Doug Ross @ Journal

Larwyn's Linx: Revealed: Romney Contributed $10K to Radical Gay Group

2012-01-31T06:24:00.004-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

QOTD: "Dutch satirist Johan Vlemmix has decided not to perform his latest hit 'Do the Burqa' onstage following death threats. The song, a carnival parody to the music of Van McCoy’s Do the Hustle, is a huge success on YouTube, so much so that the video provider has switched off the comments facility. Too many people were posting angry reactions saying that they had been insulted.

The images show a woman wearing a T-shirt which can be instantly converted into a burqa, albeit one that does not cover the breasts." --BigFurHat

The Most Audacious Armed Robbery in History -- and Those Who Would Sit Out an Election

2012-01-30T21:12:00.008-05:00

The Democrats' 2009 Stimulus package was, in my estimation, the most audacious armed robbery in world history. Literally hundreds of billions of dollars were stolen from American taxpayers -- and generations yet unborn -- to reward Democrat campaign contributors.

Solyndra was only the most basic example of these crimes. In fact, though you wouldn't know it from reading the funny papers, a whole series of "green energy" companies are in varying stages of collapse. For the most recent example, please consider: "Another Stimulus-Backed Energy Company Files for Bankruptcy":

After months of financial turmoil, an Energy Department-backed lithium ion battery company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company, Ener1, received a $118 million grant from DOE in 2010 as part of the president’s stimulus package. The money, which went to Ener1 subsidiary EnerDel, aimed to promote renewable energy storage battery technology for electrical grid use.

Oh, and don't forget about Beacon Power:

Beacon Power Company received $39 million of its government-guaranteed loan before it filed for bankruptcy. Beacon Power developed new technology that supposedly provides energy storage designed to help the intermittent solar and wind power be used by power grids, which need stable power to remain reliable.

Not to mention Amonix:

Just seven months after California-based solar power company Amonix Inc. opened its largest manufacturing plant, in North Las Vegas, the company’s contractor has laid off nearly two-thirds of its workforce... Amonix received a $5.9 million investment tax credit through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act in 2010...

I've got a million of 'em. In fact, that's why I created "The Handy-Dandy EnergyGate Cheat Sheet" -- to keep track of all the wanton criminality associated with the "green collar" jobs that are disappearing faster than a double-chocolate brownie placed in front of Michael Moore.

I would wager $1,000 that a complete investigation of each "green energy" company and its backers -- by third-party, forensic accountants -- would expose a web of ties linking those who benefited to some of the Democrat Party's largest donors. Cause that's the way they roll.

The most shocking aspect of these crimes is that the White House privately admitted that the Stimulus had nothing -- Nuh. Thing. -- to do with rescuing the economy. A recently revealed, December 15, 2008 memo from Obama's senior economic adviser Larry Summers to the president stated explicitly that the suggested spending packages were not about rescuing the economy... they were about rewarding Obama's backers.

The Stimulus is an ongoing crime perpetrated by the Democrats against the American people.

And why do I call this thievery an "armed robbery"? Said simply, Obama and his minions plundered America's wealth -- indebting an untold number of future generations in the process -- using the force of law. This is, as Bastiat put it, "legal plunder."

It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder.

What are the consequences of such a perversion? It would require volumes to describe them all. Thus we must content ourselves with pointing out the most striking.

In the first place, it erases from everyone's conscience the distinction between justice and injustice.

No society can exist unless the laws are respected to a certain degree. The safest way to make laws respected is to make them respectable. When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law.

Bastiat was describing, more than 150 years before they came to power, the 111th Congress and President Obama.

While I support Rick Santorum in this primary process, I don't care if a crippled kangaroo is the GOP candidate. I will vote to oust Obama and to begin to save this precious country. Those who want to "sit it out" in protest should consider the impact of their inaction on subsequent generations, who we've already condemned to an ominous future. If collapse is what you seek, remember that this generation -- our generation -- will be forever marked as those who lost America.

This theft will not stand. It must not stand. And I will walk on broken glass and hot coals to vote this failed president out of office in November, while bolstering the number of true conservatives in Congress. It's the least we can do. So stop bitching about Mitt Romney, the GOP establishment, or the fact that your latte isn't hot enough. We've been at this for little more than two years. And Rome wasn't built in a day.

You and I, we've got a country to save.

"Europe's Scariest Chart"

2012-01-30T17:25:00.003-05:00

Tyler Durden calls this "Europe's Scariest Chart".

Surging Greek and Portuguese bond yields? Plunging Italian bank stocks? The projected GDP of the Eurozone? In the grand scheme of things, while certainly disturbing, none of these data points actually tell us much about the secular shift within European society, and certainly are nothing that couldn't be fixed if the ECB were to gamble with hyperinflation and print an inordinate amount of fiat units diluting the capital base even further...

No: the one chart that truly captures the latent fear behind the scenes in Europe is that showing youth unemployment in the continent's troubled countries (and frankly everywhere else). Because the last thing Europe needs is a discontented, disenfranchised, and devoid of hope youth roving the streets with nothing to do, easily susceptible to extremist and xenophobic tendencies: after all, it must be "someone's" fault that there are no job opportunities for anyone.

[The accompanying chart represents] youth (16-24) unemployment in three select European countries (and the general Eurozone as a reference point). Some may be surprised to learn that while Portugal, and Greece, are quite bad, at 30.7% and 46.6% respectively, it is Spain where the youth unemployment pain is most acute: at 51.4%, more than half of the youth eligible for work does not have a job! Because the real question is if there is no hope for tomorrow, what is the opportunity cost of doing something stupid and quite irrational today?

Bonus Question: what do you call people who try to replicate Europe's failed social welfare state -- a bubbling cauldron of debt-fueled misery and civil unrest -- here in America?

Answer: Democrats.

SEIU Proudly Advertises Its Assocation With Fascist Ideology

2012-01-30T16:53:00.001-05:00

Trevor Loudon describes the open and malevolent ties between the SEIU and the Democrat Socialists of America. You can subtitle this story "SEIU members hardest hit":

I have long contended that the US’ largest and most militant labor organization the Service Employees International Union, is allied to, or subordinate to, the country’s largest Marxist organization – Democratic Socialists of America... Here is proof of this connection, from the latest edition of DSA’s Democratic Left, Winter 2011/2012, page 11:

God bless Trevor Loudon for his unwavering fight against the failed, miserable, Utopian ideology of Marxist Fascism in all of its nefarious and destructive forms.

And for those who accuse mois of using "over-the-top" rhetoric with the word fascism, please consider "The Wiktionary Definition of Fascism."

Larwyn's Linx: Palin: "Rage Against the Machine...Vote for Newt"

2012-01-30T07:14:00.002-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

GOP Primary

Palin: "Rage Against the Machine...Vote for Newt": FoxNation
The 2012 Race Takes Shape: Barone
Mitt Romney's Lack Of Character Revealed Out Of Desperation: Riehl

Latest FL Poll Shows Newt Within Three Points: RCP (PDF)
Newt makes closing argument at The Villages: Nice Deb
Rasmussen: Romney opens up lead in FL: Exam

Romney Aide is Re-districting Allen West Out of Office: LI
Wake Up, Conservatives: Mitt Romney Is Running As A Leftist: Riehl
Bella Santorum 'Improving,' Candidate Off the Trail: NatlJrnl

Nation

Through the Prism of Race: Shayne
Obama’s targeted Latino appeal: Politico
Robert Gibbs back on Obama payroll: Politico

Eat, Pray, Love and Be Black but Don’t Be a Republican: ConBlkChk
The Heretical Gospel According to Pope Barack The First: WyBlog
Congress promises to get tough on Congress: ConCom

Economy

How the $800B stimulus failed: Post
Mostly Peaceful Oakland Occupiers Mostly Peaceful To The Tune Of 300 Arrested: STACLU
Stunning: DC Police Now Tasing Occupiers: JWF

The Political Cowardice of Barack Obama: Reason
Michelle's $50,000 shopping spree boosts company's sales: Telegraph
FL Food stamp bill seek to restrict junk food: Trib

Scandal Central

A Fast and Furious Fib: Post
The Latest Beneficiary of Obama’s Crony Capitalism: George Sorosd: C4P
Fast and Furious sparks agency changes: AZStar

Climate & Energy

Awesome: Calif. To Pay For High Speed Rail With Extortion: Soylent
Iran says oil could reach $120 to $150 per barrel: Fox
CNN Projects Gas Prices Rising to $4.25 to $5 a Gallon: NB

Media

New York Times Fails to Mention Gingrich Was Cleared Of Ethics Charges: BigJ
Welcome to BadBlue: ConCom
The Dan Rather File: Five Decades of Liberal Media Bias: MRC (2007)

Rev. Luke Robinson: ‘They Want Us To Be Silent Because the President Is a Black Man’: CNS
The Social Media and Me: Sajak
Thomas Friedman's Delusions About China vs. Reality: SDA

Tea Party Patriots straw poll: Santorum nomination would generate most enthusiasm: DC
How I woke up to the untruths of Barack Obama: Telegraph
An America Divided: Boortz

World

Egypt: Tens of Thousands of Muslim Brotherhood And Secular Protesters Clash In Tahrir Square: WZ
Egypt: Mob of 3,000 Muslims Led By Salafists Attack Christian Homes And Shops: WZ
The True Obama Doctrine, And Its Chilling Result: Blogmocracy

Palestinian Authority-Run TV Praises Brutal Murderers of Fogel Family: Lid (Graphic)
All American Muslims in Dearborn Heights Arrested for Assault on Christian Quarterback: Creeping
Panetta: Iran is one year away from producing nuclear weapon: Haaretz

Sci-Tech

F-BOMB: the $50 DARPA-funded spy computer makes widespread surveillance even easier: End the Lie
5-Million Dot Electronic Viewfinder Makes Glass Obsolete: Wired
Google Teams With Facebook and Microsoft To Phight Phishing: Wired

Cornucopia

Our Most Populist President Ever: MOTUS
OWS Street Graffit: I See Tent People: Urban Infidel
After ‘The Wire’ ended, actress Sonja Sohn couldn’t leave Baltimore’s troubled streets behind: WaPo

Image: Glenn McCoy Political Cartoons
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "How long before we see a FLOTUS tarmac tantrum? We did get two divas for the price of one. As longtime observers of the royal Obamas have long observed: Mr. and Mrs. Cranky Pants’ problem has never been the color of their skin. It’s the thinness." --Michelle Malkin

Due to popular demand...

2012-01-29T21:54:00.003-05:00

Several bloggers requested that I create some buttons or sidebar badges for the new BadBlue news service. Okay, it wasn't several. It was one. But still...

To use one of the buttons, simply click the one you want, then copy the text in the HTML block below to paste into your template:

350 pixels wide

300 pixels wide

250 pixels wide

200 pixels wide

180 pixels wide

HTML to use in your template:

If you don't know what BadBlue is, click here. Basically, it's a news service for the rest of us, completely automated using social networking chatter as the barometer for promoting news stories. So far it seems to be catching on.

Newt Gingrich Fires Back Against GOP Old Guard, Ann Coulter Hardest Hit

2012-01-29T20:37:00.004-05:00

Ann Coulter is one of America's most talented conservative columnists. Of late, she has been curiously dogged in attacking Newt Gingrich -- unquestionably a captain of the "Reagan Revolution" -- while backing a man whose conservative credentials are dicey at best. Today Gingrich fired back.

Fox News Latino’s Victor Garcia did a phone interview with Newt Gingrich. During which the Former Speaker was asked about the recent Ann Coulter and Tom Delay criticisms...

Victor Garcia: You have been taking a lot of hits from Tom Delay now, Ann Coulter some of these people that some would consider on the far right of the conservative spectrum. What is your response to the criticism of those ones? Why do you think they are attacking you?

Newt Gingrich: Look I think there are a whole bunch of folks who represent the old order; they attacked Ronald Reagan in 1980 exactly the same way. They are looking at a national poll that shows me ahead of Romney 52-39 in a two way race and they are recognizing that if I come back as president, that I will be for very dramatic, very bold change and they are terrified. I have no interest in what Tom Delay did that got him in trouble. I thought it was wrong and a mistake, I have a very different approach to that and I have no Idea what motivates Ann Coulter but I find that she is all over the map. Basically she is for Romney and therefore anything she says about me is a reflection of the fact that she is for Romney. I expect people who are for Romney to attack me because they are terrified because he is losing.

I have no problem whatsoever with Coulter voicing her opinion, but she should -- like Karl Rove -- disclose whether any financial interests are playing a part in her support for Romney.

Hat tip: BadBlue.

Photos: Occupy DC Girds Its Loins for Eviction Tomorrow

2012-01-29T17:07:00.003-05:00

My brother and I went down to McPherson Square today to mock some of the Occupiers for their upcoming eviction tomorrow.

Hopefully this isn't the tent of an English teacher.

Curiously, the encampment appears to be more reminiscent of a ghost town rather than a bustling village gearing up for a confrontation.

Eviction notices were taped to most of the tents.

Compliance bullet #2 could prove problematic in inclement weather.

The crowd couldn't get enough of the Daily Activity Board.

6:00AM Monday - a "General Assembly" will greet the Park Service eviction crew.

A raucous crowd of Occupiers met some tourists taking pictures.

"Comfort Station".

Sensible: fighting "American Fascism" by demanding more government.

Confrontational.

Occupy DC's art gallery: always a popular attraction.

If these guys expect to be teargassed and flash-banged tomorrow, they'd better get rowdier.

Anyone know how much it would cost to have one of these mounted on my hood?

2012-01-29T16:05:00.004-05:00

I was thinking it would streamline my commute.

Related: The 10 Cars With the Most Obnoxious Drivers

Outrage: Tea Party Activists Burn American Flag, 300 Arrested

2012-01-29T10:29:00.000-05:00

Did I say "Tea Party Activists"? Because I meant to say "Democrat-supported Occupy Loons."

Occupy Oakland protesters broke into City Hall, stole an American flag from the council chamber and set it afire Saturday night punctuating a wild day on the streets of the East Bay city in which police deployed tear gas, arrested more than 100 marchers and dodged hurling objects... Demonstrators spent the day trying to break into a convention center, and temporarily occupying City Hall and a YMCA, all while snaking around lines of riot-clad police.

...It marked the first major clashes between protesters and police since November and left three officers with minor injuries, as protesters threw bottles, metal pipe, rocks, spray cans and “improvised explosive devices” and lit flares, police said.

300 of the ~~Tea Party activists~~ Occupy Oakland Leftists were arrested according to The Los Angeles Times.

...About 300 people were arrested Saturday during a chaotic day of Occupy protests that saw demonstrators break into City Hall and burn an American flag, as police earlier fired tear gas and bean bags to disperse hundreds of people after some threw rocks and bottles and tore down fencing outside a nearby convention center.

...Dozens of police officers remained on guard outside City Hall around midnight following the most turbulent day of protests since November, when Oakland police forcefully dismantled an Occupy encampment. An exasperated Mayor Jean Quan, who faced heavy criticism for the police action last fall, called on the Occupy movement to "stop using Oakland as its playground."

...Quan said that at one point, many forced their way into City Hall, where they burned flags, broke an electrical box and damaged several art structures, including a recycled art exhibit created by children.

Curiously, the media has failed to connect this violence with the explicit endorsements of the movement by President Obama.

Priorities

2012-01-29T09:54:00.001-05:00

Contrary to rumor, the President and Democrats in Congress really do have a national security strategy. See if you can figure out what it is.

...President Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta have already settled on a plan to slash $487 billion from existing manpower, as well as from procurement and development of equipment and weapons. The cuts include reducing the Army by 72,000 people and the Marines by 20,000. The cuts also include elimination of six tactical fighter squadrons and one training squadron, plus buying fewer F-35 Joint Strike Fighters -- on top of already planned reductions in the number of F-22 air superiority fighters to be put in service. The Navy will decommission seven cruisers and two amphibious craft, plus delay its procurement process for new ships. Together, these moves will dramatically reduce our ability to put "boots on the ground" and to insure the air superiority needed to protect and assist U.S. forces in major conflicts. Having such forces at the ready is also the best way to keep minor conflicts from exploding into big ones.

But the Obama-Panetta cuts aren't nearly enough for some in Congress. On Friday, representatives Barney Frank of Massachusetts, Barbara Lee and Lynn Woolsey of California, and Rush Holt of New Jersey wrote Obama to encourage him to "take even bolder leadership on this issue as you finalize your budget." They want Obama to double the Pentagon cuts because "the Cold War is long over, and no remotely comparable adversary has emerged or is likely to emerge. ... We believe that savings of around $900 billion over the next 10 years can be realized." Following their advice would greatly reduce the reach of American power, and make us seem like a paper lion to the bad guys of the world.

...The terrible irony here is that military spending has been on a steady decline since 1965, as seen in the nearby chart. And, as the defense portion of the budget has contracted for nearly five decades, entitlement spending has exploded... Obama, Panetta and their liberal Democrat allies like Frank are playing chicken with American security.

Was that last sentence racist? Let's ask Leonard Pitts.

Larwyn's Linx: What's Left to Say?

