Spending in the name of Obama

It's amazing how many advertisers are using Obama's name to hawk their product. Reminds me of the Dr. Oz, Oprah, and Rachel Ray ads which traffic in their names without permission. I've seen ads like

"President Obama wants you to go back to school"

"President Obama wants you to have a new car"

"President Obama wants you to save your home"

and this one by an American whose eyes were opened by his schooling in Iran selling his gaming technology,

"This unique approach is the embodiment of “e-diplomacy,” and reflects the new “soft diplomacy” approach favored by the Obama Administration."

But here's one I saw in my e-mail this morning that should really be an eye-opener for fund raising if he tells the truth:

For those of you who want to learn the secrets of the Obama Campaign's online fundraising success and how you can apply them at your college or university, there will be a live, 60-minute Webinar:

"Fundraising Secrets from the Obama Campaign Your College Can Use Now"
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 1:00 - 2:00 PM (ET) . . .

Before joining the Obama campaign in Chicago, Steve managed online organizing at the Center for American Progress [Clinton retreads now in Obama Camp which became leading war room for escalation in Afghanistan], where he built support for progressive [i.e. socialist/marxist] positions on issues ranging from alternative fuels to ending the war in Iraq. Steve has also managed online operations for the Children's Defense Fund and American University's College of Arts and Sciences.

Somewhere I read (and blogged) about that cottage industry of loyal compaign worker bees at their computers and the pittance the people received who worked in that e-campaign.

Are songs too long?

Murray's going to Washington!

Murray from Illinois has e-mailed his group:

"OK THAT'S IT, I'VE HAD IT!!! I've written to my legislators and received no satisfactory response. Plus Senator Durbin refuses to even acknowledge I exist. He refuses to hold any town meetings and professes that he'll not be "suckered punched" by a bunch of crazies like me. So I'll be off to DC to join the thousands of other crazies on 9/12 to protest the destruction of our great country. You know... the one Obama calls the greatest country in the world that he wants to change??

Anyway, just in case I run into one of your senators, tell me their name and what you would like me to say to them. Just so you don't ask me to tell him/her to keep up the good work!"

Monday Memories from my cousin

Bill and Gayle were married August 30, 1959 in the Mt. Morris, Illinois Church of the Brethren. She writes this about the memories of the last 50 years.

"We grew up on the same street, went to the same school and attended the same church. Our first date was on June 5, 1955. Our first home was Mrs. Isley’s upstairs apartment 3 blocks from the campus of the University of Northern Iowa where we were students.

Gayle remembers:
-purchasing an Eureka vacuum cleaner with wedding money
-washing, starching, hanging, sprinkling and ironing ALL our clothes
-being afraid to light our gas oven & burning cookies
-waxing our linoleum floors every Saturday
-shopping at Cardinal Grocery & saving King Korn yellow stamps
-attending all of Bill’s varsity basketball games
-being relieved to learn that my new husband cleaned his own “game”
-wearing skirts, never slacks or jeans, to class
-playing Johnny Mathis, Ray Conniff, Nat King Cole, Percy Faith & Henry Mancini records on our stereo (no TV)
-intertwining “homemaking” with “homework”

Bill remembers:
-driving our ‘48 green Plymouth sedan
-having a basketball scholarship to help with expenses
-eating at the Panther Pizzeria after games (Pizza was new back then)
-working at the Western Auto & selling a lot of Lawn Boy mowers (new)
-hunting for pheasant and quail on Iowa farms
-having teammates over for meals
-juggling basketball practices, games, roadtrips and classes

We laughed a lot that first year and we still do; but the important relationship with our Lord and Savior didn’t come until we went to Alaska to teach. It has been our joy to follow Christ through the ups and downs of life for many years now. We’ve been blessed with four beautiful children and eleven grandchildren so far. We are grateful for our fifty years together. We want to encourage you to trust and obey God on your personal journey too!"

Thank you Gayle--wonderful memories and good advice!

I vaguely remember ironing.

Another one who has read the HR 3200

Michael Connelly, a constitutional lawyer writes the Truth about the Health Care Bills.

After reading the bill, “I have concluded that this legislation really has no intention of providing affordable health care choices. Instead it is a convenient cover for the most massive transfer of power to the Executive Branch of government that has ever occurred, or even been contemplated. If this law or a similar one is adopted, major portions of the Constitution of the United States will effectively have been destroyed.

