US Politics Mega-thread - Page 875

On February 14 2014 02:32 Wolfstan wrote:
Shouldn't that be between the company and workers? Tax incentives should have a goal in mind such as pulling value producing plants into your region and securing good paying jobs. If they are represented by a strong union are the jobs TOO good paying? I think GOP is more afraid of the union dues going to the Dems.

On February 14 2014 02:51 Gorsameth wrote:

The GOP represents big businesses (less taxes/less rules) and since big businesses hate unions (since they take power from the businesses and gives some to the workers) its natural that the GOP hates unions.

On February 14 2014 02:55 farvacola wrote:
The important detail here is that Volkswagen is foreign.

On February 14 2014 02:58 TheFish7 wrote:
That's why I asked; it just doesn't make sense. A foreign company (a good company from a country that is our ally) wants to create 1500 jobs in the US, when in all likelihood they could do it cheaper somewhere else. And Republicans want to sabotage this?

On February 14 2014 03:01 wei2coolman wrote:
Okay, seriously, How is this Comcast buyout of TWC actually going through? How is there not an antitrust suit yet?

PRIMM, Nev. (AP) — A windy stretch of the Mojave Desert once roamed by tortoises and coyotes has been transformed by hundreds of thousands of mirrors into the largest solar power plant of its type in the world, a milestone for a growing industry that is testing the balance between wilderness conservation and the pursuit of green energy across the West.

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, sprawling across roughly 5 square miles of federal land near the California-Nevada border, formally opens Thursday after years of regulatory and legal tangles ranging from relocating protected tortoises to assessing the impact on Mojave milkweed and other plants.

The $2.2 billion complex of three generating units, owned by NRG Energy Inc., Google Inc. and BrightSource Energy, can produce nearly 400 megawatts — enough power for 140,000 homes. It began making electricity last year.

Larger projects are on the way, but for now, Ivanpah (EYE'-ven-pah) is being described as a marker for the United States' emerging solar industry. While solar power accounts for less than 1 percent of the nation's power output, thousands of projects from large, utility-scale plants to small production sites are under construction or being planned, particularly across the sun-drenched Southwest.

The opening of Ivanpah is "a dawn of a new era in power generation in the United States," said Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group. "We are going to be a global leader in solar generation."

The plant's dedication comes as government continues to push for development of greener, cleaner power.

Kansas Bill Would Allow Companies To Refuse Service To Gay Couples
A bill passed Wednesday by the Kansas House would allow businesses and government employees to deny services to same-sex couples on the basis of their religious beliefs, the Kansas City Star reported.

It now heads to the state Senate; it has already earned the tacit endorsement of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.

“Religious liberty issues are ones that I’ve been around for a long time. I’ve fought for religious liberty in many countries and with many different faiths,” Brownback told the Wichita Eagle last week, adding that he had not reviewed the bill's specific language yet. “It’s basic in the Bill of Rights.”

The bill says individuals and religious entities would not be required, if they had "sincerely held religious beliefs," to:

Provide any services, accommodations, advantages, facilities, goods, or privileges; provide counseling, adoption, foster care and other social services; or provide employment or employment benefits, related to, or related to the celebration of, any marriage, domestic partnership, civil union or similar arrangement
“Discrimination is horrible. It’s hurtful. It has no place in civilized society, and that’s precisely why we’re moving this bill,” Rep. Charles Macheers, one of the Republicans who voted for the bill, said on the House floor. “There have been times throughout history where people have been persecuted for their religious beliefs because they were unpopular. This bill provides a shield of protection for that.”

On February 14 2014 03:10 Adreme wrote:


Based on the article I read it seems as though they are taking the argument that since they operated in differing territories mostly that it would not actually drastically increase there regional market share in a region by region basis and thus would not actually be a monopoly.

On February 14 2014 03:04 Adreme wrote:


The republican goal in this is to hurt the union because unions by and large support democrats (for fairly obvious reasons in most cases) and TN wants to make the party stronger to hurting the organization that would raise money against them makes perfect sense.

On February 14 2014 03:22 Acrofales wrote:

Why would unemployed people vote republican? They'd be shooting their own foot. Employed people, unionized or not, should have a better incentive for voting GOP, right?

Or am I assuming rationality where there is none to be found?