All the recent news about the failure of government backed Solyndra can lead you to believe that green energy is a complete waste of time. In many cases, this is true. Solar generation facilities require vast amounts of land, only produce electricity when the sun is shining and there is no feasible way to store the power for distribution at night. Wind turbines also require acres of space, create immense noise, kill birds and only produce power when the wind is blowing.

Liberals in government love to champion green energy projects as the future of energy production but most are only viable with billions in government subsidies. There is a reason that private investors have not flocked to alternative energy; the technology has not reached a point where it makes economic sense.

A few weeks ago, I was invited to tour a new geothermal energy system at the Peppermill Hotel and Casino in Reno, Nevada with a group of engineers and energy policy leaders. The Peppermill’s project represents one of the most sensible “green energy” ideas I have seen to date but because it was built without government subsidies and the Peppermill cannot claim a tax credit for its use, projects like this are ignored by the media since politicians are not able to claim how “they” made it happen.

The owners invested $9.5 million in the project that required drilling a 4000 foot deep well to tap into a geothermal spring. Of course, not every property is situated on a geothermal source but the potential does exist in many areas and is both cost effective and highly efficient.

The first picture is one of four conventional boiler units used prior to the new system coming on line. The boilers are each about the size of a semi trailer and are powered by natural gas. Each boiler burns about half a million dollars in natural gas each year to run the property’s climate and hot water systems. The second picture is the new heat exchanger which is a little smaller than a child’s bunk bed and replaces all four of the larger boiler units combined!

 

To simplify the project, hot water from the geothermal well is circulated through the heat exchanger where it heats domestic water for the Hotel and Casino. A small power generating system runs off steam from the well and powers the pumps to circulate the water. Total carbon footprint: ZERO. With a savings of $2.5 million per year in energy costs, it will take less than four years to recover their investment.

Contrary to the Liberal talking points, Conservatives care about our environment just as much as they do. We simply believe that throwing taxpayer money at immature technology translates to the government picking winners and losers based on who is helping them win reelection rather than science and technology. Business owners make decisions based on factual evidence that a project will work. Government’s way of throwing money in hopes that something will work has proven exactly what we have been shouting for years; It does’t work.

Voters in two special elections held today kept one Congressional seat in Republican hands and in the other elected a Republican in a district that voted for Obama by a large margin of eleven points in 2008. The message for President Obama is very clear, order your moving boxes soon because you are about to be evicted along with those who are helping you destroy America.

In the race for Nevada Congressional District 2, former State Senator Mark Amodei was expected to win in a district with a Republican edge in registered voters. Despite this, Nevada State Treasurer Kate Marshall was backed by the campaign machine of Harry Reid and Democrats were hoping for an upset to show that America is “not really blaming Democrats for the nation’s current woes”. Sorry Harry, we really are blaming you, Nancy and Barack for driving our nation into a depression.

Amodei replaces Rep. Dean Heller who was appointed to fill the remainder of the Senate seat held by disgraced Senator John Ensign. He will not have time to rest on his victory since he will be up for reelection in 2012.

The real upset tonight occurred in New York Congressional District 9 where Republican Bob Turnerdefeated Democrat state Assemblyman David Weprinn in Chuck Schumer’s old seat which was considered extremely safe for Democrats. Turner will fill the remainder of the term held by Rep. Anthony Weiner who was forced to resign after a sex scandal.

There is no question that the election in New York is a referendum on the direction the President and Congressional Democrats have taken this country since taking power in 2006 and 2008. Americans have witnessed the unprecedented expansion of Federal powers, escalation of the national debt and out of control government spending. America voted for “hope and change” but the change we received was nothing close to what was advertized.

As we move closer to the 2012 elections, Western Representation PAC will be leading the fight to return America to “We the People”. Your support is critical and we know that together we return the “change” and replace “hope” with action.

Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa Jr. added his name to the growing list of political operatives calling for war against the tea party movement yesterday. His comments were clearly meant to intimidate us into remaining silent given the Teamster’s history of using violence and thug tactics to push their agenda.

Speaking just before President Obama, at a campaign stop (err… Labor Day rally), Hoffa said: ”We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They’ve got a war, they got a war with us and there’s only going to be one winner. It’s going to be the workers of Michigan, and America. We’re going to win that war,”

“President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let’s take these sons of bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong,” Hoffa added.

President Obama then took the stage first saying he was “proud” of Jimmy Hoffa and other labor leaders. The President added; “Now, the fact is our economy is stronger when workers are getting paid good wages and good benefits. Our economy is stronger when we have broad-based growth and broad-based prosperity. That’s what unions have always been about, shared prosperity,”

When the President speaks of “shared prosperity”, we can translate it to “spreading the wealth around”. Obama sees no problem in taking from the producers and giving it to others in exchange for a vote. The problem is that eventually, you run out of other people’s money which is why socialism has never worked in the real world.

