Saturday, November 01, 2008

Americans who lived under Communism support McCain


Americans who lived under Communism have strong feelings about this election:
Add 'em to the list.
Obama's latest statement -- that taxpayers' opposition to higher taxes is "selfishness" -- doesn't help.

Hat tips: Gateway Pundit and (photo) Gary Rothstein/EPA

Friday, October 31, 2008

Tito the Builder pounds Alan Colmes flat as a pancake


Anyone have a spare ice pack?

Hat tip: LGF.

A business owner describes the catastrophic effects of the Obama Wealth Redistribution™ Plan


Commenter rls provides a business owner's reaction to the effects of the Obama Wealth Redistribution™ Plan.

...here is a very true first person scenario. I am 60 yrs old and have owned my business for 24 years and I currently have seven (7) employees that my business provides a decent living for. The longest tenured employee has been with me for 17 yrs.

I'm not going to get into the $250,000 argument, I simply do not trust Obama and the Democrats. I personally think that everyone that pays taxes will get an increase in taxes once they let the Bush tax cuts expire. However I am going to close my business, lay off my employees and sell my equipment and buildings before January 20th, IF Obama is elected.

I had planned on working two more years and trying to line up financing so my employees could buy me out and then I would stay on one more year (as an employee) and help them transition. Now it is not a big operation and I would sell it to them just south of 1 million, which would be at a discount (actual asset value).

Obama's stated intent is to raise the capital gains tax to 20% (from 15%). That is what he has said he would do....that doesn't include the possibility of what he might do. Now you might not think that the extra 5% is much of nothing, but I have real property (commercial) that has increased significantly over the last 20 years and that extra 5% is going to cost me a pretty penny.

So, Senator Obama's election is definitely going to put seven (7) employees out of work and impact my current vendors to the tune of about a half a million per year, one small supplier rather dramatically.

That is how taxes impact small businesses. Small businesses, by nature, want to grow....as they grow, they add staff, they buy more inventory, they invest more in plant and equipment and thus they end up paying more (dollar wise) in total taxes.

When they are constricted by onerous tax rates, they have no choice but to curtail operations, lay off employees, shrink their business...or like I am going to do, just get out entirely and let someone else deal with the "new" economy.

IF, and it still is "IF", Senator Obama is elected, the tax revenue for "spreading the wealth" won't come from me, so you guys will have to pick up my part, and the part of every other small business owner who sees this as I do and is able to bail out.

The tipping point is 49% paying and 51% taking. Wonder how close we'll be in two years of a President Obama's term.

The Obama Wealth Redistribution™ Plan forces the most successful business people to downsize. To retrench. To lay people off. Change!

Now that I think about it, I never got a job from a homeless person.

Another Obama banner features Communism's red star


When Bill Ayers was cornered by a Fox News reporter he was wearing a shirt featuring the red star.

The red star is the universal symbol of communism, said to represent the "five social groups that would lead Russia to communism: the youth, the military, the industrial labourers, the agricultural workers or peasantry, and the intelligentsia."

The Russian military uses the red star to this day. Nothing to see here folks, just move along.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Obama site encourages IP address forgery from donors


Will the innovations never cease? Yesterday I described several, eh, unique capabilities pioneered by the Obama campaign in the area of campaign contributions.

Among them, failure to do even basic credit-card validation; accepting untraceable prepaid credit cards; and sharing donor lists with suspect groups like ACORN. Heck, Barack's campaign wouldn't even share those lists with Hillary!

Anyhow, an anonymous tipster mentioned that checking out the source code of the Obama donation website (https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/ - not hyperlinked for obvious reasons) would reveal some interesting logic. Specifically that IP addresses of the donors can be easily spoofed through a hidden field in the form. The tipster's guess was (and I concur) that the Obama campaign is recording the spoofable IP address... not the real IP address as delivered by the web server.

It's web security 101, folks. Because IP addresses usually map back to a real client network (your ISP, your company, etc.), server logs record the actual source IP address of the request. They certainly don't record anything that the client machine provides as the genuine address.

