Congratulations to NASA. The future sounds very exciting.

Sept. 22, 2011, 2:00 p.m. EDT

Aquarius Yields NASA's First GlobalMap of Ocean Salinity (click here)

..."Aquarius' salinity data are showing much higher quality than we expected to see this early in the mission," said Aquarius principal investigator Gary Lagerloef of Earth & Space Research in Seattle. "Aquarius soon will allow scientists to explore the connections between global rainfall, ocean currents and climate variations."...

Volunteer Web GroupHelps Discover Two New Planets  (click here)

By Chloe Albanesius

September 22, 2011 10:42am EST

 …A Yale University-based online citizen science project known as Planet Hunters has done just that.

Using data from NASA's Kepler mission, volunteers discovered what they though might be two exoplanets.

That data "survived our checks for false-positives," the Yale team said in a paper submitted to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. "The involvement of citizen scientists as part of Planet Hunters is therefore shown to be a valuable and reliable tool in exoplanet detection."

Planet Hunters, which launched in December, calls on astronomy buffs to examine the vast amounts of data collected by Kepler in the hopes of identifying new planets. Kepler, which launched in March 2009, captures information about 200,000 stars every 30 seconds, and that data has been made public. And while computers are capable of sifting through some of this data, human brains can more easily detect anomalies that might indicate the presence of a new planet….


Space flight has moved to a new era.  There is not a place for private exploration of space travel and industry.  The strides the great astronauts have made in the past were the beginnings of an entirely new way of thinking about resources.  The private sector development of space travel is a good direction.  They need engineers and a space industrial base.  The changes in where the near Earth space program takes place is unfortunately traumatizing for some, but, it is exciting for others.  


While travel to the Moon seems like the next best adventure, the resources being applied to that goal will imperil the resources to achieve higher achievements of the program.  There is nothing wrong with providing a new platform of opportunity for the private sector to achieve the same goals once held only by government while putting government resources to achieving more than it could have otherwise.


The protests by the former astronauts are understandable, but, short sighted in understanding the direction the new program is taking and the resources available to achieve it.  None of this is diminishing the USA, it is enhancing its achievements and putting in deep space far beyond anyone else.

…The two astronauts (click title to entry - thank you) appeared together before the same committee in May 2010 to make many of the same points…

…“The past year has been frustrating to NASA observers,” Armstrong told the panel, chaired by Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Rockwall. …

…Armstrong lamented the demise of the astronaut corps, with retirement of the shuttle fleet and plans to fly a manned NASA spacecraft next in 2021….

…Cernan said his criticism 16 months ago remained valid today….  

No way to run a military. The speech by Rep. McKeon is an excellent example of how wayward the USA military has become.

This graph is about the way Rep. McKeon and Sen. Kyl view the readiness of the US military, "US vs. the world."

In his speech to the American Enterprise Institute, Rep. McKeon clearly has maintained the tone of a true neocon.  His speech is troubling, but, not for the reasons he believes.


Every cut in military spending to McKeon is traumatic and there is now a private consulation committee called "Defending Defense," which is a collaboration of members from The Heritage Foundation and the Foreign Policy Institute.  McKeon calls them Think Tanks, but, they political action committees by a different name.  


McKeon illustrates the dire nature of the USA military and its still needed readiness reminiscent about WWII, only instead of projecting Hilter into the mix it is China that is now the great demon of the free world as their military rolls out into the Yellow Sea.  He uses complaints by Vietnam about China's presence in the Yellow Sea as a reason to be more than worried about the disrepair of our Navy.  


Vietnam?  I don't think so.


He goes on to say that every USA Naval Vessel has a major structural failure while we ask them to do their duties.  ? Major Structural Failures."  Hm.


He states the USA needs 400 new ships in order to be safe.  That sincerely defines a new meaning to safe, but, hey it would put people back to work IF these vessels are made in the USA.  I sincerely doubt the USA needs 400 new ships, our coasts are not that long.


The way McKeon speaks one has to believe we nearly have no defense department at all.  I thought the 'truest' enemy of the USA are terrorist networks.  To listen to McKeon it sounds as though the USA pursuit for terrorists that may attack the USA has caused other nations an alarming race to equate the power and might of the USA military in joint, or in the case of China singular, ventures to defeat it.  In other words, the USA is on its own no matter where it goes and what it does.  Why is it the truth is that any daunting power of the USA is a sincere, overwhelming threat to any other nation and only increases the 'race to war' instead of detering it?  In other words, the USA military is about as dysfunctional as a family intoxicated.  It fuels its own need to be massive.  The DOD obviously has no regard for the State Department as the next Hitler is around the next corner.  When is this hysteria going to end so we can openly and WILLINGLY pursue peace with an end to militarization and conflict.


When people such as McKeon and Kyl talk about China as the USA's next greatest enemy, what do they believe China will do in return?  Ask for a Pre-emptive Cease Fire?  No, they'll continue to arm themselves to match or exceed USA military strength.  It is a hideous notion that needs to be put to bed for the out right danger it causes to the USA and its people.  


