“As a body approaches the event horizon, time is distorted due to the force of the acceleration, and force of the field. To an outside observer it would slow gradually, and along with it, wavelengths, although maintaining velocity, are red-shifted. As the body becomes even closer to the event horizon, time appears to stop. Strong tidal forces would cause the body to be ripped apart. Upon reaching the event horizon, the body would never be seen again, and is thought by scientists to race irreversibly towards the singularity…”
—Everything You Need to Know About Black Holes, Anne-Marie Cumberlidge, Keele University, 1997.
As Congress accelerates toward the adoption of the Lieberman-Warner America’s Climate Security Act (S. 2191), most Americans are oblivious that they are being irreversibly thrust into the vortex of an economic black hole by the very folks they’ve elected to protect their way of life. Yet, a recent poll by the National Center for Public Policy Research revealed that, when alerted to the issue, 90 percent of Americans rejected the prospect of paying “even a penny more” for gas or electricity. Thankfully, a few organizations are weighing in, such as The Club for Growth, but it may be too little, too late. I hope not.
By implementing the questionable goal of capping CO2 emissions (the gas that you are exhaling right now), the Climate Security Bill in essence bans coal, tolerates natural gas and embraces nuclear power. However, we can’t access the mother load of natural gas in our own Gulf. Nuclear plants are ten years away and they cost ten times a natural gas electric generator. By capping the production of CO2 and “charging” to produce it, the bill raises “...substantial resources” (read: carbon taxes) from the industries responsible for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and recycles (re-distributes) those resources…” in order to “assist communities, individuals, and companies that could be affected by the costs of transitioning to lower GHG-emitting energy sources.” Thus, we have yet another wealth re-distribution program for a new dependent class in America, the energy-challenged (see Senate Committee Report 110-337, dated May 20, 2008, from the Committee on Environment and Public Works).