Son of Solyndra

If you thought that the Solyndra rat hole was the ultimate in gross government waste …  think again. Apparently, Obama and his gang of crony capitalists have even outdone this previous $527 million dollar squandering of taxpayer money with their newest bird rotisserie in the Mojave Desert, the Ivanpah Project. Actually this time it is a $540 million government grant request that is to help pay down a $1.6 billion government loan guarantee to build this ill-planned, ill-engineered, and ill-financed environmental monstrosity … see my previous blogs on this subject: The Price of Progress and The Birds, This entire solar project cost $2.2 billion with roughly $600 million coming from Google,  NRG Energy and the sale of energy futures … for more of these sordid details, see: Powerline Blog Story.

After the multiple planning, engineering, environmental and financing screw-ups that the Powerline blog deftly outlines and with another behemoth bankruptcy looming on the horizon, there is one matter that still sticks in my craw. If you remember the Solyndra fiasco, it was full of private self-dealing and poor government oversight. And, as I recall, the private investors stepped ahead of our government’s loan guarantees in the bankruptcy proceedings … which is not the way it is supposed to happen … see: Washington Post Story. This new Ivanpah grant request from our feds has that same smell of self dealing as Solyndra. Will any of this money go the project's owners, Google and NRG Energy, or will it be used solely to reduce our government’s loan guarantee (equivalent to taking from one government pocket and putting it in another)? Knowing how the current bunch of slimy Solons in Washington operate, my odds-on bet is on the former option.

But before I go, guess who was up to his oily neck in the Solyndra scandal? Why it was our new Ebola czar, Ron Klain ... see: PJ Media Story. Nothing really surprises me from this Chicago mob any more ...

Afterward: See also: Solyndra Times Three.

Honey Pot

We knew it was coming … President Obama needs more money to fight the Ebola crisis. And of course the Republicans will give it to him … as emergency funding … above the sequester spending limits. Can the Republicans do anything else with the November elections looming?  And Obama's crew knows this all too well. Just last week the Congress allocated $88 million to fight Ebola and this coming week watch for the administration to ask for ten times that amount … see: Huffington Post Story. Where will all this magic money go?  With Ron Klain now writing the checks (see: Fletcher's Castoria Blog Entry) anybody with any grey matter left knows full well where … well disguised, but still into the Democrat's re-election honey pot ... that's where. 

Are there not thousands of shovel-ready Ebola jobs out there?

Another Crisis

Not going to waste. Rahm Emanuel’s working adage is once again in play. President Obama has appointed a “czar” to oversee the Ebola crisis in the United States … and he’s a humdinger. His name is Ron Klain and he working credentials consist mainly of being able to spread taxpayer money adroitly to Democrat operatives while making it appear that he is helping things, Two cases in point … almost a trillion dollars of government “stimulus” money that somehow never found its way into shovel-ready job creation … and over a half of billion dollars of taxpayer money pissed away on that wonderful "green" boondoggle called Solyndra.

To appreciate more of this man's mostly political credentials please read: Powerline Story. I fully expect this slight-of-hand to be repeated as this hack tries to appear to be running things effectively … while using this Ebola crisis to Obama’s and the Democrat party’s monetary advantage.

Another side benefit: President Obama's appointment has obviously burnished his image with the uninformed voter right before the November midterm elections. He might just save a few Senate seats for his party. And I do hope against hope that this potential Ebola outbreak has now been stopped. However, purposely bringing more patients with this dread disease into the American healthcare system … as Obama is now planning to do … might make this hope a wee bit far-fetched … see: Washington Examiner Story.

Can our president treat his fellow Americans with any more cold-blooded cynicism?