Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., today unveiled what he says is a plan to cut foreign oil use by two-thirds, reduce national energy use by 14 percent and cut household electricity bills by 10 percent by 2030.

Lugar's plan also would reduce the emissions of heat-trapping gases, but only by half of what President Barack Obama has set (a 17 percent reduction) as the goal for 2020. The Republican senator's plan aims for a 25 percent reduction in emissions by 2030. Climate scientists worldwide have said developed countries will need to hit an 80 percent reduction by 2050 to improve the odds of avoiding dangerous climate problems. 

Lugar calls his idea a streamlined plan that focuses on the cheapest energy savings available, with no mandatory reduction of industrial greenhouse gas emissions. (The Lugar plan is here).

The Indiana Republican's plan comes as Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., are working on a draft of a bill that would put a price on carbon pollution and set limits on it. Their latest target for making it public is in April (story from McClatchy in South Carolina).

Lugar's approach calls for expanded loan guarantees for nuclear power and $11 billion in incentives for shutting down the most polluting coal-fired power plants, or about 16 percent of coal-generation capacity. Much of the reduced oil use would come from better vehicle fuel efficiency.

In a new take on the 2008 presidential election, a Michigan professor says that Barack Obama did not need a surge of millions of first-time voters such as young people to seize the presidency – just a swing of votes away from the Republican column between 2004 and 2008.

“In the 2008 election, Barack Obama’s campaign brought many new voters to the polls. Were these new voters necessary for Obama’s victory? In this study, I find that they were not,” writes Arthur Lupia, a political scientist at University of Michigan.

“The basis of this finding is an examination of decisions made by people who voted for George W. Bush in 2004. ... Bush voters’ decisions not to vote or to support Obama were a sufficient condition for Obama’s victory.”

While Obama won 69 million votes, 10 million more than fellow Democrat John Kerry won in 2004, Lupia says Obama didn’t need them to win the election over Republican John McCain.

“Suppose that the Obama campaign lured no new voters to the polls in November 2008. In this scenario, McCain would have won the popular vote by over 850,000 votes, but Obama would still be the forty-fourth president,” Lupia writes.

Obama, he says, would still win all the state Kerry won, plus three that Kerry had lost by narrow margins: Iowa, New Mexico, and Ohio.

“Bush won by very small margins in several states,” Lupia writes. “Therefore, if slightly more than four out of every hundred people who voted for Bush in the state of Ohio in 2004 either voted for Obama or stayed home on Election Day in 2008 ... and if all other voters across the country voted for a candidate of the same party in 2008 as they did in 2004, Obama would still have been elected the nation’s forty-fourth president.”

Nearly one out four respondents who said they voted for Bush in 2004 reported that they did not vote for McCain in 2008, including 15 percent who voted for Obama and 7 percent who did not vote at all in 2008.

“When considering whether or not to support John McCain in 2008,” Lupia says, “a number of Bush voters decided, 'No We Can’t.’”

An ethics watchdog group filed complaints Monday accusing Sean Hannity and his Freedom Concerts with deceptive marketing for falsely claiming that all the money raised goes to the children and families of armed services members killed or wounded in action.

“There is little more despicable than preying upon the generosity of Americans by deceiving them into believing they are aiding the children of killed and wounded service members when the truth is most of the money is going to a for-profit venture,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

“Americans deserve to know whether this high-profile charity allegedly dedicated to helping veterans and their families is really doing what it says it is.”

The group also filed a complaint against the Freedom Alliance and Oliver North, charging that they engaged in political activities promoting the Republican Party in violation of tax-exempt status.
The complaints were filed with the Federal Trade Commission and Internal Revenue Service.

The group said Hannity and North both promised that all the money raised at the annual series of concerts would go to families of service members.

“Every penny, 100 percent of the donations are applied to the Freedom Alliance scholarship fund,” Hannity said at one point, according to Sloan.

“There’s no overhead,” North said, according to Sloan. “There’s no expenses taken out. Every penny that’s donated or that’s raised through things like the Freedom Concerts” goes to the scholarship fund.”

Freedom Alliance President Tom Kilgannon denied the accusations.

“Today, Freedom Alliance was attacked with baseless complaints. There is absolutely no merit to the scurrilous charges launched against Freedom Alliance from two of the most left-wing organizations in the country,” he said in a statement.

“The smear-mongers who have launched this politically motivated witch hunt against Freedom Alliance will be proven wrong as we aggressively defend ourselves in the days and weeks ahead.”

A Philadelphia man was charged Monday with threatening to kill House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va. and his family.

The incident was the latest in a series of threats and other abuse against members of Congress as the House of Representatives debated and voted on overhauling the nation's health care system. Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said last week at least 10 members had been threatened.

