Governor Jay Inslee proposed a politically ambitious cap-and-trade-ish plan on greenhouse gas emissions yesterday. No doubt a complex proposal on which there is plenty of room for policy analysis and political debate. But this is how the Republicans responded:
Sen. Doug Ericksen, asshole
State Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, who chairs Senate’s energy and environment committee, called Inslee’s cap-and-trade plan “an energy tax, which is really a tax on mobility — which is a tax on freedom.”
So, um, Senator Ericksen, I sincerely hope you take my criticism in the most constructive way possible, but you, sir, are an asshole.
Seriously. Governor Inslee proposes pricing carbon in a way similar to British Columbia, California, and a number of northeastern states—a modest and much studied market-based approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by forcing polluters to pick up just a small portion of the externalized costs—and you respond by accusing him of taxing our freedom? Because he hates our freedom, right? Just like Al Qaeda!
Of all the assholery an asshole could have devised, this has got to be the most assholic.
This is not a tax on freedom. If it is a tax, it is a tax on carbon emissions. Period. And only an asshole would equate carbon with freedom.
Bear in mind that Ferndale is an asshole town, top to bottom. It was a sundown town until 1964. It was the main town for the largest branch of the Ku Klux Klan west of the Mississippi River until the early 1970s. People born in Ferndale rarely leave.
They do have one Black officer now, and he pulls people over for being out of their area. As in “I don’t recognize your car, I thought I’d check to see if you might be lost”.
Uh huh. Right Occifer.
The main high school is a Christian school and the rumor has long been that a student at that school automatically loses a full letter grade at graduation unless one bears the surname of one of the long-term local families.
I grew up in this area. Ferndale and Custer and Lynden have well-established reputations for being full of FAS kids. It is solid TeaBaggist nutballs all the way through.
@1…You are a fucking nutcase.
Tax.
Re: @1…
That must be @2’s problem…FAS.
I drove through Ferndale 50 years ago. I’ll bet it looks the same today.
When I lived in Bellingham in the sixties, I heard stories that Lynden was weird, too. Very insular place. Apparently it was the epicenter of some fundie religious sect. But I didn’t get pulled over for driving through there.
Not sure what the problem is. It’s an argument that has been used to great effect
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROxvT8KKdFw
in the past.
Seriously, a better counterargument to Inslee, who hasn’t provided any specific info, is to point to the UK’s current experience.
The cost of household electricity will rise by as much as 40 per cent by the end of the decade because of the Government’s green energy policies.
Official figures — initially withheld by ministers — show an alarming increase in the price of electricity caused by generous subsidies to wind farms as well as other policies.
An average household is expected to pay as much as £250 more for electricity – mainly through consumer subsidies – to pay for the Government’s green energy schemes, while an electrically heated house could be as much as £440 a year worse off.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....icity.html
This shit isn’t free. There’s a cost to everything and eventually the consumer will pay for it. No harm using high cost numbers until Inslee can demonstrate that it won’t happen. It’s happening in the UK , after all, and the government tried not to let people find out about it.
When Inslee wants to stop doing photo-ops at REI and tell WA citizens what he actually will do and how much he thinks it will cost, then the arguments on each side can be more specific.
Serious policy shouldn’t be dribbled out in PR events. Let’s see the meat of it.
@ 6 RR
Lynden: If ya ain’t Dutch, ya ain’t much. The girls were hot to trot, and pretty cute in that logger’s-daughter/farmer’s-daughter sorta way. But man, me and my jewfro were not welcome at the dinner table.
“So what, you’re about half nigger?”
“Oh Daddy.”
“Uh, nope, Family’s Welsh, Irish and Scottish.”
“So what do you want with my Daughter?”
“You mean like tonight?”
@9, I’m guessing that you are about 98 years old.
@9 And that’s where the dialogue stopped, because at that point, he grabbed the 12-gauge he kept inside the pantry and blew you away.
@11 Which would p;ace that touching vignette at about, oh, say 1933 or thereabouts.
You can’t take my FREEDOM!!!
@ 11 RR
Her mom and sister laughed.
