Sunday, October 26, 2008

RED ALERT: Early voting shows polls off 18% in California!


RedState has the update:

California has begun early voting already as well as mail-in balloting. The number of people who have gone in to vote in person has been extensive. The results so far prove what we had always suspected. The polls are being proven as totally unreliable. Although the results of early balloting have not been disclosed,of course, how many Republicans and how many Democrats have voted has been revealed.

The results are simply shocking. The polls showed Barack Obama with an 18 point lead in California just a few days ago. The results thus far are the complete opposite. In the most liberal state in the entire country,the results are that 99,000 Republicans have voted and 96,000 Democrats voted. In the mail-in balloting the results so far are that 9,000 Democrats sent in their ballots and that 5,000 Republicans did so. So with nearly 210,000 people having voted, the Democrats have only a 1,000 vote advantage!

If we take the liberty of assuming that all Republicans will vote for John McCain and all Democrats will vote for Obama, then the race is incredibly close. I'm sure that Obama will eventually win in California, but if he is struggling here after he pushed so hard for early voting, then he will lose the election ! Everybody thought he would win California in a landslide, but so far anyway, it's very tight. That means that in the less liberal states he is in real trouble.

Ignore the pundits. Forget the polls. Get out there and vote for John McCain. The results in California show the wisdom of Yogi Berra who said, "It's not over until it's over."

In retrospect, perhaps this isn't as much of a story as it might first appear. If the last presidential exit polls were to be believed, President Windsurfer Von Kerry would just be wrapping up his first term.

Update: AJ Strata says that this is actually the "Third Early Voting Indicator National Polls May Be Way Off."

Linked by: American Digest. Thanks!

New Company Policies


Papa B sent this one in, an excellent complement to the deadly serious Letter from a Small Business Owner.

As of November 5, 2008, our company will implement a few new policies that are in keeping with new, inspiring themes of change and fairness:

1. All salespeople will be pooling their sales and bonuses into a common account that will be divided equally between all of you. This will serve to give those of you who are underachieving a "fair shake".

2. All staff-level workers (non-Manager positions) will be pooling their wages, including overtime, into a common account, dividing it equally amongst you. This will help those who are "too busy for overtime" to reap the rewards from those who have more spare time and can work extra hours.

3. All top management will now be referred to as "the government." We will not participate in this "pooling" experience because the law doesn't apply to us.

4. The "government" will give eloquent speeches to all employees every week, encouraging its workers to continue to work hard "for the good of all".

5. We anticipate that the employees will be thrilled with these new policies because it's "good to spread the wealth around". Those of you who have underachieved will finally get an opportunity; those of you who have worked hard and had success will feel more "patriotic".

6. The last few people who were hired should clean out their desks. Don't feel bad, though, because there will be free healthcare, free handouts, free oil for heating your home, free food stamps, and you can stay in your home for as long as you want even if you can't pay your mortgage. If you appeal directly to our Democratic Congress, you might even get a free flat screen TV and a coupon for free haircuts.

If for any reason you are not happy with the new policies, please contact your Democratic Congress c/o the Capitol Building, Washington DC. They are well-known for responding to inquiries in a timely fashion.

Larwyn's Link Kerplosion: The $5.3 million Greek Temple at Invesco


• Gateway Pundit: It has begun: Democrats propose cutting defense spending 25% and nationalizing 401Ks. I figured they might wait until after the election results are in, but what with ACORN and all, perhaps that's not necessary.

• Ace: 30% of ACORN's 1.3 million registration are fraudulent. A few mistakes can't be helped, you neocons!

• Mark Levin's brilliant The Obama temptation: "There is a cult-like atmosphere around Barack Obama, which his campaign has carefully and successfully fabricated, which concerns me. The messiah complex. Fainting audience members at rallies. Special Obama flags and an Obama presidential seal. A graphic with the portrayal of the globe and Obama's name on it, which adorns everything from Obama's plane to his street literature..."

