IS IT TRUE May 22, 2014

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Mole #??
Mole #??

IS IT TRUE we are going to take a break today from the hoopla in Evansville regarding recordings, leaking of confidential emails, and copies of audits in hopes that some truths will emerge?…the three ring circus continued in full form yesterday and so much conflicting information is coming from the Mole Nation about emails and a possible other recording that we are going to give it a rest until there is a preponderance of verification one way or the other?…today’s subject matter is inspired by everyone who has installed or considered installing rooftop solar energy to save money on their electric bill for the life of the hardware and the trials and tribulations that governments contribute to that process?

IS IT TRUE that in many leading edge things California is he experimental laboratory for the United States?…California has been the first in the nation to do things like tax revolt (proposition 13) in the late 1970’s that set the groundwork for property tax caps at 1% which Indiana followed up and did roughly 30 years later?…California banned public smoking in 1988 and while a few states got on board quickly Indiana is still not on board but a handful of cities not including Evansville have?…there are many other areas where California has been the first to adopt new ideas with some of them proving to be good and others being flops but the successes and failures of California provided good lessons for the less daring states?…today the two areas where California is way ahead of the pack is in the taxing of carbon emissions and in the mass adoption of rooftop solar energy?…today as rooftop solar energy is in the news in Evansville the CCO will discuss what has worked in California and what is still being worked out?

IS IT TRUE Lyndon Rive, the CEO of Solar City told this writer that with the permitting process out of the way they are capable of doing a one day installation of rooftop solar which is now being referred to as distributive generation to include other home based electricity generation?…the process now takes three months and costs up to 30% more due to government red tape and utility company delays in issuing an interconnect agreement?…what Solar City is now capable of if the government red tape and the costs associated with it are removed is allowing their customers to buy solar in the morning and generating power later the same day?…given that a solar rooftop costs about the same as a car and involves a similar transaction single day fulfillment seems like the standard we should be living up to?…if Solar City can do this most other installers can too?…the impediments to single day solar fulfillment are all rooted in Sacramento and in the cities that drag out the permitting process due to working at the speed of government?…the Sacramento part is the fact that the California Utility Commission allows the utilities to take 30 days to issue an interconnect agreement and 30 days is what they always take so they can get that last power bill out of solar rooftop owners?

IS IT TRUE in many ways the California Utility Commission is at the forefront of solar with a mandate for net zero metering, time of use pricing, and even enabling overproduction to be paid for by the public utilities?…the only areas needing serious changes are in moving at the speed of government int he permitting, inspection, and interconnect time to execute?…the last thing Lyndon Rive said was that government red tape is 30% of the cost of a new solar rooftop or in this writers case $5,700 of my solar rooftop cost went to feed bureaucrats and the rest went for what I wanted?…my generation cost is fixed at 5.9 cents per kilowatt hour now but would have been 4.1 cents per kilowatt hour if I was not forced to feed the government beast?…that compares to an average rate of 18 cents for residential ratepayers making my payback period roughly 3.5 years based on pre-tax income?…Indiana does not yet have mature policies for distributed generation but hopefully someday soon it will so people can make their own choices when it comes to how to power their homes?…the one thing that is clear is that in most of the country solar is a cost effective solution today and will just get to be more so as power prices from centralized generation continue to rise?

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

74 COMMENTS

    • Jordan are you jonesing on negativity again this morning. Take heart. Soon enough your fellow bewailers surely will be on here with their chronic laments.

      • Sumat a politcal anàlisi de bases de dades

        Marcat de nou. Estúpid és com estúpid ho fa. (Forest Guanacos Mare}

        _/\__/(-\|_ (***|_\ (*_|<|_\)-/\_< 😛

      • There you go again. The C&P goes on attack against both SBR & Al yet those who oppose it like me are negative. And once more, you can keep trying that tactic but it won’t stick. The machine’s double standard hypocrisy is on full display for all to see and no one is falling for it.

        Btw, your new screen name is perfect. It looks exactly like something you would see in the header of a C&P article. They should give up trying to figure out this whole printing press machine(s) and stick to what they work with best- rubber stamps.

    • Cutting Nuts is what Fox Squirrels do not news papers. Maybe there are too many squirrels running the Courier and Press these days!

      Of course that doesn’t look good for IU since that’s where the guy went to University!

      Shame on the Editor for not catching such a huge mistake in a Huge Headline before publication.

