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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The Looting of America - Bend over Please


The looting of America
It is all about how you dress and the friends you keep.  If you wear street clothes, break a window in a riot and steal a TV you go to jail.  But if you wear a business suit and steal $500 million from the taxpayers you will have powerful friends protecting you at every turn.


Corruption in America
A GOP Governor (who endorsed Obama) to get paid $825 an hour to represent Obama's pet solar panel firm that ripped off the taxpayers for over $500 million 


The bi-partisan looting of America goes on in full view of the public.  Everyone is milking the system at every point to fatten their bank accounts.

The Beltway Elite don't give a God Damn if you are watching.  The Elite are in charge.  They will hold a political "show trial" or two to make you think they care, but nothing will change and no one will go to jail.  They have no fear of you.  You are just a puppet that is dancing on their strings.

U.S. taxpayers risk losing more than a half-billion dollars from the collapse of solar-panel maker Solyndra Inc., but former Massachusetts Republican Governor (and Obama supporter) William F. Weld stands to earn a windfall in fees representing the bankrupt company in coming months.

Two weeks after the company was raided by the FBI, Solyndra filed papers asking a bankruptcy judge to allow it to pay $825 per hour to Weld, a former two-term Republican governor of Massachusetts who endorsed Barack Obama for president, and lesser amounts to four others at the McDermott Will & Emery law firm, including a former White House reporter turned adviser specializing in crisis management, reports USA Today.

The company wants to employ the law firm as special counsel during Solyndra’s bankruptcy to help it deal with a host of government investigations, records show. In addition to Mr. Weld, the company wants to pay Stephen M. Ryan, a registered lobbyist, former Senate committee general counsel and head of the firm’s government-affairs practice, $775 per hour.

David Ransom, a regulatory and government affairs lawyer who was communications director to Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, from 2003 to 2006, is slated to earn $525 per hour. Mr. Ransom also is a registered lobbyist, though neither he nor Mr. Ryan has registered to lobby for Solyndra.


Former Republican Massachusetts Gov. William F. Weld (who endorsed Comrade Obama in 2008) will earn $825 an hour as special counsel to Obama's bankrupt pet solar-panel maker Solyndra.

The company also wants to pay $425 per hour to Jon Decker, identified on the firm’s website as a “senior professional adviser,” whose experience includes working as White House reporter for Reuters Television. The firm says with his journalistic experience as a member of the White House press corps, Mr. Decker “focuses on providing clients with strategic advice, particularly in crisis management.”

The law firm earned about $23,000 in fees from Solyndra before the bankruptcy, but any future expenditures now must be cleared by a bankruptcy judge.

Leslie Paige, a spokeswoman for Citizens Against Government Waste, said nobody should go without legal representation, but she questioned the fees at a time when taxpayers stand to lose so much money from the collapse of the solar company.

“Everybody needs to have adequate representation,” she said. “But I think it’s an outrage to pay $825 per hour. That’s all going to come out of the taxpayers’ hide one way or another.”

Pete Sepp, vice president of the National Taxpayers Union, said that while federal loans won’t fund the hiring of Mr. Weld and other lawyers at the firm, the hiring would mean there’s somewhat less money left over from the bankruptcy to pay off creditors.

“Taxpayers are already shelling out directly for the government’s side of the investigation, and by the time it’s all over, who knows what will be left for the Treasury to recover,” he said. “This is why avoiding the mess before it happens is easier than cleaning up after it happens.”


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