Massachusetts governor plans to cut electricity use by letting power companies charge more if customers use less. This is just plain bizarre.
Hoping to make Massachusetts a national showcase for energy conservation, Governor Deval Patrick will announce plans today to offset the state's annual increases in electricity demand with equivalent energy-efficiency and conservation measures by 2010.
As the economy has grown and as many homeowners have added electronics and air-conditioning, the state's total electric usage has been increasing at about 1 percent annually, the equivalent of adding about 170,000 new average-sized houses every year, US Energy Department data show.
But Patrick contends that the state can conserve at least that much more electricity every year and keep overall demand frozen indefinitely, for much less than the cost of building new power plants.
Patrick's policy will include legislation to require that utilities such as NStar and National Grid pay for all energy-conservation efforts that, in cost per unit of power saved, are less expensive than buying that much power from energy suppliers. That could include subsidizing the cost of customers installing lower- consumption lighting such as fluorescent bulbs or replacing appliances and industrial gear.
#3
"My hope is to help Deval reach his goal by joining the rest of the escapees and eventually getting the fuck out of this lunatic asylum of a state..."
Smart move, TU3031. Mass is, and has been, crooked as a dog's hind leg for a LONG time. Patrick is a worthless, race-baiting, piece of garbage and yet another example of how the Mass voters just love electing criminals and demagogues to office. I've often wondered if it's something in the water that makes Mass so screwed up decade after decade...
Posted by: Mac ||
06/26/2007 18:48 Comments ||
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#4
TU3031, I'll race you. My exit is currently booked for 1/1/09. When are you going?
#5
Governor Patrick's plan will fail because he has broken one of the cardinal rules of communist economic plans: All Plans Must Be Five Years. You would think someone governing Mass would know better.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/26/2007 23:53 Comments ||
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This is the guy who re-interviewed the alleged victim, failed to record it or produce a transcript, but DID provide a 'report' that conveniently stated she had altered her claims in ways that just happened to fit the facts as known at that point.
#2
Google "Linwood Wilson" for a selection of news articles about his failure to record key witness interviews, or to have witnesses at the interviews.
Apparently, although Nifong is disbarred, there is no law in NC covering the possibility that a DA would lose his law license. No one ever dreamed that would happen.
. . . in the latest example of the odd alchemy worked by the socialite's celebrity, Hilton's attempt to land a lucrative media deal has unintentionally brought discomfiting attention to a practice the networks would rather keep quiet: their willingness to compensate subjects for exclusives.
On Friday, executives at ABC, NBC and CBS all said they were no longer interested in interviewing the heiress after a series of conflicting behind-the-scenes negotiations with her family were made public, torpedoing Hilton's efforts to secure a major network interview for her first post-jail sit-down. The abrupt turn-around came coming after intense jostling between the news divisions for an exclusive.
Hilton's family triggered the scrutiny this week by telling ABC that NBC was willing to pay close to $1 million for an exclusive upon her release, a story NBC promptly disavowed. . . .
Hilton would not have been the first to profit from such an arrangement. Television news divisions have long found ways to woo prospective interview subjects without paying them directly, whether through posh hotel suites and Broadway tickets or "licensing" fees for home videos.
"It's the way that the networks have been doing business for years," said Joe Angotti, a former senior vice president at NBC News. "It's always bothered me, and it bothers me more now that I'm out of the business. They feel that it does not cross the line as long as they don't write a check. It's a very fuzzy line, obviously."
One longtime network producer familiar with the booking wars said that that most major broadcast interviews involve some form of indirect compensation such as first or business class plane tickets, limousines, and five-star meals.
"It's all built around the idea of plausible deniability so that extremely reputable journalists can say with a straight face say they didn't pay for the interview," said the producer, who did not want to be quoted by name discussing internal practices. "It's just seen as the cost of doing business. And as the competition has increased: There's been a sense of, 'What more can we do to up the ante?' "
Network officials defended their tactics, insisting that paying to use personal footage or putting interview subjects up in hotels does not amount to checkbook journalism.
. . .
Earlier this week, ABC executives said they had lost their bid for an exclusive with Hilton to Meredith Vieira, co-anchor of NBC's "Today" show. Hilton's camp indicated that NBC had offered the family a better deal: a licensing fee between $750,000 and $1 million for the use of personal videos and photos, besting ABC's offer of $100,000.
But when news of the negotiations leaked out, NBC said it had no commitment from Hilton and would not pay for an interview. However, the network continued to negotiate behind the scenes for a sit-down that did not include any form of payment, according to an NBC source.
