LMAO………….time will tell if you are just downplaying the solyndragate (thereby shilling) or that some right wing folks are making a mountain out of a molehill with the solyndra funds

It is a shame that Philip is actually allowed to write articles on Mediaite. Congratulations, you’ve made Tommy seem objective.

You could just see this Phillip Bump crap coming. Fortunately, nobody’s listens to to Ms. Bump. 

Regardless of the monetary amount, this is an example of what’s wrong with government.  The lobbying process on both sides of the political spectrum needs to be curbed and regulated severely.  Funny how in Canada, a similar scandal resulted in several new laws almost immediately, limiting financial support and placing several public reporting requirements of lobbyists / government interaction (I’m not naive to think that this has completely stopped any corruption, but at least it makes it more difficult) .  Here in the US, these scandals seem to result in someone shrugging their shoulders, muttering “oops”, and we wait for the next “surprising” incident.

…for the people, by the people…(*sigh*)

Nothing but excuses for our incompetent community organizer…no wonder why he loves the lame stream media and hates Fox News.

(eep) of the people, for the people, by the people… before anyone questions my patriotism

there is an edit button

Phillip ought to read his own website … http://www.mediaite.com/tv/jon-stewart-blasts-obama-administration-for-solyndra-scandal/

Hey. how about a Porkulus bar on that chart?

$500M is a lot of money, all lost within 2 years.  The fact that there are other examples of failed investments doesn’t excuse this one.

If there was a mutual fund manager with this track record, would you invest your retirement with her?

The dollars aren’t really the point, now are they?  Crappy policy is crappy policy.  Just because you lost less money on a program doesn’t mean it was a good idea.  

Sure the latter is crappy policy, but they were smart enough to seed enough of the money into so many Congressional districts that people who have never met a soldier defend the necessity of any given program.

Naturally , the corrupt White House is rushing to get more money out the door fast .

“The Obama administration is in a race against the clock to close by month’s end more than a dozen renewable-energy loan guarantees totaling $9 billion. Of that, just over $3 billion would come from the federal government’s coffers.
It now has to do that amid an escalating political battle over a federally backed solar company spiraling into bankruptcy and facing an FBI probe. President Obama once praised the company, California-based Solyndra, as “the true engine of economic growth.”
At a House hearing Wednesday, there was bipartisan concern about risking more taxpayers’ dollars on renewable energy projects that ultimately fail. While Republicans’ rhetoric was more heated, Democrats agree it is a critical issue.”

http://nationaljournal.com/energy/government-races-to-close-billions-in-renewable-energy-loan-guarantees-20110915
 

Context? No, a pointless diversion of attention away from the scandal perhaps, but not context to the root of the controversy. This is laughable.

porbably, no space for it….lol

Cover His Backside.

Keep it up – Not every single reader is repulsed by the leftwing spin.  Just about -

Not one of those boondoggles even approaches half of Obama’s first stimulus, and none approaches the cost of his new “jobs plan (Stimulus II).”

Perspective indeed.

The “but,but,but somebody did something waaaay worse before” defense  is not a viable one.

Sorry, epic fail is still epic fail.

What website are we on?? wait let me check the address bar!

It seems we are now on mediamatters.mediaite.com

Phil Bump, carrying the Regimes water for them.  Is it getting heavy yet?

that pretty much sums it up

you mean the stimulus which saved 1.5 – 3.3 million jobs and saved us from 
the brink of disaster brought on by bush?  that stimulus?

Phillip…kinda being like a little pregnant! Better watch it or your going to have Obama dingleberries on your lips just like Tommy.

Speaks for itself?  
That a private corporation predestined by it’s OWN ADMISSION to FAIL, asks for and gets a half billion tax payer dollars. Please compare oranges to oranges. How effective are solar panels in protecting the national security of our nation, or for the sake of this ridiculous comparison, even producing a measurable amount of energy to lessen our need for OPEC? What technology was gained, changed, refined and adapted for developing future military endeavors that were learned from the mistakes of these ‘boondoggles’? What did we Americans gain by investing in Solyndra?

More liberal BS on this Liberal run site.  This site run by a MSNBC exec.  Look it up, Dan Abrams.

another Dan Abrams diversion.  Its his site  and a MSNBC exec hack.

…or desperate to write something, anything to mitigate the loss, and defend the overwhelming stupid decision by Obama to influence support for this corporation.

I can’t wait to see the commercial of Obama holding the solar panel, then cutting back to him laughing over “shovel ready” flip over to General Shelton testimony. Priceless.

Every single one of those “military boondoggles” led to the continuation of the military’s mission of protecting American lives and property all around the globe, while freeing the oppressed. So, Bump needs to include a “return on investment” chart. Solyndra is not putting itself in harm’s way to protect this Country and a return of ZERO on a $535 million corrupt money laundering scheme is unacceptable. “Compared to some of the military’s biggest investments that didn’t pan out.” It panned out Bump, you are able to come up with protectionist drivel for obama. Freedom isn’t Free.

The problem here, Bump, is that the White House is now in question:
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/emails-obama-white-house-monitored-huge-loan-connected/story?id=14508865

Wow, looks like 0bama can spend (on boondoggles no less!) another, what, 30-40 billion before Mr. Bump will be even mildly concerned? And isn’t it interesting, once again, that the only sector that liberals attack and push for cuts, is the military? Doesn’t the military put just about every industry to work? From high-tech to farmers. A stimulus with a payback! Shovel ready and an infrastructure that has been in place for decades upon decades. China and Russia are increasing military spending and their presence in the world, and liberals only agree that military spending cuts are good for America?

File this article under “Justifying Bad Behavior with Other Examples of Bad Behavior.”

Note to the Obama water-carriers in the media:  You really need to do better than this.  

It depends on what you mean by created, saved, and jobs.

