Taxing the Very Air We Breathe

If not for the fact that I have the misfortune of living in the tax burdened state of California, I might not have even realized that “Earth Day” was upon us again.  However it’s hard to pick up a paper here without reading the latest urgent warning proclaiming the destruction of our planet if we don’t immediately cease our excessive use of fossil fuels.  Just yesterday, for example, I read this CNet News article concerning new regulations being enacted in California to reduce those harmful greenhouse gas emissions through adoption of automotive fuels that use less carbon.  It stated, “At the heart of the regulation is the concept of “carbon intensity,” which takes into account not only the emissions associated with driving cars, but also the those gases emitted during the production and delivery of fuel. Fuel providers, refiners, importers, and blenders, the Air Resources Board said, will have to meet an average declining standard of carbon intensity“.

Of course I’m sure you have also heard of the decision by the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, having decided that it and five other greenhouse gases may endanger human health and well-being. This coming after a thorough review of the “scientific evidence” by the EPA. They are calling this the “endangerment finding” which will allow the agency to mandate some cuts without waiting for the draft bills from congress to become law. It seems that this is another urgent issue under the Obama presidency, much like the economic stimulus and industry bailouts.  This decision by the EPA is what allowed the new regulations in California.  15 more states are posed to follow California’s lead.  I’m sure this will also accelerate global warming, I mean, “climate change” legislation in Congress leading up to the U.N. climate change discussion set to be held in Copenhagen this December.

All this pending legislation at the federal and global level to save the planet is, of course, based on near-unanimous belief among scientific experts that research points inexorably to the conclusion that climate change is a man made condition.  This opinion is also being accepted and reported by the majority of the media outlets in this country.  Over 900,000 matches are found from MSNBC alone during a quick Google search.  CNN is more on top of this though with over 4 million results.  That is a lot of coverage to support a point of view.  Believing as I do that the media in this country is anything but “non-biased” in their reporting, that leaves it to the individual to determine if we are being hoodwinked or not. 

“When it comes to bait and switch, used car salesmen are paragons of virtue compared to this global warming crowd. ” ~ Rep Dana Rohrabacher, R-California

I started my inquires with Mr John Coleman, founder of the Weather Channel.  He posted an article on the subject at ICECAP (International Climate and Environmental Change Assessment Project) which I thought was interesting.  An excerpt: “It is the greatest scam in history. I am amazed, appalled and highly offended by it. Global Warming; It is a SCAM. Some dastardly scientists with environmental and political motives manipulated long term scientific data to create an illusion of rapid global warming. Other scientists of the same environmental whacko type jumped into the circle to support and broaden the “research” to further enhance the totally slanted, bogus global warming claims. Their friends in government steered huge research grants their way to keep the movement going. Soon they claimed to be a consensus”.  What?  I know I didn’t hear about this on CNN.  But that is, of course, only one opinion.  Could there be other prominent scientists who dissagreed with this consensus?

It didn’t take very long to find a petition signed by over 31,000 scientists from across the United States rejecting the man-made climate change “consensus”.  The petition states, “There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate.  Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth.” 

The question I had at this point was how did we get to the point that so many people in America have made up their minds that the science behind climate change was finalized and had moved from asking if it were true to asking what we could do to reverse the process.  The answer, of course, was Al Gore. 

His movie, An InconvenientTruth, with all the drama of a first rate Hollywood production, had grabbed hold of people emotionally, impacting them with it’s dramatic and frightening visuals.  The cold hard logic of actual science was just not equipped to compete with this.  It went on to win an Oscar for  Best Documentary at the 79th Annual Academy Awards.  Scientists in the field of global climate change thoroughly debunked the film when it was released to no avail.  Instead he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  One article I remember reading back then in the Canada Free Press stated, “Gore’s circumstantial arguments are so weak that they are pathetic. It is simply incredible that they, and his film, are commanding public attention.“  The report underscores the fact that the majority of the scientists Gore used to back his claims do not actually work in the climate change field. 

So how did Al Gore become the world champion for climate change?  Back when he was a student of Dr Roger Revelle at Harvard in the 1960′s, he was exposed to the early science of climate change and the “keeling curve”, named for Dr. Charles Keeling, which charted build-up of atmospheric CO2. Prior to his death however, Dr Revelle realized his conclusions had been wrong. I found an excellent short newsclip explaining this.

As stated in the above clip, Al Gore refuses to debate climate change with anyone.  As recently as April 24, 2009, Climate Depot reports that UK’s Lord Christopher Monckton, a former science advisor to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, claimed House Democrats have refused to allow him to appear alongside former Vice President Al Gore at a high profile global warming hearing in Washington.  “The House Democrats don’t want Gore humiliated, so they slammed the door of the Capitol in my face.  They are cowards“.  Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), Ranking Member on the Energy & Commerce Committee, had invited him to go head to head with Gore and testify at the hearing on Capitol Hill Friday.  The sequel to an Inconvenient Truth, called “Our Choice”, is due in bookstores this November.  Al Gore, in a released statement said, “”Now that the need for urgent action is even clearer with the alarming new findings of the last three years, it is time for a comprehensive global plan that actually solves the climate crisis. ‘Our Choice’ will answer that call.”

So why does Al Gore continue to champion climate change when he knows it’s nothing but junk science?  Because the politicians have found the “holy grail” of taxation.  It starts with the carbon cap-and-trade program, known as the Waxman-Markey “American Clean Energy and Security Act”.  This is an energy rationing system which will supposedly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by raising usage costs to the consumer thereby forcing everyone to reduce their energy consumption levels.  This is actually an indirect tax where the higher costs are passed down to the little guy and big businesses producing favored fuels are favored .  President Obama is hell bent on getting this passed prior to the second phase of the program being enacted at the U.N. level.   

The next meeting for the U.N. climate change group is in December and, if enacted, would involve a massive redistribution of wealth and industry all under the supervision of the United Nations. This FoxNews report provides some good analysis on the goals and results if this treaty is passed.   The original U.N. working paper can be downloaded from the link below:

un-climate-change-working-paper1

Still doubt the major media outlets don’t have a stake in all this?  MSNBC owner General Electric was recently exposed over their media bias in favor of President Obama’s administration by none other than Bill O’Reilly as I examined in this post.  G.E. has heavily invested in “green energy” projects and would stand to make billions in lucrative government contracts in the future.

President Obama made a couple of promises during his presidential campaign.  He promised not to raise income taxes on the majority of Americans and he promised to cut our national debt in half during his first term.  I believe he means to keep both of these promises.  The new indirect carbon taxes will cut our debt in half and he won’t have to ever touch the income tax rate for the majority of Americans at all.  Higher energy costs will be blamed on greedy big business who will make obscene profits off the consumers.

Not all is lost yet though.  There are actually some politicians who are still on the side of the people they were elected to represent.  Congressman Rohrabacher’s Floor Speech on Global Warming is a thing of beauty.  You can read it all at his website:  “Do you really think the world is filled with morons?”

My father once told me, “Son.  At least the damn government can’t tax the air we breathe”.  It’s starting to look to me like they can.

Tagged as: Al Gore, carbon dioxide, climate change, global warming