Sunday, October 18, 2009

Important Notice for Dog Owners


Dave W. writes:

Please read!



If you are an owner of a dog that belongs to a 'dangerous breed' category and you also have a child or a visiting small child please take this as a warning.


Don't leave your dog with a small child unattended under any circumstances!


Only one little moment was enough for the following to happen.


See the photo below.





America in the Age of Obama


Dan from New York writes:

They said after Bush left office we'd find out we were flirting with soft fascism. And they were right!

WSJ, 10/17/09

Rush Limbaugh: The Race Card, Football and Me


...intimidation tactics are working and spreading, and they are a cancer on our society.

WSJ, 10/17/09

Professors of the World, Unite?


Wisconsin tests whether profs will be thinkers or unionists.

YNET, 10/17/09

At Elite US College, Olmert Shouted Down by Leftwing Pro-Hamas Crowd


Former PM dubbed 'fascist,' 'war criminal' by students during University of Chicago speech


Larwyn's Linx: Not One Reform Goal is Met by Harkin, Baucus Bills

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. You can also install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget..

Nation

Not one goal of health reform is met by Harkin or Baucus bills: NRO
Clean Up Your Own Mess, Mr. President: LegalIns
Barack Obama's Anti-Semitic Website: BigGov

Al Sharpton, You're Fired!: AT
Academia goes silent on free speech: WSJ
Barack Obama: A Man Apart: PJM

Splitting ObamaCare to Fool the Public: AT
Health Czar Emanuel: We Must Deny Care to Elderly, Disabled: Examiner
Scozzafava Struggles for Support in NY23: PJM

Obama DOJ supports the illegal immigrant vote (again): STACLU

Economy

Union President Turns On Obama over Health Care: Dollard
"In a Banana Republic, You Never Know": Power Line
Unions pay members $11/hr. for staged ObamaCare rally: BMW

Bertha Lewis’s “Sista From Another Mista,” Randi Weingarten: BigGov
Obamaconomy: Has TEOTWAWKI gone mainstream?: TigerHawk

Media

NYT: Fox News Winner in Fight With Obama: NewsBusters
Limbaugh Bad, Mao Good: Steyn
Cop Kill Apologist Canned by Fox: AIM

Happy Days! NYT Says Recession is Over!: AT
A Protest at UNO: SIGIS
Sharpton threatens to sue Limbaugh: Ace

“I Admit It. I Want My Reality Back”: Driscoll
HuffPo Death Watch: Fausta
Warren Ballentine Tells Juan Williams to "Go back to the porch!": AmDig

Murdoch To White House: Thanks For The Ratings, Chumps!: STACLU
The AP: The Original 'Birthers': JWF
Can we talk? Blogging for profit: S. Weasel

Climate & Energy

CO2 driven global warming is not supported by the data: AT
Perfect: CBO chief says Cap-and-Trade would slow economy: BlogProf

World

Pakistan launches massive assault on Taliban: Wizbang
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commanders Assassinated: TAB
Maybe the Olympic Committee wants a do-over: JWF

Why I Take Ahmadinejad’s Money: PJM (Gould)
Palestinian Prime Minister Rejects "Mickey Mouse" State: Rubin

Sci-Tech

How to raise good cholesterol, lower bad cholesterol: BlogProf
Guess which planet or satellite this is: TAB
Tweaking Vista: Maggie's Farm

Cornucopia

That Viral Drunk Video: Ace
Top 10 Most Expensive Accidents in History: BuzzInn
Al's Song: Asian Correspondent

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Health insurers "deceptive and dishonest": Obama


Dan from New York:

Health insurers "deceptive and dishonest": Obama


WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama lashed out on Saturday against the "deceptive and dishonest" efforts of health insurance companies, who he said are trying to kill healthcare reform, no matter the cost to the country.

Sharpening his attack on insurers, Obama also signaled support for a congressional review of the insurance industry's long-standing exemption from federal anti-trust laws. [emphasis mine and hopefully unnecessary] Some Democrats want the privilege repealed.

