More Global Warming Profiteering by Obama Energy Official
Surprising documents made available to this author reveal that Assistant Secretary of Energy Cathy Zoi has a huge financial stake in companies likely to profit from the Obama administration’s “green” policies.
Zoi, who left her position as CEO of the Alliance for Climate Protection — founded by Al Gore — to serve as assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy, now manages billions in “green jobs” funding. But the disclosure documents show that Zoi not only is in a position to affect the fortunes of her previous employer, ex-Vice President Al Gore, but that she herself has large holdings in two firms that could directly profit from policies proposed by the Department of Energy.
Among Zoi’s holdings are shares in Serious Materials, Inc., the previously sleepy, now bustling, friend of the Obama White House whose public policy operation is headed by her husband. Between them, Zoi and her husband hold 120,000 shares in Serious Materials, as well as stock options. Reporter John Stossel has already explored what he sees as the “crony capitalism” implied by Zoi being so able to influence the fortunes of a company to which she is so closely associated.
In addition, the disclosure forms reflect that Zoi holds between $250,000 and $500,000 in “founders shares” in Landis+Gyr, a Swiss “smart meter” firm. She also still owns between $15,000 and $50,000 in ordinary shares.
“Smart meters,” put simply, are electric meters that return information about customer power usage to the power company immediately and allow a power company to control the amount of power a customer can consume. These smart meters are a central component of the Obama administration’s plans to reduce electricity consumption as part of the “smart grid.”
In a rare moment of candor, Obama “Energy Czar” Carol Browner said to US News & World Report last year: “We need to make sure that …[e]ventually, we can get to a system where an electric company will be able [sic] to hold back some of the power so that maybe your air conditioner won’t operate at its peak, you’ll still be able to cool your house, but that’ll be a savings to the consumer.” (emphasis added)
Clearly, DoE funding to encourage the adoption of “smart meters” would very likely lead to much increased sales by Landis+Gyr — and a potential windfall for Zoi. But surely Zoi doesn’t participate in the relevant “energy efficiency” policy?
Was it OK for white house officials to own shares in military weapons manufacturing companies while they were ordering wars to go…?
Either have the same rules for everyone, or dont have rules at all
Please cite some examples to support this poorly worded allegation.
Give the kid some time – at this moment he’s frantically scrolling through the DVD of “Farenheit 911″ looking for his source material.
Perhaps they are talking about Gloria Feinsteins dealings helping grant her husbands firms millions in military contracts.
(By the way, apparently she helped some of her husbands firms profit from the housing meltdown crisis as well)
It’s actually Diane Feinstein; she also locked up some valuable mineral of which I don’t recall the name down in the SoCal desert so it becomes impossible for us to mine it. She managed to make the area into a national park or monument. The only other source in the world for the same mineral is owned by her husband. Forgive me for the lack of detail on the subject but it was a long time ago under the Clinton administration.
Not to mention getting exemptions to the new minimum wage law for her husbands companies.
You’re thinking of Boron.
She also managed to help several friends out by restricting large tracts of rich gold fields in California, as well as 97% of the country’s rare-mineral mining:
http://www.geoffmetcalf.com/bixman_20010615.html
It was the rare earth element deposits in the southern California desert that she and her husband were successful in closing off from the public. Too bad the loony liberal coolaid drinkers don’t realize how duped they have been. The democrats are taking away the ability of the normal citizen to make a living though mineral development in the name of feel good measures with the real goal to help reduce the competition to their offshore companies (mostly in China). The democrats are traitors if you ask me.
Yes, HRS corp and Perini I believe.
Find it interesting that no one else has connected any dots with the Minneapolis I35 bridge collaps. It was HRS that was the contractor on that one.
Not a peep in the media (Not even the conservative media) that HRS is mostly owned by a Democrat Senators husband. I don’t believe for a second that if HRS had been John Boehner’s wife’s company, the I35 bridge collapse would have been tied to him in nearly every report.
Does the NAME JACK MURTHA STRIKE A FAMILIAR NOTE SON
Lay your MOONBEAM gaze on these FACTS
Representative John P. Murtha (D-PA) is a nineteen-term member of Congress, representing Pennsylvania’s 12th congressional district. Rep. Murtha chairs the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. Rep. Murtha’s ethics issues and violations stem from (1) his ties to the PMA Group, a now defunct lobbying firm under federal investigation; (2) his ties to Kuchera Industries, a defense contractor under federal investigation; (3) his ties to defense executives and former military personnel convicted of skimming money from government contracts; (4) actions he may have taken to benefit his brother’s lobbying clients; and (5) his chief of staff’s threats to a political opponent. Rep. Murtha was included in CREW’s 2006, 2007, and 2008 reports on congressional corruption.
PMA Group Investigation
Paul Magliocchetti worked with Rep. Murtha as a senior staffer on the Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense for 10 years. After leaving the committee, Mr. Magliocchetti founded the PMA Group, which was one of the most prominent Washington, D.C. defense lobbying firms. In November 2008, federal authorities raided the offices of the PMA Group and the home of Mr. Magliocchetti. The PMA Group is being investigated for allegedly violating campaign finance laws by using “straw” donors to make contributions to lawmakers, concealing the true source of the money. In some cases, lawmakers received contributions from individuals listed as PMA lobbyists despite the fact that the individuals were never employees of the firm. Additionally, Mr. Magliocchetti may have reimbursed his employees for contributions made to candidates. After news of the raid broke, the lobbying shop closed its doors on March 31, 2009.
Despite the investigations into PMA’s practices, lawmakers have continued to earmark for the firm’s former clients with Rep. Murtha requesting $16.2 million in earmarks for Parametric Technology Corporation, Ardiem Medical, MobileVox, DRS Technologies, and MTS Technologies. In exchange, these companies made contributions to Rep. Murtha’s campaign committee and PAC.
On June 11, 2009, the Ethics Committee revealed it was investigating “certain, specific allegations within the committee’s jurisdiction” relating to the PMA Group The Ethics Committee’s statement did not mention any specific lawmaker by name, and Rep. Murtha’s spokesperson said the committee had not contacted his office.
Since 1998, Rep. Murtha has accepted $2,378,552 from PMA Group employees and clients of the firm, making him the biggest recipient of contributions from the firm.
Kuchera Corporation Investigation
In January 2009, federal investigators raided the headquarters of Kuchera Corporation as well as the homes of the company’s two top executives. The investigation concerns the misuse of corporate funds to finance a private ranch owned by the company’s president, Bill Kuchera, and contract fraud. In response to the investigation surrounding the firm, the U.S. Navy placed the company on its Excluded Parties List, barring the firm from receiving any more federal contracts. The suspension was revoked, however, after Kuchera agreed to alter some of its accounting practices.
In 1982, Mr. Kuchera pleaded guilty to a single felony count related to drug trafficking and spent less than a year in prison. After his release Mr. Kuchera approached his uncle, then the owner of Kuchera Industries, based in Racine, Wisconsin, for a job. When Mr. Kuchera’s partner in the drug-running operation, Peter Whorley, was released from prison in 1986, he approached Mr. Kuchera and invested $50,000 in the fledgling company in exchange for a share of the profits. Kuchera’s felony conviction never barred his company from winning contracts to handle sensitive government work.
Since 2001, Rep. Murtha has directed approximately $50 million in earmarks to Kuchera Industries. In turn, since 2002, employees of Kuchera Industries and their families have donated to $90,500 to Rep. Murtha’s campaign committee. Additionally, since 2006, employees as well as their families have donated $7,000 to Rep. Murtha’s PAC. Kuchera Industries shares links with a host of other Rep. Murtha connected organizations, including lobbyists and defense contractors.
KSA Consulting
KSA Consulting is a lobbying firm that has employed Rep. Murtha’s brother, Robert “Kit” Murtha, as well as Carmen Scialabba. Mr. Scialabba joined KSA Consulting after leaving the House Appropriations Committee where he worked as an aide to Rep. Murtha. KSA clients that have received earmarks from Rep. Murtha include Aeptec Microsystems, Coherent Systems International, MountainTop Technologies, and KDH Technologies.
Mr. Murtha was personally invited to join KSA Consulting as a lobbyist in 2002 by Mr. Scialabba, where he established a reputation as an “earmark specialist.” In 2004, Congress passed a $417 billion defense appropriations bill, which included earmarks benefitting at least 10 companies represented by KSA Consulting. Records show that KSA Consulting directly lobbied Rep. Murtha’s office for seven of those companies. Mr. Murtha retired from KSA Consulting in 2006.
Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC)
CTC is a large non-profit that in 2007 received $220,423,075 in funding from the federal government. The group’s 990 form also indicates that it paid the PMA Group $461,334 for consulting services. Since 2002, CTC’s employees and employees’ family members have donated more than $126,000 to Rep. Murtha’s political committees and leadership PAC.
Commonwealth Research Institute (CRI) is a subsidiary non-profit of CTC. In 2007, the non-profit received $5,104,829 in funding from the federal government. Since 2003, the group’s totally funding has jumped from $632,884 to just over $5 million.
