Energy… The Costs and Why It Is Going to Go Up and Change Our Lives

An audience of small business owners and energy moguls gather to discuss about their concerns with the administration’s policies toward small business and energy.  A video worth watching because it will affect all of us in a negative way if we and they don’t stand together and stand up!

Video: Energy Concerns and Small Businesses

Video:  It Begins… WOMAN ARRESTED For Protesting Smart Meter Installation

It’s an Obama World…
You will do as you’re told. You will keep your temperature at an Obama-approved level… Despite the double-standard set by our president.

A woman was arrested this past weekend for not allowing officials to install a smart meters in her neighborhood.

SmartMeter.org reported:

An activist protesting against the installation of ‘smart’ meters was arrested today for civil disobedience. Amy O’Hair was arrested at Monterey and Edna in the Sunnyside neighborhood of San Francisco at 9.30 on Saturday 18 June 2011.

She sat on the hood of a smart meter installation truck to prevent installation of smart meters and refused to move. The police were called and arrested her. It was early in the morning, and few people were around, but a bystander waiting at a bus stop gave support. Amy was taken to 425 Seventh Street (Bryant Police station) to be cited.

The Obama EPA-approved smart grid will track CO2 emissions and internet use.

The Smart Meter Rebellion

Closed Chrysler dealers to drive Obama’s eligibility

Seeking damages for lost businesses, will question administration's 'authority'

Two lawyers have joined forces to assemble a case challenging in U.S. bankruptcy court the federal government’s use of Troubled Asset Relief Program funds to bail out Chrysler and in doing so may have created a scenario that finally will bring to a head the issue of Barack Obama’s eligibility to be president.

Does losing your Chrysler Dealership grant you standing to challenge Obama’s Eligibility? We are about to find out.

The attorneys are Leo Donofrio, who has launched cases directly challenging Obama’s eligibility, and Stephen Pidgeon, who also has worked on the issue.

Their new case questions the authority by which the federal government and administration officials intervened in the auto industry, specifically allocating some $8 billion-plus to Chrysler, which later was forgiven.

Pidgeon told WND the clients in the case are former Chrysler dealers who lost their businesses as part of the “restructuring” of the automobile company. They have been damaged with the loss of their businesses, and the case alleges the Obama administration, through its use of TARP money, influenced Chrysler’s outcome.

Donofrio told WND the core issue is the disbursement of TARP funds to the auto maker that were intended to help banks and financial institutions. The previous Treasury secretary had indicated such expenditures were not appropriate, and, in fact, a congressional effort to authorize the expenditures failed, he said.
So, along with a bankruptcy court challenge, a “quo warranto” case is being filed in Washington, D.C., demanding to know by what authority administration officials set up the financial arrangements with Chrysler and handed out taxpayer money.

As part of the demand for information about the authority used, Donofrio confirmed, there will be questions about Obama's eligibility to be president. Donofrio contends that since by Obama's own admission his father never was a U.S. citizen, Obama was born a dual citizen. The framers of the Constitution, he argues, did not consider a dual citizen to be a "natural born citizen" as required for the presidency.

See the movie Obama does not want you to see: Own the DVD that probes this unprecedented presidential eligibility mystery!

The burden, then, would shift to Obama and his administration officials to document their constitutional authority for their decisions and their handling of taxpayer money.

If the president cannot document his eligibility to occupy the Oval Office, his presidential task force had no authority to act at all, the case contends.

Pidgeon told WND the plaintiffs in the case are the former Chrysler dealers, and their interests will be paramount.

The goal is "to get them restored," he said, and "put them back where they were before their contracts were rejected."

"Our clients are not in this action as 'birthers,'" he said, citing a term used for people who question Obama's constitutional eligibility. "Our clients are here to seek redress for wrongs."

But the case may open doors that have been closed in other disputes over Obama's eligibility. Most previous cases, at one point or another, have been dismissed because the plaintiffs do not have "standing" – they have not suffered direct injury for which they have a reasonable expectation of seeking redress.

In the case of the dealers, they have suffered financial loss because of circumstances that developed with the government's intervention in the auto industry.

According to columnist Devvy Kidd, the case is "complicated."

She explained a "quo warranto may be issued from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in the name of the United States against a person who within the District of Columbia usurps, intrudes into, or unlawfully holds or exercises, a franchise conferred by the United States or a public office of the United States, civil or military."

That means quo warranto applies not just to eligibility but to the "exercise" of authority through public office, she said.

She noted the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals already has described as "interesting and unresolved" some of the questions raised in a related case that did not involve the dealers. In that case, once again, the appellants did not have "standing."