2012-01-29T07:56:00.005-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

GOP Primary

What's Left to Say?: ProWis
We're screwed: Romney wants RomneyCare in every state: GWP
Gingrich gets endorsement from Herman Cain: Fox

Nation

F.A. Hayek On "The Great Utopia": ZH
Obama to the nation: Onward civilian soldiers: Will
Norquist: Impeach Obama over taxes?: Hot Air

Another Tea Partier arrested for death threat: Powers
Last Refuge of the Race Hustlers: Wolf Howling
Bishop Zubik rips Obama on health care mandate: PittLive

Economy

You Know Who Doesn't Agree the Economy Is Improving?: Ace
After Federal Bailouts, Now GM Lobbying States for More?: Huston
NLRB: Companies Must Turn Over Employee Contact Info: Blaze

The State of Our Union Is Broke: Steyn
Unfair to compare the Obama, Reagan economic recoveries?: Peth
Greeks Reject German Plan for EU Budget Commissioner: Mish

Scandal Central

The Holder Department Of Justice Takes The Fifth: GVB
Holder informed of ATF connection to Brian Terry’s murder day border agent died: DC
Burke of Fast and Furious had anti-gun history: Tucson

Climate & Energy

Al Gore's Paperboy is a Little Slow: iOTW
David Rose: Forget global warming - it's Cycle 25 we need to worry about: SC25
California goes full bats*** crazy: Soylent

Media

Gingrich: Coulter Represents "The Old Order": RCP
Obamacare and the Supreme Court: NRO TV
Eleanor Clift Says Something So Dumb Mort Zuckerman Does Double Facepalm In Disbelief: NB

Rich Lowry Was 12 When Reagan Was Elected And It Shows: Riehl
Allen West to Democrats: Get your leftism the hell out of America!: Scoop
Maher Mocks Gingrich's Wife as a Martian: NB

World

Cultural Marxism: Kimball
Nigeria: fundamental issues exposed by Boko Haram's gruesome rise: Guardian
Greece, creditors on verge of clinching debt deal: Reuters

Gutting America's military is no way to keep the peace: Exam
The Numbers Crunch: Bibi’s oriental viral video: JPost
Iranian bloggers to be executed for 'spreading corruption': Atlas

Sci-Tech

Your iPhone Has To Be Made In China, And Apple Can’t Absolve Your Guilt: PaidContent
Apple Hits Back After New York Times Reports 'Significant Problems' With Manufacturers: FoxBiz
Twitter censorship plan sparks global outrage: Times

Cornucopia

Night Fishing in San Francisco: AmDigest
Video: The greatest guitarist ever?: Hot Air
Watch Newt Gingrich Lincoln Day Dinner Speech: Scoop

Prayers for Bella Santorum: Malkin
Disgraced teacher worth $10M, makes $100K a year, does nothing, refuses to leave: Post
Shipwreck hunters find mysterious object at bottom of Baltic Sea: Daily Mail

Image: Urban Infidel
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "The president certainly had facts and figures at his disposal. He boasted that his regulatory reforms “will save business and citizens more than $10 billion over the next five years.” Wow. Ten billion smackeroos! That’s some savings — and in a mere half a decade! Why, it’s equivalent to what the government of the United States borrows every 53 hours. So by midnight on Thursday Obama had already re-borrowed all those hard-fought savings from 2017. “In the last 22 months,” said the president, “businesses have created more than three million jobs.” Impressive. But 125,000 new foreign workers arrive every month (officially). So we would have to have created 2,750,000 jobs in that period just to stand still."--Mark Steyn

I accuse this chart of being racist!

2012-01-28T21:12:00.002-05:00

James Pethokoukis calls this "the economic chart that may doom the Obama presidency."

Even if [Friday's] GDP report—for the fourth quarter of 2011—shows 3 percent growth or better [Ed: it did not, coming in at 2.8, worse than expected], it would be just the fourth time that has happened since the economy began turning up in June 2009: 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, 3.9 percent in the first quarter of 2010, and 3.8 percent in the second quarter of 2010. But no 3 percent-plus quarters since then.

The first nine quarters of the Reagan Recovery, by contrast, looked like this: 5.1 percent, 9.3 percent, 8.1 percent, 8.5 percent, 8.0 percent, 7.1 percent, 3.9 percent, 3.3 percent, 3.8, percent, 3.4 percent. In fact, the Reagan Boom went from the first quarter of 1983 until the second quarter of 1986 without notching a sub-3 percent GDP quarter.

So, while the Reagan Recovery quickly made up for lost years of growth, not so much for the Obama Recovery, as this chart in today’s Wall Street Journal makes clear:

Over at Business Insider, a surprisingly left-wing rag given its ostensible focus on the private sector economy, some ludicrous hack named Joe Weisenthal insists that all of this data is irrelevant. His latest piece, basically a troll's post with a larger-than-usual website, is entitled "Why The Obama Recovery Has Been Much More Impressive Than Reagan's" (no link, you can find it if you want to).

Another thing about Reagan was that he was a deficit-lover.
Reagan presided over the largest (still) one-year annual jump in the size of the national debt. (And PS: that just happened to be right after the recession, when the economy started growing like crazy as Pethokoukis notes)... The conditions behind the Great Recession were far worse than anything Reagan inherited, and Obama has pulled off a recovery with less of a sustained growth in Federal Government spending.

Hey, Joe - I wonder who was in control of the House during the Reagan years? Oh, yeah -- that's right. The Democrats, who insisted every one of Reagan's austerity budgets was "Dead On Arrival". Reagan wanted to eliminate the Department of Education, for instance. Sound like a big spender to you, Joe?

Reagan inherited double-digit unemployment, double-digit inflation, an oil crisis, a resurgent Soviet Union, and he'd turned America around in three years with a Democrat-controlled Congress. As a commenter observes:

A recap of Hope and Change since President Obama took office in Jan 2009. Comparing economic indicators starting in Jan 2009 to present day:

1. Federal debt has increased by 43% from $10.6 trillion to $15 trillion.
2. Americans living in poverty have increased by 16% from 39.8 million to 46.2 million.
3. Total unemployment (U6) has increased by 68% from 13.7 million to 23 million.
4. Price of gasoline has increased by 80% from $1.86/gal to $3.35/gal
5. Americans on food stamps have increased 42% from 31.8 million to 45.2 million
6. Home foreclosures per year have increased by 34% from 850,000 to 1,140,000
7. Total bankruptcy filings per year have increased by 42% from 1,117,641 to 1,593,081.
8. Median Household incomes have declined by 4%.
9. Average selling price of new homes has declined by 10%.
10. US dollar compared to foreign currencies has declined by 8.7%. [US dollar index of 85.9 in Jan 2009 to 78.5 in Dec 2011.]
11. US dollar compared to gold has declined 105%. [$855/oz. to $1750/oz.]

Not to mention adding a new, wildly unpopular and massive new entitlement program (Obamacare) when our existing entitlements are circling the drain.

Hey, Joe: you gonna put some ice on that, brother?

A simple illustration anyone can understand: why liberalism is the philosophy of the stupid

2012-01-28T10:32:00.002-05:00

"The reason I say that liberalism is the philosophy of the stupid is because we can look at what's going around in the country today. If, in your own lives, you were pursuing policies that were destroying your own home ownership, that were destroying your own job, that were creating a massive, impossible debt for your family and your children in particular, you'd stop it. You wouldn't keep doing it!

"And yet for the liberal, if it's imposed on you -- and they feel that they can be immune from it -- they're for it.

"They wouldn't do to themselves and their own family what they're doing to you, and your family, and the whole nation!

"Take Barack Obama. Does Barack Obama conduct himself in his own, personal affairs, in his family's affairs, as recklessly as he conducts the affairs of the nation? No. Would he run up the kind of relative personal debt that he's running up for the nation? No way.

"Would he do anything that would endanger his position as president? Of course not -- he thinks his agenda will return him to office. He's taking care of his constituent groups...

So they do to us -- and they do to our society -- what they would never do to their own families. They do not live in their own lives as they seek to have the rest of us live. Or as they seek to have our society conduct itself." --Mark Levin, "Why Liberalism is the Philosophy of the Stupid".

Florida Tea Party Leaders Endorse Newt Gingrich

2012-01-28T10:27:00.001-05:00

Floridians: I urge you not to allow the Beltway establishment to bully, threaten or scare you. Mitt Romney is the weakest GOP candidate of the bunch and Florida's Tea Party leaders see that threat clear as day.

"The Florida Tea Party Coalition With Newt" endorsed the former House speaker on Thursday, saying they would "help defeat Massachusetts Moderate Mitt Romney and then President Barack Obama."

“It is clear to me and many others in the tea party movement that Newt is the Reagan conservative that America needs,” said Peter Lee, founder and director of the East Side Tea Party of Orlando.

Lee was joined by statewide tea leader Patricia Sullivan, who said, “I stand with Newt because I know he will stand up to the establishment and insist on fiscal reforms."

In all, more than 30 Florida-based tea activists signed on to the coalition. The geographically diverse representatives ranged from the Panhandle to Broward County.

Separately, the TEA Party of Florida, the only political tea party registered with the state Division of Elections, endorsed Gingrich.

The GOP establishment's -- and, specifically, Mitt Romney's operatives' -- unconscionable attacks on Gingrich should motivate every undecided primary voter to support Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum.

And I'm glad Florida's Tea Party leaders are playing hardball with the RINO mushes who won't fight Obama as hard as they fight conservatives.

Related: Debunking the Beltway Hacks' Latest Spin: Gingrich Will Harm Down-Ticket Republicans

Larwyn's Linx: Sarah Palin Unloads on Mitt Romney

2012-01-28T08:46:00.002-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

GOP Primary

Sarah Palin unloads on Romney: GWP
Stop Trying to Manipulate the Conservative Vote!: Toldjah
"Not worth getting angry about"?!: Pundette

NRO, Elliot Abrams Caught Disseminating Crap: Riehl
Gingrich Leading as Fight Intensifies: WSJ
Report: Paul approved racist portions of newsletters: Politico

Another dishonest Romney attack, blunted: Cold Fury
Eviscerating Elliot Abrams over anti-Gingrich propaganda: Lord
Erick Erickson: Romney Can't Win: Riehl

Nation

Another witness testifies: paid for a forged ballot: MenRec
Tantrum on the Tarmac: NoisyRm
Justice Dept. to SCOTUS: Don't overturn entire law: Politico

Economy

A Nation of Dependents: IBD
Average federal pay matches Microsoft: AEI
Occupy movement arrest total now over 6,000: Marathon

Get a Load of These 'Unofficial' Federal Programs: Blaze
Warren Buffett: Leave My Stage Prop Secretary Alone!: JWF
Obama to Democrats: I Welcome “Robust Debate” On “Class Warfare”: WZ

'Thank You, Warren.' 'No, Thank You, Mr. President!': AT
180 Reasons NASA Thinks We Should Have A Moon Base: Insider
Facebook Readies IPO Filing: WSJ

Scandal Central

Documents say DOJ knew of Fast and Furious connection day after Terry murder: Codrea
Fast and Furious: Game Over: ConCom
F&F Document Dump: SSI

Climate & Energy

16 Concerned Scientists: Chill Out, No Need To Freak Over Anthropogenic Global Warming: Pirate's Cove
Scientists to Politicians: Let’s Put Climate Alarmism on Hold for 50 Years: VS
Shoppers Say Chevy Volt Expensive, Nissan Leaf Ugly in Study: Trib

Media

You dumb racist conservatives are dumb. And racist.: Hot Air
Glenn Beck’s Staff Threatened by Soros Operatives: NoisyRm
LOL! More than a quarter of Obama’s State of the Union TV viewers shut it off after the first five minutes: FAM

Obama Tells House Dems: “Let’s Go Out There And Change The Country”: WZ
Tapper Informs Stephanopoulos: Obama ‘Can’t Run’ on His Achievements Because ‘They’re Not Popular’: NB
Mooch Dines With Planned Parenthood Executive: WZ

World

All American Muslims in Dearborn Heights Arrested for Assault on Christian Quarterback: Creeping
Soros Think Tank Adviser: There’s No Peace Because Those Rich Jews Bribed Congress: BigPeace
Nightmare of disorderly default focuses minds on Greece: Reuters

Iranian leader says Egypt’s new parliament a step toward Islamic regime: JihadWatch
The Islamic Paradise of the Needle and Powder: Greenfield
Obama administration using loophole to quietly sell arms package to Bahrain: ForPol

25 Homecomings: Jawa
Experts Are Terrified By Greece And Its Debt Problems: Insider
Pakistani Foreign Minister: Islam Is The “Most Misunderstood” And “Misrepresented” Religion In The World: WZ

Sci-Tech

Good news: FBI seeking social media monitoring tool: Breitbart
Google Already Knows You’re a 24-Year-Old Woman Who Loves Wombats: Wired
RIM CEO eyes "significant" plans for BlackBerry: Reuters

Cornucopia

Beat My Caption: C&S
Geriatric Snow Plow: MagFarm
Georgia Birther Hearing Proceeds Without Obama, Without Effect: PuffHo

TGIF: Frequent Flier Edition: P&F
The Donkey Whisperer: HayRide
You Aren’t Tough. These Guys Are Tough: Wired

Image: DaleToons via Western Rifle Shooters
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "...some of these completely unbiased, intellectually curious academic institutions may have something of a vested interest in proving their point [that conservatives are stupid]. You see, as the economy continues to falter and conservative, austerity leaning measures begin to take hold and spread at both the state and federal levels, the wellspring of cash which fuels the universities begins to dry up as well. And not to cast aspersions on anyone’s intellectual honesty here, but coming up with a result that casts doubt on the people threatening to dry up your grant money might not be the worst outcome in the world." --Jazz Shaw

Maps: Exploiting America's Treasure Trove of Energy, Before and After the Obama Presidency

2012-01-27T22:47:00.006-05:00

I think this is what President Obama called a "blueprint" in his State of the Union address.

Today in Las Vegas, the President repeated his energy talking points from Tuesday's State of the Union speech.
Oil and gas leases takes years to develop, but the administration is claiming credit for an uptick in domestic oil and gas production that is a result of previous administration policies and increased production on private lands. [h/t Geoffrey Styles]
The administration's oil and gas exploration "blueprint" adds virtually no new production and takes years of potential energy off the table. This map made by the Senate Republican Policy Committee illustrates what new oil and gas exploration was permissible prior to President Obama taking office, and how his administration’s policies have changed it:

As an aside, are these maps racist? Perhaps we should ask Leonard Pitts.

I guess the drones didn't like my questions for President Obama

2012-01-27T21:54:00.004-05:00

So Google's YouTube service is sponsoring a post-State of the ~~Campaign~~ Union Q&A with President Obama and the drones are out in force. After submitting what I believe are reasonable questions and having many of them voted up, the O-bots began swarming and down-dinging them.

Suffice it to say that Obama will field no tough questions in this venue, whether through tacit censorship or simply because charismatic demagogues don't take tough questions.

The numbers do not lie -- although it's possible they're racist

2012-01-27T21:45:00.003-05:00

I love how these inside-the-Beltway hacks say that Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum "can't win" against Obama. The numbers say different. Obama got 52.7% of the vote as a messianic, post-partisan, post-racial and completely unknown quantity. Now we know he's not a messiah, he's highly partisan, he's also willing to divide Americans along racial, ethnic, income and any other lines he can come up with to dredge up votes, and he is a highly known quantity, which is to say a SCOAMF.

Following President Barack Obama’s self-congratulatory State of the Union address, Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, produced a simple chart that tells the real story of the Obama administration:

America Before President Obama Took Office and Now

Before

Now

Change

Number of Unemployed¹

12.0 Million

13.1 Million

+9%

Long-Term Unemployed²

2.7 Million

5.6 Million

+107%

Unemployment Rate³

7.8%

8.5%

+9%

“High Unemployment” States⁴

22

43

+95%

Misery Index⁵

7.83

11.46

+46%

Price of Gas⁶

$1.85

$3.39

+83%

“Typical” Monthly Family Food Cost⁷

$974

$1,013

+4%

Median Value of Single-Family Home⁸

$196,600

$169,100

-14%

Rate of Mortgage Delinquencies⁹

6.62%

10.23%

+55%

U.S. National Debt¹⁰

$10.6 Trillion

$15.2 Trillion

+43%

For more, and for references, visit the House Ways and Means Committee website here.

Shhh... no one tell Leonard Pitts.

Cool: Handgun about the size of an iPhone

2012-01-27T20:37:00.000-05:00

Granted, it's kind of a "last line of defense" sorta thing, but still:

Heizer Defense Double Tap

• The Titanium Tactical Pocket Pistol
• The first concealed carry .45 ACP born from aerospace technology and 100% USA made.
• 5/8 Inches Wide Hammerless No Snag Design
• The future of concealed carry firepower is now in your hands!

• Titanium Frame with a MIL-STD finish that resists corrosion
• Two rounds in the chamber and integral grips house an additional two spare rounds
• Ported barrel reduces muzzle flip and recoil
• Slim, no-snag hammerless design for easy pocket carry
• Thumb latch auto ejects spent rounds
• 7 Patents pending including double-action trigger system
• 1911 Ergonomics and loaded rounds are visible
• Quick change - interchangable barrels

HEIZER Firearms has developed the world's smallest and lightest .45 ACP concealed carry pistol on the market today. Also available in 9mm.

Daddy like. Of course, Daddy likes him all kinds o' guns.

Hat tip: Bernie.

Good News: Average Federal Worker Getting Paid As Much As a Microsoft, Intel or Cisco Employee

2012-01-27T20:28:00.004-05:00

But remember, folks: there's nothing to cut.

The average federal government employee receives [a total] annual compensation of around $133,000. How does this match up to the private sector?

CNN Money has a nice survey of the 25 highest-paying companies in the country, outlining the average total compensation per employee in each one. According to CNN, the closest match to federal employment is Microsoft, whose average employee compensation is $132,023 per year, making it the 17th highest-paying company in the country.

When high federal pay is pointed out, public employee unions counter that federal employees are more productive than the average private sector worker, due to their greater education and experience. But do you think that the average federal employee is more productive than the average Microsoft employee? Or Intel, or Qualcomm, both of which pay around the same?

Have you ever called a federal agency to try to get help? It's kinda like the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, only without the prompt customer service. So I can't wait until we get BMV-style health care.

Say, I wonder if Leonard Pitts thinks this chart is racist?

Hat tip: BadBlue.

Hey, Leonard Pitts: Is This Chart More or Less Racist Than Newt Gingrich?

2012-01-27T19:56:00.006-05:00

Leonard who? Exactly. Leonard Pitts -- for the 99.9999999% of Americans who've never heard of him -- is a back-bencher op-ed columnist who never met an opportunity to race-bait that he didn't like. Pitts' specialty is interpreting every statement --- including the terms "food stamps", "arugula", and "golfer-in-chief" -- as a secret racist code known only to Republicans... and Leonard Pitts.

Let's listen in as all six of Pitt's neurons fire at once to create version 17,031 of the same column he's written weekly for years (subtitled, "Republican are racists"):

I got my first job when I was 12. The deacons at my church paid me $2 a week to keep it swept and mopped... So I do not need Newt Gingrich to lecture me about a good work ethic. In this, I suspect I speak for the vast majority of 39 million African Americans.

There has been a lot of talk about whether Gingrich’s recent language , including his performance at last week’s South Carolina debate and his earlier declaration that Barack Obama has been America’s best “food-stamp president,” amounts to a coded appeal to racist sensitivities. The answer is simple: yes.

In this, Gingrich joins a line of Republicans stretching back at least to Richard Nixon. From that president’s trumpeting of “law and order” (i.e., “I will get these black demonstrators off the streets.”) to Ronald Reagan’s denunciation of “welfare queens” (i.e., “I will stop these lazy black women from living high on your tax dollars.”) to George H.W. Bush’s use of Willie Horton (i.e., “Elect me or this scary black man will get you..”) the GOP long ago mastered the craft of using nonracial language to say racial things.

So I assume Pitts will agree with me when I categorically condemn the Office of Management and Budget, the U.S. Census Bureau and the USDA for helping to produce this chart:

...While it's true that the country has been headed in this direction for many years — with the explosion in entitlements since the 1960s and the aging of the population — Obama has, in fact, greatly accelerated the trend...

Direct payments. The amount of money the federal government hands out in direct payments to individuals steadily increased over the past four decades, but shot up under Obama, climbing by almost $600 billion — a 32% increase — in his first three years. And Obama's last budget called for these payments to climb another $500 billion by 2016, at which point they would account for fully two-thirds of all federal spending.

