China targets 20% renewable energy by 2020

When Beijing puts its focus on something (good or bad) it's tough to stop. In this case this new initiative is good and worth noting. Thanks to Republicans in the US, we're able to be followers instead of leaders. How crazy is that? Who really wants to be a leader in a fast growing market worth billions if not trillions, anyway? Good move.

Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice-chairman of China's national development and reform commission, told the Guardian that Beijing would easily surpass current 2020 targets for the use of wind and solar power and was now contemplating targets that were more than three times higher.

In the current development plan, the goal for wind energy is 30 gigawatts. Zhang said the new goal could be 100GW by 2020.

"Similarly, by 2020 the total installed capacity for solar power will be at least three times that of the original target [3GW]," Zhang said in an interview in London. China generates only 120 megawatts of its electricity from solar power, so the goal represents a 75-fold expansion in just over a decade.

"We are now formulating a plan for development of renewable energy. We can be sure we will exceed the 15% target. We will at least reach 18%. Personally I think we could reach the target of having renewables provide 20% of total energy consumption."

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Obama's proposed "say on pay" is a waste of time

Give it up already. The Brits already have a number of examples this year alone where these non-binding voters voted against pay raises and take a guess what has happened? Yep, the executives thumbed their nose at the voters and did what they damned well please. Obama is pathetically out of touch with this proposal. Wall Street business owns this White House. Say on pay only gives a few other suckers hope that something might change. It won't. Period. Not going to happen. Take a stand or do nothing but not this. At least his other proposal about compensation committees is OK but say on pay only makes Obama look like a fool and a big one at that.

The Obama administration proposed legislation today to empower shareholders and the Securities and Exchange Commission to exercise more oversight over executive compensation at all publicly traded firms.

Under a so-called "say-on-pay" proposal, shareholders would be given the right to vote each year on whether an executive compensation package should be approved. While the results would be non-binding, administration officials say they hope the effort would pressure firms to rein in lavish pay. Companies would also be required to submit vote tallies in a filing with the SEC.

A second proposal would authorize the SEC to ensure that compensation committees at companies act independently in setting executive pay. Members of these committees would not be able to take any fees from their respective firms other than what they make for serving on the panels. Attorneys or consultants that help members in their work must be hired by and report to the committee rather than the chief executive of a firm.

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Were two terrorists aboard doomed Air France jet?

Possibly just a coincidence, but a weird one if true.

[T]wo names on the passenger list are also on highly-classified documents listing the names of radical Muslims considered a threat to the French Republic.

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End of day shooter updates

AP's most recent story, summarizing the day.

Huff Post says DHS report warned of anti-Semitic violence.

Glenn Beck thinks today is all about him. Seriously. (Of course, he's right - but not in the way he thinks.)

CBS says hate groups are growing.

What white supremacists are saying today about the Holocaust Museum gunman.

Are Bush years to blame for the hate?

Michigan man runs Web site for gunman.

Shooter's ex-wife speaks.

NYT looks at the shooter's online life.

Holocaust Museum shooting, following on heels of pro-life church terrorist, threatens to undermine right's pro-religion image.

America's leading conservative Holocaust denier says he had nothing to do with gunman. Goes on to say gas chambers in Nazi Germany never existed. Read More......

FOX reporter admits that their viewers' extremism scares him

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Will Republicans Admit That Their Partisan Outrage Over The DHS Report Was Misplaced?

Media Matters Action Network quotes a number of top Republicans, including Gingrich, Bohener and Bachmann trashing the Department of Homeland Security report on domestic extremists, that now quite prescient. Read More......

FOX Reporter: Maybe we were wrong to attack DHS extremism report

Oops.

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Limbaugh pushes "Obama not born in the US" story on day Holocaust shooter, who believes same thing, shoots up museum

UPDATE: Surprise - Fox News has also been doing its part to keep the conspiracy theory, embraced by the Holocaust Museum shooter, in the news.

Will Limbaugh apologize? Will Michael Steele finally distance himself from this despicable human being? And what about GOP Reps Bill Posey of Floriday and Bob Goodlatte of Virginia who pushed this theory with legislation in Congress? Or doesn't the Republican party and its surrogates mind helping advance the cause of domestic terrorists?

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Perhaps it's time to ask the Pope what he plans to do about the Holocaust denier in his midst

On the day a Holocaust denier shot up the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, it's time for the Vatican to finally do something about the Holocaust denier in its own midst. Enough is enough. Read More......

