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marmar
marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
March 11, 2013
(Bloomberg) A glut of government-subsidized wind power may help accomplish a goal some environmentalists have sought for decades: kill off U.S. nuclear power plants while reducing reliance on electricity from burning coal.
That’s the assessment of executives and utility experts after the U.S. wind-energy industry went on a $25 billion growth binge in 2012, racing to qualify for a federal tax credit that was set to expire at year’s end.
The surge added a record 13,124 megawatts of wind turbines to the nation’s power grid, up 28 percent from 2011. The new wind farms increased financial pressure on traditional generators such as Dominion Resources (D) Inc. and Exelon Corp. in their operating regions. That’s because wind energy undercut power prices already driven to 10-year-lows by an abundance of natural gas.
“Right now, natural gas and wind power are more economic than nuclear power in the Midwestern electricity market,” Howard Learner, executive director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center, a Chicago-based advocate of cleaner energy, said in a phone interview. “It’s a matter of economic competitiveness.” ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-11/nuclear-industry-withers-in-u-s-as-wind-pummels-prices-energy.html
Nuclear Industry Withers in U.S. as Wind Pummels Prices
(Bloomberg) A glut of government-subsidized wind power may help accomplish a goal some environmentalists have sought for decades: kill off U.S. nuclear power plants while reducing reliance on electricity from burning coal.
That’s the assessment of executives and utility experts after the U.S. wind-energy industry went on a $25 billion growth binge in 2012, racing to qualify for a federal tax credit that was set to expire at year’s end.
The surge added a record 13,124 megawatts of wind turbines to the nation’s power grid, up 28 percent from 2011. The new wind farms increased financial pressure on traditional generators such as Dominion Resources (D) Inc. and Exelon Corp. in their operating regions. That’s because wind energy undercut power prices already driven to 10-year-lows by an abundance of natural gas.
“Right now, natural gas and wind power are more economic than nuclear power in the Midwestern electricity market,” Howard Learner, executive director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center, a Chicago-based advocate of cleaner energy, said in a phone interview. “It’s a matter of economic competitiveness.” ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-11/nuclear-industry-withers-in-u-s-as-wind-pummels-prices-energy.html
March 11, 2013
from HuffPost:
A senior fellow for the conservative lobbying group the Family Research Council (FRC) has suggested that gay parents should not be legally protected against parental kidnappings.
Speaking during Thursday's episode of FRC radio program "Washington Watch," organization president Tony Perkins discussed the issue of parental kidnappings with senior fellow Peter Sprigg. In particular, they discussed the case of Lisa Miller, who ultimately fled the country with her young daughter, Isabella, in order to prevent her former lesbian partner from gaining custody.
Miller gave birth to Isabella via artificial insemination in 2002, but she and her partner, Janet Jenkins, dissolved their Vermont civil union two years later. Miller then moved to Virginia, where she became a born-again Christian who renounced homosexuality.
Miller decided she did not want Isabella to see Jenkins and sued for sole custody in the state, according to The New York Times. But in 2006, after several years of custody battles, a Virginia appeals court finally sided with Jenkins, ruling that under the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act, Virginia had to defer to Vermont courts, granting Jenkins visitation rights. ........................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/11/peter-sprigg-kidnapping-laws-gay-parents_n_2853552.html?ir=Politics&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009
Peter Sprigg, FRC Fellow, Suggests Gay Parents Shouldn't Be Protected From Parental Kidnappings
from HuffPost:
A senior fellow for the conservative lobbying group the Family Research Council (FRC) has suggested that gay parents should not be legally protected against parental kidnappings.
Speaking during Thursday's episode of FRC radio program "Washington Watch," organization president Tony Perkins discussed the issue of parental kidnappings with senior fellow Peter Sprigg. In particular, they discussed the case of Lisa Miller, who ultimately fled the country with her young daughter, Isabella, in order to prevent her former lesbian partner from gaining custody.
