First it was healthcare, now it is climate change. When the Democrats started their quest to take over 18% of our economy in the name of healthcare, they claimed it was a battle of exactly that ... healthcare. Then one day, Barack Obama gets up and makes a speech which changed the debate entirely. It was no longer about healthcare; the issue was suddenly insurance and the evil health insurance companies. Is any of this ringing a bell??

Well it seems as though the Democrats are going to try and do a similar maneuver with cap-and-trade legislation. John Kerry is the Democrat who has decided that cap-and-trade isn't really something that voters can identify with. In fact, John Kerry "doesn't even know what cap-and-trade means"! No lie. He really said that. His point was that if HE didn't know what the phrase cap-and-trade meant, then the average American (who clings to their guns and religion) DEFINITELY doesn't know what it means.

So he is simply going to change the term. So here it is, ladies and gentlemen. We no longer have a cap-and-trade proposal; we now have a "pollution reduction" bill. Doesn't that sound a lot nicer? A pollution reduction bill.

It's all about buzzwords to these people; buzzwords and focus groups. The right buzzwords will ensure that you maintain power over the people. These politicians aren't stupid. I'm guessing there was a focus group somewhere. I'm also guessing that the focus group facilitators asked the people what they thought of the phrases "cap and trade" and "pollution reduction." We all know which would be the winner there. I'm sure there are a lot of government-educated folks out there who will fall in line, believing this line about "pollution reduction" when the truth of the matter is that this has absolutely nothing to do with pollution. In fact cap-and-trade legislation won't do anything to actually curb global warming. But cap-and-trade legislation will do a few other things ... need I remind you?

• A family of four can expect its per-year energy costs to rise by $1,241;
• Including taxes, a family of four will pay an additional $4,609 per year;
• Aggregate GDP losses will be $9.4 trillion;
• Aggregate cap-and-trade energy taxes will be $5.7 trillion; and
• Job losses will be nearly 2.5 million

How about more of this hopey-changey focus group thing?

When it comes to political appointments, Barack Obama has done one heckuva job. Wouldn't you say? Here's just another fine example. Obama's green jobs czar is a man by the name of Van Jones. He is a civil rights, human rights, and environmental activist. Take a listen to some of the comments Jones had to say about white environmentalists in January of 2008.

Did you catch that?

"Because they don't have a racial justice frame ... white polluters steered poison into minority communities."

Also, earlier this year Jones told an audience that Republicans are blocking Barack Obama's proposals because they are "a**holes." He calls that "a technical, political science term."

Certainly elevating the level of debate there, isn't he? This is the self-described "post-partisan" president appointing jerks like Van Jones to positions of (God help us) power. He's a bigot and doesn't belong in a taxpayer funded job.

Well look at what we have here .. a government program that couldn't be properly executed. I'm sure you've been following the giant "oops" that is this "cash for clunkers" deal. The first sign that things were going bad happened when the EPA decided to change which cars were eligible for the program AFTER it had already started. Then the $1 billion allotted to the program quickly disappeared. Then we have government computers that couldn't handle the work. Finally cash-for-clunkers became the clunker.

So what's the logical next step? Let's ask for more money! So the House voted on Friday to give the program another $2 billion. Now it is on to the Senate where it may not be as easy to pass. If it doesn't pass in the Senate, Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood says that the government would probably then kill the program. Meanwhile, car dealerships are left to figure out what to do.

Are you paying attention to this? The whole cash-for-clunkers bit shut down last week because of government bureaucracy and a little problem about running out of money. For generations car salesmen in every corner of this country have been handling the paperwork required to trade in an old car for a new one with ease. After all, how many of you have ever visited a car dealer wanting to trade in a clunker on a new car, only to be told to go away because they just can't process your paperwork.

But ... put government into the equation and what happens? All hell breaks loose, that's what happens. The Imperial Federal Government of the United States interposed federal red tape into the middle of the buyer-used car salesman transaction and everything ground to a screaming halt. How much paper and red tape? Try 130 pages of regulations for a start. How many car salesmen do you think have to deal with a 130-page rule book when they take a car in on trade for a new one.

