Obama Corruption & Scandal Thread - Solyndra and other crimes.

[garebear]

So what are your plans for this weekend?

[Soul Crusher]

So what are your plans for this weekend?

To keep educating you on the daily corruption machine that is Obama, who you voted for and still support. 

[Agnostic007]

"The Gunwalker conspiracy is the kind of story that journalists dream of breaking their entire careers. It is now in the palms of their hands: a story in which they can make a difference, take down the evil and corrupt, and ensure justice is served.

Instead of reporting, however, they are complicit. They have chosen to acquiesce to a clear and obvious evil, an aberration of our most basic values. They are no longer watchdogs, but docile sheep. "

or.... perhaps they don't find it as interesting as you and your blogger friends... scandal of the century? sheesh!

[Soul Crusher]

"The Gunwalker conspiracy is the kind of story that journalists dream of breaking their entire careers. It is now in the palms of their hands: a story in which they can make a difference, take down the evil and corrupt, and ensure justice is served.

Instead of reporting, however, they are complicit. They have chosen to acquiesce to a clear and obvious evil, an aberration of our most basic values. They are no longer watchdogs, but docile sheep. "

or.... perhaps they don't find it as interesting as you and your blogger friends... scandal of the century? sheesh!

LMFAO - as if you dont have a vested interest in this. 


This story makes most citizens literally want to puke at you clowns calling yourself the "bravest, finest" etc etc 

[Agnostic007]

LMFAO - as if you dont have a vested interest in this. 


This story makes most citizens literally want to puke at you clowns calling yourself the "bravest, finest" etc etc 

LOL! " you clowns...."

[Soul Crusher]

Solyndra director tied to $737m loan guarantee
by
Joel Gehrke Commentary Staff Writer

@jsgehrkejr


http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/solyndra-exec-board-737m-loan-gaurantee



Steve Mitchell and Argonaut Private Equity might have a chance to recoup some of their losses in the Solyndra debacle now that the Department of Energy has given a $737 million dollar loan guarantee to a company backed by Argonaut that also lists Mitchell as a "board participant."

Mitchell served on the Solyndra LLC Board of Directors and reportedly still serves on the board. Mitchell serves as a "board participant" for Solar Reserve, the parent company to Tonopah Solar (the Tonopah Solar email address even routes to a Solar Reserve account) and his Solar Reserve biography says that he "currently sits on the Boards of Directors of . . . Solyndra" and several other companies. Despite the Solyndra failure, the Department of Energy continues to provide loan guarantees to solar companies, giving Tonopah Solar a $737 million loan guarantee for a project in Nevada.

Mitchell owes his position at Solyndra and Solar Reserve, apparently, to the fact that his primary employer, Argonaut Private Equity, invested in both companies. Mitchell holds the title of Managing Director for Argonaut Private Equity. After Solyndra declared bankruptcy, two Democratic members of the U.S. House asked that House Subcommittee call Mitchell to testify about Solyndra. Though he has not appeared before Congress, he has "been asked to provide documents to Congress" pertaining to Solyndra.

The Mitchell connection to Solar Reserve brings George Kaiser into the spotlight with respect to this latest loan guarantee. Kaiser owns Argonaut and thus invested in both Solyndra and Solar Reserve (more heavily in the former than the latter). He also bundled over $50,000 into President Obama's campaign.

Their poor track record notwithstanding, Kaiser and Mitchell now have another opportunity to profit from investing in a solar company funded by the Department of Energy.

[Soul Crusher]

Pelosi's brother-in-law is given $737m of taxpayers' money to build giant solar plant
Daily Mail (UK) ^ | September 29, 2011 | By John Stevens and Leon Watson
Posted on September 29, 2011 6:06:04 PM EDT by Oldeconomybuyer

Nancy Pelosi is facing accusations of cronyism after a solar energy project, which her brother-in-law has a stake in, landed a $737 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy, despite the growing Solyndra scandal.

The SolarReserve project is backed by an energy investment fund where the Minority Leader's brother-in-law Ronald Pelosi is second in command.

Tom Schatz, president of Washington-based advocacy group Citizens Against Government Waste, said: 'It is time for a full audit of their activities, their management and their results.

'Candidly, it might be time for the federal government to rethink the whole idea of loan programs.'

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...







Drain the swamp!!!

[Soul Crusher]

Skip to comments.

