Archive for the ‘Climategate’ Category
Cap and Ban; Obama is going to get his energy bill one way or another. Believe it!
Posted on: July 14, 2010
Morning Bell: Cap and Ban | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News..
Those of you who watch Glenn Beck of course understand just exactly why Obama and company wants and perhaps needs the Cap and Trade bill and are using any means at all to get it. They are using the Gulf oil spill to get the bill by banning the drilling of oil in the Gulf. this even for companies who are 500 feet deep or less and companies who have already jumped thru the hoops and gotten their permits to drill. Now we find that since he lost his case in court for banning drilling in the Gulf he is simply placing another ban on drilling. It doesn’t matter that in this economy with unemployment somewhere around 17% in actuality Obama by his actions is causing hundreds of workers to lose their jobs. And since these rigs are being taken elsewhere to drill the job loses are permanent. Neither does the President who has taken an oath to protect the Constitution of the United States of America is acting in complete opposition to this Constitution.
I have written much on the Cap and Trade Bill so if you want more background please go to the bottom of my home page where categories are listed and click on . BB
Cap and Ban
Posted July 14th, 2010 at 9:22am in Energy and Environment with 22 comments
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The front page of USA Today claims: “President Obama’s attempt to use the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to help propel comprehensive energy legislation has failed.” Don’t believe it for a second. On Monday the Obama administration reissued a ban on offshore oil drilling in the gulf after federal courts twice invalidated the first ban, calling it “arbitrary and capricious.” The new ban is, if anything, more restrictive than the first, thus guaranteeing even more job losses for the already devastated Gulf region. Meanwhile, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is set to introduce a bill that will cap greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Taken together, the President’s Cap and Ban approach to energy policy will accomplish exactly what he set out to do from the very first day he was sworn into office: decrease the amount of carbon the U.S. economy emits by drastically increasing the cost of energy.
The mechanism Sen. Reid will use to cap carbon emissions is Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s (D-NM) renewable electricity standard (RES) legislation (the American Clean Energy and Security Act), which caps carbon from power plants by forcing them to produce a growing percentage of the electricity they produce from government-approved renewable energy sources every year. This is essentially cap and trade but without the trade. If these new renewable energy sources were actually cost effective, there would be no need to mandate them. Cost-minimizing firms (private companies in the free market!) would adopt the technology on their own to stay competitive. But renewable energy is not cost-effective. It is significantly more expensive than traditional fuels, hence the need for the government mandates which will raise everyone’s energy costs. The ultimate victim of these higher energy prices will be you the consumer and the American economy.
Taking the full cost of wind and other renewables into account, the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis has found that an RES would: 1) raise electricity prices by 36 percent for households and 60 percent for industry; 2) cut national income (GDP) by $5.2 trillion between 2012 and 2035; 3) cut national income by $2,400 per year for a family of four; 4) reduce employment by more than 1,000,000 jobs; and 5) add more than $10,000 to a family of four’s share of the national debt by 2035.
And that is just the “cap” half of President Obama’s Cap and Ban approach. The first Obama oil drilling ban already caused some oil rigs to leave U.S. waters entirely. The threat of a second moratorium effectively created a de facto oil drilling ban and, even if they lose in court, the Obama Interior Department can further the de facto moratorium “through tough new safety regulations and by extending the time it takes to review drilling applications.” Studies show that more than 200,000 jobs are tied to the offshore drilling industry and 35,000 workers are directly involved each day when the rigs are in use. The American Petroleum Institute forecasts that if the drilling ban continues, more than 120,000 jobs could be lost in the Gulf Coast and key resources abandoned or moved elsewhere.
Worse, CNN reports that shallow water drillers say the Obama administration has not issued any permits since April 20, effectively creating a stealth ban on all offshore drilling. Heritage analyst David Kreutzer has crunched the numbers and found that a full Obama administration ban on all offshore drilling would be absolutely devastating to the U.S. economy. Between now and 2035, an offshore drilling ban would: 1) reduce GDP by $5.5 trillion; 2) reduce job growth by more than 1 million jobs by 2015 and more than 1.5 million jobs by 2030; and 3) increase the total expenditures for imported oil by nearly $737 billion.