Now John McCain is likely to filibuster any proposal in the Senate for new money. The Republicans are playing this one up as just another example of government's inability to run anything efficiently. Considering the current healthcare debate, this does not bode well for the Obama administration that wants the government to be in charge of your healthcare. Jim DeMint is one of those Senators who are drawing the comparison. He says, "The federal government went bankrupt in one week in the used-car business, and now they want to run our health care system ... This is crazy to try to rush this thing through again while they're trying to rush through health care, and they want to get on to cap-and-trade electricity tax. We've got to slow this thing down."

OK ... so the government screwed things up royally when politicians inserted government into car sales. Just what in the hell do you think is going to happen when we insert even more government into your relationship with your doctor? If government bureaucracy screws up a car sale, think of what it is going to do for a treatment plan for your cancer.

If you don't understand the trouble that's coming ... please burn your voter registration card.

Now this is really incredible.

You do know, don't you, that this cap-and-trade monstrosity which passed through the house like ___ thru a goose two weeks ago, is the largest tax increase on the American people in the history of this Republic? Well, what are we going to get from this massive increase in the cost of living for Americans?

This comes from Republican Senator James Inhofe's office. Earlier this week there was a hearing in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Sounds dull. But don't count on the media to bring you any of the highlights. Here's something you probably haven't heard. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson - that's right, the official Obama-appointed environmental boss of us -- said that US cap-and-trade schemes would have zero effect on global emissions levels. Just great.

Yes, you read that correctly. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said, "I believe the central parts of the [EPA] chart are that U.S. action alone will not impact world CO2 levels." Well, someone had to toe the administration line, so when Obama's Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, was shown the EPA charts he simply said that he disagrees. Good. That settles it now, doesn't it? The EPA Administrator says that our wonderful cap-and-tax bill won't make any difference in global temperatures, and the Energy Secretary disagrees. So everything is just fine. Let the tax increase roll on.

The Senate is currently working on its version of a cap-and-tax bill. This should scare the tar out of you ... John Kerry is helping write it. One thing that Kerry is trying to ooch out is a provision in the House's version of the bill that could spark a global trade war. How is that? Simple. The House wants to impose carbon taxes on imports to the United States. The reason: to protect American competitiveness against imports from countries without similar emissions regulations.

Gary Horlick, a prominent trade attorney in Washington, says, "If we re-interpret WTO rules to allow trade barriers based on how things are made, we open up a can of worms and might permit other countries to block our biotech exports, including major items such as corn, soybeans, and other crops." Not to mention the logical headache of trying to determine the carbon content of imports, particularly those that have passed through multiple countries.

Are you starting to get the picture here, folks? Did you even know that this provision was included in the House version of this cap-and-trade scam?

... then you are against the world! Yep, this is the new line from liberals and Democrats. If you are against this climate change, cap-and-trade legislation that is making its way through Congress, then you are basically immoral.

Let's start with Henry Waxman, who is one of the chief architects of this cap-and-trade scheme. In response to the Republicans who voted against his plan, he says: "They [Republicans] want to play politics and see if they can keep any achievements from being accomplished that may be beneficial to the Democrats. They're rooting against the country and I think in this case, even rooting against the world because the world needs to get its act together to stop global warming."

Then, we get this from Paul Krugman in The New York Times. He writes, "A handful of these no votes came from representatives who considered the bill too weak, but most rejected the bill because they rejected the whole notion that we have to do something about greenhouse gases. And as I watched the deniers make their arguments, I couldn't help thinking that I was watching a form of treason -- treason against the planet. To fully appreciate the irresponsibility and immorality of climate-change denial, you need to know about the grim turn taken by the latest climate research."

Treason ... rooting against the world ... immorality ... wow, do these guys have a high opinion of their fraudulent cause or what?

Back in February, the White House passed its stimulus plan with the promise of tax breaks for people who purchase electric cars. However, the latest study from the Government Accountability Office says that electric cars will not by itself decrease any greenhouse gas emissions.