Federal authorities continue their investigation into (CTC) and its subsidiary, Commonwealth Research Institute (CRI). CRI is under particular scrutiny concerning the process in which it was awarded its non-profit status. When CRI petitioned the IRS for tax-exempt status the IRS questioned whether the group’s purpose as a research institute was adequate rationale for tax-exempt status and noted that “research results must be made available to the interested public.” CRI responded that it planned to work primarily with government contracts, only a small portion of which would be classified. But in the nine years since the group petitioned the government for tax-exempt status, it has never published any of its government backed research.
Previously, CRI caught the attention of the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General (IG), which was investigating payments made by CRI to an Air Force official awaiting confirmation for work that was never done. Shortly after admitting to a Washington Post reporter that he was being paid, but not doing any work in return, the official committed suicide. The IG’s investigation has been placed on hold pending the outcome of other probes into Rep. Murtha related entities.
If, as it appears, Rep. Murtha accepted donations to his campaign and political action committees in direct exchange for earmarking federal funds, he may have committed bribery and honest services fraud and engaged in conduct not reflecting credibility on the House.
DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT ON REP. JOHN P. MURTHA (D-PA) >>
Uhhh, not that I admired that scoundrel, but he’s dead.
One word (surprise surprise): Cheney.
And in case you want to argue that Cheney had little or nothing to do with Halliburton as Vice-President, don’t bother.
… so, it’s all o.k. then?, right?, so why were you ‘itchin bout cheney?
Oh good. I was worried about you, BC. You hadn’t shown up to chime in with a tu quoque; I thought you might be sick or something.
That was suppose to be a reply thingy to blotto’s query. But Cheney-bashing will always be an all-purpose good thing, if for no other reason than to remind people that yes, he and his boss were indeed that wickedly bad.
Do you have facts to back up your allegation, or is it just another leftist smear?
Global warming the greatest scam in the history of the world. Polar caps melting LOL
@Terry Gain: “leftist smear” is redundant. But thank you for admitting you’re a Leftist (not something anyone with a clue about history should be proud of). Whether they call themselves Liberals or Progressives or Democrats, history reveals them to now be one in the same: Leftists progressing toward total government rule, always for our own good of course! Whether they are aware of this or not, they seek a form of government better known as Totalitarian.
Forms of Govt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DioQooFIcgE
Liberal Fantasies v. Reality: Can You Spot the Difference?
http://www.pjtv.com/?cmd=video&video-id=3008
FBO
So your argument is that if little Billy stole cookies. It’s OK for little Zoi?
Alex:
Name some names. Who held founder’s shares in military weapons companies while they were “ordering wars to go”?
President George W. Bush made the decision to go into Iraq. Are you saying he had founder’s shares in weapons companies, and that was the reason he went after Saddam?
Or are you just being an apologist for the thoroughly corrupt 0bama Administration?
I’d rather have politicians with arms investments than “green tech.” At least we can be sure there are some justified uses of weapons.
Are you serious? He spells it out in a later reply (Carlyle Group, for example), but I am flabbergasted that there are people out there–still–who refuse to believe that people in power are self-serving and will not hesitate to line their own pockets through policies they themselves enact.
Enough with the red herrings. This isn’t a partisan question. They are ALL corrupt.
First, if you’re going to charge that “white house officials” owned shares in “military weapons manufacturing companies while they were ordering wars to go,” you really need to list an example or two. Otherwise you sound like you’re just spouting The Talking Points of The Left.
Second, no war since WWII has affected our economy as extensively as this war on climate change will, nor been quite so controversial. More people believe that “manmade global warming/climate change” is a hoax than believe it is real. The less conflict of interest the better when it comes to determining what measures our government will take to “cure” the problem. The measures currently being pushed by this administration are likely to depress our economy like no other legislation in history (though a few of FDR’s programs during the Great Depression might come close).
When Dick Cheney became vice-president, he divested himself of all stock in the company he had previously headed, Halliburton (yet continued to receive flak over his entire tenure as v.p.). Perhaps Ms. Zoi — and anyone else who might affect our “climate change” policy — should do the same. Her pledge to not participate in any matter that might affect her financial interest would be laughable if her actions weren’t so potentially devastating to our economy.
It almost sounds like it’s The Left that has the double standard.
Congress voted unanimously to take Saddam out. So, your point is ??what?? exactly?
Congress did not unanimously to take Saddam out. They did approve the resolution but the vote was not unanimous.
The word he was searching for was OVERWHELMING, later when it was politically expedient to gut Bush, sell out the war effort and bolster their numbers, the liberals cut and ran like usual. They are very much like the French.
Poor argument. ObamaCare was not unanimous either.
Actually, congress authorized almost exactly the same use of force against Saddam because of his weapon of mass distruction under the Clinton administration, but people forget.
Compare the presidents (Bush and Clinton) authorizations and they could have been written be each other they were so close.
Cheney
kept his stock in halliburton
Carlyle group run by Bush Daddy
Huge weapons deals.
Yes, but he donated any proceeds to charity. From factcheck.org (http://www.factcheck.org/kerry_ad_falsely_accuses_cheney_on_halliburton.html)
“…Cheney and his wife Lynne have assigned any future profits from their stock options in Halliburton and several other companies to charity. And we’re not just taking the Cheney’s word for this — we asked for a copy of the legal agreement they signed, which we post here publicly for the first time.
The “Gift Trust Agreement” the Cheney’s signed two days before he took office turns over power of attorney to a trust administrator to sell the options at some future time and to give the after-tax profits to three charities. The agreement specifies that 40% will go to the University of Wyoming (Cheney’s home state), 40% will go to George Washington University’s medical faculty to be used for tax-exempt charitable purposes, and 20% will go to Capital Partners for Education, a charity that provides financial aid for low-income students in Washington, DC to attend private and religious schools.
The agreement states that it is “irrevocable and may not be terminated, waived or amended,” so the Cheney’s can’t take back their options later.
The options owned by the Cheney’s have been valued at nearly $8 million, his attorney says. Such valuations are rough estimates only — the actual value will depend on what happens to stock prices in the future, which of course can’t be known beforehand. But it is clear that giving up rights to the future profits constitutes a significant financial sacrifice, and a sizable donation to the chosen charities.”
So stop misrepresenting the facts,Leo; someone like me will always be around to set the record straight
You forgot one of the key players Saudi Arabia.
Google Adnan Khashoggi, arms dealer for the Saudi royal family. Khashoggi was one of the middlemen between Oliver North, in the White House, and the mullahs in Iran in what became known as the Iran-Contra scandal. http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/03/17/030317fa_fact
This argument is ridiculous. The entire govt is corrupt, including both Bush and Obama. If people don’t stop these insanely irrational attempts to justify the actions of one party to the proponents of the other then the only people who are completely screwed are WE THE PEOPLE. Stop your stupid bickering and step out of the left vs. right paradigm that keeps you so distracted. Violence is WRONG. War, outside of self-defense, is WRONG. Taking peoples’ property is WRONG. Changing policies and endorsing legislation for personal profit is WRONG. Handing over governing power to foreign bodies such as the UN is WRONG …its not the parties or the politicians that are most guilty of holding double standards, its US. I was only 16 when I realized that neither party was worth my tax dollars, much less my vote…and here we STILL have people arguing for parties who are both equally guilty of scamming us. Its so sad! I’m not on the side of either party, I’m on the side of EQUAL RIGHTS, JUSTICE, and FREEDOM. If one holds any moral principles at all then it would be impossible to declare oneself “republican” or “democrat.” Please, cast down your party’s flag and pick up your own.
Wake up, Mr. Alex. Wake up!
Who? When? Where? How many?
I’ll take unfounded accusations for a hundred Alex.
that’s just hilarious.
The only allegations I’ve ever heard of involved Cheney, but even a casual attempt to review the records finds that he sold his holdings before taking office.
Try another lie, this one’s worn out.
To answer your question: No, it isn’t OK “…for white house officials to own shares in military weapons manufacturing companies…” Which is why appointment to an Executive Branch position requires divesting (selling) the shares. In fact, under most prior administrations (or all prior Republican administrations), shares in everything are divested, and the proceeds placed in a “Blind Trust.” In addition, at least under Republican administrations, Executive Branch employees are required to disclose any financial interests, and recuse themselves from any EB activity that could cause the appearance of conflict of interest. Some have even gone to jail for failing to do so.
But those rules do not, of course, apply to the Obami.
You mean like these people?
The Clintons Cash Out
Bill and Hillary Clinton aren’t taking any chances this time. In a move to make sure their personal finances don’t become an issue in Sen. Clinton’s presidential campaign, the couple is liquidating their blind trust – valued at between $5 million and $25 million – and leaving the proceeds in cash, according to reports in both The New York Times and Washington Post.
The Clintons acted after learning that the trust contained controversial investments like oil and drug companies and military contractors. The move could cost the Clintons money, since they’ll have to pay “substantial amounts” in capital gains taxes and are giving up the potentially higher returns from stocks for the safer, but generally lower returns from savings accounts.
But it helps them avoid any potential conflict of interest charges during Hillary Clinton’s presidential run – and steers them clear of a repeat of the Whitewater scandal that dogged them during Mr. Clinton’s presidency.
Come on everyone knows that the Globull warming scam is run by criminals that should be in prison for fraud. All the corrupt lying peer review experts that were chasing BILLIONS in Government grants could care a less about the truth. The lied they used fake data the computer model is a scam. Everyone that believe there is too many people the world do us a favor you greenies lead the way and remove yourself from the gene pool! The rest of us are sick to death of listening to you lying cheating useless elitist Green Nazi scum.
