Monday, September 07, 2009

Larwyn's Linx: Smells Like Personality Cult

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

Nation

'Outreach' To School Kids Feels More Like Personality Cult: Steyn
History: Instapundit
Poll:Who Should Be The Next Czar To Go?: Nice Deb

A Funeral for ObamaCare: NewsBusters
Making an Ass of Himself on the House Floor: Verum Serum
President Obama and How He Got That Way: TAB

A President's speech to students: Citizen Wells
Big Labor Not Looking Good on Labor Day: PJM (Rubin)
Buyer's Remorse Code: Cold Fury

Economy

Buy Bernie Madoff's Beach House For $9 Million: Insider
Obama’s Credibility Problem And The Electronic American Soul: Strata
Just Die. It's Your Duty: American Digest

Media

Kristol on Hoft: Gateway Pundit beats entire MSM to punch: GWP
Palin vs. Spitzer: TAB
CBS: Was VS Post the Last Straw for Van Jones?: Verum Serum

Olbermann Reacts to Van Jones Resignation with the Usual Class and Dignity: JWF
The Salad Days: Nashville Post
Creative Loafing gets some new owners: Atlanta

The Untimely Times: Corner
Couric should look in the mirror: Breitbart
Tom Curley: Today's Slime Mold on the Surface of the MSM Pond: American Digest

Olby to the Kos Kids: Send Me Every Rumor or Slander You Have on Glenn Beck: Ace
Anti-Beck Backlash Hits Nauseating Extreme with “Murder and Rape” Meme: Mediaite

Climate & Energy

Media Tipping Point! Houston Chronicle Reporter Reconsiders Science is 'Settled' Claims: Science Guy
John Holdren, Obama's Science Czar: Forced abortions, mass sterilization needed to save Earth: Zombie

World

New Afghan war: fight has morphed – but we still can’t afford to lose.: Yon
The roots of radical Islam in prison: Think Israel
Pallywood: YouTube

UK official: Obama lied; knew in advance about Pan Am 103 bomber's release: TAB
Jane Fonda, Danny Glover heat up anti-Israel sentiment at Toronto Film Festival: JPost
Binyamin Netanyahu pushes Barack Obama into a corner with settlement plan: The Times

SciTech

The Top 10 Back-To-School iPhone Apps: Insider
Slow Moscow: LGF
Check out the future of television!: Insider

Cornucopia

Moving In Mysterious Ways: NewsBusters
What path to power?: Winter Soldier
There's never been a better time to be a guy: Primordial Slack

Sunday, September 06, 2009

Yobie Benjamin: Idiot With a Word Processor


When the Smithsonian opens its "Last Vestiges of the Newspaper Business" exhibit, Yobie Benjamin's masterpiece of propaganda will hold a hallowed position.

47% of America voted for John McCain so it is fair to say that Fox cable news and the right wing's agent provocateur Glenn Beck has a lot of fans... [he] claims Obama's "civilian national security force" is "what Hitler did with the SS," "what Saddam Hussein" did. Beck also says Obama wants us all to work for ACORN or Americorps...

From what I read from Media Matters and thorough scan of all of the President's speeches, he was talking about expanding AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps and the foreign service not some uniformed version of East Germany's Stasi.

Benjamin's use of Media Matters as a source is somewhat akin to relying upon a Magic Eight Ball for major life decisions.

Of course, Benjamin neglects to actually describe Obama's speeches referencing a "civilian national security force". The reasons he omits the transcripts are obvious:

"We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives 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." -- Barack Obama, July 2008

President Obama asserts that the U.S. military cannot achieve national security objectives and that the country therefore requires a civilian national security force. His words, not mine.

Yobie Benjamin's Goebbels-like attempts to obfuscate Obama's statements are more than mere spin: they are patent lies. Although, to be fair, this sort of public fabrication isn't entirely unexpected from the dying newspaper business, which is defending its last spit of turf like Custer at Little Big Horn.



Linked by: American Digest. Thanks!

O. G.




Idea: Tom K.

What the founders never envisioned


Compare and contrast:

The wages and benefits of private workers pale in comparison to those of government workers. And the vast majority of government workers belong to public sector unions like the SEIU, which impede the operation of traditional human resources practices: probationary periods, merit-based advancements, terminations for cause, etc. Many are unaccountable bureaucrats operating their own personal fiefdoms.