The first thing to go will be the masterfully crafted balance of power between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the U.S. Government. . . “

Read his resume at his website. Contact him, not me if you disgree with his arguments which include the bill rations health care, particularly for senior citizens and other classes of citizens, provides for free health care for illegal immigrants, free abortion services, and probably forced participation in abortions by members of the medical profession and eventually would force private insurance companies out of business and put everyone into a government run system.

Maddy has Crohn's Disease--an ethics tangle

Quite by accident, I discovered that one of my blogs on HR 3200 appeared as a link on a college reading list on medical ethics (so if you commented, you‘re there too). That got me interested in the program and I began browsing some of the other offerings. Some true to life scenarios were presented for students to discuss, and I thought this one about Maddy who has Crohn’s Disease was very interesting. I have a neighbor with Crohn’s (she’s 92, so has managed it well living longer than my parents who had no significant health problems until the final month of their lives at 88 and 89), and I used to work for a dear woman who had IBD (irritable bowel disease) which can be very debilitating.

Reading through the ethical responses by the hospital, her doctor, her friends, and society at large was really interesting. But there was no response from Maddy‘s point of view. What should have been her ethical response as a 25 year old to her illness, which she had known about since junior high school?

According to the information given, she had graduated from college, during which she’d had very few flare ups, but now had become very ill with frequent problems brought on by skipping doctor’s appointments and not eating right, worsened by moving away from home (just a guess, but Mom probably watched her diet). She’d become dehydrated and malnourished, terrible conditions for someone with Crohn’s, but the underlying assumption of the writer of the problem was this was caused by lack of insurance. She then required hospitalization, IVs, antibiotics, and surgery, which she didn’t choose. Her parents in the meanwhile (but not at the beginning) were experiencing financial set backs and she didn’t want to bother them with her problems. So, if I read the responses correctly, the problem then falls in the lap of the doctor, the hospital, the friends, and society at large.

Here’s my thoughts about Maddy.

1) If a person has a chronic or debilitating illness, she may have to modify her life’s dreams and career options. Her chosen field didn’t look promising to me either for income, or for a reduced-stress life (very important for these types of diseases). I don’t know what you do with a degree in “health psychology” but having worked in academe most of my professional life, it sounds like a way to keep the faculty employed. There are thousands of programs at the university level that lead nowhere except to frustration, low-income and living on credit.

2) She, her parents, and doctor had about 12 years to plan for this event (living on her own), knowing her student or parents' insurance would end, and that employer insurance may have requirements about pre-existing conditions.

3) She most likely, although it doesn’t say, became careless about the flare-ups since they had been rare before she graduated. Young people suffer from lack of learning from hindsight and planning with foresight.

4) She began missing doctor appointments and meds after graduation, rather than giving up other things in her life. This has a huge snowball effect. I don’t know what these could have been, and I know it sounds cruel and unAmerican to say “drop cable, cell phone, hair appointments, or nights out with friends“ so you can pay for your meds, but if you know the consequences of these missed steps, you can’t expect to stay healthy.

5) As a result of her own bad decisions, she is forced to return home a sick woman who will get even sicker to live with her family who is already under terrible stress from her father’s lost job and two younger children to support.

[Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located in California's Silicon Valley, offers its more than 8,000 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master's, Ph.D., and law degrees.]

Filthy lucre and H1N1

Filthy Lucre usually means obscene or shameful profit, but just plain old paper money is really dirty. I learned this sanitation tip when I was clerking at Zickuhr's Drug store in high school. According to a cartoon health item on the dangers of swine flu I saw this morning viruses can live on paper money for 2 weeks. I always shudder a bit when the coffee clerk pats or rubs the top of the paper top while serving me after handling the money. It would be much better to have the customer pick up and place the cover over the cup.

When I was the veterinary medicine librarian at Ohio State we were constantly washing our circ desk where the returned books came in--zoonotic diseases, you know. Books and hard surfaces in libraries, including keyboards, are really dirty--you could probably scrape them before you washed them.

