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President John F.Kennedy, The Federal Reserve And Executive Order 11110

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President John F.Kennedy,

The Federal Reserve

And Executive Order 11110
by
Cedric X

From
The Final Call, Vol. 15, No.6, On January 17, 1996

On
June 4, 1963, a little known attempt was made to strip the Federal
Reserve
Bank of its power to loan money to the government
at interest. On that day President John F. Kennedy signed Executive
Order No. 11110 that returned to the U.S. government the power
to issue currency, without going through the Federal Reserve.
Mr. Kennedy's order gave the Treasury the power "to issue
silver certificates against any silver bullion, silver, or standard
silver dollars in the Treasury." This meant that for every
ounce of silver in the U.S. Treasury's vault, the government
could introduce new money into circulation. In all, Kennedy
brought nearly $4.3 billion in U.S. notes into circulation.
The ramifications of this bill are enormous.

With
the stroke of a pen, Mr. Kennedy was on his way to putting the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York out of business. If enough
of these silver certificats were to come into circulation they
would have eliminated the demand for Federal Reserve notes.
This is because the silver certificates are backed by silver
and the Federal Reserve notes are not backed by anything. Executive
Order 11110 could have prevented the national debt from reaching
its current level, because it would have given the gevernment
the ability to repay its debt without going to the Federal Reserve
and being charged interest in order to create the new money.
Executive Order 11110 gave the U.S. the ability to create its
own money backed by silver.

After
Mr. Kennedy was assassinated just five months later, no more
silver certificates were issued. The Final Call has learned
that the Executive Order was never repealed by any U.S. President
through an Executive Order and is still valid. Why then has
no president utilized it? Virtually all of the nearly $6 trillion
in debt has been created since 1963, and if a U.S. president
had utilized Executive Order 11110 the debt would be nowhere
near the current level. Perhaps the assassination of JFK was
a warning to future presidents who would think to eliminate
the U.S. debt by eliminating the Federal Reserve's control over
the creation of money. Mr. Kennedy challenged the government
of money by challenging the two most successful vehicles that
have ever been used to drive up debt - war and the creation
of money by a privately-owned central bank. His efforts to have
all troops out of Vietnam by 1965 and Executive Order 11110
would have severely cut into the profits and control of the
New York banking establishment. As America's debt reaches unbearable
levels and a conflict emerges in Bosnia that will further increase
America's debt, one is force to ask, will President Clinton
have the courage to consider utilizing Executive Order 11110
and, ifso, is he willing to pay the ultimate price for doing
so?

Executive
Order 11110 AMENDMENT OF EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 10289

AS
AMENDED, RELATING TO THE PERFORMANCE OF CERTAIN FUNCTIONS AFFECTING
THE DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

By
virtue of the authority vested in me by section 301 of title
3 of the United States Code, it is ordered as follows:

Section
1. Executive Order No. 10289 of September 19, 1951, as amended,
is hereby further amended-

By
adding at the end of paragraph 1 thereof the following subparagraph
(j):



(j) The authority vested in the President by paragraph (b) of
section 43 of the Act of May 12,1933, as amended (31 U.S.C.821(b)),
to issue silver certificates against any silver bullion, silver,
or standard silver dollars in the Treasury not then held for
redemption of any outstanding silver certificates, to prescribe
the denomination of such silver certificates, and to coin standard
silver dollars and subsidiary silver currency for their redemption

and
--

Byrevoking
subparagraphs (b) and (c) of paragraph 2 thereof.

Sec.
2. The amendments made by this Order shall not affect any act
done, or any right accruing or accrued or any suit or proceeding
had or commenced in any civil or criminal cause prior to the
date of this Order but all such liabilities shall continue and
may be enforced as if said amendments had not been made.

John
F. Kennedy The White House, June 4, 1963.

Of
course, the fact that both JFK and Lincoln met the the same
end is a mere coincidence.

Abraham
Lincoln's Monetary Policy, 1865 (Page 91 of Senate document
23.)

Money
is the creature of law and the creation of the original issue
of money should be maintained as the exclusive monopoly of national
Government.

Money
possesses no value to the State other than that given to it
by circulation.

Capital
has its proper place and is entitled to every protection. The
wages of men should be recognised in the structure of and in
the social order as more important than the wages of money.

No
duty is more imperative for the Government than the duty it
owes the People to furnish them with a sound and uniform currency,
and of regulating the circulation of the medium of exchange
so that labour will be protected from a vicious currency, and
commerce will be facilitated by cheap and safe exchanges.

