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$54 billion for new transportation schemes to make Washington, D.C., a more “sustainable” city means pushing out the automobile in favor of bike lanes, buses and railcars, and, yes, water taxis. And, yes, tolls on motor vehicles entering the city. First off, the plan suggests the city will be adding 200,000 jobs — presumably mostly in the federal government or in the massive lobbying community that surrounds officialdom. That alone should be cause for the panic button.

The new crisis in Iraq, which could soon sharply curtail shipments of Iraqi oil to Western nations, provides an excellent opportunity for President Obama to jumpstart a geat turnaround of the stagnant U.S. economy. To make up for lost Middle Eastern oil, the President could approve the Keystone XL pipeline, open more federal lands and offshore waters to oila nd gas drilling; and encourage other states to join the fracking parade. But that is not likely happen without additional pressure from the American people.

Voters in northern Virginia are thinking twice about spending unlimited sums for “smart growth” features like streetcars, “super stops” for buses, and even bicycle lanes — especially bike lanes that “sharrow” lanes with automobiles. Talk about a revolution, when the people who make a living out of quite often wastefully spending other people’s money balk at wastefully spending their own money.

The Obama-Kerry climate policy is based on computer-driven science fiction and ignores real-world climate events, says Alan Caruba. These two and their minions are pushing America over the cliff with plans to spend trillions, stifle economic growth, and leave Americans a much more risky financial future.

Marita Noon excoriates the Obama Administration for its stonewalling on Freedom of Information Act requests — and for its chutzpah in ignoring the law in using the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Clean Air Act to restrict access to public and private lands for farming, ranching, and energy development, and reduce the availability of affordable electricity—making essential food and power costs ever-increasing. To stop this unlawful onslaught, Noon urges citizens to utilize the Information Quality Act

With key players like former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson and former Vice President Al Gore on board, no wonder Spanish-based Abengoa Solar was able to garner $2.8 billion in federal loan guarantees plus a $818 million federal grant to help it compete with other energy suppliers. But recently, the firm has been under investigation for immigration and employment fraud, using outdated technology, and making dangerous design decisions. But will California bestow a major contract on this lawless firm on May 7? Stay tuned.

The U.S. Supreme Court has been compliant with the EPA’s and Obama Administration’s goal of shuttering all coal-fired power plants in the U.S., most recently with the decision okaying the agency’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule. Such decisions, along with other Obama Administration ploys, will surely leave the U.S. with power shortages in the near future — by design. Yet Alan Caruba holds out hope – because of the strength of the private sector to overcome government mismanagement and even oppression.

Thanks to a grassroots outcry against injustice, Virginia lawmakers passed a new law, signed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe, that protects family farmers from encroachment by local governments. Martha Boneta had been barred by her county government from selling produce, fined for hosting a birthday party, and threatened with the loss of her entire farm. Environmental groups and county governments provided the major opposition to the bill.

While twenty or so desperate Senators gather all night, keep in mind that (1) there has been no global warming since 1997, (2) more than 31,000 scientists have signed a petition saying humans are not causing global warming, (3) Arctic ice is up 50% since 2012, and (4) every one of the climate computer models predicting warmth has been wrong over and over again.

Marita Noon notes that the Obama Administration, responding to Big Green billionaires, has stepped up his emphasis on climate policy just as Secretary of State John Kerry is calling climate change a “weapon of mass destruction.” While Obama is spending a billion taxpayer dollars, Green billionaire Tom Steyer is throwing another $100 million into the 2014 elections to support candidates who will vote the alarmist line. Yet Noon sees this new power play by Democrats as an opportunity for the opposition to cash in on resentment of higher energy prices and higher prices for consumer goods due to higher energy prices.

Dr. Battig argues that, to distract attention away from his failed Middle East policies, Secretary of State John Kerry has sought comfort in environmental extremism once again, damning anyone who dissents from the alarmist worldview and calling climate change a “weapon of mass destruction.” The truth is that Kerry and his ilk are destroying the foundations of real science by perpetuating the myth that carbon dioxide — the gas of life — is a killer.

The Sierra Club, notes Alan Caruba, has criticized President Obama for “throwing lifelines to old sources of energy like oil and gas” as part of its campaign to ensure that the President does not slip up and approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. They also oppose all fracking to extract natural gas from public lands and laud the shutdown of 153 coal-fired power plants – with many more to come. Sadly, Sierra is lying to its supporters and to itself as it claims that the U.S. can do without all fossil fuel energy and remain a viable nation on the world scene.

Virginia schools are now giving out awards for composting the very food that Michelle Obama has mandated be served at school to children who prefer just about anything else to eat. The cost of operating this awards program likely far exceeds any social or environmental benefits, but that is likely of little concern to educrats whose real mission is to turn children into subservient followers. One would hope these children would look to the heroes of “The Hunger Games” movies as role models — young people who challenge a corrupt, oppressive state despite very long odds.

Sure, the Earth has been warming for 200 years since the end of the little ice age. On the other hand, increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere must not be a major factor, given that the latest warmng tren lasted from about 19745 through 1998, while the small amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has continued to rise little by litt.e

Throughout history, the key resource crises have always been first about food security. The folly of fearing a warmer Earth belies the fact that all of the past crises have come at a time of global cooling that shortened growing seasons and reduced crop yields. Today, just as it is folly to fear manmade global warming, it is foolish to use corn as

Presumably, the Supreme Court agreed to reconsider EPA’s Timing Rule, which regulates stationary sources of greenhouse gases, because EPA then promulated its Tailoring Rule, under which by its own (quite possibly unlawful) authority EPA limited the Timing Rule’s purview to large stationary sources and thus made greenhouse gases a different class of criteria pollutant than the ones initially regulated under the Clean Air Act. But what if the Court upholds the Timing Rule and strikes the Tailoring Rule? Would the nation stand for an EPA with an extra 230,000 soldiers in its army?

Energy is a big part of the entire Middle East discussion. Many people believe that if the U.S. were not dependent on OPEC oil, we’d have no involvement in the centuries-old tribal conflicts. Any vote for the President’s plan should be tied to decreasing dependence, increasing independence—or, more accurately, North American oil security. Two specific policy directives are needed. First, tie any authorization of military action in Syria to approval of the Keystone pipeline,…. Second, allow access to domestic oil and gas resources and expedite drilling permits on federal lands.

With nearly 300 power plants scheduled to be shut down in the next few years, and with environmentalists both opposing any form of electricity generation that is effective, efficient, and economical and to mining the raw materials needed to build the wind turbines, solar arrays and other “renewables” they claim to want—only one conclusion can be made: Environmentalists want you powerless.

Bob Johns, spokesman for the American Bird Conservancy … confirmed …[that] the Altamont operation alone has killed more than 2,000 golden eagles. But that’s not all. “Nationwide, the wind industry kills thousands of golden eagles without prosecution,” Johns said, “while any other American citizen even possessing eagle parts such as feathers would face huge fines and prison time.”

Within the past two years, at least seven peer-reviewed studies published in the scientific literature have concluded that the influence of doubling the amount of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere is likely to be substantially lower than IPCC has determined and have ruled out the high-end projections.