Alberta has a carbon price, although it is pretty low, $15 per ton. The B.C. Carbon Tax is another gas tax, and was revenue neutral, balancing a tax cut.
http://www.canada.com/business.....story.html
By the way, it appears the latest threat to the future of the Alberta Progressive Conservative party, the Wildrose Alliance, another center right party, is running out of steam. They went from 14 members in the Legislature in Edmonton, to 5. One of the latest defections, the party’s own leader.
The Wildrose was (is, kinda?) not a “center-right” party by ANY means. The members would not be out of place at a Tea Party rally, and more than a few would like to roll back Canada’s protection of abortion, gay rights, socialized medicine, and lots of other things.
Case in point — the recent discussions of the provincial bill to mandate gay-straight alliances at publicly-funded Catholic schools.
And the only reason why their party is collapsing is that the new PC party leader is tacking right and will likely hammer them in the next election. Wildrose members are getting out while the getting is good.
How about Erickson’s district not getting any more tax dollars for roads? He can pay for mobility out of his own pocket.
Arguments about carbon taxes (or any restrictions on pollution) hurting the economy don’t make sense even from a conservative standpoint. Why should a business be able to dump its waste and associated costs onto society at large? Pollution and climate change have costs, why not put the burden on the polluters? Reminds me of that other asshole, Tim Eyman, being caught dumping his trash into a post office dumpster.
@1
“It was the main town for the largest branch of the Ku Klux Klan west of the Mississippi River until the early 1970s. ”
In other words, it was full of DEMOCRATS.
Hey liberal suckers,
Speaking of freedom, check out what the public thinks about liberal attempts to disarm law abiding citizens. Read it and weep fools:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/up....._a_8523591
@17
Speaking of assholes:
“How about Erickson’s district not getting any more tax dollars for roads? ”
Isn’t that the liberal way. You don’t like a certain persons position on something so you deny him the funding to help keep his roads safe, thereby endangering everyone who travels on them. Asshole indeed… and a pathetic asshole to boot.
This guy is a clown. Rhetoric like that probably works among a fiery minority of this state, but ultimately galvanizes the rest of the state into taking action. As an Oregon transplant, I can say this from experience. During the 1990s, Oregon’s Republican Party completed a decades-long transition from a sensible and moderate party of budget-balancing pragmatists (Mark Hatfield, Tom McCall, Bob Packwood, etc.) into a party of anti-environmentalist conservatives. Devoutly conservative voters in Southern Oregon, eastern Oregon, and the rural parts of the Willamette Valley used the closed primaries to hijack the party and shift it drastically to the right. The old GOP constituency in the Portland suburbs were shut out. It remains that way today.
Once the new, more conservative GOP took hold, they got shut out of statewide elections. The Republican nominees were too socially and environmentally right-wing to capture many votes in the Portland suburbs (Clackamas and Washington Counties). Democrats now dominate statewide elections to an even greater extent than in Washington, a state to the left of Oregon.
Anti-environmentalism is a death trap for the Republican Party on the West Coast. It’s probably one of the quickest ways to get suburban voters to rush into the arms of the Democratic Party. The GOP can’t afford a reliably blue Snohomish County and a King County electorate that’s over 70-30 Democratic if they ever intend to win statewide again. Doug Ericksen’s fear-mongering further cements the Democratic advantage in both counties. Not that I’m complaining…
“Of all the assholery an asshole could have devised, this has got to be the most assholic”.
That is the best quote I have seen in a long time. We all should work that into a conversation sometime. Spot on by the way.
@ 18
It was, and continues to be, full of functionally illiterate Conservatives.
i gunna inzult hule citees cuz I iz a geneus.
“In other words, it was full of DEMOCRATS.”
Yeah, and they all became Republicans. LMFAO!! You do remember, don’t you, Putz? Nixon’s Southern Strategy? St. Ronnie kicking off his 1980 campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi with his “state’s rights” speech? Bush 41 and Willie Horton? Really, why would you disown the KKK after your party has tried so damned hard to woo them all these years? Who the fuck else would vote Republican anymore if not the KKK? That’s your party’s base, Stupe.