Bruce59 Please tell us how you really feel!
Alex, please peddle your Leftist crap somewhere else…
Typical wib nonsense. When it’s psycho-leftie totalitarianism stuff, it’s ok to have a conflict of interest, even when the entire AGW thing is a lie, unlike terrorists, or even WMD’s (take a deep breath there weftie, there were ane ARE many over in sany-land, though hidden, and Valerie Plame’s house is filled with BS). But when it has to do with protecting the country with weaponry and technology, and does NOT involve any where near the domino-tax burden your Climate-Change (ridiculous redundancy mind you)Bill will burden us all with, then it’s not cool. Well buy some shares of whatever weaponry or high tech company you want, and remember many of the household name companies provide this stuff to us already, you may own shares, oh, but being a non-wealthy-politburo weftist, you are broks and hate all Wall Atreet trading. Cretin.
It appears you have been appropriately peed on and hung out to dry, sonny.
You mean like LBJ owning stoock in Colt Arms and Sea/Land?
Some FACTS, please, Alex… instead of just spouting.
I really don’t think you even know what you’re talking about. Ever heard of “blind trusts”? They are used by principled individuals who serve the government.
So since one crooked administration did something then it’s ok for another crooked administration to do it. Are you serious. This is the white house that was going to change the way Washington did business. Point being: If you preach a higher standard, live up to it. Don’t just point the finger and say “Well they did it.” Incompetence in the past doesn’t negate incompetence in the present. We need less politicians and less federal gov.
Another good article which does what the MSM won’t do:their job. I do think however, that notwithstanding the MSM’s embrace of incompetence in all things related to Obama and his dreadful administration, that the transparency promise has been kept. The Obama administration is transparently corrupt, transparently incompetent, transparently cynical, transparently dangerous to our economic health and national security and transparently in need of being voted out of office.
Intead of “smart meters” that allow some faceless bureaucrat to control our electricity usage, why don’t we restructure the Department of Energy to fast-track the construction of new nuclear power plants and oil refineries, start drilling for our own oil and drastically reduce the cost of energy?
With the refutation of the “global warming” theory, there is no longer any reason to restrict our energy supplies.
The DOE should either promote energy production or be eliminated. We should not pay tax money for an agency that keeps us from developing our own energy sources.
Reality Check. DOE must not overreach. They should stick to what they know – acting like our Mommy keeping us warm as safe from harm.
“Have you got you thick sweater on little one?”
“Are you using too much power staying warm in the winter and cool in the summeer? It is too complicateted to explain; let us control it for you – we know what is best for everybody”
And most important…
Red Alert! Red Alert! Possible groundbreaking on new power plant has been givin a firm start date. Where are those high hurdles? We need more hurdles STAT!”
DOE should stick to handling nuclear materials, which is its real job. Produce, manage and dispose of nuclear weapons and their components, safely handle nuclear material, and confirm the safety of nuclear power.
The DOE is a dismal failure — it has completely failed in its primary mission, that being to secure America’s energy independence, it should therefore have been dissolved long ago.
“Was it OK for white house officials to own shares in military weapons manufacturing companies while they were ordering wars to go…?”
No. See how ##$% easy that is? /eyeroll.
The Obama administration could well end up being recognized as one of the most corrupt in American history, given its Chicago-machine-politics background and the kid-gloves with which many media outlets are determined to treat it…
See Michelle Malkin’s “Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies”
Obama and Associated Press will go down in history as the worst US administration ever.
You mean the worst “regime” ever. The Left loonies have an issue with calling it what it really is…
Heeeere’s Cathy!
Alex: “Was it OK for white house officials to own shares in military weapons manufacturing companies”.
No. Who said it was? And bad behavior is not justified by bad behavior.
Is it, Alex?
Not sure that there were too many companies that weapons manufacture was their only business. At any rate, because of conflict of interest considerations, people were expected to divest themselves. This does not seem to be the case with much of the Obama administration. I would be happy to see the Obama administration subjected to the same rules and laws that they and their democrat cohorts are foisting upon us.
At some point using what supposedly happened in the past does not fix the problem. It is problem solution that we need and not a childish game of they did it. Didn’t like it with the Bush administration and don’t like it with this one.
People in government need to be subject to any rule or law that they deem necessary for the rest of us under penalty of prosecution.
Nothing to see here. Move along. Obama said neither lobbyists nor lobby influence in this administration. We must accept what he said.
I accepted that the healthcare debate would be on CSPAN…
Alex,
Please give particulars for your charge, namely, names and companies.
Ah, but all the criticism of Dick Cheney and the wealth he obtained from Halliburton because of Bush/Cheney/Halliburton contracts!! Complete lies of course. Now we get crickets from the left!! Hope and Change.
Ah, but was that criticism of Cheney justified? Chapter and verse please.
1) Cheney divested himself of the that stock before taking office.
2) The contracts you refer to were signed while Clinton was in office.
Serious Materials published a response to this. Looks like you need to do some fact checking before linking to sources of information on the Zoi – Serious Materials “link” before you start republishing rubbish stories. http://blog.seriousmaterials.com/?p=1007
Nice try JC. But a blog is NOT the company. So for you to expect us to believe that the SM blog is representing the company is for us to believe that HuffPo represents the Dems. Oh wait,they do. Okay so never mind.
The point is that a blog is not the source. The CEO has not refuted Stossel. The company itself has not responded to Stossel. The company itself has not released its financial data for review; who are its backers; seems to me they went into business during a pretty bad time in the economy-just out of the blue…hmmm… No IPO, hmmm.
The article you reference was a response to the Stossel piece, which evidently suggested much more than this article. It doesn’t have on bearing on her clear conflict of interest, which still exists. And a corporate PR release should be considered for what it is…or have you never been part of the corporate world?
Thanks for the link. Looks like Horner and Stossel went on a fishing expedition.
I usually catch fish on fishing expeditions…
Thanks for sharing.
Now, please find us the links to corresponding statements by corporate officials. You know, the “statement of material fact” kind that get you prosecuted when the statements are false.
I’d also settle for relevent SEC filings. Of the kind that get corporate officals prosecuted when the filings contain false, incomplete or misleading information.
Thanks in advance.
@Alex,
If what you are saying is true, then no, it is not OK for them to own shares in any company that provides war materials they were involved with supporting or initiating. Conflict of interest – period. However, if an official places his portfolio in a blind trust that has stock through an investment company that bundles investments and is not aware of weapons companies involvement, that is another issued altogether. The official should know what is in his or her portfolio and ignorance is no excuse. Democrat or Republican, rules should be equally enforced.
Caveat – it seems as if the Obama administration and supporters no longer believe in the basic rule of decency and honor when it comes to their best interests. Al Gore and Goldman Sachs are partners in one of the biggest scams in recent history. It makes Madoff look like an amateur. Gore and Goldman are partners in a few green companies that have succeeded in making Gore a millionaire, well on his way to becoming a billionaire. Goldman Sachs has more influential presence in the Obama administration than any other administration in recent history. The incestuous relationship is absolutely sickening. At all levels, the foxes from Goldman Sachs have been placed in charge of the hen houses or act as advisors to the ones who are supposed to be looking out for our best interests.
These same people are the ones who will benefit from the global warming farce and scare perpetuated by liberals, Democrats, and now, wealthy, fat Democrat supporters.
Actually i was referring to wars in general. There is no difference with health care industries, or Insurance industries, or green power trash…its all the same. As long as “my” party is in power, corruption is winked at.
But since you asked;
http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports/TiesThatBind.html
http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=-y5pk0LJ4CoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=carlyle+Group+war+profiteering&source=bl&ots=cMofd3qKHh&sig=2zgeHxCAXvQAPIKS9SIwcUGaVPE&hl=zh-CN&ei=ep7VS-myJIvq7AOcocCqDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CAsQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=carlyle%20Group%20war%20profiteering&f=false
http://www.countercurrents.org/pringle200407.htm
The carlyle group includes George Soros and others as investors, many from both bush white houses, even from Carter white house, Names most of you will recognize, maybe some you don’t if its just armchair Poly sci that is practiced.
General Dynamics, Boeing, United Defense, Lockheed, etc, etc….the people in these articles made fortunes on the spoils of war invested in these companies.
It will be the same in a few years when President Obama’s white house is investigated, and it will never end because its ok when “your guy” does it.
Partners
Thu, 12/03/2009 – 07:03 | admin
The World Policy Institute works in partnership whenever possible on projects and events. Recent partners have included: Demos, The New School, American Council on Germany, Americas Society, Asia Society, Avoided Deforestation Partners, luMail Alliance, Carnegie Council Global Policy Innovations, Century Fund, Common Cause, CUNY Graduate Center, EMTA, FreeDimensional, German Council on Foreign Relations, German Marshall Fund, The Global Syndicate, Heinrich Boell Foundation, Indo-American Arts Council, The Mantle, National Council for Research on Women, New America Foundation, New York Coalition to Expand Voting Rights, New York University Law School, New York Public Library, 92Y, Open Society Institute, Overseas Press Club, Peace Action New York State, The Political Salon, RSA, School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and the Alliance Program at Columbia University, Sciences-Po, Shesource.org, Stanford Alumni Association, White House Project, and Vital Voices
And you want us to believe that the World Policy Inst. is a non-partisan group that has investigated Dem administrations and WILL investigate this corrupt administration and president. Not so much.
