U.S. Gov’t Spent Over $11 Million Per Job Created in Green Energy

Green energy triumph: $11,000,000.00 spent per job created

“Without much fanfare, the Department of Energy (DOE) recently updated the list of loan guarantee projects on its website,” the Institute for Energy Research noticed on Wednesday. ”Unlike in 2008, when Barack Obama pledged to create 5 million jobs over 10 years by directing taxpayer funds toward renewable energy projects, there were no press conferences or stump speeches.”

…
Maybe it’s because the IER divided the $26 billion spent on “green jobs” by the Energy Department since 2009, divided it by the 2,298 permanent jobs created, and came up with a cost of $11.45 million per job.

Government continues to prove that it has no business starting ventures and managing money. Give the money management and investment duties back to the people.

In Context: 9/11 Embassy Killing in Egypt, Libya

Additions – 2012/09/14
2012/09/14 – American School In Tunisia Torched - Business Insider

2012/09/13 – ‘This Does Not Represent Us’: Moving Photos of Pro-American Rallies in Libya – The Atlantic
2012/09/13 – No Live Ammo for Marines - Washington Free Beacon
2012/09/13 – U.S. Embassy Calls Out Muslim Brotherhood Over Twitter - Bloomberg
2012/09/13 – Holder condemns ‘senseless and brutal’ attacks on U.S. diplomatic missions - Washington Times
2012/09/13 – Despite deaths in Libya, Egypt posing bigger problem for Obama – Washington Times
2012/09/13 – State Department: Secretary Responsible for Security Failures - Breitbart’s Big Peace
2012/09/13 – US Embassies Step up Security After Libya Attack - ABC
2012/09/13 – Turmoil Over Contentious Video Spreads to Yemen and Iran - NY Times
2012/09/13 – After attacks in Egypt and Libya, USA asks: Why? – USA Today/WKYC
2012/09/13 – Libyans express shame, regret over deadly attack - CBS
2012/09/13 – Extremists don’t speak for Libya – CNN
2012/09/13 – Obama Calls Leaders of Libya, Egypt - PJ Media
2012/09/13 – Libya attack ‘pre-planned’ – US - Irish Times
2012/09/13 – Lebanon news rape report on murdered U.S. amb. in Libya remains unconfirmed by AFP – Washington Times
2012/09/13 – Staff and crew of film that ridiculed Muslims say they were ‘grossly misled’ - CNN
2012/09/13 – California men confirm role in anti-Islam film - Orange County Register
2012/09/13 – Drones expected to hunt for suspects in Libya attack - CNN
2012/09/13 – Former Navy SEAL identified as embassy attack victim - Fox News
2012/09/13 – Benghazi doctor: Stevens showed no signs of life when he arrived in emergency room - McClatchy/Anchorage Daily News
2012/09/13 – Obama: Egypt not an ally or enemy - AP/Detroit Free Press
2012/09/13 – Libya makes ‘arrests’ for deadly attack on US mission - Hindustan Times
2012/09/13 – Pro-al Qaeda group seen behind deadly Benghazi attack - CNN
2012/09/13 – Another protest turns violent outside U.S. Embassy in Cairo – CNN
2012/09/12 – Libyan Security Showed Radicals Where to Attack Ambassador (Warning: Graphic Photo) – Breitbart’s Big Government
2012/09/12 – Senator: Attacks ‘have the markings’ of al Qaeda revenge - Washington Times
2012/09/12 – US consulate attack in Libya: the warning signs were there in Benghazi - UK Telegraph
2012/09/12 – Six things to know about attack that killed Ambassador Stevens - CNN
2012/09/12 – Slain ambassador warned in ’08 about extremists near Benghazi – CNN
2012/09/12 – Top US military officer calls pastor over film - Reuters
2012/09/12 – Egypt to take legal action in US against Prophet film makers - YNet News
2012/09/11 – Al Qaeda confirms death of bin Laden confidant Libi - NDTV
2012/09/10 – Jihadis Threaten to Burn U.S. Embassy in Cairo - PJ Media
2012/06/07 – U.S. mission in Benghazi attacked to avenge al Qaeda - CNN
2012/06/07 – Libyan official: U.S. drones seeking jihadists in Libya - CNN
2012/05/15 – Concern grows over jihadist numbers in eastern Libya - CNN
2011/03/23 – Libyan civil war: An opening for al Qaeda and jihad? – CNN

ObamaCare Now Allows Free Sterilizations For Women Under 18 Without Parent Consent

Obamacare Mandate: Sterilize 15-Year-Old Girls for Free–Without Parental Consent

Thanks to an Obamacare regulation that took effect on Aug. 1, health care plans in Oregon will now be required to provide free sterilizations to 15- year-old girls even if the parents of those girls do not consent to the procedure.

…
When the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act–a.k.a. Obamacare–was enacted in March 2010 it included (in Section 2713) a non-specific requirement that health care plans must provide “additional preventive services” to women. These unspecified “additional preventive services,” the law said, were to be “provided for in comprehensive guidelines supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration,” a division of the Department of Health and Human Services.

In developing the regulation to define these “additional preventive services,” HHS commissioned a federally funded committee at the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to recommend what they should to be.

Much of PPACA works this way. The bill is vague where the specifics can be determined later upon the discretion of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. So she took the recommendation of the Institute of Medicine. Their report is here.

Clinical Preventive Services for Women: Closing the Gaps

They recommended…

In July 2011, this committee issued a report that said: “The committee recommends for consideration as a preventive service for women: the full range of Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling for women with reproductive capacity.”