Miller gave birth to Isabella via artificial insemination in 2002, but she and her partner, Janet Jenkins, dissolved their Vermont civil union two years later. Miller then moved to Virginia, where she became a born-again Christian who renounced homosexuality.
Miller decided she did not want Isabella to see Jenkins and sued for sole custody in the state, according to The New York Times. But in 2006, after several years of custody battles, a Virginia appeals court finally sided with Jenkins, ruling that under the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act, Virginia had to defer to Vermont courts, granting Jenkins visitation rights. ........................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/11/peter-sprigg-kidnapping-laws-gay-parents_n_2853552.html?ir=Politics&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009
March 11, 2013
from Grist:
Those lucky jerks in London are getting a frickin’ bicycle highway
By Sarah Laskow
London may be the world’s newest best cycling city. Mayor Boris Johnson has announced that the city will be spending a whopping $1.51 billion on better bike infrastructure — including a 15-mile bicycle highway that will connect the west and east sections of the city.
There are, oh, a gabillion reasons why this is a great idea. But here are the reasons Johnson gave for spending all this money on cycling:
Besides the highway, there will be more fully- and semi-segregated bike lanes pretty much everywhere in the city. Johnson says he’s not promising that London “will become Amsterdam any time soon.” But no one needs London to be Amsterdam. It just needs to be its big, old, messy self — with more bicycles.
http://grist.org/list/those-lucky-jerks-in-london-are-getting-a-frickin-bicycle-highway/
London's Calling.......bicyclists
from Grist:
Those lucky jerks in London are getting a frickin’ bicycle highway
By Sarah Laskow
London may be the world’s newest best cycling city. Mayor Boris Johnson has announced that the city will be spending a whopping $1.51 billion on better bike infrastructure — including a 15-mile bicycle highway that will connect the west and east sections of the city.
There are, oh, a gabillion reasons why this is a great idea. But here are the reasons Johnson gave for spending all this money on cycling:
The reason I am spending almost £1 billion on this is my belief that helping cycling will not just help cyclists. It will create better places for everyone. It means less traffic, more trees, more places to sit and eat a sandwich. It means more seats on the Tube, less competition for a parking place and fewer cars in front of yours at the lights. Above all, it will fulfill my aim of making London’s air cleaner.
Besides the highway, there will be more fully- and semi-segregated bike lanes pretty much everywhere in the city. Johnson says he’s not promising that London “will become Amsterdam any time soon.” But no one needs London to be Amsterdam. It just needs to be its big, old, messy self — with more bicycles.
http://grist.org/list/those-lucky-jerks-in-london-are-getting-a-frickin-bicycle-highway/
March 11, 2013
March 11, 2013 | A pending bill in the Kentucky state legislature could pave the way for increased discrimination against LGBT people. Patheos notes that human rights groups are going to battle against a bill that would allow residents to sidestep anti-discrimination laws if they pointed to “sincerely” held “religious beliefs” that justify their actions.
The bill is sponsored by a conservative Democrat and has already passed the State Senate. The legislation would boost someone’s ability to “ignore state regulations or laws that contradict his or her ‘sincerely held’ religious beliefs,” Patheos blogger Camille Beredjicknotes.
Gay rights groups are up in arms. “House Bill 279 represents a clear and present danger to the gay and lesbian community and other minority groups around the commonwealth. (The bill) does nothing more than give people permission to discriminate based on their religious beliefs, thereby taking it beyond ‘freedom of religion’ to ‘forced religion,’ because they have imposed their religious beliefs on others, with legal authority to do so,” a letter from the Kentucky Equality Federation to the Senator who introduced the bill states, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
One State Senator, Democrat Kathy Stein, said that the legislation is “a sword to be used against minorities” and is unconstitutional. ..............................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/kentucky-seeks-legalize-discrimination-against-gays-based-religious-beliefs
Bill allowing 'freedom of religion' to trump anti-discrimination laws looms in Kentucky
March 11, 2013 | A pending bill in the Kentucky state legislature could pave the way for increased discrimination against LGBT people. Patheos notes that human rights groups are going to battle against a bill that would allow residents to sidestep anti-discrimination laws if they pointed to “sincerely” held “religious beliefs” that justify their actions.