It is certainly true that the federal government gave money to the
states and localities, and some of that money was used to pay teachers,
police officers, and firefighters. However, to say that this “saved”
those jobs implies that they really would have vanished without federal
money. In some cases, state and local politicians might have been
engaging in fear-mongering. It’s been done before. But even if they
weren’t, we would have to assume that if the federal money hadn’t
materialized, those politicians wouldn’t have found other things to cut
in order to keep paying the teachers, officers, and firefighters — the
perhaps bloated administrative bureaucracy, for instance. We’ll never
know because they were relieved of the necessity –mother of invention —
of making “the tough choices” they always say they were elected to make.

Finally, let’s remember that government can’t actually stimulate the
economy; that is, it cannot inject something from outside the economy,
like a defibrillator transfers electricity to a body to jump start a
heart. Any money the government appears to inject was already in the
economy and is just moved around. So, as Russ Roberts says,
government’s stimulating an economy is like taking water from the deep
end of a pool and pouring it into the shallow end.

This chart will be on the moveon site very soon…they love charts that mean nothing.

you mean the stimulus which saved 1.5 – 3.3 million jobs and saved us from 
the brink of disaster brought on by bush?

How has either of these liberal “facts” ever been proven? Can we look at the unemployment rate? How about every spending bill by Bush that liberals didn’t vote for??? 0bama voted for the very spending budget that he “inherited”! How about this cute video about the housing crisis: http://blog.beliefnet.com/reformedchicksblabbing/2008/09/maxine-waters-we-do-not-have-a.html

I love how the right wing apologists are screaming when their beloved military spending is scrutinized. Luntz has taught you bottom feeders well. Flip the argument and TALK LOUDER! Dont forget to blame Obama. is truly the party of the special interests. Pure selfish hypocricy.

http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/09/03/nbc-and-msnbc-completely-ignore-solyndra-bankruptcy-filing

Great, more excuses for the Big O, as in zero. But be fair–he’s NOT just a community oprganizer, he’s also a Chicago politician. The only things shovel-ready for him are our money and his bull.

So Phillip, answer this question: Is your bar graph intended to say that Solyndra is no big deal? And please, explain to us exactly how your graph exonerates Obama from wrongdoing here..
 
Because to focus on it “only” being 535 billion and not about the corruption of it is missing the point.
 
Now these military “boondoggles” go all the way back to 1961, with 4 of the 8 awarded with a democrat president in office. Seems like this is how our government and military has been doing things for a while, which is to throw money at failed defense programs…not saying its good, Im saying its nothing new, and how does it correlate with the corruption aspect of the Solyndra case?
  
And that star wars initiative? Worth every ”wasted” penny…it spooked the soviets so much it made them overspend to keep up and was a real and deciding factor in the collapse of communism.
 
Now how about making a bar graph showing the campaign contributions of each of the companies to the president that was in office? Unless you do that, it makes your little foray into powerpoint presentations a little underwhelming…

The metric FOR ALL OF AMERICAN HISTORY as to the success of any legislation of its type was the number of new private sector jobs created. Not “saved.”

“Jobs saved” was a bizarre, unquantifiable, chickensh*t creation of the Obama administration to give them what they perceived as an escape hatch from responsibility when their grand designs didn’t actually perform the way they told everyone they would.

And they haven’t. Only his most sycophantic supporters are still pretending he’s doing a good job on the economy.

Try again.

DERP!

I dont want my dollars used by some federal employee playing VC. If I want to get in that game I’ll find some IPO to throw money at.

1.5 to 3.3 million??
 
LOFAO…Do you realize how big a difference those two numbers are..?
 
And that we never will know if that’s true or not, because “saving a job” is unquantifiable?
 
I guess not knowing doesnt stop you from rattling off numbers like you know what the hell you are talking about…LOL…
 

when I saw the headline I thought for sure it was written by Tommy, I didn’t realize there was a bigger Obama water carrier than TC.  Surprise surprise.

Context or Spin?

It’s an interesting point.  And I think we need to not take this as a distraction, but ask about our own priorities.  I don’t think there was malicious intent on behalf of Obama and his administration.  I fully think that he let belief trump facts.  He believes we need a cleaner renewable energy.  And we do.  There’s just no money in it.  Not with oil which has such a dominance in our society and our energy that to move away from it will cost lots of money.  And the immediate benefits will not be seen financially or even environmentally for many years down the road.  Right now, that idea will not help our economy.  But I think Obama wanted it so much he ignored the facts of the matter.  It is similar to Bush and Iraq.  Bush believed that invading Iraq was what was best for the country and he sank a lot of money into it and alas we still haven’t fully won that thing.  And in the end, it did nothing to help defeat al Qeada, which was the initial intent of our involvement in the Middle East at the time.  We still haven’t been paid back on that investment.  My question is, When did a mistake that cost jobs and not lives become more important than a mistake that cost lives but not jobs.  I don’t think Obama was right on this, but still I just have to question that one element that gnaws at the back of my conscience.  I’m not deflecting, I’m just looking at a question that we may be missing about ourselves.

It’s an interesting point.  And I think we need to not take this as a distraction, but ask about our own priorities.  I don’t think there was malicious intent on behalf of Obama and his administration.  I fully think that he let belief trump facts.  He believes we need a cleaner renewable energy.  And we do.  There’s just no money in it.  Not with oil which has such a dominance in our society and our energy that to move away from it will cost lots of money.  And the immediate benefits will not be seen financially or even environmentally for many years down the road.  Right now, that idea will not help our economy.  But I think Obama wanted it so much he ignored the facts of the matter.  It is similar to Bush and Iraq.  Bush believed that invading Iraq was what was best for the country and he sank a lot of money into it and alas we still haven’t fully won that thing.  And in the end, it did nothing to help defeat al Qeada, which was the initial intent of our involvement in the Middle East at the time.  We still haven’t been paid back on that investment.  My question is, When did a mistake that cost jobs and not lives become more important than a mistake that cost lives but not jobs.  I don’t think Obama was right on this, but still I just have to question that one element that gnaws at the back of my conscience.  I’m not deflecting, I’m just looking at a question that we may be missing about ourselves.

the unemployment rate would probably be 12-14% w/out the stimulus

There is no proof that jobs have been ‘saved’ unless you subscribe to fuzzy math or if you work for a government owned car manufacturer. Ask the 1100 fresh jobless Solyndra employees the cost of trying to save their jobs and if it was worth the investment.
We haven’t been ‘saved’. The unemployment % has barely changed since 2009.

tell the CBO, those are there numbers (i know reading is hard for you)

it’s on page 2:

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/123xx/doc12385/08-24-ARRA.pdf

tell the CBO, those are there numbers (i know reading is hard for you)

it’s on page 2:

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/123xx/doc12385/08-24-ARRA.pdf

it’s called “perspective”

LOL! I thought it was by Tommy too!

