China Solar Panel Maker (Who Already Has Installed a Solar Farm On a U.S. Military Base), Now Sets Up 1st U.S. Plant

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

I just watched a BBC America show about the reticent Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, and over the last couple of days on NPR radio, the Stardate segments have been devoted to the anniversary of  the Apollo 12 mission when Pete Conrad (the third man to make that walk) and Alan Bean made a pinpoint landing of the lunar module to test  “precise landing techniques” that would be used in future missions.

"The Surveyor 3 spacecraft sits silently in a small lunar crater, with the Apollo 12 lunar module on the crater's rim in the background. Astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean landed just a few hundred feet from Surveyor 3 in November 1969 to test the precise landing techniques that would be needed for future missions."--Stardate.org

We can’t do solar panels here?

***

Early last week I posted this comment by Zachary Karabell, who appeared on CNBC (See: Larry Kudlow Has a Fit as Obama the “Declinist” Opens His Mouth in Japan; Says Obama is “Not His President”):

And he said that if we want China to continue to “hitch” themselves to us more, we’re not supposed to freak out if China wants to buy businesses HERE and not have a “knee-jerk xenophobic response.”

Well, here’s a story that will not make people happy, even though it may help us ultimately less dependent on foreign oil. Of course, we may become dependent on NEW environmental technology from foreign sources, but…

From Business Week (my bolding):

China Solar Panel Maker Sets First U.S. Plant

Suntech Power aims to boost its share of the U.S. market with a solar-panel manufacturing plant to be built in Arizona

China’s Suntech Power Holdings (STP) is no newcomer to the U.S. Last May, President Barack Obama toured the U.S.’s largest solar panel installation at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. There, row upon row of shiny black Suntech panels account for about a third of the 14-megawatt solar farm.

Suntech landed that project the same way it has raced to the top of the fast-growing global solar market: by focusing on price and scale. Now the world’s largest supplier of solar panels is boosting its stake in the U.S. market.

On Nov. 16 in Beijing, the company announced its first American manufacturing plant. The facility, to be located in the Phoenix area, will begin production by next October. “The U.S. market is on the cusp of greatness,” says Steven Chan, Americas president and chief strategy officer for Suntech. With the announcement, Suntech becomes the first major Chinese cleantech player to bring factory j obs to the U.S.

MMMM...wonder how many MORE major Chinese players will be arriving? And on U.S. military bases? (Of course, wasn’t there a flap over Bill Clinton selling military technology to China way back when?)

Now, there are some in Congress that are afraid our home-grown “green manufacturing jobs” won’t get a chance to get off the ground if this sort of thing happens on a regular basis. Sure, the Chinese are manufacturing here, but the factory jobs are THEIR creation, not jobs created by  a  home-grown company.

Obama’s visit to China focusing on collaboration in green technologies. Suntech’s move may soften criticism from U.S. lawmakers worried that low-cost factories in China will snare new green manufacturing jobs before they even have a chance to take root in the U.S. “[Suntech’s] decision to bring manufacturing here to the U.S. is a great sign of the increasingly important collaboration between Chinese and American leaders in the renewable-energy industry,” said Dan Kammen, a professor in the energy and resources group at the University of California at Berkeley, in a statement provided by Suntech.

Gee…that Berkley prof can’t write his own statement??

According to the article, most of the grants the U.S. issues for “cleantech” is winding up overseas:

Suntech’s investment comes as anxieties are rising in Washington over foreign domination of the U.S. cleantech space. In late October the announcement of a Chinese-U.S. consortium planning to build a wind park in Texas using imported Chinese turbines led to calls that federal subsidies should be pulled from the project.The same month, a report from the Investigative Reporting Workshop found that in the wind sector, where foreign manufacturers dominate the market, overseas companies have received 84% of more than $1 billion in federal clean-energy grants released since Sept. 1. The study did not focus on solar energy, but the majority of solar panels are also produced by European and Asian companies.

Texas?  Well, naturally…I’d bet that the George Bushes I & II are involved somehow, what with their long-time ties to China…Between them and their heir Barack Obama, things are proceeding very nicely…

In light of my previous post about growing U.S. unemployment, pardon me if I query: WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON??

