Pawlenty’s Tax Cuts For The Richest 0.1
Percent Would Be Four Times As Large As Bush’s

post from ThinkProgress on 15 June 2011 03:00:05 PM. © ThinkProgress

The economic plan unveiled last week by 2012 GOP presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty included $7.8 trillion in tax cuts, on top of the $2.5 trillion cost of continuing to extend the Bush tax cuts for the next ten years. His tax plan would mean a 41 percent tax cut for millionaires, even as it caused the deficit and debt to explode.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the plan would be really great for the richest one tenth of one percent of Americans, delivering them a tax cut four times as large as the Bush tax cuts:

Specifically, in 2013 the Pawlenty plan would give people in the top one-tenth of 1 percent on the income scale (i.e., people with incomes above $2.7 million) an average annual tax cut of $1.8 million ? which is more than four times what they got last year from the Bush tax cuts.

Pawlenty’s economic plan shows that he is willing to more than double-down on the failed economic policies of the Bush administration. Of course, since Pawlenty believes wholeheartedly in the tax fairy, he probably thinks this tax cut will actually boost federal revenue, rather then blow yet another hole in the federal budget.

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http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/06/15/246141/pawlenty-richest-four-times-bu
sh-tax-cut/

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Louis C.K. Defends Tracy Morgan

post from ThinkProgress on 15 June 2011 03:00:05 PM. © ThinkProgress

Via Huffington Post:

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http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2011/06/15/246254/louis-c-k-defends-tracy-morgan/

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Gov. Chris Christie: Gay People Aren’t
Sinners, But They Shouldn’t Be Allowed To Marry

post from ThinkProgress on 15 June 2011 03:00:05 PM. © ThinkProgress

Via Towleroad, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie doesn’t think that gay people are sinners, but still wouldn’t give them the right to marry. “I’ve always believed that people are born with the previous disposition to be homosexual,” he said. “So I think if someone is born that way it’s very difficult to say that it’s a sin.” He adds: “I believe we can have civil unions that can help to give the same type of legal rights to same-sex couples that marriage gives them.” Watch it:

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http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2011/06/15/245955/gov-chris-christie-gay-people-are
nt-sinners-but-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/

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Breaking News! Energy Efficiency Programs are
Working, Saving Consumers Millions

post from ThinkProgress on 15 June 2011 03:00:05 PM. © ThinkProgress

Since 2004, 26 states have put long-term energy efficiency resource standards (EERS) into place. Like renewable energy standards, these programs set long-term targets for demand reductions that power providers must meet ? usually by helping end-use customers save energy.

A new report out from the American Council on Energy Efficiency Economy (ACEEE) looks at 19 of those programs that have been in place for over two years. And guess what? Thus far, the programs are working.

According to ACEEE, ?almost every state with an EERS is on track, meeting, or exceeding goals in 2010.?

To date, 13 states have achieved 100% of their targets, 3 states are at 90% of their targets, and only 3 others are below 80%.
A word of caution, however: These are still early days for many programs, so targets will get harder to meet as time goes on. ACEEE says some states may drop off, or wait until the final year of a program to make demand reductions:

While the figure above positively portrays states currently meeting goals, the hard work has yet to come. Targets in many states are still increasing and sustaining aggressive savings levels will be a challenge for states. In states where EERS policies are still ramping up and have low annual savings goals for 2010, such as Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan, meeting goals in the coming years will be challenging and deserves ongoing attention and analysis.
Another reason some states are falling below target levels in 2010 is that some EERS policies set long-term goals, which place emphasis on long-term, rather than annual achievements. Pennsylvania and Vermont, for example, set two- and three-year savings targets for 2011, respectively. Past experiences in Vermont and California have demonstrated that it is common for states to make a major push in the final year to make up for lower savings in prior years.13 This trend seems to be continuing in Pennsylvania, where savings in the first two quarters of its second program year far outpaced levels of its first.

It appears that in the states meeting their targets, consumers are seeing a benefit. Although this progress report doesn?t do a detailed cost-benefit analysis of every state program, it does highlight a few key experiences in leading states:

Available data thus far indicates that the benefits of efficiency programs driven by EERS policies have proven to substantially exceed administrator and customer costs.

Hawaii Energy, the state?s third-party Public Benefits Fee Administrator, collects a percent of each electric utilities? customer?s bill and is responsible for carrying out Hawaii?s energy efficiency and conservation programs. Hawaii Energy achieved net customer energy savings of 113,159 MWh, meeting 97% and 81% of its residential and commercial targets, respectively. Over the lifetime of these rebated and installed measures, cost savings will yield a 546% return on Hawaii?s investment of $46.9 million ($17M/$29.9M Ratepayer/Customer Investment) (Hawaii Energy 2010).

