Paul, Rand Sen
lcv score zero
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9. Gretchen Carlson, Rand Paul Agree: “It’s Almost Like They’ll Put You In Prison For Challenging … Climate Change On Campus”
On the November 12 edition of Fox News’ The Real Story, host Gretchen Carlson agreed with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) when he asserted: “Only certain opinions are acceptable on college campus. So I think we need more robust debate and there really shouldn’t be this monolithic—I mean, if you challenge climate change, you know, it’s almost like they’ll put you prison for challenging the religious dogma of climate change on campus.”
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The vast majority of contributions to all the top presidential candidates have come from outside the Washington, D.C. metro area – except in the case of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
More than half of the $2.5 million Paul raised between July 1 and Sept. 30 came from D.C. and its suburbs, Federal Election Commission data shows. The candidate with the second-most support from the D.C. area was former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — but Washingtonians and their neighbors accounted for only 8 percent of her donations of greater than $200.
Clinton led all her rivals in third quarter fundraising with $29.9 million raised for her presidential bid.
The candidates with the smallest share of their funds coming from D.C. are also considered outsiders in the 2016 race: Donald Trump (0.3 percent) and Ben Carson (0.8 percent). Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was close with 0.86 percent of his third-quarter fundraising haul of $26.2 million coming from the Washington area.
Click here to read the full article.
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http://www.alternet.org/5-conservative-hoaxes-lies-and-absurd-urban-legends-have-made-america-stupider jade helm
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I'm a crunchy conservative and a tree hugger and proud of it."
- Is it Hillary Clinton, who earned an 82-percent lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters, prioritized climate change as Secretary of State, and ranked climate change as a top challenge our country is facing?
- Is it Bernie Sanders, who earned a 95-percent lifetime LCV score and has sponsored legislation to address climate change?
- Isit Rand Paul, who earned a 9-percent lifetime LCV score and a 100-percent WhoVotesDirty score and has been a champion of the Big Polluter agenda in congress?
If you guessed Rand Paul, then you're right, but I'm super-confused. Why in the world would you guess that Rand Paul is the conservationist in this campaign? Rand Paul is a climate denier and one of the most consistent voices of and voters for the Big Polluter agenda in Congress.
Rand's Record
In calling himself a conservationist, Paul cited the fact that he composts and believes in clean air and clean water. Paul notes that he has planted giant sequoias in his yard and repurposed old trees once used for a fort to build compost bins. I'm thrilled he does those things, but it's going to take a lot more than a few trees and some backyard mulch to offset all Paul has done to harm the planet.
A few highlights of Paul's leadership and voting record:
- In November 2011 Paul led the effort in the Senate to void the EPA'scross-state air-pollution rule, which will reduce smog and soot pollution from dirty coal-burning power plants that travels across state lines. If Paul's effort had succeeded, the rule's projected benefits -- preventing up to 34,000 premature deaths; 15,000 nonfatal heart attacks; and 400,000 cases of asthma attacks every year -- would never have been realized.
- Paul was the Senate sponsor of a bill nicknamed the REINS Act, which would have turned the current regulatory process upside-down by allowing a majority in any single chamber of Congress to stop a regulation it did not like.
- Paul's "Platform to Revitalize America" proposed selling off our national parks, eliminating the Department of Energy and sun-setting all regulations of every kind.
- In 2012 Paul voted for a Senate resolution to block long-overdue reductions in mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants. The standards would prevent 11,000 premature deaths; nearly 5,000 heart attacks; 130,000 asthma attacks; 5,700 hospital and emergency-room visits; and 540,000 days when people miss work and school each year.
- Just last month Paul sponsored legislation that would effectively **repeal the Clean Water Act**.....
- http://www.alternet.org/environment/you-wont-believe-what-rand-paul-said-about-his-environmental-record
http://legalnewsline.com/issues/global-warming/256209-u-s-sen-capito-introduces-bill-to-roll-back-epas-proposed-clean-power-plan
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) – West Virginia’s U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito has introduced legislation aimed at rolling back President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan.