Americans have a really bad nervous tic of constantly touching their face, nose, eyes, ears or hair while speaking, either casually, in conversation or from the podium. They even do it while on the phone, although the listerner can't see them. Thirty years ago I used to attend the "brown bag" sharing of the agricultural credit group at Ohio State. Over half of the grad students were from Asia or Africa. Since it wasn't my field (I was the librarian), I would amuse myself by noting face touching and nose rubbing by the speakers. I almost never saw a 3rd world student do that--it was about 100 to 1, in favor of the Americans.

The rush to dim our lights

Howard M. Brandston, a lighting designer and artist, has a sensible, easy proposal for a test to use before we rush head long into dimming our lights with The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 which will effectively phase out incandescent light bulbs by 2012-2014 in favor of compact fluorescent lamps, or CFLs.

"Here's my modest proposal to determine whether the legislation actually serves people. Satisfy the proposed power limits in all public buildings, from museums, houses of worship and hospitals to the White House and the homes of all elected officials. Of course, this will include replacing all incandescents with CFLs. At the end of 18 months, we would check to be certain that the former lighting had not been reinstalled, and survey all users to determine satisfaction with the resulting lighting.

Based on the data collected, the Energy Independence and Security Act and energy legislation still in Congress would be amended to conform to the results of the test. Or better yet, scrapped in favor of a thoughtful process that could yield a set of recommendations that better serve our nation's needs by maximizing both human satisfaction and energy efficiency." Full article

Ah yes, the old, "let's see if elected officials can comply with their hair-brained ideas" plan. They won't buy this very sensible plan of course, because they are usually exempt from the cost and pain of their own hasty and ill conceived plans--some of which like HR 3200 and the equally bulky cap and trade or TARP, never are even read before voting on them. HR 6 is worth reading in its entirety--your Senator probably didn't.

Here's an acronym you'll definitely need to watch: ESPC, energy savings performance contracts: "CBO estimates that H.R. 6 will increase direct spending by $582 million over the 2008-2012 period and reduce it by $85 million over the 2008-2017 period. Those effects result primarily from provisions that increase mandates related to the use of renewable motor fuels, require federal agencies to meet new goals related to the efficiency of energy and water use, extend and expand federal agencies’ authority to enter into energy savings performance contracts (ESPCs)." That phrase is definitely like giving a credit card to your ex-girlfriend for a shopping spree.

As I was looking through the CBO cost estimates in the agriculture sector, I wondered if these biomass requirements are what caused the starvation and food riots in developing countries in 2008 (see Green Body Count). Even liberal, pro-green editorials noted the problem. Oh well, what's a few million starving brown or black children in less developed countries? It's always "all about us" isn't it? We have no idea what the CFLs will do to the quality of life here or in China where they use dirty coal to produce them or to the environment, but we rush head first into the dark tunnel anyway, thanks to Congress. (Except for his very limited time in the Senate, this one can't be laid at Obama's feet.)

Kennedy's letter to the Pope

He should have been asking God for mercy, but wrote the Pope looking for his prayers.

"I have done my best to champion the rights of the poor and open doors of economic opportunity. I have worked to welcome the immigrant, to fight discrimination, and expand access to health care and education. I have opposed the death penalty, and fought to end war. Those are the issues that have motivated me and been the focus of my work as a United States Senator. . . I have always tried to be a faithful Catholic Your Holiness. And though I have fallen short through human failings, I have never failed to believe and respect the fundamental teachings of my faith. I continue to pray for God's blessings on you and on our Church, and would be most thankful for your prayers for me." CNN

Who is more poor and more in need of protection from the death penalty and needs excellent health care than the unborn? What could show less respect for the teachings of his faith, yet Ted Kennedy approved, campaigned for, supported pro-choice candidates and voted for abortion rights. It would have been far better to keep that letter private and not read it at his burial service--unless the intention was to show the hypocrisy.

Cradle to the grave health care

We already know what Obamacare looks like; the other first famiies have had it for years:

Native Americans have received federally funded health care for decades. A series of treaties, court cases and acts passed by Congress requires that the government provide low-cost and, in many cases, free care to American Indians. The Indian Health Service (IHS) is charged with delivering that care.

The IHS attempts to provide health care to American Indians and Alaska Natives in one of two ways. It runs 48 hospitals and 230 clinics for which it hires doctors, nurses, and staff and decides what services will be provided. Or it contracts with tribes under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act passed in 1975. In this case, the IHS provides funding for the tribe, which delivers health care to tribal members and makes its own decisions about what services to provide.

