For those of you that missed it on CSPAN1 today, watch this and get an understanding of what just happened.
My own representative, Wally Herger had a few things to say also:
It is the most fired up I’ve ever seen him. In an email a couple of days ago to his chief of staff at our local office, I had described his floor speeches as being like a “churchmouse”.
I think he got the message.
UPDATE:
For those that want to read it, here is the bill and amendment. Warning: BIG FILES, long downloads.
Text of original bill:
http://www.eenews.net/public/25/11457/features/documents/2009/06/23/document_daily_03.pdf
Amendment Text:
http://www.rules.house.gov/111/SpecialRules/hr2998/waxman1_hr2998_111.pdf
All the “climate change” talking points leading to this “Climate Bill” are simply camouflage for a flattening of economic well being – generally, those with more will end up with less and those currently with less will end up with a tiny bit more, maybe. This can be accomplished only by sucking vitality out of society and developing a larger and more intrusive government. Everyone will be less free – liberty as viewed by the folks who wrote the constitution is in decline.
How will this affect climate – not at all. That is not the purpose. And likely could not even if that were the purpose and it was designed as an attempt to do so.
It next must go to the Senate with fate unknown.
I called it.
–t
Even Fox News continues to give non-stop coverage to the Michael Jackson death, with barely a mention of the cap and trade bill. An exception was Glen Beck, whose show preceded the vote. If even Fox News priorities are so screwed up, what chance is there of getting any reasonable media coverage.
Potentially the most disastrous bill in our country’s history passes, totally unread by the public and probably 90% of the congressmen who voted for it. Why do I think our future is bleak.
Not really. It can leave you weak and unable to fight. If it removes your arms and legs, then you become a kickball for those who don’t give a damn about you.
A 1.6 trillion tax increase vote on a bill that no one can read – or has read! – sent before congress at 3:09 AM with liberal bribes and selective taxes district-by-district manipulating our economy for the next fifty years,
Added to a proposed medical reform method that will cost an additional 1.6 trillion dollars to fix a problem that doesn’t exist while destroying a system that does work,
Added to a 730 billion union and welfare bailout for problems caused by the unions and politicians in industries destroyed by the unions and politicians,
added to a Medicare and Medical system already going bankrupt,
added to a social security system shortly bankrupt,
all paid for “taxing the rich” to the extent past all that the “rich” could possibly earn in twelve lifetimes …
But Obama’s ABCNNBCBS offer eulogies and praise for a has-been homohexasexual child-molester who plays plastic surgeon to the gods.
Truly, the new age of bread and circus is upon us.
Anthony,
Back on the science questions, have you seen Michael Hammer’s US”HC”N corrections graph at Jennifer Marohassy’s site? Applied corrections seem to match claimed warming signal quite well.
REPLY: yes I’d planned to post it…today was just a bit off track due to current events – Anthony
My question is that should this pass the Senate, where do we put (what remains of ) our savings before the economy collapses? Precious metals? Oil?
Before you thank Ohio, let me tell you about Betty Sutton, my Rep. in NE Ohio – we’re so flush with jobs, we don’t have to worry about massive taxes on energy [sarcasm]. I called to say that, although I had read that she was in favor of cap and tax [she had been so described on at least 2 political blogs I read, and was never mentioned as wavering from being a loyal “D”], I opposed it as it is a job killer and based on bad science. The young man who took the call challenged me rather aggressively, asking where I had heard that she had made up her mind. I replied that I had read at least two reports stating such. He stated that she definitely had not made up her mind.
Of course, she voted for it. I’m sure that after poring over the 300 pages of amendments between my call and the roll call, she was convinced that voting for the bill would best serve her constituents. I’m also convinced that the return on my investment with Bernie Madoff is in the mail.
Perhaps voting for passage was the smart thing to do…… politically. They vote yes, understanding that passage in the Senate may be iffy…… then the bill doesn’t pass and they still stay in the good graces of the party…… I dunno…. sometimes the two party system really sucks.
Allan M R MacRae (19:14:03) :
If Waxman-Markey passes the Senate, my dear Americans, you are so screwed.
Best sell everything and move to Mexico.
Speculating a bit, if the Senate rejects the initiative, the Supreme Court will get into the conflict like a third in discord and the final result will favor the bill.
In 2000, we had a controversy on the implementation of the daylight saving time in Mexico; it was the President and the citizens against the congress. I think the President was cheating, but we conceded him the benefit of doubt and we trusted him. However, the Supreme Court got into the disagreement as a third party in discord and the legislators imposed the implementation of the daylight saving time.
