posted October 11, 2011 11:18 AM            

Solyndra scandal....$537 Million
SunPower scandal....$1.2 Billion

This one, this SunPower scandal is supposed to produce "JOBS"...in Mexico!

Way to go O'Bomber! Only $80,000,000 per permanent job created in America!

SunPower: Twice As Bad As Solyndra, Twice As Bad For Obama
Congressman's son lobbied for failing solar panel company
by Neil W. McCabe
10/11/2011

How did a failing California solar company, buffeted by short sellers and shareholder lawsuits, receive a $1.2 billion federal loan guarantee for a photovoltaic electricity ranch project�three weeks after it announced it was building new manufacturing plant in Mexicali, Mexico, to build the panels for the project.

The company, SunPower (SPWR-NASDAQ), now carries $820 million in debt, an amount $20 million greater than its market capitalization. If SunPower was a bank, the feds would shut it down. Instead, it received a lifeline twice the size of the money sent down the Solyndra drain.

Two men with insight into the process are SunPower rooter Rep. George R. Miller III, (D.-Calif.), the senior Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee and the co-chairman of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, and his SunPower lobbyist son, George Miller IV.

Miller the Elder is a strong advocate for SunPower, which converted an old Richmond, Calif., Ford plant in his district to a panel-manufacturing facility.

The congressman hosted an Oct. 14, 2010, tour of the plant with company CEO Thomas H. Werner and Interior Secretary Kenneth L. Salazar to promote the company�s fortunes.

�The path to a clean energy economy starts here, in places like SunPower�s research and development facility,� said Salazar during the tour.

�The work that comes from these facilities transforms renewable energy ideas into a reality. When renewable energy companies continue to invest in places like California, the realization of a new energy future is within our reach,� he said.

Miller the Elder said he was grateful for Salazar's interest.

�We�ve worked hard to make renewable energy a priority because it represents America�s future economic growth. Today, businesses like SunPower are moving forward, hiring 200 people for good clean energy jobs in the East Bay,� he said.

�By fostering a business climate that encourages companies like SunPower, even more good jobs will be created locally, we�ll reduce demand for dirty energy sources, and we�ll cut customers� utility bills. That�s the right direction,� he said.

SunPower�s political action committee (PAC) was not shy about participating in the political process either.

According to the SunPower PAC filings for its activities in the 2010 midterm election campaign cycle, it donated more than $36,000. Of the $15,650 donated to House and Senate candidates, $14,650 went to Democrats, with these top recipients: $4,000 to Sen. Harry Reid (D.-Nev.), $3,000 to Rep. Gabrielle Gifford (D.-Ariz.) and $2,900 Sen. Barbara Boxer (D.-Calif.).

The congressman was not forgotten either. The SunPower PAC remembered him with $500 for his 2010 campaign. While SunPower was a financial partner in the congressman�s reelection campaign, it straight-out hired his son.

Miller the Younger is not registered to lobby in Washington, but he is a member of its bar. He is not a member of the California bar, home of his lobbying firm, Lang, Hansen, O'Malley and Miller (LHOM), of which he is a founding partner.

According the firm's website LHOM specializes in providing advice to clients on larger macro political issues trends. �Utilizing our broad experience in California and Washington, D.C., we can furnish 'big picture' analysis of developing political and policy trends which may affect client interests and goals.�

What does Miller the Younger bring? Read here: �George Miller brings a lifetime of friendships, relationships, and contacts together with over 15 years of front-line advocacy experience. He�s an attorney with expertise that ranges from insurance and banking to transportation, taxation and gaming law,� according to the website. �Unlike most advocates, George is at ease working both the corridors of Sacramento power or the halls of Congress.�

What is the stated purpose of the SunPower�s DOE 1705 program loan guarantee?

SunPower has different lines of business. In addition to manufacturing solar panel and roof tiles, it builds solar panel ranches, which it then sells off, but retains the services contract.

The loan guarantee is earmarked for the job numbers for the California Valley Solar Ranch (CVSR) in San Luis Obispo County, which it has already sold to NRG Solar, but will continue to maintain.

According to the Department of Energy (DOE) website, the CVSR project will create 350 construction jobs during the two-year build and 15 permanent jobs�presumably those are the squeegee men for keeping the panels clean.

Capitol Hill powerbroker Rep. George Miller (D.-Calif.), center, hosted Interior Sec. Kenneth L. Salazar, left, on an Oct. 14, 2010 tour of SunPower's Richmond, Calif., plant. During the tour, Salazar said plants like SunPower's transform renewable energy ideas into reality. One month later, the company announced it had restated its 2008 and 2009 financial filings to correct for unsubstantiated accounting entries.

[DOE photo by Tami Heilemann]

If $80 million per permanent job seems a little high, even for the current Obama administration, you are correct. In addition to the 350 construction jobs and the 15 squeegee men, there will an as-yet-undetermined number of jobs created building the panels for the CVSR�in Mexicali, Mexico.

The company is looking for a facility of up to 320,000 square feet, where it will build three different solar panel models and its solar roof tiles, according the company�s Aug. 5 statement.

Marty T. Reese, the company's chief operating officer, said, �Establishing our own manufacturing facility in Mexicali means we will be positioned to quickly deliver our high-efficiency, high-reliability solar products to a growing North American solar market.�

Mexicali Mayor Francisco Perez Tejada Padilla said he was thrilled. �Mexicali is rapidly becoming an industrial hub for high-tech companies, offering an educated workforce and a growing manufacturing area,� he said. �We welcome SunPower to our city and are pleased that they have chosen Mexicali to establish its solar panel manufacturing facility.�

The good news for Mexican jobs seekers did not affect the DOE's loan guarantee to SunPower. Hours before the DOE 1705 loan program expired at the end of Fiscal Year 2011 on Sept. 30, the $1.2 billion in loan guarantees was approved for the company.

Insiders get liquid through for $1.4 billion friendly buyout from France.

If that timing seems odd to you, consider the time line of company events around when the loan was announced April 12: just two weeks before France's Total Oil​ (TOT-NYSE) launched its friendly takeover.

The deal, made public April 28, was in effect a 60% buyout at $23.25, then a 60% premium over the stock's current trading price, which allowed insiders to get liquid.

SunPower CEO Werner is typical of the insiders. On May 24 he exercised his right to purchase 428,343 shares at $3.30 per share, a $18 discount from the day�s trading range. He sold 478,084 shares June 15, the day the Total Oil takeover closed, at $23.25 for proceeds of $11,115,453.

Remember, Total Oil was offering at $23.25 per share in what was in effect a private sale. The SPWR, Class A or B, shares have not traded above $23 since June 10, 2010.

SunPower is a company in trouble.

In his Sept. 26 column for SeekingAlpha.com, Stoyan Elitzen lists SunPower as the ninth-most-shorted solar stock in either the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ markets. Short sellers are betting that a stock price will go down, as opposed to those who buy long, who expect a stock price to up.

According the Elitzen, the size of SunPower's short position is equal to 15 days of its average daily volume of 725,000 shares per day. By any measure, such pessimism is a banshee screaming in the night for a company's stock price that has already lost 94% of value from its 2007 apex.

Although its stock has recovered from its all-time low Oct. 4 of $6.60 per share to trade between $8 and $9 per share, it has been a steep slide from its all-time high Dec. 3, 2007 of $133. Then, the company was worth $13 billion.

Today, its market capitalization is $800 million, just short of its debt of $820 billion, according to the company's July filings for the second quarter.

The Oct. 4 sell-off, which gave shareholders a 12% haircut, was triggered by the company's Oct. 3 aftermarket statement announcing the company was paying down its $50 million credit line with a consortium of European banks and opening a new $200 million credit line with Deutsche Bank.

posted October 12, 2011 11:00 AM            

And then, Solyndra, the flagship in the O'Bomber green engine brigade...goes bankrupt after a $537 million dollar government loan issued by O'Bomber.