Get real. And this from Counter Currents where the link took us: “It apparent that Bush is a madman who will listen to no one.”
Alex you are drinking too much kool-aid. If you are going to copy and paste from CAP, Kos or HuffPo please ensure that what they give you is independent and verifiable and reputable information. Not just left wing loony tune groups or think tanks.
Nice post, if Alex thinks groups like Public Policy institute are non-biased, I’m afraid there’s no hope for him. I always find it amusing that when the current administration gets caught with their hand in the cookie jar, the childish excuse of “But a Republican did it…and even though my side bashed the heck out of ‘em for it, it’s OK for my side.”
Where I come from that’s called HYPOCRISY. Some “Change” we’re getting these days, money is changing hands, all right…
@Alex
“….It will be the same in a few years when President Obama’s white house is investigated, and it will never end because its ok when “your guy” does it.”
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No it isn’t. There are a lot of us who are sick and tired of the puppet show. The bankers have been pulling the strings on BOTH parties for years.
“…As a Republican ex-president, it was obvious that Roosevelt would cut deeply into Taft’s vote. This proved the case, and Wilson won the election. To this day, no one can say what Theodore Roosevelt’s program was, or why he would sabotage his own party. Since the bankers were financing all three candidates, they would win regardless of the outcome. Later Congressional testimony showed that in the firm of Kuhn Loeb Company, Felix Warburg was supporting Taft, Paul Warburg and Jacob Schiff were supporting Wilson, and Otto Kahn was supporting Roosevelt. The result was that a Democratic Congress and a Democratic President were elected in 1912 to get the central bank legislation passed….” CHAPTER THREE The Federal Reserve Act [SECRETS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE By Eustace Mullins
Heck J. P. Morgan BOUGHT the press, lock stock and barrel in 1917 according to the Congressional Record.
And another little tidbit. Even the NY Times noticed the take over by the banks:“….These days, corporations seem to exist for the investment bankers…. In fact, investment banks are replacing the publicly held industrial corporations as the largest and most powerful economic institutions in America…. THERE ARE SIGNS THAT A VICIOUS spiral has begun, as each corporate player seeks to improve its standard of living at the expense of another’s. Corporate raiders transfer to themselves, and other shareholders, part of the income of employees by forcing the latter to agree to lower wages.” January 29, 1989
FOLLOW THE MONEY: The Denmark text, leaked during Copenhagen showed it was David Rockefeller’s World Bank that was going to be in control of Carbon trading (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/08/copenhagen-climate-summit-disarray-danish-text)
And Rockefeller IS the one giving the marching orders. David Rockefeller has hosted luncheons at the family’s Westchester estate for the world’s finance ministers and central bank governors, following the annual Washington meetings of the World Bank and IMF. Rockefeller’s Chase Bank served as training grounds for three World Bank presidents, John J. McCloy, Eugene Black and George Woods.
The Rockefeller foundations also fund Greenpeace, WWF and other green organizations, with Standard Oil money.
Would this be the same George Soros who is pulling Obama’s and his minions’ strings today? Good old George is the maximum profiteer from the current as well as past financial crises that he helped create. I do agree with you that both parties are corrupt but I would say the right somewhat less than the left, and George is definitely from the left but he loves wealth while the rest of us are expected to shun it.
Do you actually read your stuff, Alex? Given the long-ago debunked parts, your links don’t actually support your claims.
Slighly off topic but relevant is A. W. Monftord’s book: The Hockey Stick Illusion. (A very charitable title – a more appropriate title would be: the Hockey Stick Lie.) Montford shows just how faked the global warming “science” has been. Data were cherry-picked and results that were statistically insignificant were presented as significant. The cabal running the thing centered on Michael Mann who is supposed to be “scientist,” but he is a “scientist” just the same way Vito Coreleone was an olive-oil merchant. From such fraud as perpertated by Mann and his cabal, the Left would turn the world upside down, and greedy Leftists would try to turn a buck from destructive rules they impose on us.
What’s astounding is the audacity Ms. Zoi incorporates in her decision making from her past to her present employ.
It’s as if few individuals, not one individual in Big Brother’s hands will or can differentiate between right and wrong anymore.
Every decision, action has become ever-so relative, myopic. Very sad.
SmartMeters are designed for private homes and are used by consumers to record their energy use. They do NOT send information to the electric companies. (This is already done by electric meters.) The purpose of SmartMeters is to save consumers money by helping them to understand their energy use and make changes like using electricity to charge batteries during off-peak hours.
Paranoia is un-necessary about this. 8^)
The original purpose for smart meters was to send current readings directly to the electric company, in order to eliminate the need for a meterman to manually access the meter to read it.
So yes, smart meters can and do send information directly to the electric company.
Electric meters send total power usage to the electric company, for billing purposes. “Smart” meters send detailed power v time usage statistics back. Among other things, they allow power companies to change their rates on an hourly basis depending upon current demand.
TransData
PGE
GE
The meters themselves don’t let the Electric company directly control your power consumption, but the “Smart Grid” also includes smart thermostats, hot water heaters, and other tools that may let the electric company throttle down certain elements in your house in order to reduce demand at particular times of day.
Smart meters can be switched “on” or “off” remotely (by the Utility). Currently all existing residential and commercial meters are being replaced with the so-called Smart Meters (using stimulous money). In the future – for example – to reduce your “Carbon Footprint”, the meters can be programmed (remotely) to cut off your power when you have exceeded a pre-determined (by the DOE) KWH limit. The KWH usage limit will likely be based on a twenty-four hour cycle (just to “fair”). Hint: Do not have a 2011 Super Bowl party at your house.
Actually, the meter it’s self is no more than a recording device. The information recorded can be sent to the utility via radio, fiber optic, hardwire etc. at an interval predetermined by the utility. The main advantage is for Time of Use Metering. This is done to allow a utility to charge more for power that is consumed during peak times. This will allow the generation utilities not to exceed their generation capabilities, thus not having to ‘buy bulk power off the grid’ or bringing on line more costly generation units.
The meter can not disconnect someone. It takes a relay or a switch to do that. As to controling devices in your house, this is something the consumer must agree to. There will be programs that make these option attractive, such as lower cost per kWh.
There are ways to lower demand without ‘smart meters’ A utility can lower the line voltage and lessen the load. VF drives can lower consumption for electric motors. etc.
I was in the utility industry for over 40 years, and the shortage in generation and transmission was never a technical problem, but a political problem. The ‘China Syndrom’ movie and the Three Mile Island incident set the enviromental groups into a free for all frenzy that ended all progress in generation. There were more lives lost last week in coal mine than were ever lost in a nuclear generation plant built in the U.S.or Western Europe. (Russians used an entirely diffent set of specs and the core was graphite.)
Lowering transmission line voltage will raise thermal losses, not lower them. Lowering wall socket voltage screws up a whole bunch of appliances that are expecting 110 V RMS from the socket.
The articles specifically state that the meters have switches built into them.
As to doing things without the owners permission. If the law is changed as some want it to be, then permission won’t be necessary.
In Maryland 20 years ago the local electric company offered discounted rates for customers who agreed to install a special control only on their air conditioner that would so power could be controlled during peak hours. It was not a “smart meter” as is being described here, AFAIK it neither recorded nor reported anything about my general power usage, and it was optional for the customer, not a government diktat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_meter
“A smart meter is an advanced meter (usually an electrical meter) that identifies consumption in more detail than a conventional meter; and optionally, but generally, communicates that information via some network back to the local utility for monitoring and billing purposes”
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The article goes on to talk about instances where smart meters are used to turn off power to the customer. I believe this is in relation to a total disconnect of the customer, not a partial disconnect of major appliances. Though such useage is quite possible once additional switches are installed.
Mamosa, read all the way down the article to the quote from Carol Browner.
I’m afraid you’re not correct, I had a “smart meter” on my last house. It shut off power to the clothes drying element, the air conditioner (in Florida) during peak periods, rotated them off and on. It wasn’t to “educate” me, it actually cut the ability to get power at peak times. You could opt out if you paid a higher rate.
#12 Thanks for that link, JC. I have very serious suspicions that that response was not written by a small window company’s public relations person. I suspect they had an outside ghost writer or helper who is leftwardly listing, if not an actual employee of the administration.
Here is a telltale remark at the end:
“But we do hope that in the future, facts are checked carefully first, especially when a story is brought in by an outside group that could just be trying to throw mud on behalf of big corporations. That will help all Americans be best informed.”
Hmmm. An anti-corporation small-business owner? A rare bird indeed.
Good catch, Fred.
This appears to have been edited by a recent “communications” major. The sentence structure and wording is awkward; the politics, center stage.
G.L., it is gratifying indeed when an ignorant, illogical, touch-feely, hopey, changer like you can actually follow a suspicion to its proper end. Way to go.
The links back to the Press Release potion of the Corporate site and all the administration oriented press theere, gives me pause to wonder how many others are invested in this company. I’m always struck by how wealthy ‘former’ politicians become after office. To me the response was written under cover of a blog to avoid ‘official’ status. It’s still irrelevant, since there exists an obvious conflict of interest.
