Monday, February 02, 2009

Larwyn's Link Kerplosion: a 57-year old woman trapped in a man's body


Ronald Reagan on socialized medicine: Mark Levin
FDR made depression worse: Prairie Pundit
"Stimulus" will destroy world trade: NYT (Douglas Irwin)

Daschle tax story: reeking of BS: JOM
Day 5: Kentuckians freeze, Obama parties: JoshuaPundit
Palin and the case for drilling in ANWR: Prairie Pundit

California's disastrous 'green jobs' experiment: WSJ
Spending the Stimulus: Boy on a Bike
Capitalism and the moral high ground: TOS (Craig Biddle)

The Presidential Image Policy: Don Surber
Fight global warming: get an abortion!: AT (Rick Moran)
The New York Times-Onion: The Corner

The Third Jihad: Plans for America: TTJ
AP posts unsubstantiated hit piece on Palin: Brutally Honest
For Tom 'The Criminal' Daschle, Avoiding Taxes Now a 'Glitch': JWF

Back to the thirties in Venezuela: Israel Matzav
Useful idiot Albright: Americans should understand Hamas: Atlas
Hamas admits to being Iran's proxy: Prairie Pundit

Call President Obama: The 18
Daschle skirted lobbying law, too: American Thinker (Clarice Feldman)
Nevada: When Citizens Make A Stand For The Second Amendment, Politicians Back Off: Transylvania Phoenix

Coulter: Olbermann a ‘57-Year-Old Woman Trapped In A Man’s Body’: Breitbart TV

"I think it's just another reminder of how the left hates free speech. It really is strange how they go after speakers like this. I mean, there is no campaign by conservatives to shutdown Keith Olbermann. In fact, I wish more Americans would listen to him - to see the face of the left, the only 57-year-old woman trapped in a man's body to host his own TV show."

Sunday, February 01, 2009

The $8,400 Solution to the Financial Crisis


In 2007, Americans filed 139,000,000 tax returns.

The proposed Stimulus package (the name "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009" was reportedly focus-group tested by Axelrod & company) is currently sized at $1,173,000,000,000 (1.173 trillion dollars).

Consider this alternative to government bureaucrats doling out checks, building their own fiefdoms and servicing their preferred trial lawyers, voter registration groups and union boss constituencies: each person or household would receive a check for $8,438.

For Fresno, CA homeowners Ann and Maxwell Meriweather, the $8,400 means breathing room on their mortgage payments and permits them to buy new kitchen appliances.

The $8,400 allows Huntington, WV college student Navid Nedungadi to quit his part-time job at IHOP and work full-time on his new Internet search engine. Nedungadi's idea for a radically new and different search engine will transform the world-wide web and eventually create a $12 billion business that employs 20,000.

Retiree Joan Wells of Waltham, Massachusetts puts her $8,400 to work as savings. She purchases a 6-month CD that, in conjunction with millions of similar bank deposits, enable financial institutions to begin lending capital to individuals and businesses.

Machine-shop owner Luis Hernandez is one beneficiary of a renewed business lending environment. With his $8,400 and a loan from a local credit union, he is able to buy a specialty machine tool from Bridgeport and hire a new operator. This investment permits Hernandez to finish surgical instruments for a nearby manufacturer, which will turn into a lucrative division that employs 150 by 2014.

Constitutional firewalls and the free market


The liberals are using this crisis to destroy the firewalls in the Constitution, to further crush the free market.

These are the plans that they devised decades ago.

The free market is the most transformative of economic systems. It fosters innovation and invention.

It produces new industries, products and services and improves upon existing ones.

Millions of individuals freely engaged in an infinite variety of actions each day, it is impossible to even conceive all of the benefits that occur in our economy at any given time.

The free market creates more wealth and more opportunites for more people than any other economic model. This is exactly why the Left -- be they socialists, or Marxists, or left-leaning Democrats -- attack it relentlessly.

That's why they lie, describing the free market as the cause of the current financial crisis. But it was in fact they, through onerous and arbitrary regulation and out-of-control governmental appendages like Fannie Mae, who twisted and distorted the free market.

The free market promotes self worth, self-sufficiency, shared values, and honest dealings. That doesn't mean to say there aren't crooks: they exist in every endeavor (especially government). But when you consider the trillions of transactions that make up the free market, the number of crooks is relatively tiny.

