‘Abound Solar’ Under Investigation after Receiving Money from Obama’s Stinkulus Package and Going Bankrupt

As Romney so deftly said to Obama during the first  debate, “You don’t just pick the winners and losers, you pick the losers all right!”:

Abound Solar under investigation by Weld County district attorney; received $68 million stimulus
Abound Solar declared bankruptcy earlier this year
The Denver Channel ABC7 – By Marshall Zelinger

LONGMONT, Colo. – A bankrupt Longmont-based company that received $68 million in stimulus money is under investigation by the Weld County district attorney’s office.

7NEWS has confirmed Abound Solar is under investigation.

Abound made solar panels which it sold across the country, Europe and India.The Department of Energy approved nearly $370 million in federal stimulus money for Abound. The company received $68 million before payments were stopped in 2011.

Sources tell 7NEWS that the company’s finances are under scrutiny.

7NEWS obtained internal documents from 2012 that show orders for tens of thousands of replacement solar panels. The orders cite different reasons for the replacements including, “low performance,” “under performance” and “catastrophic failures.”

The orders are for replacements requested after the Department of Energy stopped stimulus money payments to Abound.

“These are solar panels we are now seeing reports that said they worked as long as you didn’t put them in the sun,” said Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo. “Now the question is did the (Department of Energy) — did they know something that the rest of should have known? Did Abound not tell the DOE something? These are questions that need to be answered.”

[…]

Yes.  Yes, these questions do indeed need to be answered, but don’t expect any help from the Lame Stream Media—or Steven Chu, for that matter…

Obama’s War on American Energy Continues Unabated

While we were all distracted yesterday, Obama was stealthily working to continue the destruction of America.

Basically, Obama has rolled back Bush’s lifting of the continental shelf drilling moratorium:

H/T – LonelyConservative

IER Statement on Obama 5-year OCS Leasing Plan
Institute For Energy Research

WASHINGTON, D.C. — IER Senior Vice President Dan Kish released [yesterday] the following statement about the Obama administration’s proposed final plan for development of energy resources on the Outer Continental Shelf:

“President Obama’s offshore charade continues today with the formal announcement of the 2012-2017 leasing plan for the outer continental shelf. With this plan, the administration reinstates the 27 year moratorium that was lifted in 2008, and turns its back on potentially enormous energy resources that could provide jobs and energy security for America. For more than three years, the Obama administration has consistently reversed bipartisan efforts to open America’s vast offshore resources for energy development.

“The president has cancelled lease sales, delayed others, and imposed a unilateral executive embargo on the oil resources that our most promising public lands could provide. With 98 percent of the U.S. offshore currently unleased for energy exploration, Secretary Salazar has finalized this plan to continue the administration’s war against affordable energy. In the end, Americans will pay more for the energy they need.

“While President Obama and Interior Secretary Salazar claim an ‘all of the above’ energy strategy, today’s announced plan continues to give the American people access to a mere fraction of the offshore resources they own. If not for this president and his policies, Americans could access more than 200 years of oil supply under our feet and off our shores.

“Millions of Americans are still looking for jobs. The Gulf Coast economy has yet to recover from President Obama’s moratorium on offshore drilling. President Obama has signaled today that he has no regard for our energy future, nor the jobs that a sensible, long-term plan for offshore development would create.”

If that isn’t enough to convince you that Obama is working overtime to destroy America before we kick him out of office, here’s a fairly recently released report on the coal burning power plants which are being systematically shut down by the EPA:

That’s 34.7 Gigawatts of energy America will no longer have!—Over 25 Gigawatts above the EPA’s original estimate of 9.5 Gigawatts.   And, it’s absolutely unfeasible to replace all that lost energy with just solar panels and wind turbines.  

Thanks, Barack!

Obama’s Green Jobs: What’s in a Name?

A cute little jab from Darrell Issa’s Oversight & Reform Committee concerning the Obama Administration’s extremely loose definition of “Green Jobs.”  Enjoy:

Obama and Biden’s Evolving Views on Coal

Gee, it seems like only a few years ago, slo-Joe Biden was saying that coal is more dangerous than terrorists:

And, Obama was busy telling everyone about how he was going to eliminate the coal industry by making it cost-prohibitive to do business:

Of course, that was all before Obama and Biden stepped foot into the White House.  Since then, much to their chagrin, they have discovered that it’s not all that easy to get “coal country” Congressmen and Senators onboard the Green Eco-Train. 

So, Obama and Biden did the next best thing and bypassed all the checks and balances put in to the government and used their communist EPA buddies to turn the thumbscrews on the coal industry.

