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Conservatives have warned of the disastrous economic effects of Barack Obama’s proposed cap-and-trade system and the massive burdens it will impose on American families. Republicans have derided it as a tax, and a particularly regressive one, that will force working-class earners to choose between heat, lighting, and food. In response, House conservatives have proposed … a carbon tax?

A new ultra-hard form of carbon may exist between graphite and diamond.The structure of the new form of carbon resembles that of both graphite and diamond.Punchstock Carbon can exist in a form halfway between graphite and diamond, say researchers in China and the United States. And they believe this stuff is as hard as diamond itself.Yanming Ma of Jilin University in Changchun, China, and his colleagues think that the new carbon material they have predicted in theoretical calculations1 may have been made already, in 2003.At that time, Ho-kwang Mao of the Carnegie Institution of Washington in Washington DC, a co-author...

Don’t be fooled by reports that Obama’s carbon cap and trade legislation is in trouble; this program is an article of faith for the environmentalist left and such firebrands as Weird Henry Waxman are determined to push it through. Obama-style cap and trade is a AAA-rated boondoggle, a massive energy tax in disguise.

The congressional Democrats’ cap-and-trade plan to tax carbon emissions could cost every American family as much as $3,100 a year and is equivalent to a “declaration of war on the Midwest,” Republican lawmakers told CNSNews.com this week.

President Obama wants to prevent “runaway global warming,” by slashing U.S. carbon dioxide emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. According to Oak Ridge National Laboratory data, this would return the country to emission levels last seen in 1905! The Wright brothers had just made history. Coal and wood heated homes. Few had telephones or electricity. New York City’s vehicle emissions were 900,000 tons of horse manure annually. Life expectancy was 47. But America’s 1905 population was 84 million, versus 308 million today. We didn’t have cars, jetliners or electricity for offices, factories, schools and hospitals. To account for...

I have changed my mind about participating in the carbon credit program. And have resolved to give the money I received to St Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Here is why. Recently I sat in the fire hall with a few dozen farmers. We had been invited to hear how we can get paid for carbon credits. The speaker explained how their satellites can measure the carbon in our land individually and how much money we could get. Then asked for questions. I asked “what is the source of this money”? The presenter said it comes from big companies that pollute. I...

Britain's Prince of Wales accused of hypocrisy for jetting on environment tour. Britain's Prince Charles has come under criticism for using a luxurious private jet during his his current European trip whose purpose was to highlight environmental issues. Politicians, critics and the British media have accused the prince of hypocrisy, because the trip, which began Saturday, will cover about 2,200 miles and add an estimated 53 tons to the carbon footprint. This is the second time the prince of Wales has come under fire for flying on a private jet. In February, he used a chartered jet for another environmental...

Today, outspoken climate skeptic Sen. James Inhofe co-introduced legislation to direct the EPA to research how reducing the emission of “a dangerous pollutant” might “improve public health and reduce global warming.” What’s more -- the Oklahoma Republican’s partners in the bill include two of the Senate’s most alarming carbo-chondriacs -- Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and John Kerry (D-MA). No, it’s not a belated April Fools’ Day -- although you're close. It’s Earth Day, and the pollutant isn’t CO2 or even a gas for that matter -- although it is a form of carbon. It’s black carbon, an aerosol produced predominantly by...

Like medieval priests, today’s carbon brokers will sell you an indulgence that forgives your carbon sins. It will run you about $500 for 5 tons of forgiveness—about how much the typical American needs every year. Or about $2,000 a year for a typical four-person household. Your broker will spend the money on such things as reducing methane emissions from hog farms in Brazil. But if you really want to make a difference, you must send a check large enough to forgive the carbon emitted by four poor Brazilian households, too—because they’re not going to do it themselves. To cover all...

The question posed is this: Is a printed newspaper more eco-friendly than viewing the same news online?

The American people have had enough of convoluted, indecipherable financial schemes and the opportunists who exploit them. The public is understandably angry about Wall Street's exploitation of Main Street, and yet our political leaders are setting the stage for another complex trading market, ripe for corruption. The future Enrons and Bernie Madoffs of the world would like nothing better than to see the U.S. impose a new market for carbon emission trading. The cap-and-trade system being touted on Capitol Hill would create a multibillion-dollar playground that would, once again, create a group of wealthy traders benefiting at the expense of...