The
available supply of Gold and Silver being wholly inadequate
to permit the issuance of coins of intrinsic value or paper
currency convertible into coin in the volume required to serve
the needs of the People, some other basis for the issue of currency
must be developed, and some means other than that of convertibility
into coin must be developed to prevent undue fluctuation in
the value of paper currency or any other substitute for money
of intrinsic value that may come into use.

The
monetary needs of increasing numbers of People advancing towards
higher standards of living can and should be met by the Government.
Such needs can be served by the issue of National Currency and
Credit through the operation of a National Banking system .The
circulation of a medium of exchange issued and backed by the
Government can be properly regulated and redundancy of issue
avoided by withdrawing from circulation such amounts as may
be necessary by Taxation, Redeposit, and otherwise. Government
has the power to regulate the currency and creditof the Nation.

Government
should stand behind its currency and credit and the Bank deposits
of the Nation. No individual should suffer a loss of money through
depreciation or inflated currency or Bank bankruptcy.

Government
possessing the power to create and issue currency and creditas
money and enjoying the right to withdraw both currency and credit
from circulation by Taxation and otherwise need not and should
not borrow capital at interest as a means of financing Governmental
work and public enterprise. The Government should create, issue,
and circulate all the currency and credit needed to satisfy
the spending power of the Government and the buying power of
the consumers. The privilege of creating and issueing money
is not only the supreme prerogative of Government, but it is
the Governments greatest creative opportunity.

By
the adoption of these principles the long felt want for a uniform
medium will be satisfied. The taxpayers will be saved immense
sums of interest, discounts, and exchanges. The financing of
all public enterprise, the maintenance of stable Government
and ordered progress, and the conduct of the Treasury will become
matters of practical administration. The people can and will
be furnished with a currency as safe as their own Government.
Money will cease to be master and become the servant of humanity.
Democracy will rise superior to the money power.

Some
information on the Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve, a Private
Corporation One of the most common concerns among people who
engage in any effort to reduce their taxes is, "Will keeping
my money hurt the government's ability to pay it's bills?"
As explained in the first article in this series, the modern
withholding tax does not, and wasn't designed to, pay for government
services. What it does do, is pay for the privately-owned Federal
Reserve System.

Black's
Law Dictionary defines the "Federal Reserve System"
as, "Network of twelve central banks to which most national
banks belong and to which state chartered banks may belong.
Membership rules require investment of stock and minimum reserves."

Privately-owned
banks own the stock of the Fed. This was explained in more detail
in the case of Lewis v. United States, Federal Reporter, 2nd
Series, Vol. 680, Pages 1239, 1241 (1982), where the court said:

Each
Federal Reserve Bank is a separate corporation owned by commercial
banks in its region. The stock-holding commercial banks elect
two thirds of each Bank's nine member board of directors.

Similarly,
the Federal Reserve Banks, though heavily regulated, are locally
controlled by their member banks. Taking another look at Black's
Law Dictionary, we find that these privately owned banks actually
issue money:

Federal
Reserve Act. Law which created Federal Reserve banks which act
as agents in maintaining money reserves, issuing money in the
form of bank notes, lending money to banks, and supervising
banks. Administered by Federal Reserve Board (q.v.).

The
FED banks, which are privately owned, actually issue, that is,
create, the money we use. In 1964 the House Committee on Banking
and Currency, Subcommittee on Domestic Finance, at the second
session of the 88th Congress, put out a study entitled Money
Facts which contains a good description of what the FED is:

The
Federal Reserve is a total money-making machine.It can issue
money or checks. And it never has a problem of making its checks
good because it can obtain the $5 and $10 bills necessary to
cover its check simply by asking the Treasury Department's Bureau
of Engraving to print them.

As
we all know, anyone who has a lot of money has a lot of power.
Now imagine a group of people who have the power to create money.
Imagine the power these people would have. This is what the
Fed is.

No
man did more to expose the power of the Fed than Louis T. McFadden,
who was the Chairman of the House Banking Committee back in
the 1930s. Constantly pointing out that monetary issues shouldn't
be partisan, he criticized both the Herbert Hoover and Franklin
Roosevelt administrations. In describing the Fed, he remarked
in the Congressional Record, House pages 1295 and 1296 on June
10, 1932, that:

Mr.
Chairman,we have in this country one of the most corrupt institutions
the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board
and the Federal reserve banks. The Federal Reserve Board, a
Government Board, has cheated the Government of the United States
and he people of the United States out of enoughmoney to pay
the national debt. The depredations and the iniquities of the
Federal Reserve Board and the Federal reserve banks acting together
have cost this country enough money to pay the national debt
several times over. This evil institution has impoverished and
ruined the people of the UnitedStates; has bankrupted itself,
and has practically bankrupted our Government. It has done this
through the maladministration of that law by which the Federal
Reserve Board, and through the corrupt practices of the moneyed
vultures who control it.