The free market enhances the individual, the family and the community. And it discriminates against no race, religion or gender.

The truck driver does not know the skin color of the individual who helped create the diesel fuel that powers his vehicle.

The cook does not know the religion of the dairy farmers who delivers milk to his restaurant.

The airline passenger does not know the gender of the factory workers who manufactured a critical component of the aircraft.

Nor do they care. The free market is an intricate system of voluntary economic, social and cultural interaction that are motivated by the desires and needs of the individual and the community.

Private property and the Left's attempts to co-opt it


The key to understanding the free market is private property, which is why the Left does not believe in it.

Private property is the material manifestation of the individual's labor: the material value created from a person's physical and intellectual efforts.

Oppressive taxation and regulation of your private property can become a form of servitude, particularly if such confiscation occurs because of arbitrary and illegitimate decisions on the part of a government bureaucracy. That is: decisions that are not Constitutional.

That is why the Conservative believes the federal government should only raise revenue that the Constitution authorizes and no other.

Otherwise, what are the limits on government power? What are the limits on taxation and regulation of the individual's labor? How do we contain and limit government? How do we draw the lines -- and on what basis?

The Marxist class struggle formulation pits the working class against the wealthy (sound familiar?). It serves as the Left's principal rhetorical argument for the confiscation of private property.

But it is anathema to the free market, for the individual has the power to make for himself anything he or she wants! There is no static class structure layered atop the free market! The free market is mutable, dynamic and vibrant.

And for this reason, we Conservatives believe the free market is a vital bulwark against totalitarianism. And it would appear the Left agrees for it is relentless in its assault on the free market.

The Left's rejection of Constitutional limits on government power is always justified on material grounds. In the name of "economic justice", "equality" and "fairness."

The Left creates an illusion of class struggle through a variety of inventions like the "Progressive" Income Tax. But the bottom 40% of wage earners pay no income tax!

"Economic equality" is unachievable, even in the most brutal and oppressive socialist states.

The mirage of "class struggle"


But it serves the Left's purpose to create a class system: artificially created economic categories. In this way, the Left stirs up class envy. The free market, therefore, is said to be incapable of serving the public interest because it produces "unjust results." This requires further government intervention.

The Left tries to intensify class struggle by routinely redefining categories and levels of wealth: who qualifies as the detested rich? The righteous middle class? The disenfranchised poor?

Thus community organizer and Obama mentor Saul Alinsky explained, "Organization for action will now and in the decade ahead center upon America's white middle class. That is where the power is."

Tax cuts for people who don't pay taxes aren't tax cuts. That's welfare. Tax cuts for businesses that can't make money: that's socialism; redistribution of wealth.

This isn't about creating jobs in the private sector. The left hates the private sector. They hate profits. They hate anything that doesn't require government subsidies, that can operate without government involvement. Those entities have to be destroyed.

You will never see a check for $8,400


That is why you will never see a check for $8,400. Because Alinsky's student seeks to build up government. To consolidate power. To destroy the private sector. And to eradicate the Constitutional firewalls that constrain the federal government.

When there's not a crisis, they'll manufacture one. Because their goal is to take from you what you've earned, what your parents have earned and what your grandparents have earned. And then they claim to give you something for nothing.

In truth, they will leech liberty from you and build a government completely unlike that envisioned by the Framers. If the Left is able to achieve its goals, the United States will be far different, far worse, and fall sadly short of what is possible with that provided by individual liberty, free markets and Constitutional separation of power.


Inspired by and based upon: Mark Levin, January 6, 2009..

When cakes go wrong


The Telegraph (UK) has the complete gallery.






The Stimulus Package in shocking, illustrated form


Suitably Flip has our graphic o' the day.


Consider: The Obama Democrats want this destructive, trillion-dollar pile of crap because it sends billions to trial lawyers, ACORN, union bosses, etc., but the Department of Defense is expected to slice 11% off of its budget, including missile defense.

Some days I think Democrats really are out to destroy America.

Weekend at Charlie's


$34,000: the amount of federal taxes that Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner (D) failed to pay during his employment at the International Monetary Fund despite receiving extra compensation and explanatory brochures that described his tax liabilities.

