NebraskaPatriot

World MS Day

I'm really not trying to make this political. Below is an ad that the Romney campaign has released in honor of World Multiple Sclerosis Day:

 

Looking for a Job . . .

and you, Scarecrow, have the effrontery to ask for a brain . . .

As we now head into the summer months, most Americans traditionally turn a deaf ear to politics. Most Americans won't start paying attention until after Labor Day or in this case, around the National conventions since it's a Presidential year.

So heading into this down time, let's welcome in this reprieve by looking at one of the fundamental issues in this fall's election:

Obama's view that Government should create jobs

vs

Romney's view that the private sector should be the creator of jobs

I don't think I really need to go into a discussion of the value that private business plays in our economy. Gosh knows we have years and decades of evidence that shows that American capitalism has produced the most successful and long lasting economy in the history of civilization.

Conversely, Mr. Obama has given us a lesson of what happens when Government gets involved in trying to create jobs. I refer you to a column by Marc Thiessen in the May 24th Washington Post entitled, "Forget Bain, Obama's public equity record the real scandal".

I won't go into all the gory details but here's just a few:

"Obama has invested billions of taxpayer dollars in private businesses, including as part of his stimulus spending bill. Many of those investments have turned out to be unmitigated disasters — leaving in their wake bankruptcies, layoffs, criminal investigations and taxpayers on the hook for billions. Consider just a few examples of Obama’s public equity failures:

● Raser Technologies. In 2010, the Obama administration gave Raser a $33 million taxpayer-funded grant to build a power plant in Beaver Creek, Utah. According to the Wall Street Journal, after burning through our tax dollars, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012. The plant now has fewer than 10 employees, and Raser owes $1.5 million in back taxes.

● ECOtality. The Obama administration gave ECOtality $126.2 million in taxpayer money in 2009 for, among other things, the installation of 14,000 electric car chargers in five states. Obama even hosted the company’s president, Don Karner, in the first lady's box during the 2010 State of the Union address as an example of a stimulus success story. According to ECOtality's own SEC filings, the company has since incurred more than $45 million in losses and has told the federal government, “We may not achieve or sustain profitability on a quarterly or annual basis in the future.”

Worse, according to CBS News the company is "under investigation for insider trading,” and Karner has been subpoenaed “for any and all documentation surrounding the public announcement of the first Department of Energy grant to the company.”

● Nevada Geothermal Power (NGP). The Obama administration gave NGPa $98.5 million taxpayer loan guarantee in 2010. The New York Times reported last October that the company is in “financial turmoil” and that “[a]fter a series of technical missteps that are draining Nevada Geothermal’s cash reserves, its own auditor concluded in a filing released last week that there was ‘significant doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.’ ”

● First Solar. The Obama administration provided First Solar with more than $3 billion in loan guarantees for power plants in Arizona and California. According to a Bloomberg Businessweek report last week, the company “fell to a record low in Nasdaq Stock Market trading May 4 after reporting $401 million in restructuring costs tied to firing 30 percent of its workforce.”

● Abound Solar, Inc. The Obama administration gave Abound Solar a $400 million loan guarantee to build photovoltaic panel factories. According to Forbes, in February the company halted production and laid off 180 employees.

● Beacon Power. The Obama administration gave Beacon — a green-energy storage company — a $43 million loan guarantee. According to CBS News, at the time of the loan, “Standard and Poor’s had confidentially given the project a dismal outlook of ‘CCC-plus.’ ” In the fall of 2011, Beacon received a delisting notice from Nasdaq and filed for bankruptcy.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. A company called SunPower got a $1.2 billion loan guarantee from the Obama administration, and as of January, the company owed more than it was worth. Brightsource got a $1.6 billion load guarantee and posted a string of net losses totaling $177 million. And, of course, let’s not forget Solyndra — the solar panel manufacturer that received $535 million in taxpayer-funded loan guarantees and went bankrupt, leaving taxpayers on the hook."

Sooo, I'm going to just sign off. I figure you are a bit queasy right now and need some time to lower your blood pressure.

As I sign off, here's a Romney political ad that fits right into this whole Obama idea that Government knows best:

 

Rip Snorting Weekend at State Parks

peaceful praire land, laced with many rivers and the fields of sand . . .