(Well, we’re going to build electric cars with the Chinese, for one thing…)

***

Editor’s Note: I loved the space program and now live where Pete Conrad lived…and remember when this irrepressible spirit, who shouted “Whoopee” as he hopped around the moon’s surface, died in a motorcycle crash in California 10 years ago this past July (pictures on this memoria page). (He also rode 2 Gemini missions and Skylab I.)

PALIN LAUNCHES “SarahPAC”!! (Updated 1X–It’s Not Just the Alfalfa Club for Palin This Weekend)

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R-UNQUALIFIED) has launched a political action committee…dubbed SarahPAC!

Here’s the link:  http://www.sarahpac.com/

From the site:

Sarah Palin’s Official PAC

Dedicated to building America’s future, supporting fresh ideas and candidates who share our vision for reform and innovation.

SarahPAC believes America’s best days are ahead. Our country, founded on conservative principles and the fight for freedom, must confront the challenges of the 21st century with integrity, innovation, and determination.

SarahPAC believes energy independence is a cornerstone of the economic security and progress that every American family wants and deserves.

SarahPAC believes the Republican Party is at the threshold of an historic renaissance that will build a better future for all. Health care, education, and reform of government are among our key goals. Join us today!

YOU GO, GIRL!!!  It will be interesting to see who receives help from SarahPAC in the future…

I don’t agree with everything in her political viewpoint…BUT, I give her high marks for GUTS in standing up to the shitty media, shitty Democrats, and shitty Republicans, not to mention shitty so-called “feminists” who have worked to demean her accomplishments as a sitting governor who has worked her way up the ladder.

Could she represent a better wing of the Republican Party?  Anybody is better than the slugs in D.C. right now…Republican AND Democrat!!

P.S.–Memo to Hillary Clinton: When you echo words like “clenched fist” exactly as Obama says them, you are disappointing.  You apparently very willingly got kicked upstairs as other people make big announcements about upcoming Obama foreign policy “events.”

Damned shame. Oh, and remember “always fighting for us?”  ……Not so much…

***

Repeating from prior post on the stimulus package vote:

Hat tip to Tennessee Guerilla Women….Obama Axes Birth Contol Funds to Please Republicans

So the F*cking SOB has begun demonstating his love and respect for women by trading our birth control for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$. And won’t it especially hurt POOR women??   And when do we stop paying for VIAGRA????

If I hear one complaint against upfront Sarah Palin, who has NEVER overturned a law that secures the rights of women and gays, I will put another HEX on NARAL, NOW, Ms. Magazine, and Planned Parenthood.

UPDATE 1   6:30 PM MT, January 29, 2009

Looks like Palin will be real busy in D.C. and it won’t be just the Alfalfa Club dinner this weekend…From CNN:

Palin is slated to attend a dinner Friday night at the residence of Fred and Marlene Malek. Fred Malek is a businessman who served Republican presidents Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush. High-profile guests from both political parties are expected to attend the function.

The governor’s office also says Palin will attend a luncheon at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Saturday before heading over the to Alfafa Dinner.

There will be other “non-partisan” events as well.  The visit to the Center for Strategic and International Studies is VERY interesting, isn’t it?

Gossip columnist Cindy Adams over at the New York Post opines:

ASK not what Sarah Palin can do for your country, ask only what you can do for Sarah Palin. And the answer is, pay attention. Trust me, Alaska’s governor is moving faster than those glaciers.

Adams goes on to say that it’s really significant that Palin is attending since she  “may only leave the frozen tundra  two days a month.”

She adds:

Next month she addresses a Washington gathering of prominent conservatives. She’s going ahead with a book. Her Facebook page has 410,000 friends. She wants to influence policy knowing the nation must turn to Alaska as its energy resource. She’s planning to be president.

Well, I’d say this is “developing”….

Post Election Thoughts…The Last Salvo or REALITY BITES

~~By Grail Guardian

There will never be a female President of the United States. There. I said it. Ladies, go home and grab your burkas and start cooking dinner for your man and popping out babies. You will never have equal pay for equal work, you will never be considered competent or capable at anything you ever do, and you stand no chance of ever getting anywhere unless it’s to a soccer or hockey game to cheer your (male) children on. Of course the laws will be wide open to allow you to abort female children so you don’t have to sully the landscape with them at all anymore.

