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ACES Up Her Sleeve

To pass her climate bill, Nancy Pelosi made a mockery of democracy.

Well before Barack Obama brought hope to the White House, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi was adamant that something new and different and wonderful had arrived. In 2006, the incoming Speaker pledged that hers would be the "most honest, most open, and most ethical Congress in history."

At the time, we were skeptical -- to say the least. Our refusal to accept her rhetoric was roundly vindicated last week. That was when Madam-Speaker used every dirty trick at her disposal to coldly ram a 1,500 page global warming bill through the House of Representatives.

The Speaker chose to stifle the usual observances of deliberative democracy because open, honest debate would have attracted unwelcome scrutiny to her massive new energy tax.

Pelosi's legislation, the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act, would raise the price of hydrocarbon energy sources like coal and oil thought to cause global warming, but which power 85 percent -- 85 percent! -- of the economic production in America.

A large energy tax during a deep recession is a political cyanide pill that 44 of Pelosi's Democratic colleagues refused to swallow. That almost doomed the bill and in fact would have killed it outright Friday night if eight Republicans hadn't voted with the majority of Democrats. (The final vote was 219 to 212.)

Likely there would have been many more Democratic "no" votes if Madame-Speaker and Energy & Commerce chairman Henry Waxman didn't find creative ways to shorten or skip every step of that "How a Bill Becomes a Law" song.

When fighting between the Energy & Commerce and Agriculture committees over the bill grew too intense, the farm lobby was bought off as were a lot of other Democrats. In exchange for votes, Pelosi and Waxman wrote countless paybacks, favors, and concessions into the legislation -- all without serious debate.

Indeed, House leadership crafted much of the ACES Act in secret behind closed doors. In the week before the final vote, it grew by a whopping 600 pages. Even that figure doesn't stress the urgent, secretive nature of the process. At 3:09 Friday morning, Waxman et al. introduced a 309-page "manager's amendment" to the legislation that was set for a vote later in the day.

Representatives would have had all of nine hours to study the text, assuming they went without sleep. The manager's amendment made even that impossible, because you had roughly 1,200 pages of text -- containing, at last count, 397 new government regulations and 1,090 new economic mandates -- followed by over 300 pages of text with no index that amended the previous legislation on paragraph by paragraph basis.

It would take a team of lawyers several days to sort out a mess like that.

We have to hand it to Oregon Republican Greg Waldren for his superb sense of understatement when he said he couldn't "imagine that anyone on this floor has read every word" of the ACES Act. That was the whole point of introducing the legislation under an extremely limited rule and only allowing three hours for debate on something that may take a good bite out of every American's pocketbook.

Pelosi and company had complained, rightly, that Republicans rushed some legislation through Congress. But her approach has been even less open to any kind of dissent than former Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

The "open" Congress that Pelosi promised back in 2006 would have allowed members of the House to voice their ideas about how to improve legislation. Fat chance. House leadership discarded all but one -- that's right, one -- of the 220 amendments submitted by House Republicans on the ACES Act, and allowed next to no time for debate. Georgia's Phil Gingrey complained on the House floor, "The Speaker and the Rules Committee have silenced the opposition."

They certainly tried to. If there's any silver lining to this, it's that congressional Republicans were incensed and unlikely to forget, or shut up about it. John Boehner used his privilege as Minority Leader to insist, over the befuddled objection of Waxman, on going past normal debate time limits and reading large chunks of the 11th hour amendment on the House floor.

And afterward, when Waxman requested unanimous consent to say a few celebratory words about his historic bill's passage, some Republican uttered those two magical words: "I object."

topics:
Nancy Pelosi, Environment, Cap and Trade, Energy Tax

About the Author

Jeremy Lott is editor of RealClearBooks.com and RealClearReligion.org and associate editor of RealClearScience.com.

About the Author

William Yeatman is an energy policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (59) | Leave a comment

Big J| 6.29.09 @ 6:47AM

Friday's behavior in the House was the most ridiculous display of disregard for the will of the people I have ever seen (well, maybe since the stimulus was passed). Did anyone try to call on Friday? The phones were melting off the wall, and I venture a guess that it wasn't in sweeping support of this hoax-driven energy tax. I'm disgusted.

