Tag-Archive for » CALIFORNIA «
The FBI conducted a dramatic raid today on a California solar company, Solyndra, that received a loan of $527 million from the Federal Financing Bank (FFB), a subsidiary of the U.S. Treasury. The FBI raid followed the filing of Solyndra’s bankruptcy yesterday
There are numerous parts of this story that don’t fit together well and suggest favoritism and political influence. Two executive branch agencies and a congressional committee are looking into the activities of the firm and their connection to the White House. The FBI raid was jointly conducted by the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General and the FBI. The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s investigative panel will hold a hearing on September 14.
Like many political scandals this one involves influence and money. There is a lot to sort out here.
The first question for investigators and Congress is why Solyndra received a $537 million loan from the U.S. Treasury. Were those responsible in the DOE aware that Solyndra couldn’t find private-sector financing? The FFB is a government corporation, created by Congress in 1973 under the general supervision of the Secretary of the Treasury. It can fund loans that are guaranteed by agencies of the U.S. government. As of 2010 it had made loans on behalf of the DOE for $2.9 billion. Solyndra made up about 20% of that amount. Prior to the Treasury’s loan, the firm had done nine rounds of private financing and filed for an IPO which was subsequently withdrawn.
Two of Solyndra’s largest investors are Argonaut Ventures I, L.L.C. and the GKFF Investment Company, LLC. Both firms are represented on the Solyndra board of directors by Steven R. Mitchell (see Solyndra S-1 page 119). Both are investment vehicles of the George Kaiser Family Foundation of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
George Kaiser was a bundler for President Barack Obama in 2008 election. The Daily Caller has done an excellent job of establishing that Mr. Kaiser visited the White House 16 of the 20 times that Solyndra investors or management visited there. From the Daily Caller (emphasis mine):
According to White House visitor logs, between March 12, 2009, and April 14, 2011, Solyndra officials and investors made no fewer than 20 trips to the West Wing. In the week before the administration awarded Solyndra with the first-ever alternative energy loan guarantee on March 20, four separate visits were logged.
George Kaiser, who has in the past been labeled a major Solyndra investor as well as a Obama donor, made three visits to the White House on March 12, 2009, and one on March 13. Kaiser has denied any direct involvement in the Solyndra deal and through a statement from his foundation said he “did not participate in any discussions with the U.S. government regarding the loan.”
George Kaiser alleges that he didn’t discuss Solyndra with any White House officials but his investment vehicles were very hot for Solyndra. I went back into Solyndra’s IPO filing and totaled up the amount of funding Kaiser’s investment businesses gave Solyndra. Over 9 rounds of financing it invested approximately $337 million, or 48% of all equity raised for the business. Although Kaiser, through Argonaut and GKFF Investment Company, LLC, did not participate in the initial two private financing rounds, they dominated the following funding rounds and were the major venture capital investors in the firm.
Which brings us to the bankruptcy Solyndra filed yesterday in Delaware federal bankruptcy court. Like many bankruptcies there are a lot of creditors in line to be repaid by disposing of Solyndra’s assets. What is unusual is the order of precedence of creditors. When the Solyndra loan was guaranteed by the Department of Energy and paid out by the U.S. Treasury according to US law 10 C.F.R. §609.10(d)(13), the government should have become first in line for repayment (page 2):
Any Guaranteed Obligation may not be subordinate to any other debt and must have a first lien position on all assets of the project and all additional collateral pledged as security for any project debt.
But when I read the bankrutpcy filing it turns out George Kaiser’s investment firm is actually first in line, ahead of the U.S. government, for $69 million. Here is the ordering:
Tranche A: $69,302,901 – Argonaut Ventures I, L.L.C
Tranche B/D Term Loan Facility: $527,808,544 – U.S. Department of Energy
Tranche E Credit Documents: $186,481,645 – Argonaut Ventures I, L.L.C.
The financing documents were rewritten in February 2011 and gave priority to Argonaut for Tranche A. Several commentators have raised the question of why the Department of Energy would have allowed the government to become subordinate to Argonaut given the law.
It turns out that Argonaut was a person who participated in the California Gold Rush. George Kaiser seems to be a man who has participated in many gold rushes and was making a very large bet on solar energy through Solyndra. There are a lot of loose threads here that need to be tied together. Taxpayers money must be recovered first. I hope everything was on the up-and-up and Solyndra was funded entirely on its potential merits rather than political influence. Alleged political favoritism will kill public enthusiasm for reorienting policy towards renewable energy. Solyndra seems to be a tale of dirty solar. Hopefully it won’t block out the sun.
Picture this…you’re waiting for the bus and it’s right across from a bridge. You see this guy walk up to the edge and it looks like he’s there to kill himself. He swan dives over the side and you pick up your cell to alert police. The police arrive on the scene and you immediately feel a sense of relief come over you…until…you hear the police say to paramedics, “I would go out there and try to help my man out, but now with the city’s budget cuts, we don’t have the proper training or equipment that it takes to get him out.”
