Bush EPA to allow more pollution from new power plants

Wouldn't it seem to make sense that new power plants would have more recent technology and the ability to pollute less? Nope, not in the minds of the Bush administration. In their backwards world, new power plants should be able to pollute more, stepping back even deeper into the past. Let me guess...Obama is going to give this program a try, because it would be unfair not to at least talk with polluters and let them pollute in the spirit of fairness.

The Environmental Protection Agency ruled yesterday that new power plants are not required to install technology to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, rejecting an argument from environmental groups.

The ruling, in a memorandum signed by EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson, turns on a seemingly arcane regulatory question that could govern the future of new fossil fuel-burning buildings and power plants under the Clean Air Act.

During the Bush administration, the EPA has rejected the idea that greenhouse gases should be regulated like soot, smog precursors and other kinds of air pollution, despite an April 2007 Supreme Court ruling that said carbon dioxide fit the definition of a pollutant that could be regulated under the Clean Air Act.

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Friday Orchid Blogging

Not an orchid, but tis the season. This Christmas Cactus is a "real" Christmas Cactus. It's a long story, but basically, the ones they sell nowadays in the big box stores are not the original Christmas Cactuses, or so I read online (you can tell by the spikes, or lack thereof, on the side of the leaves). This one goes back to cuttings from my aunt, who got it decades ago from my grandmother. I don't know if these are "really" cactuses, but you don't water them like cactuses. I've been growing these things for going on 20 years, and they like to be watered just like any other plant. Getting them to flower, however, is a bit of a task. Basically, they need a period of drought (just a bit of water each week or so to keep the thing alive, but don't water it for real), good temperature drop at night, and/or a good 12 or 14 hours of darkness every night - all for a period of 6 weeks in the fall. Then, perhaps, you'll see buds start to form, then I start watering again as normal. I always get some flowers each year, but it really depends on the year how well it does (interestingly, I've noticed that the side away from the window flowers more). For some people, the damn things flower all year round. Anyway, they're great plants, very easy to grow, and come in tons of varieties - you can Google em. I only have this one, and an orange one that came from a cutting from my brother's godmother's plant. It's kind of fun to keep plants in the family, and just pass them down. Enjoy. Read the rest of this post...

Obama poster guy is ticked about Warren

Nice.

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Goldman Sachs lowered tax rate from 34% to 1%

It's good to be the king. Now most people with money in the market have lost badly this year, that much is no surprise. If you take a hit as an investor and sell your now tumbling stocks for a loss Uncle Same will kindly extend a piddly few thousand dollar tax credit to offset your loss, regardless of how steep your loss was. For Lord Paulson's old firm Goldman Sachs? Are you kidding? Not only are they receiving around $10 billion in taxpayer money - while paying out almost the same amount in bonus money - but they've managed to drop their corporate tax rate from 34% down to 1% courtesy of enablers in Congress. (Hey Chuck!)

Democrats appear to be terrified of scaring away business, regardless of the severe problems that we are experiencing because of business interests. As I've said before, we need Wall Street to be successful but enabling them and failing to hold them accountable is not going to help. Looking the other way while firms like Goldman Sachs pushes cash offshore should not be tolerated for US business. For individuals, it's completely illegal and the IRS has been working with Swiss banks recently to identify Americans who are doing this so they can be prosecuted so why allow business to do it? The double standards are especially annoying in this climate. (h/t to Adam G who is as furious about this as I am.)

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which got $10 billion and debt guarantees from the U.S. government in October, expects to pay $14 million in taxes worldwide for 2008 compared with $6 billion in 2007.

The company’s effective income tax rate dropped to 1 percent from 34.1 percent, New York-based Goldman Sachs said today in a statement. The firm reported a $2.3 billion profit for the year after paying $10.9 billion in employee compensation and benefits.

Goldman Sachs, which today reported its first quarterly loss since going public in 1999, lowered its rate with more tax credits as a percentage of earnings and because of “changes in geographic earnings mix,” the company said.

The rate decline looks “a little extreme,” said Robert Willens, president and chief executive officer of tax and accounting advisory firm Robert Willens LLC.

“I was definitely taken aback,” Willens said. “Clearly they have taken steps to ensure that a lot of their income is earned in lower-tax jurisdictions.”

U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat who serves on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said steps by Goldman Sachs and other banks shifting income to countries with lower taxes is cause for concern.

“This problem is larger than Goldman Sachs,” Doggett said. “With the right hand out begging for bailout money, the left is hiding it offshore.”

Call Chuck Schumer's office and if he's not in the middle of another Wall Street whip round, maybe he can explain how this is fair for the rest of us.

