Monday, October 05, 2009

Larwyn's Linx: "Two big accomplishments -- jack and squat"

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

Nation

Does Obama have the votes for health care reform?: PJM (Baehr)
Who Are These People And Where Did They Come From?: Hewitt
Compare BaucusCare vs. CongressionalCare: Pundette

'Neutral' Consumer Reports runs Obamacare ads!: BlogProf
Pentagon auditor deemed serial failure: Times
The Mae West Presidency: Sensing

Undermining the insurance industry by stealth: TigerHawk
New Yorkers: Boycott the Mayoral Vote!: TAB
Grayson and the ADL: Moe Lane

Daily Scoreboard: Surber
Polanski's Sock Puppets and Me: Patterico
A Highway Separates Patriots, Public Option Backers: BMW

Obama's White House ACORN Operative Fined $775,000 For Election Violations: Used Rapists, Burglars in Door-to-Door Registration Drives: GWP

Economy

Live Blogging the Defending The American Dream Summit: Wizbang
Bank Failures To Cost $100B In 18 Months: S&L
Chicago dodged a bullet: Ace

Study: Bernanke, Paulson misled public on bailouts: Times

Media

Feelgood polling news for the antique media: AT (Lifson)
Even SNL is ripping the President of Chicago: Ace
Brain-dead conservatives? No, it’s the elitist critics at room temperature: Examiner

An Honest Liberal Times Columnist?: Corner
The Places Stephen Walt Goes: Commentary
Liberal Media Hypocrisy Test: Aces

"I had to answer 'no' because I get all my news from The New York Times": Power Line
Jackson Diehl's Epic Fail: PJM (Belmont)
The conservative elites are an anachronism: Examiner

Frank Rich shocked to find lobbying in the Obama administration: LegalIns
White House Has A Bad Case Of Glenn Beck Derangement Syndrome: BlogProf
Janeane Garofalo: So infinitely superior to you, she doesn't even need evidence: RSM

Climate & Energy

Administration Admits: Cap-and-Trade Will Be Far More Expensive Than Advertised: GWP

World

All of a Sudden, Iran: Dinocrat
British Foreign Secretary to Obama: Quit Voting Present on Afghanistan: GWP
Buying into Iran's cooperation on nukes: S&L

Sergeant Kept Fighting With Shrapnal In His Head: STACLU
UN's El Baradei: "Israel Is Number One Threat to Middle East": GWP
Something to keep you up nights: Ace

Afghan Tet: Crittenden

Cornucopia

Blue Duck Down: Michelle's Mirror
"Two big accomplishments -- jack and squat.": Vanderleun

Sunday, October 04, 2009

The federal health care database that will hold all of the most sensitive, personal medical data for 300 million Americans


In August of 2008, a Consumer Reports investigation revealed that the federal government is among the worst offenders when it comes to data breaches.

CR analyzed records of publicly reported data breaches compiled by the nonprofit Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and found that more than 230 security lapses by federal, state, and local government from 2005 through mid-June 2008 resulted in the loss or exposure of at least 44 million consumer records containing Social Security or driver license numbers and other personal data.

In late 2006, the House Committee on Government Reform issued a report entitled "AGENCY DATA BREACHES SINCE JANUARY 1, 2003". The conclusion of the report was as disturbing as it was terse.

Taken as a whole, the agency reports outline hundreds of instances of data breaches involving sensitive personal information since January 1, 2003. The reports show a wide range of incidents, involving employee carelessness, contractor misconduct, and third-party thefts. The number of individuals affected in each incident ranges from one to millions. However, in many cases, the agency does not know what information was lost or how many individuals potentially could be affected. Few of these incidents have been reported publicly, and it is unclear in many cases whether affected individuals have been notified or whether remedial action has been taken.

Data held by Federal agencies remains at risk. In many cases, agencies do not know what information they have, who has access to the information, and what devices containing information have been lost, stolen, or misplaced. In addition, in almost all of the reported cases, Congress and the public would not have learned of each event unless the Committee had requested this information.

Finally, each year, the Committee releases information security scorecards. This year the scores for many departments remained low or dropped precipitously. The federal government overall received a D+.

Among the incidents the report described:

• A laptop containing personal information on 30,000 applicants/LEADS, recruiters, and prospects fell off a motorcycle belonging to a Navy recruiter.

