Kerry up on C-SPAN 2

[Sydnie]

Discussing black sites.

edit 2 not 1

[displacedtexan]

1. That's C-SPAN 2.

[Sydnie]

3. Corrected title

thanks for the heads up.

[LSK]

2. dammit, i just turned on AAR to hear Malloy vs WillPitt

[Sydnie]

4. Talking about the Intelligence Authorization Act

which would inform the Congress of Intellegence issues, such as the black site, so that they can do their due oversight.

80% of both houses support this bill. Small majority are objecting to this amendment. Hopes to see the amendment move.

[Reciprocity]

5. Thanks the last time I heard him speak, it was on ANWR.

He made the best point for not drilling. Basically the US has only 3% of the worlds oil, which means there is no way we can drill our way out of this deficit.

[Sydnie]

6. He also made the point that

the ANWR complex would generate more polution that the city of D.C.

Pristine lands turned into an urban landscape.

Yeah, Stevens LOVES his state ... but only for today. Next he will be fighting for the need to fund ANWR as a Superfund site!

[Reciprocity]

7. Does anyone know if this is true?

I have read (somewhere) that Alaskans don’t pay any income tax but get back money from the government b/c of oil review.

[Sydnie]

8. I don't know

Are they one of the seven or nine states (can't recall which it is) that will be affected by the AMT this year? If they have no income tax, they must raise money on sales tax and property taxes instead.

Prices are high there. Imagine the sales tax on milk and bread might be worth trying to write off alone!

[Reciprocity]

10. I think this is what this is saying.

Oil And Alaska: Energy Problems Can't Be Drilled Away

Oil is lifeblood in Alaska, funding most of the state's budget and ensuring that citizens get dividends -- not income tax forms -- from their government each year. Thus a congressional delegation that complains of U.S. reliance on foreign oil while winning repeal of a longtime ban on exporting Alaskan crude, then champions security interests while forcing the Interior Department to permit peacetime drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve -- set aside in 1923 for use in war or national calamity.

For more
http://www.commondreams.org/views/031600-101.htm

[Sydnie]

12. Link to Alaska's "Permanent Fund Dividend Division"

http://www.pfd.state.ak.us/

They absolutely DO get money for the pipeline and the drilling.

Thanks for asking the question. I learned something new today!

[blm]

9. Yep. I use that point when people attack Venezuela program as "socialist"

and point out that basically Alaska does a similar program - partially reimburses Alaskan people for drilling the state's oil.

[Reciprocity]

11. Is Kerry is coming back to finish his speech?