Opposition to Clean Power Plan Penned at San Diego ALEC Meeting

Opposition to Clean Power Plan Penned at San Diego ALEC Meeting

Posted: 04 Aug 2015 10:24 AM PDT

By Doug Porter 

States will be required to dramatically cut emissions from power plants over the next 15 years under the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, announcedon Monday. The stage is now set for a major political showdown, reminiscent of the battle over Obamacare. Given that the burden of implementing these regulations will fall upon the states, the role of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is crafting a counterattack should surprise no one. Details of the pushback were finalized at the group’s meeting in San Diego just two weeks ago. Today we’ll look at how the opposition to the plan is shaping up, along with the strengths and weaknesses of what are being called a landmark set of regulations to combat climate change.   [Read more...]

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• Opposition to Clean Power Plan Penned at San Diego ALEC Meeting
• Ta-Nehisi Coates Speaks to all of Us in ‘Between the World and Me’
• Extreme Weather Watch: July 2015 – Huge Number of Wildfires in CA Force Evacuations

Opposition to Clean Power Plan Penned at San Diego ALEC Meeting Posted: 04 Aug 2015 10:24 AM PDT By Doug Porter States will be required to dramatically cut emissions from power plants over the next 15 years under the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, announcedon Monday. The stage is now set for a major political showdown, reminiscent of the battle over Obamacare. Given that the burden of implementing these regulations will fall upon the states, the role of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is crafting a counterattack should surprise no one. Details of the pushback were finalized at the group’s meeting in San Diego just two weeks ago. Today we’ll look at how the opposition to the plan is shaping up, along with the strengths and weaknesses of what are being called a landmark set of regulations to combat climate change.   [Read more...]     Ta-Nehisi Coates Speaks to all of Us in ‘Between the World and Me’ Posted: 04 Aug 2015 05:24 AM PDT By Susan Grigsby / Daily Kos Over 50 years before I had ever heard the term white privilege, I sat out in the backyard of our middle-class suburban home and finished The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin. I can still see the bright green grass and the blond wicker furniture, and the curling corner of the paperback book. And I remember thinking that even though we lived in the same nation, we occupied different countries, James Baldwin and I. He lived in a world that I had never known existed even though it occupied the same city streets. His book's impact on me was profound, as the kaleidoscope of my reality shifted and never again returned to its original angle. The following year was personally tumultuous for myself and my family, which may be another reason that I remember that afternoon so vividly. In later years I thought that 14 was too young to be grappling alone with issues so complex. And perhaps it was, but the unfiltered result of that reading was that I could no longer accept that the reality I perceived was the only one that existed. And while I suffered from the same absolutism common to any teenager, always in the back of my mind lingered the knowledge that maybe everything I thought I knew was wrong. Please join me for a look at the writing of the man considered by Toni Morrison to be the one to fill the intellectual void left by James Baldwin's passing.   [Read more...]     Extreme Weather Watch: July 2015 – Huge Number of Wildfires in CA Force Evacuations Posted: 04 Aug 2015 05:24 AM PDT By John Lawrence As July drew to a close, 8000 firefighters were battling 18 large fires in the state of California. A lot of people are being forced to evacuate their homes. In fact evacuations are becoming a way of life. Triple digit temperatures, bone-dry vegetation and gusty winds are spreading fires everywhere. A fast-spreading wildfire north of San Francisco has torched homes and is threatening more than 450 structures. At least 650 residents have been evacuated from their homes as the blaze raged in hills covered in dense brush and oak trees and dotted with ranch homes. 23 square miles near Lower Lake, south of Clear Lake, have been charred. A separate fire near the small town of Isleton in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta burned six or seven mobile homes. Residents of 200 homes in the central California community of Cascadel Woods were ordered to evacuate last Thursday.   [Read more...] The TRUTH will set you FREE.

70 Years Later, We Still Haven’t Apologized for Bombing Japan

NATION DAILY: AUGUST 4, 2015

70 Years Later, We Still Haven’t Apologized for Bombing Japan   We’ve somehow convinced ourselves that Hiroshima was an act of mercy.   CHRISTIAN APPY

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Senate Blocks Attack on Planned Parenthood, But the Political Assault Continues   Instead of a serious debate about the facts, for GOP candidates who sit in the Senate this is “all about politics.”   JOHN NICHOLS

The Coming Debate and a Trump in the House of Cards   A debate that promises to defy the needs—and common sense—of most Americans.   KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL

The War on Planned Parenthood Is Also an Assault on Poor Women of Color   The Right’s war on federal funding to health clinics is putting public health at risk.   MICHELLE CHEN

Washington Has a New Plan to Tackle Domestic Terrorism and It Probably Won’t Work   But enacting gun control laws and investing in support services for America’s children might.   KAREN J. GREENBERG

Jeb Bush Admires a Really Lousy President — And It’s Not His Brother   James K. Polk was condemned by John Quincy Adams, Henry David Thoreau, and Abraham Lincoln on issues of human bondage and lawless militarism.   JOHN NICHOLS

The Nation Magazine 33 Irving Place New York, NY 10003

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Minnesota vs. Wisconsin: A Tale of Two States

BY DAVE PATTERSON  |  JULY 14, 2015

To determine just why Minnesota and Wisconsin, both deeply invested in manufacturing and agricultural economics, have fared so differently, one only has to look to who they elected governor in 2010.