###

Our president's message couldn't be louder or clearer: "Dare to defy me and I'll turn the power of my government against you and destroy you." This guy is turning out to be some piece of work, isn't he? And we're just beginning to get to know him.



The Most Detestable and Menacing Political Hack in Washington


Well, there are a lot to choose from, but one in particular is the sleaziest of the lot. That would be none other than Chuckie "Welfare Queen" Schumer, senior dirtbag from New York.

He's called "Welfare Queen" seeing as how he never held a real job in his life. So "Welfare Queen" it is. And I do hear that's the nickname he prefers.

And, according to Beltway insiders, the most dangerous place in the district is between Schumer and a camera. So... given the publicity surrounding the health care debate, Schumer's willingly acted as one of the most visible proxies for the National Socialist Democrat agenda.

[Schumer's] moves in the health-care game have been carefully strategized with the Obama White House, particularly Schumer's close ally from the 2006 electoral wars, Rahm Emanuel. So Schumer's tough talk last week about Democrats being prepared to pass a health-care bill without any Republican support was seen as delivering a message from Obama... [and] ...he's on record unequivocally promising to deliver a Senate health-care package that includes a public option

You see, Schumer doesn't believe in the Constitution. The First Amendment (talk radio)... the Second Amendment (the right to bear arms)... he doesn't believe in due process, when it comes to conservatives (only for terrorists)... he doesn't believe in property rights... or the Tenth Amendment...

So why would anyone listen to a man who rejects the majority of the Bill of Rights?

To show you what a sleazebag Schumer is, he said Sunday he is fleshing out plans to use a backdoor process to ram socialized medicine down the throats of the American people.

In the last week, Democrats have begun to talk openly of using a procedure known as budget reconciliation to pass a health bill in the Senate with a simple majority, assuming no Republican support. To do that, under Senate rules, they would probably need to show that the public plan changed federal spending or revenues and that the effects were not “merely incidental” to the changes in health policy...

Now the reconciliation process is supposed to be a procedural process to work out differences between a Senate bill and a House bill. And he wants to abuse that process in order to get around the 60-vote filibuster rule in the Senate.

He wants to use that process to pass through massive, substantive legislation to transform 20% of our entire economy and turn it into an authoritarian, Soviet-style bureaucracy controlled by... Democrats. So Schumer wants to use a sleight-of-hand procedure so it isn't stopped by the normal legislative process.

Now consider: Schumer led the effort -- for the first time in American history -- to use the filibuster to thwart GOP judicial nominees! Such a sleazy move, it had never been attempted in American history! And over and over and over again, Schumer used the 60-vote requirement against the GOP majority. He used Senate rules to trump the Constitution.

Now, where Senate rules can legitimately be applied to the legislative process -- as opposed to the nomination and confirmation process --

You need 60 votes -- those are the rules that have been in place for decades!

Schumer says, "let's get around the filibuster for legislation using the reconciliation process", so all we need is 51 votes.

And when it comes to judges, he promoted and used the filibuster, an unconstitutional and unprecedented maneuver, time and time again.

But when it comes to legislation, he wants to bypass the rules of the Senate and slam massive bills through the reconciliation process.

So you want to see the face of tyranny in the Senate? Where it doesn't matter who wins office, a man who will use any means -- constitutional or not -- to drive a tryannical agenda? Whether a representative government matters or not? With a complete disrespect for the legislative process and the American people?

You want to see the face of tyranny? In the United States Senate, it's the despicable and loathsome Chuckie "Welfare Queen" Schumer.

Go ahead and forward this to his offices and I'll see you in the reeducation camps.


Based upon: the Mark Levin Show, (download the MP3 here).

The New Democrat Health Care Posters Are Here!



Hat tip: Soylent Green.

Fascism, Defined


Wiktionary defines the word fascism as follows:



A political regime, usually totalitarian...

...ideologically based on centralized government...

...government control of business...

...repression of criticism or opposition...

...a leader cult...

...and exalting the state and/or religion above individual rights.