Capito, a Republican and chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee, introduced the Affordable Reliable Energy Now Act, or ARENA, Wednesday.
“President Obama’s misguided ‘Clean Power Plan’ threatens to drastically reduce coal-related jobs, increase energy prices and reduce reliability,” she said. “After carefully considering the economic and legal implications of this unprecedented proposal, the need for action is clear.
“The Affordable Reliable Energy Now Act enables us to fight back against the assault on coal, and the broader threat to affordable, reliable energy nationwide. I am proud to lead the charge against the Clean Power Plan’s sweeping regulations and look forward to working with my Senate colleagues to move this very important legislation forward.”
Under the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal, new large natural gas-fired turbines would need to meet a limit of 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour, while new small natural gas-fired turbines would need to meet a limit of 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour.
New coal-fired units would need to meet a limit of 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour, and would have the option to meet a somewhat tighter limit if they choose to average emissions over multiple years, giving those units additional operational flexibility.
The agency expects to finalize the rules this summer.
However, under ARENA, before the EPA can set a technology-based standard for new power plants, the standard must first be achieved for at least one year at several separate power facilities throughout the country.
The bill also prevents the EPA from using any demonstration projects — projects that are reliant on federal support — from being used to set the standard.
In addition, Capito’s proposed legislation:
- Extends compliance dates: The bill would extend the rule’s compliance dates pending final judicial review, including the dates for submission of state plans;
- Holds the EPA accountable: This bill would require EPA to issue state-specific model plans demonstrating how each state could meet the required GHG emissions reductions under the rule;
- Enables states to protect ratepayers: The bill would provide that no state shall be required to implement a state or federal plan that the state’s governor determines would negatively impact economic growth, negatively impact the reliability of the electricity system or negatively impact electricity ratepayers; and
- Protects highway fund dollars: The bill would prevent the EPA from withholding highway funds from any states for noncompliance with the Clean Power Plan.
ARENA also would require the federal agency to submit to Congress a report describing the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions the Clean Power Plan is expected to reduce, and to conduct modeling to show the impacts of the rule on the climate indicators used to develop the rule.
The bill is co-sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas; Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Thune, R-S.D.; Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla.; and Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; John Barrasso, R-Wyo.; Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; Roger Wicker, R-Miss.; Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.; Pat Roberts, R-Kan.; Rand Paul, R-Ky.; John Hoeven, R-N.D.; Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.; Dan Coats, R-Ind.; Mike Crapo, R-Idaho; Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.; Jim Risch, R-Idaho; Deb Fischer, R-Neb.; Ted Cruz, R-Texas; John Boozman, R-Ark.; David Perdue, R-Ga.; Steve Daines, R-Mont.; Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; Tom Tillis, R-N.C.; Mike Rounds, R-S.D.; and Bill Cassidy, R-La.
“I applaud Sen. Capito for introducing legislation that would allow states to better protect middle class families from the ramifications of the Obama Administration’s regressive, and likely illegal, energy regulations,” McConnell said.
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Taking after his father Ron Paul, Rand Paul has been trying to reenergize a libertarian movement in the Republican Party. Yet like his father, Paul is a staunch creationist, pro-life advocate, and climate change denier.
As a libertarian Paul advocates for personal responsibility, except when it comes to women. Women apparently cannot be trusted to make their own decision as individuals, the government should step in and help them, and by help them, he means take away their rights.
On his website Paul states:
“I am 100% pro-life. I believe life begins at conception and that abortion takes the life of an innocent human being. It is the duty of our government to protect this life as a right guaranteed under the Constitution. For this reason, I introduced S. 583, the Life at Conception Act on March 14, 2013. This bill would extend the Constitutional protection of life to the unborn from the time of conception.”
Again, another Tea Party-backed candidate taking the stance that life begins at conception, regardless of evidence to the contrary. Introducing a bill that would strip away a women’s right to bodily autonomy.