Viral Batteries: A Case for Evolution? by Brian Thomas, M.S.* Researchers at MIT have invented a “greener” battery with the help of viruses. Three years ago, they engineered a virus that coats itself with material that serves as an anode, a structure within a battery that attracts positive ions. They have now engineered a virus (bacteriophage) that serves as a cathode, which indirectly links to the anode to help make the battery functional. The result is a battery with little impact on the environment. National Public Radio (NPR) ran a report on its Morning Edition that compared the development of...

Obama illustrates the definition of the word bloviate by taking 4 minutes to not answer a question about terrorism against India emanating from Pakistan. Isn't it enough, really, that I called on you, out of all the sheep in the audience with hands held high? Must I also answer the question? Read more

In a move that will likely get California's consumers in a huff, impending legislation may soon restrict the paint color options for Golden State residents looking for their next new vehicle. The specific colors that are currently on the chopping block are all dark hues, with the worst offender seemingly the most innocuous color you could think of: Black. What could California possibly have against these colors, you ask? Snip....

Sydney, Australia - Rothschild Australia and E3 International are set to become key players in the international carbon credit trading market, an emerging commodity market that analysts estimate could be worth up to US$150 billion by 2012. In a move that will re-shape the fledgling emissions trading market, Rothschild Australia and E3 International today announced their intention to launch the Carbon Ring Consortium -- an investment vehicle that will provide companies in the Asia Pacific Region with an innovative way of learning about and understanding their risks in the new carbon market. The Carbon Ring Consortium is the first of...

Politicians who bow to the demands of the world's climate alarmists have long sought various means of reducing anthropogenic CO2 emissions. ... But the "rules of the road" will soon be become much more stringent, and you and I may be asked - if not mandated by law - to make an unprecedented lifestyle change that could dramatically curtail one of our most cherished personal freedoms, all in the name of "saving the planet." Writing for the scientific journal Global Environmental Change, two academics at Oregon State University - Paul Murtaugh and Michael Schlax - identify this lifestyle change in...

ITEM: U.S. News & World Report for February 20, 2009 interviewed Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the new chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Waxman said that "broader legislation" is needed beyond the passage of the so-called economic stimulus bill. "What we need to move to is legislation to deal with global warming.... It's the key to our revitalized economy and our long-term prosperity as a nation."Critics of "cap-and-trade" legislation, noted the magazine, say such action will outsource jobs to other countries, presumably "the last thing we need during an economic crisis." Dodging, Waxman responded: "We're going to...

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., met with President Barack Obama and key budget advisers Friday to discuss financial reforms and energy issues under review in Congress. Dorgan was one of four Democratic senators invited by the White House to meet with Obama and his top advisers to discuss the federal budget and other issues. Dorgan said they had "a pretty wide-ranging discussion about a good number of issues." The North Dakota senator said he raised the potential for new financial reforms and regulations to help rebuild the economy. Dorgan has sought more accountability into the expenditure of economic recovery funds and...

VIENNA – Two diplomats say Iran's national car company has made plans to purchase large quantities of carbon fiber, which is under U.N embargo because it could be used in the country's nuclear program. The automaker's chief executive denied it. The two diplomats independently told The Associated Press that their countries' intelligence agencies had gathered information that Iran Khodro executives were planning international orders for carbon fiber. Some would be used for fuel tanks in a new car that runs partly on compressed natural gas, the diplomats said.

We contended previously that membership in the U.S. Climate Action Partnership does not speak well of a company's mission or strategy, although there are admittedly good performers on the list. This is because a well-managed corporation does not need government mandates to force businesses and individuals to buy its products (e.g. alternative energy sources, compact fluorescent lamps). As an example, if General Electric was up to the job of engineering cost-effective wind turbines and solar panels, it would probably not be able to make them quickly enough to keep up with demand even without tax credits to encourage their purchase....

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed a national system for reporting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions by major emitters Tuesday. The registry, which was originally proposed in a 2007 energy bill and is funded in U.S. President Barack Obama's 2010 Budget outline, would lay the foundation for regulation of CO2 and other gases thought to contribute to global warming. [Snip] Jackson called the registry a "critical step toward helping us better protect our health and environment." Obama's energy and climate czar, Carol Browner, who is widely believed to be directing the president's global warming agenda, has told Dow...