• Irony alert: Leader of cop-killing group calls cops to throw reporter off sidewalk. Hopefully the police had more important things to do than show up at Bill Ayers' home (does he still call them pigs?). Ann adds, "Ayers is such an imbecile, we ought to be amazed that he's teaching at a university... except all former violent radicals end up teaching. Roughly 80 percent of former Weathermen are full college professors -- 99 percent if you don't include the ones killed in shoot-outs with the police or in prison -- i.e., not yet pardoned by a Democratic president."

• Irony alert part deux: Media up in arms over Palin's $150K wardrobe spend... fails to notice that Obama's "Greek Temple" set at Invesco Field cost $5.3 million. Oh. And all of the bills from that night's festivities aren't even in yet.

• Gateway Pundit: The Obama camp's multi-million dollar credit-card fraud continues unabated. The door is still open. I guess the sheer technical complexity of turning on credit-card validation has proven too daunting. But don't fret: they're ready to lead! Also: Jammie alert as "Democrats Accuse McCain of Fundraising Violations". Unbelievable. Suitably Flip has the essential wrapup.

• Russell Brigade: Help defeat John ("My constituents are all racists") Murtha. Although I believe he prefers the nickname Porky Haditha.

• YouTube: Republican for a Reason. If this doesn't send chills down your spine, nothing will.

• WFTV: Five minutes of Hell for Joe Biden. If you're keeping score -- 8,244 media outlets in the tank for Obama bin Biden; 1 outlet is asking real questions. And, "how dare you ask Senator Biden real questions?" Plus: Barbara West responds. Barack says that Biden is crazy like a fox.

• Blackfive: The Wolf on Obama's Mistress, a story apparently developed by Clinton staffers.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

The Obama and Hillary Files



Can your family afford more Democrats?


The secret scrapbook of Barack Obama


Dead cops, dead Marines and their killers


Official ACORN employment app


Bill Ayers and twelve dead police officers


The Fannie Mae testimony


Any questions?


Obamonopoly


Jamie Gorelick, Mistress of Disaster


Barack Obama teaches sex to kindergartners


Hero of Bosnia


Hillary hits the red button


China introduces new Olympic sports


Iran TV: Naval Victory over Great Satan


The Clintons, Vin Gupta and InfoUSA


Calling out the 'head in the sand' co-Presidents


Sandy Berger's Reward


Latest Bin Laden Transcript - Illustrated


The Clintons: Trashing the Lincoln Bedroom


Hillary's Top Twelve Fabrications

The Hummer of RV's: Action Mobil MAN


Squob has some outstanding coverage of the Action Mobil MAN. It's kinda like the Hummer of RVs. The price? Read on.

[Imagine] thundering down a Siberian forest road at dusk, piloting a six-wheel-drive expedition vehicle at irresponsible speeds. With DJ Hell’s My Definition of House tearing up the subwoofer.

For this, one needs an Action Mobil.

The new Globecruiser model—first picture below—fits the bill nicely. Due for a shakedown trip to Africa in April 2009, it’s based on the MAN TGA 6×6 platform—as occasionally used by Unicat, that other purveyor of expedition excess... Motive power comes from a giant 783ci turbodiesel, which pumps out a very healthy 388 kW. (Actually, make that a fairly healthy 388 kW—this mill doesn’t meet the latest EURO 5 regulations, but EURO 3 isn’t too bad considering.)

The two fuel tanks hold 219 gallons. A refill costs enough to put an Icelandic bank out of business, but if you can afford the Globecruiser’s €490,000 ($670,000) sticker price, you can afford $800 at the pump...

I'll bet with the economic meltdown and all, you could get 'em down to $650K.

Via: The invaluable American Digest.

Update: JL asks, "Wouldn’t that be the EM-50 Urban Assault Vehicle of “Stripes” fame?"