After listening to locals testify about the economic catastrophe President Obama’s energy policies are already creating in the Gulf, former Democratic Sen. Bob Graham said he was disturbed by a “disconnect between Washington and the Gulf region about the sense of urgency needed.” There certainly is a disconnect between Washington and the rest of America. At a time of 9.5% unemployment, now is not the time to be inflicting costly Cap and Ban energy policies on the U.S. economy.
Read also:
Morning Bell: Obama’s Oil Spill To-Do List – Inbox – Yahoo! Mail.
I listened to the Coast Guard Commander Allen who is in charge of the Gulf oil spill on TV today explaining that 8 of the 30 offers of help from countries and companies have been accepted and the others are still under review by the State Department. ( In this time Obama has sat his buns on Air Force One no less than 9 times with all of them being approved by the State Department. And this isn’t even counting the State Department approved trips by other officials.)
Allen also said that equipment they need that is located elsewhere in the country is being moved to the Gulf. (This is the same stuff that the government said couldn’t be moved to the Gulf because what if they had an oil spill in that area!)
If you need a refresher of just how little our esteemed President has done or how much he has obstructed this is a good article. One point is pretty well telling of Obama’s attitude:
“President Obama summoned a bipartisan group of senators to the White House on Tuesday to discuss his climate change legislation. When Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander suggested that any such energy meeting should include a focus on the oil spill and BP, Obama responded: “that’s just your talking point” and refused to discuss the crisis.”
When the president answered questions following the G20 conference, not one reporter asked him about the situation in the Gulf. Not one question. When attention is paid, it is focused on BP, which is only half the story — the other half being government incompetence or an ideological rigidity that prevents commonsense solutions.
1. Waive the Jones Act: According to one Dutch newspaper, European firms could complete the oil spill cleanup by themselves in just four months, and three months if they work with the United States, which is much faster than the estimated nine months it would take the Obama administration to go at it alone. The major stumbling block is a protectionist piece of legislation called the Jones Act, which requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried in U.S.-flagged ships, constructed in the United States, owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens. But, in an emergency, this law can be temporarily waived, as DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff did after Katrina. (This is Obama’s play to the unions. Yes, the union bosses demand the Jones Act stay in force because they want ONLY American union members can work in the area. The economy and environment of the southern United States is being damaged to the extent that will take decades to repair (if then) and Obama is playing to his union bosses! BB)
2. Accept International Assistance: At least thirty countries and international organizations have offered equipment and experts so far. According to reports this week, the White House has finally decided to accept help from twelve (Allen said 8 today on TV) of these nations. The Obama administration should make clear why they are refusing the other eighteen-plus offers. In a statement, the State Department said it is still working out the particulars of the assistance it has accepted.
Take Sweden, for example. According to Heritage expert James Carafano: “After offering assistance shortly after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, Sweden received a request for information about their specialized assets from the State Department on May 7. Swedish officials answered the inquiry the same day, saying that some assets, such as booms, could be sent within days and that it would take a couple of weeks to send ships. There are three brand new Swedish Coast Guard vessels built for dealing with a major oil spill cleanup. Each has a capacity to collect nearly 50 tons of oil per hour from the surface of the sea and can hold 1,000 tons of spilled oil in their tanks. But according to the State Department’s recently released chart on international offers of assistance, the Swedish equipment and ships are still ‘under consideration.’ So months later, the booms sit unused and brand new Swedish ships still sit idle in port, thousands of miles from the Gulf. The delay in accepting offers of assistance is unacceptable.” For more information, click here or here.
3. Lift the Moratorium: The Obama administration’s over-expansive ban on offshore energy development is killing jobs when they are needed most. A panel of engineering experts told The New Orleans Times-Picayune that they only supported a six-month ban on new drilling in waters deeper than 1,000 feet. Those same experts were consulted by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar before he issued his May 27 report recommending a six-month moratorium on all ongoing drilling in waters deeper than 500 feet. A letter from these experts reads: “A blanket moratorium is not the answer. It will not measurably reduce risk further and it will have a lasting impact on the nation’s economy which may be greater than that of the oil spill. We do not believe punishing the innocent is the right thing to do.”
