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I admit to being not a big fan of mountain-top coal mining .. not because it inherently destroys the environment, but because the true cost will ultimately be borne by the tax payer and not the electrical utilities. Before you diss that statement consider the Super Fund - which is taxpayers picking up the rest of the cost for industry sluff-off.

Use to be the Super Fund was mostly (but not completely) funded by a tax on oil .. oil being arguably the biggest contributor in a trickle down way. Our Buddy Cheney took care of that, removing that revenue stream, so we the tax payer can now pick up the full fee for the folly of politicians and industry.

Did I stray from the thread?

Regardless - I'm pretty happy with prohibiting electrical utilities from operating their businesses as they wish.

.. and fwiw, I am not happy with any cap-and-trade system. It's a lot like the Civil War where everyone was drafted - unless you either sent a surragete (sp) in your place - slaves were popular substitutes - or you shelled over $300 (about $10,000 in today's money) to the Feds to purchasing an exemption from Military Service - kinda like buying the Sacrament of Penance form the ol' Catholic Church.

Did I stray again?

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"Soon your freedoms slowly will vanish. All of your future freedoms will be what Washington and Raleigh say they will be."

Now the LTE Writer is straying. How about some community chide?

jdr; your second paragraph is a gem. The oil companies used to fund the Superfund, but the evil Dick Cheney did away with that, and now the taxpayers foot the bill? What??? What???

Who in the world do you think was paying the bill when the oil companies were taking care of it? Obviously you don't know, so I will tell you. You and I were, along with anyone else who purchased gasoline or diesel fuel. Mobil doesn't pay taxes, not like we do. When they have a tax levied on their product or service, they add a little to their customers' bills next month, enough to cover the tax. They have to do this in order to remain profitable, or at least they did before we started all this bailout b.s.

We pay for it all, folks, all of the grand schemes of both political parties. When some cry to sock it to the evil corporations, some of us are smart enough to realize that we're the ones getting socked, every time.

"...Soon your freedoms will slowly vanish..."? No, not soon. NOW. And not slowly, but so fast it makes my head swim.

In case you haven't been paying attention, legal contracts no longer matter, at least if Congress doesn't approve. The POTUS is now in charge of hiring and firing at General Motors, and is seeking the power to set wages for everyone, starting with employees of companies who took bailout money, but not stopping there. We have lost more freedom and acquired more debt in the past two months than during my whole lifetime.

All courtesy of a bunch of clowns who have never run any kind of business, who have never been anything but lawyers and politicians. Yes, I know, Rahm Emanuel was a ballerina, but I've seen the pictures, and prefer not to dwell on that. Not pretty at all.

Good job not straying JDR except the Sacrament of Penance is free.

The Sacrament of Penance may have been free, but in the early days of the Church, money talked directly to God – and purchased Easy Penance was available for Truely Heinous Sins.

A little history will do ye good.

“jdr; your second paragraph is a gem”.

There’s a key difference, Dusty.

Sure “we” reimbursed the oil companies for the Superfund .. but only if you used their products – so your 18 MPG Yukon funded 150% more industrial clean-up than my 27 mpg pick-up .. ditto the extra oil needed to make the asphalt used to repair the extra-damage caused by your much heavier beast. It was in effect a user fee that one could directly impact simply by living more frugally.

The Cheney plan puts the burden on everyone – spread equally across the tax payers – which is the exact “wealth redistribution” to which you (and Big Dick) pretend to be so opposed. As stated in another thread, the CON’s are “clearly more hypocritical”.

The better plan? Have those that make the mess clean it up. Simple. But it won’t happen because the “evil corporations” are in bed with both political parties. As you say, that is the grand scheme: sock it to the taxpayers. And yes “some of us are smart enough to realize that we're the ones getting socked, every time” ... but frankly you have not yet convinced me you are one of the smart enough.