MEXICAN ATTORNEY GENERAL: "OBAMA MORE INVOLVED IN FAST & FURIOUS THAN ADMITTED!" (gunwalker)
thecypresstimes.com ^ | 28 September, 2011 | Jim Kouri
Posted on September 29, 2011 1:17:22 PM EDT by marktwain

Mexico's Attorney General Morales, the first woman to hold that office, believes Obama knows more about guns smuggled into Mexico than he's admitting. Credits: KnowGangs.com ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jim Kouri

Jim Kouri Website: http://www.examiner.com... Email: Email President Barack Obama appears to be getting it from all sides regarding a government snafu dubbed Operation Fast and Furious. Besides both houses of the U.S. Congress and a number of public-interest groups investigating what is being characterized as a rogue federal law enforcement operation, Mexico's attorney general is infuriated over the allegations that the U.S. was behind the smuggling of weapons into Mexico that ended up killing her countrymen.

In a statement released by Mexican Attorney General Marisela Morales, she called Operation Fast and Furious “an attack on Mexicans’ security.”

Morales told Mexican reporters that she is demanding a full and honest explanation from the United States government especially since evidence is being gathered that reveals the Obama administration was more involved in Operation Fast and Furious than top officials admitted in their sworn statements.

If what is being reported is true, U.S. Attorney General and other government officials may have committed perjury and/or obstruction of justice if it's proven they lied when testifying before House and Senate committees.

Operation Fast and Furious was a botched Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives covert operation initiated in order to track more than 2,000 smuggled guns to Mexican drug cartels by allowing gang members to purchase them illegally from U.S. gun stores then take them back to their leaders.

However, according to Congressional reports by both Rep. Darryl Issa (R-CA) and Senator Charles Grassley (R-NE), the federal agency lost track of many of the guns. Some later were traced to murders of police and civilians in Mexico and the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol Agent, Brian Terry.

There is also mounting evidence that the Cartel members obtained other weapons including grenades and brought them back to Mexico with the full knowledge of the ATF and the U.S. Justice Department.

President Obama said in June he would discipline the Fast and Furious organizers once the investigation is completed. He then stated that the Fast and Furious fiasco was never approved by his Justice Department officials.

However, reports from several sources including the non-governmental agency Judicial Watch, Fox News Channel and The Examiner strongly suggest there indeed high-level government involvement.

According to Fox News, documents obtained by their news staff revealed that the ATF agents involved actually sold some of the guns to gang members. They allegedly purchased the guns with taxpayer money.

Meanwhile Mexico's Attorney General claims she learned about the operation in the news media rather than being told about it in advance by U.S. government officials, including members of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's staff.

Morales said that if U.S. federal officials were involved, it would be a “betrayal” of Mexico while its police and military were fighting a war against drug cartels. Tens of thousands of Mexicans have been killed since the "war on drugs" began in 2006. Almost weekly, Mexican authorities are finding mass graves of those murdered by the cartels.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the House Oversight Committee’s chairman, recently said that it appears the trail of evidence about who authorized Operation Fast and Furious leads back to the White House.

Operation Fast and Furious began in October 2009 with sales from American gun stores to Mexican cartel members. They allegedly spent over $1 million on the firearms. Then in June 2010, ATF picked up the pace of the smuggling by allowing its agents to sell the guns to gang members, according to government documents obtained by Fox News and Judicial Watch.

According to his own testimony, ATF Agent John Dodson was ordered to buy six semi-automatic handguns then sell them to buyers he knew were illegal, the documents say.

Dodson claimed during his House testimony, that he acted on his own, against supervisors’ instructions, to monitor the movement of the guns to a “stash house.” He kept the house under surveillance until a vehicle showed up to pick up the guns for smuggling into Mexico.

Dodson says he called for a team to move in to arrest the smugglers, but his supervisors refused. The guns then disappeared from ATF surveillance.

Groups such as the Second Amendment Foundation believe the operation was "dreamed up to show proof that U.S. guns are contributing to the crime and violence in Mexico," something that has been alleged by President Obama, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and their supporters in the gun-control lobby.










unreal.  The incompetence of obama knows no bounds.

[Soul Crusher]

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Bundlers on the inside
iWatchNews ^ | September 29, 2011 | By Ronnie Greene and Matthew Mosk
Posted on September 29, 2011 6:35:38 PM EDT by Oldeconomybuyer

Several of Barack Obama’s top campaign supporters went from soliciting political contributions to working from within the Energy Department as it showered billions in taxpayer-backed stimulus money on alternative energy firms, iWatch News and ABC News have learned.

One of them was Steven J. Spinner, a high-tech consultant and investor in energy companies who raised at least $500,000 for Obama. He became one of Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s key loan programs advisors while his wife’s law firm represented a number of the companies that had applied for loans.

Recovery Act records show Allison Spinner’s law firm, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati , received $2.4 million in federal funds for legal fees related to the $535 million Energy Department loan guarantee to Solyndra, a solar company whose financial meltdown has prompted multiple investigations. She pledged to take no portion of the money and did not work on the loan applications.

