WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday passed a Democratic rewrite of U.S. energy policy that strips $16 billion in tax incentives away from Big Oil and puts it toward renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. The 786-page bill, passed in a rare Saturday vote, was a top priority for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and is an amalgam of bills assembled by about a dozen of the chamber’s committees in recent months. Republicans called it a ‘no-energy bill’ because it lacks new drilling incentives, and they derided the new emphasis on renewables as ‘green pork.’ The White House threatened to veto the bill on concerns that it could boost energy prices. House Republican leader John Boehner said the bill ‘cuts the lifeblood of our economy off at the knees by increasing taxes to pay for green pork projects,’ referring to billions of dollars of ‘energy conservation bonds’ that would finance renewable projects. The bill, the New Direction for Energy Independence, National Security, and Consumer Protection Act and the related tax title would spur a massive redistribution of federal incentives to wind, solar, geothermal and away from producing energy from oil, natural gas […]
The rules effectively exclude the Dali Lama from any role in recognising a living Buddha. Tibet’s living Buddhas have been banned from reincarnation without permission from China’s atheist leaders. The ban is included in new rules intended to assert Beijing’s authority over Tibet’s restive and deeply Buddhist people. ‘The so-called reincarnated living Buddha without government approval is illegal and invalid,’ according to the order, which comes into effect on September 1. The 14-part regulation issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs is aimed at limiting the influence of Tibet’s exiled god-king, the Dalai Lama, and at preventing the re-incarnation of the 72-year-old monk without approval from Beijing. It is the latest in a series of measures by the Communist authorities to tighten their grip over Tibet. Reincarnate lamas, known as tulkus, often lead religious communities and oversee the training of monks, giving them enormous influence over religious life in the Himalayan region. Anyone outside China is banned from taking part in the process of seeking and recognising a living Buddha, effectively excluding the Dalai Lama, who traditionally can play an important role in giving recognition to candidate reincarnates. For the first time China has […]
KOBUCHIZAWAKA, Japan — It seems an unlikely venue for a potential revolution in public transport – a sleepy town in the lush, pine-carpeted mountains of rural Japan. But this is where travellers began paying yesterday to board the world’s first hybrid train service. The brightly coloured Hybrid Train E200 pulled quietly out of the station carrying about 100 passengers. It was waved off by cheering schoolchildren, a crew of traditional Taiko drummers and several ecstatic trainspotters. Mikihiro Kobayashi, a 27-year-old engineer who took the day off work to see the E200’s debut, said: ‘I love trains and wanted to check this one out for myself. I hope Japan exports it because the environment is becoming a big issue around the world.’ Looking like a slightly sleeker version of the mechanical warhorses that ferry millions of Japanese to work and school every day, the train might pass unnoticed by the keenest trainspotter. But inside it is quieter than a conventional train, thanks to a battery-powered motor that powers it at low speeds. Screens in each carriage give all the detail any passenger could want. Designed and run by the transport giantJapan Rail (JR), each 180-million-yen train is […]
After years of refusing to drink anything that didn’t come from a plastic bottle, some Americans have begun to think again about their wasteful approach to water. As their campaign hots up. David Usborne reports on a refreshing trend July is surrendering to August, and a blazing afternoon sun has drawn the lazy crowds into Union Square in Manhattan. Loving couples are entangled on its dusty lawns, mothers perambulate babies, young men escape into their iPods while tatty old dames lounge on benches clasping paper fans. In this heat, one prop binds the human diversity together, however: the plastic bottle of water. Never mind that dotted conspicuously at decent intervals all around the shady park are public water fountains. On this sultry afternoon, they are lonely and neglected, except for one where a nanny and infant are playing at putting fingers over the spout to see how far they can make it spray. A newly purchased bottle of spring water rests in a cup holder of the pram, in case either one of them should actually need to slake their thirst. Even a decade ago, there would have been queues for the fountains. No longer. They have […]
Survey shows just 3% of Americans approve of how Congress is handling the war in Iraq; 24% say the same for the President A majority of American adults (54%) lack confidence in President Bush’s ability as Commander in Chief of the U.S. military, a new UPI/Zogby Interactive poll shows. A majority (60%) said they do not trust the president’s judgment when it comes to the war, while 38% say they have faith in his military decisions. Just 24% give the president favorable ratings of his performance in handling the war in Iraq, but confidence in Congress is significantly worse – only 3% give Congress positive marks for how it has handled the war. This lack of confidence in Congress cuts across all ideologies. Democrats – some of whom had hoped the now Democrat-led Congress would bring an end to the war in Iraq – expressed overwhelming displeasure with how Congress has handled the war, with 94% giving Congress a negative rating in its handling specifically of that issue. The online survey was conducted July 13-16, 2007, and included 7,590 respondents. It carries a margin of error of +/- 1.1 percentage points. To best show support for […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