Rather inappropriate words from Rep. Chris Smith moments before extremist shot up the Holocaust Museum

Two weeks after a pro-life nut assassinated an abortion doctor in church, and minutes before a far-right extremist shot up the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, Republican Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) said the following about President Obama:

"Mr. Obama is on his way to becoming the abortion president. Virtually everything he's done through executive order and through appointments and through other policies promote the killing of unborn children and the wounding of their mothers.”

Considering the agitated state of the Republican party and its extremist followers nowadays, that's the kind of language that could get someone killed. Read More......

Miss California loses her crown

Okay, I know, this is so irrelevant on a day like today. Still, consider this a moment's respite - a breath of fresh air that not all is wrong in the world. Read More......

BREAKING: Shooting at Holocaust Museum in DC

More of the shooter's online paper trail is coming forth. Including an example of his artwork on askart.com:



Greg Sargent quotes the banned DHS report:

Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.

More online hate from, reportedly, the Holocaust Museum shooter. Titled: HITLER’S WORST MISTAKE: HE DIDN’T GAS THE JEWS.



So, this would be the second act of domestic terror committed by someone specifically mentioned in the DHS report that the agency pulled after the GOP and the religious right criticized them. First was the abortion doctor killer (DHS warned that far right extremist might use abortion to rally their crazies) and second is a former member of the US military tied with extremist hate ideology (again, the DHS report warned about former military being recruited by far-right anti-govt hate groups). The Obama administration made a big mistake pulling this report only weeks before two acts of domestic terror, practically predicted in the report. They were right, and they caved. Will the report now be revived?

ThinkProgress reports that shooter appears to have posted on the right-wing Web site FreeRepublic.

Is this the shooter? He matches the name, residence, and background of the shooter. Former military. Click the picture below to see a bigger copy.


MSNBC: Law enforcement officials identified the suspect as James Wenneker von Brunn, born in 1920, from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, NBC News reported. NBC said he may have had connections to hate groups or anti-government groups.



CNN: Ten minutes after one, Eastern time, man with shotgun or rifle entered Holocaust museum entryway. Guman fired on security officer. One or two other security guards returned fire. Both the security guard and gunman both transported to GW Hospital. Their condition is unknown. Eyewitness saw security guard on the ground and bleeding.

CNN: Shooting took place near magnetometer of museum. Two shot, one is the gunman. Male with a shotgun. Now sources are saying a security guard was shot, not a DC cop. No info on condition of either men. Witness says at least 5 shots fired.

Cop reported shot outside the US Holocaust Museum in DC. Read More......

Mary Landrieu's office is getting testy that you're calling them

And you know what that means! (202)224-5824. Reader Ryan writes:

I called Senator Landrieu's office [about her opposition to a "public option" being included in health care reform] and they were not happy.

I explained that although I wasn't a constituent but since the Senator was making decisions for all of us I should have some input.

I went on to describe that as a small business person healthcare costs are strangling my business and that now that my wife is pregnant I have to put off seeing the doctor because of costs.

As a solution I proposed that Senator Landrieu introduce a bill requiring each Senator and Representative to pay for their healthcare and that off their staff from their general operating budgets (which I have been told by friends on the Hill are about 1/2 what they should be).

Fair? I think so: if there is no public option for the general public, then there shouldn't be one for anyone. Congress should do the patriotic thing and experience what the rest of us do.

Needless to say the young staffer on the other end of the line curtly thanked me for my opinion, did not ask for my name or any details and politely ended the call.

Keep up the good work.

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The deficit is all Obama's fault, or not

Who needs statistics when you can just listen to the Republicans who built the problem run from their own problem? Democrats may have too easily gone along with Republican plans in recent years but the bulk of the deficit has more to do with GOP policy and the two recent recessions than with Obama, though Obama has chosen to continue some expensive Bush policies. His newer initiatives are only a fraction of the deficit problem. This NY Times article provides a good overview of how we came to where we are today.

You can think of that roughly $2 trillion swing as coming from four broad categories: the business cycle, President George W. Bush’s policies, policies from the Bush years that are scheduled to expire but that Mr. Obama has chosen to extend, and new policies proposed by Mr. Obama.

