Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Cap & Trade... Nonsense

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From: Politics Alabama
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Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2009 1:06 AM
Subject: Politics Alabama - Cap & Trade Based On Nonsense Theory - plus 2 more

Politics Alabama - Cap & Trade Based On Nonsense Theory - plus 2 more



Cap & Trade Based On Nonsense Theory

Posted: 06 Jul 2009 01:16 PM PDT

You guys DO know what Cap & Trade is all about, right? The theory is that the earth is warming because of all the “greenhouse gasses” that us nasty humans pump into the air. In order to keep that temperature from rising and all sorts of disasters befalling our formerly fair planet (I won’t list all the disasters, but find a Warmer and ask him… they’ve memorized the entire list), we MUST cut back on our usage of fossil fuels.

Enter Cap & Trade. By “capping” emissions from the usage of fossil fuels, we can reduce the amount of “greenhouse gasses” produced and save the planet! By “trading” permits to burn a little extra, the US government can rake in a ton of cash… you DO know that everybody in the country will pay a lot more for everything, right?

So that’s the idea. The problem starts right at the very beginning, though, with the concept of man-caused global warming. Let’s forget the “man-caused” part for now and focus on the “global warming” part. Is the earth warming? According to an EPA report that was suppressed, no, it isn’t. The whole theory is so much nonsense.

"Global temperatures have declined -- extending the current downtrend to 11 years with a particularly rapid decline in 2007-2008," said a draft report written in March by an expert at the Environmental Protection Agency.
Are people still buying the “global warming” mantra? Not as much as they used to, no.

“An unusually cold winter (it snowed in Saudi Arabia and Iraq; temperatures fell to minus 80 degrees in Siberia) was followed by an unusually cool spring (it snowed in North Dakota in June for the first time in 60 years). This may be why only 42 percent of respondents in a Rasmussen poll published June 18 think human activity is causing global warming, and many of those who do don't see it as a serious problem. (In a Gallup poll in March, warming ranked last among eight environmental concerns.)”

What is it intended to do?

“If the Waxman-Markey bill, named after its Democratic sponsors, Rep. Henry Waxman of California and Edward Markey of Massachusetts, were to work exactly as its sponsors claim (and what bill ever has?), global temperatures 100 years from now are projected to be one-tenth of a degree Celsius cooler than they otherwise would have been. We'd pay a lot for that tenth of a degree, though how much is hotly in dispute. Cost estimates range from about $100 per family when the bill would go into effect in 2012 to $3,900 per family.”

Make no mistake, raising the cost of energy is the INTENDED purpose of the bill!

“The whole point of cap and trade -- which President Obama is careful not to make explicit -- is to make fossil fuels so expensive we will use less of them.”

Recall also that PresBo is selling this as important to our economic recovery. He even falsely claims that it will create jobs.

“Mr. Obama calls Waxman-Markey a jobs bill, on the specious assumption it will create more jobs building windmills and solar panels than it will destroy in the coal, oil and natural gas industries and in the industries dependent upon them. But Charles River Associates, a Harvard-based economic consulting firm, estimates the net loss of jobs at about 2.5 million a year.”

This Cap & Tax bill is about as bad as bills can get. It will massively increase the cost we pay directly for energy, and will increase the price of every item we buy. After all, every item uses energy to create and transport to market, and those costs will be passed onto the consumer, thus making everything more expensive. As for gasoline prices… (shudder).

What effect on our economy will all this “price-raising” have? Essentially, it would be like throwing our economy into a deep freezer and padlocking the door. Economic activity will drop like a rock, even as unemployment shoots through the roof. It will be, in short, very bad for us.

Cap & Trade Blank Checks

Posted: 06 Jul 2009 10:00 AM PDT

Would you hand somebody a blank check, signed and available for that person to fill in whatever amount they wish? That’s a good way to go bankrupt. But that’s exactly what the Cap & Trade bill, as passed by the House, does.

I use as my source for this one Jamie Dupree, who is a reporter covering Congress, and posts periodic blogs about interesting subjects. He has been focusing on Cap & Trade because of the vast amount of interest out here in America. And Jamie Dupree found an interesting phrase repeatedly in the bill: “Such sums as may be necessary.”

