Obama Corruption & Scandal Thread - Solyndra and other crimes.

[Soul Crusher]

REVIEW & OUTLOOK
OCTOBER 9, 2011, 6:48 P.M. ET.
The Solyndra Economy

Administration emails reveal the reality of politicized investing. 

The more we learn about the Solyndra solar-company debacle, the more the Obama Administration leaps to defend the $535 million loan guarantee. "There were going to be some companies that did not work out; Solyndra was one of them," President Obama told reporters Thursday. Earlier in the week he told ABC News "if we want to compete with China, which is pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into this space . . . we've got to make sure that our guys here in the United States of America at least have a shot."

And there you have America's Solyndra economy, as the White House understands it: Washington allocates capital, and taxpayers pick up the tab if those choices go bust. Through this political lens, the August bankruptcy of the Fremont, Calif. company was a necessary casualty in the greater campaign to steer the U.S. economy toward Mr. Obama's noble goals. Private competition that winnows out losers is so yesterday.

As it happens, we're getting a look at what this world of political investment entails thanks to Administration emails released last week by House Democrats on the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and the White House. Democrats say the emails reveal a "vigorous internal debate" about the Solyndra deal and dispel accusations of crony capitalism.


 .The opposite is closer to reality. Solyndra received federal help in 2009 and never turned a profit. In March 2010, PriceWaterhouseCoopers raised questions about the company's solvency. The next month, a White House Office of Management and Budget staffer worried that the Department of Energy "has one loan to monitor and they seem completely oblivious." Another said it was "terrifying" to consider that some of DOE's next projects would make Solyndra look "better."

Insiders raised alarms, too. Obama donor and venture capitalist Steve Westly wrote to senior White House aide Valerie Jarrett in May and said "many of us believe the company's cost structure will make it difficult for them to survive long term." Ms. Jarrett wrote to Vice President Joe Biden's chief of staff, Ron Klain, who contacted the Department of Energy. But DOE expressed confidence in Solyndra, with one official noting that "we believe the company is okay in the medium term, but will need some help of one kind or another down the road."

Instead of launching a more serious inquiry, Mr. Klain supported a pending Presidential visit to Solyndra's factory, advising Ms. Jarrett of "risk factors" but adding that "it looks like it is OK to me, but if you feel otherwise, let me know." Ms. Jarrett replied "I'm comfortable if you're comfortable," and Mr. Klain responded, "The reality is that if POTUS visited 10 such places over the next 10 months, probably a few will be belly-up by election day 2012—but that to me is the reality of saying that we want to help promote cutting edge, new economy industries."

Here's more "reality." On August 20, 2009, a DOE staffer asked "how can we advance a project . . . that generates a working capital shortfall of $50 [million] when working capital assumptions are entered into the model?," adding "it also simply won't stand up to review by oversight bodies." Solyndra's federal loan guarantee closed the following month.

Then there are the still-hazy insider dealings, another inevitable feature of government-led investment. An Obama fundraiser, Steven Spinner, took an advisory role at DOE and pushed for the loan to proceed, even as his wife's law firm advised on the same deal. (DOE and the couple deny any undue influence.) Earlier this year, DOE reworked the Solyndra loan guarantee as the company floundered and put private creditors ahead of taxpayers. This newspaper reported Friday that Treasury raised alarms about the legality of such a move, although it's unclear when that happened.

Brad Jones of Redpoint Ventures got to the heart of the Solyndra economy in a December 2009 email to then-National Economic Council director Larry Summers: "The allocation of spending to clean energy is haphazard; the government is just not well equipped to decide which companies should get the money and how much . . . One of our solar companies with revenues of less than $100 million (and not yet profitable) received a government loan of $580 million; while that is good for us, I can't imagine it's a good way for the government to use taxpayer money."

Which is precisely the point. The emerging sophisticated defense of Solyndra is Mr. Obama's suggestion that if China subsidizes its industries "of the future," then we must too. But in a free-market economy, which America used to be, private investors decide which industries will succeed in the future, and bet their own money on it. The proper role for government is to support basic research, not commercial ventures that become exercises in taxpayer risk but private reward.