      They should be made fun of on a National Basis.

      Too bad Jay Leno retired as he use to read stupid headlines like that on his show and make fun of them. He could have used that “Cutting Nut’s” one for sure.

      Now as for Solar energy getting more and more popular and the Fossil Fuel Promoters trying their best to stall and slows down the growth of the Solar and other alternative energy source I’m all for using alternative energy resources to supplement and reduce as much a possible our use of coal. The less coal we burn the cleaner our air will be. We can also extend the coal supply for many more years but using Solar and Wind energy resource when ever it’s possible. I know that the sun does not shine ever day but that’s no excuse to not use solar energy to the max when the sun is shining. We can also use Wave motion and water (dam the Ohio River and make a hydro electric plant where it’s possible) to power our country.

      Heck I’m even an big advocate of growing Fuel Cells to power our homes, Cars, trains, boats and any thing else that can carry a hydrogen fuel cell tank or make it’s own hydrogen fuel out of water. The navy is already making fuel out of water molecules today.

      But the people who have big money invested in using Fossil Fuel technology won’t like to see new alternative energy taking money out of their back pockets and over seas bank accounts. 🙂 too bad is all I can say.

      Now it’s up to Governor Pence to put the wood on his Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) and tell them to get cracking on making Vectren give the necessary paperwork and other permits so that people can get cracking on using Solar Energy on their homes in a day.

      We need more solar energy generation not less. And we need it fast not slowed down by bureaucratic and reluctant utility company executives.

      • I like the proposed idea of building a solar farm out by Ellis Park. I just wish someone would actually go through with it and not leave it sitting in a planning binder collecting dust.

        • Spring & Fall flooding would wipe solar field out near Ellis Park. It’s not so much the water as the trees & other debris. Maybe the fields between Evansville & Mt. Vernon?
          Thiose unsightly fields also create quite the glare. NIMBY 🙂

        • Ellis Park is in Henderson. The power is 5 cents per kWhr. No need for solar power there unless Vectren will let them sellthe power to us Hoosiers. Fat chance on that happening.

          • To answer both of you guys, no it’s not close enough to Ellis to be in Kentucky, it’s near it but farther up north by eagle slough. It’s also far enough north to avoid most of the flooding although I would imagine it would be elevated. I’ll check the renderings again when I get home and let you guys know.

  2. Good to hear that the process works. As usual sad to hear that the government and the bureaucracy has to sully an honest thing by sticking their nose into it and then siphoning off a cut to “feed the beast”.

  3. If I owned any property here, I would be in line for the switch-over to solar. I have seen two houses in this area installing roof panels in the past few weeks, and I long for an alternative everytime the Vectren bill shows up in the mailbox. If I owned my home, especially if I had a young family, I’d be doing whatever I needed to to make the change. This is an investment worth raiding your 401k for, in my estimation.
    Btw, congratulations on the professional success you’re enjoying in the Coachella Valley, Joe!

  4. 1) c & p states that George Fithian, City HR guy, says the Fire Dept. brass’ vacation pay was “just an error” . . . and that statement repudiates Al’s claim ???. Why ?;

    2) c & p states there is no racial bias, quoting LW, and then Sherman Greer himself says “no racial bias”. What if Sherman, as part of his severance, could not comment negatively about his termination specifics ?

    Al Lindsey was excoriated in an Editorial Cartoon this morning (Thursday, 5/22)in the c&p. Payback will be hell.

    • Speaking of payback and hell, wait until the audit comes out and David Garrett goes through it line by line to compare it to the recording of the exit conference. El Baldo’s (John Friend) head will be spinning around like Linda Blair’s trying to splain that one away. It makes you wonder what has gone on behind closed doors to transform John Friend from being a competent watchdog and frequent critic of Mayor Winnecke and Russ Lloyd to being a lapdog for the machine overnight. Will the real John Friend please stand up? Oh, maybe there is not a real John Friend and playing the chameleon has always been his style.

    • Is Tim Ethridge the editor of the C&P now? If so, that might explain the shift in the way the paper does business?

  5. WFIE is not taking a break from the Brinkerhof-Riley attacks. Its reporting on this story has been among the most biased I’ve ever seen on local television. And now the general manager has aired a vicious editorial condemning her. What a crusade. I’ll never trust WFIE for my news again.