The reason is obvious ... it takes power to plug-in and charge an electric vehicle, and where does much of our country get its power? Coal. The study shows that "if plug-in hybrids reached 56 percent of the cars on the road by 2030, they would require an increased electricity production, much of which would likely come from additional coal plants."

Actually ... they have it wrong. Any ObamaBot can tell you that the power to charge up the batteries in electric cars will come from those windmills the government is going to put on the roof of your houses. If you have houses.

Here's a little story about unions flexing their muscles. We'll back into this one. Out in California, many companies are looking to set up solar power plants. So a company called Ausra files plans to build. Immediately it is inundated for demands from a union: "before you can build, you have to study the effects this will have on endangered species like the short-nosed kangaroo rat or the ferruginous hawk!" Studies like this could take years, and they are definitely costly.

Then, another company called BrightSource Energy comes along and wants to build a solar power plant. The same union has no complaints. In fact, it wants regulators to approve the project ASAP.

So I'm sure by now you've already figured out what is going on here. The first company, Ausra, rejected demands to only use union workers to build the solar farm. The other company, BrightSource, said that it would use labor-friendly contractors.

It's not like this is anything new. This is business as usual for unions. What is new is the field that unions have planned to use the green movement to achieve their goals of union expansion. Socialist and communists figured this out 20 years ago, don't know why it took the unions so long.

Barack Obama and the Democrats have ensured that wind and solar farms will be popping up all around the country and creating all sorts of new jobs. (So they say.) So the unions want to make sure that these "new jobs" are union jobs. They are going to use this movement to "regain relevance," as it says in the New York Times. So the unions have devised a plan: use these costly environmental studies to threaten any company that doesn't agree to use union workers or labor-friendly contractors. Obama's their pal. Maybe they'll get away with it.

As I've already pointed out, the Obama administration knows that it has to act quick on these big agenda items. Healthcare has clearly taken center stage lately. But we can't forget about Obama's energy legislation. The cap-and-trade bill is back in the mix, and guess what? Obama wants the bill to be passed next week! Next week will be dubbed "energy week." Well isn't that special!

Gawd, that was fast. Just in case you don't remember how incredibly painful this bill would be for the American economy, Citizens Against Government Waste has some more details:

In reality, this cap-and-trade plan is nothing more than a hidden tax that The Heritage Foundation has estimated could increase the average American family's energy bill by $1,500 annually!

..... These higher operating costs for utilities, oil companies, and industry will ultimately trickle down to individual Americans, and you will pay an estimated 74 percent more for gasoline, 90 percent more for electricity, and 55 percent more on your natural gas bill. And that's not the end of it. You'll also pay more for every product that requires fossil fuels in its manufacture or transportation!

The Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade plan will also grow the size and cost of government by requiring the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a greenhouse gas (GHG) registry, create a GHG emission allowance transfer system, and set emission allowances from 2012-2050. This army of new bureaucrats will eventually control every aspect of industrial, commercial, and individual energy use. You won't be able to tune up your car or install a grill in your back yard without federal interference ... perhaps even a costly environmental impact study. What's more, the cap-and-trade program will necessarily be ripe for political favoritism and corruption, as politicians and bureaucrats manipulate the system for favored industries.

Climatologist Chip Knappenberger has estimated that the 83 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions mandated under Waxman-Markey by 2050 will result in a drop in climate temperature of only nine-hundredths of 1 degree Fahrenheit. That's equivalent to just two years of avoided global warming.

It's a tax, my friends. It's all about the government getting more of your money. The pretense here is the environment. There's a reason why these environmental pushes come from the political left. It's not about the environment. It's about expanding the scope and the size of the Imperial Federal Government. It's about control over your life. Wake up. Global warming is a fraud.

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency is a woman by the name of Lisa Jackson, and Lisa Jackson is concerned about environmental justice. She believes that minorities and low-income people are the victims of pollution by evil US companies and businesses.

