Sign on the main drag of Tonopah, Nevada
For all you Fousesquawkers who were wondering where I have been the last five days, I have been on special assignment-in Nevada. Now that I am safely back in California (after a couple of days R and R in Vegas), I can report to you the following:
Last Thursday night, I was in an establishment in Tonopah, Nevada called the Club House, a place where libations are purveyed. Where is Tonopah, Nevada, you ask?
You don't wanna know.
Anyway, as I entered and sat at the bar, there was a party going on. Spanish music was blaring -not Mexican music, but music from Spain. It was pretty darn good too. About 20 or so people were there and the booze was flowing fast and furious. (No, they were not Department of Justice officials celebrating Eric Holder's birthday.)
Being of some experience working undercover in my old DEA days, I started up a conversation with a couple of guys in Spanish, and soon, just like in the movies, people were buying me drinks and sharing their life stories with me.
It turns out that among the group, two were American, one was Mexican, one was Colombian, and all the rest were from Spain. Wondering what all these Spaniards were doing in Tonopah, Nevada, I asked and found out that they were all there to construct a solar tower outside of town. They had just finished that very day and were celebrating.
What is a solar tower, you ask? (I did too.) Here is some background on this project.
http://www.pv-tech.org/news/tonopah_solar_secures_us737_million_loan_guarantee_from_us_doe_for_its_cres
Talking with one of the American guys, I learned that the funding for this project was part of the Stimulus Package. My new-found friend told me that when work began, he was a little miffed that so many of the jobs for this project (Green jobs, mind you) had gone to folks from Spain and other countries. He quickly added that in working with them, he decided they were all pretty good eggs (I agree), and he enjoyed the experience although there were problems with language since many spoke little or no English. I wanted to ask more questions, but I was afraid that might...
Blow My Cover.
The next day, driving north on Nevada Highway 95, I could see the tower off in the distance. I tried to take a couple of pictures with my handy Red Rider cell phone camera, but it didn't come out visible, and I didn't feel like driving another 5 miles out of my way to get a close up.
But there is more according to this report by Gateway Pundit:
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/09/more-crony-socialism-obama-gives-737-million-to-pelosis-brother-in-laws-solar-firm/
No, Nancy Pelosi was not in the bar. If her brother-in-law was there, I can't say.
So you see, I had inadvertently stumbled onto a story that my conservative blogger-colleagues were already onto.
So according to the above link, this project got 735 million bucks from Uncle Sam. And all those green jobs? They brought them over from Spain.
Ole!
3 comments:
Just goes to show, we need our community colleges training young Americans for those green jobs. We've let the Spanish (and the Chinese) get a march on us again.
That rail line from Milwaukee to Madison that Gov. Walker cancelled was going to run cars built by a Spanish company, but they had invested millions in renovating an abandoned industrial area in the middle of Milwaukee, and hired local people to do the work. They were going to hire a lot more too. The local Chamber of Commerce eagerly sought them to locate here.
The local Chamber of Commerce also supported Walker for governor, and declined to go to bat for the contract that the company was depending on when the Chamber of Commerce implored them to invest millions of dollars renovating the abandoned industrial site.
Well, we're going to recall Walker in the next couple of months. At least the solar tower got built.
In my big truck driving days I visited the metropolis. I was fairly certain that I was in Hell. A Richard Bachman (S. King) book crossed my mind.
You probably passed through around the time that Reagan was shutting down all the decent paying jobs in America, preparing them to be shipped to China. "Roger and Me" had nothing on what the Reagan era did to Milwaukee.
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