And just how many innocent jobs is Obama’s oil ban killing? An earlier Times-Picayune report estimated the moratorium could cost Louisiana 7,590 jobs and $2.97 billion in revenue directly related to the oil industry. For more information on this, click here.
4. Release the S.S. A-Whale: The S.S. A-Whale skimmer is a converted oil tanker capable of cleaning 500,000 barrels of oil a day from the Gulf waters. Currently, the largest skimmer being used in the clean-up efforts can handle 4,000 barrels a day, and the entire fleet our government has authorized for BP has only gathered 600,000 barrels, total in the 70 days since the Deepwater Horizon explosion. The ship embarked from Norfolk, VA, this week toward the Gulf, hoping to get federal approval to begin assisting the clean-up, but is facing bureaucratic resistance.
As a foreign-flagged ship, the S.S. A-Whale needs a waiver from the Jones Act, but even outside that three-mile limitation, the U.S. Coast Guard and the EPA have to approve its operation due to the nature of its operation, which separates the oil from the water and then releases water back into the Gulf, with a minor amount of oil residue. (This is asinine! Slightly tainted water can not be released into the Gulf so we leave a completely tainted water in place! BB) The government should not place perfection over the need for speed, especially facing the threat of an active hurricane season. For more information on this, click here.
5. Remove State and Local Roadblocks: Local governments are not getting the assistance they need to help in the cleanup. For example, nearly two months ago, officials from Escambia County, Fla., requested permission from the Mobile Unified Command Center to use a sand skimmer, a device pulled behind a tractor that removes oil and tar from the top three feet of sand, to help clean up Pensacola’s beaches. County officials still haven’t heard anything back. Santa Rosa Island Authority Buck Lee explains why: “Escambia County sends a request to the Mobile, Ala., Unified Command Center. Then, it’s reviewed by BP, the federal government, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard. If they don’t like it, they don’t tell us anything.”
State and local governments know their geography, people, economic impacts and needs far better than the federal government does. Contrary to popular belief, the federal government has actually been playing a bigger and bigger role in running natural disaster responses. And as Heritage fellow Matt Mayer has documented, the results have gotten worse, not better. Local governments should be given the tools they need to aid in the disaster relief. For more information on this, click here.6. Allow Sand Berm Dredging: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (section of the Environmental Protection Agency)has recently prevented the state of Louisiana from dredging to build protective sand berms. ( UNFW claimed they were not sure how much damage the sand berms would do to the fish and wildlife in the area. Well what ever the damage it would be a whole lot less than the oil! BB) Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser immediately sent a letter to President Obama requesting that the work continue. He said, “Once again, our government resource agencies, which are intended to protect us, are now leaving us vulnerable to the destruction of our coastline and marshes by the impending oil. Furthermore, with the threat of hurricanes or tropical storms, we are being put at an increased risk for devastation to our area from the intrusion of oil.” For more information on this, click here. (The Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal finally said to Hell with it and started sand berming without permission. BB) (Okay I know i had Randel instead of Jindal! We old folks can’t be distracted by things like listening to a Randy Travis song while blogging.
BB)
7. Waive or Suspend EPA Regulations: Because more water than oil is collected in skimming operations (85% to 90% is water according to Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen), operators need to discharge the filtered water back into the Gulf so they can continue to collect oil. The discharged water is vastly cleaner than when it was skimmed, but not sufficiently pure according to normal EPA regulations. If the water has to be kept in the vessel and taken back to shore for purification, it vastly multiples the resources and time needed, requiring cleanup ships to make extra round trips, transporting seven times as much water as the oil they collect. We already have insufficient cleanup ships (as the Coast Guard officially determined); they need to be cleaning up oil, not transporting water. For more information, click here.
8. Temporarily Loosen Coast Guard Inspections: In early June, sixteen barges that were vacuuming oil out of the Gulf were ordered to halt work. The Coast Guard had the clean-up vessels sit idle as they were inspected for fire extinguishers and life vests. Maritime safety is clearly a priority, but speed is of the essence in the Gulf waters. The U.S. Coast Guard should either temporarily loosen its inspection procedures or implement a process that allows inspections to occur as the ships operate. For more information, click here.