    • They apparently made a decision a while back to aim at an aging demographic, one that can’t remember what those unhappy tsk tskers had to say the evening before. They have put all their eggs, except for that one egg that often reports with suspect lighting and voice from Owensboro, into the weather hysteria basket. They are no longer worth watching anymore than their cumbersome web site is worth navigating.

      Yes sir, Jeff and his ‘storm team’ will keep you safe. (Quick!! take cover. We’re staying on all night with weather maps, the show you were watching be damned). To worsen their position they’ve been boarded, at Raycom’s behest, by a very opinionated Ulmerism that should be excised before it drives away even those who still get their weather delirium fix there. I realize Curt John might well view this as a threat but it’s not, it’s proposed surgery. If Ulmer manages the station like he does his rants they are in trouble. Perhaps an Astroglide-aided merger between WFIE and the CP would give both a couple more years to try to glom your advertising dollar while providing content driven by a metastasizing toadiness.

      It’s a poor time for the CCO to suspend reporting on our city council and Evansville’s finances. Haney has taken note and is circling again. ‘All that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing’. ~~ Probable Burke

    • Didn’t Hiz Honor Little Lloyd Winnecke work for WFIE 14 as a talking head at one time. Maybe he’s got something to hold over the head of James David Longest (a.k.a., “David James”). Talking head, bank marketing director, “Realtor”, sham mayor – they’re all experts at skinning cats.

    • The Phoenix is above many things by virtue of flight but shaking the ‘John Fraud’ tail is not one of them.

    • Was this message put in here by the Editor of CCO?

      If so I wish it were possible to make that new text in RED COLOR or something to make it clear that it’s newly added text by the Editor or who ever and not coming from the name on the post at the top.

      I’m guessing that the original text was removed and then the new text was added to show that the old text was not appropriate! But it could be made a little bit more clear IMHO.

      Anyway. Carry on. Nothing more to see here!

    • At least they gave you a reason for pulling your post. Still no answer to why they pulled
      my post yesterday. Come on boys give me a reason.

  7. If I watched TV, which I don’t, in fact don’t own one, I think I would find it strange that a person like SRB who has done so many good things for the city would “suddenly turn bad” like local media outlets are claiming. Wouldn’t a sane citizen start wondering after awhile why everyone is so vicious? Or are the locals so self-absorbed that any “news” of any type from any source is in one ear and out the other? I believe you were wise to take a break for a day or two until some of this shakes out.

    As far as solar, what a state you live in to use it — lots of sunshine year around. This has to be a huge help to what otherwise is a high cost of living state I believe.

    We have solar panels but as you stated Indiana did not have the 3 benefits of net metering, time of use pricing, and pay for overproduction for a long time. When Vectren got their version of net metering, we proceeded with our panels. The state also still does not have a tax incentive for installation of solar panels. Despite all this, I know that our solar use is the correct way to go. It is expensive to install here but it is our contribution to the betterment of the planet as well as our electric bill.

    You might want to look into Brad Morton’s litigation (Morton Solar and Wind) against Vectren for the obstructions that they have thrown at him over time. Ted and I were supportive of him in that process. I have found that with Vectren and in Evansville in general one must be very proactive and on top of things to make sure that work gets done correctly and on time. In this case there were instances where Vectren did not install their new meter to connect to the solar meter for net metering for a year or more until they were called on it. Therefore these people did not get credit for the solar energy produced. OOPS! Just a clerical error.

      • Thanks dveatch for connecting to Brad Morton’s testimony. Vectren is a piece of work. In this computer age, their claim for my paperwork was that they did not receive it when Brad emailed it. Brad emailed me the same stuff and me on my dinky computer at home received it just fine. They seemed really frantic when talking to me on the phone about the problem. Of course this was when they knew that the IURC had already been advised and was getting involved. I believe that the process is now to the civil suit stage but I may be wrong on that.

      • After reading this testimony, all I can think of is how one company, VECTREN, can absolutely discourage/stifle entrepreneurship in a whole industry.

        It is clear that VECTREN has damaged this man’s business.

        __

  8. A day in the life of joe “the tea party member” republican–by John Gray

    Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of coffee, he
    takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised.

    All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer’s medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance – now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

    In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

    Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joes employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union.

    If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn’t think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

    Its noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.

    Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime.

    Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers’ Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification.

    He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to.

    Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn’t mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day.

    Joe agrees: “We don’t need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I’m a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have.”

