehicle, his unit came under heavy machine gun fire, which resulted in several Soldiers being wounded. As he applied first aid to a severely wounded comrade, he too was shot in the thigh.

Lt. Jackson’s citation in part reads: “Upon regaining consciousness after being shot, second lieutenant alternated between returning fire and administering first aid to the Soldier. Second Lt. Jackson was hit again with machine gun fire as he helped carry his wounded comrade to safety, but he never faltered in his aid. Although his own severe wounds required immediate evacuation and surgical care, 2nd Lt. Jackson refused medical assistance until his wounded comrade could be treated. Second Lt. Jackson’s selfless courage under extreme enemy fire was essential to saving another Soldier’s life and is in keeping with the finest traditions of military service…”

Before the presentation, Lt. Col. Thomas C. Graves, former Task Force commander, recounted part of that September 2006 day when he arrived at the medical aid station to see his wounded Soldiers and the first words to come from 2nd Lt. Jackson were of concern for the wounded captain he’d rescued.

“All the leadership schools, classes and years of experience never really prepare you for that moment in time when you are standing among heroes who have given their all, where their first concerns still remain with their fellow Soldiers,” he said. “It reinforces duty and commitment unlike any other experience.”

After Secretary Geren made the award presentation, 1st Lt. Jackson spoke to the packed room, humbly thanking his family, his West Point classmates and the Soldiers he’s served with in his short two-year career and saying simply, “I believe I just had to do what I had to do in that situation… I think many Soldiers would have done the same thing.”

1st Lt. Jackson has been recovering from his wounds at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, having undergone more than a dozen surgeries. While recovering at WRAMC, he volunteered as an intern with the Judge Advocate General’s office. He is awaiting orders to take over a multiple launch rocket system platoon in Korea with the 2nd Infantry Division Fires Brigade.

There is not one, single news report that I can find about this. Zero, zip, nada. Only blog coverage. If you're a blogger, pile on. This man deserves recognition for his actions.

Lieutenant Jackson, you are a credit to the Army and an example to the nation. Thank you for your service.

I'll just remind people that the annual fundraiser for Project Valour-IT ends tomorrow, on Veteran's Day. If you can, please, please make a donation. There is a donation button at the top of the sidebar.

Well, Well, Well

Thanks to alert reader Cedric, we now have a confession form David Thorpe that he was , indeed, the person who intentionally put up the fraudulent GEOCLIMATICSTUDIES.INFO website, that he did so with the intent of trying to discredit people he disagrees with and one other very, very important thing for the media to remember.

He lies to reporters. Intentionally and directly to their faces.

It's been a busy time. I published a spoof website in an effort to smoke out some climate change sceptics - not genuine ones, but ones who are highly vocal and yet do not understand the science.

It consisted of a fake scientific journal, the Journal of Geoclimatic Studies, and a fake editorial and paper, aiming to 'prove' that global warming was caused by bacteria, not humans.

It launched Wed. night and achieved notoriety within hours. I was beseiged with calls from Science magazine, Nature and Reuters.

Several people were fooled but not for long as it was pretty easy to spot the spoof nature of it - all the names were made up.

From yesterday's Reuters story:

“We’re just the website design company,” said David Thorpe at Cyberium in Wales, listed as the administrator of the site. “I don’t know anything about the content. We were just asked to put the website up.”

He says someone else wrote the copy - but his brag on the linked post proves that he knew precisely what he was publishing and why. The one thing that (at least used to be) unforgivable by a reporter was to be intentionally lied to. Alister Doyle, the Reuters reporter should be furious right now.

The fraudulent website has been taken down by the hosting company (TOS violation?). James Lewis was precisely right in calling it a black ops job.

UPDATE: Many thanks for the kind words from Thomas Lifson over at American Thinker. And again, many thanks to alert reader Cedric who brought this to my attention. Visitors who followed the link over, thanks for stopping by. Please look around the site a little. (I knew I should have dusted….)