As Al Gore's global warming alarm tour winds down for the summer, let's pull back the curtain and see the real wizard. After you get past all the scare mongering, what is left is a giant scheme to tax the air we breathe. No wonder the tax and spend liberals are so enthralled with big Al. And everyone else thought he was tilting at windmills.

If you think this is a joke, see for yourself by venturing over to his website (but beware: this site runs an annoying theme song that is setup so you can't turn it off). And be sure to keep both hands on your wallet! Under the link labeled "Take Action, become carbon neutral,' the site has a calculator that purportedly determines your "carbon footprint." After you enter the requisite information it magically quantifies the amount of carbon Al Gore says you're spewing into air.

If you're feeling generous, there is a link to another site that can translate this into a money payment that they'll be happy to relieve from you.  For the life of me, I can't figure out exactly what you get in exchange for your money.  You don't have to have a PhD. in public policy from Harvard to see that this is just a clever ruse to condition people for paying taxes on the air they breathe. 

In another link labeled "What you can do', Al shows that he still thinks everyone else is a simpleton. He has this list that looks like it was written by a fifth grader, imploring readers to eat less meat to reduce methane from cows (Gore's manure is much more of a problem), buy organic foods as much as possible because organic soils capture more carbon dioxide (dubious at best) and eat fewer beans to avoid flatulence. Oh, the last one's mine but the writers probably left it out by mistake.

Perhaps they used the same producers Sir John Browne CEO of British Petroleum employs to make his TV ads. You know the ones with the witless man on the street interviews. I guess they're trying to flatter viewers by seeming to appreciate the wisdom of the common man, but instead they only succeed in making them look like pinheads.

(In the 1974 energy crisis, ARCO Oil Company ran a similar campaign. They solicited ideas from the public for saving energy and featured them on subsequent ads. Naturally, the ideas were always calibrated to the lowest common denominator. Don Novello (aka Father Guido Sarducci), writing under the pseudonym Lazlo Toth, famously satirized these ads in a letter to the CEO of ARCO proposing a ridiculous childlike drawing of a "MallMobile." He said his idea came from seeing double—decker buses in London, but with six decks. His drawing depicted various shops that could be put on each deck: The 6th deck—outdoor cafe/sun deck, 5th deck a bowling alley, 4th deck—flower/barber shops, 3rd deck—restrooms/lounge/newsstand and so on. He claimed the "MallMobile" could roll into neighborhoods to help solve the oil crisis, by cutting down on gas consumption and driving to malls. Mindlessly, ARCO sent him a little certificate saluting Mr.Toth with the title "An Idea Ahead of its Time' farcically praising him for coming up with 'one important step we must take on the way to a better quality of life for all Americans.")

Apparently, a lot of others don't think Al Gore's air tax scheme is ahead of its time. The EU is way ahead of him having just announced a tax of more more than $70 for each return trip airfare.  The Times of London reported Wednesday that the European Parliament voted for the 'immediate introduction' of a tax on jet fuel for flights within the 25 member states of the EU. According to the Times, the tax would double the cost of millions of budget airline flights.

The stated reason for the tax is that they claim is aviation is the fastest growing source of "greenhouse gases"  A coalition dubbed the Greenskies Alliance, a group the Times says is opposed to the growth of air travel, hopes to stick it to European travelers even more in future by imposing further fuel taxes and other environmental taxes. Surely this is just a coincidence, but the UN also has designs on airfare taxes as the first step in its own international tax schemes. 

The outlines for the air tax are sketched out as part of the Kyoto Protocol. Kyoto prescribes emission ceilings for all signatories, but exempts India and China. They call their tax scheme 'carbon emissions trading' to disguise their intent. Proponents seized upon this to counter arguments that the whole exercise is just another pretense for imposing their socialist agenda, pointing to it as a 'free market solution' to the 'global warming crisis.'  By touting the lucrative potential of this allegedly burgeoning market, Wall Street trading firms and investment banks jumped on the bandwagon. Goldman Sachs and Cantor Fitzgerald  have ambitiously started environmental divisions to get in on the action. New Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is said to be an avid supporter.

But exactly what is the action?  Emission permits currently are granted and regulated by state environmental agencies. These permits are generally not transferable or assignable. There are no actual property rights vested in these permits. GM recently closed a plant in Baltimore Maryland. This plant had numerous air emissions and water discharge permits. These permits lapsed at the closure of this facility. Permits for large industrial plants have been issued for many years. Not satisfied, the creeping bureaucracy has cast an ever—wider net. In Maryland, they now require an air permit for something as simple as a restaurant char broiler — a kitchen oven! 

Al Gore's global warming scare is an elaborate scheme to impose more debilitating regulations and squeeze more taxes out of the people — especially Americans. The promoters want to ride roughshod over state and federal authority and impose a global authority accountable to no one.  This well—funded international campaign is intended to fleece the people and enrich the powerful. I guess some things never change.