CHUCK SCHUMER CONTACT INFO
Washington, D.C. office: 202-224-6542
New York City office: 212-486-4430
Democratic Senatorial Camapaign Committee: 202-224-2447

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Arrest made in beating of man wearing Obama t-shirt

I have to admit, I wasn't convinced this story was real (I feared it was another backwards-B saga). Apparently, it was real.

Shreveport police today arrested an East Texas man on charges he beat a black man who said he was attacked because he was wearing an Obama T-shirt.

Authorities said they had no evidence it was a hate crime -- but were continuing to investigate to see if the attack at a west side gas station happened because of the T-shirt or because of an argument over something else.

Arrested was Jimmy Booth, 25, of Longview, Texas. He was booked on charges of second-degree battery.

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Rick Warren suggests that Jews, Muslims going to hell

He's such a civil, welcoming man.

Saddleback's size is for one simple purpose, Warren said: "We grow bigger because people need the Lord - we grow because people without Christ go to hell."

Huh, people without Christ. I wonder who that means? Read the rest of this post...

Bristol Palin's future mother-in-law arrested

Ah, those small-town values:

The mother of Levi Johnston, the 18-year-old boyfriend of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's teenage daughter, has been arrested on drug charges, the Anchorage Daily News reported Friday.

Sherry L. Johnston, 42, has been charged with six felony counts of misconduct, the newspaper reported.

Levi Johnston entered the national spotlight this autumn when it was revealed that 18-year-old Bristol Palin — the eldest daughter of Sarah Palin, who had just been tapped as then-Republican presidential nominee John McCain's running mate — was pregnant with his child.

The baby is due Saturday, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

That family is like a bad country song.

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Rick Warren explicitly bans "unrepentant" gays from membership in his church

We get lectures about civility and the need to welcome everyone, even those we disagree with, and Rick Warren won't even welcome us in his church. This is from the Saddleback Church's own Web site. You know things are bad when the church goes out of its way to explicitly say that you're not welcome as a member in their Web site FAQ. But we're supposed to welcome him to our inauguration. (Hat tip to reader Ken.)



Oh good, so there's still hope for a cure. Phew!

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Does Obama agree with Rick Warren that gays should live their entire lives without sex?

Yeah, he said it. He also said that gays prove that evolution doesn't exist, because if evolution were a correct theory, we'd have died out long ago. Nice man.

Below is the transcript of Warren on Larry King, via Rude Pundit. Rude Pundit calls Rick Warren "Tubby" because Warren is, well, fat. A glutton, presumably. That's one of the seven deadly sins. You see, gays are supposed to abstain from sex for life when Rick Warren can't even abstain from Twinkies.

Then again, gluttony is a "Catholic"-defined sin, and evangelicals think Catholics worship Satan, they call the Catholic church "the great whore," so maybe it's okay for Warren to eat, a lot.

Speaking of which, does Warren agree that Catholics worship Satan and are going to hell? Does Obama think that the notion that Catholics are a "whore" faith that worships Satan is something we should all agree to disagree about?

More from Rude Pundit:

TUBBY: Well, again, I would just say I think to me the issue is, is it natural? Is it the natural thing? I mean here's an interesting thing I have to ask. How can you believe in Darwin's theory of evolution and homosexuality at the same time? Now think about this.

If Darwin was right, which is survival of the fittest then homosexuality would be a recessive gene because it doesn't reproduce and you would think that over thousands of years that homosexuality would work itself out of the gene pool.

KING: So, we take the reverse. The creator then approves of it.

TUBBY: Well, I believe...

KING: Darwin's wrong. The creator is right. Gays are right.

TUBBY: Yes well, of course, I believe that God created one man for one woman for life. A lot of the problems -- as a pastor I've notice that when God gives certain rules they're really for our benefit. They're not because God's capricious or just "I think that I'm going to make your life miserable."

I think they're always for our benefit and when I do certain things God's way I have fewer broken hearts. I have less STDs. I have -- and I'm not just talking about sex. I'm talking about if I followed God's will about the right things about eating, I wouldn't be fat and overweight. I wouldn't, you know, and I -- people say well there are lots of sins. Of course there are. And to me the greatest sin is pride. The Bible tells us that pride is what Satan got kicked out of heaven and so we're all in the same boat.

KING: All right. You used the word natural.

TUBBY: Yes.

KING: Define it. For example, is it natural to like bananas? I like them. You may not.

TUBBY: Yes.

KING: Peanut butter, I love peanut butter. I know, I had a daughter, my daughter Chaia never liked peanut butter. Is that natural?

