The Phantom of Congress, Henry Waxman (more Lon Chaney than Andrew Lloyd Webber) is gleefully indulging every last liberty-hating, citizen-loathing pretension to totalitarianism with yet another micromanaging “law” that, by design, will be impossible to follow:
Take the climate bill just offered by House powers Henry Waxman of California and Ed Markey of Massachusetts. The 648-page “discussion draft” ducks the most important policy questions about what Democrat Ben Cardin calls “the most significant revenue-generating proposal of our time” — namely, how the tax will be levied and the proceeds spent. But it does find space to impose thousands of new environmental regulations on the entire economy, all separate from cap and trade.Right off, the bill mandates that 25% of U.S. electricity come from wind, solar, geothermal or biomass by 2025. Sorry, nuclear doesn’t count. [...]
Despite political favoritism and billions in subsidies, wind still only accounts for about 1% of U.S. net electric generation, and solar all of one-hundredth of 1%. So now the liberal solution is simply to force people to buy them, a la the ethanol mandate. Yet it will be difficult for renewables to ever reach 25%, given their inherent limitations (intermittency) and, ironically, green opposition (no new power lines). That won’t stop Congress from punishing utilities that fail to meet an impossible goal.
But Messrs. Waxman and Markey have more pressing matters. Such as building codes.
The slant of your roof and its composition, your dishwaster, your showerhead, your toilet, your faucets … all are to be Waxman’s domain. Indeed, even your lightbulbs and the lamps that hold them. And don’t even think about defying Henry.
Hording and black markets in old-fashioned lightbulbs are starting to crop up, and obviously Congress can’t risk the same for lamps. So the bill says the feds can bring legal charges in U.S. district courts against “any person . . . distributing in commerce any covered product which does not comply.”
Worn down yet? Smothered enough to give up? No? Some small OUTLAW spark that will have you thumb your nose at the Feds and dare to be arrested? Well, Henry slithered into Congress the other day and slipped a poison bon mot into that bloated abomination.
An under-the-radar provision in a House climate bill would give plaintiffs who claim to be victims of global warming a way to sue the federal government or businesses, according to a report Friday in The Washington Times. [...]The provision, which was just released, reportedly would set grounds for plaintiffs who has “suffered” or expect to suffer “harm” attributable at least in part to government inaction. The provision defines “harm” as “any effect of air pollution (including climate change),” according to the Times. Plaintiffs could seek up to $75,000 in damages a year from the government, with $1.5 million being the maximum total payout.
The Times reported that Waxman is trying to accelerate passage for the bill through his committee, as the Senate begins drafting its own version.
Let’s call that the John Edwards’ Memorial Full Employment for Ambulance Chasers Personal Injury Lawyers Act.
Remember now, Henry Waxman is responsible for the obscene CPSIA and he refuses to change one dot or tittle of it.
Yes, let’s hand these people the healthcare system of the whole country to run! What possibly could go wrong?
Comment by Jeffersonian on 4/11 @ 4:35 pm #
Tell ya what, Hank, let’s try that 25% figger out in California first, k? Then the rest of us can decide for our states as we watch you and your pals shiver in the dark.
Comment by Jeffersonian on 4/11 @ 4:45 pm #
OTOH, I think Henry’s CPSIA law ought to be enforced to the absolute hilt: Thrift shops raided by armed agents, children’s books publicly burned, toys ripped from screaming moppets’ hands by ninja-clad federal stormtroopers. Can you think of a better way for folks to finally get the idea of what this bunch is all about?
Comment by Cowboy on 4/11 @ 5:00 pm #
Today, I worked splitting wood for a woman’s fireplace.
I’m as sore as a 48-year old man can be, but there’s a special satisfaction in working hard and not contributing to these dickheads’ social engineering plans.
Comment by happyfeet on 4/11 @ 5:01 pm #
On that score, as early as next week the EPA will classify carbon as a dangerous pollutant under current clear-air laws, prompting a separate avalanche of new regulations.