Unemployment is still on the rise, currently estimated at 9.7%. And, in good times and bad, the federal government keeps growing. On borrowed money, with taxpayers footing the bill for principal and interest.

There are six jobs for every unemployed person in the Baltimore-DC area, while the real economy is flat on its back.

The federal bureaucracy is an out-of-control juggernaut, grown far beyond the scale of anything envisioned by the founders. It's time to slash the size of government, to slash government compensation, to right-size government spending, to slash taxes and to free up enterprise to do what it does best.

But don't expect anything of the sort from President Ideologue and his merry band of National Socialist Democrats. They don't believe in free enterprise, you see. They believe only in the power of government.


Update: "The Scariest Jobs Chart Ever".

Graphs: FOFOA.

Why It's Great To Be a Guy


• Phone conversations last 30 seconds
• You know useful stuff about tanks and airplanes
• A five day vacation requires only one suitcase

• Bathroom lines are 80% shorter
• You can open all your own jars
• Old friends don't give you crap if you've lost or gained weight

• When clicking through the channels you don't have to stop on every channel where someone is crying
• People never glance at your chest when you're talking to them
• You don't have to lug a bag of "necessary" items with you everywhere you go

• You can go to the bathroom alone
• Your last name stays put
• You can leave a hotel room bed unmade

• You can kill your own food
• You have a normal and healthy relationship with your mother
• The garage is all yours

• You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness
• You see the humor in "Terms of Endearment"
• You never have to clean the toilet

• You can be showered and ready in 10 minutes
• Wedding plans take care of themselves
• If someone forgets to invite you to something, they can still be your friend

• Your underwear costs $7.50 for a 3-pack
• None of your co-workers have the power to make you cry
• The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades

• You don't have to shave below your neck
• You can do your nails with a pocketknife
• You don't have to curl up next to some big, hairy guy every night

• If you're 34 and single, no one notices
• Chocolate is just another snack
• You can quietly enjoy a car ride from the passenger seat

• You never have to worry about other people's feelings
• Three pair of shoes are more than enough
• You never have to miss a sexual opportunity because you're not in the mood

• You can whip your shirt off on a hot day
• Car mechanics tell you the truth
• You don't give a flip if someone doesn't notice your new haircut

• You can watch a game in silence for hours without worrying if your friend secretly hates you
• One mood, all the time
• You can admire Clint Eastwood without having to starve yourself to look like him

• Gray hair and wrinkles add character
• Wedding dress $2000, Tux rental $100 bucks
• You don't care if someone is talking behind your back

• You don't pass on the dessert and then mooch off someone else
• Foreplay is optional
• If you retain water, it is in a canteen

• The remote is yours and yours alone
• You need not pretend you're "freshening up" when you go to the bathroom
• If your buddy doesn't call you when he said he would, you won't tell everyone you know that "he's changed"

• If another guy shows up at the party in the same outfit, you probably won't notice
• The occasional well-rendered belch is practically expected
• If something mechanical didn't work, you can bash it with a hammer and throw it across the room

• You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt
• You can write your name in the snow
• You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes

• You think the idea of punting that small, ankle-biting dog is funny
• One wallet, one pair of shoes, one color, all seasons
• Christmas shopping can be accomplished for 15 people on the day before Christmas and in 45 minutes

• Same work......... more pay

Based upon a post by "Danl K" to the Worldnet Members Forum in September, 1998

Rove by the numbers


Discussing public sentiment on Thursday night with Sean Hannity, Karl Rove offered the following numbers relating to Obama and the Democrats in power:

242 days since the inauguration

111 speeches given by President Obama on health care

40 days was the original amount of time given by Obama for Congress to completely overhaul health care

67% of Americans oppose or strongly oppose a government takeover of health care

53% job approval for President Obama as an average of all major polls

50% job approval for President Obama as measured by Gallup; this means Obama dropped to 50% approval faster (by 8/26) than all prior Presidents including Ford (after pardoning Nixon) and Clinton (gays in the military debacle)

40%-47% approve-disapprove ratio relating to Obama

37% job approval for Congress, the lowest in 24 years

45%-44% generic identification Democrat vs. GOP, which signals a major shift

New Jersey's incumbent Democrat Governor trails by 10 points in the latest polling

Virginia's Democrat trails by 9 points for the Governorship

It's way too early to get very excited, but the groundswell of public distaste for the Democrats' poor leadership abilities is becoming clear.