The IHS spends about $2,100 per Native American each year, which is considerably below the $6,000 spent per capita on health care across the U.S. But IHS spending per capita is about on par with Finland, Japan, Spain and other top 20 industrialized countries—countries that the Obama administration has said demonstrate that we can spend far less on health care and get better outcomes. In addition, IHS spending will go up by about $1 billion over the next year to reach a total of $4.5 billion by 2010. That includes a $454 million increase in its budget and another $500 million earmarked for the agency in the stimulus package.

Read more about IHS health care, "At Native Americans and the Public Option"

Lakeside Cottage Architecture, pt. 12

Garages--the extreme makeover
Garages pt. 2, attached

Some garages were attached, then incorporated into the house; others became another cottage. These are what I call "extreme make-over" garages.







This used to be a four bay fire station, built in 1954, then was converted to a laundromat in 1970, with the last bay on the right becoming the drop off and staffing area, which a few years ago then became a very nice deli called Summer Stock. I've heard that this is its final year as a laundromat. Many now have machines in their cottages, but there's nothing like a commercial laundromat for mattress covers and bedspreads.

Where's the "national" in NPR?

It could be the DPR, at least as long as I've been listening. Like all liberal entities, they see the splinter and miss the plank. At least they are blind to that plank in Obama's campaign rhetoric, which continues on and on and on. His health care advisor, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, Rahm's brother, would have had Ted Kennedy removed from the surgeon's schedule, if he'd had his way (see his JAMA article on rationed care and the expense of treating elders last year). Anyway, back to hypocrisy and the frittering of our tax dollars on NPR from James Taranto, Aug. 28:

"Julie Rovner of National Public Radio offers what we guess is supposed to be a defense of ObamaCare. She asserts that "recent claims" against the health-nationalization scheme, despite having been "all thoroughly debunked," have nonetheless been effective because "opponents used fear as a key weapon in their arsenal."

Of course, so have supporters. "What is truly scary, what is truly risky, is to do nothing," President Obama said earlier this month. And in reality, there is an element of fear in almost all political appeals. Opponents of just about any action will warn of its dire consequences, while proponents will make similar claims about the results of inaction. As it is perfectly rational to avoid dire consequences, fear often leads to highly sensible behavior.

That isn't quite how Rovner sees it, though. She ignores the scare tactics on the pro-ObamaCare side and portrays the other side's fears as something less than human.

I haven't seen any "debunking" that sounded truthful or non-partisan, have you? And comparing the opposition, the people who pay her salary, to rats, seems a bit over the top. It's all the same-old, same-old--The sky is falling. The Democrats can take care of everything, including grandma and your privacy. The right is wrong. Trust me I'm from the government.

Final look at week 10

Last night's program (end of week 10) was a surprise for me--I really hadn't read the publicity. A huge storm blew in about 6:30, and I almost stayed home! Others knew the quality of the performers and there was an excellent, warm and welcoming audience for Jay Ungar and Molly Mason. If you've never heard of them, you certainly know what they are most famous for--"Ashokan Farewell," which was the Grammy award soundtrack for Ken Burns' PBS The Civil War. They perform Appalachian, Cajun, Celtic tunes, and since it was Civil War week at Lakeside, we heard tunes popular on both sides of the conflict with an invitation to sing along. I had not attended the morning seminar, and it seems they also filled in for that speaker who was unavailable at the last minute.

However, we also were treated to Mike and Ruthy, Jay's daughter and son-in-law. They have been performing together for a decade, sometimes with Pete Seeger's grandson as The Mammals, and Ruthy has the most fabulous voice (and I know I say that a lot, but she really does) I've ever heard at Hoover in this genre. You can go to their website and take a listen. At the end, Ruth brought out their young toddler, Will, who charmed the audience with his ability to keep time and say Hi and Bye in the microphone.

I mentioned earlier what a pleasure it was to hear Craig Symonds of the U.S. Naval Academy lecture about Civil War naval battles. But just as thrilling was Father Robert J. Miller, a Catholic priest from Chicago, who lectured Wednesday and Thursday on religion and faith in the Civil War (his book is Both prayed to the same God) and the role of the Jesuit chaplains on both sides which I think will be his next book. If he writes as well as he speaks (he was a member of the Redemptorists, the traveling mission preachers, sometimes preaching 5 times a week in missions work) I look forward to reading it. He is also a founder of Genesis Housing Development Corporation, as a way to stabilize neighborhoods. He is pastor of St. Dorothy Parish, an African American congregation in Chicago.

