Cap-and-tirade: A look at Mitt Romney's environmental policy record

It's been awhile since I last wrote anything. I have the excuse that I've been busy, it's been a holiday, etc. But, really, I've just been watching James Bond movies.

Now it's time to get back on the horse and continue on with our current feature: Cap-and-tirade: A look at GOP candidates' environmental policy records. Last time, we took a look at Jon Huntsman, the younger, greener, less spray-tanned counterpart to today's superstar, Mitt Romney.

Just like last time, I find that I can't do a better job of outlining Romney's environmental bona fides than a real journalist, so once again I'll be pulling heavily from the analysis done by Andrew Schenkel from his blog on the Mother Nature Network.

Cap-and-tirade: A look at Jon Huntsman's environmental policy record

Here is Part 1 of the series "Cap-and-tirade: a look at 2012 GOP candidates' environmental policy record". Today we look at Jon Huntsman, a promising up-and-comer who has, to this point, flown under the radar, but promises to be an apt opponent to Mitt Romney as well as a worthy spokesman for Rembrandt tooth whitening products.

It turns out that I'm a little late to the game when it comes to analyzing candidates' environmental records; other people have done it before I got to it, and I'm traveling for the next few days, so I figured I would just borrow from the analysis of Andrew Shenkel from the Mother Nature Network. The analysis is quite thorough, but I'll hit the main points here for expediency.

Presidential burn-out poll

 It's the week before the 4th of July, so, feeling both patriotic and curious, I'm trying my hand at a new feature here. On the right-hand side of the screen, you will see a poll that asks the question: which Republican hopeful's flame will burn out first?

If he takes half as much care of the country
as his immaculate facial hair, we're in good shape

There is no "undecided" option, because I'm loath to think that someone out there would actually take the time to log on to a site to declare that they have no opinion. The poll includes only the major candidates; however, for an interesting read, you can log on to Wikipedia's list of declared candidates to see who has actually registered. It's a bigger list than I thought and includes many candidates I've never heard of, including Jonathan "The Impaler" Sharkey, who is apparently the illegitimate offspring of Ron Jeremy and the "V for Vendetta" guy.

The poll closes on the 4th of July, so enter your answer now.

Watch Your Language

I just finished reading an article entitled Tea Party Republicans in the House Resume Assault on the Environment. The blog article was written by Frances Beinecke of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The article referred to “anti-environmental” policy riders that were attached to the Congressional budget earlier this year, and repeatedly called efforts by Republican law makers to change how the EPA, USDA, and FDA conduct their business “dirty measures.”

I’m not writing to defend those moves made by Republicans, though I’m sure I agree with most of them. I’m writing to ask that both sides clean up their language. In this case, Ms. Beinecke is implying that Republicans are intentionally assaulting the environment. She seems to believe that the Republicans know that what they’re doing will harm the environment more than it will benefit the American people, and instead of stopping themselves they laugh maniacally and continue to club baby seals using baby penguins. More than that, she seems to think that Republicans are trying to harm the environment. And for that, I feel sorry for her. I would hate to live in a world where I believed that people who didn’t agree with me were so loathsome and evil that they were actively trying to pollute the air, wipe out endangered species, and poison the country’s drinking water.

Both sides are guilty of this demonization of the other side. It is far easier to see someone’s disagreement as a character flaw than as an intellectually valid position equal to your own.