Showing posts with label MSM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MSM. Show all posts

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Tomorrow's Huge Announcement: We Unveil the 2010 Fabulous 50 Blog Award Winners #fab50

Every year at this time we are pleased to announce the winners of the Fabulous 50 Blog Awards™, recognizing the year's 50 most important blogs and websites in the conservative world. No debate. No nominations. Just facts. Immutable truths, carved in stone for all of human history.

The talented illustrators at iOwnTheWorld have created a stunning set of award icons, suitable for framing or even including on the templates of the award winners.

If you are a winner, click the award icon that you would like to use, then copy the text in the HTML block below to paste into your template:

300 x 400 Deluxe200 x 267 Midsize
180 x 241 Intermediate160 x 214 Mini90 x 40 Micro


HTML to use in your template:

To visit the 2009 award winners, click here.

And be sure to press your browser's Reload button continuously from now until tomorrow to make sure you don't miss this immense event, suitable for a VH-1 reality show.


Media Begins New Propaganda Campaign for 'Female Obama', Another Far Left Dem With, Eh, About Zero Private Sector Experience

Those blasts you hear in the distance: legacy media softening the ground for another Democrat "savior".

Politico: Kamala Harris: Democrats' anti-Palin
"...the future of the Democratic Party, a rising political star in the mold of one of her big supporters — President Barack Obama..."

USA Today: Ever heard of Kamala Harris? You will.
"...the woman the 2010 election cycle might eventually catapult to the greatest heights is one who barely made a blip on this nation's political radarscope. Her name is Kamala (pronounced COMMA-LA) Harris, and on Jan. 3 she'll become California's first female attorney general... Some people have called the 46-year-old Harris ... 'the female Barack Obama.'"

Los Angeles Times: The time may be right for Kamala Harris
"Kamala Harris, the state's next attorney general, last week announced a transition leadership team that was a marvel in its political heft: two former secretaries of State — of the country, not of California — and a host of other luminaries."

LA Weekly: Top 10 Hot Chicks In The News 2010: No. 2, Kamala Harris
"Kamala, please don't prosecute us, but we think you're kind of hot... California's new Attorney General -- and remember, we called it -- is a babe, and she's single, and she's smarter than you."

The Atlantic: 'Female Obama' Must First Tackle California
"...now that she's won a protracted vote-count for state attorney general, Harris is drawing national attention. And Democratic star-spotters are liking what they see... There have been the irresistible comparisons to Obama--he and Harris share youthfulness, multiracial backgrounds and starry-eyed progressive appeal..."

Hmmm... a committed Leftist with zero private sector experience, no legitimate executive background and is "historic" based upon some unique combination of racial demographics. Let me guess: she'll be the Democrat presidential candidate in 2016.

What is this, Groundhog Day?


Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Ex-Speaker Pelosi Retains Steven Spielberg to Help Re-brand Democrats; First New Logo Attempt Succeeds Beautifully

The Washington Post reports that panicky Democrats are pulling out all the stops when it comes to re-branding their failed agenda.

...in public, Pelosi is projecting a no-looking-back aura. And behind closed doors, she is laboring to refashion the image of House Democrats - as well as herself.

Lawmakers say she is consulting marketing experts about building a stronger brand...

...The most prominent of her new whisperers is Steven Spielberg, the Hollywood director whose films have been works of branding genius...

...Lawmakers said Spielberg has not reported to Pelosi with a recommendation.

Pelosi met Friday with the members who will serve as ranking Democrats on committees, and she appointed a trio of rank-and-file legislators to take on new roles in helping shape and deliver the party's message.

Here's the message from Pelosi's four years controlling the federal purse-strings as Speaker: unemployment, depression, unsustainable social programs, epic failures, currency collapse, record deficits, and near calamitous terror attacks.

What's to rebrand?


Image: The Art of E (Evan Wondolowski). Hat tip: Larwyn. Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

It's Coming... #Fab50

It's coming.

The 2010 Fabulous 50 Awards are set to be announced later this week.

How prestigious are these awards? So prestigious I can scarcely deign to answer that question. They're so freaking awesome I don't even need to say a word.

Well, if you do need evidence, Glenn Reynolds once described his 2009 award as "the proudest moment of my life, including losing my virginity."

Michelle Malkin said that the trophy, now ensconced in plexiglass in her trophy cabinet, is her most treasured possession.