Too harsh? Too "right wing"? I just relayed the definition. Any conceptual linkages between the words and images are the responsibilities of the reader.



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

Linked by: InstaPundit, Patterico, Linkiest and Tim Blair. Thanks!

Eye-Catching Billboards












Hat tip: Randall.

ACORN's supporters and comrades



South Park Studios: ACORN (Definitely NSFW)


Larwyn's Linx: A Question of Faith

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

Nation

A Question of Faith: Doc Zero
Obama Hope Artist Admits to Scam: Riehl
ACORN rolls along, business as usual: NewsBusters

Hundreds protest Obama at Texas A&M: GWP
What should be in ObamaCare (but won't be): NRO
A Baker's Dozen: Palin Was Right: Texas4Palin

An ACORN-Friendly, Union-Backing, Tax-Spend RINO: Malkin
Judy Biggert Goes After ACORN: Sun-Times
I Am Republican: Black Republican

Feds make new ICE pact with Sheriffs: Times
ACORN's woes strain its ties to Democrats: Gray Lady
I thought we were supposed to shut up and get out of the way?: AT

She came not to bury Mao, but to praise him: Commentary
Law professors snubbed Northern Command: BMW
There's a Maoist in the White House: Marathon

Economy

'Furlough Fridays' Sickening Reminder of Teachers Union Priorities: BigGov
The Gravy Train of Economic Inequality: PJM
Barney Frank, Predatory Lender: WSJ

FY 2009 Federal Deficit Terrifyingly Huge: Ace
Creigh Deed's Union Label: WSJ
Liberal Editor Suggests Making the Recession ‘Worse’: CNS

Dems Promised 2.5M Stimulus Jobs. We got 30K and Lost Millions Instead: GWP
Animation: Job Creation and Destruction, Regionally, Over the Past 5 Years: Ace
Commercial Real Estate Next Big ‘Shoe to Drop’: BMW

Media

The Search for the Wikipedia Libelist: AT (Alter)
4 ESPN stories on Limbaugh; 0 mentions of NFLPU Dem Hack: BlogProf
Going Rogue for $9: Surber

Rush in the WSJ: AT
Boston Globe Columnist Is Right: America Sucks: PJM
Systemic Black Enslavement: BlogProf

Glenn Reynolds' Quote o' the Day: BlogProf

Climate & Energy

Drill baby drill: Palin
Carbon: Passive rider on the Earth/Space Machine: AT

World

How Turkey Was Lost: Glick
Palestine problem hopeless, but not serious: Spengler
Socialized Medicine: 1 in 8 NHS Hospitals to Close: Surber

Debacle in Moscow: Hammer
10 Questions to Ask About Radical Muslims: Hamid

Sci-Tech

Google sparks e-books fight with Kindle : G&M
Is A Smoking Vaccine On The Horizon?: Hospitalist
The Cloud Ate Your Data: PJM

Cornucopia

True Nature of Women: Hoosierboy

The truth is that private enterprise is always less of a gamble than government programs, because it’s much easier to control or terminate a private contract. Government programs are eternal – even the worst of them are extremely difficult to kill. It’s hard enough to simply reduce their budgets… in fact, it can be brutally difficult to reduce the rate of increase in their budgets. I’ve always found it absurd when liberals present private-sector plans as “risky schemes,” when Big Government is the real gamble, and you’re chained to the card table while it deals busted flushes. --Doc Zero.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Cussing in Church


Dave sent this one in:

A crusty old man walks into the local Baptist Church and says to the secretary:

"I would like to join this damn church."

The astonished woman replies, "I beg your pardon, sir. I must have misunderstood you. What did you say?"

"Listen up, damn it! I said I want to join this damn church!"

"I'm very sorry sir, but that kind of language is not tolerated in this church."

The secretary leaves her desk and goes into the pastor's study to inform him of her situation.

The pastor agrees that the secretary does not have to listen to that sort of foul language. They both return to her office and the pastor asks the old geezer:

"Sir, what seems to be the problem here?"