9. Stop Coast Guard Budget Cuts: Now is not the time to be cutting Coast Guard capabilities, but that is exactly what President Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress are doing. Rather than rebuilding and modernizing the Coast Guard as is necessary, they are cutting back assets needed to respond to catastrophic disasters. In particular, the National Strike Force, specifically organized to respond to oil spills and other hazardous materials disasters, is being cut. Overall, President Obama has told the Coast Guard to shed nearly 1,000 personnel, five cutters, and several helicopters and aircraft. Congress and the Administration should double the U.S. Coast Guard’s active and reserve end strength over the next decade and significantly accelerate Coast Guard modernization, but for the time being, they should halt all budgetary cuts. For more information, click here.
10. Halt Climate Change Legislation: (NEVER let a good crisis go to waste! BB) President Obama has placed his focus to the oil spill on oil demand rather than oil in our water. Regardless of political views, now is not the time to be taking advantage of this crisis to further an unrelated piece of legislation that will kill jobs and, in the President’s own words, cause energy prices to “skyrocket.” Less than 5% of our nation’s electricity needs are met by petroleum. Pushing solar and wind alternatives is in no way related to the disaster in the Gulf. It’s time for President Obama to focus on the direct actions he can take in the Gulf rather than the indirect harm he can cause in Congress. As Heritage expert David Kreutzer opines: “Fix the leak first, and then we’ll talk.” A crisis should not be a terrible thing to waste, as Rahm Emanuel said, but a problem to be solved. For more information, click here.
The Too powerful E.P.A. Announces New Greenhouse Gas Emission Rule – NYTimes.com
Posted on: May 15, 2010
UPDATE: My first post and article from the NYTimes was pretty good considering the source but this one better hits the mark:
May 14, 2010 3:30 P.M.
Good Cop, Bad Cop by Stephen Spruiell
Good Cop, Bad Cop — By: Stephen Spruiell
If Congress can’t pass climate-change legislation, the EPA will force it on the country anyway.
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E.P.A. Announces New Greenhouse Gas Emission Rule – NYTimes.com
The President and Congress have given the environmentalists and the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) entirely too much power and over the years they have used this power to do a great deal of damage to our economy. I am not against the EPA because they are needed to keep industry and commerce from making bad mistakes. The EPA stopped the coal industry from strip mining and then walking away leaving destruction that would take a century or more to overcome. (They have been lax however in stopping the coal industry from stripping the tops off mountains in West Virginia then dumping the earth over the side of the mountain polluting streams that then flow into rivers etc. BB) They have been very active in cleaning up our waterways and stopping chemical companies from dumping their wastes. But they have also stopped a vital logging industry for the Spotted Owl. We have learned that if logging does not occur the forest is vulnerable to fires. Whereas with judicious rather than “clear cutting” forests and replanting programs the under-bush is cut out and this is the tinder for out of control forest fires. The EPA literally destroyed the agricultural business in south western California which supplies a large portion of the country’s vegetable and fruits but turning off the water supply to save a minnow. A minnow that has no real value that anyone can verify.
Now the EPA has gone after our energy companies. Congress didn’t pass Cap & Trade so the EPA will do the job. This is a good article on just what is happening.
(For those of you who have been watching Glenn Beck this past two weeks I think this article is of special concern. Is Crime Inc. using the EPA to achieve its ends? Beck said it was going to happen soon. BB)
The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a final rule on Thursday for regulating major emitters of greenhouse gases, like coal-fired power plants, under the Clean Air Act.
Starting in July 2011, new sources of at least 100,000 tons of greenhouse gases a year and any existing plants that increase emissions by 75,000 tons will have to seek permits, the agency said.
In the first two years, the E.P.A. expects the rule to affect about 15,550 sources, including coal-fired plants, refineries, cement manufacturers, solid waste landfills and other large polluters, said Gina
Last year the agency issued a finding that carbon dioxide and other climate-altering gases posed a threat to human health and welfare. Under the Clean Air Act, that gave it the authority to issue regulatory measures like the one announced Thursday.
The announcement came a day after a climate and energy bill was introduced in the Senate, one that would effectively shift regulatory power over greenhouse gases to Congress from the E.P.A.
