Sarah Palin Comes Out Swinging On Cap & Trade

If there is one person who knows energy in this country it is Sarah Palin.  She has taken the gloves off and has come out swinging against cap and trade in her latest Op-ed in the Washington Compost.  I love her subtle digs at Washington, DC, Obama, and this piece of legislation.  She starts out calling it cap and trade but quickly moves into our beloved term; cap and tax.

Let the games begin!

I am deeply concerned about President Obama’s cap-and-trade energy plan, and I believe it is an enormous threat to our economy. It would undermine our recovery over the short term and would inflict permanent damage.

American prosperity has always been driven by the steady supply of abundant, affordable energy. Particularly in Alaska, we understand the inherent link between energy and prosperity, energy and opportunity, and energy and security. Consequently, many of us in this huge, energy-rich state recognize that the president’s cap-and-trade energy tax would adversely affect every aspect of the U.S. economy.

There is no denying that as the world becomes more industrialized, we need to reform our energy policy and become less dependent on foreign energy sources. But the answer doesn’t lie in making energy scarcer and more expensive! Those who understand the issue know we can meet our energy needs and environmental challenges without destroying America’s economy.

Job losses are so certain under this new cap-and-tax plan that it includes a provision accommodating newly unemployed workers from the resulting dried-up energy sector, to the tune of $4.2 billion over eight years. So much for creating jobs.

In addition to immediately increasing unemployment in the energy sector, even more American jobs will be threatened by the rising cost of doing business under the cap-and-tax plan. For example, the cost of farming will certainly increase, driving down farm incomes while driving up grocery prices. The costs of manufacturing, warehousing and transportation will also increase.

The ironic beauty in this plan? Soon, even the most ardent liberal will understand supply-side economics.

Absolutely BRILLIANT!  – read the entire piece here.

Cap and Tax Update – Keep Driving the Message Home!

Yesterday was good news for those believing in freedom, small government, and democracy.  The Senate does not plan on voting for Cap and Tax until September.  This delay will certainly give  us more time to change minds,  write letters, send emails, and melt the phones of our representatives.  We must continue to do so, even whilst they are away for the month of August.  The beginning of the next session begins immediately after Labor Day in which the Senate plans on voting/passing an immigration reform bill.  September will be a very busy month for those of us fighting for our country.  Hopefully the impact of the 9/12 tea party protest will be felt far and wide.  I also hope that we do a little more – Since Congress begins the new session after Labor Day, which is the week of the massive 9/12 March on DC, why not take the week off as vacation time and engage in a sit-in on the steps of Capitol Hill as our Congress-critters come back to work for the first day after their summer vacation!?  It’s time to make them realize who they work for; a good government is one that fears its people.

Tell your congressman/woman that the EPA admits Cap and Tax will not work.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee began their hearings on the 1,500 page Waxman-Markey cap and trade legislation Tuesday, and ranking member Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) won a startling admission from Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson. Inhofe produced an EPA chart generated last year during the Senate’s debate of the Lieberman-Warner cap and trade legislation. The chart showed that the carbon reductions under that bill would not materially effect global carbon concentrations in the atmosphere. Inhofe then asked Jackson if she agreed with the chart’s conclusions. Jackson replied: “I believe that essential parts of the chart are that the U.S. action alone will not impact CO2 levels.”

Also at the hearing, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said he did not agree with chart which is interesting since all the best science confirms Inhofe’s and Jackson’s conclusions. For example, a recent study of cap and trade by MIT concluded: “The different U.S. policies have relatively small effects on the CO2 concentration if other regions do not follow the U.S. lead. … The Developed Only scenario cuts only about 0.5 °C of the warming from the reference, again illustrating the importance of developing country participation.”

Michelle Malkin and Nate Silver put some great information together regarding the “softies” on cap and tax in the Senate.  There is a chance to change several Democrat’s minds, especially those living in energy and coal producing states. (Don’t forget the liberal repubbies either)!