"There is no damn problem," the man says.

"I just won $200 million bucks in the damn lottery and I want to join this damn church to get rid of some of this damn money."

===================================

"I see," said the pastor. "And is this b**** giving you a hard time?"

Cue the rim-shot.


2010 Ford Taurus SHO pricing...


Yes, the Ford Taurus SHO has twenties. Voice-activated navigation.

A 12-speaker Sony sound system. Heated front and rear seats.

A rear-view camera. All-wheel drive.

HIDs. 365 horsepower.

What's the sticker?

Ouch! Damn, don't these guys know there's a repression on?


Nick Scott


Amazing photo essay.

If you're not inspired by that, you don't have a soul.


Foreclosures: Third quarter was "the worst three months of all time"


Stimulating news from CNN (via The Big Picture): it was the "worst three months of all time" for foreclosures:

Despite concerted government-led and lender-supported efforts to prevent foreclosures, the number of filings hit a record high in the third quarter, according to a report issued Thursday... "They were the worst three months of all time," said Rick Sharga, spokesman for RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosed homes.

During that time, 937,840 homes received a foreclosure letter -- whether a default notice, auction notice or bank repossession, the RealtyTrac report said. That means one in every 136 U.S. homes were in foreclosure, which is a 5% increase from the second quarter and a 23% jump over the third quarter of 2008.

Nevada continued to be the worst-hit state with one filing for every 23 households...

CNN also deserves applause as it is among the first mainstream outlet to report upon the "shadow inventory" (so termed by the exceptional Doctor Housing Bubble):

...in some low-price markets, lenders simply aren't following through on foreclosures, according to Jim Rokakis, treasurer for Cuyahoga County, Ohio, which includes Cleveland.

"They'll even set the date for the sheriff's sale, but they don't file the final papers," he said. "They hold it in abeyance and let the residents stay in the house."

The impact of the shadow inventory has yet to be felt. The Doctor states that California's Multiple Listing Service (MLS) lists 60,000 homes in its database. But there are 100,000 homes in the shadow inventory: mortgages that have been foreclosed upon, but not recognized formally by banks.

Why aren't banks taking action?

Karl Denninger explains:

Banks have every incentive to drag their feet in both recognizing that loans are delinquent and thus to prosecute foreclosure in the first place, but also, once that has occurred, they have every incentive to hold properties off the market - the so-called "shadow inventory" - to avoid recognizing losses that have already occurred...

...The bottom line here folks is as I have been hollering about for over two years: Banks and other institutions are carrying paper at FAR beyond its reasonable fair-market value - or that which it will EVER realize under any reasonable set of assumptions going forward.

Bluntly, we have institutionalized accounting fraud and the so-called "regulators" that are supposed to put a stop to and even prosecute these acts are willfully and intentionally ignoring them. The cities and towns across America are the big losers where these practices cause blight through intentional neglect while these "banks" claim to be in far better financial condition than is in fact the case...

Virtually everyone, including our regulators, has recognized the infirmity of these practices and written about it - newspapers, bloggers like myself, and even the OTS... Yet nothing has been done - not by The Fed, not by Congress, not by OTS and not by the FBI, even though accounting fraud is in fact a felony.

Put simply, the banks appear to be hiding their losses through a willful failure to take the losses.

And what entity was responsible for a whopping two-thirds of all bad mortgages? The federal government.

Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal's Peter J. Wallison offered a flabbergasting statistic: Almost two-thirds of all bad mortgages in our financial system were bought by government agencies or required by government regulations.

Who wanted these dicey loans? The data shows that the principal buyers were insured banks, government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the FHA—all government agencies or private companies forced to comply with government mandates about mortgage lending. When Fannie and Freddie were finally taken over by the government in 2008, more than 10 million subprime and other weak loans were either on their books or were in mortgage-backed securities they had guaranteed. An additional 4.5 million were guaranteed by the FHA and sold through Ginnie Mae before 2008, and a further 2.5 million loans were made under the rubric of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), which required insured banks to provide mortgage credit to home buyers who were at or below 80% of median income...