While your representatives are on the "4th of July recess" (another recess?), now would be a good time to call the home office and put them on notice.

If my representative treated me like that (Ted Poe has been really good to the voters), I might say something like this:

"My name is _______. I was just calling to let you know that I am sick and tired of your misrepresentation. I will do everything in my power to ensure that you do not get re-elected, including, but not limited to financial support for your opponent. You are supposed to be working for me, not the "global warming gurus". You should be ashamed of yourself."

Or something like that.

Darin| 6.29.09 @ 7:20AM

With several states reinforcing the Tenth Amendment, it will be interesting to see if some (or many) states decide not to abide by this blatant federal power grab.

JP| 6.29.09 @ 7:32AM

I would have to agree with Big J. The will 0f the people was thwarted, and Pelosi would have gotten the bill through without the 8 votes from the GOP. She was determined to get this through no matter what the consequences. It was like old times -the 1970s replay. Rep Pelosi lined up goverment activists and Fortune 500 lobbyists and began to cut deals. When it was all said and done, like the stimulus, no one had an idea what the final law contained. All we do know is that the price tag will approach a whopping $800 billion subtraction from the GDP, and perhaps an additional $2000-3000 indirect tax on every family per anum.

The Senate is not scheduled to review and vote on this until September. I'm not sure what strength the GOP has left to fight the Senate version. Hopefully, the details of the House bill will disgust the public at large to such a degree that one of three things will happen:

a)The Senate re-writes the bill to such a degree that it would have be DOA when sent back to the House for reconcilliation

b)Enough Democratic Senators will join the GOP to ensure a filibuster

c)The bill languishes in the Senate and dies, which would force the Dems to re-visit the bill next year (unlikely due to 2010 being an election year).

What needs to be done is a complete airing of the pay-offs, sweet heart deals, set-asisdes, earmarks, corporate welfare, and subsidies that were made last week. Whether ads, talk radio, or blogs, the word needs to get out, and the anger needs to set in to such a degree that the Senate will shelve everything (a good way for them to do this is to let it die in committee, thus keeping the Senators butts out of the fire).

It's funny that for the last 3 weeks refined gas prices have fallen about 20 cents per gallon. This is very unusual, as gasoline prices usually surge between the 2nd week of June and Labor Day. Demand must be so weak that inventories are piling up. The recession isn't close to bottoming out. Yet, the House drafted a bill that would surely send the economy into free-fall. Political suicide, if you ask me.

Melvin| 6.29.09 @ 7:39AM

My dear brothers and sister, your cries of anguish upon the bastardization of our beloved Republic and the rule of law have unfortunately fallen upon deaf ears.
A person would think that the Buffoons in Congress would see this, but we now have a pseudo monarchy upon our soil with Capitol Hill politicians acting as if the were noblemen.
Do not look to the Senate to redress your grievances. Harry Reid not to be upstaged by Nancy Pelosi who now sits at the right hand Of Obama will do anything and everything to pass this obamanation of punishing taxation to curry favor with the dear King Barrack.
By passing this bill, Congress has de facto admitted that Global Warming is a farce and the legislation is nothing but a massive tax increase because if Global Warming is as urjent as Al Gore states it is, then why negotiate to gather the votes to get this passed?
If the Oceans are rising, and the Polar Bears are on the verge of exticntion because of Global Warming would this be something that is non-negotiable because the fate of the planet is at stake?

philhoey| 6.29.09 @ 8:48AM

Shakespears said it best in Romeo and Juliet "A plague o' both your houses"

What a freakin' farce we have witnessed. What can we expect from Mount Olyupus?

The only time our Imperious Congress wants to acknowledge we are there is when they want to be re-elected.

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Stipe Bono| 6.29.09 @ 9:29AM

How is this not a tax increase? How does this help feed a hungry child? Won't SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!