It is truly amazing how people like you will come out with such pathetic and petty articles.All in the name of protecting bho. I would like to know from a moron like you why it’s always the military you decide to bash. I think you should have to live in a country that does not have a great military as we do. Cowards like you would be hiding under a rock and wishing for help. Quite frankly I’d leave you under the rock with the est of the snakes.

You are wasting your time with your pathetic answers go  write for mediamatters or daily kos. Hate mongers like you belong with the trash news. SO LOL go straight to hell

I think @pbump is saying, if it is less than 1 billion, then it is no big deal.

He provided a chart and used data, compared to your comment that is totally objective, right?

I fail to see what one thing has to do with the other…one is a pipe dream.  The other has to do with our national security.  This is just a stupid way to excuse a big snafu….heaven help us when the far left gets envolved and has access to our money.

What speaks for itself is that anyone would search for boondoggles to excuse other boondoggles.

Yeah, I admit this Solyndra thing is not good.  Half a billion wasted is bad.

But, in addition to the chart listed, I wonder what happened to that $60B that a very recent report says was simply “lost” in the Iraq and Afghan wars?  Out of this, some close to $9B was simply “lost” under Paul Bremer’s reign over the Iraq Provisional Authority.  At the time, when questioned about this, I recall some Republican congressmen as saying that this was just a “drop in the bucket,” well worth it in the rebuilding of Iraq.

Really useful information, thanks.  Now, can you further refine and tell us how many of the military ones had government officials telling the White House it wasn’t going to work, but were pushed ahead politically anyway?

And what is the criteria for military boondoggle (of which I agree there are many)?  He says BMD is a failure.  Wrong.  They have made a lot of advances in that field.  If you’re going to call it a failure because they haven’t come up with a 100% solution on the first try, then I guess we’d better stop all that AIDS research, right?

Just think if Congress had to pay-back ALL the money they STOLE out of the SSI fund???????

No, it is not an excuse for a big snafu.  It is an example of how Republicans are hypocrites if they did not make a big deal out of these things, as well as many others, but they go after Obama and his administration for something far less in value.  Sure, this Solyndra thing needs to be investigated, but so should have the $9B that was simply “lost” when Paul Bremer was head of the Iraq Provisional Authority.   At the time, some Republicans said that this was just a “drop in the bucket.”

Well, ain’t that the pot calling the kettle black!

Newsbusters is so full of BS.

Don’t mean to be critical, because I’ve made the same mistake, but it was not $535 “billion”; it was $535 million….so I need to correct you.

Still a lot of money but not even close to the “only” $9B lost under Paul Bremer’s regime as head of the Iraq Provisional Authority…and some republicans at the time said that that was just a “drop in the bucket.”  It’s not even close to the $60B reportedly just “lost” overall in the waging of the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Yes, this needs to be investigated, but so did Bremer’s loss of $9B. 

The Iraq War is one such military instance where there were government officials pushing back on it, yet Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld cherry picked information to make it look favorable to go into Iraq.  What’s that war been costing us to date?  I know it’s over a trillion dollars, and it will continue to grow because we still have troops there, and the medical costs for the physically and mentally injured will continue to grow for decades.

Actually, the technology Solyndra was developing STILL looks promising as far as increasing efficiency of PV arrays, since they collect both direct sunlight and diffused/reflected photons. What I’d like to know is who is stealing that technology and selling it to the chinese while the FBI has custody of all Solyndra’s data during this alleged “investigation.”

I heard it was $6b, not $60b… where’d you pull that figure from, and did you wipe it off before you splashed it on our displays?

this is actually one of the few conversations worth having, rather than the usual political tabloid fodder…  but the chart does not “speak for itself”, other than looking bad…  we’ll soon know how the solyndra scandal went down…  but the chart sheds no light on why these military boondoggles didn’t pan out… 

it’s interesting but not surprising the nyt went after the military…  maybe they are the most egregious, but they are hardly the only source of waste and fraud in our government…  please break out some more charts, mr bump… 

You “heard”?  I read.

As this article from the Wall Street Journal states, it was between “31 billion and 60 billion” wasted on contracting services.

Who did you “hear” this from, that same woman that Michele Bachmann heard from about the HPV vaccine making her daughter suffer mental retardation?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904716604576542703010051380.html

When was the last time you wiped?

Oh, never mind then. And let’s free all the crooks from jail. Theft $ insignificant. And in the big picture, we al all going to die anyway.

Bump my ass!

If you’re saying we need to cut wasteful spending in Pentagon AND Education, Agriculture, Commerce, EPA, Energy, etc., you are spot on. Could balance budget overnight.

A great graph for the liberals.  I get your point, but for one thing you’re comparing apples and oranges.

Politicians use charts and pies and graphs and stats all the time to twist things to their point of view.  This is no exception.

I believe a half-Billion dollars is something worth taking a look at.  But, to be fair, the number alone shouldn’t derail the overall stimulus effort.  Although i’m sure it’s all over FOX News now, i’ve heard of some facts concerning start-up company failure rates and green jobs overall that make this look more like just an honest effort that didn’t pan out rather than a embarrassment to liberals.

Let’s look at ALL the facts and not just the $$$.  But i still don’t just blow off the loss of a half-bil. . .

Or what will happen to the $60 Billion in student loan “profits” projected by nationalization of the program in order to pay for Obamacare? A lot of that fantasy has already disappeared with defaults steadily rising.