He also throws around the concept of nuclear threats from other countries as though it is a burgeoning reality.  Why is it these men can't see the forest for the trees already?  McKeon believes in detering threat to the USA, but, he uses the word as a method of 'responding' and not simply an understanding detering exists when peace is a high priority.  It is nonsense.  Not that the USA should ever be without a ready military, but, this is crazy. 


A half a billion cut to the Defense Department and he is ready to rip the guts out of SSI, Medicare and Medicaid.  Hold on there, I don't think so.  Senator Kyl states he will resign if there are going to be more cuts to the military because of the Super-committee.  If Kyl is going to have an attitude then he should resign now and not simply be an obstructionist to allow the default time come and go and cry the entire time.


McKeon believes his best allies are 13 Freshman committee members of the Armed Services Committee that refuse to see the military sustain cuts.  Sustain cuts, there can't be anything else.  There certainly won't be any more spending.  


The current methods of assessing the readiness of the USA military has to be replaced with an effect and affordable method and to that end the Democratic Senators, Representatives, Secretary of Defense and President Obama need to formulate a clear path to a modernized and effective military with realistic threat assessments and emphasis on peace and domestic development both in the USA and abroad.  The more militarized the USA becomes the more other global powers become while Europe stands down as a minor entity of NATO.  No.  No.  Not any more.  The real problem is that Democrats lack a clear vision of the USA military as an effective power and not a dominating power.  The "Powell Doctrine" has no place in the world of the future.  The enemy no longer is a sovereign power, but, 'the individual' that pledges to a far different border than we can recognize.  


McKeon goes on and on about how the USA military is in very poor condition.  Really?  Well, then the EXCELLENT management of it has fallen far short of being effective or realistic.  The USA military never says, "No, we can't do that."  It always says "Yes, but, it will need added funding."  I believe it was the current Secretary of Veterens Affairs that had the guts to speak the truth to the Bush/Cheney War for Oil machine.  More of that needs to occur while the USA begins to measure the fact that a 'floating vessel' is not necessarily prepared to be deployed.


The USA military, by the very words spoken by Rep. McKeon, has been over extended and has allowed the readiness of the branches of the armed services to be used and abused for political gains rather than serving the best interest of the country.  Today.  Not tomorrow.  Not 2013, but, TODAY, the USA military is in such disrepair it is not as ready as it should be or could be.  Over extending the reach of our armed forces has caused them to push the limits of their own assets, both human and machine, to what seems the breaking point.  It is time to reel them in and bring them back to a reality that the USA can afford.  I don't find any of his words laughable, but, more sad than not. 


Enough already.  We are not itching for WWIII no matter how much people as McKeon and his faux talk of peace are.

Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) Remarks on the U.S. Military Since 9/11 Attacks (click title to entry - thank you)

WASHINGTON, DC 
Monday, September 12, 2011

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) discussed the experience of the U.S. military since the September 11 attacks.  Rep. McKeon also examined the current state of America’s armed forces and the challenges and threats they face in the years ahead.

Thomas Donnelly, the director of American Enterprise Institute’s Center for Defense Studies moderates this event.

Updated: Monday, September 12, 2011 at 11:30am (ET)

Thanks to the nation of Oman in successfully bringing three Americans home.

Is the Ivory Tower of justice in the USA become less connected to its citizens?

And more an instrument of the status quo?


The list of profound injustice to Americans is longer.

Car bomb E. Elm near I-75 - Monroe, MI

(AP) MONROE, Mich. — (click title to entry - thank you)  A law enforcement official says the man who was seriously injured along with two of his sons by a car bomb blast in Michigan is an area lawyer.

The official told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the adult victim injured in Tuesday's blast is 42-year-old Erik Chappell. The official is familiar with the investigation but who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak about it publicly.

Authorities are looking for clues about how the bomb was made and who might have planted it. They say the three victims are in serious condition at a Toledo, Ohio, hospital.

Chappell works for a Sylvania, Ohio-based firm that has an office in nearby Monroe. The firm declined to comment Wednesday and calls to Chappell's home rang unanswered.

How the heck did anyone get access to the car?  Wasn't it parked in the garage?  This is strange.  At least no one is dead, although it is obvious it was intended to kill.


This may be a coincidence, but, with the execution of a man that was provided some of the poorest defense in the world, there could be riots.


Pavement (click here) is shown on Elm Street in Monroe, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011, where a vehicle carrying a man and his two sons exploded Tuesday evening. A spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Wednesday said someone put an explosive device on the car, seriously injuring the occupants. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

This is more or less a character assessment.

The testimony is rather convincing. He seems to know the men involved and the activities. I thought someone would step in and stop this before all the facts are clear. If Troy traveled in the same company on a regular basis, it makes sense that the same gun ballistics were at scenes where they traveled. There is far too much reasonable doubt. No one is stating anyone is completely innocent of violence here, but, murder is far different than assault or any other crime that may have happened that night. I don't like to see revenge in the name of police officers, it diminishes the truth and places authorities in complete opposition to it.  


