Oh, of course…….the water:

From ESPN:

As ESPN previously reported, WWF, Greenpeace, Defenders of Wildlife, Pew Environment Group and others produced a document entitled “Transition Green” shortly after Obama was elected in 2008. What has happened since suggests that the task force has been in lockstep with that position paper.

Then in late summer, just after he created the task force, these groups produced “Recommendations for the Adoption and Implementation of an Oceans, Coasts, and Great Lakes National Policy.” This document makes repeated references to “overfishing,” but doesn’t once reference recreational angling, its importance, and its benefits, both to participants and the resource.

Additionally, some of these same organizations have revealed their anti-fishing bias by playing fast and loose with “facts,” in attempts to ban tackle containing lead in the United States and Canada.

That same tunnel vision, in which recreational angling and commercial fishing are indiscriminately lumped together as harmful to the resource, has persisted with the task force, despite protests by the angling industry.

As more evidence of collusion, the green groups began clamoring for an Executive Order to implement the task force’s recommendations even before the public comment period ended in February. Fishing advocates had no idea that this was coming.

Perhaps not so coincidentally, the New York Times reported on Feb. 12 that “President Obama and his team are preparing an array of actions using his executive power to advance energy, environmental, fiscal and other domestic policy priorities.”

Read the whole thing here

How far off course have we gotten when environmental extremists can exert this much influence over a sitting president?

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-Cnation

From YouTube:

Journalist and filmmaker Phelim McAleer (Mine Your Own Business, Not Evil Just Wrong) attempts to ask Al Gore a question about ‘Climategate’ emails at the UN Climate Change Conference. Al Gore’s Press Secretary grabs his McAleer’s microphone and UN security guard pulls the cable from the microphone. For more Inconvenient Questions and answers about The True Cost of Global Warming Hysteria visit www.noteviljustwrong.com

…

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-Cnation

Just another day in Obama’s Amerika.

From FOX News:

The Obama administration is warning Congress that if it doesn’t move to regulate greenhouse gases, the Environmental Protection Agency will take a “command-and-control” role over the process in a way that could hurt business.

The warning, from a top White House economic official who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity, came on the eve of EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson’s address to the international conference on climate change in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Jackson, however, tried to strike a tone of cooperation in her address Wednesday, explaining that the EPA’s new powers to regulate greenhouse gases will be used to complement legislation pending in Congress, not replace it.

“This is not an ‘either-or’ moment. It’s a ‘both-and’ moment,” she said.

But while administration officials have long said they prefer Congress take action on climate change, the economic official who spoke with reporters Tuesday night made clear that the EPA will not wait and is prepared to act on its own.

And it won’t be pretty.

“If you don’t pass this legislation, then … the EPA is going to have to regulate in this area,” the official said. “And it is not going to be able to regulate on a market-based way, so it’s going to have to regulate in a command-and-control way, which will probably generate even more uncertainty.”

Let me translate that for you.

Obama administration to Congress: Pass Cap and Trade or we’ll have the EPA wreck what’s left of the economy.

Read the whole thing here

This is what happens when you put inexperienced, America-hating liberal children in charge of a nation.

I hope you idiots who thought it would be cool to vote for a black guy rather than the most qualified candidate are starting to understand the meaning of the phrase ‘elections have consequences“.

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-Cnation

Update (scroll to bottom of post): Soros Hedge Fund Bought Petrobras (Brazil oil co.)  Stake Worth $811 Million in q2 2009

From Sarah Palin’s Facebook page, her reaction to the news that Team Obama has committed billion$ of American dollars to oil exploration and drilling….in Brazil:

Today at 12:10am

YOUR TAX DOLLARS HARD AT WORK: FIRST CARS, NOW FOREIGN OIL.

Today’s Wall Street Journal contains some puzzling news for all Americans who are impacted by high energy prices and who share the goal of moving us toward energy independence.

For years, states rich with an abundance of oil and natural gas have been begging Washington, DC politicians for the right to develop their own natural resources on federal lands and off shore. Such development would mean good paying jobs here in the United States (with health benefits) and the resulting royalties and taxes would provide money for federal coffers that would potentially off-set the need for higher income taxes, reduce the federal debt and deficits, or even help fund a trillion dollar health care plan if one were so inclined to support such a plan.

So why is it that during these tough times, when we have great needs at home, the Obama White House is prepared to send more than two billion of your hard-earned tax dollars to Brazil so that the nation’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras, can drill off shore and create jobs developing its own resources? That’s all Americans want; but such rational energy development has been continually thwarted by rabid environmentalists, faceless bureaucrats and a seemingly endless parade of lawsuits aimed at shutting down new energy projects.