(Okay, now you have heard from the EPA and what they are planning on doing and have the power to do. Now read the Kerry- Liebermann Bill Insiders Cash In, Consumers Pay Under New Energy Bill . BB))
Insiders Cash In, Consumers Pay Under New Energy Bill
Posted May 12th, 2010 at 5:27pm in Ongoing Priorities with 4 comments
Major players in Washington cheered the latest version of an energy bill, which tries to buy votes with “something for almost everyone.” But beleaguered consumers will get stuck with skyrocketing bills after others feast on new government benefits.
We can expect any new “green jobs” to be offset by a larger loss of existing jobs, possibly up to 3-million, depending on details of how the bill’s cap-and-trade system is implemented to tax carbon dioxide emissions.
“Climate Plan Aims to Provide Something for Everyone,” headlined Congress Daily about the re-worked legislation from Senators John Kerry (D, MA) and Joe Lieberman (D, CT). That same phrase was echoed by a multitude of media.
But the “something” for everyday Americans is higher utility bills—another hit for struggling families in a sour economy.
If the massive new bill stalls from its own complexity, Sen. Harry Reid says he’ll pursue a simpler-but-still-costly backup plan: Dictating that an ever-increasing portion of electric power must be generated from sources other than fossil fuels—a so-called RES “renewable energy standard” which by itself could cost a million jobs as well as higher electric bills averaging $2,400 a year for a typical family.
Just like the Kerry-Lieberman bill, the RES would force higher bills on unwilling and skeptical Americans.
According to Rasmussen Reports, only 18% of voters are willing to pay even $300 a year for cleaner energy or to fight global warming. And 56% of all voters say they aren’t willing to pay anything more at all in taxes and utility costs. (19% said they’d pay only $100 more a year.)
Consumers would pay as businesses passed along the new costs created by the bill. Many benefited groups gathered to attend and support the Kerry-Lieberman announcement, thanks to the potpourri of billions in federal subsidies, incentives and programs. The New York Times wrote, “The Kerry-Lieberman proposal . . . provid[es] something for every major energy interest — loan guarantees for nuclear plant operators, incentives for use of natural gas in transportation, exemptions from emissions caps for heavy industry, free pollution permits for utilities and modest carbon dioxide limits for oil refiners.” The Times identified the Edison Electric Institute, Nuclear Energy Institute, Duke Energy, and FPL Group as being there; stated that written statements of support were expected from oil giants British Petroleum, ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell; and reported that the bill had bought silence from the American Petroleum Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The Chamber’s public response was timid: “We thank Senators Kerry and Lieberman, as well as Senator Graham, for their work to constructively engage the business community on these issues. The Kerry-Lieberman bill is a work in progress. Few in Congress or the business community have had a chance to review the entire bill.”
For everyday Americans, the bill is nothing to cheer. Ben Lieberman, senior energy and environment policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation, told Talk Radio News Service that the APA amounts to nothing more than a giant energy tax. “The only way to reduce these greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels is to raise the cost of energy,” he said. “They have to raise costs high enough so that people are forced to use less, that’s how this works.”
But according to handouts from Kerry and Lieberman, “roughly two-thirds of the revenues generated by the new law would be passed back to consumers through energy bill discounts or direct rebates”. That sounds like a store that jacks up prices then offers a “discount” that still leaves a 33% price hike.
A major backer of the Tea Party movement, FreedomWorks, quickly condemned the measure as “the largest tax hike in history, and would hit the poor and middleclass, who spend a higher proportion of their income on essentials like electricity and fuel, the hardest.”
They added, “Cap and trade will bring sky high energy prices for consumers and a new government slush fund for Washington. A twenty-seven cent “Fuels’ Fee” on every gallon of gasoline included in the bill means not just higher prices at the pump, but higher prices on shipping and food production. Higher energy costs will put the cost of doing business through the roof and send American jobs overseas at a time of record unemployment.”
As President Obama personally predicted, his own plan will make our electricity rates “skyrocket” as higher costs are passed on to consumers.
(I am still thinking of what Glenn Beck has been telling us about Crime, Inc this past two weeks and that all this group needed was the bill passed by Congress. the EPA might have been used as the spur with congress and industries thinking they would take the lesser of the two evils. Either way the “group” get what they have been working towards all along: the destruction of all the capitalistic and productive countries and taking the world back centuries. And of course they rule the Earth. BB)
Tid bits from here and there.
