Kudos to the Ausra company, which brought jobs to Las Vegas this week in the opening of it's reflector production line of its first North American manufacturing and distribution center in Las Vegas.  Quoting the company's press release,“The 130,000-square-foot, highly automated manufacturing and distribution center will supply the reflectors, absorber tubes, and other key components of the company's solar thermal power plants to the rapidly growing Southwestern solar power industry”.
Among those attending Monday's ceremony was Senator Harry Reid, who had kind words for the alternative energy facility.  "Nevada is poised to be a leader in the clean energy revolution," said Reid. "This facility will help position our state as the premiere place to invest in these new technologies. As the factory expands operations and we continue to invest in clean energy, we'll create thousands of good-paying jobs and keep our outdoors pristine for future generations."
But then Harry had to get his dig in at other traditional power facilities, saying “We talk about cost competitiveness, but the one thing we fail to talk about is (sic) those costs that you don't see on the bottom line,  that is, coal makes us sick, oil makes us sick, it's global warming, it's ruining our country, it's ruining our world.  You've got to stop using fossil fuel. We've for generations taken it out of the earth, carbon out of the earth, and put it in the atmosphere, and it's making us all sick, it's changing our world.”
Reid has been opposing the development of two coal-fired power plants in northern Nevada needed to supply Las Vegas with reasonably priced power that we need to continue the growth in the valley as well as bolster the economy in that economically-challenged area.  
Harry has been drinking the Al Gore Global Warming Kool-Aid and ignoring the evidence from a number of scientists that while Man impacts the environment, Global Warming is part of a multi-century cycle that Man cannot control.  
Among those challenging the accepted-yet-unproven UN Backed “Man-causes-Global-Warming” position is one John Coleman, founder of the Weather Channel, who joined a number of other scientists calling the hysteria a “fraud” and advocating suing carbon credit sellers, including Gore!
Make no mistake, I believe in being a good steward of the environment.  I believe that the activities of companies like Ausra helps combat our dependence on foreign energy sources and helps keep our environment clean.  But the radical position of those like Senator Reid show he has been co-opted by the radical left.  
The Senator from Searchlight continues to do us no favors.

I wondered how long this would take.
Starbucks is closing 600 company owned stores due to the lagging economy.  That's 19 percent of those stores opened in the last two years.  
I guess the fact that a gallon of gasoline now costs more than a latte impacted their business model.
I never liked Starbucks.  I prefer my caffeine in a different vein.  Give me an old-fashioned southern Sweet Tea any day!
(BTW, I'm not going to McDonalds to try their junk!)

Can I tell you how disturbed I am that our government continues to be totally confused over the possible links between salmonella and tomatoes? According to FDA Food Safety Chief David Acheson they still aren't sure where these tomatoes are sourced from and where they've contracted the salmonella bacteria!  So far, the outbreaks are continuing even though the FDA supposedly “found” the problem.  Apparently not.
Meanwhile the tomato industry is suffering millions in losses since the FDA is “blaming” tomatoes for the problem...despite the fact that the FDA still can't pinpoint the source!  
Our beloved government: still able to screw up a two-car parade.

John McCain supports free trade with Latin America.
Here we go again.  Like I really want to rant about the single most destructive bit of foreign policy to come out of Washington in the past 20 years.  
Suffice it to say I have no desire to support McCain over this single issue alone.  

I do have to defend McCain over this single issue though:  Why was it OK for Wesley Clark to tout his military record when he ran four years ago, but it's not OK for McCain?
I'm just asking.

Oh, be careful as you drive down the street.  It hasn't happened here yet, but there are reports of people stealing manhole covers and selling it for scrap metal.  
Well, at least they didn't steal the copper out of an air conditioner – or out of a still.  That would be a fight I'd like to see..

The best part about Wyatt Cox's life right now is that he has so little to steal.  Steal a glance at his columns at rant.wyattcox.net