...Food stamps. This year, more than 46 million (15% of all Americans) will get food stamps. That's 45% higher than when Obama took office, and twice as high as the average for the previous 40 years. This surge was driven in part by the recession, but also because Obama boosted the benefit amount as part of his stimulus plan.

...In just nine years, entitlement spending is on track to eat up 61% of the federal budget, according to the CBO. And unless these programs are cut back, they will soon consume all federal taxes, one CBO budget scenario predicts.

In other words, we're headed for complete fiscal collapse -- and Pitts is cheering Obama on with unsustainable programs wracked with fraud, cronyism, and ill-intentions.

And are things better for African-Americans under Obama? Of course not. In fact, a new low -- less than 80% of African-Americans (I assume Pitts thinks they're racist, too) -- now support President Obama.

Ronald Reagan inherited a far worse economy from Jimmy Carter: double-digit inflation; double-digit unemployment; and a Soviet Empire that was extending its tentacles all over the globe while the U.S. had single-handedly begun disarming itself.

In three years' time, Reagan had transformed the economy to the benefit of all Americans by unleashing the private sector through smaller government, less regulation, and lower taxes for all -- especially the productive members of society, irrespective of race, religion, creed or hair color.

Instead of building on a proven template of color-blind success, Pitts continues his failed career of race-baiting, which requires him to ignore history, facts, logic and reason in pursuit of a Utopian society that can't exist, won't exist and has never existed in all of human history. His path is the path to misery and, like all drones, he's too stupid to even comprehend his own endgame.

Larwyn's Linx: The Romney Campaign’s Newt-Ain’t-Reagan Assault

2012-01-27T06:24:00.003-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

GOP Primary

The Romney Campaign’s Newt-Ain’t-Reagan Assault: HayRide
Confirmed: Romneycare = Obamacare: Malkin
Surprise! Romney Donated to Democrats: PndtPrs

Santorum eviscerates Romney over RomneyCare: Scoop
Santorum wins debate, but Romney beats Newt: Exam
Romney’s Big Healthcare Lie: RS

President Obama: I’m going to win reelection: Hill
Romney Praised Hezbollah in 2008: Hillbuzz
Mr. and Mrs. Crankypants: Malkin

Nation

Texas Sues DOJ Over Voter ID Law: JW
Christian Student Bullied for “Bullying”: MB
Who Will Be Thrown Under The Bus After Marco Rubio?: C4P

The state of the State of the Union: JPA
The Brutal NRCC ‘Every Day’ Ad.: Moe Lane
Denying Islamists Federal Security Clearances: PJM

Economy

The economic case against Obama, all in one chart: Peth
Is President Obama Creating A Nation Of Dependents?: IBD
December New Home Sales Worst On Record: S&L

The Debt Monster That Ate the World: Pelerin
NLRB To Force Companies To Turn Over Employee Telephone Numbers & E-Mail Addresses To Unions?: LUR
Poll: 54% Want SCOTUS to Kill Individual Mandate: WZ

Obama’s vision for a Spartan America: Goldberg
Obama’s Misstatements on the Union: DLim
Why Obama is Toast: RWN

Scandal Central

Another Stimulus-Backed Energy Company Files for Bankruptcy: Foundry
Two Billion Obamadollars Later, Brazil’s Oil Goes to China: RedCty
First Lady unveils Spanish-language food program: WZ

Climate & Energy

Administration's Blueprint Locks Potential Energy Sources: FreeEnt
Virginians Get First Peek at Secret UVA emails: ATI
Ener1 Bankruptcy Is Latest Obama Green Jobs Flop: IBD

Media

Interviewing Mark Levin About His New Book, “Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America.”: Hawkins
Mark Levin Talks to NewsBusters About 'Ameritopia' and Media's Role in Advancing Utopianism: NB
Obama's Ratings Collapse: NatlJrnl

Errant Email to Congressional ‘Allies’ on Keystone Exposes Media Matters’ Tax-Exempt Fraud: Pollak
Media Matters Dismissed Insider Trading Issue, Attacked Schweizer; Politico Followed Suit: Riehl
RNC Releases New Ad in Advance of Obama’s “State of My Campaign” Speech: JWF

Video Of Newt Bashing Reagan Is Bogus: Riehl
MRC's Bozell Announces Launch of 'Tell the Truth! 2012' Campaign: NB
Reuters makes 5 corrections on Rubio hit piece: Exam

Levin: Newt did more for the conservative movement than virtually all of his critics today: Scoop
Media Matters: The Unpaid Research Department of Politico: BigJ
CNN Turns Blind Eye To Obama-Alinsky Ties: IBD

World

Think Progress Scrubs 'Borderline Anti-Semitic' Rhetoric from Website: WS
New Pentagon plan would cut ground forces by 100,000: Fox
U.S. outrage as Egypt bars Americans from leaving: Reuters

Obama in Foreign Policy Hell: Spengler
N. Carolina Muslims arrested in plot to behead witnesses in recent terror conviction: Creeping
Sources: 30 Pounds Of Cocaine Found At United Nations: CBS NY

Sci-Tech

Scientists create first free-standing 3-D cloak: Eurekalert
My Horrific Experiences With Sony Customer Support: Mish
Everything Wrong with Zynga in One Image: Forbes

Cornucopia

Turkey Day: Thin skinned, Breasts and Necks. Mmm, mmm mmm!: MOTUS
No Obama in court, no ‘birther' ruling: AJC
Obama & his Attorney fail to appear for Trial and 2 Hour Hearing: Obama not qualified for Ballot?: The Steady Drip

The Political Correctness hierarchy: lepers trump amputees: Troglo
Vintage American Ads Get Online Archive: WSJ
Despite Unfair Tax Burden, Warren Buffett's Secretary Was Just Able To Buy A Second Home: TSG

Image: iOwnTheWorld
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "It won’t decide the 2012 election, but the meltdown of Barack Obama’s Islamophile foreign policy has to hurt. Iran’s imminent acquisition of nuclear weapons humiliates a president so committed to dialogue with the evil lunatics in Tehran that he refused to support a mass outpouring of democracy demonstrators during the summer of 2009. Obama’s closest foreign policy friendship is with the Islamist president of Turkey, who has jailed more journalists than China and steered his country towards imminent economic disaster. Tayyip Erdogan may not be a terrorist, as Rick Perry said in last week’s debate, but he backs them, including Hamas.

And then there is Egypt: Even the New York Times has noticed that Egypt’s economy is collapsing, and that the country faces disaster as it runs out of money." --Spengler

Graphing the popularity of a breaking news story...

2012-01-26T21:36:00.007-05:00

The BadBlue automated news service added a cool new feature this weekend: you can now track the popularity of a given news story over time. Here's an example:

If you visit the BadBlue home page, you'll notice each story has the following format: headline, news source, popularity and permalink (the ∞ symbol).

Obviously, if you click on the headline, you'll go to the news story. If you click on the name of the news source, you'll get a complete listing of the top stories collected by the news service:

You'll also notice from the detail above that there is a permalink symbol (the ∞ mark). Click on that to see the chart of that story's popularity and any comments on the story itself.

Check it out. It's kinda like the Drudge Report, but automated to be more non-partisan. Heh.

Thought Experiment: Imagine This Ad Running in The New York Times

2012-01-26T21:21:00.000-05:00

That booming sound you heard in the distance was the head of Bloomberg (the idiot mayor, not the news service) exploding.

Hat tip: Jay Paull Vintage Print Advertisements.

Here are some photos you'll never see in legacy media: the Volt crash test that torched a whole series of cars

2012-01-26T20:55:00.003-05:00

Odd. I must have missed this report on ABC, NBC, CBS and in The New York Slimes:

I attended Wednesday’s 8:00am (8am?!?) House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing entitled:

Volt Vehicle Fire: What Did NHTSA Know And When Did They Know It?

The witnesses [included] National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), Barack Obama-appointee Administrator David Strickland... [and] General Motors (GM), Barack Obama-appointee CEO Dan Akerson.

...This hearing was all about a single June Volt blaze. The battery burst into flames about three weeks after a test crash at and by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA).

A fire about which Obama’s NHTSA did tell the Obama White House. But a fire about which neither Obama’s NHTSA, the Obama Administration nor Obama’s GM told the American people for nearly six months – and then did so only when forced by a looming Bloomberg news story.

...Joan Claybrook, a former administrator at NHTSA believes part of the reason for the delay was the “fragility of Volt sales.” Yet she also believes that “NHTSA could have put out a consumer alert, not to tell them [customers] for six months makes no sense to me.” ...For Obama, notifying Americans of their potential immolation-by-Volt is of less import than his keeping his gig past November.

The one NHTSA Volt fire discussed at the hearing was not the only NHTSA Volt fire that occurred. In November, there were two others. After conducting three different tests two weeks ago, the NHTSA found that the Volt’s battery either caught fire or began to smoke in two out of the three.

So that’s three Volt fires – all in the hands of the Obama Administration, all after crashes... There were [also] three other, private-owner Volt fires. None of which involved Volts that were in crashes.

...There was the Volt that in April burst into flames – twice. These were the fires that led to Obama’s NHTSA beginning its investigation. And then in November another Volt leapt into flames. While Obama’s NHTSA was still investigating – but after the NHTSA-Obama Administration-GM cover-up had come to light (get it?)...

...We still have no idea what caused these fires. The only thing we do know is that they were not caused by crashes – because these cars were never in crashes. So why did Obama’s NHTSA, the Obama Administration and Obama’s GM singularly focus on (but one of three) post-crash Volt fires ... [w]hen none of these three privately-owned combustible Volts had been in accidents?

We – still – don’t know. Anything.

But don’t worry: The Obama Administration has declared that the Obama-owned GM Chevy Volt is perfectly safe – just in time for Obama’s reelection campaign.

Indeed. The Volt is safe. We guarantee it. Who's we? Shut the hell up, peons.

Related: Exclusive Photo: First Chevy Volts arrive at local dealers

Photos: Charging Point.

Before we worry about Mitt Romney's tax rate, perhaps we could get Obama's henchmen to pay their taxes

2012-01-26T19:58:00.004-05:00

I don't know why the White House keeps talking about Mitt Romney's tax return or the fact that Warren Buffett's secretary can't buy a third home in a golf community.

Turns out that Obama's staff includes a whole posse of tax scofflaws (and we're not even counting the guys we knew about like Turbotax Tim Geithner):

How embarrassing this must be for President Obama, whose major speech theme so far this campaign season has been that every single American, no matter how rich, should pay their "fair share" of taxes.

A new report just out from the Internal Revenue Service reveals that 36 of President Obama's executive office staff owe the country $833,970 in back taxes. These people working for Mr. Fair Share apparently haven't paid any share, let alone their fair share.

...Nearly one-third of Obama's aides make more than $100,000 with 21 being paid the top White House salary of $172,200, each... The IRS' 2010 delinquent tax revelations come as part of a required annual agency report on federal employees' tax compliance. Turns out, an awful lot of folks being paid by taxpayers are not paying their own income taxes.

The report finds that thousands of federal employees owe the country more than $3.4 billion in back taxes. That's up 3% in the past year.

...The Treasury Department, where Obama nominee Tim Geithner had to pay up $42,000 in his own back taxes before being confirmed as secretary, has 1,181 other employees with delinquent taxes totaling $9.3 million... [and] the Energy Department that was so quick to dish out more than $500 million to the Solyndra folks has 322 employees owing $5 million.

The country's chief law enforcement agency, the Department of Justice, has 2,069 employees who are nearly $17 million behind in taxes. Like Operation Fast and Furious, Attorney General Eric Holder has apparently missed them too.

Charley "Rental Income" Rangel couldn't be reached for comment at press time.

They're for the Common Man [Amalaur]

2012-01-26T19:47:00.003-05:00

Amalaur:

All the Details on Michelle Obama’s State of the Union Dress

...Michelle Obama‘s wardrobe choices always turn heads.

Last night’s State of the Union ensemble was no exception. As the President declared his intent to help buoy the 99 percent (“Asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense,” he declared), his wife dazzled in a cobalt sheath from Barbara Tfank’s resort collection.

While reps for the brand won’t reveal the item’s retail price, a similar style from the collection is currently available at Barneys New York for $2,400.

This isn’t the first time the First Lady has worn the Los Angeles-based designer’s sophisticated wares. Last year, she met with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge wearing a seafoam brocade design topped with a bubblegum pink stole.

“Everything in my closet is something that I love,” Obama has said. “So that I can make choices based on what makes sense, knowing that I’m going to love whatever it is.”

I see another Target shopping trip in the near future for FLOTUS, with plenty of access for the press and especially photographers.

What's Wrong With This Picture? [Dan from NY]

2012-01-26T19:29:00.003-05:00

Dan from NY:

What's wrong with this picture? Hint: Every move Obama makes in the Middle East abets the Muslim cause at Israel's expense. Sheer coincidence, no doubt.

###

JPost, 01/26/2012

Muslim Brotherhood repeats: No talks with Israel

Spokesman says dialogue with Jewish state ‘not up for discussion.’

###

Reuters, 25 Jan 2012

Obama set to speed up aid to Egypt-official

Obama considers redirecting aid to Egypt

Oh, and then there's this:

Reuters, 26 Jan 2012

U.S. outrage as Egypt bars Americans from leaving

Among those hit by travel bans - one of those targeted called it "de facto detention" - is a son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood... The United States said Egypt should reverse them: "We are urging the government of Egypt to lift these restrictions immediately and allow these folks to come home as soon as possible," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

Perhaps the White House will go to the Obama version of DEFCON 1; i.e., issuing a strongly worded memo, with copies to the United Nations and George Soros.

Larwyn's Linx: Alarming Thoughts On The SOTU from Clark Judge

2012-01-26T06:24:00.001-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

Alarming Thoughts On The SOTU from Clark Judge: HyScience
Stumping Sebelius: BigJourn
Obama and Jan Brewer Have Words on Airport Tarmac: Malkin

One-percenter: Meet Warren Buffett's poor secretary: Glob
Obamacare encouraging government by edict, not law: Exam
Obama’s Gerrymander: ProPublica

GOP Primary

Reagan's Young Lieutenant: Lord
Romney Advisor: No Obamacare Repeal: RS
FL: Gingrich Draws Thousands, Romney Draws Hundreds: WS

Unlike Obama, GOP Candidates Serious About Governing: Barone
The Three Reasons Newt Is More Electable Than Mitt: FPM
Pelosi's office says she really doesn't have dirt on Newt: GWP

Economy

State of Obama's Tax Assertions -- ATR Fact Check: ATR
11 things Obama didn’t tell you about tax fairness last night: Peth
The State of His Policies: WSJ

Obamacare has made the debt crisis worse: Exam
WI unions burn through members money: RS
Rejection of Keystone XL a Hammer-Blow to Economy: HoosierAccess

Scandal Central

US Attorney Cunningham Refuses to Give More Than his Name and Title To Congressional Investigators: NiceDeb
Arizona House Speaker to ‘Put Some Light on Fast and Furious’: BG
New Mexico driver's license data point to rampant immigration fraud: Fox

Climate & Energy

Obama Puppetmaster Warren Buffett Biggest Winner From Keystone Pipeline Rejection: ZH
Radical Dem Schakowsky on Keystone XL: "Twenty thousand jobs is really not that many": Marathon
Thermageddon Folly QOTD: Soylent

Chevy Volt Battery Issue The Next Solyndra?: EarthTechling
ForestEthics “an enemy of the people of Canada”: Bayonet
Unicorns Twist Science and Corrupt the Rule of Law : NOFP

Media

AP FACT CHECK: Obama pushes plans that flopped before: Times-Union
Ladies and Gentlemen, I Might Just Have a Conservative Star for You.: Sundries
Rachel Maddow: Democrats Must Do More to Promote Abortion: LifeNews

Barack Obama Handles the Ship of State a Lot Like the Captain of the Costa Concordia: VS
Mitt Romney Makes $57,000 Per Day? That's So Much More Unbelievable Than My Own $41,000 Per Day: Ace
Gallup: Obama’s Approval Sinks Back to All-Time Low Among Blacks: CNS

Detailed Fisking of President Obama's Frightening Speech (Spending, Taxes, Threats and Lies): Lid
Obama’s Former Faith Adviser: ‘I, Frankly, Am Glad American Civil Religion is Dying’: CNS
Candid Admission - Proving Your Identity Only Hurts Democrat Voters: MenRec

World

Smearing Gingrich as an Anti-Semite: Commentary
Haditha Was Exploited To Increase Danger To The US, US Troops, And To Noncombatants: Kesler
Kansas City: Radical Muslim group begins month-long campaign on sharia: Creeping

Fidel Castro: GOP race is ‘idiocy, ignorance’: Politico
Polarization and Sustained Violence in Mexico's Cartel War: Stratfor
20% of young Germans have never heard of Auschwitz, survey reveals: Daily Mail

Report: Obama To Speed Up Pace Of American Aid To Muslim Brotherhood-Led Egypt: WZ
Gingrich: I want to build a moon base: CBS
Obama Ambassador To Egypt Meets With Muslim Brotherhood Leaders: WZ

Sci-Tech

Your Résumé vs. Oblivion: WSJ
Why ‘Xbox 720′ Might Reject Used Games: Wired
New Satellite Takes Spectacular High-Res Image of Earth: Wired

Cornucopia

This SOTU proudly brought to you by the Soros Fund: MOTUS
He needs a TOTUS for this?: WZ
Costa Concordia cruise’s American Express offer: ‘Immerse yourself’: WaPo

Image: Saudi woman driver reported killed in car crash is alive
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "The markets are the best measures of how people perceived today's announcements from the Fed. The dollar pissed on the Fed in general, the gold market hit Bernanke square in the face with an ingot." --Bruce Krasting

Breaking: Indiana poised to deal crushing blow to labor

2012-01-25T21:27:00.001-05:00

In other words, Indiana is banning indentured servitude, which is how I define being forced to pay union dues when you have no desire to belong to a union.

In another blow to organized labor in the traditionally union heavy Midwest, Indiana is poised to become the first right-to-work state in more than a decade after Republican lawmakers cleared the way on Wednesday to ban unions from collecting mandatory fees from workers.

Over the past year, Republicans have pushed for other anti-union laws in battleground Rust Belt states where many of the country's manufacturing jobs reside, including Wisconsin and Ohio, but they also have faced backlash from Democrats and union supporters. Wisconsin last year stripped public sector unions of collective bargaining rights.

Despite massive protests outside the Capitol, Wisconsin's GOP-dominated Assembly passed a law backed by Gov. Scott Walker in March that strips nearly all collective bargaining rights from organized labor. Walker is now preparing for a recall election after opponents turned in a million signatures aimed at forcing a vote and ousting him from office. In November, Ohio voters repealed a law limiting collective bargaining rights that was championed by Gov. John Kasich and fellow Republican lawmakers.