Thus, almost two-thirds of all the bad mortgages in our financial system, many of which are now defaulting at unprecedented rates, were bought by government agencies or required by government regulations.

...[Why?] The answer, of course, is that it was government policy for these poor quality loans to be made. Since the early 1990s, the government has been attempting to expand home ownership in full disregard of the prudent lending principles that had previously governed the U.S. mortgage market. Now the motives of the GSEs fall into place. Fannie and Freddie were subject to "affordable housing" regulations, issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which required them to buy mortgages made to home buyers who were at or below the median income. This quota began at 30% of all purchases in the early 1990s, and was gradually ratcheted up until it called for 55% of all mortgage purchases to be "affordable" in 2007, including 25% that had to be made to low-income home buyers...

All that being said, what is even more shocking is that Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) are still leading their respective Financial Services committees.

The Lord must have a sense of humor.



Update: "The Ongoing Cover Up of the Truth Behind the Financial Crisis May Lead to Another Crash".

Larwyn's Linx: Only 43% Would Vote For Obama Now

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

Nation

Obama Tanks: Only 43% Would Vote For Him Now: GWP
DOD to end preemptive strike doctrine: CJ
Confusions of the Age: PJM (Hanson)

Hate Crime Versus Free Speech: Reason
Obama DOL Covers-Up Big Labor Bosses’ Perks: BigGov
Hush Money to Seniors?: AT

Reid: Tort Reform 'Nothing' Compared to $2T Health Bill: BlogProf
Obama's Safe Schools Czar Knew Hay Was a Child Perp: GWP
Time to probe Countrywide mortgage loans to lawmakers: Examiner

Where is the National Voter Fraud Investigation of ACORN?: AT
Poll: Buyer's Remorse Setting In: Pundette
Jihadis in the House: Scooter

Economy

Seeing Red (Ink): PJM (Blumer)
Disaster: Stimulus Analysis Finds Only 30K Jobs Saved: BlogProf
Government Pensions: The Next Looming Crisis: PJM (Ott)

Stimulating! Worst three months of foreclosure ever: CNN
Reason TV: Whole Foods CEO on Business and Free Markets: InstaPundit
Constant Dollar Dow: InstaPundit

Media

Who has control of your TV set?: BigHollywood
Lunatic Sheila Jackson-Lee Bashes Rush on House Floor (No other pressing matters): NewsBusters
Limbaugh Targeted By Obama Official: AT

The Tolerant Left: Limbaugh as Hitler: LegalIns
Interview with Mark Levin: Talkers Magazine (PDF)
Rush on Busted Rams Bid: 'Obama's America On Full Display': GWP

Oh, grow up, Keith "Strap-On" Olbermann: Christwire
Obama in Wonderland: Travis
Stopping the Rush: SoccerDad

NYT telegraphs lib media strategies: AT
Clooney Decries Fallen Media Standards: S&L

Climate & Energy

Lindsay Graham is Senate's densest Republican: Examiner
How does Reuters spin GROWING Arctic ice? By reporting on 'predictions' of an ice free Arctic: Depot
Monckton: Obama To Cede U.S. Sovreignty Via AGW Treaty: CBullitt

Who Else Will Challenge Gore's 'Truth'?: IBD
Hungry Like the Enviro-Trial Lawyer: Examiner

World

Obama loosens missile technology controls to China: Times
Anatomy of a Swedish Blood Libel: WSJ
The Peacenik Gets a Lesson: Times

Barry honey, can we talk about Afghanistan?: AT (Shiver)
CAIR: the Muslim Mafia Exposed: PJM (Chesler)
Barack Obama: 'Oh, did I mention I won the Nobel prize?': Telegraph

Sci-Tech

IAB to FTC: Dump the new blogger rules: CNet
Happy GOOG Days Are Here Again: CNet

Cornucopia

Three Stages of a Man's Life: Denny
Meghan McCain's Boobs: RSM

Here, via WaPo, is the standard-issue pop culture explanation for the newest round of peace process failures. Note that the word "Iran" never appears in the story because it complicates the simple storyline the "keep 'em dumb" media wants us to memorize. But even a graduate of journalism school ought to realize Israelis won't be in the mood for major decisions on the Palestinian track until they find out whether or not they are going to live under the Mullah's nuclear thumb going forward. They'll know soon enough. And if the answer is yes, Israel will undergo wrenching social, political and military changes that will push the "peace process" from the back burner to the back shelf.