The leftist morons protesting down on Wall Street are protesting "crony Capitalism" but this isn't Capitalism in any of its forms. It's "crony Socialism", a collaboration between government and business where government attempts to pick "winners and losers"...with heavy emphasis on picking those who contributed the most to Socialist election campaigns.

That's not Capitalism.

E-mails Link Solyndra Investors, Campaign Donors and White House
by Jason Mattera
10/11/2011

Friday night dumps at the White House.

Now that�s something the Occupy Wall Street mob could rally against. But instead the lowlifes are defecating on police vehicles, sporting nasty-looking coke nails on camera, mindlessly chanting whatever their organizers are telling them to, slamming their palms on Conga drums, scouring lower Manhattan for sex and free food, and fantasizing about what an absolute treat it would be to call Hugo Chavez​�s Venezuela home.

Last Friday evening, the White House released a treasure trove of e-mails that only stoke the flames of the Solyndra demise. You know, that failed green energy company that blew through $535 million of taxpayer dollars, an incident that Obama said he doesn�t regret.

Before we get to the latest Solyndra scandal involving the most honest, transparent and ethical administration in the history of the universe, how about a quick recap of the facts?

First we have the billionaire George Kaiser, an Obama fund-raiser and Solyndra investor, who made multiple visits to the White House before the solar panel company was granted the $535 million in taxpayer money. The White House says that Kaiser didn�t lobby them on the loan approval, but we�ll never know, because the meeting wasn�t done in public for all to see. The administration�s denial seems all the more incredulous considering that Kaiser himself is on record bragging about how he helped secure funding for Oklahoma projects through the gargantuan stimulus program.

Second, we know that the Office of Management and Budget was concerned that Solyndra wasn�t ready for prime time, and therefore didn�t want to be rushed to sanction the government loan. Those concerns fell on deaf ears, however, because Solyndra was more about a political victory, not an economic one, for Team Obama.

And now this: Another Obama bundler, Steve Skinner, was improperly lobbying for Solyndra to get the half a billion dollars in taxpayer money. The lobbying was improper because his wife, Allison Spinner, worked for the law firm representing Solyndra.

�How hard is this? What is he waiting for?� complained Spinner, who raised $500,000 for Obama, in an internal e-mail while working for the Department of Energy. �I have OVP [the Office of the Vice President] and WH [the White House] breathing down my neck on this.� Spinner was agitated that the process was taking too long. Later on he asked a DOE colleague, �Any word on OMB? Solyndra's getting nervous.�

Naturally, Spinner�s wife�s law office denies that she had any involvement in representing the now-bankrupt solar panel company, which we�ll really never know. They just want us to take their word for it. What we do know is that Solyndra paid the law firm, Wilson Sonsini, more than $2 million in legal fees for securing the loan.

Looks like the Spinner household had an early Christmas in 2009, eh?

�After eight months of stonewalling by this administration, today we finally learn one of the reasons why they fought our investigation every step of the way,� said Rep. Fred Upton (R.-Mich.), the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee. �The paper trail released by the White House portrays a disturbingly close relationship between President Obama's West Wing inner circle, campaign donors, and wealthy investors that spawned the Solyndra mess.�

But there�s more.

Turns out that the in the latest flurry of e-mails released by the White House show that the Energy Department modified Solyndra�s loans to protect private investors, not taxpayers. �When Department of Energy restructured the loan in February, they inexplicably not only doubled-down on a bad bet, they put Solyndra�s investors, Argonaut and Madrone to the front of the line for the first $75 million that could be recouped in bankruptcy,� a GOP official on the House Energy and Commerce Committee told HUMAN EVENTS.

And that restructuring could very well have been illegal.

At the time that the Department of Energy (DOE) was flirting with the refinancing, the Treasury Department notified told it to consult the Justice Department to make sure that the terms loan modification were in fact legal, to ensure that it didn�t violate the �Repayment� section of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. In that section, the secretary of the Energy Department must follow specific protocols to guarantee that borrowers can pay back the principal and interest on taxpayer-funded loans.

It looks those protocols were never obeyed. �In February, we requested in writing that DOE seek the Department of Justice�s approval of any proposed restructuring. To our knowledge, that has never happened,� wrote Department of the Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Markets Mary J. Miller in August of this year.

Go back and reread that quote: Obama�s own Treasury Dept. wanted the government�s top lawyers consulted, and still the rogue bureaucrats at the Department of Energy scoffed.

But what�s a law enacted by Congress and signed by the President if it gets in the way of the ushering in the leftist pipedream of solar panels and windmills in every Americans backyard?

The next hearing on Solyndra is scheduled for this Friday in the House�s Energy and Commerce Committee. That�s a good place for the �Occupy� thugs to show up and stand in �solidarity� with Rep. Upton against this administration�s corporate cronyism and potentially illegal use of taxpayer money.

posted November 13, 2011 11:02 AM            

O'Bomber has attempted to run a cover-up of the details of his and his Socialist schemers scandal but details keep leaking out...like this bombshell that a WH advisor warned O'Bomber to get rid of a whole department of flat earth Socialists before it all blew up in his face.

It's really depressing to find out that the guy who wants to "transform America" and the world...is not nearly as smart as a 5th grader.

White House Email: 'Coming Storm' Over Solyndra 'And Other Inside DOE Deals'
By MATTHEW MOSK
Nov. 11, 2011

New internal White House emails reveal that a scathing critique of Energy Secretary Steven Chu by a former Obama political advisor was widely circulated at the highest levels of the administration.

The Feb. 25, 2011 email that sparked the deliberations landed on West Wing desks just as the solar energy firm Solyndra was starting to show outward signs of financial trouble. It was sent by Dan Carol, a former Obama campaign staffer and clean energy advocate who was described by Obama's then-Chief of Staff Pete Rouse as someone whose views "reflect the President's general philosophy on energy policy."

Carol's four-page proposal to restructure the Energy Department included the blunt recommendation that Chu be fired, and that his leadership team also be replaced, calling it time for "serious changes, even if they are uncomfortable to make."

"I would respectfully suggest that the president be strongly encouraged to make major leadership changes as soon as possible," Carol wrote.

Carol also predicted the political fallout that would result from what he saw as inevitable failures of the Energy Department's now-embattled loan guarantee program. He made the dire predictions when advising that Obama replace Chu with someone who was not "too associated � with [the] Silicon Valley business elite."

"Not because they aren't talented," Carol writes, "but because that appointment will be caught up in the wave of GOP attacks that are surely coming over Solyndra and other inside DOE deals that have gone to Obama donors and have underperformed. No reason to fuel that coming storm, and believe me it will come."

The Carol email and the internal deliberations that it spawned became public late Friday along with 135 pages of other internal documents that the White House sent to Congress. The document dump was the latest attempt by the Obama administration to respond -- on its own terms -- to a subpoena for all materials that reference the Solyndra loan in any way. It also comes less than a week before Chu is scheduled to testify before a House Energy and Commerce investigative subcommittee about the Solyndra loan.

White House officials said the emails received by Congress today further prove that politics never entered into the decision to loan money to Solyndra.

As Carol predicted, Solyndra's spiral into bankruptcy has led to a raging political firestorm, with Republicans openly questioning whether the decision to send half a billion dollars to the California solar panel manufacturer was motivated by politics. A leading investor in the company was also a major Obama political fundraiser, Oklahoma billionaire George Kaiser. As recently as this week, Kaiser has reiterated that he made no effort to influence the loan decision making, and the White House has echoed Kaiser's stance.

