Voices of Central Pa aggregator

Crooks and Liars: Open Thread

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:30:25 -0500

h/t Nicole Belle. The Supreme Court building gets Occupied. More photos here. Open thread below...

DailyKos Headlines: Open Thread for Night Owls: Ending fossil fuel subsidies would sharply cut CO2 emissions

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:30:02 -0500

Duncan Clark writes:

According [International Energy Agency] research, 37 governments spent $409bn on artificially lowering the price of fossil fuels in 2010. Critics say the subsidies significantly boost oil and gas consumption and disadvantage renewable energy technologies, which received only $66bn of subsidies in the same year.
[IEA chief economist Fatih Birol] said that a phase-out would avoid 750m tonnes of CO₂ a year by 2015, potentially rising to 2.6 gigatonnes by 2035, a level sufficient to provide half the emissions reductions needed to limit global warming to 2C, considered the limit of safety by many scientists. "Fossil fuel subsidies are a hand brake as we drive along the road to a sustainable energy future," he said. "Removing them would take us half way to a trajectory that would hold us to 2C."

Most of the world's fuel subsidies are given out in transitional and developing countries—especially those which themselves export fossil fuels. Sometimes the policies are seen as a way to alleviate poverty, but IEA analysis suggests that the poorest members of society do not see their fair share of the benefits.

"Just 8% of the $409bn spent on fossil-fuel subsidies in 2010 went to the poorest 20% of the population," Birol said. "It's clear that other direct forms of welfare support would cost much less." He added that the poorest people were being "punished twice", because the money used to make fossil fuels cheaper could instead be spent on schools, hospitals and other public services.
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Crooks and Liars: C&L's Late Night Music Club With Shuggie Otis

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:00:00 -0500

Title: Sparkle City

Artist: Shuggie Otis

It's Monday, but Shuggie's here to make it alright. Mellow out to these sweet sounds and Friday will be here before you know it..

Also our sister site Newstalgia has The Specials in session from 1979.

Whatcha listening to this Monday evening?

DailyKos Headlines: Liveblogging Newtmittgeddon #8

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:32:17 -0500

Talk about it here. Watch it live on NBC, MSNBC, or Daily Kos.

7:33 PM PT: I think Newt Gingrich just claimed partial credit for developing supply-side economics. Dude, think big. Take all the credit. We're happy to give it to you.

7:35 PM PT: Rick Santorum decides he might as well start attacking Mitt and Newt, and he starts howling about cap and trade and mandates.

DailyKos Headlines: Liveblogging Newtmittgeddon #7

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:21:55 -0500

Talk about it here. Watch it live on NBC, MSNBC, or Daily Kos.

7:24 PM PT: Mitt Romney panders to Florida and NASA, but doesn't want to admit it would cost money, so he says he wants to partially privatize NASA, and create a military-government partnership. I thought the military was part of the government? My heads spinning from him his bullshit.

7:26 PM PT: Okay, why isn't Mitt Romney attacking Newt Gingrich anymore? Does he think he landed a knockout punch?

7:27 PM PT: I'm not one who thinks you need to pound, pound, pound always—once you've planted the seed, it can be best to back off a little (that's what Newt did with Bain). But I'm not convinced Romney has planted the seed. And if he hasn't, then this debate isn't doing him any good. But he still has plenty of time—Thursday's debate will be more important.

7:29 PM PT: We're on another commercial break, by the way: I think the next segment is the last.

DailyKos Headlines: Liveblogging Newtmittgeddon #6

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:08:40 -0500

Talk about it here. Watch it live on NBC, MSNBC, or Daily Kos.

7:09 PM PT: Mitt's immigration solution requires a national ID card that everybody would need to use anytime they did any work for anyone. He doesn't quite make that clear.

Crooks and Liars: Just Another Isolated Incident: Arkansas Dem Staffer's Cat Slain, 'Liberal' Scrawled on Body

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:00:08 -0500

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Ardem at Blue Arkansas reports a horrifying case (with graphic pictures of the cat, may not be safe for children):

Last night, I got the most chilling phone call I have ever received. It was Jake Burris, Ken Aden’s campaign manager. Last night, Jake and his four kids had come back to their Russellville home. As they were getting out of the car, one of his children discovered their family cat dead on the front porch. One side of the animal’s head had been bashed in and an eyeball was hanging out of its socket. But there was something even more horrifying to be found on the corpse.

Written across the animal’s fur in black marker was the word “LIBERAL“.

It does make you wonder if the perpetrator of this act has himself one of those "Liberal Hunting Licenses", doesn't it?
Scott Keyes at Think Progress reports:

DailyKos Headlines: Liveblogging Newtmittgeddon #5

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:56:23 -0500

Talk about it here. Watch it live on NBC, MSNBC, or Daily Kos.

6:58 PM PT: Still on commercial break. I'm watching in Columbus, Ohio. Most of the ads are for cars and furniture.

6:59 PM PT: Adam Smith, Tampa Bay Times political editor, and Beth Reinhard of National Journal, join Brian Williams, who gives Rick Santorum a chance to say he wants to go to war with Iran, because he didn't get a chance before the break.

DailyKos Headlines: Liveblogging Newtmittgeddon #4

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:43:19 -0500

Talk about it here. Watch it live on NBC, MSNBC, or Daily Kos.

6:44 PM PT: Whoa ... Mitt Romney talking about how there wasn't enough regulation of mortgage lenders. Free enterprise!

6:44 PM PT: And in the midst of an interesting discussion about housing policy, Brian Williams asks Mitt Romney what he'd do if a boat full of Cuban exiles showed up at his door.

6:46 PM PT: Newt pledges a covert war against Fidel Castro. Raul cackles.

DailyKos Headlines: Liveblogging Newtmittgeddon #3

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:31:04 -0500

Talk about it here. Watch it live on NBC, MSNBC, or Daily Kos.

6:33 PM PT: Mitt Romney, implying that he was talking about Fannie and Freddie, said congressmen have publicly said Newt lobbied them. But it turns out that her was talking about Medicare. Newt defends himself, but Mitt stands his ground that Newt is an influence peddler, albeit now with respect to Medicare.

6:33 PM PT: And just when things were starting to get interesting ... Brian Williams interrupts and calls for a commercial break.