One of the first positive steps from our US Congress in some time:

Congressional negotiators struck a deal Thursday that overturns the new rules that were to have banned sales of traditional incandescent light bulbs beginning next year.

That agreement is tucked inside the massive 1,200-page spending bill that funds the government through the rest of this fiscal year, and which both houses of Congress will vote on Friday. Mr. Obama is expected to sign the bill, which heads off a looming government shutdown.

Congressional Republicans dropped almost all of the policy restrictions they tried to attach to the bill, but won inclusion of the light bulb provision, which prevents the Obama administration from carrying through a 2007 law that would have set energy efficiency standards that effectively made the traditional light bulb obsolete.

The bill doesn’t actually amend the 2007 law, but does prohibit the administration from spending any money to carry out the light bulb standards — which amounts to at least a temporary reprieve.

One little rider tucker into one huge bill.

A small point of light in a massive black hole of debt.

BZ

With all of our technological prowess, it is now discovered:

Exclusive: Iran hijacked US drone, says Iranian engineer

In an exclusive interview, an engineer working to unlock the secrets of the captured RQ-170 Sentinel says they exploited a known vulnerability and tricked the US drone into landing in Iran.

A “known vulnerability.”

Wonderful. Nothing like purposely handing our finest stealth technology directly over to our enemies. You can be guaranteed the Chinese were first in line to pay, then the Russians.

Yes, we are apparently that stupid. Next time let’s just save the money and directly hand over the blueprints instead.

BZ

From WizBang:
Dr. Ann Maest is a managing scientist at Straus Consulting, and she’s the go to expert on all things groundwater. In the press release announcing her reappointment to the National Academy of Sciences, they mention that she is focused on the environmental effects of mining and petroleum extraction and production, and, more recently, on the effects of climate change on water quality.

Maest is in high demand as an expert for those looking to stop oil and mineral exploration. She’s also heavily used by the federal government, even though new details about her past work are coming to light as a result of a lawsuit. From The New York Times:

An environmental consulting firm named as a defendant in a racketeering suit filed by Chevron Corp. over a landmark pollution lawsuit in Ecuador is continuing to work on another blockbuster case: the Deepwater Horizon oil spill investigation.

Boulder, Colo.-based Stratus Consulting, a long-term contractor with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other federal agencies, is gathering and analyzing data concerning the Gulf of Mexico spill.

Chevron is suing those behind the Ecuadorian case including: the lead attorney Steven Donziger; Stratus Consulting; and Maest. As part of their lawsuit, Chevron obtained through discovery, outtakes from a documentary film called “Crude” that show Donziger and Maest colluding to ignore their own scientific findings and make up some new unsubstantiated claims.

[Insert YouTube]

From the Financial Times.com:

China will impose retaliatory duties on US car imports in the latest sign of trade friction between the world’s two largest economies.

In a statement, China’s commerce ministry said on Wednesday that it was taking action in response to damage to its car industry from US “dumping and subsidies”. The move will affect several larger vehicles popular in China, including sport utility vehicles made by Germany’s BMW and Mercedes-Benz brands at their US plants. Shares of BMW and Daimler, which owns Mercedes, fell 5 per cent and 3 per cent respectively on Wednesday.

China overtook the US in 2009 as the world’s largest vehicle market, and sales there account for a substantial chunk of profits for BMW and Mercedes, who build the SUVs they sell globally in North America.

So as a result, what are “foreign” manufacturers doing? They’re building factories in China for their vehicles. GM, the largest seller of “foreign” cars in China, builds almost all of its vehicles on Chinese soil. Employing Chinese workers in the plants. Employing Chinese to build the factories themselves.

I say: quid pro quo. China wants to break into the US market with its vehicles. I recommend a good 20% tariff on their conveyances as well. It’s no secret that Chinese automobile showrooms will be opening up within another year or so on US soil.

Quid pro quo: if the Chinese want to sell cars here, they build their factories here using American contractors, materials, designers, plumbers, electricians. Then they staff those factories with American workers. Because, after all, just what is it that the Chinese haven’t stolen or hacked or reverse-engineered from the US?

In the meantime, China’s new aircraft carrier — a true Blue Water (not littoral) ship — was captured via satellite in trials on the Yellow Sea.

The former Soviet carrier known as the Varyag (keel laid as the Riga) now carries a Chinese flag after having been purchased for $20 million dollars at auction by a civilian front for the Chinese navy, then towed to China. News indicated its bulk was meant to be “only a casino.”

At 1,000 feet and 68,000 tons, the carrier — likely named Shi Lang — will be the first major extension of Chinese sea power.

As was said in the 60s: “ass, gas or grass; nobody rides for free.”

Another axiom immured in stone: you can count on the Chinese to lie.

BZ

DC Resident Fined Thousands For Not Recycling Cat Litter: MyFoxDC.com

From FoxDC.com:

By MATT ACKLAND/myfoxdc

WASHINGTON – It’s the law in D.C. – recycle or face a fine from the Department of Public Works. But is enforcement of the law going too far?

Dupont Circle resident Patricia White says she has been fined eight times for throwing homemade cat litter in her trash. The fines total $2,000. White says she shreds old newspaper and junk mail to use as cat litter. She believes she is helping the environment by reusing the paper and avoiding cat litter you will find in stores.

After being fined several times, White says she called the Department of Public Works inspector who issued the tickets. According to White, the inspector admitted to digging through trash looking for violations. White even appealed the violations in D.C. court. Judge Audrey Jenkins agreed with the inspector after White explained the situation. FOX 5 tried to reach Judge Jenkins, but her office has declined to comment.

As if it weren’t already sufficiently intrusive.

Keep living in Big Cities, Americans. Be crushed like herring and fined and taxed.

Me? I’ll keep my pine trees and mountains, thank you.

BZ