Letter from a small business owner


Papa B, who manages an M&A firm for small- and medium-sized businesses, writes, "Here's a recommendation we received from one of our clients:"

Dear Fellow Business Owners,

As a business owner who employs 30 people, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barack Obama will be our next president, and that my taxes and fees will go up in a BIG way.

To compensate for these increases, I figure that the Customer will have to see an increase in my fees to them of about 8 to 10%. I will also have to lay off six of my employees. This really bothered me as I believe we are family here and didn't know how to choose who will have to go. So, this is what I did.

I strolled thru the parking lot and found eight Obama bumper stickers on my employees' cars. I have decided these folks will be the first to be laid off.

I can't think of another fair way to approach this problem. If you have a better idea, let me know.

I am sending this letter to all business owners that I know.

Sincerely,

[Name and company redacted]

I don't think there are any federal anti-discrimination laws that would apply here.

Seems reasonable to me.

Update: Another letter from a small business owner, this one directed to Barack Obama.

Mr. Obama,

Given the uproar about the simple question asked you by Joe the plumber, and the persecution that has been heaped on him because he dared to question you, I find myself motivated to say a few things to you myself. While Joe aspires to start a business someday, I already have started not one, but 4 businesses. But first, let me introduce myself. You can call me "Cory the well driller". I am a 54 year old high school graduate. I didn't go to college like you, I was too ready to go "conquer the world" when I finished high school. 25 years ago at age 29, I started my own water well drilling business at a time when the economy here in East Texas was in a tailspin from the crash of the early 80's oil boom. I didn't get any help from the government, nor did I look for any. I borrowed what I could from my sister, my uncle, and even the pawn shop and managed to scrape together a homemade drill rig and a few tools to do my first job. My businesses did not start as a result of privilege. They are the result of my personal drive, personal ambition, self discipline, self reliance, and a determination to treat my customers fairly. From the very start my business provided one other (than myself) East Texan a full time job. I couldn't afford a backhoe the first few years (something every well drilling business had), so I and my helper had to dig the mud pits that are necessary for each and every job with hand shovels. I had to use my 10 year old, 1/2 ton pickup truck for my water tank truck (normally a job for at least a 2 ton truck).

A year and a half after I started the business, I scraped together a 20% down payment to get a modest bank loan and bought a (28 year) old, worn out, slightly bigger drilling rig to allow me to drill the deeper water wells in my area. I spent the next few years drilling wells with the rig while simultaneously rebuilding it between jobs. Through these years I never knew from one month to the next if I would have any work or be able to pay the bills. I got behind on my income taxes one year, and spent the next two years paying that back (with penalty and interest) while keeping up with ongoing taxes. I got behind on my water well supply bill 2 different years (way behind the second time... $80,000.00), and spent over a year paying it back (each time) while continuing to pay for ongoing supplies C.O.D.. Of course, the personal stress endured through these experiences and years is hard to measure. I do have a stent in my heart now to memorialize it all.

I spent the next 10 years developing the reputation for being the most competent and most honest water well driller in East Texas. 2 years along the way, I hired another full time employee for the drilling business so that we could provide full time water well pump service as well as the well drilling. Also, 3 years along the path, I bought a water well screen service machine from a friend, starting business # 2. 5 years later I made a business loan for $100,000.00 to build a new, higher production, computer controlled screen service machine. I had designed the machine myself, and it didn't work out for 3 years so I had to make the loan payments without the benefit of any added income from the new machine. No government program was there to help me with the payments, or to help me sleep at night as I lay awake wondering how I would solve my machine problems or pay my bills. Finally, after 3 years, I got the screen machine working properly, and that provided another full time job for an East Texan in the screen service business.

2 years after that, I made another business loan, this time for $250,000.00, to buy another used drilling rig and all the support equipment needed to run another, larger, drill rig. This provided another 2 full time jobs for East Texans. Again, I spent a couple of years not knowing if I had made a smart move, or a move that would bankrupt me. For the third time in 13 years, I had placed everything I owned on the line, risking everything, in order to build a business.

