Sarah Palin: W.T.F are solar shingles?

Apparently, Sarah Palin is not a big fan of solar shingles. The 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee made that much clear during her speech at last week's Tax Day Tea Party in Madison, Wisconsin:

Less than 90 days after the election, in his State of the Union address, President Obama told us, nah, the era of big government is here to stay, and we’re going to pay for it whether we want to or not. Instead of reducing spending, they’re going to “Win The Future” by “investing” more of your hard-earned money in some cockamamie harebrained ideas like more solar shingles, more really fast trains – some things that venture capitalists will tell you are non-starters. We’re flat broke, but he thinks these solar shingles and really fast trains will magically save us. So now he’s shouting “all aboard” his bullet train to bankruptcy. "Win The Future"? W.T.F. is about right.

Not sure what W.T.F. stands for? The definition can be found in the Urban Dictionary.

Sarah Palin's profane attack on solar shingles appears to be belated response to something President Barack Obama said in his 2011 State of the Union address back in January:

Already, we’re seeing the promise of renewable energy.  Robert and Gary Allen are brothers who run a small Michigan roofing company.  After September 11th, they volunteered their best roofers to help repair the Pentagon.  But half of their factory went unused, and the recession hit them hard.  Today, with the help of a government loan, that empty space is being used to manufacture solar shingles that are being sold all across the country.  In Robert’s words, “We reinvented ourselves.”

That’s what Americans have done for over 200 years: reinvented ourselves.  And to spur on more success stories like the Allen Brothers, we’ve begun to reinvent our energy policy. We’re not just handing out money.  We’re issuing a challenge.  We’re telling America’s scientists and engineers that if they assemble teams of the best minds in their fields, and focus on the hardest problems in clean energy, we’ll fund the Apollo projects of our time.

The government loan in question was modest in size - $500,000 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to be precise. An estimated 20 private sector jobs were created as a result of the project. Sales of Allen Brothers' solar shingles kicked off in June of 2010, with 20 orders being filled in the first month alone. And yes, the company really did donate supplies and labor to help rebuild the Pentagon after the 9/11 terrorist attacks:

Even big time corporations like Dow Chemical Company are investing in solar shingles. In this video, a Dow Powerhouse spokesman explains how everyday roofing contractors can install solar shingles by "swinging hammers, hitting nails." Sounds like a pretty practical idea!