Saturday, April 30, 2011

Even Bernanke takes S&P downgrade of US seriously

.
4/28/11, "Ben Bernanke goes on record to warn US deficit 'not sustainable'," Guardian UK, D. Rushe

"Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke used his historic first conference to warn that the US deficit is "not sustainable" and tell political leaders they must address it "as quickly and effectively as they can".

Speaking at what was the first ever press conference on interest rate policy to be given by a Fed chairman, Bernanke confirmed that the US will keep interest rates low and continue its huge programme of buying back government bonds in order to keep the fragile economic recovery on track....

But Bernanke seemed more concerned about the size of the US deficit. Last week credit rating agency Standard & Poor's threatened to cut the US's top-tier credit rating. Asked about S&P's move, Bernanke said: I'm hopeful this event will provide one more incentive for Congress and the political leaders to take action ... it's the most important economic problem in the long term that the US faces," said Bernanke. If the S&P's warning "goads" action by political leaders, he said, "that's constructive"."...

-------------------------------------------

Taxing every millionaire 100% of his income will not come close to curing the deficit. Drastic reduction in spending including all related ObamaCare billions now being spent is the only solution. Elected Republicans are mostly dying to raise the debt ceiling. Pleasing Obama is their first priority.


via MichaelSavage.com

Google News promotes 'Donald Trump racist' in search

.
I just went to google news to look up something about Donald Trump. I typed in the following (at 6:05am ET):

"Don"

That's all I typed. The first thing google news listed was
  • "Donald Trump racist"
  • Not even just 'Donald Trump'.
Isn't google so fair and wonderful? This just means google is most scared of Mr. Trump.

.

CNN omitted black Tea Partiers from documentary of 40 rallies. Is CNN biased toward whites or just racist?

.
CNN Tea Party documentary failed to include any black Tea Partiers who were there during filming of 40 rallies.

4/30/11, "Time to Pull The Cloak of Invisibility Off Of Black Conservatives," American Thinker, Lloyd Marcus

"CNN traveled with us on Tea Party Express, to approximately 40 rallies nationwide. I, a black conservative, opened each rally singing my "American Tea Party Anthem". And yet, not I nor any of the other blacks on our team were seen in the CNN documentary; thus, causing viewers to conclude
  • the Tea Party Movement is a "white thing."
For the most part, the liberal media ignores black conservatives. And when they do interview one of us, it is from a, "Can you believe this stupid Uncle Tom," point of view.

Unfortunately, conservative media and most tea party organizers do not seem to grasp the strategic wisdom in featuring and supporting black conservatives.

Brothers and sisters, the Left is exploiting Obama's skin color for everything it is worth. Their guy in the indestructible black coat of armor is making all of their liberal dreams come true; usurping more power than any "white" president could imagine
  • in his wildest dreams.
You can't say "no" to Obama. He's black! All opposition is racist. Folks, the left is fighting to win, working the "black thing" to the hilt. We cannot afford to leave our
  • black weapons of mass influence on the sidelines.
Our economy is an unprecedented disaster. Pundits are saying under "normal conditions" the president would be fired. However, they believe Obama will be re-elected. "Normal conditions" means the president would be white. In other words, pundits believe Obama's black skin is the ultimate trump card deflating all opposition
  • to his systematic destruction of America.
Patriots, a second Obama term is the end of America as we know it.

Meanwhile, black conservatives are giving it their all, tirelessly fighting to defeat Obama; for the most part,
  • in anonymity.
We have many great black conservatives on our side. They should be featured front and center at our rallies, TV shows, radio shows and etc; not for the sake of black conservatives, but in defense of our Tea Party Movement.

Here's how a black radio talk show host began his interview with me, "If they (meaning white tea partiers) want to attract black people, the least credible thing they could do is to stick a black guy out front wearing a cowboy hat (meaning me)."

I wanted to say, "Screw you and end the interview". But, a still small voice in my brain said,

"Hang in the there". I boldly espoused conservative principles. His scheduled 10 minute radio interview with me went for 30 minutes. Remarkably, every caller into the program agreed with me. Praise God! Folks, we have got to take our message to the black community.

Also, funding should be targeted to take our Tea Party message to the black community. Seasoned politicians say nothing gets votes like going to the people; knocking on doors and showing up at community events.

Obama and his minions including the liberal media continue to lie about the intentions of the tea party. In a soon to be released book, Obama says the tea party is motivated by race. It's time we go to the black community and tell our side of the story, the truth. Let black America know the tea party has nothing to do with race and everything to do with preserving our freedom, liberty and culture.

I am trying to launch a mini tour to black colleges titled, "Reach Your Dreams". The message of my rallies targeted to black youths is, "The best route to reaching your dreams is conservatism." The rallies will feature mostly black conservative speakers including a few black conservative rappers.
  • I will emcee, speak and sing. I need sponsorship.
Two of my buddies, Joe the Plumber and Kevin Jackson have launched their tour designed to deal with the "race" issue. Please support them folks financially and with your presence at their events. Again, not for them, but for America. Black conservatives should be flying all over the country speaking, performing and singing at tea party events.

Patriots, please do not think I am whining or asking you to feel sorry for black conservatives. Heaven forbid, I am not. All I am saying is the Left is exploiting Obama's race "big time", destroying America, while aggressively pounding the drum more than ever that the Tea Party is racist. Meanwhile, we have powerful black resources
  • not being maximized.
Black Conservatives are valiantly fighting along side our fellow white patriots in the Tea Party Movement. It is time to rip away the cloak of invisibility."


.

5 facts that mean the end of any nation

.

5 simple facts that result in the end of a nation

4/30/11, From unknown author, Free Republic comment in discussion of article, "Donald Trump in Vegas: 'Our Leaders Are Stupid' (multiple F-bombs dropped)
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=13484380 ^", 1:46:58am

"1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity, by
legislating the wealth out of prosperity.

2. What one person receives without working for,
another person must work for without receiving.

3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that
the government does not first take from somebody else.

4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not
have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work, because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end

  • of any nation."

.

Dick Armey an establishment GOP guy now trying Tea Party hijack saying fellow embed Mitch Daniels would be perfect "for us"

.
Exactly on GOP establishment script, Armey also says Michelle Bachmann "could stand to "mature a little bit" before seeking higher office.""...Real Tea Party people love Michelle Bachmann. Armey doing what many knew all along he'd do, attempt to hijack the Tea Party for the GOP establishment. He may not succeed, TP's have seen it before.

