Sunday, March 15, 2009

Here comes the Fairness Doctrine in a new disguise!


Radio Magazine alerts us to a recently introduced piece of legislation that represents the first step of a renewed attempt to wipe out conservative talk radio.

In late February, you may recall, the Senate voted 87-11 to ban the FCC from reinstating the ill-named "Fairness Doctrine". A better name for it would have been the "Censorship Doctrine", because its goal was plain: crush conservative voices in the only significant public medium in which they are heard. By forcing stations to "balance" their most profitable shows with poor performers like the abysmal Air America, radio would return to the days of broadcasting only news and music.

Why did the Congressional Democrats give up so easily?

Knowing that the Censorship Doctrine was wildly unpopular, even with some in their own party, they executed a feint. They simulated killing the Fairness Doctrine while simultaneously initiating an effort to solidify control over all media, Hugo Chavez-style.

That strategy is represented by the Local Community Radio Act of 2009, introduced in the House as HR 1147 (the bill has since been referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce).

Claiming that industry consolidation has reduced local programming, the bill utilizes arguments from the Low-Power FM (LPFM) coalition. LPFM may in fact be a worthy cause, allowing smaller entities to create niche radio stations. Consider it the FM spectrum's equivalent of the worldwide web.

That said, the legislation could set the stage for something more ominous. Consider this portion of the bill:

As a result of consolidation of media ownership, there have been strong financial incentives for companies to reduce local programming and rely instead on syndicated programming produced for hundreds of stations. A renewal of commitment to localism--local operations, local research, local management, locally originated programming, local artists, and local news and events--would bolster radio’s service to the public.

The localism facet of the argument is used by the left as a rhetorical device and is employed where the Censorship Doctrine failed. Progressive blog Think Progress featured a series of posts under the aegis "The Right Wing Domination Of Talk Radio And How To End It".

Our conclusion is that the gap between conservative and progressive talk radio is the result of multiple structural problems in the U.S. regulatory system, particularly the complete breakdown of the public trustee concept of broadcast, the elimination of clear public interest requirements for broadcasting, and the relaxation of ownership rules including the requirement of local participation in management...

...Ultimately, these results suggest that increasing ownership diversity, both in terms of the race/ethnicity and gender of owners, as well as the number of independent local owners, will lead to more diverse programming, more choices for listeners, and more owners who are responsive to their local communities and serve the public interest.

The inevitable result will be local boards -- consisting of bureaucrats, community agitators like ACORN, statists, and others -- who would "approve" content.

They would also hold the keys to licensing of not only low-power -- but also conventional FM -- stations. And a shorter license renewal period also has been discussed.

In short, the LPFM tenets are sound, but the ideology behind them -- pushing the bill inexorably forward -- is that of statism.

To get a sense of the future under the "Localism" dictates, simply imagine you're in Venezuela. With an ideologue in charge, albeit a more dapper version of Hugo Chavez.

Today's left consists of those more interested in suppressing free speech than in learning (or teaching) the Bill of Rights. Some may be too naive to realize it, but they are setting the stage for tyranny.



Larwyn's Link Kerplosion: All the news that didn't get printed

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email!

The Manipulator-Fearmonger-Deceiver in Chief: Wizbang!
Iran will 'threaten the whole of Europe': RIA Novosti
A Political Conspiracy: An Agenda Revealed: EU Referendum

Email the Taliban: Jawa
This was a test -- and we failed: PRS
Hack journalism at its worst: Pool Bar

All the news that didn't get printed: AT (Weltz)
O-bots get their marching orders: This ain't hell
Behind a rush to failure: Carnal Reason

Michelle's boot camps for radicals: Bowers
Olbermann's manhood question: by Daily Kos!: OlbyWatch
YerUnk bans his first commenter: Crazy Uncle

Live-blogging the Lula-Obama press conference: Fausta
IL governor wants 50% increase in state income tax: PolClass
"Newsroom Armageddon" at KC Star: McClatchy Watch

Unions gooning it up for Card Check: AT (Lasky)
Sweet! Bronx Democrat Gets 'Rangel' Tax Break... In Maryland: JWF
The laughable Bob Herbert backs Chi-town airport boondoggle: AT (Moran)

You’ll get my heirloom tomatoes when you pry them from my cold, dead hands: Protein Wisdom
3/12 Obama bravely confronts 2/5 Obama: Steely
Obamaland: Tarpon's Swamp

SgtMaj Bradley Kasal, Navy Cross, USMC, Iraq, Afton, IA: WoTN
Media Forgets Obama's Justice Nominee was a Terrorist's Lawyer: NewsBusters
U. Chicago to review Michelle Obama's efforts shunting patients to other hospitals: Marathon

15 Beautiful Microscopic Images from Inside the Human Body: EnvGraf
Paraplegic man suffers spider bite, walks again: CBS
Another Conficker variant: Schneier

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Best Lines from the Kirkland - Julio fight


"If you're channel surfing, stop!. If you know friends who used to like boxing, call them."