Baracky and his skeezey woman are gonna own that, and forever. Carbon dioxide a dangerous pollutant. Dumbass piece of shit hungarian muppets. Does this entice anyone into the stock market you think? Maybe stupid people, but foreign equity will immediately be in an improved competitive stance. Does this make people say hey I wants to build a factory in the good old USA instead of China? No. That would be retarded. Buh bye jobs what we could not create or save. Does this add inflationary pressure to an economy the dirty socialists have already inundated with billions upon billions of dollars they pulled out of their dirty socialist asses? Yes, I think it does. It raise the costs of goods and it raises the costs of services and it raises the costs of doing business. No president ever has had his head so far up his ass.
Comment by happyfeet on 4/11 @ 5:04 pm #
oh. It *raises* the costs of goods that should say. And that’s even before we deal with the dangerous pollution of water vapor.
Comment by happyfeet on 4/11 @ 5:06 pm #
goddamn he’s ugly
Comment by Joan of Argghh! on 4/11 @ 5:14 pm #
The Law is for your enemies.
However, plastic surgery is for pig-nosed bureaucrats who insist on making headlines. Just… eeew.
Comment by N. O'Brain on 4/11 @ 5:15 pm #
Why do they hate America?
Comment by JD on 4/11 @ 5:18 pm #
I blame Bush. And Halliburton. And, Kyoto.
Good Allah, these people are truly frightening.
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 5:20 pm #
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Comment by Joe on 4/11 @ 5:31 pm #
The only saving grace is Waxman is a slow zombie. Aim for his head.
It is not a death threat Patterico, because he is already dead.
Comment by B Moe on 4/11 @ 5:35 pm #
Right off, the bill mandates that 25% of U.S. electricity come from wind, solar, geothermal or biomass by 2025. Sorry, nuclear doesn’t count.
This is actually giving me some heart, these folks are so insane and over the top that they may crash things quickly and hard enough to wake the public up in time to do something.
Comment by drago on 4/11 @ 5:37 pm #
NOSEFERATU!
Comment by JD on 4/11 @ 5:42 pm #
I am sure that Barrett will be along to explain how this is advancing personal liberty.
Comment by B Moe on 4/11 @ 5:43 pm #
http://thegspot.typepad.com/blog/images/2008/04/08/batboy_1_2.jpg
hmmmmmmmm
Comment by Joe on 4/11 @ 5:46 pm #
Charles Johnson defends Obama over his midwest pizza choice.
His head is full of little green zombie virus.
Comment by elktrumpet on 4/11 @ 5:50 pm #
It’s a good thing Ted Stevens isn’t in the Senate to vote against this.
Comment by The Sanity Inspector on 4/11 @ 5:51 pm #
Not to worry, Darleen. Once Congress is made aware how useless windpower is in practice, they’ll come to their senses and drop the whole scheme.
Don’t look at me in that tone of voice!
Comment by The Sanity Inspector on 4/11 @ 5:53 pm #
Link, presto: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpcomment/archive/2009/04/08/wind-power-is-a-complete-disaster.aspx
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 5:56 pm #
why are leftards so mean to poor people?
Comment by The Sanity Inspector on 4/11 @ 6:00 pm #
router:
Because they only love The People in the abstract, as a stick with which to beat up on the actual populace, and think well of themselves.
Comment by happyfeet on 4/11 @ 6:01 pm #
That’s not virus that’s just a fat lonely sad bitter dumb fuck I think.
Comment by Mr. Pink on 4/11 @ 6:01 pm #
What do you mean “you People”?
Comment by pdbuttons on 4/11 @ 6:05 pm #
rudolph the red-nosed reindeer
slanted roof tax
Comment by B Moe on 4/11 @ 6:07 pm #
Once Congress is made aware how useless windpower is outside the halls of Congress, they’ll come to their senses and drop the whole scheme.
ftfy
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 6:08 pm #
i own your fixtures
Comment by cranky-d on 4/11 @ 6:15 pm #
Heinlein’s vision of the “Crazy Years” was pretty conservative in its estimate of the insanity. This shit ain’t right.