$75,000: the amount of money that the head of the powerful tax-writing committee, Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), was forced to report on his taxes after the discovery that he had not reported income from a Dominican Republic rental property. His excuses for the failure started with blaming his wife, then his accountant and finally the fact that he didn't speak Spanish.

$140,000: the amount of back taxes and interest that Cabinet nominee Tom Daschle (D) was forced to cough up after the vetting process revealed significant, unexplained tax liabilities.

$356,000: the approximate amount of income and deductions that Daschle (D) was forced to report on his amended 2005 and 2007 tax returns after being caught cheating on his taxes. This includes $255,256 for the use of a car service, $83,333 in unreported income, and $14,963 in charitable contributions.

Based upon: The Obama Democrats by the numbers.

Update: Don Surber has the quote o' the day in the spectacular Dashled.

Daddy want: Water-powered Jet Pack


Dave C. sent this one in.

"A new design for jet packs uses a system of conduits to push water from an engine below the surface of a lake through thrust nozzles on the pack."

Larwyn's Link Kerplosion: Obama's Katrina


North and South Korea stand on 'brink of war': Telegraph (UK)
Daschle made $5M, health groups paid him $220K: Politico
Welfare change for the worse: New York Post

An amazing Inaugural photo: Gigapan
Obama thanks UN for successful Iraq vote: Gateway Pundit
Obamacare: Don Surber

Stimulated right into being another Europe: Mark Steyn
Where in the world are Chris Dodd's mortgage papers?: Glenn Beck
'Jimmy Carter' tag annoys Obama: London Times

Gertz: Obama overtures to Al Qaida began months before election: IBA
A president with blood on his hands: Pat Dollard
Your choice: stimulus bill or a check for $9,460 in your hands: PatriotRoom

Hopenchange: White House disables Google caching: Jawa
Mark Levin critiques the mainstream media: PVCP
Obama begins payback to unions: The Corner

ExxonMobil obscene profit reality check: Charlie Foxtrot
20% of Russian oil lost daily in spills: Panoramio
Defying layoff trend, federal work force is growing: Yahoo!

PJ Media Ad Network Closing: LGF
Obama's Katrina: Copious Dissent
Rank hypocrisy in the Obama White House: Clark County Politics

Joan Sharon:

On January 28, Republicans in the House of Representatives voted unanimously against the Stimulus package – a vote that disappointed those who hoped for bipartisan support for this sham "economic recovery" bill, and encouraged and energized Republicans, Conservatives, Reagan-Democrats and Independents throughout the country... Now the bill goes to the Senate, where the President and his far-left toadies hope to snare some Republican senators to join them, the better to claim "bipartisanship" when it ultimately fails.

The other nights I sent you the e-mail addresses of the Senators in the 111th Congress, highlighting the names of Republican Senators who it is now urgent to contact. I also included a sample letter... But after sending a number of letters myself, I realized what a tedious process it was and how impossible for anyone who doesn't have numerous hours to spend on this task... At this point, things look encouraging, with increasing numbers of Republican senators vowing either to insist on major changes to the Bill or to vote against it.

However, there are several senators who invariably "come through" for the opposition. I urge you to call their offices immediately to encourage them to vote NO on the Stimulus package. Here are their numbers:
Susan Collins (R-ME)                  1-202-224-2523
Olympia Snowe (R-ME) 1-202-224-5344
Judd Gregg (R-NH) 1-202-224-3324
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) 1-202-224-6665
Chuck Grassley (R-IA) 1-202-224-3744
John McCain (R-AZ) 1-202-224-2235
These six calls should take less than six minutes but go a long way in making our collective grass-roots strength a determining factor.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

The Obama Democrats: by the numbers


$34,000: the amount of federal taxes that Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner (D) failed to pay during his employment at the International Monetary Fund despite receiving extra compensation and explanatory brochures that described his tax liabilities.

$75,000: the amount of money that the head of the powerful tax-writing committee, Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), was forced to report on his taxes after the discovery that he had not reported income from a Costa Rican rental property. His excuses for the failure started with blaming his wife, then his accountant and finally the fact that he didn't speak Spanish.

$93,000: the amount of petty cash each Congressional representative voted to give themselves in January 2009 during the height of an economic meltdown.

$133,900: the amount Fannie Mae "invested" in Chris Dodd (D-CT), head of the powerful Senate Banking Committee, presumably to repel oversight of the GSE prior to its meltdown. Said meltdown helped touch off the current economic crisis. In only a few years time, Fannie also "invested" over $105,000 in then-Senator Barack Obama.