Indiana would mark the first win in 10 years for national right-to-work advocates who have pushed unsuccessfully for the measure in other states following a Republican sweep of statehouses in 2010. But few right-work states boast Indiana's union clout, borne of a long manufacturing legacy... Oklahoma, with its rural-based economy that produces comparatively fewer union jobs than Indiana, passed right-to-work legislation in 2001.

Indiana's vote came after weeks of protest by minority Democrats who tried various tactics to stop the bill. They refused to show up to debate despite the threat of fines that totaled $1,000 per day and introduced dozens of amendments aimed at delaying a vote. But conceding their tactics could not last forever because they were outnumbered, they finally agreed to allow the vote to take place.

~~Marxist~~ Democrat Rep. Linda Lawson termed the anti-slavery law an attack on the community.

"What you are doing is destroying my community!" said Lawson, who represents a northwest Indiana district packed with heavy manufacturers and a major BP oil refinery. "We want to turn my district into Detroit!"

I might have misheard that last sentence.

Hat tip: Winterspirit.

The Smartest Baby In America [Looking Spoon]

2012-01-25T21:03:00.000-05:00

The Looking Spoon:

"Mommy, the bad man stole $48,217.63 from me in only three years!"

It's another historic first: Obama uses State of the Union address as an official campaign fundraiser

2012-01-25T20:55:00.002-05:00

Remember how some of the drones and nincompoops voted for President Obama because he was "historic"?

Turns out he really was, only not in the way they'd expected.

If there was any question whether President Obama’s State of the Union address was actually a prettied up campaign speech, Obama himself answered it with an email to supporters just before his appearance asking them to contribute to his campaign... titled “Before I speak,” was sent by “Barack Obama” through the campaign email system and signed, “Barack”...

I’m heading to Capitol Hill soon to deliver my third State of the Union address... Tonight, we set the tone for the year ahead. I’m going to lay out in concrete terms the path we need to take as a country if we want an economy that works for everyone and rewards hard work and responsibility.

I’m glad to know you’ll be standing with me up there.

Barack

—–

Support President Obama. Make a donation today.

The last sentence in the email includes a link that brings recipients to a page where they can make their donation.

This is a man who appears to have literally no respect for the office of the President or, for that matter, America's traditions, values and mores.

Good news, though: November is coming. And I will walk on hot coals to vote this person out of office.

Say, if we're really in a "recovery", could someone tell me why the total number of vehicle-miles driven in the U.S. is still declining?

2012-01-25T20:04:00.001-05:00

Answer: because someone in the administration forgot to doctor the numbers (like they do with unemployment).

The Department of Transportation (DOT) reported:

• Travel on all roads and streets changed by -0.9% (-2.1 billion vehicle miles) for November 2011 as compared with November 2010.

• Travel for the month is estimated to be 240.9 billion vehicle miles.

• Cumulative Travel for 2011 changed by -1.4% (-38.3 billion vehicle miles).
The following graph shows the rolling 12 month total vehicle miles driven.

...In the early '80s, miles driven (rolling 12 months) stayed below the previous peak for 39 months.

Currently miles driven has been below the previous peak for 48 months - and still counting! And not just moving sideways ... the rolling 12 month total is still declining.

...This is the ninth straight month with a year-over-year decline in miles driven...

But if only the obstinate Republicans would give President Obama more money and more power, he'll make everything better. If he can just tax the rich more, tax oil companies more, maybe add a VAT tax, maybe convert all private retirement funds into annuities backed by government bonds, and find some other creative ways to raise cash for the government to redistribute, all will be well.

All will be well.

Cash Money Contest: Predict When President Subprime McCaddy Gets His 100th Round of Golf In

2012-01-25T19:47:00.003-05:00

The invaluable Keith Koffler at White House Dossier tells us that President Obama has hit the links a record 92 times during his first three years in office.

In recognition of this monumental achievement, we're offering a $25 cash prize (paid via PayPal) to the person who comes closest to guessing the date of Obama's 100th round of golf.

So have at it in the comments. Along with your guestimated date, you can also include a caption for the accompanying photo, which we'll use as the tie-breaker.

Awesome: Senior Romney Adviser Says a Republican President Could Never Repeal Obamacare

2012-01-25T19:32:00.000-05:00

Yet another reason to support one of the two non-Romneys in the race:

Mitt Romney adviser Norm Coleman, a former senator from Minnesota, predicted the GOP won't repeal the Democrats' healthcare reform law even if a Republican candidate defeats President Obama this November.

"You will not repeal the act in its entirety, but you will see major changes, particularly if there is a Republican president," Coleman told BioCentury This Week television in an interview that aired on Sunday. "You can't whole-cloth throw it out. But you can substantially change what's been done."

...Coleman's remarks are remarkable because every Republican candidate — including Romney — has vowed to make repealing the law a priority. Coleman is also the chairman of the American Action Network, which has urged the courts to strike down the law's individual mandate and its Medicaid expansion.

Squishes like Norm Coleman, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are cowards who are either too scared or too invested in the status quo to try to save this country.

Folks, I don't mean to be a polyanna, but every expert from Obama adviser Peter Orszag to the CBO says that America is headed into a fiscal abyss. And these clowns are waving the white flag before the fight has even started?

So what do we do? We need to demand -- demand, not ask! -- that these establishment RINOs are replaced as Congressional leaders in 2012 by Tea Party conservatives like Michele Bachmann, Allen West, Jim DeMint, Marco Rubio, etc. If it takes a march on Washington, so be it. We're tired of being ignored by these numbskulls. Enough is enough.

Hat tip: Mark Levin.

Larwyn's Linx: SOTU 2012, Deconstructed

2012-01-25T06:24:00.002-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

SOTU 2012, Deconstructed: HayRide
Here's what you won't hear at the State of the Union: Instapundit
State of the Union: Populist-corporatist stew: Carney

SOTU Surprise: Mass Re-Financing of Mortgages: Peth
State of Obama's Tax Assertions -- ATR Fact Check: ATR
The Real State of the Union: Stossel

Zero People Turn Out For March for Life on DC: Ace
Party On, America: Pundette
Schools of Education: Williams

GOP Primary

New polls show a collapse in support for Mitt Romney: LAT
Romney vs. Kerry: Fair Share: WZ
Meet the men who gave us ObamaCare: Hot Air

What really happened in the Gingrich ethics case?: York
Chris Christie's absolutely bizarre judicial nominations: WyBlog
Congrats Capitalists: Reagan Democrats Abandon Romney: Riehl

Economy

'11 Stunning Secrets': ProWis
What the White House Really Knew About the Stimulus: IBD
WI State Senate Recall Petition Rife With Invalid Signatures, Duplicates, and Errors: BG

Barack Obama Is the Food-Stamp President: Blumer
State Dependency on the Federal Government: Cato
Non-Class Warrior Wants Millionaires to Pay Fair Share: AmPower

Scandal Central

Obama’s Green Robber Barons: Malkin
What a Surprise: Obama Supporter’s Company May Benefit From Keystone Pipeline Rejection: Powers
In 2010 SOTU, Obama Touts Solyndra: RCP

Climate & Energy

President Obama’s Very Dishonest Campaign Ad Regarding Energy: Watts
How Barack Obama used taxpayer dollars to outsource green energy jobs: RWN
Warren Buffett Stands To Make Huge Profit From Obama’s Rejection of Keystone Pipeline: WZ

Media

Palin to Christie: Don’t get your panties in a wad over Gingrich’s victory in South Carolina: Hot Air
Surprise! Obama Doesn’t Want The 2012 Election To Be About His Own Incompetence: Pirate's Cove
Santorum Socks Heilemann: MSM's Job To Defend Obama, Not Mine: NB

Chicago Tribune, Washington Post Defend Alinsky: Conservatory
Allen West says Newt best suited to communicate conservatism to the black community: Scoop
When you've lost Jack Cafferty...: NoisyRm

State-run media whitewashes Alinsky: BizzyBlog
1999 CNN report on Newt Gingrich’s exoneration by the IRS over ethics charges: Scoop
Video: Black Truck Driver Call's Rush Does Stunning Complete 180 On Obama: HyScience

WSJ Goes Into Full GDS Meltdown: Howling
Flashback: Ace
Nancy Pelosi Promises That Newt Gingrich Will Never Become President: Blaze

World

How Iran Could Trigger Accidental Armageddon: Bloomberg
Is Obama Trying To Replace The Pope?: IBD
56% Favor Building Keystone Pipeline, Think It’s Good for Economy: Rasmussen

Good for Gingrich, who dares to disavow Sharia: Spencer
Soros Warns of ‘Riots,‘ ’Brutal’ Clampdowns & Possible Total Economic Collapse: Blaze
Pentagon Looks to Sabotage Pakistan’s Bomb Supply: Wired

U.S. Raid in Somalia Frees Hostages: WSJ
U.S. 'Reset' Backfires As Brazil Turns To China: IBD
Widespread support for burka ban in Canada: Creeping

Sci-Tech

21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic: SEOMoz
Google announces privacy changes across products; users can’t opt out: WaPo
Fitness 2.0: it's genes versus gym: smh

Cornucopia

Obama's Re-Run SOTU: Ace
Florida Republican’s Ad Depicts Children Enslaved by Obama and Alan Grayson: RSM
MTV warns about perils of Obama's NDAA: MTV

Image: "US forces free aid workers held in Somalia", AFP
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Drop a dime on Rick Santorum's Campaign

QOTD: "To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace." --George Washington, first State of the Union address

Breaking: Official Seal of the Obama 2012 Campaign Released

2012-01-24T21:36:00.000-05:00

Dear Mr. Axelrod:

You're welcome.

Say, didn't Illinois just try Obama's "tax the rich" crap last year? And didn't it fail, miserably?

2012-01-24T21:09:00.000-05:00

Why, yes. Yes it did.

Republicans looking to combat President Obama's Castro-like State of the Union speech have an easy case laid out for them. It's called the state of Illinois, which dramatically increased taxes on individuals (especially the "rich") and businesses last year.

And not only did Illinois fail to close its budget gap, but Obama's ultra-left wing, union-controlled home state also got a ratings downgrade. Which means -- for you drones out there -- that its future borrowing costs will go still higher.

It's called circling the drain: more borrowing begets lower ratings, which increases borrowing costs, and so on...

Run up spending and debt, raise taxes in the naming of balancing the budget, but then watch as deficits rise and your credit-rating falls anyway. That’s been the sad pattern in Europe, and now it’s hitting that mecca of tax-and-spend government known as Illinois.

…Moody’s downgraded Illinois state debt to A2 from A1, the lowest among the 50 states. That’s worse even than California.

…This wasn’t supposed to happen. Only a year ago, Governor Pat Quinn and his fellow Democrats raised individual income taxes by 67% and the corporate tax rate by 46%. They did it to raise $7 billion in revenue, as the Governor put it, to “get Illinois back on fiscal sound footing” and improve the state’s credit rating. So much for that.

…And—no surprise—in part because the tax increases have caused companies to leave Illinois, the state budget office confesses that as of this month the state still has $6.8 billion in unpaid bills and unaddressed obligations.

Turn out that raising taxes, especially on the "rich", does three basic things:

• It destroys productivity, because the "rich" are the ones who invest, take risks, start businesses, and -- in general -- create productivity in the economy;

• It encourages the government to continue reckless spending;

• And never raises as much money as projected.

In other words, allowing government to raise taxes without first restraining spending is irresponsible at best.

And such a plan, should Obama somehow convince people to support it, is guaranteed to fail just like every other one of his fiascoes*.

* Including, but not limited to: "Stimulus" programs, HAMP, HARP, Cash-for-Clunkers, Obamacare, "Financial Reform", permanent 9% unemployment and 20% underemployment, the unlawful takeovers of GM and Chrysler, "Quantitative Easing", a new war, and $5.2 trillion in new Obama debt.

New Business Venture [Papa B]

2012-01-24T20:13:00.001-05:00

Papa B:

An idea whose time has come:

More Water-cooler here.

Obama Henchman John Podesta Lumps Canada In With Terror States To Justify the Disastrous Keystone XL Decision

2012-01-24T19:56:00.001-05:00

John Podesta is one of a long line of Soros-funded Obama stooges (which is the term they prefer, I hear) who runs the ill-named "Center for American Progress". From all appearances, CAP's mission is three-fold: (a) to de-industrialize America through eco-Marxism; (b) to continue pushing the country down the road to a failed, European social welfare state; and (c) to manufacture propaganda for the state, Hugo Chavez-style.

For the latter purpose, Podesta was able to secure a forum at The Wall Street Journal this morning. He used it to deliver one of the more malicious pieces of propaganda ever printed in an American newspaper. The op-ed was timed, of course, to reinforce tonight's State of the Union address and, in particular, to justify Obama's disastrous Keystone XL pipeline decision.

In the hubbub around the president's decision not to approve the proposed Keystone XL pipeline between Canada and the United States, Americans missed the big picture. While conservatives have been fighting to build a pipeline to import more foreign oil and deepen U.S. dependence, the U.S. is poised to transform its energy portfolio by developing domestic resources—renewable and mineral—that will let it become a net exporter of clean energy and energy technology in this decade...

Renewable energy resources like those produced by Solyndra?

And since when was Canada lumped in with America's enemies?

Only in the mind of a malevolent, Soros-controlled drone could Canada be equated with a totalitarian Islamist terror state.

Under President Obama's leadership, we appear to be at the beginning of a domestic gas and oil boom. After a four-decade decline in oil production, the U.S. is now producing more than half of our oil domestically. This can free us from our addiction to foreign-sourced barrels, particularly if we utilize our dramatically larger and cheaper natural gas reserves. Natural gas now costs the equivalent of less than $15 per barrel, versus the $100-plus barrels we import from the Middle East... [But there] are critical environmental questions associated with developing these resources, particularly concerning methane leakage and water pollution.

Buried in this pile of literary excrement is the caveat that applies to all Obama dictums: companies will get regulated out of business by the EPA, the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Land Management, and dozens of other elements of the bloated federal bureaucracy long before a single watt of energy is ever produced.

I'll spare you the rest of Podesta's verbal diarrhea.

Decades from now, when the complete history of the Obama administration is written, its accomplices like John Podesta -- who betrayed their country for a few pieces of Soros' gold -- will receive the full measure of scorn and hatred they deserve. Future generations destined to suffer because of nefarious individuals like Podesta will curse their names and, if there is any justice at all, turn their gravesites into landfills.

FDR Didn’t Bomb The Death Camps, Obama Won’t Bomb Iran [Dan from NY]

2012-01-24T19:32:00.000-05:00

Dan from NY:

As more and more evidence accumulates that shows FDR and the allies knew about Hitler's death camps and decided not to bomb them, the more and more Obama’s unwillingness to take the atomic bat out of Iran’s hands starts looking like déjà vu all over again. Of course, there is one (and only one) big difference between now and then: Israel was born and has been blessed with the wherewithal to crush the Iranian viper in its infancy, before it becomes lethal. What’s yet to be determined, though, is whether Israel has the will to carry out its G-d-given mission. We should get our answer before the year is out.

Larwyn's Linx: Tea Party rising for Newt Gingrich

2012-01-24T06:24:00.002-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Florida Primary

Tea Party rising for Newt Gingrich: Wolf
Gingrich & The GDS-Suffering Republican Elites: Howling
The Founders vs. Alinsky: IBD

Seven things we learned in South Carolina: Hot Air
It's Complicated: Cal Thomas
Newt Surges in Florida: Hayward

South Carolina Message: Sowell
Romney's chickens come home to roost - a little: HayRide
Two Polls Put Gingrich Ahead by 9 in Florida: Ace

Nation

Hearings Scheduled on Illegal Non-Recess Appointments: Foundry
Does Iowa Electoral Fraud Scam Lead To White House?: IBD
Sen. Rand Paul ‘detained’ by TSA in Nashville, TSA denies: DC

The March for Life 2012: Malkin
54,559,615 Abortions Since Roe vs. Wade Decision in 1973: LifeNews
SCOTUS says no to debate over Elena Kagan health care role: Politico

ATR Presents Obama/State of the Union BINGO!: ATR
Obama Campaign Attacked Hillary’s Character: S&L
Sen. Mark Kirk suffers stroke, undergoes surgery for swelling: Hill

Economy

11 stunning revelations from the secret Summers-Obama memo: Peth
Federal Workers Owe $1.03B In Unpaid Taxes: S&L
1,000 Days Without a Budget: Facts on the Senate’s Failure: Foundry

NLRB Appointee Will Continue to Receive Payments from Union: Foundry
Will Unions Occupy Super Bowl Over Right To Work?: IBD
Obama’s New “Fairness Doctrine” and the American Ideal: Foundry

Scandal Central

Immigration authorities released man who then murdered three people in Florida: Hot Air
71% of Obama’s 2012 Bundlers Have Visited the White House, 19% Received Jobs: VS
Grassley: LightSquared offered me a political “win” in exchange for backing down on FCC probe: Hot Air

Climate & Energy

Report: Auto dealers turning down Chevy Volts: Foundry
Ford Motor withdraws from climate change group: Exam
Keystone activists to protest oil, Congress ties: Reuters

Media

The Self-Destruction of the Mainstream Media: McCann
The Unbearable Lightness of Being the MSM: AmSpec
Bill Maher: I Support SOPA, Because I'm Pretty Sure Absent Piracy Religulous Would Have Been A Huge Hit: Ace

The Question Is Not ‘Electability,’ but ‘Re-electability’: DLimbaugh
Gingrich Super PAC Head: Romney Is a Medicare Fraudster, but Will It Matter?: BG
“If That’s What the President is Going to Talk About Tuesday Night, I Think it’s Pathetic”: JWF

When Media Won't Talk About Race: AT
Allen West: There is No Racist Code Language in the “Food Stamp President” Claim – It’s a Fact: Marfdrat
Spotted in the wild: Obama food-stamp bumper-sticker: Urban Infidel

The Republican Base Simply Does Not Like Mitt Romney & Why The Press Rarely Reports It: Erickson
Mark Levin blasts Christie for parroting old left-wing ethics propaganda against Newt: Scoop
West raises $1.75M in fourth quarter: Hill

World

Failed treasury auction portends Egyptian disaster: Spengler
Davos elite: Capitalism is the problem: Q&O
Iran 'definitely' closing Strait of Hormuz over EU oil embargo: RT

Ex-CIA Agent, ABC and HuffPo Contributor, Busted for Leaks: Conservatory
New Docs Reveal How DOJ Kowtows to Muslim Brotherhood: Geller
Obama: Iran Has Nuclear Rights; I Did Not Want to Sanction Its Bank: Kahlili

Haditha Marine Wuterich Vindicated: Kesler
Soros Sounds Pretty Excited About Riots in the Streets: VS
U.S. Defense Cuts Hobble Allies, Embolden Enemies: PJM

Sci-Tech

Facebook Friends: 237. Real Friends: 2: Telegraph
Grassley’s Twitter Account Hacked: Roll Call
Megaupload Says They're Back And Almost Ready To Run Again Sans Domain Name: Consumerist

Cornucopia

Cliche' betting odds for the State of the Union Address!: TPC
Man Accidentally Plays Wrong Lottery Game And Wins $14.3 Million: Consumerist
The Ulsterman Report: Sex and Murder in The Land of Obama?: Newsflavor

Image: iOwnTheWorld -- John Kerry
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "Plato’s Republic, More’s Utopia, Hobbes’s Leviathan, and Marx’s workers’ paradise are utopias that are anti-individual and anti-individualism. For the utopians, modern and olden, the individual is one-dimensional—selﬁsh. On his own, he has little moral value. Contrarily, authoritarianism is defended as altruistic and masterminds as socially conscious. Thus endless interventions in the individual’s life and manipulation of his conditions are justiﬁed as not only necessary and desirable but noble governmental pursuits. This false dialectic is at the heart of the problem we face today " --Mark Levin, Ameritopia

Pethokoukis: Secret 2008 Memo to Barack Obama reveals White House knew Stimulus was a partisan scam

2012-01-23T21:45:00.000-05:00

Jim Pethokoukis alerts us to the stunning release of a confidential memo sent to Barack Obama by senior economic adviser Larry Summers on December 15, 2008.