That’s right! They watched as a man walked right out into San Francisco Bay up to his neck. The man drifted out until his body was visibly floating on the water. And all because of protocol and budget cuts, the suicidal man was able to carry out his wishes. Imagine the witnesses and/or innocent bystanders who watched police watch the man kill himself. Just reporting the story makes me feel vulnerable and brings an ominous feeling of dread, knowing that there is more to come in the future. If it’s not budget cuts preventing civil servants from receiving the proper training they need to do their job or have the equipment they need to perform, it will be lack of people to do the job. However it goes, we will suffer.
Whoever thought we’d be discussing the budget preventing police from coming to our rescue. Race takes a backseat in our dilemma now. Now your city may not have the money to protect and serve. Ain’t that a blip! Check out the report.
SIDEBAR: This is a sad commentary on being a human being……….
After 25 years, it’s splitsville for Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver. The couple has four children. It was Maria who moved out. Schwarzenegger just left his post as the governor of California, and he wants his wife back. Shriver has wanted out of the marriage for a while, but she had to deal with a number of personal crises, including the death of her parents. Shriver has complained to friends that she felt underappreciated in the marriage and that Schwarzenegger has been ignoring her for years. She long dealt with rumored cheating and his out of control ego. The emotional toll with his erratic behavior became too much and she opted to leave.
Your local weed dealers may be experiencing a drought. Law enforcement at the California/Mexico border uncovered nearly 30 tons of marijuana being run through a tunnel. The tunnel that looked like a mining company had set up shop. The tunnel was complete with “a rail system, lighting and ventilation”, according to CNN. There’s only one entity behind such an advanced drug trafficking apparatus that has gone UNSEEN right at the border between Mexico and America…we’re not going to say it. But a hint was given to CNN by Immigration and Customs Enforcement director John Morton: “Obviously this is a cartel and organized drug smuggling of the highest order.”
Definitely, Mr. Morton! A “cartel” of the “highest order” is in full effect when you can run a tunnel like this into the U.S….sight unseen. But, this tunnel is not any old tunnel. The tunnel spans 600 yards and stretches from one warehouse in Tijuana to one in San Diego. How is it possible that this immense operation was running right under our noses? And this is nothing in comparison to what Mexican authorities seized in Tijuana last month. La Policia nabbed 105 tons in Tijuana
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A federal appeals court ruled Monday that California’s ban on gay marriage will remain in place indefinitely as judges consider whether it is constitutional.
The decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturns the order of judge Vaughn Walker last week that would have permitted same-sex couples to marry as soon as this week.
The three-judge panel that issued the decision said the 9th Circuit will expedite the challenge to California’s voter-aproved ban on gay marriage, though the case will not be heard in court until December.
Earlier in the month, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that the ban, known as Proposition 8, amounts to unconstitutional discrimination. Just last week, Walker ordered it to be lifted on Wednesday, Aug. 18.
Opponents of same-sex unions responded harshly to Walker’s decision, saying it reflected his judicial activism.
“When a lower judge makes an unprecedented ruling that totally overturns existing Supreme Court precedent, the normal thing for that judge to do is to stay his decision, and let the higher courts decide, in an orderly fashion that respects the rule of law, if he’s right or if he’s way off-base,” said Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage.
The appeals court decision is a further setback for gay rights advocates, many of whom were planning wedding ceremonies for 5 o’clock on Wednesday, when same-sex marriages would have resumed for the first time since November 2008, when voters approved Proposition 8.
So if you didn’t catch the late night news yesterday and didn’t hear the clamor in California, you may have not realized what happened. Basically, gay marriage is legal again in the state.
After a long hard battle against conservative Christians and pro-family folks, the gays finally made progress in the fight for same-sex marriage.
Last election season (Nov. 08) was a trying time for religious folks and the homosexual community as the right or privilege in some eyes to marry the same-sex was on the chopping block.
After Californians passed Prop 8, which banned same sex marriage, folks weren’t playing when they said, “This isn’t over.”
Promptly in January of this year, two unlikely lawyers joined forces and got what they wanted at the end of the day… a overriding judgment.
So what now? Is the city going to burn down? Are gays going to rush to the altar? Are Christians going to burn their crosses and picket in San Francisco?
Sunday, August 1 a solar flares storm began and triggered a coronal mass ejection, and it is expected to hit the earth Tuesday and Wednesday night, August 3 and 4, 2010 and light up the northern skies. Northern states (Oregon, Montana, North Dakota, etc.) in the US should be able to see the lights in the sky weather permitting. A solar flare is large explosion in the sun’s atmosphere that releases energy.
NASA describes a solar flare as:
A flare is defined as a sudden, rapid, and intense variation in brightness. A solar flare occurs when magnetic energy that has built up in the solar atmosphere is suddenly released. Radiation is emitted across virtually the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves at the long wavelength end, through optical emission to x-rays and gamma rays at the short wavelength end. The amount of energy released is the equivalent of millions of 100-megaton hydrogen bombs exploding at the same time! The first solar flare recorded in astronomical literature was on September 1, 1859. Two scientists, Richard C. Carrington and Richard Hodgson, were independently observing sunspots at the time, when they viewed a large flare in white light.
