Emails Show Energy Dept. Asked Solyndra to Keep Layoffs Quiet Until After 2010 Elections

It’s a special Tuesday edition of a Friday night email dump, and it comes near mid-week because Democrats don’t control the House committee in question.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu is scheduled to appear before a Solyndra inquiry on Thursday, so I’m sure he’ll be asked about this:

The Obama administration urged officers of the struggling solar company Solyndra to postpone announcing planned layoffs until after the November 2010 midterm elections, newly released e-mails show.

Solyndra, the now-shuttered California company, had been a poster child of President Obama’s initiative to invest in clean energies and received the administration’s first energy loan of $535 million. But a year ago, in October 2010, the solar panel manufacturer was quickly running out of money and had warned the Energy Department it would need emergency cash to avoid having to shut down.

The new e-mails about the layoff announcement were released Tuesday morning as part of a House Energy and Commerce committee memo…

As you read content of one of the emails, keep in mind that the 2010 election was on November 2nd:

“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.”

This particular “investor adviser” posessed the kind of lack of inquisitiveness that probably contributed to the excitement level in the VP’s office.

As instructed, Solyndra announced the layoffs and a factory shutdown just after the elections were over. In spite of that, the DoE continued to give Solyndra installments of their taxpayer backed loan.

We all know how the 2010 elections turned out, so not disclosing the layoffs to the public until after the election didn’t exactly save Nancy Pelosi’s gavel.

Update: Rahm Emanuel still doesn’t remember anything about Solyndra… whatever that was.

Doug Powers - michellemalkin.com

The White House Christmas Tree’s Enormous Carbon Footprint

This year most Americans, presuming they’re buying a new tree and not re-using last year’s fake tree, will likely pick out their Christmas tree locally and haul it back to their homes for decoration.

But the White House will have its official Christmas tree hauled all the way across the country from California on a flatbed truck. From the official USDA blog:

The 65-foot white fir from California’s Stanislaus National Forest was harvested and embarked on its journey toward the nation’s capitol on Nov. 5.

While this is the fourth time California will provide the Capitol Christmas Tree, it is the first time that the Forest Service has partnered with a local American Indian tribe to bless the tree. Prior to its harvesting on the Stanislaus, an elder from the Tuolumne Band of Me-wuk Indians blessed the splendid tree and its journey in a private ceremony.

After the blessing, local businesses and arborists teamed up to lift the tree and set it on a double flatbed truck that will eventually deliver it to Washington, D.C. on Nov. 28. But first, the tree started its in-state tour in Sonora, Calif. where it was met with various exhibits, booths and activities. Many attendees signed the tree’s “Christmas card to the nation,” a huge banner that will be hung and displayed on the flatbed truck during the 4,500-mile cross-country road trip.

After visiting communities in California, the tree will head east. During its 20-day trip, it will make a total of 23 stops in nine states, including New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Indiana, North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

The country is broke, the environmentalists tell us every aspect of our lives must be regulated in the name of fighting off some sort of global warming apocalypse, but the White House Christmas tree is on a 4,500 mile national tour on a flatbed truck.

How’s that for hypocrisy?

sayanythingblog.com

Obama thinks Hawaii is in Asia

While promoting socialism at the APEC Summit in Hawaii, Barack Obama thinks he’s in Asia.
“Here in Asia…”

It’s OK. He’s a democrat.
Hat Tip Susan.

thegatewaypundit.com

Humorless Obama Breaks Tradition, Nixes APEX “Silly Shirts” Photo

Wearing traditional ao dais, U.S. President George W. Bush, top row left, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, Chinese President Hu Jintao, bottom row left, and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet wave during a group photo with leaders of the APEC summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2006. (LA Times)

This year Obama shelved the annual “silly shirts” tradition.
He didn’t even give his guests the traditional Hawaiian lei for the photo.
The LA Times reported:

For most of the last two decades, world leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit would don exotic garb chosen by the hosts. The costumes made for a light moment at the picture-taking session — sober leaders in bomber jackets or pajama-style robes.

