Here is a review of energy developments in 2008:

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/21898/

Follow the hot links.

I'm waiting for someone to ask Bush why he waited to invite John Howard to stay at the Blair House until after he told the Obamas it was not available. And why is he here anyway? Perhaps Tony Blair, Silvio Berlusconi and Jose Maria Aznar were invited too for some kind of legacy party. Babylonian theme perhaps?

"Yes Pecan"

That's really clever, but it just sucks that I hate pecans :(

Argh, Ben and Jerry's, it's not pronounced Pee-CAN, but Peh-cahn. ARGH.

(who wants to eat a "pee-can" anyway? Yuck. ARGH.)

Danp, @17:49,

1)Because he's an immature prick. He refused Obama out of childish spite and *then* looked around on how to bolster his claim that the Blair House was "full up".
2) Howard's here to receive the Medal of Freedom (or whatever it is that Bush dispenses to the lames but loyal -- ducks). His stay at the Blair House will be limited to *one night*.
3) "No" to Berlusconi and Aznar (I don't think Bush likes Aznar) but "yes" to Blair. Howard, Blair and Uribe, all here for the same ceremony. The other two, however, made "other arrangements" vis accomodations.So, it'll be just Howard, rattling around th Blair House's 119 rooms (and I forget how many bathrooms)

Is it really that 'odd' Reid is humping for Stevens? ...its not like Reid's as clean as the morning snow. Reid, himself has been "behind the curve" on his ethics:
http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/21237

Reid must back-peddle on Stevens, otherwise, he risks GOP cries of hypocrisy.

Blair House is maybe 150 feet from the White House. The Obamas were always in danger of getting Bush cooties if they stayed there. Much better that they not come within close range of each other until the inauguration, when the Obamas can, because it'll be cold, keep their gloves on. Might look weird during the traditional morning coffee klatsch at the WH, but even a 1 percent chance of catching Bush fever is too great a risk to take.

emjaybee, @17:52,

Where you at? 'cause down heah, we have us some p'CAN trees in ah backyard. So, I'm guessin', we'd be eatin' p'CANs, if them squirrels would have leave us any.

I would not create a set of awards just to make sure one person gets recognized, however deserved. But if you think there should be Koufax Awards, get your magazine to sponsor them.

So, it'll be just Howard -exlibra

It must be lonely being a non-American Republican.

but even a 1 percent chance of catching Bush fever is too great a risk to take. - shortstop

Then I hope he also stays away from he must not be named.

It's more newsworthy when Harry Reid does something that ISN'T really odd. He's pathetic. Can anybody name anything he's done to show that he deserves his spot?

The AP says Obama is going to tackle the out of control spending on Social Security. Assuming the AP isn't lying, (a big ASSumption) then just where did Obama get a mandate to be f23king around with Social Security?

Thanks for the link, Steve.

"Freedom is something you fight for. It's precious. It's not to be taken for granted."
-- Peter Freyne

The annual budget deficit Obama will inherit from Bush will be $1.2 trillion.

All part of the plan. Recall that back in the 80's David Stockman said out loud that the deficit was being deliberately run up in order to make it politically feasible to cut popular social programs.

The mission was accomplished.

Lilly Ledbetter, a supervisor at a Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company plant in Alabama. She received much smaller raises over several years than men in comparable positions.

If Lilly had been male, would we be having this discussion or just shaking our heads in sympathy telling them it's not illegal for your employer to take you as a chump.

Why is this not just Goodyear driving a hard bargain?

The 180 day argument is just plain stupid... and Goodyear wins no nominations for sainthood, but that doesn't mean this lawsuit has merit.

Are we ready to legislate private companies' compensation packages? Kinda scary, guys.

After his Inaugural Address on Jan. 20 I would love to hear Obama announce that,

"In order to begin restoration of our Democracy I am hereby placing under arrest Ex-president George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice, Albero Gonzales, George Tenet, for war crimes. I am also placing AG Mukasey, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid for complicity in these activities. (the sounds of handcuffs being attached to all present echoes in the background). There will be many more arrest to follow and that information will be made public as it occurs." The flashes of the cameras are blinding as many are being led away.

What a beautiful picture. If only...

Feinstein, Harman, Rockefellar...accountability then consequences for your complicity. Does the aged Feinstein's brain have to fall out of her nose before voters will see she's past any senatorial value. She already has to be lead in and out of the senate and told where she is...geez...chair of inteligence???What a joke

"Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) really shouldn't challenge anyone to check his facts."

It's a common theme for conservatives to claim that federal revenues went way up as a result of Reagan's tax cuts. But, as Corley correctly points out, total REAL revenues went up about 15%... However, at the same time, U.S. population went up about 12% and productivity went up about 15% - 18%, which is pretty normal for an eight year span.

So we would have expected real revenues to grow about 25-30% as a result of growing population and productivity alone.