There is also some new and interesting data coming from those reading through the bill now that it has been posted.  One of those interesting tidbits is the amount of money going to ACORN in a CLIMATE CHANGE bill:

“The American people will see tax dollars go to so-called community development organizations like ACORN, to teach low-income residents how to live in accord with the worldview of the Environmental Left,” scowled a news release yesterday from Congressional critics of the Cap and Trade bill.

Sure enough, there are 19 mentions of the term “community development” in the bill, but nothing specific about ACORN.

Sec. 264 of the bill is on “Low Income Community Energy Efficiency Program,” which says the feds will dole out grant money to community development organizations “to provide financing to businesses and projects that improve energy efficiency” for low-income residents.

On page 561, the bill authorizes $50 million per year for six fiscal years, so that’s $300 million in all for these kind of programs.

“I just want to know if ACORN would qualify for these grants,” said House GOP Leader John Boehner, who was the only Republican to note the ACORN issue during debate on the House floor.

If you really want to make your blood boil and find the additional goodies that were hidden in the bill go here.

Did the GOP Dirty 8, AKA the Cap-and-Tr8ors, Receive Green to be Green?

Just out of curiosity I began digging on the past and current donations of the 8 Benedict Arnold’s of the Republican Party who voted in favor of cap-and-trade.

As I began to investigate who donated significant amounts to each candidate’s piggy bank, I noticed there was a common trend; these 8 GOPers all had enviro-groups, unions, & alternative energy companies putting money in their coffers.

As an interesting aside, there is a PAC called the Tuesday Group PAC and for all intents and purposes, it may as well be called the RINO PAC ~ 6 out of the 8 tr8ors were funded by this PAC.

Those same 6 are also funded by the Republican “Main Street” Partnership PAC ~ another RINO group.

Recall that GE and Honeywell at one point tried to merge – Honeywell has contributed to almost all of these 8 candidates and GE to some as well.  GE is predominantly Democrat, so that should tell you something and at times GE has contributed for the 2010 campaign but did not contribute prior to that… Could the “eight” be getting a deal from both? GE and Honeywell are advocates of global warming and the cap-and-trade system.

Mary Bono Mack:

Mary Bono Mack is part of the energy and commerce committee, headed by none other than, Henry Waxman, of the Waxman-Markey notoriety.  One could surmise that she was promised something by Waxman and Pelosi and possibly wanted to make her “boss” proud.  However, I was also interested to find out who donates to her.

In 2008 the following contributed:

General Electric (enough said) ~ $4.5K

Edison International/Edison Electric Institute ~ $10.75K

PG&E Corporation ~ $3.5K

Calpine Corporation ~ $2.5K

Sempras Energy ~ $2.5K

Excel Energy, FirstEnergy Corp, Electric Power Supply Assn, American Electric Power, Constellation Energy, etc. ~ $10K

SEIU (union is for a cap-and-trade system) ~ $10K

B&D Consulting/Lobbying ~ $3.5K

Honeywell International ~ $10K

And What about 2010?

General Electric (enough said) ~ $1K

Edison International ~ $5K

B&D Consulting/Lobbying ~ $3K

Honeywell International ~ $1K

 

Mike Castle:

Mike Castle is part of the Education and Labor Committee and is backed by a lot of trade/labor unions – most of which support a cap-and-trade system.  He is also part of the Financial Services Committee, which I also question…

Contributions in 2008:

PEPCO Holdings, Inc.  ~ $2.5K

Koch Industries (supported by EPA) ~ $1K

Operating Engineers Union ~ $5K

Other AFL-CIO Unions ~ $8.5K

National Education Assn ~ $10K

SEIU ~ $6K

Financial Institutions ~ $371.9K

League of Conservation Voters & Sierra Club ~ $770

Honeywell International ~ $10K

Contributions in 2010:

The Operating Engineers Union (In ‘08 wrote a memo to the senate thanking them for attempting to bring cap-and-trade back) ~ $5K

NRECA (for cap-and-tax) ~ $1K

Heavily Funded by Financial Institutions (kick-backs were put into the cap-and-trade bill for financial companies/mortgages ~ $44.5K

 

Mark Kirk:

Mark Kirk is on the Appropriations Committee and has been a long-time RINO from Illinois.

