crap and taxI am totally amazed (well maybe not, given the craven congressional leadership) that more than half of the House of Representatives went against the will of people of the United States and voted in favor of this piece of “shit” (quoting John Boehner).

As usual, Charles Krauthammer nails the problem . . .

Krauthammer’s Take on the Waxman-Markey bill:

Look, this bill is so bad it’s almost indescribable. It starts with what we heard Eric Cantor say. In principle, it’s a carbon tax. And to do it — which is probably the largest tax in American history — and to do it in the middle of a recession is quite insane.

But secondly, even if you accept that we have to do a carbon tax because there is an emergency in the climate, even so, what we have — the bill that we have today is an abomination — 1,200 pages, as you said, with a 300-page amendment dumped on people this afternoon today.

And it involves so many concessions to constituencies, to coal companies in states, to all kinds of favorite constituencies, that it’s a mess, and it undermines the idea of a cap and trade, a system in which the market will regulate carbon emissions.

As a result, in the final analysis, it gives money and carbon credits to utility companies on the condition that it does not raise rates on people’s electricity.

But if that is the case, then it undermines the entire argument in favor of this, which is to induce the reduction in the use of energy. If there are no rises in rates, there’s no incentive to reduce emissions, and the whole purpose of the bill is undermined.

Oh, and by the way, how can you call that thing on your face a nose, congressman Waxman? Rhinoplasty gone bad, maybe?