Put simply, there's no reason to include a hidden form field for IP address. It's useless, insecure and supports IP forgery. The net result is that IP addresses recorded in this manner can't truly be resolved to a real location. Genius!

Just chalk it up to yet another startling innovation from the minds of the most creative geniuses on Earth. When it comes to accepting money from all comers, that is.

Larwyn's Links: up to 1.3 million small businesses impacted by Obama's tax hikes


BizJournals.com, an apolitical suite of city business journals, reports that "Obama tax hikes could hit up to 1.3 million small businesses." I wonder which cutoff Obama is using now. It started at $250K, over the weekend he said $200K, and Joe Biden said $150K on Monday. Pretty soon it will be anyone with automatic withholding.

Pittsburgh Live reports that a former ACORN staffer has testified regarding the coordination between the Obama campaign and ACORN's various affiliates. Non-partisan, non-profit ACORN. Right.

• A series of coordinated explosions in India have killed at least 56 innocent civilians. I suspect militant Quakers. Or neocons. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

• The London Daily Mail proclaims the news with a bold, attention-getting headline: One dead, thousands without power and the first October snow in London in 74 YEARS as Arctic blast sweeps across UK. What's the appropriate branding for this massive Goreian scam? "Global warming"? "Climate Change"? "Deadly global non-warming"?

• The CEO of firearm manufacturer Cooper Arms decided to back Barack Obama for president. Only 48 hours later, a company press release concluded with the sentence "We wish him [the former CEO] all of the best in his future pursuits."

• Rick McKee discovered the root cause of Sarah Palin's falling poll numbers.

The early years


An account of Barack Obama's youth has been released in the form of a Classic Comic.

Jim Treacher's got an early peek.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

The Obama campaign's amazing finance "innovations"


The Obama campaign is certainly innovative. They appear to be the first-ever presidential campaign to:

turn off all online credit card validation, a step that would be utterly unheard of in the world of electronic commerce (In fact, it should have "raised flags at Visa and MasterCard... I wonder if they warned the Obama campaign, or worse, ignored it." Or whether the merchant acquirer, Visa and/or Mastercard themselves were somehow involved?).

accept "untraceable prepaid credit cards that [can] be used to evade limits on how much an individual is legally allowed to give or to mask a contributor's identity".

to give donor lists to a supposed non-profit, non-partisan organization like ACORN, which is reportedly being investigated in a dozen states for rampant vote fraud.

This is not the ACORN I thought I knew.

Update: In keeping with the squeaky clean reputation of the Democratic candidate, Fausta reports that retailer GAP is distributing Vote Twice buttons.

Bugatti Veyron


Bernie says that this is the fastest production car in the world.

Click the image for the video of a Brit hitting 253 MPH in one.

Line o' the day: Tingly


I got a tingling in my leg when Obama walked by. Then I realized it was Obama’s hand in my pocket.

                                                      -- Commenter American Pie on the WSJ website

Intel and Asus want you to design the next laptop


We've seen Digg, Ideastorm and Innocentive take advantage of "the wisdom of crowds"; now Intel and Asus are taking it to the next level.

The aim of the WePC project is to launch "community designed" PCs.

The two companies say consumers can become product designers at WePC, a Web site launched Wednesday. Participants can collaborate with each other and with Intel and Asus to "design innovative new products," the companies said...

"Intel believes the spark for innovation can come from anywhere," Mike Hoefflinger, general manager of Intel's Partner Marketing Group, said in a statement. "That's why Intel is working with Asus to tap into the creative energy of consumers as they share ideas on designing their ideal PC." ...The community will be divided into three conversation groups, addressing three of the most popular consumer PC categories: Netbooks, notebooks, and gaming notebooks...

Definitely a trend to watch.

RED ALERT Tip: Two quotes from the Obama-Khalidi videotape


You know the videotape that shows Barack Obama toasting PLO terrorist Rashid Khalidi? The one that the Los Angeles Times refuses to release?

"The Los Angeles Times did not publish the videotape because it was provided to us by a confidential source who did so on the condition that we not release it," said the newspaper's editor, Russ Stanton...

