California’s Air Resources Board has formally approved a cap and trade system to minimize climate change pollution, become the first state in the nation with a cap and trade program. Legislation authorizing a cap and trade system was passed in California back in 2006, but after multiple reviews, the CARB finally approved the program.

The biggest problem with American politics today is that we’ve only got two parties. One of them is corrupt, and the other is corrupt and crazy. Now, mind you — I don’t use that term lightly. I mean really, absolutely nuts, certifiable — head-trauma crazy. And today, Hugh Hewitt’s unhinged column at Clownhall demonstrates just how crazy the right has become.

There is no better sign of just how deeply unpopular the Obama administration is in West Virginia than the newest ad from Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin. Manchin makes taking on some of the tent poles of this administration central to the ad, and uses the language of the right to do so: repealing the “bad parts” of “Obamacare,” and keeping the federal government “off our backs.” He quite literally takes a shot at “Cap and Trade” legislation.

With financial reform and unemployment extension legislation out of the way, the Senate now can tackle the energy and climate bill, on which debate is scheduled to begin next week. Harry Reid says he’s “almost done” with the bill, but John Kerry and Joe Lieberman, who are clinging to some kind of carbon cap, say they need more time.

New West Virginia Senator Carte Goodwin opposes any cap and trade legislation before the Senate, CQ reports.

The Senate can’t even get unemployment benefits extended because of deficit concerns. You think a climate bill will somehow be a lighter lift?

In a bit of inconvenient truth-telling, the Bush Administration proposed to deal with this through a cap-and-trade system, the very same kind of system that conservatives everywhere now decry as the stirrings of a socialist takeover. But the DC Circuit Court ruled that cap-and-trade system too lenient and not in line with the text of the Clean Air Act, which demands emission cuts of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. So now EPA developed new rules that should have massive economic and public health benefits.

Speaking at a sparsely-attended luncheon in Fairbanks, AK on Friday, Senator Murkowski (R-AL) touted her failed effort to block the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions as a ‘badge of honor.’ She went on to explain why she considered the maneuver, which went down by a 53-47 margin on June 10th, a qualified success. “We made our point. Forty-seven members of the Senate said they do not want to allow the agency to set climate change policy,” she said.

While I’m pleased to see Michael wants to welcome Jane Hamsher and other progressives to the Sierra Club under his watch, I’m waiting for Michael to do what any good host does before he throws a housewarming party: clean the house.

In tonight’s address to the American public, will President Obama call for a round of on-the-margins clean energy measures (along with big subsidies for nuclear and clean coal)? Will he come down with some solid, progressive measures to reduce millions of gallons of fuel consumption a day, similar to Jeff Merkley’s proposal yesterday? Or will he go big, and demand a price on carbon to mitigate the catastrophic potential effects of climate change?