 Time For Action
While we're delaying our full evaluation of the President's State of The Union address - at least until tomorrow - in the spirit of the President's multiple calls to action Tuesday night, we wanted to act today to get out our initial brief evaluation of his annual address. For most of our staff, that meant staying up a bit later than usual, and staying inside where the heat is cranked up against the latest polar vortex that's blasted virtually every state in the lower 48, that sits east of the Rocky Mountains.
With the bitter cold rattling just outside our own windows, we tended to agree with Michael Tomasky of The Daily Beast - our political hearts weren't exactly warmed by the President's address. There were positive moments during the address, for example when the President was standing up for the working poor and for equal pay for women. We also loved it when he stood up for campaign finance reform, saying, "It should be the power of our votes, not the size of our bank accounts that drives our democracy."
We also thought it was bold and correct of the President to call out the anti-science climate change deniers last night. He solidly knocked them back when he stated clearly, "The debate is settled - Climate change is a FACT." As the President confirmed, and as we've long agreed with, the questions on the issue have long since moved from the existence of climate change to the effects of climate change.
That's been obvious in the Midwest and Eastern half of our nation this winter, where one of those effects of rapid climate change has been a massive increase in the use of fuel to heat our homes and businesses. With multiple arctic blasts hitting repeatedly over the past few weeks, there's been a significantly increased demand for fuel to keep us warm, like propane and natural gas. That high demand has turned into a real monster for the pocketbooks of many...
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