TUBBY: No, I think the difference is do you like food or not, not what flavor of food because you can't live without food. Now you can live without sex. It's possible. Lots of people do. So, I wouldn't even put it in the same category. A lot of people live without sex. It's not an essential for life.

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Bush gives $13.4 billion in loans to auto makers

It sucks that Bush still has any role in setting policy, but that's the way it is. This disaster, like so many others, did happen on his watch:

President Bush on Friday announced $13.4 billion in emergency loans to prevent the collapse of General Motors and Chrysler, and another $4 billion available for the hobbled automakers in February with the entire bailout conditioned on the companies undertaking sweeping reorganizations to show that they can return to profitability.

The loans, as G.M. and Chrysler teeter on the brink of insolvency, essentially throws the companies a lifeline from the taxpayers that will keep them afloat until March 31. At that point, the Obama administration will determine if the automakers are meeting the conditions of the loans and will continue to receive government aid or must repay the loans and face bankruptcy proceedings.

Mr. Bush made his announcement a week after Senate Republicans blocked legislation to aid the automakers that had been negotiated by the White House and Congressional Democrats, and the loan package announced by the president includes roughly the identical requirements in that bill, which had been approved by the House.

Mr. Bush, in a televised speech before the opening of the markets, said that under other circumstances he would have let the companies fail, as punishment for bad business decisions. But given the economic downturn, he said the government had no choice but to step in.

“These are not ordinary circumstances. In the midst of a financial crisis and a recession, allowing the U.S. auto industry to collapse is not a responsible course of action” Mr. Bush said.

Like George Bush knows anything about "a responsible course of action." Read the rest of this post...

BREAKING: Tape shows Rick Warren praising Israel-hating terror state Syria as a "moderate country" that treats its Jews great!

Maybe Obama can now Sista Souljah the Jews too. That should be interesting. From IsraelForum.com:

[T]he real outrage against Rick Warren is his enabling of the patron-saint-state of terrorism, Syria.

Warren gleefully visited Syria with his wife and paid homage to the Bashar Assads. And he had the gall to praise Syria as a "moderate" country. He had nothing negative to say in the least about this family that has wreaked havoc on Lebanon, worked in concert with Hezbollah and Iran, used his state as a shelter for every Islamic terrorist group imaginable, Nazi war criminal Alois Brunner, Jamil...

More:

Warren, author of "The Purpose-Driven Life," says when he visited Syria recently he saw Christians and Jews in a near-routine existence, enjoying some privileges even Muslims don't receive within a governmental structure that formally allows for faith in Christ and adherence to the Torah.

Warren then denied, repeatedly, that he had said anything of the kind. His staff removed the YouTube video that proved he said it. But then an audio turned up showing that this is exactly what Warren said. Here's the transcript, and you can listen to it yourself here:

"Syria's a place that has Muslims and Christians living together for 1,400 years. So it's a lot more peaceful, honestly, than a lot of other places because Christians were here first.

"In fact, you know Saul of Tarsus – Saul was a Syrian. St. Paul, on the road to Damascus, had his conversion experience and so Christians have been here the longest, and they get along with the Muslims and the Muslims get along with them. There's a lot less tension than in other places.

"It's a moderate country, and the official government rule and position is to not allow any extremism of any kind."

So now we know that Rick Warren doesn't just do propaganda for Israel-hating terror states, but he also lies, a lot, about his views, as we learned the other day when we posted videos of Warren claiming that Prop 8 had to be passed to save him from being prosecuted for hate crimes. And remember, it was Rick Warren who lied about John McCain being a "cone of silence" during the faith discussion he had with McCain and Obama this past summer.

Okay, I take it back. Apparently Obama is willing to pal around with anti-Semite sympathizers in addition to homophobes. I stand corrected. I can't wait for Obama to tell Jewish-Americans, and Israelis, to suck it up and deal with the fact that we have to embrace people we disagree with, even when the disagreement is over the destruction of state of Israel and the death of all Jews. Read the rest of this post...

Barney Frank is pissed at Obama

STATEMENT OF CONGRESSMAN FRANK ON PRESIDENT ELECT OBAMA CHOOSING RICK WARREN TO GIVE INAUGURATION INVOCATION

"I am very disappointed by President-elect Barack Obama's decision to honor Reverend Rick Warren with a prominent role in his inauguration. Religious leaders obviously have every right to speak out in opposition to anti-discrimination measures, even in the degrading terms that Rev. Warren has used with regard to same-sex marriage. But that does not confer upon them the right to a place of honor in the inauguration ceremony of a president whose stated commitment to LGBT rights won him the strong support of the great majority of those who support that cause.