Of course, Mexico is not the US, but the current president started his “fight against climate change” -without sounded it out to the congress, the senate, the citizens or the Supreme Court- three days before the US Congress passed the bill.
I hope to be wrong on my suspicions but from what I have learned here in WUWT, it seems the vote is mere etiquette.
So, Mexico is not a good option, but Welcome!!! 🙂
Well, I am proud to see that my rep (Culberson) voted NAY. There were some Texas Dems among the Nays as well.
And, after the debacle, there were two Texans and an Indiana guy speaking to the cameras on Cspan (and an empty chamber) to expose the crime committed. They put up a good argument and I hope the residual audience (of which I was one) paid attention.
For more than a century we in Texas have been producing energy for our country and this is the unkindest cut of all.
I can work overseas, as I have done before. You poor bastards probably don’t have that option.
My Senator has already come out against this, so letters from me won’t make a difference. If your Senator is a Dem, then write, call, email -if you have any fondness for your country- to kill this evil legislation.
nothingtocareabout (19:15:00) :
A whole nation being couped by the Commies…….
Correction: A whole continent.
We must act quickly just got 3 feet taller.
The American people just had 3 feet cut out from underneath them.
That means we have 3 feet left to fight with in the Seanate.
Expect no quarter from the Executive Branch.
None will be given.
Expect no mercy from the Judicial Branch.
They won’t hear it.
The fate of this country comes down to 100 votes.
The natural cycle deniers have won…
We have lost !
The fight wasn’t over no matter what happened with this bill in the House, anyway. We are going to win some battles and lose some battles from here on out, so we have to keep this in the proper perspective and continue as best we can. We only lose the war if we stop fighting. So take heart friends! Let’s shake the dust off and get ready for the next round. Tomorrow is a new day.
Andrew
I sent an email to my Representative reprimanding him for voting on a bill he did not read, and let him know in no uncertain terms that I intend to work for who ever opposes him from now on. I consider him incompetent to serve in public office for agreeing to vote on ANY bill he did not read and understand.
I also just dropped a line to my Senator, and closed with comments that I am fed up with my congressional representatives voting on bills they have not read and analyzed, nor have been posted for public comment prior to the vote.
I think the most important message is to communicate that we are sick and tired of our elected representatives screwing around with the system, and we not only expect, but demand that they honor their promise to post bills for comment and expect them to know the contents of any bill voted on.
As far as I am concerned, voting on a bill you have not read is malfeasance in office and a direct violation of their oath of office, and I intend to keep voting people out of office until I get some one who does the most elementary due diligence necessary to do his job and represent me intelligently.
If a corporate board member voted on decisions without having a clue what was involved he would be violating his fiduciary duty to his stock holders. I see no difference between that situation and voting on a bill thrown over the transom at 3:00 in the morning.
Larry
from icecap.us
http://enews.core-online.us/mail/util.cfm?gpiv=2100041936.15518.285&gen=1
For Immediate Release: June 25, 2009
Media Contact: Niger Innis, National Spokesman, CORE, (702) 633-4464
HOUSE CLIMATE BILL CALLED “IMMORAL” BY MAJOR CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER
Washington, D.C. (June 25, 2009) — The Waxman-Markey climate bill is “an immoral assault on poor Americans” because it is designed to purposely raise the cost of energy in order to force the working poor to reduce their standard of living, according to one of the nation’s leading civil rights champions.
Roy Innis, Chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality — one of America’s oldest civil rights organizations — made the allegation in a letter to all members of Congress on Wednesday. CORE has been heavily engaged in the national energy policy debate since the publication of Innis’ 2007 book, “Energy Keepers, Energy Killers.” The book was a Washington Post non-fiction best seller.
“In my 40-plus years as the Chairman of CORE, I have seen few federal bills that would do more harm to America’s working class and low-income citizens and families than the Waxman-Markey climate tax bill,” Innis wrote to Members of Congress.
“The Waxman-Markey bill is designed specifically to make the use of fossil fuels more costly,” Innis said. “That will have a disproportionate and negative impact on those who now benefit most from the affordable and reliable power that fossil fuels provide: poor and working-class families.”
“In fact, an underlying goal of this legislation is the morally repugnant concept that constricting sources of domestic energy and raising energy costs is a good thing because it will force conservation by consumers,” Innis said. “That elitist view assumes that poor, working class families have the ability to bear that ‘social cost.'”
“The plain truth is this: the poor and working families we represent cannot bear that luxury,” Innis told Congress.