When government takes $535 million and invests in a loser, it not only wastes taxpayer money but it also denies that capital to some other project in the private economy that might have succeeded. The Solyndra emails show how ill-equipped government is to predict the industries of the present, much less the future.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204524604576610972882349418.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

[Soul Crusher]

WH Budget Official: Oh, We Made Far Worse Loans Than Solyndra
 Guy Benson
Political Editor, Townhall.com
10 hours ago
Happy Monday, Obama administration.  According to a new tranche of emails obtained by ABC News, the political wreckage of the Solyndra scandal could get significantly more grisly before all is said and done.  In one particularly incriminating note, a staffer at the White House's Office of Management and Budget candidly frets that "bad days" lie ahead:
 

Emails released earlier this month show that at least one official of the Office of Management and Budget worried that Solyndra was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to ill-conceived government loans to green energy companies.  “(W)hat’s terrifying is that after looking at some of the ones that came next, this one [Solyndra] started to look better,” the official emailed. “Bad days are coming.”  Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government on October 7 wrote to Energy Secretary Dr. Steven Chu to see just what other problematic loans might exist. Specifically, Issa is seeking “additional information regarding the loans approved on the final day of the program,” ones made to First Solar Inc, SunPower Corp., and ProLogis Inc.

The questions clearly suggest the concern that the Department of Energy officials in charge of the loan program did not conduct due diligence before sending billions in loan guarantees out the door — a concern that seems to have been shared by officials of the Department of Management and Budget.


How comforting.  Remember, the ominous "terrifying" and "bad days" descriptors come not from GOP investigators, but from within Obama's own budget team.  And those words were not employed to describe the Solyndra loan, but other loans within the broader "green energy" program.  Just last week, the president asserted that even though Solyndra didn't "work out," he remains confident that the loan guarantee program is good for America's economic health:
 

Now, we knew from the start that the loan guarantee program was going to entail some risk, by definition. If it was a risk-free proposition, then we wouldn't have to worry about it. But the overall portfolio has been successful. It has allowed us to help companies, for example, start advanced battery manufacturing here in the United States. It's helped create jobs. There were going to be some companies that did not work out; Solyndra was one of them. But the process by which the decision was made was on the merits. It was straightforward. And of course there were going to be debates internally when you're dealing with something as complicated as this. But I have confidence that the decisions were made based on what would be good for the American economy and the American people and putting people back to work.


Obama's vision helps explain why even more hefty federal loans continue to fly out the door -- despite internal and external due diligence worries -- to politically-connected "green" companies, including one with substantial ties to Nancy Pelosi's brother-in-law.  According to the Washington Post, additional emails indicate that President Obama and/or former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel were directly involved in the administration's efforts to spotlight Solyndra as a stimulus "success" story -- an impulse that eventually led to an infamous presidential visit to the failing company's headquarters in 2010.  Still more internal documents reveal that the Obama Energy Department pressed ahead with a plan to refinance Solyndra's loan (on which the company had already defaulted) even after receiving warnings that the scheme could actually violate the law:
 

Energy Department officials were warned that their plan to help a failing solar company by restructuring its $535 million federal loan could violate the law and should be cleared with the Justice Department, according to newly obtained e-mails from within the Obama administration.  The e-mails show that Energy Department officials moved ahead anyway with a new deal that would repay company investors before taxpayers if the company defaulted. The e-mails, which were reviewed by The Washington Post, show for the first time concerns within the administration about the legality of the Energy Department’s extraordinary efforts to help Solyndra, the California solar company that went bankrupt Aug. 31.


In addition to the stench of intentional lawlessness, the Los Angeles Times drops another damaging revelation atop this fetid heap -- an egregious case involving a clear conflict of interest at best, and rank cronyism at worst:
 

A top fundraiser for President Obama was far more involved in the $535-million loan guarantee to now-bankrupt solar equipment maker Solyndra than the administration had previously disclosed, according to newly released emails. Steven Spinner, a former Energy Department official, was supposed to be recused from the decision to select Solyndra to participate in the agency's $25-billion program to back loans for renewable energy projects because his wife's law firm represented the company.

A flurry of emails from early August to early September 2009 portrayed Spinner as impatient to show that the stimulus act was producing jobs, especially at so-called clean technology firms such as Solyndra.  He was deeply involved in coordinating a "big event" to announce the approval of Solyndra's loan guarantee, which he envisioned involving "golden shovels, bulldozers, hardhats, etc," according to an Aug. 20, 2009, email.  In addition, the emails showed that he was in close contact with Solyndra executives to plan the event.  In late August 2009, Rogers wrote to Spinner in another email exchange: "Thanks for driving Solyndra."  Federal records show that Allison Spinner's firm, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, received $2.4 million in federal funds for legal fees related to the Solyndra loan guarantee.


