SB 350 — proposes 50-percent fuel cuts for Californians!

Take notice if you drive to and from work each day in California. SB 350, known as the California Gas Restriction Act of 2015, (de León) requires a 50% reduction in petroleum, 50% increase in renewables for electricity generation, and a 50% increase in the energy efficiency of buildings by 2030. SB 350 will also grant the Air Resources Board significant authority to adopt regulations that will result in a 50% reduction in petroleum use in cars and trucks by 2030.
In short, unelected regulators will be able to limit how far you can drive, ration gas, increase costs, and penalize drivers for using too much gas.


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NEWS ALERT: Obama set to announce steeper emissions cuts from US power plants

President Barack Obama will impose steeper cuts on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants across the country than previously expected, senior administration officials said Sunday, in what the president called the most significant step the U.S. has ever taken to fight global warming.
The Obama administration is expected to finalize the rule at a White House event on Monday, a year after proposing unprecedented carbon dioxide limits. Obama, in a video posted on Facebook, said the limits were backed up by decades of data and facts showing that without tough action, the world will face more extreme weather and escalating health problems like asthma.


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Teamsters spend big on politics while preparing to cut pensions

The Teamsters have begun informing retirees and current workers that their pension benefits may soon be cut, the final ironic twist to a lobbying campaign that saw the union spend its own members' dollars to win the right to shrink their retirement pay.
The somber notifications began going out from the Teamsters Central States Health and Welfare Pension Fund this spring, a decision that could ultimately affect 410,000 current pension participants and a total of more than 10 million U.S. workers nationwide. Cuts could begin as early as next year.


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Healthcare cuts canceled after Dem complaints

The Obama administration announced Monday that planned cuts to Medicare Advantage would not go through as anticipated amid election-year opposition from congressional Democrats.  The cuts would have reduced benefits that seniors receive from health plans in the program, which is intended as an alternative to Medicare.  Under cuts planned by the administration, insurers offering the plans were to see their federal payments reduced by 1.9 percent, which likely would have necessitated cuts for customers.

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On government spending, GOP faces a reckoning

(Hat tip: John H. Detweiler) It is not surprising that House Republicans have chosen to embrace sequestration’s arbitrary reductions and promote even harsher cuts to government health and education services. Reducing government’s size has been the central goal of the conservative coalition in Congress for at least a decade. ✧ But the so-called sequester may well be the beginning of the end of the budget wars that have long gripped Washington, because Republicans may soon face an electoral reckoning they cannot overcome. The rising coalition of African Americans, Latinos, Asians, women and young people that helped reelect President Obama does not share the anti-government sentiment of the conservative base. Time is running out for those on the right who are seeking to slash the size of government. Read more at the Washington Post...

Related: Chicks on the Right: This Is Conservatism's Biggest Challenge Read More......

Oregon Legislature set to erase 190 state government positions

SALEM -- About 190 positions, mostly mid-level managers, would be eliminated throughout Oregon state government under a proposal scheduled for action this week by the Legislature.   ✧ Most of the cuts would come in the health and human service agencies and to prisons and state police. Although the state often "reduces" its ranks by not filling vacancies, this round could involve dozens of layoffs. It's all part of an effort to increase the ratio of line workers to managers in state government, which has been criticized as too top-heavy, and to shrink the size of the state workforce.  Read more at Oregon Live... Read More......

The GOP Path to Prosperity

Our budget cuts $6.2 trillion in spending from the president's budget over the next 10 years and puts the nation on track to pay off our national debt.

In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), writes, "Congress is currently embroiled in a funding fight over how much to spend on less than one-fifth of the federal budget for the next six months. Whether we cut $33 billion or $61 billion—that is, whether we shave 2% or 4% off of this year's deficit—is important. It's a sign that the election did in fact change the debate in Washington from how much we should spend to how much spending we should cut." Read more at WSJ... Read More......

Deaf students' fortunes a contrast to blind school

STATESMAN JOURNAL/OPINION, 9/19/2010 - "While on the one hand I am thrilled with what "Extreme Makeover" has been able to do for the students of the Oregon School for the Deaf, I cannot help but contrast their fortune to the misfortune of the students at the Oregon School for the Blind. ∴ As Oregonians, we should feel ashamed by what has been done to current and future blind children with the dismantling of the blind school. — Pam Coxen, Salem Read More......