Compare the Candidates

So Mike Huckabee thinks we should quarantine people with AIDS and allow our children to mutilate and murder household pets with no consequence. Sounds like a winner to me. Given people with AIDS are lesser than those without (please sense the sarcasm) and animal abuse as a child is absolutely no indicator of violence in adulthood (Ibid.) we should probably address more pressing issues . . . like trees. So where do Huckabee and the other candidates on both sides of the “which one is the lesser of two evils” aisle stand on green issues. For that I point you to a lovely chart prepared by Grist.

In regards to other candidates, The Atlantic has published two wonderful articles on Barack Obama in their December issue. I’ve been mostly in the Edwards camp thus far, but I’ve tread lightly. The first of the two links below really got me charged up about Obama, though I’m still pessimistic that either a woman (ah!) or a black man can be elected president in our general election.  If all goes as it has lately the Democratic candidate will win the popular vote as in 2000 but still lose. At least the Supreme Court is fair and balanced. Yuck.

• Goodbye to All That
• Teacher and Apprentice

You shouldn’t need a subscriber ID for either article but if you do for some reason all I can tell you is to fork over the money for a subscription ’cause it’s the one of the best magazines currently in print.

For the sake of continuity in the subject matter of this post I should mention that I’m not a fan of Obama’s stance on coal, which is a heinous, dirty source of energy. Here are the stances of Edwards and Obama, as taken from the Grist chart:

• Edwards – Calls for a ban on new coal power plants unless they’re compatible with carbon-capture and -storage technology. Opposes government investment in coal-to-liquid technologies.
• Obama – Supports “clean coal.” Supports coal-to-liquid fuels, but has qualified that support, saying they must emit 20% less carbon over their lifecycle than conventional fuels.

See how that all came around? Politics to energy to politics. Booya.