Spinner, incidentally, now works at the Center for American Progress, a lefty think tank.  Quite a path, isn't it?  Wealthy Silicon Valley investor to major Obama campaign bundler to DOE loan advisor to CAP.  Naturally, both Spinner and the White House insist that his involvement in the Solyndra matter wasn't the least bit improper.  Oh, of course not.  Just like fellow deep-pocketed Obama donor and Solyndra backer, George Kaiser, didn't say a peep about the proposed loan when he visited the White House at least four times directly before the company's application was approved (against the advice of Bush and Obama-era budget and energy staffers, mind you).  This whole thing stinks, and if the OMB official quoted above is correct, there's a lot more pain ahead. 


UPDATE - Read the Wall Street Journal's sharp editorial on this debacle.






What the fuck!!!!!

[240 is Back]

obama should have deleted all his emails, like Cheney did.

nobody cared when the repubs did it.... I'm sure nobody here will complain if/when Obama does it.  Right guys?   

[Soul Crusher]

obama should have deleted all his emails, like Cheney did.

nobody cared when the repubs did it.... I'm sure nobody here will complain if/when Obama does it.  Right guys?   

skips rules? 

[240 is Back]

skips rules? 

no, they don't apply cause i'm not defending obama.  i'm insulting fcktards who are okay with repubs doing crimes when they scream about dems doing it.

if i was saying "obama's not as bad because..."

I'm saying cheney, obama and holder should be in a cell together.... and none ever will.  accept it champ

[Soul Crusher]

no, they don't apply cause i'm not defending obama.  i'm insulting fcktards who are okay with repubs doing crimes when they scream about dems doing it.

if i was saying "obama's not as bad because..."

I'm saying cheney, obama and holder should be in a cell together.... and none ever will.  accept it champ

So you are saying Cheney is a more skilled criminal than Bama? 

[240 is Back]

So you are saying Cheney is a more skilled criminal than Bama? 

Yes.  Clinton too. 

[garebear]

Communist plot/ terrorist invasion.

[Soul Crusher]

SunPower: Twice As Bad As Solyndra, Twice As Bad For ObamaCongressman's son lobbied for failing solar panel company

by  Neil W. McCabe 10/11/2011 17
________________________ ________________________ __________


A photovoltaic solar panel ranch similar to the California Solar Valley Ranch under construction by SunPower in the state's San Luis Obispo County. The $1.2 billion loan guarantee to support the project was finalized in hours before the loan program expired Sept. 30. The company announced Aug. 5 that it will build the panels for the ranch at a new factory it will open in Mexico.

DOE photo
 

How did a failing California solar company, buffeted by short sellers and shareholder lawsuits, receive a $1.2 billion federal loan guarantee for a photovoltaic electricity ranch project—three weeks after it announced it was building new manufacturing plant in Mexicali, Mexico, to build the panels for the project.
 
The company, SunPower (SPWR-NASDAQ), now carries $820 million in debt, an amount $20 million greater than its market capitalization.  If SunPower was a bank, the feds would shut it down.  Instead, it received a lifeline twice the size of the money sent down the Solyndra drain.
 
Two men with insight into the process are SunPower rooter Rep. George R. Miller III, (D.-Calif.), the senior Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee and the co-chairman of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, and his SunPower lobbyist son, George Miller IV.
 
Miller the Elder is a strong advocate for SunPower, which converted an old Richmond, Calif., Ford plant in his district to a panel-manufacturing facility.
 
The congressman hosted an Oct. 14, 2010, tour of the plant with company CEO Thomas H. Werner and Interior Secretary Kenneth L. Salazar to promote the company’s fortunes.
 
“The path to a clean energy economy starts here, in places like SunPower’s research and development facility,” said Salazar during the tour.
 
“The work that comes from these facilities transforms renewable energy ideas into a reality.  When renewable energy companies continue to invest in places like California, the realization of a new energy future is within our reach,” he said.
 
Miller the Elder said he was grateful for Salazar's interest.
 
“We’ve worked hard to make renewable energy a priority because it represents America’s future economic growth.  Today, businesses like SunPower are moving forward, hiring 200 people for good clean energy jobs in the East Bay,” he said.
 
“By fostering a business climate that encourages companies like SunPower, even more good jobs will be created locally, we’ll reduce demand for dirty energy sources, and we’ll cut customers’ utility bills.  That’s the right direction,” he said.
 
