Many people do not know that Cap and Trade and global warming are partners in crime.  For those who do not know, Cap and Trade has nothing to do with Wall St. or "capping the salaries of CEOs."  Basically, Cap and Trade is all about forcing our current energy suppliers, aka power companies to pay out huge fees in order to pay for their carbon emissions.  Cap and trade is going to heavily tax the power companies, which in turn is going to affect the average American as well.  Our utility bills are going to go up in order to cover the added taxes imposed upon the power companies.

Cap and Trade does not just affect utilities, it would also regulate everyday items such as furnaces, washers & dryers, dishwashers, showerheads, etc.  It also mandates that "25% of U.S. electricity" be produced by renewable energy, but nuclear energy does not count as renewable.  This is just a very small sample of what Cap and Trade will do.

 So what do Cap and Trade and global warming have in common?  Well, let us take a quick look at global warming, aka climate change.  What is global warming?  The Public Broadcasting Service defines global warming as: "The HYPOTHESIS that the earths atmosphere is warming because of the release of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide.  These gases are released into the air from burning gas, oil, coal, wood and other resources which then holds heat in an action similar to the walls of a greenhouse."  Very interesting.  Here global warming is defined as a hypothesis.  Really?  I thought this was a proven fact.  I thought thousands of scientists and experts all agreed, we are doomed.  I thought the polar ice caps were melting, the polar bears were dying off and according to Ted Turner we are all going to become cannibals someday.  Well, the big problem with global warming is many scientists cannot agree on the issue, but the alarmists scream the world is in trouble and we need to do something now! "The sky is falling!"

So, here we are with global warming and Cap and Trade.  The sky is falling and politicians are quick to jump in with the environmentalists stating, "We need to do something right now!"  The cure for global warming is to reduce carbon emissions and one way to do this is to implement alternative energy sources.  We need to do away with coal and oil.  But the problem with utilizing alternative energy is the expense.  But cost is not the only obstacle for using alternative energy, in some cases proponents of alternative energy are the problem.

Because of the expense, most power companies and consumers are not going to switch, so the governments answer is to penalize those who refuse to comply through Cap and Trade.  Tax the power companies and make the consumers buy expensive and heavily regulated products.  Let us not forget the utility rates will go up as well.

I mentioned problems with alternative energy proponents and here are some examples: Wind farms are one answer  for alternative energy sources.  Cape Wind is preparing to build Americas first wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod, MA.  The wind farm will literally be built in the waters off the MA coast.  It will cover approximately 25 sq miles and it is estimated that it will be equivalent to taking "175,000" cars off the road per year.  There will be "130 towers, 75% of the regions electrical needs will be met" and approximately "734,000" tons of carbon emissions will be reduced annually.  Sounds great, but the late Senator Ted Kennedy, who was a global warming crusader opposed the project.  The wind farm would have spoiled the view from his Hyannis Point vacation home.  In 2006 Kennedy tried to attach an amendment to a coast guard bill that would have stopped the wind farm, but the public found out and because of the backlash, Kennedy had to change his mind.

In CA Pacific Gas and Electric bought enough solar-generated electricity to supply "239,000 homes."  But environmentalist groups, who once again are global warming crusaders, are against building the solar farms.  The proposed locations to build the farms are home of the Mojave Ground squirrel, the burrowing owl and the desert tortoise.  So, the environmentalists are doing everything they can to stop the solar farms.  Even Governor Schwarzenegger said, "If we cannot put our solar power plants in the Mojave desert, I dont know where the hell we can put it."  Makes sense to me.

We all know power lines are needed to get electricity from the source to the power companies and homes.  In CA Sunrise Powerlink was given the green light to connect San Diego to solar and wind power harnessed in the Imperial Valley.  The line has very strict standards and it goes around an Indian reservation, a state park and a forest.  As an added bonus, builders cannot disturb rattle snakes and burrowing owls.  But the Sierra Club of CA is not satisfied, so they are against the project and have petitioned the CA Supreme court to stop the project.

For crying out loud!  Even when private companies try to be proactive and go green they are still met with resistance from the very people that demand clean energy!  The bottom is this; take a natural phenomenon, like oh I dont know global warming and turn it into a crisis.  Then threaten those who refuse to buy into global warming with tax penalties and fines; enter Cap and Trade.  But, make it difficult, if not impossible for private companies to make the necessary changes to reduce greenhouse gases.  What a great scam.  Implement Cap and Trade and make a lot of money from the tax money.

Remember what our good friend Rham Emanuel said, "You never let a serious crisis go to waste.  And what I mean by that its an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."