Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.), once a skeptic of global warming, got a hint that the political winds might be shifting when a long-time supporter warned that he might vote against Inglis if he “didn’t clean up his act on the environment.”

The warning came from Inglis’s eldest son, Robert Jr., now 22.

His daughter was no less blunt about the congressman’s refusal to embrace the view that global warming was being caused by human actions and that a serious response is needed. “I have three more kids coming up—and they seem to share the same view,” said Inglis.

Family pressure worked. Inglis traveled to Antarctica and, most recently, to Greenland to witness the effects of rising CO2 levels and temperatures. He now believes the science behind global warming. And he believes the politics are equally conclusive: Republicans will “get hammered” if they do not reckon with the issue soon.

The State

First off, I am going to correct the author, because the bold part in the above passage should read “witness the ALLEGED effects of rising CO2 levels,” because that is a theory, not a fact, and not everyone in the scientific community subscribes to it.

Secondly, I am sorry for Inglis that his children are so easily brainwashed, most likely from their college.

Having said all of that, I don’t think anyone with any sense denies that global warming is occurring. I certainly don’t. The winters today are noticeably warmer than when I was a kid. However, that doesn’t mean I am falling into the clap trap of believing we have anything to do with it. Global warming has occurred before as well as global cooling. They have been natural cycles of the earth. For groups like these U.N. “scientists” and nut balls like Al Gore to force the idea on all of us that our lifestyle is destroying the planet while completely excluding the past occurrences of this phenomenon is dishonest. Hell, the founder of the Weather Channel just came out and said that man made global warming is the greatest scam in history. (Maybe other than Y2K)

Remember, these people are the same ones that told us 30 years ago we would all freeze to death from global cooling.

Don’t get me wrong, I am an environmentalist. My next car will likely be a hybrid because less pollution is just good overall and we need to end our dependence on importing oil from people who want us dead. But, one thing I won’t be is hoodwinked by the perpetrators of the modern day Inquisition.

In Pennsylvania:

General Election Match Ups
Clinton 45 - Giuliani 43
Clinton 45 - McCain 43
Clinton 50 - Thompson 36
Clinton 51 - Romney 36

Obama 39 - Giuliani 45

Edwards 42 - Giuliani 43

Favorable/Unfavorable Ratings
Giuliani 45/28 (+17)
Clinton 47/43 (+4)

Other notables in Pennsylvania: 54% said they would be “less likely to vote for a presidential candidate who supports issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants,” while 39% said it would not affect their vote.

In Connecticut:

General Election Match Up
Clinton 45 - Giuliani 44
Clinton 47 - McCain 41
Clinton 53 - Thompson 31
Clinton 51 - Romney 34

Obama 43 - Giuliani 43

Edwards 41 - Giuliani 46

Favorable/Unfavorable Rating
Giuliani 52/27 (+25)
Clinton 48/39 (+9)

Real Clear Politics

Like Beltway Democrats, Governor Ted Kulongoski and his legislature wanted to broaden eligibility for Oregon’s “Healthy Kids” Schip program to 300% of the federal poverty level. They would also allow all families to opt in, regardless of income, though higher earners wouldn’t get subsidies. Again like Congress, Salem intended to pay for the expansion with cigarette taxes, which would increase to $2.02 from $1.18 a pack. That would be one of the highest state tobacco levies in the nation.

Democrats couldn’t dredge up the three-fifths approval required for a tax increase in the legislature, so they kicked the expansion over to the ballot. And already, Measure 50’s defeat is being blamed on $12 million in advertising by Big Tobacco. “What happened was, the tobacco industry bought the election,” Governor Kulongoski declared yesterday.

We’re surprised the Governor thinks voters in his left-leaning state are so easily gulled–especially in a contest between “healthy kids” and cigarettes. More persuasive is the notion that voters didn’t want to pass a state tax increase to finance a health-care expansion that Congress might soon pass, along with buckets of federal dollars. But most likely, voters understood that a tax increase on cigarettes is still a tax increase, and a highly regressive one at that. Only about 20% of Oregonians smoke, and most of those are lower income.

They may also have figured that to the extent tobacco taxes reduce smoking, they will soon not yield enough revenue to pay for ever-growing health costs. An analysis by William Conerly, a member of Governor Kulongoski’s own Council of Economic Advisors, found that a straight Schip expansion funded by a tobacco tax was unsustainable, with costs exceeding revenues by $115 million by 2017.

Wall Street Journal

That last paragraph is something that the Socialists on Capitol Hill never mention, but is common sense if you think about it for a minute or two. Raising taxes on cigarettes will eventually produce less smokers so what do we do at that point, when there are no longer enough smokers to fund the program and most of America’s kids are then addicted to the gubmint health care? The answer is easy. It will be another whopping tax increase on all of us, not just those who smoke.

You have to give the land of Hippie-dom some credit for having a little bit of sense anyway. They rejected this measure two to one.