Marc Jeric| 6.29.09 @ 9:37AM

1) There was first in the 1970's the globaloney cooling scam (see e.g. Newsweek April 28 1975 on the internet); the government-paid scientists (90% of them are rejects of private enterprise) recommended to fight the new ice age by sending our war planes to cover the polar ice with soot in order to increase solar heat and prevent crushing of New York skyscrapers by the new glaciers;
2) When that did not work we had the globaloney warming hoax in the 1990's, proclaimed by mainly the same government-paid scientists (Dr. Hansen of the NOAA, for example); to prevent the massive heating, fires, flooding of coastal cities, disappearance of Florida, California, and Caribbean islands, massive hurricanes, global famine, and other catastrophic events we should nationalize oil and gas and coal and electricity companies;
3) after 11 years of considerable cooling we are now faced with the climate change flimflam where whatever happens with our climate we should nationalize oil and gas and coal and electricity companies; and why not our banks, car companies while we are at it. To prevent this catastrophe the best vehicle presumably is international agreements enforced by the United Nations world government.
As for the influence of carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas: on a normal day the atmoshere contains 10,000 ppm (parts per million) of water vapor and about 300 ppm of carbon dioxide. The government-paid scientists say that an increase of 100 ppm of CO2 over the next 50 years will result in a catastrophic warming. The thermal absorptivity of water vapor is 4 times larger than that of carbon dioxide; it follows that the CO2 increase will increase the overall thermal absorptivity of the mixture by about 1/4 of one percent. The production of methane from livestock and the swamps (or as the enviro-nazis call those "wetlands") vastly surpasses the influence of CO2.
There is the Global Warming Petition Project (see Internet) where 31,478 US independent scientists declared that there is no anthropogenic (human-caused) global warming; of these 9,029 are scientists with PhD degrees. Our enviro-nazis tried to sabotage this effort by submiiting phony names with phoney degrees - and then claimed the whole effort by the Petition scientists was a fraud. It took us 3 years and a lot of private money to verify the credentials of all the signatories and clean up the Petition of those saboteurs. See also Manhattan Declaration with more such signatories, plus a large number of scientific groups from other countries who state the same.
I am one of these signatories, MS and PhD degrees from UCLA, with majors in thermodynamics and heat & mass transfer.
I think to fight this communist attempt to secure a world government should not be fought on the narrow grounds of more taxes - that is the losing proposition; where about 50% of the population is on some kind of welfare we will always be outvoted. The battle should be fought and won on the firm scientific basis.
SCAM - HOAX - FLIMFLAM!!!

ds80| 6.29.09 @ 10:03AM

November, 2010: Time to refresh the tree of libertyM. Be there. Or then keep your mouth shut and suffer the consequences.

Pete| 6.29.09 @ 11:02AM

I wonder what punishments are included in the legislation, you know, if the climate doesn't obey their decree? What a scam.

Pete| 6.29.09 @ 11:02AM

I wonder what punishments are included in the legislation, you know, if the climate doesn't obey their decree? What a scam.

P Walker| 6.29.09 @ 11:35AM

Actually , I thought that the honest , open and ethical bit went out the window when she nominated John Murtha for majority leader .

Bo Darville| 6.29.09 @ 11:40AM

Something tells me that when people look back at our times in the future they'll see the leftists trying to control the weather via legislation as a little bit peculiar.

Michael Tomlinson| 6.29.09 @ 12:40PM

When "principled conservatives" fell for the Democrat propaganda that Republicans needed to be punished in 2006 and 2008 it created this monstrosity of sleaze and abuse of power. As Americans see their taxes rise, life-style decline and checkbooks shrink they can only thank themselves for empowering Democrats and creating the road to soft despotism.

The culture of corruption is epitomized and exemplified by Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama’s Democrat Congressional majority. Happy Days are here again for rich elitists, greedy Democrat special interest groups and liberal automatons.

Oldefarte| 6.29.09 @ 12:58PM

The only thing possibly more expensive than this carbon-tax bill is NANCY'S NUMEROUS FACELIFTS/PLASTIC SURGERY, which, like the bill, has obviously failed to achieve it purpose!!!!!

Stan Redmond| 6.29.09 @ 3:22PM

Regards to Pete,

There will be punishments if the climate refuses to cooperate. It is further proof even MORE must be done to curb energy consumption. More taxes and restrictions... One thing missing from all this bill mess. What is the goal? What magical temperature, who decides?