• A CD containing 30,000 veterans’ names and addresses was lost by a Government Printing Office subcontractor.

• A thumb drive containing personal records on approximately 207,570 enlisted Marines who served between the years of 2001 to 2005 was lost. A notification letter was sent to the affected individuals and the Marine Corps.

• A systems administrator discovered potential unauthorized access to the Air Force Personnel Center Assignment Management System containing personal information on 33,000 military members.

Other, more recent incidents of note include:

Sensitive information on about 1,000 patients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and other military hospitals was exposed in a security breach, sparking identity theft concerns and an investigation by the Army.

The IRS hired a firm that had experienced several serious data breaches of customer information to manage and secure sensitive data.

Feel better about that giant database of sensitive health care information that the tax-and-spend Democrats want to create when they nationalize health care?

The feds holding your family's most personal information?

What could possibly go wrong?


Update: Clarice Feldman writes: "What, indeed? And then there's the inclination of so many to spy on their political opponents and their families."

American youth bask in the feel-good economic vitality that is the hope-and-change economy


He's sooo smart. And he's hissstoric.

• The Department of Labor reports that young Americans -- those aged 16 to 24 -- have an unemployment rate of 53.4 percent, which represents a post-World War II high.

• Young Americans' lifetime earning potential will be dramatically diminished.

• Their entrance into the economy will be delayed due to the exceedingly slow recovery.

• Young workers have borne the brunt of the epidemic of job losses: a total of 6.9 million jobs have been lost.

• Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, describe the situation as "extremely dire... [t]his group won't do as well as their parents unless the jobs situation changes."

• Al Angrisani, a former assistant Labor Department secretary under President Reagan, pins the blame on the Pelosi-Obama-Reid Democrats who constructed a "stimulus" package hostile to small business. "There is no assistance provided for the development of job growth through small businesses, which create 70 percent of the jobs in the country... All those [unemployed young people] should be getting hired by small businesses."

• He also believes that the Obama economic team -- led by academics like Larry Summers -- have no experience with small businesses, have never started or grown a business, have never been entrepreneurs. He recommends tax credits for small businesses to spur hiring.

• A study by the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth states that the damage to a young person's career by a recession can last 15 years. And any delay into the workforce also postpones their major purchases, thereby further dampening a recovery.

• Angrisani also notes the futility of extending unemployment benefits, likening it to a "narcotic that is keeping the unemployed content -- but doing little to get them jobs."

• Labor statistics also show that the number of chronically unemployed -- those without a job for 27 weeks or more -- also hit a post-WWII high.

Those are the changes you have to believe in: they're facts.

Hey -- I've got an idea! How about a second "stimulus" package? Who's with me? Besides the SEIU, that is.

Marketing Genius!


Heh.

Related: Ten Worst Brands of All Time. Hat tip: Leno.

Barack Obama Just Jumped the Shark


Copenhagen and the failed Olympics bid proved what Howard Portnoy is saying:

Barack Obama just jumped the shark.

The world’s most recently anointed superstar, whose key opponent in the race for the Democrat nomination for president summed him accurately by saying “He’ll give a speech” when faced with a major crisis, has now officially crashed and burned. As with every other crisis in his short presidency, he sought to divert attention — in this case, from a still-struggling economy, the palpable threat of a nuclear rogue nation, and a “war of necessity” suddenly turning south and unpopular — by jetting off to Copenhagen and winning America the “prestige” of another Olympic Games. He was a loser for assuming that this is how the electorate would read such a result. And he’s a bigger loser still for failing to obtain even that result.

Suffice it to say that when even SNL routinely rips your pathetic record of non-accomplishment, the tips of your skis just grazed the fin.


Hat tip: Ohio Coastie.

Transparency Redacted: the 15% Tax Hike Obama's Trying to Hide


Americans for Tax Reform reports upon one of the most egregious of President Obama's campaign lies: transparency.


The Obama administration knows that its "cap-and-trade" energy plans will hike income taxes by 15%, yet the president still supports the effort.

ATR obtained internal documents that show President Obama knows that the tax hikes will hit all American households, breaking his oft-repeated campaign promise to hold the line on taxes. On a September 12, 2008 campaign stop in Dover, New Hampshire, then-candidate Obama stated unequivocally, "I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."

The Treasury Department states that the total amount of new taxes will range from $100 billion to $200 billion, or approximately $1,800 a year.