Paul counts himself as a fighter for liberty, but will use religion as a way out when the liberty he is fighting for goes against his personal views.
While arguing for a smaller government that stays out of peoples lives he says, “Libertarian and liberty doesn’t mean libertine.” This is Paul’s defense of the government being involved in abortion rights, marriage equality, and contraception. Paul is for the government staying out of your life, as long as you lead a life he approves of.
Paul has stated that libertarianism does not provide a moral compass, so in order for libertarians to lead moral lives and make moral decisions, it needs Christianity. A rather odd stance for someone to take when Christianity openly supports helping others and bringing an end to poverty. Paul has been quoted as stating he would abolish the minimum wage and let a free-market set pay scales and has took a firm stance against any government assistance in welfare and healthcare programs.
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Sheppard
kate.sheppard@huffingtonpost.com
Mitch McConnell Aims To Torpedo EPA Carbon Rules With Obscure Legislative Tool
Posted: 01/16/2014 4:31 pm EST | Updated: 01/17/2014 11:01 am EST
WASHINGTON -- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is seeking to block new rules from the Environmental Protection Agency regarding carbon emission limits for coal-fired power plants before the rules are even finalized.
On Thursday, McConnell announced that he is filing a "resolution of disapproval" to stop the EPA "from imposing its anti-coal regulation."
The senator wants to employ the little-used Congressional Review Act of 1996, or CRA, which sets up an expedited process for Congress to overturn regulations from the executive branch. The only time the law has been wielded successfully was in 2001, when Republicans used it to block new ergonomics rules from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued during the Clinton years. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) tried to employ the law in 2010 to block the EPA's finding that greenhouse gases pose a threat to human health, but the measure failed (despite drawing yes votes from six Democrats).
Still, there is one definite advantage for McConnell in turning to the law: A CRA resolution requires only a simple majority to pass.
McConnell said that his Kentucky colleague Sen. Rand Paul is a co-sponsor of the current measure, along with 39 other Senate Republicans.
"The majority leader and his Washington Democrat caucus now have a choice," McConnell said in a floor speech Thursday. "Are they going to stand with the coal families under attack in places like Kentucky and West Virginia and Colorado, or are they going to continue to stand with the powerful left-wing special interests that want to see their jobs eliminated?"
McConnell's announcement struck some as a little premature, given that the EPA has yet to even finalize its greenhouse gas rules for carbon dioxide. The agency just published draft rules last week. But McConnell has asked the Government Accountability Office whether he can employ the CRA before the regulations are finalized, according to a letter obtained by National Journal.
Environmental advocates criticized his move. "Senator McConnell's attempt to invoke this law prematurely is a meritless deep reach into his desperate bag of tricks to derail sound climate policy Americans support," said Jim Murphy, senior counsel for the National Wildlife Federation.
In the crazy bill introduction category, **:{Sens. Paul (R-KY), :(style="color:#ed1c24"):}:**Lee (R-UT) and Heller (R-NV) and Rep. Amodei (R-NV) introduced companion bills entitled the “Endangered Species Management Self-Determination Act**” (****H.R. 3533**;**S. 1731**), which give complete control over endangered species management to states – regardless of whether such states actually wantto do what’s best for imperiled species or are equipped to do so. Additionally, it would require the consent of governors and passage of a joint resolution by Congress to list new species, leaving protections to politics—not science. And it would delist
AlterNet [1] / By Thom Hartmann [2]
Rand Paul's Confederacy Scandal Is Not an Anomaly -- Libertarianism Papers Over Deep Racism in America
July 11, 2013 |
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul the guy who questioned the wisdom of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when he first ran for office, finds himself at the center of yet another race related controversy this week.
On Tuesday, the Washington Free Beacon published an article titled “Rebel Yell” detailing the previous career of Paul’s right-hand man co-author Jack Hunter.