Governments all over the world invest in winners and losers to advance their economies. We have done it from the beginning of our history, when first secretary of the treasury, Hamilton, wrote the blue book, The Report of Manufacturers. We protected our manufacturing from any encroachment from Europe so that we wouldn’t be just a provider of food to them, but create our own industry. In 1972 we started down the road of globalism by reducing our tariffs and allowing our manufacturers to leave for profits on Wall Street, and at the same time our trade deficit began to  grow out of balance. This was the beginning of the end for the middle class as wages began to fall, and American independence economically. We are now fast moving towards being a colony for the capitists who hold their profits off shore, and don’t care if America creats any jobs becasue they have a lobor force in Asia. These economic Royallists have manged to do what the English couldn’t do to America.

I have to admit I don’t know much about this, but from what I understand, yes, loan defaults on student loans are going up, but the percentage of defaults I believe is still under 10%.  That means that not all of that $60B will “disappear.”  Further, I believe that even on defaulted loans, the government will still get some percentage of the amount defaulted through a collection process.

Yes, things change over time.  Things projected to happen may not happen.  Then, again, sometimes good things happen as well, things that were not projected.  This hasn’t stopped governments or businesses or individuals to make projections, set a goal, and try to reach that goal.

LMAO, Always blaming others and making excuses on the left.. I am surprised Obama has not come out and said its Bush’s fault or the hurricanes fault …Maybe blame the tea party… that seems the new excuse for the left now!

It is nice to recall that during the Carter-Ford and Carter-Reagan campaigns, not a single dollar of money was raised by either candidate.  Lobbyists were in washington, but rare.  Politicians on both sides of the aisle were able to talk to each other about legislation and come to a solution that was best for the country. Then they would go have a beer

There is no way that anyone would consider legislation to outlaw lobbyists and fundraising.  Grover Norquist wouldn’t allow the Republicans to vote for it.

No, but people seem to have short memories, especially when it comes to fiscal management.  Perhaps you have by now forgotten how billions of US dollars were thrown around in Afghanistan& Iraq by the Bush administration and their contractor KBR-Halliburton.

And I don’t know how anyone could forget how we had to spend billions to bailout the SAVINGS & LOAN & WALL STREET.

LOL! Well that puts things in perspective regardless of your party of choosing.

So what’s the rights excuse? I can’t read the bill because it’s to long. They have been clamering for a jobs bill and now they got one. They certainly haven’t come up with anything but cut spending and taxes. How’s that working out for us the last ten years? Rick Perry says he created jobs. So who does Rick Perry work for? You answered my question. Texas, a government………….

An investment that “doesn’t pan out” is one thing.
A payoff to a donor and a subsequent cover up is another.
One is a a trial failure.
The other is corruption and a crime.

“… but resist we much … we must … and we will much … about … that … be committed.­”
                                                                          
———- Al Sharpton

Guessing the unemployment rate would be 12-14% without a statistical measure is not only imprudent but impossible.  Pulling the number from your azz is the same as guaranteeing the Oakland Raiders will be in the Superbowl.  See a protologist for removal of the liberal bias from your rectum.

An investment that “doesn’t pan out” is one thing.

A payoff to a donor and a subsequent cover up is another.

One is  a trial and a failure.

The other is corruption and a crime.

“… but resist we much … we must … and we will much … about … that … be committed.­”

———- Al Sharpton

Military weapons development is very expensive and will forever remain so.  It is noted that because of this military might and systems development,  Philips Bump is alive and able to do an inconsequential comparison.  Also,  because of both the commitment of dedicated men and weapons during WWII, Philip Bump’s mother isn’t forced to hump a Jap or Hun. 

What an outrageous comparison. You can’t compare defense research/spending to this scandal. Apples & oranges….

Did they have the President run around in a General’s outfit telling people it’ll end all wars.

BWAHAAHAHAHAHAAAH!

What a blatantly fake account!

That’s just one of the more stupid things you’ll hear on Mediate today!

What a joke!!!

Tax-payer money is tax-payer money.

How far do you have to be able to put your head up your ass to believe this?

Is being this stupid a requirement to join the TeaBagger/Right wing?

Weapons research is inherently high risk. However, having in the SLIGHTEST advantage in an armed conflict can determine the outcome. Are you saying that you don’t want our soldiers to have the advantage? Would you have opposed the Manhattan project because it was too expensive?! You idiot!

What’s your point?  This is typical grade school school yard behavior.  Grabbed by the duty teacher for misbehaving and taken to the principal’s office, the little boy blurts out, “But Little Johnny did it first!”  Yes, the military has had boondoggles, most of them a result of port-barreling by the Congress.  What has that got to do with the Obama Administration blowing half a billion on a pie-in-the-sky solar panel company?  You are simply pathetic.

I dont work for mediaite Moron!

 HOW TO DESTROY A DEMOCRACY
Put Conservative Republicans in Total Control of your government
Since 1980, they had control of the Executive for 20 years, the Senate for 18 years, the House for 12 years and a Total Control for 6 horrid years that decimated our Housing Industry and the World Financial Industry while increasing the transfer of Wealth and Income to the top few.

FACT CHECK
In 1980, 1% owned 20% of total Financial Wealth and 43% in 2009
In 1980, 1% took 10% of individual Income and 20% in 2009..
In 1980-2009, the top 1% had a 281% increase in after tax income and the middle 20% had a 25% increase or below the rate of inflation for a cut in income.