And despite the many promises to maintain "the most transparent White House in history", the cover-ups continue. The disclosed Treasury documents that outline the costs of the new energy taxes have several key figures blacked out.

For all the promises of "change", Barack Obama is a run-of-the-mill, double-talking politician who lies as effortlessly as he breathes.


Top Ten Bizarre Aspects of ObamaCare


With David Letterman back in the news, a top ten list is in order. Let's illustrate the panoply of weirdness that are the health care bills working their way through Congress.

10. Doctors who treat the oldest patients will be fined by the government: The government will create a "hit list" of doctors who are in the top 10% of Medicare costs per patient nationwide. Those doctors on the list automatically lose 5 percent of their total Medicare reimbursements, which are already abysmally low. Because the most aged patients are the most costly to treat, doctors will shy away from treating the oldest segment of the population for fear it will relegate them to the hit list. Put simply, this stricture will dramatically reduce access to health care for our most vulnerable seniors.

9. Democrats have combined free health care for illegal immigrants with measures to increase the number of illegals in this country: All GOP efforts to amend the health care bills to require a photo ID, a Social Security number and similar measures have been defeated on party lines. This is consistent with a June report ("If the American people found out...") that "[pro-illegal immigration group] La Raza said if they get this, they don't even care about amnesty, because they've fixed it so that one family member can apply for all extended family members."

8: Seniors will receive hefty tax hikes for care: Medical devices are taxed by the Baucus bill in order to raise about $4 billion annually. So much for the promises that the middle class won't see their taxes raised. These newly taxed devices include pacemakers, hip joint replacements, gastrointestinal tubes, artificial hearts, hearing aids, heart defibrillators, powered wheelchairs, etc. In other words, the taxes will hit seniors hardest, make procedures less affordable, and punish the device manufacturing sector.

7: Choose to self-insure? You'll face a year in prison: Joint Committee on Taxation Chief of Staff Tom Barthold [confirmed] the penalty for failing to pay the up to $1,900 fee for not buying health insurance: Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to a year in jail or a $25,000 penalty.

6: Taxes for everyone with health care insurance will increase: To pay for the $1 trillion cost of the bill, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi wants either an income surtax on the wealthy or higher taxes on "Cadillac" health plans (e.g., most comprehensive plans, including those of union members). Again -- so much for the promises that the middle class won't see their taxes raised.

5: Nearly half of all doctors would consider quitting if ObamaCare becomes law: Two out of three doctors oppose the bills under consideration in Washington. And hundreds of thousands of doctors would take an early retirement or shut down their practices if the bills become law. Lastly, "72% of the doctors polled disagree with the administration's claim that the government can cover 47 million more people with better-quality care at lower cost."

4: Health care companies are under a "gag order" and can not criticize the bill: In an absurdly illegal repudiation of the First Amendment, "the federal government has now told all companies that provide Medicare Advantage to seniors to stop communicating with their clients about the effects of that legislation — even telling them what they can and cannot post on their websites. This gag order [is] enforced through an agency of the federal government at the request of a Senator... Citizens, either as individuals or grouped together in companies, have a fundamental right to talk about legislation they favor or oppose. That is the core of the First Amendment’s protections on speech. Unfortunately, this is part of a troubling trend of efforts to dismiss the concerns raised by the American people over the past few months."

3: President Obama says that the health care bill is a job-creating stimulus package: The President stated that small businesses would especially benefit because they 'could buy health insurance through an exchange... 'where they can compare the price, quality and services of a wide variety of plans'... [and the] government would subsidize health insurance for many businesses and individuals."

2: 47% of households pay no taxes -- and their ranks are growing: Thus, government-run health care is the greatest wealth transfer in history. The 53% of tax-paying households will therefore subsidize the 47% who pay no taxes. And: with the "$787 billion economic recovery package, which included a host of new or expanded tax breaks," the 47% number is certain to grow.

1: By a margin of nearly 2-to-1, Americans don't even want government-run health care: Gallup's latest polling confirms what the 9/12 celebrations, the "tea parties" and other grassroots movements should be telling the bureaucrats in Washington. That is, "89% of Republicans, 64% of independents, and 61% of Americans overall say Americans themselves -- rather than the government -- have the primary responsibility for ensuring that they have health insurance."

That won't stop the Statists, of course, so vote accordingly in 2010.