While working as a radio host in South Carolina, Hunter appeared in public wearing a Confederate flag mask, openly called for secession, and even defended the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. He called himself “The Southern Avenger” and was a chairman of the Charleston wing of the League of the South, a group, which, according to its own website, “advocates the secession and subsequent independence of the Southern States from this forced union, and the formation of a Southern republic.” [3]
Rand Paul is now trying to disassociate himself from Hunter, but that will be a difficult task. The “Southern Avenger” isn’t just some random Senate staffer: he’s a close associate of Paul and helped him write his first book back in 2010.
It now looks like Senator Paul is continuing in a great family tradition. Even though he denies responsibility, his father Ron published a series of racist newsletters during a1996 Congressional campaign.
However, we shouldn’t really be that surprised by either of the Pauls’ connection to far-right racism. That’s because they’re libertarians and libertarianism is the velvet glove over the iron fist of racism.
Here’s how it works: when you have an entrenched racial and economic class that has ruled a continent for five centuries, they have well-established levers and levels of power and wealth. They will, generation after generation, do whatever is necessary to hang on to that wealth and power.
History shows, including the history of Reconstruction and the history of integration in the 1950s and 1960, that the only thing strong enough to challenge the political and economic power of a multi-century hereditary ruling class is the power of government.
It was government that made Alabama Governor George Wallace and Georgia Governor Lester Maddox integrate their states. And it was government that both passed and made the South finally accept the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.
[4] is what George Wallace had to say about integration during his inaugural address in 1963: "In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever."
But Wallace lost that fight because the power of government, when appropriately used, is greater than the power of wealth, class, or race.
It took government to break the stranglehold of white rule in the 1870s and 1880, but even that white power structure reasserted itself and fought to reclaim its power, leading to the Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1896 and a half century of segregation which kept in place the political and economic privileges of white people.
So now comes a political philosophy - libertarianism - that says everything is fine, everything is equal, and government should get the hell out of the way.
They say this when the average wealth of a white family when the median net worth of a white family is $110,729 and that of a black family is $4,955 [5].
They say this when in the entire history of the U.S. Senate there have only been three African-Americans elected to that body.
They say this when just twenty minutes after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the most populous state of the Old Confederacy, Texas, put into place discriminatory voter suppression laws and began gerrymandering.
So, in effect, when conservatives and libertarians say government should get out of the way, what they are really saying is “let’s lock into place white political power, white wealth, and white privilege.
Of course, not all libertarians think of themselves as racist, and most probably don’t see how their “get rid of government” policies prop up institutional bigotry, but the reality is that when you blast government as the root of all evil and neuter its power, you end weakening the one thing that can keep the ruling elite in check.
And when you do that, the rich and powerful race hangs onto its wealth and power and the poorer minorities lose even more of what little they have.
In the end, it doesn’t really matter whether Rand Paul agrees with Jack Hunter that the Confederacy was a good idea.
Because by going on and on about state’s rights and freedom from government tyranny, Senator Paul and his friends on the Libertarian right make sure that the values of Old Dixie – an entrenched racial elite and racial inequality – continue in America.
Libertarianism truly is the velvet glove of a nice-sounding “freedom” policy that covers the iron fist of five hundred years of genocide and apartheid in America.
See more stories tagged with:
libertarian [6]
Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/libertarianism-covers-racism
Links:
[1] http://alternet.org
[2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/thom-hartmann
[3] http://dixienet.org/rights/corebeliefs.shtml
[4] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLLDn7MjbF0
[5] http://money.cnn.com/2012/06/21/news/economy/wealth-gap-race/index.htm
[6] http://www.alternet.org/tags/libertarian-0
[7] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/libertarianism-covers-racism rand paul and TP
had reporters threatened w arrest for trespass and harrasss, tho credentialed for public mtg?