***ZZZZZZTTT!!!*** Owww, stop it! Okay, I lied!!! ZZZZZZTTT!!! Stop with the cattle prod already! For the love of... ZZZZZZZZTTT!!! Owwwwww!! Ow, ow, ow.

Alright! They didn't say those things. None of 'em said anything.

(Cleansing breath)

Anyhow, stay tuned. Later this week -- the exact date is unclear to keep you hitting the browser Reload button -- we'll unveil the 2010 Fabulous 50 Blog Awards. They represent the 50 most awesomest blogs of all time. Or at least of 2010. In this ZIP code. Or ZIP+4 code.


Award Design by: iOwnTheWorld.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

DeMint wins: Reid Pulls Omnibus Spending Bill (aka 'The Friends and Family of Emanual Cleaver Enrichment Act')

Multiple sources -- including Politico ("Harry Reid pulls $1.1 trillion spending bill from floor") and The Hill ("Reid pulls back from yearlong omnibus, aims for short-term [Continuing Resolution]") -- report that Harry Reid has raised the white flag on his insane spending bill (you may know it as "The Friends and Family of Emanual Cleaver Enrichment Act").

See if you can detect the spin from The Politico, the last redoubt of former WaPo reporters who don't even try to disguise their party allegiance.

Senate Democrats abruptly pulled down an omnibus spending bill after senior Republicans – caught with their hands in the cookie jar — deserted the measure in an effort to square themselves with tea party activists and conservatives in the party.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made the announcement and signaled he would substitute a short-term spending resolution for the much more detailed year-long $1.1 trillion plus measure which many in the GOP had been quietly rooting for just weeks ago...

With Washington facing a funding cutoff Saturday night, the result is a genuine fiscal crisis — at once serious and rich in political farce.

Democrats have only themselves to blame for failing to pass any of the 12 annual appropriations bills that fund the day-to-day operations of the government...

I don't trust these Statist losers as far as I can throw 'em.

Stop everything.

Ev. Ree. Thing.

These Marxist nuts can't get the hell out of DC fast enough for me.


WSJ vs. NYT

Dan from New York:

Below, two stories from major metropolitan dailies report on the same event. One of them must be wrong and slanted to make Obama's bonehead fantasies about the Afghan war look good. See if you can tell which one.

New York Times, 12/16/2010

Afghan Report Sees July Troop Pullouts Despite Perils


A review of President Obama’s Afghanistan war strategy concludes that American forces can begin withdrawing on schedule in July, despite uneven signs of progress.

###

Wall Street Journal, 12/16/2010

U.S. Puts Off Afghan Moves


A much-anticipated White House review of progress in the Afghan war will put off key decisions about the pace of pulling troops out of the country and whether changes in strategy there will be needed, U.S. officials say.

###

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

San Francisco Chronicle does the impossible: it explains Nancy Pelosi

Yes, it's true: the San Francisco Chronicle has finally explained Nancy Pelosi. It reports that one of the state government's most prestigious agencies has decided to relocate from San Francisco because (and I quote) "San Francisco is just too expensive - and its workforce too dumb - for the agency to continue doing most of its business [there]."

After almost 100 years, the State Compensation Insurance Fund is pulling 755 of its 830 jobs out of town... the high cost of Bay Area living is only part of the problem, Vargen said. The agency also seems to have trouble attracting qualified workers here.

"We have to do a lot more testing to get qualified candidates," Vargen said.

For example, only half of the San Francisco applicants passed the most recent test to become workers' compensation claim adjusters - compared with the 90 percent pass rate in Eureka...

Well, if the Chronicle asserts that S.F. residents are 40% dumber than those living in the rest of the state, who am I to argue?


10 Photos That Legacy Media Won't Show You: Stockholm Suicide Bomber Detonates Himself, Caught on Security Camera

Curiously, I could only find the video of Sweden's first suicide bomber on conservative blog sites. And it turns out that something resembling a miracle saved dozens of innocent lives:

A shocking act of terror in downtown Stockholm on Saturday could have been much worse: At a press conference on Monday, Swedish authorities explained that one of the bombs detonated prematurely, narrowly avoiding what would have been a more harmful attack in an area packed with holiday shoppers. As it happened, only the suspect was killed...

...There appear to have been three bombs that went off, and police say they’re “98 percent sure” that 29-year-old Taimour al-Abdaly, an Iraqi-born resident of Sweden, was the culprit behind the attack. But he may not have worked alone. “From experience, we know that there are usually more people involved in such actions.” Al-Abdaly is a Sunni Muslim and was studying in Britain.

I'm sure -- somehow -- this is all George Bush's fault.


Monday, December 13, 2010

Omigosh! State-Run Media Breaks Another Shocking Palin Scandal: Did Sarah Bring Hairdresser Along on Haiti Trip?

By Kristinn

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin traveled to Haiti this weekend as a guest of the Rev. Franklin Graham and Samaritan's Purse to spotlight the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the earthquake and cholera-stricken Caribbean (half an) island nation. Instead she has found herself embroiled in a scandal, accused of bringing a hair stylist on the trip to make herself look good for the cameras and "photo-ops.".

The Associated Press transmitted a photo from Haiti of Palin captioned, "Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, center, has her hair done during a visit to a cholera treatment center set up by the NGO Samaritan's Purse in Cabaret, Haiti, Saturday Dec. 11, 2010. Palin arrived Saturday in Haiti as part of a brief humanitarian mission. Dieu Nalio Chery / AP"

That photo and caption set off rabid attacks on Palin from the Huffington Post, the U.K.'s Daily Mail and, of course, Palingates.

The photo does indeed show Sarah Palin standing with her husband Todd as a woman whose face is obscured uses two hands to fix the hair on the right side of Palin's head.

However, one can observe that the woman is white, with her brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, wearing a white shirt with a bulky scarf and dark pants.

In other photos from Saturday, Todd and Sarah Palin's white, brunette, eldest daughter Bristol, who accompanied her parents on the trip to Haiti, is wearing the exact same clothing and ponytail as the "hair stylist" in the AP photo.

That's right, what the Palin-hating AP and others fail to report is that the "hair stylist" is Bristol Palin. [The Palins and the Grahams in Haiti ("hair stylist" Bristol second from right) in photo above]

The AP photographer who sent the caption would have known that it was Bristol Palin, but by not mentioning her the AP was able to do a media hit on Palin but still be able to claim they told the "truth" with the caption.

Palin "has her hair done":

Photos via Palingates

The Daily Mail titled their story based on the AP photo and caption, Ready for Her Close Up...Sarah Palin Lands in Haiti (where they don't care what her hair looks like)

The Huffington Post titled their attack on Palin, Reading the Pictures: Palin Does Haiti Cholera: How's My Hair (and did AP lend a curl?). The AP reference in the headline is based on speculation in the article about whether the AP ran "scathing photo op-defying pictures of "the Sarah show?""

The raving lunatics at Palingates titled their hit piece, BREAKING NEWS: Palin Looks Good in Haiti.

To reiterate, a daughter helps fix a loose strand of her mother's hair, and it becomes an international scandal. Amazing.

James Lewis is right: for some reason, the idea of President Sarah Palin terrifies the Left. Which is why I grow more comfortable with the idea by the day.


Idiot Blogger: No One Took ObamaCare Constitutionality Question Seriously, Except for 20 State Attorneys General and Hundreds of Scholars

Runner-up headline: The Marshall Beclownment Plan... Complete

It never ceases to amaze me what passes for "informed commentary" on the Left. The progressives must continually escalate the level of intellectual dishonesty as their favorite central planners' Utopian schemes fail over and over again. Raising the propaganda bar once more is the pathetic Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo who does his best work as a creative writer -- most frequently in the genre of agit-prop.

A year ago, no one took seriously the idea that a federal health care mandate was unconstitutional. And the idea that buying health care coverage does not amount to "economic activity" seems preposterous on its face. But the decision that just came down from the federal judgment in Virginia -- that the federal health care mandate is unconstitutional -- is an example that decades of Republicans packing the federal judiciary with activist judges has finally paid off.

You'd be hard-pressed to come up with a more despicably dishonest paragraph than that one.

Let's pick this apart one point at a time. Believe me, it's like shooting fish in a frickin' barrel with this neuron-challenged crackpot.

• "No one took seriously" the fact that Obamacare is unconstitutional? Really, schmuck? No one but about two dozen state attorneys general and the National Federation of Independent Businesses, for starters.