The bill is sponsored by a conservative Democrat and has already passed the State Senate. The legislation would boost someone’s ability to “ignore state regulations or laws that contradict his or her ‘sincerely held’ religious beliefs,” Patheos blogger Camille Beredjicknotes.
Gay rights groups are up in arms. “House Bill 279 represents a clear and present danger to the gay and lesbian community and other minority groups around the commonwealth. (The bill) does nothing more than give people permission to discriminate based on their religious beliefs, thereby taking it beyond ‘freedom of religion’ to ‘forced religion,’ because they have imposed their religious beliefs on others, with legal authority to do so,” a letter from the Kentucky Equality Federation to the Senator who introduced the bill states, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
One State Senator, Democrat Kathy Stein, said that the legislation is “a sword to be used against minorities” and is unconstitutional. ..............................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/kentucky-seeks-legalize-discrimination-against-gays-based-religious-beliefs
March 11, 2013
(Bloomberg) The German fugitive hedge fund manager who more than five years ago fled the Spanish island of Mallorca with $500,000 hidden in his underwear and luggage faces U.S. charges after his arrest at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Florian Homm, 53, was taken into custody by Italian police at 12:30 p.m. on March 8 at the world-famous museum that houses Sandro Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Leonardo da Vinci’s Annunciation.
The arrest, by Homm’s own account as well as that of U.S. prosecutors, followed his 2007 decision to leave behind a life of wealth, castles and “bimbos.” During his escape, he held a Liberian diplomatic passport as well as German and Irish passports, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Homm is accused in a criminal complaint filed March 6 in federal court in Los Angeles of defrauding investors in hedge funds he controlled, causing $200 million in losses. He is charged with four counts of conspiracy, wire fraud and securities fraud. He faces as long as 75 years in prison if convicted on all counts. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-08/fugitive-hedge-fund-manager-homm-arrested-at-gallery.html
Is that half-a-million big ones in your pants or are you just happy to see me?
(Bloomberg) The German fugitive hedge fund manager who more than five years ago fled the Spanish island of Mallorca with $500,000 hidden in his underwear and luggage faces U.S. charges after his arrest at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Florian Homm, 53, was taken into custody by Italian police at 12:30 p.m. on March 8 at the world-famous museum that houses Sandro Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Leonardo da Vinci’s Annunciation.
The arrest, by Homm’s own account as well as that of U.S. prosecutors, followed his 2007 decision to leave behind a life of wealth, castles and “bimbos.” During his escape, he held a Liberian diplomatic passport as well as German and Irish passports, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Homm is accused in a criminal complaint filed March 6 in federal court in Los Angeles of defrauding investors in hedge funds he controlled, causing $200 million in losses. He is charged with four counts of conspiracy, wire fraud and securities fraud. He faces as long as 75 years in prison if convicted on all counts. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-08/fugitive-hedge-fund-manager-homm-arrested-at-gallery.html
March 11, 2013
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- For the past two decades, Florida taxpayers have paid millions to turn the state into a sports mecca.
The money has paid for repairs, renovations and construction of stadiums and arenas that are home to professional football, hockey, baseball and basketball teams. The state also has shelled out money to spruce up ballparks used by Major League Baseball teams for spring training.
The total so far: close to $300 million since 1994.
The list of those getting help — and the amount spent by the state — could get even larger this year if state legislators and Gov. Rick Scott agree. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/pro-sports-team-fla-seeking-134949519.html
Pro sports team in Fla. seeking help from state
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- For the past two decades, Florida taxpayers have paid millions to turn the state into a sports mecca.
The money has paid for repairs, renovations and construction of stadiums and arenas that are home to professional football, hockey, baseball and basketball teams. The state also has shelled out money to spruce up ballparks used by Major League Baseball teams for spring training.