SunPower’s political action committee (PAC) was not shy about participating in the political process either.
 
According to the SunPower PAC filings for its activities in the 2010 midterm election campaign cycle, it donated more than $36,000.  Of the $15,650 donated to House and Senate candidates, $14,650 went to Democrats, with these top recipients: $4,000 to Sen. Harry Reid (D.-Nev.), $3,000 to Rep. Gabrielle Gifford (D.-Ariz.) and $2,900 Sen. Barbara Boxer (D.-Calif.).
 
The congressman was not forgotten either.  The SunPower PAC remembered him with $500 for his 2010 campaign.  While SunPower was a financial partner in the congressman’s reelection campaign, it straight-out hired his son.
 
Miller the Younger is not registered to lobby in Washington, but he is a member of its bar.  He is not a member of the California bar, home of his lobbying firm, Lang, Hansen, O'Malley and Miller (LHOM), of which he is a founding partner.
 
According the firm's website LHOM specializes in providing advice to clients on larger macro political issues trends.  “Utilizing our broad experience in California and Washington, D.C., we can furnish 'big picture' analysis of developing political and policy trends which may affect client interests and goals.”
 
What does Miller the Younger bring?  Read here:  “George Miller brings a lifetime of friendships, relationships, and contacts together with over 15 years of front-line advocacy experience.  He’s an attorney with expertise that ranges from insurance and banking to transportation, taxation and gaming law,” according to the website.  “Unlike most advocates, George is at ease working both the corridors of Sacramento power or the halls of Congress.”
 
What is the stated purpose of the SunPower’s DOE 1705 program loan guarantee?
 
SunPower has different lines of business.  In addition to manufacturing solar panel and roof tiles, it builds solar panel ranches, which it then sells off, but retains the services contract.
 
The loan guarantee is earmarked for the job numbers for the California Valley Solar Ranch (CVSR) in San Luis Obispo County, which it has already sold to NRG Solar, but will continue to maintain.
 
According to the Department of Energy (DOE) website, the CVSR project will create 350 construction jobs during the two-year build and 15 permanent jobs—presumably those are the squeegee men for keeping the panels clean.

Capitol Hill powerbroker Rep. George Miller (D.-Calif.), center, hosted Interior Sec. Kenneth L. Salazar, left, on an Oct. 14, 2010 tour of SunPower's Richmond, Calif., plant.


During the tour, Salazar said plants like SunPower's transform renewable energy ideas into reality. One month later, the company announced it had restated its 2008 and 2009 financial filings to correct for unsubstantiated accounting entries.

[DOE photo by Tami Heilemann]
 

If $80 million per permanent job seems a little high, even for the current Obama administration, you are correct.  In addition to the 350 construction jobs and the 15 squeegee men, there will an as-yet-undetermined number of jobs created building the panels for the CVSR—in Mexicali, Mexico.
 
The company is looking for a facility of up to 320,000 square feet, where it will build three different solar panel models and its solar roof tiles, according the company’s Aug. 5 statement.
 
Marty T. Reese, the company's chief operating officer, said, “Establishing our own manufacturing facility in Mexicali means we will be positioned to quickly deliver our high-efficiency, high-reliability solar products to a growing North American solar market.”
 
Mexicali Mayor Francisco Perez Tejada Padilla said he was thrilled.  “Mexicali is rapidly becoming an industrial hub for high-tech companies, offering an educated workforce and a growing manufacturing area,” he said.  “We welcome SunPower to our city and are pleased that they have chosen Mexicali to establish its solar panel manufacturing facility.”
 
The good news for Mexican jobs seekers did not affect the DOE's loan guarantee to SunPower.  Hours before the DOE 1705 loan program expired at the end of Fiscal Year 2011 on Sept. 30, the $1.2 billion in loan guarantees was approved for the company.
 
Insiders get liquid through for $1.4 billion friendly buyout from France.
 
If that timing seems odd to you, consider the time line of company events around when the loan was announced April 12: just two weeks before France's Total Oil​ (TOT-NYSE) launched its friendly takeover.
 
The deal, made public April 28, was in effect a 60% buyout at $23.25, then a 60% premium over the stock's current trading price, which allowed insiders to get liquid.
 