"The Chrysler dealers have the requisite injury – loss of their franchises – to meet the standing requirements," she wrote.

The formal paperwork in the filings is expected to be submitted to the courts within days on a motion to reconsider the bankruptcy court's decisions and the quo warranto pertaining to the authority of Obama and his appointees.

WND previously has reported on many cases brought over the issue of Obama's eligibility, including one at the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that alleges Congress failed in its constitutional duties by refusing to investigate the eligibility of Obama to be president.

The case is being handled by attorney Mario Apuzzo for lead plaintiff Charles F. Kerchner Jr. and others against Obama, the U.S., Congress, the Senate, House of Representatives and former Vice President Dick Cheney along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The case focuses on the alleged failure of Congress to follow the Constitution. That document, the lawsuit states, "provides that Congress must fully qualify the candidate 'elected' by the Electoral College Electors."

The case asserts "when Obama was born his father was a British subject/citizen and Obama himself was the same."

The Constitution also provides, the lawsuit says, "If the president-elect shall have failed to qualify, then the vice president elect shall act as president until a president shall have qualified."

The Obama eligibility cases have cited Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution, which states, "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President."

Some of the lawsuits question whether he was actually born in Hawaii, as he insists. If he was born out of the country, Obama's American mother, the suits contend, was too young at the time of his birth to confer American citizenship to her son under the law at the time.

Other challenges have focused on Obama's citizenship through his father, a Kenyan subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time of his birth, thus making him a dual citizen. The cases contend the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born.

Further, others question his citizenship by virtue of his attendance in Indonesian schools during his childhood and question on what passport did he travel to Pakistan three decades ago.

Adding fuel to the fire is Obama's persistent refusal to release documents that could provide answers and the appointment – at a cost confirmed to be at least $1.7 million – of myriad lawyers to defend against all requests for his documentation. While his supporters cite an online version of a "Certification of Live Birth" from Hawaii as his birth verification, critics point out such documents actually were issued for children not born in the state.

The ultimate questions remain unaddressed to date: Is Obama a natural born citizen, and, if so, why hasn't documentation been provided? And, of course, if he is not, what does it mean to the 2008 election or the U.S. Constitution if it is revealed that there has been a violation?

WND also has reported on another case that was dismissed by U.S. District Judge David Carter in California. It also now is heading to the appeals level.

Among documentation not yet available for Obama is his kindergarten records, Punahou school records, Occidental College records, Columbia University records, Columbia thesis, Harvard Law School records, Harvard Law Review articles, scholarly articles from the University of Chicago, passport, medical records, files from his years as an Illinois state senator, his Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records and his adoption records.

Because of the dearth of information about Obama's eligibility, WND founder Joseph Farah has launched a campaign to raise contributions to post billboards asking a simple question: "Where's the birth certificate?"

"Where's The Birth Certificate?" billboard at the Mandalay Bay resort on the Las Vegas Strip

The campaign followed a petition that has collected more than 480,000 signatures demanding proof of his eligibility, the availability of yard signs raising the question and the production of permanent, detachable magnetic bumper stickers asking the question.

The "certification of live birth" posted online and widely touted as "Obama's birth certificate" does not in any way prove he was born in Hawaii, since the same "short-form" document is easily obtainable for children not born in Hawaii. The true "long-form" birth certificate – which includes information such as the name of the birth hospital and attending physician – is the only document that can prove Obama was born in Hawaii, but to date he has not permitted its release for public or press scrutiny.

Oddly, though congressional hearings were held to determine whether Sen. John McCain was constitutionally eligible to be president as a "natural born citizen," no controlling legal authority ever sought to verify Obama's claim to a Hawaiian birth.

Your donation – from as little as $5 to as much as $1,000 – can be made online at the WND SuperStore. (Donations are not tax-deductible. Donations of amounts greater than $1,000 can be arranged by calling either 541-474-1776 or 1-800-4WND.COM. If you would prefer to mail in your contributions, they should be directed to WND, P.O. Box 1627, Medford, Oregon, 97501. Be sure to specify the purpose of the donation by writing "billboard" on the check. In addition, donations of billboard space will be accepted, as will significant contributions specifically targeted for geographic locations.)

If you are a member of the media and would like to interview Joseph Farah about this campaign, e-mail WND.

By Bob Unruh, WN

Chrysler's 'hit list' targets GOP donors

OBAMANOMICS
Chrysler's 'hit list' targets GOP donors:  Dealers who give to Republicans much more likely to be shuttered

Does this both scare and make anyone else’s skin crawl??

