So, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-MI) weighed in among the rest in today’s news with his take on President Bush’s strange foray back into the hyper-politicized “global warming” debate, with an even stranger comment.
It seems that Congress – the legislature, mind you – really can’t act on legislation addressing this issue that they really want to act on…really…until the Executive sends them legislation.
Of course, this is how the European Constitu…wait, not allowed to say that…European rules of operation work. The executive, or Commission, proposes legislation to the European Parliament, which of course isn’t allowed to draft such things. They just approve them (and if they disapprove of them, in now-classic EU fashion as the Irish and Danes can tell you better than most, they keep voting until they get the answer right).
As you ponder this newest European export to the US, on top of those steel jobs piling up in Kentucky and now Alabama, I’m going to ask you all to roll up your sleeves and drill down into the depths of the Constitution. Say, Article I, and, uh, Section 1:
All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
Today, calls for America to become “energy independent” come from across the political spectrum. Among the most important energy-security advocates are conservatives concerned about national security. To make America less “dependent” on energy purchases from unstable regimes, they have proposed a variety of measures aimed at reducing the use of oil. However, rather than make the nation more secure, the proposed measures have the potential to inflict significant economic damage on America, weakening it at a time when national security demands strong economic resilience.
Paul Chesser, Climate Strategies Watch
I like how Roy Spencer characterizes this modern-day dastardly criminal:
And all of this assumes that mankind is the primary cause of global warming anyway. You might be surprised to learn that there has never been a single scientific paper published which has ruled out natural climate variability for most of our current global-mean warmth. Not one.
Instead, since Mr. Carbon Dioxide was found at the scene of the crime — albeit without the murder weapon — there is no need to search for any other culprits or accomplices. The circumstantial evidence has convicted him. Even though Mr. Carbon Dioxide is necessary for life on Earth, we are now calling him derogatory names, like “pollutant.”
I guess you could call Mr. C.D. the reincarnation of Richard Jewell.
[youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUmsw1lwcY0 285 234]
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY2wm7sEVkQ 285 234]
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNe2YGbBVj0 285 234]
After being a stalwart opponent of the nonsensical anti-science buttressing the “global warming” industry throughout his tenure, President Bush today is scheduled to announce a multi-part program to combat the man-made climate change that mostly exists in the fevered brows of the Left here, in Hollywood and in Europe.
Al Gore received an honorary doctorate from the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne Tuesday but, like the greenhouse gases he is famous for combating, he was invisible to the media. Reporters were shut out of the ceremony where the Nobel Peace Prize winner accepted his degree, which honors the former US vice-president’s efforts to publicize the climate change issue. A select few journalists were invited to attend the affair on the condition they did not report on what was said and did not film the event or take photographs – an edict that went down like a lead balloon with local news organizations.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released the national greenhouse gas inventory, which finds that overall emissions during 2006 decreased by 1.1 percent from the previous year. The report, Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2006, is the latest in an annual set of reports that the United States submits to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which sets an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle the challenge posed by climate change.
It appears that there has been some positive movement in the President's position:
One person briefed on White House deliberations said a cap-and-trade program for electric utilities was dropped from the package yesterday, after the White House was flooded with complaints from industry officials and lobbyists.
"It got pulled out. It happened somewhere between this morning and five o'clock," said the person, who said the Bush announcement still marks a significant departure from its policy for the last seven years.
It would still be better if he concentrated on what's wrong with the civil litigation under the environmental acts and did not announce any target, particularly a mandatory one, but this is good news, and all those who took their time to express their concern to the White House (yes, all you "industry officials and lobbyists*" [ha!] out there) should be thanked.
* Under most cap and trade schemes, industry would benefit at the consumer's expenses, which explains why so many industries are now lobbying for one. This is peculiar wording, to say the least.
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