So sterilization is now available for free for anyone who can reproduce – at any age – without parental consent if you’re under 18, or 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, or 12 – when the menstral cycle begins.

It’s just getting started.

Deaf Preschooler Asked To Change His Sign Name Because the Hand Motion Mimicked Shooting Gun

Family: School Made Deaf Child Change Sign Name, Said It Looked Like Gun

A Nebraska school district asked a deaf preschooler to change his sign language name because they believe the hand motion he used looked like he was shooting a gun.

The family of 3-year-old Hunter Spanjer said that their deaf son’s sign gesture violates the Grand Island Public Schools weapons policy.

“He’s deaf, and his name sign, they say, is a violation of their weapons policy,” Brian Spanjer, Hunter’s father, told Nebraska based news channel KOLN.

What’s wrong with these people? Really – what’s behind the thinking that thinks this kid is making a threatening gesture?

UPDATE: The issue has been resloved.

School District Says Deaf Student Not Required to Change Name

Egypt Takeover in Context

These articles chronicle the takover of Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood.

2012/08/27 – New Egypt leader steps out on world stage seeking “balance” [Rueters/Orlando Sentinel]
2012/08/19 – Who Lost Egypt? [Real Clear Politics]
2011/03/12 – Obama administration approved $40billion in private arms sales to countries including Libya and Egypt [UK Daily Mail]
2011/02/10 – Striking Egyptian Workers Fuel the Uprising After 10 Years of Labor Organizing [Democracy Now]
2011/02/10 – Workers boost Egypt protests [AlJazeera]
2011/02/07 – ‘US sends warships, troops to Egypt’ [Press TV]
2011/01/28 – Egyptian Police Using U.S.-Made Tear Gas Against Demonstrators [ABC News]
2010/01/06 – Egypt, Arab Countries Sign Massive Arms Deals With U.S. [Israel National News]

Over 2,200 Hospitals Could Be Penalized in October from ObamaCare Rules

More than 2,200 hospitals face penalties under ObamaCare rules

A provision of ObamaCare is set to punish roughly two-thirds of U.S. hospitals evaluated by Medicare starting this fall over high readmission rates, according to an analysis by Kaiser Health News.

Starting in October, Medicare will reduce reimbursements to hospitals with high 30-day readmission rates — which refers to patients who return within a month — by as much as 1 percent. The maximum penalty increases to 2 percent the following year and 3 percent in 2014.

Doctors are concerned the penalty is unfair, since sometimes they have to accept patients more than once in a brief period of time but could be penalized for doing so — even for accepting seniors who are sick.

“Among patients with heart failure, hospitals that have higher readmission rates actually have lower mortality rates,” said Sunil Kripalani, MD, a professor with Vanderbilt University Medical Center who studies hospital readmissions. “So, which would we rather have — a hospital readmission or a death?”

Good question? Right after the question, there’s this.

But according to federal government figures, nearly one in five Medicare patients is readmitted to a hospital within 30 days of release, costing taxpayers an estimated $17.5 billion.

“Readmissions has been a low-hanging fruit for Medicare,” said Jordan Rau, a staff writer with KHN, an editorially independent program of the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation. “They’ve been very unhappy that about 2 million Medicare beneficiaries are being readmitted every year between 30 days of discharge.”

Medicare evaluated readmission rates at 3,367 of the nation’s hospitals and will impose penalties on 2,211 starting in October, according to KHN.

What’s the priority here? If you want care for every single citizen, then don’t penalize hospitals for repeat visits. Now if costs becomes priority #1, then you appear to be OK with dying patients for the sake of the dollar.

What’s interesting is that this was the basis for the ObamaCare argument to begin with – people who are uninsured who are dying without sufficient care. So now the insurance barrier is removed and now the government starts penalizing the care providers. So you are taking money out of the hospitals ability to care for the patients.

Government needs to be removed from the revenue stream of the health care industry.

Fast and Furious Official Gets Paid Leave and 6 Figure Job at JP Morgan

‘Fast and Furious’ ATF Official Granted Paid Leave to Take 6-Figure Job at JP Morgan

The long-awaited inspector general’s report on the Justice Department’s botched gun-running scheme is finished, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said on Wednesday.

But along with that news comes more questions: Issa and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) are demanding to know why a top ATF official involved in Operation Fast and Furious remains on paid leave from ATF — while simultaneously drawing a six-figure salary from J.P. Morgan, a major investment bank.

…
“Under any reading of the relevant personnel regulations, it appears that ATF management was under no obligation to approve this sort of arrangement,” wrote Issa and Grassley. “Given McMahon’s outsized role in the Fast and Furious scandal, the decision to approve an extended annual leave arrangement in order to attain pension eligibility and facilitate full-time, outside employment while still collecting a full-time salary at ATF raises a host of questions about both the propriety of the arrangement and the judgment of ATF management.”

…
According to the final congressional report on Fast and Furious, William McMahon was a supervisor at ATF headquarters who served as a “crucial link” between ATF headquarters and the Phoenix Field Division.

“He received a wealth of information about Fast and Furious” — including the fact that straw purchasers had bought over 900 firearms, many of which ended up in Mexico — “but did not view it as his role as supervisor to ask questions about events in the field. He has publicly admitted to having failed in his duty to read information presented to him about the case.”

The report says McMahon rubber stamped critical documents that came across his desk without reading them.

McMahon also “gave false testimony to Congress about signing applications for wiretap intercepts in Fast and Furious,” the report says.