Reagan's tax cuts REDUCED real per capita expected revenues... just as intelligent people projected.

Bush still hasn't learned that being insulting and aggravating is not "funny". He's such an embarrassment, he joins the ranks of O.J.Simpson.

Proving once again what an undignified, spoiled brat asshole he's always been...he stupidly thought no one would know it wasn't booked. Watched 9/11, watched Katrina, watched economic collapse he epitomizes the republican party. What an asshole.

President-elect Obama to give major speech on the economy Thursday, JAN. 8 at 11 a.m. ET.

Obama/Biden have launched USAService.org, to organize inititally for a day of community service, January 19th, 2009 prior to the inauguration.

Beyond the Thunderdome: Obama's new ride. Not just nuclear blast-proof, it can easily withstand a full onslaught of hastily hurled heels.

13 days...

If Lilly had been male, would we be having this discussion or just shaking our heads in sympathy telling them it's not illegal for your employer to take you as a chump.

That's the point -- if Ledbetter had been (a white) male, we wouldn't be having this conversation at all, because s/he would have been getting the same raises as the other white men in the department.

Ledbetter was able to prove that it wasn't just her -- there was systematic wage discrimination against women at Goodyear. But because she didn't automatically assume that her employer would discriminate against her and file her complaint within six months of accepting the job with the company she would stay with for 20 years, she got hosed.

I have to admit it does fascinate me that the current Supreme Court seems to think that the problem with our current labor climate is that the relationship between employers and employees aren't adversarial enough, and that employees must automatically assume that their employers are screwing them if they want to have any hope at all of being recompensed when they finally come up with the evidence.

Be fair on the budget deficit. Though Bush could have stopped the bailouts, it was Boxer and Pelosi and the other hysterics who were conned by Goldman Saks.

Oh, and there's a very good reason why Ledbetter didn't negotiate to get a higher salary: women who do so are actively penalized for doing so:

Male evaluators penalized female candidates more than male candidates for initiating negotiations; female evaluators penalized all candidates for initiating negotiations.

It's not quite as simple as Ledbetter not asking for a raise.

Has Harry Reid ever done anything right? No senator, much less the Majority Leader, should comment on an upcoming criminal sentencing. Reid has to go.

Age 60 is WAY too young to die.

It's when many of us just start to learn what living really means.

Can you imagine never missing a deadline for 13 years? That's a love I'm not sure I know about.

"The coal ash pond that ruptured and sent a billion gallons of toxic sludge across 300 acres of East Tennessee"

But will that get those crackers to stop listening to Rush Limbaugh and vote for a democrat?

Reid shilling for Stevens is the perfect metaphor for the Senate. The old boys all sticking together no matter what they've done. We need to get rid of our House of Lords. A parlimentary system, which can vote no confidence in the government would be a big change for the better.

For those of you concerned about global warming, sea ice cover now equals what it was 29 years ago.

http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/

It remains to be seen whether sea ice cover will exceed the record over these last decades. Predictions go both ways.

Obama/Biden have launched USAService.org, to organize initially for a day of community service, January 19th, 2009 prior to the inauguration. -- Miss Mudd, @19:28

Monday??? They designate a *Monday* as the community service day? Have the two of them flipped? Lost their cotton-pickin' minds?

On Mondays, those of us who're gainfully employed shuffle off to the salt mines. Those of us who aren't (gainfully employed), tenderly nurse screaming hangovers. Where's room for a community service on a Monday?

Since I'm not gainfully employed, my community service days (5; washing "dishes", aka instruments at the Free Clinic) are all Fridays plus one Saturday a month. I absolutely refuse to switch to Mondays, Obama/Biden charm notwithstanding.

It remains to be seen whether sea ice cover will exceed the record over these last decades. Predictions go both ways.

Mind-bogglingly stupid, as usual.

I wonder: what is happening to the rest of the snow pack and glaciers in the world and how do those entities differ from sea ice? And what is the impact on food production from this thing that is happening to them?

For extra credit: name at least a gazillion other demonstrable effects of climate change and weight them against one winter season of sea ice after a summer with the second least sea ice ever recorded.

Monday??? They designate a *Monday* as the community service day? Have the two of them flipped? Lost their cotton-pickin' minds?

Monday, Jan. 19, is MLK Day, my dear, and lots of people not living in that COMMUNIST PARADISE OF YOURS have it off.

Oh, and what trex said.

What happened to the Koufax Awards anyway?

But if the sea ice in the summertime was the same as it was 29 years ago, rather than the Northwest Passage being open for the first time in recorded history, we wouldn't be having this conversation, would we?