I've never been a Civil War buff, but after attending the programs at Lakeside in the summer, I see you never run out of topics if that's your interest. Last year I inspected the latrines at the prisoner of war camp on Johnson's Island a few miles from here on one of the hottest and buggiest days of the summer.

Lakeside cottage architecture, pt. 11

The early attached garages
Early on, Lakesiders must have started attaching the garage to the house, especially if they didn't have large lots on which to build one. Here's an example of a classic, 19th century, cross gable house which used to have a garage attached to the house. The added garage has since been incorporated into the house with yet another addition behind it.


Between the two side walls, built into the corner, a slopping shed roof garage was created. The blue lines show the original house, the green lines the location of the former garage. (Please excuse the primitive drawing--it's my primitive, no upgrade Paint Program.) What's interesting about this garage, is that the original doors are still there, cut in half, to form windows that swing in. It was that way when the current owners bought it, and the garage probably wasn't as large as I've shown it, but no one really knows.


This one, a gable to the side shed dormer to the street, on the same street, had a garage added to the back, then that garage was incorporated as a room, and another garage was added to that. Because this is one of the older neighborhoods, space for a garage was limited.


Here's another house on the same street that was able to fit a garage on the lot, attached to the house. It still has the original doors.

This attached garage has 4 lights over three 2 panel doors, and I haven't seen very many of those. Also looks like the roof was raised after it was built.



Part one of garages, 6 lights over 3 panel doors

Will Teddycare replace Obamacare?

1) He was good to his mother and it was never reported that he tried to throw her under the bus even though she lived to 104. To my knowledge, no one officially from the government was included in her final moments or decisions.

2) He got the very best and the most advanced treatment for his brain tumor even though he was over 75, obese, and had led a debauched, dissolute life during which he didn't cultivate a "healthy lifestyle." At the end, no one from the government suggested he should just stop trying to get back to the Senate, take pain killers and give up sopping up health dollars. You go, Ted! That should be your legacy.

Leaving for college 1957 style

1951 four door PackardThis morning I heard a story on TV about parents leaving their children off at college, and how long it would be before they checked in (the parents, not the kids). That caused me to ask myself, "Did Mom and Dad wave good-bye as Carol and I in the packed-up-Packard pulled away from the house on Hannah?"

At least I think we drove the 1951 Packard, with Carol dropping me off at Manchester College in North Manchester, Indiana, and then driving on to Goshen College to park it until we needed it to drive home at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I suppose it's possible Dad drove us, left the car with Carol, and then took the bus back to Mt. Morris. I remember driving it back to Manchester after Christmas break loaded with about 4 or 5 other MC students and all their luggage and presents and having a flat tire.

Of course, we weren't the first to leave the nest, is my excuse for their casual behavior (compared to today's parents). It must get easier with the second and third. My oldest sister was married, Carol, the next oldest, left for Brethren Volunteer Service in Maryland in the late summer of 1955 for a year before starting a nursing program, and in June 1957 I hopped the Greyhound Bus and went all the way to Fresno, California by myself for a summer volunteer term.

Considering that I keep my cars 8-10 years, a 6 year old car looks pretty darn good in hind-sight, but my Dad loved snappy cars and didn't keep them long. I don't know where he found this one--it was gun metal gray green and we were a little embarrassed to be driving a "tank."

Wonder what it is worth today if it's still on all fours?

Now the lefties love Wal-Mart

So Huff and Puff and Color of Change are now singing the praises of America's corporate giants. Hmmm. Smells fishy, doesn't it. A Leftist Government controlling and threatening businesses' bottom line; I wonder what that's called--certainly not capitalism, a representative system of government, or the USA we had before January 20, 2009? Color of Change alumni are now in the administration. To use a favorite administration phrase, they are about to wee-wee in their pants, they are so worked up. Obama is called a racist, which is what someone is who makes snap judgements based on race (as in the policegate incident) something 80% of the citizens are called every day, and all of a sudden free speech is out the window. You can't possibly notice Obama's leftist politics--it just has to be his genetic make-up--not that he's turning the USA into a banana republic.