Anyways, Squid, please do try harder to keep up with current events. Nice guy that I am, I’d hate to see you continue to go through life being so fucking ignorant.
Lol@ 24
Functionally illiterate, indeed.
@25…”Who the fuck else would vote Republican anymore if not the KKK? That’s your party’s base, Stupe.”
You sir, are an idiot.
@27. Please show us how we are mistaken. Provide links to facts and data.
@28…You’re kidding right? Saying that the KKK is the base of the Republican party is just plain stupid, it’s like saying that the CPUSA is the base of the Democrat party.
“You sir…”
Yet another wingnut ‘tard with projection issues.
“it’s like saying that the CPUSA is the base of the Democrat party”
Actually, to say that members of the Communist Party USA are Democrats would be really fucking stupid, on par with saying that the KKK are Democrats. On the other hand, the GOP Southern Strategy is historical fact, whether you like it or not, whether you accept it or not. They’re your KKK now, not the ours. Deal with it and STFU.
“Derpocrat”
You know, it takes a really stupid fucking person to believe that dumbfuck shit like that is somehow fucking clever.
“Speaking of freedom, check out what the public thinks about liberal attempts to disarm law abiding citizens.”
The public? LMFAO! No. You flying monkeys got the memo and descended on the PBS site, that’s all. The only thing to be gleaned from it is that you’re dumber than a fucking stump.
@30…My apologies, you are not an idiot…you’re a moron.
“My apologies”
So you want to be my bitch, huh? You roll over fine, but can you stand up and beg for a treat?
Hey, Derpshit, it looks like you might be able to own a gun again after all.
“A panel of three Republican members of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that a man who was previously “committed to a mental institution,” mightnonetheless be allowed to have a gun, despite a federal ban on firearm possession by such individuals.”
http://crooksandliars.com/2014.....ghts-those
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2.....ty-agenda/
You can compare the agenda of the KKK with the agenda of the republican and tea parties, to determine for yourself what, if any, differences there are between them.
I dunno, Better, Derpshit probably needs a little help.
Hey, Derpshit, here’s the KKK platform. Hmm, or is it the GOP?
1. “The recognition that America was founded as a Christian nation.”
2. “The recognition that America was founded as a white nation.”
3. “Abolish all affirmative action programs.”
4. “Put American Troops on the Borders and Stop the Flood of Illegals.”
5. “Abolish all anti-gun laws and encourage every adult to own a weapon.”
6. “Drug testing all welfare recipients.”
7. “Balance the budget.”
8. “Privatization of the public school system.”
9. “Restoring individual freedom to Christian America.”
10. “Sovereignty of the states.”
11. “Everyone who can work, should work.”
12. “A strong defense department.”
13. “Outlaw abortion.”
14. “Outlaw homosexuality.”
15. “Death penalty (and extend it to include rapists and child molesters.)”
16. “A flat tax rate.”
Typically, several irrefutable examples and derp is a no show.
The main problem with Senator Ericksen is that he is the classic professional, hack politician who has never had a real job. How can someone who never worked for a living have any understanding of the needs and problems of citizens who actually work for a living?
His positions on the issues are totally predictable – just follow the money. Every vote he casts has been bought and paid by the corporatacracy which depends on guys like Ericksen in state legislatures and Congress to make sure that regular people don’t get too uppity and do something radical like trying to impede the corporate greed for obscene profits by electing candidates that will vote against lucrative corporate tax loopholes and tax deferments By getting enough guys like Ericksens in the Legislature they can continue to rip off ordinary citizens and spend a lot of time on the golf course while knocking down annual salaries and stock options worth millions. Meanwhile Ericksen gets enough campaign contributions to meet his only true objective which is to keep his “job” and he even gets to play golf with these people and feel important. It’s all quite broken and sad.
If Senator Ericksen were to lose an election, he wouldn’t know how to survive on his own unless the Koch brothers were to hire him to do some of their dirty work. Senator Ericksen is living evidence of why term limits should be in place. He’s ossified and cares nothing about the citizens he supposedly represents.
JT