At Least *Someone* Up There Gets It: Cornyn Reminds Us Of Unintended Consequences
By haystack Posted in Congress | Global Warming bill | John Cornyn | sticking it to the little guy — Comments (27) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
US Senator John Cornyn, representing the greatest State in the nation, has a news release posted at his official Senate website that is a must read for anyone that thinks this Cap and Trade nonsense is...well, nonsense. Titled "Climate Debate Must Be Mindful Of Unintended Consequences", the good Senator from Texas shows that HE, at least, gets it regarding the problem(s) with the Democrat majority's master plan to destroy the economy...err, I mean, save the planet:
The bill [S. 3036] appears to implement a $6.7 trillion program that could undermine economic growth, raise energy costs for American consumers and send jobs overseas to countries such as India and China. We need a thoughtful and serious debate on how to be the best stewards of the environment possible. As we do this, I hope Congress pays heed to the law of unintended consequences, including what impact it might have on the budgets of families in Texas and across the country.
At a time, when many working families are struggling with high gas prices, we must take steps to address this problem, and not add to it.
I have been ranting and I have been raving for two days about Democrats preferring "Comprehensive Global Climate Protection" (to the tune of trillions of dollars) over chipping away, Conservatively, one piece of this at a time. I'm fine with giving the planet a couple aspirins over the next 10 years to break her "fever", but I am NOT ok with Congress ruining our lives NOW, so they can prop us back up later with bloated Government and wealth redistribution and tax breaks for the poor and middle class by giving us "tax initiatives to protect us."
On the Senate floor Cornyn continues trying to get these crazy Democrats to understand what's at stake, and who the real problem is:
[I]nstead of dealing with that urgent need that affects every man, woman, and child in this country, this Congress has decided to head down another path and that path is a bigger government, more taxes, higher energy costs for electricity and gasoline and with the uncertainty that any of this will actually have an impact on climate. Especially given the fact that countries like China and India of a billion people each are not going to agree to impose this upon themselves. And so America is going to do this, presumably, while our major global competitors are not and we're going to suffer not only those higher prices, but job losses, reduction in our gross domestic product, and a competitive disadvantage with the rest of the world. Why would we do that our ourselves? At the same time we see this sort of Rube Goldberg bureaucracy that would be created. I think that Senator Dorgan yesterday said that this bureaucracy would make "Hillary care" pale in comparison with its complexity as reflected on this chart. This is the kind of huge expansion in government power over our lives and over the economy that is really unprecedented in our country, and I suggest is the wrong solution -- is a wrong answer to what confronts us today.
Props to Cornyn for the "Rube Goldberg" comment...he gets it...why is this so hard for the Democrats?
More below the fold...
The Thomas Library of Congress text of the bill can be found here. The Final version, as filed, can be found here [my little gift to you all]. I suggest a read of this pdf file, specifically looking at Sec. 585 (around page 204). If you don't have the stomach for it, I offer a key passage:
It is the sense of the Senate that funds deposited in the Climate Change Consumer Assistance Fund under section 583 should be used to fund a tax initiative to protect consumers, especially consumers in greatest need, from increases in energy costs and other costs.
First of all, Senses of the Senate are non-binding which means they wouldn't even HAVE to pay us back what they stole from us. Worse, they get to define "greatest need". How do you think THAT will play out for us? Of course, Democrats keep screaming that this little "Sense of the Senate" is going to gin up 1 trillion dollars to offset huge increases in costs they don't deny will result from this bill, knowing full well they don't really mean to give it back to us anyway...yeah-no trust here AT ALL.
It's worth mentioning, before we go much further, that this bill has a lot of dirty little secrets most folks would never discover unless they actually trudged through the detailed text of this disaster...and, trust me-it's a disaster. One of my favorite Ponzy schemes is the creation of a "Climate Security Act Administrative Fund" (aka "Climate Change Credit Corporation") in the Treasury. Guess what? It's going to be a brandy new Government-run "bank" that will receive all the funds from auctions and tax revenues piled on to "carbon bloated bad boys", and under the statutes of this bill, will be responsible for receiving and redistributing these funds. No new Government bloat there, huh?
My head's exploding.
The bill will create a lot of other little goodies too. There will need to be tracking of emissions, research, capping of emissions and the always popular "enforcement" that comes with that..new inspectors, new offices, new secretaries and administrators and "field" investigators. There will be allowances and offsets and auctions (proceeds of which go to our bonny new bank account in the Treasury) and a really kewl new "Technology" board.
See lower energy costs anywhere in here yet? Nope-nada.
Of course, there will be another new board charged with "preventing economic hardship" that will focus on...wait for it...banking, borrowing, "emergency off ramps" (board-decided times when someone gets a pass because it would cost them too much to contain their filthy little carbon messes), transition assistance for just about everyone in the country, and of course "green training." Feel better now?
It's much worse...these are just a select few examples. What matters now is the idea that Congress has lost its way. It has big pie-in-the-sky ideas of what new, really cool stuff they could do if only they could take more of our money for their neat little projects. Cornyn and SOME of his friends in the Senate see this for what it is: a money grab. And, he sees this as not only a horrible idea, but one that's poorly timed given our current situation. This degree of comprehensiveness has a place and time, perhaps...but this is surely NOT it.
