Congressman Shadegg, What are you Doing?
My Congressman, John Shadegg, is a generally reliable opponent of taxes and expansions of government. So why is he sponsoring this garbage:
The House last week overwhelmingly approved and sent to the Senate
bipartisan legislation by Congressmen Brad Sherman and John Shadegg to
fund joint research by Americans and Israelis into alternative energy
sources."Cutting-edge research by top scientists from the United States and
Israel could reduce our reliance on foreign oil by promoting more
efficient uses of traditional energy sources and by developing energy
alternatives," Sherman said.The Shadegg-Sherman legislation would establish in the Department of
Energy an International Energy Advisory Board to advise the secretary
on the $20-million-a-year grant program authorized by the bill. The
United States-Israel Energy Cooperation Act would encourage cooperation
on research, development, and commercialization of alternative energy,
improved energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.
Why, why, why? I understand, but don't accept, the political pressure to increase alternative energy spending (though see here on its effectiveness) but why are we creating yet another program and grant bureaucracy? And why should the funds not be spent on the most promising research out of the entire superset of possible projects but be narrowly focused on only investing in a portfolio of projects presumably combining US and Israeli citizens?
Overlawyered:
"Legislating Discovery" Pop Quiz
Which of the following was recently uttered by a Member of Congress?
August 16, 2006, 6:42 pmTechnomad:
I'd guess that this is more an effort to "show support for Israel" than anything else. If they were serious about alternate energy, they'd open it up to any and all-comers.
A lot more people than you might think are not wild about our "alliance" with Israel---they ask, reasonably enough, what we get out of the deal, particularly since this makes it more difficult to ensure a steady supply of petroleum.
August 17, 2006, 2:28 pmJoshK:
Why can't somone pass a new law calling for total US gvt expenditures to decline in nominal terms 2% every year. Then we would have far fewer of these programs...
As far as the prev post though, that sounds like the Arabs hate us b/c we support Israel. I'm sure there's some truth to that, but mostly they hate us because we are a giant prolific economy and are an easy scapegoat. I just finished "Guests of the Ayatollah", which gives great insight into what these animals are thinking.
"America is killing moslems all over the world."
August 18, 2006, 7:20 amBunch of assholes we are - we killed 25 of them on 9/11 rigth there.