GREEN jobs were supposed to save the planet and boost the U.S. economy, but a new report shows that while the nation blew billions, the jobs created on President Obama's watch have been few.
"Since 2009, the wind industry has lost 10,000 jobs, even as the energy capacity of wind farms has almost doubled," Wynton Hall of Breitbart.com reported.
"By contrast, the oil and gas industry has created 75,000 jobs since Mr. Obama took office."
A $500 million job training program financed by the Labor Department helped only 20,000 people find work and remains far short of its goal to place 80,000 workers in green jobs by next year.
Hall cited a report by Reuters.
"None of this will come as a surprise to conservatives and Republicans," Hall wrote. "Indeed, the ream of failed green energy stories is endless.
"Still, it's encouraging to see a consensus among mainstream media begin to sprout - even if green jobs aren't."
It's not the job of the government to create jobs. The private sector created those 75,000 oil-and-gas jobs with little government assistance.
It's time for Washington to stand back and let capitalism work its magic. If solar, wind and other alternatives are ever going to work, they ought to have to do it on their own without billions in forced contributions from taxpayers.
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BECKLEY has more than a few, proud, Marine recruits. A month ahead of high school graduations, Marine Sgt. Brandon Hyden has signed seven Woodrow Wilson High School seniors and expects to enlist an eighth recruit next month.
He said this is the largest number of Marine recruits the school has ever produced.
The Register-Herald in Beckley talked to a few of these recruits.
J.T. Lilly wants to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, a Marine in the Vietnam War.
GREEN jobs were supposed to save the planet and boost the U.S. economy, but a new report shows that while the nation blew billions, the jobs created on President Obama's watch have been few.
"Since 2009, the wind industry has lost 10,000 jobs, even as the energy capacity of wind farms has almost doubled," Wynton Hall of Breitbart.com reported.
"By contrast, the oil and gas industry has created 75,000 jobs since Mr. Obama took office."
A $500 million job training program financed by the Labor Department helped only 20,000 people find work and remains far short of its goal to place 80,000 workers in green jobs by next year.
Hall cited a report by Reuters.
"None of this will come as a surprise to conservatives and Republicans," Hall wrote. "Indeed, the ream of failed green energy stories is endless.
"Still, it's encouraging to see a consensus among mainstream media begin to sprout - even if green jobs aren't."
It's not the job of the government to create jobs. The private sector created those 75,000 oil-and-gas jobs with little government assistance.
It's time for Washington to stand back and let capitalism work its magic. If solar, wind and other alternatives are ever going to work, they ought to have to do it on their own without billions in forced contributions from taxpayers.
***
BECKLEY has more than a few, proud, Marine recruits. A month ahead of high school graduations, Marine Sgt. Brandon Hyden has signed seven Woodrow Wilson High School seniors and expects to enlist an eighth recruit next month.
He said this is the largest number of Marine recruits the school has ever produced.
The Register-Herald in Beckley talked to a few of these recruits.
J.T. Lilly wants to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, a Marine in the Vietnam War.
Riley Purdy's great-grandfather served in World War II.
"I have always wanted to be in the Marines since I was little," Purdy said. "The Army did not interest me the way the Marines did."
Matt McBride was another person who did not need convincing.
"I have known since I was 12 that I was going to be in the Marine Corps," McBride said. "I know the Marine Corps is the most elite fighting force in the world."
Their voluntarism reflects well on their families, friends and school.
***
THE presidential race is going to the dogs. Democrats attacked Mitt Romney for transporting the family dog, Seamus, in a carrier on top of the family car on a vacation trip.
The Romneys said they didn't want to board Seamus for two miserable weeks when he wanted to be with them, and that he loved to travel that way.
Republicans countered with a passage from one of President Obama's memoirs in which he disclosed that as a child growing up in Indonesia, he tried dog meat.
He said it tasted tough, but snake tasted tougher.
As entertaining as these incidents are - late-night comedians need material - the question remains:
What does this have to do with choosing the president of the United States and the leader of the free world?
Americans aren't as taken in by cheap shots as political operatives think they are.
Voters do value clear statements of principle when they are heard over the clatter of nonsense.
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