As part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Chrysler is terminating one-fourth of its franchises – but some say its catalog of doomed dealerships looks more like a hit list that specifically seeks to put Republican donors out of business.

Chrysler will now be eligible for up to $8 billion in taxpayer-funded federal aid. The federal government has already provided $8.58 billion to Chrysler and Chrysler Holding between the months of January and May of this year. The Treasury also loaned $1.5 billion to the automaker's lending arm in January.

President Obama has said the bankruptcy will give the company "a new lease on life," after his administration spearheaded a plan requiring the company sell to Italian automaker Fiat. Chrysler's stronger operations will be owned by Fiat, labor and the U.S. and Canadian governments. The sale could close as early as this Friday.

Obama said the bankruptcy would be a "quick" and "efficient" step toward Chrysler's "survival."

"The necessary steps have been taken to give one of America's most storied automakers, Chrysler, a new lease on life," Obama said. "This is not a sign of weakness."

But WND reviewed the list of 789 closing franchises and databases of political donors and found that of dealership majority owners making contributions in the November 2008 election, less than 10 percent gifted to Democrats while 90 percent gave substantial sums to Republican candidates.

The listed franchise owners contributed at least $450,000 to Republican presidential candidates and the GOP, while only $7,970 was donated to Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign and $2,200 was given to Sen. John Edwards' campaign.

Obama received a combined total of only $450 in donations – $250 from dealer Jane Baldock in Wenatchee, Wash., and $200 from Waco, Texas, dealer Jeffrey Hunter.

Why does Obama think he's "the One"? Find out by reading the special Whistleblower issue: "Narcissist in chief"!

Many of the majority owners who donated to Republican campaigns last year also contributed additional thousands to George W. Bush's presidential campaign in 2004 and to help elect GOP representatives.

Find out which GOP donors are getting Chrysler's ax. A list is available here.

Rep. Vernon Buchanan, R-Fla.

The first dealership on Chrysler's list of facilities marked for termination by June 9 is located in Venice, Fla., and belongs to Republican Rep. Vernon G. Buchanan.

Buchanan gave $2,300 to John McCain in 2008 and has contributed nearly $150,000 to GOP candidates and organizations since 2007. He discovered that his location was scheduled for closure when he crossed paths with Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich.

According to the Associated Press, Miller told Buchanan, "I heard you're going to lose your Dodge franchise."

"Oh, really?" Buchanan said in a state of surprise.

The dealership's operating partner, Shelby Curtsinger, said he was astonished by Chrysler's decision because the location has been profitable – selling more than twice the stock of an average Chrysler dealership every year.

Houston dealer Robert Archer is one of 330 people contesting Chrysler's decision to close their locations. He donated $1,000 to National Republican Congressional Committee and $500 to Americans for a Republican Majority.

Archer told the New York Times he ordered 700 new vehicles and $1.7 million in new parts after Chrysler told him he could survive unless he stocked more cars. He sacrificed his profits to help the company survive.

Now he is set to lose his franchise.

Other GOP contributors include Michael Maroone, a dealer in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. He gave $20,000 to the Florida Republican Party, $12,700 to the Republican National Committee and $2,300 to presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Likewise, Menomonee Falls, Wis., dealer Russ Darrow and his family gave $19,000 to the Republican National Committee, $6,029 to the Wisconsin Republican Party, $2,300 to John McCain and $1,000 to Rudy Giuliani. Bedford, Texas, dealer Eric Grubbs gifted $11,500 to Mike Huckabee, $4,600 to Rudy Giuliani, $6,500 to Texas Republican Congressional Committee, $1,085 to the RNC and $500 to National Republican Congressional Committee. Midlothian, Va., dealer Max Pearson donated $18,000 to National Republican Senatorial Committee, $6,900 to the RNC, $6,900 to John McCain, $3,600 to Virginia Republican Party and $1,000 to National Republican Congressional Committee.

The list continues with more than 60 political donors who are scheduled to lose their franchises – many of whom gave thousands of dollars to Republican candidates – and only seven dealers who contributed a total of less than $12,000 to the Democratic Party and its candidates.

Blogger Doug Ross reviewed patterns on the closure list and noticed the unmistakable trend.

"I took all dealer owners whose names appeared more than once on the list," he wrote. "And, of those who contributed to political campaigns, every single one had donated almost exclusively to GOP candidates."

With 2,392 Chrysler dealerships remaining, some bloggers claim to have already begun the exhaustive process of checking each majority owner to determine whether Chrysler has been more merciful toward those who donate to Democrats while simultaneously giving walking papers to Republican contributors.