The total so far: close to $300 million since 1994.
The list of those getting help — and the amount spent by the state — could get even larger this year if state legislators and Gov. Rick Scott agree. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/pro-sports-team-fla-seeking-134949519.html
March 11, 2013
[font size="1"]Public transit ridership shot up by 154 million rides in 2012, a study says. In Utah, commuter train ridership increased nearly 15%[/font]
(CNN) -- When Ann Arbor, Michigan, advertising executive Al McWilliams finished high school in the late 1990s, he made a vow.
He swore he would "never, ever again" commute to work by car, "no matter what I was doing in life."
Most of his teen friends were getting their first cars and feeling free, but McWilliams didn't see it like that.
For him, freedom was being able to spend three hours a day doing something other than driving to and from private school. Driving was "oppressive," and his VW GTI felt like a "ball and chain."
Flash-forward to the present. McWilliams, now 32, either walks or rides the bus to his office every day, making his way to the back of the Route 5 bus, where he'll find a window seat and maybe enjoy a nice book. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/11/travel/us-public-transportation-report/index.html?c&page=2
Commuters give up the 'ball and chain'
[font size="1"]Public transit ridership shot up by 154 million rides in 2012, a study says. In Utah, commuter train ridership increased nearly 15%[/font]
(CNN) -- When Ann Arbor, Michigan, advertising executive Al McWilliams finished high school in the late 1990s, he made a vow.
He swore he would "never, ever again" commute to work by car, "no matter what I was doing in life."
Most of his teen friends were getting their first cars and feeling free, but McWilliams didn't see it like that.
For him, freedom was being able to spend three hours a day doing something other than driving to and from private school. Driving was "oppressive," and his VW GTI felt like a "ball and chain."
Flash-forward to the present. McWilliams, now 32, either walks or rides the bus to his office every day, making his way to the back of the Route 5 bus, where he'll find a window seat and maybe enjoy a nice book. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/11/travel/us-public-transportation-report/index.html?c&page=2
March 11, 2013
Ridership on buses, subways and other modes of public transportation in the USA rose 1.5% to 10.5 billion trips last year, the highest annual total since 2008, according to a new report.
Although Superstorm Sandy and its aftermath slowed ridership on some of the nation's largest transit systems, at least 16 systems reported record ridership numbers in 2012, says the American Public Transportation Association.
"When Sandy hit, and the snowstorm that followed it, an estimated 74 million (transit) trips were lost, and yet we still had the second-highest ridership since 1957," said APTA president and CEO Michael Melaniphy.
Melaniphy says the increase in transit ridership was driven, at least partly, by high gas prices, the volatility of those prices and the nation's changing demographics. ....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/11/public-transportation-rides-increase-in-2012/1977427/
Public Transit Ridership rises despite Hurricane Sandy
Ridership on buses, subways and other modes of public transportation in the USA rose 1.5% to 10.5 billion trips last year, the highest annual total since 2008, according to a new report.
Although Superstorm Sandy and its aftermath slowed ridership on some of the nation's largest transit systems, at least 16 systems reported record ridership numbers in 2012, says the American Public Transportation Association.
"When Sandy hit, and the snowstorm that followed it, an estimated 74 million (transit) trips were lost, and yet we still had the second-highest ridership since 1957," said APTA president and CEO Michael Melaniphy.
Melaniphy says the increase in transit ridership was driven, at least partly, by high gas prices, the volatility of those prices and the nation's changing demographics. ....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/11/public-transportation-rides-increase-in-2012/1977427/
March 11, 2013
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- For the past two decades, Florida taxpayers have paid millions to turn the state into a sports mecca.
The money has paid for repairs, renovations and construction of stadiums and arenas that are home to professional football, hockey, baseball and basketball teams. The state also has shelled out money to spruce up ballparks used by Major League Baseball teams for spring training.
The total so far: close to $300 million since 1994.