4/29/11, "Tea Party's Armey on 2012: Daniels would be 'perfect pick for us'," The Hill, Michael O'Brien

"Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) would be the "perfect pick" for the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, said Tea Party figurehead and former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas).

Armey, in a video posted Friday to the website of the conservative magazine Newsmax, effused praise for Daniels and expressed a preference for one of the other former governors expected to join the race as a possible alternative.

"I think Mitch Daniels would be the perfect pick for us; he's exactly the man with the proven record that we're looking for," Armey said. "He has no need for sensation, but he knows how to get focused on the work and get it done."

  • If not Daniels, Armey said, one of the other governors should get the nod.

Armey expressed disappointment that Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) passed on a run this week. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) have each formed exploratory committees, while former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) each are mulling a campaign.

"I do think we have to look to the governors," he said. "But once again, the experience of the governors that have really grappled with budgets and dealt with them — right now I think is what we're looking for."

Armey could be an influential voice during the campaign for the Tea Party; his organization, FreedomWorks, has served as one of the largest organizational resources

  • for a number of Tea Party groups.

The former GOP leader did say he didn't expect Palin to ultimately pursue a presidential campaign this cycle, and said that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who's flirting with running, could stand to "mature a little bit"

  • before seeking higher office."...
=================================
Comments to The Hill
=================================

"Daniels is "Huckabee Lite"

BEWARE: Proceed at your own risk!

BY Tea-Party-Guy on 04/29/2011 at 18:12
=================================

I haven't seen anything in Daniels so far that inspires Tea Party vigor yet, perhaps that will change. Sounds more like Armey trying to push the conventional candidate the GOP annoints every 4 years. I like a Rubio/West ticket for '12.

BY Darby on 04/29/2011 at 19:22

==================================

Good Grief does Armey want to see a second term for Obama. Mitch is boring and can not stand..My vote will go to Sarah Palin.

BY
Saber on 04/29/2011 at 22:53

======================================
Memo to Armey…STFU, you don't represent my Tea Party…

BY
Mike the Mook on 04/29/2011 at 23:46

----------------------------------------------------

The GOP doesn't care about this country and would be happy to see Obama re-elected. That we know. They care deeply about running the milk toast candidate of their choice and not letting the people have the person they need. In this case, Donald Trump. ed.


via WZ

California gets 66c tax per gallon of gas, combined local, state and fed. You too can be robbed blind in return for being sophisticated

.


API map as of Jan. 2011 (Amer. Petroleum Institute)

"The map above from API shows gasoline taxes by state (combined local, state and federal), which range from a low of 26.4 cents per gallon in Alaska to a high of of 66.1 cents per gallon in California, averaging 48.1 cents per gallon across all states. " Exxon says it gets 2 cents a gallon which is interesting but moreso is the fact that states are making way too much on gas.

4/27/22, "Gasoline Taxes Vs. Exxon Profit, Per Gallon," dailymarkets.com, Mark Perry


via Atlas Shrugs

Friday, April 29, 2011

Black Chamber of Commerce CEO Harry Alford regrets voting for Obama, Obama told him, 'I'm going to destroy you'

.


Harry Alford is CEO of Black Chamber of Commerce, appeared on Laura Ingraham's radio show Friday, April 29, voted for Obama in 2008 but says he regrets it and is alarmed by Obama's actions.

2:07, Obama is against Alford's group and formed a Black Chamber of Commerce within the White House to compete with him. Alford says he is now suing Obama's group over name infringement.

3:17, Obama said to Alford, "I'm going to destroy you." Alford said it's not happening, I'm going to war against him.

4:45, My wife tells me not to say this, but to me Obama sounds Marxist.

4:59, "I voted for him because he was black." It's a mistake I'll live with for the rest of my life.

5:30, Obama said in San Francisco that he wants gas to go to $5 or $6 dollars a gallon. He's smiling about it.

6:00, "I love this country. He's dangerous." He's wrecking this country.

7:05, "His Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan ruined the Chicago School system," so now Obama hires him.

(Laura Ingraham comments, that's interesting because "Jeb Bush thinks very highly of Arne Duncan." )

8:41, "Obama will get only 30-35% of black vote next time." (Ingraham expresses surprise).

9:03, "Obama's mortgage modification program only has a 7% success rate."

9:15 (or shortly after), Alford says he's an Independent, not a democrat, and voted for George Bush twice. He is also on the board of the US Chamber of Commerce.

12:59, "Al Sharpton is Obama's puppet. Obama gave Sharpton's group $1 million to fight off Jesse Jackson."

14:34, "This (Obama) group is fanatical. They might as well put on brown shirts.
  • I'm fearful for my nation."


via Breitbart TV

Tea Party.net is actually connected with CPAC, whose abject failure is one of the reasons the real Tea Party was born

.
A banner ad mentioned the Tea Party, the fine print said sponsored by a group called "Stop this Insanity." It's 'home' link led to a website called TheTeaParty.net. It looked too overly produced to be connected to real Tea Party people. It turns out it's a big supporter of CPAC, and David Keene's wife is their 'representative' in Washington DC. Meaning it's run by establishment GOP hacks.

David Keene being the longtime head of CPAC who is now head of the NRA. CPAC's best efforts gave us Obama. I read they plan to re-orient Tea Party people to ACU regional groups, since ACU knows best how to do things. Right. These phonies still don't get it.

Just another group trying to co-opt the Tea Party:

4/5/11, "Evidence mounts TheTeaParty.net is a FAKE," conservative outlooks blog

--------------------------------------------------





.

Trump leads in national GOP primary poll-Rasmussen

.
4/28/11, "National GOP Primary Poll: Trump 19% Romney 17% Huckabee 15%," Rasmussen

"The survey of 1,000 Likely GOP Primary Voters was conducted on April 26, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. Likely GOP Primary Voters include both Republicans and unaffiliated voters likely to vote in a GOP Primary....

But no matter which of the top current contenders is the GOP nominee, the president earns between 42% and 49% of the vote. This suggests, as is typically the case when an incumbent seeks reelection, that the race is still shaping up as a referendum on the president.
  • Trump leads among male GOP primary voters, while female voters prefer Romney as their first choice.