Chrysler has not responded to WND's requests for comment. The company claims it evaluated the dealerships based on raw sales volume, location, market, history of experience and market share. According to the company's bankruptcy court filing, the 789 dealerships listed for closure "lack the operational, market, facility and linemaker characteristics necessary to best contribute to the ongoing dealer network under current or future ownership."

Dealer Jim Anderer told Fox News' Neil Cavuto he doesn't understand why Chrysler is shutting down his Long Island dealership because he claims his dealership is quite profitable – with sales volume ranking in the top 2 percent.

Asked why he believes the company targeted him, Anderer said, "They won't tell us. They seem to be running for cover right now because they won't give us a solid explanation. They come up with all these reasons, but none of them seem to make sense."

He continued, "This is insanity. The government is stealing my business. And they're telling me there's nothing I can do about it."

Anderer said Chrysler claims it wants to combine its stores or that dealers cost the manufacturer money to stay in business.

"In the dealers that they cut, there seems to be no cohesive way that they did it," he said. "There was no process that you could put your finger on and say, 'Hey, we cut 25 percent of the lowest performing dealers.' They didn't do that. Nobody will give us a real clear explanation of the formula that they came up with."

An anonymous employee affected by the dealership closings blogged at Cars.com:

Obama visits Chrysler plant in Michigan one year before bankruptcy (photo: Barack Obama campaign)

"This isn't about business. It's about politics and control. My dealership is in the top 125 out of the 3,500-plus dealerships nationwide ... yet we are on the list. We are not small nor are we rural. We are in a large major metropolitan area. Our new vehicle inventory alone is well over $4.0 million. Is that small?"

The employee continued, "This is so much more than 'just business.' This is about control and power by our present administration in Washington. An administration that will stop at nothing to bring complete socialism to this once great country. Wake up people or get in line now to 'drink the Kool-Aid.'"

Chrysler's bankruptcy court review process began May 14 and is scheduled to end by June 9. According to a May 14 Chrysler memo, dealers learned of their fate via UPS letters arriving earlier this month. A Senate committee is conducting hearings this week as dealers file their requests to block their termination.

George C. Joseph, owner of Sunshine Dodge-Isuzu in Melbourne Fla., has sent out his plea to several online media organizations, including WND.

Joseph said his family paid for his franchise 35 years ago and employs more than 50 people. The company is active in the community and the local chamber of commerce, and he claims it is financially profitable.

"On Thursday, May 14, 2009 I was notified that my Dodge franchise, that we purchased, will be taken away from my family on June 9, 2009 without compensation and given to another dealer at no cost to them," Joseph wrote. "My new vehicle inventory consists of 125 vehicles with a financed balance of 3 million dollars. This inventory becomes impossible to sell with no factory incentives beyond June 9, 2009."

He said that without the franchise his family can no longer sell Dodge inventory as "new" or conduct any service warranty work. Joseph wrote that his parts inventory – worth $300,000 – is now practically worthless because Chrysler will not be required to buy vehicles, tools or parts from terminated dealers under bankruptcy rules.

To make matters worse, Joseph said Chrysler recently required his facility to be renovated, requiring a multi-million dollar debt in the form of a mortgage.

"This is a private business, not a government entity," he wrote. "This is beyond imagination! My business is being stolen from me through no fault of our own. We did nothing wrong."

Joseph continued, "This atrocity will most likely force my family into bankruptcy. This will cause our 50+ employees to be unemployed. How will they provide for their families? … How in the United States of America can this happen?"

By Chelsea Schilling
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Related Articles:

• U.S. Likely Taking Majority Ownership of GM
  
• Car Designer In Chief 
  
• Obama Auto Plan Links Auto Emissions and Mileage Standards  
  
• California Mess is a Microcosm of What's in Store for the Rest of Us 
• A look at the protected Chrysler dealerships

Obama Auto Plan Links Auto Emissions and Mileage Standards

President Obama plans to propose the first-ever national emission limits for cars and trucks as well as average mileage requirements of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016 -- all costing consumers an extra $1,300 per vehicle.

WASHINGTON -- With two of Detroit's Big Three automakers no longer able to resist, the Obama White House will announce sped-up fuel economy standards that will require all auto-makers, including Detroit's foreign competitors, to increase fleet fuel efficiency by 5 percent per year starting in 2012.