She says, "There are too many places in this country where pollution and environmental degradation fall disproportionately on low-income and minority communities ... We can't stand by and accept those disparities ... At EPA, part of our central mission is to show all Americans that we work for them."

Actually, there's a reason why pollution --- air pollution, for instance - has a disproportionate impact on some poorer communities. Prevailing winds. Not racism - prevailing winds. Look at most industrialized cities in the United States. Study the prevailing winds. You will find that when these cities were built the real estate on the upwind side of the smokestacks cost more, while the downwind real estate cost less. Why? Sorry ... if you can't figure that one out, you need help. So .. what are we supposed to do now? Punish industry because people know which way the wind blows?

Sounds like Lisa Jackson and South Carolina Senator James Clyburn are playing from the same rule book of racial chips.

When it comes to this cap-and-trade scam, just remember one thing: that it is, in fact, a scam created for the purposes of expanding government and getting more of your money out of your pocket. Obama is running up a huge bill and he needs every cent he can get his hands on.

Take a look at what is happening in the battle over this bill. This is according to The Hill:

A committee chairman is threatening House leaders to either give him a role in shaping climate change legislation or risk losing every Democratic vote on his panel when the bill hits the floor.

Rep. Collin Peterson (Minn.), the outspoken Democratic chairman of the Agriculture panel, has been making it well-known that he wants his committee to have full jurisdictional authority over whatever climate change bill emerges from Chairman Henry Waxman's (D-Calif.) Energy and Commerce Committee.

This isn't about the environment, folks. It is about power. Even if you are government educated, you should have been able to figure this out by now.

The Democrats are working out the details of a massive wealth redistribution bill, all in the name of climate change. This is the liberal nirvana. You take a naturally recurring climatological phenomena and use scare tactics to stampede the great unwashed into supporting your tax and spend schemes. The looter's plan to limit greenhouse gases are not in the name of sound environmental science but in the name of more government. The Democrats want to use something known as "cap-and-trade" to lower naturally occurring emissions by 17% by 2020 and 83% by 2050.

The looters know that this is going to be expensive. So in order to offset the soaring energy costs associated with this plan ... which we will get to in a minute ... they want to create a system where the government would issue pollution allowances. These permits would then be traded in a government-designed marketplace.

Besides this artificial market, created entirely by government for government, cap-and-trade promises to cripple our economy. The Heritage Foundation has done an analysis of how this Waxman-Markey bill would affect our economy by 2035. Now 2035 might sound like a long way off .. but a child you have today will only be around 26 years ago and just starting to raise a family when that time comes. Here are their findings. Waxman's "environmental" bill would:

• Reduce aggregate gross domestic product (GDP) by $9.6 trillion
• Destroy 1,105,000 jobs on average, with peak years seeing unemployment rise by over 2,479,000 jobs
• Raise electricity rates 90 percent after adjusting for inflation
• Raise inflation-adjusted gasoline prices by 74 percent
• Raise residential natural gas prices by 55 percent
• Raise an average family's annual energy bill by $1,500
• Increase inflation-adjusted federal debt by 26 percent, or $29,150 additional federal debt per person, again after adjusting for inflation.

I will guarantee you, folks, that the government already has plans to make sure that low-income Americans will not pay a dime in increased energy costs. This will be just another notch on the entitlement belt.

Speaking of scams .. don't let the government fool you into thinking that ethanol is going to solve all of our problems either. Not only is it worse for our environment but it is going to cost you money. When that ragtag band of tired socialists and communists ran for the hills with the fall of the Soviet Union they immediately started looking for a new vehicle they could use for their anti-capitalist agenda. They found it. The environment. And they're so glad that you're so easily conned.

It's only a matter of time before President Barack Obama's vast popularity runs aground on his energy policies. In the name of saving the planet from global warming, he has delayed new oil drilling, an action that will have major political repercussions once the world economy recovers. Instead of using some [of] the stimulus billions to produce more gas and oil, Obama's wild-eyed supporters dream of "renewable" energy derived from corn, wind, sunshine, and even grass.