Similarly, Republican voters favor Trump, but unaffiliated voters who are likely to vote in GOP primaries like Romney best.

Trump is the top choice of likely primary voters who are Tea Party members with 22% support, compared to 16% support among non-members. Romney is the top choice of those who are not members of the grass roots movement....

Huckabee runs strongest among primary voters who are Evangelical Christians with 23% support. Romney leads among other Protestants and is tied with Trump among Catholic voters. Trump has a slight edge among likely primary voters of other faiths.

The nationally-known businessman and reality TV star leads among most income groups, too. He’s also ahead among married voters and those with children in the home."...



via Drudge Report

Will Bob Schieffer call Allen West's hecklers racists? Why not? Why didn't Schieffer ask for Obama's CV on behalf of the American people?

.
At the pinnacle of American journalism, is Schieffer perhaps a little embarrassed? It's customary when interviewing someone for an important chief executive position to ask for his curriculum vitae. It is unthinkable not to do so. Schieffer never asked to see Obama's records or grades on behalf of the American people. Calling out someone like Trump for picking up the slack diverts attention from the real failure-the American media.

4/26/11, Heckler arrested at Allen West Town Hall in Florida



Are the haters prejudiced against a descendant of American slaves as Allen West is? Do they hate him because his masters degree was not from an Ivy League school? Don't liberals believe in
  • tolerance and free speech?
----------------------------------------------



4/27/11, Bob Schieffer said Donald Trump was racist for inquiring what the media and any employer normally ask before hiring a chief executive--please have your academic institutions provide us with your grades, writings, and associations.

Why did Bob Schieffer-as an official watchdog of our democracy- not ask to see Obama's school records when he was running for the job of US chief executive?

Diverting attention to Donald Trump takes the focus off Schieffer's failure.
------------------------------------------------------------

11/22/08, "Halperin at Politico/USC conf.: 'extreme pro-Obama' press bias," Politico, A. Burns

"Media bias was more intense in the 2008 election than in any other national campaign in recent history, Time magazine's Mark Halperin said Friday at the Politico/USC conference on the 2008 election.

"It's the most disgusting failure of people in our business since the Iraq war," Halperin said at a panel of media analysts. "It was extreme bias,

  • extreme pro-Obama coverage.""...
==========================================

4/28/11, "Allen West Demands Soros-Funded ThinkProgress Retract “Inaccurate” Story Claiming Town Hall Questions Were Pre-Screened," Weasel Zippers

A Think Progress commenter called Congressman West
"Bonus from the ThinkProgress comments section.

"




via GWP

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Reuters catching on, instead of 'unexpected' bad numbers they call them 'surprise.' GDP plummets to 1.8, dollar to 3 year low

.
Reuters heart on sleeve about 'expectations'.... latest numbers "could
  • on expectations"...
4/28/11, "Economic growth slows as inflation surges," Reuters

"Another report on Thursday showed a surprise jump in the number of Americans claiming unemployment benefits last week, which could cast a shadow on expectations for a significant pick-up in output in the second quarter.

Growth in gross domestic product (GDP) slowed to a 1.8 percent annual rate after a 3.1 percent fourth-quarter pace, the Commerce Department said. Economists

  • had expected a 2 percent pace....

While a 25,000 rise in claims for state jobless benefits to 429,000 last week hinted at some

  • weakening in the labor market....

Economic growth braked sharply in the first quarter as higher food and gasoline prices dampened consumer spending and sent inflation rising at its fastest pace

  • in 2-1/2 years....

The weak GDP report and the Federal Reserve's stated commitment to a loose monetary policy stance after a two-day meeting on Wednesday

  • drove the dollar to a three-year low against a basket of currencies....

The Fed on Wednesday trimmed its growth estimate for 2011 to between 3.1 and 3.3 percent from a 3.4 to 3.9 percent January projection.

Some economists felt the U.S. central bank's estimates
  • might be a little optimistic...
Growth in the first quarter was curtailed by a sharp pull back in consumer spending, which expanded at a rate of 2.7 percent after a strong 4 percent rise in the fourth quarter.
...
Home building made no contribution, while investment in nonresidential structures
  • since the fourth quarter of 2009."
=====================================
Reuters shows again they're catching on, economy slowed 'more than expected'
  • rather than 'unexpectedly'
4/28/11, "Most Americans say U.S. in recession despite data: poll," Reuters, Gallup Poll, April 20-23

"The government reported on Thursday that U.S. economic growth slowed more than expected to 1.8 percent in the first quarter of the year, as soaring food and gasoline prices
  • drained consumer spending power....
More than half of Americans say the U.S. economy is in a recession or a depression despite official data that show a moderate recovery, according to a poll released on Thursday.

Fifty-seven percent of independent voters -- a crucial segment of the electorate for Obama's re-election bid -- said the economy is
  • in a recession or depression
  • and 24 percent said it is growing."...


via Drudge Report

Tom Brokaw, young people are much less racist than their elders-June 2008

.
6/6/2008, "NBC Anchors Get Choked Up About Obama Nomination," Tom Brokaw on Obama beating Hillary Clinton for the democrat nomination on MSNBC, Gawker.com video

Brokaw: "Younger people especially are much, much more colorblind than their elders are."...

Keith Olbermann comments follow Brokaw's:

Olbermann: "Whether you support Obama or find him utterly unqualified, his presence here is

.

Bill Clinton, 'Obama played the race card on me,' April 2008

.
4/22/2008, "Bill Clinton: Obama Played Race Card On Me," ABC News, Radar blog

"ABC News' Rick Klein Reports: Bill Clinton accused Barack Obama's campaign of "playing the race card on me" and told a Philadelphia radio station that the Obama campaign took his Jesse Jackson comment and
  • "twisted it for political purposes."

And as the interview concluded, Clinton turned to an associate and said, "I don't think I should take any s--t from anybody on that, do you?"

Making a campaign stop and enjoying another interrupted breakfast at Pamela's P&G Diner Tuesday morning in downtown Pittsburgh, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was asked to respond to Clinton.

The Democratic nomination frontrunner seemed confused by the comments.