How frickin' stupid do they think we are? Someone gave the Times a videotape so it wouldn't be released? And they can't publish a transcript?

I guess that's the kind of executive talent the newspaper business is attracting these days.

However, I received a tip from a person who has provided useful, accurate and unique data from LA before (e.g., "All six of CNN's 'undecided voters' were Democratic operatives"). Take it for what it's worth, but I believe this person is on target.

Saw a clip from the tape. Reason we can't release it is because statements Obama said to rile audience up during toast. He congratulates Khalidi for his work saying "Israel has no God-given right to occupy Palestine" plus there's been "genocide against the Palestinian people by Israelis."

It would be really controversial if it got out. Tha's why they will not even let a transcript get out.

Yep, I guess that would do it.

Update/FAQ on this post


Is there really a tape? Yes. The Times has acknowledged that the tape exists.

Why won't the Times release the tape? They've now come up with four reasons over the past few days for suppressing the video. None of the answers make sense. As for their most recent excuse (they promised not to release it) Ed Morrissey asks the critical question.

"'The Los Angeles Times did not publish the videotape because it was provided to us by a confidential source who did so on the condition that we not release it,' said the newspaper’s editor, Russ Stanton. 'The Times keeps its promises to sources.'"

That explanation raises more questions than it answers. If the Times promised to keep the videotape under wraps, then it must contain content other than their “detailed account of the events”. What exactly did the LA Times leave out of its reporting in April? If it left nothing out, then what good was the promise not to release the tape itself?

Do you know who sent the tip? No.

Why believe the tip? While I receive a lot of tips and links, I seldom publish them. This particular email address has provided accurate and unique information in the past, as I noted above. No one else reported the information and I found it to be accurate in the past. As I said, take it for what it's worth.

Why doesn't the Times just publish a transcript? Why indeed.

Update II: Debbie, who apparently broke the original tape story, has a suspected source for the video. Charles Johnson and Gateway Pundit have excellent summaries.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

In Hollywood both sides of aisle slam MSNBC, Olbermann


The Hollywood Reporter reports that MSNBC is under fire from all sides.

In a room full of television industry executives, no one seemed inclined to defend MSNBC on Monday for what some were calling its lopsidedly liberal coverage of the presidential election... The cable news channel is "completely out of control," said writer-producer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, a self-proclaimed liberal Democrat.

She added that she would prefer a lunch date with right-leaning Fox News star Sean Hannity over left-leaning MSNBC star Keith Olbermann... Olbermann was criticized by many who attended Monday's luncheon sponsored by the Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The event was dubbed "Hollywood, America and Election '08."

Bloodworth-Thomason and others seemed especially critical of the way MSNBC -- and other media -- has attacked Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin while demeaning her supporters... Attendee Michael Reagan, the radio talk-show host and son of President Ronald Reagan, said he no longer will appear as a guest on MSNBC because "I actually get death threats."

...Pollster Frank Luntz, a regular guest on the Fox News, joked that MSNBC is "the only network with more letters in its name than viewers."

On a more serious note, Luntz said it's a problem that the electorate chooses to watch news programs not for information but to confirm already-held beliefs, and that applies to viewers of CNN and Fox News as well... Obama... gets credit because he's a better communicator than past Democrats, Luntz said, comparing the previous Democratic presidential nominee, John Kerry, to one of those trees that threw apples at Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz."

...Some of the most spirited debate came from the panel's moderator, outspoken conservative Lionel Chetwynd. The writer, director and producer passionately defended the Iraq War and Palin, whom he called "the ideal Jeffersonian political figure."

Olbermann is a disgrace. Had he tried labeling a Democratic President a fascist war-monger (say, JFK during the Bay of Pigs or FDR during the Battle of the Bulge) -- he'd have found himself in front of a firing squad, after a six minute trial for treason.

Michelle & Barack insist police remain out of sight, out of mind


At least two different police departments have reported that the Obama clan has a bit of a problem with the police. Like, they don't want to see them, cluttering up the view and such. They've apparently instructed police officers and the Secret Service to run out of the Obama couple's line o' sight. In private, mind you.