Writing just a couple of weeks after the election, Rove's Wall Street Journal op-ed now appears eerily prescient.



Correction: regarding Virginia's race, hat tip: Bohemond.

Larwyn's Linx: Judgment Day

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

Nation

Judgment Day: Doc Zero
A Doctor's Plan for Legal Industry Reform: WSJ
Is Obama’s “Czar System” grounds for impeachment?: PJM (Simon)

Van Goes Under the Bus: PJM (Driscoll)
Another ridiculous decision from the Ninth Circuit: PJM (Kimball)
Sen. Warner: Incoherent Idiocy on Health Care: BlogProf

ObamaCare: Come and Take It: Hot Air
Yale Law School and Why Van Jones went There: AT (Feldman)
Van Jones is History: Another Black Conservative

Pelosi leadership course: punt: Other McCain

Economy

Teenage Unemployment Hits All-Time High: BizzyBlog
Rosie on Unemployment: Zero Hedge
A Jobless August: Denninger

Gangster Government: BizzyBlog

Media

It'll be in Bartlett's by next week: Steyn
An utterly irresponsible article by Carol Williams: Patterico
Van Jones Mystery Solved?: AIM

Your Friendly Media Bias Reminder: Corner
MSNBC Host Caps Libtalk's Cruel Summer: Equalizer
Bigot at the KC Star: McClatchy Watch

Climate & Energy

Making it up in global warming theory: AT (Lewis)

World

Are we about to repeat this tired cycle?: Hanson
Honduran Headache: IBD
'Massive' ancient wall uncovered in Jerusalem: CNN

London Mayor Recommends Ramadan Fast for All: INN

SciTech

The First Reactors: EIA

Cornucopia

An Ill Wind is Breaking For Our President: IowaHawk (Van Voorhees)
Revealed: The Actual Audio of the Moon Landing: Ace (Language warning)
Jack Webb weighs in: Hot Air

"The biggest problems that we're facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all. And that's what I intend to reverse when I'm president of the United States." -- Sen. Barack Obama, March 31, 2008

Saturday, September 05, 2009

1940 Tour de France


Denny's friend Ron sent him this rare photo of the 1940 Tour de France.

The next industry on the chopping block


Last year, in a House hearing on gas prices, executives of the large oil companies were asked for a "guarantee" that prices would go down if the areas surrounding the United States ("The No Zone") were opened up for exploration and drilling. The president of Shell Oil answered the question.

  "I can guarantee to the American people -- that because of the inaction of the United States Congress -- ever-increasing prices unless the demand comes down. And the five dollars will look like a very low price in the years to come if we are prohibited from finding new reserves and new opportunities to increase supplies."

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) didn't like that answer.

  "And guess what this liberal is going to be all about!"

  "This liberal will be all about socializing --- uh... uh..."

  "Uhm... ... ... will be about... ..."

  "... ...Basically... ..."

  "Taking you over. And the government running all of your companies."

The word, of course, is "nationalize" and the Hugo Chavez gameplan hasn't worked out so well for Venezuelans.

And check out the poor schlub sitting next to her. You can almost read his mind. How the heck did I get stuck sitting next to this national embarrassment?

After "reforming" health care, the National Socialist Democrats will target the energy industry. Whether through cap-and-tax or some other stealthy mechanism, Democrats will punish more job creators as certainly as night follows day.

And If Waters is really the best that Californians can do, I would recommend that residents start evacuating now.

Larwyn's Linx: We are all abused children now

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

Nation

Van Jones, President Obama's Choice: SIGIS
We are all abused children now: Adrienne
Cocoon of Denial: OnCenter

Jones, Jarrett, Obama and Vetting: Malkin
Are you ready for President Petraeus: Hot Air
President Proves Himself A Mere Politician: Hammer

How did Van Jones get a security clearance?: Pundette
A short note on the "school speech": TigerHawk

Economy

Forget Everything You've Heard About Income Inequality: Carpe Diem
How About an Entrepreneurship Czar?: PJM (Malone)
The Michigan Example: Anti-Stimulating: WSJ

Healthcare: Growth Industry Not a Liability: AT (Clark)
The next boom: FHA: Denninger
Industry Group proposes overhaul of mortgage market: NASDAQ

Media

In the MSM, Even Stalin Gets the 'Even-Handed' Treatment: PJM (Ledeen)
How to Sugarcoat 9.7% Unemployment? AP Shows Us How!: BlogProf
Still Bitter: White House Goes After Santelli Again, but Santelli Fires Back: NewsBusters

