Saturday, August 29, 2009

Conor Friedersdorf can't see the Statists for the Forest


Writing at The Atlantic, journalist Conor Friedersdorf reviews Mark Levin's bestselling Liberty & Tyranny. I'll give him credit; at least Friedersdorf has dared to tread where virtually every mainstream media outlet has not: in a direct exchange of fire with a towering intellect.

Friedersdorf (or 'Dorf' as I like to call him, mainly because I get tired of typing his full name) argues that Levin's argument is flawed at its core. Dorf says that the "Statist" is a straw-man -- a mirage created out of whole cloth by Levin for the purpose of advancing his argument. By the way, I just saved you from having to read the entire review.

Dorf's assertion is that, "Hey, the Democrats can't be Statists, because most of the people who vote for them are independents or just left of center!"

Now, consider, Dorf: had Obama actually described his agenda -- that he would escalate partisanship to an exquisite form of art; that he would nationalize the auto companies; that he would employ dozens of lobbyists in his administration; that he would destroy the full faith and credit of the U.S. currency; that he would quadruple the national debt in six months' time; that he would send billions to criminal front groups like ACORN; that he would send his SecTreas, hat in hand, to beg the Chinese to continue purchasing our debt...

Well, Dorf, had Obama told the truth, we'd be hearing weekly radio addresses from President John McCain and watching his Secretary of State, Lindsay 'Goober' Graham, deplane in Geneva.

Amazing: Dorf can't see the Statists while Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Frank, Waters, Feinstein, Rangel and the like -- the most corrupt federal government since the Clinton era -- nationalize industry after industry.

Dorf can't find any Statists while the Democrat leadership positions themselves to take over the coal, gas and oil companies with Cap-and-Trade.

Dorf can't find any Statists while the Democrat leadership proposes to ram socialized medicine down the unwilling throats of the American people even though it has been exposed as a transparent payoff to the trial lawyers and the public sector unions.

Why did so many everyday Americans support Obama? Because the Democrat lies, incessantly and masterfully, throughout each of his campaigns.

But that's too difficult a concept for Dorf to understand. So there is no joy at The Atlantic, because pathetic Friedersdorf has struck out.


Update: Reader CJ emails, "I posted the following comment at Balloon Juice, the whack-a-doodle National Socialist Democrat site who couldn't squeeze out even a thimble's worth of intellectual honesty in reviewing (no, not Levin's book), the Friedersdorf review of the book. Now there's one thing I most respect about your site... everyone is allowed to comment! So check out my Balloon Juice comment that was so offensive, so radical, so outrageous, that the authors refused to even allow to appear."

Interesting thread.

Mark Levin's book, should any of you actually bother to read it, describes the philosophers who influenced the founders of this country. Why?

Because starting with Cicero, Montescue (sp?), Burke, Locke, Smith and others, the framers (Madison, Jay and many others) carefully constructed a constitution that would balance the powers not only between the three branches but also between the states and the federal government.

It is easy to forget that the states created the federal government... not the other way around. And the founders had just revolted against (and defeated) an unchecked, authoritarian, unaccountable centralized government.

The framers' central task was simple: protect the God-given rights of the individual to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness... from a government similar to the one they had warred against.

Consider what James Madison might say today, having observed the liberals' casual attempts to control virtually every aspect of our lives at the federal level: your health care; your toilet's water tank; your car; your home heating bill; your light bulbs; ...

The framers and today's conservatives are ideologically aligned.

The framers and today's liberals are ideologically opposed.

And it takes a great deal of hubris to discard Levin's argument without a whit of analysis. But that's what passes for intellectual honesty around these parts, I suppose.

Ballon Juice, eh? That's the same crew that couldn't add straight.

Update: Stacy McCain says Friedersdork's attack on Levin isn't worth the seventeen minutes of my time: "It's as if a gnat [Friedersdork] were attempting to rape an elephant. Why bother defending the elephant against an assailant whose ill-considered attack the intended victim probably won't even notice?" Uhm, because it's there? Further update: Dan Riehl and Jimmie open a can of you-know-what on poor Conor, who won't be revisiting these parts anytime soon.


