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Barr cheers Gore’s energy plan
Last week, oil mogul T. Boone Pickens unveiled a plan to increase the amount of electricity supplied by wind power to at least 20 percent as soon as possible. Environmental advocate and former vice president Al Gore called Pickens’ bet — and raised it.
On Thursday, Gore introduced his plan for all electricity in the country to be supplied by renewable, natural resources like wind, solar and geothermal within 10 years. This could be a tall order, considering more than 70 percent of U.S. electricity is supplied by coal, natural gas and petroleum, according to the Department of Energy.
The speech at Washington’s Constitutional Hall drew a packed crowd, which included several politicians, including Libertarian presidential candidate and former Georgia Rep. Bob Barr.
Barr did not hesitate to share his ideas with the media. He called Gore’s plan important for moving the country away from its dependence on foreign oil. He also criticized fellow candidates Barack Obama and John McCain for not showing up for the event, saying their absence showed “they don’t really care about the issue.”
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Bush and McClellan: Together again
Not much to report from the first time that President Bush and former Press Secretary Scott McClellan were in the same room since McClellan penned an unflattering book about his ex-boss.
Could have something to do with the size of the room and the event it housed.
Bush and McClellan didn’t get anywhere near other today at the Washington funeral for Tony Snow, who got the press secretary job when McClellan was forced out. Snow died of cancer on Saturday.
McClellan arrived early and took a seat about two-thirds of the way back in the massive Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the nation’s largest Catholic church.
McClellan stared in Bush’s direction when the president arrived in the church with Laura Bush holding his left arm. They were too far apart to come anywhere near making eye contact.
Bush offered a firm “no comment” when questioned about McClellan’s book at a Tuesday White House press conference.
McClellan saw many of his former administration colleagues but also was nowhere near them in the church.
After the service, he ran into Scott Sforza, formerly a top White House aide in charge of setting the backdrop for presidential events, outside the church. “Good to see you,” Sforza told McClellan.
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Ah, the good old days for housing
Conservative lawmakers are unhappy with much of the housing reform and rescue legislation that Congress likely will pass next week. They say it gives government too big a role in the housing market.
At a hearing Tuesday, Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., said the legislation amounted to “socialism.” He and other conservatives argue that the country should go back to a simpler time when Congress stayed out of the housing market.
On Thursday, a Commerce Department report on June housing starts suggested the country already is starting to relive those simpler days, at least in some ways. Housing starts are now on track to fall below the 1 million level this year for the first time since 1945, when the country was still fighting World War II.
“Even banks with solid balance sheets are reluctant to finance any project related to housing,” said Patrick Newport, an economist with the Global Insight Inc. forecasting firm.
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Mike and Mike and ground-rule doubles
We shall use the above video as a teaching opportunity about baseball, specifically about the most repeated, redundant, recurring mistake made about the game.
The video comes from today’s White House tee ball game, which, as usual was a joyful activity involving kids who are probably too young to realize how cool it is to play tee ball on the South Lawn.
But that’s not the point. The point is about adults, specifically the ones invited to do the play-by-play. On the video you will hear ESPN’s Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic discuss the most impressive hit of the day, a solid line drive by six-year-old Blake Money of North Port, Florida, who lined a one-hopper over the center field fence.
Mike and Mike call it a “ground-rule double.” It is not a ground-rule double. It is a double because the rules of baseball, specifically rule 6.09, say it’s always a double when “a fair ball, after touching the ground, bounds into the stands.”
That’s a book rule, applicable in all circumstances, as opposed to a ground rule enacted to deal with specific conditions at a specific ballpark.
And you can look it up.
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Your government at work
Looking for evidence of government in action (as opposed to government inaction)?
Here’s just a brief summary of things that happened as a result of laws signed this week by President Bush:
The U.S. Postal Service facility in Brockton, Mass., is now the Rocky Marciano Post Office, named for the late boxing great (shown above landing a solid right on Archie Moore).
The bankruptcy courthouse in Brooklyn is now the Conrad B. Duberstein United States Bankruptcy Courthouse, named for a late bankruptcy judge.
And Lock and Dam No. 5 of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System near Redfield, Ark., is no longer Lock and Dam No. 5. It is now the Col. Charles D. Maynard Lock and Dam,” named for the late Army Corps of Engineers official who helped design the project.
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You say tomato, I say recession
Members of the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday tried to get the witness on the hot seat — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke — to admit the country is in a recession.
Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, was among those refusing to accept the official definition of a recession, which is two consecutive quarters of shrinking economic output. So far, government statistics show the economy is still growing, though at a slow pace. “Our government tells us, ‘Well, there is no recession, so things must be all right,’ ” Paul said. Despite such assurances, “a lot of people are very angry,” he said.
Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif., pushed Bernanke: “Do you believe that we are in a recession?”
Bernanke replied, “I don’t know.” He said that calling a recession is a “technical” matter for economists. But he was willing to admit that no matter what the statistics show, “this is clearly a rough time.”
So he did use an R word to describe the economy.
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Texan Gottesman returns to White House
Former presidential personal aide Blake Gottesman, who left the White House in 2006 to pick up a Harvard MBA, now has that degree and is returning to the administration in a post further up the organizational chart.
The White House today announced that Gottesman, a native of Austin, is now an “assistant to the president” and “deputy chief of staff,” replacing longtime Bush aide Joe Hagin, who recently announced his upcoming departure. Hagin has had a broad portfolio - including overseeing major projects such as remodeling of the White House press area and the super-secret situation room. Hagin also has been instrumental in working out details of Bush foreign trips.
