How Sen. Joe Manchin has failed

Manchin on Energy & Natural Resources Subcommittees (0.00 / 0)

Does anyone but the extraction industries think this is a good thing?
Oh, the irony!

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by: DB @ Thu Feb 17, 2011 at 12:26:02 PM UTC

he's got some work to do (4.00 / 1)

JM3's promise

Serving on these committees will ensure that I am a strong voice for West Virginia's needs, concerns, and priorities. I will always stand up for energy policies that are good for West Virginia jobs, America's security and our way of life.

Harvard researcher releases most comprehensive study of coal costs to date

Harvard professor Dr. Paul Epstein, associate director of the Harvard Center for Health and the Global Environment, has just released a paper in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences entitled "Full cost accounting for the life cycle of coal."

[snip]

The study is the first to look at the major costs of coal from extraction to combustion. It finds that coal costs $74 billion a year in public health burdens in Appalachian communities alone. Those costs come from increased health care costs, deaths and injuries that result from mining and transporting coal, and the emissions generated during the coal's combustion.

The emissions of pollutants elsewhere were deemed to cost up to $187.5 billion a year, again due to the health costs of cancer, lung disease, and respiratory sickness. Mercury impacts account for another $29.3 billion. Epstein and his team also looked at the cost of coal's spectacular carbon emissions, in the form of various climate impacts, and the way it's already effecting land use, energy consumption, and food prices across the nation. These costs are estimated at a conservative $205 billion.

Meanwhile, the costs of the spillage of toxic waste and its cleanup, the impact of coal on crops, property values, and tourism account for billions more -- up to $18 billion a year. Add it all up, and you find that coal costs the nation up to half a trillion dollars a year.

"And this is an underestimate," Epstein said.

In the conclusion of his speech, Epstein suggested some solutions. "What can we do? We need to phase out coal rapidly. We need to move rapidly with healthy solutions." Which means, he says, smart growth in cities, more green buildings, clean energy, rooftop gardens, public transport, and communities connected with light rail. "It means more jobs, cleaner air, and healthier cities," Epstein said.

So Joe, what's good for the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness of West Virginians is to phase out coal rapidly. You've got some work to do there.

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by: Clem Guttata @ Thu Feb 17, 2011 at 12:38:54 PM UTC

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Manchin (0.00 / 0)

Manchin has had a try out for the job with the special election short term. He is failing the try out. One of the basic rules is you show up and vote. You don't use your grandchildren as an excuse. Heck he could have voted and then caught a flight to make the family party.  

When a man embarks upon a crime, he is morally guilty of any other crime which may spring from it. Sherlock Holmes.

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by: Carnacki @ Thu Feb 17, 2011 at 13:47:12 PM UTC

Rolls Eyes (0.00 / 0)

I don't mean to be a Debbie downer... but why are people bitchin' all of the sudden about Manchin's Senate performance when most of the sheep in this state voted for him (out of fear and/or a drunken haze)in the first place?! You all should have stood with the only TRUE progressive that ran for Byrd's Senate seat, Jesse Johnson.

But I'm sure you all will do it again and vote Manchin back in because "third party candidates will never win in WV."

Blah, blah, blah.

Stop complaining and accept you all voted for someone who is voting against West Virginia's best interests in the U.S. Senate.

Please remember his support of a certain ghost town causing industry, his love of pollution and oppression, and hatred of regulation in 2012. If this isn't a deterrent for businesses setting up shop here, I don't know what is.

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by: GreenRevolutionWV @ Wed Feb 23, 2011 at 03:21:04 AM UTC

Less than 2 percent (0.00 / 0)

If he doubled his votes, the 911 Truther Jesse Johnson would still be under 4 percent. Meanwhile Jesse and the Mountain Party have disappeared again on progressive issues and we won't hear from them until the next election cycle.

The people who love the Mountain Party best are the right wingers and conservative Dems because it siphons off a handful of progressives who could be doing effective work if they weren't so busy supporting Jesse's ineffectual campaigns.

When a man embarks upon a crime, he is morally guilty of any other crime which may spring from it. Sherlock Holmes.

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by: Carnacki @ Wed Feb 23, 2011 at 03:40:37 AM UTC

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And progressive? (0.00 / 0)

If so, why did Jesse run from the label:

The Mountain Party's U.S. Senate Candidate says his supporters come from a number of political backgrounds.