"It is irrelevant that Rev. Warren invited Senator Obama to address his congregation, since he extended an equal invitation to Senator McCain. Furthermore, the President-Elect has not simply invited Rev. Warren to give a speech as part of a series in which various views are presented. The selection of a member of the clergy to occupy this uniquely elevated position has always been considered a mark of respect and approval by those who are being inaugurated."

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Still a long way to go, but Democrat Al Franken has taken the lead in the MN Senate recount

Via TheUptake.org and the Star Tribune, we learn that Al Franken has taken the lead in the ballot canvass recount. This is the first time Franken has been in front -- and throughout the day, as the canvassing board reviews Norm Coleman's challenge, Franken's lead will grow.

This has been a long drawn out process and it's not over, but it's finally looking good for the Democrat. There are still more challenged ballots to review and more absentees to figure out. It's not a done deal.

Franken is an unabashedly progressive Democrat and would be a welcome addition to the Senate. He wouldn't be joining Evan Bayh's Blue Dogs.

I'll continue to monitor the canvass board action today via TheUptake. Read the rest of this post...

Does Obama agree with Rick Warren that "Certain body parts are meant to fit together"?

Hey, maybe Warren can explain his theory of body parts fitting together at the inaugural. He could do one of those football strategy diagrams on a blackboard for all of America to see first-hand what an evangelical Christian's definition of "civility" is. TIME's John Cloud uncovered this little ditty, and much more. Read his piece, it's brilliant:

Homosexuality, Pastor Warren explained in the virtually content-free language of the dogmatist, is "not the natural way." And then he went right for the ick factor, the way middle-school boys do: "Certain body parts are meant to fit together."

And I don't think Obama is going to be thrilled with this comparison:

Obama reminds me a little bit of Richard Russell Jr., the longtime senator from Georgia who — as historian Robert Caro has noted — cultivated a reputation as a thoughtful, tolerant politician even as he defended inequality and segregation for decades. Obama gave a wonderfully Russellian defense of Warren Thursday at a press conference. Americans, he said, need to "come together" even when they disagree on social issues. "That dialogue is part of what my campaign is all about," he said. Russell would often use the same tactic to deflect criticism of his civil rights record. It was a distraction, Russell said, from the important business of the day uniting all Americans. Obama also said today that he is a "fierce advocate for equality" for gays, which is — given his opposition to equal marriage rights — simply a lie. It recalls the time Russell said, "I'm as interested in the Negro people of my state as anyone in the Senate. I love them."

How's that Sista Souljah strategy going now? Read the rest of this post...

New vid: Rick Warren is hateful and ignorant. Says gays are immature, lack character, and demand multiple sex partners

I watched a jaw-dropping interview with Barack Obama's invocation speaker. Seriously, I was dumbstruck. This is the guy who Barack Obama wants on the stage at his inauguration. When asked if he would change his views if he thought being gay was biological, Warren said no. And, he went on. He basically said gays just want multiple sexual partners. Oh, also, we're immature for not dealing with our impulses.



A couple weeks ago, I saw "Milk." That was 30 years ago, but Warren is using the same kinds of homophobic, ignorant arguments. He's sick.

I cannot believe that Barack Obama wants this hater on the stage at the inauguration. Wow. It's shocking. Read the rest of this post...

Friday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

I keep thinking about all those attacks during the campaign on Obama's "associations." We defended him every single time. But, now, Obama has decided to pal around with a leading homophobe. Reaching out to gay haters is how Obama is showing us he's different and willing to reach out. You know, I wouldn't pal around with a racist or an anti-semite or any kind of hater. Those kinds of people offend my morals and I don't want toxic haters around me. But, I'm not the president-elect and I'm not trying to send messages.

On a lighter note, as they'd say on the TODAY Show, this winter storm whipping across the country looks pretty fierce. Actually, it's not even a winter storm. Winter doesn't start til Sunday.

Let's get started... Read the rest of this post...

Credit Suisse has set the model for Wall Street bonus plans

Really. Let the people who created the problem work themselves out of it, if they want a bonus. What those who somehow support the bonus plans forget (or choose to ignore) is that Wall Street paid out billions in bonus money the last few years when they sold these almost worthless pieces of paper. Outside of UBS, I haven't heard of anyone paying back any of that money despite billions being taken off of the books. The bonus money paid out was more than enough to allow Wall Street to take a year or two off of the bonus plans, especially since they're now spending taxpayer money.

