Randy Inman
Kim K.
Who Loves Cap-And-Trade?
June 27th 2009 06:17
With great apologies to Randy -- apparently our thoughts were in the same place today!! But I had some stuff to add on the idiotic cap-and-trade issue myself. Add to that -- if we can all hold the Representative feet to the fire, the Senators will think twice before being asses.
That said --
The vote today on H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act, passed by a margin of SEVEN VOTES. Just four votes the other way would have defeated it, transforming the vote from 219-212 to 215-216. Eight Republicans crossed the aisle to vote with the Democrats, ensuring this scary monstrosity of a bill would be passed without adequate review (over a thousand pages, made available to congresscritters only last night -- can you do that?) (ed. -- didn't know about the 300-page addendum -- there outa be a law -- oh, wait, they MAKE the laws, right?)
Why is this important? Because this is the infamous Cap-and-Trade bill, the one that could cost the average American taxpayer a bundle, depending on whose math you follow. The one that mimics a lot of what has given Spain nearly 20% unemployment -- that's twenty percent, not a typo. The one that will help decrease global temperatures by about 0.2 degrees Celsius, a margin that will assuredly be swallowed up by the increases provided by China and India when they refuse to reduce their emissions accordingly. The one that makes the assumption that the brilliant physicist Al Gore is right when he says the global warming issue is decided, that we are causing our own planet to heat up and cook us, aaaauuuuggghhhh!
It also stands to make a LOT of Democrats very wealthy people, from Al Gore to Nancy Pelosi, due to their heavy investment in speculative businesses that hinge on cap-and-trade being passed. I find that particularly interesting -- money is bad unless they make it?
Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to take a good look at the eight Republican congresscritters who voted with the Democrats, essentially taking a chance on yet another scheme that could bankrupt our country. Here I present them, in alphabetical order.
Mary Bono, widow of Sonny Bono and California's 45th District congresswoman, now married to Florida's Connie Mack, representative for their 14th District. Ms. Bono is preoccupied with environmental issues and bringing home the green bacon for her district, which is slated to benefit from this bill in that one of the large windmill projects is planned for this area.
Michael Castle, Delaware senator in one of the most notorious political old-boy's networks out there. He has long been a RINO, and is on the board of Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP), an organization whose described mission is difficult to tell apart from the most liberal environmentalists today. For instance, few organizations have been as instrumental in preventing ANWR drilling as REP.
Mark Kirk, also a member of Republicans for Environmental Protection, is the representative from Illinois's 10th District, which covers north Chicago suburbs. He's also one of the most gifted fundraisers in Congress, with over 90% of his election funds raised from within Illinois -- which in my book makes him a firm part of the Chicago Machine. To his credit, he's also one of only two active National Guard reservists in Congress and recently served a tour in Kandahar, Afghanistan -- making him acutely sensitive to national security and the needs of the military.
Leonard Lance, representative for New Jersey's 7th District, he was just elected to his seat the first time in 2008 -- so he's too new to have a voting record. He did, however, campaign on energy independence, which might explain his vote on this issue.
Frank LoBiondo, another Jersey boy, he covers the New Jersey 2nd District. (Having driven down the New Jersey Turnpike numerous times, I almost have sympathy for the Jerseyites voting for this. Almost.) Most of his positions on social issues are solidly conservative -- but he has long received stellar marks from environmental groups for his position on their pet projects.
John McHugh, representative from the 23rd District of New York, it looks like he won't be in office much longer, as he' s been tapped to be the Secretary of the Army (pending confirmation by Congress) by Obama to replace Pete Geren, a Bush holdover. This makes me wonder if perhaps there's some quid pro quo? Especially since otherwise he seems to be a solid moderate Republican (a REAL moderate, not one like Olympia Snowe). Another interesting point: he falls solidly AGAINST Obama's dream health care reform, as he's in favor of using tax cuts and market-oriented solutions to improve our health care system. So, what, get rid of him before he can speak out? Hm, this one is interesting.
David Reichert, representative from Washington's 8th District. He's more noted for his law enforcement career than for his congressional one, as he was part of the task force chasing down the Green River Killer, ultimately the sheriff and lead investigator, and wrote a bestseller about it. He's been given high marks by environmental groups, including a boggling 103% by the infamous REP cited above (how do you DO that?) and 100% by wind energy groups. Not surprising -- it IS Washington State we're talking about here.
Christopher Smith, representative from New Jersey's 4th District. (Again, what I said about New Jersey, formerly known as the Garden State.) Smith repeatedly manages to pull off Republican victories in a heavily Democratic district. Smith is one of the most staunch defenders of the right to life in Congress, but otherwise holds fairly moderate views overall. There doesn't seem to be great concern for environmental issues in his record, which leads me to wonder, again, where's the quid pro quo?
So what can be gleaned from this?
1. For Republicans and other conservatives concerned about the fallacious global warming issue, the REP organization might be worth looking into. If you are staunchly against cap-and-trade and other related environmental issues, knowing who belongs to REP and who is rated highly by REP would help you when you vote next year.
2. We have reps from California, Washington State, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Delaware. Nary a one from "flyover country," where people got some sense. That makes them the usual suspects. However, even these coastal congresscritters are susceptible, as the nationwide Tea Parties have demonstrated.
We need to be aware, EVERY time Congress votes, what our representatives are doing. We need to call them and let them know what we think about these critical votes. Cap-and-trade is perhaps the most critical issue of our generation, followed very closely by Obamacare. People advocating socialistic changes are rolling right over those of us with reasonable objections, ridiculing and outshouting us.