    • I don’t know if this post is supposed to be about me but I am registered as a Libertarian and support many liberal positions but remain fiscally responsible. I still drive to work (I would use public transport if it were convenient) and have never been in any job where there was even an option to join a union. I do understand the thought behind the story though. As with all things there are truths and myths in the extremes and the practical solution is found by choosing the most implementable parts from each and moving forward.

      • People are always talking about being “registered” on this site. Where does one do this registration? If you are referring to asking for a ballot of one party or the other during a Primary election and that they mark down which one you selected….that means nothing. Could you please clear up what registered means? Thank you.

        • That is a good point you’re raising. In Indiana, as in most states, a voter registers as a “citizen”, not as a member of either political party. Many people wrongly believe that they are registered as a member of whichever party’s primary that they vote in, but that is not true. For polling reasons, parties sometimes classify those who vote in primaries as being members of one party or the other, but there is no legal obligation of the citizen-voter to either party.
          Just a few days ago, someone came forth here with the idea that if a voter opts to vote in a primary of the party that they don’t normally vote in, they must sign an affidavit saying that they intend to vote for a majority of that party’s candidates in the general election. One only needs to think about what a ridiculous, totally false idea that is. For one thing, we are entitled to a secret ballot. For another, when voting in a primary, no one knows who the candidates in the general election will be.
          One commentor even went so far as to offer the dictionary definition of “declare” to show me the error of my ways. The poor soul didn’t realize that the voter is “declaring” what party’s ballot they want in the primary, and that is ALL that they are declaring.
          The poster who came up with the affidavit tale didn’t realize that it comes from party bylaws, NOT election law. Sometimes, in order to be placed on a primary ballot of one party or the other, the PARTY, not the STATE will require that a candidate is a “member is good standing” of that party. If the candidate has voted in a primary of the other party recently, the party can require that candidate sign such an affidavit. That is NOT state law. It is a “club” rule.
          I have, over more than three decades, served in virtually every capacity a citizen can serve in on election boards. While doing those things, it was necessary for me to learn election law thoroughly. It is a shame we have so many people running around who think they know these things, when it is obvious they haven’t “been there and done that” when it comes to real service.

          • My dear Laura, before you continue with your condescending characterizations of other posters, you first should go carefully read, if that is possible for you, the Indiana statute explaining the process of declaring your party affiliation when voting in a primary. The statute clearly states that when a voter asks for a Republican ballot, that voter is affirming his or her intent to vote in the following general election for a majority of the Republican candidates on the November ballot.

            Now we all realize that is not always the intent of all Republican primary voters, although I’d venture that most Republicans who vote in the primary indeed will vote for a majority of their party’s ticket again in the fall. But you and I know that there are cross-over voters who ask for the opposite party’s primary ballot in with the usually vain hope of helping to nominate the weaker candidate in a contested race.

            Also, please read the specific language that applies to what a primary voter must say and sign when asking for one or the other party’s ballot at the poll. Your impression is based on what you commonly encountered at the polls, and maybe whatever you said to voters when you and Alice (or was it Sabra) bamboozled your way through back in the day. But your impression is wrong. Go read the statute.

            Now, I got to get back to secretly recording anything that will embarrass my party and make my community look like a bunch of bickering hicks.

            Caio for Now

        • The direct answer to your question is that “registering” is completing the necessary paperwork that certifiies your eligibility to vote. It can be done at the license branches and/or online, and a number of other places as well. In IN, people do not register as members of a party. Association with a political party is only made when one votes in a primary election, which is one reason why so few people vote in them. In practice, anyone is free to vote in any primary, without obligation to further support that party’s candidates.

      • I believe you were taking “Ghost’s” post way too personally. Likely, the use of the name “Joe” was based on the “Average Joe”, “Joe Six-pack,” and “Joe the Plumber” memes.
        I agree with most Libertarian thought, up to a point. That point is where I see the “extreme” of Libertarianism, and you likely see that point as an “extreme” of liberalism.
        As for your comments on organized labor, I would remind you that just because you don’t or haven’t worked in a union job, it doesn’t mean you don’t benefit from the existence of unions. Your fringe benefit package is the direct result of a union organizer’s fight.
        I think Abraham Lincoln summed things up nicely in his first inaugural speech, when he said, “Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.”

    • Ghost: Your attempt at humor or sarcasm is really sad.

