Your right to clean air is interesting. I live in Houston. A long time ago the air was more akin to that of Mexico City (been there) terrible! As a people dedicated to a highly organized and thoughtful culture, through their representatives, we have gradually paid a huge cost to greatly reduce pollutants. Remove LEAD from petrol (duh)… . Even our petro chemical plants that supply the rest of the country, while still most dirty are not anywhere the polluters that they used to be.

Now if I were concerned with pollution and I am, I would look Globally for a broader perspective on what is hurting LauraM’s quality of life. Because of many factors, greed being foremost, somehow it is 3rd world China and India… that are somehow magically major industrial players. POOF! Just move 1st world manufacturing to dictatorships and 3rd world countries where “pollution” is NOT a concern to them, from autos to factories to power plants. And their contribution is growing with a never may care attitude.

I am looking at the clock as I have to leave soon…

Cap and Trade: Several points: When studying Earth Science, at a major University mind you, circa, ’80 there was not the manipulative hysteria about warming. We studied climate change in a geological perspective and in current times. Quickly, there was every indication that current conditions in the future would not prevail in the long projection. The rise and fall of global situations and showed that there are huge, really huge forces in play. HUGE. The GEICO cave guys did not end the last ice age but then being men, then maybe they did. In fact, there was much consideration and fear of ice age conditions and just how they show themselves before arriving and what the cycle of such icey calamities show for those who might be interested. Seems that the precursor is global warming according to ice cores, tree core samples on fossilized trees… Computer tabulated simulations according a very liberal prof (LOL!) could be manipulated and while 1980 was the Stone Age we studied the vagaries of how to construct global models, good ways and bad ways with our rocks and sticks. Like giving a statistician a hot computer global program and a pint of whiskey and saying, go have a great time.

To me, cap and trade is a device to manipulate the wealth of the Euro Centric nations in a negative way and for some to make a great deal of money kind of like the stock traders who manipulate the actual cost of oil in wild speculation in something that they have created on the OUTSIDE of real economic forces. They are crying foul at being looked at and screaming NOOOOO, at having this Golden Goose turned over to a chef.

Have to run. Regards! Higgins and the fur boys.