$140,000: the amount of back taxes and interest that Cabinet nominee Tom Daschle (D) was forced to cough up after the vetting process revealed significant, unexplained tax liabilities.

$356,000: the approximate amount of income and deductions that Daschle (D) was forced to report on his amended 2005 and 2007 tax returns after being caught cheating on his taxes. This includes $255,256 for the use of a car service, $83,333 in unreported income, and $14,963 in charitable contributions.

$800,000: the amount of "sweetheart" mortgages Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) received from Countrywide Financial, the details for which he has refused to release details despite months of promises to do so. Countrywide was once the nation's largest mortgage lender and linked to Government-Sponsored Entities like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Their meltdown precipitated the current financial crisis. Just days ago in Pennsylvania, Countrywide was forced to pay $150,000,000 in mortgage assistance following "a state investigation that concluded that Countrywide relaxed its underwriting standards to sell risky loans to consumers who did not understand them and could not afford them."

$1,000,000: the estimated amount of donations by Denise Rich, wife of fugitive Marc Rich, to Democrat interests and the William J. Clinton Foundation in an apparent quid pro quo deal that resulted in a pardon for Mr. Rich. The pardon was reviewed and blessed by Obama Attorney General and then Deputy AG Eric Holder, despite numerous requests by government officials to turn it down.

$12,000,000: the amount of TARP money provided to community bank OneUnited despite the fact that it did not qualify for funds, and was "under attack from its regulators for allegations of poor lending practices and executive-pay abuses." It turns out that Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), a key contributor to the Fannie Mae meltdown, just happens to be married to one of the bank's ex-directors.

$23,500,000: The upper range of net worth Rep. Allan Mollohan (D-WV) accumulated in four years time according to The Washington Post through earmarks of "tens of millions of dollars to groups associated with his own business partners."

$2,000,000,000: ($2 billion) the approximate amount of money that House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-WI) is earmarking related to his son's lobbying efforts. Craig Obey is "a top lobbyist for the nonprofit group" that would receive a roughly $2 billion component of the "Stimulus" package.

$3,700,000,000: ($3.7 billion) not to be outdone, this is the estimated value of various defense contracts awarded to a company controlled by the husband of Rep. Diane Feinstein (D-CA). Despite an obvious conflict-of-interest as "a member of the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee, Sen. Feinstein voted for appropriations worth billions to her husband's firms ."

$4,190,000,000: ($4.19 billion) the amount of money in the so-called "Stimulus" package devoted to fraudulent voter registration ACORN group under the auspices of "Community Stabilization Activities". ACORN is currently the subject of a RICO suit in Ohio.

$1,646,000,000,000 ($1.646 trillion): the approximate amount of annual United States exports endangered by the "Stimulus" package, which provides a "Buy American" stricture. According to international trade experts, a "US-EU trade war looms", which could result in a worldwide economic depression reminiscent of that touched off by the protectionist Smoot-Hawley Act.

It's not just a culture of corruption. It's a culture of corruption and stupidity. And, unlike Republicans, Democrats appear to be above the law. All of the aforementioned clowns are still in office, ruling like the royalty they've become.

Update: Neptunus Lex has details on serial tax cheats mistake-makers Geithner and Daschle.

Linked by: Gateway Pundit, Fausta, Sharp Right Turn, Clark County Politics and Hill Street Blog. Thanks!

RED ALERT: A trillion in pork, but Pentagon must cut 11%!


UPDATE 02/02/09 8:40PM ET: ACE OF SPADES REPORTS THAT OBAMA MAY INCREASE THE DEFENSE BUDGET BY 8%.

BUMPED AND UPDATED 01/31/09 04:38PM: SEE RUNNING UPDATES BELOW. MEDIA BLACKOUT: still not a peep out of the mainstream media (other than Fox News).

BREAKING 01/30/09 7:41PM ET
: Fox News Television reports that Barack Obama has issued a demand that the Pentagon reduce its budget by more than 10%
. The dollar figure is $55 billion.

President Obama wants to spend a trillion dollars on welfare, condoms, international STD prevention, 600,000 new government jobs and handouts for illegal immigrants... but negative funding for the very mission his Presidential Oath required.

