Saturday, June 9, 2012

Is the United States Actually Getting Warmer? (Powerlineblog)

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If elected, Romney millions will go in blind trust

The candidate's estimated 250 million dollars will be administered by federal officials on his behalf if he becomes President.

By Stephen Braun,?The Associated Press / June 7, 2012

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks outside the Solyndra manufacturing facility in Fremont, Calif., Friday.

Mary Altaffer/AP

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A week after Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney disclosed a fortune worth as much as $250 million, his campaign said Wednesday that he plans to put his holdings in a federal blind trust if he is elected president.

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A Romney campaign official said there have been long-standing plans to shift the candidate's assets from a trust overseen by a Boston attorney to a stricter blind trust overseen by federal officials if he wins in November. Some assets might be disclosed or sold off before such a move, campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said.

"If Gov. Romney is elected president, his blind trust will be terminated and a new federal blind trust will be created," Saul said. "Any assets that are not fully compliant with federal disclosure and other rules applicable to the office of the presidency will be disposed of."

RELATED:?Can you manage your money? Take our personal finance quiz!

In a divisive presidential campaign where Romney's vast fortune and his long association with the Bain Capital private equity firm have become central issues, the move could serve to insulate Romney politically from criticism about his wealth as well as possible ethics conflicts. But the move might not stop the flow of new payments from Bain, which has been both lionized for its record of successful investments and vilified for mass layoffs at some of the companies it bought.

Just last week, Romney disclosed more than $2 million in new income from Bain, the firm he co-founded and managed until departing in 1999. Finance and taxation experts said this week that the new Bain payments raised the prospect that Romney could continue receiving income from his former company over the next several years.

A Romney campaign official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss his finances, said the campaign's analysis of his income stream indicated that any future Bain income pay-outs were unlikely but that such payments were out of his control.

Saul disclosed the plans for a federal blind trust after The Associated Press raised questions about how Romney would deal with any future Bain Capital income.

In his latest federal financial disclosure, filed last week, Romney's trustee revealed that the candidate made $1.9 million from a single "Bain Capital Inc." payment as well as more than $200,000 from three other Bain entities. Although Romney's retirement agreement with Bain expired in 2009, the trustee said the income came in the form of "true-up" payments ? in essence, catch-up payments made to make up for earnings not provided to Romney before the entities ceased operation.

None of the Bain entities had previously been listed on Romney's 2011 financial disclosure.

The details of Romney's severance agreement have largely remained secret, but experts in private equity finance and taxation say that the financial fallout from Romney's retirement plan will continue to reverberate.

Critics have warned that concerns about the steady flow of income from Bain are made more acute by Romney's long-standing decision to withhold crucial details about his Bain separation agreement, leaving voters with little information about his continuing ties to the firm.

"While he may not be actively managing the business anymore, he remains financially linked to them," said Victor Fleischer, a University of Colorado law professor and private equity expert who has testified before Congress on complex finance issues. "The point of financial disclosure is to communicate the full extent of one's potential conflict of interest, and until he discloses the severance agreement, we don't know whether he'd manage the country on our behalf or be influenced by his ongoing relationship with Bain Capital."

Romney's holdings are in what his campaign describes as a blind trust, preventing him from having direct control over his investments. Although the trust would qualify as a blind trust in Massachusetts, where Romney served as governor, critics have complained that the candidate is not totally blind to its contents. Romney's trustee, Boston lawyer R. Bradford Malt, has said that he buys and sells investments that he believes would be consistent with Romney's public policy positions.

Malt bought and sold off a number of investments over the last several years that appeared to conflict with Romney's political positions. Since 2010, as the presidential election neared, Malt has sold off a number of stocks in companies based in China and others that traded with Iran and backed stem cell research ? all stances that Romney has opposed as a candidate.

The broad outlines of Romney's portfolio were signed off by him in annual disclosures in 20111 and 2012 to the federal Office of Government Ethics and the Federal Election Commission, and then shared with the media and with voters.

A federally "qualified diversified" blind trust would have much stricter standards, preventing Romney ? and the American public ? from knowing what is contained in his portfolio. The OGE would qualify both the trust and any nominee for trustee to make sure that the trust's contents were not disclosed.

"In order to be truly blind, an official cannot really know what investments are held in the blind trust," said Stephen D. Potts, an OGE director in the first Bush and?Clinton?administrations who later served as deputy White House counsel for President George W. Bush.

Even with a federal blind trust, Romney could continue to receive income from Bain throughout his presidency, if he's elected ? even if he remains unaware of the specific payments. Rebecca Wilkins, a senior counsel with the Citizens for Tax Justice, a tax fairness advocacy group, pointed to an obscure note to the Internal Revenue Service that turned up at the end of the 2010 tax returns for a trust for Romney's wife, Ann.