Spinner was not the only Obama political supporter to play a role at the Energy Department. California venture capitalist Steve Westly , who raised more than $500,000 for Obama, has Secretary Chu’s ear on green energy issues as a member of a high-level volunteer advisory panel. Mackey Dykes, who was a finance manager for the Obama campaign, was hired to be the liaison between the Energy Department and White House. Each declined interview requests.

(Excerpt) Read more at iwatchnews.org ...

[240 is Back]

what results has Issa gotten so far?

Or is his role "to make fox viewers aware of what obama is doing", as a getbigger stated?

[Soul Crusher]

what results has Issa gotten so far?

Or is his role "to make fox viewers aware of what obama is doing", as a getbigger stated?

ISSA is not the issue!  Stop the bullshit already.

[garebear]

To keep educating you on the daily corruption machine that is Obama, who you voted for and still support. 

Sounds a lot like last weekend.

[240 is Back]

ISSA is not the issue!  Stop the bullshit already.

many of your articles have included his words.
he's the chief accuser.
he's the voice of what obama's doing wrong, to FOX, and you admitted so.

So please, since he promised an investigation a week - what has the man accomplished since taking that position?  Obama has a laundry list of bullshit he's pulled - what effect has Issa had this far?

[Fury]

Sounds a lot like last weekend.

Why do you post here? You literally contribute nothing of value and all you do is follow 333 around like a little puppy dog looking for attention. Jog on, troll.

many of your articles have included his words.
he's the chief accuser.
he's the voice of what obama's doing wrong, to FOX, and you admitted so.

So please, since he promised an investigation a week - what has the man accomplished since taking that position?  Obama has a laundry list of bullshit he's pulled - what effect has Issa had this far?

Yeah, man, because the DOJ is stonewalling any and all attempts to get any sort of information about this we should just go on and forget it. You'd like that wouldn't you, Obama drone? You're certainly doing your part on here to mitigate this scandal. How much do they pay retarded trailer trash like yourself to play the propaganda game on the internet for them?

The scope of this scandal guarantees that they're going to do everything they can to bury it. Yet it keeps getting more and more airtime. Even your vaunted leftist rags have been forced to cover it. Looks like Issa is doing something right. Hurts, doesn't it? 

[Soul Crusher]

Source: The Washington Post

The U.S. Department of Energy learned in December that Solyndra was violating its federal loan deal, but the agency changed the loan terms to allow the solar company to continue receiving taxpayer funds, federal officials confirmed Wednesday.

Executives at Solyndra, which had been awarded a $535 million government-backed loan to spur its solar-panel production, confided to the Energy Department late last fall that the Fremont, Calif., company was running out of money and at risk of liquidating.

The company was unable on Dec. 1 to make its first $5 million payment into a special reserve fund, which was required under the loan terms and designed to help protect taxpayers.

Congressional investigators have questioned why the Obama administration agreed to help the company in late 2010 when it was warned that the firm was at risk of collapse. Internal e-mails show federal reviewers initially estimated they could save the taxpayers as much as $168 million by letting the company go under in December 2010, rather than resuscitating it and allowing it to draw down more federal money.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/solyndra-violate...







Kenyanomics at work.

[Soul Crusher]

ATF Death Watch 89: 40 Fast and Furious Firearms “Found” in Dallas(gunwalker)
The Truth About Guns ^ | 29 September, 2011 | Robert Farago



There are so many curious aspects to the Gunwalker scandal. There are well over a thousand smoking guns still out there, somewhere. All of which prove that the ATF “lost control” of Operation Fast and Furious. But there is no single piece of evidence that answers the fundamental question about Uncle Sam’s gun running black bag job: why? What was the point of allowing bad guys to buy guns? The ATF claims they were going after the “big fish” controlling the U.S. gun stores-to-Mexican drug cartel weapons trade. That hardly seems likely—as there were no big fish to be gotten. It now looks like the ATF set about creating one. Or more. Equally damning, the ATF knew that Bureau-enabled guns were going awry a lot earlier than previously admitted . . .


A cache of assault weapons lost in the ATF’s gun-trafficking surveillance operation in Phoenix turned up in El Paso, where it was being stored for shipment to Mexico, according to new internal agency emails and federal court records.

Forty firearms along with ammunition magazines and ballistic vests were discovered in Texas in January 2010 during the early stages of the program, meaning the firearms vanished soon after the program began.

So what did the ATF do? Kept going of course. The latimes.com drills down on the logistics of the El Paso guns:


According to an ATF document, Sean Christopher Steward bought the 40 AK-47-type assault rifles on Dec. 24, 2009, from the Lone Wolf Trading Co. gun store in Glendale, a suburb of Phoenix. The cache was part of 290 firearms ultimately acquired by Steward, a convicted drug felon, during the Fast and Furious operation . . .