Contributions in 2008:

Exelon Corporation (put out press release congratulating the House reps for passing cap-and-trade on Friday). ~ $34.1K

Financial Institutions ~ $136.5K

National Education Assn ~ $19K

Goldman Sachs ~ $15.7K

Honeywell International ~ $5K

League of Conservation Voters ~ $1K

Ocean Champions ~ $4K

Republicans for Environmental Protection ~ $4K

Solar Energy Industries ~ $2K

Peabody Energy(Coal Mining company that thinks Waxman-Markey is cup half full legislation)!? ~ $2.5K

Edison International ~ $2K

Westinghouse Electric ~ $2K

Operating Engineers Union ~ $6K

PMA Lobbying Group (under investigation) ~ $2K

Microsoft Corp. ~ $1.5K

Contributions in 2010:

GE ~ $1K

Honeywell International ~ $1K

Operating Engineers Union ~ $10K

 

Leonard Lance:

There isn’t much information prior to Mr. Lance’s election in 2008, however, he currently sits on the Financial Services committee.

Contributions in 2010:

League of Conservation Voters ~ $250

Honeywell (believes in cap-and-trade) ~ $1K

Public Service Enterprise Group ~ $1K

National Education Association ~ $1K

Financial Institutions ~ $49.7K

 

Frank LoBiondo:

Contributions in 2008:

Public Service Enterprise Group ~ $6.5K

Honeywell International ~ $3.5K

Labor Unions ~ $235.8K

Sierra Club/League of Conservation Voters ~ $1.3K

Contributions in 2010:

Labor Unions ~ $53.2K

 

John McHugh:

Contributions in 2008:

Constellation Energy ~ $10.8K

Honeywell International ~ $10K

Operating Engineers Union ~ $10K

PMA Group ~ $10K

Electric Companies (heavily funded by them incl. Exelon, Edison, FirstEnergy, Progress Energy, etc.) ~ $34K

Environmental Services (MWH Americas) ~ $1K

Labor Unions ~ $133.5K

Contributions in 2010:

Operating Engineers Union ~ $10K

Honeywell International ~ $5K

Labor Unions ~ $11K

 

Dave Reichert:

Contributions in 2008:

It appears that Dave is an enviro-nut RINO.  He was on the Space Committee and receives a lot of funding from Microsoft.

Microsoft ~ $48.2K

National Education Assn ~ $10K

Avista (support cap-and-trade) ~ $1.3K

Puget Sound Energy ~ $7.9K

Financial Institutions ~ $121.5K

Illinois Tool Works gave to Mark Kirk which is understandable but why also to a rep. from Washington state? ~ $2K?

Contributions in 2010:

GE ~ $1K

Honeywell International ~ $3K

Operating Engineers Union ~ $5K

Labor Unions ~ $4.5K

 

Chris Smith:

Contributions in 2008:

Operating Engineers Union ~ $10K

Laborers Union ~ $10K

National Education Assn ~ $3K

SEIU ~ $5K

Other Labor Unions ~ $92K

League of Conservation Voters ~ $250

Contributions in 2010:

Operating Engineers Union ~ $10K

Other Labor Unions ~ $13K

The Washington Examiner had a brief article on some of the campaign contributions that various members of the GOP 8 were a part of, many of which are already captures here – but as a source you can go here.

I believe there is a lot more investigation that will need to be done in order to fully grasp what these 8 were promised from Waxman and Pelosi, rather than just reviewing their campaign contributions.  I also have suspicions regarding the New Jersey 3 as to where many of these green companies and technologies reside.  New Jersey has its very own clean energy initiatives/policies for its state and a long list of companies who are involved.

I hope we can get to the bottom of it and find out what it takes to sell out your party, your constituents, but worst of all; your country.

The GOP Cap-And-Tr8tors

The country was sold into government slavery and economic chaos by the traitorous GOP 8, who voted for the Cap and Tax bill today.  The House spent over 5 hours debating this piece of legislation and there were high hopes that the Democrats didn’t have enough votes to pass it.  It turns out that the GOP had some Benedict Arnold’s in their midst.