In Illinois, independent analysis of ComEd?s programs in its second program year found portfolio the benefit-cost ratio based on the Illinois Total Resource Cost (TRC) test to be 2.84 (Navigant Consulting 2010). Ameren Illinois met its goals in 2009 cost-effectively and its portfolio scored a 2.78 using a TRC test (Ameren Illinois Utilities 2010).

In 2010, Efficiency Vermont saved 114 GWh at a cost of 4.1 cents per kilowatt-hour (over the life of the measures). Efficiency Vermont spent $35.4 million on efficiency programs, participants spent $21.7 million, and the overall lifetime benefits equaled $136.1 million (Efficiency Vermont 2011).

In Colorado, Xcel Energy reports that its electric DSM programs had an overall benefit-cost ratio of 3.3 while the gas DSM programs had a benefit-cost ratio of about 1.6. Xcel Energy spent $54.7 million on electric DSM programs and $16.9 million on gas DSM programs last year. The company estimates that electric programs alone will result in $227 million in net economic benefits for customers over the lifetime of energy efficiency measures installed due to its 2010 DSM programs. Gas DSM programs will result in about $15 million in net economic benefits (Xcel Energy 2010).

ACEEE has also been calling for a national energy efficiency target, which it says can save ratepayers more than $168 billion per year. But like with renewable energy, the action continues to happen at the state level for now, not nationally.

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/06/15/246252/energy-efficiency-programs-saving
-consumers/

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After Accepting $290,000 from Tobacco Industry,
House Conservatives Push ‘Cigarettes For Children’ Amendment

post from ThinkProgress on 15 June 2011 03:00:05 PM. © ThinkProgress

Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT)

Last week, the House Appropriations Committee approved an amendment by Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT) that would immunize the tobacco industry against many FDA regulations preventing them from making tobacco more addictive and marketing it to children. According to a joint statement by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids:

[T]he amendment would curtail the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) authority to regulate the contents of tobacco products. It would severely limit the kind of evidence FDA could consider in regulating tobacco and other products and eliminate the FDA’s ability to stop tobacco companies from adding ingredients that make their products more attractive to children and minorities, or more addictive and more difficult to quit using. [...]
Among other things, the Rehberg amendment would restrict the FDA’s ability to regulate the use of menthol in cigarettes. The FDA’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee in March 2011 issued an exhaustive report that concluded menthol increases the number of kids who start to smoke and reduces the number of smokers who quit. … [And] the addition of menthol is just one example in the tobacco industry’s long history of designing their products to make them more attractive to children and minorities, or more addictive and difficult to quit using. … The tobacco companies add sugars, flavorings and other substances that make their products easier to use and attractive to children. While there may not be evidence that these additives increase the risk of cancer or other diseases, the FDA should be able to stop such actions that make cigarettes more appealing to children and increase the number of kids who smoke.

The amendment, whose supporters in the Appropriations Committee accepted almost $290,000 in campaign contributions from the tobacco industry, may fall due to a turf war among Republican committee chairs. House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) is expected to succeed in an attempt to kill the amendment because it attempts to “legislate on an appropriations bill” in violation of the House rules. Such a procedural objection, however, does little to prevent Rehberg’s gift to the tobacco industry from being repackaged in another bill.

If past is prologue, such a rebirth of Rehberg’s misguided amendment is likely. FDA recently regained the power to regulate tobacco after President Obama signed a bill permitting such regulation in 2009. So a bill stripping FDA of that power would fit the House GOP’s top agenda item — repealing every single one of Obama’s accomplishments, no matter how much they benefit the American people.

After all, who cares about a silly little thing like preventing kids from smoking when there are political points to be scored against Barack Obama?

– Sean Savett

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/06/15/245983/rehberg-cigarettes-for-childr
en/