Old Texican| 6.29.09 @ 3:24PM

...A TOTAL...disgrace!

Do ya'll know the definition of "disgrace"?

"A falling from the Grace of The Holy Spirit"!

Without repentance, these people will burn in Hell.

Louis Jenkins| 6.29.09 @ 4:14PM

In 2006, the incoming Speaker pledged that hers would be the "most honest, most open, and most ethical Congress in history."

Ethics is the study of conduct and moral judgment. This is the head of our Congress speaking? Does oxymoron sound appropriate here or is just plain moron better?

Our elite elected leadership has once more exhibited a distain for what is best for the country. In the face of staggering deficits, low unemployment, an economy that has not only circled the drain but is in it, increasing energy costs, and just plain bogus Al Gore science, the US House has taken another slice off the backside of the productive American family.

Follow link to see how your Representative voted. http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll477.xml

Pelosi promised us the world when she became speaker. Instead, she and her kind brought more cloaked, closeted, skullduggery machinations to the District of Crimminals. We’re all just quivering with anticipation for the Senate to openly, honestly, and ethically deal with this bill.

Jeff | 6.29.09 @ 4:29PM

If everyone could stop lieing that be great. The relatively conservative CBO estimated the bill would cost families around 150 dollars a year extra. Those with incomes below certain levels will receive rebates of that amount. Im not sure where you guys are 2000-3000 dollars but that is false. In reality, this bill is watered down and will not have a major effect on the environment or economy. That doesn't matter to you guys though, TO PARTISAN TO SEE THE TRUTH

On the point of reflecting the will of the people. You are stupid, the House of Representatives, by definition, reflects the will of the people. Just because your will is not reflected does not mean the peoples was not.

Tony Arden| 6.29.09 @ 5:12PM

Jeff | 6.29.09 @ 4:29PM -- I suppose you read all 1200+ pages of the bill. Who was giving you instructions on what to type in your comments?

Thom| 6.29.09 @ 5:45PM

Jeff, the CBO numbers are averages and do not take into account numerous indirect cost nor does it take into account the scaled up tick of the programed in C&T over time. That $150.00 average is three months average electric bill for me and those not graced by the Nuke plant nearby like me are going to see twice that amount under the circumstances that produce that average. I guess you missed that part in the Bill that requires a government agent to inspect your home before you sell it to asses its energy conservation fitness for sell? The several thousand dollars it would take to bring my 1974 standard house up to the Bill’s standard wouldn’t pay for itself in several life times at my actual consumption of electrical power. As for giving the “poor” another form of welfare payment under this plan well that is the central goal of King Obama, to create more serfs for his feudal kingdom by robbing the “rich” and giving to the “poor”. This Bill will have zero measurable impact on the "climate" or reduce our dependency on imported oil but it will provide a hidden tax on everything we buy and create another government bureaucracy to feed.

Steven in NC| 6.29.09 @ 5:50PM

To Jeff and Tony Arden, I haven't read any of the bill but the Financial Times article says the bill is back loaded so that most of the pain (and any potential benefit) is put off for 10-15 years. Maybe that's why there's a discrepancy in the cost estimates. I have heard no one except Obama dispute the Spanish experience of 2.2 jobs lost for every job created or the British experience of 3-5 thousand pounds in extra taxes/expenses per person with NOTHING to show for all that pain.

It's gonna be like the guy with the elephant gun on the corner in New York City ("there's not an elephant within 5ooo miles of here" - "see what a good job I'm doing"). When the temperature and sea levels don't rise, I guess they'll expect credit for saving the world from the threat that didn't exist.

.

Big J| 6.29.09 @ 6:56PM

Jeff, step away from the Kool-Aide.

I challenge you to name one way that this bill is going to reduce your so-called "greenhouse gas" emissions". NAME ONE!

I am not even going to list all of the scientific FACTS that debunk your ridiculous religion, because you don't care about facts. Facts just get in the way of your radical leftist agenda. You have been bought, probably cheap. I hope your welfare check covers the energy increases you're about to see. I hope for your sake.