Chicagoland readers: Jan Schakowsky holding a town hall on Monday


The execrable Chicago-area pol Rep. Jan Schakowsky is hosting a health care town hall meeting in Skokie on Monday.

Host: Janice Schakowsky
Type: Meetings - Informational Meeting
Network: Global
Date: Monday, August 31, 2009
Time: 5:00pm - 8:30pm
Location: Niles West High School - Auditorium
Street: 5701 Oakton
City/Town: Skokie, IL


View Larger Map

Description: Health Care Reform Town Hall with Congresswoman Schakowsky
Parking Lot Open to the Public at 5 PM

Congresswoman Schakowsky will be holding a town hall meeting to discuss President Obama's Health Care Reform plan, and we want to hear from you.

Jan's top priority in Congress is to help President Obama pass real health care reform, but corporate lobbyists and right-wing extremists will stop at nothing to derail the President's reform agenda, by disrupting town hall meetings and attempting to squelch debate.

We need to hear from you on Monday, August 31st about how you would like to see the health care system fixed, and to show your support for health care reform. This event is scheduled to begin at 6:30 PM, but we expect a large turnout, so please plan on arriving between 5:00 and 5:30. Please note, school will be in session at Niles West that day, and the public will not be allowed on campus BEFORE 5:00 PM.

Yes, because the federal government's done such a good job running the post office, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the VA, the Indian Health Services and Cash for Clunkers, we need it to take over an additional 20% of the economy.

Join me at Rep. Schakowsky's Town Hall: be polite, be civil, but ask the tough questions that need to be asked of the National Socialist Democrats.



Hat tip: MarathonPundit.

Read the Final Chapter of Mark Levin's Liberty & Tyranny Now


Author and radio host Mark Levin generously gave permission for anyone to reproduce the final chapter of his best-selling book Liberty & Tyranny. I have converted the scanned chapter from the PDF to JPG images here for ease of reading.

Pass it on.


























Other Items of Interest

Somali Coast Cruise Brochure
Dealergate: 40 Democrat-friendly Dealerships Become 42
Star Trek: The Stimulus Doomsday Machine
Rx for Disaster
An open letter to Colin Powell
Illustrated Results of Barack Obama's Community Organizing
True Life Fannie Mae Testimony
Jamie Gorelick, Mistress of Disaster
The Bidens: Hedge Funds, Hair Plugs and Ponzi Schemes
Unintended Consequences

The ObamaCare ad that terrifies ABC and NBC


This is the ad that ABC and NBC are so terrified of that they refuse to run it. Narrated by a neurosurgeon, its logic is irrefutable, its message simple and its impact indelible.

The League of American Voters needs your support in running this ad on other channels. Click to watch and, if possible, help.

As an aside, isn't it tragic that the mainstream media has dedicated itself to suppressing free speech? Here's my suggestion: don't watch ABC or NBC. Ever.


"Surviving Disaster" and how to audition for Hollywood


Navy SEAL Cade Courtley stars in Spike TV's new series "Surviving Disaster".

"Surviving Disaster" graphically illustrates worst-case scenarios -- making them highly realistic -- and educates the viewer on survival techniques: "The show asks us, 'what if, on the daily subway commute, a bio weapon is released? Or a fire is blazing in the 12th floor office and the only way out is blocked?'"

Courtley says that he demonstrates how one might survive "the 'worst day of your life' from a Home Invasion, Fire, Nuclear Attack, Avalanche, Bio-Chemical Attack, Lost at Sea, Hurricane, Earthquake and my favorite - Mall Attack."

How was he selected for the show?

Back in 2002, I was part of Mark Burnett’s TV show called “Combat Missions.” On the set was a PA that, fast forward, would become a creative executive at Spike TV.

