Archive for the ‘Environment’ Category

Assuming, of course, that he can get reelected.

After all, he needs them to do volunteer work for his reelection campaign.

It would be too much for them to ask for Baron to do anything about the environment until after they have gotten him reelected (at which point, he won’t be able to do it then either because he’ll need to be reelected in another two years; catch-22).

They must do Baron’s bidding first; then he’ll figure out how to avoid doing what they elected him to do.

It’s his usual modus operandi.

From the News & Tribune:

Hill sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which he said has plans to move forward with environmental issues after the November election.

“We’re probably not going to do anything this year on global warming. After the next Congress is elected, starting in January, we’re going to work on a bill addressing the issue of global warming,” Hill said.

Yet Sitko feels each day that passes is a loss that impacts the environment, therefore the organization went ahead with the three billboards, two of which are along Interstate 65.

One is located between Jeffersonville and Clarksville near Interstate 265 and the other between Seymour and Columbus on I-65. There is also a billboard along Ind. 50 near North Vernon.

“We need to protect Hoosier farmers and families right now,” Sitko said. “Indiana is already effected by global warming with longer and more intense heat waves and droughts that are causing Hoosier farmers millions in expensive irrigation.”

And you can’t help but wonder about this particular bit:

“The time has come for Southern Indiana to take a strong look at Rep. Hill’s record,” Sitko said. “While the public is calling for action on global warming, Hill is bucking his party’s leadership and siding with those in Congress that are intent on denying the inevitable.”

Hill said he finds Greenpeace’s stance “puzzling,” saying it was his understanding the organization was satisfied with the final passage of the fuel economy target bill last year.

Hill added he is on the cusp of securing endorsements from several economic organizations in his bid to return to Congress in November, including the League of Conservation and the Sierra Club.

That sort of feigned ignorance on the part of Baron sounds an awful lot like his denial of ever having promised his own party’s county chairmen that he wouldn’t make a superdelegate endorsement until after the primary.

You know the one; the time when he called the Democratic county chairman of his own county a liar for merely quoting Baron’s promise.

That’s the thing about telling lies and breaking promises.

Sooner or later, they catch up with you.

It looks like this is another set of lies and broken promises that is catching up with Baron Hill.

Also, I think it’s a bit of a stretch to call the League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club “economic organizations,” but it is the News & Tribune.
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The MSM is reporting at about 5:40 this morning Indianapolis time an earthquake registering 5.2 on the Richter scale occurred along the New Madrid fault. I didn’t feel it myself, though Josh you know where I live and you would agree one could easily mistake an earthquake for a car’s subwoofer booming out the greats like 2Pac and rattling the windows.

So did any of you loyal Hoosier Access readers feel the quake this morning?

UPDATE: Aftershock felt on East side of Indianapolis at 11:15 AM. Didn’t rattle the windows but it did shake the vertical blinds. Definitely a weird feeling.

According to the USGS, the aftershock felt at 11:15 AM EDT was a 4.5 on the Richter scale.

From the National Weather Service:

.A GLOBAL WARMING STORM WILL BRING A MIXTURE OF GLOBAL WARMING…HEAT AND CLEAR GLOBAL WARMING TO CENTRAL INDIANA TONIGHT AND FRIDAY. GLOBAL WARMING ACCUMULATION IN EXCESS OF 6 INCHES WILL BE POSSIBLE NORTHWEST OF A SULLIVAN TO INDIANAPOLIS TO ANDERSON LINE. MEANWHILE…CLEAR GLOBAL WARMING ACCUMULATIONS OF ONE QUARTER TO ON HALF INCH WILL BE POSSIBLE ALONG AND SOUTHEAST OF A VINCENNES TO BLOOMINGTON TO SHELBYVILLE LINE. REMEMBER…THE EXACT TRACK OF THIS STORM REMAINS IN QUESTION AND ANY CHANGE IN THE TRACK WILL ALTER THE GLOBAL WARMING TYPE AND AMOUNT THAT WILL FALL.

By: Brian Sikma

Yes, you read the title correctly. Congress just increased the fuel efficiency of American automobiles. That news comes straight from a very reliable source: Rep. Baron Hill’s occasional e-mail newsletter titled “Baron’s Briefings.” Prepared and sent at taxpayer expense, it amounts to nothing more than a press release that starts with the words “Dear Friend”.

According the letter, the recently passed H.R. 6 will “increase American energy independence, strengthen national security, lower energy costs, grow our economy and create new jobs, and reduce global warming.” Now, apparently all of these good results come about because of one main thing that Rep. Hill (D) is very proud of: the new CAFE fuel standards.

Established in 1975 under a Democratic Congress and a big-government Republican president, CAFE standards mandate that a particular manufacturers fleet of vehicles meet a specific standard for fuel efficiency worked out from a weighted formula. H.R. 6 mandates a 40% increase in CAFE fuel efficiency standards by 2020.

Increased fuel efficiency sounds like a good thing, and in many cases it is. But as is typical with any effort to centrally plan an intricate portion of an economy, merely mandating that fuel efficiency will be raised does not mean that the consumers will benefit. Certainly there has been a trend towards increasingly favorable views of more fuel efficient vehicles since gas prices started their rise a few years ago, but that trend has been market driven. That’s a key concept: Market driven. What it means is that the individual choices of hundreds of thousands of consumers are collectively having an impact on the way businesses work. It means that the people, and not the bureaucrats, are deciding how much they are willing to pay for more fuel efficient vehicles.

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I saw this video over at Veritas Rex and believe it needs to be shared. It’s a report on Global Warming. In this matter, I will agree that the planet is a little warmer, but are we imminent peril? If we are, I have some beach front property in Richmond, Indiana I want to sell you.

YouTube Direct 

My snarky comment aside, do you think we’re in danger? Globally? Locally? Indianapolis as has been ranking higher and higher over the last few years on the pollution scale. What about all those refineries and plants in northwest Indiana and elsewhere around the state? Aren’t they hurting our environment?

I’ll honestly admit, I don’t buy into global warming, but I do think we need to be better stewards of our planet. However, I do think it’s worth a discussion, but not about what are we going to do about. I’m talking about whether it actually exists. Remember, all the scientists who are clamoring about global warming now, just a little over thirty years ago said our planet was doomed to another ice age.

(Rabble, rabble, rabble, how dare I point out liberal inconsistencies!)