According to ATF emails and a federal court affidavit, El Paso police officers tracking alleged drug smuggling from Mexico followed a dark blue Volkswagen Jetta as it backed into a garage at a residence on Jan. 13, 2010. The driver was identified as Alberto Sandoval. Police later searched the vehicle and found the weapons and other devices.

According to an email from ATF Special Agent Oscar B. Flores in El Paso, Sandoval told authorities that he was paid $1,000 “to store the firearms at his residence until they could be transported to the Republic of Mexico” by an unknown third party.

More emails discussing Sandoval’s arrest and the recovery of the weapons were sent to Washington headquarters and Kenneth Melson, then the ATF acting director, and William J. Hoover, the assistant director.

Sandoval was indicted and pleaded guilty to weapons charges in May 2010 in U.S. District Court in El Paso. He was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison.

The latimes.com mentions the fact that Steward was a convicted felon in passing. But that little factoid is yet more evidence that the FBI was in on Operation Fast & Furious, and not in a good way. The Agency had to game their instant background check system to let Steward’s purchases go through.

Common sense suggests that Steward knew the FBI and ATF knew that he was buying guns illegally. A convicted felon doesn’t expect to walk into a gun store and walk out with 290 firearms. If so, why the jail time? If not, why didn’t the ATF yank his chain earlier? Clearly, his tail was loose, at best.

The F&F-enabled guns went from Lone Wolf to Steward to Sandoval to a Dallas garage, in anticipation of an “unknown third party” Who somehow isn’t identified in the course of the investigation triggered when the local fuzz nab Bad Guy number two. And . . . that’s it.

As my mother likes to say, there’s no there there. No clearly delineated strategy behind Operation Fast and Furious, either in its idealized state (a “sting operation”) or in its actuation (literally incredible investigative tactics).

I still maintain that there’s an intersection between the ATF’s stingless sting and America’s federal policy towards Mexico and Mexican drug thugs. To try and view the ATF’s gun running in isolation, without examining the activities of all the other agencies implicated (DEA, IRS, CPB, ICE, FBI and the CIA), is to contemplate a diseased tree without considering the health of the forest.

Meanwhile, Mexico is on fire.

[Soul Crusher]

Chu takes responsibility for a loan deal that put more taxpayer money at risk in Solyndra
By Carol D. Leonnig and and Joe Stephens, Published: September 29



Energy Secretary Steven Chu acknowledged Thursday making the final decision to allow a struggling solar company to continue receiving taxpayer money after it had technically defaulted on a $535 million federal loan guaranteed by his agency.

Chu spokesman Damien La­Vera said in a statement that the secretary approved the restructuring agreement for Solyndra because it gave the company “the best possible chance to succeed in a very competitive marketplace and put the company in a better position to repay the loan.”

Also Thursday, a law enforcement official confirmed that the criminal probe of Solyndra is focused on whether the company and its officers misrepresented the firm’s finances to the government in seeking the loan or engaged in accounting fraud. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the probe.

On the political front, Chu’s admission came as some members of Congress were asking whether Chu went too far in trying to help the company before it went into bankruptcy, leaving taxpayers on the hook for the loan.

Chu, a Nobel laureate and physicist who came to the administration from academia, arrived in Washington with a mandate to push billions of dollars in stimulus funds into clean-energy companies and projects. With keen White House interest, Chu rode herd over an $80 billion showcase initiative that was supposed to spur a new “green” industry and economic growth.

Solyndra was the first company approved for a loan guarantee under the Obama administration; its application originated several years earlier during George W. Bush’s presidency. Early on, there were concerns about Solyndra’s finances, but the company was still endorsed by President Obama and received high-profile support from Chu. Both visited the firm at different press events. Chu flew to California to announce the loan approval at the groundbreaking for a $750 million factory that was built mostly with funds from the loan.

In announcing the Solyndra deal in March 2009, Chu boasted of the “speed at which the department can operate,” according to an agency news release.

“Secretary Chu initially set a target to have the first conditional commitments out by May . . . but today’s announcement significantly outpaces that aggressive timeline,” the release said.

In April 2010, the company’s auditors raised doubts about whether the company could continue as a “going concern” because of cash-flow problems. The following month, Obama visited the company to praise it as an “engine of growth.”

In late autumn of 2010, company executives confided to the Energy Department that they were running out of cash and could not make a required payment to a cash-reserve account. The company was supposed to begin making the first of $5 million payments to create a $30 million cash reserve on Dec. 1.

Solyndra officially defaulted on its loan that day. Chu approved a softening of the loan requirements so that the company could continue receiving loan installments.

“Ultimately, the choice was between imminent liquidation or giving the company and its workers a fighting chance to succeed,” LaVera said in the statement, first reported by Politico.

The agency authorized the Federal Financing Bank to give two additional cash installments to Solyndra — one in December 2010 and another in January 2011. Both payments came before Energy Department officials finalized a deal to restructure the loan and forestall the company’s collapse in late February.