Linked by: Maggie's Farm. Thanks!

Larwyn's Linx: Unexpected outgrowths of the Tea Party movement

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

Nation

Now will Congress investigate ACORN?: Tapscott
Doctors for America and OFA: RBO
Unexpected outgrowths of the Tea Party movement: AT (Marcus)

Obama: Any Real Accomplishments?: Gormogons
The Weatherman who helped author ObamaCare: PJM
Free speech? St. Louis U. bans speaker: Atlas

Economy

Nationalizing health care will stimulate the economy?: GWP
The O's violated the three rules of selling: AT (Wright)
Early retirements mean unemployment is worse that 9.8%: Surber

Name Stimulus 2.0: Surber

Media

Hollywood's Moral Compass: Steyn
Where are Obama's old girlfriends?: iSteve
NYT scrubs O-fail article of Prez and Rahm quotes: Weasel Zippers

Why Garafalo's comments are dangerous: JWF
Daily Scoreboard: Surber
Rooting against Terre Haute 2020: LegalIns

Mark Levin and Dennis Miller class up the joint: Treacher

Climate & Energy

People In Climate Denial? Ramp Up The Fear Factor!: STACLU

World

Will Tiny Israel Save the World?: Anchoress
While Obama slept: AT (White)
America's standing abroad: a political puzzle: AT (Feldman)

Danish news: Obama's arrogance turned off IOC: GWP
Obama helping Putin restitch Iron Curtain: Steyn
Good; maybe the little rat will wipe himself off the map: Fausta

Shariah is the enemy, not Afghanistan: Examiner
Ahmadinejad 10, Obama 0: JWF

Cornucopia

Paperback cover of Death from the Skies: Discover
More videos of Letterman mocking others for infidelity: BlogProf

Join Us, Comrades!


It would be funny if it weren't so accurate.


In all seriousness, the relationship between Ayers and our beloved President couldn't be weirder.


Action Jackson's RV


Squob has some outstanding coverage of the Action Mobil MAN. It's kinda like the Hummer of RVs. The price? Read on.

[Imagine] thundering down a Siberian forest road at dusk, piloting a six-wheel-drive expedition vehicle at irresponsible speeds. With DJ Hell’s My Definition of House tearing up the subwoofer.

For this, one needs an Action Mobil.

The new Globecruiser model—first picture below—fits the bill nicely. Due for a shakedown trip to Africa in April 2009, it’s based on the MAN TGA 6×6 platform—as occasionally used by Unicat, that other purveyor of expedition excess... Motive power comes from a giant 783ci turbodiesel, which pumps out a very healthy 388 kW. (Actually, make that a fairly healthy 388 kW—this mill doesn’t meet the latest EURO 5 regulations, but EURO 3 isn’t too bad considering.)

The two fuel tanks hold 219 gallons. A refill costs enough to put an Icelandic bank out of business, but if you can afford the Globecruiser’s €490,000 ($670,000) sticker price, you can afford $800 at the pump...

I'll bet with the economic meltdown and all, you could get 'em down to $650K.

Via: The invaluable American Digest.

Saturday, October 03, 2009

Top Ten Reasons David Letterman Was Boinking His Staffers


10. Wanted to be known as the Eliot Spitzer of late night television
9. Helped overcome the bullying I received over my bizarre, gap-tooth grin
8. Paul Schaffer's fault: it was a bet over who could boink more underlings
7. As heir to the Letterman Condom fortune, I'm required to do all of the testing
6. Without this incident, my biography was too boring for an E True Hollywood Story
5. Hot Fresh Delivery isn't just for pizza!
4. Had to show Todd Palin who's boss
3. Would you believe... I thought this was an episode of "Punk'd"?
2. Does the phrase "stimulus package" ring a bell?
1. I thought Bubba Clinton legalized this years ago


With apologies to: David Letterman's Top Ten Eliot Spitzer Excuses.

Last Gasp of the Philadelphia Inquirer: Democrat Hack Karen Heller Defends ACORN's Last Spit of Turf Like Custer at Little Big Horn


The Philadelphia Inquirer filed for bankruptcy earlier this year because you can download Democrat Party press releases for free at dnc.org. But party shill and journalist Karen Heller never got the memo. She's too busy reading the "conservative media" that dominates today's reporting.

In today's edition of the Inquirer, Heller defends ACORN from the "conservative 'media echo chamber' [that] successfully 'framed' ACORN coverage last year."