All indications are that the President’s “new” jobs plan to be announced during a joint session of Congress Thursday will be nothing more than a repeat of the failed plans he and his allies have crafted so far. It will be more bailouts, stimulus money to his friends (like the Teamsters) and more deficit spending. Like before, these too will fail and we will be in worse shape than we were before.

Without a plan to fix our nation’s economy, Democrats have nothing more to offer than an attempt to demonize millions of good people asking only for responsibility and accountability from our government. These are the principles that founded the tea party and the strategy of the left to demonize us shows that they are afraid of America waking up to lies they have been spewing all these years. This is a classic “don’t look at us, look at the bad guys over there” move so common among political operatives who regard the truth as nothing but a small inconvenience to their plans.

Chicago style thug politics may fit well into Obama’s world but it has no place in America.

A couple of days ago someone told me that he would rather have Muslims ruling America over the Tea Party. It took a few seconds for the comment to sink in but once it did it made me feel sick. I knew the man was a devout Liberal but Islamic law would be better than the Constitution?

I asked him about what he knew of Sharia Law; specifically how it is acceptable for a man to beat and even kill his wife and children if they do not submit to his rule. I asked about their treatment of homosexuals which is a crime punishable by death. I then asked how he felt about the teachings that ALL non-believers must be either converted or killed. His response again shook me. He said that only a few extremists practiced such things and that Islam was a religion of peace. At this point, my blood was boiling to the point that all I could do was to tell him that he needs to educate himself on how Islam is practiced around the world and pull his head out of the dark place it is residing.

The tea party movement has been painted by the Liberal media and now by several Democrat politicians as an extremist group of racist hate filled people. Somehow standing up for the Constitution, reduced government spending and the ideals that founded America have become extremist views! We have been to hundreds of tea party rallies around the country since the movement began and those in attendance were nothing other than patriotic individuals who love their country and do not want to see America’s greatness lost.

I do not believe that all Muslims are hateful extremists but careful examination of how Islamic law is practiced in countries where it has taken over is certainly not something we or the Liberals would want whether they know it or not. Where practiced, it would be an understatement to say that Islamic law is oppressive and violent to anyone and everyone who dares to violate their rule.

This comment underscored the divide the Liberal media has created in our nation. Tune into MSNBC or CNN for a few minutes and it is easy to see where the hateful propaganda is originated against the tea party. Hearing comments like this scares the hell out of me knowing that people are  brainwashed so completely by the Main Stream Media that they actually believe that the greatest danger to America are the mothers, fathers, grandmothers, great-grandfathers, brothers, sisters, etc of the tea party movement peacefully standing up for traditional American values.

There is little hope to convince people like this that everything they enjoy by being an American is at risk. They will only understand long after it is too late to fight. It remains up to you and I to do everything we can to educate all who will listen and fight with everything we have for the values that made our Nation great. May God guide us and bless us in our efforts.

With America facing its greatest financial crisis in generations, President Obama is heading off for a luxurious, ten-day vacation in Martha’s Vineyard next week. After complaining about “millionaires and billionaires” not doing enough, the President is living like a trillionaire with no regard to the fact that he is spending taxpayer dollars instead of money he has earned by personal initiative.

When the President travels, it is not the same as you or I booking a flight and a room on a travel website. In addition to what is undisputed as the most luxurious private jet in the world, Air Force One, his entourage includes a fleet of cargo jets to carry limousines, the Presidential helicopter, and dozens of support vehicles in addition to hundreds of Secret Service and staff to cater to every need the First Family might have. All told, the President will be spending millions on a nice vacation in the heartland of the rich “jet owners” he claims to despise, and we, the taxpayers, will be footing the bill.

I am not against the President taking a break from Washington once in a while. What I am against is this President spending millions when he and the entire Congress should be in Washington debating real solutions to our nation’s problems. We already know from the makeup of the new “Super Committee” that nothing real will come out of it. You cannot put proven Socialists in the same room as establishment Republicans and expect that they will come up with a plan to solve our budget problems.

I say to you, Mr. President that you ran for and won the most important political position in the world. The job is tough, and it’s one that you should have realized might cut into your leisure time. America hired you, and you have proven to us that you are not up to the task. Enjoy your vacation and send us a postcard, because most of us regular Americans have scaled our travel plans back to save money.

Come to think of it Mr. President, bring your fiddle with you so you can play a catchy little tune while America burns. It’s on us whether we like it or not!