"Coal Rolling " Ban Exposes New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's Air Quality Hypocrisy

by Nomad

Although the air quality in New Jersey is a serious problem, Governor Christie's sweetheart relationship with the Koch brothers doesn't give him a lot of authority to do much about his state's air pollution problem. Not when so much of the problem blows in from Koch country.
So what's a presidential hopeful to do? Go after the small fish, of course. 

When it comes to air quality standards, New Jersey has a serious problem. That's according to the American Lung Association which  grades every county in the nation on its air quality and ozone levels. They found that as in past years the Garden State remains among the nation’s worst for pollution.

Poisons Blowing in the Wind

In fact, New Jersey is not alone. The survey found 42 percent of the nation’s population live in counties that have unhealthy levels of either ozone or particle pollution. The ironic part is that the state or county that produces the pollution may not experience the damaging effects.
Experts say that New Jersey's problem is "a combination of locally produced pollution and pollution that travels.”

That means no one governor or state legislature can do much about the problem. It requires joint action from those states who -literally- get the fallout of other states that pollute. In a country as fractured as the US, working together for a regional solution in bipartisan way is nothing but an exercise in nostalgia and idealism.

Governor Christie and Rep. King: Not Happy Campers

(with a hat tip to Little Green Footballs)

As if Speaker of the House John Boehner's humiliation wasn't enough following the fiscal cliff mess, today he was given quite an ass-kicking by New Jersey governor Chris Christie. Christie has no trouble expressing his sense of frustration. Boehner, Christie told reporters, had promised to bring to the House floor a vote on disaster relief for victims of Hurricane Sandy which ravaged his state late last year. 

Instead, he simply refused to take Christie's calls and adjourned the House. This, after what some staunch conservatives saw as a cave-in on the Bush tax cuts. Governor Christie said, 

"There is no reason for me, at the moment, to believe anything (the Republican leadership in the House) tell me.. because they've been telling me stuff for weeks and they didn't deliver."

And in case you didn't get his point, he also added. 

"There is only one group to blame.The House Majority and John Boehner."

Hurricane Sandy Brings an October Surprise

by Nomad

I
n a rather surprising show of solidarity, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who has been bashing President Obama for the last year on his lack of leadership- did an about-face after his state was devastated by Hurricane Sandy. 

According to CBSNews

Christie called the level of cooperation between the local, state and federal governments "excellent" and praised President Obama's involvement. "I was on the phone for the third time yesterday, last night, with the president of the United States. He called me at midnight last night as he was seeing reports," he said before adding that President Obama accelerated the designation of New Jersey as a major disaster area "without the usual red tape."

"The cooperation has been great with FEMA here on the ground and the cooperation from the president of the United States has been outstanding. He deserves great credit," Christie added.

Meanwhile Jay Carney, spokesman for the White House, gave this assessment of the relief efforts:

"When disaster strikes, Americans suffer -- not Democrats, not independents, not Republicans -- Americans suffer. And then we come together and put politics aside to make sure that those Americans get the assistance that they need."

With a week left before the election, Obama  canceled campaign trips planned for Tuesday and Wednesday to stay in Washington and supervise storm recovery. On Wednesday, Obama is scheduled to visit New Jersey, and is expected to return to campaigning on Thursday.