"So, former President Clinton dismissed my victory in South Carolina as being similar to Jesse Jackson and he is suggesting that somehow I had something to do with it," Obama said laughing, "Ok, well, you better ask him what he meant by that. I have no idea what he meant. These are words that came out of his mouth, not out of mine."

Watch the VIDEO HERE.

And at President Clinton's first polling stop in Pittsburgh, he too appeared unwilling to discuss the incident.

"No, no, no, that's not what I said," Clinton told a reporter who asked about the radio comments, "You always follow me around and play these little games. And I am not going to play your games today. This is a day about election day, go back and see what the question was and what my answer was. You have mischaracterized it just to get a another cheap story to divert the American people from the real urgent issues before us, and I choose not to play your game today." Watch the VIDEO HERE.

Clinton was talking to station WHYY about the fallout over his comparison of Obama's South Carolina primary victory with the support of black Democrats to Jesse Jackson's primary wins. Those comments were portrayed by critics
  • as an attempt to highlight Obama's race.
The former president fumed on Monday that it was Obama's campaign that injected the race issue.

"I think that they played the race card on me. And we now know, from memos from the campaign and everything that they planned to do it all along," Bill Clinton said in a telephone interview with WHYY's Susan Phillips. "I was stating a fact, and it's still a fact."

The former president says the comment was "used out of context and twisted for political purposes by the Obama camapign."Clinton goes on to say that "you have to really go some place to play the race card on me." He lists a number of his accomplishments on behalf of African Americans, inexplicably
  • putting the fact that he has "an office in Harlem" at the top of the list.
Clinton's outburst began when Phillips asked the President how he feels about one Philadelphia official who says she switched her support after interpreting Clinton's remarks in South Carolina as an attempt to marginalize
  • Obama as "the black candidate."
Clearly, Clinton seems frustrated by the question or the suggestion by anyone - either the reporter or the Philadelphia official whom she quoted - that he was somehow making a negative statement about Obama (or Jesse Jackson) based on their race.

His frustration comes through towards the end of the recording when, apparently unaware that he was still on the line, Clinton asks whoever is with him, "I don't think I should take any s--t from anybody on that, do you?" Listen to Clinton on WHYY by clicking here."

-----------------------------------------

8/5/08, "Race-card flap reopens Clinton camp wounds," Politico, Ben Smith

------------------------------------------

4/27/2011, "Trump: Obama has played, still playing 'race card'," Union Leader, J. Distaso




.

Tea Party group helps save Florida residents from $375 million yearly electric surcharge to profit wealthy Florida P&L investors

.
"But FPL (Florida Power & Light) was adamant it wanted a bill that allowed it to control the renewables market. It hired 32 lobbyists, seeded the Senate president and House speaker’s political funds with hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions, and donated more than $4 million to legislators, the governor, and the political parties in the last two years."...

Florida residents get lucky, dodge $375 million yearly electric rate increase to benefit electric company investors. Energy policy and temporary job programs are separate issues and should not be sold as a package. Florida P &L and 'green guilt.' (2008)

4/26/11, "Legislators again reject renewable energy plan," Miami Herald, Mary Ellen Klas

"Solar and biomass energy companies mourned the loss of a sure job development opportunity Tuesday as the state Senate’s budget chief put a spear through a bill to spur renewable energy in Florida.

“I’d pronounce that one dead,’’ said Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee after he indefinitely postponed a bill that would have allowed Florida’s largest electric companies to raise electric rates as much as

"I think it’s a terrible idea,’’ said Alexander, a citrus grower. "I can’t believe we’d ask Florida to pay $1 billion in additional assessments with zero regulatory oversight. I think that’s fundamentally not right.”

This is the third year the bill has been the priority of Florida Power & Light, and it is the third time the bill has died. The only thing new this year is that the Koch brothers-backed Americans For Prosperity joined in the chorus of opponents to argue against the bill.

The conservative tea party group opposed the bill because the rate increase was “a direct hit on the wallets of every Floridian,’’ but renewable energy companies disliked it because they saw it as a handout to the state’s electric monopolies. They tried but failed to get House and Senate leaders to expand the bill to allow generators of rooftop solar power or biomass plants to generate and sell energy alongside the utilities.

  • More than 30 bills attempting to develop a commercial market for renewable energy in Florida were proposed this session, but
  • only the FPL-backed bill got a hearing.

“What the Florida Legislature failed to realize is they have a readily available workforce – of construction workers, engineers and developers – that could be put to work in the solar industry if there were some incentives,’’ said Alex Rivera, president of Vanguard Energy Partners, a solar rooftop installer based in Stuart who does most of his business in New Jersey.

Unlike Florida, New Jersey offers individuals and businesses financial incentives to recover the full cost of installing rooftop solar panels over five years. Since 2001, 8,950 individuals and businesses have installed solar units and the market is booming, he said."...

  • (Assuming this is so, New Jersey is broke and was put into some bad 'climate' related deals. Since they are broke, it is unlikely such deals will continue. ed.)

(continuing, Miami Herald): "Consumers save electricity, electric companies offset the need to construct new power plants, and the environment is spared emissions from fossil fuels, Rivera said. “Why would Florida not want to take advantage of one of the fastest growing industries in the nation?’’"...

  • (If it is a "fastest growing industry" it's because politicians transfer massive amounts of 'no strings' taxpayer dollars to crony companies some of whom end up blowing all the money and leaving town. ed.)

(continuing, Miami Herald): "But FPL was adamant it wanted a bill that allowed it to control the renewables market. It hired 32 lobbyists, seeded the Senate president and House speaker’s political funds with hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions, and donated more than $4 million to legislators, the governor, and the political parties in the last two years.

The FPL-backed proposal won the support of both the House and Senate energy committees. It would have given the state’s investor-owned electric companies the ability to raise rates to recover the cost of building solar power plants at a time when there is no demand for additional electricity generation. Progress Energy of Florida and Tampa Electric Co. said the effort was not a priority for them. FPL hoped to expand on their already growing solar energy market, and provide solar generation for the first green city on Babcock Ranch. FPL customers using 1,200 kilowatt hours a month would have paid an average of an additional $2.40 a month.

Alexander said he disliked the fact that the electric companies could build expensive solar plants, recover the cost and make a profit by producing little electricity.

  • “You’re making a guaranteed profit without overloading the capacity on the grid,’’ he said. “It’s a pretty sweet deal.”

