The Solyndra Fraud

The Solyndra debacle is not just Obama-style crony socialism as usual. It is a criminal fraud. That is the theory that would be guiding any competent prosecutor’s office in the investigation of a scheme that cost victims — in this case, American taxpayers — a fortune.

Fraud against the United States is one of the most serious felony offenses in the federal penal law. It is even more serious than another apparent Solyndra violation that has captured congressional attention: the Obama administration’s flouting of a statute designed to protect taxpayers.

Homing in on one of the several shocking aspects of the Solyndra scandal, lawmakers noted that, a few months before the “clean energy” enterprise went belly-up last week, the Obama Energy Department signed off on a sweetheart deal. In the event of bankruptcy — the destination to which it was screamingly obvious Solyndra was headed despite the president’s injection of $535 million in federal loans — the cozily connected private investors would be given priority over American taxpayers. In other words, when the busted company’s assets were sold off, Obama pals would recoup some of their losses, while you would be left holding the half-billion-dollar bag.

Excellent article, read the whole thing.

Quote of the Day

Henry Waxman comenting on the shellacking in NY-9:

"There are Jews who are trending toward the Republican Party, some of it because of their misunderstanding of Obama’s policies in the Middle East, and some of it, quite frankly, for economic reasons. They feel they want to protect their wealth, which is why a lot of well-off voters vote for Republicans.”

Eric the Red at VM: The constituents of NY-9 may want to protect their wealth -- but in the same way that a mugging victim wants to protect his.

Well said young man.

Nobel Prize-Winning Physicist Who Endorsed Obama Dissents! Resigns Over Global Warming.

Nobel prize winner for physics in 1973 Dr. Ivar Giaever resigned as a Fellow from the American Physical Society (APS) on September 13, 2011 in disgust over the group's promotion of man-made global warming fears. Climate Depot has obtained the exclusive email Giaever sent titled "I resign from APS" to APS Executive Officer Kate Kirby to announce his formal resignation.

Dr. Giaever wrote to Kirby of APS: “Thank you for your letter inquiring about my membership. I did not renew it because I cannot live with the (APS) statement below (on global warming): APS: 'The evidence is incontrovertible: Global warming is occurring. If no mitigating actions are taken, significant disruptions in the Earth's physical and ecological systems, social systems, security and human health are likely to occur. We must reduce emissions of greenhouse gases beginning now.'

This guy won a Nobel Prize when that actually meant something.

Jobless Claims, Inflation Rise, Manufacturing Gets Weaker

More great news from Obamaville.

Applications for unemployment benefits continued to rise in the past week, while inflation pushed higher and a key manufacturing index weakened.

The weekly jobless claims number, which is closely watched as an indicator for employment trends, unexpectedly rose 11,000 to 428,000, well ahead of estimates of 411,000.

The consumer price index, meanwhile, gained 0.4 percent when including volatile food and energy prices, after an increase of 0.5 percent in July. The so-called core CPI, though, gained 0.2 percent, which was in line with expectations.

Election Results For NY-9 from 1980 until 2010

Earlier today Debbie-Wasserman-Schultz stated straight faced:

“It’s (NY-9) a very difficult district for Democrats, its Democratic margins there tend to be the second lowest of all the districts in New York City."

Here's a breakdown of the last 16 elections:

1980 Geraldine Ferraro wins over Republican opposition by 65% to 35%.

1982: Geraldine Ferraro wins over Republican opposition 79% to 21%.

1984: Thomas Manton wins over Republican opposition 57% to 43%.

1986: Thomas Manton wins over Republican opposition 74% to 26%.

1988: Thomas Manton wins with no Republican opposition, 100% to 0%.

1990: Thomas Manton wins over Republican opposition 72.5% to 27.5%.

1992: Chuck Schumer wins with no Republican opposition, 100% to 0%

1994: Chuck Schumer wins over Republican opposition 75% to 25%.

1996: Chuck Schumer wins over Republican opposition 79% to 21%.

1998: Anthony Weiner wins over Republican opposition 73% to 27%.

2000: Anthony Weiner wins over Republican opposition 70% to 30%.

2002: Anthony Weiner wins over Republican opposition 67% to 33%.

2004: Anthony Weiner wins over Republican opposition 73% to 27%.