The new documents offer only a tiny glimpse into the reaction that Carol's email produced inside the West Wing. Numerous senior administration officials were forwarded copies of the Carol proposal and asked by Rouse to comment and respond. Rouse himself wrote on March 14 that he was "not that interested in Dan's criticism of Sec. Chu," but invites other senior officials to weigh in on "Dan's general assessment of the need for greater focus on our energy policy agenda."

"Dan is a clean energy activist who has a clear point of view and is pushing his particular agenda," Rouse writes. "Nonetheless, he is smart and reflects the President's general philosophy on energy policy."

Carol is described in internet profiles as an "evangelist for new ideas and approaches to galvanize and build the Green New Deal, working with green businesses, foundations, governments and non-profits." He served as the Content & Issues Director for the Obama for President Campaign.

Administration officials said they continue to try to negotiate with Congress over the terms of the House subpoena for documents about the Solyndra loan. Officials said Friday that, in addition to the new emails forwarded to the Hill, the administration has also agreed to share additional documents "in camera," so as to allow members of Congress to see more if its internal deliberations on Solyndra without making the documents available to the public.

The White House release is the latest move in a long-running tug of war with House Republicans over Solyndra documents. White House officials said they have bent over backwards to provide relevant materials -- those that aim to resolve whether politics entered into the discussions of the Solyndra loans. But House Republicans have argued that they are endowed with investigative power, and have every right to determine which documents are relevant after reviewing all of the materials they have requested.

On Thursday, the White House failed to comply with a noon deadline set by Congressional investigators to produce all communications related to Solyndra.

Last week, White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler said that the vote by the House and Energy Committee's investigative subcommittee to subpoena all White House records on Solyndra, including emails, documents and memos, "was driven more by partisan politics than a legitimate effort to conduct a responsible investigation."

Asked about the deadline by Jake Tapper of ABC News on Thursday, White House press secretary Jay Carney referenced Ruemmler's earlier response. "As the White House counsel made clear," said Carney, "this is something we view as overbroad, unnecessary, and, I think in my words, when something seems partisan, it probably is."

Carney said that the White House had already been "enormously cooperative with legitimate oversight in this area and others," turning over more than 85,000 pages of documents, and would continue to cooperate with investigators.

"When we hear the Speaker of the House saying that the Republicans will be, quote, relentless, in pursuing this oversight investigation," said Carney, "I think most American people wish they would be as relentless in taking measures to help the economy and create jobs."

The Republican leadership of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which authorized the subpoena on a strict 14-9 party line vote, said "the White House could have avoided the need for subpoena authorizations if they had simply chosen to cooperate."

"That would have been the route we preferred," said Rep. Fred Upton, R.-Mich., chairman of the committee, "and frankly, it would have been better for the White House to get the information out now, rather than continue to drag this out."

posted November 15, 2011 09:23 AM            

Well, when O'Bomber said he wanted to spread the wealth around, hardly anyone knew he intended to take money from the middle class taxpayers of America and hand it over to his rich crony Socialist pals.

Those of you who liked the Robin Hood fairy tale of stealing from the rich to give to the poor will really appreciate the Robin Hood reverse being played out now by O'Bomber as he enriches his already rich campaign contributor buds with middle class tax money.

Obama Administration Invests $433 Million in Experimental Smallpox Drug
November 15, 2011
Becket Adams

Several critics believe that the Obama administration�s $433 million investment in the new ST-246 smallpox vaccine reeks of scandal.

How could a multimillion dollar investment in an antiviral pill that could cure smallpox be scandalous?

Part of the reason lies in the word �could.� The drug has never been tested on humans.

See, smallpox was all but eliminated in 1978 and the U.S. already has vast stockpiles of the original vaccine. Why would the current administration push so vigorously to invest millions of dollars in what could rightly be described as an unnecessary (and untested) drug?

As the saying goes, �follow the money.�

The company that scored the federal contract is called Siga Technologies and they won it through a �sole-source� procurement; they are the only company that will be doing business with the Feds.

And here�s the best part: the controlling shareholder of Siga Technologies is billionaire Ronald O. Perelman, one of the world�s richest men and a longtime Democratic Party donor, reports the Los Angeles Times. Moreover, back in June 2010, Siga named Andrew Sterns (former head of the SEIU) to its board.

That certainly raises some eyebrows.

Surprisingly enough, the deal gets even more suspicious. Newser reports:

In a Solyndra-esque tale, White House officials overrode bureaucrats who advised against the deal and Siga�s high price, replacing government negotiators and blocking other companies from submitting competing bids . . .

. . . White House officials defended their move, noting a 2004 study that called smallpox one of 12 pathogens that were a �material threat� to be used as a biological weapon.

So let�s get this straight: the Obama administration replaced anyone who advised against the deal and then invested millions of dollars on an untested drug for the express purpose of preparing for a smallpox attack?

Admittedly, a smallpox bomb (or however they would do it) is a terrifying thought. But the investment still seems a bit excessive, if not downright paranoid.

If there was an actual smallpox attack, the U.S. government has an estimated $1 billion worth of smallpox vaccine on hand and ready to go. There is actually enough of the medicine to inoculate the entire U.S. population and quickly treat people exposed to the virus.

Furthermore, as mentioned briefly in the above, Siga�s drug has not yet been tested on humans and what little testing has been performed on animals cannot be proven to be effective.

So why invest in an untested, unproven and unneeded product?

�We�ve got a vaccine that I hope we never have to use � how much more do we need?� said Dr. Donald Henderson, the epidemiologist who led the global eradication of smallpox for the World Health Organization and later helped organize U.S. biodefense efforts under President George W. Bush, accoridng to the Times report.

�The bottom line is, we�ve got a limited amount of money,� he added.

Just in case the deal didn�t seem suspicious enough, here are some other interesting facts:

1.The smallpox vaccine currently stockpiled by the U.S. government has a shelf life of several decades

2.The new untested drug from Siga is guaranteed for only 38 months
Oh yeah, and Siga Technologies will make a killing from the sale:

The contract calls for Siga to deliver 1.7 million doses of the drug for the nation�s biodefense stockpile. The price of approximately $255 per dose is well above what the government�s specialists had earlier said was reasonable, according to internal documents and interviews.

Although the company had originally won the contract on an exclusivity basis, and administration officials had intended to award Siga the �exclusive option to replenish or expand the stockpile,� the White House had to back off that portion of their agreement because the smaller pharmaceutical company Chimerix protested.

posted November 16, 2011 10:52 PM            

Robert Kennedy, Jr.�s �Green� Company Scored $1.4 Billion Taxpayer Bailout
Wynton Hall

President John F. Kennedy�s nephew, Robert Kennedy, Jr., netted a $1.4 billion bailout for his company, BrightSource, through a loan guarantee issued by a former employee-turned Department of Energy official.

It�s just one more in a string of eye-opening revelations by investigative journalist and Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer in his explosive new book, Throw Them All Out.

The details of how BrightSource managed to land its ten-figure taxpayer bailout have yet to emerge fully. However, one clue might be found in the person of Sanjay Wagle.

Wagle was one of the principals in Kennedy�s firm who raised money for Barack Obama�s 2008 presidential campaign. When Obama won the White House, Wagle was installed at the Department of Energy (DOE), advising on energy grants.

From an objective vantage point, investing taxpayer monies in BrightSource was a risky proposition at the time. In 2010, BrightSource, whose largest shareholder is Kennedy�s VantagePoint Partners, was up to its eyes in $1.8 billion of debt obligations and had lost $71.6 million on its paltry $13.5 million of revenue.

Even before BrightSource rattled its tin cup in front of Obama�s DOE, the company made it known publicly that its survival hinged on successfully completing the Ivanpah Solar Electrical System, which would become the largest solar plant in the world, on federal lands in California.