How do I know? Because before even half the nation’s votes were tallied tonight, not only were all the major networks calling the race for Barack Obama, but the pundits are already discussing how Sarah Palin was John McCain’s downfall. Pundits attempting to defend her popularity with statistics were shot down on Fox News. That’s it – it’s over. You will not see another female Presidential candidate taken seriously in this country in our lifetimes. We’ll be lucky if we continue to see women continue to hold seats in the Senate and House after tonight. Female Governors? Forget about it. Palin won’t be re-elected there, because in spite of the fact that Alaska loved her (90% approval rating) just 4 months ago, she has been trashed and is now persona non grata in her own state courtesy of the Chosen One.

Hillary Clinton will lose her Senate seat in 2012. Barack Obama had determined that before she surrendered her fight for the Democratic nomination, and all the pundits are hammering how he “beat the Clinton machine”. She is toast. But frankly, that’s OK with me tonight. As far as I am concerned, Hillary is one of the top reasons that Barack Obama was able to destroy the United States Constitution and insinuate himself into the Presidency. She has lost my respect and she has lost my vote. She bears a huge responsibility for Obama’s victory. She gave up on America to save her career. She sold out her constituents and supporters for the proverbial 30 pieces of silver, and she will have to live with that for the rest of her life.

So here are my top reasons for the desecration and destruction of the Constitution of the United States of America:

Karl Rove: The Republican strategist was neck deep in foisting Obama on an unaware America. After his manipulations to get and keep George W. Bush in the White House, he pulled off the ultimate hoodwink by clandestinely switching sides and getting the most unelectable man in politics elected on literally no platform. His uncontrollable glee while watching the returns confirmed for me that he had more than just a casual involvement in the victory. I’m sure he is now convinced that he is the most powerful man in the world.

Hillary Clinton: She spent the primary convincing us how unqualified Obama was to be POTUS and how she would never quit fighting for the American people. After all is said and done, I believe history will prove her correct on the former point. After “suspending” her campaign and humiliating herself and her 18 million supporters at the Democratic convention, she fulfilled her promise to “work my heart out” and campaigned at full tilt for Obama till the very end and convinced a painful number of her supporters that Obama was a suitable replacement for her. Rather than stand on principle and speak out against Obama’s Constitutional ineligibility to serve as POTUS, she knowingly and willingly aided and abetted the criminal activities of Obama and the DNC.

Main Stream Media: Of course one of the biggest reasons for the destruction of the United States of America and life as we know it is the Main Stream Obamedia. I cannot adequately convey my disgust with them, but let’s face it; they created a President. We have allowed them to decide a Presidential election for the third time in a row, and there is no stopping them now. Plan on spending the rest of your lives (and money) on whatever crap they decide to sell you, whether it be political candidates, lousy programming, toothpaste, or male enhancement products. They bought the soul of America with infomercials and “reality” shows that don’t vaguely resemble reality. It was the Bargain of the Century.

Fox News: “Fair and Balanced” reporting was next to impossible to find this election season as MSNBC, CNN, NBC, CBS, and ABC immediately suited up for Team Obama during the primaries. Before the GE race started in earnest, Fox appeared to be the only source of coverage that wasn’t totally biased in favor of Obama. It turned out that was a sham. The first to start fawning over Obama was the shameless Bill O’Reilly. His disgust with John McCain overruled his whatever journalistic instincts he had, and he threw the race in order to feebly protest the people having chosen McCain as the Republican nominee. The rest of the network quickly followed suit with only a few exceptions (Megan Kelly stands out), and by election night they were quicker to call the race for Obama than nearly anyone and spent all their post-coital analysis slamming McCain for having has the cajones to even consider running in the first place, nonetheless with a woman on the ticket. In the end, it’s tough to decide if they were influenced by owner Rupert Murdoch’s endorsement of Obama or were just trying desperately to keep a luke-warm candidate from embarrassing the party. Either way, they garnered millions of cable viewers based on their supposed impartiality, then proceeded to join in the mass brainwashing, with unparalleled gusto by the last week of the campaign.