….Hmmm. An anti-corporation small-business owner? A rare bird indeed.
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No, anti-corporation small-business owners (me) are not rare they are just well informed. Large Corporation/government fascism means the bureaucracies are packed with employees from the large corporations. The real goal of the bureaucratic regulations is not to protect the consumer or environment but to raise the bar so ordinary people can not start a business easily. If they do manage to start a business and irritate a big guy a regulator can be used to harass them into bankruptcy. One blogger noted his brother worked for the EPA and was instructed to leave Mobil and Exxon alone and go after the mom & pop businesses.
It is well worth reading Nicole Johnson’s article to see what I am talking about http://www.opednews.com/articles/History-HACCP-and-the-Foo-by-Nicole-Johnson-090906-229.html
Also check out the chairman of the food inspectors unions testimony. 16 pounds of non compliance reports ignored by the USDA! Of course the USDA is packed with the big ten employees and friends. http://njcfil.com/b/pdf/stansTestimony.pdf
That’s odd, Corrinne. Most of the small business owners I knew in my local C of C had a dream and ambition of becoming a larger corporation. As for exposes[accent grave over the second e] showing the corruption of big government…tell it to Obama. He is the one tripling the deficit and wanting to increase it even further by spending money the government doesn’t have.
Ray Kroc, in his book Grinding it Out, said that as long as you’re green*, you’re growing, but as soon as you ripen then you start to rot.
* In this case, “green” means “young, developing, or inexperienced”. The big boys in the food service business had their way of running a burger joint (see:White Castle) and this laughable upstart McDonald’s would never catch on. The ripe business of White Castle was almost completely destroyed by this green upstart.
A lot of small business owners would love to grow their businesses into large corporations, but now the ripe ones at the top are spreading their rot into the bureaucracies and creating non-market roadblocks to their ability to compete. This makes more and more small business owners resentful. The disconnect here is that they think large corporate power creates government power, when it is the reverse that is true. If there were no governmental interference in the market save for the prevention of fraud and force, large corporate power would die a quick death. If they were able to respond quickly to changing market demographics, they will stay large, if they are too ripe to do that, they will go the way of Smith-Corona. Either way, they would not be able to strangle the competition in red tape without government power to do the strangling for them. Governments, on the other hand, do not need large corporations in order to remain in power (see:USSR, Zimbabwe, Cuba…) and these large corporations are only postponing the day when they, too, are thrown to the mob in pieces.
So what?! I have investments in green technology too. Any prudent investor would, when it is a known fact that there’s a limited amount of oil left in the earth, and non-carbon sources of energy are going to play a big role in future energy production.
And if you were to take a high-level government job in which you could directly affect the returns and values of that investment, you’d be expected to divest or put them in a blind trust too, just as GWB and Dick Cheney were.
Unless, of course, you work for this administration.
That’s not entirely true. Cheney’s interest in Halliburton is different in that Halliburton benefits directly as prime contractor. In this case there’s no indication that the company she’s involved with is ever going to be a prime contractor of a government contract.
Meanwhile, politicians involve those who are experts in various fields; when Bush drew up plans for something he rightfully consulted with those who knew the most about it. I don’t see this as radically different.
Some of this is reminiscent of the left’s panty wetting regarding faith based initiatives that George Bush implemented. He figured, correctly, that a christian based org that runs soup kitchens might know a lot more about running soup kitchens than a place that doesn’t. To hear the left go on about it, you’d think the next step was replacing school textbooks with bibles.
Now I’ll grant that for the sake of appearance and propriety alone she ought to have placed her stock etc in a blind trust. Few things are sillier than painting a target on your own backside. But otherwise this is a non-story.
Cheney had no ‘interest’ in Halliburton. His deferred salary payments were earned in earlier years, and were payable regardless of what happened to Halliburton. And his options were in a charitable trust, meaning he made no money on them regardless of what happened to Halliburton.
I believe he also had a pension from Halliburton, but by law, the pension fund has to be fully funded, which means he would be paid his pension even if Halliburton went bankrupt.
Since those carbon based fuels are going to last several hundred, to several thousand years, why the rush to non-carbon based fuels?
Clathrates alone can power the US for for centuries. In some sense the anti-oil cmpaign makes sense. Oil is too useful to simply burn.
Are you formulating policy that will have a direct impact on your investments? I doubt it. If you choose to invest in green technologies and/or companies, that is certainly your right. Ms. Zoi is formulating policy that will have a direct bearing on the value of her portfolio. That is unethical, and a big difference to simply owning stock in green companies.
Since there is no global warming/climate change being caused by man the only motive for the climate bill has to be profit for somebody. The AGW scam has already made millions for Al Gore. Its time to jail all those behind the great global warming scam.
If we had an honest, impartial media populated by real journalists in this country, this story would be all over the news for the next couple of weeks until the Secretary was forced to resign. But Noooooooooo the Pravda wouldn’t be interested in upsetting the leftist agenda would they ?
This is a rehash of an old story that keeps getting reported with no new facts. These “surprising documents” are public disclosure documents available to anyone a year ago and have been published many times on the web over the past year. So not very surprising except to someone living under a rock.
Even Stossel never says that Serious benefited from any supposed ties, and indeed they apparently have not gotten a dime from DOE or any other agency. They published a full listing of facts here many months ago:
http://blog.seriousmaterials.com/?p=1007
Well, old facts, must not be important. By your reasoning, anything having to do with the Bush administration is now irrelevant. No facts? Not important? Her husband’s company doesn’t want to make any money from DOE, the govt would be required to disclose that under the FOIA, but as a private company making money from “smart” meters that the Obey administration is thrusting upon the masses, her husband (and she by default) stand to make millions selling these gimicks to the masses.
The fact that it’s taken her a year to direct contracts to her company means that she never will?
Seem’s there’s another point here; she used to work for Al Gore. Gore’s up to his armpits in this administration and with hundreds of billions to be made selling air (trading carbon credits) the possibility of corruption makes the banking overhaul look like a chain letter scam. A program on CNBC showed “companies” in India who have people collect cow manure, bring it in so it can be dumped into a giant mixer where the methane is removed and sold back to the people so they can use their one burner stoves to cook food. The company receives carbon credits for this scheme, and sell them on the open market. In this scheme, they’re not even selling air, they’re selling the difference in carbon btwn the methane and the CO2 from burning the methane. They’re selling NOTHING!!! And they’re making billions. How long can an economy continue when the economy is built on selling a mere notion?
The funny thing is that methane quickly breaks down to CO2 and water in the atmosphere anyway.
But what happens if you set fire to it? A phart joke came to mind on your comment!
Unless and until we get a media with a backbone, or an outraged citizenry that cares, this will continue. Obama has already outdone Nixon in the corruption department. Meanwhile, ridicule and attack ordinary, average citizens who are fed up with this sort of conduct on the right and the left and label them as malcontent, racist, morons. We will see how the arguments turn when the right is in power again.
If you want to talk conflict of interest and politicians look at the other big ones FOOD and MONEY. Kissinger pointed out you want to control oil (energy) and FOOD to be in complete control.
1. A democrat is responsible for the Federal Reserve act of 1913 and a second democrat confiscated all of the US citizens gold and gave it to the banks. Then a republican replaced the gold standard with fiat currency. Now Obama has doubled that fiat money supply effectively cutting your money in half and giving the rest to the bankers! (google “what has the government done to our money?”)
2.How about the Republicans. While a Gold mining operation in the US Rockies was shut down by the government, the Canadian mining company, Barrick Gold owned by Peter Munk, “involved both former U.S. President George Bush and former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, in a worldwide raw materials grab, on behalf of the “British-American-Canadian” (BAC) oligarchy.”
3.Bill Clinton’s President’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations was lead by Robert Shapiro, chairman of Monsanto at the time WTO was ratified in 1995.
Marcia Hale, a former assistant to President Clinton and director for intergovernmental affairs, was director of international government affairs for Monsanto.
Dan Amstrutz VP of Cargill, was a trade negotiator and wrote the WTO Agreement on Ag.
If a Food safety bill gets passed the ten internationals who formed the IPC will control the world food supply. IPC was created in 1987 explicitly to drive home the GATT agriculture rules of WTO at Uruguay talks. (google WTO and the Politics of GMO Also google History, HACCP and the Food Safety Con Job)
Money, Energy, Food: Control those and everyone becomes a defacto slave to the bankers and big corporations
Corrine is proof positive that you don’t have to be a liberal to be insane.
Mark,
I was asleep just like you until reality bit me on the rump. So READ the evidence BEFORE you call me insane.
Testimony of Mr. Stan Painter, Chairman, National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals at the Congressional hearings on the Hallmark scandal.
Bill Marler products liability attorney on “One E. coli O157:H7 Outbreak I Think I could have Prevented”
“Legislators overlook serious flaw in USDA’s HACCP food-safety” by John Munsel …:
A very well written history with five pages of references:
History, HACCP and the Food Safety Con Job by Nicole Johnson
Note in talking to John Munsell he stated to me that a reporter from a New York magazine spent three days interviewing him about the E. coli O157:H7 Outbreak. The story was written, approved by the editor and on the way to the presses when the OWNER of the magazine had the story pulled. He told me this in response to a similar experience I had with the news media hiding the truth and printing propaganda. Five plants in Massachusetts alone including where I worked were closed because of the news media lies.