GOP senator defends Apple's efforts to avoid billions of dollars in U.S. taxes.Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), in a move reminiscent of Rep. Joe Barton's infamous apology to BP in the wake of its disastrous oil spill, apologized to top Apple officials for being called in front of the Senate to explain how they use complex structures and gimmicks to avoid paying U.S. taxes. 5/13
A group that fashions itself the conservative alternative to the National Rifle Association and uses Republican Sen. Rand Paul's name and image in its fundraising appeals has longstanding ties to the Paul family, according to various corporate and campaign filings.
The National Association for Gun Rights has been ruffling GOP feathers by targeting two conservatives, House Majority Whip Eric Cantor and Rep. Scott Rigell, both Virginia Republicans, with ads accusing them of being soft on the issue. The ads feature images of them morphing into Barack Obama as the narrator accuses both of trying to assist the president in implementing strict gun control policies.
Politifact Virginia found enough distortions in the Rigell ad to warrant a "pants on fire" rating. And Cantor and Rigell both received high marks from the National Rifle Association in 2012 -- Cantor earned an A+ and Rigell an A-.
Rigell has called out Paul for allowing himself to be used in the group's marketing efforts, but so far his complaints have fallen on deaf ears.
Paul's office didn't return calls seeking comment, but his chief-of-staff, Doug Stafford, told Politico that the senator is "not affiliated with the group in any way, he doesn’t control how they decide their activism should take place in terms of who the people are that need to be shored up on an issue.”
But the Kentucky senator and his family are connected to at least some prominent officials at the organization.
OpenSecrets Blog found that, according to annual corporate reports filed in Virginia, where the National Association for Gun Rights is set up as a politically active 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, one of the five members of the group's board of directors is a man named Michael I. Rothfield. Rothfield (pictured at left) is the sole director of a political consulting firm called Saber Communications. OpenSecrets.org data shows that Rand Paul's 2010 Senate campaign paid Saber Communications roughly $847,000. Saber was also the single largest vendor being paid by Paul's leadership PAC in the 2012 cycle, receiving $143,000 in payments.
In the same election cycle, the gun rights group donated $5,000 to Paul's leadership PAC. Paul's office did not return multiple calls seeking comment.
But Rand Paul wasn't Saber's biggest client in recent years. That would be his father. In the 2012 cycle, now retired Rep. Ron Paul's presidential campaign paid Saber almost $7.7 million -- making Saber the campaign's second highest-paid vendor. Rothfield was singled out by Paul's own campaign staff as a top adviser who helped make his presidential bid as successful as it was. Ron Paul's leadership PAC, Liberty PAC, also hired Saber, paying the firm $67,000.
OpenSecrets.org data shows that at least one other prominent Republican hired Rothfield's company: Minnesota Rep. Michele:{ Bachmann:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}:'s congressional campaign paid Saber $362,500 in 2012.
Rothfield did not respond to a phone message asking him to comment.
And there's another Paul connection to a prominent member of the National Association for Gun Rights board. Attorney David A. Warrington, who is listed as the organization's president, works for Virginia law firm LeClairRyan -- which was paid by the Ron Paul presidential campaign. Warrington was hired by the Paul campaign to challenge various Republican state party moves to block convention delegates backing Paul.
Iowa Gun Owners
The National Association for Gun Rights also took steps during the presidential primary to boost support for the elder Paul's bid in the weeks running up to the Iowa caucuses -- while two of the group's directors were on the payroll of the Paul campaign.
On Dec. 2, 2011, Iowa residents received robocalls which, according to the message, were paid for by the National Association for Gun Rights and a group called the Iowa Gun Owners. The calls targeted then-presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, unfavorably comparing him to Paul and Bachmann, who were both his rivals in the state caucuses.
"With the Iowa caucuses just weeks away, Gingrich still refuses to answer the Iowa Gun Owners presidential gun rights survey," the recording claimed. "What is he hiding? Congressman Paul and Congresswoman Bachmann have completed their survey 100 percent correct" [sic].
According to filings made by the Paul presidential campaign, between Nov. 15 and Dec. 20, 2011, Saber Communications was paid $1.5 million by the campaign for mailings and consulting. During that period Warrington's firm was also paid $16,000 for legal consulting. Bachmann's campaign filings show that Saber Communications was paid earlier in 2011 and in February of 2012.