In its Securities and Exchange Commission filings, BrightSource further underscored the risky nature of the Ivanpah venture and, more broadly, the company�s viability:

Our future success depends on our ability to construct Ivanpah, our first utility-scale solar thermal power project, in a cost-effective and timely manner� Our ability to complete Ivanpah and the planning, development and construction of all three phases are subject to significant risk and uncertainty.

Ironically, in 2008, Kennedy wrote a CNN article praising Obama as reminiscent of his famous father and uncle. The article, titled �Obama�s Energy Plan Would Create a Green Gold Rush,� proved prophetic. However, the �green gold rush� came in the form of $1.4 billion of taxpayers� money flowing into the pet projects of rich venture capital investors like Kennedy, not average citizens.

What�s more, BrightSource touted the Ivanpah project as a green jobs creator. Yet as its own website reveals, the thermal solar plant will only create 1,400 jobs at its peak construction and 650 jobs annually thereafter. Even using the peak estimate of 1,400 jobs, that works out to a cost to taxpayers of $1 million per job created.

posted November 20, 2011 02:26 PM            

Now that it's clear voters elected a lying Marxist Socialist know-nothing and full time incompetent boob, voters are looking to recitfy their previous error.

Any of the Republican candidates for President would be a gigantic upgrade over the clueless O'Bomber but they all have one flaw or another that some Republican primary voters may or may not be able to get past.

The truth is that there's been no perfect presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan and he's not going to be on any primary or general election ballots.

And now,

we find O'Bomber attempted to pressure his crony Socialist pals and major campaign contributors at bankrupt Solyndra into holding off announcing layoffs until November 3rd, 2010...the day AFTER the midterm elections on November 2nd, 2010. And, get this. O'Bomber's crony Socialist pals are saying they don't know WHY.

They must be the only people on planet earth who don't know WHY.

Obama Admin. Pushed Solyndra Layoff Announcement Until After Election
12:06 PM, Nov 15, 2011
By DANIEL HALPER

The Washington Post reports on newly released emails that reveal "the Obama administration urged officers of the struggling solar company Solyndra to postpone announcing planned layoffs until after the November 2010 midterm elections"

Solyndra�s chief executive warned the Energy Department on Oct. 25, 2010, that he intended to announce worker layoffs Oct. 28. He said he was spurred by numerous calls from reporters and potential investors about rumors the firm was in financial trouble and was planning to lay off workers and close one of its two plants.

But in an Oct. 30, 2010, e-mail, advisers to Solyndra�s primary investor, Argonaut Equity, explain that the Energy Department had strongly urged the company to put off the layoff announcement until Nov. 3. The midterm elections were held Nov. 2, and led to Republicans taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

�DOE continues to be cooperative and have indicated that they will fund the November draw on our loan (app. $40 million) but have not committed to December yet,� a Solyndra investor adviser wrote Oct. 30. �They did push very hard for us to hold our announcement of the consolidation to employees and vendors to Nov. 3rd � oddly they didn�t give a reason for that date.�

posted December 01, 2011 12:22 PM            

Gee, and we thought the purpose of the $1 TRILLION O'Bomber Stimulus was....to put Americans BACK TO WORK....not loot the public treasury to pay off demoscat big campaign contributors. How did we get it soooo wrong?

Report: Engineering Firm �CH2M HILL� Cut Thousands of Jobs After Receiving $2 Billion in Stimulus
November 30, 2011
Christopher Santarelli

For all those who said that the Solyndra revelation would just be the first of many, pat yourself on the back.

A new investigative report released by Accuracy in Media Wednesday, reveals that CH2M HILL, a Colorado-based consulting, engineering and construction firm, received nearly $2 Billion in stimulus funding despite a history of kickbacks, poor conduct and contaminating their own workers. While they are not in danger of suffering the same bankruptcy plight as Solyndra, CH2M has laid-off thousands of workers since receiving taxpayer stimulus. And like Solyndra, CH2M has donated thousands in campaigns finances to Democrats.

The report�s author, Rusty Weiss, notes that CH2M has received $1.961 billion in contracts from the Recovery Act despite a history of violations and fraud, to name a few:

�In 2004, the Energy Department withheld $300,000 from the firm for poor conduct.
�Between 2005 and 2006, the company was fined nearly $400,000 total for the radiological contamination of workers.
�A �major spill� occurred in 2007 that resulted in over $683,000 in both fines and settlements to local agencies.
�Timecard fraud at the CH2M HILL Hanford Group between January of 2002 and October of 2008, that was �widespread� and �routine.�
�False claims and paid kickbacks at the Hanford nuclear site between 2003 and 2005 led to a recent settlement in which CH2M HILL agreed to pay the federal government $1.5 million
How did a company with a track record like that become the recipient of billions of dollars from the federal government? Giving over $380,000 to Democrats during the 2009-2010 cycle and over $512,000 during 2007-2008, including $45,337 to Barack Obama, may have had something to do with it. In addition to political contributions to individual politicians, the AIM study cites the Center for Responsive Politics that reports that CH2M was lobbying their special interests via $455,000 worth of itemized expenditures in 2010.

As stimulus funding has begun to dry up, CH2M is proving that the �green� jobs funded by the taxpayer are in fact unsustainable. AIM reports:

�Reports of staff reductions at CH2M began in January when KEPR-TV announced that 1,350 layoffs were coming in September due to the end of stimulus funding. The company had to organize a job fair for those affected by these layoffs, as well as an additional 1,000 laid off men and women at the contractor�s Hanford site. Hanford started the year with 12,000 workers but lost 2,000 positions nine months later.�

Aside from raising similar questions about the way the DOE is delving out taxpayer dollars, CH2M was directly involved in the plundering of a $535 million loan to Solyndra. $9.6 million of that loan given to CH2M HILL to design Solyndra�s solar manufacturing plant in Fremont, California. Weiss writes;

�With millions of dollars having been secured, CH2M clearly outdid themselves on the Solyndra project, building a facility the likes that had never been seen before in the heart of Silicon Valley. The facility covers 300,000 square feet, ran a price tag of $733 million, and was equated by some to the Taj Mahal.�

To boot, CH2M reportedly has ties with �Green Energy Czar� Van Jones, who sat on the Apollo Alliance board that helped write the stimulus. This is the same Apollo Alliance that Glenn Beck said �aspires to destroy the U.S. economy by having the federal government fund green jobs scams.�

Jones has received recognition at the Aspen Institute award ceremony which is co-sponsored by CH2M, been a keynote speaker at events co-sponsored by CH2M, and served on the San Francisco Clean Tech Advisory Council with Jill Sideman of CH2M.

posted December 03, 2011 10:19 AM            

Jon Corzine-D, former demoscat Governor of New Jersey, former demoscat US Senator of New Jersey, former co-Chairman of Goldman Sachs, former head of MF Global and current big campaign contributor and booster of O'Bomber has managed to do the exact same thing O'Bomber and his Socialist comrades in Congress have done.

In the case of O'Bomber and his Socialist comrades in Congress, they managed to disappear about 1 TRILLION DOLLARS in taxpayer money down ratholes too numerous to list them all.

In the case of Jon Corzine-D, he managed to disappear 1.2 BILLION DOLLARS of his client's money right out of their customer accounts at MF Global. There is risk involved in investing. When investors talk about the declining balances in their accounts, they're usually talking about investments which blew up in their faces which caused the "trading losses" from their accounts.

Not so in the case of customer accounts at demoscat Jon Corzine's MF Global. One second there's an account balance of...say...a MILLION DOLLARS, next second, a balance of $10.50. Poof, the money disappears into thin air.

Jon Corzine is the demoscat insider who O'Bomber/O'Biden relied upon for economic advice.