THAT my friend was a very painful wake-up call to the reality of money, power games and propaganda. Before that I too thought the people trying to wake me up were insane. Now I know better.
We didn’t listen when Eisenhower warned us of the Military Industrial Complex. We didn’t listen to the people whose suspicions of the Kennedy murder led in that direction. We didn’t pay attention when Carter directed banks to make loans that anyone with common sense wouldn’t touch. We didn’t stop Clinton from directing federal agencies to make risk-prone loans where they would not do so previously. We didn’t suspect the origins of what the government told us on 9/11 – when even the supposed perp (in a group that is known for its PR on violence) denied it for years and it still doesn’t make physical science sense, when that tack took us into a conflict that benefited whom: the Military Industrial Complex. We didn’t pay attention to our perceptions in the last election and now the corruption is apparently rife on all levels.
The only problem on listening to what we should be listening to is that we have to use human perception to tell what is correct and what is not, as in knowing when your 5 year old is telling you a story. Listening to the words alone may get us more “hope and change”, but not the change we were looking for and not the hope of nothing.
The last election is more and more looking like a frying pan and fire incident. I couldn’t stand George, but Chicago style corruption is not the change we needed.
What does Kennedy’s assassination have to do with the military industrial complex? Kennedy was shot by a communist.
I think everyone ought to believe what the government tells them, eh?
You start from the position that everything the govt says is a lie then?
Welcome to the Obama AIC Administration: Arrogant, Incompetent, Corrupt.
I thought so-called “conservatives” would appreciate people making the best of capitalism by investing in green companies and alternative energies that surely will be the wave of the future. I guess politics blinds you.
I would much rather see government officials profiting from green energy and good stewardship than officials profiting from death and destruction like Cheney and a host of others did.
Green technologies, the wave of the future???? Is that why they all need billions in subsidies in order to compete?
As to profiting from death, what do you have against defending yourself?
Green technologies, the wave of the future???? Is that why they all need billions in subsidies in order to compete?
Yes, the wave of the future. And no, most of them don’t since most of them are passive in nature — insulation, multi-pane windows, etc. Some of the tech is in paints; some steel companies are making Ag building roofing with pigmentation designed to reflect IR. I think McElroy Metals is the leader in this stuff if you want to look it up.
You’d be a lot more interesting if you weren’t so invested in being a partisan reactionary. As per the another thread where you claim 20 years to build a solar power satellite, you don’t keep up very well. An outfit called Solaren is (and has been) in negotiation with PG&E to loft a 200MW SPS in 2016. You’re too self-assured that *all* things green are a boondoggle merely because windpower is crap.
Same admonishment to you as with my kids: try listening with your ears.
I’ll grant you that small scale, non-technological green technologies can be economical, though that is not what your average person thinks of when the subject of “green technology” is brought up. Regardless, even those receive some pretty significant subsidies.
That 2016 date, even if it were to hold up, is when launching is to start. Have you any idea how many launces would be needed to get the entire station up and running? Such a satellite would be many times larger than the current space station, they’ve been building that for several decades, and the shuttle is no longer an option.
The ROI on wind & PV is a negative value because the life-expectancy on the equipment is too short for the investment to break even, no matter what size.
PV is inefficient, expensive and finicky, the panels must be kept completely clean, a 25% coverage of dust or debris reduces electrical output to zilch, and they only work during the day…
Wind turbines are expensive and finicky, requiring just enough wind to turn the blades but not too much as to damage the rig. Turbines have a relatively small window of wind speed tolerance, meaning they produce no power much of the time.
And even the Leftist NIMBYs say NO to both (see the Massachusetts offshore wind projects currently being blocked by Libs such as the Kennedy’s). Hypocrites, all.
Hypocrite.
Dear JPA,
Please see above the previous refutations of Alex’s weak, unfounded allegations provided by the other readers on this thread. (I.e., you came in late for the original smackdown, but it still applies to you for making the same allegations).
Oh, and for you to say you’d rather see government officials profit from one enterprise, but not another–even though both acts are both illegal–shows your intellectual bankruptcy.
Capitalism is about the best ideas making it to market, about people taking their wealth and making it grow using labor and resources. Subsidies and regulations, especially those constructed to favor large corporations promote waste and corruption.
Biofuel is a classic example. It sounded great on paper but, as David Pimentel, professor of ecology and agriculture at Cornell found:
* corn requires 29 percent more fossil energy than the fuel produced;
* switch grass requires 45 percent more fossil energy than the fuel produced; and
* wood biomass requires 57 percent more fossil energy than the fuel produced.
* soybean plants requires 27 percent more fossil energy than the fuel produced, and
* sunflower plants requires 118 percent more fossil energy than the fuel produced.
The 2008 results of US biofuel laws were record profits for Monsanto and Cargill and food riots in poor countries. The alarmists even state “..Using United Nations global poverty statistics as a base, it is now clear that United States and European Union biofuel policies will significantly contribute to the early, avoidable deaths of between 10 and 20 million people in the year 2008 alone…”
I keep bring up food because without cheap energy the days of cheap plentiful food in the USA will be over. Do a little research and you will be surprised at the moves being made to consolidate control of the World Food supply.
Farmer suicides in India:
“Now the full toll—surely among the largest sustained waves of suicides in human history—is becoming apparent… All due to price rigging with the tightening grip of large corporations over the trade in agricultural commodities.”
Another of Obama’s agendas is amnesty. Here is the part of the story that is left out.
One of the hoped for effects of NAFTA by its designers has been ‘modernisation’ of farming in Mexico. Read consolidation into large corporate farms such as that of Smithfield of swine flu fame. Small marginal farmers and agricultural labour bore the brunt of this consolidation as evidenced by very sharp decline in the number of rural households. According to a study by Jose Romero and Alicia Puyana carried out for the federal government of Mexico, between 1992 and 2002, the number of agricultural households fell an astounding 75% – from 2.3 million to 575, 000
No wonder these people trek north in hopes of making a living! See Exports vs. Food Security in Mexico
For those who think I am crazy please remember these words:
“Food is power! We use it to change behavior. Some may call that bribery. We do not apologize.” The words of Catherine Bertini, Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Program. and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Agriculture at the UN World Food Summit in November of 1996.
The purpose of the smart meter is to eliminate future generating plants. It limits the load to available supply, by remotely shutting off large appliances. It is simply a circuit board in each new appliance which receives a control signal from the utility via the power line; it is as smart as a 1970 radio. It permits time of day premium charges for usage, and gives control to remote decision makers. Your air conditioner may run all through January, but not August. And you will pay through the nose for running it during the hot day. This will prevent new coal fired power plants from being constructed, and if you are a believer, the seas from rising in the next century. The initial reports reveal sky high electric bills, something our President promised during his campaign. He passes the large cost of these mirriade devices onto the customer. Elections have consequences. Ms. Zoi is one.
Some preach green, others pocket it. Few tell the truth.
Oh yes I forgot to mention Dan Amstutz left Cargill to go to work for…. wait for it….Goldman Sachs.
The interconnections between all these big money players/politicians is sickening. I feel like I have a dozen leeches sucking my blood… or is that my wealth they are busy sucking.
It is sad that we can’t just eliminate the Repubs and the Dems (I refuse to call them Right or Left, Good or Bad because they are neither and they are both). It is time for the citizens of this great nation to uphold rule of law, fair competition, and personal responsibility. I can’t see any ethical differnces between Unions and Corporate America, having worked many decades in a number of areas torn between the two. If we can’t get back to the US Constitution and understand that we either sink or float together, then the US is in for the serious decline our forefathers and founders once feared!
Exactly! Listen to Rockyspoon this is the real issues to worrie about. Does anyone remember the Constitution of the United States? You think anyone in office even reads it? It’s so simple! 1 + 1 does not = 3…. Why were we all taught history for?? So we don’t repeat the same mistakes our ancestors made. Every empire in history of the world crashed as soon as they forced their people with big government. It’s simple really.. The bigger something is the more expensive it is. Power, Power, Power that’s all it is.
If Zoi is holding Swiss shares traded only on the Swiss or European exchanges, she likely has a foreign bank or brokerage account. Has she filed the requisite TDS 92 forms for the past years, which are required for those holding foreign accounts? There has been so much tax evasion or “memory lapses” in this administration, one must wonder.
How does the old saying go,”follow the money”.
Fox and the WSJ should pin this on the President until she resigns.
Are you all really mad or are you willing to just post your anger on a message board?
You know what will bring us change we can believe in? NATIONAL STRIKE!!! How many of you are willing to work for that cause??????
I no longer work for Corporate America. I got blackballed after finding out the company I worked for had a tech falsifying certificates of Analysis on jet engine parts. Oh and the federal government’s Whistle Blower Program is a flipping joke. A real waste of time.
(Three airplane crashes were traced to defective parts from this company.)
It’s sad when that happens…makes you lose faith. Unfortunately it probably happens more than we realize. Time To Market drives alot of bad decisions. And the Boards are driven by market cap numbers.
The Biofuels thing never made much sense in context.