Comment by pdbuttons on 4/11 @ 6:19 pm #
just wondering what his neighbors said when he was brought home from
the hospital
“that’s..uh..um…quite a baby u got there”
“ten fingers..ten toes…and two nostrils”
Comment by mossberg500 on 4/11 @ 6:19 pm #
So, who’s going to sue the people suing to prohibit the transmission lines from being built? “The Rolling Blackouts” would be a great name for a band, wouldn’t it?
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 6:27 pm #
can you sue 52% of the population for malfeasance?
Comment by Mr. Pink on 4/11 @ 6:34 pm #
30
Hahahahhahahah
Comment by Rusty on 4/11 @ 6:37 pm #
And waxmansatan commandeth the sun to be still in the heavens and the sun, fearing waxmansatan, obeyed.
the EPA will classify carbon as a dangerous pollutant
We need a revolution, before the only option left is suicide.
Comment by Mr. Pink on 4/11 @ 6:38 pm #
Why would we need any of that Rusty this is all for our own good.
Comment by John Bradley on 4/11 @ 6:49 pm #
Joe – why you got’s to be bringing up that blogger what with the Italian-sounding name (to borrow ‘feets lovely phraseology). And CJ of the small green oblong ellipsoids, too — in every single thread.
It’s like your some sort of internet rabble-rouser, a troublemaker, a blogospheric agitator… Own up, you’re really James Wolcott, aren’t you!
Comment by B Moe on 4/11 @ 6:54 pm #
Waxman attended college at UCLA, earning a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1961 and a degree from UCLA’s law school in 1964. After graduating, he worked as a lawyer. He was elected to the California Assembly in 1969 and served three terms.
In 1974, Congressman Chet Holifield announced his retirement after 32 years in Congress. Waxman won the Democratic nomination for the district, which had been renumbered from the 19th to the 24th after a mid-decade redistricting. This was tantamount to election in this heavily Democratic district. He has been reelected 16 times, never facing substantive opposition.
I am really starting to look hard at the idea of term limits.
Comment by happyfeet on 4/11 @ 6:57 pm #
I didn’t come up with the Italian sounding thing. That actually confused me when I saw that the first time cause I always get more of a latin vibe cause he says… Pronounced “Patter-EE-koh” … that’s what it says in his sidebar, so me in my head I always think… Patterico. Suave … like this here except with the patter part added. Yup. That is what I think. In my head.
CJ I just think loser though.
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 7:04 pm #
cj be liberal dude who thinks islamo-fasicists are an enemy but thinks “bitter clingers” are much more of an enemy too. cj have a slice of pizza my brother. from st. louis don’t you know
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 7:28 pm #
i’m watching apollo 13 and thank allan obama wasn’t involved
Comment by cynn on 4/11 @ 7:29 pm #
Waxman is nowhere near as scary as Skeletor Chertoff. And what’s up with wind energy screwing the poor? You all are just throwing shit out there.
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 7:30 pm #
way too much competence way too many pigmentation impaired people
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 7:34 pm #
and the wind blows 24/7/365 at the same speed einstein? you clowns make other people pay for your delusions.
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 7:45 pm #
demorat sleaze
?
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 4/11 @ 7:48 pm #
And what’s up with wind energy screwing the poor?
Here’s a clue, you stupid bint: wind energy costs more than coal, nuclear, or natural gas.
If it cost less the government wouldn’t need to order it into production, now would it?
Since it costs more, someone has to pay extra.
Hint: it’s not Waxy and his fellow would-be nobles who have a hard time paying their light bills, moron.
If Waxy’s light bill doubles, he probably won’t even notice. Is the same true for you and your family, moron?
Blowbama, Waxy, and their cohorts are going to be transferring money from you to the utilities in the form of higher electric bills, moron.
And they’re going to be transferring money from you to the trial lawyers in the form of damages from these new lawsuits the bill authorizes, moron.
