Sunday, June 28, 2009

Another political lie

I haven't posted in a while because I've been working on my books. I just had a mystery, unmarked grave, come out in april, and in august, liesure is putting out my next western, day of vengeance.

to be honest, one reason i spend so much time writing is that way, i escape the idiocy of the world around us, especially the disasterous events unfolding in washington.

instead of the columns i like to write, i've been venting my spleen on their hapless behaviors, behaviors i wish I knew how to prevent.

I woke up Sunday morning to learn the much ballyhooed Energy-Climate Bill passed the House-by seven votes.

I don’t know whether to cry or not.

On the one hand, we hear horror stories about running out of energy; on the other, we hear glowing stories about vast, untouched energy sources that will take us to the next millennium.

If you’re like me, I don’t know who to believe. It’s like the boy who cried wolf. The politicians have lied to us so much, we don’t know what to believe.
The fact the vote was 219-212 tells me the same feeling exists in our House of Representatives.

What really concerns me is that no one up there, not from the president down, not even Queen Pelosi, can tell us exactly how the results of this bill will play out.
I’m all for making us more energy efficient, but at what price? I’m going to spend an additional five thousand on a car that gets me ten more miles per gallon. Do the math, and you’ll see it’ll take you several years to break even—unless gasoline goes up, which it will.

Simply put, the bill requires the U.S. to reduce carbon dioxide and greenhouse gasses by 17 percent by 2020, according to the Associated Press, and 80 percent by 2050.

Businesses that pollute must have permits, some sold, most issued.
In other words, refineries in Southeast Texas will have to get permits to operate. Whether they will be forced to purchase them or receive them without cost, no decision has been made.

I have feeling this is where Joe Politics will decide to take a hand. Why do I think that?

Well, I know you’ll find this hard to believe, but according to the Associated Press, the final bill contained concessions to satisfy farm-state lawmakers, ethanol producers, hydroelectric advocates, the nuclear industry, and others.
Concessions, if you didn’t know, is another word for ‘back room politics’. Guess who will pick up the tab that those industries politicked out of.

You guessed it, good old Dumbo Taxpayer, those of us who let our elected representatives lead us around with a ring in our noses..

One fact all agree upon, however, is that this bill will cost the American taxpayer, homeowner, renter, RV park customer, boat owner, bike rider, skateboard aficionados, and just about everyone else more money.

I’ve seen estimates from $70.00 a year all the way up to $770.00 just for electricity to power a home, an average home, not one like ‘greenhouse conservative’ Al Gore lives in.

Now I know are a lot of you out there behind this bill. How about filling me in with some concrete details. Tell me how much it will cost.

You can’t do it because this is just another one of those bills pushed through in the almighty name of ‘Change.’

Remember the middle class tax cuts? Kiss them goodbye. The $600 billion the administration planned to use for the continuation of those tax cuts was eliminated.

Why?

Because those businesses mentioned earlier will be given permits instead of having to purchase them as the bill FIRST proposed. Selling the permits was how the administration planned to raise the $600 billion.

For the first time in decades, I’m really worried about the direction our country is going. The only hope I have is the fact that enough of us will wake up to what’s going on and start making some changes in 2010.