Obama's Team Relied on Jon Corzine for Economic Advice

"I literally picked up the phone and called Jon Corzine and said Jon, what do you think we should do," Biden said. "The reason we called Jon is that we knew that he knew about the economy, about world markets, how we had to respond, unlike almost anyone we knew. It was because he had been in the pit -- because he had been in the furnace. And we trusted his judgment."
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/11/obamas-team-relied-on-jon-corzine-for-economic-advice/248380/

Judging by the results of the O'Bomber so called Stimulus Bill, it looks like O'Bomber/O'Biden not only called demoscat Jon Corzine but took his advice.

Poof, a TRILLION DOLLARS of taxpayer money straight down the rathole and into the pockets of O'Bomber/O'Biden campaign contributors.

Poof, 1.2 BILLION DOLLARS of MF Global customer account money down the rathole and into the pockets of...parties unknown...at this time!

Congressional investigations to follow!

Corzine Subpoenaed to Appear Before House Panel
Dunstan Prial
December 02, 2011

Jon Corzine, the former head of bankrupt commodities brokerage firm MF Global, has been subpoenaed to testify about his role in the collapse before a congressional committee.

Corzine hasn�t been heard from publicly since MF Global imploded in October, the result of bad bets on European sovereign debt, a risky gamble reportedly pushed by Corzine himself.

The House Agriculture Committee, which is looking into the collapse, will question Corzine at a hearing on Dec. 8.

Corzine is a former governor and U.S. senator from New Jersey, who, before entering politics a decade ago, was a co-chair of Goldman Sachs (GS: 97.25, +2.82, +2.99%).

In congressional hearings already held, questions have been raised whether Corzine used his extensive Wall Street and political ties to shield his risky strategy from regulators who might have otherwise taken issue with his aggressive bets on the troubled euro zone.

MF Global filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 31, having reportedly gambled $6.3 billion on European debt just as euro zone crisis was hitting its peak. Corzine resigned his post as chief executive of the firm a few days after the bankruptcy filing and hasn�t been heard from publicly since.

posted December 05, 2011 09:50 AM            

So now, we know where some of that $1.2 BILLION in missing customer account money went. Straight into the coffers of Kommander Korruption...aka Bill Clinton....AND Hillary!

The silence from leftists on issues of financial and political corruption is deafening!

Claim: Clinton Collected $50K Per Month From MF Global
Former president's new firm Teneo Strategy was hired to boost Corzine
by Neil W. McCabe
12/05/2011

A former MF Global employee accused former president William J. Clinton of collecting $50,000 per month through his Teneo advisory firm in the months before the brokerage careened towards its Halloween filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Teneo was hired by MF Global�s former CEO Jon S. Corzine to improve his image and to enhance his connections with Clinton�s political family, said the employee, who asked that his name be withheld because he feared retribution.

�They were supposed to be helping Corzine improve his image as a CEO�I guess you can tell how that went,� he said. Corzine resigned as CEO and chairman November 4.

Before Corzine joined MF Global in May 2010, the firm was a smart and well-run commodities broker, a culture that was turned upside-down by his leadership style, he said.

�The traders would be shaking their heads,� he said. �They would come back to their desk and say, �Well, I thought we were going to do this�but Corzine would come by and do something else all by himself,�� he said.

The Teneo contract with MF Global lasted at least five months, he said. �The board cancelled it after Corzine resigned.�

The source, who is no longer associated with MF Global, said Teneo is a dual-track company with one side devoted to merchant and investment banking and the other side set up to provide image and strategy consulting services.

Clinton is the chairman of the company�s advisory board. His duties and compensation have not been released. The other member of the board is former British prime minister Tony Blair​.

Two of the three founding partners are very close to the former president and his wife, Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton. They are Douglas J. Band, who is the former president�s counselor and has served on his personal staff since 1995 and Declan Kelly, who earned the �Hillraiser� status in the secretary�s 2008 run for president for bundling more than $100,000 for the campaign.

Another prominent member of the Clinton political family is Tom Shea​. Shea is a senior vice president for Teneo Strategy and served as Corzine�s chief of staff, when Corzine was the governor of New Jersey.

Kelly sold his public relations firm Financial Dynamics in 2006 to FTI for $340 million, and stayed with that company until July 2009, when he joined the State Department as the Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland.

The source said, �Kelly was given a job they created out our whole cloth.� The job did not exist previously.

�He basically got to ride around developing a book of business, while he waited for his non-compete clause to run out,� he said.

Kelley and the former president traveled together networking and making introductions at international conferences and events, he said.

The Secretary of State also traveled with Kelly, including the October 2010 U.S. � Northern Ireland Economics Conference, which Kelly organized and at which the secretary was the featured speaker.

The secretary announced that she accepted Kelly�s resignation May 11.

Teneo landed its first major client June 1, when the Rockefeller Foundation gave Teneo a $3,447,150, six-month contract to help plan the foundation�s 2013 centennial.

The foundation is another member of the Clinton�s extended family. It gave Clinton its Lifetime Innovation Achievement Award July 27 and the foundation is listed as a between $1 to $5 million contributor to the William J. Clinton Foundation, along with several members of the Rockefeller family who are listed as individual contributors.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=47938

posted December 05, 2011 04:17 PM            

OR,

posted December 07, 2011 12:58 PM            

Just imagine if disgraced former New Jersey Governor​ had an �R� after his name. He�d be the top story on every network, televised hearings would drown out all other news, protesters would be storming his mansions and every other Republican who ever dealt with him would be tarred and feathered.

Instead, virtual silence from the media. Sure, when stories like this come along it�s newsworthy, albeit temporarily, but when he comes to testify (or takes the Fifth) at hearings this week, see how much coverage it gets.

To give you an idea how disinterested the media is, has Barack Obama or Joe Biden​ even been asked a question about MF Global?

Special added bonus: You can play Name That Party.

Past and present MF Global employees sued ex-CEO Jon Corzine and other executives over alleged misrepresentations they say destroyed the value of the company's stock.

Two former employees are seeking class-action status on behalf of any current or former MF Global worker who bought company shares through stock purchase plans since mid-2010.

Corzine, the former New Jersey governor and Goldman Sachs chief who resigned as MF Global's CEO on November 4, is one of 12 defendants in the lawsuit, filed on Monday in federal court in Manhattan.

Props for at least reporting this story, but they naturally omit any mention of the "D" that comes after Corzine's name. You know, as in Corzine, the first guy Obama and Biden called for economic advice. Heck, they fail to even mention the blockbusters new as reported by Human Events Monday.

It's reported, meanwhile, that Corzine ignored warnings about betting on European bonds. I recall stories back when Corzine first purchased his Senate seat about what a Wall Street wiz he was. If ever oh ever a wiz there was, it wasn't Corzine.

Naturally, Corzine is doing anything he can to delay his hearings. It almost seems as if he needs time to get his story straight.

Jon Corzine isn�t getting off to a good start with congressional investigators after his attorney spent the past two weeks seeking a delay in upcoming hearings and forcing subpoenas to compel his testimony at upcoming hearings into the demise of the brokerage firm he ran, MF Global, the FOX Business Network has learned.

Corzine�s attorney Andrew Levander angered staffers in as many as three committees investigating the firm�s Nov. 1 bankruptcy and its impact in the securities markets. As much as $1.2 billion in client money remains missing from MF Global, and investigators are examining whether senior officials at the brokerage improperly co-mingled the customer accounts with money used for operations during its tumultuous final days, people with knowledge of the matter tell FOX Business.

And for a fun exercise, let's recall how much hot air was spewed over GOP ties to the nefarious Jack Abramoff​ by House and Senate Democrats. Oddly, they're rather mum about Corzine.

The former senator and governor of New Jersey has not only donated money recently to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Democratic National Committee, he has also contributed to the following U.S. representatives, the Hill notes: New Jersey�s Rush Holt, Donald Payne Frank Pallone, and Steve Rothman​; California�s George Miller; New York�s Kathy Hochul, Nita Lowey​, Jerrold Nadler​ and Charlie Rangel​ and Massachusetts� Ed Markey.