• As for scholars, the brilliant constitutional attorney Mark R. Levin, president of Landmark Legal Foundation, led the development of a stunningly clear Amicus brief to solidify the Virginia Attorney General's position. Levin and numerous other Constitutional conservatives made it crystal clear why Obamacare was so directly at odds with the Constitution. As Levin himself wrote tonight:

1. Individuals who do not actively participate in commerce -- that is, who do not voluntarily purchase health insurance -- cannot be said to be participating in commerce under the United States Constitution's Commerce Clause, and there is no Supreme Court precedent providing otherwise;

2. The Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution cannot be used as a backdoor means to enforce a statute that is not otherwise constitutional under Congress's enumerated powers;

and 3. There is a difference between a tax and a penalty, there is much Supreme Court precedent in this regard, and the penalty provision in Obamacare is not a tax but a penalty and, therefore, is unconstitutional for it is applied to individuals who choose not to purchase health care.

• As for Marshall's egregiously dishonest claim that Hudson is some sort of "activist judge"? If applying the Constitution as it was written means anything -- and considering every other law is supposed to be interpreted as it was written -- the only activists on the bench are the Leftist-slash-crypto-socialists who claim our nation's highest law is "living and breathing" so they can confiscate more private property and amass more personal power.

Tools like Marshall see no limits on the state whatsoever, as if we live in Zimbabwe or Cuba. In fact, Marshall would have fit in beautifully in the old Soviet Union.

As for the decision: anyone remotely familiar with this nation's founding -- which rules out the feeble-minded Marshall -- knows that a federal government (not a national government) with limited, enumerated powers was the intent of the Framers. This is crystal clear to anyone with an IQ over 75 who has bothered to read the Federalist Papers.

And as a backdrop to his ludicrous position, Marshall's Utopian welfare state is collapsing -- not just here but all around the world. That's what makes his propaganda so outrageous; but it's not unexpected coming from the Statist Left that must continually invent new lies to cover up failure after failure after failure.

Come to think of it, with a few more excretions like this one, Marshall might displace the ludicrous Matthew Yglesias as a front-runner for the World's Dumbest Blogger Award.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin, Don Surber and American Power. Thanks!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

The Photos Legacy Media Won't Show You: Hezbollah in Venezuela and The Most Heavily Guarded 'Tractor Factory' in the World

Complementing the ominous report that Iran is equipping Venezuela's socialist dictatorship with medium-range missiles, Erick Stakelbeck's exclusive story at Big Peace describes a bizarre facility on Venezuelan soil.

"This is the most heavily guarded 'tractor factory' in the hemisphere... basically it is a military-style compound... it is a high-security facility that is accessible only to Iranians... we've had Venezuelan officials who've said they've ... been denied access.

...it's in the middle of nowhere, but not far from that uranium deposit... absolutely [true that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has visited this 'tractor factory' in recent years]..."

"Hezbollah has a very established presence in Venezuela... there's a lot of fear that because... Hezbollah has room to stretch that it will adversely impact American security...

[We have pictures of Venezuelan officials meeting with Hezbollah... in Beirut... this is Hassan Nasrallah, head of Hezbollah, in the room...]

[Venezuela isn't trying to hide it, they're openly meeting with one of the world's most notorious Islamic terror groups, which has actually killed many Americans.] "Well, these are actually 'family photos' that we've been able to acquire from some of our sources, so they're not shouting it from the rooftops,.. our government should be asking the question, 'what is the Venezuelan ambassador to Lebanon and Syria... doing meeting with the head of Hezbollah's intelligence apparatus?' You have a lot of radicals in the Venezuelan government with ties to the Middle East -- and that's another disturbing fact...

[Gassan Uteb... Abu-Ali] is a Venezuelan citizen as of about ten years ago, he arrived there from Lebanon, he is now the [Deputy Chief of Mission] of the Venezuelan governement in Syria. We heave a photo of him meeting with [Syrian dictator Bashar] Assad... this fellow is a designated terrorist by the U.S. government for supporting Hezbollah -- and he's a Venezuelan diplomat... [Yes, it's correct that a globally designated, high-ranking terrorist is a Venezuelan diplomat]... he's one of several, as a matter of fact, he has a network back in Venezuela that he works with in terms of coordinating relationships with Hezbollah... not only in Venezuela, but elsewhere in Latin America.

Where is the State Department on this story? Where is the President? And where is legacy media?