In the note, Romney's trustee told the IRS that the trust would elect to begin receiving interest from a Bain Capital fund known as "Bain Capital Partners (AM) X, LP." Although the fund is not detailed further in the return, the AP has learned that the fund is a partnership that was set up in the Cayman Islands, a foreign base that could allow U.S. investors to defer some of their future taxes under certain circumstances.

The fund is apparently tied to Bain Capital's 2010 purchase of Air Medical Group Holdings, the largest independent U.S. provider of emergency air medical services. The deal cost Bain an estimated $1 billion.

Under typical private equity arrangements, the Romney trust could receive interest from the "Bain Capital Partners (AM) X" investment fund over the next five to seven years, Wilkins said ? meaning that Romney's Bain Capital income might continue flowing through 2017.

And because that income is treated as long-term capital gains, Romney would pay taxes on the earn-outs at the 15 percent capital gains tax rate, well below the higher rates paid by many middle-class American taxpayers.

"He'll be getting this income for a long time," Wilkins said.

RELATED:?Can you manage your money? Take our personal finance quiz!

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I'll Have Another suddenly retired with injury

I'll Have Another walks in the barn with groom Benjamin Perez after a morning workout at Belmont Park, Friday, June 8, 2012 in Elmont, N.Y. The Triple Crown hopeful runs Saturday in the Belmont Stakes. I'll Have Another's bid for a Triple Crown ended Friday morning with the shocking news that the chestnut colt was out of the Belmont Stakes because of a swollen left front tendon.(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

I'll Have Another walks in the barn with groom Benjamin Perez after a morning workout at Belmont Park, Friday, June 8, 2012 in Elmont, N.Y. The Triple Crown hopeful runs Saturday in the Belmont Stakes. I'll Have Another's bid for a Triple Crown ended Friday morning with the shocking news that the chestnut colt was out of the Belmont Stakes because of a swollen left front tendon.(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

The front legs of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I'll Have Another, are shown during a news conference at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., on Friday, June 8, 2012. I'll Have Another's bid for a Triple Crown ended with the shocking news that the colt was out of the Belmont Stakes due to a swollen left front tendon. The Belmont Stakes horse race is Saturday. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

I'll Have Another is tended to after a bath at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., on Thursday, June 7, 2012. The winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness will attempt to win the Belmont Stakes horse race and Triple Crown on Saturday. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

I'll Have Another walks in the barn after a morning workout at Belmont Park, Friday, June 8, 2012 in Elmont, N.Y. The Triple Crown hopeful runs Saturday in the Belmont Stakes. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Benjamin Perez walks I'll Have Another outside a barn at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., on Friday, June 8, 2012. I'll Have Another's bid for a Triple Crown ended Friday morning with the shocking news that the chestnut colt was out of the Belmont Stakes because of a swollen left front tendon. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

(AP) ? The Triple Crown curse lives. This time the horse didn't even make it to the starting gate.

I'll Have Another's bid for the first Triple Crown in 34 years ended stunningly Friday when the chestnut colt was retired on the eve of the Belmont Stakes with an injury to his left front tendon.

"I'm afraid history is going to have to wait for another day," said J. Paul Reddam, the colt's owner.

I'll Have Another, who won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes with stirring stretch drives, was the 4-5 early favorite to win the Belmont and become the 12th Triple Crown winner and first since Affirmed in 1978.

Instead, he'll make one final trip to the racetrack with his jockey Mario Gutierrez to lead the other Belmont horses during Saturday's post parade ? no longer a prelude to greatness, but merely a wistful farewell.

"He'll be my hero forever," a somber Gutierrez said. "What I'll Have Another did for me is so amazing. He brought happiness to my life."

Always the longest and toughest of the Triple Crown events, the 1 1-2-mile Belmont was instantly reduced to being just another big race.

The favorite's role fell to Dullahan, who ran third in the Derby and had been second in the morning line for the Belmont. He was made the 9-5 early choice.

Trainer Doug O'Neill said I'll Have Another was being retired because he developed swelling in his left front tendon that was the beginning of tendinitis.

"This is extremely tough for all of us. It's far from tragic but it's extremely disappointing," he said.

O'Neill's brother, Dennis, said it was hard to tell anything was wrong just by looking at the horse.

"He looks great. He's sound. He went great this morning. He looks super (but) you just can't take a chance," he said. "He's too valuable of a horse and we love him to death like all of them. You wouldn't run a horse if you think something might happen."

The scratch comes a day before an estimated 100,000 fans were expected to converge on the track in hopes of seeing, at long last, a Triple Crown winner ? a champion who would help resurrect a struggling racing industry.