The first category — the business cycle — accounts for 37 percent of the $2 trillion swing. It’s a reflection of the fact that both the 2001 recession and the current one reduced tax revenue, required more spending on safety-net programs and changed economists’ assumptions about how much in taxes the government would collect in future years.

About 33 percent of the swing stems from new legislation signed by Mr. Bush. That legislation, like his tax cuts and the Medicare prescription drug benefit, not only continue to cost the government but have also increased interest payments on the national debt.

Mr. Obama’s main contribution to the deficit is his extension of several Bush policies, like the Iraq war and tax cuts for households making less than $250,000. Such policies — together with the Wall Street bailout, which was signed by Mr. Bush and supported by Mr. Obama — account for 20 percent of the swing.

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Fiat takeover of Chrysler complete

The articles about this are not written well at all. Including this NYT piece and this by Dow Jones. It's not at all clear if Fiat actually owns Chrysler (they only have a 20% stake), nor is it clear if the new company Fiat and Chrysler are forming is a third company, apart from Fiat and Chrysler, or whether it's a new company combining what was Fiat and Chrysler. Anyway, the deal is done.

Okay, here's a better article from CNNMoney. Still not totally clear. Read More......

When is Mary Landrieu giving up her public option health insurance?

Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu only opposes "public option" health insurance plans when you're the one who's going to benefit. When she's the one with her mouth to the federal teat, Landrieu, well, sucks. So when is Landrieu going to give up her federal health coverage, in order to, you know, show how committed she is to opposing public option health insurance? I assume Landrieu is also going to ask her socialist staff to stop wasting federal tax dollars on their public option health insurance as well. Landrieu's website tells us she's been working in government since she was 23. For most of her adult life, she's been on the receiving end of a lot of public funds paying her salary and her benefits.

The health care groups should have gotten tough with people like Landrieu and the Blue Dogs and the Republicans and Ben Nelson a long time ago. Someone should have started a campaign to repeal the health insurance of every member of Congress who opposes the public option. It would have been a media feeding frenzy and the members of Congress wouldn't have known what to say. It would have given all of us something to rally around, and would at the same time put increasing pressure on those very members of Congress causing us the most trouble.

But that would be mean. And liberals don't do mean. They just lose, with losers like Mary Landrieu leading the way.

Feel free to call Landrieu's office and ask the hypocrites when they're giving up their own publicly funded health insurance: (202)224-5824 - then post what you find out in the comments. Read More......

Nobody, Limbaugh, Newt and Cheney are viewed by Republicans as their leaders - and Nobody is in front by far

When we say the GOP is led by Rush, Newt and Cheney, we're not making it up. According to the Gallup's polling, Republicans see it that way. But, more see no leader at all:

Asked to name the "main person who speaks for the Republican Party today," Republicans across the country are most likely to name three men: Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, and Dick Cheney. Democrats are most likely to say Limbaugh speaks for the GOP, followed by Cheney. Both Republicans and Democrats overwhelmingly say Barack Obama is the main person who speaks for the Democratic Party, although Republicans are significantly more likely than Democrats to mention Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

These results are based on an open-ended question included in a May 29-31 USA Today/Gallup poll. It comes as the Republican Party is attempting to regroup after losing last November's presidential election, and is looking for ways to reorganize and strengthen in time for the 2010 midterm elections.

The responses to the Republican leadership question provide hard evidence that there is in fact a significant leadership vacuum confronting the GOP today. Forty-seven percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents could not come up with a single name in response to the party spokesperson question

So, more Republicans see no leader than Limbaugh, Cheney and Newt. Both are bad, not sure which is worse.

UPDATE: Greg Sargent made a good catch. No one named Palin as leader of the GOP:

One other interesting tidbit: There’s one Republican who would perhaps like to be seen as speaking for the party more than anyone else right now. And she wasn’t named at all by either national adults or Republicans and Republican leaners, even though she was on the national ticket less than a year ago.

Given all the drama surrounding Palin of late, she's certainly been in the news a lot. The D.C. media types can't get enough of her. But, Republicans don't see her as a leader. Read More......

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

The health care battle is engaged. We're going to find out which politicians are owned by the insurance companies. Because we shouldn't kid ourselves, there are many members who put them, not their constituents, first. And, they better be prepared for the scrutiny.