The same group of murderous thugs who killed 241 U.S. Marines in Beirut is roaming freely throughout Latin America?

And Venezuela is assisted by Iran's missile-guidance and nuclear scientists in a secret facility near a uranium deposit?

The description in The Atomic Mahdi still stands:

According to 'Twelver' Shi'a Mulims, Imam Hujjat al-Mahdī ( المهدى) is the twelfth Imam and the Mahdi, the ultimate savior of mankind. Twelver Shi'as believe that Muhammad was born in 868 and has been hidden by God (referred to as occultation) to later emerge to fulfill his mission... Shi'as believe that Muhammad al-Mahdi will reappear when the world has fallen into chaos and civil war...

...In a speech several years ago, Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated, "Our revolution's main mission is to pave the way for the reappearance of the 12th Imam, the Mahdi." [And] Princeton professor Bernard Lewis observes, "There is a radical difference between the Islamic Republic of Iran and other governments with nuclear weapons. This difference is expressed in what can only be described as the apocalyptic worldview of Iran’s present rulers..."

...The most dangerous leaders in history are those like Hitler, Hirohito and Ahmadinejad, fueled by a totalitarian ideology and a mystical belief system. Ahmadinejad accepts that the return of the 12th Imam is imminent. Furthermore, he is certain of his own duty to hasten the Mahdi's return. This explains the many years of hidden preparation as Iran built its nuclear weapons, which are designed to both mete out punishment to the non-believers and pave the way for the apocalypse.

These are very treacherous times.

And they're compounded by the fact that our government and legacy media are controlled by incompetent ideologues. You may know them as Democrats.

Hezbollah appears to have free rein in Latin America, yet Democrats can't stop pandering to various ethnic front groups by protecting the American people through effective border control. I hate to say this because it sounds far too morbid, but people will die -- innocent Americans will die -- because of this lunacy.


Friday, December 10, 2010

Stark Naked Proof: Unemployment Benefits Must Be Time-Boxed. At Least, That's the Claim of the Teabaggers at The New York Times

Even the Gray Lady can't hide the fact that 2 + 2 equals 4. At least, not yet. Nan G, a commenter at Flopping Aces, observes:

Have you ever seen a chart [illustrating] when people find work in comparison to when their benefits run out? Here’s one such chart:

The chart displays the fraction of persons (in Pittsburgh) receiving unemployment benefits who began working again, as a function of the number of weeks until their unemployment benefits were scheduled to be exhausted.

For example, a “hazard” value of “0.04″ for week “-14″ means that, among unemployed persons with 14 weeks remaining until their benefit exhaustion date, 4 percent of them either began working a new job or returned to their previous job.

Notice the VAST majority of unemployed persons got employed during their last week of benefits and the 1st week AFTER benefits ran out.

The rest of the NYTimes story (from [March] 2010) about this chart is here: http://tinyurl.com/TheNewYorkTimesSucks*. And it is worth a read.

Indeed it is.

Because it isn't often you see the Leftist crackpots at the Times printing the truth.


Thursday, December 09, 2010

Non-profit, 'apolitical' Media Matters beclowns itself again: accuses Fox of 'spin' for calling government-run health care government-run

There are two hilarious aspects to the non-smoking gun, non-story advertised by the Marxist nuts at Soros Matters. First -- the background:

The latest meme among the legions of lefty Fox-haters is that FNC "distorted" or "skewed" the ObamaCare debate by instructing employees to call the "public option" the "government option" or some variation of that. The horror!

Of course none of the Fox-haters uttered a word of criticism when National Public Radio officially instructed employees to drop the "pro-life" and "pro-choice" labels in favor of "abortion rights opponent" and "abortion rights advocate," labels that clearly frame the debate favorably for the pro-choice position (who wants someone's rights denied them, after all?).

Hilarious aspect #1: every crackpot Leftist blog including the seventh-tier, incoherent "Zandar vs. Himself" jumped on this story as if it were Watergate.

However, even Time Magazine and Salon agree: Media Matters consists of a small cabal of Statist losers who seek to destroy this society and are willing to make up stories from whole cloth to advance their Marxist agenda.

I'm paraphrasing, of course.

Just a hint for Zandar: when Time and Salon are aligned against you -- and the story has only the imprimatur of Soros Matters behind it -- run. Run like the wind.