"I am not just pulling liberals and liberal Democrats as I'm constantly characterized," Jesse Johnson said on Friday's MetroNews Talkline.

"I'm driving a truck right down the center where most people are with no nonsense, basic values of truth and, what I'm doing, is I'm loading up people from both sides."

Johnson's Talkline appearance was one of several scheduled with the candidates prior to Election Day on Tuesday, November 2nd.

He says he could be a game changer if voters opt to send him to Capitol Hill.

"If I go in, then things really will change and they will have to change," Johnson says.  "Because both major parties will have to be catering to me.  It will shake up Washington on a level that you've never seen."

Johnson says voters need to remember their choices are not limited to Republicans or Democrats.

"Every time, when you just bat the ball to one side of the court or the other, there's no ref. I want to be the ref for the people of West Virginia and for the people of the United States of America."

So when he said he was in the center and loading up people from  both sides, was he standing up for progressives or throwing them under that truck he was driving in the "center of the road"?

By the way, a real liberal, Sen. Bernie Sanders, encouraged people to support Joe Manchin for Senate.

And that's what we did.

When a man embarks upon a crime, he is morally guilty of any other crime which may spring from it. Sherlock Holmes.

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by: Carnacki @ Wed Feb 23, 2011 at 05:03:16 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Panning to the Right (0.00 / 0)

Joe Manchin does nothing but pan to Conservative Democrats and Republicans, Jesse Johnson does not. Johnson is pro-environment, pro-civil rights, pro-choice, for public campaign financing of elections and Single-Payer health care, and is anti-war. Is Manchin?

As far as 9/11 is concerned, there are many people of all political persuasions that still question the government's role in preventing the tragedy. I don't think there's anything bizarre about that at all. I know some people take it to extremes with all sorts of wild conspiracy theories.

We can't always trust that our government is being honest with us and looking out for our best interests.  

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by: GreenRevolutionWV @ Wed Feb 23, 2011 at 04:16:44 AM UTC

Democracy (0.00 / 0)

Pro-environment? Did you actually look up his positions? He was for the Orwellian named "clean coal," a huge boondoggle giveaway to the coal industry that creates as many environmental problems as it claims to solve.

Where is he now? Is he out fighting for civil rights or womens rights? No. Has he issued any statements on any of the issues? No. Has he shown up at any recent rallies for unions? No. For that matter, why is the Mountain Party silent on these issues? Someone from the Mountain Party complained how the media ignores the Mountain Party. Apparently the media has kept the Mountain Party from releasing press releases even on the Mountain Party's own web site since 2008.  

When a man embarks upon a crime, he is morally guilty of any other crime which may spring from it. Sherlock Holmes.

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by: Carnacki @ Wed Feb 23, 2011 at 04:45:35 AM UTC

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A Scripture for Manchin (0.00 / 0)

Mark 8:36

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

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by: WV26003 @ Wed Feb 23, 2011 at 05:43:10 AM UTC

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GreenRevolutionWV - come into the tent (4.00 / 1)

If Jesse Johnson is as progressive as you say, then he should be mounting a primary challenge to Sen. Manchin in the Democratic party. After all, if he can't win over the Democratic electorate he won't be able to win a general election of even more conservative voters.

Conservative Democrats like Joe Manchin absolutely love it when a "pro-environment, pro-civil rights, pro-choice, for public campaign financing of elections and Single-Payer health care, and anti-war" candidate runs on a minor party ticket.

All of those positions would sit quite comfortably in the national Democratic party platform. By running with those positions in a minor party, it makes those views look outside of the mainstream. It sends the message those views can safely ignored by the state Democratic party.

Enacting progressive policy is more likely to happen when there are more progressive members in the WV Democratic party. That requires progressives to engage and participate in the Democratic party with the same loyalty and vigor as the most conservative members do.

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by: Clem Guttata @ Wed Feb 23, 2011 at 14:42:43 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

and, again, I seem to remember (4.00 / 1)

Johnson trying to ban a third party candidate from the ballot who favored all of those positions. The empty purity argument only gets trotted out by the Mountain Party when the candidate is named Jesse Johnson.

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by: heath_harrison @ Fri Feb 25, 2011 at 04:25:18 AM UTC

[ Parent ]