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Midday open thread

post from Daily Kos on 15 June 2011 03:00:03 PM. © Daily Kos

The most offensive ~~political~~ ad of all time:
With friends like this ...
Pakistan?s top military spy agency has arrested some of the Pakistani informants who fed information to the Central Intelligence Agency in the months leading up to the raid that led to the death of Osama bin Laden, according to American officials. [...]
Some in Washington see the arrests as illustrative of the disconnect between Pakistani and American priorities at a time when they are supposed to be allies in the fight against Al Qaeda ? instead of hunting down the support network that allowed Bin Laden to live comfortably for years, the Pakistani authorities are arresting those who assisted in the raid that killed the world?s most wanted man.
Puke:
At a campaign stop in New Hampshire, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney was posting for a photo-op with several female waitresses at a diner, and decided to "tease" them by pretending one of them had grabbed his ass
Pennsylvanians still don't like Rick Santorum:
It may be his home state, but a new poll indicates that Rick Santorum is not on top in Pennsylvania in the fight for the GOP presidential nomination.
And the Quinnipiac University survey of Keystone state voters released Wednesday also indicates that President Barack Obama's re-election numbers are on the rise in the crucial battleground state.
According to the poll, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads the Republican field at 21 percent, followed by Santorum at 16 percent and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin at 11 percent. No one else was in double digits and 17 percent are undecided.
The attack of the lesbian nuns:
[Michele] Bachmann, then a state senator, had already been caught hiding in the bushes of a gay rights event and campaigned against gay marriage. But she refused to talk about the issue at a constituent forum, and when said ex-nun and lesbian constituent came into the bathroom to politely take it up with her, she lost it:
Suddenly, after less than a minute, Bachmann let out a shriek. "Help!" she screamed. "Help! I'm being held against my will!" Arnold, who is just over 5 feet tall, was stunned, and hurried to open the door. Bachmann bolted out and fled, crying, to an SUV outside. Then she called the police, saying, according to the police report, that she was "absolutely terrified and has never been that terrorized before as she had no idea what those two women were going to do to her." The Washington County attorney, however, declined to press charges, writing in a memo, "It seems clear from the statements given by both women that they simply wanted to discuss certain issues further with Ms. Bachmann."
An anti-foreclosure program that works:
In response to a widespread foreclosure crisis, Philadelphia instituted what?s known as a mortgage mediation program. Under the program, banks are required to meet face-to-face with a borrower before foreclosing, to attempt to come to an agreement that would keep the borrower out of foreclosure. There is no requirement that the two sides come to an agreement, only that they meet.
In 2007, the year before the program began, 27 percent of homeowners in foreclosure lost their homes. That fell to 14.5 percent in the six months after the program began, then to 5.7 percent thereafter, Goldstein found. In the first year of the program, 5,000 homeowners took advantage of it, according to data released in June 2009. Of agreements reached through June 2009, 733, or 84.6 percent of 866 ho
Proving once again that being "pro-life" stops at the delivery room door:
Last week, the House Appropriations Committee approved an amendment by Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT) that would immunize the tobacco industry against many FDA regulations preventing them from making tobacco more addictive and marketing it to children. According to a joint statement by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids:
[T]he amendment would curtail the Food and Drug Administration?s (FDA?s) authority to regulate the contents of tobacco products. It would severely limit the kind of evidence FDA could consider in regulating tobacco and other products and eliminate the FDA?s ability to stop tobacco companies from adding ingredients that make their products more attractive to children and minorities, or more addictive and more difficult to quit using. . . .
Penny wise, pound foolish:
Detroit Public School Emergency Manager Roy Roberts has ordered the closure of Detroit?s school for pregnant girls and teen mothers but teacher Nicole Conaway says the move could be costly. [...]
Pregnancy is the number-one reason women drop out of school. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, 70% of teen moms do. However, for more than 20 years, Detroit has had one the nation?s best resources for teen mothers. Now it is on the verge of being taken away.
Union busting or providing jobs for sheep?
According to a report from The Patriot-News, cutting the grass around Wilson Middle School?s field of solar panels used to take workers 6 hours a week ? and throughout the year, the cost of lawn maintenance really added up. But now, thanks to the appetite of a herd of 30 or so sheep, they?ve cut that figure down to virtually nothing.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/OxFHnlrDScc/-Midday-open-thread

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Two Polls

post from MyDD on 15 June 2011 02:52:57 PM. © MyDD

Biggest Worry:Americans aged 30 to 49 -- who are the most worried about funding their retirement -- are also the most likely to say Social Security and Medicare are in a crisis. Additionally, Gallup has found non-retirees increasingly likely to believe[...]

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mydd/~3/jpmd033JZlY/t-6

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Lawmakers Sue Pres. Obama Over Libya UPDATED

Let it be known that the 15th day in June 2011, ten brave members of the United States Congress have found the Institution’s spine, assembled it, and however rickety the experience will be, as they haven’t used it for a very long time, are[...]

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http://taylormarsh.com/blog/2011/06/lawmakers-sue-pres-obama-over-libya/

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Lawmakers Sue Pres. Obama Over Libya

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Hassan Ghuls World Travels

You just never know where a someone will wind up once they are in US custody. t appears that Ghul may have been freed by the Pakistanis sometime after January 2007 because of his ties to Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has close ties to the ISI.[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/firedoglake/fdl/~3/fJczfmzyKjs/

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