Jason Kern, a member of the Michigan Tactical Officers' Association, published the following open letter. It would appear to highlight the disdain the Obamas hold for law enforcement.

...members of the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department, Michigan State Police, (me included) and other local agencies inside Calhoun County
are working with Secret Service in the security of Mr. Obama. Mr. Obama’s bus arrives in Battle Creek and pulls into the stadium area. Before Mr. Obama exits the bus, he has the Secret Service get off and tell all Law Enforcement personnel in uniform that they now have to stand behind the bus so Mr. Obama is not seen with anyone in a Law Enforcement uniform before he gets off or while in the public view.

...everyone from Michigan State Police, Sheriff’s Deptments and other agencies look at each other for a brief second, go and stand behind the bus out of sight so Mr. Obama does not have to see, or been seen with, what to him is `undesirables’ since he refuses to been seen or even acknowledge Military or Law Enforcement personnel in uniform. And he wants to be our commander-in- chief!

Separately, Debbie relays the concerns of a Clinton Township Police Lieutenant:

I am not trying at all to dissuade your vote, but Obama has really cheesed me off... I have heard these stories of Obama making the Police and Secret Service (who protect his... butt) stay out of his eyesight... Well, I learned it well Thursday, October 9th. Michelle Obama was in Clinton Twp., Michigan Thursday for a rally at our biggest High School. My department had a small role in protecting her. About [eight] Officers were detailed to the School for [her] security...

My Sergeant was providing security in a hallway as Mrs. Obama was moving from room to room for different reasons. He was told by the [Secret Service] that when she came down his hall, he had to duck behind the corner and not allow her to see him. He questioned this several times to be sure he heard it right, and the... agent (embarrassed of course) had to hide from her view, too.

It is outrageous that the persons running for the President of our country on the Democratic side, has so much disdain for men and woman in uniform, they demand that they are kept from their view... [Let's] be clear. This was not in the public. This was not an Honor Guard detail standing behind her on stage in front of thousands. This was in a hallway, out of the public eye, and the Obamas refuse to even see an Officer or Soldier in their view. The Police have to hide...

Judgment to lead!

Monday, October 27, 2008

On NPR in 2001 Obama Compared America to Nazi Germany


In the 2001 NPR interview that was unearthed this weekend, Barack Obama complained that the U.S. Constitution "reflected the fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day."

Obama also laments that the Supreme Court under Warren didn't mandate a redistribution of wealth as a component of its civil rights decision.

So not only is the U.S. Constitution egregiously flawed, but a thinly disguised form of reparations (or simply Marxism) is on the agenda.

Charles Johnson adds this tidbit from the same transcript:

The audio recording of Barack Obama espousing his socialist philosophy of “redistribution of wealth” is all over the internet and Fox News today (although the other media outlets are ignoring it), but there’s another disturbing section on that tape that has so far escaped notice.

The link to the audio is here: Chicago Public Radio - Audio Library: Odyssey.

At about 15:30, Obama compares what was going on in the United States during the time of Brown vs. the Board of Education to ... Nazi Germany. Yes, really. Here’s the quote:

“...just to take a, sort of a realist perspective...there’s a lot of change going on outside of the Court, um, that, that judges essentially have to take judicial notice of. I mean you’ve got World War II, you’ve got uh, uh, uh, the doctrines of Nazism, that, that we are fighting against, that start looking uncomfortably similar to what we have going on, back here at home.”

There you have it. America is close to electing a President that compares his own country to Nazi Germany.

The doctrines of Nazism look uncomfortably similar to life in the United States?

And this man wants us to call him Commander-in-Chief Obama?

Redneck Fire Alarm


From Papa B.

We actually had one of these in our double-wide when I was growing up.

Decrepit leftist scumbag pops out of spider-hole to complain about Fox News


The New York Daily News carved out some time between Brad Pitt sightings to devote a couple of column-inches to leftist scumbag Bill Ayers. Ayers left his spider-hole long enough to visit a panel discussion in Manhattan where the topic of his role in the presidential election was discussed.

The press was barred from the discussion yesterday at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting near Gramercy Park, but a Daily News reporter managed to get inside.