The head of the UN body charged with leading the fight against climate change has conceded that Barack Obama will face a "revolution" if he commits the US to the deep carbon cuts that scientists and campaigners say are needed. Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said domestic political constraints made it impossible for the US president to announce ambitious short-term climate targets similar to those set by Europe. And he questioned the value of a new global climate deal without such a US pledge. His words come as scientists at the Copenhagen conference said...

Could Obama's carbon emission policies re-create the economic conditions that led to Southern secession?Who Pays for Cap and Trade? (Wall Street Journal, 3/9/09, A18) describes how Barack Obama's proposed carbon taxes and cap-and-trade mandates will affect different regions of the United States. The table shows per capita carbon emissions in tons. Highest are Wyoming, North Dakota, Alaska, West Virginia, Montana, Louisiana, Indiana, Nebraska, Kentucky, and Iowa. All are either Red States or conservative Blue States. Lowest are NJ, FL, WA, OR, MA, CT, VT, CA, NY, and RI. All except Florida are reliable Blue States with high populations of latte-sipping...

We reported previously that the U.S. Climate Action Partnership's (USCAP's) members include some of the country's worst-managed corporations, as demonstrated by their need for government bailouts. These include former USCAP members AIG and Lehman Brothers, as well as government-dependent entities like General Motors and Chrysler. Our position is that companies that need government mandates to force people to buy their products or services contribute nothing to society, and they should not be in business. If General Electric, for example, cannot engineer cost-effective wind turbines and solar panels, and must instead get the government to require businesses and utilities to buy...

The CO2 wars have begun. Presumably following White House directions, the EPA is ready to issue an "Endangerment Finding" on carbon dioxide, paving the way for regulations to control CO2 emissions. But with over one million "major stationary sources," a full-blown application of the Clean Air Act would be the equivalent of an atomic bomb directed at the US economy — all without any scientific justification. Hence there is speculation that the White House strategy is to use the threat of EPA regulation to force Congress to take action.The CO2 wars have begun. Presumably following White House directions, the EPA...

http://ecoworld.com/blog/2009/03/04/carbon-taxes-public-sector-pensions/

http://ecoworld.com/blog/2009/03/04/carbon-taxes-public-sector-pensions/

http://ecoworld.com/blog/2009/03/04/carbon-taxes-public-sector-pensions/

Despite consistently describing the economic situation as being dire, President Barack Obama is rapidly moving forward with policies that have the potential to seriously harm American industry. He has tasked Vice President Biden to promote the cap-and-trade program that the envirolobby has been seeking after for over a decade. The Vice-President, armed with a new study purporting to claim that cap-and-trade would promote green jobs—via government t subsidy—is working to allay fears in industry-heavy states, many of which were instrumental in Obama's victory. The study, produced by the liberal environmentalist group Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), reveals a large number of...

Banking problems and “toxic assets” are major contributors to the ongoing decline in the stock market, but it is quite likely that investors took them into account last year. The 800 pound gorilla in the living room that nobody seems to want to talk about consists of Barack Obama’s agenda (per his State of the Union Address) to impose taxes on all fossil fuels, or require users of fossil fuels to buy carbon offset credits from the modern counterparts of medieval indulgence peddlers. As long as this agenda continues to menace the United States, investors are rightly reluctant to invest...

As Congress tries to clean up the nation's energy sources and cut gases blamed for global warming, it is struggling to do so in its own backyard. The Capitol Power Plant, a 99-year-old facility that heats and cools the hallowed halls of Congress, still burns coal and accounts for one-third of the legislative branch's greenhouse gas emissions. For a decade, lawmakers have attempted to clean it up. In recent years, Congress has reduced its energy consumption. The steam and chilled-water power plant has become more efficient. It now burns more natural gas and only 35 percent coal, compared with 49...

Obama’s Greenhouse Gas Gamble WASHINGTON — In proposing mandatory caps on the greenhouse gases linked to global warming and a system for auctioning permits to companies that emit them, President Obama is taking on a huge political and economic challenge.