2006: Anthony Weiner wins with no Republican opposition, 100% to 0%.

2008: Anthony Weiner wins with no Republican opposition, 100% to 0%.

2010: Anthony Weiner wins over Republican opposition (Bob Turner), 64% to 36% (HT Recovering_Democrat at FR).

That's an average of 78D to 22R.

Her statement was beyond ludicrous. If every other Congessional District in the country would show the sea change toward Republicans that this election exhibited, The Dems will lose another 150 seats in 12.

Republicans Take the Day

Will be fun to watch the Dems try to spin this for the next few days.

With the outcome of his own reelection effort 14 difficult months away, President Obama suffered a sharp rebuke Tuesday when voters in New York elected a conservative Republican to represent a Democratic district that has not been in GOP hands since the 1920s.

Bob Turner, the winner, cast the election as a referendum on Obama’s stewardship of the economy and, in the state’s Ninth Congressional District, which has a large population of Orthodox Jewish voters, the president’s position on Israel.[snip]

The defeat came as Republicans trounced Democrats in another special House election Tuesday, in northern Nevada, where Republican Mark Amodei led Democrat Kate Marshall, 56 percent to 39 percent almost from the start.

In both contests, the GOP pulled ahead by linking the Democratic candidate to Obama and his handling of the economy. Both Republican contenders urged voters to “send a message” to the president.

Obama's Spending Plan: $250,000 Per Job

Typical result of Obama's twisted thinking.

For those eager to put some math to the rhetoric coming from the White House over the president's jobs creation plan, and that should be everyone, here is a quick and dirty estimate based on the numbers being thrown around of a 2 percent GDP increase in year 1 and 1.9 million jobs created or saved...most saved, as in those you can't really quantify. Said otherwise, roughly a $300 billion increase in GDP yields 1.9 million jobs. So far so good.

Now since the president is proposing to pay for the program over 10 years, let's assume the $475 billion in direct expenses is financed for 10 years at 2.5 percent which adds roughly $120 billion to the total cost of the program. In other words, as the calculations detailed and show below elaborate, the overall AJA plan will cost $250,000 per job created (excluding the interest expense) and $312,500 per union job created (including interest). And that's how much it costs for Obama to purchase one vote...created or saved. Keynesian efficiency strikes like a Swiss watch yet again.

So that's $250,000 per job, before interest expense.

Pic of the Day

One believes IN the Almighty, the other believes he IS the Almighty.

Gore Tries a Pi$$ Poor Imitaion of Jerry Lewis

The difference is this, a real tradegy and a totally created one.

Reuters) - Former Vice President Al Gore will renew his 30-year campaign to convince skeptics of the link between climate change and extreme weather events this week in a 24-hour global multi-media event.

"24 Hours of Reality" will broadcast a presentation by Al Gore every hour for 24 hours across 24 different time zones from Wednesday to Thursday, with the aim of convincing climate change deniers and driving action against global warming among households, schools and businesses.

The campaign also asks people to hand over control of their social networking accounts on Facebook and Twitter to it for 24 hours to deliver Gore's message.

Never Forget

Bank of America retrenches, plans to cut 40,000 jobs

Wonder how the Labor Dept. will keep this off the books.

Bank of America is preparing to slash 40,000 or more jobs nationwide, a dramatic retrenchment that reflects the deepening woes of the country’s largest bank and the magnitude of the U.S. economic slowdown.

The layoffs will come mainly from the Bank of America’s sprawling consumer-banking operations. The bank’s workforce numbers nearly 300,000.

The details of the cutbacks were not officially announced, but the information was disclosed by three Bank of America executives who have been briefed on the plan but were not authorized to speak publicly. Brian Moynihan, Bank of America’s beleaguered chief executive, is expected to unveil details at an investor conference Monday in New York.

800,000 Years of Abrupt Climate Variability: Earth's Climate Is Capable of Very Rapid Transitions

Who would have imagined that coal fired electric plants heating caves and Neanderthals driving SUV's was the problem all along.

An international team of scientists, led by Dr Stephen Barker of Cardiff University, has produced a prediction of what climate records from Greenland might look like over the last 800,000 years.

Drill cores taken from Greenland's vast ice sheets provided the first clue that Earth's climate is capable of very rapid transitions and have led to vigorous scientific investigation into the possible causes of abrupt climate change.

