IOC vice president says Rio preps are "worst" ever

Source: AP

In an unusually blunt public warning, a vice president of the International Olympic Committee on Tuesday called the delayed preparations for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro "the worst I have experienced."

John Coates, who has made six trips to Brazil as part of the IOC's coordination commission for Rio, said the Brazilians are behind "in many, many ways" and are in worse shape than Greek organizers were in preparing for the 2004 Olympics.

Despite the critical delays, the Australian said there is no backup plan and the games will take place in Rio.

Coates noted that the IOC had taken the unprecedented step of embedding experts in the host city to help the local organizing committee deliver the games.

Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/ap/top-news/ioc-vice-president-says-rio-preps-are-worst-ever/nfkMm/

Maybe I should post this in the Music Appreciation Group instead?

Daughter of Oklahoma governor under fire again

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The daughter of the governor of Oklahoma is once again defending herself over something she wore.

Mary Fallin's daughter Christina Fallin says in a statement posted to her band's Facebook page that a shawl she wore with the word sheep written across the back at a weekend concert was not meant to be offensive to Native Americans.

Fallin came under fire last month when she posted a photo on social media sites wearing a Native American headdress with the words "appropriate culturation."

The most recent incident came after Fallin's band posted on its Facebook page that they heard the band was going to wear "full regalia" during a performance at the Norman Music Festival.

Native Americans protested at the event. Festival organizers have also denounced the performance.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Daughter-of-Okla-governor-under-fire-again-5437721.php

Another article is at https://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/04/28/native-americans-react-christina-fallins-fake-war-dance-performance-154627 .

[font color=green]No, that wasn't offensive at all.[/font]

Why Alaska is Reconsidering Texas-Inspired Oil Tax Cut

Alaska funds its state government largely by taxing oil production. But last year, faced with dwindling production, the legislature narrowly passed tax cuts to lessen the burden on energy companies in hopes of encouraging more drilling and generating more tax revenue.

One Alaska lawmaker said they looked to the Lower 48 for inspiration.

“Because we kept hearing all the booming oil work that is being done in Texas and North Dakota and people said hey, that just goes to show you, Texas has a lower tax rate. And that just goes to show you how increased taxes are causing less exploration and development here in Alaska,” said Alaska State Sen. Bill Wielechowski, a Democrat from Anchorage.

Do Taxes Matter?

Texas has a severance tax of 4.6 percent on the market value of oil as it comes out of the ground, one of the lowest rates among major oil producing states. Alaska previously taxed the profits of oil companies at a 25 percent rate. Then, under a new tax bill passed last year, the rate was reduced to approximately 14 percent.

But production — and tax revenues — kept shrinking. Now, there’s a referendum set for this August to repeal the tax cuts. BP, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil are paying for TV ads to defeat the referendum, contending that the tax cuts were already starting to spur more drilling and that in time, a “better investment climate…will lead to increased oil production, more jobs” and more tax revenue for the state.

More at http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2014/04/29/why-alaska-is-texas-oil-tax/ .

Cross-posted in General Discussion.

Why Alaska is Reconsidering Texas-Inspired Oil Tax Cut

Alaska funds its state government largely by taxing oil production. But last year, faced with dwindling production, the legislature narrowly passed tax cuts to lessen the burden on energy companies in hopes of encouraging more drilling and generating more tax revenue.

One Alaska lawmaker said they looked to the Lower 48 for inspiration.

“Because we kept hearing all the booming oil work that is being done in Texas and North Dakota and people said hey, that just goes to show you, Texas has a lower tax rate. And that just goes to show you how increased taxes are causing less exploration and development here in Alaska,” said Alaska State Sen. Bill Wielechowski, a Democrat from Anchorage.

Do Taxes Matter?

Texas has a severance tax of 4.6 percent on the market value of oil as it comes out of the ground, one of the lowest rates among major oil producing states. Alaska previously taxed the profits of oil companies at a 25 percent rate. Then, under a new tax bill passed last year, the rate was reduced to approximately 14 percent.

But production — and tax revenues — kept shrinking. Now, there’s a referendum set for this August to repeal the tax cuts. BP, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil are paying for TV ads to defeat the referendum, contending that the tax cuts were already starting to spur more drilling and that in time, a “better investment climate…will lead to increased oil production, more jobs” and more tax revenue for the state.

More at http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2014/04/29/why-alaska-is-texas-oil-tax/ .

Cross-posted in Alaska Group.

Perry Baptized Anew in Historic Creek near Independence

Before he launched his bid for the presidency three years ago, Gov. Rick Perry drew thousands of worshipers to an air-conditioned stadium in Houston, where Christian conservative activists prayed for the nation and the soon-to-announce candidate proclaimed his faith in God.

Perry is still said to have his eyes on the White House, but the religious event he staged last month was nothing like the flashy “prayerpalooza” at Reliant Stadium in 2011.