SunPower CEO Werner is typical of the insiders.  On May 24 he exercised his right to purchase 428,343 shares at $3.30 per share, a $18 discount from the day’s trading range.  He sold 478,084 shares June 15, the day the Total Oil takeover closed, at $23.25 for proceeds of $11,115,453.
 
Remember, Total Oil was offering at $23.25 per share in what was in effect a private sale.  The SPWR, Class A or B, shares have not traded above $23 since June 10, 2010.
 
SunPower is a company in trouble.
 
In his Sept. 26 column for SeekingAlpha.com, Stoyan Elitzen lists SunPower as the ninth-most-shorted solar stock in either the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ markets.  Short sellers are betting that a stock price will go down, as opposed to those who buy long, who expect a stock price to up.
 
According the Elitzen, the size of SunPower's short position is equal to 15 days of its average daily volume of 725,000 shares per day.  By any measure, such pessimism is a banshee screaming in the night for a company's stock price that has already lost 94% of value from its 2007 apex.
 
Although its stock has recovered from its all-time low Oct. 4 of $6.60 per share to trade between $8 and $9 per share, it has been a steep slide from its all-time high Dec. 3, 2007 of $133.  Then, the company was worth $13 billion.
 
Today, its market capitalization is $800 million, just short of its debt of $820 billion, according to the company's July filings for the second quarter.

The Oct. 4 sell-off, which gave shareholders a 12% haircut, was triggered by the company's Oct. 3 aftermarket statement announcing the company was paying down its $50 million credit line with a consortium of European banks and opening a new $200 million credit line with Deutsche Bank.

According to the statement, Dennis V. Arriola, the company's chief financial officer said the new credit line will improve the company's ability to operate.
 
“However, the challenging market conditions continue to impact our global residential and commercial business.  As a result, we will revise our 2011 revenue and earnings outlook on our third-quarter earnings conference call to be held on Nov. 3,” he said.
 
As much as Arriola's negative guidance shook up the markets, it also reflects a lesson learned.
 
In addition to all its other challenges, the company and its officers are defendants in a federal shareholder lawsuit, whose plaintiffs include, the Austin (Texas) Police Retirement System, the Arkansas Teachers Retirement System and a number of institutional investors for an alleged scheme to deceive the investing public by making false statements contrary to nonpublic information known to the insiders.
 
The allegations cover the period between April 17, 2008, to Nov. 16, 2009, the day the company announced that it had discovered unsubstantiated accounting entries to its operations in the Philippines, which led to the significant restating of the company's financials.
 
There are a number of lawsuits filed in California courts relating to the same period alleging gross mismanagement, breach of fiduciary responsibility, unjust enrichment and abuse of control.
 
The first of the lawsuits was filed Nov. 18, 2009, and they have yet to be resolved.
 
It is a fair question to ask how a company with such serious charges lodged against its management team could receive a $1.2 billion loan guarantee from the taxpayers, so it could built a new manufacturing plant in Mexico to build the solar panels it will install at a photovoltaic ranch that will create a total of 15 permanent jobs.

Certainly, the time is right for Miller and Miller to clarify their roles in this mess.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neil W. McCabe is the editor of Guns & Patriots. McCabe, an Army reservist, has mobilized twice, first as combat historian in Iraq and then as a photojournalist at Fort Bragg, N.C.. Before his call to active-duty, he was a reporter and photographer at "The Pilot," Boston's Catholic newspaper and Cardinal O'Malley's blog for seven years.

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


http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=46761

[Soul Crusher]

Obama Jobs Council Stacked With Democratic Donors
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images




The group of private-sector business leaders advising President Obama on how to create jobs and grow the economy is full of deep-pocket Democratic donors and high-profile financiers of Obama’s re-election campaign, a review of Federal Election Commission data shows.

At least 10 members of the Obama-appointed Council on Jobs and Competitiveness gave the legal maximum contribution — $4,600 — to help get Obama elected in 2008, and they continue to write checks for the president in 2012.  Several also serve as Obama campaign bundlers, top fundraisers who collect millions of dollars from their networks of well-to-do colleagues and friends to aid his re-election bid.

The bundlers — Mark Gallogy, co-founder of investment firm Centerbridge Partners, Penny Prtizker, president and CEO of Pritzker Realty Group, and Robert Wolf, chairman of UBS Americas — have raised as much as $2.7 million for Obama in 2008 and 2012 combined, according to estimates provided by the Obama campaign.