Cornyn is running for re-election, by the way. What do you think his opponent has to say about energy prices and the way to address them?
Noriega believes in developing alternative sources of energy, creating high-tech environmental jobs, taking on global warming and freeing the country from its dependence on foreign oil are paramount to a successful national energy policy.
"Voters want real solutions to our soaring gas prices and dependence on foreign oil, but Senator Cornyn is running on empty. Texans are demanding better," said U.S. Senate candidate and Texas State Representative Rick Noriega. "Texas families are working hard to make ends meet in the face of skyrocketing energy costs and stagnant wages. Instead of funding special interest giveaways at the taxpayers' expense, I will put Texas families first with real solutions to address our state's energy needs now and in the future."
Blah blah blah...real solutions sounds an awful lot like "Hope and Change and Change and Hope." Attaboy Rick-stick it to us in the short term, and MAYBE give some of it back to us later if we go through enough hoops to prove we're poor enough to justify getting it back...you'd fit right in with the Pirates (err, I mean Democrats) on the Hill but there's already far too many of your ilk up there...boy howdy do we NOT need one more to add to the mess the Democrats have made (and keep trying to make) of this country. This is really really sad-both in its naivete and its bold display of a lack of comprehension. Anyone that thinks this bill boosts the economy and provides immediate tax relief to consumers struggling with high gas prices has no business being in elective office...and I'm not alone in my thinking:
In a revealing moment, the Noriega campaign yesterday endorsed the Boxer climate tax bill now pending in the U.S. Senate.
[...]
"Noriega’s backing of a far-left Democratic radical environmental plan is out of touch with Texas," McLaughlin noted. "But it is consistent with his endorsement of other ultra-liberal policies that would harm our state, in the state legislature and on the campaign trail."
We really can't afford ultra-Liberal policies right now, can we?
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At Least *Someone* Up There Gets It: Cornyn Reminds Us Of Unintended Consequences 27 Comments (0 topical, 27 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
Iustum et tenacem propositi virum non civium ardor prava iubentium, non vultus instantis tyranni mente quatit solida.
-Quintus Horatius Flaccus
I'm not sure all these negative consequences are unintended.
It's facinating to see how the leftist "save the planet" crowd has no problem with detroying the American economy and way of life while at the same time ignoring India and China and their "carbon emissions". If there really was such an international emergency to stop "man-made global warming", don't you think there would be pressure on those countries to reign in their emissions as well?
Of course there would be.
This just goes to show that the loony left is not at all interested in "saving the planet". They know darn well that AGW is a hoax. All they have to do is convince enough sheeple to buy the myth in order to cut America down to size. Meanwhile, China & India laugh all the way to the bank.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. --- John Adams
I thought the Democrats promised us a transparent Government. Is this what Pelosi really meant?
< /snark>
Iustum et tenacem propositi virum non civium ardor prava iubentium, non vultus instantis tyranni mente quatit solida.
-Quintus Horatius Flaccus
Twenty years ago, the leftists wanted America to unilaterally dismantle it's nuclear arsenal; apparently only American nuclear weapons were a risk to the planet.
In this decade, the same nutbags have decided that only American CO2 causes global warming.
They failed at getting us to commit military suicide in the 80's, now they want us to commit economic suicide.
________________________________________
"You can't save the Earth unless you're willing to make other people sacrifice" - Scott Adams (speaking through Dogbert)
This, on top of reading Liberal Fascism, is making me feel like we're back in 1932 all over again.
Can you say, Brave New World?
You, Haystack, have a fever, and pray God it spreads like wildfire across this country.
RS'ers do you know what your Congresscritters are saying about these bills? (There is now one up in the House, as well as I just heard Mitch McConnel on the radio stating that the senate is bringing forward a "substitute.")
I happen to know where my stooges Durbin and Obama are, and I happen to know my representative is outspokenly opposed.
We need to not just get mad, but we need to get even.
Call me a theorist but I suspect the big rush on these bills at this inopportune, to say the least, juncture of the election cycle given gas prices, is that there is opposition to the entire AGW theory that has the pinheads concerned that the hoax is being unmasked. If the science and economic truths get out (see Erick's post about a documentary to be released soon), the politburo will not be able to take over.
Congress already knows Bush will veto. They need to go home for their re-elections, assuring their constituents they tried and fought the good fight against our "worst President ever" and if re-elected, will go back and fight again. barry will sign this trash..McCain too. The fight is in keeping the drafters (and supporters) of this bill from getting back to DC to get it to either of their desks.
Non-Presidential elections matter this year more than ever.
Iustum et tenacem propositi virum non civium ardor prava iubentium, non vultus instantis tyranni mente quatit solida.