Images: Photo of Mike Rothfeld via Flckr user Gage Skidmore.
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It was this article, looking at revisions to the nation’s flood insurance policy. The idea was so sensible, so cost-effective, that we assumed even in the Wacky World of Washington™ they stood a good shot of passage.
After all (we wrote, smiling) the legislation simply allowed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to update flood maps and insurance rates to consider the impacts of higher sea levels. Opposing such rational action made no sense at all, we noted, then joking that irrationality “has never once in America’s 223-year history of Congress been an obstruction to politicians introducing legislation.” Just a joke, Congress! We knew you’d come through!
We were so innocent back when we wrote that, yesterday.
From Politico.com:
The Senate’s flood insurance program looked like it was headed toward smooth passage — but now, there appears to be an abortion-related wrinkle.
Yes, abortion.
That’s at least according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who said Tuesday that a Republican senator is insisting on a vote on an amendment defining “when life begins.” Reid didn’t name the senator, but it was Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) who had offered the amendment.
We just … we can’t …
So, the Senate can’t update flood insurance rates and projections — a move which would save the government a ton of money — because abortion?
Paul responded to reporters Tuesday: “I think the people who believe in protecting life would like to see a vote.” grist
For instance, you may have seen the news that Arun Majumdar, the guy who’s been running the Energy Department’s ARPA-E advanced energy research shop, is stepping down. What you may not have noticed is that he was also the Obama administration’s nominee to be undersecretary of energy, to replace Cathy Zoi. But while he acted in that role, he was never confirmed, because Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) — who justhatesBig Government Spending, mind you — put a hold on his appointment to protest the Energy Department’s refusal to direct more pork to a local Kentucky uranium-enrichment company. Rand is so determined to get this spending that he has**blocked*****five*****Energy Department appointments**. It’s hypocritical, obviously, but not remarkable, not any more. The GOP has devoted itself to impeding the proper operation of government in every way possible ever since Obama took office.
small words
3. Rand Paul, R-KY: The son of cranky Libertarian Ron Paul, Rand is such a strong advocate of the free market that he opposes the parts of the Civil Rights Act that prohibit businesses from engaging in discrimination. He believes so firmly in personal responsibility that he wanted to let BP off the hook after its oil rig exploded, killing 11 workers and flooding the Gulf with toxins. He called criticism of BP “really un-American.” More recently, he said of Obama’s support for same-sex marriage, “Call me cynical, but I didn’t think his views on marriage could get any gayer.”
Rand Paul - Energy and the Environment
Summary
Rand Paul does not believe in man-made global warming. He is opposed to cap-and-trade and called the it a scam conceived by "petty dictators" such as Hugo Chavez to end capitalism (as stated by Chavez). He supports coal mining in Kentucky and opposes using the EPA to enforce greenhouse emissions.
Climate Change about ending capitalism
In the victory speech for the 2010 Senate primary, Dr. Paul spoke about his belief that the global warming scare is really about ending capitalism as Hugo Chavez and others have stated (about 3:30 into clip). He states that by going to Copenhagen to attend a climate change conference, President Obama lends credence to the idea of global warming.
Opposition to cap and trade
In a November 2009 press release, Dr. Paul states his opposition to cap and trade.
Stopping Cap and Trade
Published on 13 November 2009 by David Adams in General News
Rand Paul has crossed the state talking to Kentuckians about how important it is to end Obama’s “Cap and Trade” effort to destroy the coal industry and cause energy costs to skyrocket for everyone. Many, many times, Rand has said “I am absolutely opposed to Cap and Trade.”
The good news is this radical bill is languishing in the U.S. Senate, thanks mostly to Republican opposition. Nevertheless, Rand encourages his supporters to keep the pressure on to keep this bad idea under wraps.