I have two new posters for these RINOs:

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(created by Leo Alberti via Michelle Malkin)

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(H/T FReeper Tophat9000)

If these 8 traitors had voted against the bill the final vote would have been 211 ayes vs. 220 nays, rather than 219 ayes vs. 212 nays.  Jeff Flake was MIA for his daughter’s beauty pageant and Rep. Sullivan was in rehab. 

There were also 44 Democrats who voted against this nightmare:

PA-4 Altmire, Jason
NY-24 Arcuri, Michael
GA-12 Barrow, John
AR-1 Berry, Robert
OK-2 Boren, Dan
AL-2 Bright, Bobby
PA-10 Carney, Christopher
MS-1 Childers, Travis
CA-20 Costa, Jim
IL-12 Costello, Jerry
PA-3 Dahlkemper, Kathleen
AL-7 Davis, Artur
TN-4 Davis, Lincoln
OR-4 DeFazio, Peter
IN-2 Donnelly, Joe
TX-17 Edwards, Thomas
IN-8 Ellsworth, Brad
IL-14 Foster, Bill
AL-5 Griffith, Parker
SD-0 Herseth Sandlin, Stephanie
PA-17 Holden, Tim
AZ-1 Kirkpatrick, Ann
NC-8 Kissell, Larry
OH-10 Kucinich, Dennis
GA-8 Marshall, James
NY-29 Massa, Eric
UT-2 Matheson, Jim
NC-7 McIntyre, Mike
LA-3 Melancon, Charles
ID-1 Minnick, Walter
AZ-5 Mitchell, Harry
WV-1 Mollohan, Alan
VA-2 Nye, Glenn
TX-27 Ortiz, Solomon
ND-0 Pomeroy, Earl
WV-3 Rahall, Nick
TX-23 Rodriguez, Ciro
AR-4 Ross, Mike
CO-3 Salazar, John
CA-13 Stark, Fortney
TN-8 Tanner, John
MS-4 Taylor, Gene
IN-1 Visclosky, Peter
OH-6 Wilson, Charles

To see the entire Roll Call Vote visit here.

I want to know what each traitor was offered to sell us out and I’m very curious to figure out the money trail in New Jersey, which has a huge clean energy program as well as various renewable energy sources.  Even Rohrabacher R-CA didn’t vote for the bill even though Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (the company that T. Boone Pickens and Pelosi are vested in) is headquartered in his district (46). 

It would have been nice if the media actually did its job and discussed real news that has a massive effect on the lives of Americans, rather than Michael Jackson’s obvious drug use and death.  Most Americans are opposed to this legislation, but many were unaware that Congress was voting on it today – Wouldn’t it be nice if we could one day have an objective media that would actually give both sides to every story and read things like the suppressed EPA report on GloBull Warming?  It’s late, so I can dream about it…

ACTION! Cap & Tax… America’s Worst Nightmare

Late last Tuesday night the House Democrats made a deal on cap and tax (cap and trade) so the more  conservative Democrats felt better about the bill and would ensure their vote for the legislation.  The deal involved many of the Democrats from the mid-west and farm country where agriculture was a major concern for these representatives. 

The House is prepared to vote on the bill to push it through the Senate by this Friday.  Nancy Pelosi believes that given 2 days’ time she will have enough votes for a majority. 

This bill is incredibly harmful, hurtful, expensive, and it quite frankly is one of the nastiest pieces of legislation I have seen in a long time.  Liberals continuously use the straw-man argument that Republicans try to fear monger others into voting a certain way or believing certain things… I could say the exact same thing for GloBull warming, which is the biggest hoax of this century.  In fact, when people finally wake up and figure out that the politicians are all in bed with “Green” companies, holding significant amounts of equity, and wanting legislation like this passed, not because it’s based on a true premise, but because it will line their pockets – then maybe common sense can reign supreme.

