The Monstrosity From Hell That WillDestroy the American Economy

Latest update on Waxman-Markey at The American Spectator:

According to Ed Morrissey at Hot Air, Henry Waxman just tacked on another 300 pages in the dead of night! This monstrosity is like one of those 1950s sci-fi creatures that just keeps growing and growing . . .

Read the rest, if you dare. What is the evil bipartisan virus that plagues Washington, D.C., and turns members of Congress into pod people compelled to wreak vengeance on the voters who elected them?

Most of these Democrats are from states whose industrial economies would be devastated by Waxman-Markey. This resembles nothing so much as the way urban Democrats have spent the past 50 years pushing liberal legislation that harms no one -- not even taxpayers -- so much as it harms the downtrodden inner-city poor whose interests Democrats claim as their personal comfort-blanket of moral authority.

STOP WAXMAN-MARKEY!

UPDATE: Debate? We don't need no stinkin' debate!

No transparency on energy billUPDATE: House must 'come to its senses'

Rep. Spencer Bachus:

The Democrat leadership is preventing the public from learning important details about the cap and tax plan by bypassing several key committees. . . .
My committee should be given time to review "green housing" mandates that could lead to stiff fines against owners and builders. Penalties for violating the act are $100 per day. A day! What effect does such a law have on home prices, on seniors trying to sell their home in a tough market, and builders struggling to sell their inventory of unsold homes?
I am very disturbed by the repeated pattern of the House leadership in rushing expensive legislation like cap and tax, the so-called stimulus package, and appropriations bills to a vote without adequate review or debate. It’s irresponsible to fast-track legislation that puts taxpayers on the hook for literally trillions of dollars.

Just like the White House playing hardball with the IGs, we find that Democrats prefer to work fast and dirty, and without even the slight effort toward the "transparency" Obama promised.

REMINDER: Two months ago, Democrat Rep. John Dingell said cap-and-trade is a "huge" tax:

UPDATE: Conservatives oppose cap-and-trade:

Although Americans want Washington to stay focused on putting the economy back on track, Nancy Pelosi and her liberal Democratic Congress are trying to enact legislation that will keep the economy crippled. Analysts agree that the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill would cost millions of American jobs, shrink our economy and impose huge increases in gas prices, heating and electric bills on American families. . . .
The House of Representatives needs to come to its senses – don’t pass a massive job-killer in the middle of the worst economic crisis in decades. . . .

Read the whole thing. Signers include Tim Phillips, President of Americans for Prosperity; Fred Smith, President of the Competitive Enterprise Institute; Richard Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com; and American Spectator publisher Al Regnery.

Chuckle of the day

by Smitty

  Shannon over at Chicago Boyz expands on a comment to a post defending Milton Friedman over at Reason that skewers the left amusingly.

  The left doesn’t actually have an developed system of thought regarding the economy. They can’t actually explain why the real world political process will systematically make better decisions than the free-market. Instead, they simply point to any reversals in the real economy, regardless of cause, and then assert that in their imaginations, leftist politicians could have done better.
  It’s hard to argue against people’s imagination. You end up with a discussion much like two D&D geeks arguing over whether a dwarf with a +10 axe could take an Elf with a vorpal sword.

  The Chicago Boyz post goes on to wonder aloud about the left trying to imagine its way to “alternative energy.”
  The conclusion is that the dwarf could take the elf, and I've got 20 gold pieces to back that assertion.

Sarah Palin: Laying pipe!

Energy development in Alaska = "Stimulus we can believe in!" says the hottest governor of the coldest state, in an interview with Michael Medved (via Conservatives4Palin):

Also: "First Dude" is 6th in the Iron Dog.

Democrats think you're stupid

Nancy Pelosi: "Hey, let's do a fake energy bill that won't actually result in new energy production":

While lifting a 25-year federal ban on most offshore oil and natural gas drilling, the legislation would block Virginia and other coastal states from sharing in a $2.6 trillion bonanza of tax revenue expected to flow from offshore fields. . . .
Unless states stand to profit from offshore development, they almost surely would exercise their right under the bill to block any drilling within 100 miles of their shores, critics of the House initiative charged.
"With no financial incentive, no state will choose to 'opt in,' " House Republican leader John A. Boehner of Ohio told reporters, "and this bill will result in little or no new American energy production."

This kind of underestimation of the electorate reminds me very much of the Rostenkowski-Wright Congress of 1993-94 -- or the DeLay-Hastert Congress of 2005-06. Just engage in a lot of symbolic gestures and figure voters are too stupid to know they're being played. Good luck with that, Democrats.