Seafood tonight?

Fish Pier, Boston

Fresh seafood served in the Finger Lakes may have come ashore here.  If you're in the neighborhood, a good place to get some fresh air.  Just try to look like you work there.

Solar plant closes, you pay

One billion dollars

The federal government has "invested" billions of our tax dollars in questionable solar energy projects.  One of those "investments" is in California solar panel manufacturer Solyndra, Inc. Facing strong price pressure from Chinese competitors, Solyndra will close a factory and release up to 190 workers. The LA Times reports:

The company said Wednesday that it is shuttering one of its factories to save $60 million in capital expenditures, laying off 40 employees and letting the contracts for more than 100 temporary workers expire.

All this despite a $535-million federal loan guarantee, more than $1 billion in private equity funds and supportive visits from luminaries such as  Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and President Barack Obama.

The NY Times places the total layoffs closer to 190.  

In July, Ed Lasky looked into Solyndra's financing and learned that the Chinese price competition situation was known long before the feds forked over the subsidies.  Yet, they moved ahead anyway, effectively handing over bundles of taxpayer cash to wealthy investors, including one George Kaiser.

One of the biggest investors in the company was Oklahoma billionaire George Kaiser - a big bundler for the Obama-Biden campaign. Not to worry for Mr. Kaiser. The administration is looking to extend hundreds of millions of dollars in additional loans (our money) to the venture.

Hanna ousts Arcuri in 24th

Richard Hanna and supporter

Congratulations to Richard Hanna, winner in the 24th congressional district.  While Richard will not take his seat until January, he's already provided a valuable service to the Finger Lakes and the nation by sending Michael Arcuri to early retirement.

Richard can count an South of 5 and 20 to provide helpful advice during his first Congressional term.  We'll start out with an easy one.  We need to abandon this perennial money pit immediately (to quote from Arcuri's re-election platform):   

Calling it the “Erie Canal of our time” he has been a loud, vocal proponent of high speed rail.

In Monday's Washington Post, columnist Robert J. Samuelson provided a succinct lesson in the absurdity of Arcui's party line porkfest:

Let's suppose that the Obama administration gets its wish to build high-speed rail systems in 13 urban corridors. The administration has already committed $10.5 billion, and that's just a token down payment. California wants about $19 billion for an 800-mile track from Anaheim to San Francisco. Constructing all 13 corridors could easily approach $200 billion. Most (or all) of that would have to come from government at some level. What would we get for this huge investment?

Not much. Here's what we wouldn't get: any meaningful reduction in traffic congestion, greenhouse gas emissions, air travel, oil consumption or imports. Nada, zip. If you can do fourth-grade math, you can understand why.

Read Samuleson's Post column here.

Marine drama on Keuka Lake

A fine looking craft

Former dinner cruise vessel and current floating controversy, the Keuka Maid ran aground on Keuka Lake Monday, drawing the attention of law enforcement, the courts, and protesters on the shore.  Gwen Chamberlain tells the tale at the Chronicle-Express.

Strangely enough, Mrs. South of 5 and 20 was crewing on another boat that ran aground in that very same lake several years earlier.  Mariners beware.

Election day: confiscate your 401K?

Teresa Ghilarducci wants your 401K

It's a golden autumn day in the Finger Lakes.  Enjoy the view as you head to the fire hall, school, church, Legion, highway barn, auto showroom, library, village hall, town hall, or wherever you vote today.

Before you mark your ballot, please be aware of a hearing held in Congress down in Washington, DC on October 7.   A scheme to confiscate tax-deferred retirement accounts, such as your 401K, has been around since the Clinton administration.  After today's election, lame duck Democrats may have the opportunity to make this happen. 

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee heard from hand-picked witnesses advocating the infamous "Guaranteed Retirement Account" (GRA) authored by Theresa Guilarducci....

In a nutshell, under the GRA system government would seize private 401(k) accounts, setting up an additional 5% mandatory payroll tax to dole out a "fair" pension to everyone using that confiscated money coupled with the mandated contributions.  This would, of course, be a sister government ponzi scheme working in tandem with Social Security, the primary purpose being to give big government politicians additional taxpayer funds to raid to pay for their out-of-control spending.

Before you vote, read the rest at Humans Events, and be sure to listen to Mark Levin's interview with Professor Guilarducci.

To share this post, use the email button below.  Your opinion is welcome, click "comments" to expound!

What are those Duke boys up to now?

1968 Dodge Charger

Our Southern Tier correspondent provides a photo of his new ride. 

"a semi-criminal enterprise run out of Manhattan"

Let's face it - the territory South of 5 and 20 has survived the last twenty years on public employment, the crumbs from Albany's bloated spending.  Now that our state and local governments are facing bankruptcy, that chicken has crossed the road.  Our decimated private sector can no longer support Albany's demands more and more tax money, so even public employment is shrinking.  In the past year we've suffered the latest symptom: long established restaurants are suddenly in trouble, or in many cases have already shut down.

Writing in the Manhattan Institute's City Journal, Fred Seigel makes a good attempt to explain why us hicks are so angry:

Nationally, most Tea Partiers look favorably on their state governments, but upstaters often consider Albany a semi-criminal enterprise run out of Manhattan. No wonder: the state’s executive-level leadership—its governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general—all hail from the New York City metro area, while upstate New York contains nine of the ten counties in America paying the highest property taxes as a percentage of home values...

 A patch of another upstate region, the Southern Tier, resembles Appalachia in its poverty. 

Read the whole thing, and use the email button below to share this post.