On Capitol Hill, Republicans continued to complain Thursday that the Obama administration and Chu had not protected taxpayers.

“Why was the leadership at DOE so stubborn, ignoring every warning sign that Solyndra was a bad bet, continuing to throw good money after bad right up until Solyndra’s fate was sealed and taxpayers were left holding the bag on DOE’s $535 million bust?” said Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce oversight and investigations subcommittee.

Chu is tentatively scheduled to appear before the subcommittee next month. The House probe seeks to determine whether the White House sought to help Solyndra for political reasons. The nature of the separate criminal probe was first reported in an online story by Bloomberg News on Thursday evening. The leading private investors in Solyndra were investment funds tied to Oklahoma billionaire George Kaiser, a prominent fundraiser for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.

Some Democrats also have questioned Chu’s decision, including Rep. Henry A. Waxman (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Rep. Gene Green (D-Tex.) said Thursday that he wants to know why Chu restructured Solyndra’s loan to put taxpayers behind a group of private investors to be repaid if the company went bankrupt. Two investors, including an equity fund tied to Kaiser, provided an additional $75 million to keep the company afloat.

“I guess I’m surprised that Secretary Chu made the decision earlier this year to give the private sector priority over the federal commitment, because your fiduciary duty is to the taxpayer, and not to an applicant. . . . Your responsibility is to the American people,” Green said.



Staff writer David A. Fahrenthold contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/chu-takes-responsibility-for-a-loan-deal-that-put-more-taxpayer-money-at-risk-in-solyndra/2011/09/29/gIQArdYQ8K_print.html















UNFUCKING REAL! 

[Soul Crusher]

Was the Justice Department FORCED to make the "Fast and Furious" tapes public?
Coach is Right ^ | 9/30/2011 | Doug Book



Did a threat to “go public” by the man who did the recording–Lone Wolf gun store owner Andre Howard–force the US Justice Department to provide the previously “secret” Fast and Furious tapes to CBS News?

Andre Howard was in a tough spot. For two years he had provided valuable Operation Fast and Furious assistance to the ATF, the FBI and the Phoenix office of the US Attorney, selling nearly 1000 firearms–at the insistence of these agencies–to some pretty unsavory characters.

But Howard knew many of the buyers should not have been approved by the FBI for the purchase of guns.

On December 17th of 2009, Howard met with Assistant US Attorney Emory Hurley, ATF case agent Hope Macallister and ATF Group Supervisor David Voth.

According to an email Hurley sent his boss, US Attorney Dennis Burke a YEAR LATER in January of 2011, Howard “…expressed concern about the cooperation he was providing and whether he was endangering himself or implicating himself in a criminal investigation.”

According to his email, Hurley told Howard to simply comply with the law when selling weapons. That is, “as long as the required forms are properly filled out and [Howard] did not know or have reason to know that the firearms were part of a straw purchase or intended to be used in a crime, that he could complete the transfer.”

Whether this was really what Hurley related to Howard in that 2009 meeting, we can’t know. But it seems far more likely that Hurley simply told Howard what an important job he was doing and that he should continue providing assistance to the ATF, the FBI and, of course, to the US Attorney’s office.


(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com

[Soul Crusher]

Issa questions whether White House pressured Ford to pull ‘bailout’ ad
By Justin Sink - 09/29/11 04:48 PM ET    



Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said in a letter to the Ford Motor Company on Thursday that he was "deeply concerned about undue political pressure exerted by the White House."

The House Oversight Committee chairman's letter comes on the heels of reports earlier this week that the company had pulled an ad critical of the auto bailout following a phone call with administration officials.


Ford denied Tuesday that the ad was removed because of political pressure, saying instead that it had simply been taken out of their ad rotation as scheduled.

"For those asking, the ad ran as part of a planned rotation and continues to run online. It contains the unscripted comments of a Ford owner. We supported emergency government support for our competitors and continue to support the decisions we made," Ford said in a statement posted to their Facebook page.

But Daniel Howes, a conservative columnist for The Detroit News, said that the advertisement was pulled "in response to White House questions."

In the ad, a man is asked why "buying American" was important to him when choosing a Ford pickup.


“I wasn’t going to buy another car that was bailed out by our government. I was going to buy from a manufacturer that’s standing on their own: win, lose or draw," he responds. "That’s what America is about, taking the chance to succeed and understanding when you fail that you gotta’ pick yourself up and go back to work. Ford is that company for me.”

The auto bailout, which primarily benefited Ford competitors Chrysler and GM, was a cornerstone of the president's stimulus plan and supported by Ford. But conservatives have been increasingly critical of the auto bailout and stimulus as a whole as unemployment continues to lag.