"It's almost like you're getting swarmed with bees!"

"Kirkland just got hit with the kitchen sink! And he picked up the sink and threw it back at Julio!"

The James Kirkland versus Joel Julio fight is available on HBO On Demand.

Photos o' the day


U.S. troops brutalize children in Baghdad; dizziness results (Flopping Aces)

Photos of Columbia, MO Tea Party Protest (MoneyRunner)


Google Street Views travels into Earth's post-apocalyptic future, captures Mad Max V8 Interceptor (Jalopnik)


Suicide bomber caught on videotape in Sri Lanka


A horrifying videotape captures the brutality of a suicide bombing in Sri Lanka.

14 people were killed.

Over 40 were wounded, some critically, including three local politicians.

Some believe the bombing was coordinated by the rebel Tamil Tigers, who have been fighting for separation for over two decades.

I, however, suspect militant Quakers.

But whatever these animals are, don't call them "enemy combatants."

Hat tip: Gateway Pundit.

The new bumperstickers are here! The new bumperstickers are here!



Let's start the fight now, folks.

Update: Thanks to Janis, RobK and a couple of other folks who asked, you can now order UNDO bumper-stickers and T-shirts!



Actual transcript of conversation in my car today


Scene: Dad picking up his daughter, a junior in high school, after she had taken an SAT test.

Dad: How'd you do, honey?

Daughter: I know I did really well on the writing part.

Dad: How do you know?

Daughter: I used a lot of really big words, like ew-bee-cute-tis.

Dad: Ew-bee-cute-tis?

Daughter: You know, it means, like, "everywhere".

Dad: You mean "ubiquitous"?

Daughter: Yeah.

Dad: Oh, for the love of...



Above the Law: A Handy Guide to Democrat Corruption


It's getting more difficult by the day to keep track of which Democrats are involved with exactly what corrupt and/or ethically challenged activities. Earlier this week, YANSID (my handy new acronym that means "yet another new scandal involving Democrats") was discovered.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and her husband own as much as $500,000 in stock of the troubled OneUnited Bank. In a direct conflict-of-interest, she intervened with regulators on behalf of the bank. Ed Morrissey asks the rhetorical question: "Did Americans go deep into debt to send bailout money to politically-connected banks and to prop up the investment portfolios of elected officials? Apparently, yes we did."

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) engaged in a relationship with a Fannie Mae executive while supposedly overseeing the GSE. Fannie's meltdown -- amid repeated financial scandals and Frank's fierce fight to shield them from regulators -- played a critical role in the financial crisis.

Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), the powerful Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, threatened filibuster after filibuster over additional regulation of the mortgage market while accepting funds and sweetheart mortgages from the very organizations he was supposed to be regulating. In fact, Dodd has yet to disclose the nature of his personal loan deals, despite having promised to do so months ago.

Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, appears to be the subject of 32 simultaneous ethics issues or investigations including 28 mysterious asset transfers (prohibited by House rules); undisclosed income from his Costa Rican rental property; multiple violations of New York City rent control statutes; killing a tax increase that would have hurt a contributor; and more.

Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV), dubbed "the overnight millionaire," is in the news again. He received his nickname because in 2000 Mollohan had no portfolio to speak of while making less than $80K a year. By 2004, he reported having at least $6.3 million in assets that generated income of somewhere around $700K annually. Earlier this week, it was reported that a non-profit funded by Mollohan (with the taxpayers' money, of course) had provided his family with $75,000 in free rent and services.

Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), an unindicted co-conspirator from the Abscam days, has had several ethical clouds hanging over his head for decades. The latest theft of taxpayer money is especially disturbing: Over the course of the past decade, Rep. John P. Murtha has earmarked millions of dollars for the Electro-Optics Center at Penn State University — money that has, in turn, gone to clients of the PMA Group, the Murtha-linked lobbying shop that was raided in November as part of a federal criminal probe..

Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA), a member of the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee, helped award $3.7 billion to companies controlled by her hsuband. Despite an obvious conflict of interest, Feinstein voted for appropriations "worth billions to her husband's firms."

