Moron "Crazies"

I have already linked to and posted about Obama feeling 'feisty,' ready to take on the 'crazies'.

But wait there's more:

The president also questioned the ideological consistency of those who champion free-market solutions — except when the free market is pointing to the wisdom of renewable energy. He singled out billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, who are major donors to Republican political candidates.

"It's one thing if you're consistent in being free market," Obama said. "It's another thing when you're free market until it's solar that's working and people want to buy, and suddenly you're not for it anymore. That's a problem."

In a statement, Koch Industries' Philip Ellender said the company "supports all forms of energy, but we believe they need to stand on their own merits. Koch has consistently lobbied for the repeal of taxpayer-funded subsidies and mandates. Even though they may benefit us in the short-term, we will continue to fight these market-distorting policies and special deals, and we will continue to call them what they are — corporate welfare."

Obama said the economics are now such that "solar isn't just for the green crowd any more, it's" for the green-eyeshade crowd too."

I very much dislike it when someone co-opts a word or phrase and uses it in a deceitful way. Somehow the word or phrase that is used to critique someone is turned around and used to critique the critic. Here we have Koch Industries using the phrase corporate welfare, which is usually used to critique large corporations, being co-opted in a truly bizarre way. I'll concede that Elon Musk and General Electric don't need corporate welfare. However, much of the "taxpayer-funded subsidies and mandates" go to smaller companies, some of which are not profitable. I'm not sure if the Kochs think that tax rebates and credits are corporate welfare. These rebates and credits go to individual homeowners as well as small businesses. People who support solar are trying to help save Mother Earth, unlike the Kochs who are part of the industries trying to destroy her.

I want to reiterate something I said in an earlier post: "Jimmy Carter was a futuristic visionary. That is my opinion of him." Only two presidents have had solar installed at the White House, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama. Reagan took down what Carter had installed, and Bush The First, Clinton The First, and Bush The Second didn't seem to care at all.

You may ask yourself "Where Did the Carter White House's Solar Panels Go?"

To be fair to George W. Bush I will include this:

Already, certain buildings on the grounds of the federal landmark employ solar power, courtesy of the National Park Service and President George W. Bush.

And to complain more about the Koch Brothers I will include this:

Yet, the U.S. invests only $5 billion yearly on energy research and development at present—roughly one seventh what China spent last year—and private industry has never filled the gap.

That's from five years ago, things have probably changed.