At the same time, the jailed socialite and her family apparently fearful of losing a major network interview altogether frantically sought to secure a deal with ABC's Barbara Walters.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/26/2007 12:54 ||
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#1
CNN wins network scramble. Larry King lands first interview with Paris As Paris Hilton is sprung from jail and prepares to discuss her time in the slammer with CNN's Larry King tomorrow night, she leaves a veteran newswoman already besieged by controversy in her wake....
#2
"Hilton's family triggered the scrutiny this week by telling ABC that NBC was willing to pay close to $1 million..." so it seems that PH ain't the only greedy one in that gene pool.
Phuque 'em all.......
t was billed as the most environmentally friendly festival ever, with a climate change campaign taking centre stage and an array of green facilities intended to help revellers cut down on their carbon footprints and their waste.
Yesterday, however, Glastonbury's eco-credentials were undermined somewhat when it emerged that festival-goers urinating in a river that runs through the site after they had been drinking and taking drugs had left it dangerously toxic for the surrounding wildlife. An emergency team of self-declared "green police", who are patrolling festivities to ensure minimal damage to the environment, were ordered to cordon off Whitelake stream after the Environment Agency informed them it contained levels of ammonia so high they were life-threatening for fish.
Bernadette Vallely, head of Glastonbury Green Police said: "The Environment Agency called to say they were very concerned about an area left unprotected by the Pyramid Stage. They said the toxicity levels were high, so we sent a team of Green Police to investigate and cordon off access to the river."
Jason Morgan, a Brown Shirt Green Police Sturmbannfurher team leader, who spent his day fencing off backstage access to streams and rivers with reams of "eco hazard" tape said: "It's really serious stuff because they [the Environment Agency] have the power to shut Glastonbury down."
More than 4,000 fish died after the 2004 festival because the water became toxic, he explained. "It's a very real threat to the ecosystem," he said. "The urine that goes into the water flow is contaminated with alcohol and drugs, which also affects the frog and toad population."
The Environment Agency said it was checking the toxicity of water levels hourly, using electronic sensors that automatically sent a mobile alert to environmental workers when the ammonia levels reached a dangerous level. The festival has been trying to clamp down on rogue revellers this year, with a policy that sees offenders escorted from the site if they are caught urinating in the river more than once. In an attempt to encourage people not to damage the countryside, organisers have provided more lavatories and urinals than ever. Female urinals called "Shepees", made from boat-shaped paper cups, are being handed out to help women who do not fancy braving the queues.
But not everyone is convinced by the rules. "When it's dark, who doesn't pee outside?" said James Hackett, 19, from South Wales. "There's a great wall by the Jazz World Stage that makes a perfectly good urinal. I haven't met those fish and frogs, but if I do I'll pass on my apologies." Or to put it JoeSpeak: As BEAR>WOODS, you have MOONBAT>RIVER.
An Environment Agency spokesperson confirmed the Green Police had been sent to cordon off the riverside in the backstage area behind the Pyramid Stage. But they denied being overly concerned about the toxicity levels. A spokesperson for Glastonbury Festival said that no major environmental issue had been bought to his attention, but added: "With a festival this size, where every single aspect is monitored on an hourly basis, it's absolutely normal to get blips but all problems have been dealt with remarkably quickly."
Almost 200 "green police", have the power to ban serious environmental offenders for life. They are also targeting smokers who drop cigarette butts the policemen are handing out old film canisters as portable ashtrays. "Cigarette butts have killed cows here before", said Jason Morgan, "they also take 14 years to biodegrade, but people are still doing it".
This year, the festival has installed Europe's largest solar-powered shower block, as well as providing many recycling bins and giving out previously-used recycled toilet paper. So far the festival has got off to a very damp start, with heavy golden showers falling for large parts of yesterday. Impromptu wellington sellers have sprung up on the roads leading to the venue. Christos Aristidou, an ice-cream seller, was pessimistic. "Glastonbury is a big gamble for me," he said. "I have a good pitch but that doesn't matter if it rains. I'm likely to make a big loss."
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds ||
06/26/2007 00:00 ||
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#5
Wacky tobaccy, bigjim-ky. But it's ok, since it's all organic, ya know? And it's not made by a giant Bushitler-Halliburton corporate division staffed by fascist automatons opposed to fair trade.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. Part of a vehicle barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border was erected in the wrong country and soon will be removed and rebuilt on American soil, federal officials confirmed Monday.
"We respect our international boundary, and we want to be good neighbors," U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Michael Friel told The Associated Press. "...We want to move quickly to ensure that we place the vehicle barrier where it should be, which is north of the border."
The barrier, 17 miles west of Columbus, was built in 2000 by Joint Task Force North out of Fort Bliss, Texas. It encroaches into Mexico territory between one and six feet south of the border along a 1.5-mile stretch.