Republicans are calling on Democrats to return the money. Top blogger Instapundit suggested that someone should look up what these lawmakers said in the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal, where considerable pressure was brought to bear on the GOP to return contributions from Abramoff and those affiliated with him.

So, Capital Hill did some searching, dug into the archives, and came up with some rather choice morsels.

Again, don't expect saturation coverage of any of this from the media, or everyone's hero of the middle class.

"Their philosophy is simple: we are better off when everyone is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules. Well, I'm here to say they are wrong."

posted January 14, 2012 06:30 AM            

You see, O'Bomber wanted to play at being a "Venture Capitalist". But not with O'Bomber money. Nope, only with taxpayer money.

Now, those propped up companies which could never have convinced a bank or other lender to extend capital/loans to them are falling like dominoes in a row.

Twelve More Solyndras
Crony capitalism and coercive ideology march blindly onward
by John Hayward
01/13/2012

You loved that half-billion-dollar Solyndra disaster, didn�t you? Sure, who didn�t? Over $500 million of taxpayer loot recklessly stuffed into the pockets of top Obama contributor George Kaiser, to bankroll a failed company that currently rots in bankruptcy� but is still trying to ladle out huge bonuses to its six-figure employees.

Well, great news! CBS News found a dozen more Solyndras � �green energy� companies pumped full of your money in defiance of all business sense:

Take Beacon Power -- a green energy storage company. We were surprised to learn exactly what the Energy Department​ knew before committing $43 million of your tax dollars.

Documents obtained by CBS News show Standard and Poor's had confidentially given the project a dismal outlook of "CCC-plus."

Asked whether he'd put his personal money into Beacon, economist Peter Morici replied, "Not on purpose."

"It's, it is a junk bond," Morici said. "But it's not even a good junk bond. It's well below investment grade."

Was the Energy Department investing tax dollars in something that's not even a good junk bond? Morici says yes.

"This level of bond has about a 70 percent chance of failing in the long term," he said.

You read that right, folks: Beacon Power had a CCC-plus toxic rating from S&P before investment genius Barack Obama poured $43 million of your money into it. They did indeed go bankrupt, two months ago. No, you probably aren�t getting your money back.

But wait, there�s more!

CBS News counted 12 clean energy companies that are having trouble after collectively being approved for more than $6.5 billion in federal assistance. Five have filed for bankruptcy: The junk bond-rated Beacon, Evergreen Solar, SpectraWatt, AES' subsidiary Eastern Energy and Solyndra.

Others are also struggling with potential problems. Nevada Geothermal -- a home state project personally endorsed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid -- warns of multiple potential defaults in new SEC filings reviewed by CBS News. It was already having trouble paying the bills when it received $98.5 million in Energy Department loan guarantees.

Well, at least all this is stimulating American business, right?

SunPower landed a deal linked to a $1.2 billion loan guarantee last fall, after a French oil company took it over. On its last financial statement, SunPower owed more than it was worth. On its last financial statement, SunPower owed more than it was worth. SunPower's role is to design, build and initially operate and maintain the California Valley Solar Ranch Project that's the subject of the loan guarantee.

(Emphasis mine.) Oh. Well, at least the French will be grateful that Barack Obama forced American taxpayers to subsidize one of their American corporate acquisitions.

These disasters couldn�t have been corrupt examples of politicians raiding the federal refrigerator for bacon they could drag back to their home states, could they? Naaaaaah�.

Others are also struggling with potential problems. Nevada Geothermal -- a home state project personally endorsed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid -- warns of multiple potential defaults in new SEC filings reviewed by CBS News. It was already having trouble paying the bills when it received $98.5 million in Energy Department loan guarantees.

Oh, but that�s not all. On top of those loan guarantees, Nevada Geothermal also received �at least $66 million in grants,� as the New York Times reported back in October. At the time, company executives were �expressing confidence that they can recover,� and assuring everyone in earshot that �the government investment is not at risk.� The poisonous reasoning behind these �green energy� debacles was made abundantly clear by a Reid spokesman:

Mr. Reid has received some support from the industry, in the form of at least $43,000 worth of campaign contributions from the geothermal industry since 2009, according to an analysis of federal campaign finance records.

Adam Jentleson, a spokesman for Mr. Reid, said that the senator was proud of his work as an advocate for geothermal power and a broad array of other clean energy projects in his state. But Mr. Jentleson, and the Energy Department spokesman, said Nevada Geothermal company had not received, nor been offered, any special treatment.

�If projects like this did not contain a certain level of risk, alongside their enormous potential for creating jobs and generating clean energy, there would be no need for the bipartisan loan guarantee program,� Mr. Jentleson said.

Precisely. These projects don�t make any economic sense, so they can�t attract enough willing investors. Therefore, high-powered politicians and lobbyists force the rest of us to �invest� in them, so we can Win The Future. Meanwhile, these phony politically-invented �opportunities� attract investors who like the idea of government using compulsive force to make taxpayers cover any losses that might be incurred. Capital is thus diverted away from truly viable and useful opportunities. If you�re still wondering how deranged levels of government spending actually kill jobs, instead of merely failing to create enough of them, this is part of the answer: polluting the market with false data.

As the Times pointed out, plenty of Republicans and the Bush Administration supported this type of thinking too, which is why it�s important to dismantle the whole diseased system, rather than simply installing new management. Or we could just re-elect Barack Obama, keep Harry Reid in charge of the system, and get ready for the next dozen Solyndras.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=48788&s=rcmp

posted January 27, 2012 12:05 AM            

As Another Gov't-Funded Energy Co. Goes Under, Obama Admin Announces More Loans
January 26, 2012
Becket Adams

The company, Ener1, received a $118 million grant from DOE [Department of Energy] in 2010 as part of the president�fs stimulus package,�h writes the Heritage Foundation�fs Lachlan Markay. The money, which went to Ener1 subsidiary EnerDel, aimed to promote renewable energy storage battery technology for electrical grid use.�

Today, Ener1 announced it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Despite the generous federal support Ener1 received (Vice President Biden even visited Ener1, January 26, 2011, the day after the President pledged in his State of the Union address to put �gone million advanced technology vehicles on the road by 2015� with the help of taxpayer funding), and like several other now-bankrupt energy companies, Ener1 was �gracked by problems.�

See the Vice President mistakenly, but appropriately, refer to the bankrupt company as Enron one:

In October, NASDAQ delisted the company due to non-compliance with Securities and Exchange Commission filing requirements. A month later, the company�fs president, chief executive, and top financial officer were fired, Markay writes.

Here�is what the company had to say about Thursday�fs news:

Ener1, Inc. (OTC: HEVV) (the Company) today announced that it has reached agreement with its primary investors and lenders on a restructuring plan that will significantly reduce its debt and provide up to $81 million to recapitalize the Company to support its long-term business objectives and strategic plan.

To implement this restructuring plan, the Company has voluntarily initiated a pre-packaged�Chapter 11 case in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York, in which it is requesting that the Court confirm a pre-packaged Plan of Reorganization to implement the restructuring. The Company filed a proposed Disclosure Statement and Plan of Reorganization with the Court and anticipates completing the restructuring process in approximately 45 days.

The pre-packaged restructuring plan, which has been unanimously accepted by all of Ener1 impaired creditors, provides for a restructuring of the Company�fs long-term debt and the infusion of up to $81 million of equity funding, which will support the continued operation of Ener1��s subsidiaries and help ensure that the restructuring will not adversely impact their employees, customers and suppliers. Of this amount, a new debtor-in-possession (DIP) credit facility of up to $20 million will be available upon Court approval to support working capital needs during the restructuring. The balance, for a total of up to $81 million, will be available over the four years following Court approval of the restructuring plan and subject to the satisfaction of certain terms and conditions.