Sen. Harry "Land Deal" Reid (D-NV), the Senate Majority Leader, collected a $1.1 million windfall profit on a Las Vegas land sale even though he hadn't owned the property for at least three years. Reid also did not disclose to Congress an earlier sale in which he transferred his land to a company created by a friend and took a financial stake in that company. The AP learned of the land deal from a former Reid aide who was concerned that the deal had been "hidden from Congress."

Just remember, peons: these jamokes are all still serving in Congress -- without a care in the world -- because they are above the law. They are royalty, not rabble (like you and I). Sure, if any one of us normal folks had pulled this type of chicanery, we'd be serving ten years in the big house. But these are our Lords, our betters. Remember that, peons.

Update: Culture of corruption: Michelle Malkin details Maxine Waters' egregious behavior.

Linked by: Jawa Report, Public Secrets and Carnal Reason. Thanks!



Larwyn's Link Kerplosion: Hating What's Right

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email!

Sayet: Hating What's Right (How the modern liberal ends up on the wrong side of every issue): PopModal
Oh, that Joe! (No. 48 in a series): Tapper
Obama Signs Law Banning Federal Embryo Research Two Days After Signing Order to OK It: CNS

Abandoning 'enemy combatant': LGF
Police protect Ayers from protester: Daily Illini
China 'worried' about US Treasury holdings: Breitbart

Obama cancels economic catastrophie: Anchoress
More Civil Liberties Poseurs: JOM
Saving your business from recession: STJNTBS

Oops! Economic crisis not so bad after all: Gateway
Forced to go John Galt: Surber
TIS Group's Jeddeloh Sees S&P 500 Index Falling to 440: Bloomberg

Obama claims Constitution permits wealth redistribution: Dr. Sanity
A Financial Services White Paper: Provocateur
Queen Pelosi Decrees: Keep Automatic Pay Raises: JWF

Will Krugman call Obama 'Narcissist-in-Chief'?: LegalIns
Erasing the term 'Enemy Combatants': A name game: Surber
Heh: Obama's poll numbers below those of Bush: JWF

Maxine Waters' slimy intervention: Morrissey
Dems attack Sheriff Joe Arpaio... for enforcing law!: PBG
Mystery of unknown WW I soldiers may be solved: Daily Mail

Obama Bombshell Redistribution of Wealth Audio Uncovered: YouTube
The Jim Cramer Indictment: Gawker
Victory at Sea: now online: Maggie's Farm

Only now can it be told: Ace
Shai Agassi's Audacious Electric Cars: Wired
5 accidental inventions that changed the world: Cracked



Friday, March 13, 2009

Red Alert: Obama's "Civilian National Security Force" resurfaces


A day ago, at the dedication ceremony of the National Defense University's Abraham Lincoln Hall, President Obama expressed a renewed need for a civilian national security force (MP3, 74:00 mark; DOD press release, transcript):

America must balance and integrate all elements of our national power. We can not continue to push the burden onto our military alone, or leave dormant any aspect of the arsenal of American capability. That's why my administration is committed to renewing diplomacy as a tool of American power and developing our civilian national security capabilities.

"Our civilian national security capabilities?"

In July of 2008, Jim Lindren noted a couple of peculiar sentences in a Barack Obama speech.

In Barack Obama’s July 2, 2008 speech calling America to national service, Obama proposed “a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded” as our military... This has prompted some in the blogosphere to raise the specter of a huge new domestic paramilitary organization...

[Obama said] "We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."

Curiously, the official transcript of the speech omitted those last two sentences.

Questions. I've got lots of questions. The DOD's budget is roughly $500 billion. Exactly how would President Obama propose to fund a "civilian national security force" of similar magnitude?

What color uniforms will the civilian national security force wear?

Will they goose-step?

On Febuary 16, I noted a little-publicized Department of Defense Directive (Number 1404.10), which establishes a "DoD Civilian Expeditionary Workforce" and rescinds a prior (and longstanding) directive dealing with the emergency use of civilian personnel.


The new 1404.10 cancels the prior directive of the same designation ("Emergency-Essential (E-E) DoD U.S. Citizen Civilian Employees"), which was issued in 1992 under President Clinton. The 1992 directive specifically deals with overseas deployments of civilian personnel. It does not mention terms like "restoration of order" or "stability operations", prominently featured in the new directive.

In fact, those functions are central to the mission of President Obama's new DoD Civilian Expeditionary Workforce. The 1992 directive mentions the term "overseas" no fewer than 33 times. The 2009 directive does not mention the term "overseas" in the body of the directive even once.

News flash: the Constitution defined a civilian national security force. It was all of us. It was established and protected by the Second Amendment.