All the hope-n-change in the world ain't gonna pay your light bill, brother. Obama is NOT your savior. In fact (this might hurt a bit), OBAMA DOESN'T GIVE A GOOD RAT'S A** ABOUT YOU! Obama cares about Obama, and the special interest groups that have put him into the most powerful position a president has ever held. He can't lap up the power quick enough.

The sooner you come to grips with that, the better off you'll be. Hell, we'll all be better off having one more semi-educated voter in the booth. The decisions you have made affect all of us.

Thanks a lot, man. /sarc

I know it hurts. The truth sometimes does.

Damn! I didn't realize how many of you freaks were left. I thought for sure that the number was dwindling by now.

Louis Jenkins| 6.29.09 @ 7:27PM

What did the CBO say? Read below copied from CNS.

However, the CBO report does not examine the economic impact of imposing billions in new operating and production costs on virtually every industry in America. It only assumes that the price businesses pay for the allowances will be directly passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.

CBO does not examine the cost from lost production and energy use to the economy, including higher unemployment and reductions in wages and benefits that would come as businesses are forced to cut back on production due to federally mandated reductions in energy usage.

“The resource cost does not indicate the potential decrease in gross domestic product (GDP) that could result from the cap,” the report said in a footnote. “The reduction in GDP would also include indirect general equilibrium effects, such as changes in the labor supply resulting from reductions in real wages and potential reductions in the productivity of capital and labor.”

Resource cost is the cost to the public of the additional resources required to comply with the new nationwide federal mandates – things such as time, building new sources of power generation, and changes in personal behavior such as buying a more fuel-efficient car or carpooling to work. CBO did not include negative economic effects in its estimation of resource cost.

CBO also left out the direct cost to local, state, and the federal government of complying with the new federal energy regulations. While the federal government can run deficits eternally, state and local governments cannot, so they must pass on the costs of federal compliance to taxpayers either through reduced services or higher taxes.

“(I)f governments chose to increase taxes, the cost would fall on households on the basis of their share of federal, state, and local taxes. In contrast, if governments chose to cover the additional expenses by cutting back on the services that they provide, the cost would fall on households that no longer received those services,” CBO reported.

CBO did admit in a separate analysis published June 5 that even its limited cost estimates of carbon allowances could be wrong if everything doesn’t go as planned and either the public or the economy fail to respond as quickly as Congress would like them to.

“CBO’s estimates of the responsiveness of firms and households to changes in energy prices strongly influences its estimates. If that responsiveness were 10 percent stronger (or weaker), on average, allowance prices would be roughly 8 percent lower or 9 percent higher.”

If not having your way means bills being passed that aren't even completed, representatives not having the chance to read the bill as a finished product, and legislation being rammed down our throats, then I'd have to say "None of us have had our way."

Steven in NC| 6.29.09 @ 7:46PM

Caught some of the House's ramrodding last Friday on CSPAN. It was painful. The presiding officer (a Democrat, not Pelosi, didn't see her name) was forced by the Republicans to acknowledge that she was stifling debate and forcing a vote on a bill to which 300 pages of changes had been added at 3AM and no one had read let alone debated- the House clerks had not even had time to insert the changed pages before the vote. But that didn't stop her from forcing the vote. You could almost tell from her wry smile that she was getting her marching orders from above that she had to follow whether she agreed with the ridiculousness of it all or not.

Tom| 6.29.09 @ 8:25PM

On Jan. 21, 2009, I lowered my flag which I flew everyday. I knew what was coming and am not surprised with the present congress and administration. It was there for everyone to see during the primaries.

Now I fly my flag on Memorial Day, did on June 6, and will on Veterans Day. The 4th of July should not be a holiday since the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution have been killed and is in the process of being buried.

This was the greatest country there ever was. Today is resembles the begining of a dictatorship and representing the very thing the colonist and immigrants was leaving. This government today is doing a 180 degree turn from what our founding fathers gave us and what 99% of the people today want.
God Bless The United States of America, may you rest in peace.

Ned| 6.29.09 @ 9:00PM

The passage of this bill in the House is really good news, even if it suffers death in the Senate. Now the Democrat Congressmen who serve conservative districts and voted for this Bill are toast. Now the Republicans can hang every increase at the gas pump, your power bill, and natural gas bill, right around the Democrat’s necks. As a matter of fact if Republicans have any desire for victory left in them they can link any increase in the price of anything to the type of legislation contained in this Bill. Good job Democrats, you see no matter how warm and fuzzy people feel after doing something to save Gaia, it will all turn to anger when it takes more money out of their wallets. Outstanding.

