1.) Solyndra: Not the sole offender — The solar energy “industry” certainly doesn’t react too well to sunlight. TheDC’s John Rossomando reports: “A Daily Caller investigation has found that in addition to the failed company Solyndra, at least four other solar panel manufacturing companies receiving in excess of $500 million in loan guarantees from the Obama administration employ executives or board members who have donated large sums of money to Democratic campaigns. And as questions swirl around possible connections between political donations and these preferential financing arrangements, the Obama White House suddenly began deflecting The Daily Caller’s questions on Wednesday to the Democratic National Committee… Concerns about the long-term viability of Solyndra, first made public by The Daily Caller back in February, have now expanded to include the financial health of other loan-guarantee recipient firms as well. These companies have suffered from declining stock prices despite their favored status in the White House. Yet as the end of the federal government’s fiscal year looms on Friday, a new series of loans could be finalized amounting to more than nine times what taxpayers have already lost on the failed company Solyndra.” Hey, why not? It’s not their money they’re using to pay off their cronies. What do they care if they betray the public trust and waste billions of taxpayer dollars on a ridiculous boondoggle? P.S. Yet another $737 million is going to a solar company run by Nancy Pelosi’s brother-in-law. It pays to have fiends in high places. And no, that wasn’t a typo.
2.) Rápido y Furioso — Leave it to our hard-working neighbors from south of the border to do yet another job Americans won’t do: ask Obama a tough question. TheDC’s Matthew Boyle reports: “During a White House roundtable with three Spanish-language media outlets on Wednesday, President Barack Obama skated around questions about Operation Fast and Furious. ‘We’re working very hard to have a much more effective interdiction effort … we are checking southbound transit … to capture illegal guns, illegal cash transfers to cartels,’ he said at the morning event with representatives from Yahoo!, MSN Latino, and AOL Latino/Huffington Post Latino Voices. ‘It is something we’ve been building … it’s not yet finished, and there’s more work to do,” he said. Conservative Action Fund treasurer Shaun McCutcheon told The Daily Caller that Obama’s inability to answer basic questions about Operation Fast and Furious suggests the administration is covering up even more about the controversial program. ‘The more that comes out about this Fast and Furious scandal, the more we realize that there are very real dangers in a government that is too big to monitor itself,’ McCutcheon said in an email. ‘The Obama administration refuses to take responsibility for the deaths of Americans and Mexicans alike under their watch because of their program.'” Fast and Furious: Watergate with a body count.
3.) Bev Perdue: standup comic? — Bev Perdue was just kidding when she said Congress needed to suspend elections, right? Wellllllll… Matthew Boyle: “If it was a joke, North Carolina Democratic Governor Bev Perdue needs to polish her delivery. Newly released audio contradicts the claims of Perdue’s press team that her call Tuesday for suspending Congressional elections was a joke or hyperbole. In the recording, her tone is matter-of-fact and her comments are part of a serious speech… Perdue faced almost instant national criticism on Tuesday after she recommended suspending elections until the economy recovers. ‘I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover,’ Perdue said at a rotary club event in Cary, N.C., according to the Raleigh News & Observer. ‘I really hope that someone can agree with me on that.’ Shortly after the controversial comments made national headlines, Perdue’s press team began claiming it was a joke. Until the audio of her comments was released, though, there was no way to know if she was serious.” She was serious. Unless she’s a deadpan comedian on a par with Steven Wright. Listen to the audio here and judge for yourself.
4.) Increasingly armed society also increasingly polite — More guns = more gun crimes, isn’t that the formula? That’s what we’re supposed to believe, anyway. But TheDC’s C.J. Ciaramella reports: “Despite increases in gun sales, gun crimes continued to decrease in the United States for the fourth straight year in 2010, according to the FBI. The FBI recently released its Crime in The United States statistics for 2010. Overall, murders in the U.S. have decreased steadily since 2006, dropping from 15,087 to 12,996. Firearms murders — which made up 67 percent of all murders in the U.S. in 2010 — have followed this trend, decreasing by 14 percent. At the same time that firearms murders were dropping, gun sales were surging. In 2009, FBI background checks for guns increased by 30 percent over the previous year, while firearms sales in large retail outlets increased by almost 40 percent. The number of applications for concealed carry permits jumped across the country as well.” Are gun crimes decreasing despite the increase in gun sales, or because of the increase in gun sales?
5.) Did you ever notice how you haven’t thought about Andy Rooney in years? — So has he. TheDC’s Michael Watson reports: “The long-time CBS television personality is retiring from the show after 33 years. Rooney has presented nearly 1,100 video essays in his time with the legendary CBS news feature show. The 2003 Lifetime Achievement Emmy award winner is 92… Rooney stumbled into some criticism during his later career. In 1990, CBS suspended him for offending homosexuals. In 2007, sports blogs criticized him for saying ‘I know all about Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, but today’s baseball stars are all guys named Rodriguez to me.’ He told the New York Times that he regretted the comment.” Will 60 Minutes find somebody else to be annoyed by societal change every week? In another 33 years, will people long for the good old days when Andy Rooney was on TV? Is it possible to talk about Andy Rooney without starting to sound like Andy Rooney?
6.) Today’s words of wisdom from Alec Baldwin’s Truther, er, Twitter feed — “McCain lost to Obama. And McCain is a decorated war hero. You think there is someone in this group that can beat O?”
VIDEO: Outside Denver event, protesters attack Obama — from the left
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