Democrats Strong-Arming Global Warming Legislation Into Law

We can't say we weren't warned, but that's no excuse to let this slide by:

Karen Harbert, the President and CEO of Institute for 21st Century Energy, an US Chamber of Conference affiliate, met with a group of bloggers today at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, Texas.

During our question and answer session, Karen told us that the environmental group USCAP is helping democrats design their cap and trade program:

Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-California) used USCAP's proposals as a blueprint for the democrat's climate legislation.
The Washington Times reported yesterday on the lobbyists behind the cap and trade bill:

The sweeping climate bill Mr. Waxman and Rep. Edward J. Markey, Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of the panel's key environmental subcommittee, introduced at the end of March includes a provision that benefits Duke Energy Corp., a founding member of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), whose climate plan released in January the lawmakers have frequently called a "blueprint" for their climate legislation.

So what do we know about USCAP?
The founding members of USCAP include a number of major corporations and four non-governmental organizations including: Environmental Defense, Natural Resources Defense Council, Pew Center on Global Climate Change and World Resources Institute.

And, who would have guessed this? Al Gore sits on the Board of Directors at World Resources Institute one of the founding members of USCAP.

Al Gore is also a partner in Kleiner Perkins. In February 2008 Fortune Magazine reported that Al Gore joined his old pal John Doerr as an active, hands-on partner at Kleiner Perkins. Here it was reported that more than a third of Kleiner's latest fund, which was raised in 2006 and totals $600 million, will be invested in technologies that aim to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. The company will make millions if cap and trade legislation is passed.

Are you starting to get the picture here?

It's hard to get any more obvious about the political hackery going on here. Unfortunately, the Democrats have almost complete control over energy policy, so there's little that can stop them other than an outraged American public. As is usual, the Political Class is vastly out of step with the American people:

Washington Whispers reports and Marc Morano sends it around:

He admits that it's counterintuitive, but Gallup Poll Editor Frank Newport says he sees no evidence that Al Gore's campaign against global warming is winning. "It's just not caught on," says Newport. "They have failed." Or, more bluntly: "Any measure that we look at shows Al Gore's losing at the moment. The public is just not that concerned." What the public is worried about: the economy. Newport says the economy trumps the environment right now, a strong indicator that President Obama's bid to put a cap-and-trade pollution regime into operation isn't likely to be politically popular.

That's not to say people aren't passionate about the issue. But it's the direction of their passion that will disappoint Gore. Newport says that some 41 percent believe global warming claims are exaggerated, and "that's the highest we've seen." Ask people to name their biggest concerns, and just 1 percent to 2 percent cite the environment. "The environment doesn't show up at all," says Newport.

"It's Al Gore's greatest frustration," says Newport. "We seem less concerned than more about global warming over the years. . . . Despite the movies and publicity and all that, we're just not seeing it take off with the American public. And that was occurring even before the latest economic recession."

And that, my friends, is the danger of when liberals run things. They're going to strong-arm through an absolutely disastrous policy that the American people really don't care about and that will have tremendously damaging effects on our economy and national security.

Welcome to the Obama era, where the American people don't really matter.

There's my two cents.