The Old Chief| 6.29.09 @ 9:53PM

I hafd already made this decision, but this overt sublimation of everything America sstands for just reinforces it. Unhappily, both my senators and representative are demonrats. I will be doing everything in my limited power to see them defeated in the next election. It is obvious they have NO interest in what I tell them.

HogKiller| 6.29.09 @ 11:38PM

The Old Chief, you wouldn't happen to have Honda, Feinstein and Boxer would you? All three have od'd on the KoolAid. Honda use to have a bit of a conscious, that must have been removed at some point. Boxer has the brains of a brain dead rat, oh sorry the JUNIOR Senator from California ... Ma'am, and Feinstein, wants to be Governor of CA, FAT CHANCE.

OldPhartbsa| 6.30.09 @ 3:31AM

2ARMS, the Second American Revolution Movement Society, is an idea I put forth before.
http://oldphartbsa.newsvine.com/_news/2008/12/31/2260684-2nd-american-revolution-movement-society-2arms

My reasoning is that neither of the two dominant political parties heed the wishes of the common American and, as a result, our last couple of crops of elected misrepresentatives pay even less attention to their constituents.

Particularly during the vote for the TARP funding last year when the weasels acknowledged overwhelming objection from the american citizens, um, consumers (we're no longer citizens, only consumers in their minds).

My update to the idea results from some of the feedback I received to the post. It is also prompted by my viewing earlier this evening (06/24/09), between Barney Frank and Bill O'Reilly on Fox (yeah, I know). In this interview, Barney Frank admitted, point blank, that what they have been doing is not in the constitution "it's discretionary".

The real point I wanted to make when I first proposed the idea was to create a "non"-party. What would be the effect if every registered voter who is absolutely disgusted with the whole false democrat/republican thing (including those of independent, green, socialist, and any other stripe) were to unite in declaring themselves a member of an entirely fictional party; one with a name that is very clear on it's intent?

What would be the effect as various State Registrars notice an increase in party affiliation with a totally unknown, organic, and fictional party as they make their various reports to their respective States and the federal government?

I think, though I may be wrong, that many americans see very little difference between democrats and republicans anymore. But have registered as one or the other for a common reason...someone they individually respected was. Think on that, and deep down, you would admit to it. With that same respect, is your party the same as it once was?

I propose a real revolution. One that can be accomplished without bullets, without hatred, but with firm conviction that our government has exceeded, at every level, their circumscribed Constitutional boundaries.

If you are truly disgusted with both parties and really want to change the system, change your voter registration to make your party affiliation "2ARMS-Second American Revolution Movement Society".

There are no dues, no mailers, no one will call, you won't get campaign literature, or any requests for contributions. At least not legitimately. Better yet, at present, there are no 2ARMS Candidates for office.

To be a true 2ARMS member you only have three obligations.
1. Register in your state as a 2ARMS party member.
2. Swear to vote against any incumbent in any federal office for 10 years.
3. Vote your conscience.

The whole point is to unregister as any party.

The scheming lawyers and political parties that are charting our collective fate depend on the feedback the two party system provides. By chosing NOT to participate the damned fools in Congress will have to start listening to the people directly, lest they are met by lynch mobs back in their districts (which may still happen regardless of what we do).

By electively choosing a fictional party, 2ARMS, there is a strong message sent.

1. Party affiliation means nothing in your eyes.
2. You are sick of what you have witnessed over the last 18 months.
3. You're indifferent if the incumbent succumbs to a lost election or has their head on a stick, or in a noose.
4. The american citizen is in charge of this country, not some two-bit, weasel in a $200 suit.

You still have the option to vote your conscience, preferably to vote out the incumbent each election for ten years, or not.

Kendall| 6.30.09 @ 7:07PM

America's Patriots must rise up and throw these bums out of Congress. The work starts now. I just got back from picketing the Norwich, CT offices of weazel Joe Courtney's (2d District) along with a dozen other Tea Party Patriots. We will hang his vote around his scrawny neck and he will rue the day he voted for this abomination.

