Thursday, June 2, 2011

Green Weenie Alert--Obama's At It Again

Once again, Barack Obama has tapped an "experienced business executive" for an important post. This is part of his plan to court business by appointing "one of their own." Much like the appointment of General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt as jobs and competitiveness czar, this is another stealth eco-extremist and self-serving superbureaucrat. The nominee for cabinet-level Secretary of Commerce is John Bryson, former CEO of Edison International.

Immelt and Bryson could be quite the gruesome twosome in D.C. Immelt runs a corporation which in the past was quintessentially American--General Electric. After taking the reins at GE, Immelt managed to farm out large portions of GE's workforce to China while getting huge federal subsidies for "green energy production" manufacturing products like the mercury-laced compact fluorescent lightbulb. As a result, in 2010 GE used creative accounting, made billions in profits, and paid zero tax. Immelt carefully studied Spain's experience with green energy production, and found that for four jobs created by the green initiatives, nine were lost. As jobs czar he is working hard to make sure that the four created are in China while the nine lost are in America.

Bryson knows how to play the game almost as well as Immelt. Edison Electric is indeed an energy consortium, but one which is designed to follow the green weenie agenda by using government subsidies and foreign labor to create "clean" energy. Bryson is an opponent of the use of fossil fuels, and demagogues the oil companies' profits (you know, those things that the oil companies pay huge taxes on). Oh, and did I neglect to mention that Bryson is also a huge fan of cap and trade? In fact, he believes in it so much that he has plans to implement it by use of administrative regulation, thereby bypassing Congress which has thus far refused to buy into the cap 'n tax scheme.

The Commerce Department is about as useless as the Labor Department, which it theoretically offsets. In fact, both departments have the ability to inflict serious damage on an already sputtering economy. The Obama administration wants to control every facet of American lives, while having as much understanding of free market economics as a three year old child has of quantum physics. Bryson is definitely their man, since he knows how to manipulate and jury rig figures to make it look like a company is making profits when it is actually taking in more money from the government than it spends in production. That is not "profit" by any definition known to genuine businessmen.

Bryson first made his name known to the powers-that-be as the co-founder of the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). That organization is one of the pie-in-the-sky green organizations which pretend to have a viable plan to eliminate fossil fuel needs a week from next Friday. NRDC is a pretention on top of a pretense. In addition to its utopian ideas of immediate creation of viable alternative energy sources without any need for a transitional period, it does so in the name of national defense. Well, if you're going to lie, you might as well lie big.

Bryson said that carbon taxes – whether open or hidden in a cap and trade regime – were still not the best way to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gasses. The best way, he said, was a robust system of regulations that penalized energy producers for producing more energy than the government deemed necessary. So much for democracy and the free market--bring on the elitist bureaucracy.

Obama pulled Bryson out of his bag of tricks to replace Gary Locke, whom he has nominated as ambassador to China. In a fun twist of fate, Locke will replace John Huntsman, who is currently being touted by certain factions as a potential Republican candidate to replace Obama.

California Republican Congressman Darryl Issa said of the nomination: "With gas prices at nearly $4.00 per gallon (I'm paying $4.39 for regular), it's certainly eye-catching that President Obama has nominated a founder of an organization that opposes efforts to increase domestic oil production to serve as the nation's key advocate for our economic interests. The nomination of John Bryson to lead the Department of Commerce seems deeply out of touch with our current energy challenge." I had never noticed before that Rep. Issa is a master of understatement.

Current NRDC president Frances Beinecke praised Bryson's expertise on energy issues. "As one of the founders of NRDC, John Bryson is a visionary leader in promoting a clean environment and a strong economy." Only an Obamist who believes that government creates wealth by throwing taxpayer money at wild schemes while taking money away from profitable traditional energy companies would accept that statement on its face.

At Commerce, Bryson could join hands with NLRB socialists who filed complaints for unfair labor practices against the Boeing Corporation for daring to open a new plant in a right-to-work state. And guess who sits on the board of Boeing. Yep, John Bryson. But we all know that a foolish consistency (or incompetence) is the hobgoblin of little minds. At Commerce, Bryson wouldn't even have to pretend to care about profits and jobs. In no time at all, he will have thrown gazillions of dollars at Boeing (or whoever will grease his green palm) to develop a solar-powered jumbo jet. Of course, he and his fellow Obamists will continue in the interim to fly private or government fuel-guzzling jet planes for their trips around America and the world to tell other people how they should not be using fossil fuels.

