CO2 - Health - Education...

It strikes me a little amusing that politicos who last month piled on the Cap & Trade band wagon, knowing full well that the intent of the bill is to raise energy prices dramatically and quickly in order to help alternative energy be more competitive, under the guise of saving the world from global warming (or climate change or what ever they call it now), are now piling on the Universal Health Care initiative (or is it now called Health Care Reform? - I can't keep up), taking about and using cost-benefit issues to weigh it down. Where was cost-benefit in the Energy Bill? We think you should beware of those who want to "save the world" at "any/all cost".

Increasing the cost of energy here, in the US, will simply drive more widget manufacturing to other "friendly" countries (and won't reduce the offending pollution on a global scale). Destroying the powerhouse economies of the world on the other hand potentially will have a tremendous effect on global pollution, it will spread the pollution and wealth flat across the globe, to places outside of the EPA's control. If we can't afford widgets (or food), well, the widget, jobs, and benefits will go away. But will the world will be a better place?

CO2... plants breath it, the earth exhales it, we use it to make pop fizzy, make cool smoke at concerts, keep ice cream and steaks cold when we ship them, and we emit it from planes, trains, automobiles, coal plants, factories, etc. Even still, unbelievably (which is why CO2 is such a powerful fund raising tool) at the end of the day, we are responsible for a very small proportion of CO2 in the atmosphere. A total dead stop will have negligible effects on total atmospheric CO2. The simple truth is, we don't know. More research is definitely needed, to understand the earth model and to develop new technologies to be cleaner and more efficient.

Why are there no cost barriers for energy reform yet there are cost barriers to Universal Health Care, or Public Education?

Perhaps the only way to get people to properly value their way of life and conveniences (energy, environment, health, education) is to start taking it away. Is that what is going on today? It sure feels like it...

We really don't understand why it is palatable to the American public to intentionally more than quadruple the cost of energy, but bicker over nickles and dimes at the School Board...

Socialism is a very nice ideal, it is easy to get lulled into it's beauty and whisperings. A successful democracy should lean on socialist values as affordable. Goverment should not exist to raise money (which is all Cap & Trade actually does), it exists to create an environment where as individuals we can prosper, as living beings.

We can ALL do better, and likely have more impact on our energy use, environment, health, education than allowing the taxing authority to make those decisions for us. We have a personal responsibility to respect the earth and its resources, our environment, and our money.

The solution is indeed in the mirror. We continue to try improve our lives and impact, how about you?