What we have is a true imperial presidency (to think that they applied that title to Bush) with a Congress of clowns. It's as if we allowed children to play legislator, not just for a day, but for a two-year term. How sad that this is the best we can do for people to represent us. But this will change as millions of citizens rise up and take back their government.
Global warming has always been a fraud. Those who claim to be fighting it know nothing of the science (including idiot Courtney). Global temperatues are currently below the 3,000-year average of 23 degrees C and up only 0.8 degrees C since 1850. Anybody who thinks that is a crisis needs to have his head examined. This an ideological power grab, pure and simple. The Obama administration is anti-science as revealed by its quashing of an EPA report dismissing global warming alarmism.
Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman are such buffoons and slimeballs for the way they railrodaded this legislation through without adequate debate or time for thoughtful consideration. Perhaps more than anything, the manner in which a bill of this complexity and far-reaching impact was ramroded through Congress exposes the incompetence of this administration and its Congressional lackeys.

Steve Wells| 6.30.09 @ 7:56PM

The U.S. Federal Government is full of life time elected and civil service people who do not care about the people because they receive so much more from the Military Industrial Complex Corporations and Health Industry Corporations in the forms of gifts and other forms of incentives to help maintain them in office. All these Fed's know what side the bread is buttered with the current rules and regulations governing such support from lobbiest. There is just one way to stop all this . That the independent states declare their sovereignty and succeed from the union. And if that doe not work, than revolution. The Fed's do not care how many Tea Parties are out there. It means nothing to them. Also boycott the industries involved and not pay federal taxes. And the states should issue their own currencies for trade. In other words, we need to starve out all those involved with the corruption of the Federal Government.
The Federal Government no longer represents the people. So they have broken the contract with the people, leaving it null and void.
The Main purpose for the Federal Government is to defend the states from foreign enemies. Also to settle differences between the state by legislation and enforcement of those laws. Wouldn't it be nice to bring it back down in size to some sensible point?

Chicago1234| 6.30.09 @ 8:37PM

Yeah and you republiCONS were so inclusive the previous 6 years

Aloha| 6.30.09 @ 9:18PM

CLEAN ENERGY IS INVALUABLE.
_____________________
SCANDAL! SCANDAL! SCANDAL!

EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!

George W. Bush continuously criminally stalked Margie Schoedinger to the point that she could not get away from it, and she committed suicide in desperation to escape: he murdered her.

“In her suit, Margie Schoedinger states that George W. Bush committed sexual crimes against her, organized harassment and moral pressure on her, her family members and close relatives and friends. As Schoedinger said, she was strongly recommended to keep her mouth shut. . . . Furthermore, she alleges that George Bush ordered to show pressure on her to the point, when she commits suicide” (blog of drizzten).

“One of those ‘very leasts’ [was] George Bush’s personal complicity in the death (murder to be precise) of my friend Margie Schoedinger in September of 2003. Determining the exact whereabouts and contacts of . . . George Bush on September 21 thru 22, 2003, should be entirely lacking in difficulty” (Leola McConnell—Nevada Progressive Democratic Candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010).

McConnell is correct: Bush applying pressure (continuously criminally stalking Margie Schoedinger) purposefully to force Schoedinger to commit suicide does in fact constitute murder where it culminated in her death.

Bush is a racist hate criminal and hates black people (please feel free to see my “GEORGE W. BUSH IS THE WORST PRESIDENT IN U.S. HISTORY” blog). (Schoedinger was an African-American woman.)

BEWARE: If the president of the United States hates one—for whatever reasons—he can continuously criminally stalk one to the point that one cannot get away from it, and one ultimately commits suicide in desperation to escape. He can murder people in this way.

Bush is getting away with his murder of Schoedinger—with no sheriff, prosecutor, or court willing to uphold the rule of law.

Bush’s method of murdering Schoedinger cannot exist in a vacuum: he must have murdered other people in the same way.

Bush should confess, come out with the names of all of the people whom he murdered in the disgusting way he murdered Schoedinger, undergo execution, and accordingly find himself at the intersection where he would be free.