How’s that “Blowbama is going to take money from the ‘rich’ and give it to me” thing working out for you so far, moron?
Comment by cynn on 4/11 @ 7:53 pm #
I don’t care one way or the other for wind energy development, but I am intrigued by your “pigmentation impaired” remarks. Q.E.D.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 4/11 @ 7:53 pm #
Oh, and not to worry, cynn. I’m sure the “poor” (i.e., ACORN thugs who’ve never held a paying job in their lives) will get “government assistance” for their higher electric bills.
Guess who gets to pay for that, moron?
Hint: it’s not going to be Waxy. Or Blowbama. Or Pisslousy. Or MarkyMark. Or any of the others.
It’s going to be you.
You asked for it, you got it.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 4/11 @ 7:54 pm #
I don’t care one way or the other for wind energy development
You will when you get your electric bill, moron.
Comment by cynn on 4/11 @ 7:55 pm #
Spies needs to inhale. Something, anything.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 4/11 @ 7:56 pm #
cynn needs to grow a brain. Or anything.
Do you have any response to what I said?
Tell us who’s going to pay for those wind generators, moron.
The Fart Fairy? The Magic Unicorn?
Comment by cynn on 4/11 @ 7:58 pm #
And who benefits from this wind energy production, I wonder, if not the utilities themselves?
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 7:58 pm #
the pot belly pig of north korea wishes he could have that kind of know how. same with africa and the muslime world
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 4/11 @ 7:59 pm #
And who benefits from this wind energy production, I wonder, if not the utilities themselves?
Rich hippie envirowhackos get to feel good about themselves.
America-hating communists get to see the US industrial infrastructure become less competitive (the cost of electricity impacts almost everything).
And you get to pay the bills.
God, what a tool you are.
Comment by cynn on 4/11 @ 8:02 pm #
I’m already paying a moderate surcharge for wind energy production. I would imagine a larger portion is borne by the federal government. But feel free to cover your screen with indignant spew.
Comment by B Moe on 4/11 @ 8:02 pm #
And who benefits from this wind energy production, I wonder, if not the utilities themselves?
The people producing the “green technology”.
http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2007/03/al_gores_inconv.html
They are far more corrupt than big oil, but get treated like heroes. Ironical as all Hell, huh?
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 4/11 @ 8:03 pm #
I would imagine a larger portion is borne by the federal government.
Where do you think the “federal government” gets its money, moron?
Are you really that stupid?
Oh, right. Look who I’m talking to.
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 8:04 pm #
free people do noble stuff
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 8:06 pm #
i’ll be at a tea party
Comment by Jeffersonian on 4/11 @ 8:09 pm #
And who benefits from this wind energy production, I wonder, if not the utilities themselves?
General Electric, for one, who sells the windmills, inverters, batteries, etc. Also the IBEW, whose guys have to go into the mills with alarming frequency for preventive and corrective maintenance.
What windmills are good at generating is a subsidy.
Comment by cynn on 4/11 @ 8:10 pm #
router: And noble people do free stuff!!
Spies: I was joking. I don’t believe for a moment that the mythical “federal government” does anything useful. But continue with the fulminations; they must be cathartic.
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 8:11 pm #
no one except the the crony capitalist connected
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 8:12 pm #
no free people do useful things that benefit other free people
Comment by cynn on 4/11 @ 8:14 pm #
…So how does all of this manufactured frenzy damage the poor directly and in real time? You guys are priceless.
Comment by The Sanity Inspector on 4/11 @ 8:15 pm #
Wind turbines will lower the grid’s carbon footprint, until…
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 8:19 pm #
ask the poor tobacco smokers paying for schip
Comment by cynn on 4/11 @ 8:24 pm #
Well, they should quit, like I should. If enough of us do, there’s no more money. Too bad, poor kids.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 4/11 @ 8:25 pm #
But continue with the fulminations; they must be cathartic.
Continue dodging the question. It’s quite entertaining.
So how does all of this manufactured frenzy damage the poor directly and in real time?
Already answered, moron.