Perhaps someone could alert the President. He seems to be unfamiliar with the document.


Linked by: Pundit & Pundette. Thanks!


Larwyn's Link Kerplosion: "In over his head"

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email!

A Congressional Disgrace: Maxine Waters: JWF
52 days, 52 mistakes: Surber
US jet shoots down Iranian drone over Iraq: Wired

More questioning: is Obama's in over his head?: Wizbang!
Of course he's a socialist!: AT (Lewis)
Listen to the enemy: Prairie

Tapper vs. Mumbles: Surber
Russian Expert Warns Of Iranian Threat: LegalIns
Blame the 'Lobby': WaPo

Gregg: Obama budget forecast is a lie: Instapundit
Details of the bribery scheme: Ace
New York Slimes Death Spiral Watch: AT (Lifson)

What an honest Obama campaign would have sounded like: Hanson
Obama's budget: there will be blood: PJM (Kimball)
Remember 'Ready to rule on day one?': AmDig

Socialized medicine, cap-and-trade needed to fix economy: Gateway
What Senators didn't hear about Somali-American Jihadists: PJM (Poole)
Looking more like malevolence every day: Southern Appeal

The Revenue Stimulus: Prairie
Obama's toxic brew: Swirsky
Buster, Technology & Foosball: Anchoress

Barking Moonbat Awards Nominee: Brutally
Lion meat: Coulter vs. Maher: Big Hollywood
Google rewires your phone service: CNet

The Last Ace: Atlantic:

American pilots haven’t shot down many enemy jets in modern times, because few nations have dared rise to the challenge of trying to fight them. The F‑15, the backbone of America’s air power for more than a quarter century, may just be the most successful weapon in history. It is certainly the most successful fighter jet. In combat, its kill ratio over more than 30 years is 107 to zero. Zero. In three decades of flying, no F‑15 has ever been shot down by an enemy plane—and that includes F‑15s flown by air forces other than America’s. Rival fighters rarely test those odds. Many of Saddam Hussein’s MiGs fled into Iran when the U.S. attacked during the Gulf War. Of those who did fight the F-15, like the unfortunate pilot framed on Rodriguez’s wall, every last one was shot down. The lesson was remembered. When the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, Saddam didn’t just ground his air force, he buried it.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

2010 Camaros spotted in the wild


EGM Car Tech posted a series of photos of shiny new 2010 Chevrolet Camaros sitting in a lot at GM's Oshawa Plant.

They've done a very nice job with the exterior.

Assuming GM can restructure itself into survival mode, I think these will do quite well.


Obama's neighborhood pal now an accused cop-killer


"There is no statute of limitations on murder"


Barack Obama's relationship with Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers nearly sabotaged his presidential campaign when it came to light. Only the protection of the mainstream media, which refused to report on the Obama-Ayers relationship, salvaged his run for the presidency.


After all, Ayers is an unapologetic terrorist and a member of a group that killed at least three police officers.


The Weather Underground also supported other radical groups that murdered nine other police officers in cold blood.


The relationship between Ayers and Obama was not a casual one. From 1995 to 2001, they served together as directors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. This leftist board (funded by a wealthy Republican, interestingly enough) doled out more than $100 million, much of it to radical groups. In fact, during his failed run for Congress in 2000, Obama claimed this experience with Ayers as his central qualification.


Ayers and Obama also served on the board of the Woods Fund, which funneled money to controversial groups like ACORN -- infamous for rampant voter registration fraud.


Ayers, to this day, is unapologetic about his terrorism and his revolutionary goals. He vocally supports the overthrow of the U.S. government on his blog. And in his memoir, Ayers declines to specify the bombings he participated in, writing that "some details cannot be told."

Speaking at the National Press Club today, representatives of the San Francisco Police Officers Association stated that they believe Bill Ayers and his wife Bernadine Dohrn arranged the 1970 nail-bombing that killed San Francisco police officer Sgt. Brian McDonnell.

Larry Grathwohl, an FBI informant who infiltrated the Weather Underground, stated, "I have testified, spoken, and written about the involvement of Weather Underground terrorist leaders Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn in [the] bombing on February 16, 1970, [that] took the life of Sergeant Brian V. McDonnell. There is no statute of limitations on murder."


"Bill Ayers had debriefed me regarding every aspect of the plans we had developed before telling me I was being reassigned to Madison. Bill’s two major requirements were that the bombs go off at the same time and that the greatest number of police officers would be killed or injured. Both bombs were to contain fence staples or roofing nails to ensure this effect. Bill Ayers didn’t care if innocent people were also killed or injured. Bill had even gone so far as to tell us that the bomb at the 13th precinct should be placed on a window ledge."