With only close friends and family looking on, the born-again Christian governor was baptized outdoors, in the spring waters once used to wash the sins off Sam Houston, the first elected president of the Republic of Texas and one of the most colorful political figures in American history.

When Houston emerged from Little Rocky Creek near Independence, Texas, in 1854, he was reported to have proclaimed, “I pity the fish downstream.”

More at http://www.texastribune.org/2014/04/29/perry-baptized-anew-historic-creek/ .

[font color=green]Independence and Little Rocky Creek are north of the town of Brenham where I resided for about two years. The creek is a tributary to the Brazos River for those downstream who noticed that their water is tainted.[/font]

Rep Stickland (R) criticizes Dewhurst, Patterson for attention to Red River (BLM) spat

An escalating land management spat between Texas landowners and the federal government has spilled over into the state political arena, as one lawmaker criticized statewide elected officials for what he said was their johnny-come-lately interest in the issue for the benefit of getting good press.

The issue centers around a multi-year review the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is planning to undertake along a 116-mile stretch of the Red River, which marks the natural boundary between Texas and Oklahoma. The BLM states up to 90,000 acres area around the river is and has always been in the public domain. Local landowners – and an increasing numbers of local politicians – call the review a land grab, with Attorney General Greg Abbott even warning the federal agency to “Come and take it!”

On Monday, Texas lawmakers met with local landowners in the Red River area over the issue. The meeting was hosted outdoors by Tommy Henderson, a local man who lost control over a large tract of his land in a 1988 court case with the BLM. But what was meant to be an educational meeting for locals on the intricacies and history of the land management issue became more of a show for the media when Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson showed up, said state Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, who said he called the meeting after being contacted by Henderson last month.

“Some people were only interested in helping him (Henderson) when the cameras were on,” Stickland said after the three-hour meeting Monday. “I intended it to be an education deal, not a press deal.” He added Dewhurst showed up and acted “like this was an issue he was leading on” when Henderson told him he’d been trying to reach the lieutenant governor and land commissioners “for years” without a response.

In response, Patterson called Stickland’s reaction “horsesh–,” saying lawmakers who represent the Red River area, like state Rep. James Frank, R-Wichita Falls, were likely asking themselves, “What was Jonathan Stickland doing there?”

[font color=green]Nothing starts the morning off better than reading about Republicans in a feud.[/font]

Energy Future files for bankruptcy, company splitting up

Source: Dallas Morning News

Energy Future Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday morning after reaching a debt restructuring deal with creditors to would break up the company and eliminate more than half its $40 billion in debt.

The filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. comes seven years after private equity firms KKR & Co., TPG and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners bought out the shareholders of the former TXU Corp. for $45 billion. The company struggled under low power prices and billions of dollars in annual interest payments, producing massive losses few would have predicted at the time of the deal, the largest leveraged buyout in U.S. history.

Under the terms of the restructuring agreement reached Monday, the Dallas power giant’s generation and retail arm Texas Competitive Energy Holdings would break off from the parent company EFH. First-lien lenders with claims on $23 billion in debt would take over TCEH, which includes Luminant and TXU Energy, according to an EFH news release.

Creditors of the company’s regulated transmission arm, which owns Oncor, would receive equity in the reorganized EFH in exchange for giving up $2.5 in debt claims. Unsecured creditors would contribute up to $1.9 billion in cash into the new company. Creditors of the parent company EFH would give up $600 million in debt claims.

Read more: http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2014/04/energy-future-files-for-bankruptcy-company-splitting-up.html/

Texas A&M VP for information technology resigns

A well-respected veteran administrator for Texas A&M information technology recently announced his plans to resign from the position and return to teaching and research.

Pierce Cantrell, who has served as vice president and associate provost for information technology for 16 years, will leave the position June 15 and resume his faculty responsibilities with the department of electrical and computer engineering, where he is a tenured professor, according to a staff memo issued by Karan Watson, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.

Cantrell has been commended by his peers for the improvements he's made to information technology infrastructure that have increased the accessibility and capabilities of technology for students, staff and faculty across the university.

"Pierce has been a consummate professional and leader in enhancing our information technology capabilities in teaching and research," Watson said in the memo emailed to faculty members. "He has kept us at the cutting edge with limited resources during the highest period of technological advancement the world has ever seen."

More at http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/texas-a-m-vp-for-information-technology-resigns/article_2e987a60-da3b-5e69-af98-3fbce6ab28c3.html .

[font color=maroon]Another resignation among many at Texas A&M that have occurred recently. John Sharp has exerted his control as chancellor since being installed by Rick Perry. I never trusted him and he is one of the few so-called Democrats in Texas that I refused to vote for when he was on the ballot.[/font]

Strawberry Margarita Jello Shots