I was in Iraq as an "independent contractor" when I got an email from him asking me if I wanted to be in this new show called “Surviving Disaster.”

I told him I was a little busy, but he convinced me to send him a two minute tape introducing myself. So from a HUMVEE at full speed, I gave an intro and said "if you want me, make an offer, otherwise leave me alone."

Just then an IED coincidentally exploded somewhere in the distance. Needless to say, I got the gig.

The series premieres on Tuesday, September 1st (10:00-11:00pm ET) with "Surviving a Hijacking".

Larwyn's Linx: Release the Terrorist, Investigate the CIA

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email or reply via Twitter.

Nation

Release the Terrorist, Investigate the CIA: Corner
Documents prove Pelosi lied about EIT's: GWP
Obama and the Medicoup Thugs: AT (Shiver)

How Sarah Palin Rope-a-Doped The Liberals: PJM (Rosenbaum)
Why the Democrats Should Call It ‘KennedyCare’: PJM (Clouthier)
ObamaPal Ayers Glorified a Kennedy Killer: LegalIns

Gold medal winners in the Denial of Reality Sweepstakes: Dr. Sanity
Ted Kennedy Memorial Stand-Up Routine: Greenroom

Economy

Liberal Fallout Zones: MonCrief
Unemployment and Net Jobs: CalcRisk
5.2 million more at risk of unemployment if ObamaCare passes: Fox

Oops! Charlie Rangel forgot this $1M house!: LawHawk
'Seniors must give up Medicare benefits for ObamaCare to work': GWP
ObamaCare Gets Unlimited Access To IRS Tax Returns: Quipster

Free-to-choose video: Jawa

Media

Still 'Crazy' -- And Proud of It: O'Rourke
Zorn: The Nadir of American Journalism: Other McCain
Audio: Ted Kennedy's favorite topic of humor? Chappaquiddick!: BlogProf

Anti-ObamaCare video so devastating that MSM won't show it: AT (Moran)
Boycott makes Beck bigger: Another Black Conservative
MSM AWOL as Cindy Sheehan protests Obama: Breitbart

Whackjob Huffpo writer thinks Mary Jo didn't mind dying for Ted: AT (Moran)

Climate & Energy

Small Fluctuations In Solar Activity, Large Influence On Climate: Science Daily
Algae-coated buildings touted as climate fix: CNet (Nothing could possibly go wrong with this idea)

World

Has Obama Already Dumped Eastern European Missile Defense?: PJM (Zigfeld)
Saudi royal hurt by al Qaeda suicide blast: Times
Remembering the Hebron Massacre: WSJ

Call it the grass-is-greener syndrome: French health care...: No Pasaran
Jordan's King Abdullah purges regime and army of Palestinians: DebkaFile
I'm just asking questions here, people!: Jawa

Good news: freed terrorist murderer to sue U.S.: S&L
The Rigged Game: Glick

Cornucopia

A Musical Interlude: Margo's Maid
The whole shadow of Man is only as big as his hat: SondraK

Friday, August 28, 2009

Your obligatory investment thread


From: QuantGuy
To: The Maestro
Subject: End of an era

I finally just sold my whopping five shares of PNC Bank (what was left of my National City stock). With the ridiculous $36 full-service commission, I netted $175. That's all that remained of my once, approximately $4000 investment made only two years ago.

On the bright side, I'm going to take that money and buy a few chances at the $350M Megamillions lottery!



From: The Maestro
To: QuantGuy
Subject: RE: End of an era

I would recommend dumping $135 into LVS (Las Vegas Sands). Unlike its peers -- MGM Grand and Wynn -- over 60% of LVS' operations are in Asia, where growth is considerably (say, an 8 to 10% annual rate) higher than the developed countries. When people become wealthier, they want entertainment. And casinos, especially the Vegas types, will do a fabulous job. If you believe the real estate slump in Vegas will linger (i.e., gloom and doom in CMBS), LVS will definitely outperform its peers.