Kook Left: Exposing Van Jones is a 'Racist Witch Hunt': JWF
OK, Jon, how about naming the 'demagogues' you'd ban from CPAC?: Other McCain

Climate & Energy

Ecoterrorists Strike Again in Washington: LawHawk

World

Obama stands firm against Honduras and its government: Hewitt
Solana hated Mo 'toons; has no problem with antisemitism: Elder
Single-Payer Hell: In Canada, Citizens Participate In Lottery To Determine Who Sees A Doctor: BlogProf

SciTech

The Dawn of Scarcity Industrialism: Archdruid Report
Satellite View: Fires in Los Angeles County: MODIS

Cornucopia


Why it's great to be a guy: Penn
Sure wish I had something to keep the sun out of my eyes at the baseball game: Surber

Friday, September 04, 2009

Democrat Health Care By The Numbers


0: The number of televised negotiations regarding health care, promised by candidate Obama on August 21, 2008: "I'm going to have all the negotiations around a big table. We'll have doctors and nurses and hospital administrators. Insurance companies, drug companies -- they'll get a seat at the table, they just won't be able to buy every chair. But what we will do is, we'll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents, and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies. And so, that approach, I think is what is going to allow people to stay involved in this process."

13: The number of teeth that British veteran Ian Boynton pulled out himself with pliers "because he couldn't find an NHS (National Health Service) dentist... [he] could not afford to go private for treatment so instead took the drastic action to remove 13 of his teeth that were giving him severe pain."

14: The percentage of all patients in Britain who wait more than one (1) year to receive treatment after a referral by a general practitioner. Half of all National Health Care patients in Britain wait between 18 and 52 weeks for treatment.

37: The "health care ranking" assigned to the U.S. by the World Health Organization among the world's countries. This oft-quoted number is used to justify an overhaul of the U.S. health care system and lists countries like Italy (2), Andorra (4), Malta (5), Singapore (6), Oman (8), Portugal (12), Greece (14), the United Kingdom (18), Ireland (19), Columbia (22), Cyprus (24), Saudi Arabia (26), the UAE (27), Morocco (29), Canada (30), Chile (33), the Dominican Republic (35) and Costa Rica (36) ahead of the U.S. Considering that no U.S. citizens travel to these countries when experiencing a life-threatening situation, it's worth questioning the methods by which the WHO arrived at these rankings. Their criteria included subjective and political assessments such as "Fairness in financial contribution". Suffice it to say that the WHO's rankings are clearly fraudulent and are designed to influence U.S. policy.

60: Average cancer survival rate (all types) for patients in the United States. Canada's survival rate is significantly lower at 55%, while Europe's is a dismal 48%.

81: Average percentage of those who survive a diagnosis of prostate cancer in the United States versus 43% in Britain under their National Health Service.

90: Number of days, on average, each Canadian patient must wait for an MRI under the Canadian government-run health care system.

750: The estimated number of people waiting in line (in the pouring rain) at Britain's Bury Office attempting to register for dental care.

2050: By this year, "Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (health care for the poor) will consume nearly the entire federal budget." And by 2082, Medicare spending alone will consume the entire federal budget. This trajectory is, quite obviously, unsustainable for our children and our grandchildren. Congress is bequeathing our descendents a bankrupt health care system -- for just the third of the medical system that the government already runs!

10,000: Number of Canadian breast cancer patients to file a class action lawsuit against Quebec's hospitals because, on average, they were forced to wait 60 days to begin post-operative radiation treatments.

280,392: The number of jobs that employers would shed if government levied an employer mandate, requiring them to insure all employees. A 2007 study by Katherine Baicker of Harvard University and Helen Levy of the University of Michigan ("Employer Health Insurance Mandates and the Risk of Unemployment") found that "0.2 percent of all full-time workers and 1.4 percent of uninsured full-time workers would lose their jobs if a health insurance mandate were written into law. Workers who would lose their jobs are disproportionately likely to be high school dropouts, minority, and female."

443,849: The number of British patients of the National Healthcare Service (NHS) who waited four or more weeks for inpatient admittance into a hospital (Excel file) in May of 2009 (more than 75% of all patients).