Posted on: May 12, 2010
Just a few items you may want to know about.
- The U.S. Senate defeated an amendment to end the federal bailouts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, with only two Democrats joining all 41 Republicans to support the measure. (Of course now that Fannie and Freddie are federalized we are assured of another US Postal Service and Amtrak. I just don’t care for the idea of my having to buy someone else a home! Just like I don’t like having to pay off someone’s credit card debt because they were too immature to control themselves but that is happening thanks to Obama and the Dems too. Or paying $8000 down payment on a home or a new car or towards people making improvements to their homes. When will it stop? BB)
- In the next three weeks, Congress is looking to enact more than $200 billion in new deficit spending.
- Proving why he is the perfect man for President Obama’s Debt Commission, records reveal that former SEIU President Andy Stern left the union with a failing pension system and over $84 million in debt. (Andy Stern has also taken over the running of the National People’s Action (NPA) which is Obama’s army of radical union members and thugs. You saw them storming Wall Street a couple weeks ago.
- Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) will introduce their new energy tax bill today, which will allow states to ban oil drilling within 75 miles off their coast, allow states to keep only 40% of energy development revenues, and force states to spend 13% of that revenue on environmental projects. (I wonder who or what gets the other 60%? The bill says the people, but there will be a whole slew of new agencies formed to “give” this money back. Don’t be expecting a check like Alaskans get any time soon because the state administers that program, in this one the federal government runs it thru its bureaucracy and then the states run it thru theirs before the consumer sees it.
- See also: Jeanne Cummings reports on a draft version of the Kerry-Lieberman energy bill: According to the summary of the bill, roughly two-thirds of the revenues generated by the new law would be passed back to consumers through energy bill discounts or direct rebates. The legislation would also provide assistance to businesses that are heavy energy users or trade sensitive.The vast majority of the revenue envisioned in the legislation would come through a variety of programs aimed at putting a price on carbon emissions. However, the draft version offered scant details about how those programs would work. For instance, to put a price on the carbon in exhaust emissions, the legislation is expected to set a cap on them and require transportation firms to buy permits for each ton of carbon emissions. But those details are not in the summary.
- AND: he agency that regulates (or was supposed to regulate) offshore oil drilling is being split in two, report Siobhan Hughes and Stephen Power: The Interior Department plans to announce Tuesday its intent to split the Minerals Management Service into two divisions, one focusing on gathering royalties from oil and gas companies and another focused on safety inspections. An Interior Department official confirmed the plan. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will make an announcement at 1 p.m. EDT.
- BB)
- Heritage’s InsiderOnline asks Lee Edwards four questions about his new book, William F. Buckley Jr.: The Maker of a Movement.
- In: Bribery called Earmarks in congress | Climategate | Economy/Money | Environment | national deficit, taxes, national budget | National Politics | Obama admistration | Obamanation | Politics 2009 | Politics 2010 | politics, environment, middle east, mid-east, blogging | Progressives Movement to Destroy America | Redistributing wealth | Taxes | The Fight Back | United Nations | US in Revolt
- 4 Comments
» Cap-n-Tax: Team Obama Piles On the Outrages – Big Government
Here comes another huge take over of a part of our economy by the federal government and Harry Reid and cohorts are ready to roll the tax payers again. This is a must read article just so you’re not surprized when it all starts coming down. Keep in the back of your mind during this whole rip off that the big winners are going to be the United Nations and the so-called “poorer countries” who will be the recipients of your tax dollars. Within this bill will be a stipulation that the United Nations has the right to tax Americans!! Believe it. BB
Cap-n-Tax: Team Obama Piles On the Outrages
by Christopher C. Horner It’s appreciably more difficult for Washington politicians to amaze Americans who paid any attention at all to what has been transpiring in Washington. And that number is growing. But the Democrats are giving it their best shot.
Read this just out from Politico, explaining that the Senate’s committee process simply must be suspended to jam through Obama’s energy/cap-and-tax Power Grab, because it is so expansive that it would invoke the jurisdiction of six Senate committees. These include the tax-writing Finance Committee, because cap-and-trade and the new gas tax (styled by some cheerleaders who think you’re stupid as a “carbon-linked fee”).
