WHY Tea Baggers Hate Firemen. No, It Isn't What You Think.

[McCamy Taylor]

If you thought Tea Baggers were about less taxes and no healthcare for Blacks , you were wrong. Everyone knows by now that the Tea Parties are the baby of the Koch Family, a private oil company. Their real agenda is No Cap and Trade . That is why you see Tea Baggers who do not know what Cap and Trade is carrying signs that say they are against it.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_7wcvGbg9_yI/SlDrNf4lQ9I/AAAAAAAAAlo/q2TE_R7YSNk/s400/Yes+for+Cap+and+Trade.jpg


Obama was elected with the support of the so called clean energy industries. He promised to deliver Cap and Trade. Cap and Trade is very, very good for clean energy, which can sell its pollution “credits”. And it is very, very bad for Big Oil, which is a major polluter.

http://www.investorsinsight.com/blogs/bret_boteler_on_oil_gas/archive/2009/04/30/tax-dodge-cap-and-trade-would-harm-consumers-and-the-oil-industry.aspx

Red Cavaney, senior vice president for government, public affairs at ConocoPhillips, also testified in front of the US House Energy and Commerce Committee. He said, quite accurately, that refineries would have to spend an estimated $68 billion under a $25/ton carbon tax, mostly from collections of end-users' carbon taxes in addition to levies on refiners' greenhouse gases under the measure.

Cost refineries $68 billion? We can’t have that!

When the Kochs decided to do a little Astroturfing, they knew that No Cap and Trade would not fire up the public imagination. So they played a game of Bait and Switch. They got the press interested by focusing on health care reform, the hot topic in Washington. That was the Bait.

Now the Switch. From Sept 1:

http://www.examiner.com/essex-county-conservative-in-newark/anti-cap-and-trade-rally-planned-manhattan

Anti-cap-and-trade rally planned in Manhattan

Remember how Bush promised No gay marriage in 2004 and then tried to deliver Privatized Social Security in 2005? This is more of the same. Tea Baggers have been duped. They are suckers for the oil industry. They walk the pavement of America’s big cities, so that the Koch Family can post bigger profits.

Tea Baggers are also fools.

When the right proclaimed that public health insurance would mean the end of life as we know it on this planet, some liberals pointed out that other public services work just fine. Services like those provided by fire fighters.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tina-dupuy/firefighting-in-the-1800s_b_247936.html

But instead, today firefighters are national heroes. They're organized, quick, competent and with few exceptions pillars of the community. Their duty is to protect people and their property and they do it. They make no profits, are part of the government and they help people 24-hours a day. They even let seniors live. No debate necessary. What started out as a shady gaming of the system where the general public's welfare was at risk is today something of national pride.
So government can do something right. It's happened.

The left began to make fun of the Tea Baggers. Check out this very funny video called Privatize the Fire Department

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb8qG76L9jE

And check out this bit of political satire:

1. For too long now, fire departments across the United States have been SOCIALIST organizations, resulting in TAXES on the American people.
FACT: Most Americans never use the socialized services of the fire department. We have the best fire departments in the world in the US, but that doesn’t mean that anyone (even non-US citizens) should be able to dial up and have fires put out, etc. There are private companies (Halliburtion, Etc.) who could step in tomorrow and take over every fire department in America and charge the consumer directly.
This is AMERICA. NO FREE FIRE SAFETY.
“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in asbestos and carrying a fire hose.”

http://www.fromthecapitol.com/sacramento-tea-party-rally-1734/comment-page-1#comment-2028

Very funny. And persuasive. The right knew it was in trouble. So, a month after the Huffington Post article the Heritage Foundation fired back with:

How Success of Private Fire Departments Undermines ObamaCare

http://blog.heritage.org/2009/08/26/how-private-fire-departments-success-undermines-obamacare/

If this seems illogical, take it up with the right wing, not me.

Now, loyal Tea Baggers feel obligated to bad mouth fire fighters, who have been linked in the public mind with the health care debate. They believe that if they can persuade Americans that firemen are bad, that will mean that universal health care is also bad. And if Americans can be convinced that they will live longer, happier lives without health care, then the Koch Family and Big Oil will not have to worry about paying any penalties under Cap and Trade. In other words firemen are overpaid and lazy equals No Cap and Trade .

[Brickbat]

1. Edited. K&R.

[McCamy Taylor]

2. Ok, ok. We are now Lovelaceless. Folks will just have to wonder.

[daleanime]

4. Thank you...

Still a very good post!:applause:

[daleanime]

3. Agreed.

nt

[pnorman]

5. K & R!

n/t

[bluestateguy]

6. I oppose cap and trade

It is a giveaway to Wall Street speculators looking to inflate the next bubble with their carbon credit sales.

If Goldman Sachs likes this policy, then there must be something wrong with it.

[SlimJimmy]

9. And according to the President -

"You know, when I was asked earlier about the issue of coal, uh, you know — Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket."

I don't know about the rest of the folks here, but my electricity rates are plenty high already. Is this the type of change America voted for? I know I didn't vote for that kind of change.

[jmowreader]

16. I think he left out "not"

[freedom fighter jh]

15. Yes. We need to do something about CO2 but . . .

. . . cap and trade may not be the ticket.

[geckosfeet]

7. I am opposed to the Cap nTrade scheme. I say have the EPA and OSHA enforce

environmental regulation and give them power to fine and prosecute.

C-n-T is a scheme designed to let the biggest polluters pay hush money to a select group of insiders rather than prosecuting them and demonstrating that they are destroying our environment.

[Turbineguy]

8. Yes, but whether you are right or wrong

you know why you are against it. That's a crucial difference.

[KamaAina]

10. That sign is obviously fake

it's spelled correctly. :P

[shanti2]

11. I am not surprised!

But, I find it incomprehensible to not like firemen. I had a
friend who hired off duty firemen in Chicago to help do
renovations in her home. She would leave her house key with
them and NEVER had a bit of trouble.
My gosh, If you can't trust a fireman there is no one left to
trust.

[Dawson Leery]

12. I strongly oppose Cap and Trade.

Cap and Trade is another Wall Street scam, designed to allow heavy polluters to get away with their actions without bearing the costs.
Any costs of buying carbon credits will be passed on to the consumer. Wall Street will make bets for and against certain types of credits.
Cap and Trade is another naked derivatives market, which serves no positive purpose.
The EPA needs the full authority to enforce current regulations.

The Republicans have done the Democrats a favor by blocking Cap and Trade.

[CubicleGuy]

13. Nothing like a little bad wiring in the attic...

... which decides on a Sunday afternoon that it's time your house goes up in smoke (as did happen to us a little over 3 years ago) to put a little excitement into the day. And a little cotton in your mouth as you realize there's nothing you can do about it until the fire department shows up.

[freedom fighter jh]

14. I guess their next challenge will have to be the post office nt

[Anakin Skywalker]

17. Teabaggers = Morons

[Beartracks]

18. "We pay, they play"? Sounds like INSURANCE companies.

Wow. What stupid arguments. "We pay, they play." "Have a reporter follow them around and see how much work they actually do." Sheesh.

Why isn't this kind of criticism leveled at insurance companies? Come to think of it, the fire department isn't even earning a profit, yet, in essence, it's a socialized kind of "fire protection insurance." Actually, I think there's a case to be made here for precisely WHY health insurance should be provided by the government rather than for-profit organizations.

Just thinkin' out loud.

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[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

19. K&R