Police Officers should have special status, but, only when it is based on the truth and not revenge at any cost.

Bernanke has made money in the 'negative' interest range, as a result there is a glut of capital circulating around the globe.

The availability of capital is not the issue.  The capitalists are holding 

onto their money and the nations are going broke.  The countries in need of improving their deficits need to tax those with the excess capital and settle their debts.

It is just that simple.  


It isn't about confidence either, it is however about comfort!


When the banks imploded in 2008 they took most of the global economies with them.  In the USA there was a loss of $1.2 Trillion from its economy in the first year.  The Recovery and Reinvestment Act  added $787 Billion US back into the economy.  There are profoundly understandable reasons why the USA economy is still floundering.  Being "short" a half a trillion in stability and growth is a lot of short fall.  


As a result of the shortfall the contraction continues and there is more loss to be realized.  President Obama knows what he is doing and it high time the Congress woke up to that fact.


Europe needs to increase its taxation and the Western countries need to find reasons at the WTO and the UN  to rein in India and China including human rights violations.  These countries are practicing a two class system and while there is more chance for a spontaneous Middle Class growing in India; it was noted at the World Economic Forum in Dalian, China there is a five year plan in place now to address of China bringing its impoverished to a status most of the world would recognize as Middle Class.  I believe China is beginning to understand how exploitative Wall Street can be in regard to valuing human labor.  I expect to see changes in India and China in a few years that will elevate their impoverished and bring equity to global markets regardless of the exploitative character of Wall Street.


In the meantime, the West is going to have to provide incentives for growth of their Middle Class and Small Business.  You know, the people that actually love their neighborhood, towns and cities that will make it work for everyone.  There really is no other way at this point.  Subsidies to small businesses at the cost of taxing windfall capital and loose equity is the best way a country can maintain the integrity of their economies and providing tax breaks to the Middle Class and Poor to facilitate their participation in up-spring small business and local economies.  Wall Street is crouching in a corner of comfort and security without an interest in added risk to seek new ventures.


The policies of the Fed have facilitated that posturing of Wall Street and they like it.  Bernanke took interest rates to zero and then gave them free money in the way of Quantitative Easing.  Now, he wants to further reduce the interest Wall Street pays and quite frankly he does not understand his own clientele.  It won't work, there is plenty of capital in circulation and that is not the problem.  The EU is looking for more US dollars but that is not an excuse to print more money.

...In other words, (click title to entry - thank you) the slogan for markets as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meet this week in Washington could well be, “You’re on your own. Don’t count on anybody to bail you out.”...

In case no one has recognized it yet...

...both, the pharmaceutical and solar industries have industry wide problems.  These failures are a direct result of the Bush White House and outsourcing of vital USA technologies and drug sources.  


The Right Wing Media are liars.  They never took the time to look at the root causes of the problems with any of these industries and only cherry pick what they can exploit to further their ideology.


I have much more to write.  The USA has to recapture its manufacturing sector and stop the imports from China.  It is killing this country and may even kill us.


Tomorrow is another day.  

Why doesn't the USA produce enough glycerin for its pharmaceuticals domestically?

WASHINGTON, DC 

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

The Senate Health, (click title to entry - thank you) Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is examining the globalization of the pharmaceutical drug market and supply chain. According to a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released today, up to 80% of the chemicals and ingredients of prescription drugs are made outside the United States....

Not only are 80% of the ingredients of USA pharmaceuticals produced overseas, but, 40% of all prescription drugs are produced overseas.  

Additionally, it take the FDA 9 years to inspect all the global facilities that contribute to the supply chain for USA pharmaceuticals while they routinely rotate through US facilities at least every two years and more frequently if necessary.

China has no regulations and their facilities are substandard to US specifications and the drug supply is being contaminated with substances such as anti-freeze instead of glycerin by plants with rusty pipes and broken windows.

The US Senate Committee is trying to grapple with the enormous task of laying blame for contamination by placing a bar code on a product as it changes hands through global brokers while making its way to the USA manufacturer market place.  Deaths have occurred globally due to this problem, including contaminated heparin from China in 2007 and a cough syrup sent to South America resulting in 67 deaths of which most were children.


The entire issue surrounding the medication supply chain is out of control.  There is no way the USA can insure a safe supply chain with foods and drugs coming from third world countries.  To think there should be FDA inspectors all over the globe to do the job that the country's infrastructure is suppose to do is hideous to say the least.  The security of our medication chain has to begin and end at our borders by returning manufacturing of these vital ingredients to the USA and to supply inspectors at the place where the drugs manufactured in the USA are produced.  It is an issue of sovereignty as well as Homeland Security.  This is a hideous subject and it only goes to prove how far afield the products purchased by US consumers has become.