Hey Al Gore… The polar ice caps are growing! Hmm sooo I guess you are wrong. Global warming is the biggest scam since Amway! It doesen’t take a college grad to figure this out. Did mother earth tell you she is getting hot or you just part of this 15 trillion dollar scam? I want the truth too. and btw change come from within and from people wanting to change for them self’s and not by the force of big government. We do and I think I speak for 80% of Americans that we do in fact have a brain stem and we don’t need a nanny state to baby sit us. In fact it’s the government that needs a baby sitter 24-7. BTW this is for the real Al Gore to, lmao
So whats new? This is why our gov is broken and it doesn’t matter which party is in office. When you spend Trillions of Dollars with almost no oversight people are bound to get very very rich. Washington is the new Wall Street.
For years we’ve had heard about Dick Cheney’s ties to Halliburton – We were constantly reminded that political dissent was the highest form of patriotism – We were promised the most transparent Administration that America would ever see and that K-Street Lobbyists would find no foothold in an Obama Administration.
Do the lies ever stop! – Does this administration ever intent keep any of the Campaign promises it made or does this administration simply operate by the maxim that: “… The Ends Always Justify the Means”. The hypocrisy and political expediency that drives this Administration is breathtaking!
I have never seen a president who seems to relish the opportunity to demonize whole sectors of our society – a man who constantly plays the partisan himself, and then diminishes everyone else for their advocacy.
These are not people who are looking out for the best interest of America at all, instead they are looking out for their own interests at the expense of America.
It is time we move this administration to the threshold of the door in preparation for their quick departure Stage Left!
What’s really funny is that almost every one of his critics also own stock in Halliburton.
The corruption is not limited to one party as you all know. That is the core issue here not who did what when. Squabbling over each point gets us of the point of correcting the real problem. There most defiantly should be and ethics investigation, the an action to keep it from happening. Truth is these self inspired elites don’t give a rats a-s about us. It’s there agenda’s they care about. Concentrate on solutions to corruption the the act, push hard.
Another note if the boys in washington think I am going to have a smart meter on my house they are dead f—ing wrong. We are in the land of the free get out of my house. No where does it say they have the right to limit my services. The back lash will be huge, I will be on the front line and don’t give me the b/s it for the greater good. Who’s not mine or my neighbors. I certainly for conservation, don’t tell me how to run my life.
As an engineer, I will advise you that you won’t have a choice between the old meter or the new meter; you will only have a choice between electricity or no electricity. You can make the choice as your principles dictate, but not going along with our new overlords will not be the easy path.
She also locked into her position with $300 million towards RePower America. I wrote about it here about a month ago
http://ameristroika.wordpress.com/2010/03/29/the-300-million-woman-does-cathy-zoi/
@ 19. Eric
quote: “… it is a known fact that there’s a limited amount of oil left in the earth …”
Ummm, not true. It is now well known FACT that oil is created all the time through subduction processes. Why do you think there is so much offshore oil along tectonic ridges and subduction zones? Also, are you worried about things like the oil flowing out from the well drilled by that rig that blew up last week? Well, don’t be. Almost as much oil is spilled onto the ocean floors each day through natural processes as is retrieved by man from drilling.
“Peak Oil” is yet another lie, and even if it weren’t, there are enough oil deposits world wide to last humans for at least 5,000 years. “Green Energy” is bullshit and cannot work. Our energy demands are far too great and steadily increasing. The ONLY way to meet future energy demands (clean or dirty) is through the harnessing of nuclear power’s. I say “power’s” because we need more than one. Primarily we will need fusion. There is no other form of power, other than atomic, that can even come close to supplying the power necessary for the future.
Maurice Strong chaired the first earth Summit in 1972 and organized the whole environmental/global warming movement. Strong has close ties to the Rockefellers and serves as trustee on the Rockefeller Foundation and senior adviser to the World Bank. He became president of Power Corporation,and he served as president of energy companies such as Petro-Canada and Ontario Hydro, and on the board of industrial giant Toyota
..Ontario Hydro, an industrial concern, headed by the Kyoto Earth Summit secretary general Maurice Strong, [b]is the biggest source of CO2 emissions in Canada.[/b]… http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/27/061.html
Given the money the Rockefellers and Strong had invested in oil, is it any wonder they orchestrated the vilification of nuclear power in the USA? Heck in the eighties there were want ads in the Boston Globe:Nuclear Protesters $10/hr to protest the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant. Who do you think was paying those people? I do know the rockefeller foundations fund Greenpeace.
Were there not Senate hearings in 2009 to approve this person’s appointment? And just who ran the hearings? Here we have Nancy Botox Pelosi sayng how corrupt the Republicans were and that she would do everything she could to clean up the mess. I guess her enthusiasm to clean up Congress, and ignore her office, failed to take hold in the Senate. Harry Reid, this is just another example of your incompetence in running the Senate. I guess we are to believe that Barry Barack, in his having appointees vetted, just let this slip by. Marxists, Socialists, Unions controlling the White House and now add corruption to the whole process.
Nothing about this corrupt regime surprises me anymore. From tax cheats to terrorist lovers like Holder, and now scum like Zoi, this admin is chock full of bums and crooks.
I believe ol’ Alex been b**** slapped……..
The “Right” is correct on this one whether the left likes it or not. Complaints about the Bush Administration being in bed with the defense industry may have been true, but so were many in the Clinton Administration and the Obama Administration is by no means, squeaky clean. Clinton and Obama supporters should check their own bedrooms before lookin across the hall in the same hotel.
Democrat and Republican administrations have repeatedly cozied up to the titans of the banking, oil, defense, insurance, tobacco and all the other conglomorate folks “in their own interest” not the public interest. Even as Governor of Arkansas, Clinton was raking money in from the chicken industry to fuel his political career, and he did not stop raking that money in once he moved in to the white house. At least some in the Republican party are’nt so hypocritical about it.
This is AMERIKA! http://www.M4GW.com
Zoi is no more of a crook than Valerie Jarrett, who is likewise a crook. That said, the Obummer thugs and looters are plundering this country while the MSM stand by and watch. Algore has gotten very rich from the global warming scam, as are many, many Demoncrats. The problem is that Obummer hates the U.S., and always has, and is working overtime to destroy it, with the leftist Demoncrats, and the Demoncratic useful idiots, helping. Many Demoncrats do so for their own individual bribery prices. No problem with them possibly losing their seats in November, as they get their salaries and health benefits for life after one term, not to mention the fat consulting jobs. The joy of imposing a marxist regime on the American people must give them much joy, else they would not do it in the face of the obvious.
Stand by and watch???
They’ve been standing by and cheering.
Crony capitalism is the Chicago Way. Should anyone be surprised?
Washington,DC is loaded with the Chicago Mafia that intends to break America and take over.Our country has been stolen and we must dissenfect D.C.
Let’s see if any of the three major network TV stations cover this on the national news. I doubt it. If it was a Republican administration, they would have broken into the soap operas. I don’t think politicians or people working for them should be alowed to own stock for this reason. It’s a conflict of interest. Anybody else would be paraded before a senate committee and questioned. Like another posted said, global warming is just one big scam, just ask Al Gore to see his tax return. I think the general public is sick of getting screwed over by both parties. We’re tired and tapped out financially.
They need to keep employees and lobbyists from the mega corporations from heading up the federal bureaus that are supposed to be regulating them. It is a regular revolving door.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Talk:Government-industry_revolving_door
I’m ready to go to all out war with Chicago. Why? Because that city has a major stake in the idiotic policies (and techniques of implementing them) that this POS president is using to destroy this nation. Screw Chicago, screw Obama, screw every last one of the weasely jack-asses in his entire regime.
What happened to Obama’s promise not to bring lobbyists and those who have a financial stake in decisions into decision making positions.
In addition to the direct decisions, a high ranking official almost be definition has the ability to change how subordinates think about issues just by controlling the bigger conversation.
Beyond all of this, Gore has proven his love of cronyism and his general level of incompetence in most everything from his education to his radio business. Working for algore should not be evidence of ability or character.
Question???? Does anyone remember the Constitution of the United States? You think anyone in office even reads it? It’s so simple! 1 + 1 does not = 3…. Why were we all taught history for?? So we don’t repeat the same mistakes our ancestors made. Every empire in history of the world crashed as soon as they forced their people with big government. It’s simple really.. The bigger something is the more expensive it is. Power, Power, Power that’s all it is. I know for a fact that I will be called this or that but the funny thing is is that they never backup their their claim; just things like, racists, stupid, and the big one “You don’t know what your talking about”. People that disagree prove me wrong! Do your homework come up with some real facts! I read allot of ya and agree as well. I have never worked for a poor man have you? The polar caps are growing… yea growing. Hmmmmm. If people don’t wake up soon we won’t have any rights, and when this happens I don’t want to hear you cryin about it, or when your taxed 65-75% again don’t cry about it. In the end it was people that voted for it! Vote wise and do your homework and do not trust Obama administration at all! It’s all about money. Obama will destroy this world way before anything else unless we stand up for ourselfs and remember Obama works for us not the other way around remember that.
Check into Todd Stern (United States Special Envoy for Climate Change)
And the Dems thought Cheney was the only one with his hand in the cookie jar! Where’s their outrage. What a bunch of morons. Can’t they see that they’ve traded Bush for another Bush?