In short, Obama and Summers both knew the Stimulus was a scam.

1. The Stimulus Had Nothing to Do With Reviving the Economy, It Was Designed To Reward Allies and Implement Left-Wing Policies - "The short-run economic imperative was to identify as many campaign promises or high priority items that would spend out quickly and be inherently temporary. … The stimulus package is a key tool for advancing clean energy goals and fulfilling a number of campaign commitments."

2. Obama knew that the deficits he was about to run were dangerous -- and didn't care - "[The spending] would leave an average deficit over the next decade that would be worse than any post-World War II decade. This would be entirely unsustainable and could cause serious economic problems in the both the short run and the long run."

3. Obama considered a Stimulus package greater than a trillion dollars, but was dissuaded when convinced the markets would rebel - "To accomplish a more significant reduction in the output gap would require stimulus of well over $1 trillion based on purely mechanical assumptions—which would likely not accomplish the goal because of the impact it would have on markets."

4. The Federal Reserve supported the disastrous Stimulus package - "Senior Federal Reserve officials appear to be of the view that a plan that well exceeds $600 billion would be desirable."

5. Obama knew the financial crisis was not solely Wall Street's fault - "A significant cause of the current crisis lies in the failure of regulators to exercise vigorously the authority they already have."

Read the whole thing.

The revelations in this document alone should be enough to bring down the Obama administration. The level of dishonesty laced throughout the Obama White House is both shocking and repellent.

Exclusive: Obama voters rush to post-election free healthcare centers [Joe Bill Scott]

2012-01-23T20:55:00.000-05:00

@JoeBillScott:

Did someone say "free healthcare"?

Dual Disasters Boil Over in Egypt: "Millions of Egyptians will die"

2012-01-23T20:28:00.009-05:00

Advocates of Egypt's "Democracy" movement -- Barack Obama included -- failed to note that there were no organized secular, liberal political parties that could offer a counterweight to Islamists in a popular election. The result, therefore, was utterly predictable. Predictable, at least, by anyone with a modicum of sense.

The United States and other Western governments must accept the new reality that Islamists have emerged to fill the power vacuum in the Arab world after a wave of popular uprisings, Human Rights Watch said in its annual report Sunday.

The New York-based group also urged Islamist parties, which have emerged as the biggest winners in recent elections in Tunisia and Egypt and are expected to fare well in Libya, to respect the rights of women and religious minorities, saying they cannot "pick and choose" when it comes to human rights. [Ed: delusional? You make the call.]

...Since the collapse of the regimes in Egypt and Tunisia a year ago, Islamist groups once largely confined to the political sidelines, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, have formed parties and contested parliamentary polls, winning the greatest share of seats.

As background, about half of all Egyptians are "functionally illiterate"; 90% of adult women have undergone ritual, genital mutilation; and nearly a third of Egyptians marry their first or second cousins. And nearly half of Egypt's citizens live on subsistence rations, earning less than $2 a day, much of which must be spent on food.

With that as context, Spengler's "Failed treasury auction portends Egyptian disaster" in Asia Times is unsettling, to say the least.

Investors bought less an a third of the 3.5 billion Egyptian pounds (US$580 million) worth of Treasury bills offered to the market on January 22, a red flag warning that Egypt's foreign exchange position is close to the brink.

Yields on Egyptian government debt maturing in nine months jumped to nearly 16%, but the government could not place its local-currency debt to Egyptian investors, even at that exorbitant rate.

This is a new and ominous decline in the financial position of the most populous Arab country. I have been warning since last May that "Egypt is running out of food, and, more gradually, running out of the money with which to buy it." How fast this may occur is hard to specify, but the government's inability to borrow on money markets suggests that the crunch is not far off.

Why are investors fleeing?

After Islamist parties won more three-quarters of the seats in recent parliamentary elections - 47% for the Muslim Brotherhood and 25% for the even more extreme al-Nour Party - the business elite that prospered under military rule is counting the days before exile...

...Egypt's middle class will leave and tourism, down by a third over the past year, will virtually disappear in response to Salafist restrictions. The Barack Obama administration in Washington will try to appease the new Islamist government whenever it takes power, but will succeed no better than the Jimmy Carter administration did when the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini took power in Iran in 1979.

Spengler concludes with an ominous prediction: "Millions of Egyptians will die before this is through."

Should such a disaster come to pass, much of the blame will rightly fall on Barack Obama, who sold out a long-time U.S. ally in pursuit of heaven knows what.

Hat tip: Winterspirit.

The State of the Union? Profoundly Unhappy

2012-01-23T19:38:00.001-05:00

My guess is he won't be mentioning the fact that Tuesday represents the 1,000th day that the country has gone without a budget, thanks to Democrats in the Senate. Let's just call that another Obama record. To accompany record levels of unhappiness with the state of the union:

As Obama takes the stage for tomorrow's State of the Union address, in which, among other things, he probably will not announce that the US debt limit is effectively $16.4 trillion, or 107% of GDP and rising, he faces a very unhappy audience: one which according to Gallup has seen its dissatisfaction with economic and political issues hit record levels...

...Among the Gallup observations: "As President Barack Obama prepares his annual address to Congress, Americans are broadly dissatisfied with the state of the nation in several specific issue areas, with satisfaction down sharply in some cases since January 2008. However, three issues -- the nation's economy, the size and power of the federal government, and the moral and ethical climate in the country -- fit both of these unwelcome criteria." And with the only response the administration has in the past three years consisting of either printing more money which sends all assets, especially energy, higher in price, or fiscal stimulus of which 90% and more is lost due to inefficiencies and corruption, we don't see satisfaction rising any time soon.

Let me be clear. While I prefer Rick Santorum, then Newt Gingrich, and then Mitt Romney for President, I would vote for a lint filter over Barack Obama. Because a lint filter would do considerably less damage to this country.

Quite Possibly the Best Cartoon of This Century [Papa B]

2012-01-23T19:19:00.003-05:00

Papa B:

Considering a career in crime?

I personally would suggest government: they never go to jail.

Larwyn's Linx: Florida: "All your primary are belong to us"

2012-01-23T06:24:00.001-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

GOP Primaries

Florida: "All your primary are belong to us": Sunshine
SC: Newt’s The Big Winner, Romney And Paul Losers: Cove
Newt Wins South Carolina: Bruce

Newt Notes: Crayfisher
Romney Flunks Critical Competency Test: Riehl
Ron Paul Supporters ‘No-Shows’ at Ron Paul Speech: Shark Tank

Gingrich win shows collapse of GOP establishment: Exam
RuPaul will skip Florida primary to focus on Nevada and Minnesota: FAM
Gingrich steals Romney's cloak of electability as president: Reuters

Nation

Time to Town it Down: Open Letter to the GOP Candidates: Hawkins
Obama’s 3rd-year approval lowest of anyone except Jimmy Carter: FAM
Gabrielle Giffords to resign from Congress: Politico

Newt Is Vindicated, But Nobody Knows It: Bozell (1999)
Romney: Alright, I’ll Release My 2010 Returns on Tuesday: Malkin
Romney's Ugly Politics Now Surfacing In Surrogates: Riehl

A Few Words in Defense of Negative Campaigning: Barone
Christie: Gingrich 'embarrassed' the GOP: Politico
Arrested guy’s the real SEAL: Post

Economy

Why Do Obama Officials Get So Rich?: Lowry
Despite Below Freezing Temps, Thousands Rally for Scott Walker: BG
Dripping with red ink: Will anyone fix Illinois' budget mess?: BND

Sundays with Sherrod: Occupier Solidarity: BG
Classy: “Occupiers” Steal From Church, Urinate on a Cross: JWF
Man of the People Hits NYC for Four Lavish Fundraisers in One Night: JWF

Gunrunner & Energygate

Breaking on Fast and Furious: Arizona Moves to Prosecute Those the Feds Won’t: BG
Boehner, Cantor press secretaries balk at calls for Holder’s resignation: DC
Attorney General Holder Continues To Defend The Rights Of The Dead To Vote: JWF

Climate & Energy

Obama Okays Gulf Oil Storage For Brazil: S&L
Update On The Environmental Scientist Caught On Video Faking Data; Now With A Kennedy Connection: Wizbang
Tom Brady’s Environmentally-Friendly 22,000 Square Foot Mansion Finally Ready: JWF

Media

The Disgrace Of The Fourth Estate - The Obama Media Group: JoshuaPundit
The Cry-Baby In Chief: FPM
Dennis Miller’s Rant on Obama’s Disneyworld Visit: VS

South Carolina Ended the Myth of Romney’s ‘Inevitability’ And Other Lessons: BG
Newt's Victory in South Carolina a Defeat for the Liberal Media: Bozell
Yes, Liberalism IS a Mental Disorder: MenRec

Willard Mitt Romney becoming unhinged, calls Newt Gingrich a failed leader who had to resign in disgrace: FAM
Revolution Moves Into The Overton Window: NoisyRm
Hugh Hewitt Channeling Liberals For Romney: Riehl

World

Pro-Sharia Textbooks Creeping Into Curricula Nationwide: BigPeace
Muslim Pilot -- with terror links and deemed a security risk -- accuses airline of racism after losing his job: Atlas
Cuba: The Truth in Black and White: babalu

Obama Official Confirms U.S. Meeting With Al-Qaeda Allied Haqqani Network: WZ
Obama Campaign Uses Old, Unrelated Footage in Attempt to Convince Voters He Is Pro-Israel: BigPeace
Syria rejects new Arab League plan to end violence: Fox

Amazing Look at Communism and the Secret Rise of Capitalism in Rural China: AllAm
Argentine Paper Apologizes for Hitler Themed Comic Strip Mocking Jews in Concentration Camps: Blaze
Egyptian Islamists Torch Homes and Businesses in Coptic Village: GWP

Sci-Tech

The Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips: Farnam Street
New App Helps Users Find Parking In NYC: NY CBS
Steve Jobs Freaked Out A Month Before First iPhone Was Released And Demanded A New Screen: Insider

Cornucopia

Get out of here! And take your little dog with you.: MOTUS
Winter, Snow, Ice and Oy!: PRS
Ga. judge orders president to appear at hearing: CBS Atlanta

Image: iOwnTheWorld
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "...it’s [Judi Kantor's] portrayal of our Commander-In-Chief that is truly shocking. Barack Obama comes off as a man with deep personal issues, manifested in a supreme self-centeredness and tremendous insecurity. He is emotionally fragile, unable to stand criticism, and bewildered by dissent...

...Obama comes across in the book as profoundly power-hungry – he couldn’t get anything done as a State Senator, so he moved on to the Senate; he couldn’t get anything done in the Senate, so he moved on to the presidency.

He’s frustrated with the presidency, too. “When Obama reflected privately on the presidency that fall, he often spoke about the limitations of the office,” Kantor reports about Obama’s first autumn in the White House. He was suffering from a “dawning sense of political powerlessness.” This is the highest form of egotism known to man. The president of the United States is the most powerful individual on earth. He does not get to complain about his lack of power. No wonder Obama has publicly mused about the beauties of the Chinese system – the only step up from the presidency is monarchy or dictatorship." --Ben Shapiro

The 10 Cars With the Most Obnoxious Drivers

2012-01-22T20:04:00.004-05:00

Hey, but if you drive one of these, I'm sure you're the exception...

10. Toyota Prius
They should have called it the Toyota Sanctimonius. That sidelong glare you get when you pass one? It means you're driving too fast. Wasting precious gasoline. Defiling Gaia. Reveling in your carbon footprint. You, my friend, are the enemy of mankind. And all Prius drivers.

9. 1990's-Vintage Modified Honda Civic
Yes, this is the infamous "Ricer", equipped with fart pipe, sub-$250 body kit, partially-finished paint job and Formula One-style spoiler. It must, of course, be lowered sufficiently to scrape the pavement like a spatula. And its driver must try to race every single car on the road, including pickups towing cabin cruisers, ice cream trucks, and Soccer Moms in their Caravans.

8. Mercedes C-Class
Dude, it's a C-Class. The entry-level Mercedes. It's the Sentra of Mercedes. I know, you think everyone is jealous of you. Here's a helpful hint: they're not. In fact, all Mercedes owners look down on you for driving the brand's Corolla. And drivers of other makes just kinda feel sorry for you, because. Well, you're. Trying. Too. Hard.

7. Buick LeSabre
You're stuck behind a car that is signaling right, but won't move. You're following a car going 20 in a 35. You're shouting at the car in front of you, which refuses to turn right on red, despite the fact that there isn't another car in sight. You are behind a 2004 Buick LeSabre driven by a person old enough to have known Ulysses S. Grant.

6. BMW 3-class
It would seem that every single, self-absorbed, 20-something male college graduate with a steady job feels like the world owes him a BMW 3-series. And, with said purchase comes the requisite disregard for traffic signals, lane-changing courtesies, and any semblance of manners. Should you pass one, even accidentally, you will find yourself the subject of a street race that will often end up with the BMW screeching ahead of you, only to narrowly avoid rear-ending a panel truck at the next red light.

5. Range Rover
We know, lady: you've got to get Tyler and Madison to lacrosse practice and you've got a pressing nail appointment. But, please, could you stay the hell off the phone while you weave from side to side?

4. Subaru Outback
Hey, hippie: it's not the sixties. You're not driving an air-cooled VW. You're allowed to go over 20 miles-an-hour. Even with all of the stupid bumper stickers weighing you down. Promise. We know: you love the environment and you value safety -- but you can't afford a Volvo. Hey, we get it. Believe me, we get it.

3. Chevy Volt
If driving a $45,000 coal-powered car that has a tendency to catch on fire is considered sexy and environmentally conscious, count me in!

2. Mini Cooper
Hey kid, I know it's made by BMW, but it's not really a BMW. Really. And you're not in The Italian Job. Really. You're in an overpriced s***-box modeled loosely after one of the worst cars of all time.

1. Any vehicle with an Obama bumpersticker on it.
No matter how evil a glare you throw at one of these drones, they keep their gaze fixed straight into the distance. Leaning forward, as it were. It's almost as if they're mesmerized by the visions of a Utopian society, that which never was and never could be. It's true; they're exceedingly stupid. They believe in the mirage of Statism; the bill of goods sold to them by the Charlatan-In-Chief that translates not to a Utopia, but to a Dystopian nightmare, the endgame for all collectivist societies. In a sane society, these people would be required to read Ameritopia before receiving a driver's license.

Egotistical, bombastic embarrassment claims Newt Gingrich is... an embarrassment

2012-01-22T16:44:00.002-05:00

For a guy who has never done anything at the national level; who has a personal cameraman following him around to capture those special "YouTube moments" where he confronts public sector union members; and who has taken troubling positions on gun control, illegal immigration, judges, global warming, and Obamacare (to name but a few), it takes real hubris to pillory Newt Gingrich.

I speak, of course, of Chris "Krispy Kreme" Christie, one of the darlings of the RINO establishment, who is doing his level best to sandbag conservatives.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Sunday dubbed Mitt Romney’s showing in South Carolina “clearly disappointing,” but quickly turned his focus to Newt Gingrich, saying he has been “an embarrassment to the party.”

Christie, a key Romney surrogate in his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, blasted Gingrich on NBC's "Meet the Press" for his ethics violation fine and losing the speakership in the House, saying that “sometimes past is prologue... Newt Gingrich has embarrassed the party over time. Whether he'll do it again in the future I don't know, but Gov. Romney never has,” Christie said on NBC's “Meet the Press.”

"I mean he was run out of the speakership by his own party, he was fined $300,000 for ethics violations. This is a guy that has had a very difficult political career at times, and has been an embarrassment to the party," Christie added.

...While Christie has pointed to Romney’s difficulties in connecting with people before, he said Sunday it’s due to Romney being a “reserved guy.” He then turned to what he deemed Gingrich’s liabilities... “Strategic adviser? That is the oldest Washington dodge in the book. That's because he didn't want to register as a lobbyist,” Christie said.

...Christie also addressed the vice presidency question once again, saying, “If I'm approached I will listen, but my inclination, I want to make it very clear, is that I want to stay governor of New Jersey."

News flash, Krispy: you ain't gonna be the VP. And, by the way, Newt Gingrich has accomplished 20 times more for the conservative movement and the Republican Party than you have.

The results of Gingrich's ethics probe are publicly available; they involve a course that Gingrich taught at Kennesaw State College while serving in Congress. The trouble revolved around the fact that the course was backed by a tax-exempt group. Gingrich taught Constitutional, conservative values, which the IRS found were “consistent with its stated exempt purposes.”

The whole thing was a political setup. And doesn't Newt's "ethics violations" seem quaint given the likes of Maxine Waters, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi, Diane Feinstein, and the rest of the modern miscreants of Congress who have mysteriously made millions in office?

So, Krispy, I'd advise you to keep your pie-hole shut. You're the embarrassment -- and we're not going to let you try to tear down conservatives in pursuit of a VP slot that you'll never get.

Debunking the Beltway Hacks' Latest Spin: Gingrich Will Harm Down-Ticket Republicans

2012-01-22T11:46:00.002-05:00

The latest folderol emanating from the utterly embarrassed Beltway elites -- many of whom were surreptitiously on the Romney payroll -- is that Newt Gingrich's poor "likability" scores will harm down-ticket Republicans.

If history is any indicator, this is about as accurate as their mantra-like predictions, repeated ad infinitum, that Mitt Romney would run away with the nomination because of his "electability".

Rasmussen Reports explains what Obama's failed presidency really means to down-ticket Democrats:

Going into the final weekend of [Jimmy Carter's 1980] campaign..., Gallup had Carter’s Republican opponent, Ronald Reagan, up three points. Harris had him up five points, while Newsweek and The Washington Post had Carter up one.

But at the end, the bottom fell out for Carter. “I’ve never seen anything like it in polling,” said Pat Caddell, Carter’s pollster. What was a close race turned into a big Reagan lead in the last hours of the campaign; he ended up winning 489 electoral votes and a 51%-41% victory over Carter. Likely aiding Reagan at the end was the one and only debate between the two, held just a week before the election, when Reagan memorably asked voters “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” ...With Carter captaining the Democratic ship, election night in 1980 was Titanic-esque. Democrats lost 12 Senate seats and 33 House seats.

...Given the divided control of the government, some commentators we respect have noted the possibility of a total switcheroo in Washington next year: President Obama loses the presidency, the Republicans take the Senate and the Democrats re-take the House.

That, of course, is possible. But it would be a first in the modern history of the republic: Since 1860, an incumbent president has never lost the White House in the same election that his party won control of either house of Congress from the other party. Similarly, the House and the Senate flipping in opposite directions has never happened in the same election in the same timeframe. In other words, regardless of what happens in the presidential race, a scenario in which Democrats captured the House next year and Republicans captured the Senate would be, in a word, historic.

So history tells us that Democrats need Obama to roar back and win a second term in order to flip the House. And even that might not be enough.

So when Karl Rove, who has yet to reveal any financial interests he may have vested in one or more of the GOP candidates, next opines about Newt's "likability", you can take his "analysis" with a giant grain of salt.

Say, a 31 percentage point-sized grain of salt.

Larwyn's Linx: Lessons From South Carolina

2012-01-22T08:04:00.002-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

South Carolina

Lessons From South Carolina: Wolf Howling
Why Newt?: Domenech
Gingrich Looking Churchillian In Political Comeback: IBD

Hill: Romney Exposed As Very Weak Candidate That He Is: Riehl
Romney's Recipe for Disaster: Erickson
Money for Santorum: Erickson

After SC: What the Beltway Crowd Misses: Hawkins
Why Gingrich won -- Why Romney lost: York
Sarah Palin: Santorum should stay in the race: Scoop

Nation

S.C.: 900 dead voted in recent election: GWP
Fomer Obama staffer arrested in IA identity theft investigation.: RS
Identity Theft, Then and Now: Driscoll

Chris Dodd intimidating lawmakers on SOPA, PIPA: Patterico
Secretary of State Project: MoneyRunner
Republicans In Denial: Flopping Aces

Occupy protesters use Bibles as weapons — literally: Zombie
Occupy SF Turns Violent, 2 Police Officers Injured: VS
Obama’s continued assault on the First Amendment: ProWis

Economy

Chalk up 4,300 more layoffs to Dodd-Frank: OpenMarket
Good News: ObamaWorld Is Now Open For Business!: Pirate's Cove
Warren Buffet and Mitt Romney: Ricochet

Barack Obama Led #OccupyChicago – Circa 1988: Pollak
Forbes: Best Buy will be out of business soon: HillBuzz
In traditional Democratic Stronghold Harlem, Barrage of Protesters Greets Obama: PatUpdate

Gunrunner & Energygate

Not so fast: The simmering controversy over Operation Fast and Furious: Economist
Chevy Volt Fires: Feds Stop Investigating Volts, Announce $1,500 Incentive For California Volt Buyers: SHN
Fast and Furious: Arizona official to plead Fifth: Tucson

Climate & Energy

Environmentalism and the Leisure Class: AmSpec
Obama plays energy politics while China and Cuba drill wells: Exam
Here We Go Again: Globull Warming To Create More Snow: Teach

Media

#ChangeIs…Incredibly Easy to Mock. Come On, Everybody – Join in the Fun on Twitter: Marfdrat
Ingraham Challenges Romney on Message: NRO
Bubba Takes The Cake: At last, the Clinton Legacy: Publius

When ‘Unaccountably’ = ABC’s SOP: Driscoll
Newt Gingrich's Ethics Charges and Mitt Romney's Anniversary Cake: MagNote
Washington Post Ombudsman Tells Paper To Start Actually Scrutinizing Obama’s Record: Dollard

13 Photos Of Barack Obama At Disney That Will Probably Turn Up In Attack Ads: Buzzfeed
Some interesting details ABC left out about Newt’s 2nd marriage: Polipundit
Gingrich's College Records Show a Professor Hatching Big Plans: WSJ

Palin Factor Starts To Emerge in GOP Race: Sun
SC Primary Tweets of Night: LI
A Review Of Mark Levin’s Ameritopia From A Regular American: Kuznicki

World

The Sinking of the West : Steyn
More Racist Ethnic Cleansing By Illegal Alien Gangbangers: Federale
Greek Debt Talks Appear to Stall Amid Clash on Rate for New Bonds: WSJ

Death Comes to Nigeria (Again): GoV
Update on the Norwegian Niqab School Tour: GoV
Afghan Pedophilia: A way of life, say U.S. soldiers and journalists: Exam

Sci-Tech

Anonymous splinter group now targeting Democrats for SOPA support: DC
Inside the Lavish Life Of Web's Mr. Dotcom: WSJ
The Backbone of the Flavor Network: Nature

Cornucopia

The Finnish Fire Stove: C&S
Skull shirts out, sparkly pink swimsuits in …: ProWis
16-Year Old Laura Dekker Completes Solo Sail Around the World: AmSpec

Image: Karenza Paperie
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "Newt Gingrich’s rise has a lot to do with Newt Gingrich’s debate performance. But it has just as much to do with a party base in revolt against its thought and party leaders in Washington, DC. The base is revolting because they swept the GOP back into relevance in Washington just under two years ago and they have been thanked with contempt ever since...

...Newt has taken the worst the media, Romney and the left can dish out, and he’s still standing and fighting with passion and eloquence. Sure, he’d probably be an erratic President, but right now Republican voters don’t care about his Presidency. They care about the fight with the left both Mitt Romney, and the Washington Republican leaders like John Boehner and Mitch McConnell don’t seem inclined to engage in." --Erick Erickson

Romney loses South Carolina by 31 points, Karl Rove hardest hit

2012-01-21T21:21:00.006-05:00

Yes, Mitt Romney lost by 31 points.

       40% Gingrich
       27% Romney
       18% Santorum

The anti-establishment candidates -- Gingrich and Santorum -- literally crushed Mitt Romney 58 percent to 27 percent, a margin of 31 points.

Erick Erickson describes these results as evidence that the GOP conservative base far outnumbers establishment RINOs -- and that the conservatives are pissed.

Newt Gingrich’s rise has a lot to do with Newt Gingrich’s debate performance. But it has just as much to do with a party base in revolt against its thought and party leaders in Washington, DC. The base is revolting because they swept the GOP back into relevance in Washington just under two years ago and they have been thanked with contempt ever since...

...Newt has taken the worst the media, Romney and the left can dish out, and he’s still standing and fighting with passion and eloquence. Sure, he’d probably be an erratic President, but right now Republican voters don’t care about his Presidency. They care about the fight with the left both Mitt Romney, and the Washington Republican leaders like John Boehner and Mitch McConnell don’t seem inclined to engage in.

I support Rick Santorum over Newt and Mitt. I support Newt over Mitt. And I support anyone over Barack Obama.

But Doug, you might ask, what about Ron Paul? What about him? Ron Paul is a kook, an anachronism, a Kucinich Libertarian wearing GOP clothes, whose views on foreign policy are so outside the mainstream that they can and must be dismissed.

Congratulations to Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum. Oh, and here's a private word for Karl Rove: pfffffffffffffffffffffffffttttt.

Photo of Mitt Romney Tomorrow Morning [Wanda]

2012-01-21T20:46:00.000-05:00

Wanda:

"But...... But....... But. I'M Electable. No...... I AM. REALLY!!!

Exclusive Photo: Prepping Your Garage For a Chevy Volt

2012-01-21T18:42:00.000-05:00

If asbestos is still legal, I recommend plenty of it.

Electric cars might save you money at the pump, but they sure don’t save you time filling up. A typical electric car... takes upwards of 20 hours to recharge a fully drained battery when using an standard 120-volt outlet. While this might not be a problem for those looking to buy a second car for occasional outings, it certainly won’t cut it if an electric car is meant to be your primary vehicle.

In order to achieve a quicker charge, you’ll need to hire an electrician to install a 240-volt, 40-amp line that connects directly to the circuit breaker, a hookup similar to the one you might have for an electric oven or clothes dryer. With the increase in voltage, you can cut your charging time down to seven hours for a Nissan LEAF and four hours for the Chevy Volt, which means an overnight charge makes it a more practical purchase for daily use.

Super-fast charging stations capable of pumping out 480 volts are already on the market, and can recharge a car in 30 minutes or less. But these souped-up charging stations are currently for commercial use only because most homes can’t handle the kind of voltage and amperage required, at least not without some major rewiring of the power grid.

In related news, the federal government has decided to close its investigation of Volt fires.

The U.S. government on Friday closed its investigation of Chevy Volt battery fires, concluding that there is no apparent defect trend and that electric vehicles generally do not pose a greater risk of fire than gasoline-powered vehicles.

Of course not. All of those modifications GM had to make were just for show.

There's nothing to be concerned about. Just go about your business.

Great news: Children with DNA from three parents only a few years away

2012-01-21T18:15:00.004-05:00

For a society with fewer moral boundaries by the day, this report seems apropos:

Researchers from Newcastle University have been funded more than $9.3 million by the Wellcome Trust to begin experimenting with a method that could lead to children having DNA from three people to eliminate some genetic disorders.

According to The Telegraph, the technique involves removing the nucleus from a donor cell and inserting a fertilized nucleus from the hopeful couple or the unfertilized nucleus of the mother for fertilization later. This effort, researchers believe, could help couples where the mother has known genetic disorders carried on her mitochondrial DNA — DNA found in the mitochondria of a cell.

Mitochondrial DNA, which composes 0.2 percent of a human‘s DNA and doesn’t influence traits like physical appearance, is passed down from mother to offspring. But, there are several genetic disorders, such as muscular dystrophy and ataxia, which are associated with this type DNA.

...Sir Mark Walport, head of the Wellcome Trust, said the genetic impact of inheriting a third person’s mitochondrial DNA would be as minimal as changing the batteries in a camera...

...But, the research is not without its opposition. The Telegraph reports the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children as calling it “macabre and unethical” and cited fears of other “developmental abnormalities”.

While I'm all in favor of the unfettered pursuit of science, the idea of tampering with the creation of human beings seems not only amoral, but potentially dangerous. The phrase "unintended consequences" was invented for situations like this one.

Hat tip: BadBlue.

Which GOP candidate has the courage to begin stripping away the Democrat welfare state that is bankrupting this country?

2012-01-21T13:56:00.004-05:00

When the media questions a GOP candidate -- from Eric Cantor to Paul Ryan -- their perspective is always the same. Why are Republicans unwilling to compromise with their altruisitic Democrat partners? Why won't they work with President Obama?

The framing of these questions is, of course, patently bogus. When Democrats had control of Congress from 2006 to 2010, and after Obama's election in 2008, where were the great compromises that the media loves to harp about?

• Did they compromise on Obamacare? Or did they ram it through on midnight of Christmas Eve with bribes, backroom deals, and thousands of hidden pages of legislation?

• Did they compromise on Global Warming? Or did the president command the EPA to issue CO2 regulations when even a Democrat-controlled Congress couldn't pass cap-and-trade legislation?

• Did they compromise on the Stimulus package, ramming through trillions in deficit spending that has utterly failed to rescue anything except for the public sector unions' campaign coffers?

• Did they compromise on their outrageous financial reform legislation ("Dodd-Frank") that is spreading misery and layoffs throughout the country?

Actually, I don't recall a single Democrat compromise on any of these outrageous measures. Not a one.

So when we choose a candidate, are we going to have another RINO mush who will "go along to get along"? Who will permit the Democrats' social welfare state to continue expanding, albeit at a slightly slower pace? Who will not try to move the rudder on this country before it sails over the fiscal abyss?

Or will we have a man with courage? Who will shoot straight with the American people? Who would issue a true declaration of political war with the Marxist Utopians that have overthrown the real Democrat Party?

A man who would give a speech like this, paraphrasing Truman?

Two years ago an American juggernaut dropped a bomb on Democrats in Congress and destroyed their usefulness to the Marxist Left. That bomb had the power to swing 63 House seats and 680 state legislative seats and left in its wake what the National Journal called "devastation".

The Democrats began this war in 2007 when they promised to run the "most ethical Congress ever" with "no new deficit spending." Instead they permitted and encouraged rampant criminality and an all-time record of nearly $6 trillion in new deficit spending.

But the end of their reign of fiscal terror is near. The electorate dropped the political equivalent of an atomic bomb on the Democrats again last month. The force which gave birth to this country -- an insatiable desire for freedom -- has been loosed against those who brought fiscal ruin to the nation.

The greatest marvel is not the size of the Democrats' defeat, nor its cost, but the achievement of the people -- a true, grass-roots effort to repudiate Marxism, Statism, Utopianism, whatever their un-American strategies are called -- into a workable plan. People of all races, religions, economic backgrounds and interests worked to advance freedom. It is doubtful if another such combination could have been assembled anywhere in the world. What has been done is among the greatest achievements of a people fighting incipient tyranny in history. It was done under pressure and without failure.

We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every destructive endeavor the Democrat Statists have created. We shall destroy their agencies, their bureaucracies, their unconstitutional czars, their ideologues who have burrowed into regulatory bodies unknown to most Americans. Let there be no mistake: we shall completely destroy the Democrats' political power-base: the bloated federal bureaucracy that has grown, unchecked, for one reason and one reason alone, which is to fund Democrat campaigns.

It was to spare the Democrats from utter destruction that I issue this ultimatum.

If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of political ruin, the likes of which has never been seen on this earth. Behind this 2012 offensive will follow subsequent forces in such number that and power as they have not yet seen and with the political skills of which they are already well aware.

The power of the people will continue to grow as more citizens educate themselves regarding the unholy alliance of Democrats and the fourth branch of government -- the public sector unions. Both align themselves against the citizen, against the taxpayer, and threaten the destruction of our country, our currency and our way of life.

We pledge to politically eradicate the Marxist left that inhabits the body of the Democrat Party like some sort of horror film zombie.

And in 2014, 2016, 2018 and in every subsequent election, we will return this great Republic to the Constitutional basis that our Framers intended. Our contract with America is this: it is the Constitution.

No political quarter asked, and none given.

This is a war for the country's future. We can have a failed Marxist welfare state of the sort melting down in Europe. Or we can begin to right the ship by returning to the principles of Constitutional government, the wisdom of which becomes more and more obvious by the day.

I believe Rick Santorum is the only candidate who would issue this kind of ultimatum to the Democrat-media complex. Time grows short to save this republic. I urge you to offer him your support.

Good News for News Junkies

2012-01-21T12:27:00.007-05:00

I'm a news junkie.

Checking my favorite blogs and periodicals is manually intensive and, frequently, a lost cause... because I end up in the web equivalent of Boston's Combat Zone after getting distracted ("Look, a squirrel!). RSS readers don't work for me: they produce too much clutter, none of it organized in a way that will tell me what's most important.

Which is where BadBlue.com was designed to help.

BadBlue is accessible via two domain names -- http://badblue.com or http://larwyn.com. There are many recent enhancements that should make it much easier to find the hottest news stories of the hour.

• A new algorithm levels the playing field for news sources of all sizes - a story at a tiny blog, for instance, that gets re-tweeted 10 times, could be equivalent to 60 re-tweets of a story at a major newspaper. You'll notice that the current front page has links from blogs of all sizes.

• New Drudge-style layout - rather than a single column of stories, there is a cleaner-looking, Drudge-style layout that should make it easier to read.

• Pictures! - the new layout thumbnails images from stories to make it easier to figure out what a story is about.

• Fresher news - links are refreshed more frequently, with the name of the site and its popularity index ("buzz") listed next to each headline.

• Twitter and RSS support - unlike the prior version, you can follow BadBlue on Twitter (@BadBlueNews) or RSS.

• Comment support - each story now has a permalink page (that's the small ∞ symbol) that includes a comments section (with easy social network sign-on supported), so it's simple to make fun of vicious left-wing hacks without actually having to visit one of their sites.

• Filter stories by site - click on the name of the news source and you'll get a list of that website's most popular stories.

In short, Biff Spackle is standing by in the comments section, waiting to hear your feedback: positive, negative or just, eh, it's okay. If you like it, remember to bookmark the website -- it should provide some of the freshest news stories you'll find anywhere.

So please check it out and let Biff know what you think. Don't hold back -- he's used to harsh criticism from management here at this august journal, where he remains Cub Reporter Level III after more than four years of erratic work history.

Larwyn's Linx: The Che Guevara Democrat Party

2012-01-21T09:12:00.004-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

The Che Guevara Democrat Party: AmSpec
SC Attorney General Investigating Gingrich Smear: Fits
Draft Allen West for U.S. Senate: Shark-Tank

DOJ coordinates suits with ACORN's Project Vote: Exam
Holder Connected To Illegal Foreclosures of Service Members: JWF
Gingrich as Nominee Just to Watch Him Debate Obama?: Powers

Santorum soars, Romney falters in SC debate: Exam
Why I'm Backing Newt Gingrich: Riehl
Ron Paul's spokesman emphatically rules out third-party run: DC

Economy

Democrats: Only Thing Standing Between Unions and Irrelevance: BG
Ryan confirms House GOP will present 2013 budget: Hill
TSA officer charged with stealing from luggage: Fox

Gunrunner & Energygate

Pleading the Fifth: Gunwalker Witness Refuses to Testify: Owens
Solyndra Caught Destroying Millions of Dollars in Assets: Townhall
Fast and Furious Stinks: Nugent

Climate & Energy

Students rebel against Gorepaganda: Surber
Strait of Hormuz: U.S. Should Be Ready for the Next Oil Crisis: Foundry
As Obama delays controversial Keystone oil pipeline, vast network of pipelines already in place: Fox

Media

Gingrich's Bitter Ex Gets More Coverage Than a Video of Obama Dining with Terror-Supporters: Regan
Obama-linked Center for American Progress Accused of Anti-Semitism: Blaze
Jennifer Rubin On South Carolina: Then An: Riehl

Obama: the media is hurting my rep: ProWis
Rush Limbaugh: Time to ‘focus on’ personal lives of journalists: DC
NYT’s Laughable ‘Fact Check’ Of GOP Debate: S&L

Newt Leaves Media Sputtering: Surber
Odd: the Media Didn’t Care About Infidelity in 1992 and 2008: JWF
Does Michelle Obama secretly hope her husband will be kicked out of the White House?: DailyMail

Mark Levin's Liberty Vs. Thomas Friedman's Tyranny: NB
Huckabee on O’Reilly: Obama Needs to Prove He Didn’t Get “Foreign Student Loans” in College: GWP
What We Really Learned from ABC News and Marianne Gingrich: PJM

World

The Pope Speaks To Obama's War On Christianity: Wolf Howling
One Mexican State Bordering The US Was Deadlier Than All of Afghanistan Last Year: CNS
Substantial legal challenge to Secure Communities coming, says "immigrants rights" group: GSN

Sci-Tech

Nike’s High-Tech Wristband Fuels Your Workout: Wired
Anonymous tricked people into joining Web site attacks: CNet
What are the odds of Zynga getting into online gambling?: LAT

Cornucopia

From “We Can’t Wait” to WTF: who needs Jobs anyway?: MOTUS
And If You Re-Elect Me, You’ll All Get a Castle…: Marfdrat
Exposed: The real Keystone strategy: LaughingCon

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "Anyone who made the decision last night, as I did, to watch Nightline’s appallingly tawdry interview with the second Mrs. Newt Gingrich learned nothing new about the target, whose marital infidelities are well known, but did, however, witness two of the most dangerous pathologies of the mainstream media (MSM) on vivid display.

