Google

BP Solar, the alternative energy subsidiary of the oil industry giant which received a $7.5 million Department of Energy grant only four years ago, announced last week it would exit the solar business.

The competition in corporate America to show who is “Greenest” or “most sustainable” has spun out of control, with the Alinskyite effect that drives corporations to spend vast amounts of time and money trying to address the whims and requests of every Leftist niche group that waves some kind of scorecard in their faces.

According to a report in USA Today, venture capitalists are throwing tons of money into clean and “Green” technology companies. In fact, investor Alan Salzman of VantagePoint Capital Partners says, “It's not alternative: We think of it as mainstream."

How mainstream? The newspaper says:

Several venture capitalists interviewed say it could be hundreds of billions of dollars — if not more — when adding up various slices, such as wind (estimated $60 billion) and solar ($20 billion to $30 billion).

According to a front-page Wall Street Journal story today, the Obama Administration is “preparing a stepped-up approach to policing internet privacy,” including the creation of a new watchdog agency. Ironically, this comes in the wake of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) dropping its investigation of the Google “WiSpy” operation just days after the President attended a fundraiser at the home of a Google executive.

As part of its “Street View” data collection activities, Google cars collected passwords, e-mails and other personal information wirelessly from unsuspecting people in several countries. The government should get to the bottom of this massive invasion of personal privacy before the administration talks about setting up new agencies.