Americans will die, needlessly, if this man gets his way.

Overreach? He's already pulled his arm out of its socket.

Here are the phone numbers for every U.S. Senator. Call now and demand -- with as much polite-itude as you can muster -- that they speak out against both the Porkulus package and this outrageous attempt to weaken America.

Update: Connie B. noted that the requested budget cut is just "a start"!

Update II: First mainstream media outlet to report appears to be InsideDefense (subscription) (hat tip: Ace): "'Substantial' Cut to FY-10 Budget Plan; Pentagon to Appeal"

Update III: Tommy emails: "We're all dead men walking."

Update IV: Iran. Nukes. Operation Starfish.

Update V: Via Reuters, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) says that long-range U.S. antiballistic missile system should be scaled down as part of a belt-tightening.

Update VI: Inside Defense: "[T]he Obama administration has directed Pentagon officials to pare back its original FY-10 topline proposal."

Update VII: Fox News headline (1/30/09 23:30): "Defense Official: Obama Calling for Defense Budget Cuts":

The Obama administration has asked the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff to cut the Pentagon's budget request for the fiscal year 2010 by more than 10 percent -- about $55 billion -- a senior U.S. defense official tells FOX News.

Last year's defense budget was $512 billion. Service chiefs and planners will be spending the weekend "burning the midnight oil" looking at ways to cut the budget -- looking especially at weapons programs, the defense official said.

Some overall budget figures are expected to be announced Monday.

Obama met Friday at the White House with a small group of military advisers, including Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman, and Gen. Jim Jones, National Security Council chairman.

Update VIII: Let's do the math. The Porkulus package includes:

$314 BILLION IN PAYOFFS TO DEMOCRAT CONSTITUENCIES

• $83 billion in welfare payments (the earned income credit for people who don't pay income tax)
• $81 billion for Medicaid
• $66 billion on "education", more than the entire Department of Education required just ten years ago
• $36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits
• $20 billion for food stamps
• $8 billion on "renewable energy" projects, which have a low or negative return
• $7 billion for "modernizing federal buildings and facilities"
• $6 billion on urban transit systems, dominated by unions and which, almost universally, lose money
• $2.4 billion for "carbon-capture demonstration projects"
• $2 billion for child-care subsidies
• $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that's run in the red for 40 years
• $650 million for "digital TV conversion coupons" (on top of billions already spent)
• $600 million on new cars for government (added to the $3 billion already spent each year)
• $400 million for "global-warming research"
• $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts

BUT NOT A PENNY FOR DEFENSE

Update IX: Cold Fury, Environmental Republican, Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, Jawa, Jerome Corsi at WND, Just Barking Mad, SondraK, STACLU, TAB, Tammy Bruce, Texas Scribbler, One Big Dog, American Elephant ("Obama Slashes Defense to Pay-Off Unions and ACORN"), Riggword ("How 'bout stimulating the military?"), Blackshards, United Conservatives and Wizbang have updates.

Update X: As of 10:02AM, no mainstream media outlets -- other than Fox News -- are reporting on this debacle. Although the wheezing New York Times ("Obama Cultivates Military") and the Philadelphia Inquirer ("Army announces rise in suicide rates for 2008") found time to report on more important issues this morning.

Update XI: As of 10:26AM, an AP (via Yahoo News) headline reads "Under Obama, `war on terror' catchphrase fading."

Update XII: At 11:01AM, Reliapundit noted: "LOOK AT IT THIS WAY: EVERYTHING IN THE BUDGET IS GETTING A 35% RAISE - EXCEPT DEFENSE, WHICH IS BEING CUT --- WHILE WE'RE AT WAR!"


Google malware detection FAIL


Starting at about 9:45 AM ET today, Google's search engine results began asserting that every site on the web was malicious (appending "this site may harm your computer" to every result).

This is still occurring as of 9:54 AM.

Update: Repaired as of 10:26 AM ET.