“Americans don’t want ‘energy welfare’ payments from the government to help ease the sting of these government-driven cost increases,” Innis wrote. “They want continued affordable and reliable energy, which this bill will constrict.”
Innis concluded: “This is an explicitly anti-consumer package that will have huge impacts – both direct and indirect – on the struggling families we represent.”
CORE said it plans to launch a national public education campaign against the Waxman-Markey legislation. CORE has more than 100,000 members nationwide.
____________________________
That’s 101 votes, if it gets that close.
The Democrats play an excellent game of First Liar Wins. I thought it was a game reserved for historians, but it seems a natural for politics in the age of Oprah.
I agree with CORE:
The Waxman-Markey climate bill is “an immoral assault on poor Americans” because it is designed to purposely raise the cost of energy…
And it is not just an assault on poor Americans, it is an assault on all of you, my American friends. The poor will be hurt most, but Waxman-Markey is a job-killer for all.
In 2002, Sallie Baliunas (Harvard U), Tim Patterson (Carleton U) and I wrote:
http://www.apegga.org/Members/Publications/peggs/WEB11_02/kyoto_pt.htm
[Begin excerpt]
Kyoto has many fatal flaws, any one of which should cause this treaty to be scrapped.
Climate science does not support the theory of catastrophic human-made global warming – the alleged warming crisis does not exist.
Kyoto focuses primarily on reducing CO2, a relatively harmless gas, and does nothing to control real air pollution like NOx, SO2, and particulates, or serious pollutants in water and soil.
Kyoto wastes enormous resources that are urgently needed to solve real environmental and social problems that exist today. For example, the money spent on Kyoto in one year would provide clean drinking water and sanitation for all the people of the developing world in perpetuity.
Kyoto will destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs and damage the Canadian economy – the U.S., Canada’s biggest trading partner, will not ratify Kyoto, and developing countries are exempt.
Kyoto will actually hurt the global environment – it will cause energy-intensive industries to move to exempted developing countries that do not control even the worst forms of pollution.
Kyoto’s CO2 credit trading scheme punishes the most energy efficient countries and rewards the most wasteful. Due to the strange rules of Kyoto, Canada will pay the former Soviet Union billions of dollars per year for CO2 credits.
Kyoto will be ineffective – even assuming the overstated pro-Kyoto science is correct, Kyoto will reduce projected warming insignificantly, and it would take as many as 40 such treaties to stop alleged global warming.
The ultimate agenda of pro-Kyoto advocates is to eliminate fossil fuels, but this would result in a catastrophic shortfall in global energy supply – the wasteful, inefficient energy solutions proposed by Kyoto advocates simply cannot replace fossil fuels.
[End excerpt]
The IPCC has changed its position many times since 2002. For example, witness the Mann hockey stick fiasco.
However there is no need to change our conclusions, since most of them have come true in the intervening seven years, in Canada, Europe, or both.
“Earth is cooling… …pass it on…”
Regards, Allan
The state of Texas has 31 Representatives.
Republican: 21
Democrat: 10
2 Democrats voted “no” today = 23/8 ratio.
One, on his website, said he didn’t think it was good for Texas.
State before party – what a concept.
I emailed both to thank them, but had to fake the ZIP to get through.
I dunno…. sometimes the two party system really sucks.
The founders were against all political parties. Trouble is that in any system where majority rules, parties are inevitable, and either there are two major parties or else there are two major clumped coalitions.
Not even the founders could escape the harsh logic of game theory.
We are so screwsted.
I’m working on a “survialist strategy”.
Damn.
That’s SCREWED.. well, then maybe screwsted is a good new word, sort of “newspeak” so to speak. (That’s a political joke…don’t count on the left to get it.)
I’m sitting here just stunned.
On one hand, I tell myself, why should I be surprised at the audacity of these… ummm people. (Note to reader: not the word I would like to use…) They hate themselves. They hate everyone else. They hate their country. They hate the success of civilization as we know it. Why be surprised when we see the results.
On the other hand. I am ANGRY. My republican representative to my government voted in FAVOR of this unbelievably stupid piece of legislation. How did this happen. Why did this happen. It is a forgone conclusion that the people who placed their trust in this man to represent them to their government do not support his vote. [self-snip][RANT][Spittle even]
The world has gone crazy. What do not crazy people do now?
Well, the UN bureaucracy has triumphed. Gore is poised to make billions and Obama is just the puppet. Watch for Harper’s Canada to impose a carbon tax next… Only when we’ll freeze our butts year after year will the people rise and take these traitors to their reckoning day.