Keyword: michaeldobbs
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<p>The final day of any state legislative session, with lawmakers and lobbyists frantically trying to finish business before the clock strikes midnight, tends to produce bizarre political confrontations -- but few surpass what happened in the Assembly last September.</p>
<p>Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, was pushing a controversial bill that would bring non-utility power generating plants under the purview of the state Public Utilities Commission. But the chairman of the Assembly's utilities committee, Los Angeles Democrat Rod Wright, a political ally of utilities and generators, was demanding major amendments.</p>
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Electricity blackouts are rolling across northern California. Energy prices are at an all-time high. People are paying more than $3 a gallon for gas in Chicago. And you better be sitting down before you open your next heating bill. Gov. Gray Davis of California says that this all proves that deregulation doesn't work and state control of the economy is necessary. He doesn't have a clue. California is infested with people who believe that you can get something for nothing. These people fought tooth and nail to prevent the construction of new power plants. Power plants pollute the environment, ...
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SACRAMENTO -- On the anniversary of last year's rolling blackouts, consumer advocates, energy suppliers and state power officials disagreed on the causes of the energy shortage -- or whether a shortage even existed. A report released Thursday by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights called the energy shortage a hoax manufactured by power suppliers who wanted to drive up prices. The report came on the one-year anniversary of the first of six days of rolling blackouts ordered in California last year. An analysis of prices and supply and demand data led foundation president Harvey Rosenfield to conclude "there never ...
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<p>Santa Monica, California, Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- California's power-deregulation plan, which left the state's two largest utilities insolvent, will end up costing the state about $71 billion, or $2,100 for each resident, a consumer group said.</p>
<p>The costs include $11.3 billion from the state treasury to buy power on behalf of utilities owned by PG&E Corp., Edison International and Sempra Energy, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights said in a study released today. Those costs will rise to $19 billion when interest is added, the group said.</p>
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<p>SAN FRANCISCO -- Customers of Edison International's Southern California Edison, the state's No. 2 utility, may end up paying $1.2 billion that the company is supposed to contribute to its utility's recovery, consumer advocates said.</p>
<p>Under a recovery settlement for Southern California Edison reached in October, Edison shareholders would contribute $1.2 billion in dividends to the utility. A resolution being considered next week by the California Public Utilities Commission would require the utility's customers to repay that sum, the PUC's consumer-protection division said.</p>
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SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Gray Davis may have overplayed his hand by calling for harsher anti-terror laws, putting at risk voter approval on one of the few jobs Californians think he's good at, poll results suggested Wednesday. Most Californians -- 68 percent -- think Davis is doing a good job at preventing terrorism. But 51 percent are worried about the government trampling civil liberties, according to a poll by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. So Davis' recent call for tougher anti-terror laws -- and the fact that one of his wiretapping proposals has been deemed unconstitutional -- may ...
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<p>Top Davis administration officials are warning that Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s attempts to reorganize in federal bankruptcy court could result in widespread environmental damage to the Sierra Nevada.</p>
<p>Among the expected effects, administration officials and conservationists warn, are greatly increased logging and development, water pollution and loss of public access to thousands of acres of the state's most pristine upper watershed lands.</p>
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DANIEL WEINTRAUB THE SACRAMENTO BEE Californians should thank the rich January 18, 2002 Of all the facts and figures jammed into the pages of Gov. Gray Davis' proposed budget, one chart jumps out for the way it illustrates the predicament that Davis, the Legislature and all Californians face in the months and years ahead. On Page 103 of the governor's Budget Summary is a graph that shows how much of the state's personal income tax revenue comes from people reporting various amounts of income. The picture provides a stark reminder to insiders who have been following the budget story, and ...
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SPOILER ALERT: Do not read this if you prefer to believe that The Lord of the Rings has a happy ending. It doesn't. You have been warned. The Tragedy of Arwen and Aragorn 'Thus the years drew on to the War of the Ring; of which more is told elsewhere: how the means unforeseen was revealed whereby Sauron might be overthrown, and how hope beyond hope was fulfilled. And it came to pass that in the hour of defeat Aragorn came up from the sea and unfurled the standard of Arwen in the battle of the Fields of Pelennor, ...