And, unlike MGM, LVS still has some borrowing capacity... just in case the credit crunch continues. And -- it does not have anything like City Center, a giant development project created by MGM and Dubai World.

Of course, I must provide my standard disclaimer: my analysis does not guarantee performance.

Given your patience, your $135 will have an 80% of making a positive return of 100% or more. On the other hand, the lottery will give you 0.00000000000001% chance of winning $350 million.

It's your call.


RED ALERT: Bill would give Obama 'emergency' control of Internet


Veteran technology reporter Declan McCullah observes that a revised cyber-security bill permits the president to "seize temporary control of private sector networks during a so-called... emergency."

The bill would allow the president to unilaterally declare "a cybersecurity emergency" for non-governmental computer networks in order to respond to a threat.

Other sections of the bill go even further: they proscribe government-controlled certification programs that license computer security professionals. And it goes on to demand that certain, privately-owned computer systems and networks be managed only by those professionals who have achieved the federal certification.

A reproduction of the relevant section of the bill is available at PoliteTechBot.

"I think the redraft, while improved, remains troubling due to its vagueness," said Larry Clinton, president of the Internet Security Alliance, which counts representatives of Verizon, Verisign, Nortel, and Carnegie Mellon University on its board. "It is unclear what authority Sen. Rockefeller thinks is necessary over the private sector. Unless this is clarified, we cannot properly analyze, let alone support the bill."

Representatives of other large Internet and telecommunications companies expressed concerns about the bill in a teleconference with Rockefeller's aides this week...

Hey, it's only centralized government control of the Internet.

What could possibly go wrong with that?

In all seriousness: if you were elected President and wanted to transform the U.S. into a third-world banana republic like Venezuela, how would your policies differ from those of Obama?


Hat tip: Matt Drudge.

British patients sue over 33% failure rate for operations


Today's London Daily Mail reports:

Patients suing hospital botched ops horror

A hospital which flew in Scandinavian surgeons to reduce waiting times is being sued after it was alleged that one third of the operations carried out were botched.

Surgeons from Sweden, Denmark and Finland were flown into Britain between 2003 and 2006 as part of a £3million scheme to speed up hip and knee replacements... But concerns were raised about the quality of the work carried out and many patients fear the surgeons were insufficiently trained or skilled...

Gee, grandpa -- I can't wait for government-run health care, can you?

Look on the bright side: it was only one in three!


Update: Government health care is not moral.


Hat tip: Tiger.

Another Obama "Freedom" Honoree Reverts to Type


Dan from New York writes:

For some reason, Irish sot Mary Robinson got all the attention on the red carpet at the Presidential Medal of Freedom awards two weeks ago.

But this ham wasn't about to allow himself to be upstaged for long.

Why the smile, Mary?

Tutu: Palestinians paying for Holocaust

Obama: "Hey, he's stealing my lines!"


Larwyn's Linx: 'No tort reform because trial lawyers are scary'

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email or reply via Twitter.

Nation

A Tribute To Ted Kennedy: Doc Zero
Dean: No Tort Reform -- Trial Lawyers Scare Us: Morrissey
USS West Virginia: Olds, Endicott, Costin & Kennedy: Cassandra

Technology and Politics: McCain
What really happened in the Franken-Coleman recount: Morrissey
Landrieu Leans "No" As Long as There's a Public Option: SIGIS

Rogers on ObamaCare: Moonbattery
A Communist in the White House? 1992 vs. 2009: PJM (Radosh)
Health Care "Reform" Question of the Day: TigerHawk

Economy

Wage initiative stymies labor nominee: Times
Fed: if we were to reveal our secrets... KA-BOOM!: Denninger
Let's talk about your gold-plated, tax-paid compensation, Mr. Waxman: Tapscott

China Tears Up America’s Credit Cards: New Ledger
An Obituary That Shouldn't Be Overlooked: Powers
Detroit Unemployment Hits Record 28.9%: BlogProf

