Monday, October 26, 2009

Road-Kill Chili

Bernie sent this one in.

I went to "Lowes" recently while not being altogether sure that course of action was a wise one. You see, the previous evening I had prepared and consumed a massive quantity of my patented 'you're definitely going to crap yourself' road-kill chili. Tasty stuff, albeit hot to the point of being painful, which comes with a written guarantee from me that if you eat it, the next day your posterior may melt from the heat.

Here's the thing. I had awakened that morning, and even after two cups of coffee (and all of you know what I mean) nothing happened.

No 'Watson's Movement 2'. Despite habanero peppers swimming their way through my intestinal tract, I was unable to create the usual morning symphony referred to by my dear wife as 'thunder and lightning'. Knowing that a time of reckoning HAD to come, yet not sure of just when, I bravely set off for "Lowes" Store, my quest being paint and supplies to refinish the den. Upon entering the store at first all seemed normal... I selected a cart and began pushing it about dropping items in for purchase.

It wasn't until I was at the opposite end of the store from the restrooms that the pain hit me.

Oh, don't look at me like you don't know what I'm talking about.. I'm referring to that 'Uh oh... gotta go' pain that always seems to hit us at the wrong time... The thing is, this pain was different.

The habaneros in the chili from the night before were staging a revolt.

In a mad rush for freedom they bullied their way through the small intestines, forcing their way into the large intestines, and before I could take one step in the direction of the restrooms which would bring sweet relief, it happened. The peppers fired a warning shot.

There I stood, alone in the paint and stain section, suddenly enveloped in a noxious cloud the likes of which has never before been recorded. I was afraid to move for fear that more of this vile odor might escape me.

Slowly, oh so slowly, the pressure seemed to leave the lower part of my body, and I began to move up the aisle and out of it, just as a red aproned clerk turned the corner and asked if I needed any help.

I don't know what made me do it, but I stopped to see what his reaction would be to the malodorous effluvium that refused to dissipate. Have you ever been torn in two different directions emotionally? Here's what I mean, and I'm sure some of you at least will be able to relate.

I could've warned that poor clerk, but didn't. I simply watched as he walked into an invisible, and apparently indestructible, wall of odor so terrible that all he could do before gathering his senses and running, was to stand there blinking and waving his arms about his head as though trying to ward off angry bees. This, of course, made me feel terrible, but then made me laugh. In retrospect, this was a very bad mistake.

Here's the thing. When you laugh, it's hard to keep things 'clamped down', if you know what I mean. With each new guffaw an explosive issue burst forth from my nether region. Some were so loud and echoing that I was later told a few folks in other aisles had ducked, fearing that someone was robbing the store and firing off a shotgun.

Suddenly things were no longer funny. 'It' was coming, and I raced off through the store towards the restrooms, laying down a cloud the whole way, praying that I'd make it before the grand malassplosion took place.

Luck was on my side. Just in the nick of time I slid into an open stall, began the inevitable 'Oh my God', floating above the toilet seat because my rear is burning like I'm sitting on a Weber grill, purging. One poor fellow walked in while I was in the middle of what is the true meaning of 'Shock and Awe'. He made a gagging sound, and disappeared.

Once finished and I left the restroom, reacquired my partially filled cart intending to carry on with my shopping when a store employee approached me and said, 'Sir,you might want to step outside for a few minutes. It appears some prankster set off a stink bomb in the store. The manager is going to run the vent fans on high for a minute or two which ought to take care of the problem.'

My smirking of course set me off again, causing residual gases to escape me. The employee took one sniff, jumped back pulling his shirt up to cover his nose and, pointing at me in an accusing manner shouted, "It's you!", then ran off returning moments later with the manager. I was unceremoniously escorted from the premises and asked none too kindly never to return.

Home again without my supplies, I realized that there was nothing to eat but leftover chili, so I consumed two-and-a-half more bowls. The next day I went to shop at Targets. I can't say anymore about that because the legal proceedings are still ongoing.