I’ll speak for the talent I have personally witnessed on the oil fields in Alaska when I say no other country in the world has a stronger workforce than America, no other country in the world has better safety standards than America, and no other country in the world has stricter environmental standards than America. Come to Alaska to witness how oil and gas can be developed simultaneously with the preservation of our eco-system. America has the resources. We deserve the opportunity to develop our resources no less than the Brazilians. Millions of Americans know it is true: “Drill, baby, drill.” Alaska is proof you can drill and develop, and preserve nature, with its magnificent caribou herds passing by the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), completely unaffected. One has to wonder if Obama is playing politics and perhaps refusing a “win” for some states just to play to the left with our money.

The new Gulf of Mexico lease sales tomorrow sound promising and perhaps will move some states in the right direction, but we all know that the extreme environmentalists who serve to block progress elsewhere, including in Alaska, continue to block opportunities. These environmentalists are putting our nation in peril and forcing us to rely on unstable and hostile foreign countries. Mr. Obama can stop the extreme tactics and exert proper government authority to encourage resource development and create jobs and health benefits in the U.S.; instead, he chooses to use American dollars in Brazil that will help to pay the salaries and benefits for Brazilians to drill for resources when the need and desire is great in America.

Buy American is a wonderful slogan, but you can’t say in one breath that you want to strengthen our economy and stimulate it, and then in another ship our much-needed dollars to a nation desperate to drill while depriving us of the same opportunity.

- Sarah Palin

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Update: According to a Bloomberg article, “Billionaire investor George Soros bought an $811 million stake in Petroleo Brasileiro SA in the second quarter, making the Brazilian state-controlled oil company his investment fund’s largest holding.”

As we know, Petroleo Brasileiro SA is the company that Team Obama has just committed 2 billion dollars to. I don’t care who you are or on which side of the political aisle you choose to sit, the stink coming off this deal is overwhelming and undeniable. President Obama is actively working against the best interests of the United States, and - although I’ve never been completely onboard the ‘Soros is running the show’ bandwagon - George Soros is in it up to his ears.

Scared? Outraged? You’d better be both.

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-Cnation

Dealing With The “Aye” Votes

Today, I’m heading down to an impromptu protest at the office of Congressman Bob Etheridge here in Raleigh. Etheridge was one of North Carolina’s six Democrat ‘Aye’ votes on cap and trade; why his office is being singled out is unclear to me, but it doesn’t matter. Neither does the probability that nobody will be in the office, or that the turnout will be light. This is a rallying point for us, and that’s all that concerns me on this particular day.Every step, no matter how small, is a step in the right direction, and even if only a handful of us show up, that is a handful more saying to these sons of bitches that we will not take their total disregard for the wishes of their constituents for one more second.

I know the psychology here, and that is that they think we’ll eventually go away. Well, here’s a news flash for all the congressmen, senators, presidential staffers and even the precedent himself:

We aren’t going anywhere. You are.

All day yesterday and into today, stories were pouring in via talk radio, the internet and television about people calling their congressmen/women and not being able to get through because the lines were jammed, or of people whose congressmen/women told them point-blank (via staffers manning the phones) that although the calls they had been receiving were overwhelmingly against cap and trade, they were voting in favor of it anyway.

How’s that for representative government?

Make no mistake, a large, large number of our representatives have gone rogue and are no longer even pretending to represent the wishes and concerns of their constituents. It;s all about the deal and the payoff - what’s in it for them, who owes what to whom, and - this has been coming out over the last couple of days - who has their money invested in ‘renewable energy’.

From Glenn Beck:

Concentrate on things that are important, like those who are pushing this energy bill stand to gain the most from it:

• Nancy Pelosi has $50,000 to $100,000 in Clean Energy Fuels Corp.

• Rep. Edward Markey — hmm, why does that name sound familiar? — has investments between $51,000 and $115,000 in the Firsthand Technology Value Fund (which as three solar-energy manufacturers)

• Al Gore — Mr. “Inconvenient Truth” himself — his venture capital firm is heavily invested in a new software company that’s making software to help companies track their carbon footprint. He, and companies like his, will make a fortune.

Not only will this bill make politicians rich, it will increase their power as well.

This is a government out of control. This is government stealing from its people. This is a government that, unless stopped, will continue to attack our liberties, our freedoms, our free enterprise system, our very way of life until our American greatness and exceptionalism - you know, the two things that Obama has been traveling the world apologising for - are destroyed.

