The Washington State Senate Race: Clint Didier

As the November elections approach, Didier for Senate signs are popping up on summer lawns here in the Tri-Cities like toadstools. Letters to the editor are also appearing, bolstering the Tea Party’s grass roots effort to elect the Eltopia alfalfa farmer and former football player to the U.S. Senate seat now held by Patty Murray, Washington State's first female senator.

Mr. Didier’s “game plan for Washington” includes cutting taxes, and repealing health care reform, which he believes should be addressed by the State. These features of Didier’s “game plan” seem odd for a state that's forecast to be $2.6B in the red in 2011.

Didier is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment right to bear arms, a favorite Tea Party position and one strongly endorsed by Sarah Palin, who has endorsed Mr. Didier's candidacy. I doubt the fatal July shooting at Lake Sammamish State Park (2 dead, 4 wounded) will change Didier's mind, as he seems to be an admirer of Arizona, where resident may carry a concealed weapon without a permit and do so anywhere they damn well please.

Didier is also an admirer of Arizona's recent immigration law, now under scrutiny by the courts. The combination of concealed weapons, and police challenging brown-skinned people for citizenship papers should make for an exciting state of affairs in Arizona, the dumbest state in the Union (according to Morgan Quitno Press).

If you happened to ask Mr. Didier why Arizona ranks dead last in intelligence, he'd probably tell you it's the federal government's fault. "We got to get rid of the Department of Education and give it back to the States and there's a 10th amendment," he writes while "chatting" with the blogger, Kevin Ewoldt. At the time, Didier was referring to kids' ability to learn football formations. So, while cutting taxes, Mr. Didier will place the full burden of our children's education on the state. Another "game plan" feature bound to drive the state further into debt.

As far as global warming is concerned, Didier is unapologetic in his skepticism, stating, "It is becoming increasingly clear much of our climate change data affecting public policy is not scientifically sound." Presumably, Didier learned his climate science while perusing the Washington Redskins' tight end play book. Mr. Didier believes that, "If America is to survive economically and compete in the world marketplace, we must curtail our burdensome regulations." Perhaps he's referring to the regulations not being enforced on off shore drilling, although he may be referring to those effecting coal mine safety.

Didier presents himself as a strict constitutional constructionist, “If not authorized by the constitution, it will be a nay vote for me.” If only the constitution were that straightforward, we could eliminate the Supreme Court and save millions.

I'll say this for Clint Didier, he has made his positions on the issues clear, even having himself videotaped expressing them in his down home way, his Redskins' game ball prominently displayed on the hearth of his fireplace. If you want to know where Mr. Didier stands, visit his web site. He's a lot easier to peg than his slick  Republican opponent, Dino Rossi, whom Didier refers to as the "establishment candidate."

Inquiry into Behavior of CRU Scientists

It’s interesting to me that although there have now been several inquiries into the allegations of misconduct on the part of climate scientists at East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (CRU) stemming from the November 2009 hacked email incident, the mainstream media seem to have lost interest in the whole sordid affair. Global warming deniers used carefully selected quotes from the emails to smear the reputations of climate scientists and cast doubt on the science. The timing of this assault was no accident, occurring as it did just before the UN Conference on Climate held in Copenhagen in December 2009. It’s hard to say what impact the manufactured scandal had on the potential for achieving substantive change, but it certainly couldn’t have helped. The sad fact is that the entire hullabaloo orchestrated by the fossil fuel special interests and their lackeys was a sham. None of the carefully conducted inquiries have come up with a shred of evidence suggesting wrong doing on the part of the CRU climate scientists, nor have they cast doubt on their findings, or those of the many climate scientists around the world with whom they work. Global warming is real, and it’s past time we did something about it.

The latest inquiry to be published, “The Independent Climate Change Emails Review,” July 2010, was performed by a team of cross-disciplinary scientists chaired by Sir Muir Russell, former Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Glasgow, and included David Eyton, Group Head of Research & Technology at BP. This team concluded that, “on the specific allegations made against the behaviour of CRU scientists, we find that their

rigour and honesty as scientists are not in doubt.” The team further stated, “we do not find that their behaviour has prejudiced the balance of advice given to policy makers. In particular, we did not find any evidence of behaviour that might undermine the conclusions of the IPCC assessments.”

The inquiry did find that CRU scientists were reluctant to promptly address the myriad FOIA requests launched at the scientists and in my view, this reluctance is understandable. CRU is a small (16 staff) organization and many of the FOIA requests were meant to harass the scientists, rather than to acquire information for legitimate purposes.