This is the link to the video.

Committee Examines Foreign-made Pharmaceuticals (click here for video of hearing)

Watch it!  It will make you sick.  It made me sick.

Allan Coukell, Pew Health Group, Medical Programs Director, in his testimony before this committee shows a picture of a substandard facility in China.  We don't have to put up with this, we have to be willing to produce our own ingredients when they don't come from Europe.  This is some of the hideous stuff I have ever heard.  To think that Pharma actually expects the USA government to place a global inspection process in place is outrageous.  We need to rethink our involvement with China and other third world countries when it comes to food products, including that for our pets and livestock and our medication supply.  I can't believe how far this has gone "W"rong all in the name of profits.


The chemical formula in the picture is melamine.


Mr. Coukell also appeared on the "Washington Journal" in an interview about his testimony.


Allan Coukell, Pew Health Group, (click here for video link) Medical Programs Director, discusses the oversight of the pharmaceutical industry, as well as the risk that foreign components present to individuals in the U.S.  The GAO recently released a report looking at the makeup of prescription drugs, finding that up to 80% of the chemicals and ingredients in the drugs were made outside the U.S.


It will take a while to get this boat turned around, but, if we complain enough it will get turned around.  I've enough of being the global police and this is just another expenditure we should not have to endure.  This is outrageous.  How did it ever get this bad?


If products produced in foreign countries cannot measure up to USA standards then we don't import anything!  


This is India's problem and China's problem, not mine!


Let "Pharma" pay for it, then we'll see how quick it all ends.


There is even a nice new patent law so Pharma can enjoy profiteering longer.  


Summary of new patent bill (America Invents Act) (click here)
Chris Dixon, CDixon.org.
 Sep. 16, 2011, 7:21 PM

REVISIONS TO UNITED STATES PATENT LAW
As you may be aware, the Senate passed the America Invents Act (AIA) on September 8, 2011. This act will create sweeping changes in US patent law once signed by President Obama, who has stated his intention to sign this bill.

The AIA will create significant changes to the law, and we wanted to take a moment to inform you of some of its most important provisions....

"Solyndra" is not the problem. The problem is a profound lack of subsidies for new technology.

The Loan Guarantee Program was a Bush Program.  When Dr. Chu was nominated and confirmed he promised to move the applications along since the beginning of the program in 2005.  Solyndra was next in line and it is just that simple.  There was no crony capitalism for Solyndra, it had the application in place long before the new administration took over.


There is no cronyism, the country's economy needed an infusion of capital to create jobs.  Solyndra had the right idea.  I do not know if the FBI will turn up any wrong-doing, but, it seems to me what was thought to be a good method of moving from a research based enterprise to one that manufactured the product it researched came up short in order to move the company to an IPO.  


The problem with Solyndra has been the problem with alternative energies for as long as I can remember; there is no capital invested in the industry because of the overwhelming power of the petroleum industry.  If alternative energies were going to impact the 'energy market place' they needed the government to provide SUBSIDES and not just loan guarantees.


Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 
Keith Olbermann

"Subsidies for oil and gas companies make up 88 percent of all federal subsidies. Just cutting the oil and gas subsidies out would save the U.S. government $45 billion every year." (click title to entry - thank you)

The stockholders of Solyndra included the Kaiser Family Foundation (click here) which makes sense, healthier air makes for a healthier nation and why would they not want that to happen. 


Alternative energies are vital to all the nations of the world, not just the USA, but we are behind the curve and competing with companies that stacks the deck against companies like Solyndra.  Currently, Solydra was selling their product for 50% less than it cost to manufacture due to unfair market competition.


As an example to how the market place has mistreated the solar industry in the USA, "Xunlight," a dreamscape of a PhD at the University of Toledo (Ohio) has aspirations to expand its production.  But where?  In the USA?  No, in China because the labor there can compete with the imports here.

…Ohio and local business development agenciessaid Xunlight (click here) has been open with them about the Chinese plant development since the plans were first being made.

The numerous federal and state loans, grants, and tax incentives that the company has received include a $34.5 million federal tax credit approved in January, a $4 million state loan granted this year for the installation of a production line, and nearly $7 million in grants from Ohio's Third Frontier program, the state's $2.1 billion investment pool for advanced technology research, development, and expansion. One of the Third Frontier grants is intended to help Xunlight ramp up its local assembly operations.

Mark Shanahan, energy adviser to Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, said state officials were aware of Xunlight's Chinese plant and are confident that state funding has been used only for local operations….

The fact of the matter is the cheaper labor in China and India are exactly the problem.  There is also a ton of bad credit circulating as Xunlight has had to lay off workers in the USA because of a $5 million deal that proved to yield no payments for their product.  Solyndra's perdicament is much larger than simply a 'bad loan.'  Solyndra had $1 billion already invested in it by the time it applied for loans during the Bush White House.