Pritzker served as the Obama presidential campaign’s national finance chairwoman in 2008 and co-chair of the Obama inaugural committee in 2009.  Wolf is an occasional Obama golf partner and most recently played golf with the president during his vacation on Martha’s Vineyard.

Other members of the council who have personally padded Obama’s election coffers include Xerox Corporation CEO Ursula Burns, TIAA-CREF CEO Roger Ferguson, MIT/Harvard Broad Institute director Eric Lander, Citigroup chairman Richard Parsons, Hooven-Dayton Corp. CEO Christopher Che, UC Berkeley professor Laura D’Andrea Tyson, attorney and Amazon.com/Google board member John Doerr, and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.

Sandberg hosted an exclusive, star-studded fundraiser for the Obama Victory Fund at her Palo Alto, Calif., home  Sept. 25 that netted at least $2.5 million for the 2012 campaign. The money is split between the Obama Campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

The companies and organizations represented on the council have also been prolific donors to Democrats and Obama through their political action committees, or PACs.

UC Berkeley employees contributed $1.6 million combined to Obama in 2008, more than from any other organization, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.  UBS, Citigroup and GE, whose chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt leads Obama’s jobs council, were the source of more than $1.7 million combined.

Comcast Corp., headed by CEO Brian Roberts who sits on the council, is the top corporate source of campaign cash for Obama’s 2012 bid.

Two high-profile unions — the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and AFL-CIO — also played a key role in helping to elect Democrats and Obama in 2008, spending more than $900,000 on political communications and advertisements, according to CRP.  The leaders of both groups, Joseph Hansen and Richard Trumka, also sit on Obama’s council.

 

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/10/obama-jobs-council-stacked-with-democratic-donors










HOPE AND FUCKING CHANGE!   

[240 is Back]

obama just printed this thread, wiped his ass with it, did a shot of crowne, and laughed.

[Soul Crusher]

Look whose relative just got $135.8 million energy loan
'Green' firm with White House ties lined up to get massive guarantee
Posted: October 11, 2011
7:38 pm Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2011 WND



John Podesta, co-chairman of Obama's transition team
The sister-in-law of John Podesta, President Obama's influential White House transition director, served as the lobbyist for a wind power firm that was just awarded a $135.8 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy.

The company is Brookfield Asset Management. It boasts a board of nine directors, including New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's long-term girlfriend.

The Energy Department's promise to Brookfield marks the latest in controversial massive alternative energy loans to companies with strong ties to the Obama White House and to top Democrat lawmakers.

Read about the "ballot box stuffers," "urban terrorists," "gangsters" and others who make up "Obama's favorite community organizing group," in "Subversion Inc."

Last month, the grant was finalized to build the 99 megawatt Granite Reliable wind project in New Hampshire's Coos County, making it the state's largest wind plant.

Seventy-five percent of the new wind project is owned by BAIF Granite Holdings, which was created earlier this year by Brookfield Renewable Power, a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management of New York.

Since 2009, Brookfield has been represented by the lobby firm Heather Podesta and Partners, LLC.

Podesta, a top financial bundler for Democrat politicians, is wife of lobbyist and art collector, Tony Podesta, who is the brother of John Podesta.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=354433







WTF!!!!   How can any of you traitors keep defending these neo-terrorists? 

[240 is Back]

"WTF!!!!   How can any of you traitors keep defending these neo-terrorists?  "


Slow down, cupcake.  Nobody's defending the obama crime cartel junta.

No, for us, we shake our heads just as we did when bush did it.  It's illegal and it sucks.

But, what we do like to point out - is that Repubs were a-okay when Bush did this kinda bullshit - hiring chertoff's cousin to write PopMech 911 reports, while giving him access to info that should not have been legally been available to them - shit that nobody else saw.  Illegal.

So unless you complained about that - we don't want to hear you complaining about nepotism when obama does it.

or dubya's brother being security chief for WTC on 9/11.  Unless you were pissed at that, don't cry about this.

[Soul Crusher]

THIS IS AN OUTRAGE! Taxpayers paid the law firm Wilson Sonsini 2.4 million dollars for Solyndra but we can’t find out what we paid for?
by Greta Van Susteren Posted in: Solyndra, Wison Sonsini

OCT 12 2011 - 4:13 PM ETSHARE140 COMMENTS
Since (according to the LA Times) we paid Solyndra’s legal bill to Wilson Sonsini of $2.4 million, I would like to know what was done…wouldn’t you?  I can tell you from my experience as a lawyer, that is a BIG tax bill and we should review it. What did we get?  What was billed?  And why are WE paying Solyndra’s legal bills?  That is absurd that we paid their legal bill to get $535 million out of us…that is like sending the fox out to guard the chicken coop!