Some
people think the Federal reserve banks are United States Government
institutions. They are not Government institutions. They are
private credit monopolies which prey upon the people of the
United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign
customers; foreign and domestic speculators and swindlers; and
rich and predatory money lenders. In that dark crew of financial
pirates there are those who would cut a man's throat to get
a dollar out of his pocket; there are those who send money into
States to buy votes to control our legislation; and there are
those who maintain an international propaganda for the purpose
of deceiving us and of wheedling us into the granting of new
concessions which will permit them to cover up their past misdeeds
and set again in motion their gigantic train of crime. Those
12 private credit monopolies were deceitfully and disloyally
foisted upon this country by bankers who camehere from Europe
and who repaid us for our hospitality by undermining our American
institutions.

The
Fed basically works like this: The government granted its power
to create money to the Fed banks. They create money, then loan
it back to the government charging interest. The government
levies income taxes to pay the interest on the debt. On this
point, it's interesting to note that the Federal Reserve act
and the sixteenth amendment, which gave congress the power to
collect income taxes, were both passed in 1913. The incredible
power of the Fed over the economy is universally admitted. Some
people, especially in the banking and academic communities,
even support it. On the other hand, there are those, both in
the past and in the present, that speak out against it. One
of these men was President John F. Kennedy. His efforts were
detailed in Jim Marrs' 1990 book, Crossfire:

Another
overlooked aspect of Kennedy's attempt to reform American society
involves money. Kennedy apparently reasoned that by returning
to the constitution, which states that only Congress shall coin
and regulate money, the soaring national debt could be reduced
by not paying interest to the bankers of the Federal Reserve
System, who print paper money then loan it to the government
at interest. He moved in this area on June 4, 1963, by signing
Executive Order 11,110 which called for the issuance of $4,292,893,815
in United States Notes through the U.S. Treasury rather than
the traditional Federal Reserve System. That same day, Kennedy
signed a bill changing the backing of one and two dollar bills
from silver to gold, adding strength to the weakened U.S. currency.

Kennedy's
comptroller of the currency, James J. Saxon, had been at odds
with the powerful Federal Reserve Board for some time, encouraging
broader investment and lending powers for banks that were not
part of the Federal Reserve system. Saxon also had decided that
non-Reserve banks could underwrite state and local general obligation
bonds, again weakening the dominant Federal Reserve banks.

A
number of "Kennedy bills" were indeed issued - the
author has a five dollar bill in his possession with the heading
"United States Note" - but were quickly withdrawn
after Kennedy's death. According to information from the Library
of the Comptroller of the Currency, Executive Order 11,110 remains
in effect today, although successive administrations beginning
with that of President Lyndon Johnson apparently have simply
ignored it and instead returned to the practice of paying interest
on Federal Reserve notes. Today we continue to use Federal Reserve
Notes, and the deficit is at an all-time high.

The
point being made is that the IRS taxes you pay aren't used for
government services. It won't hurt you, or the nation, to legally
reduce or eliminate your tax liability.

Related
Articles:

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Unmasked! 'Occupy' protests sending sharp anti-Jew message

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OCCUPY THIS!

Unmasked! 'Occupy' protests sending sharp anti-Jew message

GOP criticizes Democrats who line up with 'They need to be run out' comments

By Bob Unruh

The dark scourge of anti-Semitism has reared up at many "Occupy" protests across the country, and the subject could well become a campaign 2012 issue as Republicans have been quick to point out to voters that many Democrats, including the president, are aligning themselves with the protests.

The protesters generally are expressing a viewpoint that rich people need to pay much more in taxes and they, the protesters, need more from government; big banks need the heavy hand of Washington to help spread their wealth and make things "fair" and they have a "message" or want to "make a point" for the wealthy.

But there's also a current of targeting Jews.

Protesters have proclaimed that "Zionist Jews" still "need to be run out of the country," and they condemn "Nazi Bankers Wall Street."  And Barack Obama's perspective?

"I think that it [the movement] expresses the frustrations that the American people feel," he said.

And the ranking Democrat in the U.S. House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said "I support the message."

