The Governor of South Carolina is coming out in favor of a conservative environmental ethic:

When George W. Bush, The Post and the insurance giant Lloyd’s of London agree on something, it’s obvious a new wind is blowing. The climate change debate is here to stay, and as America warms to the idea of environmental conservation on a grander scale, it’s vital that conservatives change the debate before government regulation expands yet again and personal freedom is pushed closer toward extinction.

He goes on to frame the environmental debate in terms that most conservatives can embrace — stewardship and economics. I think it’s about time a conservative confronted the issue and offered an alternative to the scare tactics that so often domiante this debate.

Glenn Reynolds suggests that one of the consequences of the early start to the 2008 campaign is that it will wear down the candidates before the critical last months of the race and the first months of the new administration:

I think that starting the campaign early is a bad idea for a lot of reasons. Aside from considerations like the above, it draws much more heavily on the campaign’s most important capital, the candidate. Tired people make mistakes, and the earlier you start, the tireder you’re likely to be by the final stages when it really matters. Plus, with a two-year campaign, whoever gets elected will start off already exhausted. And I’m serious about this, not just joking. Being President, especially during difficult times like these, wears people out anyway, and it can only be worse if you start off tired from a two-year campaign.

This seems to be an accurate observation. I wonder if this means that this year’s campaign will favor a dark horse candidate that has yet to emerge? Based on this piece in the NY Times, perhaps such a candidate will emerge from the religious right.

The last two weeks have provided fertile ground for the American media to sow the seeds of what modern journalism appears to have become. The two biggest stories in the last two weeks have been the death of Anna Nicole Smith (and the subsequent struggle to control her estate) and the very public meltdown of Britney Spears.

These two stories have dominated cable news, the Internet, talk radio, and newspapers across the country. These two women have become fodder for late-night talk show monologues and tabloid headlines. What does this say about the state of American culture?

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Standing in front of the Old Capitol Building in Springfield, Illinois, in some strange homage to Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama announced his intentions to become the next President of the United States. Nobody was really surprised. Despite his insistence that he would not be running for the White House in 2008, Obama apparently loves to read his own press and believes he can win this thing. More on that in a moment.

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