I asked for some research to be done to find the bill so that I could go over Wilson Sonsini’s legal bill.  Here is the message I got back:

“…The actual legal bill that Wilson Sonsini submitted to Solyndra is not a matter of public record. Solyndra, as part of its Recovery Act reporting requirements, was required to disclose summary information about how the Recovery Act funds were spent, including the identity of the vendors, their DUNS number, the payment amount and a description of the product/service provided….”

This just is not right.  Not a public record?  We paid for it!  We (taxpayers) get billed 2.4 million dollars for Solyndra’s legal bills (not to mention the about $535 loan!) and we can’t find out WHAT services were




http://gretawire.foxnewsinsider.com/2011/10/12/this-is-an-outrage-taxpayers-paid-the-law-firm-wilson-sonsini-2-4-million-dollars-for-solyndra-but-we-cant-find-out-what-we-paid-for

[Soul Crusher]

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/09/19/solyndras-legal-team-five-high-powered-lobbyists-at-2550-per-hour



WTF!!!!   

[240 is Back]

OMGZERCYCLE!

This kind of corruption will be a-okay starting Jan 2013 when a repub is in office.  Just the cost of doing business

[Soul Crusher]

OMGZERCYCLE!

This kind of corruption will be a-okay starting Jan 2013 when a repub is in office.  Just the cost of doing business

Are you ok w this level of corruption? 

[240 is Back]

Are you ok w this level of corruption? 

No.  They belong in prison.  As do repubs who did this shit for the 8 years before that.

I just don't like ppl who are okay when repubs do it, and get all mad when dems do it.

[Soul Crusher]

No.  They belong in prison.  As do repubs who did this shit for the 8 years before that.

I just don't like ppl who are okay when repubs do it, and get all mad when dems do it.

Slip rule No. 1.

[240 is Back]

Slip rule No. 1.

incorrect  -   that only applies if I'm DEFENDING OBAMA.  And I'm not.  i say he belongs in prison.

nothing wrong with calling out getbiggers for being partisan hypocrites.

if I was nuthugging saying "Nah, obama shouldn't be prosecuted because..."   I'm all for them investigation and locking him up.  Holder is shady as fck.  No doubt.


I just think it's funny - I've been debating the same ppl 6 years here - and they overlook MUCH more egregious crimes because it's a (R) in front of the criminal

[Soul Crusher]

incorrect  -   that only applies if I'm DEFENDING OBAMA.  And I'm not.  i say he belongs in prison.

nothing wrong with calling out getbiggers for being partisan hypocrites.

if I was nuthugging saying "Nah, obama shouldn't be prosecuted because..."   I'm all for them investigation and locking him up.  Holder is shady as fck.  No doubt.


I just think it's funny - I've been debating the same ppl 6 years here - and they overlook MUCH more egregious crimes because it's a (R) in front of the criminal

If I agree the bush cabal deserves a Dell, will you agree the obama junta should share it? 

[240 is Back]

If I agree the bush cabal deserves a Dell, will you agree the obama junta should share it? 

a cell?  of course. 

[Soul Crusher]

a cell?  of course. 

This fucking iPad!     The spelling situation sucks on this thing! 

[Soul Crusher]

Solar Firm That Received $1.2 Billion Federal Loan Plagued by Financial Problems
By Stephen Clark
Published October 12, 2011 | FoxNews.com




With the Solyndra scandal still swirling, the Obama administration is under pressure to reveal the financial condition of the solar companies that received $4.75 billion in similar federal loan guarantees on the last day of the program.

Republican lawmakers on two House committees are seeking details about the loans given to First Solar, SunPower Corp. and ProLogis. Of those three companies, troubling financial revelations have emerged about SunPower, which sponsored a solar project that received a $1.2 billion loan, more than twice the money approved for Solyndra, which filed for bankruptcy last month after receiving a $528 million loan.

The Energy Department says on its website that the $1.2 billion loan to help build the California Valley Solar Ranch in San Luis Obispo County, a project that will help create 15 permanent jobs, which adds up to the equivalent of $80 million in taxpayer money for each job.

But the Energy Department stands by the project.