In the letter to Ford, Issa asks for a full explanation of the company's decision to pull the advertisement and whether any current or former employee of the Obama administration, United Auto Workers, or Democratic Party contacted the company about the ad. Issa also asks whether the company temporarily pulled the ad from its YouTube page.


"Given the close relationship between American automobile manufacturers, workers unions and the U.S. Government in the wake of a series of loans, grants, and stimulus programs, accusations of White House interference in private business matters to support its own political and policy agendas are very serious issues and warrant a full airing of the facts," Issa wrote.


On Friday, Ford took to Twitter to respond to Issa, saying that the ad had not been pulled from their YouTube channel.




"The answer is no. The ad remains online. The ad was posted on an agency employee's account before we had digital rights to it. Once we had them, we posted to ours," Ford spokesman Scott Monty wrote.

Issa's office quickly shot back on Twitter: "While Twitter is fast, you still have until Oct. 12 to answer ALL GOP oversight unanswered questions in writing."




The White House has denied that it asked Ford to remove the ad, with White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer calling Howes's column "false."





This article was updated on September 30 at 11 a.m. to include the Twitter posts by Ford and Issa.

Source:
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/184681-issa-probes-white-house-pressure-in-ford-ad-pull

[Soul Crusher]

White House: Obama has 'full confidence' in Energy Secretary Chu
By Andrew Restuccia    - 09/30/11 03:05 PM ET
The White House stressed Friday that President Obama still has “full confidence” in Energy Secretary Chu, who took responsibility this week for the decision to restructure a $535 million loan guarantee for the now-bankrupt solar firm Solyndra.

“Chu does have the president's full confidence,” White House press Secretary Jay Carney said Friday during his daily briefing.

An Energy Department spokesman told The Washington Post and Politico this week that Chu approved a decision to restructure the Solyndra loan guarantee in February amid signs that the company faced financial troubles.

Republicans have blasted the administration for restructuring the loan, noting that the agreement ensures that major investors get paid back before taxpayers in the event of a default. But DOE spokesman Damien LaVera told the Post that the move "put the company in a better position to repay the loan." Solyndra filed for bankruptcy this month and laid off 1,100 workers.

Carney, at Friday’s briefing, said that Chu ultimately greenlighted the decision to restructure the loan because he is the head of the Energy Department. He stressed that career staffers at the department played a major role in the decision.

“[H]e is the head of that department, the department which, as we have made clear, where career professionals have administered the program, reviewed the loan applications, and made the recommendation,” Carney said.

“Obviously, ultimately, the head of that department is responsible for it, but let's be clear: There were numerous people involved who were career professionals and — and worked on those kinds of issues every day.”

Carney’s remarks come as Republicans are pummeling the administration over Solyndra's failure.

They are increasingly looking into the role that Chu played in the loan guarantee. Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s investigative panel hope to bring in Chu to testify.

Read more about the growing pressure on Chu here.





Incredible.   

[Soul Crusher]

SEPTEMBER 30, 2011
Bombshell: DOJ Considering Elimination of ATF

By Katie Pavlich
9/30/2011
 
Multiple sources, including sources from ATF, DOJ  and Congressional offices have said there is a white paper circulating within the Department of Justice, outlining the essential elimination of ATF. According to sources, the paper outlines the firing of at least 450 ATF agents in an effort to conduct damage control as Operation Fast and Furious gets uglier and as election day 2012 gets closer.  ATF agents wouldn’t be reassigned to other positions, just simply let go. Current duties of ATF, including the enforcement of explosives and gun laws, would be transferred to other agencies, possibly the FBI and the DEA.  According to a congressional source, there have been rumblings about the elimination of ATF for quite sometime, but the move would require major political capital to actually happen.

“It’s a serious white paper being circulated, how far they’d get with it I don’t know,” a confidential source said.

After a town hall meeting about Operation Fast and Furious in Tucson, Ariz. on Monday, ATF Whistleblower Vince Cefalu, who has been key in exposing details about Operation Fast and Furious, confirmed the elimination of ATF has been circulating as a serious idea for sometime now and that a white paper outlining the plan does exist.

Sounds great right? Eliminating ATF? But there is more to this story. Remember, low level ATF field agents, like ATF whistleblower John Dodson, were uncomfortable conducting Operation Fast and Furious from the beginning, but were told by high level officials within ATF that if they had a problem with the operation, they could find a job elsewhere.

“Allowing loads of weapons that we knew to be destined for criminals, this was the plan. It was so mandated,” ATF Whistleblower John Dodson said in testimony on Capitol Hill on June 15, 2011.

In fact, not only were the ATF agents forced to carry out the operation, they were told to go against what they had been taught in training.