Ok… Bush spent give or take 360 billion dollars in dept and Obama has us in 12 trillion? You remember 9/11?? I to a point understand but theres more issues that over ride this. Remember this is our money we are all talking about. Peace
No, the Obama administration is actually doing what the Democrats accused the Bush administration of doing.
Conflict of Interest in Washington, D.C. is a redundant phrase. Whether you believe the Obama Administration is guilty, or the Bush Administration, or both – it proves one thing: it is prudent to NEVER give government this much power. This country was one founded on the Rule of Law, not the rule of men, and it is up to every individual in their heart, mind, family, and community to do whatever they can to restore that to our system.
Nice! Policy for profit, A page taken out of the U.N. handbook.
What have we become in this country? The corruption has become so institutionalized that there is no longer any outrage? I have a message for those on the left who keep wanting to point to past administrations: Forget about them. They are gone now. If you have FACTS that current Republicans are doing things like this, make them public. We’ll kick them out, too. You cannot keep justifying present corruption by comparing it to past corruption.
omen to that bro!
I thought you elected this administration for CHANGE. Now Obama supporters are arguing that all the illegal and/or improper activities they’re involved in are ok cause some past administration did it too. Where’s the change, zombies? I know the hope has gone down the toilet.
The present administration has too much power agreed. However, the power grab did not start with Obama. It started with George 1.
Obama is fine tuning it for a take over…or downfall of our country.
“New World Order”, I think it has to do with poverty for the masses, brown shirts and jackboots.
Well, yeah, but it was more Alexander Hamilton than Washington per se.
Actually, this to and fro in terms of who runs the country got really serious after Andrew Jackson – as if almost being shot by an assassin wasn’t serious after he “removed” Nicolas Biddle and the FED precursor. The most recent turning point was probably Wilson if you want a political turning point. However, for bumbling idiot led by the nose, my vote goes to Carter. He predates George I and II.
None of the recent presidents were ever in charge, per se. It hasn’t been so since Wilson, officially; and off and on again since Lincoln, the first mercantilist president.
The power grab started in 1913 read A PRIMER ON MONEY: by US House Committee on Banking and Currency
The media was bought and paid for in 1917. This is “…verified in the Congressional Record for 1917, which reported that “…the J.P. Morgan [banking] interests…. and their subsidiary organizations got together 12 men high up in the newspaper world and employed them to select the most influential newspapers in the United States and sufficient number of them to control generally the policy of the daily press of the US….” http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/006/conspiracy1.htm
Obama is just the latest of a long line of crooked politicians that have gradually sold out the USA. My personal nomination for the three most destructive are Obama, Bill Clinton and Roosevelt
Within 34 hours of becoming President, Mr. Roosevelt closed the doors on every bank and then confiscated private citizens’ gold to pay the debts of the Federal Reserve. He signed the Emergency Banking Relief Act of 1933 on March 9, 1933. He then used the Act to confiscate US citizens’ gold through an executive order on April 5th 1933.
Clinton repealed the Glass-Steagall Act which had prevented the coupling of investment banking and lending. This allowed commercial and investment banks to consolidate. Economist Robert Kuttner said the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act contributed to the 2007 subprime mortgage financial crisis. The Community Reinvestment Act, enacted in 1977 under Jimmy Carter, forced banks to downgrade the quality of their mortgage portfolios by making mortgage initiators lower credit standards to less qualified borrowers in poorer communities. The act was expanded further during Bill Clinton’s presidency, creating a higher percentage and a larger pool of subprime mortgages.
The final betrayal was signing the World Trade Organization treaty. Now the WTO writes many of our laws under the guise of “harmonization” with the threat of trade sanctions if we do not comply. It encouraged the export of US jobs overseas while opening our borders to substandard and dangerous food, medicine and other products.
The birds Clinton let loose are now coming home to roost. Clinton was President from 1993 to 2001. Statistics showed in 1990, before WTO was ratified by Clinton, Foreign ownership of U.S. assets amounted to 33% of U.S. GDP. By 2002, just after he left office this had increased to over 70% of U.S. GDP. source: http://www.fame.org/HTM/greg%20Pickup%201%2010%2003%20report.htm
RICO them all.
“The new administration is a huge boon to what we are doing,” Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Materials said in a June interview. “The White House issued a press release specifically thanking Serious Materials a few weeks ago. We had a 22 minute press conference with the president. In a national address, he opened with Serious Materials. I don’t think we can ask for better coverage. We are very close to the White House and Department of Energy. We have 30 patents pending in window technology and the DOE (Department of Energy) loves what we are doing.”
http://watchdog.org/2364/%E2%80%9Ca-serious-conflict-of-interest%E2%80%9D/
Sorry to change the path of the discussion, but just thought I would drop this quick note-
I attended a Jack Johnson concert this weekend in Honolulu. It was all about raising awareness for Green Initiatives. We were completely surrounded by young folks who cheered wildly every time anybody on stage mentioned green policies and saving the earth. Not to get too long winded- the bottom line was that large majority of these folks who are soooo concerned about pollution were smoking throughout the evening. Maybe pakalolo (marijuana to you mainland folks) doesn’t cause the same pollution as a car, but it sure isn’t clean either. Then at the end of the evening, it was interesting to see that only I and my conservative friends picked up after ourselves. All those young, serious greenies left the Waikiki Shell an absolute mess. Now, that my friends is hypocrisy! Thanks for your time
TriGeek.
Come on! I was at the concert too. Only conservatives picked up after themselves? This is just the sort of distortion that the libtards call us on. Are you sure you are not a troll?
That’s the general pattern. Check out the Washington Mall after any liberal group protests, vs. conservative ones.
MaryJ, I simply said my three conservative friends and I picked up after ourselves. Everyone else around us left their trash were it was. A few of them even urinated on the ground were they stood. I’m just saying, you can make of it what you will.
MaryJ, I simply said my three conservative friends and I picked up after ourselves. Everyone else around us left their trash were it was. A few of them even urinated on the ground were they stood. I’m just saying, you can make of it what you will. By the way, are you saying that all those folks at the conceret who were all so concerned about pollution left the shell clean? It was a mess!!!
“we can get to a system where an electric company will be able [sic] to hold back some of the power so that maybe your air conditioner won’t operate at its peak”
What is she talking about if you limit the available current then the voltage will drop in your house and no appliances will work properly. The only way I can think of this scheme working is if they have control over each load in your house and have the ability to turn things off and on.
Now the cash for appliances program makes sense
Actually, most electric devices will not run at lower power availability.
If you were to drop the voltage or current of, say an air conditioner, it would run
at such a poor power factor that the device would most likely fail.
Not only failing to cool your house, but also cost the owner money to
repair or replace the device.
this is true for almost all the devices in your house that run on
electric.
So what we are really talking about is total power cut.
You will just have to learn to do without.
BUT it is for the good of “The People”.
One must sacrifice so all can exist.
I’ve been following this story since the initial Fox News Zoi-conflict-of-interest piece aired (and erred) a few months ago. The company Zoi’s husband works for, Serious Materials, posted a pretty reasonable reply. I’d recommend it to get the other side of the story.
http://blog.seriousmaterials.com/?p=1007
“Fred,” you and JC have commented on this topic on several other similar threads in defense of this manufacturer. What’s your affiliation with the manufacturer?
So, does anyone know where Serious Materials is listed? Or, is it a non-listed, privately held company?
Us as AMERICANS! have to stop watching American Idol, and Big Brother and start looking at the real picture about what is going on in Washington. It’s both parties and we have to stop accusing people of being racists! People it have absolutely nothing to do with racists speech. Like I said; 1 + 1 doesn’t = 3! Look at the evidence, and actually look at both sides of everything. Like Obamacare, does everyone think that this new reform is going to save money? or you just taking his word for it? It’s like trading in your paid off car and finance a new car and expect to save money. Cap and trade, do you really think the polar caps are going to melt away when their growing as we speak? I tell yea this if anyone of us was to operate a business like obama is we would be put in jail fast! I thought laws apply to all! Cap and trade is worth 15 trillion a year think about it. What does that cause… Higher power bills again kicking the middle class while their still down, while obama care will cause taxes to increase which again kicking the middle class and keeping them down. Can’t you see this?? And now they want to ban happy meals so young children won’t get fat! WTF…. Why is it that some people run to the government for little things like that. It’s a free country!!! Let the parents deal with their own children and MYOB! It’s the complainers that are causing all this to happen. Change come from within period! Not by the barrel of a gun. The government has no right to tell any of us how to live or where to live or what we can have or not have. Please stop handing over all this power to the government cause once they got it we will never get it back. Last thing.. Stop blaming Bush or other presidents from the past cause the past is the past. Come up with answers to our problems. People that blame in my opinion are just numb and have no clue to as what is going on around them and just spew what they over heard from someone else, or socialist and want to worship Obama!
Two words: Cheney, Halliburton. Where was your outrage then?
If Gordo Gore was so concerned about sea levels rising, why did he just purchase a multimillion dollar house on the ocean in California, perhaps he knows the truth that everything he has said to make millions is actually dead wrong?
I am a pretty preoccupied backpacker and must admit that I am anal about my equipment. If there’s one thing that I highly dislike, it is when my tools give way. That’s why I always get quality equipment to gear myself up and be prepared for just about anything the dusty trail throws at me.
What a lovely day for a 999160! SCK was here
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