Statements such as those opened the door for Republicans to launch their criticism of the Democrats' endorsement of the encompassing message of the "Occupy" protests – going on across the country now – that includes anti-Semitism.

According to a statement from the Republican National Committee, to all "interested parties," the Democrats have been "silent" in the face of "protesters' extreme anti-Semitic, anti-Israel comments."

"Where's the outrage?" asked the statement from Sean Spicer. "While protesters are seen spewing hate against Jewish Americans, President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz have declared their support for the demonstrations. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Steve Israel even circulated a petition saying he's 'standing with' Occupy Wall Street."

Spicer continued, "Is Steve Israel standing with those calling for the killing of Jews. Does Debbie Wasserman Schultz agree with the various calls for Jews to be 'run out of this country' and to oppose and 'destroy' the state of Israel?"

One ad that targets Democratic Congressman Steve Israel is especially sharp:

It was released by the SteveIsraelStandsWithThem website and has angered Democrats.

Israel told supporters the attack was "outrageous" and intended to "distract" from "their reckless economic policies."

The Republicans didn't back down, wondering just exactly why Democrats would be upset over revelations of "their support for the Occupy Wall Street movement and the extreme anti-Semitic and incendiary rhetoric" involved, said a statement from the Republican congressional committee.

The Committee for Israel posted another video blasting Democrats for their support for the movement over its anti-Semitic component:

One teacher from Los Angeles appeared on reason.tv and said, "These Zionist Jews who are running these big banks and our Federal Reserve, which is not run by the federal government, they need to be run out of this country."

There were reports she was dismissed from her position in the school district after taking such a public stand on anti-Semitism.

The controversy grabbed the attention of columnist Charlie Wolf in the United Kingdom.

"The movement is anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic. There has been no shortage of vile anti-Semitic slogans at the occupy Wall Street protest. These are more than just insinuations, but signs equating Jews with banks and the rich, protesting U.S. foreign relations with Israel (especially defense funding), mention of the Rothschild family and asking people to Google 'Jewish Billionaires,'" he wrote.

"Many Jews should be shocked to join any movement that has received endorsement from both the Communist Party and the Nazis," he said.

In addition to the support from Communists and Nazis, WND reported this week that one of the key organizers behind the Occupy protests in Orlando is a Muslim activist linked through the Council on American Islamic Relations to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Added Wolf, "The Jewish community around the world – and all successful assimilated ethnic minority communities in Britain – should watch this 'Occupy' movement carefully and prepare for the worst. With the financial crisis as deep and long lasting as it has been, an environment of fear is spreading and these anarchists are using that fear and steering it towards their own ends. The feeling is not too dissimilar to the thirties and the rise of fascism and anti-Semitism."

The Anti-Defamation League listed a number of anti-Semitic statements that have appeared already, including:


  • " In America, a small ethnic group consists of almost all the bankers and hedge fund managers on Wall Street are Jewish. There is a conspiracy in this country in which Jews control the media, finances. If you Google 'Wall Street Jews,' Google 'Jewish Billionaires,' if you Google 'Jews and the Federal Reserve bank.' The Jews who represent two percent of the population… a small ethnic minority, they have pooled their money together, amassed their money to take control of America's finances…. Jews dominate American politics.…Jewish billionaires in Russia are already attempting to take over Russia like they've taken over America. America is dominated by one group. Almost all the federal judges in America on the East Coast and the West Coast, almost all the federal judges are Jewish, almost all the city judges are Jewish, all the state judges are Jewish. There's a Jewish group in this country and it's a conspiracy that everyone's afraid to talk about."



  • In one video, a demonstrator arguing with an older man wearing a yarmulke says, "You got the money, that's why you're fighting, Jewish man….You can't even speak English? You Israeli? Go back to Israel."

"While there is no evidence that these incidents are widespread, history reveals how economic downturns can embolden anti-Semites to spread malicious conspiracy theories about Jews and money," the group said.

In an opinion piece on al Jazeera, M.J. Rosenberg of the Media Matters Action Network, defended the movement.

"Exploiting anti-Semitism to break the backs of popular movements that threaten the power of the wealthiest one per cent of our population," Rosenberg wrote. "It is being used to undermine the Occupy Wall Street movement, which has conservatives in a state of near panic."

The al Jazeera commentary also blasted the work of the Committee for Israel.

"The Emergency Committee for Isreal is not concerned about anti-Semitism or Israel. It is, rather, dedicated to defeating Democrats and promoting its billionaire donors' economic interests. … It used Israel and Jews as devices to direct money and votes toward the Republicans."

