I've just viewed House Minority Leader John Boehler's one-hour review of the 300-page, 3 a.m. amendment to the Cap and Trade legislation that passed the House. Boehler's statement is sobering and sad; the amendment--not to mention the bill itself--is evidence of our legislature's surreal abandonment of reality, as though our country's financial situation can be redefined, at will, through politically fashionable, self-preening, venal, slothful, chronic irresponsibility in the legislative chambers. As though reality itself can be lied to as easily as one's constituency and be forced to conform to whatever fairytale has been cooked up for its consumption. You can watch the video yourself, here.
Since the 16th century at least in England, upon whose laws the American legal system was structured (wise Latino women notwithstanding), a man's home has been his castle, and our own fourth amendment prohibits "unreasonable searches and seizures."
No more, according to the Cap-and-Trade heap of distress. As long as something can be defined as "green," it is to be considered "reasonable," and who wants to enjoy the privacy of their increasingly humble homes when they can have a federally-mandated army of greengoons stomping through American homes to make sure they meet the new national (not state, county, or municipality) Emerald City building and mortgage codes.
To start, a majority of our House of Representatives had no problem requiring that every home, multi-family dwelling unit, and commercial construction built in the United States meet all California housing standards. Whose idea is that?
If you plan on selling your house anywhere in the former land of the free, you must first have your house inspected by a special Emerald City inspector, who will check it for conformance with a federal energy rating that you will have no part in designing, and that, judging from the bill, might have no relationship to sanity. The inspector will check out your windows, doors, heating system, water heater, refrigerator, and other appliances for energy efficiency and, if these aren't up to the highest levels of Progressive Paradise (where money is never an obstacle) or other considerations (pending, some czar will hire an inexperienced 30-year-old to think them up after the bill is enacted) you will be required to replace those windows, doors, heating systems, appliances, etc. to meet the Emerald City standards before you can sell your house. Not exactly guaranteed to boost home sales.
Don't plan on selling your house, but you might want to make a few improvements? Expect the greengoons to take an interest. The federal government will require you to invite the green inspector to your home twice! Once before and once after the improvements, to do two (2) green-energy audits. I wonder what they price for that will be.
Think your metropolitis, hamlet, homeowners association, day care center, or senior citizen's apartment building will have something to say about their special concerns? Forget it. The legislation states that the Secretary of Energy's idea of what is green and what is possible will override everyone else's concerns (except the president's).
To enforce the new codes, the amendment recognizes, every home appraiser in the country will be required to undergo retraining. Every city and village in the country will be required to hire a team of professionals to keep up with the change that Obama supporters couldn't wait for, even tiny little places that have just a part-time mayor and a police force of two. Perhaps Cap and Trade is sounding the death-knell for small, low-budget communities that can't support big ACORN populations and don't require community organizers. To afford the new regulations, small communities will have to merge. Come to think of it, what possible use can a small rural community without community organizers be to our nation's politicians and labor unions?
Oh, yes. Somewhere along the line you'll be required to install special electric outlets for recharging electric car batteries. The government will tell you which kind of outlet they require.
I'm not making this up. If you haven't already seen Boehler's speech, watch the video, or listen to it in the background while you're doing something else.
While this nation slept, the Powers that Be dropped this amendment on us. This amendment and the bill it amends are going to cost 2.5 million American jobs each year and raise the price of steel (for example) by 30% - 40%. That should kill off a few American industries. What happens when Gov't Motors faces the engineering difficulties of making cars out of recycled tin-foil hats? Maybe they'll buy steel from China, which has zero environmental protections for Earth's atmosphere.
Time to call, write, email, and fax the Emerald City Senate.
__________
Related Posts:
- Carbon Capture: Clean Coal or Taxpayers Get Taken to the Cleaners?
- New York Democrat Arcuri against Cap and Trade: NY Republican McHugh for It!
- Cap and Trade: 77 Cents More per Gallon!
- Calling All Carbon-Based Life Forms: Cap and Trade Vote Today
- Congress Votes on Biggest Tax Increase in History This Friday!
- Cap and Trade: Don't Save Your Breath on This One
- Obama: Cap and Trade Will "Skyrocket" Electricity ...
- Cap and Trade: Picking Money Out of Thin Air
- Cap and Trade Politico Hauls Green to the Bank
__________
No comments:
Post a Comment