Xunlight Lays Off 30 Workers At Toledo Plant; Provides Sales Guidance for the Year 2011 (click here)

04/12/2011

Xunlight Corporation has laid off 30 workers at its Toledo plant and has stopped paying several executives because it has not received payment for a $5 million order of the company's solar-panel modules. The company also plans to lay off 70 workers from its production facility in Kunshan, China. The decision leaves 60 Xunlight workers in northwest Ohio and will leave 70 workers at the China plant. The cuts came after an Italian customer delayed payment for an order of 2.5 megawatts worth of Xunlight's thin-film solar panels. The customer, who ordered the modules in January, has been waiting for Italy's government to finalize a set of financial incentives for the solar industry. The company has projected its 2011 sales will fall between $20 million and $40 million.

Recently, Toledo, Ohio has offered Xunlight a place in the city with property the city assisted in funding.  Toledo, Ohio and others have brought the development of this USA company along from its inception and Toledo is trying to make a place for it to give workers jobs.

...Inside Xunlight, (click here) that optimism is pervasive. The firm, founded by University of Toledo physics professor Xunming Deng, moved into new offices just a few weeks ago. Last week the cubicles still had a pristine, unsullied look to them, and some employees didn't yet have working phones. The firm hasn't even made its first sale, but employees say its product - a superthin, flexible solar cell created using sheets of stainless steel - should be in high demand. Within two years, Deng expects to employ hundreds. Many will be twentysomethings, but there are veterans, too. "The excitement of being in a start-up is the same whether you're 32 or 52," says facilities VP Stan Rubini, as he surveys the mammoth empty warehouse in which Xunlight hopes to manufacture more than $200 million worth of solar cells each year. As fuel costs rise and concern about climate change spreads, investors and employees aren't the only ones hoping firms like this one find a viable solution. Almost everyone is.


The reality of the USA market place extends to far more than simply a bad loan to Solyndra.  It has extensive dynamics that begins with the collapse of 2008, but, it sure as heck doesn't end there.  As if the present administration doesn't have enough to contend with, it might want to investigate the 'credit rating agencies' to find out exactly how 'bad faith' is occurring as well.  


Amazingly, the Republicans are relishing the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Solyndra as an indicator of poor judgement by the current administration.  I don't think so.  To begin, the depth of the 2008 Great Recession is still contracting and no one knows exactly the extent of the entire mess.  And by all measure it is a mess.  


Not only that, but, when the loans were being moved through after the 2008 collapse there were plenty of Republicans with their hands out pushing loans through the Energy Department.

…In April 2009, Vitter urged Energy Secretary Steven Chu toapprove (click here) a loan for Red River Environmental Products, saying the Coushatta, La., company could help meet a growing demand for products that help power plants comply with stricter federal regulation of mercury emissions.

"I understand the importance of accessing the domestic energy resources we have, like coal, in an environmentally conscious manner," wrote Vitter, who also backed projects for nuclear power, renewable diesel fuel and a company that makes fuel-efficient cars.

Vitter and other Republicans have pounced on the bankruptcy of Solyndra, saying the White House rushed to approve a loan guarantee to the politically connected Fremont, Calif., company without adequate oversight.

He said in a statement Monday that "in the age of Solyndra, we need full transparency and accountability."

Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., chairman of a subcommittee investigating the Solyndra deal, also has supported projects that promote green jobs.

Stearns, who heads the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations, endorsed a battery manufacturing plant in Jacksonville.

The Saft America plant makes lithium-ion battery cells for military hybrid vehicles and solar and wind energy storage. It received a $95.5-million grant from the Energy Department through the stimulus law.

It doesn't stop there.  Now, Vitter is screaming about better monitoring of Green Energy.

Vitter defends measure putting renewable energy under watch (click here)

Published: Tuesday, September 20, 2011, 9:00 AM

WASHINGTON -- Sen. David Vitter, R-La., said there's nothing inconsistent about seeking loan guarantees for renewable and other energy projects while advocating legislation that would require increased scrutiny of taxpayer-assisted renewable energy products....

And this is from today:  Wasn't he involved in some kind of sex scandal, too?

PRESS RELEASE

Sept. 20, 2011, 10:30 a.m. EDT

Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) Named One of the Most Corrupt Members of Congress (click here)

From misusing taxpayer funds to aid a violent criminal to blatantly trying to bribe the Secretary of the Interior, it has been another bad year for shameless Sen. David Vitter (R-LA). The morally and ethically bankrupt senator once again has been named by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) as one of the Most Corrupt Members of Congress. Click here to read the full report on Sen. Vitter.

"Sen. Vitter solicited prostitution, employed a known criminal, and even tried to bribe a cabinet member," said CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan. "What will it take for the Senate Ethics Committee to take notice of Sen. Vitter's endless misconduct?"...

Why not subsidies.  I mean you have got to be joking.  This plant not only received government monies to develop their technology, they had a guaranteed market place with the USA military when they were ready to market the stuff.  If that isn't 100% government funded, don't ask me what is?