In a 2010 discussion with the Courier-journal, Rand Paul was asked about cap-and-trade and responded as follows:
Do you support domestic and international efforts to curb global warming and reduce America’s reliance on fossil fuels such as coal?
Rand Paul: I strongly oppose Cap and Trade legislation, as well as any effort to compromise American sovereignty and bind the U.S. to any United Nations’ “climate change” regime.
The United States must aggressively pursue energy independence and remove onerous EPA regulations from our coal and oil producers. Coal will be an important source or energy and Kentucky jobs for decades to come, and I will fight to get big government out of the way of crucial industry. As a Senators, I will also fight to remove government subsidies from so-called “green energy” efforts and let American free market principles determine the best forms of energy to supply our country, not special interests and DC lobbyists. WTF
Support for coal
In an August 2009 press release, Dr. Paul stated his support for coal.
Supporting coal makes sense
Published on 10 August 2009 by David Adams in General News
Dr. Rand Paul will fight efforts in Washington D.C. to destroy Kentucky’s coal industry. Rand understands that banning construction of new coal-fired power plants in the United States while China and India keep building serves only to hurt Americans and would have no impact on world pollution.
The Al Gore wing of environmentalism is primarily concerned with expanding the scope of government. Kentucky’s coal-producing families can best protect themselves by joining with the liberty movement and supporting smaller government across the board. Liberty-loving Kentuckians should in turn support coal as a key energy source and economic engine for America’s prosperity.
In a March 2010 press release, Dr. Paul reasserted his support for coal and controlling the involvement of the EPA.
Rand for coal
Published on 16 March 2010 by David Adams in General News
Rand Paul will speak at a pro-coal rally in Louisville on Thursday, March 18 at Jefferson Square Park. That’s at the corner of 6th and Jefferson downtown. The rally starts at 10 am ET.
Rand supports lifting EPA holds on mining permits, stopping anti-coal legislation like cap and trade, and helping Kentuckians in non-coal counties realize that coal is a very important part of our energy future.
Opposition to EPA regulation
In a campaign speech in Grayson county (7:00 into speech), Dr. Paul stated the unconstitutionality of an unelected government agency (EPA) enforcing a law that doesn't exist by stating that it would regulate greenhouse gases without a law.
Campaign Website Statements
Washington’s bureaucratic regulations, corporate subsidies, and excessive taxation have made it virtually impossible for the market to produce new forms of cheap and clean energy. Companies have become more concerned with hiring lobbyists than they have with hiring scientists and engineers. Is it really surprising then that we’re in an energy crisis?
We should be talking about energy freedom. Like all other sectors of the economy, allowing businesses and ideas to compete on the free market will not only produce the most efficient forms of energy, but will also pass along the savings to the consumer.
The debates in Washington are often about whether we should be subsidizing solar or ethanol. About whether we should prohibit nuclear energy or coal. As Senator, the only question I will consider is whether government involvement is the most efficient approach to energy innovation.By subsidizing certain new energies like solar and wind we distort the marketplace and make it impossible for companies to know what is really the most efficient solution. Subsidies take away the incentives for business to innovate and instead give them an incentive to lobby Washington. Subsidies guarantee that business with the most political clout and not the best product will succeed.
I will vote to cut taxes and lift regulations on companies developing new sources of energy. But this does not mean that I want to take taxpayer money to subsidize them. Any energy source that really meets the needs of the American consumer would not need the government to subsidize it. Just as we don’t subsidize laptops and iPods, we should not be subsidizing solar and wind power.
So long as we leave our energy policy to the special interests in Washington we will continue to have expensive and dirty energy sources.
Our energy crisis today stems from too much government intervention and the solution is to allow real competition in the energy industry, not political favoritism.
Voting Record
Oil Company and Alternative Energy Subsidies
On March 29, 2012 the Senate voted on a cloture motion on legislation to end subsidies to oil companies and to continue subsidies in alternative energy that are scheduled to end. Specifically, the bill would have ended or limited subsidies to oil and natural gas companies while extending subsides for wind companies and biofuel companies. The legislation failed to pass a cloture motion through a mostly party line vote. Rand Paul voted against the legislationt to end oil subsidies.