Retired San Francisco police officer James Pera also spoke earlier today. "I was working the 7pm to 3am shift, with my partner, Bob Fife... While on Haight Street and several blocks from the station, an emergency call came out over our police radio... "406 Park Station. Send six ambulances. We just had a bombing!"'"

"...There had, indeed, been a bombing and the first thing that my eyes beheld were two of my fellow police officers, Ron Martin and Al Arnaud... Martin and Arnaud had been about to enter their police vehicle... when the bomb went off, its deadly fragments barely missing them. Fortunately, for them, the Sergeant’s Police vehicle... took the brunt of the outward blast, saving the two officers from death."


"...My partner and I stood outside, cordoning off the area, for several hours, as investigators and brass arrived and started collecting evidence and towing vehicles. We watched as the ambulances came and left, carrying our wounded coworkers... Once released from perimeter security, I went into the station, along with my partner and saw first-hand the carnage that the bomb had reaped upon my work place and friends..."

"...Blood was all over the floor, desks and walls and was heaviest where Sergeant Brian V. McDonnell suffered mortal wounds to his neck, eyes, face and brain... The station looked like a scene one might expect to see in a war, with wounded officers, blood, shattered windows, damaged walls, floors and ceilings, but then -- it was a war..."

"The bomb had been set to explode at the change of watch, when the largest number of police officers would be in the business office, coming on and going off duty. The oncoming officers would be filling out hot sheets, making entries in their notebooks and checking teletypes for wanted criminals and crimes that had occurred. The officers going off duty would be wrapping up their paper work and finishing up reports, prior to reporting off duty... The bomb went off prematurely by a few minutes and many of the officers were still upstairs in the locker room or just coming down and the office wasn't loaded with the full capacity that it would have been a few minutes later."

"...When the bomb exploded, Sergeant Brian McDonnell, along with Officer Fogarty, took the brunt of the blast. The sergeant took shrapnel, which consisted of barbed wire fence post staples through his eyes, throat and brain. Officer Fogarty took nineteen of the staples in his body, miraculously none of them hitting any vital organs, but blinding him in one eye, an injury that ultimately led to his retiring on disability."

"...the sergeant died a couple of days later, without regaining consciousness. He left a wife and two kids. He was forty-five years old, his life snuffed out by the murderous cowards of the Weather Underground... Think about the tragedy that befell the McDonnell family, a family that had already lost two other members, in the line of duty, the first in the 1930s and another in the 1950s... Think of Sgt. McDonnell, his life stolen from him, at the age of 45, and his wife and children being left without a father and husband..."

"Think about all the wounded and maimed officers and their families... Think about the ignorant and clueless people who believe that just because this incident happened thirty nine years ago that "we should just all move on and let the past stay in the past." I've got news for them. The dead don't rise. They stay dead."

"Think about Sergeant McDonnell and all the murdered and maimed victims, of the Weather Underground, when you see the smug, unrepentant face of the sniveling, gutter crawling rat, who goes by the name of Professor Bill Ayers... Think about his loathsome wife, Bernardine Dohrn, who has been named by former undercover informant, Larry Grathwohl, as the wretched sub-human scumbag who planted the bomb that killed Sergeant McDonnell."


"Think about these two criminals, Ayers and Dohrn, who got off on technicalities because a judge ruled that evidence against them collected by the FBI was inadmissible... Think about Ayers' statement, after the dismissal of criminal charges, when he said, 'Guilty as hell and free as a bird.' ...Think about Ayers and Dohrn and their positions, as educators, at two different prestigious universities, the University of Illinois at Chicago and Northwestern University..."

"...Think of how they have access to the minds of impressionable young students, in the controlled environment of academia, free to spread the radical ideas that they espouse, some of which were developed and nurtured on trips to Cuba and in consultation with agents from other communist countries. Think about the role that they play as they endeavor to corrupt a whole new generation of young, impressionable people, to their radical Marxist ideas..."

"...Think about how Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn and others of their ilk have lived and prospered in our society, a society that they had hoped to destroy..."

"You will find that under those calm facades and intellectual masks, that Bill Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, are vicious, cowardly terrorists."


Related: Officer Down Memorial Page, Bill Ayers Accused of Bombing Police Station-- Killing San Francisco Police Officer... Update: Ayers Does Not Regret Bombings and Cliff Kincaid's remarks at the National Press Club.

* * *

(*Sigh* -- had Dirty Harry only caught up with Ayers and Dohrn...)