Says Press Secretary Dana Perino, Gotteman is “a trusted aide who understands the tremendous challenges overseeing White House operations.”
“He is well-respected in the White House,” says Perino, “and will do an outstanding job to help ensure the staff continues to effectively serve the American people throughout the remainder of the president’s administration.”
Gottesman, 28, has been working in Boston at Berkshire Partners LLC.
In his previous White House incarnation, he spent four years with the unofficial title of “body man,” a post that put him in close contact with Bush many hours a day, often seven days a week. He delivered presidential speeches to the podium, loaded Bush’s iPod and took care of a large portfolio of tasks aimed at making Bush’s days go smoothly.
The job put him in close contact with Bush at many crucial moments, including 9/11.
His departure in May 2006 raised an eyebrow or two because he was headed for graduate studies at Harvard Business School - a Bush alma mater - though he had done only one year of undergraduate work at Claremont McKenna College in California.
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Payne’s group had contract with Pakistan after 9/11
Stephen Payne, the Houston businessman whom the Sunday Times of London caught on video suggesting a donation to the Bush library could help land a meeting with key White House officials, was part of a group hired by the Pakistani government after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to improve relations with the U.S.
According to records available through the U.S. Department of Justice, Payne was part of a group, called Team Barakat, that Pakistan hired to provide strategic advice, interface with the U.S. government and members of Congress and try to strengthen relations between the two countries.
In materials promoting his business, Payne claims that he helped Pakistan negotiate a five-year, $3 billion aid package from the U.S., and that he “coordinated the removal of economic and military sanctions imposed on Pakistan under the Clinton administration.”
Payne worked for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the mid-’90s. He claimed to have a lofty title in her 2006 campaign, but Matt Matthews, the campaign manager that year, said Payne’s boast is not true.
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Payne’s past role with Hutchison remains murky
We learned a little more today about Stephen Payne, the Houston businessmancaught suggesting that a donation of $200,000 or so to the Bush library could help get a meeting with Vice President Dick Cheney or others in the Bush administration (an argument the White House and other Bush folks have vigorously denied).
Payne boasts in his business materials that he was the 2000 and 2006 vice chairman of U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s campaigns. But Matt Matthews, an Austin lobbyist who managed Hutchison’s campaign in 2006, said that wasn’t true.
“He was not the vice chairman of the campaign,” Matthews said. “I really can’t recall any role that he had.”
We do know that Payne worked in Hutchison’s Senate office from 1993 to 1996, with about a six-month break in 1994.
What also remains murky is Payne’s role in a 2005 opinion piece that Hutchison authored for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. It was headlined “Azerbaijan: opportunity for America,” and in it Hutchison writes that the country “holds great promise” as an oil source in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Payne brags in materials for his business that he “developed” a series of op-eds promoting the country, including one by Hutchison.
Hutchison’s current staff contends that it does not know the precise origins of the column she wrote promoting Azerbaijan, although her spokesman says she was heavily involved. Chris Paulitz, her communications director at the time, declined to comment today on Payne’s role in writing the piece.
Also, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has opened an investigation into what role, if any, Payne is playing in soliciting donations for the Bush library.
Finally, the Sunday Times of London posted a series of photos of Payne, including one with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
“Mr. Payne, as the media reports state, has been active for many years in Texas political circles and has contributed to a number of Texas political campaigns including Senator Cornyn’s,” said Cornyn spokesman Brian Walsh. “The senator has met him several times and probably has had his picture taken with him at various events over the years.”
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Chambliss, Conrad tout bipartisan energy remedy
In an attempt to bring the feuding parties together to wean the nation off foreign oil, Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad on Tuesday said they both want more offshore exploration and more conservation.
The conservative Chambliss, of Georgia, and the liberal-leaning Conrad of North Dakota spoke on CNN about their “gang of 10” senators, including five from each party, who have been meeting together to find a solution to the energy problem.
Conrad said he favors opening more of the Gulf of Mexico to oil exploration. Chambliss, who prefers more extensive offshore exploration, said he would go along with conservation efforts.
The two senators decided to work together on energy after working in partnership to pass a major farm bill earlier this year. “We know that there are good Republican ideas, there are good Democratic ideas,” Chambliss said. “We simply have got to merge those together.”
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... read the full comment by Personal Loans For People With Bad Credit Without Mortgage | Comment on 911 records cited breathing problem for John Linder Read 911 records cited breathing problem for John Linder
Wow…I say let’s do it in 1 year. Why wait? Does this make me the winner?
Don’t most of us know that Pickens just invested a bunch of money in wind power? And of course this is just Gore being Gore?? Sure wish Gore was this
... read the full comment by Larry | Comment on Barr cheers Gore's energy plan Read Barr cheers Gore's energy plan
Carly Fiorina, the woman who was solely responsible for the collapse and virtual destruction of one of the America’s industrial giants of technology: Hewlett Packard. And her reward for such utter incompetence? She got a severance package of more than $21
... read the full comment by Lew | Comment on Fiorina in McCain Cabinet? Read Fiorina in McCain Cabinet?
There is not enough lithium in the World to provide for even 10% of automobiles
TOYOTA PRIUS the car that James is driving ALREADY cut sales BECAUSE THERE IS NOT ENOUGH BATTERIES for older PRIUSES to replace!!!!
Dont buy into electric cars.
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