Such fascist maneuvering, however, did not go unnoticed by the coal countries and, Obama has since lost the ability to rally the coal country voters.

In an obvious effort to win the coal countries back, Obama’s views have suddenly “evolved” so as to appear supportive of “clean coal.”    Of course, anyone with half-a-brain knows that if Obama gets reelected, the coal industry is through.  Kaput!  End of story!:

Obama Adds ‘Clean Coal’ to Website Only After Disappointing W.V. Primary
May 11, 2012 • By MICHAEL WARREN – TheWeeklyStandard

After Barack Obama’s disappointing showing in the West Virginia Democratic primary–the president received less than 60 percent of the vote while a federal inmate in Texas won more than 40 percent–it seems the Obama reelection team may be realizing it has a problem in coal country. Below is an image of the Obama-Biden 2012 page on energy policy from a version of the site cached on May 3, five days before the West Virginia primary:

Among the topics available to read are oil, natural gas, fuel efficiency, biofuels, wind, solar, and nuclear. Now, here’s a screenshot from Obama’s energy page today:

All topics are still available to read except for “fuel efficiency.” That’s been replaced by “clean coal.” The site touts Obama’s “10-year goal to develop and deploy cost-effective clean coal technology.”

Obama isn’t likely to win West Virginia this year–ever since George W. Bush won the state in 2000, it’s been in Republican hands at the presidential level. But consider that swing states like Pennsylvania and Ohio also have coal industries, and the change on Obama’s campaign website makes a bit more political sense.

The Plight of Ted Nugent

Were you wondering what the heck Ted Nugent was talking about at the NRA meeting in St. Louis when he said if Obama was reelected, by this time next year he (Mr. Nugent) would be dead or in jail?  Well, Glenn Beck was able to get Ted Nugent to open up about his battle with the commies in the Obama administration. 

It’s an eyeopener to exactly how bad things are under Obama’s communist rule and goes a long way in explaining exactly what Ted Nugent meant by his comments at the NRA meeting in St. Louis.

Please, I implore you to watch this and share it with ALL your friends.  Also, be sure to include Mr. Nugent in your thoughts and prayers.  He will most certainly need divine intervention to stave off these attacks from a pure evil loosed upon America and the world:

If I Wanted America to Fail I Would…

In celebration of Earth Day, Free Market America has just released this nice little gem which serves to point out how the EPA and Obama are actively and knowingly destroying America:

Another Recipient of Obama’s Green Stinkulus Package Has Executives Living High on the Hog While Company Self-Destructs

Behold, King Obama; the man with the anti-Midas touch!  (Everything he touches turns to crap):

President Obama speaks about business hirings and expanding production because of the Recovery Act investments in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, April 30, 2010. President of Itron Malcom Unsworth (L.), from Washington state and David Vieau (R.), president of A123 Systems from Massachusetts were also in attendance.
Larry Downing/Reuters/File

A123 Systems' plunging stock as of March 30, 2012

Eco-Scams Are as Easy as ‘A123’
Yet another “green energy” boondoggle from Obama’s Energy Department.
By Michelle Malkin- NRO

While President Obama was busy lambasting Big Oil tax breaks on Thursday, yet another of his environmental-welfare recipients (the very kind he wants to redistribute oil subsidies to) was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. Who needs to win the Mega Millions lottery? Start a pie-in-the-sky eco-boondoggle, and a half-billion-dollar jackpot ripe for squandering is all yours!

The Solyndra of the week is A123 Systems, an electric-vehicle battery company based in Massachusetts. The firm also has battery plants in Michigan, where former Democratic governor Jennifer Granholm once heralded A123 as a federal stimulus “success story.” Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the company headquarters and hailed it as a “great example of how Recovery Act funding is helping American companies.” In addition to nearly $300 million in Obama Recovery Act funds, Granholm kicked in another $135 million in tax credits and subsidies to bribe the company to keep jobs in her state.

How’s the return on government investment? This green dud will have taxpayers seeing red. A123’s official company motto is “Power. Safety. Life.” But the firm’s reality is “Out of power. Endangering safety. Clinging to life.”

Earlier this week, the company announced a recall of malfunctioning battery packs manufactured in Livonia, Mich. A123 makes products for Fisker, Chevrolet, and BMW electric cars. Consumer Reports flagged the potentially hazardous defect caused by faulty calibration earlier this month. The recall will cost upward of $55 million.