The Republican Party: In a year when the Republicans had virtually no chance in hell of taking the White House, true conservatives “allowed” the public to nominate John McCain in what they though was a throwaway election. Imagine their surprise when McCain actually started to show some signs of life (and without them)! After the base was reinvigorated by the brilliant announcement of Sarah Palin as McCain’s Vice Presidential nominee, the party had 2 choices: support the centrist McCain and try with gusto to steal the White House from the Democrats in a year that it was all but guaranteed to be theirs, or sit back and do nothing in quiet protest of the likelihood of a McCain victory. The party decided as an entity to do the latter, and the sheeple of the right within the party followed suit, complaining that he wasn’t really their man and they’d rather give the White House to the Dems than suffer losing their control of the party from the radical right. The party that a few short weeks before had looked like heroes for putting a woman on the ticket after the brutal ravaging of Hillary Clinton wound up looking like misogynists; campaign leaks called Palin a “rogue” and “out of control” in efforts to prevent her from seeking further national office in the future. In the end, it was not the leadership of the party or McCain, but the spineless conservative members who tanked an election and gave up control of Congress rather than let a woman near the White House.

The Democratic Party: Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Donna Brazile, Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brezinski and other Democratic leaders colluded, long before the start of the 2008 Presidential campaign, to use radical tactics to steer the party to the far left and overthrow the legitimate government of the United States. They selected a young, unknown freshman Senator from Illinois with literally no history and molded him into their dream candidate. Their plan to use race as a means to energize the African American voter base and intimidate whites into voting out of guilt and fear dripped of cynicism and hatred for America. The one obstacle that stood in their way was popular front-runner Hillary Clinton. With unprecedented viciousness, the DNC and Obama campaign launched an all out misogynistic attack on Clinton, accompanied by charges of racism against her, husband Bill Clinton, and literally all of her 18 million supporters. Suddenly empowered by the report-nothing media, they started to publicly break their own rules, change rules midstream, change and assign votes cast to their chosen candidate, and lie about virtually everything. Once their ravaging of Clinton brought her to her knees, they thought they were golden, until John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate. Unequipped to handle the public’s adoration of the Alaska Governor, they trashed Palin with lies, innuendo, and false charges which were all lustily covered by the media. Their destruction of everything female in this country now stands complete, and sadly I know many women that voted Democratic yesterday, probably a straight party ticket. When all is said and done, it will be shown that the Democratic brand is nothing more than the flip side of the people that brought us the corrupt Republican brand of George W. Bush.

The Socialists: I won’t spend time right now going into repeated detail about the likes of William Ayers, Bernadette Dohrn, Khalid al Mansour, et al. Let it be enough to say that an organized Socialist movement that started smoldering in the 1960s burst into full flames this year and will soon sweep this nation like wildfire. Their efforts were deliberate, domestic terrorism and I’m quite sure that Timothy McVeigh is smiling like mad from his platform in hell.

Mob Rule: You can include the illegal activities of ACORN in this category or the one above – take your pick. Angry blacks, agitated to the brink of race war by the Obama machine, and young white college types determined to put a black man (any black man – with man being the operative word) in the highest office in the land to assuage their white guilt, threatened to riot, bullied opponents mercilessly online, and even intimidated other voters while standing in line to vote by discussing the riots that would ensue if Obama lost. Never underestimate the bullying of thugs both physical and psychological. I also include trolls in this category, because without their relentless assault on literally every website that ever posted even 1 word in opposition to Obama, this victorious annihilation of all common sense and decency would not have been possible. Pat yourselves on the backs, Psy Ops Warriors! Job well done. There will be posts for all of you in the new Civilian Police Force, dragging PUMAs off to re-education camps, so the fun isn’t nearly over yet.

“4th Wave” Feminists: Never underestimate the power of women defiling other women in this coup d’etat. Names like Nancy Pelosi, Donna Brazile, Claire McCaskill, Arianna Huffington, Erica Jong, Alice Germond, Peggy Noonan, Maureen Dowd, Oprah Winfrey, and literally every woman in Hollywood leap to mind in this category at first blush, but let’s not take the credit away from the invisible everyday “feminist”. I’m talking the ones that cried “It’s not that I don’t want a woman President, I do. Just not that woman!” and “I just can’t believe they picked Sarah Palin. That woman isn’t qualified to be President!” They did more to demoralize and frustrate the efforts of every woman in this nation than we have seen in decades. As I stated at the outset, these women (the type who live merely to find men and have no sense of self outside their relationships) have ensured that I shall not live to see a female President of the United States of America. Perhaps it makes them feel more powerful in their own meaningless lives, but they are traitors to us, to themselves, and to this Republic. They have played a vital role in pushing back the clock to roughly the 1920s as far as Women’s Rights are concerned. And I will not be able to laugh or say I told you so when they realize the aftereffects of what they have done.