Today:
5% own 62% of Net Wealth
80% own 15% 62/15
20% own 93% of Financial Wealth
80% own 7% 93/7
25% get 67% of Individual Income
70,000,000 get 13% 67/13
That Score is 222/35

That ratio is like distribution of $100 with 20 having $86 and 80 having $14
or each of the 20 have $4.36 and each of the 80 have $0.17

Inequality? What else can one call it? $4.36 to $0.17 is disgraceful and will end our Democracy
Since 1980, it has been a deliberate policy implementations by conservative republicans
who believe if you shift wealth upward it will increase the wealth of those below.
Increase the wealth at the top will create huge numbers of jobs.
FACT CHECK
2001-2009 had a huge increase in wealth and Income of the top 10%.
The job creation was lowest since Hoover.
Since 1980, the three conservative presidents created 99,000 net new jobs per month or just enough to cover new entries into the work force. They took over in 1981 when job creation had been 218,000 per month. Those three initiated our involvement in ten foreign conflicts in which tens of thousands of innocents were killed. They destroyed our Savings and Loan Industry; created a Monopoly in banking where today ten banks control 80% of the deposits in all 7600 banks; created a worldwide financial disaster by deregulating the Casino Derivative Of America; destroyed our housing industry by allowing the big banks to, willingly, finance junk loans to millions who could not afford them. They increased the Fannie-Freddie maximum amount they could pay for mortgages from $300,000 to $729,000.
This allowed the banks to promote $500,000 plus mortgages for more profit on the securities they sold worldwide as triple A values. Profits were huge. Fraud was huge.

The Congress and the White House are reluctant to indict their campaign fund sugar daddies on Wall Street. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ BUYS $$$$$$$$$$$$ ANYONE
clarence swinney mad mad mad mad at Inequality in America

Speculation at best…Darlaloon

The graph didn’t include the Iraq War… in which Republicons lied to the American people to get it done and waste trillions!!

As I review the Solyndra stories across the web, it becomes clear to me how badly Bump has embarrassed himself and Mediaite with this silly piece.

Oh come on Lee; that has been so disproven time and time and time again.  Republicans weren’t the ones lying about WMD,  Bush inherited those lies from Clinton and crew.

Yeah reading must be SOOO hard for me because in my hundreds of posts on Mediaite, I’ve proven myself to be illiterate.

I did read the CBO report- thanks for the link. It also showed how they compiled their data:

Data compiled from recipients’ reports (on jobs funded and other information) are shown at http://www.recovery.gov Recipients were asked to calculate FTEs by taking the total number of hoursworked in a quarter that were funded by ARRA and dividing thetotal by the number of hours that a full-time employee wouldhave worked in that quarter.Sounds foolproof to me! I cant see any way to manipulate the data that the CBO receives at all…Any there’s no need to scrutinize the data, especially since its crystal clear that our economy is going so well, all thanks to the stimulus right?worked in a quarter that were funded by ARRA and dividing thetotal by the number of hours that a full-time employee wouldhave worked in that quarter.Sounds foolproof to me! I cant see any way to manipulate the data that the CBO receives at all…Any there’s no need to scrutinize the data, especially since its crystal clear that our economy is going so well, all thanks to the stimulus right?

Pure speculation.

We know the military can work, we knew that Solyndra wouldn’t

Wow!  What an impressive chart!  Too bad that it’s essentially meaningless both logically and mathematically.  As long as they are comparing apples and oranges with their data, let’s throw in a lemon too.  All of the boondoggles add up to about a trillion dollars.  Why did they not include a bar on the chart for the trillions of dollars in debts that Obama has racked up.  Yes, yes, probably a lot of that was included under the boondoggles, but the data presented was not bothered about such details for the boondoggle values it shows (e.g., over how many years were the boondoggle expenses spread?)  so why bother about them for our lemon.  Another “minor” point is that those boondoggles were not known from the outset to be doomed to failure as was the Solyndra venture (failure predicted to the nearest month a year or more ahead of time).  The boondoggles also developed spin-off technologies of great value:  what outputs of value did the Solyndra expenditure provide?  Just because numbers and charts are presented does not warrant any conclusions based on them unless the data itself is meaningful plus objectively developed and interpreted.  Lastly, the New York Times is hardly an unbiassed or objective source of information, numerical or otherwise.

BMDS is working and does alot more than charge a car battery

Try stopping a missile with a solar panel and see if it works

You fail to understand this is more than losing jobs. This is Chicago-style, pay for play, grease the ol’ politican tactics at work here. Its the corruption at the heart of the matter that is the real story.

Im shocked that you refuse to admit how bad this looks…this is not just some distraction, and from the looks of things Solyndra is just the tip of the iceberg.

Also, Im really tired of Liberals giving themselves a pass on lying and cheating because they think that since their cause is for the “greater good” then its ok.

Dont you get it? When you resort to bribery and stealing to accomplish your goals, those goals cease to be noble.

Are you silly enough to believe that “Bush & Cheny” would accept anything from the “Clinton Administration” as FACT?

Are you silly enough to believe that “Bush & Cheny” would accept anything from the “Clinton Administration” as FACT?

It is so refreshing  to read a reply from someone who has real knowledge about the FACTS!
THANK YOU!

You libs are just pathetic. Seriously, if you weren’t so stupid you’d be too embarassed to offer up a piece of crap propaganda like this.

Obama is a common street criminal on top of being an America, white folks hating racist, and you guys still hate Bush so damn much you still keep on opening wiiiiide and saying ahhhhh before this guy.  

Your 2nd sentence is closer to the truth than you think.  Keep your eye on the STATES as they start dumping the crooks back on the streets because they can’t afford to keep them in JAILS.  Good old Tea Partiers; CUT,CUT, CUT, KILL,KILL,KILLand let the Poor Die if they have no Health Insurance.  WELCOME TO THE THIRD WORLD!

You’re saying this is biased because it goes against your opinion.

You know what would really be a shame? If someone like you were in charge of mediaite and would leave out context because it didn’t agree with your opinion.

That’s the true meaning of biased.

You aren’t even interested in the truth, you’re a loser.

One difference, the companies that build the military boondoggles with all the cost overruns, kickbacks and failures are still in business, sure they get caught ripping off the tax payers but just pay a fine, increase you political contributions and it is business as usual.

The F35 and clitoral combat ships keep us safe from terrorist?

The manhattan project is out, now we have to spend trillions to protect our selves from it.
Solar every is moving forward, but in China, they are investing in the future and the US is building up the military and dumbing down society……. Hmmmmm. I wonder how this will turn out.

The comments on this story are fucking priceless. All of the masturbating about the Solyndra drama came to a screeching halt when they saw that chart. It was like you could almost hear the fapping stop across the nation.

