Author: Sarah Riordan

The latest political fad and tax-payer dollars are like thunder thighs and miniskirts; they should just not be allowed to mix.

Olympia Snowe’s recent bill is another attempt by Washington to follow the trends and “go green.” The bill, S.3682, proposes that grants ranging from $25 thousand to $1 million be dispersed to small businesses that show a desire to produce green products. The kinds of products being produced aren’t specified, but as long as it says green, Congress says go.

Snowe is no stranger to energy bills. She paired up with Senator John Kerry in early 2008 to promote another bill encouraging small businesses to be more energy efficient. According to senate.gov, Snowe even stated in an interview that she was ashamed and surprised by the Bush administration’s lack of interest in the energy crisis.

Though the bill sounds good on the surface, the fact that it simply sounds good is exactly the point. It’s pleasing to the ear, but essentially does nothing. Going green is a fad, and with little fool-proof research done on green products, Washington should not be throwing tax-payer money at something so new.

The main problem however, is the bill itself. There are two stages in the proposed bill. Stage one offers grants ranging from $25 thousand to $250 thousand. Phase two ups the grants to a range of $250 thousand to $1 million. In order to reach phase two however, you have to pass phase one. Bureaucrats, (which are in no short supply in Washington) will decide if the business has used the phase one funding effectively and deserves to move on to phase two and receive more money. The arbitrariness of how this will be decided is also problematic. What standards will be used to measure the effectiveness of stage one?

The problem with this plan is that the bill is striving to give incentive to already existing businesses to turn to selling more energy efficient products. Certainly, most honest businessmen would tell Snowe that even $250 thousand dollars isn’t nearly enough to retool an entire company into an eco-friendly utopia. The $1 million might be doable, but this doesn’t come until phase two. Now if you don’t have enough money to turn your business around using the phase one grant, then chances are, you won’t be approved for the larger grant that comes with phase two. As a result, the taxpayer’s money will be going out for phase one, but will end there.

Ultimately, this bill is yet another sad attempt to try and make it seem like Congress is doing something about the current energy crisis. If something is going to be done, it has to be carried out on a much larger scale. Giving a few select businesses insufficient funds is going to do nothing but waste the taxpayer’s hard-earned money. If Congress wants to make our country more energy independent, how about not following the latest green fad, and start putting the taxpayer’s money toward something more along the lines of serious research into alternative fuel? Then our money won’t be going toward a fad, but a long-term commitment to bettering our nation’s future.

It seems this Presidential election will bring about some firsts in United States history: a black man as president or a woman as vice president. The announcement of the Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin as McCain’s Vice President has definitely evoked a strong reaction throughout the nation. Perhaps that is what the “maverick” was looking for? It has been highly noted that Palin lacks experience with only two years as Governor and before that a Mayor. Despite her lack of experience in foreign policy and such, Palin does have much experience with the general public, especially those in Alaska. What the real question we should be asking does not involve experience, but where does she stand on the issues.

Senator McCain announced Palin as someone “who can best help me shake up Washington”. Palin took office on December 4, 2006 as the first woman Governor of Alaska. As Governor, her top priorities have been transportation development, public health and safety, education and workforce development and resource development. The Palin Administration invested five billion dollars in state savings, implemented the Senior Benefits Program, and overhauled education funding. Governor Palin is well known for her advocacy in drilling for oil and natural gas in Alaska, specifically the Artic National Wildlife Refuge. Ironically, McCain and Palin have differing views concerning the topic. McCain opposes drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, while his opponent Obama supports the idea. Governor Palin agrees with Obama about completion of the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline. Also, Palin fought against legislation, sponsored by Senator Lieberman, which intended to designate the Artic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness. She created Alaska’s Petroleum Systems Integrity Office, which provides oversight and maintenance of oil and gas equipment and facilities.

Although a bit of an outsider in the Republican Party, Palin has shown fearlessness throughout her years as Mayor and as Governor. She has gained a reputation of political purity, trying to clean up the mess of corruption. For instance, she resigned as chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission due to the deficiency of ethics moral principles in other Republican members. Palin left frustrated after her complaints of conflict of interests and legal violations within the committee. Governor Palin has served as chair of other committees as well. She currently serves as chair of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, promoting the preservation and effective recovery of domestic oil and natural gas while still protecting the environment, public safety, and health. Recently, she was appointed chair of the National Governors Association Natural Resource Committee. The committee pursues legislation to guarantee state needs are considered as federal policy is created in the areas of energy, environmental protection, agriculture, etc. She has passed two major pieces of legislation to overhaul state ethic laws and a completive process to construct a gas pipeline. In addition, Palin submitted the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act. The legislation is to act as a medium to get natural gas pipelines built and bring state’s extensive gas reserves to the market.