The American People: Ultimately, the blame must lie with those who did nothing or not enough to stop this decline during this and the previous 5 administrations. I count myself in the latter category. I apparently awoke too late to stop the juggernaut of the New World Order. I fought like mad at the end (during the last year), but like most of America I was asleep at the wheel when people like both George Bush 41 & 43, Reagan, Carter, and even Bill Clinton steered this nation towards the slippery slope that it is on today. I watched and either complained or ignored as our liberties were slowly eroded. I bristled at the overt actions, but was easily assuaged back to my complacency when adjustments were made to allow my comfort level to return. I sold my country out for the ability to buy PCs, cell phones, SUVs, bigger houses, designer clothing, “organic” foods, and other such frivolities. I got angry and excited at an unseen enemy when my handlers in the media told me it was time to do so. I ranted about Global Warming and going Green, signed up for an HMO that had nothing whatsoever to do with Health Maintenance or even getting better when I was sick or injured, and dug deep into my pockets to help others less fortunate than I around the world when disasters struck and even remained silent when I had to do it for my own countrymen in the Hurricane ravaged south after Katrina and other storms showed that our government was unwilling and incapable of helping our own in time of need, regardless of how many tax dollars they had paid into the system. I kept silent. I averted my eyes. I deafened myself to the sure sounds of corruption and moral decay. And I turned off my feelings for my fellow Americans long enough for them to become so very angry that they would lash out at me in fury to destroy America as payment for my complacency. And for that, I am truly sorry America. I have failed you.

FLASHBACK: Democratic Messages–Does Obama Cut It? (With an Aside about Obama’s Organizing & Connection to One of the ’04 Candidates)

Back when I was contributing to that OTHER SITE, I wrote this piece about what the Democratic message in 2004 might be…or should be.  I looked back to 1992 to the Clinton-Gore campaign, then brought the reader back to 2003 and looked at the messages being formed by the leading candidates at the time (John Kerry hadn’t yet declared.)  James Carville was discussing the type of candidate that was needed to renew the concept of “generational responsiblity,” which he called the “big issue” for Democrats in 2004.  And who seemed to articulate this “big issue” most clearly during the primary season? Former Senator and Ambassador Carol Mosely Braun.

Braun, who was from Chicago, Illinois and who became the first black woman elected to the Senate, was fairly controversial (with campaign funds coming under scrutiny and a trip to NIgeria where she met with the dictator in charge).  She was defeated in her 1998 re-election bid but in 2003-2004 when she ran for President, her message about “generational promise” was the most clearly articulated. (She dropped out of the race 4 days before the Iowa caucuses and supported Howard Dean.)

What’s interesting is that Barack Obama was involved in getting her elected to the Senate through his work with Project Vote.  At the time he was popular for his “integrity” and “honesty” and was perceived as “not at all comfortable with the political game of getting and staying elected, of raising money in backroom deals and manipulating an electable image”  Wow, have times changed! (See “HINDSIGHT” below for more on Braun and also a link to a 1995 article on the activities of Barack Obama at that time.)

So, give this blast from the past a read and think about the shift in the Democratic message since 1992.  The idea of passing on a better future for the next generation is one that I’m not seeing much of this time around. Will Obama’s flirtation with some rather conservative ideas really serve the next generations well?? At the same time,  we’ve also seen a sharp split being created by the Obama campaign–old vs. young.  And what the older generation has done is getting short shrift. A break is being created, not a true bridging of the generations.  A whole lot of older folks have been thrown under the bus.

Oh, but in his acceptance speech, Obama does give us a line, as vague as ever…

Four years ago, I stood before you and told you my story — of the brief union between a young man from Kenya and a young woman from Kansas who weren’t well-off or well-known, but shared a belief that in America, their son could achieve whatever he put his mind to.

It is that promise that has always set this country apart — that through hard work and sacrifice, each of us can pursue our individual dreams but still come together as one American family, to ensure that the next generation can pursue their dreams as well.

Does it meet James Carville’s thoughts on the type of candidate Democrats need?  It seems incomplete to me…pursuing dreams is one thing, but having a better lfe than the previous generation is another. See below and and judge for yourself…