A couple of years into this, I came up with a bright idea for a new kind of mud pump, a fundamentally necessary pump used on water well drill rigs. I spent my entire life savings to date (just $30,000.00), building a prototype of the pump and took it to the national water well convention to show it off. Customers immediately started coming out of the woodworks to buy the pumps, but there was a problem. I had depleted my assets making the prototype, and nobody would make me a business loan to start production of the new pumps. With several deposits for pump orders in hand, and nowhere to go, I finally started applying for as many credit card as I could find and took cash withdrawals on these cards to the tune of over $150,000.00 (including modest loans from my dear sister and brother), to get this 3rd business going.

Yes, once again, I had everything hanging over the line in an effort to start another business. I had never manufactured anything, and I had to design and bring into production a complex hydraulic machine from an untested prototype to a reliable production model (in six months). How many nights I lay awake wondering if I had just made the paramount mistake of my life I cannot tell you, but there were plenty. I managed to get the pumps into production, which immediately created another 2 full time jobs in East Texas. Some of the models in the first year suffered from quality issues due to the poor workmanship of one of my key suppliers, so I and an employee (another East Texan employed) had to drive across the country to repair customers' pumps, practically from coast to coast. I stood behind the product, and made payments to all the credit cards that had financed me (and my brother and sister). I spent the next 5 years improving and refining the product, building a reputation for the pump and the company, working to get the pump into drill rig manufacturers' product lines, and paying back credit cards. During all this time I continued to manage a growing water well business that was now operating 3 drill rig crews, and 2 well service crews. Also, the screen service business continued to grow. No government programs were there to help me, Mr. Obama, but that's ok, I didn't expect any, nor did I want any. I was too busy fighting to make success happen to sit around waiting for the government to help me.

Now, we have been manufacturing the mud pumps for 7 years, my combined businesses employ 32 full time employees, and distribute $5,000,000.00 annually through the local economy. Now, just 4 months ago I borrowed $1,254,000.00, purchasing computer controlled machining equipment to start my 4th business, a production machine shop. The machine shop will serve the mud pump company so that we can better manufacture our pumps that are being shipped worldwide. Of course, the machine shop will also do work for outside companies as well. This has already produced 2 more full time jobs, and 2 more should develop out of it in the next few months. This should work out, but if it doesn't it will be because you, and the other professional politicians like yourself, will have destroyed our countrys' (and the world) economy with your meddling with mortgage loan programs through your liberal manipulation and intimidation of loaning institutions to make sure that unqualified borrowers could get mortgages. You see, at the very time when I couldn't get a business loan to get my mud pumps into production, you were working with Acorn and the Community Reinvestment Act programs to make sure that unqualified borrowers could buy homes with no down payment, and even no credit or worse yet, bad credit. Even the infamous, liberal, Ninja loans (No Income, No Job or Assets). While these unqualified borrowers were enjoying unrealistically low interest rates, I was paying 22% to 24% interest on the credit cards that I had used to provide me the funds for the mud pump business that has created jobs for more East Texans. It's funny, because after 25 years of turning almost every dime of extra money back into my businesses to grow them, it has been only in the last two years that I have finally made enough money to be able to put a little away for retirement, and now the value of that has dropped 40% because of the policies you and your ilk have perpetrated on our country.

You see, Mr. Obama, I'm the guy you intend to raise taxes on. I'm the guy who has spent 25 years toiling and sweating, fretting and fighting, stressing and risking, to build a business and get ahead. I'm the guy who has been on the very edge of bankruptcy more than a dozen times over the last 25 years, and all the while creating more and more jobs for East Texans who didn't want to take a risk, and would not demand from themselves what I have demanded from myself. I'm the guy you characterize as "the Americans who can afford it the most" that you believe should be taxed more to provide income redistribution "to spread the wealth" to those who have never toiled, sweated, fretted, fought, stressed, or risked anything. You want to characterize me as someone who has enjoyed a life of privilege and who needs to pay a higher percentage of my income than those who have bought into your entitlement culture. I resent you, Mr. Obama, as I resent all who want to use class warfare as a tool to advance their political career. What's worse, each year more Americans buy into your liberal entitlement culture, and turn to the government for their hope of a better life instead of themselves. Liberals are succeeding through more than 40 years of collaborative effort between the predominant liberal media, and liberal indoctrination programs in the public school systems across our land.