This is akin to putting the fox in charge of the hen house. Fortunately, this is a cabinet position, requiring Senate confirmation. Senate Republicans have already indicated in a formal letter to the President that they have the signatures of forty-four Republicans committed to opposing this nomination. Only forty-one votes would be needed to put the nomination on hold. The Republicans made that move before they even knew that Bryson was the nominee. They determined that the position should remain open until Obama agrees to finalize the long-pending trade deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama. The nomination of a green weenie only firmed up their resolve.

Senate Republicans and moderate Democrats also want to make any Commerce Secretary confirmation contingent on the additional creation of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program which would provide transitional health care and economic assistance to workers who lose their jobs as a direct result of the trade agreements. Obama has expressed a willingness to sign the trade and trade assistance bills, but Republicans have strongly indicated that this would put the horse before the cart, and give Obama plenty of wiggle-room to renege after the confirmation.

For now, it appears that without cooperation from the White House on long awaited trade deals, this nomination will be stymied. But remember this. Obama has become the maestro at recess appointments. That almost always means the rejected nominee will serve in the post until the expiration of the Congressional year. A clever and forceful recess appointee can do a great deal of damage in that period of time.

23 comments:

AndrewPrice said...

Good cereal, bad President.

So Bryson runs a company that survives on government subsidies. Imagine that. I hope people start to realize that being a businessman does not make someone a conservative. So many of these big-business guys are little more than big-government socialists, and I would LOVE to cut off subsidies to these businesses. Let's see them compete in an actual free market instead of a rigged game with taxpayer funding.

By the way, on the lightbulb, I understand that they can't currently make 100 watt lightbulbs that will work under the new guidelines. So suddenly, if you like bright light in your house, you're about to find out that you can't have it. People are stocking up locally and they're getting very hard to find.

Euripides said...

What's next? George Soros as head of the FCC? Lindsey Lohan as head of the Justice Department? Martha Stewart in charge of the SEC?

Obama must not be allowed to have an additional four years to place his cronies and ideologues into power.

Unknown said...

Andrew: I also understand that the 100 W bulbs would have cost about $65 each. But the purchase price includes one visit from the Hazmat team in case you break one. LOL

Ya know, I think the Republicans are missing a real bet by not pointing out emphatically that the "social welfare/do-gooder" organizations and huge corporations support the Democrats almost to a man. "Business" (small business, medium to large partnerships and sole proprietorships and medium-sized corporations) supports conservatives and Republicans. Republicans are the party of business and Main Street. Democrats are the party of government dependents, including most of the major corporations and Wall Street. The symbiotic partnership of the ultra-rich and the permanent poor that comprises the Democratic Party is both incomprehensible and dangerous. Caesar loved the poor and lowly, too. They made him so much richer.

Unknown said...

Euripedes: For God's sake, don't give him any ideas!

Euripides said...

LawHawkRFD: LOL

On your other comment to Andrew, I'm not convinced the Republican Party is any better than or much different from the Democrats. Sure, the party pays lip service to conservative ideals, but the proof is in the pudding (and the Tea Party holding their feet to the fire).

Tennessee Jed said...

Hawk, I would have been shocked had it been otherwise, but it is because of YOU that I now have the inside dope (pun intended) on him. There are SO many great campaigns ads for the Repubs to run in 2012, it is hard to know where to start. Also, whether unintentional or not, I find the irony in the "green weenie" comment delicious. If you want to truly laugh out loud, check out you cousin Dave Burdge's post at iowahawk on that subject, if you have not already done so. Almost brought tears of laughter to my eyes.

rlaWTX said...

I realize that each Pres hopes to fill the Cabinet with those who support his ideological bent. However, the insidious nature of The One's appointments seem unseemly. I don't think it's that their ideology is vile - I mean different than mine. I think it is also that they are so back-room, backhanded about their processes to implement their ideology (purposefully singular).

OK, maybe it's their vile ideology AND their insidious processes. But, whatever the reason, these guys are just awful! Consistently, painfully, entrenchedly awful.

Euripides said...

rlaWTX: It's the vile ideology all the way for me.

Unknown said...

rlaWTX: I've disagreed many times in the past with Democratic appointments, but Obama's are an entirely different animal. Where the prior Democrats appointed people who held a different view of how to utilize government power from mine, I saw little ill intent. Obama's appointments are consistently far out of the mainstream, and many are actively hostile toward all things American. Even Carter wasn't that bad (although he is now). Previously, the ultimate goal of making America a better and stronger place was a matter of point-of-view and methodology, but all were united in that goal. Obama and his gang have no such goal. Instead, they want America to be just another government-run branch of the happy-happy world government. And if they have to kill the Constitution to save it, so much the better.