ABC and its MSM colleagues claim to purvey news and opinion that are both serious and impartial. This interview was neither, indeed was the opposite of serious and impartial.

Last night’s performance couldn’t have provided a more vivid illustration of the double standards applied to the coverage of Republicans and Democrats. It was a classic case of an abject lack of the fairness and objectivity they claim to epitomize — even as they attack Fox News as unfair and unbalanced." --Belladonna Rogers

Success story #4,035 for Obama open border policies: beheadings in U.S. "look like work of drug cartels"

2012-01-20T22:29:00.005-05:00

But remember, folks: the border "is as safe as it's ever been" (in the words of DHS Chief Janet Napolitano). Except for those pesky beheadings here in the U.S.:

Who: Carina Saunders, 19, born in Oklahoma City and grew up in Mustang, Oklahoma.
What: Torture, beheading and dismemberment.
When: Went missing (per friends) Wednesday, 28 September 2011; Killed, late Sunday, 9 October 2011/early Monday, 10 October 2011; Body found Thursday, 13 October 2011; Identified via tattoos and dental records, Monday, 17 October 2011.
Where: Found in a duffle bag behind a Homeland grocery store at 7101 NW. 23rd and Rockwell in Bethany, Oklahoma.
Why: Used as an example to terrify a group of women who were victims of a human trafficking (prostitution) ring and an associated drug trafficking ring. Note— some of the individuals involved were members of both rings.
Tactical Analysis: A 20 year old woman (name withheld by the police to protect her identity) was kidnapped, blindfolded and transported to an unknown location (some type of room) by Jimmy Lee Massey, age 33, late Sunday 9 October/early Monday 10 October 2011. She was then forced to watch the torture killing of Carina Saunders by a small group of individuals.
Three beheadings in two different states and they happened here in the United States, not Mexico. Former DEA supervisor Phil Jordan says all three beheadings have cartel written all over them. They happened in Arizona and Oklahoma in the past year.

A murder mystery is now unraveling on a stretch of North Reservation Road in Tucson, Ariz. County workers found a headless man lying on the side of the road Jan. 6. The man's hands and feet were reportedly missing, too.

"It would lead me to believe the message wanted to be sent. This is one of the ways they do it in Mexico, Colombia and other places," says Jordan... Jordan says the cartels are getting bolder in carrying out their beheadings across the border. He says we only used to see these crimes in Mexico.

...More than 600 miles from the border, a 19-year-old human trafficking victim was found beheaded in Oklahoma. Carina Saunders was stuffed into a bag and left in a grocery store parking lot.

...Investigators in Chandler, Ariz., say cartel operatives came from Mexico to kill 38-year-old Martin Alejandro Cota Monroy. His beheaded body was found in his apartment.

"One is too many; two is too many. Three should send an alarm," says Jordan.

You know what I would do if I were Attorney General Eric Holder?

That's right -- I'd sue states for enforcing federal immigration law. No matter how many murders, kidnappings, rapes, drug- and human smuggling operations, and related violence that American citizens must suffer.

Because Democrats need the votes, man. They need the votes!

Hat tip: Borderland Beat (caution: graphic material).

Illinois suffers yet another downgrade thanks to mysterious unicorn deaths and Democrat stupidity, but mostly Democrat stupidity

2012-01-20T21:27:00.005-05:00

You say that raising taxes makes fiscal problems worse? Gee, that's only happened -- oh -- about 57,000 consecutive times in American history, but we wouldn't expect Democrats to learn anything from facts, logic and reason, would we?

I don’t blame Democrats for wanting to seduce Republicans into a tax-increase trap. Indeed, I completely understand why some Democrats said their top political goal was getting the GOP to surrender the no-tax-hike position.

I’m mystified, though, why some Republicans are willing to walk into such a trap. If you were playing chess against someone, and that person kept pleading with you to make a certain move, wouldn’t you be a tad bit suspicious that your opponent really wasn’t trying to help you win?

...European nations, for instance, have been raising taxes for decades, almost always saying the higher taxes were necessary to balance budgets and control red ink. Yet that obviously hasn’t worked. Europe’s now in the middle of a fiscal crisis... So why do some people think we should mimic the French and the Greeks?

But we don’t need to look overseas for examples. Look at what’s happened in Illinois, where politicians recently imposed a giant tax hike:

Run up spending and debt, raise taxes in the naming of balancing the budget, but then watch as deficits rise and your credit-rating falls anyway. That’s been the sad pattern in Europe, and now it’s hitting that mecca of tax-and-spend government known as Illinois.

…Moody’s downgraded Illinois state debt to A2 from A1, the lowest among the 50 states. That’s worse even than California.

…This wasn’t supposed to happen. Only a year ago, Governor Pat Quinn and his fellow Democrats raised individual income taxes by 67% and the corporate tax rate by 46%. They did it to raise $7 billion in revenue, as the Governor put it, to “get Illinois back on fiscal sound footing” and improve the state’s credit rating. So much for that.

…And—no surprise—in part because the tax increases have caused companies to leave Illinois, the state budget office confesses that as of this month the state still has $6.8 billion in unpaid bills and unaddressed obligations.

In other words, higher taxes led to fiscal deterioration in Illinois, just as tax increases in Europe have been followed by bad outcomes.

Whenever any politician argues in favor of a higher tax burden, just keep these two points in mind:
1. Higher taxes encourage more government spending.
2. Higher taxes don’t raise as much money as politicians claim.

And higher taxes simply indicate tacit acceptance of government irresponsibility.

Which is why the dial must be turned back on all levels of income. Preferably that's accomplished through the Fair Tax or a flat tax.

Pity the poor taxpayers of Illinois. They have been enslaved by the unholy alliance of Democrats and union bosses. And it's probably too late to save them, unless the citizens are willing to organize and rise up to salvage their freedom.

Thank goodness we don't have Democrat hacks from Illinois running the whole damn country.

Update: Tax Hike Doesn't Prevent Moody's From Downgrading Connecticut

Mark Levin's Ameritopia -- the Complete Epilogue in Plain Text Format

2012-01-20T20:19:00.007-05:00

Ameritopia, Mark Levin's latest bestseller, had sold 50,000 copies in two days time as of last night. The book's epilogue -- a brief synopsis of its key themes -- is available in PDF format (hat tip: Dan Riehl). I converted it into text format (actually HTML) because I detest the delays and clunkiness associated with PDFs.

My premise, in the ﬁrst sentence of the ﬁrst chapter of this book, is this: “Tyranny, broadly deﬁned, is the use of power to dehumanize the individual and delegitimize his nature. Political utopianism is tyranny disguised as a desirable, workable, and even paradisiacal governing ideology.”

Plato’s Republic, More’s Utopia, Hobbes’s Leviathan, and Marx’s workers’ paradise are utopias that are anti-individual and anti-individualism. For the utopians, modern and olden, the individual is one-dimensional—selﬁsh. On his own, he has little moral value. Contrarily, authoritarianism is defended as altruistic and masterminds as socially conscious. Thus endless interventions in the individual’s life and manipulation of his conditions are justiﬁed as not only necessary and desirable but noble governmental pursuits. This false dialectic is at the heart of the problem we face today.

In truth, man is naturally independent and self-reliant, which are attributes that contribute to his own well-being and survival, and the well-being and survival of a civil society. He is also a social being who is charitable and compassionate. History abounds with examples, as do the daily lives of individuals. To condemn individualism as the utopians do is to condemn the very foundation of the civil society and the American founding and endorse, wittingly or unwittingly, oppression. Karl Popper saw it as an attack on Western civilization. “The emancipation of the individual was indeed the great spiritual revolution which had led to the breakdown of tribalism and to the rise of democracy.” Moreover, Judaism and Christianity, among other religions, teach the altruism of the individual.

Of course, this is not to defend anarchy. Quite the opposite. It is to endorse the magniﬁcence of the American founding. The American founding was an exceptional exercise in collective human virtue and wisdom—a culmination of thousands of years of experience, knowledge, reason, and faith. The Declaration of Independence is a remarkable societal proclamation of human rights, brilliant in its insight, clarity, and conciseness. The Constitution of the United States is an extraordinary matrix of governmental limits, checks, balances, and divisions, intended to secure for posterity the individual’s sovereignty as proclaimed in the Declaration.

This is the grand heritage to which every American citizen is born. It has been characterized as “the American Dream,” “the American experiment,” and “American exceptionalism.” The country has been called “the Land of Opportunity,” “the Land of Milk and Honey,” and “a Shining City on a Hill.” It seems unimaginable that a people so endowed by Providence, and the beneﬁciaries of such unparalleled human excellence, would choose or tolerate a course that ensures their own decline and enslavement, for a government unleashed on the civil society is a government that destroys the nature of man.

On September 17, 1787, at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Delegate James Wilson, on behalf of his ailing colleague from Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin, read aloud Franklin’s speech to the convention in favor of adopting the Constitution. Among other things, Franklin said that the Constitution “is likely to be well administered for a Course of Years, and can only end in Despotism as other Forms have done before it, when the People shall become corrupt as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other. . . .”

Have we “become corrupt”? Are we in need of “despotic government”? It appears that some modern-day “leading lights” think so, as they press their fanatical utopianism. For example, Richard Stengel, managing editor of Time magazine, considers the Constitution a utopian expedient. He wrote, “If the Constitution was intended to limit the federal government, it sure doesn’t say so. . . . The framers weren’t afraid of a little messiness. Which is another reason we shouldn’t be so delicate about changing the Constitution or reinterpreting it.” It is beyond dispute that the Framers sought to limit the scope of federal power and that the Constitution does so. Moreover, constitutional change was not left to the masterminds but deliberately made difﬁcult to ensure the broad participation and consent of the body politic.

Richard Cohen, a columnist for the Washington Post, explained that the Constitution is an amazing document, as long as it is mostly ignored, particularly the limits it imposes on the federal government. He wrote, “This fatuous infatuation with the Constitution, particularly the 10th Amendment, is clearly the work of witches, wiccans, and wackos. It has nothing to do with America’s real problems and, if taken too seriously, would cause an economic and political calamity. The Constitution is a wonderful document, quite miraculous actually, but only because it has been wisely adapted to changing times. To adhere to the very word of its every clause hardly is respectful to the Founding Fathers. They were revolutionaries who embraced change. That’s how we got here.” Of course, without the promise of the Tenth Amendment, the Constitution would not have been ratiﬁed, since the states insisted on retaining most of their sovereignty. Furthermore, the Framers clearly did not embrace the utopian change demanded by its modern adherents.

Lest we ignore history, the no-less-eminent American revolutionary and founder Thomas Jefferson explained, “On every question of construction, carry ourselves back to the time when the constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.”

Thomas L. Friedman, a columnist for the New York Times and three-time Pulitzer Prize recipient, is even more forthright in his dismissal of constitutional republicanism and advocacy for utopian tyranny. Complaining of the slowness of American society in adopting sweeping utopian policies, he wrote, “There is only one thing worse than one-party autocracy, and that is one-party democracy, which is what we have in America today. One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically difﬁcult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century.”

Of course, China remains a police state, where civil liberties are nonexistent, despite its experiment with government-managed pseudo-capitalism. Friedman’s declaration underscores not only the necessary intolerance utopians have for constitutionalism, but their infatuation with totalitarianism.

It is neither prudential nor virtuous to downplay or dismiss the obvious—that America has already transformed into Ameritopia. The centralization and consolidation of power in a political class that insulates its agenda in entrenched experts and administrators, whose authority is also self-perpetuating, is apparent all around us and growing more formidable. The issue is whether the ongoing transformation can be restrained and then reversed, or whether it will continue with increasing zeal, passing from a soft tyranny to something more oppressive. Hayek observed that “priding itself on having built its world as if it had designed it, and blaming itself for not having designed it better, humankind is now to set out to do just that. The aim . . . is no less than to effect a complete redesigning of our traditional morals, law, and language, and on this basis to stamp out the older order and supposedly inexorable, unjustiﬁable conditions that prevent the institution of reason, fulﬁllment, true freedom, and justice.” But the outcome of this adventurism, if not effectively stunted, is not in doubt.

In the end, can mankind stave off the powerful and dark forces of utopian tyranny? While John Locke was surely right about man’s nature and the civil society, he was also right about that which threatens them. Locke, Montesquieu, many of the philosophers of the European Enlightenment, and the Founders, among others, knew that the history of organized government is mostly a history of a relative few and perﬁdious men co-opting, coercing, and eventually repressing the many through the centralization and consolidation of authority.

Ironically and tragically, it seems that liberty and the constitution established to preserve it are not only essential to the individual’s well-being and happiness, but also an opportunity for the devious to exploit them and connive against them. Man has yet to devise a lasting institutional answer to this puzzle. The best that can be said is that all that really stands between the individual and tyranny is a resolute and sober people. It is the people, after all, around whom the civil society has grown and governmental institutions have been established. At last, the people are responsible for upholding the civil society and republican government, to which their fate is moored.

The essential question is whether, in America, the people’s psychology has been so successfully warped, the individual’s spirit so thoroughly trounced, and the civil society’s institutions so effectively overwhelmed that revival is possible. Have too many among us already surrendered or been conquered? Can the people overcome the constant and relentless inﬂuences of ideological indoctrination, economic manipulation, and administrative coerciveness, or have they become hopelessly entangled in and dependent on a ubiquitous federal government? Have the Pavlovian appeals to radical egalitarianism, and the fomenting of jealousy and faction through class warfare and collectivism, conditioned the people to accept or even demand compulsory uniformity as just and righteous? Is it accepted as legitimate and routine that the government has sufﬁcient license to act whenever it claims to do so for the good of the people and against the selﬁshness of the individual?

No society is guaranteed perpetual existence. But I have to believe that the American people are not ready for servitude, for if this is our destiny, and the destiny of our children, I cannot conceive that any people, now or in the future, will successfully resist it for long. I have to believe that this generation of Americans will not condemn future generations to centuries of misery and darkness.

The Tea Party movement is a hopeful sign. Its members come from all walks of life and every corner of the country. These citizens have the spirit and enthusiasm of the Founding Fathers, proclaim the principles of individual liberty and rights in the Declaration, and insist on the federal government’s compliance with the Constitution’s limits. This explains the utopian fury against them. They are astutely aware of the peril of the moment. But there are also the Pollyannas and blissfully indifferent citizens who must be roused and enlisted lest the civil society continue to unravel and eventually dissolve, and the despotism long feared take ﬁrm hold.

Upon taking the oath of ofﬁce on January 20, 1981, in his ﬁrst inaugural address President Ronald Reagan told the American people:

If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on earth. The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay that price. It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government. It is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We’re not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing.

So, my fellow countrymen, which do we choose—Ameritopia or America?

Buy a copy and pass it on. Drop some knowledge on your family, friends and colleagues. These are perilous times. And November is coming.

Obama-supported Occupy Movement's Official Advertising Material Threatens Violence, Rioting, and Destruction of Private Property

2012-01-20T19:44:00.004-05:00

Marathon Pundit alerts us to the Occupy movement's universal symbols of tolerance: an anarchist wielding a pipe-wrench and a crowbar:

Those peaceful chaps with Occupy Eugene in Oregon are distributing a protest flyer portraying a ninja--masked of course--carrying a heavy wrench and a crowbar. Presumably these objects are weapons. And they can be deadly weapons.

Names of prominent banks are listed on the flyer. Occupy Eugene is calling for Monday to be a "Day of Direct Action."

But they're just like the Tea Party.

Except, that is, for the arson, murders, drug-dealing, rapes, suicides, overdoses, vandalism, burglaries, and assaults.

Larwyn's Linx: So You Want a Revolution...