From above:

Stearns, who heads the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations, endorsed a battery manufacturing plant in Jacksonville.

The Saft America plant makes lithium-ion battery cells for military hybrid vehicles and solar and wind energy storage. It received a $95.5-million grant from the Energy Department through the stimulus law.


Give me a break, the USA needs these technologies today and in the future.  These technologies are the future of our children and we have to perfect them.  There is no reason to continue to supply subsidies to oil and gas companies while they out maneuver these new technologies in the market place.  Solyndra is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  They'll reorganize their debt and be back producing their product.  The question is will their market place be one where they can survive.  If Solyndra was an airline no one would blink an eye.  Enough already!


Solyndra was employing 3400 people at last head count before they laid off 1100 when Chapter 11 came into play.  According to departing employees, they loved their jobs and the factory was growing with new mechanized production on a regular basis.  $527 million wasn't enough to securely launch Solyndra into an IPO, but, let's hope eventually they will.


I look forward to the findings by the investigation by the Solicitor General.  

Sep 20, 2011

Studies: Clean energy loans help despite Solyndra's fall (click here)

By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY

Despite the recent collapse of federally-backed solar maker Solyndra, two new studies find economic and climate benefits in helping to finance energy efficiency and clean tech industries.

Energy efficiency loans are a stable investment with low default rates and large-scale potential, according to a study released Tuesday by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. The review of 24 loan programs found default rates ranged from 0% to 3% throughout the life of the financing and remained largely unchanged despite the near collapse of the real estate market over the past few years….

The lastest in solar energy is 'the thin film' solar  array.

20 Sep 2011  |  United States

Sculpture uses thin-film solar technology at football stadium (click here)

One of the largest solar power developers in the United States, NRG and the Washington Redskins celebrated FedExField's energy future with the help of former NFL quarterbacks and Redskins' fans during the "NRG Solar Bowl" Quarterback Challenge and an official "flipping of the switch" at halftime to inaugurate the new NRG solar power installation at FedExField.

The solar power system - with more than 8,000 solar panels - is capable of providing all power to the stadium on non-game days and up to 20% of its needed electricity on game days - the equivalent of providing 300 homes with energy for a year. In addition to being the largest solar installation at an NFL stadium, it is the largest solar installation in the D.C.-metro area.

A variety of green energy technologies, including translucent solar panels and a specially designed sculpture created using thin film solar technology will generate power through the solar entry plaza at Gate A. The sculpture - a 30-foot tall silhouette of a football player dubbed "solar man" -showcases the flexibility of this innovative solar technology and also is one-of-a-kind work of art welcoming fans to FedExField....

I have much more to post...

...and please don't mind, but, I'll do it tomorrow.  I am getting a new internet connection tomorrow morning.  Thanks.

One other thing about the fuel tank on the plane.  Is it possible it was hit by something, drained the fuel and also hit the 'time flap?' 

Later.

I have only one question about this crash. Where is the explosion? What happened to the fuel tank? Empty?

The dialogue is finally turning to REVENUES. It is impossible to get anything more out of the current tax structure.

The dialogue needs to remain on Revneues and not taxes.  Tax cuts don't work when they have already been cut to the bone.

It was laughable to watch the right wing media following the President's announcement of the Debt and Deficit proposal.  On FOX, Mr. Constable, no lie that is his name, from the Wall Street Journal stated the speech was a political speech.  He offered no real insight as to why it constituted a political speech and I didn't notice any audience waving "Obama 2012," but, what does on expect out of Murdoch in 30 seconds.

Yep, "Simple" Simon Constable. 

September 19, 2011 11:20 AM

Obama: "This is not class warfare -- It's math" (click title to entry - thank you

By Stephanie Condon

Taking a defiant tone against Republicans unwilling to raise taxes in order to close the deficit, President Obama today unveiled a $3 trillion long-term deficit reduction plan that relies heavily on raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans....

Evdently, Lambaugh didn't get the message from the President because he stated the speech was a cherry bomb going off in the populous of the USA.

Lambaugh was especially interested in the words surrounding "...gutting education and medical research...." being the mother of all cherry bombs.  Evidently, Mr. Lambaugh believes we only have to gut one of them and I guarantee you it isn't medical research.

But, enough of the nonsense.

The FACT is that the EFFECTIVE corporate tax rate is 15% in the USA as opposed to the EFFECTIVE tax rate globally which is 16%.

One thing is true and that is the USA needs to modernize and repair its infrastructure.  The message was clearly delivered by Senator Hutchinson in regard to the infrastructure bank.  The USA infrastructure needs to also support businesses that need to update and build facilities that reflect 'State of the Art" environmental standards including Greenhouse Gases.  The USA is behind in modernizing its infrastructure, hence, falling behind in competitiveness globally to attract business to this country.

