the big story (late edition)

The Coming Energy Burden

Republicans and Democrats, Oil Companies and Environmentalist All for Gas Tax Increase

WASHINGTON - Leading voices in the Senate are considering a new tax on gasoline, as part of an effort to win Republican and oil industry support for the energy and climate bill now idling in Congress.

The tax, which according to early estimates would be in the range of 15 cents a gallon, was conceived with the input of several oil companies, including Shell, BP and Conoco Phillips, and is being championed by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

It is shaping up as a critical but controversial piece in the efforts by Graham, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) to write a climate bill that moderate Republicans could support. Along those lines, the bill will also include an expansion of offshore oil drilling and major new incentives for nuclear power plant construction.

Environmental groups have long advocated gasoline taxes to reduce fossil fuel consumption; the oil industry has spent heavily in recent years to fight taxes that the industry says would harm consumers.

In this case, though, several oil companies are floating the tax plan because it figures to cost them far less than other climate proposals, including a climate bill the House passed last year.

Read more...

*Oil May Rise as US Deliberately Supplies Drop

*Obama’s Green Economy: Made in China

*Alex Jones:Running on empty




earlier:

Destruction of Videotapes Documented in CIA E-mail

Email shows CIA head signed off on destroying tapes showing torturing of detainees

WASHINGTON – Internal CIA e-mails show the former agency head, Porter Goss, agreed with a top aide's 2005 decision to destroy videotapes of the harsh interrogation of a terror suspect, a controversial action that remains the focus of an FBI investigation.

The documents show that, despite Goss' apparent agreement, CIA officials almost immediately began worrying they'd done something wrong. The e-mails also indicate that President George W. Bush's White House counsel, Harriet Miers, hadn't been informed of the tapes' destruction and was "livid" to find out later.

The videos showed CIA interrogators using waterboarding, a simulated drowning technique that's widely considered torture, on terrorism suspect Abu Zubaydah. The videos showed that interrogators did not follow the waterboarding procedures authorized by the Bush administration, the documents indicate.

Jose Rodriguez, the agency's top clandestine officer, worried the 92 tapes would be "devastating" to the CIA if they ever surfaced, the documents show. He approved the destruction of the tapes.

Rodriguez told Goss and others he "felt it was extremely important to destroy the tapes and that if there was any heat, he would take it," according to a November 2005 e-mail.

Goss, according to the e-mail, laughed and said he'd be the one to take the heat.

The e-mail then states: "PG, however, agreed with the decision."

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CoOlDiGgY news (late edition)

The coming inflation wave

(Fortune) -- Whether the American economy is in an inflationary or deflationary environment sounds like it should be a fundamental and settled question. But due to the unprecedented financial crisis, the answer is actually subject to intense debate among economists.

Making economic projections is far from a scientific process, so it's not surprising to find valid arguments on both sides of the divide. The economists who are right will help investors drive returns over the next three years.

Inflation can be a positive or negative, depending on the level and duration of it in our economy. The main negative associated with inflation is a drop in purchasing power of money, and therefore, consumers. In extreme cases, consumers may actually start hoarding if they fear continued and aggressive price increases. The positive side of inflation is to decrease the real value of debt, or essentially provide debt relief.

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*Iran Nuclear Scientist Defects to U.S. In CIA 'Intelligence Coup'

*Obama wants U.N. sanctions on Iran in weeks

*Pharma Planning to Dump Experimental and Controversial Vaccines in Public Schools


*Health Reform Law to Spawn More Tax Men?

*Subway riders question NYPD’s ‘ridiculous’ show of force

*Iraq election challenged over 'banned' candidates

*WikiLeaks to release video of civilians, journalists being murdered in air strike

*Children WILL face 'naked' airport scans

*Report: California’s foreign-born population has peaked

*VIDEO: Ed Asner for 9/11 Truth



earlier:

Recession Leading to the End of Speeding 'Cushion'

The recession may be claiming a new victim: the 5-10-mph "cushion" police and state troopers across the USA have routinely given motorists exceeding the speed limit.

