The Bush administration has long argued that it doesn’t have the authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
Not so, the U.S. Supreme Court said Monday in a long-awaited ruling that could signal a dramatic shift in the regulatory environment on carbon emissions. "The harms associated with climate change are serious and well recognized," said Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for the 5-4 majority.
The ruling was about car emissions. But many utilities have seen the writing on the wall about the inevitability of greenhouse gas regulations, which could make wind power and other alternative energy sources more competitive. Now the Supremes have laid the legal groundwork for such federal oversight.
The decision "sends a clear signal to the market that the future lies not in dirty, outdated technology of yesterday, but in clean energy solutions of tomorrow like wind, solar," said a spokesman for the Sierra Club.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
The United States needs to take the fight to al-Qaida. But reports about how al-Qaida is rebuilding with a new, younger leadership show how difficult it is to put the terrorist organization out of operation.
According to the New York Times: The new leaders "tend to be in their mid-30s and have years of battlefield experience fighting in places like Afghanistan and Chechnya. They are more diverse than the earlier group of leaders." And experts expect the fighting in Iraq to produce more future leaders.
"To say that al-Qaida was out of business simply because they have not attacked in the U.S. is whistling past the graveyard," said Michael Scheuer, a former head of the bin Laden tracking unit at the CIA. "Al-Qaida is still humming along, and with a new generation of leaders."
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The 2008 race in Kansas’ 2nd Congressional District seems likely to be the third in a row pitting Democrat Nancy Boyda, now the incumbent, against Jim Ryun, the five-term Republican she unseated. The only question is whether Ryun, who said his April 15 finance report is "going to turn some heads," will get a walk in the GOP primary. Others reportedly eyeing the seat include Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt of Independence, Rep. Lee Tafanelli of Ozawkie and state Treasurer Lynn Jenkins.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
“Firing a prosecutor for failing to find wide voter fraud is like firing a park ranger for failing to find Sasquatch,” Michael Waldman and Justin Levitt of the New York University School of Law wrote in the Washington Post. They were referring to the Washington state U.S. attorney who was sacked after failing to prosecute voter fraud.
Individual voter fraud is nearly nonexistent, Waldman and Levitt wrote, because it’s not worth it; a person casting two votes risks jail time and a fine for minimal gain. As a result, “proven voter fraud, statistically, happens about as often as death by lightning strike,” they wrote.
Yet the fraud myth fuels attempts in Kansas and elsewhere to place ID restrictions on voting, which studies have shown keep eligible voters from voting. Waldman and Levitt argue that if lawmakers really want to protect against voter fraud, they should do more to ensure that electronic voting machines are hack-proof.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
What happens on the coasts often happens in Kansas — only much, much, much later. Given local leaders’ disinterest in recycling or even lowering trash bills, and their cool response to a proposal last year to reduce their own governments’ greenhouse gas emissions, any bets on how long it might be before Kansas and especially Wichita follow San Francisco’s lead on banning nonbiodegradable plastic grocery bags? Grocers are opposed, in part because corn-based plastic bags are still costly and untested. Environmentalists warn of loss of more trees to make paper bags. But many who’ve seen Wal-Mart bags flying over the interstate or tangled in trees have guessed this day would come.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The past week’s gambling debates in the Kansas Legislature changed history in the state. They also should lead to changes in legislative rules, quipped one lawmaker who wished to remain nameless. The needed no-nos:
“You will never share some deep, dark family secret at the well.”
“There is no crying in lawmaking.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman