Monday, April 30, 2012

But there's no GOP Establishment: Ludicrous "Young Guns" Back Dick Lugar Over Tea Party Conservative

If you needed additional proof that our current House "leadership" -- including John Boehner and Eric Cantor -- needs to go, I refer you to Exhibit Z:

...Politico’s Maggie Haberman is reporting that the leadership-affiliated Young Guns Network has sent out mailers asking Democrats to vote for Dick Lugar (not exactly a young gun) in the Indiana Republican primary against Richard Mourdock on May 8. But that’s not all. They are stirring up Democrats by referring to Mourdock as extreme. In what way is he extreme? He wants to eliminate the Department of Education!

Do you want to know what is really extreme? The creation of the Department of Education, after surviving almost 200 years without it. Since the DOE was created, the cost of college tuition has increased over 439% adjusted for inflation! The rate of increase is almost exactly commensurate with the rate of growth of DOE subsidization. As you can see from this chart, the government-induced housing bubble pales in comparison to the government-induced Big Education bubble.

Remember that the Department of Education began operating on May 16, 1980. Imagine how extreme the inflation in education costs would have been had the extremists thwarted the creation of the DOE back in 1980? Come to think of it, what would we have done had Dick Lugar failed to vote to create the Department of Green Energy in 1977? I guess that part was left off the mailer.

This is all economics 101 for Republicans, but I guess they feel they can say anything to an audience of Democrats, as long as they serve the purpose of reelecting an 80-year old liberal. The real irony here, as Bill Kristol points out, is that Young Guns was created to “chart a new course for the center-right movement and the House majority.” Lugar is neither new, center-right, or in the House!

The Department of Education has contributed mightily to the explosion in tuition costs. Just as the government's tampering with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac helped cause the housing crash, literally every unconstitutional endeavor in which this federal gaggle of bureaucrats has engaged has ended up in failure. Economist Richard Vedder explains:

When someone else is paying the bills, people want to buy more of the good or service in question at prevailing prices than when the customer pays the bills. This means a higher demand for higher education, and other things being equal, higher tuition costs. … Each one dollar in grant aid leads to tuition fees somewhere around 35 cents higher than would otherwise be the case. Just as third-party payments in medicine have led to escalating health care costs, so increased student financial payments have contributed to soaring tuition costs...

So getting rid of the Department of Education is not only rational, it's what I would call "a good start".


Daniel Horowitz accurately calls this madness from Eric Cantor's "Young Guns" treachery. And he's right.

I urge you to support Richard Mourdock for U.S. Senate. It's time someone put their foot down on the GOP establishment. And that foot is us.

To paraphrase Animal House.

Caption Contest: Still Life With Drones

I need better captions for the bubbles.


First prize gets a half-off coupon from the International House of Pancakes, expiration date unknown. Cause things are tough all over, man.


Obama Works His Way Down the Wikipedia Definition of Totalitarianism

Funny how liberals try to tar conservatives, Tea Partiers and others who believe in the tenets of America's founding as some sort of nascent fascists.

Because if you go down the official totalitarian checklist, it's the progressive movement that is ticking off the requisite agenda items, one by one.

Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible.[2] Totalitarian regimes stay in political power through an all-encompassing propaganda campaign, which is disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, a single party that is often marked by political repression, personality cultism, control over the economy, regulation and restriction of speech, mass surveillance, and widespread use of terror.

Let's go down the list, shall we? Yes, we can.

• "...where the state recognizes no limits to its authority..." - as I have copiously documented ("President Barack Obama's Complete List of Historic Firsts"), the president recognizes no Constitutional limits on his power. Just a few examples:

In an maneuver unprecedented in American history, Obama declared the Senate in recess over a long weekend to make recess appointments that could never have passed Senatorial scrutiny.

He became the first president to violate the War Powers Act by bombing Libya and claiming NATO was in charge, not him.

In four years, he doubled the debt issued by the United States for all previous presidents combined, which resulted in a first-ever downgrade for America's debt.

His administration lied to a court regarding the Gulf oil drilling moratorium and was found in contempt of court.

When a federal judge ruled Obamacare unconstitutional and issued an ordered HHS to cease implementation of the law, his administration ignored the judge and feigned ignorance of the order.

When Congress refused to pass the wildly unpopular "DREAM Act", which would offer a form of amnesty to illegal aliens, he ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to cease deportations and issue work permits for illegals instead.

He ordered his Justice Department to sue states for requiring valid identification to vote, despite the fact that the Supreme Court had earlier ruled such laws were valid.

His Labor Department banned Boeing from opening its $1 billion facility in a Right-To-Work state, an unprecedented act in all of American history and a tacit payoff to the unions that have funded his campaigns.

Oh, that's just the tip of the iceberg. You can review the complete list here. Suffice it to say that Obama recognizes no Constitutional limits on his power. And, furthermore, can you imagine what this man will do if there's no reelection hanging over his head?

• "...strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life..." - the Obama regulatory regime controls all forms of energy production (and wants to regulate the air we exhale, carbon dioxide); the cars we drive; the size of toilet tanks we can install; the kind of light bulbs we can buy; the maximum legal water flow permitted in our shower heads; the kind of health insurance policies we can buy; how much money a bank can charge to issue a credit card; what kind of medical innovations may be introduced by private companies into the health care market; the water in your backyard (it may be a "wetland"); and the list goes on and on and on. In fact, no one knows how many millions of pages of laws and regulations we are expected to know under penalty of fines and imprisonment.

• "...stay in ... power through an all-encompassing propaganda campaign, ... disseminated through the state-controlled mass media..." - from NPR to The New York Times, mass media never attempts to vet Obama, his background, upbringing, or core beliefs. In "The Secret Scrapbook of Barry Soetero", I offer a tongue-in-cheek review of his rise to the presidency. But suffice it to say that no one in media delved into his relationship with Jeremiah Wright or Bill Ayers; how he paid for Columbia and Harvard; what his grades were; why his medical records were never disclosed; etc. Old media is state-controlled and the constant flow of reporters to politics and vice versa is proof that they are in lock-step, something never envisioned by this country's founders.

• "...often marked by political repression..." - when was the last time a presidential campaign named private citizens as "enemies" because of their political donations? For that is precisely what the Obama campaign has repeatedly done, demonizing those who dare offer support to his opponents:

[There has been] a multi-year effort by the ongoing Obama campaign to vilify specific donors to competing philosophical causes... In each of these instances, President Obama has relied on a vast grassroots network to coerce, bully, boycott and vilify individuals lawfully taking part in the political process, just as his own donors and supporters are freely allowed to engage.

...There is no current evidence the President has manipulated the federal machinery punitively. But the message remains clear, if you support a philosophical adversary, you will face some retribution. The media has so far given this White House tactic a pass... What name will elicit a defense of Constitutional freedoms? Must it be one of their own, as was the case under Nixon?

Shouldn’t every American be protected against the heavy hand of governmental intimidation? The President must explain his intimidation of people who have lawfully participated in the political system and have borne no electoral injustice to our nation other than participating in lawful industries the President finds objectionable and supporting organizations and campaigns the President opposes.

• "...personality cultism..." - Do we really need to review this?


I couldn't help but notice....

• "...control over the economy..." - again, I don't think we need to review nationalizing two auto companies, crushing the private student loan industry (enjoying those interest rates, kids?), effectively nationalizing much of the banking industry through onerous and prescriptive legislation, effectively nationalizing health care through the disastrous PPACA (Obamacare), and "fixing" housing while avoiding the tough problems that include Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, otherwise known as the job shops for connected Democrats. Need we review all of that?

• "...regulation and restriction of speech..." - they started with the "Fairness Doctrine", moved on to "community standards", and are now trying to eradicate conservatives' social media accounts -- in many cases, successfully. In short, the totalitarian left despises free speech and critics of the First Amendment include President Obama, who has repeatedly hectored the Supreme Court for honoring the Bill of Rights, as in the case of Citizens United.

• "...mass surveillance..." - they've not quite gotten there yet, but the Obama administration gave the go-ahead to the "CISPA Internet surveillance bill". Suffice it to say that we really don't know what kind of surveillance is occurring and it will, should this man be reelected, get much worse.

The final tenet of the totalitarian agenda is terrorism. The progressive-Communist Left can't quite pull that off yet, though I would remind you of Obama's multiple exhortations to create a "civilian national security force". Remember this golden oldie?

We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.

You starting to get the picture, Sparky? Why they're constantly attacking the Second Amendment?

It's the last domino on the road to totalitarianism.

But don't believe me. Read the definition again and do the math.

I shudder to think what this country will become if this man gets reelected.


And Axelrod Wept: Why Millions of Youth Voters Will Reject Barack Obama and the Failed Democrat Agenda

If a picture is a worth a thousand words, this infographic could be worth five million youth voters who have sadly come to the realization that the Utopian fantasies of Statist oligarchs are actually nightmares.

From high school to grad school, students across the country are preparing to get their diplomas and move into the next phase of their lives. This is always a time of hope and excitement, but there is no denying the obstacles young people face in today’s economy. Many will have to move home to save money. Many will struggle to find work. And those who can strike out on their own often won’t earn what they would have 5 years ago.


You cannot impose ObamaCare, borrow $1 trillion every year, restrict energy production, constantly threaten higher taxes, and still expect entrepreneurs and small businesses to take the same risks and hire the same numbers that they otherwise would. We need a new approach that gets the government out of the way and gives Americans – young and old – the freedom to chase their dreams.


Sources: The Associated Press, TIME, Economic Policy Institute, Pew Research Center

Resist we much.


Larwyn's Linx: At War With Our Own Party

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

At War With Our Own Party: RS
Sebelius forced to admit total constitutional ignorance: NB
Twitter's infestation of radical flag-spam abusers: Twitchy

A not-friendly reminder to the Activist Left about Gitmo: Moe Lane
The Truth Gets a Hearing in Dearborn: Atlas
Master of Lies: CDN

Economy

Uh Oh: World Food Prices Spike As Soy Harvest Collapses: Mead
NYT Shields Readers From Walker's Gains in WI: Mead
Obama's Wasteful Spending Ad: Publius

Meet the New Farm, Same as the Old Farm?: Zombie
10 Dubious Obama Records: FAM
What Have Democrats Been Doing for 1,000 Days?: ATR (1/24/12)

Chart of the Day: Obama Stimulus Spending Per Capita by State: VR
We don't need to reform the TSA, we need to get rid of it: SAB
Spain Joins 10 Other Western Countries in Recession: ZH

2012 Elections

Obama Losing Rock-star Status Among Young Voters: Barone
Mitt Still Hasn’t Convinced: Huston
Lugar to target cell phones near Mourdock events: LI

Scandal Central

Trayvon: 46 Days; Fast and Furious: 527 Days and Counting: AT
Senate Democrats Can’t Pass a Budget Because They’re Too Busy Setting Traps for Republicans: LoneCon
Solyndra Not Dealing With Toxic Waste At Milpitas Facility: CBS SF

Climate & Energy

EPA and the White House Wash Their Hands of the ‘Crucifixion’ Mess: RS
Transcript: Al Gore Got ‘D’ in ‘Natural Sciences’ at Harvard: CNS
Wind farms linked to temperature increase: ABC Australia

Media

Google Chief Schools Krugman: 'Surely You're Not Arguing Government Should Hire All Unemployed People': NB
Reuters analysis of Obama failures abroad pretty much as expected: LI
#FreeChrisLoesch: Twitter and Conservatives: Breitbart

Ashley Judd Makes Cruel and Tasteless Jokes About Abortion in Political Video: RSM
Maureen Dowd's Screech: 'American Women Are Hunted Creatures' by Catholics, GOP: NB
Krauthammer’s Hilarious Takedown Of EPA: NoisyRm

"Breitbart Is Here" DC Chapter of FreeRepublic "Freeps" The White House Correspondent's Dinner: Marin
18 funniest jokes by Jimmy Kimmel at the White House Correspondents' Dinner: Politico
California Lottery Edits Ad After Radical Feminist Groups Complain Against 'Glamorizing Violence': AmPower

Twitterverse Mocks NPR Over Shameless, Obama Boot-Licking Headlines: GWP
Fareed Zakaria Shocker: Buffett Rule Is 'Bad Politics' for Obama: NB
Everybody Keeps Getting a Busy Signal at the Blogger Burnout Hotline Nowadays: RSM

World

What the Times and the Post have ignored in April: Matzav
Aerial Armada Assembles Off Iran: Wired
Red Cross: 16 killed in attack on Catholic worship service at Nigeria university: Fox

Progressives Claim Radical Islamists Taking Power in Mid East is Good For the World: BRubin
Why isn't Muhammad Abu Shahala all over the western media?: Matzav
CIA Told Obama Case for WMD in Iraq Was Stronger Than Bin Laden Being in Abbottabad: NB

Sci-Tech

How I learned to say, 'Hi, Google Docs; bye, MS Word': Cooper
Real ‘Beautiful Mind’: College Dropout Became Mathematical Genius After Mugging: ABC
Sitting Can Kill You: Insider

Cornucopia

Pictures of The Day: Personal Responsibility in a POTUS: Babalu
Andrew Breitbart’s Assigned Coroner? Dead, Heart, Poison Suspected: NoisyRm
Seven dead after van flies over railing into Bronx Zoo: Post

Image: Marooned in Marin
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: The Senate Conservatives Fund Needs Your Support

QOTD: "Al Gore launched Current TV in 2005 and it took off like a North Korean rocket. To be honest, I didn't even know that Current TV was still on the air, but then I don't get channel 'a million'." --Jimmy Kimmel

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Great News: American Lung Association Helping the EPA Crucify Energy Companies With Your Money

Just when you thought all of the corrupt uses of Stimulus money had been exposed -- from Solyndra to Tesla Motors -- comes word that even ostensibly independent organizations like the American Lung Association are suspect. It's called greed, drones. Google it.

Let's start with an article from last week's Houston Business Journal headlined "Houston listed as one of worst cities for smog":

Houston was listed as the No. 8 worst city for smog according to a new report for the American Lung Association... the association’s State of the Air 2012 report ranked the worst U.S. cities for ozone pollution, or smog.

The report found that an estimated 127,325 children suffer from pediatric asthma and 322,605 adults suffer from asthma in Houston.


...Texas is currently in a legal battle with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concerning air pollution rules. Most recently, Texas and 14 other states challenged the legality of the EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, which imposes caps on nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide from coal-fired power plants in eastern states and creates a 27-state trading program.

So the ALA says that more than 450,000 people in Houston suffer from asthma. And this is precisely the kind of report that is routinely used by the EPA to "crucify" (their words, not mine) energy companies.

Now, does the ALA have clean hands when it comes to the EPA? That would be a big negatory, because you and I -- America's taxpayers -- are helping fund the ALA to produce this propaganda.

Last week, we learned that millions of dollars from President Obama’s “stimulus” bill were actually used by the government to lobby itself in favor of higher taxes. Specifically, grants to state obesity prevention programs were raided for cash to lobby local governments in favor of sin taxes on love-handle products, such as sugar and soda.

...Contrary to dismissive statements made by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, this is against the law. Sebelius asserted that it’s only illegal when federal grant money is used to lobby the federal government, but in fact, it is illegal for such funds “to be used directly or indirectly to pay for any personal service, advertisement, telegram, telephone, letter, printed or written matter, or other device, intended or designed to influence in any manner… [a] jurisdiction, or an official of any government, to favor, adopt, or oppose, by vote or otherwise, any legislation, law ratification, policy, or appropriation.”

...[For instance, t]he American Lung Association of Idaho/Nevada, Inc., received $1.4 million from a [Stimulus-funded] grant to the Southern Nevada Health District, and happily praised this “exciting initiative” for allowing them to “take on advocacy and policy work,” including “strengthening the Nevada Clean Indoor Act and a tobacco tax increase.”

That's just an example.

The ALA went so far as to lobby the 111th Congress for the Stimulus package (PDF).


And Texas, of course, is one of the states in the crosshairs of the EPA's Crucifixion Strategy.

Texas will take aim in a federal appeals court Friday at a controversial rule that requires aging power plants to sharply reduce emissions that cause smog and soot in neighboring states.

The latest round in the state's fight with the Environmental Protection Agency will be heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, often considered the nation's most influential after the Supreme Court.

In the case, industry groups and 14 states, led by Texas, are challenging the legality of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, which imposes caps on nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide from coal-fired power plants in eastern states. Texas, for one, fears some utilities will shutter plants to comply with the rule, threatening the state's ability to "keep the lights on."

The EPA says the rule is necessary to reduce lung-damaging pollution that causes thousands of premature deaths and respiratory illnesses each year around the power plants and in downwind states.

And that's the kind of data offered up by the ALA, presumably only after taxpayers are forced to contribute to its efforts. In other words, the EPA has recruited the ALA -- with your money -- to "validate" the Eco-Marxist agenda of de-industrializing America.

Is the ALA a worthy charity? Perhaps, but its alliance with the Eco-Marxists -- and its reliance on "Stimulus" grants -- makes its reports utterly suspect. In fact, the ALA's reports -- seeing as they are involuntarily funded by the taxpayers -- must be disregarded.

It's called a "conflict of interest", liberals. Google it.


Exclusive First Look: the Obama Movie Poster Celebrating His Critical Involvement in the Bin Laden Raid

Yes, there really is a feature film on the way regarding the raid that killed Bin Laden. And even Politico has picked up on the crass efforts by the Obama campaign to capitalize on the raid with articles like this one: "Year after bin Laden raid, Obama launches PR blitz.

His campaign’s focus on the raid could fuel criticism that disclosing so many details about the operation will jeopardize the ability of Navy SEALs to carry out future raids... House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King (R-N.Y.) complained last year that the administration was leaking details for political gain, including by cooperating with a Hollywood film originally set to hit theaters just before the election.

Carney dismissed the complaints, saying he hoped congressional critics “would have more important topics to discuss than a movie.” ... However, in December, the Pentagon’s office of inspector general announced it was launching an investigation into allegations that the filmmakers received access to classified information.

Fortunately, Biff Spackle was on the case and has pilfered borrowed an advance copy of the film's movie poster.

I know Joe Biden is spewing out the Ploufflerod-authored campaign slogan of "GM is alive... and Osama's dead."

But what the American people know is that "He killed Osama... and the Economy".



When will Democrats stop lying about oil?

Because to say that America has an untold wealth of oil and gas -- hundreds of years worth, in fact -- is an understatement:

Our liberal rulers want to use an artificially imposed shortage of oil to inflict on us a lower standard of living in the name of their antihuman green ideology, as well as to promote government dependency by hamstringing the economy. As Barack Hussein Obama brazenly lies,
“[Y]ou and I both know that with only 2% of the world’s oil reserves, we can’t just drill our way to lower gas prices — not when we consume 20 percent of the world’s oil.”
Meanwhile, back in reality, The American Dream presents us with 10 facts:
#1 Back in 1995, the U.S. Geological Survey told the American people that the Bakken Shale formation in western North Dakota and eastern Montana only held 151 million barrels of oil. Today, government officials are admitting that it holds 4.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil, and some analysts believe that the actual number could be closer to 20 billion barrels of oil.
#2 It is estimated that there are up to 19 billion barrels of recoverable oil deposits in the tar sands of Utah.
#3 It is estimated that there are at least 86 billion barrels of recoverable oil deposits in the Outer Continental Shelf.
#4 It is believed that there are 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil deposits in the Green River formation in Wyoming.
#5 Overall, the United States is sitting on approximately 1.442 trillion barrels of recoverable oil deposits.
#6 According to the Institute of Energy Research, the United States has a 120 year supply of natural gas.
#7 According to the Institute of Energy Research, the United States has a 200 year supply of oil.
#8 According to the Institute of Energy Research, the United States has a 464 year supply of coal.
#9 According to Pastor Lindsey Williams, absolutely gigantic oil fields have been discovered up in Alaska that the American public is not being told about.
#10 Goldman Sachs is predicting that the United States will be the number one oil producing country in the world by the year 2017.
But with the right people in charge, we can have an energy shortage with accompanying crippling prices no matter how vast the resources we are sitting on. The Ukraine — where Obama’s fellow oligarchical collectivist Joseph Stalin engineered a famine that killed millions — is known as the Breadbasket of Europe. As the great countermoonbat Milton Friedman observed, if the federal government took charge of the Sahara Desert, there would soon be a shortage of sand.

Why is America the only country on Earth that restricts access to its own vast treasure-trove of natural resources?

Because Democrats and the media are in thrall to the Eco-Marxist Left, that's why. And all of them put together know as much about energy production as Barack Obama knows about economic productivity.


"Obama has held more re-election fundraisers than [the] previous five Presidents combined"

Leave it the British media -- in this case London's Daily Mail (via Weasel Zippers) -- to report the inside dirt on the Obama administration's perpetual campaign.

Barack Obama has already held more re-election fundraising events than all five Presidents since Richard Nixon combined, according to figures to be published in a new book... Obama is also the only president in the past 35 years to visit every electoral battleground state in his first year of office.

The figures, contained a in a new book called The Rise of the President’s Permanent Campaign by Brendan J. Doherty, due to be published by University Press of Kansas in July, give statistical backing to the notion that Obama is more preoccupied with being re-elected than any other commander-in-chief of modern times.

...Doherty, who has compiled statistics about presidential travel and fundraising going back to President Jimmy Carter in 1977, found that Obama had held 104 fundraisers by March 6th this year, compared to 94 held by Presidents Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Snr, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush combined... Since then, Obama has held another 20 fundraisers, bringing his total to 124. Carter held four re-election fundraisers in 1980, Reagan zero in 1984, Bush Snr 19 in 1992, Clinton 14 in 1996 and Bush Jnr 57 in 2004.

...In his State of the Union speech in January, Obama bemoaned the ‘corrosive influence of money in politics’. The following month, he reversed course and announced he was allowing cabinet members and top advisors to speak at big money events for so-called super PACs – unaccountable outside groups raising money for his re-election.

During the 2008 election, Obama abandoned a pledge to opt for public funding of his campaign, instead opting to raise an unlimited amount privately. He then raised and spent approximately $730million, almost double the campaign funds of Senator John McCain, his Republican opponent...

...This week, the Republican National Committee (RNC) lodged a formal complaint with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) about alleged misuse of taxpayer money by Obama.

Maybe one day we'll get real journalists in this country.

Larwyn's Linx: ACORN Insider Says Obama DOJ 'Has Gone Wild'

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

ACORN Whistleblower Says Obama DOJ 'Has Gone Wild': AmSpec
Sharpton Sows Seeds of Next L.A. Riot: PJM
Obama SuperPAC donor calls Mormonism "a Cult": WS

A Government That Can Force You to Buy Health Insurance...: ProWis
Federal Judge Enforces Sharia in Ohio Prisons: PunditPress
Obama’s Space Shuttle funeral dirge a show for all to see: CFP

The Collapsing Story Line on the Obama Take-down of Osama: AT
Pathological Politics: Predators and Persecuting Patriots: NoisyRm
This Mandate Is Going to Wind Up in the Supreme Court: Elephant

Economy

Geithner Goes Over the Edge: Kudlow
First Public Pension Files For Bankruptcy: Will Yours Be Next?: Mead
Barack Obama is still f***ing up this student loan thing: NakedDC

Illegal Aliens Rake in Billions Through Tax Fraud: MB
Employment Picture in South L.A. Worse Than During Riots: AmPower
Red Flags in Newt Campaign's Financial Reports?: RSM

Scandal Central

Rep. Issa Stonewalls Fox News' Megyn Kelly on Fast and Furious: AT
Government's answer to "Fast and Furious" records requests: Blank pages: Attkisson
How President Obama uses the official White House Website to advance his own political agenda: Barron's

Republicans prepare contempt citation against Eric Holder over Fast and Furious: Attkisson
After Massive Losses, Stimulus-Backed Company Asks for More Taxpayer Cash: Foundry
You got to know when to Holder, know when to fold him: JPA

2012 Elections

Lugargeddon: New Poll Shows Mourdock Over Lugar by 5%: Hoosier Access
Flashback to 2008: Obama campaign outrageously outraged over Hillary’s use of … Osama bin Laden: Hot Air
Unreal… Eric Cantor’s PAC Urges Dems and Independents to Vote For Lugar: GWP

Climate & Energy

Senator Inhofe Vs. The EPA!: AWD
Warmist Suggests Legislation Restricting Number Of Kids: Cove
EPA ‘Crucifixion’ Video Pulled From Youtube, The Liberal Cockroach Behind the Move: Publius

Media

Obama Makes Nixon Look Angelic: Pelerin
The Idiocy of China Envy: Lowry
Seen in Bus Station Bathroom: iOTW

CNN Host Gasps in Horror After Student Refuses to Say She’ll Vote for Obama: GWP
Young Voters Back Barack Obama Over Romney … but Many Aren’t Poised to Vote: ScaredMonkeys
Taiwanese Animators Parody Inept NYT Publisher Pinch Sulzberger: NB

The Chicago Way: Obama attacking private citizens for the crime …: ProWis
Ahhh, the fresh breeze of civility and tolerance wishes 40 percent of America were dead: IHTM
15 funniest jokes by Barack Obama at the White House Correspondents' Dinner: Politico

World

Obama got Osama, but lost the Middle East: LI
What Congress? Obama frees $192M to Muslim ‘Palestine’: Creeping
Palestinian Clown Union At UCSD: Kesler

'Get Bin Laden' Memo: CYA: Breitbart
Arab Spring: Saudi Arabia closes embassy in Egypt following protests: Fox
Suicides have Greeks on edge before election: Reuters

What Do Israelis Know About Obama that American Jews Are Missing?: Tobin
A Declaration of Independence... From Barack Obama: Toplansky
An 86-year-old, real-life Robinson Crusoe: BBC

Sci-Tech

New Particle Discovered with 'Higgs Boson' Machine: AtlWire
Inside James Cameron’s Dive to the Bottom of the Ocean: Wired
Peanuts or pistachios? Which nuts are best for your health: Fox

Cornucopia

The Horse, Explained: Hairpin
Tim McCarver blames more home runs in baseball on Global Warming: Quinton
Jimmy Kimmel skewers Obama at White House correspondents dinner: Matzav

Image: Breitbart Fans Protest Outside White House Correspondents Dinner
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Senate Conservatives Fund

QOTD: "The Arab Spring is an unshackling of Islam, not an outbreak of fervor for freedom in the Western sense. Turkey’s third-term prime minister Recep Erdogan, a staunch Brotherhood ally who rejects the notion that there is a “moderate Islam” (“Islam is Islam, and that’s it,” he says), once declared that “democracy is a train where you can get off when you reach your destination.” The destination for Muslim supremacists is the implementation of sharia — the foundation of any Islamized society, and, eventually, of the reestablished caliphate." --Andrew C. McCarthy

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Bloomberg (the Idiot Mayor, not the News Service) Strikes Again: NYC Buys Chevy Volt Police Cars

Just don't ask the cops driving them to chase anything faster than bike messengers.

Forty percent of New York City government vehicles are hybrids or run on alternative fuels. The New York Police Department is exempt from the aggressive environmental vehicle procurement requirements of other city agencies and yet, they have at least one marked patrol car labeled for traffic enforcement.


As a commenter notes, this will be for meter maids and intersection control, not armed police officers.

"For meter maids and intersection control".

Because vehicles like this one...


...which go for $1,900 apiece in the aftermarket, are somehow less cost-effective than the $42,000 Volt?

If liberals weren't in power, they'd be useful only as punchlines in sitcoms.


Meter Maid Cart Photo: Flickr User ZeroOne.

Ruh Roh: First Quarter GDP Growth Wasn't Even the Anemic Reported Number of 2.2% - It Was Actually... Zero

Just as it understates unemployment by "disappearing" millions from the labor force, it would appear that the Obama administration has transformed the GDP number into propaganda.

The Advance Estimate for Q1 GDP came in at 2.2%, down from 3.0% in the previous quarter, and below most mainstream media estimates of 2.5%.

The GDP deflator is reported to have averaged 1.2% annualized in the past 2 qtrs. Had the trend rate from '11 persisted, the deflator would have subtracted 2.6% annualized from real GDP, resulting in a 2-qtr. growth of real GDP of 0%.

...Rick Davis at the Consumer Metric Institute makes a similar calculation.

...Once again the BEA has used "deflaters" that will strain the credibility of the public, especially if they buy gasoline. To correct the "nominal" data into "real" numbers the BEA assumed that the annualized inflation rate during 1Q-2012 was 1.54%. As a reminder, lower "deflaters" cause the reported "real" growth rates to increase -- and once again very low seasonally adjusted BEA inflation "deflaters" have been the headline number's best friend. If the raw "nominal" numbers were instead "deflated" by using the seasonally corrected CPI-U calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for the same time period, nearly the entire headline growth rate vanishes -- and the resulting growth rate would have been a minuscule 0.08% with "real final sales" contracting.


And real per capita disposable income actually shrank during the quarter shrank at an annualized -0.27% rate (from $32,699 per capita to $32,677 per capita) -- and it remains lower than it was 5 quarters ago. -- even using the BEA's optimistic "deflaters." Real-world households likely felt the pinch even more.


...Doug Short at Advisor Perspectives has some interesting charts in his post GDP Q1 Advance Estimate Disappoints at 2.2%... [The accompanying] chart shows the disturbing trends...

Three years into a recovery, growth (if you believe preposterous deflators) is a mere 2.2% but only 0% if you don't. Moreover, with parts of Europe in an outright depression, with even Germany and the UK in recession, and with China slowing significantly, the odds the US economy decouples for too much longer is now approaching zero.

Given the proclivity of the Obama administration to dispense propaganda, rest assured that the numbers it announces will be utterly disconnected from reality. And Pravda media will lap it up and regurgitate what ever they're told.

One good thing about the Obama economy? It will hasten the demise of the Statist media.


Headline o' the Day

This:


Can you imagine the pickup line possibilities?

"Say, baby, I've got a meth lab... in my pants!"


Good news: rocket launcher, grenades and guns found in Sacramento, California home

But I'm certain this has nothing to do with open borders and terrorism.

More than a dozen guns, ammunition and a rocket launcher were taken from a Sacramento home, including some found hidden behind a fake wall.

Sacramento police officers said they made the discovery on Wednesday.

The weapons included an assault rifle, assault pistol, 12-gauge shotgun, 16-gauge shotgun, Tommy gun, handguns, hand grenades, ammunition and a rocket launcher.

Sacramento’s Explosive Ordinance Disposal Unit responded to the home to ensure the scene was safe.

The investigation is ongoing, so investigators are not releasing the names of the suspects at this time.

Say, I've got an idea! Let's keep the border wide open, sue states that try to enforce immigration laws, and promote general lawlessness! Oh, wait. You say the president's already doing all that? Forget I mentioned it.


Hat tip: BadBlue.com's Real-Time News Feed.

"I'm unemployed, my wife left me and the house is getting foreclosed on, but at least we've got a cool president!"

And they say Journolist is dead? Gee, Bucky, this doesn't appear orchestrated or anything.

Via Investors Business Daily ("It's Cool To Be In The Tank For Obama"), let's explore the latest legacy media talking points, straight from the desk of David "Red Diaper Baby" Axelrod:

The Washington Post, 25 April 2012: "The battle for Cool in this election seems unfairly tilted in President Obama’s favor"

The Daily Beast, 25 April 2012: "Obama’s 11 Most Badass Moments"

• ABC News' George Stephanapoulous, 26 April 2012: "Campaigning for the ‘Cool’ Vote"

ContactMusic, 26 April 2012: "Jimmy Fallon - Obama On Late Night Too Cool For Cool?"

Christian Science Monitor, 27 April 2012: "Obama's cool factor: what Romney can do to counter it (+video)"

Washington Post, 27 April 2012: "President Obama is cool. Mitt Romney isn’t."

• Kathleen Parker, 27 April 2012: "Obama's cool factor carries the day"

• ABC News, 27 April 2012: "Republicans Look to Undermine the President’s Coolness and Likeability"

• MSNBC, 27 April 2012: "Will Obama's 'coolness' factor work against him?"

Alaska Dispatch, 27 April 2012: "What Romney can do to counter Obama's 'cool factor'"

• CBS News, 27 April 2012: "Can Mitt Romney Make Boring Sexy?"

• Paul Cunningham, 27 April 2012: "Stuck with a socially awkward nominee, Republicans hate it that Obama is so cool"

The Nation, 28 April 2012: "The GOP’s Fear of a Cool Obama"

We Americans don't want a "cool" president. We want a competent one. One who believes in individual sovereignty, personal liberty, free enterprise, a growing and productive private sector, the Declaration and the Constitution. We want a competent president who respects America's laws, its founding, morals and traditions.

And Barack Obama has proven himself, over and over again, to be woefully lacking in each and every one of these areas.


Larwyn's Linx: Obama's Long Knives Come Out

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

Obama's Long Knives Come Out: Cato
Live Not By Obama's Lies: Beacon
Holy Islamville: a Muslim village in South Carolina: Creeping

Death of the Moderate . . . Democrat: RS
Carney: "I Never Lie": Beacon
Too Dumb To Serve in the House?: Marathon

Chicago Public Schools Preaching Anti-Gun, Anti-NRA Propaganda: Jawa
The Crushing Weight of an Intrusive Government: Elephant
Biden Insults His Donors: Exam

Economy

Side Effects: The $8.35 Billion Attempt to Fool Seniors: Foundry
Medicare’s $8 billion advantage: WaPo
'Dumb, dependent and Democrat is no way to go through life': Hill

As California Collapses, Obama Follows Its Lead: Kotkin
A Health Insurance System That Actually Works: WS
The 7 Most Disturbing Quotes From The Obama Administration: Hawkins

Scandal Central

The President Has a List: Strassel
Context Needed to BATFE’s Claim That 68,000 US Guns Were Seized in Mexico: AllAm
Congressman Makes Fool of Clueless Sebelius Over Free Birth Control Rule: FirstThings

TSA forces family to miss flight after targeting 7-year old girl with cerebral palsy, crutches and leg braces: FAM
Good Grief: Airport Checkpoint Shut Down Over Un-screened Baby: STACLU
New Smartphone App Will Let You Complain to the TSA With Ease: Reason

2012 Elections

Lugar’s Desperate Low Road: Hoosier Access
Mitt Romney Could Bring Back The Electoral Map Of 2004: Glob
Pro-Lugar SuperPAC pulls out of race: LI

Climate & Energy

“Crucify Them”: The Obama Way: Malkin
If Only the Romans Had the EPA to Crucify the Dissenters: Cube
Four more congressmen call for EPA official’s head over ‘crucify’ comments: DC

Media

For some reason, Dana Loesch doesn't dig ponytailed husky guys: Diary of Daedalus
Surprise! Secret Service Agents Secretly Serviced While Traveling with Bill Clinton: JWF
CNN’S Roland Martin: Racism is in ‘America’s DNA’: Publius

Further Proof That Everything Is Backwards - Freedom is Now a "Radical" Idea*: Backwards
The Trompe L’oeil Presidency of Barack Obama: XCV
Stephen Colbert Calls Charles Krauthammer 'Count Chocula': NB

Thank You, Mr. Surber: LadyLiberty
Seriously, This Is What's Passing for Liberal Political Discourse These Days: Reason
Attention: State-Run Media Would Like Everyone To Know Obama Is “Cool”: WZ

Cuisines from My Stepfather: Steyn
Absolute Power: AmSpec
Peggy Noonan: This Obama character seems increasingly boring and incompetent to me: Hot Air

World

'Islam Is Islam, And That's It': McCarthy
Elite Afghan soldier kills U.S. special forces mentor: JihadWatch
An important letter with an important message: Babalu

The 100% Sharia-Compliant Iranian EMP Nuclear Weapon: Langfan
CIA Memo Reveals Admiral, Not Obama, In Charge of bin Laden Raid; No "Gutsy Call" Was Ever Made: PunPrs
US deploys F-22s to base near Iran: Fox

Horror of North Korea’s Prison Camps Revealed by Escapee: Foundry
While Syria Burns: Krauthammer
Escaped dissident Chen Guangcheng believed to be hiding in US embassy in Beijing: Telegraph

Sci-Tech

Why Blogs Should Be The Hub Of Social Media Strategies: Insider
This is Aura: hands-on with the latest version of Chrome OS: TheVerge
Can an Algorithm Write a Better News Story Than a Human Reporter?: Wired

Cornucopia

Caption Time: Bear Market: Primordial Slack
Video: Obama’s campaign movie gets the “Mystery Science Theater” treatment: Hot Air
The Obamissariat: C&S

Image: "I Was a Political Prisoner at Birth in North Korea", by Shin In-kun
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Senate Conservatives Fund

QOTD: "He's targeted insurers, oil firms and Wall Street—letting it be known that those who oppose his policies might face political or legislative retribution. He lectured the Supreme Court for giving companies more free speech and (falsely) accused the Chamber of Commerce of using foreign money to bankroll U.S. elections. The White House even ginned up an executive order (yet to be released) to require companies to list political donations as a condition of bidding for government contracts. Companies could bid but lose out for donating to Republicans. Or they could quit donating to the GOP—Mr. Obama's real aim.

The White House has couched its attacks in the language of "disclosure" and the argument that corporations should not have the same speech rights as individuals. But now, says Rory Cooper of the Heritage Foundation, "he's doing the same at the individual level, for anyone who opposes his policies." Any giver, at any level, risks reprisal from the president of the United States." --Kimberly Strassel

Friday, April 27, 2012

The new yard signs are here! The new yard signs are here!








One Chart to Rule Them All

I spotted this chart (courtesy Larwyn, of course) at The Jacksonian Party. It explains a great deal about our current situation; one in which the people find themselves pitted against their elected officials.

