Last Call For King Coal

Thought Alison Lundergan Grimes was going to be happy out the EPA coal plant regulations?  Forget it Jake, it's Coal Country.

The Obama administration’s proposal for sharp cuts to emissions from power plants complicates the midterm elections this fall for Democrats, especially since some of the battleground states for control of the Senate are tied to the coal economy.

Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Democrat who is challenging Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader, here in the most high-profile Senate race this year, has already been portraying herself as a friend of coal and a sharp critic of Mr. Obama.

On Monday, Ms. Grimes pledged to “fiercely oppose the president’s attack on Kentucky’s coal industry” if elected.

Oh this, there's no difference from Mitch the Turtle.  But you knew that going in.  And folks, if you thought for a microsecond that Grimes wouldn't attack President Obama over the EPA, you just have no clue how Kentucky politics works.  You don't have to like it.

She's still better than Mitch.

The Long Hot Summer Begins

And really, it wouldn't be summer in America without somebody lynching President Obama in effigy.

Crews are investigating after a dummy bearing a President Obama face mask was found hanging from the Lesholz Bridge over I-70 near Grain Valley, Mo. Police received the report around 5:30 a.m. Monday.

Authorities rerouted traffic due to the distraction it caused Monday. Traffic across the bridge has since been allowed to cross.

Crews, using a robot, removed the dummy and took it into a nearby field where it was x-rayed for possible explosives.

So yes, it's officially summer now!  Hooray!

Breathe A Little Easier

Advanced info on today's EPA clean air rules for power plant emissions indicate what could be a massive cut:  the EPA is reportedly looking to impose 30% cut in carbon emissions from 2005 levels by 2030.

The Environmental Protection Agency will unveil a draft proposal on Monday to cut carbon pollution from the nation’s power plants 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, according to people briefed on the plan.

The proposed rule amounts to the strongest action ever taken by the United States government to fight climate change.

Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of the greenhouse gas emissions that scientists blame for trapping heat in the atmosphere and dangerously warming the planet.

The rule could trigger a fundamental transformation of the nation’s energy systems – if it withstands an expected onslaught of legal and legislative attacks.

The Supreme Court has already ruled that Congress did indeed grant the power to the EPA to regulate power plant emissions in the Clean Air Act.  But at this point, you would have to expect that red states are simply going to refuse and wait for the next Republican in the White House to eliminate the rules.

What can the federal government really do to states that refuse that won't harm regular citizens?  Me, I expect the regulations to be tied up, or for the EPA to simply be defunded or barred by legislation from enacting any emissions standards in another round of shutdown chicken.

We'll see what happens, but don't expect Big Energy to actually make emissions cuts.  They've got too many billions to take from you.

StupidiNews!

• Washington State law enforcement officials believe that six mountain climbers attempting to scale Mount Rainer fell to their deaths sometime Saturday.
• Cadbury chocolate has been pulled from the shelves in Saudi Arabia after possible traces of pig DNA were discovered in products in Malaysia.
• Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is warning against international recognition of a Palestinian unity government due to be unveiled this week.
• Thailand's military junta has deployed troops into Bangkok to put down protesters, blocking roads and shutting down the city's train service.
• Hacker site Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde has been arrested in Southern Sweden on Saturday in connection with a 2009 copyright conviction.