The President's proposals over the past few weeks have been to address the future of the USA while rebuilding the current 'Jobs Base.'  That is 'the usual' for a President.  Rarely is a President faced with such incredible tasks instead, there is usually 'the business' of the nation that needs to be addressed, not complete rebuilding of one.

"The American Jobs Act" will serve to continue the tax relief for many while supplying unemployment 'survival' benefits to Americans who are still unable to find work.  No one can deny there is still a challenge to bring jobs to the market place for Americans.  To deny the country has an obligation to the workers still facing unemployment after bailing out Wall Street Banks with billions of $US is to victimize those Americans and place them in poverty. The poverty rate is at an unbelievable rate.  It cannot continue to grow.  While these proposed funds will go directly into infusing the buying power of the consumer, it also supplies real incentives for small business to realize they have an opportunity now to begin and grow jobs.  It is a symphony of incentives that are perfectly matched to deliver the consumers to the small businesses in the USA.

I believe the President has it exactly correct.  The tax code needs to be addressed., but, for short term economic drivers that won't happen soon.  The new tax code has to be prepared and knowing Republicans they will monkey with it to make it appear as though it is the correct method of tax law for now and the future.  All too often Republican legislation is nothing more then deceptions that American citizens naively believes in only to find out how manipulated their trust was placed.  So, until we have a congress competent enough to do their jobs well there is no sense to do anything except add to the tax code to make it serve the people of the USA.

I'll be back tomorrow to comment on many subjects including regulation, the military and Solyndra.

  

What is occuring in the USA House, in their own orbit, is nothing more than hubris on an expensive salary.  This 'ACT' is why the right wing media is focusing on regulation. 
 
This is a no brainer.  The USA needs protections to their environment through regulation.  They need protections  in their food supply and their medical supply and they are not getting it while their Senators are grappling with huge global systems to stem dangers to the domestic demands inside the country.
 
It is getting hideous and stupid.  With all this infrastructure spending there should be plenty of monies to subsidize small companies to faciliate compliance.  If they are helped to meet regulations they will have a secure market share and safe clientele.  What could be better.
 
Interesting.  The House GOP is willing to spend millions upon millions to defeat regulations without a single thought about spending millions upon millions to facilitate and enforce them.  In a society concerned about the cost of health care, regulations are the first measure that should be taken to reduce the need and reduce the cost.  I mean really, do I have to say all this?  And the media worries about 'spiritual nutcases' in need of exorcists.
 
The TRAIN Act would create a multi-million dollar committee to conduct cost-benefit analyses of 10 EPA regs aimed at curbing GHGs and other pollutants (click title to entry - thank you)

By Elizabeth McGowan
SolveClimate News

WASHINGTON—Those perceiving the Clean Air Act as a lumbering locomotive intent on flattening U.S. jobs, economic competitiveness and energy reliability hope the "TRAIN Act" makes more than a whistle-stop tour through Capitol Hill.

Conservationists, however, have an opposite take.

For them, the wheels can't come off soon enough from House legislation that is saddled with a cumbersome name — Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation Act of 2011 — to create a cutesy but memorable acronym that lends itself to ridicule....

A legitimate appoach will be marred by the violence of Hamas.

Determined: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Photo: Reuters

Unfortunately, Palestine's claim of Statehood won't be received  with a warm welcome as it should.  The security problems in Gaza and the waters surrounding Gaza are still a huge problem for Israel.  That violence can't be ignored.

The real tragedy will begin when Hamas begins attacks on Israel following the defeat of their bid for Statehood.  But, Hamas would have begun attacks on Israel even if the measure at the UN succeeded.  Either way Hamas will see the issue as permission for warring due to lack of sovereignty or just plain war for the entire of Israel. 

Gaza is a problem.  It is a problem for Palestine, Israel and the Palestinians that live there.  I do not see any real path to peace so long as Hamas is tolerated and the violence continues.  The Hamas violence is another problem no different than violence in Northern Ireland was for generation after generation.  The higher the price the more likely the next generation will continue the violence.  The Arab League really needs to do something to change the paradyme with Hamas, without peace there won't be a sovereign Palestine.  Hamas has to stop their violent culture and adopt the reality that peace can exist with clear borders.

I am somewhat releaved the "Tea-vangelicals" missed the 'cue' of the Gardasil issue.

I would have expected more of them to relate to the spiritual complaint of the mother with the retarded child and not the medical complaint.

This is just a guess, but, it seem to me the woman was saying that after her daughter received a Gardasil injection she developed mental retardation because of the 'myth' of this being permission to allow sexual activity at an early age.

Sort of a God vs. Devil topic.  In other words after Michele Bachmann stated she felt offended for the little girls and their parents, the woman in the audience would have bonded with the 'spiritual' invasion of the devil to her daughter and 'magic' she was retarded.  I thought that was something the Tea-vangelicals missed.  It was a welcome disconnect and proves they aren't as 'god centered' with every thought. 

To evangelicals Gardasil is a dangerous drug for many reasons and not simply the physical side effects which brings me back to the Perry governorship to help out a crony.