For workers, economic fortunes follow elections of Dayton, Walker

For working people in Minnesota - recently named the "Top State For Business" - it is the best of times (at least in the last half decade). But in neighboring Wisconsin, it is the worst of times. To determine just why these Midwest states, both deeply invested in manufacturing and agricultural economics, have fared so differently, one only has to look to who they elected governor in 2010.

Facing a deep natural recession and a $6 billion budget deficit, Minnesotans voted in progressive Gov. Mark Dayton, who ran on a tax-the-rich platform that included investment in people and infrastructure.

Dayton pushed a sharp increase on taxes for the top 2 percent to pay for his plan. And soon he and legislators passed laws that expanded unionization, froze college tuition, increased the minimum wage, required equal pay for women, legalized same-sex marriage, eased voter restrictions, boosted primary education spending and established all-day kindergarten.

Wisconsinites went in a complete 180-degree direction. They elected Scott Walker, a firebrand conservative who announced this week that he is running for President.

Walker has repeatedly scapegoated public service workers while extolling the virtues of “trickle-down” economics and cutting his way to reducing the state’s $3 billion budget hole.

Walker also has cut taxes on the most wealthy, saying it would spur job creation and innovation. He and a Republican-controlled Legislature dismantled collective bargaining for public employees with Act 10. They also opposed a minimum-wage increase and equal-pay legislation, refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and, finally, passed the scam right-to-work law.

Five years later, only one governor has proven successful.

In Minnesota, Dayton turned that $6 billion budget deficit into a more than $2 billion surplus in just one term. Minnesota added 172,000 jobs and its 3.6 percent unemployment rate is among the lowest in the country.

Under Walker’s policies, Wisconsin still faces a $2 billion shortfall, has fallen to 44th in private-sector job creation and faces a 5.2 percent unemployment rate.

Minnesota has consistently been in the top tier of states for GDP growth since Dayton was elected and median incomes are $8,000 higher than the national average. In Wisconsin, median household income is thousands less than in Minnesota.

In 2015, Minnesota is considered one of the most business-friendly states in the country, withForbes ranking it the ninth-best state for business, seventh in economic climate and second in quality of life. Thanks to Walker’s anti-worker policies, the cost of doing business in Wisconsin is now higher than the national average.

“In Minnesota, we’re doing better than our neighbors in the Badger state because our governor understands that good government works for all people, not just the rich,” said Eliot Seide, executive director of AFSCME Minnesota Council 5. “Under Governor Dayton, we know that everyone will get a fair shot, give their fair share, and play by the same rules. In Wisconsin, Governor Walker has only served the rich, so he hasn’t created an economy that works for working families.” 

Posted In: ECONOMIC SECURITY, POLITICS AND ELECTIONS

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Gov. Mark Dayton’s Minnesota has been named the “Top State for Business” - and they got there doing the exact opposite of Scott Walker. Read more on our blog here: http://afsc.me/1IY7sTU

AFSCME Gov. Mark Dayton’s Minnesota has been named the “Top State for Business” - and they got there doing the exact opposite of Scott Walker. Read more on our blog here:http://afsc.me/1IY7sTU
The TRUTH will set you FREE.

Oil companies’ grim outlook weigh on investors’ sentiment

Oil companies’ grim outlook weigh on investors’ sentiment

Aug 4th, 2015 

by John Donovan. 

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By Bloomberg | 4August 2015

NEW YORK: The world’s biggest oil companies are painting a grim picture of the future and speculators are listening. Hedge funds reduced bullish bets to the lowest level in five years as oil capped the worst month since the financial crisis. The net-long position in West Texas Intermediate contracted 7 percent in the seven days ended July 28, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show.

Speculators curbed their bullish stance in Brent, the global benchmark, by the most in a year.

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Posted in: BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Oil Prices, Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Tagged: BP · Chevron · ExxonMobil · Oil Prices · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

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August Off To A Shaky Start For Oil Markets

August Off To A Shaky Start For Oil Markets

Aug 4th, 2015 

by John Donovan. 

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By Evan Kelly: Tue, 04 August 2015

August started off on a dour note for crude oil, with prices tanking by around 5 percent on August 3. A slew of negative news from around the world weighed on prices. The Greek stock marketplummeted on the first day of trading after being closed for five weeks. The Athens Index dropped by 16 percent on August 3 and continued its descent as of midday trading on August 4. Concerns over the Chinese economy once again reared their head as the government moved to put restrictions on short selling to stop the collapse of the stock markets. WTI fell below $46 per barrel and Brent briefly dipped below $50 per barrel before rebounding a bit on August 4.

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Posted in: BP, Gas, Gazprom, John Donovan, LNG, Oil, Oil Prices, Royal Dutch Shell Plc,Russia, Sakhalin II, Statoil.
Tagged: Gas · Gazprom · LNG · Oil Prices · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Russia · Shell

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