Wind energy costs more.
Higher costs mean higher electric bills
Higher electric bills have a proportionately greater impact on the poor.
Idiot.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 4/11 @ 8:26 pm #
Well, they should quit, like I should.
Maybe you should stop using electricity, too, moron.
I know we’d all appreciate it.
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 8:27 pm #
box of rocks comment
then the slime balls raise taxes on you too
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 4/11 @ 8:28 pm #
Spies: I was joking.
No, you weren’t.
I don’t believe for a moment that the mythical “federal government†does anything useful.
Yes, you do. That’s why you voted for the communist who is currently engaged in the largest federal government power grab in history.
Comment by B Moe on 4/11 @ 8:31 pm #
…So how does all of this manufactured frenzy damage the poor directly and in real time? You guys are priceless.
One other thing is simple physics: there isn’t enough alternative energy out there to make up 25% of our current usage, which means to achieve 25% we are going to have to drastically cut back on our energy consumption. This is going to drive prices up and hurt folks who can’t afford more expensive energy efficient items.
Comment by cynn on 4/11 @ 8:31 pm #
Spies, you’re a gassbag of the first order. You should be a bull at Pamplona. Full of shit and ready to gore whatever gets in your way.
Comment by guinsPen on 4/11 @ 8:32 pm #
Something, anything.
Well, ok.
Comment by The Sanity Inspector on 4/11 @ 8:42 pm #
guinsPen: lol
Comment by geoffb on 4/11 @ 8:42 pm #
I remember there was a large surge in freshman Democrats that year. Called the “Watergate babies” since the resignation of Nixon lead to their victory. Eight are still in Congress. Familiar names all after these 34 years.
Respected senior statesmen of the progressive/socialist persuasion. Fine examples of how the left has never let a crisis go to waste. Indeed, they leveraged that one into a North Vietnamese Communist Government victory and the wonderful Carter Presidency in ‘76. Good times.
I’m sure these paragons are even now working overtime to top that progressive surge. Here they are.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont),
Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut),
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa),
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana),
Rep. George Miller (D-California),
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-California),
Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minnesota),
Rep. John Murtha (D-Pennsylvania
Comment by guinsPen on 4/11 @ 8:45 pm #
With a capital B and that rhymes with T and that stands for thor.
Comment by cynn on 4/11 @ 8:50 pm #
With a capital T that rhymes with B that stands for bore.
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 8:53 pm #
the thing with the leftards is they “believe in science” but don’t believe in thermodynamics
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 8:54 pm #
rhymes mostly with scientific idiot leftard
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 8:56 pm #
you can’t do wymens studies with thermo unless you are a goofball
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 4/11 @ 9:00 pm #
Spies, you’re a gassbag of the first order.
That may be true.
That doesn’t change the facts, though, moron.
Comment by guinsPen on 4/11 @ 9:00 pm #
Cynn, I apolgize for bit surfing on you.
But for that G you described lillehammer to a CCCP.
So it was aimed at him.
Comment by guinsPen on 4/11 @ 9:01 pm #
G comma
Comment by cynn on 4/11 @ 9:03 pm #
BMoe, I’ll look into this. As always, thanks for being a flipping rational.
Comment by Random Retooling of the Auto Industry on 4/11 @ 9:19 pm #
Say, where do I plug-in my car?
Comment by guinsPen on 4/11 @ 9:45 pm #
Drop the coal and step away from the powerplant, please.
Slowly, people.
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 10:02 pm #
don’t plug in people
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 10:18 pm #
yes 1832 was a very good year
Comment by brian on 4/11 @ 10:26 pm #
There’s a simple solution to our energy problems.
Get rid of the internet. All those server farms are consuming gobs of energy. The routers, NOCs, all of it.
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 10:30 pm #
what the heck did i do?