Yeah, we should use Nuclear Power Plants to stop missiles.

Wow. that’s a joke, right Tina?

If you’re not warring in the first place there’s no reason to have the “SLIGHTEST advantage in an armed conflict.” Your premise is a bit flawed.

I would rather our country look to ways to get off of our reliance on foreign oil than make up excuses to kill the people that own it. Sounds to me like Solyndra was a poorly-run company and someone took a risk. I’m not happy about it but I think it’s being blown out of proportion a bit.

It may have seemed that I was defending the military boondoggles, but I was not.  As a retired federal civil service scientist, I am painfully aware of the power and rapacity of the military contractors, having been subjected to them myself for years before retiring.  But to me the answer of creating a comparable boondoggling and government created “green industry” to redouble the cost to taxpayers and to redouble the control of the federal government over our lives is about as bad an answer as anyone can possibly devise.  A far better approach would be to reform the military waste, fraud, and abuse, as well as that of any other government agencies – if that is even possible.  The main thrust of my comment was to expose the deceitfulness of downplaying the money lost on Solyndra by the simple-minded comparison to military spending, boondoggle or otherwise.  And I definitely maintain my contention that the graph and its data are essentially meaningless as support for that comparison.

“white folks hating racist”

Wow, you’re a bigger moron than I thought. Yes, let’s disregard that he was raised by a white mother.

Now show us the “chart” where we measure Brazil’s orange crop compaired to Flordia’s orange crop.  Now, don’t include Virginia’s apple crop measured against Washinton state’s apple crop on the chart because you’d be “compairing apples to oranges.”

This is one of the lamest Mediaite “stories/charts,” (his “creation” is really a graph) I’ve ever seen.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20070981-503543.html - there ya go, azzwipe.

I see you get your fake newz from the same foriegn-national slimeball that hacks into dead tweenies’ voicemails.

Now, DD……what’s wrong?  You sound very conflicted.  Poor thing.

I’ll give you some advice in a minute, but, first, I’d like to help clear your azz, I mean your head, with some facts.

First, when I saw your first comment to me about pulling something (out of my azz) and asking me if I wiped it before displaying it, I thought you possibly were a Fox-crazed person who would not like the facts that I was about to present to you.  So I “splashed on your display” that link to a Wall Street Journal article.  But I have to confess, DD, that that is not where I read the original article.  I actually saw this news on the NBC evening news with Brian Wilson a couple of weeks ago.  I also saw it on the CBS news web site:  http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/08/30/national/main20099600.shtml

But, because of your original comment about pulling that information about $60B, apparently out of my azz, I thought you would respond with my facts by saying that CBS and NBC were in the “lamestream media” and were heavily biased.    That is why I presented some facts to you from what I thought you would think was a more credible newssource, the Wall Street Journal, owned by that foreign-national slimeball, indeed!  (Actually, though, DD, I don’t think Mr. Murdoch is technically a ”foreign national” because I think he actually became a United States citizen some years back.)

And, I must confess that I might have misled you with my original post wherein I said that the $9B lost under Paul Bremer was “part of” that “$60B” reported a couple of weeks ago.  I think I was mistaken.  I think that the $9B lost under Paul Bremer in late 2003 to 2004 might be in addition to the up to $60B reported a couple of weeks ago.  That $9B lost under Paul Bremer was money that was supposed to be used to pay salaries and assist in the rebuilding of Iraq.  That $60B, now I believe, is separate and was money apparently paid to contractors like Halliburton that was wasted or lost.

Now, this CBS link you have just sent to me concerning some $6B that might have actually been stolen appears to be that $9B I originally mentioned because Bremer is involved, and both of these incidents occured in late 2003 and/2004.  Perhaps, then, that original $9B thought to have been lost actually was only $6B which might have been stolen!

It’s oh so confusing, DD, so I don’t fault you.  But here is what I think.  I think that, according to various sources, including the “lamestream media,” as well as from organizations owned by that slimeball Rupert Murdoch, there has been some $30B to up to $60B that has been wasted or lost in the two wars that George Bush started, and this is money that was supposed to be paid to contractors.  I think is the total amount of money lost or wasted during the entirety of both wars.

I also think that that $9B I originally mentioned that was lost in Iraq while Paul Bremer was head of the Iraq Provisional Coalition and as governor of Iraq.   I think that now is a number closer to $6B, and this is money that was lost or stolen during the timeframe of late 2003 to 2004 and possibly is not part of that $30B to $60B reported a couple of weeks ago.

And, that gets me back to my original point.  And, that is, whether it’s $6B or $9B or $30B or $60B or more, it’s still a heck of a lot more than the $530M +- that now is probably gone in the Solyndra case.  And, the former was lost/stolen in 2 wars which killed a lot of people; the latter was lost in a very unfortunate situation in which people have lost jobs and in which American taxpayers are probably on the hook for.

So, my advice, DD, is to take a couple of aspirins tonight, drink a cup of warm milk, and get a decent night’s sleep.  And, then, maybe you might have a clearer head in the morning and can help me sort these stories out!  Maybe, just maybe, we can both awake in the morning without having to wipe!

Actually, DD…..I just saw your comment about solar panels below, and in all honestly, I agree with that.  That is something more rational.  And, I clicked and saw your Twitter account…..in all seriousness, I think you and I think much the same.  Perhaps you misunderstood what I was trying to say in the first place.

Actually, DD…..I just saw your comment about solar panels below, and in all honestly, I agree with that.  That is something more rational.  And, I clicked and saw your Twitter account…..in all seriousness, I think you and I think much the same.  Perhaps you misunderstood what I was trying to say in the first place.

A Chart from the NYT’s?  Lol, that is scraping the bottom of the Liberal Falseness Barrel when you get anything from the NYT.

A lot going on in the half white house! Who’s really in charge??? Not Obama, he’s getting his orders from someone else. He hasn’t a clue as to what is really going on!! Or maybe he does! He is a Chicag thug!!!

