Raw Story:
A bill intended to limit greenhouse gas emissions and create clean energy jobs has come under fire from Republicans, who insist it would destroy jobs while raising the cost of energy for consumers. Some, like House Minority Leader John Boehner, have even taken to describing the legislation as a "tax."
Few Republicans, however, would go as far as to describe the bill as "tyranny," as Rep. Michele Bachmamn (R-MN) did when she spoke on the House floor Friday in support of an amendment offered by Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA). Forbes' plan would scrap the current bill entirely and replace it with a "New Manhattan project" to offer prizes for inventing more energy efficient technology.
First off, did you know we already have cap-and-trade? We use it to control emission of sulphur dioxide. We have since 1990, when it was included in the Clean Air Act as a method to curb acid rain. So far, civilization hasn't collapsed. Like the efforts to control ozone-depleting gases, it works so well that many people don't even know it exists, despite all the screaming and crying that went on when that program went through. All the gloom and doom scenarios coming from Republicans is straight-up industry horseshit -- don't take it any more seriously than you would a tobacco lobbyist telling you that smoking doesn't cause cancer.
Second, a "New Manhattan Project?" You remember how we offered prizes for the first person to come up with an A bomb? Yeah, that's because it's not the way the Manhattan Project worked. It was an incredibly expensive program -- at one point we melted down silver from the treasury for wire, because of a copper shortage. It was a government-run program, with government-employed researchers, that cost the taxpayers $20 billion in 2008 dollars. Calling a program where you offer prizes a "New Manhattan Project" is a joke. Feel free to laugh out loud at the ridiculous hyperbole.
Third, everyone knows Michele Bachmann is a lunatic. Seriously, do I have to go any farther on this one?
