Rush Limbaugh used to insist that the environmental movement was created as a refuge for socialists who - post the collapse of the Berlin Wall - couldn't directly advocate state control of the economy. Crunchy conservatism and the security justifications for energy independence complicate that picture a little bit today. But, umm...

Oh - and she's Obama's new ethically challenged energy czar. Which probably doesn't have anything to do with his announcement yesterday that he's going to massively boost government intervention into the energy sector. He would've done that anyway. But if you had any lingering hopes that energy resources would be exploited according to even the barest market principles - which is to say in something approaching an efficient and non-politicized way - now is probably the time to get rid of those.

Welcome to the the post-bailout US government, where state economic intervention has both argumentative and bureacratic presumption. She'll be perfect.

References:
* Carol Browner: You were warned [Malkin]
* Crooked Carol Browner: Obama's ethically-challenged energy czar [Malkin]
* Back at Work, Obama Pitches His Stimulus Plan [WaPo]
* It Begins [Dave Price / Dean's World]

Previously:
* Marty Peretz: Based On All Available Evidence I Disagree With Susan Rice, Who Is Nonetheless Awesome In Every Way (Plus: Misguided Victim-Complex Paranoia On The Pro-Israel Right)
* Obama's Top NSA And CIA Picks: Harsh On Israel, Sympathetic To Iran And Hezbollah
* Obama's Latest Round Of Deeply Ironic Appointments