'Killing Me Softly'

~ “LETTERS FROM AMERICA” - by The Metaphysical Peregrine ~

“Killing Me Softly” was a hit song popularized by Roberta Flack back in the ‘70’s. It can now be the theme song for what the Democrat Party and Barack Obama is doing to Liberty in America.

This past Friday, June 26, 2009, the soft tyranny of Statists was strengthened. Even though there was no public support for it, and massive opposition (tens of thousands of phone calls crashed the Capitol Hill phone system), the Cap and Trade Bill was passed 219 – 212. Eight Republicans voted for it, and Forty-four Democrats against it. If the eight Republicans in Name Only (RINO’s) had voted with their party, it would not have passed. Kudos to the Democrats that voted against this. There is already a movement within the Party to gin up a campaign against them this next election cycle.

From the testimony before the Senate Republican Conference June 22, 2009 by Ben Lieberman, the Senior Policy Analyst for Energy and Environment in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation:
"...analysis we conducted at The Heritage Foundation, which is attached to my written statement, the higher energy costs kick in as soon as the bill's provisions take effect in 2012. For a household of four, energy costs go up $436 that year, and they eventually reach $1,241 in 2035 and average $829 annually over that span. Electricity costs go up 90 percent by 2035, gasoline by 58 percent, and natural gas by 55 percent by 2035. The cumulative higher energy costs for a family of four by then will be nearly $20,000."

"But direct energy costs are only part of the consumer impact. Nearly everything goes up, since higher energy costs raise production costs. If you look at the total cost of Waxman-Markey, it works out to an average of $2,979 annually from 2012-2035 for a household of four. By 2035 alone, the total cost is over $4,600."

We estimate job losses averaging 1,145,000 at any given time from 2012-2035."

Of course the Democrats deny all that, even after the January 2008 video of Obama stating, "Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket." "Coal-powered plants, you know, natural gas, you name it, whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers."

When it’s pointed out that this will drive companies overseas to where Cap and Trade doesn’t exist, we’re told we have to go first with this to provide leadership. Anyone really think China will follow? Russia? India? If companies stay and pay the costs, those millions of dollars will be passed on to the consumer. This bill is supposed to create “green” jobs as well. Spain has tried this, and 2.2 jobs are lost for every green job created; Spain’s unemployment is hovering about 18%.

Just how intrusive is the Cap and Tax Bill? There’s even a law that specifies where in the garage of a new house an outlet will be placed, and the size of the outlet, for your new Obamamobile.

Not one person in Congress has read this bill. It’s over 1200 pages. Three hundred pages of amendments were delivered at 4 AM the morning of the debate and vote. Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” is about that long, and certainly makes a lot more sense. By the way, TARP, the Omnibus Bill, and no amendments to anything have been read entirely by any member of this Congress. (Polls show that the American people were against all those bills too, and Congress passed them anyway.) [During his campaign, Obama said all pending legislation would be posted on Recovery.gov for five days before debate and vote, and not once has this happened. I’m a political geek, and I watch.] Hopefully this massive move to deny the Liberty of the American people will not make it through the Senate.

In less than two hundred days, this Statist President and his Statist party have gained control or have nearly gained control of the automotive industry, financial industry, and insurance industry; is about to take control of the energy industry, and in the next couple weeks the healthcare industry. Where is that plug supposed to go again?

Killing me softly. Soft tyranny is still tyranny.