The crisis in the Loan Guarantee area of the Recover Act is due to depressed markets.

The USA House is in its own orbit and Speaker Boner is captain of the ship.

The Commission (click here) concluded that this crisis was avoidable—the result of human actions, inactions, and misjudgments. Warnings were ignored. “The greatest tragedy would be to accept the refrain that no one could have seen this coming and thus nothing could have been done. If we accept this notion, it will happen again.”

There is a study about "The Financial Crisis" by according to the USA media no one would know it.

The business sector is NOT suffering from overtaxation.  As a matter of fact, and I would think the GOP would have learned same from Bush's Tax Cuts, taxes are not the driving force to creating jobs.  Jobs are created becuase a product in the market place sells and hopefully sells to its market share and makes a profit.  Taxes has nothing to do with creating jobs.  As a matter of fact, taxes are at an all time low since the 1930s. 

I am not going to discuss Speaker Boner's 'talk' yesterday at The Economic Club because it was completely rhetorical while stating there are places that we can agree. 

Regulations is not the problem either.  It is better to apply regulations now while businesses are re-establishing their production plans and seeking markets.  It will streamline their process in decision making to have regulations in place rather than postponing regulations to a later date.  The regualtions the USA applies is based in protecting the consumer and the air they breath and the water they drink.  Why would any company want to be in violation of those provisions?  Harm to human health, citizen property and lifestyle only leads to lawsuits.  It's completely silly to believe any regulation should be shelved. 
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...Boehner (click title to entry - thank you) urged the new bipartisan committee to focus on cuts in federal spending and entitlement programs as a way of slowing the growth of government. He said tax increases should be "off the table" as the committee works toward a late-November deadline....

Overhauling the tax code is a great idea.  It is actually raising taxes although the tax rates would be lower.  It raises taxes because loopholes would be eliminated.  None of these changes are going to go over well, however, there is a concern.  The concern is how long with the Republicans leave the NEW tax code alone?  A month, two maybe?  Then what will have occurred is an increase in taxes certainly to be removed by Republicans panicking over crony preferences.  The USA will then be left if a tax code that will most certainly bankrupt the county with lower rates and returned loopholes.  It will be a peril the USA does not want to seek as an alternative to underhanded backing of a GOP "lower tax rates."  The GOP has to know revising the tax code will raise tax rates and not lower them, hence a violation of their PLEDGE.  So what then is to follow?  A return of the loophole, that is what will follow.

The changes to the tax code which eliminates loopholes and lower rates to increase revenues has to be guaranteed for at least twenty years and the national debt has been reduced or there is no sense to taking the chance.

HR 2587 is a clear indication of the incompetency of the US House of Representatives.

The bill. which passed the House with a party line vote, truncates the
"Due Process" provision of our USA Constitution.  The bill itself could have unintentional consequences.  Both Nancy Pelosi and Steni Hoyer were on the floor of the House yesterday warning this was a bad bill.  It definately is.  Boeing is a long standing and beloved USA compnay. It also enjoys the expertise of American labor.  That cannot be ignored. 

Gov. Chris Gregoire (click title to entry - thank you) pumped up the state's aerospace industry Thursday, promising to tailor worker training to its needs and asking for its help to maintain Washington as the "center of aerospace" in the world.


There are plenty of aerospace companies, states and even whole countries that would like to strip Washington of that title, she said.


One prize for which the state is competing is the location of a new plant to build the 737 MAX, a variant of the world's best-selling airplane that's built in Renton. Boeing is expected to make that decision in about six months.


The Renton plant is in the running, but as Gregoire said, "We take nothing for granted." Boeing got the contract to build new refueling planes for the U.S. Air Force in part because of a strong community partnership that lobbied for a Washington-built plane, she said....

The Aerospace industry belongs in the USA, whether that means a South Carolina plant for Boeing is a question for administrative courts, the NLRB, to decide.  The idea that Boeing could literally rob well trained, seasonsed and senior employees of their jobs for a better bottom line is not only bad business, but, it is bad for the country in a global market place.

The USA relies on a competent aerospace industry for its national defense and space related programs.  To believe that can be substituted for profit driven reasons is hideous.  I am quite confident part of the mission of the NLRB is to maintain the competency of the employee in such a sensitive industry as well as their rights under collective bargaining laws.  As a rule, unions add to the competency of their employees through peer support on the job and educational opportunities off the job. 

That said, the real problem with HR 2587 is that it truncates Due Process.  The law itself is unconstitutional and even if the President were to sign such a hideous legislative attempt by four freshman House members the first stop for it would be the courts.  It would be defeated in the lower courts and upheld throughout.  Due Process is what makes this democracy possible and to realize this bill seeks to remove that process and the fullest extent of that process is ridiculous.   

The bill was composed by self-righteous freshman which is the plague of the USA House, but, it was co-signed by more senior members of the House that share the desire to disarm the USA Constitution.