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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: longnshort who wrote (117699)	11/16/2011 12:49:38 PM
From: joseffy	2 Recommendations Respond to of 224757

More Lefty Insanity: U.S. Brings Diplomacy to Politics Of Energy NOVEMBER 16, 2011 BY KEITH JOHNSON online.wsj.com WASHINGTON—The State Department is creating a bureau to focus exclusively on energy, a sign of the growing importance of energy issues to U.S. foreign policy and national security. The new Bureau of Energy Resources, which opens shop Wednesday, is designed to help shore up stable supplies of affordable energy for the U.S. and avoid crippling effects of supply shocks and disruptions. The agency also will promote clean energy and changes in markets to make alternative-energy technology more competitive, an effort to open the door for U.S. exports in a fast-growing sector. It will also ...

To: longnshort who wrote (117699)	11/16/2011 1:05:56 PM
From: joseffy	3 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224757

Robert Kennedy, Jr.’s ‘Green’ Company Scored $1.4 Billion Taxpayer Bailout....... ........................................................ by Wynton Hall 11/16/2011 biggovernment.com President John F. Kennedy’s nephew, Robert Kennedy, Jr., netted a $1.4 billion bailout for his company, BrightSource, through a loan guarantee issued by a former employee-turned Department of Energy official. The details of how BrightSource managed to land its ten-figure taxpayer bailout have yet to emerge fully. However, one clue might be found in the person of Sanjay Wagle. Wagle was one of the principals in Kennedy’s firm who raised money for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. When Obama won the White House, Wagle was installed at the Department of Energy (DOE), advising on energy grants. From an objective vantage point, investing taxpayer monies in BrightSource was a risky proposition at the time. In 2010, BrightSource, whose largest shareholder is Kennedy’s VantagePoint Partners, was up to its eyes in $1.8 billion of debt obligations and had lost $71.6 million on its paltry $13.5 million of revenue. Even before BrightSource rattled its tin cup in front of Obama’s DOE, the company made it known publicly that its survival hinged on successfully completing the Ivanpah Solar Electrical System, which would become the largest solar plant in the world, on federal lands in California. In its Securities and Exchange Commission filings, BrightSource further underscored the risky nature of the Ivanpah venture and, more broadly, the company’s viability: Our future success depends on our ability to construct Ivanpah, our first utility-scale solar thermal power project, in a cost-effective and timely manner… Our ability to complete Ivanpah and the planning, development and construction of all three phases are subject to significant risk and uncertainty. Ironically, in 2008, Kennedy wrote a CNN article praising Obama as reminiscent of his famous father and uncle. The article, titled “ Obama’s Energy Plan Would Create a Green Gold Rush,” proved prophetic. \ However, the “green gold rush” came in the form of $1.4 billion of taxpayers’ money flowing into the pet projects of rich venture capital investors like Kennedy, not average citizens. What’s more, BrightSource touted the Ivanpah project as a green jobs creator. Yet as its own website reveals, the thermal solar plant will only create 1,400 jobs at its peak construction and 650 jobs annually thereafter. Even using the peak estimate of 1,400 jobs, that works out to a cost to taxpayers of $1 million per job created. As Schweizer writes in Throw Them All Out, “A billion dollars in taxpayer money being sent to wealthy investors to bail them out of risky investments—does this sound familiar to anyone?”

To: longnshort who wrote (117699)	11/16/2011 1:58:22 PM
From: joseffy	2 Recommendations Respond to of 224757

Cancer center's Santa gets boot ...Volunteer wanted to spread cheer ............................................................................... By Renee Dudley Wednesday, November 16, 2011 postandcourier.com It's not even December, but Santa has already been fired from Charleston's Hollings Cancer Center. For each of the past two years, hospital volunteer Frank Cloyes spent one day as St. Nick, spreading good cheer and snacks to patients sitting through chemotherapy treatments. The 67-year-old James Island resident, a retired insurance executive who calls himself a "gregarious guy," paid for his own costume rental. On Tuesday morning, a volunteer coordinator told Cloyes his services no longer were needed. "Because of our state affiliation, we decided not to have a Santa presence this year," Hollings spokeswoman Vicky Agnew said. Hollings is a part of the Medical University of South Carolina. Decorations will be "more secular and respectful to all beliefs," Agnew said. "We don't want to offend a volunteer with good intentions, but we need to think of the bigger picture. People who are Muslim or Jewish or have no religious beliefs come here for treatment," she said. Bah humbug, said Cloyes, a self- described libertarian with no religious affiliation. "Santa is a tradition and everyone loves him," Cloyes said. "It's just something that makes people happy for a while. Kids liked it, staff liked it. People took pictures." Santa still will visit the Children's Hospital, which has a different board of directors than Hollings, although both are MUSC facilities, spokeswoman Heather Woolwine said. The director of the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union declined comment but pointed to the association's national website. It said while "some limited governmental celebrations of Christmas are not per se unconstitutional ... the burden for the government to show that its activities do not have the purpose or effect of endorsing a religious message is high." Hollings still will have wreaths, poinsettias and garlands, Agnew said. The decision is "not meant to be cold," she said. Cloyes said he wonders where "political correctness and overregulation will end." "Let's have a little joy in our lives," he said.