2012-01-20T06:24:00.003-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

So You Want a Revolution...: Sultan Knish
Rick Santorum Won Iowa: RS
Good News: Obama to hold four fundraisers in a single day: Dossier

2012: Anyone but … Harry!: PJM
What Sank Rick Perry's Campaign: Malcolm
PPP: Newt on top in South Carolina, 35-29: Politico

State Of The GOP Primary Race: Pre-SC Analysis: Hawkins
Democrats Are the Ones Pushing Web Censorship: ZH
Legislators run for the exits on SOPA/PIPA after protests: Hot Air

Economy

The Land of Obama Make-Believe: Malkin
Democrat economics: The “Reasonable Profits Board”: Hot Air
Marxist Kook Jan Schakowsky Goes Off the Rails: BG

SOPA, Guns and Freedom: PJM
Obama's Administration's Definition of 'Full Employment': AmEleph
Cracks in the Socialist Reality Bubble Begin: SDA

Climate & Energy

Heretics in the classroom: SDA
New Chevy Volt Scam: Junk Science
Keystone Aftermath Arrives: Canada Pledges To Sell Oil To Asia, As US Becomes Source Of "Uncertainty": ZH

Media

Babbling, Weak Man Blames Press For His Image As Being Cold and Aloof: Ace
Are You Ready for Ameritopia?: RSM
Mark Levin’s Ameritopia: Progressivism, the Oldest Evil: PJM

Black Farmer Who Helped Expose Pigford Fraud Has Positive Words For Newt Gingrich: Stranahan
Obama To Hold a Closed, Invitation-Only "Town Hall" In A Magical Fantasyland Where All Dreams Are True: Ace
Problem Solved: the Urinating Marines: TAB

The Left Really, Really Wants Dana Loesch Kicked Off of CNN: Ace
Mitt defends Mitt while Newt upholds conservatism: Wolf
Newtered – The List Grows: Spew

The Worst People In Politics Aren’t Racists: Hawkins
Hypocrisy Alert: Redford praises Obama in Huffington Post for stopping Keystone XL: Marathon
The Republican Bulwark Against Tyranny: SHN

World

Slap In the Face: Belmont Club
Exclusive: New U.S. Commando Team Operating Near Iran: Wired
Want Peace? Democratize Jordan: Belman

George Soros About To Leap Back Into U.S. Politics?: IBD
Ron Paul: Dangerously Delusional on the Taliban: McCarthy
The last Haditha Marine: Trial update, prosecution collapse, plea deal in the works?: Malkin

Nadin Al-Badir Condemns Saudi Religious Police on Dream 2 TV Egypt: Blaze
Egyptian Cleric: “Jews Are a Cancer In The Body of Planet Earth, Getting Rid of These Jews Is a Must”: WZ
Netanyahu denies calling Haaretz and New York Times Israel's 'main enemies': Haaretz

Sci-Tech

Feds Shutter Megaupload, Arrest Executives: Wired
'Anonymous' hackers claim to take down DOJ site in retaliation for Megaupload shutdown: Fox
Former Facebook Employee Wants To Create A Network As Big As Google AdSense, But For Apps: Insider

Cornucopia

Fear and Loathing at Arrowhead Stadium: Claims That KC Chiefs Tap Phones, Spy on Employees: Ace
Obama’s 2012 Campaign Poster Revealed: HayRide
Obama At Disneyworld–The Perfect Metaphor: Soylent

Image: Via iOwnTheWorld
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "What, after all, was the real origin of these two programs [Social Security and Medicare] aimed at the elderly and health care for the elderly? Who thought them up? If you are under the impression these programs were the work of assorted 20th century liberal intellectuals and politicians you would be wrong. Yes, Levin names the names of those involved in creating these programs. Columbia University professor Henry Rogers Seager came up with the modern idea of Social Security in his 1910 study Social Insurance: A Program of Social Reform. There is the later bread-crumb trail of American liberal politicians like Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson and 1960s-era House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Wilbur Mills.

But, in the end, of course, the real origin of these twin modern problems was that each of these people (and more) were busily trying to create utopia in America.

And, oh by the way, there was that political side benefit of thinking this would elect fellow liberals through eternity." --Jeffrey Lord

First 2012 Obama Campaign Poster Emerges

2012-01-19T21:30:00.001-05:00

At least that's what Biff Spackle calls this:

I was thinking about a picture of the Hindenburg exploding, myself.

"But we don't have enough regulations!"

2012-01-19T21:21:00.000-05:00

The state of Florida Human Resources Department needs to find the person who invented this ingenious regulation (via Marfdrat):

I had to read it a few times and then contact the officials who required it to discover that the only point of the sign is: it's illegal to not have it. Is this some bureaucrat's idea of a practical joke?

The Florida Department of Revenue lists the law on its website. We called them and asked if there was a reason for the law.

Spokeswoman Renee Watters responded: “A vending machine operator that does not place the notice on the machine presumably is not in compliance with the other requirements such as registration and payment of the tax.”

So there is a reason, after all: If a businessman fails to notice the regulation – it’s conveniently located in Rule 12A-1.044(4)(b) of the Florida Administrative Code, by the way – it’s a tip-off to the authorities that he might have failed to follow some of their other confusing regulations.

But even if he is in compliance with registration and taxes, lack of the notice could still land him a $250 fine.

So, if any of you Floridians happen to see a machine without that required special notice, use the number on the notice to report it… Oh wait.

And progressives rail about "evil corporations"?

How about the out-of-control bureaucracies that churn out 80,000 pages of regulations a year?

WaPo: Obama's Keystone pipeline decision "an act of insanity"

2012-01-19T19:47:00.002-05:00

Dan from NY:

It’s not everyday that we hear such shrill criticism emanating from a mainstream columnist writing for a liberal mainstream news outlet.

# # #

Washington Post, January 19 2012, By Robert J. Samuelson

Rejecting the Keystone pipeline is an act of insanity

President Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico is an act of national insanity. It isn’t often that a president makes a decision that has no redeeming virtues and — beyond the symbolism — won’t even advance the goals of the groups that demanded it. All it tells us is that Obama is so obsessed with his reelection that, through some sort of political calculus, he believes that placating his environmental supporters will improve his chances.

Aside from the political and public relations victory, environmentalists won’t get much. Stopping the pipeline won’t halt the development of tar sands, to which the Canadian government is committed; therefore, there will be little effect on global-warming emissions. Indeed, Obama’s decision might add to them. If Canada builds a pipeline from Alberta to the Pacific for export to Asia, moving all that oil across the ocean by tanker will create extra emissions. There will also be the risk of added spills.

Now consider how Obama’s decision hurts the United States. For starters, it insults and antagonizes a strong ally; getting future Canadian cooperation on other issues will be harder. Next, it threatens a large source of relatively secure oil that, combined with new discoveries in the United States, could reduce (though not eliminate) our dependence on insecure foreign oil.

Finally, Obama’s decision forgoes all the project’s jobs. There’s some dispute over the magnitude. Project sponsor TransCanada claims 20,000, split between construction (13,000) and manufacturing (7,000) of everything from pumps to control equipment. Apparently, this refers to “job years,” meaning one job for one year. If so, the actual number of jobs would be about half that spread over two years. Whatever the figure, it’s in the thousands and thus important in a country hungering for work. And Keystone XL is precisely the sort of infrastructure project that Obama claims to favor.

The big winners are the Chinese. They must be celebrating their good fortune and wondering how the crazy Americans could repudiate such a huge supply of nearby energy. There’s no guarantee that tar-sands oil will go to China; pipelines to the Pacific would have to be built. But it creates the possibility when the oil’s natural market is the United States...

This decision illustrates just how radicalized the Obama administration truly is.

As they say on the real blogs, read the whole thing.

Bestest Caption Contest Evah!

2012-01-19T19:23:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'll freely admit I stole the photo from the invaluable Tammy Bruce's website. That said, it's too good not to propagate this as: (a) a caption contest; (b) a Twitter meme (hashtag #TragicKingdom) and (c) an iPad app.

So have at it in the comments section. Winner gets whatever's left at the bottom of the sock drawer when I clean it out this weekend.

Which is the proper name: Barack Hussein Foodstamp or Barack Foodstamp Obama?

2012-01-19T19:14:00.003-05:00

Because only one man in history can properly be called "The Foodstamp President" and this chart illustrates why.

And you would think Obama would be proud of that title: after all, he reveled in the media's coverage of his "Stimulus" package in 2009. Remember when CBS Evening News ran featured segments like "Stimulus Boost For Food Stamp Recipients?"

And now he wants to run away from his great achievements?

Update: "State Gets $5 Million Bonus For Food Stamp Sign Up"

Hat tip: Mark Levin.

Larwyn's Linx: Newt: I’d ask Palin to play a major role in my administration

2012-01-19T06:24:00.001-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

Newt: I’d ask Palin to play a major role in my administration: Scoop
Hey, Holder: NY Dems say that vote fraud is 'normal': Nice Deb
IA Poll: Gingrich Now Leads Romney in South Carolina: Max

Justice Alito oddly unimpressed with EPA procedures: Hot Air
Even more embarrassing Ron Paul newsletters emerge: Blaze
This is why Marco Rubio is a hero on the right: RS

Five key senators abandon online piracy bills amid Web protests: Hill
NYPD, Feds Testing Gun-Scanning Technology: CBS-NY
Rick Perry’s Final Act: King Maker?: RS

Economy

Some Advice For The GOP: the Abysmal Keystone Decision: HayRide
Walker: Recall All About Automatic Dues Payments for Unions: BTV
It's Productivity, Stupid: Hoosier

Pelosi: Hey, We're Not Tied to the Criminal Occupy Mob: JWF
Michigan Teacher Pays To Leave Union, Retain Self-Respect: ConCom
Ron Paul's Soros-Funded Defense Plan: Greenfield

Gunrunner & Energygate

Activist Virginia judge who wouldn’t allow Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich on state’s ballot is Obama appointed: FAM
GM Has Advertising Campaign Prepared Should Volt Fire Concerns Worsen: PCMag
Fast and Furious Is One Among Many Similar Drug-War Warts: Narcosphere

Climate & Energy

Obama Kills 20,000 Keystone XL Jobs, Laborers’ Union Vows Not To Forget Betrayal: LUR
Obama’s Keystone Pipeline Problem Ready to Blow: Shark Tank
Obama’s National Energy Plan Coming To a Corner Near You?: Shark Tank

Obama Rejects 20,000 Pipeline Jobs to Appease Radical Green Base: AmElephant
Under Obama, Oil and Gas Production on Federal Lands Is Down 40%: Foundry
Gingrich on Obama’s Keystone Decision: “This Is a Stunningly Stupid Thing to Do”: GWP

Media

Is Mark Zuckerberg Teaming Up with Politico to Give Obama an Edge?: BG
ABC News Holding ‘Bombshell’ Interview with Newt’s Ex Until After SC Primary?: LoneCon
Democrats in denial about Obama's impending loss: Times

Beckel Admits: 'We Liberals Made a Terrible Mistake': FoxNation
Jimmy Carter: Newt Gingrich Has That Subtlety Of Racism: Wizbang
ABC: Romney has millions parked in funds in the Caymans: Hot Air

Why The Media Wants Romney To Win The Nomination So Badly: Riehl
Drudge: Gingrich’s ex-wife is ready to dish; Update: Nothing new revealed in interview?: Hot Air
Levin: We know so little about Obama and ABC is talking to Newt’s ex-wife: Scoop

Oh, About That Newsweek Cover: Driscoll
Not by sight, but by faith: Cal Thomas
Why Is Mitt Romney Still the Least Vetted GOP Candidate?: Tatler

World

Civilization in Reverse: Hanson
False Flag: CIA memos describe how Israeli Mossad agents posed as American spies: ForPol
Thousands in Jerusalem protest racism against Ethiopian Israelis: Haaretz

Police Seek Middle Eastern Males in Fatal Philly Beating: Creeping
The Three Rules of Western Discourse and Why The Media Must Always Blame Israel: BRubin
Muslim threatens jihad, shuts down college talk on sharia law: Creeping

Sci-Tech

Google Workers Caught ‘Vandalizing’ Open Source Maps: Wired
How a Diamond Is Like a Champagne Cork: Wired
What Is SOPA Anyway? A Guide to Understanding the Online Piracy Bill: WSJ

Cornucopia

What Do Men Prefer; Women With Curves or Women Who Are Model Thin?: RWN
October 3rd, 1938: iOTW
Not Romney: Barnhardt

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "A mere two days after it's release - discussed here in this space just yesterday in it's role as a serious player in the 2012 campaign -- now comes word from Amazon that Mark Levin's Ameritopia is already Number One on the Amazon list of the 100 best-selling books.

This is no small -- much less easy -- feat. It is a tribute to author Levin, his hard work and most particularly his in-depth understanding of conservatism and its history and application in American life. In case you missed it, Levin was on Hannity discussing the book just last night -- and you can see that here.

Read this book -- understand this book -- and you will understand the 2012 campaign and everything and everyone involved in it." --Jeffrey Lord

Infographic: a unique view into the brief history of personal computing

2012-01-18T21:45:00.002-05:00

A unique view into the history of computing:

Notice that the scale of the Y-axis is logarithmic.

Things move pretty damn quick in industries where government gets the hell out of the way and lets entrepreneurs do what they do best.

Shhh... no one tell the Democrats.

Via Eponymous Pickle.

I love the smell of red-on-red warfare in the morning: unions vow war with Obama over Keystone XL

2012-01-18T21:21:00.000-05:00

In the battle between the flat-earth, no-growth, environmental Marxists and the labor unions for control of President Subprime McDowngrade, it would appear that the ecotards just won a major victory (oh, and "ecotards" is the term they prefer, I hear).

After months of playing political ping-pong with 20,000 potential (mostly union) jobs, the Obama administration decided on Wednesday to kill the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which would have carried crude oil from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries...

For more than three years, the State Department has conducted its “transparent, thorough, and rigorous review.” However, apparently, the Obama Administration believed that three years wasn’t enough to be transparent, thorough, or rigorous enough...

...As a result of the Obama’s job-destroying decision, Laborers’ union president, Terry O’Sullivan issued a blistering statement:

The score is Job-Killers, two; American workers, zero. We are completely and totally disappointed. This is politics at its worst. Once again the President has sided with environmentalists instead of blue collar construction workers – even though environmental concerns were more than adequately addressed. Blue collar construction workers across the U.S. will not forget this.

The project would create thousands of good jobs at a time when unemployment in the construction industry is 16 percent with 1.3 million men and women jobless.

Environmental groups have used the Keystone XL as a disingenuous proxy for arguments about global warming. The pipeline would carry up to 900,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada’s Tar Sands to the U.S., reducing reliance on oil from hostile nations. While environmental groups decry Tar Sands development, the Canadian government and Trans-Canada, the company developing the Tar Sands, have made clear the oil will be developed – and possibly sold to China – regardless of whether Keystone XL is built...

Hey, O'Sullivan: did Obama at least buy you flowers beforehand?

Dick Trumka and Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. could not be reached for comment at press time. I just wanted to know whether they would miss the roughly 100,000 jobs (direct and indirect) that would have been created by the Keystone. I guess not, since they're sitting in their multi-million dollar homes, insulated from the concerns of their hapless members.

Hilarious graph: what Californians got for their $27 billion

2012-01-18T20:46:00.004-05:00

Man, those teachers' unions are working out great in Cali, aren't they?

"Would an Extra $27 Billion Improve CA Public School Performance?" ...an op-ed in today’s Orange County Register [explains] that’s not a theoretical question. After adjusting for inflation and enrollment growth, CA spent $27 billion more on K-12 public schooling in 2010 than it did when Jerry Brown was first elected governor back in 1974. SAT scores fell over that period (see chart below).

...And if a $27 billion spending boost was associated with a decline in SAT scores, why would anyone expect Governor Brown’s proposal to raise another $7 billion in education taxes to do any good?

Say, I've got an idea for you hardworking California taxpayers: keep electing Democrats to office who are completely beholden to public sector unions and whose allegiance lies with illegal immigrants. That way, you'll keep paying more and more money for fewer and fewer services. At least until the state melts down in a cauldron of civil unrest.

That's the Democrat way.

Hat tip: BadBlue.

Obama: Resolutely Determined to Do Absolutely Nothing About Iran

2012-01-18T20:19:00.002-05:00

Dan from NY:

This comes from an Iranian news site (www.mehrnews.com), and you have to assume the Iranian regime has to approve the slant of everything that goes out.

Even so, the idea that Obama is still offering to engage the Mullahs, and being ridiculed for it, is more like a running joke over there than it is news or giving away state secrets.

# # #

Details of Obama’s letter to Iran released

TEHRAN, Jan. 18 (MNA) -- A number of Iranian officials have released the details of the letter that U.S. President Barack Obama recently sent to Tehran [...] warning that closing the Strait of Hormuz is a “red line” that would provoke a response by the United States.

Obama has called for negotiations ... MP Ali Motahhari said on Wednesday, “In the letter, it has been stated that ‘closing the Strait of Hormuz is our red line’ and they have requested direct negotiations..."

Obama says U.S. will not take hostile action against Iran ... “In the letter, Obama has mentioned cooperation and negotiation based on the interests of the two countries... He has stated in the letter that they will not take any hostile action against the Islamic Republic of Iran..."

“Obama’s letter indicates that the United States has become afraid of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s might and has realized the point that an arrogant spirit is of no use... The important issue is that without the Islamic Republic of Iran’s permission, no country can benefit from the Persian Gulf."

Mr. Chamberlain, meet Mr. Obama.

Apparently, there is such a thing as a free lunch.

2012-01-18T19:47:00.003-05:00

So all of those years my Dad spent drilling into my head the acronym TANSTAAFL ("There ain't no such thing as a free lunch") were -- it would seem -- a complete waste of time.

That is, if you're a Democrat intent on addicting children (and their parents) on governmental dependency; the theory being that all will turn out to be reliable Democrat voters.

From the data provided by the Ohio Department of Education, I created a chart showing the number of students and free lunches provided in the period 2002 through 2011.

While the number of school children in Ohio is trending down (the 2005 figure from the Ohio Department of Education seems to be a mistake), while the number of students receiving a free lunch is trending up at a much faster pace.

What do should we make of this chart?
• poverty has greatly increased in Ohio
• the Great Recession is responsible for the increase
• government has created another program that fosters dependency

The simple fact is, that there is no way that this many families cannot provide lunches for their own children. Instead, in a great many of these cases... government is simply allowing parents to shirk their responsibilities to their own children, and in essence, place that burden on other taxpayers.

...A decline of individualism is upon us and is being replaced with, almost a Plato like system where the children are raised by the community rather than the parent.

Aristotle, in Politics, wrote of the consequences of the communal state:

"That which is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it. Every one thinks chiefly of his own, hardly at all of the common interest; and only when he himself is concerned as an individual."

The Democrat Party is following the Utopian template of Plato, Thomas More, Hobbes and Karl Marx; each believed that a few altruistic masterminds in government could orchestrate society into an ideal community.

And each of their models, of course, descended into despotism, tyranny and mass murder as a few not-so-altruistic masterminds used the levers of governmental power to pursue their own corrupt ends.

So too will the Democrats' plans fail -- as they have throughout all of human history.

And only the Constitution and an engaged citizenry, you and I, stand between the Democrat masterminds who seek to destroy this society and replace it with a Utopian nirvana that they can't even define.

Only the Constitution -- the greatest bulwark of liberty ever created, designed explicitly by our founders to protect the individual from the corrupting powers of centralized government -- only the Constitution, you, and I stand in their way.

And 2012 may be our last chance to save this republic from their destructive, Utopian dreams. And I don't care if Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum or Rick Perry is the GOP candidate. I would vote for a banana peel over Barack Obama, because a banana peel would do significantly less damage to this society than the Utopian mastermind who won't even reveal his college transcripts.

	Before	Now	Change
Number of Unemployed¹	12.0 Million	13.1 Million	+9%
Long-Term Unemployed²	2.7 Million	5.6 Million	+107%
Unemployment Rate³	7.8%	8.5%	+9%
“High Unemployment” States⁴	22	43	+95%
Misery Index⁵	7.83	11.46	+46%
Price of Gas⁶	$1.85	$3.39	+83%
“Typical” Monthly Family Food Cost⁷	$974	$1,013	+4%
Median Value of Single-Family Home⁸	$196,600	$169,100	-14%
Rate of Mortgage Delinquencies⁹	6.62%	10.23%	+55%
U.S. National Debt¹⁰	$10.6 Trillion	$15.2 Trillion	+43%