Although I am a completely predictable liberal 99% of the time, even I have to admit that this makes the president look terrible.  The actual amount of money isn’t the issue; we all know billions of dollars go missing from government programs all the time.  The problem is that the White House staked political capitol on Solyndra, and lost.  The administration took a huge credibility hit on green energy generally, and now it’s going to be that much harder to get public support for clean energy.   Oy.

To: Mr. Phillip Bump Mediaite
 I assume you are suggesting that because the Obama Administration only squandered some $500,000,000;  while the military regularly goes over budget on numerous projects, hence, nothing improper was done by the Obama Administration?  Ergo, two or three wrongs make a couple of OKs?  I believe you have forgot to consider the legal concept of ‘mens rea’ in your reasoning?  In other words, was there “criminal intent” contained within the military “boondoggle’s?”  Also, what if there is ‘mens rea’ contained with the “Soldyne”boondoggle?  I guess I am counseling you to not be in such a hurry to find less than savory avenues of vindication for our President.  What if he and his administration broke the law? 

And look how much money we’ve given to Cheney’s old corrupt company Halliburton.  

My compliments on your being so forthcoming in this case.

Purveyor of Rhetoric

I think it’s about perspective. I agree with you that it makes the WH look bad for several reasons, but it is only 1% of the green jobs investment. I hope they can point to some real successes to offset the damage.
I think DC in general has gotten to free with throwing around hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions.   If we’re going to be critical of waste and cronyism that’s a great idea. Let’s seriously look at it and try to be consistent in our judgement. Let’s not aide the GOP in taking this incident out of perspective and ignoring other more egregious offenses.

I think it’s about perspective. We certainly want our elected officials to do a much better job of being financially responsible. Let’s try to apply a consistent standard an look at bad practices across the board.
 

The lie wasn’t the idea that Saddam might have WMDs. The lie was that he was a threat to the USA and connected to terrorism. The lie was the “mushroom cloud” and the idea that we have the right to invade a country because of what we think they might possibly do some day, some time down the road.

Nobody is disputing that. The problem is throwing good money after bad in the billions because of cronyism {the thing pointed out about Solyndra} and bad or unnecessary investments.
Such as the recent alternate jet engine that was cut.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/us/politics/17-f-35-engine.html

Killing the engine would cut an additional $450 million and save up to $3 billion over the next several years.
But in some ways, the votes of the Republican freshmen also broke down
just like those of veteran members in both parties, with jobs in their
states a primary concern.

http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-02-17/news/28550029_1_spending-bill-military-spending-jet-engine

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates called the second engine “an
unnecessary and extravagant expense,” but it has been kept alive by
members of Congress, including House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who
want to keep jobs in their districts.

Non sequitur and rationalizing, STACI.  If there were or are, improprieties, indict and prosecute, but for now, stop with trite innuendo!

Purveyor

It’s a fail.  But, I think perspective definitively kills the epicness of this fail.  Bush lost more money shipped to Iraq on wooden pallets!

Ah, one wrong makes another wrong better?  Please, steal a dollar or half a billion…there is no difference.  And, please don’t be stupid, the WH has brought Chicago politics to the Presidency…no wonder Rahm left so early, his ability to do his “own” thing was hampered by everyone else dipping their fingers into the pot called our tax dollars.

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/25/137414737/among-the-costs-of-war-20b-in-air-conditioning

So tell us how the $7.5 billion (15x the amount that went to Solyndra) that went into the cancelled RAH 66 Comanche is helping to keep America safe.

For that matter, please can you tell us how the F22 (program cost around $70bn so far) kept America safe this summer when the entire fleet was grounded… again. Tell us if you think it represents value for money when it hasn’t deployed to an operational theater in four years of service and currently costs about $44,000 per flying hour to operate. (In comparison, the F/A-18s of the USN and USMC work out at about $18,900.)

So Kenysianism is OK when it applies to the military? Alright, but if we are to continue with your rather absurd rationalization, what marginal utility does another nuclear submarine provide in a military apparatus that outspends every other country on Earth, combined. The Russians and the Chinese can both TRIPLE their current spending and together it would still only come to 5/7 of current US levels.

And remember, from a practical perspective, a nuclear submarine- or any other piece of military equipment- does nothing to help an economy once it is built beyond the redistribution of wealth that comes from operating expenditure. It doesn’t help people get to work or move goods like road, rail and airport projects; it doesn’t help the workforce get any smarter like a school or a university does and it doesn’t help to develop business growth like loan guarantees do.

Jobs mean more than going to and coming home from work, a
living wage is to a worker what profit is to a business man. Businesses say; if
we can’t make a profit, we will not do business. Businesses join a Cartel to
protect them from competition and refuse to accept unions for fair treatment of
workers. Yes; that is double standards. Does this make sense? They demand
workers in America compete with China’s work force while Chinese go to the
bathroom at a hole in the ground without toilet paper and nothing to set upon.
Only Big Businesses and Government Worker in China have a toilet to set upon
when relieving themselves and toilet paper to clean them.
Republican business men have cut the 40 hour work week savagely from, 40 hours
a week to 30 hours and less in many industries since 1960 to avoid the
requirements to pay benefits for workers. Many, many out spoke today’s
Republican voters do not know this. They also probably don’t know; “In 1960,
when you bought a house, it was mandatory, your payment could not be more than
your weekly income”, and you could not count your wife’s wages as part of that
money. Why? At that time they claimed she could get pregnant and be out of a
job for a period of time. Now, compare that to how the profiteers rearranged
regulations to sell more homes. Today’s house payment is usually 3 times what
the average person makes per week. IS THIS BECAUSE PEOPLE MAKE LESS OR BECAUSE
PRICE INFLATION MOVED AHEAD OF EVERYTHING ELSE? The answer is BOTH. Profits
through price inflation have out distanced wage earners and destructing of many
union jobs account for the distance between the working class and the
Billionaires. Then on the scene come Chicken hutch style living conditions of
workers in China and Republicans expect their children and our children to
compete with China’s slave type work force. In China a Communist Country, if a
Business fails as Solyndra the Solar Panel Company did, you would find the CEO
hung from a beam in the business building and China’s Government would claim he
hung himself, also if any workers suggest wage increases or union
representation, they usually find those worker in the river, face down.
America’s business are many time dealing with International Gangsters
presenting themselves a business men. John Boehner, Mitch McConnell and Eric
Cantor know this. They know if America is to remain the Leaders of the World,
we cannot cater to these shenanigan opportunities arising in Foreign Countries.
The Religious Right in being kept in the dark about this information by Big
Businesses. Politicians need to examine their conscience and get back to
reality and forget getting any richer than they already are. Put people back to
work and quit pretending for the sake of more profits.
America must rise above these new illegal greedy trends brought about by
International Trade.
I am a devout Christian but I know Communism came about because too many
religions were getting
involved in government to the point of becoming radical, this is why China does
not accept any religions unless it is a Government Religion. Yea; just watch
their values then follow them in their business dealings.