In the meantime, the world’s combined global land and ocean surface temperature made last month the warmest March on record. Taken separately, average ocean temperatures were the warmest for any March and the global land surface was the fourth warmest for any March on record. Additionally, the planet has seen the fourth warmest January – March period on record (NOAA).

Retreating Ice

Over all, the floating ice dwindled to an extent unparalleled in a century or more.

Protecting and Preserving

Washington Wilderness Coalition Conservation Director Tom Uniack and U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) unveiled a new sign near the town of Index this May at a celebration of the passage of the Wild Sky Wilderness Act.

June 6, 2010

The Honorable Senator Patty Murray

173 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510

RE: Amon Creek Natural Preserve

Dear Senator Murray;

I am writing to ask for your help in protecting the Amon Creek Natural Preserve here in Eastern Washington. The city of Richland is planning two roads and two bridges to service a new housing development in the area. The roads and the bridges will cut through the heart of the Preserve and destroy the remaining habitat buffer that adjoins it (http://www.tapteal.org/pages/centralpark.html).

The Amon habitat is home to the Black-tailed jackrabbit and the American Badger; both are listed as species of concern in Washington State. Amon Creek and the Amon Basin buffer are interlocked as one habitat supporting over 100 species of birds, river otters, beavers, raptors and unique reptiles. The proposed development will devastate the Amon Basin ecosystem forever.

You have written that, “I believe that environmental protection and healthy natural resources are compatible with long-term economic growth.” I share that belief, but I am concerned that city managers often do not. Economic growth is their first priority and they see environmental conservation as a competing, rather than a complementary undertaking.

I am a member of a local group here, the Tapteal Greenway Association, that’s been active in promoting sensible habitat preservation, trail development, and environmental education. The Association is working hard now to protect the Amon Creek Natural Preserve (http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2010/04/29/994948/group-aims-to-save-amon-basin.html), but it’s an up-hill battle.

We could really use your help.

Sincerely,

 / s /

Richard V. Badalamente

Kennewick, Washington

American Power Act

On October 24, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), joined NOAA representatives at a kickoff event for the Fisher Slough Marsh Restoration Project in Fisher Slough, Washington. NOAA awarded The Nature Conservancy $5.2 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to restore Fisher Slough Marsh, critical to Chinook, Chum, and Coho salmon, in the Skagit River floodplain.

June 4, 2010

The Honorable Senator Maria Cantwell

825 Jadwin Avenue, Suite 205

Richland, WA 99352

RE: Energy and the Environment

Dear Senator Cantwell;

I am writing to urge you to support legislation to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, reduce America’s dependence on fossil fuels and foreign sources of oil, and encourage the development of alternative, i.e., “green” sources of energy, including nuclear power.

There are currently no alternative energy sources – solar, wind, nuclear, or what have you – that, as things stand, are more economical than fossil fuels, because, as you know, their true costs are not reflected in the price we pay for electric power, gasoline, or the many other petroleum-based products we consume. Those costs are familiar to anyone who pays attention: catastrophic health effects, including death; constraints on our foreign policy options; degradation and destruction of the environment; and a real and growing threat to the livability of our planet due to global warming. Even nuclear energy, which many consider a green alternative, has unresolved cost, indemnification, and waste disposal issues.

We seem only to pay attention when 29 coal miners die in West Virginia, or massive amounts of oil spew into the Gulf, but the sad fact is that the long-term consequences of our profligate, wasteful, and just plain stupid use of resources has seriously and perhaps irrevocably degraded the environment and, in turn, our quality of life.

Until the true cost of fossil fuels is reflected in their price, there will be no inherent, and therefore sustainable incentive for the development of alternative sources of energy in the U.S. Other countries, including China, are investing in green energy sources and technology, and leaving the U.S. behind in what will become a green revolution. We must move forward on intelligent and far-reaching energy legislation NOW.

The Kerry-Lieberman “American Power Act” isn’t perfect, but it’s a start. Please work for its passage.

Sincerely,

 / s /

Richard V. Badalamente

Kennewick, Washington

Gulf Oil Spill 2010

Record Low Snowfall

According to NOAA, “Across North America, snow cover for April 2010 was 2.2 million square kilometers below average—the lowest April snow cover extent since satellite records began in 1967 and the largest negative anomaly to occur in the 521 months that satellite measurements are available.” (from the Earth Observatory, 5/27/2010)