A Deutsche Bank analyst wrote:

“We no longer have enough confidence that [A123] can raise sufficient capital (without massive equity dilution) and/or continue to augment their book to future business. Recent quality issues may lead to concerns over [A123’s] ability to manufacture with quality at high volumes, potentially leading to customer defections or at least difficulty in procuring new contracts.”

When it rains, it pours. The dead-battery debacle follows news of 125 layoffs in November due to diminished vehicle production by top customer Fisker Auto. That troubled company (into which A123 has itself dumped $20.5 million of stock equity and cash) admitted faulty-wiring problems with its electric cars.

While Michigan workers lost their jobs, Massachusetts executives burned through $155 million in cash this year and the company stock plummeted to just over $1.00. A123 lost a net $172 million over the first three quarters of 2011 and has yet to see a profit. Like Solyndra’s top brass, A123 managers have been living high on the hog and partying it up with Democratic-party bigwigs.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu Kinda’ Sorta’ Renounces Call for Higher Gas Prices

Environ-mentalism meets reality, or just another prevarication by the unctuous  purveyors of the Red Party?   You decide:

Chu renounces his desire for higher gas prices
byJoel Gehrke Commentary Staff Writer – Washington Examiner

President Obama’s Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, renounced his previously-stated desire to see gas prices rise to match European levels in order to motivate alternative energy research, telling the Senate today that he wants gas prices to fall for the sake of the economy.

“We have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe,” Chu said in 2008. When reminded of that comment today during his congressional testimony, Chu backed away from that position.

“I no longer share that view,” Chu told Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, today.  “When I became Secretary of Energy, I represented the United States government, and I think right now in this econonic, very slow, return  — these prices could very well affect the comeback of our economy,” he added.

In other words, right now and for the remainder of this election year, Chu will say or do anything to help Obama get reelected.  After that, all bets are off…

EnvironMENTALism Gone Wild: ‘Entrepreneur’ in Chile Arrested for Removing Ice From Glacier

When you get right down to the core of it, it’s just freakin’ ice!  And, despite what the AGW mob would have you believe, the Earth can always make more:

Glacier thief arrested in Chile
Police hold man on suspicion of stealing five tonnes of ice from a glacier in Patagonia to sell as designer ice cubes for cocktails
– Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent – guardian.co.uk

Climate change sceptics have acquired a new explanation for why glaciers are retreating: it’s not global warming, it’s theft.

Uh…  Nope.  No bias whatsoever in that sentence!  /sarcasm

Police in Chile have arrested a man on suspicion of stealing five tonnes of ice from the Jorge Montt glacier in the Patagonia region to sell as designer ice cubes in bars and restaurants.

Local media reported that last Friday police intercepted a refrigerated truck with an estimated £3,900 worth of illicit ice allegedly bound for whiskies, rums and cocktails in the capital Santiago.

Authorities have accused the driver of theft and are considering adding violation of national monuments to the charge sheet.

Scientists say Jorge Montt, part of the Bernardo O’Higgins national park, is retreating by half a mile a year, making it one of the world’s fastest shrinking glaciers.

Environmentalists have cited it as evidence that man-made climate change is warming the planet. Sceptics have cited other explanations for retreating glaciers, but theft – until now – was not one of them. It may be the only case in which both sides agree human activity was to blame.

U.S. Department of Justice Involved in Seizure of Computers from U.K. Climate Skeptic, TallBloke

Anyone else think these idiots in our government have too much power?

Tallbloke towers raided: many computers taken

Tallbloke’s Talkshop

An Englishman’s home is his castle they say. Not when six detectives from the Metropolitan Police, the Norfolk Constabulary and the Computer Crime division arrive on your doorstep with a warrant to search it though.

I waved the first three in and bid them head through to the sitting room, where there was less of an chill near the woodburner. Then they kept coming, being introduced by the lead detective from Norfolk as they trooped in. I thought I’d been chosen to host the secret policemen’s ball or something. 🙂

I managed to log out of my email on the big lappy as they sat down, to the annoyance of the Computer expert. he soon regained his composure though and asked his first question.

How many computers do you have in the house?

Oh, I’m not sure… around twenty.

I breezily replied. 🙂 🙂

Some glances were exchanged.

“So where are they” he asked.

“Most of them are up in the attic bedroom. We’re in the middle of decorating it. You’ll have to mind the wet paint…”

After surveying my ancient stack of Sun Sparcstations and PII 400 pc’s, they ended up settling for two laptops and an adsl broadband router. I’m blogging this post via my mobile.

I got the feeling something was on the go last night when WordPress forwarded a notice from the U.S. Department of Justice. I’ll post it tomorrow once I get access to the net from a bigger keyboard sorted out.

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