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 10:31 pm #
hank wants your fixture
Comment by router on 4/11 @ 10:33 pm #
get rid of big federal gov’t
Comment by Mike on 4/11 @ 11:11 pm #
All large businesses run by rich people, as well as all power utilities, should immediately shut down, and the people who run them should flee the country. The rest of us can get down to the business of killing the hell out of each other. The current nation is doomed; we might as well trigger a catastrophic collapse and get it over with. This incremental death-by-1000-regulations is for the birds.
Comment by Joe on 4/11 @ 11:41 pm #
I am still pretty angry about the death threat thing. It bothers me. It was wrong on so many levels. I will shut up about it, but I am not going to forget it.
As for Johnson, wtf? I am sorry, the Obama pizza issue was a rather minor one, but his constant defense of the one is rather tiresome too. Who gives a fuck if Rick Warren believes in evolution or not? I agree with Johnson in principals about this ludditism on creation, but I am also aware in some ways the best way to deal with it is ignore it. The flow is going in the other direction anyway among Evangelicals. There are so many other things more important to deal with now, such as national security and the economy. Obama is watering down the war on terror and spending us into a permanent recession. How about that?
Comment by Joe on 4/11 @ 11:46 pm #
John Bradley–Wolcott? Not me. And I prefer my swordfish grilled with garlic and peppers.
Comment by Canada Corner on 4/11 @ 11:54 pm #
“Comment by Mike on 4/11 @ 11:11 pm #
…The rest of us can get down to the business of killing the hell out of each other. The current nation is doomed; we might as well trigger a catastrophic collapse and get it over with. This incremental death-by-1000-regulations is for the birds.”
You first.
Comment by blowhard on 4/12 @ 12:14 am #
Not to sound all Panglossian but this is the best of all possible worlds.
Comment by maggie katzen on 4/12 @ 12:27 am #
know what would make it even better, bh? iphone app.
Comment by blowhard on 4/12 @ 12:35 am #
Cheers, Maggie.
While you’re working on it, SBP, could you come up with an app that makes me sound more human in the morning and less fall down drunk in the evening?
Comment by maggie katzen on 4/12 @ 1:01 am #
Hi, blowhard!
I got nothing else… what from all the scrolling on that tiny screen all day.
Comment by happyfeet on 4/12 @ 1:16 am #
where is the thor? Is this site fascinating? I think yes it is fascinating. I would like to know what Mr. thor thinks about the fascinatingness. I am thinking about liking this song maybe. I am unsure if this is wise because one of thems is supposedly some sort of reality teevee personage. Yes I know it is a boring song but I kind of like it in a Duncan Sheik kind of way. Here is one they sang in the lobby of Seventeen magazine. That’s a lot not getting hung up on issues of personal dignity and I admire that. Have I linked this before? Probably. Do you want to see something funny? I will go put something funny in the Jeff is still in Chicago thread.
Comment by Merovign on 4/12 @ 2:56 am #
Come on, cynn. It’s Easter, spring for the good booze, you’re no fun when you’re on the cheap stuff.
Comment by Merovign on 4/12 @ 2:56 am #
Oh, when people mention Waxman and windmills in the same post, I think very bad thoughts.
Comment by thor on 4/12 @ 3:32 am #
Whenever I get high and come down safely, I thank the flight crew, and then the FAA, yeah, gov’t, they suck us from the sky nice and safe.
Hey stupid rethuglican buttsnakes, ever drink clean water? Apollo 13, yeah! But Gov’t sucks! (they hired ingrate Darleen, is what I’m saying here)
Comment by Carin on 4/12 @ 5:34 am #
I drink clean water ever day. Pump it up from my well. What’s the government got to do with it?
Detroit water is locally owned. By Detroit. Not the federal government.
Comment by prairiemain on 4/12 @ 6:18 am #
You know what Waxman is? He’s a human mushroom. Somewhere a cosmic pizza is
missing a topping.
Ben Franklin: “A Republic, if you can keep it.”
Sigh for the good old days when you could tar and feather creeps like Waxman.
Comment by JHoward on 4/12 @ 6:52 am #
Spies, perhaps a different tack with cynn: cynn, what the heck is wrong with the markets deciding what’s economically efficient?