Larwyn's Linx: Rogue Stars Rising

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Nation

NY-23: Rogue Stars Rising: Doc Zero
Obama a tough guy, at least with Fox News: Steyn
The plan to slam 'universal voter registration' through Congress : Cold Fury

Health reform written behind closed doors: Times
Mayor Daley's empty property tax rhetoric: Examiner
MI Gov.: GOP 'bowing at altar of teabaggers': BlogProf

NY-23: Interview with Doug Hoffman: JIP
WWII Vet Warns of Complacency: BMW

Economy

See It Coming: Owners Take Orders From the State: Green Room
Obama vs. Chamber: another SEIU payoff?: Breitbart
FDIC's Bair Addresses a Worried Nation: Zero Hedge

SEIU leads new banking shakedown campaign: Malkin
Video: California treasurer tells legislature to get a clue: Hot Air
MI Rep to Voters: 'Stop Calling Me!': BlogProf

Media

Daily Scoreboard: Surber
Israel Loses the Propaganda War: AT
Speak No Evil, If by Evil You Mean “Disagreement With Obama”: Dewey

Laura Ingraham opens up a can of whoop-ass on Charlie Gibson: Malkin
When Journalists Attack!: Driscoll
The Power of a Logo: Conservative Hippie Chick (PJTV)

More childish obsession with Fox from the White House: AT
Maureen Dowd decries Islam's misogyny: Brutally Honest
NPR objects to the use of its content: BlogProf

NY-23: Ordinary Americans make miracles happen: RSM
NY-23: Tea Party Mandate: Take Back the Party: Hoffman
Dan Rather Hailed for 'Courage' at University of Texas; Bashes Fox 'Propaganda': NewsBusters

Climate & Energy

British energy producers say emission limits 'delusional': Telegraph
Aliens Cause Global Warming: CBullitt (Crichton)
Climate Alarmists: Understandable Motivations, Unknowable Results: PJM

Think Globally, Cull Locally: Steyn

World

Obama Remembers to Forget: Power Line
John Kerry to the Rescue: AT
What Is Zionism?: GM's Place (Grobman)

A word from Kristofer Harrison on Obama’s ingrates: Power Line
Nuclear Fallout: Steyn
Obama Sends Love Note to Cuba: S&L

Obama Heads to Oslo for Nobel; Too Busy for Berlin Wall Ceremony: PJM
Palestinians Riot At Temple Mount: S&L

Sci-Tech

Gartner: Loosen up on social networks, security: CNet

Cornucopia

Lilah Agonistes: C & S (Language Warning)
Tiger Picture of the Day: TigerHawk

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Ignoring Milton Friedman


In 2001, Nobel Prize Winner in Economics Milton Friedman penned "How to Cure Health Care". Given the United States' budget deficits, its current economic malaise and an impending entitlement catastrophe, one would hope that Congress would strongly consider Friedman's insights for its health care agenda.

Of course, with the current crop of Democrat Statists in power, you'd be wrong.

Friedman's prescription was elegant in its simplicity. It leveraged free markets and the power of individual decision-making. And it provided a road map for addressing the Medicare train-wreck.

The high cost and inequitable character of our medical care system are the direct result of our steady movement toward reliance on third-party payment. A cure requires reversing course, reprivatizing medical care by eliminating most third-party payment, and restoring the role of insurance to providing protection against major medical catastrophes.

[Repair the broken entitlement programs] ...end both Medicare and Medicaid, at least for new entrants, and replace them by [offering] every family in the United States ...catastrophic insurance (i.e., a major medical policy with a high deductible).

[Repeal the tax exemption for employer provided medical care] ...end tax exemption of employer-provided medical care.

[Deregulate insurance so that consumers can shop for a la carte coverage across State lines] ...remove the restrictive regulations that are now imposed on medical insurance—hard to justify with universal catastrophic insurance.