1,500,000: The number of Canadians who do not have -- and cannot find -- a general practitioner/primary care physician due to shortages in medical staff: "In Norwood, Ontario, 20/20 videotaped a town clerk pulling the names of the lucky winners out of a lottery box. The losers must wait to see a doctor... Shirley Healy, like many sick Canadians, came to America for surgery. Her doctor in British Columbia told her she had only a few weeks to live because a blocked artery kept her from digesting food. Yet Canadian officials called her surgery 'elective.' ...'The only thing elective about this surgery was I elected to live,' she said."

12,000,000: number of illegal immigrants who would qualify for free health care and -- in all likelihood -- additional health care rights for relatives under the Democrats' universal health care plan, according to a reported statement by the office of Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and spokespeople for the racial separatist group La Raza.

$311,000,000 ($311 million): The amount of additional funding requested last month by the Obama administration simply to combat Medicare fraud. Medicare fraud is estimated at $60 billion annually.

$3,600,000,000 ($3.6 billion): The amount of added malpractice insurance costs to the current health care system instigated by an out-of-control trial lawyer lobby that donates heavily to Democrat causes.

$10,000,000,000 ($10 billion): The estimated amount of Medicaid fraud, based upon FBI estimates. Criminal practices include billing for nonexistent, overstated, or unnecessary services, kickbacks to patients, inflated costs, etc.

$60,000,000,000 ($60 billion): The estimated annual amount of Medicare fraud, due to widespread criminal operations that victimize taxpayers and specialize in dead doctors, fake patients, non-existent treatments and the like.

$107,000,000,000,000 ($107 trillion): The estimated shortfall of the Medicare and Social Security programs, which are utterly and completely bankrupt; they can be legitimately called an "enormous version of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme".

Canada and England don't pay as high a price for their health care because they freeload on American innovation. If we utilized their systems, Americans might worry less about paying for health care, but we'd get 2009-level care and long lines. Those are the immutable laws of supply and demand. Government monopolies don't innovate. Only the free market innovates.

Furthermore, government bureaucrats already raped the Social Security Trust Fund -- there is no trust fund. They raped the Medicare Trust Fund -- there's nothing left. They raped the Highway Trust Fund -- it's empty. I could go down a long list of things the government said it would do, but hasn't done. Because the big government statists are liars. They even moved these massive expenditures "off the books" to conceal the damage they've done.

And now the Democrat Party, the union bosses and the trial lawyers are launching the most massive attack on the American people in the history of government.

They promise health care for everyone, but they will not -- and they can't possibly -- deliver it. The numbers don't lie.


References: Sick in America: 'Free' Is Good? (ABC News), There's no such thing as free health care (Reason Magazine), Social Security and Medicare Projections: 2009 (National Center for Policy Analysis), Who is Debby Smith?, E.R. P.R., Bureau of Labor Statistics, July 2009.

An informal ballistics test


Posting at The High Road, LoneStarWings posts the results of his ad hoc ballistics test.

Federal HST Ballistics Test (.40 S&W 165gr vs 180gr):

Here is my informal HST ballistics test just to make sure they worked well in my carry gun (s&w m&p .40 w/ 4.25" barrel). All rounds fired from 7 yards into plastic milk jugs filled with water stacked 48" deep.

On the left: 2 180gr .40 bullets. On the right: 2 165gr .40 bullets. Pictured here with a nickel for comparison.

The 180's penetrated 2 milk jugs compleltely, made holes in the wall of the 3rd but came to rest in the bottom of the 3rd jug. They expanded to .83".

The 165's penetrated 3 milk jugs and came to rest in the bottom of the 4th. They expanded to about .70".

Either one seems to work fine, but I think I will stick with the 180's. It was fun watching the caps to the front milk jug fall to earth 3 seconds after the shots were fired. In all cases the front jug was ripped apart. I would've tested more to get a more scientific sample but I ran out of jugs.


Hat tip: Bern.

Only in Texas


Cathy writes:

TEXAS DEPUTY SHERIFF vs NEW YORK LAWYER: Only in Texas my friends... Only in Texas... Too bad...

A lawyer runs a stop sign and gets pulled over by a sheriff's deputy.
He thinks that he is smarter than the deputy because he is a lawyer from New York
and is certain that he has a better education then any cop from Houston , TX .
He decides to prove this to himself and have some fun at the Texas deputy's expense.

The deputy says, "License and registration, please."

"What for?" says the lawyer.

The deputy says, "You didn't come to a complete stop at the stop sign."