As mentioned in the above, Ener1 is not the first government-funded �ggreen energy� initiative to go bankrupt. In fact, Ener1 isn't even the first government-sponsored energy storage technology company to go bankrupt.

Beacon Power beat them to the punch.

Beacon Power, which manufactures flywheel energy storage technology, received a $43 million loan guarantee from the same stimulus program that funded Solyndra [emphasis added], Markay writes. Despite having used $3 million marked for loan repayment to continue funding its daily operations, Beacon filed for Chapter 11 in November.�

And as if this didn't seem bad enough, on the very same day Ener1 files for Chapter 11, the Obama administration announces more clean energy�loan guarantee.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced his second bio-fuels loan guarantee in a week, revealing that the Agriculture Department (USDA) is slated to loan an Oregon biorefinery $232.5 million for a project expected to create 65 jobs and support 38 others [emphasis added], the Washington Examiner Joel Gehrke writes.**Note** Gee $232.5 million to create 65 jobs. Such a deal! Who else but the Venture Socialist O'Bomber would have been smart enough to do this deal? That's only $359,000 per job created.**

This project and others like it will help to establish a domestic advanced biofuels industry that will create jobs here at home and open new markets in the Pacific Northwest and across America, Vilsack said in a statement.

So, what�is the reasoning behind this loan guarantee?

USDA offered the loan guarantee as an example of President Obama fighting global warming while increasing energy security and helping the rural economy, Gehrke writes.

The agreement announced today is similar to a $25 million loan guarantee USDA approved last week for an Iowa project expected�to create 38 jobs.

posted January 27, 2012 09:40 AM            

O'Bomber unveiled an energy plan in his litany of lies known as the State of the Union Address which would greatly benefit his Marxist mentor and major demoscat campaign contributor...George Soros.

Yep, George Soros owns over 3 MILLION shares of the stock of a company whose share value would skyrocket if O'Bomber's proposed legislation is passed.

Of course, O'Bomber has already paid George Soros off for his campaign contributions and the efforts of all the Soros tax exempt, (non-partisan, Ha Ha) organinazations which coordinated with the O'Bomber campaign...(in violation of US election law)..to get the One, The Marxist Messiah O'Bomber elected.

That's right, O'Bomber shut down drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Then, O'Bomber ignored an order of a US federal court to open up the Gulf to drilling that oil companies had already paid the federal government to lease and explore for oil. This forced oil drilling rigs to leave the Gulf and go elsewhere. One of those elsewhere places was Brazil where George Soros just happened to be a major stockholder in a Brazilian oil company with a large offshore oil patch. Then, O'Bomber went to Brazil and informed the Brazilians that he would be proud to have America import Brazilian oil. Oh, and O'Bomber also gave Brazil a couple of BILLION dollars to help their drilling operations along.

Hey, how many times does O'Bomber have to pay off his major campaign contributors with taxpayer money?

Soros May Benefit From White House�s Natural Gas Proposal
Lachlan Markay
January 26, 2012

George Soros, a billionaire investor and major backer of President Obama, stands to reap a windfall from legislation promoting natural gas-powered vehicles. The White House unveiled a proposal on Thursday that would do just that.

The proposal would offer incentives for companies to buy and use trucks powered by natural gas. Obama announced the effort at a UPS facility in Las Vegas that received stimulus funding to buy natural gas vehicles and build a fueling station for them.

The proposal is remarkably similar to the New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions (NAT GAS) Act.

One company that stands to benefit handsomely from the president�s proposal is Westport Innovations. The company converts diesel engines to be fueled by natural gas. Wall Street analysts predicted a boom for the company if the NAT GAS Act were passed. CNBC analyst Jim Cramer said he �expects shares to absolutely explode� in the event the legislation were to pass.

Jim Cramer made positive mention of Westport, calling it a solid play on natural gas should Congress pass its pending Natural Gas Act. Westport converts diesel engines (i.e. � those found in semi trailers) into ones that run on natural gas.

Benefiting Westport is that it�s: A) basically first to the market, at least in terms of mass production, and B) high barriers of entry for competition because of the complex technology involved in the transformations.

[b]If Westport reaps the predicted windfall, one of the chief beneficiaries will be George Soros, a major Obama donor and supporter. Soros�s hedge fund holds 3,160,063 company shares (as of its last SEC filing).

posted January 27, 2012 10:09 AM            

This one is really rich!

After O'Bomber declined to sign off on the Keystone XL Pipeline to carry oil from Canada to US refineries. We found all the impact studies had been done...and approved but screeching, howling, shrieking leftist so called environmentalists got to O'Bomber and got a no brainer project stopped. We need the oil. This pipeline would have put about 20,000 Americans to work almost immediately with another 200,000 jobs in related industries making parts, equipment, steel and other necessary components. Oh btw, these were high paying American jobs O'Bomber trash-canned. So much for O'Bomber wanting to "create jobs" and looking out for the "middle class".

But wait, there's more.

Guess who owns railroads and oil tank cars to carry crude oil from Canada to the US?

If you said...major campaign contributor and backer of O'Bomber...Warren The Hypocrite Buffett, give yourself a gold star.

One other thing.

Transporting oil in rail car tankers is more expensive than piping the oil south. That raises the price of gasoline and everything else made from the oil.

This pipe line project was a no brainer. What does that tell you about O'Bombers intellectual capacity of Barack Hussein O'Bomber?

Or, is this decision of O'Bomber's not indicative of O'Bomber's intellectual capacity but rather, indicative of his utter political and financial corruption?

Buffett would profit from Keystone cancellation
By Dave Boyer
The Washington Times
Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Warren Buffett, whom President Obama likes to cite as a fair-minded billionaire while arguing for higher taxes on the wealthy, stands to benefit from the president�s decision to reject the Keystone XL oil pipeline permit.

posted January 27, 2012 12:15 PM            

despite many failings, in this at least i am glad someone is looking past the immediate dime profit.

we are currently producing more oil than at any time since 2003. the jobs projected for the pipeline are vastly inflated and skewed to look like more than they would be. the oil itself is poor quality and would not be delivered to the us but to the multinational pool. and the project is under protest in canada as well as here.

posted January 27, 2012 04:00 PM            

Most of the XL Pipeline would be in the United States, built by Americans, using American steel pipe, American graders and dozers and American control valves and concrete.

The impact studies showed there was no danger to the environment.

Your response and the response to the issue by rabid loony tunes environmentalists are the red herrings here.

O'Bomber is pacifying the loons in anticipation of the November election. This was a political decision which also helped his big supporter, Warren The Hypocrite Buffett.

posted January 27, 2012 04:46 PM            

TransCanada, the company proposing the Keystone XL pipeline project, reportedly was allowed to screen private firms competing to perform an environmental impact study on the pipeline. Cardno Entrix, the politically-connected firm ultimately selected to conduct the environmental impact study, had significant financial ties to TransCanada.
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=BD202829-66E3-4088-A108-289E6E445CE9

posted January 27, 2012 07:08 PM            

what in life is 100% guaranteed? apart from breathing, taking nourishment, and dying that is? can we stop with the hyperbole just for a minute?

posted January 28, 2012 10:01 AM            

Of course, I notice no one has had a word to say about O'Bomber trying to reward his major campaign contributor and supporter Warren The Hypocrite Buffett who owns that railroad and oil tanker cars. Ummm, why is that?

Peter Schweizer makes reference to crony capitalism. But what O'Bomber is doing with regard to paying off his large campaign contributors with cash out of the public treasury and throwing business their way...isn't "Capitalism" at all.

It's Crony Socialism all the way!