We stayed home for the three-day weekend but apparently a lot of fellow Nebraskans did not.

State parks across the state are reporting large numbers throughout the just concluded three-day weekend.

In this morning's Omaha World-Herald, writer Teresa Lostroh quotes the superintendent of Mahoney State Park characterizing this past weekend as "one of the busier Memorial weekends that I can recall."

Mahoney State Park is just off I-80, half way between Omaha and Lincoln.

Meanwhile at Lake McConaughy, just north of Ogallala, Superintendent Bill Oligmueller reports the grand lake of Nebraska "averaged 25,000 people per day", which Oligmueller says is "about 5,000 more per day than last year."

Weather overall was very warm until a cool front blew through Saturday evening causing sever thunderstorms in much of central and eastern Nebraska. I know we got 3 inches of rain Saturday night as wave after wave of thunderstorms rolled across.

Overall, it was a great weekend whether you stayed home or hit the road to the area state park.

Memorial Day . . .

From the blog Loaded for Bear:

Traci Wise:
“I found my son sitting having a moment with his daddy (SFC Benjamin Wise) the other day. We lost him January 15 in Afghanistan… we cannot forget about the incredible loss these children must undertake.”

The History of Memorial Day

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service.

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic and was first observed on May 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

Since the late 50's on the Thursday before Memorial Day, the 1,200 soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing.

Pvt. Aaron Johnson, 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), places a small American Flag in front of a grave at Arlington National Cemetery. During an approximately three-hour period, the soldiers place flags in front of more than 260,000 gravestones and about 7,300 niches at the cemetery's columbarium.

(Photo by Staff Sergeant Matthew Coffee, 24 May 2012 via DVIDS.)

Congress made the day into a three-day weekend in with the National Holiday Act of 1971.

(Photo compliments of the blog Always Faithful do or die)

Never forget our fallen heroes . . .

How's All That PUBLIC Equity Working Out?

Mr. Hope and Change's philosophy: do as I say not as I do . . .

Ok, patience is going to be needed on this one, so just hang in there because the payoff below is worth it.

I'm going to assume that you've all been watching the President and his cadre fall all over themselves trying to make Romney's time at Bain Capitol as something just short of treason and larceny.

Obama attacks Romney over Bain Capitol, a company whose main focus is rescuing businesses that are on the brink of closing.

If Bain or some other private equity company doesn't come in with a rescue plan, then that business will close and employees are out of a job.

There is no guarantee a private equity firm like Bain will be able to save a business but during Romney's tenure at Bain, they were successful over 70% of the time in restoring that business to profitability and being able to provide jobs to Americans.

And somehow that's bad in the eyes of Obama. Tells a lot about the man doesn't it.

Apparently, Obama thinks PRIVATE investment is bad but PUBLIC tax dollars given to companies is ok.

There is a great column in yesterday's Washington Post on-line by Marc Thiessen entitled, "Forget Bain - Obama's public-equity record is the real scandal". Here's just a part of his column:

Despite a growing backlash from his fellow Democrats, President Obama has doubled down on his attacks on Mitt Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital. But the strategy could backfire in ways Obama did not anticipate. After all, if Romney’s record in private equity is fair game, then so is Obama’s record in public equity — and that record is not pretty.

Since taking office, Obama has invested billions of taxpayer dollars in private businesses, including as part of his stimulus spending bill. Many of those investments have turned out to be unmitigated disasters — leaving in their wake bankruptcies, layoffs, criminal investigations and taxpayers on the hook for billions. Consider just a few examples of Obama’s public equity failures:

● Raser Technologies. In 2010, the Obama administration gave Raser a $33 million taxpayer-funded grant to build a power plant in Beaver Creek, Utah. According to the Wall Street Journal, after burning through our tax dollars, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012. The plant now has fewer than 10 employees, and Raser owes $1.5 million in back taxes.

● ECOtality. The Obama administration gave ECOtality $126.2 million in taxpayer money in 2009 for, among other things, the installation of 14,000 electric car chargers in five states. Obama even hosted the company’s president, Don Karner, in the first lady's box, during the 2010 State of the Union address as an example of a stimulus success story. According toECOtality's own SEC filings, the company has since incurred more than $45 million in losses and has told the federal government, “We may not achieve or sustain profitability on a quarterly or annual basis in the future.”