      Quit trying to claim ownership for things that you clearly have no idea the circumstances behind their creation. You can regurgitate whatever lib talking points you heard from your books on disc machine. But you know nothing but what you are told by those who own you. The claims you make are only halve truths and do not show the whole story.

      Unlike what you have been told by your masters, not all republicans want you to be without health care, they don’t want grandma to die, they don’t want kids to go hungry, they don’t want their wives to be paid less. Just as not everyone on your side wants full government control, abortions on demand, gathering of all guns, thought police and PC BS.

      Try doing some research on your own, dare I say read a little about other points of view. If you enter things with a clear POV you might actually educate yourself on the real world and see that handouts, more government interference (right or left or the aisle) and bureaucratic BS are not the answer.

      Their is some good in both sides, there are just many who are scared to express an adverse opinion about it.

      • This coming from a guy who compares Obama to Mao. And I’m the sensationalist?

        • Oh I don’t know. Mao had his own country men killed and Obama has used drones to murder American citizens via drones (without due process). So on that point there is a connection.

          • That’s ridiculous. Look at both the scope and the motivation of both. Ludicrous analogy.

          • Yes I know. It is indeed ludicrous of Obama to murder Americans denying them due process… but it happened none the less.

          • Kind of like holding people indefinitely, torturing them, and not bringing any charges against them?

        • I got an even better one for you Tom. Republicans send vets off to Iraq on phony pretexts to be killed and maimed, won’t adequately fund the VA(Just like Embassy security)when they come home but somehow R’s are the patriots who love our country and support the troops while Obama and Clinton are traitors who leave our soldiers and ambassadors hanging out to dry and be killed.

          Do you beleive that shit!???

          AND the military keeps voting R in huge numbers.

    • Ghost, the unions haven’t accomplished anything since 1970, which was the creation of osha. The healthcare provided by businesses had nothing to do with unions, it was a business effort to attract and keep good employees. The unions today are riding on the backs of great workers who came before them. Unions had some great wage increases in the 70’s which helped create a global economy that has sucked a lot of jobs out of this country. This also caused the minimum wage to be totally inadequate. Of course, the great liberal savior, Clinton, helped the decline of the unions with nafta. Unions will continue to decline as the jobs shift to RTW states, plus those non union car makers are kicking some serious butt.

  9. 14 Lie News is now reporting that SBR was responsible for the explosion of the Hindenburg in 1937. Film at 10.

  10. Why isn’t 14 reporting that the audit took about a year to complete and that it was staffed by a non-CPA and three rookies? Even their boss wasn’t a CPA!

    • sorry Russ, the accountants inexperience won’t bail you out; their Supervisors have LOTS of experience.

  11. CP and 14 are acting like the CCO on crack with no regard for truth or being newsworthy.

  12. Yes Virginia, there is life outside of Corruptville (aka Evansville) and believe it or whatever, some people Contend there is life on other planets.
    Yes Joe, growing tired of Evansville’s sordid saga besets us all, and a break is welcome. Not to worry, Most of us Realize that the Trash that runs Evansville will carry on until someone slips up, and goes to jail, and that is probably the only consequence that might precitate meaningful change in Evansville.

  13. editor i did not realize libertarians was for more taxes especially a carbon tax that destroys the middle class and the poor…….life on this planet needs carbon to survive and to think man in the last 100 yrs has destroyed the weather because of carbon is just in my opinion ridiculous…….love the site………PS since we destroyed the weather lets make all our energy needs dependent on the weather……

  14. I’m not trying to be hyper-critical, but in the “poll” question, the word should be “stewards”, with a “d”, not “stewart.”

    • I wonder if we should the CCO to the same level of standards as the C&P? I mean spelling. As for the rest of the “standards” anyone can beat the C&P.

      • Given the difference in the size of the staffs, I can surely excuse CCO for a few grammar errors. The content here is on a much higher level than that of the Courier, even with the “skeleton crew” that sails the CCO ship. On the other hand, it seems that the Courier should never have a spelling or grammatical error considering the fact that their stories are pretty much written for them by the Puppet Masters’ Guild, that runs the City. All their cadre of interns needs to do is polish the content that arrives already prepared.

  15. Moved to Warrick County in 1999.
    Thank God.
    A cruise around Warrick County on a Sunday is delightful.
    Try the same around Evansville.

    I lived all over the US and landed in Evansville in 1985 and thought I had found Magic Town. It was delightful.

    Now it’s this thing? This ugly thing?
    What is the speed of corruption?

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