Salon has a pretty interesting article describing some of the damage done by the Bush administration. You can find it here

It also included a link to the "mid session review from the OMB" Here's the White House link

Here's a gem that pretty much describes how incompetent the Bush Administration really is:

The President’s major tax relief proposals enacted during his terms in office reflect a commitment to rewarding hard work and prudent risk-taking. These provisions have allowed Americans to keep more of their hard-earned money and encouraged businesses to make additional investments. Because of the President’s efforts, workers and businesses saved $1.3 trillion in taxes by the end of calendar year 2007.

and here's another one:

The President’s tax relief has been good for individual Americans and good for the economy.

The President’s fiscal policy approach has focused on pro-growth economic policies and fiscal restraint. As noted above, the President’s tax relief policies have promoted economic growth and rewarded hard-working Americans. The President’s policies of spending restraint have held down the growth in spending in the face of significant fiscal pressures on the Government over the past seven and a half years as a result of the September 11th terrorist attacks, the ensuing Global War on Terror, Hurricane Katrina, and increasing entitlement costs. These challenges came on top of significant underfunding in national security, an inherited recession, and an economy built on a high-tech bubble.

There is more, but the irony is too rich.

We're all waiting for the Republican / Conservative refrain and answer to any of their colossal mistakes: "Nobody could have predicted this" or "Nobody could have seen this coming"

You get the idea.

Harry "The Equivocator" Reid has an insatiable need to seek out confrontations from which he will inevitably back down. No wonder the Dem's agenda never gets anywhere in the Senate.

As long as we're on the subject of just how wrong Marler is about pretty much everything and this is an open thread, this report today from Agence France-Presse handily refutes a half a dozen of his propaganda items from just four days ago regarding the attack on Gaza:

Marler: "There have been about 450 Gazans killed, at least 80% of them Palestinian fighters and the rest near the arms depots."

False. Agence Presse-France: "Almost a third of the 689 Palestinians killed in Israel's Gaza offensive are children."

A third of the dead alone are children, which doesn't account for the adult civilians killed. Four days later there are over 700 dead and 3000 wounded and the percentage of civilian casualties is steadily rising - particularly as the wounded die when ambulances are unable to reach them due to heavy fire.

So much for trying to minimize the atrocity by falsifying the figures once again.

Marler: "To kill 450 out of 1.5 million, most of them fighters and the rest near (and frequently in) the weapons depots"

False. Agence Presse-France: "On Tuesday, at least 43 people sheltering at a school in northern Gaza were killed." It's not just weapons depots that are being targeted. People in official shelters, homes, and apartment buildings are being killed. You asshole.

Marler: If you have watched any of the videos posted by the IDF you are aware that Gaza has many open spaces. When the Israelis warn the Gazans to leave the target areas, there are places for them to go

False. Agence Presse-France: "Civilians have nowhere to flee from the conflict. The borders are sealed off under an 18-month-old Israeli blockade and buildings designated by the United Nations as safe shelters have been hit in the artillery shelling."

"Humanitarian agencies fear civilian casualties will rise further as the battle moves into the most densely populated areas of Gaza, one of the most crowded places on Earth."

Marler: "Israel targets a few small areas at a time. Warning civilians to leave the target areas is not a "genocide" or a "holocaust"

False. According to all news coverage in Gaza targets are being hit indiscriminately, without warning, in the midst of a widespread aerial campaign.

Just a reminder what a soulless lying scumbag you are.

Budget SURPLUS inherited - Clinton to Bush - 2001: $150-billion

Budget DEFICIT inherited - Bush to Obama - 2009: $1.2-trillion

The plural of index is indicies

1300 unregulated toxic coal ash dumps?

'Clean coal' is going to be a tough sell...

Want to buy some CDOs, too?

The plural of index is indicies

Close. It's indices.

And the plural of the Bush Administration is indecencies.

Snayup!

BURRIS THE PERSISTENT

After trying unsuccessfully to sell the President-elect's Senate seat, accused Illinois Governor Rod Blogojevich gave it away by appointing an unblemished journeyman politician, Roland Burris. This was less a "clean" appointment action than an effort to embarrass those opposing the Governor. He succeeded.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other Democratic leaders said emphatically that any appointee of the Illinois Governor would be so tainted that the Senate would never accept him.
They underestimated Roland Burris. Mr. Burris showed up, was turned away, but then hung around claiming that he was the junior Senator from Illinois, holding press conferences, and picking up supporters and endorsements.

He wore Mr. Reid down. The grounds for rejection were really quite shaky. The Illinois governor was still in office, performing his other governing duties. Backtracking daily, Harry Reid was finally reduced to reliance on the fact that the Illinois Secretary of State had not signed the appointment certificate. A slender reed indeed.

Roland Burris will be accepted as Illinois Senator. Blago will smile. And Mr. Burris can add another "Burris the Trail Blazer" to his worshipful mausoleum.

homer www.altara.blogspot.com

FDL on Harry:
http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/01/08/just-wild-about-harry/

Mnemosyne,

Now the penalization part might have someth to it, but that aspect of the complaint has gotten VERY little airtime. Maybe because the liberal media wants to undermine women?

Thanks for the background.