Bush, in California, Promises Aid

Six more found dead; 60 injured

(NEWSER) - Four charred bodies found in the mountains near the Mexican border and two others discovered in a house in San Diego County boosted the death toll of the California wildfires to 12, with 60 others injured. Authorities confirmed yesterday that the 25,000-acre Santiago Fire in Orange County was arson, set by someone with particular knowledge of how wildfires spread. More»

Really? 'Hot Tub Time Machine' is the best we can do?

(NEWSER) - “2010 very possibly is the worst year in the history of motion pictures,” declares Joe Queenan in a hilarious Wall Street Journal piece bemoaning the downfall of American cinema. You know things are bad in Hollywood when:

• “Shia LaBeouf—who looks a bit like the young George W. Bush” is being passed off “as the second coming of Tom Cruise.”
• The top contenders for Next Big Action Star are Jake Gyllenhaal and Adrien Brody. “None of these are logical heirs to the throne abandoned by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Harrison Ford and Sylvester Stallone. They may not even be legitimate heirs to the throne vacated by Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme.”

'New ways to feed our addiction is not the answer,' he says of Mac-backed plan

(NEWSER) - At a Florida climate summit today, Arnold Schwarzenegger broke from prepared remarks to lay into offshore oil drilling, criticizing its supporters—who include President Bush, John McCain, and his host, fellow Republican governor Charlie Crist—as "blowing smoke." "To look for new ways to feed our addiction is not the answer," Schwarzenegger said, reports the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. More»

Auto industry pushed White House to sway him, sources say

(NEWSER) - The EPA chief—under heavy pressure from the auto industry—rejected his own staff's advice in denying California’s request to set its own fuel economy standards, the Los Angeles Times reports. Stephen Johnson told the state that it’s request was unnecessary in the wake of the new energy bill and didn’t meet legal standards. But sources say his staff reached the opposite conclusion and was overruled. More»

Blasts EPA for refusing to let Calif. set tougher auto standards

(NEWSER) - Arnold Schwarzenegger will sue the federal government after the EPA denied California a waiver that would have allowed the state to cut greenhouse gas emissions in vehicles faster than federal mandates. The California plan would raise fuel efficiency standards to 43.7mpg by 2016; the federal plan 40mpg by 2020. Sixteen other states had signed up to California's plan before the EPA scuppered it, says CNN. More»