Then the lawyer says, "I slowed down, and no one was coming."

"You still didn't come to a complete stop," says the deputy. "License and registration, please."

The lawyer says, "What's the difference?"

"The difference is you have to come to complete stop, that's the law. License and registration, please!" the Deputy repeats.

Lawyer says, "If you can show me the legal difference between slow down and stop,
I'll give you my license and registration; and you give me the ticket.
If not, you let me go and don't give me the ticket."

"That sounds fair. Please exit your vehicle, sir," the deputy says.

At this point, the deputy takes out his nightstick and starts beating the daylights out of the lawyer and says, "Do you want me to stop, or just slow down?"

God Bless Texas



Gee, Nancy, I wonder which works best: tax cuts or 'stimulus'?


Compare and contrast: the results of across-the-board tax cuts (the Bush tax cuts after the economically devastating 9/11 attacks) versus the Obama deficit-spending frenzy.

Unemployment just hit 9.7% and most economists are predicting 10%+ in 2010.

And don't forget: we're all due for a major tax hike come January 1st when the Bush tax cuts expire. That should really put the cherry on the top of the economy.


Hat tip: Chart of the Day.

Larwyn's Linx: He's not Jimmy Carter

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

Nation

He's not Jimmy Carter: Spectator
Obama's 'Dear Leader' speech to students: Examiner
Steele busts an O-plant: Riehl

The Right to Everything: Doc Zero
Obama's speech: Wrong setting for a sales job: York
ObamaCare creates 53 new agencies, offices: GOPleader

Snowe feels the heat for influential role on health care: Examiner
A Truther Czar?: GWP
More AARP evasions, spin doctoring on Obamacare: Tapscott

Rochester schools to Obama: go pound sand: BlogProf
The Coming Boondoggle: Greenroom

Economy

Unions need growth to save unfunded pensions: Examiner
Rep. Stark (D-CA): 'Get the f*** out of here or I’ll throw you out the window': BlogProf
McStupid: Mortgage Banker's Association: Denninger

Media

Video Saved From The Memory Hole: DDB's 9/11 tape: Driscoll
Daschle predicts end of world if ObamaCare is blocked: SIGIS
Van Jones being a 9-11 Truther is Devastating: Krauthammer

NY Times: ‘Urban Modern’ is the New ‘Liberal’: Big Hollywood
How to Tell Who’s Lying and Who’s Telling the Truth in the Middle East: Rubin
The Boston Globe's Radical Surgery: Crittenden

Climate & Energy

Brilliant: Feds Didn't Clear Brush In LA Because Of Liberal Pressure.: Mere Rhetoric
Not Again! Media Now Promoting Arctic 'Hockey Stick'!: Depot

World

US Cuts Off Aid To Honduras: Mere Rhetoric
White House Memo to Al-Qaeda: Now Is the Time to Strike: PJM (Impomeni)
The inhabitants of Palestine, 1851: TEOZ

Would liberals have the guts to declare war on Nazi Germany today?: Telegraph

SciTech

Russian Photos taken 100 years ago... in color!: Newsweek

Cornucopia

Will the world end in 2012 as some believe the calendar of the ancient Maya predicts? : Telegraph
Barack Obama's Downfall: YouTube
WTF?: Denny

Thursday, September 03, 2009

And the hits just keep on coming: China buys up Canadian oil sands


Somis points us to a comment at American Thinker:

From our point of view, here in Alberta, Canada, (I know we don't exists on anyone's radar down in the lower forty-eight which is quite normal) we notice Obama's growing ties to the Middle East and who couldn't notice Obama bowing to the Saudi king. As of yesterday we were your single largest oil supplier, somewhere around 20-25% - not the Middle East at .05% of your oil. However, yesterday here in Alberta, specifically here in my hometown, home of the oil sand the second largest oil reserve on earth, our world changed radically!

Today we wake up to the news China quietly bought into the Oil Sands in a big way - 1.6 billion buying up various oil companies accumulating their masses of oil sands leases which is quickly being followed up by billion more developing oil sands plants with pipelines out to the west coast for shipment to China.

Under previous American administrations our Oil Sands were actually listed as part of America's strategic oil reserve and one in which America paid attention to - today all that changed! I wonder how that happened in America's own backyard? Who took their eyes off the real prize? In your own backyard? China certainly didn't!

What in God's name is going on down your way?

If you find out, let me know.