The second hilarious aspect: the Daily Beast -- not exactly a bastion of conservative thought -- offered the best take on the media's use of various phrasing alternatives.

Other news organizations periodically described the plan as government-run or used the terms interchangeably [and] news executives routinely offer guidance about proper wording in news stories...

Precisely. The New York Times, the vanguard of Leftist agenda journalism, routinely makes up entire news stories: witness the John McCain-lobbyist 'affair' and Al Qaqaa hit pieces, to name but two.

If you're a reporter, using Soros Matters to source a story is akin to giving your teenage son a fifth of Cuervo and the keys to the Porsche. A lot of things can happen -- and all of them are bad.

Which explains Keith Olbermann, among others.


Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Photo of the Day: And they impugn Sarah Palin's intelligence?

Matthew J. O'Connor, writing at the Clarion Advisory, describes the real effects of the federal pay freeze announced Monday by President Obama.

First, there are about 2.1 million federal jobs now, and in 2009 only 177 of those received “unsatisfactory” job performance ratings—150 of those received pay increases anyway. Facetiously speaking, such competency.

Second, the average federal employee receives 30%-40% more in total compensation than the average private sector employee. Facetiously speaking, their production and results demonstrate they are worth every penny.

Third, since President Obama took office 141,000 new federal jobs have been added, and during the first 18 months of the recession federal pay rose 6.6%.

Fourth, the “freeze” is only for two years and then only affects cost of living (COLA), not bonuses or movement within the General Services (GS) pay schedule.

[Now remember] what the President said about Health Care Reform a few months ago: “No matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise to the American people. If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor..."

I will leave it to the Obama lemmings to swallow his recent federal pay freeze deficit control hoax and dive off the edge of the turnip wagon, like they seem to do with almost anything Obama says-off his teleprompter.

And the legacy media endlessly reminds us that Sarah Palin is dumb and Barack Obama is some kind of genius. Okay.

Forget the birth certificate -- where are the college transcripts?


Monday, November 29, 2010

Where's Scooter Libby When You Need Him?

Runner-up headline: Shock, Outrage as Analyst Valerie Plame Outed by WikiLeaks


Does anyone else find it hysterically ironic that the "progressive" left vilified Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and finally Scooter Libby for years even after it was discovered they didn't actually out super-spy Valerie Plame?

And yet when it comes to the most massive disclosure of truly sensitive, classified information in history -- which endangers America in an infinite variety of ways (such as: which allies will be so foolish as to trust the Clinton State Department again?) -- the Statists can't seem to find much to criticize the despicable crackpot leaker and Julian Asshatter for (my spelling could be off).

The instrument has not been invented that is sensitive enough to measure the Left's intellectual honesty.

By the way, did they ever make that Joe Wilson/Valerie Plame movie? I was so looking forward to seeing it.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Super: Star-Ledger Columnist Now Holding Contests Asking Readers to Predict the Date of Chris Christie's Next Policy Shift

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie spoke at the Republican Governors Conference [RGC] ten days ago and reportedly brought down the house. He told the audience that sometimes leaders simply have to ignore their advisers and face the tough issues head on.

The New Jersey Star Ledger's Paul Mulshine has followed the career of Chris Christie for nearly two years. And he doesn't quite recognize the current version.

[The RGC] Chris Christie sounds like a heck of guy — not at all like the Chris Christie I have been following closely for almost two years... [For example, after] a number of legislators held a press conference in the Statehouse to announce they were... protesting the new screening policies of the [TSA, Christie] declined an offer to back the resolution because, his spokesman said, it was a federal issue...

...Just for fun, I put up a post on my blog asking readers to predict how long it would take before Christie came out against the TSA. If you bet on last Monday, you would have won. In response to a question from a kid at one of those town-hall meetings he holds, Christie announced the screenings were "too invasive."

That’s just one instance in a pattern obvious to those of us who’ve been covering Christie since he entered state politics. Name an issue — from judicial activism to the Highlands Act — and you will see Christie tiptoeing up to it and finally committing when the consensus is clear.

On issues such as guns and abortion, Christie’s views have moved rightward over the years, in remarkable harmony with the rightward drift of the GOP primary electorate... His position in favor of New Jersey’s participation in the cap-and-trade program, known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, for example, would be a non-starter with Republican primary voters. Sure enough, he recently made an incremental move away from that when he told a participant in another town hall that he is becoming skeptical about man-made global warming.

