A few days ago, a certain celebrity made claims that the tea party was racist.

Sadly, this is but a microcosm of what is wrong with black america. In the meantime, republican's continue to display their fiery racism by elevating Herman Cain to frontrunner status following the Florida Straw Poll.

~David Morris~

Solydra Factory: Only the Best for Government Company

Solyndra may be belly up, but at least it goes out with style. Constructed by union workers at a total cost of $733 million (of which proceeds from the government's $535 million loan guarantee was utilized), the Solyndra facility featured robots that sung Disney toons, 19 loading decks, and localized rail lines for moving product across its 300,000 square feet (approximately 5 football fields).

“The new building is like the Taj Mahal,” said John Pierce, 54, a San Jose resident who worked as a facilities manager at Solyndra.

Situated in "Silicon Valley;" which hadn't seen factory construction in 10 years given that its the 4th highest real estate area in the nation (and as such, most developments are simple offices), further frills included professional landscaping for the front, 4 electric car recharge stations, and a glass covered conference room. It even featured a fully equipped spa with state-of-the-art shower displays; to enable employees to relax after the daily grind, comfortable in profitability of their work.


Of course, the problem was that the factory never was worthy of profit to begin with. Despite the lack of prevalent demand for their signature "cylindrical" panel design, in 2009 such modules were touted to the Department of Energy as superior in the cost effectiveness of their construction and installation. This in comparison to traditional flat panels, whose production is currently dominated by Chinese manufacturers.

However, this cost advantage could hold only as long as the price of a primary component for flat panels, polysilicon, remained high. A comparable parallel would be citing a "cost advantage" for electric cars given the premise that oil prices never recede. This was the assumption in 2009, but by the time Solyndra became operational in January of 2011, commodity prices for flat panel components had plunged. Solyndra's claim of cost competitiveness with the conventional design of Chinese flat panels was completely nullified.

Even without the price fallout, hasty construction of the factory left the company with equipment that proved both high maintenance and unreliable.

“A significant percentage of the product we built went into a dumpster because it was defective,” said Craig Ewing, 55, a former maintenance technician. “It seemed like the company accepted that,” he said.

Solyndra executives also neglected to perform a proper cost analysis on their procedures. According to solar industry analyst Peter Lynch, the factory spent $6 per device. To remain competitive, they would have to resale it at $1 to $3 per device. The mass scores of defective product aside, Solyndra's business model wouldn’t even cover half of its costs.

The more we learn about the company, the harder it is to believe that such a waste of taxpayer money could occur. To review, without real demand to prop it up Solyndra's business model laid precariously on a presumption of high commodity prices for competitors. Creating products, many of which didn't even work, Solyndra soon found itself backlogged with overly expensive inventory. Fifteen months of decline later, Solyndra filed for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 6th. 1,100 jobs "created or saved" by Obama's stimulus package went with it.

As for the factory itself, the taxpayer may be stuck with it for the time being, a harrowing reminder for anyone driving down Interstate 880 in Fremont, California.

~David Morris~

Vice Presidential Picks

As the GOP Presidential debates continue, speculation begins to arise on who would make for the perfect running mates for the current front runners.

Mitt Rommey is designated as an "establishment republican" type who can appeal to the center under more generalized electoral conditions. From a tactical standpoint, a tea-party running mate capable of energizing the base would be thus be indispensable to a Rommey campaign. Ones such as Herman Cain or Michelle Bachmann would bring a positive intensity among tea-partiers that would address Mitt's weakness in that area.

Rick Perry on the other hand, is already a tea party draw. However, his style credits him as less suited than Rommey in the art of dealing with the other side in a manner that doesn't scare moderates. As such, running mates such as one such as Newt Gringrich or Paul Ryan would be ideal. In addition to their detailed ideas on the issues, potentials such as these carry the political experience of dealing staunchly yet safely with the other side.

For either candidate however, Marco Rubio would prove an excellent running mate. Young and charismatic, he would lock down the Florida vote while simultaneously making certain other Latino states, such as New Mexico or perhaps even California, far more competitive. Even if California went to the democrats regardless, money spent defending their stronghold would assist Republican efforts abroad.

The coming months will be crucial to the future of the nation. With Obama looking to be a one term president, the efficacy of the next republican ticket to seriously tackle the nation's issues will be extra-ordinarily watched. As Americans, we can only pray for a ticket capable of restoring hope.

~David Morris~

CNN Debate - Non-Issues Drag Down Perry

During the CNN debate last night, much hoop-la was made about Governor Perry signing an executive order to mandate vaccination against STD for teenage girls. Though he apologizes for his methodology, I believe the way he handles the response successfully lead to his embarrassment among his rivals, among whom Micheal Backmann gained the most.