(There are thousands of copies of the information above on the Internet. It exists very extensively in all major search engines. Please feel free to go to any major search engine, type “George W. Bush continuously criminally stalked Margie Schoedinger to the point that she could not get away from it, and she committed suicide in desperation to escape: he murdered her” or “Bush applying pressure (continuously criminally stalking Margie Schoedinger) purposefully to force Schoedinger to commit suicide does in fact constitute murder where it culminated in her death,” hit “Enter,” and find innumerable results.)
_____________________
Andrew Wang
(a.k.a. “THE DISSEMINATING MACHINE”)
B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Messiah College, Grantham, PA
Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA, 1993

L. Chandler| 6.30.09 @ 9:55PM

I'm in Colorado. In the last election CO. went Democrat.
We have many problems here, mostly with illegal immigrant farm workers that stay on and on.
Our Senator is Mark Udall who sends me email that he supports TARP, the Stimulus Bill, and now Cap and Trade. I email and phone Mr. Udall but continue to get his ridiculous rants about how wonderful its going to be. I am not being represented and often don't know what I can do.
So, with the monthly mailing of my bills I have begun to write on the envelope with a bold marker in protest. "Don't Reelect Mark Udall D. CO., and "Udall Supports Higher Taxes", and whatever else I can think of.
I have also purchased some Bumper Sticker stationary from Office Max and am going to Photoshop some stickers that I can give away to friends. My car, is a Jag, its going to be plastered with them.
I would also like to say that I think Americans are at a lose as to what to do. There's no leadership from the Dems, for sure, and the GOP isn't promoting anyone either.
Americans that can see what is happening have no leadership and "Time is of the Essence". If sane leadership doesn't show-up soon its really going to be a battle later.
So, Americans need to stop defining themselves as either party and need to just be Americans. Read Thomas Paine, "Common Sense" and maybe even start the Thomas Paine Party. We could even call it the "Paine Party" because it isn't going to be easy; as America needs to redefine its priorities.

Ben| 7.1.09 @ 12:03AM

If you don't want energy taxes in times of recession, perhaps you are happier sending your money to the middle east and then sending our soldiers to fight the very fundamentalists we are funding with oil money. Be patriotic, pay taxes so that we can stop depending on Middle Eastern countries to run our country.

Robin Venturini| 7.1.09 @ 3:58AM

It is quite obvious that our elected representatives have lost their way. They have forgotten that they work for US, not the president! Most have taken on an agenda of personal gain and power.
Last august, I called upon the people to " throw the bums out". It went unheeded! We have elected those whose goals are not to represent their constituents, but to empower themselves. The result of this are bills such as ACES and TARP!
If anyone takes the time to read this latest bill, they will see that we are headed for a gestapo-like state that will only enslave the people with higher costs and more regulations to relieve us of our freedoms! Read the constitution! This bill is so wrong!
We must contact our representatives (and senators) to let them know we are " mad as hell, and not gonna take it any more"! Throw the bums out!!!

al| 7.1.09 @ 9:35PM

I hope the progressive fascists have been tracking the zooming sales for handguns and applications for concealed permits. we saw little over a year ago how "stressed" the public can get when gas prices rise by an order of magnitude. Just wait until the inevitable food, energy and manufactured goods price increases start weighing in - coupled to tax increases. it may get very, very nasty.

these people are nuts if they think they have somehow captured the "people's will". I have seen the future in California - it doesn't work.

al| 7.1.09 @ 9:42PM

dear Ben...you can't be that dense...can you?

it's about the freedom to chose.

btw..like so many who advance claims like yours about "our soldiers"...are you another bumper sticker patriot or have you actually served and shouldered some risk yourself?

Joseph R. Breslin| 7.2.09 @ 2:35PM

How can you blame them when the voters do no even read newspapers anymore because the newspapers never print the truth anyway. Newspapers are the blame for America being sold out to the Socialist controlled Democrats.

Robert Miller| 7.4.09 @ 10:10AM

Pelosi and her Liberal buddies if not stoped will ruin the USA. These polices Cap & Trade ,Card check and others show you just how out of touch Congress is.. We need to pass TERM LIMITS.....

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