If you would like to sound off on this issue, participate in today's WND Poll.

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Art Thompson: Exposing Terrorism - Inside the Terror Triangle

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Art Thompson: Exposing Terrorism - Inside the Terror Triangle



JBS CEO Art Thompson reveals the intentions, networks, major players in the Triangle of Terror.

Filmed, edited and produced by Sam Antonio.

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1980s Sitcom Predicted Gaddafi's Death

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1980s Sitcom Predicted Gaddafi's Death



'Second Chance' aired for one season in 1987 through 1988.


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Car Company Gets U.S. Loan, Builds Cars In Finland

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Car Company Gets U.S. Loan, Builds Cars In Finland

By MATTHEW MOSK, BRIAN ROSS and RONNIE GREENE
ABC NEWS and iWATCH NEWS
Car Company Gets U.S. Loan, Builds Cars In Finland (ABC News)

Car Company Gets U.S. Loan, Builds Cars In Finland (ABC News)

With the approval of the Obama administration, an electric car company that received a $529 million federal government loan guarantee is assembling its first line of cars in Finland, saying it could not find a facility in the United States capable of doing the work.


Vice President Joseph Biden heralded the Energy Department's $529 million loan to the start-up electric car company called Fisker as a bright new path to thousands of American manufacturing jobs. But two years after the loan was announced, the job of assembling the flashy electric Fisker Karma sports car has been outsourced to Finland.


"There was no contract manufacturer in the U.S. that could actually produce our vehicle," the car company's founder and namesake told ABC News. "They don't exist here."


Henrik Fisker said the U.S. money so far has been spent on engineering and design work that stayed in the U.S., not on the 500 manufacturing jobs that went to a rural Finnish firm, Valmet Automotive.


"We're not in the business of failing; we're in the business of winning. So we make the right decision for the business," Fisker said. "That's why we went to Finland."


The loan to Fisker is part of a $1 billion bet the Energy Department has made in two politically connected California-based electric carmakers producing sporty -- and pricey -- cutting-edge autos. Fisker Automotive, backed by a powerhouse venture capital firm whose partners include former Vice President Al Gore, predicts it will eventually be churning out tens of thousands of electric sports sedans at the shuttered GM factory it bought in Delaware. And Tesla Motors, whose prime backers include PayPal mogul Elon Musk and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, says it will do the same in a massive facility tooling up in Silicon Valley.


For more on the Fisker and Tesla loans and the Obama administration's green auto loan program, watch "Good Morning America," "World News with Diane Sawyer," and "Nightline."


An investigation by ABC News and the Center for Public Integrity's iWatch News that will air on "Good Morning America" found that the DOE's bet carries risks for taxpayers, has raised concern among industry observers and government auditors, and adds to questions about the way billions of dollars in loans for smart cars and green energy companies have been awarded. Fisker is more than a year behind rolling out its $97,000 luxury vehicle bankrolled in part with DOE money. While more are promised soon, just 40 of its Karma cars (below) have been manufactured and only two delivered to customers' driveways, including one to movie star Leonardo DiCaprio. Tesla's SEC filings reveal the start-up has lost money every quarter. And while its federal funding is intended to help it mass produce a new $57,400 Model S sedan, the company has no experience in a project so vast.




READ the iWATCH News Story on Tesla and Fisker


There is intense scrutiny of the decisions made by the Department of Energy as it invests billions of taxpayer dollars in alternative energy. The questions come in the wake of the administration's failed $535 million investment in solar panel maker Solyndra. The company's collapse, bankruptcy and raid by FBI agents generated a litany of questions about how the Energy Department doles out billions in highly sought after green energy seed money.


A key question, experts and investigators say, is whether another Solyndra is in the offing.


In interviews, executives with Tesla and Fisker said comparisons to Solyndra are unfounded. Each said the government's investments will ultimately pay off by supporting a fleet of electric cars that will ease the nation's dependence on fuel and benefit the environment.


"It's absolutely a worthwhile risk," said Diarmuid O'Connell, vice president of corporate and business development for Tesla Motors. "I absolutely believe it was a good bet for American taxpayers."
Tesla has said its mass production of the sedan will ultimately lead to profitability.


Henrik Fisker, the renowned auto designer who founded the car company that carries his name, said his company holds tremendous promise and has accumulated $600 million in private financing.

When asked directly by ABC News if taxpayers should worry about the more than $500 million in federal funds on the line, he was emphatic: "No, I don't think they need to worry about it," Fisker said.
When asked if Fisker might be the next Solyndra, he said, "Absolutely not."