What is so terribly sad about this is this. America was made great by people who embraced the one-time American culture of self reliance, self motivation, self determination, self discipline, personal betterment, hard work, risk taking. A culture built around the concept that success was in reach of every able bodied American who would strive for it. Each year that less Americans embrace that culture, we all descend together. We descend down the socialist path that has brought country after country ultimately to bitter and unremarkable states. If you and your liberal comrades in the media and school systems would spend half as much effort cultivating a culture of can-do across America as you do cultivating your entitlement culture, we could see Americans at large embracing the conviction that they can elevate themselves through personal betterment, personal achievement, and self reliance. You see, when people embrace such ideals, they act on them. When people act on such ideals, they succeed. All of America could find herself elevating instead of deteriorating. But that would eliminate the need for liberal politicians, wouldn't it, Mr. Obama? The country would not need you if the country was convinced that problem solving was best left with individuals instead of the government. You and all your liberal comrades have got a vested interested in creating a dependent class in our country. It is the very business of liberals to create an ever expanding dependence on government. What's remarkable is that you, who have never produced a job in your life, are going to tax me to take more of my money and give it to people who wouldn't need my money if they would get off their entitlement mentality asses and apply themselves at work, demand more from themselves, and quit looking to liberal politicians to raise their station in life.

You see, I know because I've had them work for me before. Hundreds of them over these 25 years. People who simply will not show up to work on time. People who just will not work 5 days in a week, much less, 6 days. People always looking for a way to put less effort out. People who actually tell me that they would do more if I just would first pay them more. People who take off work to sit in government offices to apply to get free government handouts (gee, I wonder how things would have turned out for them if they had spent that time earning money and pleasing their employer?). You see, all of this comes from your entitlement mentality culture.

Oh, I know you will say I am uncompassionate. Sorry, Mr. Obama, wrong again. You see, I've seen what the average percentage of your income has been given to charities over the years of 2000 to 2004 (ignoring the years you started running for office - can you pronounce "politically motivated"), you averaged less than 1% annually. And your running mate, Joe Biden, averaged less than ¼% of his annual income in charitable contributions over the last 10 years. Like so many liberals, the two of you want to give to the needy, just as long as it is someone else's money you are giving to them. I won't say what I have given to charities over the last 25 years, but the percentage is several times more than you and Joe Biden. combined (don't you just hate google?). Tell me again how you feel my pain.

In short, Mr. Obama, your political philosophies represent everything that is wrong with our country. You represent the culture of government dependence instead of self reliance; Entitlement mentality instead of personal achievement; Penalization of the successful to reward the unmotivated; Political correctness instead of open mindedness and open debate. If you are successful, you may preside over the final transformation of America from being the greatest and most self-reliant culture on earth, to just another country of whiners and wimps, who sit around looking to the government to solve their problems. Like all of western Europe. All countries on the decline. All countries that, because of liberal socialistic mentalities, have a little less to offer mankind every year.

God help us...

Cory Miller

just a ordinary, extraordinary American, the way a lot of Americans used to be.

P.S. Yes, Mr. Obama, I am a real American... http://www.cmillerdrilling.com

Reprise: When Carter "spread the wealth"


Check out the tax rates when Jimmy Earl Carter served as "president" in '78.