Prior to 1902, Congress had never reached a 70% reelection rate.


Jacksonian argues that when the Senate became a directly elected body and no longer represented Statehouses, taxation and other federal usurpations of Constitutional bounds became rife. In other words, the federal government could and did use its power to begin punishing the states, regulating local affairs and interfering in every sort of arcane transaction.

That change triggered an ever-increasing federal budget that went far beyond national defense. Budget-busting initiatives, politically motivated in nature, purported to help retirees, the sick, the elderly and so on, while concentrating ever more power in Washington.

The federal government now consists of a body of lifetime bureaucrats, many of whom couldn't power a flashlight with all of their brainpower combined, who are reelected automatically through their use of federal tax funds. They reward, they punish, they anoint.


And they continue to aggregate more power at the federal level -- and to build their own personal wealth -- ignoring and flouting the law. Rangel, Feinstein, Frank, Reid, Waters, Conyers -- to name but a few -- have repeatedly thumbed their noses at financial disclosures, ethics violations, criminal complaints, FOIA requests, and the like.

If government worked as Obama and the National Socialist Democrats say it will, then why would we care about separation of powers? Why would we care about different levels of government?

Why would we care about the Constitution?

Why was this nation founded in the first place?

If government is so beneficent, so effective, so humane and compassionate, how is it that throughout all of human history, the great philosophers and thinkers were so fearful of it?

Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Montesquieu, Edmund Burke, Adam Smith, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and so many more.

Were they all wrong about government and Obama right?

Were they all wrong about limiting, balancing, placing checks on government? Were they all wrong about liberty?

Is human history all wrong and Obama right?

Is human history all wrong and Nancy Pelosi right?

Is human history all wrong and Harry Reid right?

Do you really think Obama, Pelosi and Reid hold a candle to the greatest thinkers civilization has ever seen?

Because for Obama to be right; and for his party, now in the hands of the radical left, to be right; the Founders had to be wrong.

For Obama to be right, the Declaration of Independence has to be wrong.

For Obama to be right, the Constitution has to be wrong.

For Obama to be right, Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Montesquieu, Burke, Smith and the founding fathers all had to be wrong.

And so it is clear how all of this will end.

Government-run health care will be used as a tool by government officials. As these programs always are. It will be used to punish political enemies, to reward friends, to entice supporters and -- always -- to aggregate more power.

It must be repealed. It must be obliterated.


Hat tips: The Jacksonian Party, Thirty Thousand and Mark Levin.

Top 20 #SaySomethingNiceAboutObama Tweets

Another day, another hijacked Obama hashtag. Hashtag #EpicFail.

20. @MattDycus (Matt Dycus):
He flew to Afghanistan and killed Bin Laden, then built cars and saved GM. #SaySomethingNiceAboutObama

19. @MattDycus (Matt Dycus):
Jimmy Carter is no longer the worst President in history. #SaySomethingNiceAboutObama

18. @VodkaPundit (Stephen Green):
Sent flowers to Heidi Klum after Seal dumped her. #saysomethingniceaboutobama No, wait -- that was Clinton.

17. @toddstarnes (toddstarnes):
He likes dogs #saysomethingniceaboutobama

16. @johnhawkinsrwn (John Hawkins):
I admire how low he's able to get when he bows to foreign dictators. #SaySomethingNiceAboutObama

15. @LunaticLair (Ree F.):
#saysomethingniceaboutobama his Obama2008 and 2012 bumper stickers made it easier to find the stupid drivers

14. @VodkaPundit (Stephen Green):
Can kill a carton of Newports in four days, easy. #saysomethingniceaboutobama

13. @BarrySux (BarrySux):
He's the best reason to vote for Mitt Romney. #SaySomethingNiceAboutObama #cspj #tcot #twisters #lnyhbt #p1 #p2 #p21 #tlot

12. @ih8hippies (I. Hate Hippies):
He apologizes really well. #saysomethingniceaboutobama

11. @P_H_Watts (P. H. Watts):
He hasn't quite bankrupted the US. Yet. #SaySomethingNiceAboutObama

10. @slamjoe (Slam Joe):
He knows more about the @NBA than the economy. #SaySomethingNiceAboutObama

 9. @TheMorningSpew (The Morning Spew):
#SaySomethingNiceAboutObama He never wants anyone punished with a baby.

 8. @chungjodad (Joe C.):
#SaySomethingNiceAboutObama Had excellent grades at Occidental and Columbia, so I'm told.

 7. @SallyGolf (Sarah Johnson):
He looks good in "mom" jeans. #saysomethingniceaboutobama

 6. @crhaney25 (Charles Haney):
I know nothing about basketball so I copied his NCAA bracket and won money in my office pool. #saysomethingniceaboutobama

 5. @KeauxbiTweets (Coby Clark):
He added more debt in 3 than Bush did in 8 RT @karlyyann Obama has done more in 1 year than Bush did in 8 years. #saysomethingniceaboutobama

 4. @BaseballCrank (Dan McLaughlin):
He didn't keep his promise to repeal all the Bush tax cuts, yet. #SaySomethingNiceAboutObama

 3. @virginiahume (Virginia Hume):
He speaks excellent Austrian. #saysomethingniceaboutObama

 2. @tazmania3333 (BD):
#SaySomethingNiceAboutObama - since he is part black and white neither race is totally accountable for his failures.

 1. @rsmccain (Robert Stacy McCain):
He hasn't eaten any dogs, recently, that we know of. #saysomethingniceaboutobama