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<p>Last week, the administration slapped tariffs of up to 30 percent on steel imports. The move has seriously tarnished President Bush's image as a free trader and must have been painful for Trade Representative Robert Zoellick to argue publicly. What is more, it will put a hefty burden on U.S. consumers, corporations and, eventually, taxpayers. Abroad, U.S. trading partners are fuming, and many have made clear, through statements and actions, that there will be consequences to Mr. Bush's decision. Although a trade war will only hurt consumers worldwide, Mr. Bush knew he risked international retaliation.</p>
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FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 53 (Republicans in roman; Democrats in italic; Independents underlined) H RES 365 2/3 YEA-AND-NAY 12-MAR-2002 6:58 PM QUESTION: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Agree BILL TITLE: Providing for the concurrence by the House with amendments in the amendment of the Senate to H.R. 1885. YEAS NAYS PRES NV REPUBLICAN 92 123 6 DEMOCRATIC 182 13 16 INDEPENDENT 1 1 TOTALS 275 137 22 --- YEAS 275 --- Abercrombie Hall (OH) Olver Ackerman Harman Osborne Allen Hart Ose Andrews Hastings (FL) Otter Armey Hastings (WA) Owens Baca Hill Oxley Baird Hinchey Pallone Baldacci...
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<p>House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt said he would support the bill with the border security provisions.</p>
<p>WASHINGTON — Despite calls to tighten the country's immigration laws following the September terror attacks, House leaders on Tuesday pushed through a bill that would allow some illegal immigrants to stay in the country while their residency paperwork is being processed.</p>
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Let's Put Steel in Our Fight,nbsp; Not Fight Over SteelBy CHARLES POWELL LONDON -- President Bush's decision to impose tariffs on steel imports is blatantly protectionist, as well as a setback for free trade and open markets. By increasing costs for American manufacturers, it will hurt the consumers who have, almost single-handedly, kept the U.S. economy -- and thus the world economy -- from serious recession since Sept. 11. It won't save inefficient steel producers in the U.S. either, and will only buy them more time to go on being inefficient. It's also not the right signal to give the...
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Russia: Agreement Reduces Steel Exports To U.S.By Robert Lyle Washington, 23 February 1999 (RFE/RL) -- In a decision that could have a large and long-term impact on its economy, Russia has agreed to reduce by almost 70 percent the amount of steel mill products it sells to the United States. U.S. Commerce Secretary William Daley announced the deal late Monday, based on three tentative agreements reached only hours earlier between his department and the Russian Ministry of Trade: Daley said the first agreement is to suspend the hot rolled steel dumping investigation in favor of a three-part deal -- a...
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In all countries, globalisation can be a cruel discipline. It destroys as it creates. It may produce #147;the greatest happiness of the greatest number#148;, but it is natural for communities to fight for their own survival, particularly in their home markets. We should have some sympathy for the American steelworkers, who are losing their jobs not for lack of skill but as a consequence of distant financial forces which have little to do with them. The United States steel tariffs look like an ordinary trade issue, disturbing no doubt, indeed causing serious international protest, but self-contained and relatively simple. In...
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BBC News | BUSINESS | Bush seeks steel probe low graphics version | feedback | help You are in: Business Front Page World UK UK Politics Business Market Data Economy Companies E-Commerce Your Money Business Basics Sci/Tech Health Education Entertainment Talking Point In Depth AudioVideo Tuesday, 5 June, 2001, 21:33 GMT 22:33 UK Bush seeks steel probe President Bush outlines his plans for steel By BBC News Online's North America Business Reporter, David Schepp US President George Bush has ordered an investigation into steel imports that could lead to the imposition of trade barriers. In what is being viewed as ...
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ABOUT a month ago in these pages, I had cause to complain about the headline appended to my review of George W Bush's first year: quot;My, How You've Grownquot;. I pointed out that, as I've always regarded the President as a colossus who bestrides the planet, he could hardly grow any more in my eyes. Well, if the Executive Editor (Headlines) is short of inspiration this weekend, feel free to use my suggestion: My, How You've Shrunk.Last Tuesday was the absolute low point of the Bush presidency. Even in the wobblier moments of September 11 and 12, he never said...
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STEUBENVILLE, Ohio, March 7 #151; Bernie Ravasio, local steelworkers' union boss and zealous Democrat, offers a smile somewhere between mischief and delight in contemplating the notion that a new political hybrid may have been born this week, here in the bitterly depressed Ohio Valley. quot;Bush Democrats? I'd say there's a good probability of that around here now,quot; Mr. Ravasio said in open pleasure that President Bush chose last week to resort to tariffs to protect what is left of Big Steel in its struggle against foreign competition.quot;The man helped us, he stepped up to the plate,quot; said Mr. Ravasio, who...
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Even though “Big Steel” no longer rules the industrial roost, the industry’s clout in some key congressional districts means that President Bush’s decision on steel tariffs can play an outsized role in the midterm elections. Beset by a series of bankruptcies, the diminished industry had wanted the administration to impose tariffs as high as 40 percent on imported steel. Bush announced Tuesday that he will impose tariffs of up to 30 percent on most imported steel. The move puts the president at odds with many of his steel-producing allies in the war on terrorism, and threatens to trigger a new ...
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I just heard this on MSNBC at 2:00PM Mountan time. I've been on hold with the Orange County Red Cross for 1/2 hour and they just disconnected me. **FIND STORY**
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