Cantor had said last week a bullet had been fired into a Richmond, Virginia, campaign office, but officials later determined it was a stray. The new case appears to be unrelated.

The FBI Monday issued this statement:

"Today, a two-count complaint and warrant was filed charging Norman Leboon with threatening to kill United States Congressman Eric Cantor and his family, and threatening to kill Congressman Eric Cantor, who is an official of the United States, announced United States Attorney Michael L. Levy and FBI Special Agent in Charge Jan Fedarcyk. As set forth in the affidavit to the complaint and warrant, in or about late March, 2010, Leboon created and then transmitted a YouTube video to Google over the Internet, in which he threatened to kill Congressman Cantor and his family. No harm came to the Congressman or his family as a result of Leboon’s threats.

“The Department of Justice takes threats against government officials seriously, especially threats to kill or injure others,” said Levy. “Whether the reason for the threat is personal or political, threats are not protected by the First Amendment and are crimes.”

INFORMATION REGARDING THE DEFENDANT

NAME: Norman Leboon
ADDRESS: Philadelphia, PA
AGE: 33 years old

If convicted of all the charges, the defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of 15 years' imprisonment, three years of supervised release, a fine up to $500,000, and a $200 special assessment."

President Barack Obama plans to throw out the first ball at the opening day for the Washington Nationals, the 100th anniversary of the first such presidential pitch by William Howard Taft.

Obama was using his meeting with Karzai at the Presidential Palace to press him to meet bechmarks.

En route to Afghanistan, National Security Adviser James Jones said that Obama planned to "engage Karzai ... to make him understand that in his second term, there are certain things that have not been paid attentin to, almost since day one.

"Things like a merit-based system for appointment of key government officials, battling corruption, taking the fight to the narco-traffickers, which..provides a lot of the economic engibne for the insurgents."   

President Barack Obama made a surpise visit to Afghanistan Sunday, visiting with President Karzai and US commanders and troops.

Obama flew secretly to Afhanistan Saturday night, landing at Bagram Air Force Base about 7:25 pm local time, 10:55 am EDT Sunday.

He was met by Gen. Stanley McChrystal and Amb. Karl Eichenberry, then flew by helicopter into Kabul. 

Aides said Obama planned to press Karzai to meet benchmarks for progress.

The International Maritime Organization on Friday approved an Emissions Control Area off the coasts of much of the U.S. and Canada, a move that will clean the air for millions of people who live in ports, coastal communities and hundreds of miles inland.

Ships traveling in the area, which stretches 200 miles from shore, must use cleaner fuel and technology. In 2012, the cleaner fuel rule will start to phase in. The Environmental Protection Agency said that by 2020, 14,000 lives would be saved each year and millions of people would get relief from acute respiratory symptoms. (See the EPA’s press release and more info here).

Container ships, tankers and cruise ships today use fuel with a high sulfur content that emits particulate matter and nitrogen oxide, which cause respiratory problems. The environmental group Friends of the Earth filed a legal challenge in 2000 that led to today’s decision.

The EPA said that ships make more than 57,000 port calls at 100 U.S. ports, and that more than 30 of these ports are in areas that do not meet U.S. air quality standards. The EPA proposed the Emissions Control Area standards last year (a McClatchy story is here).

While the new rules will reduce conventional air pollution, they won’t cut greenhouse gas emissions and black carbon from ships.

As Congress prepares to leave for a two week spring recess, House Republicans were given talking points Friday by Minority Leader John Boehner, points that stress "Americans have never felt more disconnected from their government than they do today."

The Ohio Republican stressed health care, criticizing what he called "the sloppy process and embarassing backroom deals," and warned how more fixes will be needed.

And, Boehner warned, 'for the American people, the consequences of ObamaCare's enactment will be grave." His reasons: higher health care premiums, fewer doctors, fewer benefits for seniors, and so on.

Democrats vigorously dispute all these claims. Democratic leaders Friday morning had a signing ceremony to send the latest health care bill, which makes some changes in the law President Barack Obama signed Tuesday, to the White House.

No Republican voted for any of the health care bills over the past few days.

Now, they have Boehner's "getaway memo" to make their points. To read it: http://gopleader.gov/UploadedFiles/Memo_from_Leader_Boehner_Where_are_the_Jobs_Not_in_President_Obamas_Health_Care_Law.pdf

President Barack Obama called Russian President Dmitri Medvedev Friday morning to seal their agreement on a START II treaty to reduce the nuclear arsensals of the two former Cold War rivals.

The phone call was the last step needed to seal the deal, aides said, and set the stage for a formal treaty signing in Praque, Czech Republic, after Easter. 

Shortly after the call, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen were expected to brief reporters at the White House.

The treaty must be approved by the Senate.The Senate Foreign Relations Committee plans to start hearings soon after Easter.