The former member of the Weather Underground beamed at the attention paid by the audience of about 60 people, many of whom were decked out in Obama gear.

The crowd gave Ayers a warm welcome, guffawed at jokes about "redistributing the wealth" and nodded at his complaints about the "Republican revolution."

After the talk was over, event organizers attempted to sneak Ayers out a back door to avoid the media.

Waiting reporters gave chase, but Ayers sputtered, "No comment," and darted into a cab.

Never forget that Ayers led an organization that, with its affiliates, killed twelve cops and a Brinks guard. Ayers himself came very close to detonating a nail-bomb at a Fort Dix officers' dance, a terrorist act that would have killed and maimed hundreds.

And never forget that the full scope of Barack Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers has never been disclosed. Nor has the mainstream media expressed even the tiniest bit of curiosity regarding their ties. The man only hosted Obama's political coming-out party, served with Obama on the boards of the CAC and the Woods Fund and together directed money to ACORN and the Arab-American Action Network.

To be fair, Sarah Palin's latest online shoe purchase is the bigger story.

Quiet wind-turbine comes to U.S. homes


CNet News reports that Scotland's Cascade residential wind turbine is headed to the U.S.. Cascade claims that it is significantly quieter than traditional wind turbines and that it can be mounted directly on a home.

Like other wind turbines, the Swift has blades that turn and power a generator. But rather than the typical three blades, the Swift has five and a ring that goes around them. That "outer diffuser" ring cuts the noise level to 35 decibels and reduces vibration, according to the company... The turbine, with a 7-foot diameter, also has two fins to direct the turbine to face the wind. It can turn 360 degrees and shut down if the wind is too high.

It can generate 1.5 kilowatts with 14 mile-per-hour wind and about 2,000 kilowatt-hours over a year, the company said. U.S. households typically consume between 6,500 and 10,000 kilowatt-hours in a year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

At a cost of $10,000 installed, it's a bit lower than the typical per-watt cost of solar electric panels. But state rebates, the cost of electricity, and the wind or solar resource make a big difference on the actual up-front cost. Cascade estimates the payback on the upfront cost can be as low as three years but that it varies widely...

Ten grand seems awfully rich, but the concept is a good one.

RED ALERT: In 2001 Obama explicitly endorsed Marxism!


And I do mean Red Alert. I'm guessing the anointed one thought this particular audiotape had disappeared down the memory hole. Or he'd utterly forgotten about it, what with he and his wife busily planning their move into the White House.

In 2001, in an interview with WBEZ public radio, Barack Obama explicitly endorsed a "redistribution of wealth". His words. Well, Karl Marx's words too, but you know what I mean.

"If you look at the victories and failures of the civil rights movement where it succeeded was to vest formal rights in previously disposed peoples... But the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth and more basic issues of political and economic justice in this society..."

"...To that extent, as radical as I think people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn’t that radical. It didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution, at least as its been interpreted and Warren Court interpreted in the same way, that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. Says what the states can’t do to you. Says what the Federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say what the Federal government or State government must do on your behalf, and that hasn’t shifted and one of the, I think, tragedies of the civil rights movement was, um, because the civil rights movement became so court focused I think there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive change. In some ways we still suffer from that."

It's clear that the Framers were "all about" redistribution of wealth. They were all up in our faces about it, in fact.

Of course, the American people favor economic liberty over Marxism by the razor thin margin of 84% to 13%. But that will change once they get used to a true workers' paradise.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

"In the tank": Biden's gaffes entertaining, helpful to Obama


The Associated Press offers, "Biden a reliable running mate amid the stumbles."

While CNN asserts, "Palin's 'going rogue,' [anonymous] McCain aide says."

Later this evening, Jack Cafferty reports on Joe the Plumber's latest colonoscopy results.

And on CBS Katie Couric goes undercover to interview Sarah Palin's personal shopper at Saks.

Sometimes I think that the only thing keeping the Earth aligned on its axis is the gyroscopic spinning of Ernie Pyle in his grave.

Update: Rants & Refinements has the essentially summary: Brownshirts and Jackboots.