Some took that as a sign that he’s serious about running for president. If so, he’ll have to start inching away from other positions associated with RINOs, or "Republicans In Name Only," such as his mushy stands on gun rights and immigration amnesty.

Christie's oft-changing positions are the antithesis of the Tea Party's immutable principles.

Global warming.

Gun control.

• Amnesty for illegal aliens.

Mike Castle.

And those are but a few of Christie's amorphous policy positions.

Some great YouTube sound-bites have immortalized Christie's fight against the public sector unions. And there is much to appreciate in his stand.

But it is clear that the Governor has substantial work ahead of him. After all, Constitutional conservatives rightfully fear the nomination of another "Maverick", the positions of whom are rooted only in political expediency.


Krugman's Chickens Come Home to Roost: Imminent Euro Meltdown Begs the Question--When Will Debt Contagion Infect the U.S.?

The laboratory experiment known as Keynesian economics is set to complete in the Eurozone over the next few months. The European Central Bank's infinite borrow-and-spend policies, backstopped by heaven knows what, appears to be the same game-plan advocated by the likes of Paul Krugman here in the states.

And it is all set to topple like a house of cards during an earthquake.

This weekend offered no respite for the European central bankers, who have moved from country to country trying to reassure investors that banks are healthy even though they own billions in badly wounded bonds. The EU and the IMF shored up Greece in the spring with €10 billion and have arranged a set of bailouts for Ireland that will total around €85 billion more. But dominoes Portugal and Spain are now tilting over concerns that they, too, will be unable to service the massive debts they've incurred over the last two decades.

The three-year tab for all of the Eurozone rescues was earlier set at €440 billion; there are now plans to double it before the European banks that own the toxic debt are themselves crushed.

Even Germany Threatened: 'You cannot find a bank safe deposit box'

Even the most financially secure EU state -- Germany -- is trembling. The ongoing crisis "on the eurozone periphery is starting to contaminate the creditworthiness of Germany and the core states of monetary union."

Credit default swaps (CDS) measuring risk on German, French and Dutch bonds have surged over recent days, rising significantly above the levels of non-EMU states in Scandinavia.

"Germany cannot keep paying for bail-outs without going bankrupt itself," said Professor Wilhelm Hankel, of Frankfurt University. "This is frightening people. You cannot find a bank safe deposit box in Germany because every single one has already been taken and stuffed with gold and silver. It is like an underground Switzerland within our borders. People have terrible memories of 1948 and 1923 when they lost their savings."

The critical question remains unanswered. At what point does Germany refuse to bail out the more irresponsible members of the EU. That question is going to the German Constitutional Court early next year as many citizens have objected to the legality of the Greek bailout and other backstopping efforts.

No Certain Thing: 'time the Irish became more militant'

While Eurozone officials would like to portray Ireland's bailout as a fait accompli, the 100,000 protesters in the streets of Dublin yesterday tell another story. The turnout was gargantuan given the snow and freezing temperatures the marchers had to endure. Most protesters are unionists and socialists objecting to the four-year austerity plan announced by the government.

Among the marchers there is deep anger that most of the more than €80bn (£67bn) from the EU and the International Monetary Fund will be given to shore up Ireland's ailing banks.

Marching in the rally was Irish builder Mick Wallace who has had to lay off 100 workers due to the crash in the construction industry. Wallace said it was time the Irish became more militant.

If there's a pattern of civil unrest to be detected throughout Europe, it hinges on the malevolent collaboration between public sector unions and socialists. Their mission, it would appear, is to overthrow any vestige of capitalism in Europe.

'Day of Reckoning' Nears With Talk of Restructuring

The borrowing costs for the most exposed European states are at record highs. The average yield for 10-year bonds issued by Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain hit a Euro-era record of 7.57 percent on Friday.

The spread of PIIGS debt compared to German issues also hit a new high of 492 basis points (or nearly 5%). And the cost to insure the five countries' bonds also hit a record of 517 basis points.

“It’s no longer taboo to speak about a restructuring,” said Johannes Jooste, a portfolio strategist at Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management in London, which oversees about $1.4 trillion for clients. “The fact that bond yields continue to rise and put pressure on countries that have to fund from the market makes investors less and less confident, and it’s bringing forward the day of reckoning.”

