Posted on 07/01/2009 11:49:00 PM PDT by iowamark
There is much in the House cap-and-trade energy bill that just passed that I absolutely hate. It is too weak in key areas and way too complicated in others. A simple, straightforward carbon tax would have made much more sense than this Rube Goldberg contraption. It is pathetic that we couldn’t do better. It is appalling that so much had to be given away to polluters. It stinks. It’s a mess. I detest it.
Now let’s get it passed in the Senate and make it law.
Why? Because, for all its flaws, this bill is the first comprehensive attempt by America to mitigate climate change by putting a price on carbon emissions....
What are Republicans thinking? It is not as if they put forward a different strategy, like a carbon tax. Does the G.O.P. want to be the party of sex scandals and polluters or does it want to be a partner in helping America dominate the next great global industry: E.T. — energy technology? How could Republicans become so anti-environment, just when the country is going green?
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Please go away, Tommy.
You can’t go wrong if you do the direct opposite of what the New York Times recommends.
Tom Friedman is an egomaniac. I stopped reading his crap years ago.
[Friedman's wife, Ann, is a graduate of Stanford University and the London School of Economics.[2] Her father, Matthew Bucksbaum, was the chairman of the board of General Growth Properties, a real estate development group.[3] As of 2007, Forbes estimated the Bucksbaum family's assets at $4.1 billion, including about 18.6 million square meters of mall space, but the firm’s value later plummeted.[4][5] The family's trust declined in value from $3.6 billion to $25 million.[6] On April 16 2009, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, after failing to reach a deal with its creditors. [7] The GGP collapse marked the largest real estate bankruptcy in U.S. history.[8]
Ann and Thomas Friedman live in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. The July 2006 issue of Washingtonian reported that they own “a palatial 11,400-square-foot (1,060 m2) house, currently valued at $9.3 million, on a 7½-acre parcel just blocks from I-495 and Bethesda Country Club.” Friedman is paid $75,000 per speaking engagement.[6]
Friedman’s writing and thinking has devolved into drivel, unfortunately.
Party of sex scandals, Tom? I guess I missed when Bill Clinton, John Edwards, Mel Reynolds, Barney Frank, Gerry Studds, Jesse Jackson, Bob Beckel, and Eliot Spitzer switched from Democrat to Republican.
Carbon emissions are important to the growth of all green things. They will also lessen the impact of the next Ice Age. Instead of taxing them we should give tax credits to encourage more carbon emissions.
But then the BTU Tax Bill cost the democrats dearly when they tried it. So "straightforward" is out. It's not a tax donchaknow. It's "Energy Security".
Another millionaire Marxist..
In other words, I’ve got mine, screw you.
Can't wait for Friedman's reaction when he has to start
refitting that lavish pile of bricks of his with L.E.D.s.
What a rude awakening he'll have trying to retrofit
that compound to bring it up to Federal resale standards.
JJ61
I hope the left keeps thinking this way.
Their day is coming.
It will be done by co-opting industry after industry. The rest will be intimidated. Please note what Wal-Mart do position on the issue of healthcare. Please note the support for Obama's policies coming out of General Electric.
There is an air of panic in this piece. Perhaps these warmists sense that the jig is up, given the emerging skepticism of scientists in light of the now obvious fact that man-made influence on climate is statistically insignificant. Hence, the urgency of ramming this through before the general population catches on. And like Gore, Friedman probably has a huge financial stake in this scam.
JJ61
Mr. Friedman can set an example by placing wind turbines on
his palatial estate.
Who in the world would pay $75000 to hear sophmoric drivel?
Do the uber wealthy become insane?
ALL of our national leadership, regardless of political party, are complicit in the destruction of this "Grand Experiment."
Because his vocation is to warp reality, Tom Friedman hasn't yet grasped that he and his class of wealthy, white liberals unleashed the insatiable monster that is about to devour them.
Reading this, the phrase ‘horse’s ass’ comes to mind.
[Mr. Friedman can set an example by placing wind turbines on
his palatial estate.]
Wind turbines are noisy, unsightly, a hazard to birds and flying insects, and could adversely affect local tourism.
EXACTLY
And what science would that be, Thomas?
Science is supposed to be about observable facts. Well, the observable fact is that tens of thousands of climate and earth scientists are on public record stating that man-made global warming is not happening.
And until the so-called "scientific" global-warming alarmists have the intellectual honesty to acknowledge and reasonably respond to these scientists, they have nothing to say that is even worth listening to, let alone using as a basis for drafting public policy.
If you’ve ever heard this asshat speak (say on CSPAN) he’s peddling the same crap that got 0bama elected. The sub-text is that the problems of the world are simple - we’ve just been thinking about them the wrong way. And the speaker is going to metaphorically take the listener by the hand and share with them the wisdom and clarity of their views and show them this new, easy and alertnative way to think. And the audience eats this BS up like it’s filet mignon. Essentially, it’s cult leader/cult follower 101.
I think we should put everyone in an enviro-guru Friedman mansion. If it’s good enough for a greenie, it’s good enough for me.
What’s that long thing on the right? Bowling alley? Shooting range? Lane swimming pool?
Good connecting of the dots, nb.
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