Rand Paul voted against the legislationt to end oil subsidies.
Keystone Pipeline Approval
In March of 2012, the Senate voted on an amendment proposed by Senator Hoeven to approve the Keystone pipeline project. The amendment passed 56-42 with the support of all Republicans and 1/5 of the Democrats. Rand Paul voted in favor of approving the Keystone Pipeline project.
Rand Paul voted in favor of approving the Keystone Pipeline project.
Keystone Pipeline - Presidential Waiver
In March of 2012, the Senate voted on an amendment proposed by Senator Wyden to prohibit oil produced in Canada and transported in any part of the Keystone pipeline from being exported unless the President waived the provision. The amendment failed 33-65 with the opposition of all Republicans and 2/5 of the Democrats. Rand Paul voted against approving presidential waiver to the Keystone pipeline.
Rand Paul voted against approving presidential waiver to the Keystone pipeline.
Sponsored and Cosponsored Legislation
This representative has not been identified as sponsoring or cosponsoring significant legislation related to this title.
Romney, once an anti-sprawl crusader, created model for Obama ‘smart growth’ program
By Lisa Hymas
hoto by Gage Skidmore.)
Everyone knows that “Obamacare” was modeled on Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts health-care law. But did you know that a key Obama “smart growth” initiative — the Partnership for Sustainable Communities — was also created in the mold of a Romney program?
Tea Partiers rallied to quash funding for this Obama partnership last fall. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), conservative darling, criticized the idea for the partnership when it first arose and accused the Obama administration of trying to impose “an urban-utopian fantasy through an unprecedented intrusion of the Federal Government into the shaping of local communities.” The Republican National Committee recently warned that smart growth is part of a U.N. conspiracy (green helicopters, anyone?).
This is yet another issue on which the party’s presumptive presidential nominee looks to be seriously out of sync with the GOP base.
Romney’s “get smart” phase
As governor of Massachusetts, Romney actively fought sprawl and promoted density. He ran on a smart-growth platform: “Sprawl is the most important quality-of-life issue facing Massachusetts,” he said in 2002.
After winning, Romney swiftly set about remaking state government to encourage smarter land use. He created a powerful new Office for Commonwealth Development, and appointed an aggressive environmental activist to run it — Douglas Foy, who for 25 years had headed the Conservation Law Foundation, a litigious regional environmental group. The state’s business community was appalled.
The Office for Commonwealth Development served as a “super-secretariat” or umbrella office for state agencies dealing with transportation, housing, energy, and the environment. It made sure the agencies were all pulling in the same direction toward smart-growth goals — concentrating development in town centers, constructing housing near transit stations, fixing existing roads instead of building new ones.
... grist
wiki:
Randal Howard "Rand" Paul (born January 7, 1963) is the junior United States Senator for Kentucky. He is a member of the Republican Party. A member of the Tea Party movement, he describes himself as a "constitutional conservative"[2] and a libertarian.[3] He is the son of Republican Congressman and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul of Texas and had never previously held political office. Paul first received national attention in 2008 when making political speeches on behalf of his father. Rand Paul is the first United States Senator in history to serve alongside a parent in the United States House of Representatives.
A graduate of the Duke University School of Medicine, Paul has been a practicing ophthalmologist in Bowling Green, Kentucky, since 1993, and established his own clinic in December 2007. In 1994, he founded Kentucky Taxpayers United, of which he is still the chairman.[4]
In 2010, Paul ran as the Republican candidate for the United States Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky and defeated Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway. As a supporter of the Tea Party movement, Paul has been vocal in advocating for term limits, a balanced budget amendment, and the Read the Bills Act, in addition to the widespread reduction of federal spending and taxation. He has gained prominence for his independent positions on many political issues, often clashing with both Republicans and Democrats.[5]