A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
Yesterday was Earth Day, but some events are scheduled for the weekend, which may bring April showers. Bring your umbrella.
Late April is bringing blog posts that will make some Democrats madder than wet hens. Here are a few:
Social insurance and sharing the wealth. At the New York Times, Thomas Edsall asks Has Obamacare Turned Voters Against Sharing the Wealth? The answer might be, “yes.” That was last week. Yesterday’s follow-up, Obamacare, Hands Off My Medicare, doubles a liberal’s heartburn. At the Political Animal, Ed Kilgore offers some commentary on the subject, The Resource War and Social Security Expansion.
Is Obama going too far by weakening Medicaid? That's a good question, considering SB-405 in Montana, what’s happened in Indiana and Arkansas, and what Gov. Scott in Florida wants to do. At Mother Jones, Stephanie Mencimer takes a look, Obama Has a Plan to Expand Medicaid in Red States—by Weakening It, at how the White House panders to Republicans. My 13 April 2015 post on this angered some Montana Democrats who lovingly embraced SB-405, which may be crueler than Indiana’s approach. But I was right.
Net metering wars. Yesterday, the MT House approved SJ-12, Sen. Pat Connell’s (R-Hamilton) bill ordering an interim legislative study on net metering in Montana. The vote on the third reading was 69–31, but the day before it failed 50–50 on the second reading before being revived on a reconsideration motion. It passed the MT Senate 42–6, and was reported out of the House’s energy committee 12–3, so political games were being played in the House. Speaker Austin Knudsen voted for it (by proxy) in committee, but against it on third reading. Go figure…that junior high school political games were played.
All bills to expand net metering were shot down in the legislature because of opposition from electric utilities, especially the 900-pound gorilla of Montana’s utilities, Northwestern Energy. Once viewed as a concession to wealthy energy hobbyists, net metering is now viewed by electric utilities as an existential threat to their traditional business model, and is encountering heels-dug-in opposition in Hawaii and other sun-blessed areas such as Arizona and southern California. These utilities want to shovel coal and stiffarm solar forever.