That's right. Carter's tax rates "spread the wealth" by confiscating 70% of any earnings over $203K. Seventy percent! That motivates a lot of folks to demand cash, hide income, cheat, operate in the black-market and/or not bother to work any harder. Even if you earned only $47K, Carter wanted half. Half!.

As for the results? In 1980 Time magazine put it this way.

...inflation is not only a frightening economic problem but is rapidly becoming Carter's most dangerous political liability as well... In the past few weeks, however, a new side of inflationary psychology has begun to show itself among businessmen and investors: plain, old-fashioned fear. Executives talk of inflation rates going to 20% or more in the next few months, creating an environment in which reasonable planning is impossible. The jitters have unhinged the investment markets. As recently as mid-February, stocks were widely considered a hedge against inflation and thought to be grossly undervalued. The Dow Jones industrial average hit a high of 904 on Feb. 13. But since then it has tumbled 92 points, to 812; nine points of the decline came last week. The average is now lower than it was 16 years ago.

Sound familiar? Maybe there's validity to the contention that the recent stock market turmoil can be termed an "Obama Panic". That is, investors anticipate a disastrous set of Carter-esque policies that send the economy into a tailspin and respond accordingly.

What were the results of Carter's "wealth-spreading" policies?

Inflation rose dramatically, nearly touching 15% by 1980.

Unemployment rose to 11% shortly thereafter. The economy didn't return to health until President Reagan spearheaded lower tax rates.

The history is clear: oppressive tax rates for the "rich" (really, just businesspeople small and large) is disastrous for employment and wounds the economy.

Starting to get the picture? Really feel like experiencing a 1980's style economic disaster? Then I urge you to vote for Barack Obama.

Update: Amil Amani at the American Thinker: "Obama's economic plan is a recipe for long-lasting disaster. Keep in mind that wrecking anything, as opposed to building things, requires very little time and effort. Obama's plan is deceptively attractive, while in reality it is a huge wrecking ball that will capsize the already listing ship of our economy. Here is a partial list of reasons why..." And The Wall Street Journal: "Business Finally Fights Back - The business community is back in politics. After years of contented political gridlock, American companies are now officially horrified at what an all-Democratic Washington intends to inflict on the U.S. economy. The Chamber is throwing its extensive resources at denying the left a filibuster-proof Senate. In doing so, it has stuck its finger in the Democratic leadership's beehive, and is facing retribution..."

Free the airwaves!


Google is running a campaign that I strongly support. It's called Free the Airwaves and it aims to re-purpose some analog television spectrum to something eminently useful: free wireless Internet service.

Remember that fuzzy static between channels on the old TVs? Today more than three-quarters of those radio airwaves, or "white space" spectrum, are completely unused. This vast public resource could offer a revolution in wireless services of all kinds, including universal wireless Internet. The FCC will soon decide whether to open this unused spectrum for general usage, and your voice matters -- a lot. So if you agree that freeing the white spaces represents a vote for the future of the Internet, please sign our petition and help spread the word about this campaign.

Who's opposed to it? You guessed it: folks like Verizon ("it's the network, stupid!") and others who tightly control their spectrum, keep innovation locked down to a minimum, and certainly don't want any competition.

You can sign the petition to lend your support. Let's beat down the government-sponsored telco monopolies and unleash a new generation of American innovation!

Friday, October 24, 2008

The new math. Or should I say: the new Obamath?


According to the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution's Tax Policy Center (TPC), Barack Obama has promised:

$1,320,000,000,000

in new spending. That's $1.32 trillion. He says he'll do this in conjunction with a "middle class tax cut". Oh. And that 95% of Americans will receive this "tax cut".

According to the Census Bureau, there are approximately 100 million households in the U.S. Five percent would, of course, be five million households in the U.S. Translated: the top 5% of 100 million households will fund all new spending.

If five million households are going to fund $1.32 trillion in new spending, how much does the government have to increase taxes on each of the unlucky households? Anyone have a calculator handy?