President Obama, if you'll take on insider trading will you also deal with crony capitalism?
By Peter Schweizer
January 27, 2012

Dear President Obama,

I watched your State of the Union address on Tuesday night and I want to welcome you aboard the reform train. You had some pointed things to say about congressional insider trading, which was a center point of my book "Throw Them All Out" which was published last November.

I laid out how former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was getting rich off of stock IPOs and how her predecessor Dennis Hastert had a sweetheart land deal that included earmarks to build a highway near some land he bought.

"60 Minutes" did a great story on the book in mid-November.

Hastert wouldn�t talk to them.

Pelosi probably wishes she hadn�t. She looked petrified as Steve Kroft was grilling her.

My advice to politicians in Washington is this: if "60 Minutes" shows up at one of your press conferences, it's probably not a good idea to let them ask you a question.

I described the flurry of stock trades that people on both sides of the aisle were making while they were crafting and debating your health care reform legislation (ObamaCare) in 2009.

And I disclosed how Congressman Spencer Bachus of Alabama actually bought stock options to short the market after he got a private briefing from the Fed Reserve chairman and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner during the financial crisis.

From where you were standing, can you tell me if any of these people stood and applauded when you called for a ban on insider trading? I can�t tell from the video.

I imagine that you (or more accurately your staff) read at least some of the chapters. Your two proposed solutions to the problem came straight out of the last chapter in my book.

For example, you called for making congressional insider trading illegal (which I mention on page 174) as well as preventing members of congress from trading stock in companies that fall under the purview of their committees.

I also proposed that legislation on page 174. Glad to know you think these are good ideas.

I subscribe to Ronald Reagan�s philosophy, �It�s amazing what you can get accomplished so long as you don�t worry about who gets the credit.� So as long as real reforms get passed, I don�t care who gets the credit.

Although I must say that some analysts are now trying to co-opt this issue.

I did find it quite funny as I listened to MSNBC's Chris Matthews in his post-speech analysis say about this problem, �I have never heard any reference to it before in my life.�

Is he living in a bubble?

I guess he doesn�t watch "60 Minutes," Fox News, or even programming on his own network! All of these media outlets did extensive coverage on the book. Or maybe he didn't read Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, etc. all of these publications wrote about it.

My hope, Mr. President is that congressional leaders of both parties will get these reforms done as quickly as possible so that we can prevent members of congress from enriching themselves in this way.

I must say, however, I was disappointed that you called for reforming Congress, but not your administration.

In my book I point out that crony capitalism is a problem in the executive branch, too. (Maybe you skimmed over this part of the book?) In the State of Union address you continued to push government programs for green energy.

But in Chapter 5 of "Throw Them All Out," I demonstrated in great detail how your Department of Energy sent most of this money to wealthy individuals who funded your campaign in 2008.

I found at least 10 members of your national finance committee and at least a dozen bundlers who got sweetheart deals. (You can find the names in my book on pages 88, 100-1. I�m sure these names will be familiar to you. They are the same people who are currently raising money for your reelection.)

Yes, it�s good that you took on congressional insider trading. Thank you for doing so. But why not also deal with crony capitalism in your administration? I hope you are not going to use this push for reform just to score political points.

Sincerely,

posted January 29, 2012 08:18 AM            

Instead, O'Bomber is trying to bankrupt American taxpayers with his crony venture Socialist projects.

Another one bites the dust.

Drip, Drip, Drip: Yet Another Green Energy Stimulus Recipient Hits the Skids (the third this week!)
by William Yeatman
January 27, 2012

Earlier this week, Stimulus beneficiary Evergreen Energy bit the dust. Then, Ener1, a manufacturer of batteries for electric vehicles and recipient of Stimulus largesse, filed for bankruptcy. And today, the Las Vegas Sun reports that Amonix, Inc., a manufacturer of solar panels that received $5.9 million from the Porkulus, will cut two-thirds of its workforce, about 200 employees, only seven months after opening a factory in Nevada.

I foresaw this spate of bad news last November. As I explained yesterday,

In a previous post, I compared renewable energy spending in the 2009 Stimulus to a green albatross burdening the President. I argued that Stimulus spending was inherently wasteful, because politics invariably corrupts government�s investment decisions. The result is taxpayers losses on bankrupt companies that existed only by the grace of political favoritism, a la Solyndra. I predicted the green stimulus would haunt the President, in the form of a slow drip public relations nightmare, as a litany of bad investments go belly-up in the run up to the 2012 elections.

posted January 29, 2012 09:02 AM            

President Obama loves to talk about energy independence. In his 2012 State of the Union address, he said he wanted to �lay out a blueprint for an economy that�s built to last�an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values.� He also called for �an all-out, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy � a strategy that�s cleaner, cheaper, and full of new jobs.�

The president mentioned energy two dozen times during his speech, but his actions are so strongly at odds with his words that he deserves credit for being able to keep a straight face while addressing Congress. Does he really think Americans have forgotten that he slapped down the Keystone XL pipeline project, just a week ago? Or that he destroyed the American offshore drilling industry in 2009?

Obama�s actions are not temporary mistakes that can be easily corrected by his successors. Those offshore drilling platforms are mobile. They were towed away to other oil fields, such as those off the coast of Brazil, where Obama spent billions of dollars to encourage the very same industry he forbids Americans to pursue, only to see Brazil decide to sell its oil to China, which struck a far better deal.

As for the Canadian oil that would have been carried into America by the Keystone XL pipeline, well, that�s probably going to China, too. Obama is murder on American commerce, but he has been very good for China.

The Keystone XL pipeline would have created 20,000 U.S. construction jobs almost immediately, and ten times as many jobs throughout the duration of the project. It would have brought 900,000 barrels of oil from Canada to American refineries every day. The economic value of the project has been estimated at more than $20 billion, and it would have enhanced America�s energy independence. America may not ever be completely independent, but we could become much more self-reliant.

The reasons Obama gave for scuttling the project were laughably thin. Incredibly, he expects the public to believe he was placed under unreasonable pressure when Congress got tired of his endless dithering and gave him 60 days to make up his mind, instead of allowing him to delay until after the 2012 elections, as he would have preferred. This was not a pop quiz that landed on the president�s desk in December 2011. The Keystone XL project has been under development for three years. It has already met environmental standards. America already has about 55,000 miles of safe and reliable oil pipeline. Even the Sierra Club admitted that transporting oil by pipeline is safer than using trains or ships.

The Sierra Club, in fact, is putting forth an argument that rings familiar and is as empty today as it was 40 years ago. The group argues that building the infrastructure will only encourage and prolong American dependence on oil, suggesting that by not supporting oil infrastructure, America will be forced to turn away from it and pressed to find successful alternatives. For those with long memories, especially in California, this thinking echoes the anti-freeway construction advocates of the 1970s � if new freeways encourage development and population expansion and the objective is to curb growth (at least for the anti-growthers of the time), then let�s not build freeways. Did not building the I-105 freeway stop Southern California growth? Hardly. California�s population nearly doubled to 37.6 million by mid-2011 from 19.95 million in 1970. And the I-105 eventually was built. The point is, the argument is all but empty. America is not likely to stop using oil anytime soon, and energy innovation will come whether or not the pipeline is built. Demand in world energy markets is intensifying and widespread �green sentiment� on left and right will push for it.

In President Obama�s State of the Union speech, when he spoke of building the �new energy future� he envisions for America, he fondly recalled that America built the Hoover Dam and Golden Gate Bridge during the Great Depression. For anyone familiar with the Keystone XL debacle, it was the laugh-out-loud moment of the night. As if Obama�s bloated, fantastically expensive, hyper-regulatory government could ever shake off its paralysis long enough to approve of such mighty projects, let alone complete them, in the four or five years it took to build those Depression-era wonders!