This year’s summit, hosted by Obama in his native Hawaii, broke with tradition. As the leaders assembled for the photo, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard was overheard talking about grass skirts; Obama, coconut bras.

“We are ending that tradition,” Obama told his foreign counterparts.

Later in the day, Obama gave a news conference and was asked about his decision to end the “dress-up” tradition launched by President Clinton.

Given the location, a reporter asked, why no aloha shirts and grass skirts?

“I got rid of the Hawaiian shirts because I had looked at pictures of some of the previous APEC meetings and some of the garb that had appeared previously, and I thought this may be a tradition that we might want to break.”

What a stick in the mud.

thegatewaypundit.com

CNN Reporter Asks Obama If GOP Candidates Are “Uninformed, Out Of Touch, Or Irresponsible?”

I caught this question earlier today on Keith Koffler’s site, but you really have to see the video to believe it:

“Last night at the Republican debate, some of the hopefuls, they hope to get your job, they defended the practice of waterboarding which is a practice you banned in 2009. Herman Cain said, quote, ‘I don’t see that as torture.’ Michele Bachmann said that it’s, quote, ‘very effective.’ So I’m wondering if you think that they’re uninformed, out of touch, or irresponsible?” CNN’s White House correspondent Dan Lothian asked President Obama in Hawaii.

I’m told the follow up question was, “Do you think you’re awesome, really awesome or super-duper awesome?”

sayanythingblog.com

Michelle Obama: Kids Need To Get Their “Palates Adjusted” To Government-Approved Diets

Michelle Obama’s war on fat kids continues, this time suggesting that Americans can’t just eat what they want. We need to get their palates adjusted to what the government wants them to eat.

“Childhood obesity is one of my signature issues,” she said. “Our goal is to eliminate childhood obesity in a generation. And our view is that if we teach young people early about how to eat, and we give them a connection to the food that they eat, that they’re more excited and interesting, and interested, in what’s going on, and that in turn opens up a broader conversation about nutrition and health and movement–but also deeper issues of access and affordability, which are some of the primary causes of obesity. Because many of our communities–in underserved communities, kids aren’t growing up with vegetables because there are no grocery stores.

“People don’t have that connection,” Mrs. Obama said to her fellow panelists, who included a group of workers and student interns at the organic farm. “And we’re finding, through our contact with kids, that it is in fact working–like you guys: You now eat vegetables. You actually know what arugula is. And you eat it.”

One of the farm’s workers then told Mrs. Obama that arugula was a “favorite” of his.

“That’s right,” said Mrs. Obama. “My favorite, too. Arugula and steak. I like it a lot. That’s good stuff.”

Mrs. Obama then segued back to the importance of properly adjusting the palates of children.

“But we find the same thing is true with young kids, and if they get their palates adjusted to those very interesting flavors, they stay connected,” she said.

I think it’s interesting that Michele Obama says that the problem is a lack of access to vegetables, etc. That must be that “food deserts” thing the USDA was hyping a few months ago. Which was ridiculous. According to the USDA, I live on the edge of a food desert. And yet, I also live just two blocks from two separate, large grocery stores each of which has an excellent produce section.

To the extent that there’s a childhood obesity problem, and I don’t think it’s nearly the problem some claim it is, it’s probably because in America expenditures on food are the lowest (as a percentage of overall household expenditures) in the world:

On one hand, low food prices are not a bad thing, and the fact that they’re such a small part of expenditures speaks to just how affluent we are as Americans compared to the rest of the world. On the other hand, it’s likely a reflection of just how thoroughly ag subsidies (among other government policies) have distorted food markets.