The future of our country is in our hands. We DO have the power to stop this - they haven’t taken that away from us yet - but we need to commit to action. If there’s a tea party event you can attend today, next weekend, whenever, then go. Stay informed and engaged. Cap and Trade goes to the Senate next, and it’s never too early to start letting your senators know where you stand and how you expect them to vote. Healthcare and immigration reform amnesty are next, and God only knows what else is coming down the pike. The point is, be ready.

Anyway, before I get off track, here are the North Carolina Democrats who voted against cap and trade. I’ve personally called both their offices and thanked them:

• Congressman Larry Kissell - (202) 225-3715
• Congressman Mike McIntyre - (202) 225-2731

Here is the complete roll call vote

Here’s Congressman Mark Kirk pretending to read the bill

Another couple of great posts at Michelle Malkin’s site today. Remember to let the 8 “Cap and Tax” republicans know what their vote meant to you.

Michelle Malkin: The 8 cap-and-tax Republicans…and the 44 Democrats who voted no

Michelle Malkin: Tea Party Watch: Protesting the cap-and-tax cramdown

-Cnation

HR2454 American Clean Energy And Security Act of 2009, AKA the ‘cap and trade’ bill, passed the house this evening 219 to 212.

Once again, they didn’t even read it.

You would think that maybe, just maybe, with the new information regarding the suppression of an EPA report that cast serious doubt about the validity of government’s current views on ‘global warming’, that congress would at least delay the vote until this information could be looked into. However, that would mean putting their country ahead of their own agenda and self-interest, something that these lying, thieving scum that infest congress are completely incapable of.

8 Republicans sided with the liberal left against the American people to pass this bill by 7 votes. They are:

• Mary Bono Mack (CA): 202-225-5330
  Fax: 202-225-2961
• Mike Castle (DE): 202-225-4165
  Fax: 202-225.2291
• Steven Kirk (IL): 202-225-4385
  Fax: 202-225-0837
• John McHugh (NY): 202-225-4611
  Fax: 202-226-0621
• Leonard Lance (NJ): 202-225-5361
  Fax: 202-225-9460
• Frank LoBiondo (NJ): 202-225-6572
  Fax: 202-225-3318
• Dave Reichert (WA): 202-225-7761
  Fax: 202-225-4282
• Chris Smith (NJ): Phone: 202-225-3765
  Fax: 202-225-7768

I’ve added their contact info for those who might be inclined to voice their displeasure.

Rep. Mark Kirk of Illinois actually had the balls to post a video of himself on YouTube ostensibly ‘reading’ the bill. Being a man of great courage though, he has disabled comments on the video. Luckily for us, someone actually re-posted the video with comments fully enabled. Please feel free to share your feelings about his vote: Mark Kirk video on YouTube

It’s important to point out that 44 Democrats voted against this stinking pile of crap. Regardless of our philosophical differences, on this particular day, these Democrats - along with the Republicans who stood their ground - are patriots.

Full roll call vote here.

Michelle Malkin was live-blogging this thing all day, and it looks to have been a real circus, with Waxman reportedly soliciting and cutting deals right on the House floor. There are simply no words to describe the lack of respect these lowlife creeps show for the people’s house.

Did you know they actually had a moment of silence for dead child-molester Michael Jackson? Shortly after, Rep. Tom Price asked for a moment of silence for all those who would lose their jobs under this bill. His request, of course, was denied.

Michelle Malkin’s liveblog links:

1. Cap and tax liveblog: Democrats limit debate, stampede toward national energy tax
2. Cap and tax liveblog, Pt II: Pay attention to House floor games; 14 undecideds; let’s play “Where’s the Bill?”
3. Cap and trade liveblog, part 3: (Mini)-Filibuster; Vote time; Final vote - passes 219-212

-Cnation

Wall Street Journal: The Cap and Tax Fiction
Democrats off-loading economics to pass climate change bill.

“Americans should know that those Members who vote for this climate bill are voting for what is likely to be the biggest tax in American history. Even Democrats can’t repeal that reality.”

When the Heritage Foundation did its analysis of Waxman-Markey, it broadly compared the economy with and without the carbon tax. Under this more comprehensive scenario, it found Waxman-Markey would cost the economy $161 billion in 2020, which is $1,870 for a family of four. As the bill’s restrictions kick in, that number rises to $6,800 for a family of four by 2035.