But it wasn’t a deal Alexander was willing to accept, so he indefinitely postponed the bill.

John Kimball, owner of Sun Electronics, a solar panel installation company in Miami, said that by failing to find a way to piggyback on the federal program that gives rebates of 30 percent of the cost of installing solar panels, Florida missed out on “creating a lot more jobs.’’

The cost of solar panels has dropped dramatically in the last few years, he said. But people respond to the financial incentives and now he sells most of his products outside of Florida and in other countries.

Rivera of Stuart agreed. “It’s too bad,’’ he said, “because we could have put a lot of people back to work.’’"

(Energy policy is entirely different from temporary jobs programs and should never be combined. See quote below. ed.)

-----------------------------------------------------

1/28/11, "Loss Of Solar Jobs Has Mass. Rethinking State Aid," NPR, Tovia Smith

"Harvard's Glaeser says it would be a big mistake to measure the state's energy policy

  • by how it works as a jobs program.

"We need good energy policy," he says. "But the point of that policy should not be to maximize the number of employees. If we try to do energy and jobs together, I think we get

  • neither a good energy program nor a good jobs program."...

"He says government should not be in the business of playing venture capitalist in the first place."...

---------------------------------------

1/14/11, "Massachusetts solar plant to close after 2 years," American Thinker, Ethel C. Fenig

--------------------------------------------

3/27/11, "North Jersey towns object to solar panels," Bergen Record, O'Neill and Superville

"A $515 million program"...

"PSE&G customers are billed 10 cents a month to help fund the solar panel project, which also receives federal tax credits and state energy credits earned by producing solar power."...

--------------------------------------------

4/8/11, "Global Warming Alarmism's Long March through State and Local Institutions," American Thinker, Peter Wilson

------------------------------------------

1/22/11, "What hath the greenies wrought?" American Thinker, Ed Lasky

----------------------------------

7/30/2008, "Green Guilt," Capital Research Center, E. Heidenreich

"On Tuesday, state regulators shut down the Sunshine Energy Program which allowed Florida Power & Light ratepayers to contribute to the utility’s investments in renewable energy. Regulators found that, at best, 24% of the $9.75 each customer voluntarily added to his or her bill was actually invested in renewable energy. Commissioner Nathan Skop concludes that about $9 MILLION went “into a black hole where there is no transparency."...

-------------------------------------------------------

(I lived in Central Florida for a few years recently and observed electric companies already charge inflated prices. Many people in Florida are poor and can't afford the bills which can easily cost more than a month's rent. ed.)



via Tom Nelson

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Donald Trump in New Hampshire

.


Top, Trump meets Portsmouth, New Hampshire residents, 4/27/11.
Bottom, 'Trump Save America' t-shirt at South Florida Tea Party gathering,
April 16, 2011. both Reuters


.

Firefighters union to devote federal dollars to fight Alabama taxpayers who simply wish union members to pay dues on their own

.
Firefighters union diverting federal political campaign dollars to fight taxpayers of the state of Alabama who merely want union members to pay dues themselves rather than having them automatically deducted from paychecks.

4/26/11, "Firefighters' union money goes local," Politico, Jeanne Cummings

"“It’s time to send a clear message to all politicians at every level that the support of this IAFF is not automatic. It must be earned,” he (Firefighters union President Schaitberger) said in the memo to members.

“Our support comes with consequences for those who are working to kill this union and we will

  • hold accountable those supposed friends who don’t stand up for us,” he added.

According to Schaitberger, the money that would have been donated to federal candidates will now be used to underwrite the recall and referendum efforts and a legal fight against

which has become a model for a similar bill in Florida. “We’ll spend as much on the Ohio referendum

------------------------------------------------------

4/11/2011, "Alabama firefighters' union will sue over payroll deduction legislation," mytimeforce.com



.

Della Femina Restaurant closes in East Hampton, legendary owner doesn't want fruits of his labor 're-distributed' by 'hustler' Obama

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Jerry Della Femina is of course also the legendary advertising man. "In the beginning it was a dream.

I would own a restaurant in East Hampton.

It would be a warm, beautiful place with great food and wonderful service.

It would become one of the most popular restaurants in the Hamptons.

It would be a place my entire family— my kids, their spouses, my grandkids and our friends—would enjoy scrumptious feasts where we would all sit and just revel in our love for good food and each other.

Like I said, it was a dream.

But then, it happened.

In 1993 I was part of a group that bought a building at 99 North Main Street.

North Main Street at the time was viewed as being on “the other side of the tracks” compared to the rest of East Hampton.

The building at one time used to house a terrible Chinese restaurant where, at the dingy bar, more drugs were sold than egg rolls.

I decided to build a restaurant on that site.

It was an impetuous snap decision.

That’s the way it is with dreams.

What did I know about running a restaurant? Exactly what I know today, 18 years later: nothing.

But not knowing something is never bad—you can always learn, but thinking you know it all can be fatal.

I sought out and got help from a great restaurateur, Drew Nieporent. Without his help in the early days, we would never have made it.

I worked with a wonderful architect, Frank Greenwald, and together we designed a beautiful restaurant.

A talented artist, the late Kathe Tanous, made caricatures of our guests. Martha Stewart, Howard Stern, Billy Joel and fifty other Hamptons notables and customers went up on our walls.

With the help of Jane Lapin, a magician with flowers, we built a handsome planter outside the restaurant, filled it with fresh flowers, and suddenly North Main Street took on a nifty new look.

So why am I selling one of the most successful restaurants in East Hampton?

In 2008 I watched Barack Obama run over Hillary Clinton to become our President.

From the very first “Yes We Can” and “Change You Can Believe In,” I decided that this country was falling in love with an attractive, great-speechmaking hustler/socialist who, if he got into office, was going to pursue his agenda to destroy the best health care in the world and re-distribute wealth. Yours and mine.

I told my friends that from that moment on everything I owned—my houses, my advertising business, my newspaper and my restaurant—

  • was for sale.

A lot of people have come around to my way of thinking, but there is no way in the world that Barack Obama won’t be reelected in 2012.

If you think that Obama’s plan for over-taxing everyone but the 46 percent who don’t pay any income tax (including his friend Jeffery Immelt and General Electric)

  • will stop after he’s re-elected in 2012, you are naïve.