If we want to address obesity issues, and I maintain that obesity is a personal problem not a public policy problem, then stop ag subsidies. Ending the government’s distortions of the food markets would go further to address obesity than any of the government’s efforts to force us into eating certain diets.

sayanythingblog.com

Harper Tells Obama Canada Will Sell Oil to Asia Since His Administration Delayed Pipeline (Obama Loses Another 1 Million US Jobs)

The Keystone Pipeline project was expected to create up to 1,000,000 high-paying US jobs in the oil manufacturing and associated industries. The project itself would create 20,000 construction jobs.

But it was just a big pipe dream.

Obama refused to sign the Keystone agreement last week. Today Canadian Prime Minister Harper told Obama that he would look to Asia to sell its oil.
The Republic reporteed, via Free Republic:

Canada’s prime minister says he made it clear in a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama that Canada will step up its efforts to sell oil to Asia since the Obama administration delayed a decision on an oil pipeline.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada will continue to push the U.S. to approve the $7-billion Keystone XL project.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada will continue to push the U.S. to approve the $7-billion Keystone XL project. Last week the U.S. State Department ordered that the pipeline be rerouted and subject to further environmental review, delaying a decision until 2013.

Harper says the U.S. move highlights why Canada must increase its efforts to diversify its exports to Asia. He says he communicated that clearly to Obama.

Nice work, Barack.

thegatewaypundit.com

Obama Won’t Comment on G20 Conversation Where He Blasted Israeli Leader Netanyahu

Obama told reporters yesterday that he won’t comment on his private conversation with French President Nicolas Sarkozy where they ripped on Netanyahu.

The far left president’s outrageous comments hurt him with Jewish-American voters.

Weasel Zippers reported on this from News24

US President Barack Obama on Sunday refused to discuss an overheard conversation he was party to in which French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Israel’s leader Benjamin Netanyahu a “liar”.

In the chat picked up by an open microphone at this month’s G20 summit in France, Obama also appeared to show frustration with the Israeli prime minister, with whom he has had a tense relationship.

“With respect to the ‘hot mic’ in France, I’m not going to comment on conversations that I have with individual leaders,” Obama said.

thegatewaypundit.com

Obama Supporter’s Company Wins $433 Million No-Bid Contract for Experimental Smallpox Drug

“I will finally end the abuse of no-bid contracts once and for all. The days of sweetheart deals for Halliburton and the like will be over when I’m in the White House.” – Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama, October 2, 2008
*****

Hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars being given to an experimental project involving high cost, questionable necessity and a major party donor — Why does that sound so familiar?

From the Los Angeles Times:

Over the last year, the Obama administration has aggressively pushed a $433-million plan to buy an experimental smallpox drug, despite uncertainty over whether it is needed or will work.

Senior officials have taken unusual steps to secure the contract for New York-based Siga Technologies Inc., whose controlling shareholder is billionaire Ronald O. Perelman, one of the world’s richest men and a longtime Democratic Party donor.

When Siga complained that contracting specialists at the Department of Health and Human Services were resisting the company’s financial demands, senior officials replaced the government’s lead negotiator for the deal, interviews and documents show.

When Siga was in danger of losing its grip on the contract a year ago, the officials blocked other firms from competing.

Siga was awarded the final contract in May through a “sole-source” procurement in which it was the only company asked to submit a proposal. 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.

In addition to being a major party donor, Perelman also coughed up $50,000 to help fund Obama’s inauguration bash. But Perelman also dabbles in Republicans. The prudent billionaire always hedges his bets.

The Times goes on to point out that smallpox was eradicated globally in 1978 but the virus does exist in labs in the US and Russia. Siga’s drug isn’t a vaccine, but a pill that’s supposed to help people who have been exposed to the virus for too long of a period of time to be aided by a vaccine. The pill is on top of the smallpox vaccine stockpile the US already has on hand — and the drug has never been tested on human beings (who wants to be first in line for that one?).

One final note… guess who is on Siga’s Board of Directors? Two hints: He used to wear purple and visits the White House frequently.

Forget about smallpox — we need a vaccine against crony capitalism.

