Conservative Donnybrook

Yes. I am referring to a Canadian paper about Canadian politicians, but that doesn’t automatically make everything it says full of crap. In fact, this story hits the nail on the head.

Both McCain and Obama favor the implementation of a cap-and-trade system similar to Europe’s. Yet, as our somehow-not-full-of-crap Canadian reporter notes:

It’s not just that carbon taxes and cap-and-trade don’t remove one molecule of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It’s that our politicians are ignoring evidence they’re ineffective, impractical, outdated and punitive.

Look at Europe’s Emissions Trading Scheme, the world’s largest cap-and-trade carbon market.

Among its other fiascoes (windfall profits for energy companies and speculators, skyrocketing electricity prices for consumers) emissions are going up.

In other words, it’s not just Canadian politicians, they’re all guzzling the Kool-Aid about as fast as it can be mixed up and poured over ice. The worst part is that cap-and-trade will result in higher energy prices precisely when the energy market is shoving prices into the rude end of the spectrum. These proposals would put an even harsher pinch on American families than would doing nothing. And would accomplish nothing respect to climate change (assuming that it is caused by humans, and that carbon usage is the culprit, and that we can effect the climate by reducing carbon usage, etc.).

While I am on the topic of so-called global climate change, I happened upon a completely unrelated article that may call into question whether human activity can be blamed for climate change at all. These stories (here, here, and here) cast doubt on the assertion that anything humans are doing (or could refrain from doing) would have any effect on the climate. A key point to keep in mind while perusing those stories: there are no (and never have been) humans on Mars, no SUVs, no industry.