 “This operation, which in my opinion endangered the American public, was orchestrated in conjunction with Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley. [Emory Hurley is the same Assistant U.S. Attorney who previously prevented agents from using some of the common and accepted law enforcement techniques that are employed elsewhere in the United States to investigate and prosecute gun crimes.] I have read documents that indicate that his boss, U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke, also agreed with the direction of the case,” Special Agent Peter Forcelli said in testimony on Capitol hill on June 15, 2011.

“I recall my first days at the ATF academy, where it was drilled into us as new agents that under no circumstances would any firearms, in any investigation, leave the control of ATF. Instructors stressed that even if a weapon was lost “by accident,” the agent was still subject to termination,” former ATF Attaché to Mexico Darren D. Gil said in testimony on June 15, 2011.

ATF field agents weren’t the problem with Operation Fast and Furious, high ranking officials within ATF and the Department of Justice were and still are. DOJ would eliminate ATF only to take the heat off of the Obama Administration. By eliminating the bureau, it makes it seem like DOJ is taking Operation Fast and Furious so seriously, they decided to “clear out the corruption, clean house,” however, it would only be a distraction away from the people at the top of the investigation. In fact, evidence shows the DOJ has been stonewalling the Oversight Committee investigation into the operation to protect Obama political appointees.

“It was very frustrating to all of us, and it appears thoroughly to us that the Department is really trying to figure out a way to push the information away from their political appointees at the Department,” former ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson, who has since been moved to a position within DOJ, said of his frustration with the Justice Department’s response to the investigation in transcribed closed door testimony with the Oversight Committee in July 2011.

When I called the Department of Justice last week (five times) to request the white paper and receive a comment surrounding the idea of eliminating ATF, I received the following response: “Everyone is away from their desk right now.”


Up to this point, the Department of Justice has denied all allegations or involvement in Operation Fast and Furious, yet journalists and the House Oversight Committee have proved allegation after allegation to be true. For example, during a Congressional  hearing in July, former ATF Special Agent in Charge William Newell, who has since been promoted to a position within the Justice Department, denied that his agency was trafficking guns to Mexico, despite overwhelming evidence and testimony from other ATF agents proving otherwise.

“At no time in our strategy was it to allow guns to be taken to Mexico,” Newell said on July 26, 2011, adding that at no time did his agency allow guns to walk.

We’ve heard this was a low level, “rogue” operation, turns out high level officials in the Justice Department, DEA, FBI, DHS, and even members of the White House national security team knew about Operation Fast and Furious.  

Last week, ATF offered 400 agents buy outs to avoid budget cuts and is expecting 250-275 agents to take the offer through Voluntary Early Retirement. These buyouts come at a convenient time for the Justice Department, which can eliminate ATF, then say it’s because of budget cuts, when really, it’s to cover their tracks.
 
Source: town hall. 

[Soul Crusher]

Aronoff: Operation Fast and Furious - The Scandal that Can No Longer be Denied
gopusa.com ^ | September 30, 2011 | Roger Aronoff
Posted on September 30, 2011 6:58:22 PM EDT by Iam1ru1-2

The usual truism is that many politicians make the mistake of not coming completely clean when allegations of wrongdoing surface. The cover-up, it is said, is often worse than the underlying crime or ethical violation. This has often been cited as the mistake made by people including Richard Nixon (Watergate break-in), Bill Clinton (Lewinsky, not to mention Filegate and Travelgate), and John Edwards (love child and cheating on his cancer-stricken wife). More recently, Anthony Weiner. There is a long list.

But in some cases, the crime, or lapse in judgment, is definitely worse than the cover-up. That appears to be the case in a simmering scandal engulfing the Obama administration that the mainstream media have tried their best to ignore for many months. It is known as Operation Fast and Furious.

It involves the Obama Justice Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). It involves some 1,500 guns, about 1,000 of which ended up in Mexico, and a Border agent, Brian Terry, who was murdered with weapons found near the scene of the crime in Arizona. The weapons were among 57 linked to Fast and Furious which have been tied to at least 11 violent crimes in the U.S., including the Terry murder. The Justice Department, while largely stonewalling, has admitted this much to Congress, as reported by The Los Angeles Times. In addition, at least 200 people have been killed or wounded in Mexico with weapons linked to the operation.

There has been some reporting on the incident in the mainstream press, but not much. Congressional hearings have taken place under the chairmanship of Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA). Charles Grassley has led the way in the Senate. But they have mostly been met by a stonewalling Justice Department.

There has been some good reporting by Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News, and Brian Ross of ABC News. Fox News has been all over the story, and Sean Hannity had a one-hour special back in July devoted to this emerging scandal. Others in the conservative media have done an excellent job, including Pajamas Media, Michelle Malkin, Andy McCarthy of National Review Online, American Thinker, WorldNetDaily, the Heritage Foundation and Andrew Breitbart through his many platforms, among others. This has perhaps been why the mainstream media have largely ignored the story. Even when they have reported it, they have gone to great lengths to be sure that it didn’t implicate President Obama, much less his Attorney General Eric Holder, for anything other than being out of the loop.

