President Obama's proposed 2012 budget will cut several billion dollars from the government's energy assistance fund for poor people, officials briefed on the subject told National Journal.

It's the biggest domestic spending cut disclosed so far, and one that will likely generate the most heat from the president's traditional political allies. That would satisfy the White House, which has a vested interest in convincing Americans that it is serious about budget discipline.

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, would see funding drop by about $3 billion from an authorized 2009 total of $5.1 billion. The proposed cut will not touch the program's emergency reserve fund, about $590 million, which can be used during particularly harsh cold snaps or extended heat spells, three officials told National Journal.

David Dayen notes in his post about this today:

This is all a game at some level, but notice how the White House hopes this will play out: they want those "irresponsible" Democrats to scream at them. Then they can "prove" to some mythical voter that he's not really "one of them" and that he proposes serious solutions to serious problems. Solutions like letting poor people freeze. But at the end of the day, proposing things like this will force more budget cuts, especially when you have the nutters on the right who want to eliminate $500 billion in a year.

The Administration says this lowers LIHEAP assistance to where it was in 2008. But that was before an economic crisis and an increase in poverty. Simply put, more people need this service now. They also intimate this is a subsidy for dirty energy companies, as most heating gets derived from coal-fired power plants. This is a bizarre kind of statement, which assumes that there's no way to move away from coal and make sure Americans don't freeze in their homes at the same time.

Had numerous run-ins with these blasted machines today...lost in the maze, outright hung up on, the grating computer voice.  Finally lost it and unloaded a profanity-filled tirade at UPS's automated jerk causing numerous heads to pop in my cube.  In case you're wondering, automated voice recognition can't register "Give me a human agent you motherf8ckin' c*cks*cker!"

Note to companies that use this crap...the ten bucks an hour you're saving on a receptionist is costing you ten times that in lost business/customer aggravation with your company.

terrorism plots involving al Qaeda-like ideology in the past decade were U.S. citizens at the time of their arrests, according to a study by the New York State Intelligence Center. Most were natural-born.

DELANO, Calif. -- A Central California man who was at a cockfight died after being stabbed in the leg by a bird that had a knife attached to its own limb, officials confirmed Monday.

Jose Luis Ochoa, 35, of Lamont, was declared dead at a hospital about two hours after he was injured in neighboring Tulare County on Jan. 30, the Kern County coroner said.

An autopsy concluded Ochoa died of an accidental "sharp force injury" to his right calf.

Sheriff's spokesman Ray Pruitt said it was unclear if a delay in seeking medical attention contributed to Ochoa's death.

"I have never seen this type of incident," Sgt. Martin King, a 24-year veteran of the sheriff's department, told the Bakersfield Californian.

Auburn University says it has spent approximately $170,000 in attorney fees on the Cam Newton case during the past 4 months.

Auburn Senior Associate Athletics Director Scott Carr said Tuesday the fees started in mid-October and have all gone to Lightfoot, Franklin, White LLC, the university's Birmingham-based legal counsel.

If only he had been the one to strip off his shirt and belly-slide in the snow! at the welcome-home celebration as the biggest team around came back to the smallest town in the NFL yesterday, and in subzero cold, with the wind chill.  A friend went up there for the fun, which must have been something to see.  The "Return to Titletown" of the team and the Lombardi Trophy at Lambeau Field was sold out, all 50,000-plus seats in a town of 100,000 -- snowy seats shoveled out by 500 volunteers for the crowd that waited hours in the inhuman cold temperatures.  He also said that a favorite sign was the one renaming Lambeau as "Mr. Rodgers' Neighborhood."

Gen. Hassan al-Roueini, military commander for the Cairo area, told thousands of protesters in central Tahrir Square, "All your demands will be met today." Some in the crowd held up their hands in V-for-victory signs, shouting "the people want the end of the regime" and "Allahu akbar," or "God is great," a victory cry used by secular and religious people alike.