I'll Have Another joined 11 other horses since Affirmed who won the Derby and the Preakness, but were unable to complete a Triple Crown sweep in the Belmont, extending the longest gap between Triple winners to 35 years. The colt also became the third winner of the first two legs who was unable to run in the finale; Burgoo King in 1932 and Bold Venture in 1936 were the others.

"It's like completely letting the air out of a balloon," said Ken McPeek, who trains Belmont contenders Atigun and Unstoppable U.

Dale Romans, who trains Dullahan, said: "This was going to be a special race, one of the biggest races of our time. I'd rather have him in there. It would have been something special to beat him."

Doug O'Neill said he first noticed something might be wrong with the colt Thursday, hours after his usual morning gallop.

"We prayed he kind of hit himself and that it was a little bit of skin irritation," he told a horde of media gathered outside the detention barn at Belmont Park.

O'Neill had called an audible Friday and taken his horse out to gallop at 5:30 a.m., three hours earlier than he had been working out in the days leading up to the race. He wanted to avoid the congestion created by all the Belmont horses going to the track at the same time.

"I thought he looked great on the track," he said, "and then cooling out, you could tell that swelling was back, and at that point I didn't feel very good."

A veterinarian confirmed the diagnosis and suggested that O'Neill give the colt three to six months off before resuming training. But O'Neill said he and his brother, along with Reddam and his wife, were unanimous in deciding to retire the colt who had won four consecutive Grade 1 races, starting with the Santa Anita Derby in April.

"I really thought he was going to run off tomorrow and really show something," Reddam said. "So we were all a bit shocked, but we have to do what's best for the horse."

Dr. Larry Bramlage, on-call veterinarian for the Belmont, said it wouldn't hurt I'll Have Another to walk on the track "but would be a concern at a mile-and-a-half at full speed."

He compared the problem to an Achilles tendon injury, which usually keeps a person off his feet for six weeks.

"This one to the horse is nowhere near that severity," he said, "but it takes the same amount of time to rehab it."

Bramlage said it probably would take a year for the colt to recover. He added that a tendon in a racehorse is "more highly evolved" than anything in a human.

O'Neill said I'll Have Another would return to his home base at Betfair Hollywood Park in Inglewood, Calif., in the next few days.

The injury underlines the fragility of these 1,100-pound thoroughbreds, racing at speeds up to 40 mph. Other Triple Crown bids were foiled in odd ways, too.

Big Brown was pulled up at the top of the stretch in the 2008 Belmont, mysteriously failing to finish the race; War Emblem nearly fell to his knees coming out of the starting gate in 2002 and wound up eighth; Charismatic broke two bones in his left front leg with a quarter mile to go, but still finished third in 1999; Spectacular Bid stepped on a safety pin in his stall before the 1979 race and finished third; and Tim Tam ended up second in 1958 after running the final quarter-mile with a broken bone in his right front ankle.

"You only get one chance to do this," said four-time Belmont winner D. Wayne Lukas, who trains Belmont Stakes contender Optimizer. "From the standpoint of a purist, it's a blow."

After talking to the media, O'Neill led I'll Have Another out of the detention barn and walked him down a path toward the barn where the colt had stayed for most of the time he had been at the track. Since Wednesday, all the Belmont Stakes horses were housed in the same barn with 24-hour surveillance; New York racing officials said it was to ensure the race was run fairly.

"Some people have asked did the detention barn have anything to do with this. Absolutely not. Just a freakish thing," O'Neill said. "I've been hoping and praying he would stay injury-free, and it didn't happen."

O'Neill has been under intense scrutiny throughout the Triple Crown series because of his history of medication violations. He is set to begin a 45-day suspension next month after one of his horses tested positive for excess total carbon dioxide in a race last year.

The New York State Racing and Wagering Board said Friday that initial testing of samples taken from all 12 Belmont Stakes entries on Wednesday were negative.

"Our hearts go out to the connections of I'll Have Another," NYRA chairman Steven Duncker said. "We are all disappointed for them, the fans, and for the sport of thoroughbred racing, but the most important concern is always the health and well-being of the horses."

Associated Press

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Thursday, June 7, 2012

2013 Chevrolet Volt Gets Slight Boost in Range and MPG

Just the Facts:
  • The 2013 Chevrolet Volt gets a three-mile EV range increase to 38 miles over the 2012 model, GM announced on Thursday, but the improved range capability will result in "slight increases" to the Volt's charge times.
  • GM said the miles-per-gallon equivalent on the 2013 Volt will increase from 94 miles to 98 miles.
  • The total range of the 2013 Volt will be 380 miles.