Why does this so go against my grain?

Maybe it’s because of where I’ve come from to get to where I am.

I’ve been broke, so broke with a wife and kids and no job that I had to borrow money from my parents, who didn’t have it for themselves but always managed to come up with it for me.

I got lucky and worked day and night and built a great advertising agency.

I have employed thousands of people in my lifetime. I’ve been good to them and they have been good to me.

I’m just not ready to have my wealth redistributed. I’m not ready to pay more tax money than the next guy because I provide jobs and because I work a 60-hour week and I earn more than $250,000 a year.

So why am I dropping out? Read a brilliant book by Ayn Rand called Atlas Shrugged, and you’ll know."...


via Atlas Shrugs

Billionaire Mayor Bloomberg wants everyone to support Obama even Republicans running against him, keep that pesky free speech on mute

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Billionaire Mayor Bloomberg happy with Obama, apparently not bothered media gave Obama and Soros a free pass to the Oval Office, says Republicans running in the next election should support him too. Just zone out and let Obama have 4 more years.

4/26/11, "Bloomberg calls for Republicans to 'stand behind' Obama," NY Post, David Seifman

"Even the Republican candidates lining up to topple President Obama next year should be supporting him now
  • for the good of the country, according to Mayor Bloomberg.
"We should be behind this president even if you're a candiate who's going to run against him -- which I am not," Bloomberg said in a taped interview with
Asked for an assessment of Obama's presidency, the mayor took a positive stance.

"I think he has done as good a job as virtually any new president -- first two years. Lots of things he could have, would have and should have," Bloomberg said. "That's always going to be the case.""


https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkdh1ZAEOcnlzlN0jo0wwWGywH6sA9Ha6MsOpBcm2xsTka020meNH4QfmRWaVsEWAPACRfPQIvNPfcDlMKSRIl18NfAM6Otk7oiVkyhoR7jcGwLoXF8ItszMwE-LQBRuyoAKhyphenhyphenk020zaE/s1600/obamabloomberggolfcartvineyardgolfclubEdgartown82710AP.jpg
Bloomberg and Obama in golf cart on Martha's Vineyard, 8/27/10, ap


via Weasel Zippers

Obama Executive Order pending requires companies to list contributions to political groups, but unions and Soros-type groups exempt

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The left can't survive on a level playing field. The legislative and judicial branches having failed to give Obama his way, he seeks by regulation to punish those who disagree with him.
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4/25/11, "WH Working on Executive Order That Critics Say Will Stifle Political Speech," CNS News, Fred Lucas

"In what the White House calls a push for transparency, a pending executive order would require companies doing business with the federal government to disclose political contributions to independent groups, but would not place the same requirement on public employee unions or federal grant recipients that typically donate to Democrats.

Entitled the “Disclosure of Political Spending By Government Contractors,” the order would implement parts of the DISCLOSE Act, which failed to get through Congress last year. The legislation sought to restrict campaign speech after the landmark Citizens United vs. Federal Elections Commission U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the right of corporations and unions to donate to campaigns.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney confirmed Monday that work is underway on the draft order, and linked the move to President Obama’s stated

  • commitment to transparency.

"It's fully acknowledged that there is a process underway; a draft is just that," Carney told CNSNews.com. "It could change as it makes its way through the process. But what the president is committed to is transparency, and he certainly thinks that the American taxpayer should know where his or her money is going. So I -- this is part of the President’s commitment to transparency."

Government contractors are already required to disclose contributions to political candidates. This executive order would require the disclosure of any donations to independent groups, where conservative groups outspent liberal ones in the 2010 election.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the executive order would stifle free speech."...

  • (If Obama can angrily scorn justices of the United States Supreme Court on worldwide television as they sat before him as invited guests, he's not worried about anything Mitch McConnell says. ed )

(continuing, CNS News): "“Democracy is compromised when individuals and small businesses fear reprisal, or expect favor from the federal government as a result of their political associations,” McConnell said in a statement last week, after

  • reports of the draft emerged.

“So recent press reports about an unprecedented draft Executive Order raise troubling concerns about an effort to silence or intimidate political adversaries’ speech through the government contracting system,” he said. “If true, the proposed effort would represent an outrageous and anti-democratic abuse of executive branch authority. No administration should use the federal contracting system for campaign purposes.”

The DISCLOSE Act was pushed by Sen. Charles Schumer (D.-N.Y.), and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). Announcing the bill at a Feb. 11, 2010 press conference, Schumer said that its provisions “will make them [corporations] think twice before spending unlimited sums to influence elections. The deterrent effect should not be underestimated.”

Hans A. von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, was skeptical of Carney’s assertion that the president was

  • merely committed to transparency.

“If transparency is the true goal, why isn’t the proposed executive order covering any outside entity that gets federal money? It only applies to government contractors, not grant recipients like Planned Parenthood,” he told CNSNews.com. “Public employee unions are also

  • exempt from this order.”

Von Spakovsky, who was the first to report the existence of the draft executive order, on Pajamas Media last week, argued that the move would politicize the federal procurement process.

  • He is also troubled by the use of an executive order in this instance.

“This threatens the representational system,” he said. “The president wants to implement through the regulatory process

  • what failed in Congress.”

The draft executive order would require government contractors to disclose:

-- “All contributions or expenditures to or on behalf of federal candidates, parties or party committees made by the bidding entity, its directors or officers, or any affiliates or subsidiaries within its control.”

-- “Any contributions made to third party entities with the intention or reasonable expectation that parties would use those contributions to make independent expenditures or electioneering communications.”

Obama has long railed against the Citizens United ruling. During his 2010 State of the Union speech he launched a verbal offensive against the Supreme Court, prompting a visible response from Justice Samuel Alito, who along with his colleagues were seated just feet from the podium."

Supreme Court Justices at 2010 Obama State of the Union speech, seated a few feet from him. via CNS News, screenshot of network coverage

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Obama is such an angry person it's not surprising he was roughed up as a kid. If it was due to his 'last name' as he says (among other things), it must have been sometime between the Indonesian Islamic Madrassa and the elite private school in Hawaii.