The list of those getting help — and the amount spent by the state — could get even larger this year if state legislators and Gov. Rick Scott agree. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/pro-sports-team-fla-seeking-134949519.html
Major-league welfare queens with their hands out in Florida
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- For the past two decades, Florida taxpayers have paid millions to turn the state into a sports mecca.
The money has paid for repairs, renovations and construction of stadiums and arenas that are home to professional football, hockey, baseball and basketball teams. The state also has shelled out money to spruce up ballparks used by Major League Baseball teams for spring training.
The total so far: close to $300 million since 1994.
The list of those getting help — and the amount spent by the state — could get even larger this year if state legislators and Gov. Rick Scott agree. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/pro-sports-team-fla-seeking-134949519.html
March 11, 2013
from truthdig:
The Crucifixion of Tomas Young
Posted on Mar 10, 2013
By Chris Hedges
KANSAS CITY, Mo.—I flew to Kansas City last week to see Tomas Young. Young was paralyzed in Iraq in 2004. He is now receiving hospice care at his home. I knew him by reputation and the movie documentary “Body of War.” He was one of the first veterans to publicly oppose the war in Iraq. He fought as long and as hard as he could against the war that crippled him, until his physical deterioration caught up with him.
“I had been toying with the idea of suicide for a long time because I had become helpless,” he told me in his small house on the Kansas City outskirts where he intends to die. “I couldn’t dress myself. People have to help me with the most rudimentary of things. I decided I did not want to go through life like that anymore. The pain, the frustration. …”
He stopped abruptly and called his wife. “Claudia, can I get some water?” She opened a bottle of water, took a swig so it would not spill when he sipped and handed it to him.
“I felt at the end of my rope,” the 33-year-old Army veteran went on. “I made the decision to go on hospice care, to stop feeding and fade away. This way, instead of committing the conventional suicide and I am out of the picture, people have a way to stop by or call and say their goodbyes. I felt this was a fairer way to treat people than to just go out with a note. After the anoxic brain injury in 2008 [a complication that Young suffered] I lost a lot of dexterity and strength in my upper body. So I wouldn’t be able to shoot myself or even open the pill bottle to give myself an overdose. The only way I could think of doing it was to have Claudia open the pill bottle for me, but I didn’t want her implicated.” ....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_crucifixion_of_tomas_young_20130310/
Chris Hedges: The Crucifixion of Tomas Young
from truthdig:
The Crucifixion of Tomas Young
Posted on Mar 10, 2013
By Chris Hedges
KANSAS CITY, Mo.—I flew to Kansas City last week to see Tomas Young. Young was paralyzed in Iraq in 2004. He is now receiving hospice care at his home. I knew him by reputation and the movie documentary “Body of War.” He was one of the first veterans to publicly oppose the war in Iraq. He fought as long and as hard as he could against the war that crippled him, until his physical deterioration caught up with him.
“I had been toying with the idea of suicide for a long time because I had become helpless,” he told me in his small house on the Kansas City outskirts where he intends to die. “I couldn’t dress myself. People have to help me with the most rudimentary of things. I decided I did not want to go through life like that anymore. The pain, the frustration. …”
He stopped abruptly and called his wife. “Claudia, can I get some water?” She opened a bottle of water, took a swig so it would not spill when he sipped and handed it to him.
“I felt at the end of my rope,” the 33-year-old Army veteran went on. “I made the decision to go on hospice care, to stop feeding and fade away. This way, instead of committing the conventional suicide and I am out of the picture, people have a way to stop by or call and say their goodbyes. I felt this was a fairer way to treat people than to just go out with a note. After the anoxic brain injury in 2008 [a complication that Young suffered] I lost a lot of dexterity and strength in my upper body. So I wouldn’t be able to shoot myself or even open the pill bottle to give myself an overdose. The only way I could think of doing it was to have Claudia open the pill bottle for me, but I didn’t want her implicated.” ....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_crucifixion_of_tomas_young_20130310/
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