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We've got some explaining to do

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The carbon tax, demystified

Photo by Grist / Shutterstock.

"Carbon tax": There’s something in that term for everyone to hate. For lefties and climate hawks, carbon -- as in carbon dioxide, the largest contributor to climate change -- is public enemy No. 1. And we all know what folks on the right think of taxes.

Yet the notion of creating a carbon tax in the U.S. refuses to die -- maybe because it’s a creative idea that also holds some appeal across the ideological spectrum. It’s a practical scheme to alleviate global warming -- and it’s market-based!

Here are some answers to the carbon-tax questions we know you have.

Read more: Climate & Energy

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Agenda 21: Everything you need to know about the secret U.N. plot, in one comic

Agenda 21: It's the biggest threat to your freedom, and unless you regularly attend yahoo-filled local planning and zoning meetings, you've probably never even heard of it. Until recently, this 20-year-old United Nations plan to promote "sustainable development" was known only to stalwart defenders of Liberty and Freedom like the John Birch Society. But the underground resistance is about to go mainstream. GOP intellectual it boy Ted Cruz leads the counterstrike, and the Republican Party is even considering a public flambéing of Agenda 21 in its official 2012 platform.

Looking to help break the siege of bike paths and high-quality education on our freedoms? Here’s what you’ll need to know.

Read more: Politics

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Gas prices explained by way of a neighborhood barbecue

As a summer pastime, griping about rising gas prices ranks right up there with backyard grilling.  Summer 2012 was slated to be a nonstop kvetching session: In spring, experts were predicting we’d pay $4 a gallon by season’s end.

Instead, in a repeat of a now common summer experience, prices dropped. Americans were left to grouse about a jump to a national average of just $3.42 for the month of July.

Why do we get this so wrong so often? To answer that, you have to learn how gas prices really work.

Read more: Climate & Energy
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