3/10/11, "Obama says he was bullied, knows what kids endure," Washington Times


via Weasel Zippers

US home prices in 'double dip', Washington DC only up market, padded with non-productive government payroll at the expense of private sector hicks

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4/26/11, "Home prices in 'double dip'," CNN, Les Christie

"Home prices in February sank 3.3% to just above the post-crisis lows reached in April 2009. It was the seventh straight month of declines.

Home values are down 32% from their peak set in May of 2006, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index of home prices in 20 cities.

  • "There is very little, if any, good news about housing," said David Blitzer, spokesman for S&P. "Prices continue to weaken, trends in sales and construction are disappointing."

The drop has come in two stages. First, the index recorded 36 months of nearly uninterrupted declines after reaching the spring 2006 peak. Then came a 13-month upswing during which the index recorded a 5% gain.

  • That rebound ended last June.

Since then, the index has recorded losses every month and it has now edged closer to a new low -- the dreaded double-dip. (8 best shrinking places to live)

The index now stands at 139.27, just a whisker above the first low, which came in April of 2009, when the index was at 139.26.

Of the 20 housing markets covered by the index, only Washington recorded a price increase from last year -- 2.7%.

In Phoenix, where prices are off a whopping 56% from their peak, prices fell 8.4% over the past 12 months, more than any other metro area. Minneapolis was close behind with a 8.3% drop and Chicago prices plunged 7.6%.

Price rebound a distant memory

Economists say the initial rebound after the financial crisis was artificially inflated by government initiatives.

  • Lawmakers implemented a tax credit for homebuyers. And the Federal Reserve helped keep mortgage rates low.

Also artificially supporting prices at the time was a decrease in the supply of foreclosed properties. That was the result of government loan modification programs, but many foreclosed properties have again come back to market.

Distressed properties -- bank repossessions and short sales -- now account for more than 30% of sales, and they've been selling at about a 34% discount to conventional sales. ('10 foreclosure hotspots')...

When home prices decline, it can lead to more foreclosures. Price drops force mortgage borrowers underwater. They then owe more on their loan balances than their homes are worth.

  • That, in itself, leads to more foreclosures.

Underwater borrowers have no home equity to tap should they run into financial hot water. Being underwater can also freeze them out potential mortgage refinancings because banks won't approve new loans for homes whose values have dropped below old loan balances.

"That puts more homeowners at risk of foreclosure," said Anthony Sanders, director of Real Estate Entrepreneurship at George Mason University. "Refinance credit has evaporated for many borrowers."

It's a vicious cycle of home price decreases, which cause more foreclosure, which depress prices and so on and on."...

---------------------------------------


via Michael Savage

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Gingrich took $300,000 from ethanol lobby in 2009, says for 'urgent national security' needs

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UPDATE, 1/22/12, Obviously it must be Gingrich over Obama. Pamela Geller describes it best: "He's a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch." Romney was hell bent on losing, would not bend. A carbon copy of McCain who never wanted to win, told us to shut up, that Obama would be fine. Such a person should of course not be a presidential candidate:

1/21/12, "Newt Gingrich Wins. What It Means." Erick Erickson, RedState.com

"Newt Gingrich’s rise has a lot to do with Newt Gingrich’s debate performance. But it has just as much to do with a party base in revolt against its thought and party leaders in Washington, DC. The base is revolting because they swept the GOP back into relevance in Washington just under two years ago and they have been thanked with contempt ever since.

Adding insult to injury, the party
and thought leaders now try to foist on the base a milquetoast moderate from Massachusetts. Newt Gingrich can thank Mitt Romney and more for the second look he is getting. Base hostility will now be exacerbated by Mitt Romney’s backers now undoubtedly making a conscious effort to prop up Rick Santorum to shut down Newt Gingrich."...

----------------------------------------

Thanks to Hannity and Fox News Gingrich makes a living pulling scams on conservatives.

4/25/11, "Newt Gingrich faces questions about consulting job and support for biofuels," iWatch News, John A. Farrell

"“I am not a lobbyist for ethanol,” Newt Gingrich declared in a mid-winter spat with the editors of The Wall Street Journal over his support for government subsidies for alternative fuel.

But Gingrich was a hired consultant to a major ethanol lobbying group—at more than $300,000 a year.

According to IRS records, the ethanol group Growth Energy paid Gingrich’s consulting firm $312,500 in 2009.The former House Speaker was the organization’s top-paid consultant, according to the records. His pay was one of the group’s largest single expenditures, as it took in and spent about $11 million to promote ethanol and to lobby for federal incentives for its use.

In a Growth Energy publication, Gingrich was listed as a consultant who offered advice on “strategy and communication issues” and who “will speak positively on ethanol related topics to media.”

Chris Thorne, a Growth Energy spokesman, said Gingrich was not hired again in 2010. The group was organized by ethanol producers from the Midwest in late 2008, Thorne said. Its members sought Gingrich’s counsel when it started because “they were people who were never involved in DC politics before, and they were looking for someone who knew how to get things done.” The organization’s IRS report for 2010 is not yet available.

Gingrich’s support of ethanol subsidies does not fit well with conservative, free-market theory, said Thomas Schatz, the president of the public interest group Citizens Against Government Waste. And as voters express concerns over the soaring national debt, many in Congress, from both parties, are questioning the value of

  • the $6 billion tax credit.

“At $6 billion, that is real money, even here in Washington,” Schatz told iWatch News.

“Not only is this tax credit expensive and unnecessary, it has produced many unfavorable consequences including higher food prices, lower fuel efficiency and increased incidences of engine damage in motor vehicles,” CAGW says in a report on its website.

Gingrich’s spokesman, Rick Tyler, did not reply to an email or to two voice messages left on his telephone. The former House Speaker, a leading conservative theorist, writer and speechmaker, is currently pondering a run for president.

Gingrich has worked as a booster of alternative fuels, and warned about the dangers of climate change, even as his political committee has continued taking large donations from the fossil fuel industry.

In 2008, Gingrich appeared with then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a public service advertisement about the dangers of global warming.

  • “Our country must take action to address climate change,” Gingrich said, sitting by Pelosi’s side, in an ad produced by former Vice President Al Gore’s organization, the Alliance for Climate Protection.

Ethanol is “very, very important from an environmental standpoint…if you’re concerned about global warming, not supporting ethanol makes absolutely no sense, and if you’re concerned about carbon loading of the atmosphere, supporting ethanol is a major step in the right direction,” Gingrich told a Growth Energy event in January 2009.