Bondholders of European banks are being urged to accept "huge haircuts" because the nature and amount of the debt owned by those institutions is simply so huge it can never be repaid.

Downgrades

Irish banks were hit with another downgrade by rating agencies on Friday and many bank bondholders have already taken horrible losses of 80 to 90 percent.

[Prime Minister] Cowen is unveiling an emergency budget Dec. 7 that seeks to cut euro6 billion ($8 billion) from Ireland's 2011 deficit. He and European officials say that budget must be passed to clear the way for the EU-IMF bailout loan for Ireland.

Ireland's 2010 deficit is running at 32 percent of GDP, the highest in Europe since World War II. The country's severe financial problems are rooted in its enormous bailout of Irish banks who gorged themselves on overpriced real estate.

Meanwhile Portugal, reportedly next weakest of the peripheral Eurozone countries, has denied that it needs a bailout. Economists, however, point to increased risk premiums for Portuguese debt and a survey of experts found most agreeing that a bailout is imminent due to "spiraling debt costs".

Spain, which appears to be next on the endangered list, has a two-fold plan to build a "firewall" against further contagion. It has announced massive budget cuts and is simultaneously trying to find local buyers for its debt.

“The big elephant in the room is Spain, which is too big to fail and too big to be bailed out,” Nouriel Roubini, the New York University professor who predicted the global financial crisis, said in an interview Nov. 23. “In some sense though, Spain is in a better place.”

Asked whether its size would deter an EU bailout, Bank of Spain chief economist Jose Luis Malo de Molina said late yesterday that “the systemic importance” of a country like Spain “reinforces the incentives and stimuli for the rest of the countries to be ready to help in the case that it were necessary.” He said market tensions can become a “self- fulfilling prophecy.”

In other words, remain calm. Don't panic.

'Urgent Action' Needed in the U.S.

With debt contagion washing over Europe, there is little doubt what the impact will be for the U.S.

The US needs to take urgent action to cut its debt in order to prevent the next financial crisis, which may start in Washington, Sheila Bair, chair of the Federal Deposits Insurance Corp. (FDIC) wrote in an editorial in the Washington Post...

The federal debt has doubled over the past seven years, to almost $14 trillion, and the growth is a result of both the financial crisis and the government's "unwillingness over many years to make the hard choices necessary to rein in our long-term structural deficit," Bair wrote...

The tidal wave of baby boomers headed into retirement represents a double whammy for the federal deficit. Bair noted that this year's spending on the big three entitlements (Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid) represents 45 percent of federal spending -- but that it was 27 percent in 1975.

"Eventually, this relentless federal borrowing will directly threaten our financial stability by undermining the confidence that investors have in U.S. government obligations," Bair said.

"With more than 70 percent of US Treasury obligations held by private investors scheduled to mature in the next five years, an erosion of investor confidence would lead to sharp increases in government and private borrowing costs," she added.

The policy prescription of Krugman and the Eurozone is simple:

"Borrow more money to pay off borrowed money."

The problem is, someday the ability to borrow money runs out.

And that's the day that the Ponzi scheme collapses, like Bernie Madoff -- times a million.


Hat tip: Drudge. Linked by: Instapundit and Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Photos: The Mass Executions You Never Saw In Legacy Media

If you rely upon legacy media for the news, you'd think that Gaza was some kind of killing ground upon which innocent Palestinians are regularly targeted by Israelis. But in Gaza, as in most places around the Middle East, the most prolific murderers of Muslims are other Muslims.

The following graphic screen-captures depict a mass execution of civilians in Gaza by members of the murderous gang of thugs known as Hamas.

Mass executions? Genocide? Apartheid?

Yes -- all of those things.

And legacy media is utterly silent.

Lining civilians up against a wall and executing them like the Nazis at Babi Yar.

And the typical separatist front groups, CAIR and the like, are silent on these events.

Should you do a search for "Hamas mass murder Gaza", you'll find plenty of references to Zionists killing innocents.

Or "apartheid".

Or terrorist-laden "Freedom Flotillas".

But let terrorists kill thousands of innocents in New York, or Mumbai, or Beslan, Madrid, London, Uzbekistan, Bali, Baghdad, Kashmir and dozens of other venues, and the media can't seem to determine what the attackers' motivation may be.

After all, it's not real news unless Israelis are involved.