Electric Car Company Building Vehicles in Finland After Obtaining US Gov't Loan From Obama Administration

The Obama Administration and Department of Energy are defending a $529 Million loan to Anaheim, CA-based electric car manufacturer Fisker after a report from ABC News on Thursday highlighted the fact that two years ago, the Administration approved the company shifting production overseas to Finland.

Vice President Joseph Biden heralded the Energy Department's $529 million loan to the start-up electric car company called Fisker as a bright new path to thousands of American manufacturing jobs. But two years after the loan was announced, the company's manufacturing jobs are still limited to the assembly of the flashy electric Fisker Karma sports car in Finland.

"There was no contract manufacturer in the U.S. that could actually produce our vehicle," the car company's founder and namesake told ABC News. "They don't exist here."

Henrik Fisker said the U.S. money has been spent on engineering and design work that stayed in the U.S., not on the 500 manufacturing jobs that went to a rural Finnish firm, Valmet Automotive.

The loan to Fisker is part of a $1 billion bet the Energy Department has made in two politically connected California-based electric carmakers producing sporty -- and pricey -- cutting-edge autos. Fisker Automotive, backed by a powerhouse venture capital firm whose partners include former Vice President Al Gore, predicts it will eventually be churning out tens of thousands of electric sports sedans at the shuttered GM factory it bought in Delaware. And Tesla Motors, whose prime backers include PayPal mogul Elon Musk and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, says it will do the same in a massive facility tooling up in Silicon Valley.

Fisker is more than a year behind rolling out its $97,000 luxury vehicle bankrolled in part with DOE money. While more are promised soon, just 40 of its Karma cars (below) have been manufactured and only two delivered to customers' driveways, including one to movie star Leonardo DiCaprio.

A department of Energy spokesman defended the loan to Fisker, saying that the company also plans on producing a $50,000 hybrid called the Nina at a shuttered General Motors plant in Delaware.

"The Department's funding was only used for the U.S. operations," Energy Department spokesman Dan Leistikow wrote. "The money could not be, and was not, spent on overseas operations. The Karma also relies on an extensive network of hundreds of suppliers in more than a dozen U.S. states."

He said the first part of the loan, $169 million, supported engineering work at Fisker's U.S. facilities as the company "developed the tools, equipment and manufacturing processes for Fisker's first vehicle" -- though that work so far has not contributed to a production line in the U.S.

But Leistikow said the rest of the loan is still supporting U.S. production of another vehicle line called the Nina.

"Fisker is using this funding to bring a shuttered General Motors plant in Delaware back to life and employing more than 2,500 workers. Fisker was attracted to this site in part by the opportunity to rehire some of the trained, dedicated workers who lost their jobs when that plant closed," Leistikow said.

However, industry sources are claiming that Fisker's production of the Nina at the Delaware site has been pushed back to mid-2013. Fisker claims that the car has been designed and built, but remains under wraps to maintain a competitive edge.

Moreover, according to a recent Forbes article, once off its electric motor (reportedly good for 32 miles) the Fisker's Karma hybrid actually gets worse gas mileage than a late model Ford Explorer SUV

Does anybody else remember the various factory and workshop tours that President Obama embarked upon during 'Recovery Summer' last year? All of them seemed to pivot around so called 'Green Jobs'- factories that made electric vehicle components, solar panels or batteries for hybrids. And it seems that this wasn't really by accident, either.

Oslo Aftermath- Shooter May Only Get 21 Year Sentence; Death Toll Revised Down to 76, Former PM Was Gunman's Main Target?

As many of the victims in Anders Breivik's murder spree were being laid to rest it came to light that under Norway's penal code, Breivik could conceivably serve just 21 years imprisonment for his bombing of government offices in Oslo and gunning down scores of children and adolescents at a summer camp on Utøya Island.

Under Norway's judicial system an inmate incarcerated for an indeterminate timeframe must demonstrate that they are no longer a danger to society at large. Given the scope and severity of Breivik's actions, it would be assumed that he would always pose a risk to the public. An additional five years of 'containment' would be tacked on to the end of a sentence if the inmate was found unfit to be released or paroled.

Norweigan Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg signaled in the immediate aftermath of the massacre that the country's penal system would be re-examined in light of the natures of the crimes Breivik has confessed to.