President Obama on Saturday struck back aggressively at critics of his $3.6 trillion budget proposal, casting himself as a populist crusader whose "sweeping change" has angered Washington's entrenched special interests, and promised to fight them. "I realize that passing this budget won't be easy. Because it represents real and dramatic change, it also represents a threat to the status quo in Washington," Mr. Obama said in his weekly video and radio address. Mr. Obama's language was combative and confrontational, as he promised to fight for "American families." "I know these steps won't sit well with the special interests and lobbyists...

Barack Obama touts Abraham Lincoln as a favorite role model, but his State of the Union address espoused policies that could, in the face of worsening economic conditions, conceivably lead to the dissolution of the United States. As was the case in 1860, the causes would be economic but with a reversal of roles: an industrialized and energy-dependent South would break away to free itself from crippling energy policies. ...While we opposed Obama’s election, we hoped that the responsibilities of the Presidency would turn him into a capable leader who would, if not competent in a given field, seek competent...

Cap and Trade will not work! It will not generate revenue! It will cost trillions and it will cause more unemployment. (See below) Energy costs will rise, but the radical environmental left will be appeased by Dear Leader. And The Obama Administration will get away with all of this, without much real scrutiny, because of those blinded by the media and ObamaMania. Thanks, in advance, for helping to run our country into the ground you ignorant Liberals. The grand larceny and dishonesty in all of this nonsense is that current White House budget director Peter Orszag, misled Congress last fall...

President Barack Obama's first budget includes $15 billion a year for renewable energy programs and an ambitious plan to raise $646 billion from a carbon reduction proposal. "Because our future depends on our ability to break free from oil that's controlled by foreign dictators, we need to make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy," Mr. Obama said Thursday morning. "That's why we'll be working with Congress on legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy." The plan uses money from a cap-and-trade program — which would allow companies to...

President Obama will pledge Tuesday night that the nation "will rebuild, we will recover," as he delivers an address to a joint session of Congress and with a nervous nation watching at home. "While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before," Mr. Obama will say, according to excerpts of his remarks. In lofty language, Mr. Obama is expected to promise a new path forward...

Nasa's first dedicated mission to measure carbon dioxide from space has failed following a rocket malfunction. Officials said the fairing - the part of the rocket which covers the satellite on top of the launcher - did not separate properly. Data indicates the spacecraft crashed into the ocean near Antarctica. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) was intended to help pinpoint the key locations on our planet's surface where CO2 is being emitted and absorbed. Nasa officials confirmed the loss of the satellite at a press conference held at 1300 GMT. John Brunschwyler, from Orbital Sciences Corporation, the rocket's manufacturer, told...

Barack Hussein Obama will propose a massive business tax on greenhouse gases in his FY 2010 federal budget to be presented this week.The massive tax increase and power grab was buried at the end on article on Obama's forthcoming budget proposal in The New York Times:On energy policy, Mr. Obama’s budget will show new revenues by 2012 from his proposal to require companies to buy permits from the government for greenhouse gas emissions above a certain cap. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the permits would raise up to $300 billion a year by 2020. Since companies would pass their...

Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm ''exceeded her legal authority'' when she directed the state Department of Environmental Quality to impose new legal requirements on future coal-fired plants, Attorney General Mike Cox has determined. State Rep. Kenneth B. Horn, a Frankenmuth Republican, was one of two lawmakers who had asked Cox to issue an opinion on the governor's directive that she announced in her State of the State address this month. In her announcement, the Democratic governor called for the DEQ to review the need for new coal-fired plants and to explore alternatives before issuing air quality permits. She said the state...

Listen for the not-so distant rumble.After spending every dollar available to humanity, Team Lightbringer now turns its lustful gaze towards alternative sources of revenue. They could just begin the inevitable rape of the middle class taxpayer but that's not going to happen until President Obama no longer has a vested interest in reelection. That's generally when presidents reveal how they really planned to pay for things. Now it's time to begin a regulatory strangling of energy businesses. While half the country was busy electing New and Shiny Hope and Change and the other half was staying home or looking for...

