You want to know why I am going to stop reading the NY Times and quit the Washington Post years ago? Important editorial note: before mashing the delete button, Socotra House disavows any allegiance to the strange conspiracy known at the Republican Party. Cartoon by William Warren. NetRightDaily.com
Politics are pissing me off again. Politics Is? Crap. That must mean I am feeling better, and about as concerned with the fate of the Republic as getting to the kitchen for the last cup of Dazbog-brand coffee without sprawling headfirst onto the tiles.
The President wrapped up his big Energy Trip, and I feel pretty good about it. He had some excellent photo-ops in front of the pipes for the XL Pipeline he is simultaneously blocking and claiming credit for building- you figure that one out- and at a podium in front of a Nevada solar farm that will not provide electricity to the state that partially funded it (with the Feds, and thanks for the earmark, Senator Reid!) but to the bankrupt Golden State next door.
The Left Coast Loonies have passed a regulation that stipulates the 33% of total state energy will have to come from renewable energy by 2020- a bare eight years from now.
Like King Canute attempt’s to command the tide, the California Legislature somehow has fallen into the grip of delusional thinking. Passing a law does not generate engineering miracles. That is how you get a $40,000 Chevy Volt that delivers an impressive 40 miles per charge- almost enough to get from home to work and back again. Or, dictating that all conventionally powered cars will achieve 50mpg.
Think about what you will be driving, or peddling, and how it is going to take a head-on with an ancient SUV. Never mind.
Anyway, to tout the many successes of his renewable energy plan, the President was touting “investments” (taxpayer) in “renewable” energy at Nevada’s Copper Mountain Solar 1 plant. It was built at a cost of $141 million, half of which was provided by the Feds and another $12 in tax breaks from the State. Construction of the plant involved over 300 part-time jobs, but currently only five full-time employees operate the plant, or, based on my back-of-the-napkin calculations, another one of those shovel-ready stimulus jobs that produced five jobs at around $10 million apiece.
Important note: if I included Republican idiocy for a “fair and balanced” approach to this screed, I would be broadcasting rom the Gingrich Moon Base. Every etch-a-sketch moment from the GOP is vaulted immediately into the mainstream narrative, while the President gets a pass. So relax. If the elephants ever replace the donkeys, trust me, they will be subject to far more scrutiny than Senator Reid, Secretary Chu or any of the Chicago mob that is currently picking your pocket.
In fact, among the media softballs lobbed to the President was a tribute to his commitment to solar power despite the embarrassing Solyndra affair that spent a half billion in Federal loan guarantees to the bankrupt company, which just happened to have some heavy campaign donors.
The President appreciated the tribute to his courage, and reiterated his commitment to green-energy to “decrease America’s energy costs and reduce the country’s dependency on foreign oil.”
The problem with all that is that the Boulder City had to approve a 35% rate hike to cover increased costs in 2009, and the power from the solar field is going to Southern California anyway.
Oh, the Department of Energy says that solar-PV energy will cost three and a half times more than energy from traditional sources, like coal and natural gas. I had to scratch my head on that one, since it makes my brain hurt.
If you hadn’t noticed, this really only makes sense if we are about to fry from global warming, and the real and eminent catastrophe is going to happen REAL SOON.
That isn’t selling so well, and while I listened pretty hard, I did not hear the President talk about it on this swing in which he is trying to take credit for crude being produced from wells approved by some other Administration and blocking the northern part of the pipeline that would bring more oil south from Canada.
Nevada received over $1 billion in federal stimulus funds for energy and environmental projects. Some of the other ones are as impressive as the solar array at Boulder City. The Reno Gazette-Journal recently reported that seven local windmills that cost taxpayers $1 million to install have only saved the City of Reno $2,785 in electricity costs over their 18 months of existence.
You cannot make this stuff up. But of course, when you consider who the President’s advisors are, it starts to make sense that belief in the unlikely, if not impossible, is a core value of the administration.
That hit me hard late yesterday. Wearing the knee brace that the nice people at Bethesda commanded me to wear, I was attempting to use the entire front seat of the Bluesmobile to leverage myself into a place behind the wheel.
I was listening to National Public Radio, which delivers all sorts of revealed (and unrevealed) wisdom to me all day. I heard that Jon S. Corzine, former chief executive of Goldman Sachs, a senior advisor to the President on financial and fiscal matters, campaign fund bundler for the DNC, U.S. Senator and Governor of New Jersey, might have accidentally lied to Congress.
Three times.
I am sure it is a misunderstanding, since he is a real smart guy, one of the Wall Street assholes who did very well in the process of dynamiting the global financial system. After his last job directing a financial house into the ground, he testified that he had no clue how $200 million in sequestered investor funds were miraculously transferred out of lock-box accounts and into the company’s general operating fund to try to save the enterprise.
It didn’t, of course, and thousands of little guys were left holding the bag for MF Global Holding’s malfeasance.
Governor Corzine shrugged before Congress and gave the usual Washington passive-voice line that “mistakes were made,” but of course no one was really responsible or could be held accountable.
As I wedged myself into the front of the car I was astonished to hear that internal MF memos have surfaced indicating that “JC” (which I presume is not a reference to the CEO of the Catholic Church) personally authorized the theft.
I am pretty sure that means that the Governor is guilty not only of perjury, but felony misconduct. But hey, innocent until proven guilty, after all, and the Justice Department (remember them? The ones who provided untraceable semi-automatic weapons to the drug cartels and laundered drug money to “develop sources?”) will get right on it.
If this was not so serious, I would be rolling around on the floor in hysterics.
Oh, wait, I was, just this week. It was agony, though, not laughter.
This is the sort of crap that happens when you are trying to get to something important. I was going to write about the Era of Good Feelings this morning. You might remember Jimmie Monroe’s Administration (1815-25) from your American History class in high school. He presided on a time where there were no political parties and everyone felt pretty good.
There is a lot that has changed since then, of course, because back then the voters were not expected to believe that black is white, nor that no one is responsible for anything.
As far as poor Mr. Corzine is concerned, I commend the account of his distinguished life to your attention. You will see a lot of familiar names in it. Many are Democrats, of course (duh) but people like Hank Paulson, Mr. Bush’s Secretary of the Treasury and architect of incredibly stupid (though personally profitable) policies, were close co-workers on Wall Street.
I have to say, at least behind the scenes, those smart guys certainly had their own Era of Feeling Pretty Good. Except for Jon this morning, they still are.
(Mr. Obama consults with a guy he barely knows. Photo Washington Examiner.)
Copyright 2012 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com