Media

Surprise: ABC won't air anti-ObamaCare ad: Hot Air
Remember Dancing On Reagan's Grave?: LegalIns
NEA conference call directs artists to push Administration's agenda: Volokh

It's Me and You: Tackett
Detroit News Survey on Kennedy: Whoops!: BlogProf
You Started It, No You Did: Riehl

White House Sued Over Free Speech: Newsmax
Journalist bias put to good use; a challenge to both parties: MYODBP

Beck to Michelle: Obama building massive civilian national security force?: Hot Air

Climate & Energy

Business Gets Busy: Blair
Spencer: NOAA’s official sea surface temperature in error: Watts
That was a pretty safe prediction: Secular

World

Report: U.S. to Scrap E. Europe Missile Shield Bases: DefenseNews
America’s Influence Declining In Middle East: PJM (Puder)
A high-risk, no-reward war on the CIA: Examiner

Russia Deploys Unproven Missile Defense Systems: Secular
Venezuela Orders Mitsubishi To Reopen Plant: Manufacturing
Letter Details Kennedy Offer To USSR: S&L

SciTech

The iPhone ad you'll never see: Crackberry (Language warning)
Tech Support Cheat Sheet: XKCD
Publishers Are Killing Web Advertising’s Potential With Misguided Pricing: Paid Content

Cornucopia

The 5 Ballsiest Lies Ever Passed off as Journalism: Cracked (NSFW)

"The last time liberals decided an industry was so important that the government needed to step in and contain costs was when they set their sights on the oil industry. Liberals in both the U.S. and Canada -- presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter and Canadian P.M. Pierre Trudeau -- imposed price controls on oil.

As night leads to day, price controls led to reduced oil production, which led to oil shortages, skyrocketing prices for gasoline, rationing schemes and long angry lines at gas stations.

You may recall this era as 'the Carter years.'

Then, the white knight Ronald Reagan became president and immediately deregulated oil prices. The magic of the free market -- aka the "profit motive" -- produced surges in oil exploration and development, causing prices to plummet. Prices collapsed and remained low for the next 20 years, helping to fuel the greatest economic expansion in our nation's history.

You may recall this era as 'the Reagan years.' -- Ann Coulter


Thursday, August 27, 2009

Eric Holder's Spicy Tuna Roll


What do we got, today, George?

Uhm, first file: those terrorists from Los Macheteros who petitioned for release?

Refresh my memory. What'd they do?

You know, the ones who bombed 130 different locations, robbed a couple of banks, killed six people and injured a couple of hundred others.

Oh, that's right. Stamp that one: PARDON.

Okey doke. Next file: that financier friend of the big-wigs... he's a fugitive living in Switzerland who committed tax evasion, racketeering and trading with the enemy. But his wife looks like she'll pony up a million for various "good causes".

Okay, that's a PARDON.

#3: those Black Panthers who stood at a polling place, dressed in paramilitary garb, swinging billy clubs and screaming racial threats?

Mmmm, that's a tough one. Eenie, meenie, miney, moe, catch a tiger by the toe, if he... just kidding: PARDON.

Finally, we've got the CIA agents who were interrogating the USS Cole and 9/11 terrorists.

What'd they do, again?

Brace yourself, this is some shocking stuff. First, they blew cigar smoke in the USS Cole bomber's face...

Cigar smoke? What the...?

It gets worse. They revved up a power drill to scare the guy. They made lots of scary noises like that.

I've heard enough! Those sons of b***hes! That is just un-f***ing-acceptable! Throw the book at 'em, Georgie! Throw the book at 'em. Let 'em know: We. Mean. Business.

Oh, and George, could you call up my personal physician at Bethesda and book an appointment for me this afternoon? Those spicy tuna rolls gave me a real tummy ache.

Sure thing, boss. Whoa! Criminey... ...uhm, before I take these files over to Barry, I'll have Anne Marie get you some Gas-X.