Time to write those lily livered corporate CEOs and assure them that investors and shoppers watch Glenn Beck, too, not just left wing non-profits and Media-Muck-up. Don't try e-mailing them; you'll just waste time being shuffled around their websites.

Small, medium, big

I have no problem telling a Chihuahua from a Jack Russell from a Dachshund, or an Arabian from a Thoroughbred from a Percheron, or a Jersey from a Guernsey from a Holstein, but once I get beyond robins and blue jays, I'm not much good identifying birds. I've been going on these bird watch/walks this summer, and you should hear these people rattle off the names! I see a bunch of gulls, or I think they are gulls. "There goes an adolescent boney," or "look at that herring gull, see the head on that ring bill?" One lady from Akron told us about thousands of purple martins "staging" in Akron before they fly off to Brazil. Then there are the terns, cormorants, ospreys and herons. I just didn't grow up around shore birds. Some of the early a.m. watchers have been doing this 20-30 years! They've identified hundreds--it's like a game with them. And like any hobby, they all say they meet the nicest people.

Boneparte gull (small)

Ring bill gull (medium)

Herring gull (big)

Lakeside Cottage Architecture, pt. 10

Early 20th century garages

It’s rare that I can’t find a topic on the internet by googling a few sets of words, but I think I’ve found one: the architectural history of the American garage. The garage as a piece of America's towns and cities is now about 100 years old--and the earliest are disappearing--except here, where time occasionally stands still or slows down. American Garage Magazine (online) reports the Robie House (Frank Lloyd Wright) was one of the earliest to have a garage in 1906.

Lakeside is a good petri dish for this research. As Midwestern towns go, Lakeside isn’t very old, having been founded in 1873 as a summer campground then growing into a resort with a few permanent residents. For about the first 50 years of its existence, visitors to the Christian campground arrived either by boat, or by rail from Sandusky or Toledo. When a bridge was made across the bay, people began coming by automobile in the 1920s. Rail passenger service ended in 1930 due to drastic losses in passenger ticket sales.

I lived in two small Illinois towns in the 1940s and 1950s and many garages had previously been small carriage houses or barns. Lakesiders didn’t arrive by carriage and left their horses at home so few needed a stable, although some of the local permanent residents probably had horses. Lakeside also didn't have alleys, like the cities and small towns of Ohio where garages for houses were accessible.

Although I'm not sure why summer residents wanted garages, I'm guessing the automobile in the 20s wasn't as durable as today. In the 1920s, garages were first located some distance from the house there being some fear of the gasoline engine. I'm calling the first group six lights over three panels for the door style.


These little cuties with different roof styles both have six panes over three panels in doors that swing forward. The one on the left seems to have the original siding. Both are quite a distance from the street.






This is an early "attached" garage--same door style, but added to the kitchen lean to which had been added to the basic cottage. Early cottages didn't have kitchens or bathrooms.


Same door style, but much bigger building. Also, no visible drive-way which is the case for many garages in Lakeside which haven't seen a car in years.



It's hard to find original siding in Lakeside--it's been wrapped in vinyl siding, but here's a home and garage, 6 over 3, both with original siding.

No lobbyist left behind

"The Waxman-Markey climate change bill, a 1,427-page special-interest wish list, was put together in such a rush that the allowance permit numbers don’t add up. If you add the percentage of emissions allowances to various special interests in the years 2016 and 2017 and you get a value greater than one hundred percent. That’s right—the bill allocates nearly a billion dollars worth of allowances over and above the emissions “cap” set for those respective years.

Thousands of lobbyists worked on this bill to secure a piece of the allowance pie. These special interests range from the natural gas industry to the auto industry. Even tropical rainforests made the list. Electric utilities were the big winners, receiving 43.75 percent of the allowances in 2012 and 2013. Petroleum refiners didn’t fare as well, receiving only 2.25 percent of the emissions allowances from 2014-2026. Lobbyists brought their A-game to shape this bill and Members caved into their demands, all but guaranteeing this bill will do nothing for the environment. And it comes at the expense of the ratepayer and the taxpayer.

With over 12,500 registered lobbyists in Washington, it’s no surprise that this bill turned into a feeding frenzy that was rushed through in the middle of the night and promises more than it can actually hand out. Waxman-Markey is nothing more than a huge energy tax and a handout for special interests." The Foundry