Worse, according to CBS News the company is"under investigation for insider trading," and Karner has been subpoenaed “for any and all documentation surrounding the public announcement of the first Department of Energy grant to the company.”

● Nevada Geothermal Power (NGP). The Obama administration gave NGP a $98.5 million taxpayer loan guarantee in 2010. The New York Times reported last October that the company is in “financial turmoil” and that “[a]fter a series of technical missteps that are draining Nevada Geothermal’s cash reserves, its own auditor concluded in a filing released last week that there was ‘significant doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.’ ”

● First Solar. The Obama administration provided First Solar with more than $3 billion in loan guarantees for power plants in Arizona and California. According to a Bloomberg Businessweek report last week, the company “fell to a record low in Nasdaq Stock Market trading May 4 after reporting $401 million in restructuring costs tied to firing 30 percent of its workforce.”

● Abound Solar, Inc. The Obama administration gave Abound Solar a $400 million load guarantee to build photovoltaic panel factories. Accoring to Forbes, in February the company halted production and laid off 180 employees.

● Beacon Power. The Obama administration gave Beacon — a green-energy storage company — a $43 million loan guarantee. Accoring to CBS News, at the time of the loan, “Standard and Poor’s had confidentially given the project a dismal outlook of ‘CCC-plus.’ ” In the fall of 2011, Beacon received a delisting notice from Nasdaq and filed for bankruptcy.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. A company called SunPower got a $1.2 billion loan guarantee from the Obama administration, and as of January, the company owed more than it was worth. Brightsource got a $1.6 billion load guarantee and posted a string of net losses totaling $177 million. And, of course, let’s not forget Solyndra — the solar panel manufacturer that received $535 million in taxpayer-funded loan guarantees and went bankrupt, leaving taxpayers on the hook.

You can read the column in its entirety by clicking here.

Memorial Weekend Means Summer is Here ! ! !

Summer is a great time of the year. But, it also means finding ways to stay cool. A few of our furry friends have found some ways courtesy of the London Daily Mail:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brought to You by The Women in the House

From the Republican women in the House of Representatives:

 

Multiples Increase

A really interesting and positive article in today's Omaha World-Herald.

It's about an Elementary School in Papillion, Nebraska and the number of twins, triplets and quadruplets they have at that school.

The age of mothers was given as one of the major reasons for the increase:

"Obstetrician Dr. Heather Taggart, who delivers babies at Midlands Hospital in Papillion, said the unusually high number is most likely a random occurrence.

It's consistent with a sharp rise in multiple births nationally, however, Taggart said. The nation's twin birth rate rose 76 percent from 1980 through 2009, from 18.9 to 33.3 per 1,000 births, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

Doctors attribute the increase to women becoming pregnant later in life, when a woman's changing body chemistry is more likely to produce multiple babies, and to the use of fertility drugs, Taggart said.

“It used to be that 5 percent of babies were born to women over age 35,” she said. “Now about 20 percent are.”

You can read the entire article by clicking here.

 

It's the Girl's Turn!!!!

Congratulations to Deb Fischer the winner of the Republican U.S. Senate primary. As I had stated a few weeks back, Deb Fischer is a class act and will be a great U.S. Senator for Nebraska.

Oops, getting ahead of myself a bit as New York Bob is her opponent in November.

As Republicans, we were very fortunate to have two quality candidates in Deb Fischer and Jon Bruning. Unfortunately for Bruning, being the favorite for much of the spring did bring out the mud from Mr. Stenberg as he and his outside PACs decided the nuclear option was his only hope.

And no doubt there are many, my wife among them, that had had enough of the food fight between the guys and moved to Fischer in the last week.

If there is any humor from tonight, it's Stenberg getting buried way back in third place. Maybe after running for every office known to man and multiple times (!), Nebraskans are telling Stenberg to stop, enough already and focus on his current job as State Treasurer.

But hey, back to the real positive of the night and that's Deb Fischer.

Oh, before I forget. I also have to say that it didn't hurt to have Sarah Palin's endorsement.That's got to be driving the Liberals just insane tonight!

More to come in days ahead but again, congrats to Deb Fischer.