Enlarge ImageThe good girth. Researchers measure the continuing growth--and carbon storage--of rainforest trees. Credit: Simon Lewis Some good news for those worried about climate change: The trees in African rainforests are gobbling up ever more carbon dioxide and thereby mitigating the buildup of the greenhouse gas in Earth's atmosphere. The finding underscores the importance of protecting the rainforests, say the authors. Trees take in CO2 as they grow, and when they die, their decay releases it back into the air. In theory, these fluxes are balanced in a mature forest, so the trees are neither a net sink--as the...

SAN FRANCISCO – As NASA's new Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) moves closer to its planned launch next week, the team responsible for the spacecraft faces enormous challenges to fly the first-ever probe to map carbon dioxide levels across. "OCO will be making one of the most challenging measurements of any atmospheric trace gas that has ever been made," said Charles Miller, OCO deputy principle investigator at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena Calif. OCO is poised to launch from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base atop a Taurus XL rocket on Feb. 24 to begin its carbon dioxide-hunting mission. The...

US energy chief floats idea of a carbon tax: NYT WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Energy Secretary Steven Chu has floated the idea of a carbon emissions tax to fight global warming, in an interview with The New York Times Thursday. During the US presidential campaign, the notion was kept largely on the back burner as candidates were reluctant to promote the idea of costlier energy at a time when gasoline prices were soaring. But since President Barack Obama's administration took office in January, Congress has been working on setting up a system for swapping greenhouse gas emissions quotas similar to...

Summary for Policy Makers Carbon credits are a form of fiat currency, yet as calls for carbon trading grow, ironically, another fiat currency collapses—destroying life savings, wiping out jobs, and taking down historic institutions overnight. Fiat money has a long history of failure, corruption and fraud. The inevitable booms, busts and inflation act as an invisible tax, transferring wealth from people who work and save to speculators, middle men, and crooks. The US dollar—sovereign issue of a great capitalist, democratic nation—is on life support. So far at least eight hundred billion dollars has been created from thin air to...

The heaviest snowfall in 20 years closed thousands of schools and caused transportation chaos up the eastern side of Britain, with London and the surrounding areas the hardest hit. Six million bus passengers were stranded as all London's bus services were halted because of dangerous driving conditions, and almost every subway line was at least partially suspended. Most commuter rail services were also cancelled or seriously delayed, and flights at London's airports were decimated, with both of Heathrow's runways shut, Luton and London City closed, and Gatwick and Stansted flights subject to delays and short-notice cancellations. Similar conditions were reported...

It’s usually an event reserved for dignitaries and celebrities held in high esteem, but the City of Las Vegas is setting a new precedent … this time in the name of global warming awareness. At the behest of a global warming activist organization, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Las Vegas and surrounding jurisdictions are going to dim their lights for an hour to raise awareness for global warming on March 28 as part of the WWF’s “Earth Hour.” The 2008 event drew coverage from all three networks as reporters worked to cover climate change because, as ABC put it, “the...

The key players are now all in place in Washington and in state governments across America to officially label carbon dioxide as a pollutant and enact laws that tax we citizens for our carbon footprints. Only two details stand in the way, the faltering economic times and a dramatic turn toward a colder climate. The last two bitter winters have lead to a rise in public awareness that CO2 is not a pollutant and is not a significant greenhouse gas that is triggering runaway global warming. How did we ever get to this point where bad science is driving big...

Gore: Earth in 'grave danger' Tom LoBianco (Contact) UPDATED: Former Vice President Al Gore told lawmakers Wednesday morning that the earth is in "grave danger" and that the nation must break its dependence on oil. Mr. Gore said Congress must pass a cap and trade bill and increase tax breaks for renewable energy sources before going before the U.N. climate change conference this December to negotiate new carbon-reduction benchmarks. "Climate change will be increasingly central to our foreign policy and national security, and it will be a focal point of this committee's efforts as well," said Sen. John Kerry, the...

Gore Calls On Lawmakers To Curb Carbon Emissions, Support Fiscal Stimulus 1/28/2009 1:03 PM ET Gore Calls On Lawmakers To Curb Carbon Emissions, Support Fiscal Stimulus (RTTNews) - Always willing to speak up on the issue of global warming, Nobel Prize winner Al Gore testified before former Senate colleagues Wednesday, urging action on carbon emissions. The former Vice President told lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that actions must be taken "this year" to cut down on carbon emissions. Gore expressed his concern that efforts to fight global warming could take a backseat in light of the severe recession...