-Quintus Horatius Flaccus
understand the irrationality of Congress, so yes you are probably correct. Doesn't mean they won't try again and keep trying until it passes at some point. They are not making concessions in order to pass it right now, but at some point they will. It is in the nature of a dumb idea to proceed on to final and total absurdity. I'll leave it to others to provide their own examples of environmental extremist campaigns, their unintended consequences and the opportunity costs we are paying now and into the future.
Yes, the bills may be veto'ed now, and yes they will be reintroduced in various forms again and again.
Here's to Fighting On, in your states and localities, and wherever your voice and typing can reach.
Reading it right now. Truly eye-opening book.
And I live there so I can tell you that, yes, Texas is the greatest state in the nation.
Iustum et tenacem propositi virum non civium ardor prava iubentium, non vultus instantis tyranni mente quatit solida.
-Quintus Horatius Flaccus
reminds us that the left doesn't care if their founding principles, i.e., Das Kapital, are true or not. They are myths and will be believed like a religion. Soumd familiar?
ECONOMIC TERRORISM. These white-collar terrorists need to strike before we get snow in July, and their hoax is completely discredited even by the morons that believe it now (i.e. Congress).
My personal and public thanks to Senator Cornyn for standing up against this dangerous legislation.
I can't remember who said this first, but I think it was Boortz: "The global warming croud has figured out a way to turn CO2 into gold". Follow the money, Al Gore is making millions off this scam!
The GW folks have many Americans believeing that CO2 is a pollutant. The truth is, without it, there would be no life on this planet. All life on Earth is, dare I say it, carbon based. CO2 is merely a very important way (if not the most important) in which carbon gets to where it is needed (inside plants). That fact seems to be lost on the GW folks. I'm sure there is a lower limit of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere at which we would experience a massive die off of life. Trees love high levels of CO2...have the environmentalists forgotten their tree hugging ways?
"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room"
President Merkin Muffley
A friend went off last night about how if "Congress does not sign this bill that is coming up this week, we will be paying $15/gallon by the end of the year."
We were watching a friend's band play and sitting right up front so I could not even begin to question his thought process on this. Have the libs sold this climate crisis, energy whatever as the financial savior to high energy costs?
Where in the world did this come from, how can anyone believe that by raising taxes on fuel the cost of fuel will go down? Can anyone shed light on this rational or am I making the fundamental error of assuming liberal policy actually applies any rational? Even so, how does an average American citizen come to the conclusion that this bill is going to drive costs down?
MelZ
the assumption is that, by driving up costs punitively to all things carbon-centric, it will force the "market" to find cheaper alternatives. Until something is found to replace gas, and oil, and coal...we'll have to live with whatever increased costs come our way...but the more it hurts us, the faster we'll force that change.
great strategy, huh?
Iustum et tenacem propositi virum non civium ardor prava iubentium, non vultus instantis tyranni mente quatit solida.
-Quintus Horatius Flaccus
Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer columns
http://thehinzsightreport.com
www.theminorityreportblog.com
www.race42008.com
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
Iustum et tenacem propositi virum non civium ardor prava iubentium, non vultus instantis tyranni mente quatit solida.
-Quintus Horatius Flaccus
A-1 entry, haystack.
Same goes for Senator Cornyn.
Democrats: Abandoning Allies, One Country at a Time.
Democrats: Abandoning Allies, One Country at a Time.
Thats a nice news release but it stands in contrast to his (and Hutchison's) vote FOR cloture (senate vote 141).
I suppose he thinks he can vote for cloture again, and then vote against it, and then claim he did all he could to stop it?
there's every indication it will be vetoed, so let's just get on with it and freaking TRY to attend to the other agenda items on the list of issues to attend to in doing "the People's" business.
He's on record as being against this...I've indicated as much...and we can all just move on to the next piece of foolishness from this "New Direction" majority scum.
Iustum et tenacem propositi virum non civium ardor prava iubentium, non vultus instantis tyranni mente quatit solida.
-Quintus Horatius Flaccus
More and more, hay, Cornyn seems to be distinguishing himself as the BEST kind of conservative - worthy to be named alongside Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn as the most pure, unsoiled core conservatives who are not bought off, sucked in, coopted, or bullied by the left, nor by the centrist, squishy GOP powers in DC.
Unfair. Unbalanced. Unmedicated. -- IMAO
Write and thank the good senator at this link
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"You can't save the Earth unless you're willing to make other people sacrifice" - Scott Adams (speaking through Dogbert)
Here's what I sent him:
Senator,
I'm not one of your constituents, but I felt compelled to write and thank you for your opposition to S.3036 (Warner-Leiberman). This bill would be an economic disaster to this country and provides absolutely no benefit to the American citizen or for the alleged planetary crisis it claims to address.
I'm very glad that there remain at least a few Republicans in Congress who have enough backbone to stand against the prevailing wind on this (or, for that matter, any other) issue.
Keep up the great work.
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"You can't save the Earth unless you're willing to make other people sacrifice" - Scott Adams (speaking through Dogbert)
and say that our trade deficit plus all foreign aid we send are our "offset" for global warming-related junk.
An attempt to create more federal bureaucracy. It's not like the federal government isn't already the largest employer in the US or anything.
Now also found at The Minority Report