“One thing I zeroed in on were certain parts of the bill that were entitled ‘Authorization of Appropriations.’ In other words, the bill ‘authorizes’ the Congress to spend certain amounts for certain items in the Cap and Trade legislation. But in many cases, it authorizes a never ending amount of money, just ‘such sums’ as might be necessary. ‘There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this paragraph,’ it says on page 24 of the Waxman Amendment. Oh, you just gotta like that one. ‘Such sums as may be necessary.’ I think I would call that an open-ended appropriation.”


Obviously, these blank checks will boost the cost of this bill considerably. There are 20 sections that are authorized “such sums as may be necessary.”

* Sec. 122. Large-scale vehicle electrification program.
* Sec. 123. Plug-in electric drive vehicle manufacturing.
* Sec. 131. Establishment of SEED Accounts.
* Sec. 144. Smart Grid peak demand reduction goals.
* Sec. 216A Transmission planning.
* Sec. 184. Clean energy investment fund.
* Sec. 319. Office of Consumer Advocacy.
* Sec. 201. Greater energy efficiency in building codes.
* Sec. 205. Tree planting programs.
* Sec. 214. Best-in-Class Appliances Deployment Program.
* Sec. 241. Industrial plant energy efficiency standards.
* Sec. 242. Electric and thermal waste energy recovery award program.
* Sec. 265. Consumer behavior research.
* Sec. 273. Affiliated island energy independence team.
* Sec. 296. Residential energy efficiency block grant program.
* Sec. 705. Review and program recommendations.
* Sec. 706. National Academy review.
* Sec. 333. Black carbon.
* Sec. 433. Protection of Social Security and Medicare trust funds.
* Sec. 480. Natural Resources Climate Change Adaptation Fund.

And look for the feeding frenzy to begin, as the Feds will pay manufacturers of “energy efficient appliances” for each and every unit they produce. We’re talking $75 for a dishwasher, $200 for a refrigerator, and $300 for a water heater. Considering the number of appliances produced each year in the United States, that is going to cost taxpayers a BUNDLE!

For some more details on spending in the Cap & Tax bill, try these links:

http://wsbradio.com/blogs/jamie_dupree/2009/07/cap-and-trade-extras.html

http://wsbradio.com/blogs/jamie_dupree/2009/07/more-cap-and-trade.html

Aren’t you glad we have PresBo in office?

Alabama Power: Higher Prices For Worse Service?

Posted: 06 Jul 2009 06:15 AM PDT

Has anybody else noticed that we seem to be having more brown-outs and black-outs recently? It seems that not a week goes by when the power doesn’t flicker at least once. And last night was the topper… we get a small shower and some lightning far in the distance, and the power goes out for THREE HOURS!

Come ON, Alabama Power, you got your rate increase, now how about we see a little improvement in service?

I remember a time when I could call Alabama Power to report a power outage, speak to a live person, and be told what was wrong! “The problem seems to be in your local substation, and a technician is on-site working on the problem.” These days they have an “automatic reporting system” to report power failures… you never speak to a live person, never get an estimate on how long repairs might take, nothing! You CAN get to a live person, by navigating through their regular telephone menu system… but that person is little more than a phone operator who can tell you nothing more than (maybe!) an estimated time to repair.


Q: “So, what’s the problem? What caused the three-hour power failure?”

A: “I don’t know, Mr. Givens. But I am showing a problem in your area.”

No kidding? What was your first clue, the three-hours we spent without so much as a working light bulb?

Why are we paying higher rates for electricity if service is just going to get worse and worse?

And another thing: why isn’t the Montgomery Advertiser reporting on news? I would think that a multi-hour power outage during what turned out to be a very light storm would be news, but apparently not. I read the online version of the paper this morning, and saw not a whisper about it.

I don’t know... Maybe these blackouts happen so often now that they’re really not news anymore. If that’s the case, why ARE we paying higher power rates? So, to the Alabama Power Company and the Montgomery Advertiser, I say this: Get your act together! There is NO excuse for this kind of shoddy service.
H

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