On a More Positive Note . . .

So here's some potential good news that is really very telling.

First the good news: President Obama is apparently preparing to take major action to address climate change.

President Obama will use his executive authority to cut carbon emissions from the nation’s coal-fired power plants by up to 20 percent, according to people familiar with his plans, which will spur the creation of a state cap-and-trade program forcing industry to pay for the carbon pollution it creates.

Mr. Obama will unveil his plans in a new regulation, written by the Environmental Protection Agency, at the White House on Monday. It would be the strongest action ever taken by an American president to tackle climate change and could become one of the defining elements of Mr. Obama’s legacy.

The article goes on to detail how cap-and-trade began as a Republican alternative to a straight up carbon tax, how existing state-level programs were spearheaded by Republican Governors, and how the Republican candidate for President in 2008 pledged to put a national cap-and-trade law into effect.

Now the telling part:

Immune to all logic, and completely ignorant of history and science, guess who's against these measures?

The regional program has proved fairly effective: Between 2005-12, according to program officials, power-plant pollution in the northeastern states it covered dropped 40 percent, even as the states raised $1.6 billion in new revenue.

But many Republican governors said they do not see the benefits.

Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, whose state was an original member of the Northeastern cap-and-trade program, has since withdrawn from it. In Ohio, a heavily coal-dependent state where the Republican governor, John R. Kasich, has also been mentioned as a possible 2016 presidential candidate, officials are clear that cap and trade will not be welcomed. “We think it’s an unnecessary regulation,” said Craig Butler, head of the Ohio Department of Environment.

These guys are like children, perfectly happy to do something until the scary guy in the Oval Office tells them to. I swear to God, President Obama should just start issuing Executive Orders banning gay marriage, eliminating all corporate and personal income taxes, outlawing all abortion and birth control, and making fossil fuels the only legal source of energy. Then stand back and watch right-wing heads explode. I'll bring the popcorn.