With the appointment of extremists like climate czar Carol Browner and science adviser John Holdren, Obama has placed his administration's environmental policy in the hands of radicals. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar proposes replacing oil and coal with windmills. Yet Barron's recently reported that America would need to build 500,000 giant offshore windmills and transmission lines to produce Salazar's specified 1,900 gigawatts of electricity. In contrast, oil and gas drilling could provide hundreds of thousands of solid, well-paying blue-collar jobs. . . .

All of these things are happening at a time when natural gas is abundant and cheap. The new technology of horizontal fraccing has made it economically feasible to drill into vast shale deposits in many states, even famously difficult ones like Michigan and New York. Many cars could run on natural gas, much like many buses do already. On a recent trip to Peru, I learned that most taxicabs have been converted to natural gas for a cost of about $1,000 each. New technologies continually revive old oil and gas fields and make new ones economically viable. So it's little more than socialist Malthusianism to argue that the world is running out of cheap energy. Science will always find and harness new sources.

Back in April, the EPA determined that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that poses a threat to public health. Because of this finding, it set into motion a series of regulations under the Clean Air Act.

A White House document confirms that an EPA proposal to regulate gasses blamed for global warming will be costly for factories, small businesses and other institutions. The memo was a compilation of opinions that had been sought before the EPA determined that greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health. The memo states, "Making the decision to regulate carbon dioxide ... for the first time is likely to have serious economic consequences for regulated entities throughout the U.S. economy, including small businesses and small communities."

So there you go. The Obama administration knows that these cap-and-trade proposals and carbon regulations are going to be costly ... and yet it will continue to allow the EPA to act in the name of "global warming."

Just for fun, here's George Carlin's take on Earth Day. Do I need to tell you that there will be bad words in this video? Well, there, I just did.

It's anything goes Friday and here's your chance to beat up on a "save the Earth" nut. Have fun!

Joe Biden spent Earth Day by announcing that you, the taxpayers, are going to pay $300 million so that cities and towns can purchase more fuel-efficient vehicles for government employees. Remember, this is all in the name of "economic stimulus."

Just to keep things in perspective ...

Wasn't it earlier this week that Barack Obama asked his cabinet to trim a collective $100 million for their budgets? Now two days later, this administration is willing to throw around three times that amount so that government hacks can drive around in fancy hybrid vehicles.

That's change you can believe in.

Are you as pumped as I am? About Earth Day, that is. This is like Christmas Day to OwlGore. Princess Pelosi wants to make sure that this time next year, America is celebrating the expansion of our imperial federal government. But don't worry ...it will all be in the name of climate change!

Barack Obama and the Democrats are determined to make people more dependent on the government. This is how they retain power. I've been telling you this was on the way for ten years .. and here we are. There really isn't enough bandwidth to cover all of the grand government expansion plans the Democrats have right now. One, of course, is government healthcare. Another is creating a massive government system to regulate climate change. With "global warming" legislation comes the promise of new welfare programs. After all, it is a proven fact that climate change legislation is going to increase the cost of energy in this country. But this isn't a concern to Democrats for two reasons. One .. because ignorant voters will continue to vote for them based on the fact that they brought real change to our government and are trying to prevent the world from a total meltdown! The other is because the Democrats will create entitlement programs to ensure that the poor, poor pitiful poor and the parasite (Democrat) class do not see any energy cost increases.

Pretty clever, huh? But Nancy and her minions are determined to pass climate change legislation this year.

Meanwhile, our government schools are ensuring that we are raising a generation completely brainwashed into believing in this man-made global warming hoax. A new survey shows that one out of every three American children between the ages of six and 11 fear that our planet will not exist when they grow up. Guess who is the most anxious about an Al Gore-scripted apocalypse? Minority children. 75% of black children and 65% of Hispanic children believe that the earth will be "irrevocably damaged" by the time they are adults. Your government at work.

I guess South Carolina's James Clyburn is right ... global warming does seem to affect minorities more than whites.