In the days following the shooting, officials in Norway revised the death toll down to 76- with 68 killed on Utøya Island and eight killed in the downtown Oslo bombing. In the immediate aftermath, the ranged from 10 to as many as 96 killed. Even with the revised death toll, the July 22nd attacks remain the deadliest in Norway since World War II.

Breivik had reportedly been in contact via e-mail and internet bulletin boards with far right groups in Norway, the UK and Belgium prior to the massacre, although he never relayed any plans for violence in his correspondence. Shortly before the massacre, he e-mailed a lengthy 1500 page 'manifesto'- some of which was plagiarized from the Unabomber- to contacts in England and elsewhere in Europe.


Meanwhile, according to a press release from the execrable Westboro Baptist Church, the 'Reverend' Fred Phelps and his congregation announced that they intend to picket the funerals of those slain in the July 22nd massacre.

While there are technically no laws on the books in the USA to prevent the Westboro congregation from picketing the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed emergency legislation blocking them from protesting any of the victims slain by deranged gunman Jared Lee Loughner in the January 2011 Tuscon Massacre.

However, Norway has laws on the books against 'hate speech' meaning that the antics the Westboro congregation pulls here in the USA at soldier's funerals with impunity would earn them an arrest, fines and possible jail time in Norway [Note- I'm not endorsing such laws for here in the USA- NANESB!]

Norway's General Civil Penal Code, comments in Section 135 a. on "hateful expression" related to religion and sexuality: "Section 135 a. Any person who willfully or through gross negligence publicly utters a discriminatory or hateful expression shall be liable to fines or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years. ... The use of symbols shall also be deemed to be an expression. Any person who aids and abets such an offense shall be liable to the same penalty."

The law further clarifies what hateful expression encompasses, “inciting hatred or persecution of or contempt for anyone because of his or her: a) skin color or national or ethnic origin, b) religion or life stance, or c) homosexuality, lifestyle or orientation."

Considering the clear wordings of the law the members of the church may not be able to get away with their picketing in Norway as they do in the U.S.

“If they implement what they threaten, I can only confirm that it is one of the most bad ideas at the moment,” said Johan Fredriksen , chief of staff of the Oslo police to the Norway Broadcasting Company (NRK).

[On a totally random side-note, is it just me or does the Westboro Baptist Church seem more like a charicture of how progressives or athiests like Bill Maher view Christianity than an actual church?- NANESB!]

After his arrest, Breivik told police that one of Norway's former prime ministers, Gro Harlem Brundtland, was his main target. Brundtland had delivered a speech to the ruling Labor Party's youth camp on Utøya island earlier that day. Breivik also said that he had accomplices or allied 'cells' that were ready to strike unspecified targets, but examination of his computer files and e-mail correspondence seems to indicate that he had worked alone in procuring weapons and planning the attacks.

Suspected Suicide Bomber Dead in Stockholm Blasts

The Telegraph (UK)

A car bomb followed by a suspected suicide bombing left two injured and the apparent bomber dead in Stockholm on Saturday night.

A spokeswoman for the Stockholm Police said that a car exploded near Drottninggatan- a busy shopping district in the city center- which was followed by a second explosion further up the street. An injured man who later died from his injuries was found at the scene of the second blast.

Approximately 10 minutes before the first blast, police and Swedish news agency TT received an e-mail denouncing the presence of 500 Swedish military personnel in Afghanistan and cartoonist Lars Vilk's drawings depicting Muhamed. The e-mail also warned of unspecified 'actions' that were imminent and contained sound files in Swedish and Arabic.

Sweden had raised it's terror threat level from 'low' to 'elevated' as far back as October due to an increase in activity from Scandinavian-based groups. Still, the threat of a terrorist attack in Sweden remained relatively low compared to other European nations.

Grim Milestone: McDonalds Withdraws From Iceland After 3 Million Served

The Golden Arches announced they were pulling out of Iceland effective next weekend. The collapse of the Icelandic Krona and McDonald's [NYSE: MCD] requirement that the Icelandic franchisee imports much of the ingredients made many of the items on the menu cost prohibitive (just over $5 for a Big Mac, apprently).

Lyst Hr., the franchise holder for McDonalds in Iceland will keep the three locations open, but they will be operating under a different name and use locally available ingredients starting in November.