Who are these evil, awful ACORN people conservatives keep attacking? Grandmothers and great-grandmothers like Junette Marcano and Miriam McKnight, organizers of the West Oak Lane branch.

Do the ends justify the means, Karen?

Aside from its illegal, "non-profit" agenda of getting liberals elected, ACORN works ceaselessly to advance progressive efforts that ultimately harm the urban poor.

They lobby to increase the minimum wage, which destroys teen employment opportunities. They work against school choice, which would benefit the children of the urban poor. They erode the integrity of our electoral process through a pattern of corrupt activities, which are under investigation in 14 states and criminally charged in Nevada for voter fraud.

And, as an added bonus, ACORN played a substantial role in the mortgage meltdown by working to systematize "liar's loans" for the poor and indigent. These "no doc, no proof of citizenship, no proof of income" loans were the toxic chemicals swirling through the circulatory system of the financial world.

Acorn led the way in this movement. In 1986, for instance, it protested a potential acquisition by Louisiana Bancshares, a Southern institution, until the bank agreed to new, "flexible credit and underwriting standards" for minority borrowers which included counting public assistance and food stamps as income in mortgage applications.

Acorn also put pressure on the two quasi-government purchasers of mortgages, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to lower their standards, complaining that they were "strictly by-the-book interpreters" who stood in the way of new lending programs. Under pressure both organizations committed to backing billions of dollars in affordable housing loans under so-called "alternative qualifying" programs which approved loans to individuals who didn't qualify under traditional standards, including those who agreed to go to mortgage counseling classes run by community groups like Acorn...

...Under pressure from these threats, the trade group that represented mortgage bankers announced an agreement with HUD to sharply boost lending in low-income areas. These mortgage bankers... agreed to "voluntarily" help develop new mortgage products with laxer underwriting standards. The first member of the trade group to sign onto the new program was Countrywide Financial, which partnered with Fannie Mae to commit to $2.5 billion in lending in minority communities under new, lower standards.

Put simply ACORN was at the very heart of the financial crisis.

But Heller purposefully omits these points and instead highlights all of the good work that ACORN's done.

...critics seem infuriated by ACORN's voter-registration efforts in economically disadvantaged communities, among Latinos and people of color, folks who tend to vote Democratic. ACORN reports registering nearly 1.7 million voters in the 2004 and 2006 elections, and 1.3 million voters last year, 144,000 in Pennsylvania, more than half in Philadelphia.

Interestingly, Heller conveniently redacts the fact that ACORN produced at least 400,000 bogus voter registrations in 2008 alone.

When angry, embittered, increasingly disenfranchised people don't like what they see, they smear opponents by questioning their legitimacy, politics, methods, and goals. ACORN has been targeted by Berman & Co., a Washington outfit known for "Astroturf lobbying," launching fake grassroots efforts through Web sites, protests, and dubious front organizations funded by corporate clients.

Nice slur, Hackler, but I've never heard of "Berman & Co." and I suspect 99% of those investigating ACORN haven't either.

No, you partisan shill, taxpayers are rightfully angered that tens of millions of their dollars have been deposited into the bank accounts of a partisan criminal enterprise, the sole goal of which appears to be undermining the integrity of our elections.

So go collect your final paycheck, Heller, and then report to the DNC for your first day of work. They need someone to fax press releases to other dying newspapers in the Midwest.

Larwyn's Linx: Palin's Revenge: Who's Laughing Now?

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

Nation

Obama 'Safe Schools Czar' Lauded NAMBLA Defender: Tapscott
Hispanic Caucus calls for ending crime-fighting program: CNS
Palin's Revenge: Who's Laughing Now?: AT (Wright)

Senate panel close to moving health bill to floor vote: Times
ACORN Prosecutions Coast to Coast: PJM (Feldman)

Economy

Why Big Government Doesn’t Work: Doc Zero
The Conscience of a Capitalist: WSJ (Mackey)
DeMint: Social Security Trust Fund Is a Lie: Pundette

If I had told you, would you have believed?: AT (Sussman)
The Young and the Jobless: WSJ
Michigan Unemployment Heatmap: BlogProf

Media

Charles Payne: How Democrats Destroy African-American Communities: Greenroom
Obama Slams America Again During Plea to IOC: GWP
Comedy Gold: CNN in disbelief as Chicago is eliminated: Hot Air