Break out the 1977 Texas Instruments calculator, Bucky! Dividing $1.32 trillion by 5 million households comes out to:

$264,000 per household!

You read that right. More than a quarter million dollars per household.

Legacy media can't bother with these complex calculations, possibly because their IT budgets have been slashed what with the Times stock price and all. Suffice it to say that Barack Obama's new math doesn't survive even the most cursory review. Put simply, every working person in America will receive a monstrous increase in taxes when the Bush tax cuts expire. Tack on the "WealthSpreader™" tax and we've got a surefire recipe for economic disaster.

Does the name "Jimmy Carter" ring a bell? 18% inflation wasn't all bad because I got some great raises.

Update: The Wall Street Journal asks, "How's Obama Going to Raise $4.3 Trillion?"

Photo: Former Lehman Brothers employees arrive at NY unemployment offices




Hat tip: Papa B.

Global warming "crisis" officially canceled


Marc alerts us to the incipient rebellion against the $250 billion global warming scam perpetrated by the UN and Al Gore:

New York conference expected to draw
up to 1,000 scientists and experts
Global warming crisis "cancelled" by new scientific discoveries

The organizers of a March 2008 conference that brought together more than 500 scientists, economists, and other experts on global warming today unveiled plans to hold a second conference on March 8-10, 2009, once again in New York City.

The 2009 International Conference on Climate Change will serve as a platform for scientists and policy analysts from around the world who question the theory of man-made climate change. This year's theme, "Global Warming Crisis: Cancelled," calls attention to new research findings that contradict the conclusions of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.

...The 2008 conference featured presentations by more than 100 prominent scientists and economists from the U.S. and around the world, including Dr. Robert Balling (Arizona State University), Dr. Stanley Goldenberg (NOAA), Dr. William Gray (Colorado State University), Dr. Yuri Izrael (IPCC), Dr. Patrick Michaels (University of Virginia), Dr. Paul Reiter (Institut Pasteur, Paris), Dr. S. Fred Singer (Science and Environmental Policy Project), Dr. Willie Soon (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), and Dr. Roy Spencer (NASA).

The 2008 event attracted extensive media attention in the U.S. and internationally, including news coverage by The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, Reuters, National Geographic, ABC, BBC, CBS, NBC, Fox News, and others.

"Last March we proved that the skeptics in the debate over global warming constitute the center or mainstream of the scientific community, while the alarmists are on the fringe," said Heartland President Joseph Bast. "In the past six months, the science has grown even more convincing that global warming is not a crisis. Opinion polls and political events, including the defeat of 'cap-and-trade' legislation in the U.S. Senate, also suggest this 'crisis' is over. It has been cancelled by sound science and common sense."

Related: Al Gore's testimony before Congress.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Tired of working? Now you don't have to!


I'm voting Obama!

The Obama Campaign's Massive Credit Card Scandal


Yes we can! (Knowingly accept millions in fraudulent donations)

You know how ACORN registered thousands of bogus voters like Mickey Mouse and Daffy Duck? ACORN's handlers at the Obama campaign seem to be accepting contributions from Mickey and Daffy too.

It turns out that the Obama campaign's crack team of fundraisers decided to turn off all security validation for credit-card donations. Want to enter the name Pedro Martinez when the credit-card belongs to Arnold Fizbin? Need to use the ZIP code 99999 when the card owner's ZIP is 02154? No problem! The Obama campaign doesn't care!

In order for this to occur, the "Address Verification System has to be specifically disabled to allow this fraud."

Having worked for companies that process credit cards online, it is necessary to go through and manually disable the safeguards that they put in place to verify a person's address and zip code with the cardholder's bank. But international banks don't currently have the same safeguards that banks in the US have...

So most likely they've disabled the necessary safeguards for US cards which their merchant bank would be angry about if they found out since it exposes them to risk, as well as international cards which is an even greater risk because there's no way to verify the information electronically for most countries, so they could just say they're in the US with phony info and the card will still process online. The One could then just claim that they said they were from America...