So, again, Harry Reid is going to write a couple of thousand pages — and try to buy off the U.S. Chamber of Commerce with revenues taken from you — in closed-door, back room deals. The ability to do so is one reason the bill in its House version grew to 1,400 pages, bigger and bigger with each closed-door deal. There are so many ways to design this takeover and the wealth transfers and lost freedoms involved, and to hide and target the hurt.
Keeping an eye on what kinds of people are winning elections all over the country I find we conservatives have much to be happy about. It is we baby boomers babies who are coming into their own now. While we played with our toys and became so politically correct and tolerant of everyone’s views to the point where the scum rose to the top making the world these people had to grow up in a gross and ugly place, they were taking it in and saying they didn’t like it and didn’t want to raise their children in this brutally ugly world lacking in morality and values. So now that they are of age start making their views heard they are determined to take the country back to a time where government did not intrude into peoples lives, where government did not force people to accept behaviors and actions that the majority of people found objectionable. A time where little clerks at little musty desks made laws and rules that we all had to live by regardless of the harm done to society. Where a tiny minnow with no significant impact on the environment or the food chain could destroy our nations fruit and vegetable producing area putting tens of thousands of people out of work and raising the prices at our grocery stores. BB
Newly-Elected Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli: Activist!
by Christian Josi During his campaign for Attorney General of Virginia, Ken Cuccinelli committed himself to acting with an aggressive conservative agenda. He promised voters that he would use the office to aggressively fight governmental overregulation and interference wherever he could find it.
In other words, he pledged to use the office of Attorney General for good, rather than evil. After just over one month in office, he’s off to one hell of a start.
Last week, AG Cuccinelli boldly petitioned the EPA to convene a proceeding to reexamine their “Endangerment Finding” which claims that human activity has increased atmospheric greenhouse gases to a point that people’s lives are at risk. As such, they claim, the federal government must impose new caps on emissions and other climate protection policies in the energy sector.
Cuccinelli believes, rightly, that regulations based on the findings of the EPA in this sketchy case would be both legally questionable and detrimental to Virginia’s economy. (Much of the research that the EPA has based these findings upon has come from the questionable climate-gate materials). Accordingly, the AG also has petitioned a federal appeals court to review the EPA’s findings.
Keep an eye on this guy. He means business. And by picking these kinds of necessary fights, he’s certainly going to need backup.
This is the kind of backup we Tea Party Patriots can and must give to anyone who is brave enough to buck the current system. If the Attorney General of Virginia, Ken Cuccinelli can get the EPA to back down in Virginia then the battle to change their rulings and temper their power in all states is strengthened. Remember when officials from the EPA were questioned as to whether they would change some of their rulings now that Climategate proved so much of the data they had used to be faulty and they said and round and loud, “No!” Well, this is the arrogance we have to fight and Attorney General of Virginia, Ken Cuccinelli has made a grand start.
Oh, and another thing I have noticed among the new crop of young men and women running for office: there are more and more with Northern and South Eastern European names. These are the grand Children and great grandchildren of those poor and huddle masses our Lady Liberty begged to come to America and who came in the early 1900′s by the boat loads. These people I have been telling you who were brave enough to leave behind the old and go into the unknown. The true pioneers who came not knowing the culture or the language but determined to live free and make their own way because the old country had no place for people of their spirit.
And yes, my maternal grandparents were Kowalo and Starvoyto. And it was these grandparents who taught me to love America and see it as a country different than any in the world. I have not been off of the continent of North America but I know and have known since as a child my Grandparents told me about the homes they left. They brought much of the good with them, but were careful to leave the bad behind just as our Founding Fathers themselves when setting up our government kept the good from the old country but cut out and left the bad behind. BB
read also what some states are doing to Congressmen who are out of control:
Stopping the Runaway Congress
The recall of New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez took a step forward yesterday with a promising oral argument in New Jersey state court. The New Jersey Constitution expressly provides for the recall of members of Congress representing the state in a provision adopted by a 75% favorable vote of the people in 1995. The New Jersey state legislature then expressly provided by statute for the procedures for such a recall.
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