John McCain is known as the “maverick” in this campaign for presidency. Perhaps that is the very reason he chose Governor Palin to be his running mate. Together, they may indeed be the ticket to shake up Capital Hill and even the nation. “Leaders don’t wait. They shape their own frontiers. The bigger the challenge, the greater the opportunity” – Anonymous.

I keep hearing that this country is being run by Republicans, but where are they?  The PATRIOT act demands more and more civil rights given up to the shadiest secret agencies of the U.S. government in the name of security, a bill that would have been called Communist in the 1980’s and Fascist in the 1940’s is now being forced upon us by the party who is supposed to defend personal freedoms.

What happened to being against big government?  How many of my friends have argued against FDR because he doubled the size of government, yet no single individual since FDR has done more to create a large wasteful mess of expanding government than President George W. Bush, creating entirely new departments and then creating departments with the sole purpose of making sure two other departments communicate.

Huh?

And things seem to keep getting stranger and stranger.  While Republicans are supposed to be adamant about balancing the budget and not spending money that belongs to the American people: Halliburton is to get paid all of its disputed charges, the deficit continues to grow (and the bills designed to “cut the deficit” only cut the rate at which it grows), and yet they are giving write-offs to oil companies who are doubling their all time record profits every single quarter.

As for the whole moral aspect: Tom DeLay, Karl Rove . . . there’s a whole list and two plus two just isn’t equaling what it should.

And our defenders of the Constitution now what to re-define “cruel and unusual punishment,” and severely limit freedom of the press, especially political speech, the very kind the founding fathers demanded for our nation.  What is going on here?

What happened to the Republicans who wanted a balanced budget, thought the ends did not justify any means (after all, they ran on a platform of honesty and morality), and would never allow the government unlimited power over its own people?  What happened to these people, and who has taken their place?  Sadly, if both the Republicans and Democrats were what they used to be, maybe we wouldn’t have such a mess now.

AUTHOR: Crystal Fontaine

As gas prices hit an all time high at $3.50 per gallon in Mid-Missouri, Missourians are grappling with the very same issue afflicting the rest of the nation: The Energy Brawl. People are consuming more energy than ever while suppliers scramble to meet demand. How is Missouri tackling current energy issues? Perhaps we should take a look at SB1181, which is a combination of the previous bills SCS/SBs 1100, 1262, and 1263.

The bill proposes that any new construction or renovation design documents of particular state buildings must include energy savings projections. These energy savings should be in compliance with the modification of the minimum energy efficiency standards that will be adopted or at least as severe as those of the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC). These standards and procedures are to take affect by July 1, 2009. These modifications will be only the first step. By July of 2016, state government must use renewable sources for at least 10% of electricity and hopefully by July of 2026, the state government will be using renewable sources for at least 20% of electricity.

The bill SB1181 also provides incentives for consumers to become energy savvy by incorporating the “Show Me Green Sales Tax Holiday”. Starting in 2009, the sales of all Energy Star certified appliances will be exempt from state sales tax from April 19th through April 25th. While this may not sound like much of an enticement, your children may be pushing you to become more economical as well. Due to another provision in the act, Missouri High Schools will be required to educate students in certain environmental-related topics. With this in mind, representatives ranging from the Economic Department to Elementary and Secondary Education must convene to secure grants that would fund: green jobs, production of renewable fuels, increasing green research and development, and so forth.

Do you remember the commercials of recycle and reuse from the 90s which had the catchy tune of “recycle, reuse, reduce”? At the time, recycle and reuse was all about paper and glass among other items. The bill offers advancement into e-cycling, the recycling of electronics. According to this bill, the Department of Natural resources is to educate consumers on recycling computers and televisions by providing a website. This website will provide information on how to recycle these electronics, such as locations for collection opportunities. No more piling up the Dells and Sony’s into the local landfill, where our decedents would have been able to pluck out vintage parts for their vintage computers a hundred years from now.

Missouri may be slow rolling hills and Mizzou Tiger addiction with a dab of KC barbeque sauce, but we are still in the ring when it comes to energy concerns.