Unknown said...

Euripedes: Count me in, I'm with you.

rlaWTX said...

yep, that's it. (anagram VILE: EVIL) ;)

It just seemed that it couldn't be just ideology, because there are lots of wrong (different) opinions out there that don't make my skin crawl. And lots of zealots who try to impose their will. But that combination and the "FAR-left-field"edness of the ideology do appear to make a significant difference in the crawling skin dept.

rlaWTX said...

LawHawk, most sensible/moderate & Hillary in the same sentence is sure to be a sign of the apocalypse!

Unknown said...

rlaWTX: We've pointed out a few times that Obama and his lefties combine ideology with a perverted form of secular religion. They believe because they believe. No amount of facts, evidence and history is going to change their faith in the great goodness of government interference in every facet of our lives. American exceptionalism is merely a stumbling-block on the way to a world utopia. They are vile, evil, and icky. LOL

Unknown said...

Tennessee: These guys had better start working on a few common themes soon. The big business connection is certainly one. The Democrats are vulnerable as hell, but if the Republicans don't start going on the offense instead of playing defense, they will be wondering how they lost what could have been a slam-dunk win.

I'll check out Iowahawk. He is one of the cleverest writers around today.

Unknown said...

Euripedes: I agree, but I do also think that the distinction between the two parties is going to be a lot more apparent this round. The Tea Party has played a major role in eliminating the Will Rogers aphorism "Republicrats," at least for now.

StanH said...

This is typical Barry, we’ll have to put up with this silliness until, 1/13 when the boy wonder exits 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. A great day for America.

Unknown said...

Stan: I am constantly amazed that Obama hasn't learned a single thing from Bill Clinton's presidency and the art of triangulation. If anything, he seems more than ever determined to shove his goofballs down our throats one way or another.

Kosh said...

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..."

Although the Bill of Rights spells out Congress, I believe that interpretation is that it prohibits the federal government from establishing a state religion. Environmentalism is a religion. They have their holy books (silent spring, inconvenient truth), their prophets (Gore), and demand conversion. Since many of their claims are based on shakey science at best why can't I ask the ACLU to sue on our behaf whenever they try to pass one of these Greenie Laws?

I probably know the answer to my own question, that is most of the lawyers in the ACLU are Gorians themselves. Lawhawk, if there were enough people interested in pursuing this approach would a law firm take it?

Unknown said...

Kosh: I like your thinking. As for a law firm that would take up the matter, that's not as clear. There are always lawyers willing to take on something unique and entirely new. But this one would be an uphill fight. We have over two hundred years of precedent determining what constitutes a religion, and it has been determined that a definable "god" or supreme being of some sort, no matter how ill-defined, must be part of it. Though the lefties treat their beliefs as most would treat a religion, nevertheless it is in fact a philosophy more than a religion. There's no easy answer to your question (volumes have been written on the subject), but I'd have to say that overall, it's a losing cause. The left may treat Marx as a prophet, but they would never claim he was divine. That would require them to believe that there is something or someone greater than mere human beings.

When it comes to the civil authorities forcing the secular view of what constitutes a religious union, I do believe that there will be considerable litigation, but freedom from state interference in religious practice is likely to win out. But even that's not a sure thing.

Kosh said...

So if we catch them referring to "Mother Earth" or "Gaia" or pictures of them humping the earth in the nude (see Berkley tree removal demonstrations) we might have something.

Joel Farnham said...

LawHawk,

I am wondering how many of these appointees think they have the job for life?

I also wonder if these appointees think they are exempt from the new regulations?

Unknown said...

Kosh: I like your determination. Unfortunately, I think most of the earth and Gaia-worshippers would be ruled insane rather than religious.

Unknown said...

Joel: I think they do believe they have the jobs for life. It's part of the entitlement mentality they foster on the intelligence-deficient masses.

As for them being exempt, take a look at the number of fans of Obamacare who are now seeking exemptions from and exceptions to the administrative rules (unions and companies like AARP, along with Congress critters). Bureaucrats and social engineers always believe that they are so important that the rules couldn't possibly be applied to them. After all, isn't the king above the law? LOL

Post a Comment