• 2007 In a bipartisan bill supported by president George W. Bush, a bill raising the standards for energy-efficient light bulbs passes with little trouble. The law is popular with consumers, who see buying more energy-efficient bulbs as a way to save a bunch fo money.
• 2011 For some reason, Republicans (particularly Joe Barton) have turned own the law, which will take effect next year, and tried to force a repeal. The repeal failed. It’s worth noting that Barton gets a lot of campaign contributions from the energy industry. source

• Many Netflix users got a rude awakening today when they got an e-mail noting that prices were going way up on their combined DVD and streaming plans. It led to huge amounts of rage on the Interwebs after the report leaked. While we think this particular bout of rage is a little much, the real problem here is that Netflix has misjudged its customer base. The thing is, lots of customers would probably love to stream all their movies instead of waiting for DVDs in the mail, but the company’s seemingly jumping the gun. This is a change you make when your streaming service is at near-parity with your DVD service — which isn’t the case at all. The problem we see here is one of a thousand small cuts — changing the API so that third-party apps don’t work, redesigning the first-party apps to discourage DVD queues — that have created the overall effect that feels like a betrayal to many. For movie aficionados, the long-tail value is still there. But for more occasional movie fans who don’t veer too far off the beaten path of Hollywood fare, Redbox may have just gained a huge leg up. (photo by Flickr user Jamiesrabbits) source

• Mitch McConnell knows what he wants. That’s a very critical thing to remember when examining his new debt limit proposal, which would essentially transfer the power to raise the limit from the congress to President Obama. This may seem innocuous, but is a very political decision; forcing Obama to be the sole person taking an affirmative action to raise the limit, then giving congress a vote of “disapproval” that he’d likely have to veto feeds into the narrative of fiscal irresponsibility the GOP craves. The plan would also force Obama to re-up the limit three separate times before the 2012 election, which is theoretically a big political price to pay. Add in that the increase has to be paired with at least an equivalent amount of spending cuts, and what you see is less the grand compromise than what the GOP has wanted all along — spending cuts and no new revenues.

Some context to keep in mind:

• The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.
• Mitch McConnell, speaking to the National Journal back in October • Offering a key thought on his mindset. Now, to be sure, it’ll be good news if the debt limit is raised, even in an otherwise frustrating context. However, it’s good to keep this in mind the next time you think Mitch McConnell is actually working in a bipartisan fashion. We take him at his word on this. source

• [This story is] a media feeding frenzy that is driven by a few individuals who never miss the opportunity to advance an anti-2nd Amendment agenda.
• Arizona state senator Lori Klein • Addressing claims she aimed a loaded gun at a reporter, which we touched on yesterday. Klein has disputed the reporter’s account of what transpired, claiming instead that the reporter asked to see the laser sight on her handgun, then sat down in front of the gun after she drew it. The reporter, Richard Ruelas, is sticking to his version of events. Setting aside the idea that criticizing somebody over reports they aimed a loaded gun at a reporter is an anti-2nd amendment posture (gun safety training is something the NRA takes very seriously, and they’re hardly moderates on the gun control debate), the explanation she’s giving, if true, doesn’t mitigate her wrongdoing. That she would keep her loaded (and safety-less) weapon aimed at the reporter for one second, even in the midst of an earnest misunderstanding, is beyond the pale — and we bet the vast majority of gun owners, responsible as they are, would agree. source

• Say it ain’t so, Piers: Should CNN be worried about Piers Morgan? Private investigator Jonathan Rees, who paid off police to gain access to confidential information (and definitely fits Gordon Brown’s “criminal” descriptor), allegedly worked for The Daily Mirror when Morgan was the editor. Moreover, a British political blogger today alleged that Piers knew an award-winning scoop about a soccer manager having an affair was obtained through voice mail hacking. This is obviously not close to hard evidence, but nonetheless is worth keeping an eye on; lest we forget, Morgan was fired from that editorship after The Daily Mirror admitted to running faked photos of British soldiers abusing Iraqi civilians. source

• Gordon Brown speaks: The former Prime Minister has been in the news recently by way of the voice mail hacking scandals rocking a number of News International papers in Britain, The Sun and the Sunday Times now the major duo (to say nothing of the now-disbanded News Of The World). Of particular note, a possible advancement in this story — Brown claims that the papers hired people to dig up his private information who had known criminal records. Just by looking at Brown’s posture and demeanor, it’s pretty clear the toll these revelations have taken on him. source

• Pandora is getting rid of Flash. Their current site pretty much entirely runs on Flash, so a move to HTML5 is a big step for them, and as their site’s tech has gotten creaky over the years, a bit long-overdue. The moral of the story is that Pandora’s facelift looks really, really cool. Not to mention their renovations make the site more social, encouraging people to share music with their friends and making the entire process easier — it’s definitely something to look forward to, especially if you’re an avid desktop Pandora listener. source

• Two of television’s most iconic shows came from this guy. Schwartz, who also created “Gilligan’s Island” and wrote for numerous other hit shows (and even did a couple of the theme songs for his shows), died early this morning at the age of 94. An Emmy winner for his vast contributions to television, he outlived most of the “Gilligan’s Island” cast. source

• If at all things become difficult, we will just get all our forces back. If Americans refuse to give us money, then okay. I think the next step is that the government or the armed forces will be moving from the border areas. We cannot afford to keep military out in the mountains for such a long period.
• Pakistani Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar • Discussing American aid to the Pakistani military. The U.S. spends about $2 billion per year in military aid to Pakistan, and as we mentioned over the weekend, the U.S. wants to withhold $800 million of that, the stated reason being a response to the Pakistani government’s limiting of visas for U.S. personnel, and removing U.S. military trainers. This is a situation we rather expected, as the discovery of Osama bin Laden within Pakistan put a big strain on relations, and left many Americans wondering what they were paying for. The tone of Mukhar’s reply strikes us, honestly, as pretty snarky and passive-aggressive (acknowledging the possibility of a rough translation), especially in light of the huge sums the U.S. has paid Pakistan for military aid over the past decade or so. This is, as much as anything, an implied threat — give up the money or the Taliban runs wild. source

• ceasefire?NATO forces are considering a ceasefire in Libya for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan which begins Aug. 1. Critics of the plan are worried it could backfire, while NATO leaders are afraid that a continued bombing campaign could lead to backlash from the Muslim community.
• withdrawal?Meanwhile, the French are saying that Gaddafi is ready to leave power — so that ceasefire might not be necessary. Negotiations between the French and Gaddafi have been difficult, but now it seems that the dictator is thinking about leaving. That would probably be best for all involved. source