As cities and states scramble to fill budget gaps with revenue from traffic citations, "not only are the (speeding) tolerances much lower, but the frequency of a warning instead of a ticket is way down," says James Baxter, president of the National Motorists Association, a Wisconsin-based drivers' rights group that helps its members fight speeding tickets.

"Most people, if they're stopped now, are getting a ticket even if it's only a minor violation of a few miles per hour," Baxter says. He cites anecdotal evidence of drivers being pulled over at slower speeds.

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*4 dead in D.C. shooting


*US oil company donated millions to climate sceptic groups

*Two-Thirds of Boys in Afghan Jails Are Brutalized

*Time Magazine: E.U. Members Sell Weapons with Torture Potential

*Elizabeth Warren: Banks Fought For the Very Thing They Are Now Fighting Against

*Catholic League Defends Pope, Blames Homosexuality for Molestations

*Is America ‘Yearning for Fascism’?

*Double suicide bombings kill 12 in Russia's Dagestan

*Canada to pull out of Afghanistan in 2011

CoOlDiGgY news (late edition)

The Cost Of Defying Healthcare: $2,250 a Month And the IRS

The cost of defying Obamacare by withholding compliance on your income tax return will not be for the faint hearted – families will be forced to cough up $2,250 a month while being closely scrutinized by an army of new IRS agents with fresh “combat training,” armed to the teeth with 12 gauge pump action shotguns.

“The Internal Revenue Service will function as the government’s chief enforcer for health care reform, should President Obama sign the bill into law as expected, monitoring both businesses and individuals to certify whether they have the insurance coverage the government requires,” writes Matt Cover of CNS News.

The penalties associated with defying mandatory health care are staggering. From 2014 onwards, for every month that individuals or businesses with over 50 employees fail to carry a minimum level of health insurance, they will be hit with fines of up to $750 a month for individuals and $750 per uncovered employee for businesses. For a family of four, this could amount to a whopping $27,000 a year ($2250 a month for each household).

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*Democracy No Longer Free: First Corporate Campaign Ads Appear After Supreme Court's Citizens United Decision

*Netanyahu is Loud and Clear: We Will Continue To Build

*Lawmakers Eyeing National ID Card

*US Halts Poppy Eradication in Afghan Areas

*US may try Cindy Sheehan for anti-war campaign

*America's Most Underwater Housing Markets

*VIDEO: Michael Moore: Healthcare Bill “A Victory for Capitalism”


*Judge won't force Miss. district to hold prom

earlier:

European countries involved in business of torture

Despite laws prohibiting their trade, tools used for torture are being exported by some European countries to regimes around the world, with little regard for human rights, Amnesty International claims.

EU law expressly prohibits the export or import of goods that have no practical use other than for the purpose of capital punishment or torture, but the lack of enforcement means countries like Germany, the Czech Republic, Spain and Italy are still selling torture instruments abroad – to countries where there is documented proof of the use of such equipment for torture.

“Pepper sprays can be used by police officers in the situations of extreme violence, but they can also be misused, and they widely are in many places for torture and ill treatment,” says Mike Lewis from Amnesty International. “But there is also another category of equipment that we see being marketed by European firms, and in some cases imported into the European Union. Devices that have no other use but for torture and ill treatment – devices like electric shock belts.”

The organization is talking about devices like fixed wall restraints, metal thumb cuffs, spiked batons and sleeves and cuffs that can deliver electric shocks to about 50,000 volts.

Amnesty also says that in the last four years, the Czech Republic issued export permits for foot and hand shackles, electric shock tools and chemical sprays to countries where police and security forces are known to use them for torture. It named the counties such as Senegal, Cameroon, Pakistan, Moldova and Georgia.

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*Supreme Court Battle Quietly Brews Over Possible Future Nominations

*Illegal US immigrant detention practices questioned. Part 1

*Airport device follows fliers' phones

*Unclean Water Claims More Lives Than War

*Norman Finkelstein Responds to Clinton, Netanyahu AIPAC Comments


*Walls come down on age for over-55 communities

*Jane Hamsher: The Sober Reality of Health Care Reform

*France tells Greece: Broke? Buy a few warships