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Flap’s Links and Comments for April 19th on 18:24
These are my links for April 19th from 18:24 to 18:34:
- Global warming lawsuit: Supreme Court signals it will throw out lawsuit By California and other states – The Supreme Court justices indicated Tuesday they would throw out a huge global-warming lawsuit brought by six states against coal-fired power plants in the South and Midwest. And they will do so with the support of the Obama administration.
Acting U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal urged the justices to end the lawsuit, insisting the problem of global warming and greenhouse gases is too big and unwieldy for a single judge to handle. It is a regulatory problem for the Environmental Protection Agency, he said.
Four years ago, the justices cleared the way for the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouses gases under the Clean Air Act. Since then, the government has adopted stricter standards for motor vehicles. The agency is debating regulations for power plants, but has taken no firm action.
But all the while, several states, led by Connecticut, New York and California, have pressed ahead with a lawsuit that calls carbon pollution a "public nuisance" and asks a federal judge to restrict emissions from power plants.
During Tuesday's argument, most of the justices — liberal and conservative — said they were skeptical about turning over such a complicated and politically charged issue to a single federal judge. - Jon Huntsman’s ‘remarkable’ letters to Obama, Clinton reveal adulation for chief executives – Jon Huntsman, President Obama’s outgoing ambassador to China, is considering running against his boss in 2012 as a Republican.
But two handwritten letters from Huntsman obtained by The Daily Caller raise the question of why he’s not campaigning for Obama instead.
“You are a remarkable leader,” Huntsman wrote to Obama in an Aug. 16, 2009 note, underlining the word “remarkable,” “and it has been a great honor getting to know you.”
The letter thanks Obama for “the graciousness and kindness you have shown me and my family – particularly your confidence in my ability to represent you in China.” Huntsman said he was “leaving behind a state we love – but anticipating an extraordinary experience in Beijing.”
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Read it all
But, is Huntsman planning for 2012 or really 2016?
My bet is the latter.
- Global warming lawsuit: Supreme Court signals it will throw out lawsuit By California and other states – The Supreme Court justices indicated Tuesday they would throw out a huge global-warming lawsuit brought by six states against coal-fired power plants in the South and Midwest. And they will do so with the support of the Obama administration.
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Flap’s Links and Comments for March 24th on 08:00
These are my links for March 24th from 08:00 to 09:50:
- How television created and then killed Sarah Palin’s political prospects – It was television that destroyed Sarah Palin, just as it made her. I’ve said before and I’ll say it again – the arrival of Palin as a major political figure in 2008 was an emanation of the reality-TV culture, anchored in the belief that ordinary or “everyday” people, inarticulate though they may be, and with all the baggage of messy personal lives, are truly compelling public figures. Palin was the political equivalent. A figure who refracts national identity as it is shaped by the culture’s most powerful medium. Authentic, populist and dismissive of sophistication in thought and action.
Then, television duly destroyed the Palin authenticity. The arc of her national political career began with a defining speech at the Republican National Convention in September, 2008, and ended in November, 2010, a few episodes into Sarah Palin’s Alaska. The show, a cringingly inevitable reality-TV series, gave her a huge platform and she blew it. If her exposure on TV in 2008 brought out the authenticity, the show brought out Palin’s inner princess. She talked about being a mom 87 times an episode (I’m exaggerating , but only a little) and made dubious attempts to make political parables linking her family, the outdoors and wildlife. It was ego unbounded. And this after quitting her job as governor of Alaska.
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Interesting enough Sarah Palin's next career will most probably be on television. - Why is Jon Huntsman running for president? – This is like Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) without the war record and without the bona fides on national security. And speaking of which, Huntsman’s hiring “key members from McCain’s team at the helm.” That alone is enough to freak out many in the base, who came to detest the McCain campaign crew for incompetency and disloyalty to its VP pick.
I’m trying to figure out who a “Huntsman voter” is. Rudy Giuliani attracted moderates before his campaign imploded (fizzled, actually). But he led New York through Sept. 11, governed like a no-nonsense fiscal conservative and offered up conservative positions on school choice, health care and tax policy. And he never served in a liberal president’s administration. Perhaps there is an untapped segment of the electorate to the left of Giuliani who doesn’t think that poorly of Obama. Unfortunately for Huntsman, they likely are Democrats.
You do have to wonder how Huntsman, an intelligent man with business experience, was sold on taking the plunge. And you really have to wonder how thrilled his family will be if he decides to risk a chunk of the family fortune.
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Good question – because he has the massive fortune to do so?
- California must enforce ‘use’ law — now – Or Support Internet Taxes – So be it. Holding affiliates hostage in a desperate effort to continue tax-exempt merchandizing shouldn't be condoned. Barnes & Noble, which does collect the sales tax, has offered to pick up some of the Amazon affiliates. Other online retailers could, too.
If the tax-free e-tailers retained their affiliate marketers and began collecting the taxes, Skinner estimates, her bill would net between $250 million and $500 million annually for the bleeding state general fund.
But California this year will be stiffed much more: $1.7 billion in taxes that should have been paid on Web purchases, according to a University of Tennessee study.
Another bill, by state Sen. Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley), would grant the Board of Equalization more power to force tax collections. She estimates it could gain the state more than $1 billion annually.
A key backer is Democratic equalization board member Betty Yee.
"Amazon used to argue that it didn't have the capability to collect the taxes, given the various different tax rates," she says. "They can track individual consumer preferences about products but can't track sales taxes? That's kind of crazy."
Runner says, "The only way to solve this problem is with a national solution. You can't do it piecemeal."
Perhaps. But a lot of California retailers could fold before the feds ride to their rescue. Meanwhile, deficit-plagued states are denied the taxes they're owed.
Sacramento politicians should move swiftly to protect local businesses and demand the state's legal share. They should get off their inertia.
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George Skelton, the LA Times Columnist is an old tax and spend liberal who never met a tax he didn't like.
He supports the loss of jobs to California affiliates of Amazon.com and Overstock.com.
I suggest that those affiliates cancel their paid subscriptions to the Los Angeles Times.
Oh wait, they already read the rag for free on the internet.
Internet taxation is a bad policy for California and America.
- How television created and then killed Sarah Palin’s political prospects – It was television that destroyed Sarah Palin, just as it made her. I’ve said before and I’ll say it again – the arrival of Palin as a major political figure in 2008 was an emanation of the reality-TV culture, anchored in the belief that ordinary or “everyday” people, inarticulate though they may be, and with all the baggage of messy personal lives, are truly compelling public figures. Palin was the political equivalent. A figure who refracts national identity as it is shaped by the culture’s most powerful medium. Authentic, populist and dismissive of sophistication in thought and action.