Yet, I suppose the WaPo story is useful reading, if only to illustrate that even with the weight of the entire Western world, and many Israelis, operating behind canards and falsehoods, there remains some insurmountable dynamic that frustrates the Nations' attempts to impose their will on the Land of Israel.

Amen. -- Dan from New York

Thursday, October 15, 2009

I - N - S - A - N - I - T - Y


Politicians in Washington keep telling us that it is the financial system that needs regulation.

What Washington won't tell you is that the greatest risk to our economic system lies not with Wall Street. It lies with the federal government's catastrophic debt -- and the wounded U.S. dollar -- inflicted upon us by the very same politicians scapegoating the financial services industry.

About half of the federal budget must be paid for by borrowing money from foreigners, primarily from China. This behavior has frightened global investors and severely weakened the dollar.

In June, the Congressional Budget Office warned that the "federal budget is on an unsustainable path -- meaning that federal debt will continue to grow much faster than the economy... [and] Rising costs for health care and the aging of the U.S. population will cause federal spending to increase rapidly..."

"... Large budget deficits [will lead] to more borrowing from abroad and less domestic investment, which in turn would depress income growth... The accumulation of debt would seriously harm the economy. [Or] if spending grew as projected and taxes were raised in tandem, tax rates would have to reach levels never seen in the United States [95%]."

Yet the same federal bureaucrats who decry the financial system are themselves addicted to spending far beyond their means. But why would they care? They will be long gone by the time their bills will come due.

Dichotomy: outside the U.S., the "biggest story in the world economy is the continuing fall of the U.S. dollar" (Wall Street Journal); while inside the U.S., the mainstream media gleefully markets the proposition that that Congress' "Baucus Bill" is cost-neutral.

Even before the health care bill becomes law, $9.3 trillion of new deficit spending was added to the national debt. The Baucus Bill supposedly gets its cost neutrality by slashing Medicare ($400 billion) and raising taxes on health care insurance premiums (another $400 billion).

But the mainstream media forgot to tell you that even the CBO doesn't trust its own numbers! The head of the CBO wrote Baucus, telling him that -- if Congress failed to cut Medicare (highly likely, given seniors' voting habits) -- the new entitlement would add catastrophic new debt to the federal budget.

But even if the numbers were real, the illogical thinking is shocking. President Obama told us that passing health care reform was central to a healthy economy. The Democrats proclaim victory with supposed deficit neutrality while our current "unsustainable" deficit grows like a devastating form of cancer.

Instead of just starting with cuts to Medicare and adding insurance taxes -- thereby cutting the 10-year deficit by $1 trillion (including interest) -- the Democrats are attempting to nationalize 20% of the economy as a payoff to the SEIU bosses who contributed $27 million to Obama's 2008 campaign.

Helping a few million uninsured people get access to health insurance is a noble goal, but not at the expense of permanently destroying the United States economy. Adding entitlement programs while we can barely crawl out of the current deficit hole is suicidal behavior.

Washington must:

• Slash federal spending on needless programs
• Begin to raise the eligibility age for Medicare and Social Security
• Starting offering optional, private savings accounts to young people to eventually replace the dying Medicare and Social Security programs

We have no choice! We must stop the insanity before it leads us to economic devastation.



Based upon: Tony Blankley's "Washington Is Nuts" via Mark Levin.

Normandia: D-Day versus Current Day


Papa B points us to a fascinating photographic display that contrasts scenes from D-Day with those of present day Normandy. Some samples:










I shudder to think what would have happened in that era if we'd had today's moonbat politicians and media hacks.