Note also that the CBO analysis is an average for the country as a whole. It doesn’t take into account the fact that certain regions and populations will be more severely hit than others — manufacturing states more than service states; coal producing states more than states that rely on hydro or natural gas. Low-income Americans, who devote more of their disposable income to energy, have more to lose than high-income families.

Even as Democrats have promised that this cap-and-trade legislation won’t pinch wallets, behind the scenes they’ve acknowledged the energy price tsunami that is coming. During the brief few days in which the bill was debated in the House Energy Committee, Republicans offered three amendments: one to suspend the program if gas hit $5 a gallon; one to suspend the program if electricity prices rose 10% over 2009; and one to suspend the program if unemployment rates hit 15%. Democrats defeated all of them. more…..

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Human Events: Waxman’s Economy Killer
The House of Representatives will vote Friday on the so-called “American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009” — a.k.a the “Waxman-Markey” global warming bill. But whatever you want to call this legislative atrocity, if enacted into law, it will go down in history as the death knell of the American standard of living and way of life. If you hate America, this bill is for you. more…..

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-Cnation

Note - this article has been ’stickied” to the top of the front page. Newer posts from today 6/25/2009 appear below.

While we’ve all been preoccupied with the looming healthcare reform legislation, the push for a national energy tax in the form of “cap and trade” has been steadily advancing. The latest word as of this writing is that it may be voted on in the house as early as this Friday, June 26 2009.

H.R. 2464: American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, otherwise known as the “cap and trade” bill, will further harm an already deeply troubled economy in the form of higher energy prices (gasoline, electricity, natural gas, etc…), higher prices across the board for goods and services, higher unemployment due to the increased economic burden on businesses large and small. This increased burden will undoubtedly cause businesses already on the edge to fail, and others to simply close up shop and relocate to more business-friendly parts of the world like India, Ireland and China.

The job loss estimates are in the millions. The estimated direct costs to Americans, working or not, range anywhere from $1000 to $3000+ per year per household.

The Tax Foundation has provided a Household Cap And Trade Burden Calculator to help you determine how much Cap and Trade might cost you and your family on a yearly basis

Here’s Barack Obama in his own words describing how ‘cap and trade’ will cause electric rates to ‘necessarily skyrocket’:

From heritage.org: Cap-and-Tax is a Jobs Destroyer:

Many Americans find the debate in Washington over adopting a cap-and-trade program to reduce carbon dioxide a bit confusing. It works like this: Policymakers set a cap on the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that can be omitted into the atmosphere. Each power plant, factory, refinery, and other regulated entity will be allocated allowances (rights to emit) six greenhouse gases. However, only a certain percentage of the allowances will be allocated to these entities. The remaining percentage will be auctioned off or distributed to other emitting entities. Most emitters will need to purchase at least some allowances at auction. Emitters who reduce their emissions below their annual allotment can sell their excess allowances to those who do not–the trade part of cap-and-trade. Over time, the cap would be ratcheted down, requiring greater cuts in emissions

Put simply, it’s a tax on energy consumption. In fact, it would act as a huge tax. If enacted, cap-and-trade will be one of the government’s largest revenue sources within the next decade. Since 85 percent of our energy demand is met through fossil fuels, increasing the costs of energy will have significant economic consequences.

From republicanleader.house.gov:

Speaker Pelosi’s national energy tax is a massive job-killer.  According to a National Black Chamber of Commerce study, the devastating plan will cost 2.5 million American jobs thanks to the higher energy costs it will force consumers, small businesses, and other employers to pay.  The impact will be felt from coast to coast – literally.  The following chart shows the projected job loss in every single region, with especially large job losses in areas of the country already hit hard by the recession:

It is time to pick up the phone and tell your congressman in no uncertain terms to vote NO on HR 2464 !

To find your representative, go here and enter your zip code +4

Here is a complete list of congressmen/women along with their Washington, DC phone numbers. The area code for all is 202 .

Here are some tips for communicating with congress.

Further reading:

Heritage.org: CBO Grossly Underestimates Costs of Cap and Trade

NBCC Study Finds Waxman-Markey Reduces GDP by $350 Billion: New study finds Waxman-Markey could cost 2.5 million U.S. jobs by 2030 and reduce earnings

NRO: Cap and Trade vs. the American Dream

Weekly Standard: Fuzzy Math - According to an MIT study, cap and trade could cost the average household more than $3,900 per year.

Tax Foundation: Who Pays for Climate Policy? New Estimates of the Household Burden and Economic Impact of a U.S. Cap-and-Trade System

-Cnation