Which is the question immediately following who the hell are you or anybody else to stick a gun in my ear?
You can sue for willful harm. So: why not sue the 52%? On its way to totalitarianism, progressivism is envy and theft. Like making money, it’s what you’d go to jail for if you did it yourself.
Comment by LTC John on 4/12 @ 7:48 am #
“An under-the-radar provision in a House climate bill would give plaintiffs who claim to be victims of global warming a way to sue the federal government or businesses…”
If you thought AIG was in trouble already… So much for the Pollution Exclusion in anyone’s GL policies. This would basically see the end of the entire commercial insurance industry in the United States.
I suppose I could pre-can some “I done been hurted by the Global Warmening” complaints and launch them at everyone in IL the minute this got signed into law. Get my $1.5 million, eh? The New Race To The Bottom!
Comment by LTC John on 4/12 @ 7:49 am #
“So the bill says the feds can bring legal charges in U.S. district courts against “any person . . . distributing in commerce any covered product which does not comply.â€
Hoarders! Wreckers! Kulaks!
Comment by JD on 4/12 @ 7:53 am #
Truly stupefying, isn’t it, LtC John?
Comment by Rusty on 4/12 @ 8:17 am #
#52
Comment by cynn on 4/11 @ 8:02 pm #
I’m already paying a moderate surcharge for wind energy production. I would imagine a larger portion is borne by the federal government. But feel free to cover your screen with indignant spew.
A much larger portion is being paid by the US taxpayers, yes. On average wind generated electricity is six times more costly than either coal, natural gas, or nuclear. But you can still feel all hopey and changy and, like, doing your bit for the environment. There’s that.
Comment by Darleen on 4/12 @ 8:52 am #
Amazing how the Obama-anklelicker feels that the only people allowed to criticize the government are anarchists. Otherwise, SHUTUP and let His Holiness Barry decide how many lamps you are allowed to own and how often you’re allowed to have them on.
Comment by Mikey NTH on 4/12 @ 12:17 pm #
And who benefits from this wind energy production, I wonder, if not the utilities themselves?
Late to the party, as usual.
Most electric utilities are regulated by the states*, their rates are set by utility commissions for the various classes of customers. Cost of service, the costs to produce or by electricity, to distribute it, perform maintenance, pay the employees, provide for a rate of return, etc., are determinedin rate hearings. Requiring that a particular, expensive,source of power generation be used will impact the rates, and no, the utilities will not be getting a windfall. The price will be passed on to the various customer classes through the rates.
*I can speak for Michigan law on this. For other states check out their websites for these commissions, or check the website of the National Association of Regulated Utilities Commissioners.
http://www.naruc.org/
Comment by Mikey NTH on 4/12 @ 12:18 pm #
Oh – and here is the Michigan Public Service Commission website: http://www.michigan.gov/mpsc
Comment by Mikey NTH on 4/12 @ 12:23 pm #
#103 Carin:
The MPSC does not regulate water utilities; however the Detroit Water Department is still under federal court jurisdiction, and has been for decades.
Fun Fact: Most of the water for the Detroit Water Department comes from Lake Huron. There is a large inlet in the lake north of Port Huron and travels through a massive aqueduct to the metro area.
Comment by Mikey NTH on 4/12 @ 12:26 pm #
And yes, FERC is involved also. Definitely with respect to nuclear plants and interstate/international transmission of electricity.
I haven’t done any FERC work, so I am a bit hazy on where they impact.
Comment by SporkLift Driver on 4/14 @ 6:01 pm #
I’m not at home so I can’t look at my bill for the exact wording but there’s an item on the bill for decommissioning nuclear power plants. Always pisses me off. NO-ONE asked if I wanted to shut down any nuclear power plants. I’ll probably soon see an item for building wind power generators. Ah fuck, tyranny of the majority.
I’ll be at a tea party tomorrow. Maybe if enough people show up for tea parties we can throw a scare into our “betters” like the one they’re giving us. Probably wont hurt to try.