“This project underwent many months of rigorous technical, financial and legal due diligence by career employees in the DOE loan program,” Energy spokesman Damien LaVera said in a statement to FoxNews.com. “It was approved for one reason only: because it meets all the requirements of the program – helping America win the clean energy race and create entire new industries for American workers.”

In April, the Energy Department gave the project sponsored by SunPower a conditional loan guarantee, even though the company was receiving financing in the capital markets. Shortly after the conditional guarantee, French energy giant Total bought a majority ownership in SunPower and extended a $1 billion credit line to the company.

But SunPower posted $150 million in losses during the first half of this year and its debt is nearly 80 percent of its market value. The company is also facing class action lawsuits for misstating its earnings.

SunPower sold the solar ranch that received the federal loan to NRG, an energy company based in New Jersey. But SunPower is still developing the project and stands to profit if it succeeds.

The Energy Department told FoxNews.com that the ranch was sold to NRG “as a means for increasing equity in the project.”

“DOE was aware of that arrangement, which was outlined in the term sheet negotiated before the conditional commitment was signed,” the official said.

The company is also politically connected. Rep. George Miller's son is SunPower's top lobbyist. The elder Miller, a powerful California Democrat, toured the plant last October with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and reportedly said, "We've worked hard to make renewable energy a priority because it represents America's future economic growth. Today, businesses like SunPower are moving forward, hiring 200 people for good clean energy jobs in the Easy Bay."

It’s not clear what role, if any, either of them played in securing the loan. Miller’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

An Energy Department official denied crony capitalism was a factor in the loan guarantee.

“The notion that political connections played any role in this application is simply false,” the official said. “This application was approved based on the exhaustive due diligence of the career professionals in the loan program, and nothing else.”

Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent a letter to Energy Secretary Steven Chu last week seeking information on the three companies.

“The committee is committed to protecting taxpayers from further loses from ill-fated ‘investments’ in companies whose viability is far from certain,” he wrote.

Issa told “Fox News Sunday” that the Solyndra debacle isn’t an isolated event.

“We’re finding it’s not just Solyndra. It’s a pattern of these sorts of investments,” he said. “One of the questions we have for Secretary Chu is, tell us why that last day, somehow, you had everything you needed and you didn’t have it over a period of time before?”

An oversight committee aide told FoxNews.com that the Energy Department has yet to respond.

The Energy and Commerce Committee also sent a letter to Chu last week after the Energy secretary didn’t respond to its first letter Sept. 20 requesting documents on the financial condition of the companies receiving loan guarantees.

The committee noted in its letter that President Obama defended the program last week, saying the overall portfolio “is doing well.”

“We sincerely hope that this is true and that no further taxpayer dollars are at risk,” the committee wrote. “However, as Solyndra executives and numerous members of the administration repeatedly told us the same thing about Solyndra during the last seven months, we have a responsibility to inquire further.”

A committee aide told FoxNews.com that the committee is still awaiting a response.

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/12/solar-firm-that-received-12-billion-federal-loan-plagued-by-financial-problems-702546811/



Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/12/solar-firm-that-received-12-billion-federal-loan-plagued-by-financial-problems-702546811/print#ixzz1afixjyEK

[Soul Crusher]

Solyndra funder Kaiser paid zero taxes for years
Posted in Beltway Confidential - 13 October 2011 - No comments




Oklahoma billionaire George Kaiser has been in the headlines in recent months thanks to his role as a major investor in Solyndra LLC, the now-bankrupt California solar panel maker hailed by President Obama as a model for America’s “clean energy future.”

Congress is investigating why the Obama administration gave Solyndra a $535 million loan guarantee despite multiple warnings from career bureaucrats and private sector investment experts that the company was a poor risk, lacked a realistic business model and was likely to go bankrupt as a result.

Other investigations are being conducted by the FBI and the Treasury Department’s Inspector-General, and the issue is likely to remain on the public mind throughout the 2012 presidential campaign as Republicans claim Solyndra’s failure demonstrates that government “cannot pick winners and losers in the marketplace.”

Because Kaiser was a campaign “bundler” – an individual who collects contributions to a candidate from others that are then simultaneously given to the candidate – who raised about $250,000 for Obama during the 2008 campaign, congressional Republicans and media analysts have speculated that the Solyndra loan guarantee was nothing more than using tax dollars to reward a political supporter.


http://www.newsamericadaily.com/solyndra-funder-kaiser-paid-zero-taxes-for-years