Hard on the heels of $118 million “stimulus” recipient Ener1 declaring bankruptcy comes news that another highly-touted “green energy success story” just laid off two-thirds of its workforce.  From the Las Vegas Sun:

Just seven months after California-based solar power company Amonix Inc. opened its largest manufacturing plant, in North Las Vegas, the company’s contractor has laid off nearly two-thirds of its workforce.

Flextronics Industrial, the Singapore solar panel manufacturer that partnered with Amonix to staff the new $18 million, 214,000-square-foot plant, laid off about 200 of its 300-plus employees Tuesday.

Especially if it’s been painted.

An innovative low-cost smart paint that can detect microscopic faults in wind turbines, mines and bridges before structural damage occurs is being developed by researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

The environmentally-friendly paint uses nanotechnology to detect movement in large structures, and could shape the future of safety monitoring.

Much ink has been poured over the fact that 51% of tax filers paid no federal income taxes in 2009.  There is less attention directed towards the more outrageous statistic; 30% of tax filers had a negative tax liability that year.  In other words, they made money off the tax system.

The Uzbek refugee facing terrorism charges in Denver was a merchant turned human-rights activist who tried to defend farmers, opposed Uzbekistan’s dictator after a 2005 massacre, endured a detention that left him bloody, saw his sister arrested on a false murder charge, then fled by night to neighboring Kyrgyzstan dressed as a woman.

... and haven’t been for some time. But ...

Scientific Study Proves Blogging Therapeutic for Teens

Engineers at Sandia National Laboratories have invented a small-caliber, self-guided bullet and have had initial success testing the design in computer simulations and in field tests of prototypes. Using tiny fins and flying without rotation, the bullet is believed to be accurate at a distance of more than one mile.

The Treasury Department is investigating a report that Freddie Mac, the mortgage giant, bet against homeowners’ ability to refinance their loans even as it was making it more difficult for them to do so, Jay Carney, a White House spokesman, said on Monday.

But Fannie and Freddie, which said they would review the increased incentives, have long declined to allow debt reduction on the loans it holds or guarantees, saying that it would create unnecessary losses for taxpayers. The companies, which are financed by taxpayers, have also maintained barriers to refinancing, like risk-based fees for homeowners, even as mortgage interest rates have dropped below 4 percent.

Democrats investigating the failed gun-running probe known as “Operation Fast and Furious” are laying the blame at the feet of officials in Arizona, saying in a new report that lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have “obtained no evidence” implicating high-level political appointees in Washington.

At the same time, the report reveals that two top Justice Department officials, in previously undisclosed interviews, insisted they would have taken action if they had the relevant details, and said it is “absurd” and unfair to suggest they knew early-on about the tactics of Fast and Furious.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe expressed doubt Tuesday that Western powers would be able to win Russia over to a draft UN resolution calling on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

‘We’re blocked by a number of countries, mainly Russia, which opposes every resolution (on Syria),’ he said.

At about 10.40 one morning last August, Mohammed Abul Barra rammed his ash-colored station wagon into a security gate outside the United Nations headquarters in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, knocking it off its hinges. Barra’s 1996 Honda Accord then crashed through the main building’s glass doors and slammed against the reception desk.

The suicide strike left 25 people dead and the U.N. headquarters in tatters. It also drew global attention to Boko Haram, the militant group from northern Nigeria which has claimed responsibility for the attack and a string of bombings since then that has killed hundreds.

Over the last three years, the number of Americans on food stamps has skyrocketed by two-thirds and stands at a record-high 46 million citizens, or one out of every seven people in the United States.  Despite the historic rise in food stamp use, however, the Obama Administration believes not enough people are receiving food stamps who should be and is offering $75,000 grants to groups who devise “effective strategies” to “increase program participation” among those who have yet to sign up.

Two men accused of plotting to attack a Danish newspaper that caricatured the Prophet Muhammad were found guilty Monday of terror charges in Norway, the first convictions under the country’s anti-terror laws.

A third defendant, David Jakobsen, was cleared of terror charges but convicted of helping the others acquire explosives. Jakobsen, who assisted police in the investigation, was sentenced to four months.

Sheikh Aboud Rogo Mohammed, the Muslim cleric who was arrested on Sunday in possession of deadly ammunitions in Kilifi appeared in court Monday.

Among the charges the prosecution presented before Mombasa chief magistrate Lillian Mutende against the sheikh includes possible intent to commit a felony and possession of firearms without arms certification.

Oakland police said they arrested about 300 people Saturday as protesters spent a portion of the day trying to get into a vacant convention center, and later broke into City Hall and tried to occupy a YMCA.

All of those are non profits.

Conservative filmmaker James O’Keefe and his colleagues at Project Veritas have done it again. This time their bombshell video shows election workers in New Hampshire giving out ballots in the names of dead voters at multiple voting precincts during the state’s recent primary election.

Of course, the response they got from New Hampshire’s Democrat Governor was an investigation of them—not the policies that prevent election volunteers from verifying the identity of voters.