It is time, I think, that we woke up.
That said --
The vote today on H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act, passed by a margin of SEVEN VOTES. Just four votes the other way would have defeated it, transforming the vote from 219-212 to 215-216. Eight Republicans crossed the aisle to vote with the Democrats, ensuring this scary monstrosity of a bill would be passed without adequate review (over a thousand pages, made available to congresscritters only last night -- can you do that?) (ed. -- didn't know about the 300-page addendum -- there outa be a law -- oh, wait, they MAKE the laws, right?)
Why is this important? Because this is the infamous Cap-and-Trade bill, the one that could cost the average American taxpayer a bundle, depending on whose math you follow. The one that mimics a lot of what has given Spain nearly 20% unemployment -- that's twenty percent, not a typo. The one that will help decrease global temperatures by about 0.2 degrees Celsius, a margin that will assuredly be swallowed up by the increases provided by China and India when they refuse to reduce their emissions accordingly. The one that makes the assumption that the brilliant physicist Al Gore is right when he says the global warming issue is decided, that we are causing our own planet to heat up and cook us, aaaauuuuggghhhh!
It also stands to make a LOT of Democrats very wealthy people, from Al Gore to Nancy Pelosi, due to their heavy investment in speculative businesses that hinge on cap-and-trade being passed. I find that particularly interesting -- money is bad unless they make it?
Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to take a good look at the eight Republican congresscritters who voted with the Democrats, essentially taking a chance on yet another scheme that could bankrupt our country. Here I present them, in alphabetical order.
Mary Bono, widow of Sonny Bono and California's 45th District congresswoman, now married to Florida's Connie Mack, representative for their 14th District. Ms. Bono is preoccupied with environmental issues and bringing home the green bacon for her district, which is slated to benefit from this bill in that one of the large windmill projects is planned for this area.
Michael Castle, Delaware senator in one of the most notorious political old-boy's networks out there. He has long been a RINO, and is on the board of Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP), an organization whose described mission is difficult to tell apart from the most liberal environmentalists today. For instance, few organizations have been as instrumental in preventing ANWR drilling as REP.
Mark Kirk, also a member of Republicans for Environmental Protection, is the representative from Illinois's 10th District, which covers north Chicago suburbs. He's also one of the most gifted fundraisers in Congress, with over 90% of his election funds raised from within Illinois -- which in my book makes him a firm part of the Chicago Machine. To his credit, he's also one of only two active National Guard reservists in Congress and recently served a tour in Kandahar, Afghanistan -- making him acutely sensitive to national security and the needs of the military.
Leonard Lance, representative for New Jersey's 7th District, he was just elected to his seat the first time in 2008 -- so he's too new to have a voting record. He did, however, campaign on energy independence, which might explain his vote on this issue.
Frank LoBiondo, another Jersey boy, he covers the New Jersey 2nd District. (Having driven down the New Jersey Turnpike numerous times, I almost have sympathy for the Jerseyites voting for this. Almost.) Most of his positions on social issues are solidly conservative -- but he has long received stellar marks from environmental groups for his position on their pet projects.
John McHugh, representative from the 23rd District of New York, it looks like he won't be in office much longer, as he' s been tapped to be the Secretary of the Army (pending confirmation by Congress) by Obama to replace Pete Geren, a Bush holdover. This makes me wonder if perhaps there's some quid pro quo? Especially since otherwise he seems to be a solid moderate Republican (a REAL moderate, not one like Olympia Snowe). Another interesting point: he falls solidly AGAINST Obama's dream health care reform, as he's in favor of using tax cuts and market-oriented solutions to improve our health care system. So, what, get rid of him before he can speak out? Hm, this one is interesting.
David Reichert, representative from Washington's 8th District. He's more noted for his law enforcement career than for his congressional one, as he was part of the task force chasing down the Green River Killer, ultimately the sheriff and lead investigator, and wrote a bestseller about it. He's been given high marks by environmental groups, including a boggling 103% by the infamous REP cited above (how do you DO that?) and 100% by wind energy groups. Not surprising -- it IS Washington State we're talking about here.
Christopher Smith, representative from New Jersey's 4th District. (Again, what I said about New Jersey, formerly known as the Garden State.) Smith repeatedly manages to pull off Republican victories in a heavily Democratic district. Smith is one of the most staunch defenders of the right to life in Congress, but otherwise holds fairly moderate views overall. There doesn't seem to be great concern for environmental issues in his record, which leads me to wonder, again, where's the quid pro quo?
So what can be gleaned from this?
1. For Republicans and other conservatives concerned about the fallacious global warming issue, the REP organization might be worth looking into. If you are staunchly against cap-and-trade and other related environmental issues, knowing who belongs to REP and who is rated highly by REP would help you when you vote next year.
2. We have reps from California, Washington State, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Delaware. Nary a one from "flyover country," where people got some sense. That makes them the usual suspects. However, even these coastal congresscritters are susceptible, as the nationwide Tea Parties have demonstrated.
We need to be aware, EVERY time Congress votes, what our representatives are doing. We need to call them and let them know what we think about these critical votes. Cap-and-trade is perhaps the most critical issue of our generation, followed very closely by Obamacare. People advocating socialistic changes are rolling right over those of us with reasonable objections, ridiculing and outshouting us.
It is time, I think, that we woke up.
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