Meanwhile, The Calgary Herald reports

China's oilsands buying spree could herald the start of a fresh wave of foreign investment in Canada and improving trade relations between the two countries, observers said Tuesday.

PetroChina's $1.9-billion purchase of a majority stake in a pair of bitumen projects operated by Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. marks the country's largest direct investment in Canada to date... [and] the PetroChina deal could open the floodgates to Chinese investment in Canada after years of the Asian giant sitting on the sidelines...

...In Calgary, Premier Ed Stelmach welcomed the deal, coming at a time when the oilpatch --and the provincial treasury -- has been hit hard by the global recession.

"This shows that we are going to be game-changers in oil resources around the world," he told reporters. "This is going to help grow our economy. It's not only going to help Alberta, but you'll see this growth realized right across Canada because it's close to a$2-billion investment and we'll see the results of that, very positive results shared by all Canadians."

...Some have suggested the deal threatens Canada's energy security and special trading relationship with the United States, the country's single-largest customer for Canadian oil...

Not to worry. President Obama has better things to worry about than our energy security posture. He's pursuing the prosecution of CIA agents for protecting the United States against terrorist attacks.


Report from Senator Sherrod Brown's 'Town Hall'


Correspondent JL writes:

Through a friend of a friend I received an invitation to the "town hall" meeting held by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH). It was held on Tuesday, 9/1.

My friend and I decided to go, even though it is an hour-plus drive to Cincinnati from Dayton (at rush hour) on a work day.

We had a variety of debates about clothing (Brook’s Brother’s, casual, jeans and polo-shirts?), signs, cameras.

The venue was the student union auditorium at the Univ. of Cincinnati. The event was to start at 10:30, opening at 9:30, and would last until 12:00.

We arrived, parked and walked to the building by 9:15. There were about 100 people standing in a line inside the building, but not yet inside the auditorium at that time.

Workers, I suspect student volunteers, were collecting “sign-ins” seemingly designed for campaign contributions, but perhaps for verification of attendees, or other purposes.

State police were present, with security scanning arches, screening people on their way into the auditorium, which opened at 9:30. The auditorium was described as having seating for 800. At about 9:50 it was halfway full. There were a mix of people: union, identified through their uniform yellow polo shirts saying either USW or UFCW, “Contact Center for Justice Community Organizers”, street clothes, and others mostly older and white.

Signs were not permitted in the hall, but a few were passing out "Health Insurance Reform Now" stickers for attendees to put on their clothes once in the auditorium.

By 10:35, the hall was full and some 40+ were standing in the back, behind the five TV-type camera setups.

The people around me were mixed. Directly beside me were two CEO-Business Owners (a pizza chain restaurateur and a comedy-club owner). Both were talking about the reduction in employment they would have to make if the bill passed (these comments were made to me; they were never given the opportunity to speak to the group).

The first twenty-plus rows in front of me were taken up mostly by supporters of the bill – the uniformed union workers were all up there, as well as various academics, and a few "regular folk." A rotating slide show was pitching the benefits, myths and facts about the proposed health care bill.

Behind me were forty plus rows of mostly anti current bill, tea partiers, and older folk – mostly against. There were three or four rows of "DMZ", which is where I was.

At 10:35 things kicked off. Sherrod Brown, five panelists and an emcee took the stage. The agenda: a few opening comments, then Sherrod, and each of the panelists were to have five minutes of comments followed by an hour of Q&A.

Things started civil enough, although when the CEO of the local children’s hospital went past his five minutes, and into his tenth, the crowd started raising watches, and then clapping (as if his talk had concluded)... and then finally calling for his halt. This was the first major sign of impatience.

All of the panelists were loaded to sell the proposals. All of the slides were selling, yet Sherrod’s remarks supposedly solicited input from all of us with his stated intention to bring our message back to Washington. Most of us noticed the difference between those messages.

By the time Sherrod and his panelists had run out the clock, we had time for only nine questions. The drawing of names appeared even-handed, yet somehow, only two of the nine were anti-socialized medicine while the crowd (stacked though it was) was more 50-50. Anyway, the two were articulate and on-point. I don’t have transcripts, but they brought the house to their feet. To be fair, the three or four that made their points on the other side, brought the other half of the house to their feet.

The two CEOs beside me had given up by this point and had left. Their comments: this is a waste of time, nobody is going to listen. I think at least one of them had decided to reduce their employment (from 540 to 285).