Media Malpractice: Ayers authorship of Dreams suppressed: AT (Simpson)
Dog the Wags: AT (Fardal)
Shocked TV Journalists Absolve Obama, Insist IOC Rebuke Won't Hurt President: NewsBusters

Quotes o' the Day: Hot Air
The Sullied Savior Blames Bush: AT (DeAngelis)
Roger Ebert's Attack on Obama Critics: Newsalert

Climate & Energy

Obama Aide Concedes Climate Law Must Wait: Gray Lady
Warmal Colding in Michigan: BlogProf

World

Obama Rolled by Iranians: LegalIns
Dem Leaders Remind Honduran Officials That They Still Stand With Castro & Chavez: GWP
Code Pink Pinheads Shocked to Find Afghans Want U.S. to Stay: GWP

Obama "Failed" in Copenhagen, Unmasking Ego, Weakness: ABC
FBI Director: Al Qaeda-Linked Somali Group Could Attack U.S.: Fox
The Olympic Fiasco: Hanson

Did the Obamas cost Chicago an Olympics?: Surber
The Ego Has Landed: PJM (Belmont)
The Olympics, Obama, and the Permanent Campaign: RCP (Cost)

IOC: staffed by racists: BrutHon
Hopenhagen: Grand Rants
Net World Order Alert: Soylent Green (Language warning)

SciTech

The U.S. Abandons the Internet: WSJ

Cornucopia

Psssst! Want this shirt?: Cube
Is it Over?: Michelle's Mirror
Human Survival Guide: Sarah Schneider

Top 10 Reasons Chicago Didn't Get the Olympics [Rich Lowry]

10. Dead people can't vote at IOC meetings
9. Obama distracted by 25 min meeting with Gen. McChrystal
8. Who cares if Obama couldn't talk the IOC into Chicago? He'll be able to talk Iran out of nukes.
7. The impediment is Israel still building settlements.
6. Obviously no president would have been able to acomplish it.
5. We've been quite clear and said all along that we didn't want the Olympics.
4. This isn't about the number of Olympics "lost", it's about the number of Olympics "saved" or "created".
3. Clearly not enough wise Latina judges on the committee
2. Because the IOC is racist.
1. It's George Bush's fault.

Friday, October 02, 2009

Gentlemen, start your engines


Dan from New York writes:

A gentle reminder. The hour is growing late.


(New and Improved. Lower Profile, Better Mileage, Room For More Stuff.)



Cancel the O-Lympic Pins, T-Shirts and Coffee Mugs! Now!!!


Oh, to have seen Michelle's facial expression when she got word that Chi-town got dissed!

And I don't mean to put a damper on the festivities, but has anyone seen Valerie Jarrett?


Oh no! My Bank of America account has been suspended!


Even though it's one of the lamest phishing attempts of all time, this missive made it through Google's sophisticated spam filters:

Oh, gee -- Bank of America is using an IP address and not a domain name. And they're using clear-text and not SSL (HTTPS).

It's a pity I don't have a BofA account, because I would enter my creds like *snap* that!


Taxpayers Need a "Predictable Flat Rate" from the Damn Post Office


The Senate just granted the United States Postal Service a $4 billion reprieve, which will allow "the postal service to maintain fiscal stability while [meeting] commitments [to] employees and customers."

The bureaucrats forgot to mention any commitments to the taxpayers. Little things, like turning a frickin' profit, for instance.

Every week, the USPS pays 45,000 hours (at around $50 an hour fully loaded) for "standby time", which is code for hanging out while surfing the web or sleeping. That's around $120 million a year for nada. Bupkis. Zippo. What a great deal for the taxpayers: they could be paying a quarter of a billion in "standby time", so they're doing us a favor!

Or consider the genius of the Post Office's new "Priority Mail Flat Rate" service. Anything you can jam into a box, no matter how much it weighs, gets shipped for the same, flat rate. Uranium? Lead? Paperweights? Can do! Of course, it doesn't seem likely that this delightful new service will ever turn a profit. That's not the point. It's the effort. And it's for the children. Or something. All while losing billions on your tab.

The post office is a perfect metaphor for the Obama administration: a bureaucratic nightmare that is hemorrhaging money like nobody's business, suckling at the teat of the taxpayer, while trying to convince you that the money was well spent.

