Via Stephen Spruiell at The Corner
While I have focused on the tax aspect of Cap and Trade, something in the Waxman Marxist Bill slipped right past me:
Jimmie Bise at the American Issues Project has a great follow-up on the cap-and-trade bill's onerous home-retrofit mandates, which Kevin Williamson and I wrote about last week. Get this:
Pay close attention to (iii), (iv), and (vi) because those hit you right where you live. What that's saying is the state will be empowered to inspect your home if you want to 1) renovate your house in any way that requires a building permit, 2) sell your house, or 3) change the name of the person responsible for any utility bill.
The bill enforces compliance by withholding tradable emissions allowances and other goodies from state governments until they crack down on the slackers. And once you comply with the directive to retrofit your home, the government reimburses you for no more than half of your expenses. Of course, the bill's authors could make the argument that the nation's biggest energy hogs don't need the money.
Okay, let me state right up front that my house was built in 1923 and there is no way on Heaven or Earth that it would pass an inspection an I can’t even imagine what ’retrofitting’ it would cost. That being said, what the hell right does the government have inspecting my home to ensure that it is energy efficient? What right does the government have to force me to pay thousands of dollars for retrofitting before they will issue me a permit to get my roof fixed?
This absolutely smacks of fascism. What’s next, will the government be inspecting our pantries to ensure that our daily intake of food is in compliance with the food pyramid? Perhaps at the grocery checkout the government could charge a special tax whose food selections don’t meet the correct meat to fruit/vegetable ratio.
Obama has become the Micro-Manager in Chief. Maybe he should let us worry about our day to day lives and get back to what he does best-wrecking the economy.
Updated:
The comment left on this post by Anonymous illustrates the backword and fascist thinking of the Greenies:
What right do you have using up more than your share of natural resources to keep your antiquated home heated and cooled. What right do you have adding more than your fair share of carbon to the atmosphere and making it that much harder for my children's children to live on this earth.
Someone finally has the balls to say enough is enough. we cannot live this way anymore. I applaud President Obama.
As far as the economy goes. It is hard to fix what has all been destroyed by the previous village idiot from Texas.
What is the first problem with the comment? The commenter hit the keyboard without any facts. I know facts can be pesky and inconvenient but they can occasionally be helpful, Let’s examine:
My house was built in 1923 and is certainly antiquated. While my home does have the “modern” conveniences of electricity and running water it costs exactly zero and uses zero natural resources to heat and cool it because it is equipped with neither heat or air conditioning (there are ceiling fans in both the living room and dining room).
Heat when necessary (not often, this is Florida after all) is provided by the fireplace. Cooling is provided by the home’s design. The house is on the water and the front faces the water which always provides a breeze. As is typical of ‘cracker’ cottages built in the early part of the last century, it has a deep front porch which shades the front of the house and all of the windows have large metal awnings. Is the house as cool as it would be if it were air conditioned, no, but it is comfortable.
I like my little house but unlike Anonymous I don’t think I have the right to impose my lifestyle on everyone else. I don’t think the government has that right either. I think Anonymous is a fascist and like all fascists he/she gets some kind of smug satisfaction by imposing their ideals on others. I have a theory that fascists’ need to control others is because they lack, or feel that they lack, control over their own lives. That is too bad.
1 comment:
What right do you have using up more than your share of natural resources to keep your antiquated home heated and cooled. What right do you have adding more than your fair share of carbon to the atmosphere and making it that much harder for my children's children to live on this earth.
Someone finally has the balls to say enough is enough. we cannot live this way anymore. I applaud President Obama.
As far as the economy goes. It is hard to fix what has all been destroyed by the previous village idiot from Texas.
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