The new rules will require a fleet fuel efficiency standard of 35.5 miles per gallon by model year 2016, a big jump from the 2009 model year requirement of 25 mpg. A senior administration official said the changes (when compared to current pollution and vehicle use totals) will have the effect of removing 900 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the air, taking 177 million cars off the road, and shutting down 194 coal-fired power plants.

A senior administration official called the standards "tough and historic" and predicted it will be achieved with only minor modifications to vehicle and engine design.

"You will see some changes," the official said, adding that "off-the-shelf" technology will allow most automakers to retro-fit their cars, light truck and SUVS "without dramatically changing them."

For 2016 -- the final year new the rules will apply -- the fleet fuel efficiency standard for all domestically sold passenger cars will be 39 mpg. It will be 30 mpg for all domestically sold light trucks and sport utility vehicles. The average of these two equals a passenger car and light truck fuel efficiency standard of 35.5 mpg. The current requirements are 27.5 mpg for cars and 23.1 mpg or trucks. The tighter standards will first affect the 2011 model year for cars and trucks.

An official said consumers will still have a wide-range of options on vehicle design and horsepower because "every single category of vehicle has to become more efficient." The uniformity of change, the official said, "will preserve" options for the vehicle-buying public.

The administration will also impose the first-ever tailpipe emission standard for every class of vehicle -- a move that will bring regulations of fuel efficiency and pollution under one set of rules. The Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency will, for the first time ever, jointly monitor and enforce fuel efficiency and tailpipe emission standards.

The standards are expected to increase the cost of a vehicle, on average, by $1,300 by 2016. A senior administration official predicted that cost would largely be offset by savings in gasoline expenses over the life of the vehicle. To calculate that savings, the administration predicts gasoline will cost $3.50 per gallon in 2016.

Detroit's Big Three had long-resisted the kind of economy standards they will embrace at the White House on Tuesday. But with the government having poured billions into GM and Chrysler and with Chrysler in the throes of a government-supervised bankruptcy and GM facing the possibility of a similar fate by month's end, industry leverage appears to be minimal. Ford will also embrace the new rules, even though it has not received any federal bailout funds.

"We are pleased that President Obama is taking decisive and positive action as we work together toward one national standard for vehicle fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions that will be good for the environment and the economy," Ford said in a statement.

The domestic automakers do not leave empty-handed, though. They won from the government a commitment to a single set of fuel and pollution standards until the 2016 model year. Detroit was far behind its foreign competitors on fuel efficiency and faced the frightening prospect of manufacturing cars to meet two sets of standards -- California's and the federal government's.

The new rules will incorporate California's tougher standards but eliminate any market uncertainty -- a move one industry source compared to allowing Detroit's big three to walk into the future carrying one anvil instead of two.

Obama will announce the moves Tuesday at a huge White House ceremony designed to underscore cooperation among automakers, environmentalists and the two governors whose states have most closely watched the fate of U.S. auto-making -- Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and Democrat Jennifer Granholm of Michigan.

California approved tougher fuel efficiency standards and was eyeing a June 30 ruling from the Environmental Protection Agency to enforce them. California ordered a fleet average of 35.5 mpg by 2016. The old federal standard sought that efficiency by 2020.

The new federal standards will match California's -- but do so in a way that protects Detroit from having to produce one fleet of cars to meet the tougher California standard (embraced by 13 other states) while simultaneously producing another fleet that met the more lax federal standards.

"It's going to be tough to meet these new standards," said one domestic auto source, "but there is industry buy-in behind having one national standard."

The White House ceremony, FOX News has learned, will attract the following auto heavyweights:

Frederick "Fritz" Henderson, CEO of General Motors

Robert Nardelli, CEO of Chrysler

Allan Mulally, president and CEO of Ford

Ron Gettelfinger, president of the United Auto Workers.

Representatives from Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Volkswagen, Mercedes and BMW are also expected to attend.

The White House said some of the nation's top environmental groups will also appear to endorse the policy changes.

By Major Garrett - FOXNews.com

Green Hell

Steven Milloy, author of Green Hell says that more people will die every year from Obama’s new car plan than the total casualties we’ve had in the Iraq War

Posted:  Daily Thought Pad

Related Articles and Resources:

• Obama's Green-house of Cards
• New Energy Taxes Will Hobble Economy
• American Progressivism
• An Inconvenient Book
• Animal Spirits - (Engineering the Stock Market) 
An Environmentalist's Thesaurus 

The Con Is On… Gore Tells Congress Climate Most Important Issue Ever 

Green Hell: Obama's Environmental Plans Will Lead To 'Energy Chaos,' Author Says

Green Hell – A Must Read!