This cap and tax bill will have very little effect on the poorest – because they don’t pay taxes to begin with.  They are leeches on productive society.  The top quintile of the country, or the richest, will be burdened with this particular tax, but not as much as their federal income taxes.   No, cap and tax will fall squarely on the middle class.  Whether you are lower-middle class, middle, or upper, you will feel this significantly. 

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If you look at only the bottom quintile, C&T is more progressive than anything else in the federal tax system. But it’s downhill from there: The share of cap and trade paid by the middle quintile is three times the federal tax system’s average, and the share paid by the richest quintile is half that of the average.

I don’t really have a strong normative point to make here. Progressivity is in the eye of the beholder and all that. Nonetheless, I hope this puts some of the debate over the burdens of cap and trade in context.

If you are the least bit curious you can actually calculate the cap and tax burden on your household/family

I have written several times regarding Cap and Tax – whether it was posting a video clip of Democrat Rep. Dick Durbin stating that all this legislation is one big tax, or Henry Waxman’s incompetency.  I have written about our economy and how this will completely destroy sectors, increase the cost of living, increase our gas and energy prices, decrease our standard of living, and repress those who work hard to make a living.

Most of America disagrees with Cap and Trade, and congress was trying to come up with ways in wich they could cover up the bill and pass it off as some other cleverly deceptive rubbish:

The latest IBD/TIPP poll shows that cap and trade is a no go in the public eye.  More people are beginning to understand what it actually entails/means.  Indiana has also found a way around cap and trade this past week.

However, the Obama administration seems as though it may want to advance this agenda, but just under a different name.

How does the “The Clean Energy Divide” sound to you?

The Obama administration is exploring alternative names for cap and trade legislation.

People don’t really know what cap and trade means, but they don’t like it. So a new name is being concocted to gather support for the legislation.

It doesn’t look like the names “carbon tax” or “regressive tax” are in the mix, though. How does “clean energy divide” grab you?

WSJ: Seeking to bolster public support for climate legislation, the Obama administration is consulting pollsters who advocate avoiding phrases such as “cap-and-trade” and “global warming.” On Monday, the White House Council on Environmental Quality was scheduled to meet with Robert Perkowitz, president of ecoAmerica, a Washington-based nonprofit that uses “psychographic research” to “shift personal and civic choices of environmentally agnostic Americans,” according to its Web site.

“We’re trying to give them phrases that work,” Mr. Perkowitz said in an interview. He said that in a survey of some 2,000 Americans conducted by his group in March and April, less than half of the respondents said they would support a “cap-and-trade” policy, and that only 24% said they knew what the phrase means. “If you call it ‘clean energy dividend’…almost anything other than ‘cap and trade,’ you’ll get people responding a lot more favorably,” he said.

Isn’t that nice?  let’s trick the American people so we can still strap the poor and the middle class with tax hikes to obtain our faulty liberal green agenda so Al Gore can receive a bunch of profits as well as GE, Google and Microsoft…

Not only will we have to ration Obamacare we will be back to rationing gas and unemployment will not only reach 10%, as Obama predicts, but higher – you cannot destroy the mining/coal industry and expect your unemployment rate to stay the same.  Coal is one of the most abundant natural resources that America has… it is one thing that keeps us competitive abroad – and with this legislation you can kiss that goodbye.  Is it really so “tin-foil” hat to think that the Democrats are in bed with foreign countries, selling out America for a little extra cash?  (I’m sure we will also figure out who some of the Republican Reps./Senators are after the vote as well). 

There still exist some principled Congress-critters and politicians, but they are few and far between.  Michele Bachmann has been on the forefront of this debate, Jim DeMint is pretty outspoken when it comes to fiscal irresponsibility and unconstitutional legislation… but, other than that, it’s hard to make a case for most who waffle on their principles – so much so they may as well say “Leggo” my values.

The only way we can at least attempt to curtail the passage of this bill Friday is through melting the phones.  Many of our represenatives won’t listen to our pleas or our common sense logic – believe me, my Senator and Represenative are Progressives!  (Sarbanes & Cardin), but it’s still imperatiave that we at least try. 

Find your Reps. here.