Check this out. If California’s Proposition 19, the ballot initiative to legalize marijuana passes it would cause the price of primo pot to plunge to $38 an ounce, the Rand Corp. estimates.
Users might also enjoy the irony that they could end up paying the government more for their weed than they pay to growers; taxes as high as $50 an ounce have been discussed as one of the drivers for legalization. That would put the grand total in the neighborhood of $88 an ounce, an 80% drop from a current high of about $450, notes the Los Angeles Times.
The Rand report couldn’t estimate the tax benefits however, but it noted legalization in California would cause the price of pot to drop across the nation, stimulate “marijuana tourism” in Cali, and disrupt smuggling from Mexico.
Here’s something for all you folks that like to test the law… You have been warned…lol
Heads up….California needs money, so pay close attention to the rules of the road!
Someone shared this with me and I thought I’d pass it along to as many people as possible. Please see the chart below.
Traffic Tickets Fines (01/06/2010)
Violation
Total Fine Due
VC 12814.6
$214
Failure to obey license provisions.
VC 14600(A)
$214
Failure to notify DMV of address change within 10 days
Note: The fine may be reduced with valid proof of correction.
VC 16028(A)
$796
Failure to provide evidence of financial responsibility (insurance)
Note: This fine may be reduced with proof of insurance on or after the violation date.
VC 21453(A)
$436
Failure to stop at a red signal.
VC 22350
214
VC 22349
Unsafe Speed, 1 to 15 miles over the limit.
VC 22350
328
VC 22349
Unsafe Speed, 16 to 25 miles over the limit.
VC 22450
214
Failure to stop at a stop sign.
VC 22454(A)
616
Passing a school bus with flashing red signals.
VC 23123(A)
148
Drive using wireless phone not hands free, First offense
VC 23123(A)
256
Drive using wireless phone not hands free, For each subsequent offense.
VC 23123.5(A)
148
Drive while wireless device to send, read or write text.
VC 23124(B)
148
Minor drive using wireless phone.
VC 22500(I)
976
Parking in a bus loading area.
VC 22507.8(A through C)
976
Violation of disabled parking provisions, first offense.
VC 22507.8(A through C)
1876
Violation of disabled parking provisions, second offense.
VC 26708(A)
178
Unlawful material on vehicle windows.
VC 27150(A and B)
178
Adequate muffler required
VC 27315(D and E)
148
Mandatory use of seat belts.
VC 27360(A and B)
436
Mandatory use of child passenger restraints
Note: This fine may be reduced by completing a court authorized child seat diversion program.
VC 27400
178
Headsets/Earplugs over both ears.
VC 27803 (A through C)
178
Motorcycle safety helmet requirements..
VC 34506.3
616
Commercial Driver – Log book violation
VC 4000(A)
256
No evidence of current registration.
Note: The fine may be reduced with valid proof of correction.
VC 4159
178
Notify DMV of change of address within 10 days.
Note: The fine may be reduced with valid proof of correction.
VC 5200
178
Display of license plates.
Note: The fine may be reduced with valid proof of correction.
VC 9400 (A through C)
178
Commercial weight fees due.
Note: The fine may be reduced with valid proof of correction.
Injured: A California jury awarded a former U.S. sailor $7.5 million after a motorcycle crash fractured his pubic ramus bone resulting in his penis shortened after surgery by an inch and a half.
A former sailor has been awarded over $7.5 million in damages over a car crash in California that shortened his penis by an inch and a half.
Newlywed Matthew Wall suffered crush injuries and nerve damage to his manhood after a 2007 accident in San Diego.
The 27-year-old underwent reconstructive surgery that left his penis an inch and half shorter than before the accident
A jury in El Cajon, California, awarded him $7,553,000 in damages as compensation for pain, suffering, medical bills and loss of income.
Mr Wall was riding his motorcycle to work at the US Navy submarine base in San Diego when he was struck by a shuttle bus from a nearby car showroom
The jury heard that the van turned left in front of Mr Wall who was unable to avoid the collision.
He was thrown off his motorcycle and suffered a fracture of his pubic ramus bone and a crushing injury to his penis and damage to the nerve and arteries of the penis.
Mr Wall’s lawyer Nicholas Rowley said the van’s driver, Pedro Flores Miramontes, was a non-U.S. citizen who had an expired driver’s license and had never been trained as a shuttle driver.
Mr Wall is no longer in the Navy and lives in South Carolina, said Mr Rowley.
He had recently married at the time of the crash but the couple has since divorced.
Mr Rowley said it was uncertain if Mr Wall would be able to have children because of the injury.
‘It’s going to affect his relationships and his self-esteem in the future,’ Mr Rowley told the San Diego Union Tribune.
A spokesman with the defending automotive group says they plan to appeal the verdict.