Doug Powers - michellemalkin.com

Obama Trashes Israeli Leader Netanyahu to Sarkozy: “You’re Fed Up With Him… But I Have to DEAL WITH HIM Every Day”

French and American Leaders Tell Press Promise Not to Report the Story–
It took three days for it to come out!

Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy trashed Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu this past weekend at the G20 meetings.
YNet News reported:

French President Nicolas Sarkozy reportedly told US President Barack Obama that he could not “stand” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that he thinks the Israeli premier “is a liar.”

According to a Monday report in the French website “Arret sur Images,” after facing reporters for a G20 press conference on Thursday, the two presidents retired to a private room, to further discuss the matters of the day.

The conversation apparently began with President Obama criticizing Sarkozy for not having warned him that France would be voting in favor of the Palestinian membership bid in UNESCO despite Washington’s strong objection to the move.

The conversation then drifted to Netanyahu, at which time Sarkozy declared: “I cannot stand him. He is a liar.” According to the report, Obama replied: “You’re fed up with him, but I have to deal with him every day!”

The remark was naturally meant to be said in confidence, but the two leaders’ microphones were accidently left on, making the would-be private comment embarrassingly public.

The communication faux pas went unnoticed for several minutes, during which the conversation between the two heads of state – which quickly reverted to other matters – was all but open to members the press, who were still in possession of headsets provided by the Elysée for the sake of simultaneous translation during the G20 press conference.

“By the time the (media) services at the Elysée realize it, it was on for at least three minutes,” one journalist told the website. Still, he said that reporters “did not have a chance to take advantage of this fluke.”

The surprising lack of coverage may be explained by a report alleging that reporters present at the event were requested to sign an agreement to keep mum on the subject of the embarrassing comments.

And the press gladly went along with the cover-up.

thegatewaypundit.com

Obama Administration Refuses To Comply With Congressional Subpoenas Over Solyndra

After losing half a billion in tax payer dollars on an investment in Solyndra that Obama once described as a “good bet,” Congress not surprisingly wanted to figure out just how it was that the Obama administration determined that it was a “good bet.”

To that end, they want documents from the White House. The White House has refused to divulge them, so Congress issued a subpoena. Now the White House is refusing to comply with that saying it’s motivated by “partisan politics.”

The White House counsel refused Friday to comply with a subpoena as issued by a House panel regarding the failed solar energy company Solyndra, saying that the initiative “was driven more by partisan politics than a legitimate effort to conduct a responsible investigation.”

Kathryn Ruemmler expressed her views in a letter to Reps. Fred Upton and Cliff Stearns, members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. A day earlier, one of its subcommittees requested internal documents regarding the government’s decision to issue more than half a billion dollars in federal loan guarantees in 2010 to Solyndra, which later filed for bankruptcy.

The White House counsel on Friday did not rule out disclosing additional information related to Solyndra, saying that “we remain willing to work with the committee to accommodate its legitimate oversight interests in a balanced manner.”

At the same time, Ruemmler said unequivocally that the subpoena, as written, was unacceptable.

“The committee’s extremely broad request for documents — now a subpoena — is a significant intrusion on executive branch interests,” Ruemmler wrote.

Refusing to comply with a subpoena – which can result in contempt of court charges – is a big black eye for the Obama administration. So you have to wonder what it is in the documents the Obama administration is refusing to turn over that makes this black eye preferable to complying with the subpoena.

And the charges of “partisan politics” ring a little hollow when you consider that our political system is an adversarial one on purpose. The best way to promote accountability among the weasels is to pit the weasels against one another, as far as I’m concerned. To be sure, subpoenas and investigatory power can be abused by Congress, but in this instance we’re talking a specific decision the Obama administration made that cost taxpayers a lot of money and has the stink of crony politics about it.

Are Republicans looking to score political points? Of course they are. Does that mean that the Obama administration doesn’t have to divulge the pertinent documents? Uh, no.

sayanythingblog.com