DETROIT ? The 2013 Chevrolet Volt hybrid gets a three-mile EV range increase to 38 miles over the 2012 model, GM announced on Thursday, but the improved range capability will result in "slight increases" to the Volt's charge times.

GM said the miles-per-gallon equivalent, or MPGe, on the 2013 Volt will increase from 94 miles to 98 miles. The EPA has not yet posted official numbers for the 2013 Volt.

The total range of the 2013 Volt will be 380 miles.

Announcement of the improvements in the Volt's pure-electric range and MPGe follows by a day the release of official numbers on the 2013 Honda Fit EV, a battery-electric car that is rated by the EPA at 118 MPGe and has a range of 82 miles.

The Volt is a plug-in hybrid that runs on either electricity or gasoline, or a combination of both.

GM engineers were able to squeeze more EV range out of the 2013 Volt at a time when the term "range anxiety" has entered the lexicon. The Urban Dictionary offers two definitions of range anxiety: 1) Fear that your electric car won't be sufficiently charged to safely reach an intended destination/return trip/next charging station or 2) fear of driving to places in your electric car as you are convinced your battery will run out en route."

GM said engineers "made minor changes to the material composition of the (Volt's) battery cell chemistry, resulting in improved performance and durability."

"The best way to explain what we've done at the cell level is to compare it to a cake batter recipe," said Bill Wallace, GM director of Global Battery Systems Engineering, in a statement. "Sometimes if you use more sugar and less vanilla, you get a better tasting cake. We've done some work at the cell level to modify the 'ingredients' to make a better end result.

"This attention to detail will allow our customers to experience more pure EV range, which is the true benefit of owning a Volt."

GM said the improvements mean slight increases to the Volt's charge time. A full recharge using a 120-volt outlet could take 10.5 hours.

The Volt's improvements come at a time when gas prices are on the decline in the U.S. The AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report on Thursday pegged the average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline at $3.56 versus $3.76 a month ago.

But the EPA says on its Web site that gas prices are up 14 percent from $3.29 in mid-December 2011 to $3.75 by mid-May. The EPA notes that the annual fuel cost for a 2012 Volt in electric-only mode is $650. That number is based on 45 percent highway and 55 percent city driving and 15,000 annual miles at current gas prices.

Inside Line says: GM offers a modest antidote to range anxiety on the 2013 Chevrolet Volt ? but the Volt's gas tank is still the real security blanket.

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Greek extremist party member in TV assault

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Opponents block Washington state gay marriage

(AP) ? Washington's gay marriage law was blocked from taking effect Wednesday as opponents filed more than 200,000 signatures seeking a public vote on the issue in November.

Preserve Marriage Washington submitted the signatures just a day before the state was to begin allowing same-sex marriages. State officials will review the filings over the next week to determine whether the proposed Referendum 74 will qualify for a public vote, though the numbers suggest the measure will make the ballot easily.

"The current definition of marriage works and has worked," said Joseph Backholm, the chair of Preserve Marriage Washington, as he stood next to stacked boxes of petitions.

The law, passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Chris Gregoire earlier this year, would make Washington the seventh state to have legal same-sex marriages. National groups have already promised time and money to fight the law, including the Washington, D.C.-based National Organization for Marriage, which was involved in ballot measures that overturned same-sex marriage in California and Maine.

It's an issue that has implications across the ballot. President Barack Obama recently declared his support for gay marriage, and the referendum has split the state's two candidates for governor.

Washington state has had domestic partnership laws since 2007, and in 2009, passed an "everything but marriage" expansion of that law, which was ultimately upheld by voters after a referendum challenge. A poll by a Seattle consulting firm Strategies 360 showed that 54 percent of voters think it should be legal for same-sex couples to get married, though the poll didn't specifically ask them how they would vote on a referendum.

Perry Gordon, who lives in Roy but came to Olympia to watch the signature filing and support gay marriage, encouraged Washington voters to consider their conscience.

"Would you want somebody to tell you that the only recognized marriage should be between a man and a man or a woman and a woman? How would you feel about that?" Gordon said in an interview. Gordon is gay and said he'd like to get married at some point in the future. He considered gay marriage a matter of equality.

Backholm, meanwhile, raised the specter of polygamy and marriage within families while making his case. He said the law would redefine marriage as it's been known for generations and suggested a possible slippery slope to other types of marriage.

"We have to think about the precedent we're creating," he said.

Gay marriage is legal in New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington, D.C. Maryland legalized gay marriage this year as well, but that state is also poised to have a public vote this fall.

The Washington secretary of state's office recommends that campaigns submit about 150,000 signatures in order to provide a cushion for invalid or duplicate signatures.

___

Associated Press writer Mike Baker can be reached on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/HiPpEV

Associated Press

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