It's a pattern.

An earlier analysis of donations revealed millions of dollars in illegal donations from made up characters like "Doodad Pro" and "Good Will". These contributions were conveniently structured to fit in the "under $200" category, which the Obama campaign (unlike McCain) has refused to reveal.

Andy McCarthy described the abuse of the campaign finance laws by the Obama campaign in stark terms:

A... review of the Obama campaign finance filings found that the FEC had asked for the redesignation or refund of 53,828 donations, totaling just under $30 million.

But none involves the donors who never appear in the Obama campaign reports, which the [Center for Responsive Politics] estimates at nearly half the $426.8 million the Obama campaign has raised to date.

Let's see. Half of $426 million is... carry the one... about $200 million! And this isn't headline news?

Just a tad over the limit


But the new revelations of illegal donations appear to be a mixture of stolen (and unvalidated) credit-cards and willful violations of finance law. I'm not a math major, but Mary T. Biskup's contribution of $174,800 would appear to be over the $2,300 limit.

Scott Johnson reports that tests of the Obama website confirm that all security validation is disabled.

I went back to the Obama site and made three additional donations using the names Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Bill Ayers, all with different addresses. All the transactions went through using the same credit card. I saved screenshots of the transactions... I tried the exact same thing at the McCain site and it didn't allow the transaction."

Change!

Obama campaign website accepted foreign campaign donations


In May of this year I noted the fact that the Obama campaign ran the only website that permitted donations from foreign countries without any proof of citizenship.


In contrast, the Hillary and McCain sites both required documentation before accepting a donation from a foreign country.

In summary: the five-year stock price of the New York Times


While the Times' CSI unit probes Joe the Plumber's health records and scrutinizes Sarah Palin's shoe bills, an election is well nigh being stolen right under their very eyes. Although this scandal is a doozy, the Times is silent about this flagrant abuse of election law.

Eleven days remain until the election... hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal and foreign donations appear to have flowed into Obama's coffers... and Manhattan's Pravda can't rustle up a story. Not to worry. I give them six months.

Don't let these criminals steal the election. Vote.

The Giant Slayer


The UK's Auto Express Magazine ran a comparo featuring the Nissan GT-R, the Lamborghini LP-560-4 and the Porsche 911 GT2.

Spoiler: they don't the call the GT-R the "giant slayer" for nothin'.

Simple explanation of Democratic tax policies


Sean sent this one in.

- 50,000 people go to a baseball game, but the game was rained out. A refund was then due. The team was about to mail refunds when Congressional Democrats stopped them and suggested that they send out the ticket refunds based on Obama's interpretation of fairness.

- Originally the refunds were to be paid based on the price each person had paid for the tickets. Unfortunately that meant most of the refund money would be going to the ticket holders who had purchased the most expensive tickets. This, according to the DNC, is considered totally unfair. A decision was then made to pay out the refunds in this manner:

1) People in the $10 seats will get back $15. After all, they have less money to spend on tickets to begin with. Call it an "Earned Income Ticket Credit." Persons "earn" it by having few skills, poor work habits, and low ambition, thus keeping them at entry-level wages.

2) People in the $25 seats will get back $25, because it "seems fair."

3) People in the $50 seats will get back $1 because they already make a lot of money and don't need a refund. After all, if they can afford a $50 ticket, they must not be paying enough taxes.

4) People in the $75 luxury box seats will each have to pay an additional $25 because it's the "right thing to do."

5) People walking past the stadium who couldn't afford to buy a ticket for the game each will get a $10 refund, even though they didn't pay anything for the tickets. They need the most help.

p.s., People soon learned they could make $10/day if they just walked by the stadium.

Now do you understand?

Simple enough.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

The new Obama posters are here!


These were rustled up by Probationary Junior Cub Reporter Cadet Biff Spackle (he was temporarily demoted for breaking into the Glenfiddich stash before 6PM).