  • When conservative critics objected to Gingrich’s alliance with Pelosi and Gore, the former Speaker defended his stand, saying it was sound strategy.

“There is a big difference between left-wing environmentalism that wants higher taxes, bigger government, more bureaucracy, more regulation, more red tape, and more litigation and a Green Conservatism that wants to use science, technology, innovation, entrepreneurs, and prizes to find a way to creatively invent the kind of environmental future we all want to live in,” Gingrich wrote on his blog. “Unless we start making the case for the latter, we're going to get the former. That's why I took part in the ad.”"...

  • (A lie. The entire 'climate' movement rests on the theory that CO2 is a murderous substance, that Americans are mainly to blame for its distribution, and that they must pay billions in reparations to others via the UN. Gingrich does not separate himself from these facts (see 'carbon loading' reference above). We all want a good environment-that is not the issue. ed.)

(continuing, iWatch News): "At the same time, Gingrich’s committee, American Solutions for Winning the Future, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from fossil fuel interests.

Donors connected to Peabody Energy, the world’s largest private coal company, gave $550,000 to the Gingrich committee in the 2010 election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Donors from Arch Coal, the nation’s second-largest coal producer, gave $100,000. The Center includes donations from organizations, subsidiaries and individual employees and their family members in its tallies.

Gingrich’s committee also took in six-figure donations from two interests engaged in oil and gas production, collecting $250,000 from donors connected to Devon Energy and $200,000 from those with ties to Plains Exploration & Production, according to the Center. During the 2008 election cycle, Gingrich and the committee promoted offshore drilling with a campaign entitled, “Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less.” In that cycle, Peabody interests donated $275,000 and Devon donors gave $250,000.

Growth Energy was founded in late 2008 by the world’s top ethanol producer—the South Dakota based POET group—and other fuel companies to promote the use of the alternative fuel. Growth Energy’s membership has grown to include 67 plants, owned by 46 companies, in 22 states.

Former Iowa Rep. Jim Nussle and retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark serve on the Growth Energy Board with POET CEO Jeff Broin, Bruce Rastetter of Hawkeye Energy Holdings, and other prominent figures from the alternative fuels industry.

  • According to the IRS records, Clark was paid $201,623 in 2009, and Nussle $50,000, in consulting fees. Tom Buis, the group’s CEO, earned $399,615.

Growth Energy raised and spent some $11 million in 2009 on public relations, lobbying and promotion, according to its IRS report. It has hired several Washington insiders, including former aides to Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to lobby on Capitol Hill.

Gingrich supported ethanol as Speaker. In March 2009, at a POET event in South Dakota, he boasted that he and Nussle had “helped save ethanol” from those in Congress who wanted to end the federal subsidy for the fuel. In addition to providing advice, and speaking positively to the media, Gingrich has appeared at POET and Growth Energy events in Iowa and the Midwest, promoting the ethanol industry.

It was at another ethanol event, a Renewable Fuels Association summit in Des Moines last January, that Gingrich clashed with the conservative editorial page editors at The Wall Street Journal.

Gingrich deplored America’s reliance on oil imports, and especially oil from the Persian Gulf. The United States has been “utterly foolish as a country to be sending hundreds of billions of dollars overseas to finance people who don’t necessarily like us, some of whom have recently proven they would like to kill us,” Gingrich told the crowd.

He defended the federal tax subsidy as an immediate solution and suggested that a federal mandate should require gasoline stations to offer alternative “flex fuels” to customers.

“Look at all the other things the government mandates,” Gingrich said.

Gingrich also hailed the economic benefits of the ethanol industry in farm states like Iowa. “I would rather have the next building boom in Des Moines than in Dubai,” he told the crowd. He criticized the “big city attacks” and “big urban newspapers” that condemn government ethanol subsidies as wasteful.

The Journal fired back in an editorial that called Gingrich “Professor Cornpone” and accused him of pandering to farmers and ethanol producers.

“Given that Mr. Gingrich aspires to be President, his ethanol lobbying raises larger questions about his convictions and judgment. The Georgian has been campaigning in the tea party age as a fierce critic of spending and government, but his record on that score is, well, mixed,” the newspaper said.”

Gingrich responded with a letter to the editor. “I am not a lobbyist for ethanol, not for anyone,” he wrote. “My support of increased domestic energy production of all forms, including biofuels and domestic drilling, is born out of our urgent national security and economic needs.”"

  • (No different from Obama. ed.)

(continuing, iWatch News): The dust-up between Gingrich and the Journal was representative of the difficulty faced by conservatives over ethanol policy. Free-market doctrine frowns on the idea of government subsidies, but the ethanol mandates and tax breaks are popular in Midwestern battleground states and especially in Iowa, an early caucus state in the presidential nominating process.

“There are politicians who use this politically” even as evidence about ethanol’s poor cost effectiveness undermines the case for subsidies, said Schatz. He noted that Gore recently confessed to the “mistake” of supporting ethanol during his presidential campaign.

Big producers are drawn to the industry by its tax breaks and mandateseven libertarians like the owners of Koch Industries, whose subsidiary Flint Hills Resources purchased four ethanol plants in Iowa in the last year.

“Mandates, subsidies, protective tariffs and over-regulation are neither market-based nor helpful to society in general; however, they are—especially in the case of ethanol—the law,” Koch told its employees in an in-house newsletter in January.

“Because of government mandates, we believe ethanol will be part of the transportation fuels market for years to come,” said Flint Hills president Brad Razook. “We… want to remain competitive. It’s really as simple as that.""...

------------------------------------------

1/25/11, "Newt Gingrich Panders to Corn Belt, Eyes 2012 GOP Bid," OpenMarket.org, Brian McGraw

"It’s depressing that Gingrich, much like Bob Barr and Al Gore, is willing to shed intellectual honesty to win votes. Did Gingrich discuss the idea that “food versus fuel is plain, flat untrue” with his colleague Robert Hahn at AEI? Or his colleague Kenneth Green? Or his colleague Kevin Hassett? Or the thousands of non-partisan academic studies completed on this very subject? I am reminded of a joke told to me by a co-worker, that if the first caucus was in Hawaii we’d all be putting pineapple juice in our tanks."...



via Tom Nelson