He also allowed himself to be embarrassed on his stance on those wishing to seek citizenship while in study. My inner libertarian found this stance appealing, but my inner conservative shook his head on how Perry lost the initiative on the framing battle. He should have made mention of how it was a LEGAL path that he implemented intended for guest workers with Green Cards. He should have emphasized that as Governor of Texas, he understood that there was a fine line between being anti-ILLEGAL immigration, and simply being anti-immigration. From this position of strength, he could turned the issue back on his rivals on whether they understood the difference.

For all the stumbling Perry made, I could not help that these attempts to pull him down were based on non-issues. Personally, I took somewhat of a liking to Perry for having the courage to call our current entitlements the Ponsi Scheme that it is. In order to get rid of the 800 pound gorilla in the room, acknowledging is presence is necessarily the first step towards removing it. And ultimately, it takes a president to lead on this. With the nation in a crisis mentality, now has never been a more perfect opportunity to educate the nation on the issue, especially considering evidence that the people are becoming ever wary of the program's condition.

Rommey's insistence on sticking to the tried and true framing methods of social security however was discouraging, for it brings doubts as to whether he would take the steps to seriously address the entitlement crisis. Somehow, I find myself drawn to the case of Perry the more that establishment republicans refuse to show a courageous commitment to addressing all of the nation's entitlement woes, not just simply Obamacare.

~David Morris~

I bumped into an old friend of mine as I paid a visit to my university today.

Being in the bubble of campus life, he was surprised to learn that Obama had fallen so utterly in favor lately, and inquired on how this has happened. Let us informally count just some of the ways shall we?

-He is the first to see a credit downgrading of the USA.
-He has quadrupled down on failed stimuli after failed stimuli.
-The American people now owe $50,000 in debt for every man woman and child.
-He shoved an unconstitutional healthcare reform that threatens to exacerbate that industries cost issues.
-Demagog rhetoric has increased despite his promises to make the discourse more "civil."

-Unemployment remains at 9%. With underemployment, 18%. After you account for the shrunken labor market. Without such accounting, the unemployment rate would hang at 10% (underemployment 20%).
-His departments and regulations harass the people who create jobs and wealth.
-Unions are the only ones he apparently cares for.
-He fails repeatedly to negotiate even moderately to the center.
-He shows no empathy given his lavish vacations and stunts such as the death star bus.
-He diminishes the office with unpresidential ploys such as directly blaming the opposition, fear-mongering calls for real reforms, and calling joint sessions that are but campaign speeches.

And the big one: People are simply terrified for the future of this nation. Thanks to him.

~David Morris~

My Job Creation is Bigger Than Your Job Creation

During the RNC debate, there was a bit of a spat where candidates took shots at each other over who had the bigger job growth percentage.

Either way, so long as its better than Obama's, I'm liking what I'm seeing from these candidates.

~David Morris~

Low Congressional Approval Numbers. What Else Is New?

As Obama's approval numbers crumbles to newer levels of low, those who'd front for the president lament in the knowledge that he is electable no longer. Some attempt to take solace however, in citing the historically low approval of Congress as well. Perhaps this a sign that opponents will be seen as equally undesirable; that a glimmer of reelection hope would yet remain upon a level-field of equally dispersed scorn.

There is are fallacies within this retreat however.

Problem #1: Congress is a multi-headed hydra.
-Ask say, a Missourian what he thinks of "congress" and he'll likely tell you that he disapproves. Ask him what he thinks of HIS congressman and you might get a completely different answer.

Problem #2: Only constituents matter.
-Individual congressman don't need to worry about what the entire nation thinks of them. As such, congressional approval has varying degrees of relevance based on the one's area of their district.

Problem #3: Its much less visible compared to executive elections.
-Unlike the president, whose every move is tracked and every multi-issue approval rating is daily documented, for the hydra that is congress, data on the approval of a specific member is difficult to track unless he's been making headlines as of late. Even then, these approvals take the nation into account as well, a repeat of same flaw of Problem #2.

Take this relatively recent poll on Paul Ryan for instance. Bear in mind, most congressmen are not tracked at all.

Congress has always possessed relatively low approval ratings as an entire entity due to such issues. Therefore, a clear understanding of the entity is generally on display only at around election time, when a map detailing the race of specific districts is on display, creating a clearer picture over who is in politcAL safety and who is at risk.

Unfortunately, such maps are scarcely maintained afterwords in a manner that enables us to tell for whom congress' approval is a particularly bad omen. Citing the approval of Congress, an entity with 535 differing people composed of it, therefore holds 535 differing cases of electoral correlation. If you are Barny Frank (who won his 2008 re-election 52 to 43%), the approval of the congress may mean little to you. If you hailed from a contestable area district, then perhaps it would correlate with your elective outlook.


One thing is for certain however:. The congressional rating tells nothing of the Presidential election. His ratings on the other hand, do. And right now, were the election today, Obama would lose. Simple as that.

There is no solace in blaming Congress.

~David Morris~