I have videos of a few of the moments as well, but am not sending them in this email as they are quite large files and I do not have the know-how, or perhaps the tools to reduce them from their hi-res to more reasonably transmittable form. If you wish I can email them as well. One is 19M, the other 6M.

Attached are reduced resolution photos. I draw your attention to the slide that says our health care expenses are going to exceed out annual income. Does no-one understand economics (or household budgeting)?

Regards, JL

I've got a new animal for "The Endangered Species List": Blue Dog Democrats. That includes you, Steve Driehaus (D-OH) and you, Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

Here's some career counseling: or, more properly, end-of-career counseling: start scheduling some outplacement services, because we are kicking your butts out of office at the next available opportunity.


Larwyn's Linx: The Non-Stimulating Stimulus Bill

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

Nation

Issa presses bill to give all citizens CongressCare: GWP
Detailed Analysis: Health bill kills private insurance: GOPleader
ACORN: quick to collect from feds; slow to pay taxes: Examiner

The legislative options for health care reform: Hennessey
The Health-Care 'Emergency': Corner
Mass-ochist: BlogProf

Change that voters don't think they need: Rove
White House withdraws call for students to 'help' Obama: Times
A Call to Action: Obama’s Public School Address: PJM (Curtis)

Photos from Hoyer's Town Hall: Corner
The Overreach: Obi's Sister
Congressman Broun warns of dictatorship: OnlineAthens

Economy

Obama Fails to Save or Create Another 298,000 Jobs: JWF
Dems Hand Out Millions to Leftists For "Census Awareness": GWP
'Hop on the Welfare Wagon': Treacher

The Non-Stimulating Stimulus Bill: Seeking Alpha
The One Million Dollar Date Night: Atlas
Touch Choices, Part II: Charlie Foxtrot

Media

Is the Washington Post trying to 'Macaca' Bob McDonnell?: Barone
Obama Advisor Van Jones Describes the GOP: Coach P
Weisberg Unplugs the Logic Machine: Corner

Naomi Wolf Wants An Apology: PJM (Chesler)
Bad Polls? MoveOn.org blames the media: Examiner
Instavision -- 10 Years of "Whatever": PJTV

Climate & Energy

WaPro Blames Obama For Failure of Global Warming Movement!: Depot
WaPo fires back against Climate Depot: Depot

World

The UK's Death Panels: Power Line
'I couldn't leave them on their own': JWF
Rifka Bary Update: Tackett

Hobson's Choice: Arens
Let's Pretend We're Making Arab-Israeli, Israel-Palestinian Peace: Rubin
Brits May Eliminate Tonsillectomies: LegalIns

SciTech

At 40, the Internet still reshaping history: CNet

Cornucopia

Texting While Driving: A Warning Video For Teens: (Caution: Very Graphic)
Onion: The Facebook-Twitter Revolution: LGF
Helping Hands Protection Applicator: College Humor (NSFW)

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Classroom Video Introducing President Obama's 9/8 Speech to Students


Good morning, kids! I'm President Barack Obama, here to talk to you today about the importance of education.

Education is very, very important. You've all heard of the four R's, though they really don't all start with the letter R.

There's Reading.
WRiting.
aRithmetic.
And oRganizing.

Now, I want you to watch me closely as we discuss...

...You're getting sleepy... very sleepy...

You're in a deep, peaceful sleep. And now you're floating, happily, in the sky with the birds.

And when I say Change!, you'll be back in class. But, before that, you'll hear and remember everything I say. Everything.

Every day in class, when you say the pledge, you'll be pledging allegiance to me.

You know how your Dad sometimes lets you play on his computer?

Well, sometimes, late at night, he might be writing right-wing blogs or forwarding fishy emails that undermine your President's polices!

How can you help stop this destructive activity? Simple, when you get home, I want you to download this free key-logger from http://secret.whitehouse.gov/kiddie-keylogger.html and install it on every one of your parents' computers!

It will report on everything your folks are doing, so me and my pals in the White House can keep the world safe from evil right-wing misinformation!

Just remember, when you get home, download the key-logger and help us keep the world safe from conservatives!

Okey doke... it's time to say 'bye for now...

Change!

...

So, kids, thanks for taking the time to listen. Just remember: education is the key to success!



Linked by: AJ Strata, Cold Fury, J Crue, Nice Deb, Sheik Yermami, Snooper and Carolyn Tackett. Thanks!