Such evidence comes from the accumulation of layers of ancient snow, which compact to form the ice-sheets we see today. Each layer of ice can reveal past temperatures and even evidence for the timing and magnitude of distant storms or volcanic eruptions. By drilling cores in the ice scientists have reconstructed an incredible record of past climates. Until now such temperature records from Greenland have covered only the last 100,000 years or so.

Longshoremen storm Longview port, hold security guards hostage

The spirit of Hoffa Jr.

LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) — Hundreds of Longshore workers stormed the Port of Longview early Thursday, overpowered and held security guards, damaged railroad cars, and dumped grain that is the center of a labor dispute, said Longview Police Chief Jim Duscha.

Six guards were detained for a couple of hours after 500 or more Longshoremen broke down gates about 4:30 a.m. and smashed windows in the guard shack, he said.

No one was hurt, and nobody has been arrested. Most of the protesters returned to their union hall after cutting brake lines and spilling grain from car at the EGT terminal, Duscha said.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union believes it has the right to work at the facility, but the company has hired a contractor that's staffing a workforce of other union laborers.

So even union isn't good enough, it's got to be MY union. Entitlement thugs.

Real Wages Decline Again

Obama, the gift that's just keeps giving.

Real wages are falling sharply, pinching Americans' buying power and raising the risks for a fragile economy and President Obama's re-election hopes.

With more than 4 unemployed workers available for every job opening, pressure on wages has been intense.

Inflation-adjusted weekly earnings have fallen significantly in recent months, likely falling more than 1.5% vs. a year earlier in August. That would be the biggest drop since the height of the financial crisis in late 2008.

Real disposable income per capita — seen by some researchers as the most important factor in people's well-being and voting patterns — has leveled off well below pre-recession levels and may be rolling over.

Pelosi Peeved Republicans Opt Out of Rebuttal to Obama Speech

Now this is funny...

Republicans have decided they're not going to give a rebuttal to President Obama's jobs speech later this week, a decision House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi took as a high affront to the White House.

At least three GOP lawmakers also have announced they're not going to show up for the presidential address. House Speaker John Boehner's office then confirmed Tuesday evening that nobody from the party would deliver an official televised response.

Pelosi said the party's "silence" would "speak volumes about their lack of commitment to creating jobs."

"The Republicans' refusal to respond to the president's proposal on jobs is not only disrespectful to him, but to the American people," Pelosi said.

Former US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates: Israel an ungrateful ally

They would be a good deal more grateful if Obama would act like and ally.

Former US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates blasted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that his policies were ungrateful towards the US and were isolating Israel on a global level.

Gates’ harsh words were said during a meeting of the National Security Council Principals Committee, Bloomberg’s Jeffrey Goldber reported Tuesday.

Gates believes Netanyahu’s government has offered the Obama administration “nothing in return” for its generous security aid, which includes access to top-quality weapons, assistance in developing missile-defense systems and high-level intelligence sharing.

The former defense secretary said that not only is Netanyahu ungrateful, but his polices were “endangering his country by refusing to grapple with Israel’s growing isolation and with the demographic challenges it faces if it keeps control of the West Bank.”

Happy Labor Day

U.S. Debt Held by Public Tops $10T for 1st Time

Another dubious milestone for Captain O)

(CNSNews.com) - At the close of business on Aug. 31--for the first time in the history of the country--the publicly held debt of the federal government topped $10 trillion, according to data released by the U.S. Treasury Department at 4:00 p.m. yesterday.

During Obama's presidency, debt held by the public has now increased by $3.71694 trillion--or almost 59 percent from the $6.3073 trillion in debt held by the public that the government owed to its creditors on Jan. 20, 2009, when Obama was inaugurated.

US productivity falls in spring, labor costs rise

More good news from Obamaville.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Worker productivity in the United States fell this spring more quickly than previously estimated while labor costs were rising at a faster clip. Both developments could pose threats to a fragile economic recovery.

The U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday that productivity declined at an annual rate of 0.7 percent in the April-June period, a bigger drop than the 0.3 percent decline reported a month ago. Labor costs rose at an annual rate of 3.3 percent, faster than the 2.4 percent increase originally reported.

Thursday Funny