Fisker: We Didn't Want to Be Solyndra



In a lengthy interview, Fisker said he apprised the Department of Energy of his decision to assemble the high-priced Karma in Finland after he could not find an American facility that could handle the work. They signed off, he said, so long as he did not spend the federal loan money in Finland -- something he says the company has taken care to avoid. He said the decision, ultimately, was to help prevent his company from following the path of Solyndra, which exhausted nearly all of its loan money on a high-tech solar manufacturing plant in Freemont, California.


"If you just start doing like what Solyndra did, making a factory in a place where it was too expensive to manufacture … [you] obviously fail," he said.


By some key measures, Tesla is ahead of Fisker. More than 2,000 of its first electric car, the Tesla Roadster, are on the road, while Fisker is just starting to get its first car into showrooms. And Tesla is further along in advancing a second, lower-cost car, the Model S. While both firms boast of big dollar private investments, Tesla's vulnerabilities are more publicly visible through its SEC filings, in contrast to the privately held Fisker.


Chelsea Sexton, a 20-year veteran of the electric car movement and an outspoken advocate for alternative fuel vehicles, said she can plainly see the risks, even though her husband works for Tesla.


"None of us with any experience in the industry think there's any sort of guarantee they'll make it," Sexton said of Tesla. "It looks pretty good right now, they're building out their plant, things seem to be on track, so we're all encouraged. But you know, we watched GM and Chrysler go bankrupt."


Energy Department officials said such loans, by their nature, are risky because the department is financing innovative, potentially game-changing technologies that could deliver long-term benefits. They said neither firm has missed a loan payment, or sought help from the department to restructure their lending agreements.


"Two years ago, critics said we shouldn't be investing in American auto manufacturing at all because the industry wouldn't survive," said Damien LaVera, an Energy Department spokesman. "They were wrong then and they're wrong today. From well-established names like Ford to innovative startups like Tesla and Fisker, America's auto industry is being reinvented. Continuing this turnaround demands more innovation, not defeatism. While supporting innovative technologies always carries a degree of risk, these investments deliver long-term benefits."


Yet an audit this year by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, criticized the Energy Department for not keeping close enough tabs on its fleet of auto loans -- including those to Fisker and Tesla -- to ensure they meet benchmarks. The funding was issued under the $25 billion Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loan program, one piece of a giant umbrella of DOE loans and loan guarantees going out the door.


"DOE cannot be assured that the projects are on track to deliver the vehicles as agreed," said the GAO report examining the department's ATVM program. "It also means that U.S. taxpayers do not know whether they are getting what they paid for through the loans."


Tesla and Fisker stand in rare company in securing the ATVM loans. To date, records show, more than 95 percent of applicants are still awaiting approval or have been rejected from the loan pool.


Between them, Fisker, at $529 million, and Tesla, at $465 million, have secured nearly $1 billion to jump-start production of their cars. Combined, the companies have already drawn down more than $300 million, Federal Financing Bank records show.


Industry watchers question whether the Department of Energy had the auto industry know-how to make an informed choice, and they worry that another government-backed failure could damage the very industry the program intended to help.


"I think we'll absolutely end up having our version of Solyndra in the transport world based on the way the DOE has, and seems to still be executing its loan program without enough veteran diligence in the process," Sexton said.

The majority of the DOE funding for Fisker is earmarked for the company to develop a less costly, mass market sedan, called Project Nina. Energy officials issued the loans for a car that, even two years later, has not been publicly revealed.


"A half billion dollars for a car that no one has seen a picture of, in the Fisker Nina, was a bit more surprising to people," Sexton said.


Fisker said the mass market car Nina has been designed and built, but it remains under wraps to maintain a competitive edge.


Heavyweight Support



Standing in a shuttered General Motors plant in Wilmington, Del., Vice President Biden proclaimed that a half-billion-dollar Department of Energy loan would transform the idled site into a production line for electric cars.


"Folks, we're making a bet," Biden said on Oct. 27, 2009. "We're making a bet on the future, we're making a bet on the American people, we're making a bet on the market, we're making a bet on innovation."


The announcement that the plant would re-open followed a heavy lobbying push by Delaware politicians from both parties, who cited the news as a sign of industry's turnaround. In September 2009, Republican Rep. Mike Castle wrote directly to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, saying the Fisker proposal had "great merit," and urging Chu to give the company "careful consideration" for the loan.