Hey! I've got a great idea! Let's call the new health care service PostalCare™. I think that captures the spirit of the crap sandwich the Democrats are trying to stuff down the taxpayers' throats, sight unseen.


Larwyn's Linx: Beyond the Near Horizon

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

Nation

The 'Noble' Sacrifice of Michelle Obama: Malkin
Reagan’s Unfinished Agenda: Potent brew for Tea Parties?: NRO
The WSJ Guide to ObamaCare: WSJ

ACORN ‘Advisors’ Have Stake in its 'Success': BigGov
Beyond the Near Horizon: Doc Zero
Doctors: Damned If They Do, More Damned If They Don't: AT (Schwimmer)

The President's 'Go-to Guy': Patrick Gaspard: NewZeal
AWF: Ill. Gov. Invades Privacy of State’s Citizens: STACLU

Economy

Confirmed: Stimulus Spending Didn't Work: GWP
Senate Dems: 10% Medicaid Error Rate is Just Fine: BigGov
Obama's Deficit: The Devil Made Me Do It: AT (Hall)

Stimulus Money Killed MI Budget Reform: BlogProf
Food Fight: An Unappetizing Development: AT (Thomas)
Study: Private Ford Set To Surpass GM By 2012: BlogProf

Media

Anne Applebaum: Telling the Whole Truth Now Would Be Too Confusing: Patterico
Beck punks O: Double Plus Undead
Roman Polanski Explains How to Pick Up 15 Year Olds: Ace

Consumer Reports' Massive Fail: LegalIns
Variety: Letterman Admits Blackmail Plot Against Him Over Sex With Staffers: Ace
How Much Moore Can We Take?: AT (Spivey)

Beck: The War Obama Will Fight: B&R
WaPo: President Wrong, ObamaCare will cut benefits for seniors: Marathon
Another Hero in Arlington: TigerHawk

Climate & Energy

The Man Who Broke the Bank: PJM
Governor of Tokyo: 2016 Olympic Games could be the last because of global warming: Fausta
Obama's Interior Department faces big decision on Alaska oil: WSJ

Gore Absolutely Loves the Green Stuff: KnoxNews
Rent-Seekers, Inc.: Climate-change legislation hurts America: WSJ

World

The Greatest Afghan War: Yon
Is the Obama Administration Supporting U.N. Calls to Outlaw Supposed Hate Speech?: Volokh
Afghanistan: Obama's Inaction speaks louder than words: AT (Tate)

In Every Generation: AT (Sharpe)
Kerry and Obama Block DeMint Honduras Trip: Riehl
The Administration Finds Another Dictatorship to Appease; Makes Friends with Sudan: Rubin

The Dirty Little Secret About the 'Palestinians': PJM (Dann)

SciTech

Toon o' the Day: Funding NASA: Day by Day
Two Hubble Stunners!: Discover
This photo is lying to you: Outside

Czar seeks 'chilling effect' on internet: AT (Cary)

Cornucopia

The Only Known Video of Anne Frank: Daily Mail (UK)

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Bombshell ACORN legal memo confirms depths of legal troubles


Matthew Vadum, who has performed yeoman's work on the sordid gang called ACORN, today revealed a bombshell memo written by ACORN's lawyers little more than 15 months ago. The attorneys instructed ACORN to begin cleaning up its massive mess or "face certain catastrophe". What did ACORN do instead?

It chose to do nothing.

The advice from Elizabeth Kingsley of Harmon, Curran, Spielberg Eisenberg LLP came in the form of an eerily prophetic legal memo to ACORN dated June 19, 2008, the day before ACORN’s national board fired disgraced founder Wade Rathke.

The memo is a kind of Holy Grail for ACORN researchers. One source of mine keeps a copy in a safety deposit box. I’ve lost track of how many people have asked me over the last year if I knew how to get ahold of it. One source told me that there are many people who would “kill” to gain possession of it. This is a bit of an exaggeration perhaps, but not much.

Having read this categorically damning memo, I now understand what all the fuss is about.

Full story on the ACORN memo is at American Spectator, here.

As they say in pro-blogger land, RTWT.


Keeping your doctor under ObamaCare: yes, it's just this easy


Courtesy of the Senate Joint Economic Committee comes this chart, entitled "Keeping your doctor under the Senate Finance Proposal" (click to zoom):


What could possibly go wrong with this elegant design?