The Glade 4.0

Umm, what public act of Congress doesn't have "political grandstanding written all over it"?

Their testimony won't be needed. Apparently there is no shortage of maltreated former employees who are lining up to whistleblow and offer testimony.

I thought dickswallower in chief made whistleblowing illegal unless it was his whistle the public was blowing.

Facism is not a school of thought, it is a racial slur.

Makes sense. This thing has political grandstanding written all over it. Senators and Representatives using their subpoena power and "contempt of Congress" clubs to drag people before Congress and use them as props for the latest dog-and-pony show has always been a pet peeve of mine. You think there was a crime? Fine, let the Justice Department file charges. You want to shine a light on something you think is shameful but not illegal? Fine, get up on your soapbox. Just don't mix the two and use quasi-judicial powers to compel private citizens to come listen to you harangue them.

Nope - if you're issued a subpoena by a Congressional committee, you have to show up and sit there while they shout at you. You also have to answer their questions and produce documents unless you invoke something like the 5th Amendment, attorney-client privilege, etc. That's why I find it so offensive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contempt_of_Congress

Nope - if you're issued a subpoena by a Congressional committee, you have to show up and sit there while they shout at you. You also have to answer their questions and produce documents unless you invoke something like the 5th Amendment, attorney-client privilege, etc. That's why I find it so offensive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contempt_of_Congress

I wonder what the exact penalty would be for answering their questions with "my balls your chin".

Having to do just that with Maxine Waters.

Having to do just that with Maxine Waters.

As long as you yell "THIS IS SPARTA!" when you do it, I hear she's down.

Well we know her stance on waterboarding. Wonder what it is on roman-helmeting?

You of all people really should leave the Romans out of it.

You of all people really should leave the Romans out of it.

What McConnell neglected to mention is that Solyndra was cleared to participate in this loan-guarantee program by President George W. Bush’s administration. He also did not mention that the legislation creating the loan-guarantee program, approved by the Republican-controlled Congress in 2005, received yes votes from — wait for it — DeMint, Hatch and McConnell.

This doesn’t mean that Bush is to blame for Solyndra or that the Obama administration should be absolved. Obama, whose administration gave the company the loan guarantee, deserves the black eye that Republicans have given him over the half a billion dollars squandered on the company. But the Republican paternity of the program that birthed Solyndra suggests some skepticism is in order when many of those same Republicans use Solyndra as an example of all that is wrong with Obama’s governance.

“Loan guarantees aim to stimulate investment and commercialization of clean energy technologies to reduce our nation’s reliance on foreign sources of energy,” Bush’s energy secretary, Sam Bodman, announced in a press release on Oct. 4, 2007. The release said the Energy Department had received 143 pre-applications for the guarantees and narrowed the list down to 16 finalists — including Solyndra. Bodman said the action put “Americans one step closer to being able to use new and novel sources of energy on a mass scale to reduce emissions and allow for vigorous economic growth and increased energy security.”

Bush’s Energy Department apparently adjusted its regulations to make sure that Solyndra would be eligible for the guarantees. It hadn’t originally contemplated including the photovoltaic-panel manufacturing that Solyndra did but changed the regulation before it was finalized. The only project that benefited was Solyndra’s.

I read it, and while there is truth to the basic facts, but the author is just trying to a play a blame Bush game. 2 years passed from the time of the program until Obama took over, and during that time, the Bush administration did not award the company the loan, and based upon the exchanges between the C board and the administration at the time, it didn't appear it was going to happen. Different agencies tasked with reviewing the loans kept putting up flags and delaying the award of funds. The C board was getting more desperate as the change in administration was looming after the election, thinking it would cause them further problems.

So, yes, Bush created the agency and the loan program and had considered this company for the loans initially, but it is purely on Obama to push through the loan program despite his own administration's warnings about the company and made a political spectacle out of the loans.