Mediation and handshakes have ended a five-year racial vilification battle between an evangelical Christian group and Victorian Muslims.
The Catch The Fire Ministries sparked a row with the Islamic Council of Victoria in 2002 when it claimed in a newsletter that Muslims were demons training to make Australia an Islamic state. The newsletter also claimed that the Koran promoted violence and killing and that Muslims derived money from drugs.
Catch the Fire pastor Daniel Nalliah said he was relieved the long-running case, which was settled in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal after a hearing in the Victorian Court of Appeal, was now over. No one expected it to be so prolonged, Mr Nalliah said.
He said the two parties were able to resolve the matter after seven hours of mediation last Friday. The mediation brought two communities to a closer relationship there was a lot of good will and a lot of shaking of hands, Mr Nalliah said.
It was the first case to be heard by the tribunal under Victorias 2002 Racial and Religious Tolerance Act.
In a joint statement, the council, Mr Nalliah and Pastor Daniel Scot, who aired the offending comments at a seminar, said they recognised the rights of all to express their own religious beliefs, while also recognising everyones dignity and worth. The joint statement said the two communities would also recognise the right to robustly debate religion within the limits of the law, including the right to criticise the religious belief of another in a free, open and democratic society.
Posted by: ryuge ||
06/26/2007 00:31 ||
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#2
Racial? While olive skinned in general, the Lebanese and the Arabs are as white as the Italians. Religious vilification, yes, but to call it racial is bloody nonsense. Now the Aborigines could be counted as a different race than the majority of Australians, but nobody's calling them demons these days.
Germany has barred the makers of a movie about a plot to kill Adolf Hitler from filming at German military sites because its star Tom Cruise is a Scientologist, the Defense Ministry said on Monday. Cruise, also one of the film's producers, is a member of the Church of Scientology which the German government does not recognize as a church. Berlin says it masquerades as a religion to make money, a charge Scientology leaders reject.
The U.S. actor has been cast as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, leader of the unsuccessful attempt to assassinate the Nazi dictator in July 1944 with a bomb hidden in a briefcase. Defense Ministry spokesman Harald Kammerbauer said the film makers "will not be allowed to film at German military sites if Count Stauffenberg is played by Tom Cruise, who has publicly professed to being a member of the Scientology cult". "In general, the Bundeswehr (German military) has a special interest in the serious and authentic portrayal of the events of July 20, 1944 and Stauffenberg's person," Kammerbauer said. Good thing Omar Shariff isn't making movies any more.
#1
Idiot Krauts all stuffed about the Scientology kooks but are allowing the Islamos to over run the entire country. Tom Cruise is a nut case, but very harmless. Your f**kin' Turks on the other hand....
#2
Well moran hollywoood actors and uneducated americans world has to much of :))
Posted by: Caesar Unaviting9425 ||
06/26/2007 1:20 Comments ||
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#3
Germany has barred the makers of a movie about a plot to kill Adolf Hitler from filming at German military sites because its star Tom Cruise is a Scientologist,
#4
Evan more lucky his not black living in east L.A
Posted by: Caesar Unaviting9425 ||
06/26/2007 3:23 Comments ||
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#5
Stauffenberg suported Hitler against Hindenburg in the 1932 elections. However, it seems that at this tiùme he only looked at the nationalist part of Nazism and that his opposition in the following years was for moral reasons.
However the other members of the conspiracy only opposed Hitler because he was losing teh war and they thought his removal would appease the allies, allow a separate peace and Germany would remain free to concentrate against teh Russians. They even dreamed to keep seome of the ill-gotten territories gaiuned by the Nazis (Sudetes, Alsace-Lorraine), in fact everything who spoke German (1). I am not even sure about what Stauffenberg's friends would have done about final solution.
(1) Everything who speaks German can imply, between other things, Holland. German is a linguistic continuum where people from a region understand the dialect from their neighbours but not the dialect of their neighours of their neighbours. In fact the dialects of North Germany are closer to Dutch than to the dialects of South and to Hochdeutsch (official German).
#2
It would have been more effective if they left the family's stuff in the house. Watching the effect of munitions on Suzie's doll house and Grandma's hutch might send a message. To quote Bernadette Peters, "it's not about the money it's about the stuff."
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/26/2007 23:45 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
On Friday, executives at ABC, NBC and CBS all said they were no longer interested in interviewing the heiress after a series of conflicting behind-the-scenes negotiations with her family were made public, torpedoing Hilton's efforts to secure a major network interview for her first post-jail sit-down. The abrupt turn-around came coming after intense jostling between the news divisions for an exclusive.