The governor and state politicians took turns, along with Biden, to proclaim the project to cheering blue-collar workers clad in jeans, caps and jackets. They said it would produce thousands of jobs and have cars rolling off the line by next year. Fisker said he remains convinced those jobs will come. While he has hired marketing, design and engineering teams in the U.S., the auto plant jobs in Wilmington right now number about 100.


The Department of Energy loan to Fisker closed in April 2010, and again Biden took center stage in a department statement announcing the loan. "The story of Fisker is a story of ingenuity of an American company, a commitment to innovation by the U.S. government and the perseverance of the American auto industry," said the vice president.


ABC News sent questions to the White House Monday and requested an interview with the vice president. Biden was not made available, but an official in his office said "the Office of the Vice President did not encourage the Department of Energy to choose any particular company over any other but, like others in the Administration, supported the Department's loan program and the creation of car manufacturing jobs in the United States."


Energy Department officials have been steadfast that politics never entered the picture and each project was screened by professionals and secured on the merits. And executives from Tesla and Fisker said they won government support because their projects had the best shot at success. They said the involvement of well-connected figures in their companies should not suggest they attempted to use special influence to secure the loans.


Both companies have political heavyweights behind them. One of Fisker's biggest financial supporters, records show, is the California venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The firm financially supports numerous green-tech firms, records show.


Kleiner Perkins partner John Doerr, a California billionaire who made a fortune investing in Google, hosted President Obama at a February dinner for high-tech executives at his secluded estate south of San Francisco. Doerr and Kleiner Perkins executives have contributed more than $1 million to federal political causes and campaigns over the last two decades, primarily supporting Democrats. Doerr serves on Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. Doerr has not replied to interview requests since March.


Former Vice President Al Gore is another Kleiner Perkins senior partner. Gore could not be reached for comment.


"Their major venture investor is Kleiner Perkins, who has Al Gore as a partner and is certainly politically connected in general," said industry observer Sexton. "Whether that played a role or not is up to the DOE to explain."


Tesla brings political pull, as well. A former Tesla board member, Steve Westly, is an Obama bundler who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the president in 2008 and for his 2012 re-election campaign. His Westly Group was also a financial supporter of Tesla Motors until Tesla went public in 2010, and Westly continues to back the company. Westly has declined interview requests since February, but has appeared in multiple conferences, forums and TV interviews publicly praising Tesla Motors.


Tesla's founder and CEO, Elon Musk, is a hearty political contributor who has primarily backed Democrats, including Obama. According to published reports, another Tesla investor is Nick Pritzker, a donor to Obama and a cousin of Penny Pritzker, the national finance chair of Obama's 2008 campaign.


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O'Connell, the Tesla executive, said political muscle played no role in the company's award of the $465 million in loans, noting that the initial application was filed under Bush -- though landed under Obama.


'Demonstrated Track Record'



In Tesla's case, as in Fisker's, the government loan was broken into two parts.


The first chunk, for $365 million, is to finance a manufacturing facility for the Tesla Model S sedan, Tesla's lower-cost answer to its pricey Roadster.


The other $100 million funded a facility to manufacture battery packs and electric drive trains used by Teslas and other automakers, including the Smart For Two city car by Daimler. Tesla points to such partnerships - along with investments from Toyota and Panasonic - as signs that long established companies believe in its cars.


"We have a demonstrated track record on the financial side," O'Connell said, "that should give great comfort to the American taxpayer, as they think about a loan that's helped us to accelerate our business model."


Unlike Fisker, Tesla is a public company. Its SEC filings offer a more sober assessment of the obstacles it faces on the road to profitability.


Tesla has yet to turn a profit and suffered net losses in each quarter. "Since inception and through the three and six months ended June 30, 2011, we had accumulated net losses of $522.8 million," its most recent 10-K form shows.


It has no experience in high-volume manufacturing of electric cars, its filings say -- the very project it sees as the road toward profitability. Tesla said it encountered "significant delays" in launching the Roadster - and acknowledges that developing the Model S will be a more complex undertaking. The newer car is the project financed by DOE.


"We have no experience to date in high volume manufacturing of our electric vehicles," Tesla's SEC filings say. "Our future business depends in large part on our ability to execute on our plans to develop, manufacture, market and sell our planned Model S electric vehicle."

The Roadster was produced in small quantities with the body assembled by Lotus in the United Kingdom and final assembly by the company at its facility in Menlo Park, Calif. The Model S, by contrast, will have much greater volume and be manufactured in Fremont, Calif. The company said production will begin next year.


