A California Warning

Self-described "Truman Democrat" Joel Kotkin writes about how "California’s slow-motion tragedy could end up as a national one."

Edina Patch on the 49A Endorsement Race

The Edina Patch website reported this week on the GOP endorsement race for House seat 49A.

Republican Weatherman, Part 2

In an interesting "man bites dog" story, famous climate alarmist James Lovelock now says...never mind.  At least for now.  MSNBC reports that Lovelock now admits,

“The problem is we don’t know what the climate is doing.  We thought we knew 20 years ago.  That led to some alarmist books–mine included–because it looked clear-cut, but it hasn’t happened,” Lovelock said.

 “The climate is doing its usual tricks.  There’s nothing much really happening yet.  We were supposed to be halfway toward a frying world now,” he said.

Now he tells us.

Walter Russell Mead's take on the story gets to the heart of the matter,

"our concerns about the climate movement center on its weakness for cockamamie policy ideas and its propensity to over hype the evidence.  Alarmist predictions become a tool for stampeding the public toward crazy policy ideas with large costs and little hope of success."

Speaking of no success, the guys behind the Breakthrough Institute report that emissions are declining in the U.S. but not in Europe,

"It wasn't that long ago that the U.S. was cast as the global climate villain, refusing to sign the Kyoto accord while Europe implemented cap and trade.

"But, as we note below in a new article for Yale360, a funny thing happened: U.S. emissions started going down in 2005 and are expected to decline further over the next decade, while Europe's cap and trade system has had no measurable impact on emissions.  Even the supposedly green Germany is moving back to coal.

"Why?  The reason is obvious: the U.S. is benefiting from the 30-year, government-funded technological revolution that massively increased the supply of unconventional natural gas, making it cheap even when compared to coal."

And the lesson for policy makers?

"The contrast between what is happening in Europe and what is happening in the U.S. challenges anyone who still thinks pricing carbon and emissions trading are more important to emissions reductions than direct and sustained public investment in technology innovation."

It's all about making clean energy cheaper, not conventional energy more expensive.

Now comes Republican weatherman Paul Douglas, in part 2 of his series, doubling down on the "old" Lovelockian climate view.  Douglas asks,

"When will American business wake up to the scientific reality of climate change?"

Which reality, Paul?  The circa 2006 view of apocalyptic climate change that Lovelock was promoting then, or the new, pragmatic view that Lovelock admits to today?

Not keeping up with current events, Douglas continues to recommend the same-old-same-old,

"If we don’t jump on these new opportunities we risk conceding leadership to China, Asia and Europe, where there has been no substantial “debate” about climate science for years.  They have accepted the facts as facts."

Oh, well.  Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

Campaign Site is Up

I've put up a rudimentary web site for the 49A campaign.

49A Candidate Forum Tonight

Along with the rest of the candidates for house seat 49A, I will be at the Calvary Lutheran Church tonight for our Senate District's regular monthly meeting.  From 7 to 7:30, we will have a candidate's forum.  Come and learn more about us and the issues facing Edina.

Joel Kotkin on the California exodus

The Wall Street Journal interviews Joel Kotkin on why the middle class is fleeing California.

Leading By Example

Peggy's Noonan's column in the Wall Street Journal this week is on America's Crisis of Character.  Sobering stuff.

Declining Trust in American Institutions

The National Journal picks up on the theme that Americans are losing faith in our institutions.

Sue Jeffers' Radio Show

If all goes according to plan, I will be a guest on Sue Jeffers' radio talk show this Saturday (Earth Day!).  Tune in at 1 p.m. on 1130 AM.

The Cost of Wind Power

Tom Steward of the Freedom Foundation has a piece up on the cost of wind power to Minnesota's rural electric ratepayers.

The Future of Jobs

Walter Russell Mead has started a new series of posts over at his blog on the future of jobs in our changing economy.

Part 2 is now up.

Getting to the Future, First

Over at Private Citizen Media, I have been serializing the forthcoming book.  I'm now up to eight excerpts, covering various topics. 

• A Great Deal of Ruin--America's resiliency tested
• Winning the Future--Some thoughts on public education funding
• Getting to the Future, First--An alternative to the Blue Social Model
• The Gathering Storm--Decline is a choice
• Take Away Politics--Reform of the social welfare state
• More Admirals Than Ships--A Government 2.0 reform program
• The Regulatory Leviathan--How the regulatory state strangles the economy
• The "Frontier" vs. the "Miracle"--Minnesota's competing narratives

Single Point of Failure

An industrial accident at a single facility in Germany may bring the worldwide auto industry to a halt.  A black swan event is playing out.

Truth and Truthiness

As the narrative keeps shifting, Victor Davis Hanson notes that the "truth" becomes harder to pin down.

Faith and the Economy

Still catching up from last week:  in Forbes, Joel Kotkin discusses the role of religion in the broader economy.

If you can get past the gratuitous Rick Santorum swipe, there is some great material in here, such as,

"Social networks, much celebrated among the single, might provide people with voices, but religious organizations actually do something about meeting real human needs."

Tonight at Southdale Library

I'll be at Edina's Southdale Library (70th St. and York Ave) to discuss Sustainable Development tonight at 7 pm.  Swing by if you have the chance.

The Late Debate with Jack and Ben

The April 10 podcast captures my latest visit to the Late Debate with Jack and Ben radio show.

California's War on the Suburbs, Part 2

This past weekend, demographer Wendell Cox writes about California's continued war on the suburbs in the Saturday Wall Street Journal.  Complete with a six minute video.

The Blue Social Model and Election 2012

Mickey Kaus is drawing attention to this piece by John Ellis, which argues that Mitt Romney needs to offer an alternative to Barack Obama that addresses Walter Russell Mead's thoughts on the collapse of the "Blue Social Model."  The point that Kaus and Mead are making is that these (Mead's) ideas need to be hashed out and now.

Epilogue on "Tiered" Natural Gas Rates

Longtime readers will recall a series of posts last year on the subject of "inverted" block rates, or "tiered" rates for natural gas.

A quick recap, under "tiered" rates, the more natural gas you used, the higher the price you paid.  Of course, if you use more you pay more, but this system is more like charging a Prius driver $2/gallon for gasoline, while charging an SUV owner $5 per gallon.

A natural gas utility tried out the concept but was ordered by our state's utilities commission to drop the program, after a storm of protest.  Now it turns out that the utility has to refund some of the money it collected from customers who were innocent.

In calculating the penalty price, each user's natural gas monthly consumption was compared to the "average" user.  Above average users paid a higher price, below average users got a discount.

But wait.  It was discovered that some gas customers got bumped into the higher price bracket because the utility calculated usage based on a 32-day month, in some cases higher than 40-day "months."  Yes, your gas usage will look high if the utility counts 40 days of your usage and compares your figure to 31 days for an average user.

Unbelievable.

Energy Independence, After All

Newsweek's Robert Samuelson writes about the domestic fossil fuel energy revolution.