Larwyn's Link Kerplosion: "Billions on welfare, not a cent for defense"


200 Top Economists: "Stimulus" Won't Work: Gateway Pundit
Teetering on Complete Collapse: Organized Exploitation
Aboard Air Force One: The Anchoress

My bi-bartisan stimulus: WSJ (Rush Limbaugh)
New anti-Limbaugh attack ad to air: Radio Equalizer
Olbermann bloviates his way to ratings oblivion: Age of Pericles

Nationalized Health Care arrives via "Stimulus" Porkfest: Hot Air
Britain awakens: Ace o' Spades
Change! Obama sends $20 Million to Hamas: JWF

Voter Identification Laws Were a Success in November: WSJ
Geithner as good as his job as he is at taxes: Hot Air
Surprise! Daschle a tax cheat: JWF

EU: "We are on the road to serious social instability": London Times
It takes a proverb to run a village: Iowahawk
1.3 million crippled by strange, translucent global warming: Yahoo!

Krauthammer Drives over Obama's Inane Arguments, Then Backs Truck Up And Does It Again: Krauthammer
I'm starting to feel the love in DC: DPGI
Obama doesn't post bill before signing into law, as promised: Computerworld

Former USS Cole commander slams Obama on Guantanamo: McClatchy DC:

The former commander of the USS Cole, the American war ship that was struck by a suicide boat in Yemeni waters more than eight years ago, on Thursday slammed President Barack Obama's orders to close the Guantanamo detention center and reassess the prisoners being held there.

''We shouldn't make policy decisions based on human rights and legal advocacy groups,'' retired U.S. Navy Cmdr. Kurt Lippold said in a telephone interview. "We should consider what is best for the American people, which is not to jeopardize those who are fighting the war on terror — or even more adversely impact the families who have already suffered loses as a result of the war."

Lippold was responding to the decision by a U.S. military judge in Guantanamo to reject a request by Pentagon lawyers to delay next week's scheduled arraignment of Abd el Rahim al Nashiri, a Saudi Arabian who's charged with helping orchestrate the October 2000 suicide bombing of the Cole. The bombing killed 17 U.S. sailors.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Ad: Microsoft pulls out all the stops


With its stock price suffering, Microsoft isn't pulling its punches any longer. Check out the new ad campaign:



Okay, calm down: it's a satire.

This courtesy of Matt Asay, who does a great job as a blogger at CNet.

Larwyn's Link Kerplosion: Barack XVI


Barack XVI: Don Surber
The Worst Is Yet To Come: Forbes (Nouriel Roubini)
Democrats start a trade war with the EU: Prairie Pundit

Hillary Clinton constitutionally ineligible to serve at State: JudicialWatch
What happened to our last big "infrastructure" bill?: Instapundit
You've got hate mail!: Malkin

White House staff holds daily secret calls with media: NewsBusters
Visions of Glory: Pajamas Media
Only 42% support Democrat Porkulus plan: Prairie Pundit

Do you now, or have you ever, listened to Rush Limbaugh?: Instapundit
Iraq war vet declares war on Hollywood: Big Hollywood
The ultimate guide to sports statistics sites: Webware

Fannie Mae IT contractor indicted in malware case: CNet News
Obama attacks greedy Wall Street types while accompanied by noted tax cheat: Ace o' Spades
Distortions of Language: Dinocrat

Blago: Rahm Emanuel a 'Co-conspirator': American Thinker (Bill Tate)
Useless nuclear watchdog: Obama offers hope of 'saner' world: Jammie Wearing Fool
Google's new lab to detect net neutrality violations: GoogleBlog

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Finally: a practical plan for the Gitmo terrorists


This Obama guy was deadly serious about change!

Doolittle's Raiders: seldom seen photos


Papa B sent this one in.

Doolittle's Raid, 18 April 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike a Japanese home island (Honshū) during World War II. It demonstrated that Japan itself was vulnerable to Allied air attack and provided an expedient means for U.S. retaliation for Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December, 1941. The raid was planned and led by Lieutenant Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle. Doolittle would later recount in his autobiography that the raid was intended to cause the Japanese to doubt their leadership and to raise American morale:

The Japanese had been told they were invulnerable. An attack on the Japanese homeland would cause confusion in the minds of the Japanese people and sow doubt about the reliability of their leaders... There was a second, equally important, psychological reason for this attack...Americans badly needed a morale boost.

16 B-25B Mitchell bombers were launched from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet deep within enemy waters. The plan called for them to hit military targets in Japan, and land in China. All 16 aircraft were lost and 11 crewmen were either killed or captured. The crews of 14 aircraft, including one interned in the Soviet Union for more than a year, returned safely to the United States.

18 Apr 1942