And, I'm just so glad I don't have to watch any more Terry McAuliffe t.v. ads. They were so painful. Congrats to the Creigh Deeds team. They really did an amazing job. No one would have predicted his victory a couple weeks ago -- especially by the blowout margin.

Let's get it started... Read More......

TARP stress tests and false expectations

The purpose of the recent stress tests (which we now see were not that stressful) was to boost the market sentiment about US banks who had been beaten badly due to their numerous excesses. Boosting the banks and keeping them afloat was still the right thing to do but as always, the devil was in the details and the details were great for the banks, bad for the public. Paulson/Bush policies carried through to Geithner/Obama without much change or real differences. The banks today are feeling strong and you have to wonder if it's a false sense of security when you look out at the unemployment and credit problems in the future. There is a very limited possibility of a rapid recovery in the economy any time soon but the banking recovery is counting on it.

Banks are all rushing to pay back TARP money though it's not obvious how this is a good thing for the country. Even putting aside the questionable minimum amounts the banks need to get through the crisis, does this mean that the banks will now stockpile their money and avoid lending, thus feeding back into the crisis? It's important that the banks lend money to move the economy. I get that they're selfish and are only thinking about their precious bonus pool but this could easily lead to frozen markets. In a fair system, a frozen market could also impact their bonuses but we now know that regardless of results, this dodgy group always finds a way to pay themselves handsomely. Always.

The financial industry wants the free market to be the deciding factor again, while the government is holding on to its interventionist ways.

"In 90 days you've gone from an attitude on Wall Street that the financial system is on the precipice to a feeling that happy days are here again," says veteran money manager James Awad, managing director at Zephyr Management. "This is all predicated on the consensus we are on the cusp of growth in the economy, which means the financial crisis is largely over and all we have to worry about is the degree of growth."

Though the Obama administration may not subscribe to that thinking, its policies have helped foster it.

So what's the Obama/Geithner plan if the economy doesn't grow and the banks need help, yet again? After watching them cave repeatedly to Wall Street wish lists, I have limited confidence in them doing what is right for the majority of Americans. It's going to be all about Wall Street and their wish list, again. Read More......

London police in trouble again - water torture charges

What is happening with the Metropolitan Police? Maybe I was naive but I used to have an image of the London police as one of the more reputable forces in the world. Starting with the Ian Tomlinson/G20 problems - which were widespread - and now this, it looks like a force without leadership or proper oversight. The Guardian:

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said it was investigating the conduct of officers based in Enfield, north London, during drugs raids in the borough last November.

Neither the IPCC nor Scotland Yard would comment on the nature of the ­allegations but sources said the officers were accused of pushing suspects' heads into buckets of water.

One IPCC document is said to use the word "waterboarding" – the CIA technique condemned as torture by Barack Obama – in connection with the allegations.

The torture claims are part of an ­investigation which also includes accusations that evidence was fabricated and suspects' property was stolen. It has already led to the abandonment of a drug trial, it was reported last night.

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Zimbabwe rhino population disappearing during government chaos

It's a sad but predictable situation in Zimbabwe. With all other resources wiped out and whatever mining is left given to China (in return for weapons), poaching is what happens. The national parks had been victims of poaching for years but with the rhino the numbers make it very serious. There are too few left in the country and what is there is being killed for their tusk and sold often to their trade partner, China. China should have noted that there are no rhino left in their region so maybe that says something about over-killing. (Hat tip to Cat.)

Since last year economic collapse and the breakdown of law and order have contributed to a rapid escalation in poaching by organised gangs. "In the past 15 months we've lost 120 rhinos, and we're still losing two to four per month," Rodrigues said. "We used to have 1,000 in this country."

The exact size of Zimbabwe's current rhino population is debated. Save the Rhino, a British-based charity, puts the total at above 700. Rodrigues says it is about 400. Both agree the situation represents a crisis.

Rodrigues said that Zimbabwe's trade links with China, where the rhino horn is highly prized as medicinal, are a driving factor. "We're now down to about 400 rhinos, black and white, since the opening of the Chinese market. Normally the first thing the Chinese ask when they come here is, 'Have you got rhino? Have you got rhino?'"

He added: "It's all linked to the top. All those corrupt ministers are trying to cream off as much as possible before the next election. But if the carnage continues over the next two years we'll have nothing left. The devastation taking place is not sustainable."

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Good song for a rainy day

This was just on VH-1. It's been years since I've watched it. Hysterical.

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