It's Not Easy Being Green

By Joe Eaton:
Limousines, the very symbol of wealth and excess, are usually the domain of corporate executives and the rich. But the number of limos owned by Uncle Sam increased by 73 percent during the first two years of the Obama administration, according to an analysis of records by iWatch News.

Most of the increase was recorded in Hillary Clinton’s State Department.

Obama administration officials said most of the increase reflects an enhanced effort to protect diplomats and other government officials in a dangerous world. But a watchdog group says the abundance of limos sends the wrong message in the midst of a budget crisis. The increase in limos comes to light on the heels of an executive order from President Obama last week that charges agencies to increase the fuel efficiency of their fleets.

According to General Services Administration data , the number of limousines in the federal fleet increased from 238 in fiscal 2008, the last year of the George W. Bush administration, to 412 in 2010. Much of the 73 percent increase—111 of the 174 additional limos—took place in fiscal 2009, more than eight months of which corresponded with Obama’s first year in office. However, some of those purchases could reflect requests made by the Bush administration during an appropriations process that would have begun in the spring of 2008.

The department said it defines a limo as a vehicle that carries a VIP or “other protectee,” rather than by the type of car, but said most of its limos are Cadillac DTSs, which cost the taxpayer more than $60,000 for a 2011 base model and support the additional weight of armoring. The department said it also purchased a limited number of 7-Series BMWs for ambassadors in countries where vehicles are right-hand drive.

LET THEN EAT CAKE

Hail Mr. Transparent

OK so I'm beating a dead horse-Barack Obama promised to have the most open and transparent administration of all time.  Perhaps we should call Mister Obama, Mr. Orwell.  It's seems that almost everything uttered out of the man is Newspeak.  Totally opposite of what he promises.

If he is not banning the Boston Herald reporter from the fundraiser in Boston he is locking reporters in closets.
President Obama also has a penchant for punishing whistleblowers.
One case is that of former NSA senior director Thomas Drake.
The Justice Department’s indictment narrows the frame around Drake’s actions, focussing almost exclusively on his handling of what it claims are five classified documents. But Drake sees his story as a larger tale of political reprisal, one that he fears the government will never allow him to air fully in court. “I’m a target,” he said. “I’ve got a bull’s-eye on my back.” He continued, “I did not tell secrets. I am facing prison for having raised an alarm, period. I went to a reporter with a few key things: fraud, waste, and abuse, and the fact that there were legal alternatives to the Bush Administration’s ‘dark side’ ”—in particular, warrantless domestic spying by the N.S.A.
The indictment portrays him not as a hero but as a treacherous man who violated “the government trust.” Drake said of the prosecutors, “They can say what they want. But the F.B.I. can find something on anyone.”

When President Barack Obama took office, in 2009, he championed the cause of government transparency, and spoke admiringly of whistle-blowers, whom he described as “often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government.” But the Obama Administration has pursued leak prosecutions with a surprising relentlessness. Including the Drake case, it has been using the Espionage Act to press criminal charges in five alleged instances of national-security leaks—more such prosecutions than have occurred in all previous Administrations combined. The Drake case is one of two that Obama’s Justice Department has carried over from the Bush years.
Gabriel Schoenfeld, a conservative political scientist at the Hudson Institute, who, in his book “Necessary Secrets” (2010), argues for more stringent protection of classified information, says, “Ironically, Obama has presided over the most draconian crackdown on leaks in our history—even more so than Nixon.”

Bringing Home The Bacon.

Here is a great little article from the Wall Street Journal that sums up why food prices are rising so rapidly.  Well worth the read.

NO Moore, No Mas

Jabba the Hut explains the problem with U.S. economic system.

An Explaination Of Some Of The Mortgage Debacle Depth.

More Financial Crisis On The Horizon

Just in case you thought that the worst economic problems were behind us, I believe that we have simply put a band-aid on a gapping wound.
Throwing trillions of dollars at the financial giants seems to have guaranteed some of their huge losses but has not done anything to alleviate the cause of the crisis directly.
As I see it, the main problem is using the home mortgage industry to prop up a dwindling economy. We were told that these mortgages were bundled and then sliced up and sold as securities and that is why we don't even know who owns those mortgages I didn't believe it. How could we have a mortgage and not know who holds the papers. I said to myself, let's stop making payments and then we will see who comes to collect and that will sort itself out. Unfortunately, it appears that they were right. Trillions of dollars worth of loans are out there with less than adequate paperwork.
To see how this is playing out watch the following video:

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