Credit Suisse deserves a lot of credit for this plan but let's not ask others to follow because then Wall Street might get mad and then stop forking over campaign contributions to Congress, Democrats included.

Credit Suisse Group will pay senior executive bonuses with troublesome, illiquid assets, forcing employees to take on the risk that at least some of them put on the Swiss bank's books.

The new plan will cut the bank's risk exposure by linking most of its top executives' bonus payouts to some $5 billion in illiquid and often opaque assets, which have tumbled in value amid the credit crisis.

The plan comes amid fierce criticism that bonus systems were rewarding bankers for taking on irresponsible risks.

"While the solution we have come up with may not be ideal for everyone, we believe it strikes the appropriate balance among the interests of our employees, shareholders and regulators and helps position us well for 2009," a memo from CEO Brady Dougan and investment bank boss Paul Calello said.

Credit Suisse appears to be the first to use tarnished assets to pay employees, linking their rewards to the performance of risky assets.

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Pro-torture museum opens in Chile

What else would you call a museum that celebrates the man who overthrew his government, tortured and killed his own people and then trashed democracy? It's unfortunate that he did not die in a cold, dark prison cell.

The permanent exhibition has been is funded by the Pinochet Foundation, which was established in 1995 to promote the former president's legacy and is now based at the house. Their target markets are, according to the foundation director, Major General Luis Cortes Villa, foreigners and young people.

"We want to show a new generation the place he had in this country, his life, his work,"he says. "We are also going to welcome school groups and they will see from all the gifts how he was widely respected across the world."

Chile is still sharply divided over the general, who died from heart complications, aged 91, on 10 December 2006. The anniversary of his death this month saw ardent supporters – who say he turned around Chile's fortunes and refer to him affectionately as "my general" – making pilgrimages to his tomb to pay respects. Opponents will never forgive the torture and "disappearances" suffered during his regime or the failed war crimes trial which disintegrated in 2000 after he was deemed to be suffering dementia.

Reaction to the museum is similarly polarised. While the socialist senator Jaime Naranjo told the Chilean newspaper El Observatodo it could be nothing but a "museum of horror", others insist its creation is only fair, considering there is already a museum bearing the name of his arch-rival, the Salvador Allende Museum of Solidarity, which opened in 2006.

I always forget how many people Allende tortured and killed and how he subverted the system by winning democratically. Anyone? Read the rest of this post...

Italy overtakes UK as British pound declines

Even working here in Europe, I have no idea how Italy does it. It's always been a nightmare market for my work due to the slow pace of change but somehow it's right up there with the large economies of the world. Business friends down there always swear that it's terrible as well but perhaps it's the mystery that makes it such a great place. Italy defies all logic.

And now guess what? They've done it again. Just as most of us thought the economic crisis could get no worse, La Stampa yesterday declared: "Italy beats England [sic] with the euro."

Such has been the depreciation of the pound, the paper said, that Britain's gross domestic product was now worth less than Italy's. Applying Wednesday's exchange rate to the two countries' output last year, La Stampa calculated that Italy's was 0.7% higher.

And not only that. "For some weeks we have been individually richer on average," the paper said. The standard measure of prosperity is GDP per head, and on that count Italians were also in front, by almost €900 (£855) a year.

However sobering for Britons, the latest arithmetic should have the bittersweet taste of revenge for Italy, a country whose sorpasso was quickly reversed and which, three years ago, was branded "the real sick man of Europe" by the Economist because of its economic languor. Yet Italians yesterday were not so much toasting their achievement as scratching their heads.

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Gay man backed for Navy secretary

First off, that'll be the day. Second, maybe we better check with Rick Warren first.

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CNBC: Consumer-friendly credit card rules coming

And the small print tells the real story. Forget about seeing anything reasonable until July 2010 and even then, there's still more small print. At least we have the fearless Democrats to save the day, just as they've done with the Wall Street boondoggle.

Federal regulators on Thursday adopted sweeping new rules for the credit card industry that will shield consumers from increases in interest rates on existing account balances among other changes.

The rules, which take effect in July 2010, will allow credit card companies to raise interest rates only on new credit cards and future purchases or advances, rather than on current balances.

They were approved Thursday morning by the Office of Thrift Supervision, a Treasury Department division. The Federal Reserve and the National Credit Union Administration were expected to act on them later in the day.

The changes mark the most sweeping clampdown on the credit card industry in decades and are aimed at protecting consumers from arbitrary hikes in interest rates or inadequate time provided to pay the bills.

Right. Except they're dragging their feet instead of helping during the largest credit crisis since the Great Depression. But hey, what's the big deal? Read the rest of this post...