But that may have ended with recent revelations that the federal government apparently purchased weapons and sold them directly to criminals in Mexico. As Michael Walsh of the New York Post wrote, “the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives apparently ordered one of its own agents to purchase firearms with taxpayer money, and sell them directly to a Mexican drug cartel. Let that sink in: After months of pretending that ‘Fast and Furious’ was a botched surveillance operation of illegal gun-running spearheaded by the ATF and the US Attorney’s office in Phoenix, it turns out that the government itself was selling guns to the bad guys.”

This revelation may prove to be the game changer, and force the Obama administration to turn this over to an independent counsel.

Last night the story gained critical mass in the establishment media. CNN decided it can no longer duck and cover, and shield the Obama administration from a scandal that has the potential to make Whitewater and Watergate pale by comparison. Anderson Cooper deserves a lot of credit for putting this story together. In a long overdue report that I urge you to watch, he detailed much of what is known so far, including comments from Rep. Issa talking about the stonewalling he has met from the Justice Department, and from Sheriff Paul Babeu of Pinal County in Arizona, who talked about the betrayal and potential criminal activity perpetrated by U.S. government officials.

Cooper’s reporter on this story, Drew Griffin, tried to explain a possible motive for Fast and Furious. He said that “the operation makes no sense.” So in attempting to explain it, he invoked the usual bogeymen. “So what's the real purpose?,” asked Griffin. “The lack of sense, the apparent cover-up has opened the door now for these conspiracy theorists. And you got to follow this. They believe this was part of a convoluted plan for the Obama administration and the attorney general to actually increase the level of violence on the Mexican border with assault weapons purchased in the U.S. in an apparent attempt to rekindle interest in an assault weapons ban. As wacky as that may sound, I must tell you that theory is gaining traction, not just among the second amendment crowd, because this operation makes no other sense.”

Griffin is correct that such theories are out there. But until some independent entity can get to the bottom of this, hopefully with the cooperation of the Obama administration rather than the stonewalling and obstruction that has characterized their response up to now, the reasons for the operation might remain theoretical. Let’s see if the cover-up proves worse than the crimes.








240 - fast and furious is no big deal. 

[Soul Crusher]

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Solargate Opens Wide
IBD Editorials ^ | September 30, 2011 | Staff
Posted on September 30, 2011 7:54:42 PM EDT by Kaslin

Corruption: It turns out a recent recipient of the administration's largesse is from the House of Pelosi. The green energy scandal keeps picking up speed.

Last week, the Energy Department completed a $737 million loan guarantee to Tonopah Solar Energy and an additional $337 million for Sempra Energy.

On the surface, there's nothing suggesting either is improper. But just beneath the surface is the clear appearance of impropriety.

Tonopah Solar is a wholly owned subsidiary of SolarReserve, which lists among its "investment partners" a company named Pacific Corporate Group. Again, on the surface, no hint of corruption.

But an enterprising blog called the American Glob dug a bit and found that "The No. 2 guy at Pacific Corporate Group is Ronald Pelosi," who happens to be the brother-in-law of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Fortune senior editor Dan Primack argues that "it is patently false" that Ronald Pelosi "will benefit from the loan."

That's a bit of a stretch, though. He might not be free to put his hands on any of those taxpayers' dollars. But if PCG benefits from the loan, so does he, just as any employee profits when his employer has healthy earnings or receives a windfall.

Merely hanging on to a cushy job due to an influx of cash qualifies as a benefit.

(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...

[Soul Crusher]

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/feds-solyndra-execs-provide-financial-info/t/story?id=14642995

Ridiculous. 

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New Fast and Furious docs released by White House
CBS News ^ | September 30, 2011 | Sharyl Attkisson
Posted on September 30, 2011 11:02:50 PM EDT by PJ-Comix

WASHINGTON - Late Friday, the White House turned over new documents in the Congressional investigation into the ATF "Fast and Furious" gunwalking scandal.

The documents show extensive communications between then-ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix office Bill Newell - who led Fast and Furious - and then-White House National Security Staffer Kevin O'Reilly. Emails indicate the two also spoke on the phone. Such detailed, direct communications between a local ATF manager in Phoenix and a White House national security staffer has raised interest among Congressional investigators looking into Fast and Furious. Newell has said he and O'Reilly are long time friends.

ATF agents say that in Fast and Furious, their agency allowed thousands of assault rifles and other weapons to be sold to suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels. At least two of the guns turned up at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry last December.

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...





Drip drip drip drip. 


Getting closer o Obama by the day!