I rather think you’ll find that it’s Congress that is typically responsible for pushing military projects through, despite the Pentagon and the White House requesting- via the PBR- to do otherwise. In fact, it is so common that the various services know how to play the game.
 For example, the Air Force hasn’t actually asked for any C-130 (or C-17s) s in God-knows how long. That’s because they know in the Pentagon’s PPBS they’re going to get a certain-sized piece of the pie. They’ll use that slice of the pie to ask for lots of go-faster, bright and shiny gear- like the F22 and F35- in their budget request because they know that legislators on the authorization and appropriations committees from places like WA and CA (Democrats) and GA and AL (Republicans)- and their friends- will provide the gear that the Air Force knows it needs, but won’t say so.

And BMD is a boondoggle because after nearly 30 years of research and about $130bn (so far) the system STILL doesn’t work and even if it did, it is ridiculously easy to circumvent in any number of ways, ranging from decoys and MARVs to simply choosing another delivery system for a warhead- such as an ISO container. A used one can be bought for a couple of hundred dollars, the point of origin is harder to trace and engineers don’t need to worry about miniaturizing the weapon while keeping it robust enough to withstand a rocket ride and re-entry into the atmosphere.

Nobody (in this case). Solyndra went out of business because the Chinese already had the jump on them from a competitive standpoint because their government has been investing in the technology for years in a way that makes $535m seem like chump change.

Who said Keynesian economics is good??? Anytime? Anywhere? Keynesian economics is injecting currency into the system for the sake of propping it up and initiating spending. Military spending creates jobs in nearly every sector of the economy. Continually. It also creates an army for protecting the citizens of this country, ONE OF THE ONLY POWERS GIVEN EXCLUSIVELY TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.  Keynesian economics would find no problem with hiring someone to dig a hole, and then hiring someone else to fill it. The problem with me telling you that, is that some of you clowns see no harm in it.

As far as universities making people smarter, you are clueless about the education bubble, I can tell. College, just like most medical procedures used to be affordable to the middle class. Then the benevolent government got involved. 0bama has been to 3 top universities and is one of the stupidest president ever to walk the white house. Case closed about universities “making the workplace smarter”. Wow.

Solyndra proved to be a bad deal. We may get some of our
money back after our investigation, but

HEAR THIS—It’s a drop in the bucket compared to the
INTEREST we are paying on the National Dept while the Republicans drag their
feet trying to fulfill Mitch McConnell’s dream of making Obama a one term
President. While the Tea Party’s Choice for the Republican Congress stalls and presents
no ideas besides the broken record of Lower Taxes for Billionaires, the
INTEREST ON OUR DEBT is ZOOMING ALONG AT BREAKNECK SPEED from doing nothing and
that is not Obama fault. It is the fault of the party of NO, until I just
mentioned this, I bet no one stopped to think that “Time is of the essence” “Time
means Money”—Money owed on the Debt in the form of TIME is mounting while we
stall around.

 Is anyone listening?—-
Put a clock up in Congress and watch the clock tell Congress how much it is
costing them to bicker. We should fire all Congressmen and run the Tea Party
out of town on a rail and tell them to come back when they learn just what
governing is all about. It is not about who wants what and who get what. It is
about agreeing in some way shape and form without trying to make some guy a one
term President, while the rest of us stand by trying to guess who is telling
the truth. Congress is sounding more like a used car auction every day while the
interest on our debt is piling up.  

Bush saved us trillions by preventing another 9/11. See how that works, cupcake? In fact you could say he saved or created trillions of dollars in revenue by stopping another 9/11.

I was wondering about the criteria too.  Maybe there is a backstory I don’t know about, but if it weren’t for mine resistant APVs a LOT of my friends would be dead now.

This chart does what it is supposed to though.  It puts things in perspective.

Aside from some questionable facts, I looked at your assertion as a criminologists/detective would.  Meaning: What is the “motive, opportunity and intent” of the super criminals that perpetrate the the theft of and destruction of democracy.

I can see the “intent” and the “opportunity,” but what is the “motive?”  What is the point of “crushing your enemies, to see them driven before you and hear the lamentation of their women?  What is the goal, a pile of loot is useless if it can’t be admired or coveted by someone?

Are these Conservatives like locusts that simply consume to reproduce?  What is their MOTIVE?

The Purveyor of Rhetoric

You really are on some other planet arent you?   One of the Obama biggest lies is when he claims he saved a job.   The Biggest was when he said he created one.   Government can only create a position that tax payers have to pay the salery.  That hurts, not helps the jobs problem.  And as you noticed those were very temporary.  So dont blow smoke about saved and created jobs by this clown,  he never did and never will.

Probably, Might be, wonder if it would be,  this is all you rabid Liberals  have.   When will you ever use facts in a discussion about anything.   Three days after the baby was delivered,  a Liberal will tell you,  Well I think she might have been pregnant.   Try life without smoke and mirrors for a change.  Live in a world where there is such a thing as black and white.  And knock off the total inuendo BS,  it only makes you look more sillie.

Solyndra is shaping up to be a HUGE ‘poster child’ for why the government is NEVER good at creating jobs.  

Rather than make excuses, liberal writers should remind the WH to get everything out in the open and get in front of the fallout to come.