Industry observers say Tesla's grand plan to launch the Model S is fraught with challenges.


"They want to scale up production from 1,000 cars a year to 20,000 cars a year, [and] that's going to be a very hard trick for them to do," said Alex Taylor, a veteran auto industry analyst and writer. "They want to make most of their own parts; Detroit can't do that because it's too inefficient. And Tesla wants to own its own dealerships. Henry Ford tried that back in the 1920s and gave it up because it was too difficult."


O'Connell said the SEC filings present worst case scenarios. He said the company, and its major investors, believe the risk will reap rewards.


"It is a risky venture in the best heritage of some of the other great companies that have grown up in the Silicon Valley," he said. "This is a place where people propose ideas, finance those ideas, achieve milestones, attract a greater finance, and succeed along the way."


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Police vow to bring person who shot 7-year-old girl 'to justice'

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Police vow to bring person who shot 7-year-old girl 'to justice'

Child showing signs of improvement












By TOM MURSE
(Lancaster) Intelligencer Journal/New Era






City police chief Keith Sadler answers questions about the shooting of a 7-year-old city girl at a press conference earlier today.
(INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL/NEW ERA -- DAN MARSCHKA )
The 7-year-old girl who was shot in Lancaster city Tuesday night cried out, "I don't want to die, I don't want to die!" as her stepfather carried her toward the hospital, neighbors said.



The unidentified elementary school girl, who was struck by at least three or four bullets in the legs and torso, was in critical condition but showing signs of improvement at a Hershey hospital on Wednesday, police Chief Keith Sadler said.



The girl was wounded while playing with her sister outside of their house in the first block of West James Street, near its intersection with Market Street. Her mother and stepfather also were sitting outside of the home when the shooter opened fire just before 8:20 p.m., police said.



Sadler said investigators had not determined who, if anyone, was the intended target. No one has been arrested in the case, but the chief vowed that "nobody in this building is going to rest until this person is brought to justice."



"A crime like this - somebody has absolutely no regard for human life," Sadler said at an afternoon news conference at the downtown police headquarters.



The chief restated the department's earlier appeal for information from the public, specifically about a silver Mercedes-Benz or BMW that was seen leaving the intersection after the shooting.



Sadler said it remained unclear whether the shots came from the vehicle or whether the car was a target of the shooting.



"At this point in the investigation, we don't know if that vehicle was involved in the actual shooting of the little girl or a vehicle that possibly could have been fired at," Sadler said. "We don't know who the intended target was."



He said police were reviewing surveillance camera footage and interviewing residents of the block, which is between Prince and Queen streets.



Sadler and a police spokesman declined to identify the victim, who is believed to be a second-grader at Ross Elementary School, or her family. School District of Lancaster officials declined to comment and referred questions to police.



Sadler said he believed the family has lived on the block for only a few months.



"It was a mild night. A lot of folks were out, and they should have a reasonable expectation to sit in front of their house without being shot," he said.



Hope Nein, 23, who lives near the girl's home on West James Street, said she heard four gunshots as she walked home from a nearby convenience store.



After the girl was shot, her stepfather grabbed her and began running with her toward Lancaster General Hospital.



"She was crying her eyes out, saying, 'I don't want to die, I don't want to die!' " Nein said.



A passer-by stopped and gave the girl and her stepfather a ride the rest of the way to the hospital's emergency room a block and a half away.



Hospital personnel worked to stabilize the girl's condition before she was airlifted to Hershey Medical Center late Tuesday.



Witnesses told reporters that several people were sitting outside when a silver vehicle pulled up near the home and someone inside the vehicle began firing. They said the car fled north on North Market Street.



***


Andrew Marshall, a community organizer and former Weed and Seed coordinator in Lancaster, said he was outraged by the shooting and wants the community to get involved in crime-prevention efforts.



He will hold a public meeting at 10 a.m. Saturday at New Life Christian Fellowship Church of Lancaster, 1501 Millersville Pike, where he is an elder.



"This was the last straw for me," he said. "We've done a lot of stop-the-violence rallies, a lot of marches. Our time to do something is now. We're going to organize, get some mentors into schools.



"When I (learned of) that little girl getting shot, it was just enough for me that we're going to do some stuff," Marshall said.



***


City police ask anyone with information about the vehicle or the shooting to call them at 735-3300. Callers do not have to give their name to provide information. Tipsters also can call Lancaster City/County Crime Stoppers at (800) 322-1913.


tmurse@lnpnews.com




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