Gridlock

'Fiddling While the World Burns:' A Faithful Response to Partisan Gridlock

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:04:32 GMT

Source: sojo.net --- Monday, May 20, 2013
Last week, concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached 400 parts per million – nearly 15 percent over what many scientists estimate is a safe level. Amid this and other crises in creation, the Environmental Protection Agency needs a strong leader to navigate the complex policy and economic situation that governs environmental policy. In March, In March, President Barack Obama nominated Gina McCarthy to lead the EPA. At the time, many regarded her as a shoo-in, as she has held top posts under Republican governors, was endorsed by many in the energy industry, and has acted as assistant administrator of the EPA under President Obama since 2009. It was surprising, then, when all eight Republican members of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee decided to boycott McCarthy’s nomination hearing. This surprise decision, which effectively canceled the vote, was part of a longer-term pattern of obstruction and partisanship on once-routine matters. In the face of such unprecedented risk to human health and well-being, many were surprised that senators tasked with studying issues of clean air, clean water, and similar issues put ideology ahead of fairness in obstructing the vote. Sen. David Vitter, the leader of the obstructionist group, said it best himself in 2005 when discussing judicial appointments: “I think that every nominee deserves a vote. It’s a matter of fairness.” read more ...

Gridlock is to be our lot

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:22:09 GMT

Source: www.ptua.org.au --- Monday, May 20, 2013
It may have escaped our road-obsessed Premier’s attention but Friday’s horrific B-double crash occurred on exactly that part of CityLink that his east-west link road would connect to. With the link in place, that incident would have jammed east-west link traffic as well, just as Monash Freeway troubles jam up CityLink traffic today. The idea of roads “backing up” other roads is fantasy. With politicians and bureaucrats alike ganging up to boost roads and shut down talk of rail extensions, another half-century of Gridlock is our lot unless something changes. Tony Morton, Public Transport Users Association – Letter published in The Age, 21/5/2013 ...

Kansas lawmakers start Monday in gridlock

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:03:33 GMT

Source: www.kansas.com --- Monday, May 20, 2013
The Statehouse had all the hustle and bustle of an obscure museum Monday as lawmakers confronted each other with the same vexing question: How can the House and Senate agree on a tax and budget plan? Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce examined some of the historical paintings on the Capitol walls, House Speaker Ray Merrick leaned over a third-floor railing chatting with a lobbyist and Gov. Sam Brownback prepared to give a “There’s no place like home” presentation on his political reform efforts to the Illinois Policy Institute in Chicago. The apparent stagnation in activity comes on the 87th day of the scheduled 90-day legislative session. Read more ...

Hale, Held, & Young: Gridlock: Why Global Cooperation is Failing when We Need It Most

Mon, 20 May 2013 13:40:00 GMT

Source: ilreports.blogspot.com --- Monday, May 20, 2013
Thomas Hale (Univ. of Oxford - Blavatnik School of Government), David Held (Durham Univ. - Politics and International Relations), & Kevin Young (Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst - Political Science) have published Gridlock: Why Global Cooperation is Failing when We Need It Most (Polity 2013). Here's the abstract: The issues that increasingly dominate the 21st century cannot be solved by any single country acting alone, no matter how powerful. To manage the global economy, prevent runaway environmental destruction, reign in nuclear proliferation, or confront other global challenges, we must cooperate. But at the same time, our tools for global policymaking - chiefly state-to-state negotiations over treaties and international institutions - have broken down. The result is Gridlock, which manifests across areas via a number of common mechanisms. The rise of new powers representing a more diverse array of interests makes agreement more difficult. The problems themselves have also grown harder as global policy issues penetrate ever more deeply into core domestic concerns. Existing institutions, created for a different world, also lock-in pathological decision-making procedures and render the field ever more complex. All of these processes - in part a function of previous, successful efforts at cooperation - have led global cooperation to fail us even as we need it most. ...

Author: Boomers behind D.C. gridlock

Mon, 20 May 2013 07:00:00 GMT

Source: headlines.ocregister.com --- Monday, May 20, 2013
SAN FRANCISCO Baby boomers – the protest-loving generation that didn't trust anyone over 30 – are approaching retirement by the millions, an evolution that many say could be the last best... ...

Driver fees could help combat gridlock

Mon, 20 May 2013 01:29:03 GMT

Source: www.sfexaminer.com --- Sunday, May 19, 2013
Downtown San Francisco will be mired in Gridlock unless changes are made soon to alleviate automobile traffic — and the most effective method could be a long-discussed and controversial congestion-pricing scheme. Unless private automobile traffic is reduced by 27 percent over the next three decades, congestion levels in The City will be unmanageable, with vehicles stuck at a standstill and pedestrians and cyclists prone to increasingly dangerous conditions, according to a new report by the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, a local planning agency. However, implementing congestion pricing... sfexaminer.com/local ...