As 'They' See It

The Osceola News-Gazette this past week published another comical "As I See It" 'editorial' to continue the series. This time it was from Congressman Bill Posey of District 15 which covers Osceola county and some areas just outside of our border. In his "As I See It" article titled "Washington is finding itself very much out of touch" he attacks the Cap and Trade-Energy Bill, H. R. 2454, and promotes the idea that we should continue to risk the security of our nation by keeping our country dependent on oil from rouge nations. As the WayneWho staff read his article we quickly realized that these printed words were not his own thoughts and that Congressman Posey was just reprinting bogus claims from right wing think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. We are not sure which is more sad, the fact that Congressman Posey does not know that he is repeating and reprinting claims that have been proven false, or that he believes that instead of representing the people who elected him into office, that it is his job to be a puppet for lobbyist groups.

His first claim is that Bill HR 2454 will be a "1,600-$3,000 energy tax on every family in America" which is a claim that has become one of the main generic talking points disseminated by the Heritage Foundation and CEI. This claim is based on figures from a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One of the very authors of the study has publicly stated that the "GOP's use of the study is 'simplistic and misleading' and that it ignores key provisions designed to cushion the impact on consumers." And to stick with the "simplistic and misleading" train of thought while we are talking about Congressmen Posey, his argument, as stated in his article, is that we need to stop this tax so "Americans have more discretionary income in order to bring their family to central Florida and to our beaches for a much needed family vacation." WTF? Did Congressman Posey just sleep through the last two years of economic turmoil? Did he not see all of the news reports on the effects of reckless personal spending and that the American public has soundly rejected continuing in this way. The American public has changed its track towards the conservative idea of saving their money instead of blowing it willy-nilly. While all of us in Florida want to see a rebound in tourism, we do not believe that we want anyone vacationing in this state who can not afford it.

Congressman Posey, our state and county needs you to be more than a mouth piece for the very organizations that created the framework for this recession. We need you to understand that our state needs to diversify its economic base by creating the jobs of tomorrow instead of relying on the tourist industry. The incentives for creating green industries alone that Bill HR 2454 puts forward are critical to the economic recovery efforts in the State of Florida, and they are critical in breaking our dependency on foreign oil. We need you to help bring jobs into Osceola County, not take them away while using pretend numbers that you do not even understand.

Our final thought on this issue is a simple question. If Congressman Posey is against creating green industries and does not believe that global warming is a threat, does he believe in eco-sustainable communities? Or is his line of thinking the real writing on the wall for the Destiny housing project? Is the truth really that the jobs that are being promised by the supporters of Destiny will never come because the legislation to help them get off the ground will never be passed? Is that why we have a rush to start home construction in the 'clean-slate' city? Get the homes built and then pull the "ahh-shucks, we didn't know they would shoot down the funding for the jobs," routine. Maybe if Congressman Posey spent a little more time with the people in his district, the ideas coming from Washington, that were overwhelmingly supported by the voters of our country last November, wouldn't seem so out of touch.

SourceWatch:
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Heritage Foundation

FactCheck.org