[Increase the use of Health Savings Accounts] ...Medical savings accounts offer one way to resolve the growing financial and administrative problems of Medicare and Medicaid. It seems clear from private experience that a program along these lines would be less expensive and bureaucratic than the current system and more satisfactory to the participants. In effect, it would be a way to voucherize Medicare and Medicaid. It would enable participants to spend their own money on themselves for routine medical care and medical problems, rather than having to go through HMOs and insurance companies, while at the same time providing protection against medical catastrophes.

The current bills working their way through Congress are diametrically opposed to Friedman's counsel.

The Democrats' intent is obvious to any student of history: they concern themselves with increasing the power of a centralized, authoritarian government. And they repay their constituencies including the union shock troops of Socialism and the trial lawyers.

A federal authority that will control all of your private health care data. A federal authority can reward and punish individuals by offering or withholding health services. A federal authority that will garner ever more control of your private property, asserting that with just one more tax, or one more regulation, it will be able to provide a final solution.

A federal authority will control not just your financial future, but your physical well-being. In doing so, it will have the ultimate power over the people.

We do need catastrophic insurance... if only to protect us from the impending disaster that will be the Democrats' authoritarian health care.


Latest News from Twitter


Twitter really does have the most up-to-date news stories.

@directorblue: Breaking: Citing H1N1 concerns, White House seals off access to Fox News building #tcot #thot

@directorblue: Breaking: White House announces economic rescue plan: purchases multi-billion $ life insurance policies on Beck, Hannity #tcot #thot

@directorblue: Breaking: President Obama to announce dramatic pay cuts for Fox News personalities #tcot #thot

@directorblue: Breaking: HHS head to announce health care program for media including free euthanasia services for Hannity, Beck, others #tcot #thot

@directorblue: Breaking: Pres. Obama announces availability of Little Red Book of quips, puns, life stories #tcot

@directorblue: Breaking: President Obama will deploy aircraft carrier battle group to Manhattan in response to threats, obstructionism from Fox News #tcot

@directorblue: Breaking: President Obama to announce Gitmo will stay open to house Fox News pundits Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, others. #fcc #tcot

@directorblue: Breaking: President Obama vows that "all options are on the table" regarding administration's dealings with Fox News

@directorblue: Breaking: Secretary of State Clinton reports two-party talks "without preconditions" may be possible with representatives of Fox News

@directorblue: Breaking: David Axelrod blames tropical storm Neki on Fox News

@directorblue: Breaking: President Axelrod blames Hindenburg explosion on "a conspiracy orchestrated by Fox News" #obamafail

@directorblue: Breaking: Vice President Rahm Emanuel blames Charlie Rangel's tax troubles on Fox News #obamafail

@directorblue: Breaking: White House blames economic meltdown on Fox News #obamafail

@directorblue: Breaking: ACORN registers over 300 Somali pirates as Virginia Democrats voting absentee for Creigh Deeds.

@directorblue: Breaking: ACORN accidentally registers "Barry Soetero" in Virginia

@directorblue: Breaking: President Obama to decide on Afghan troop levels "sometime after meeting with Balloon Boy" #balloonboy

@directorblue: Breaking: President Obama to award Balloon Boy Nobel Prize for Hiding #balloonboy

@directorblue: Breaking: President Obama to announce FCC-ordered shutdown of FoxNews effective noon Sat. for "seditious broadcasts on public airwaves"

@directorblue: Breaking: President Obama to speak to nation, will thank balloon boy for _not_ climbing into rogue, breakaway balloon yesterday #balloonboy



Good News: Baghdad Bomb Blasts Not Atomic


Dan from New York:

Baghdad bombs kill 132, government slams Syria and Iran


BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Two suicide bombs tore through Baghdad on Sunday, killing 132 people, wounding more than 500 and leaving mangled bodies and cars on the streets in one of Iraq's deadliest days this year.

The two blasts shredded buildings and smoke billowed from the area near the Tigris River. The first bomb targeted the Justice Ministry and the second, minutes later, was aimed at the nearby provincial government building, police said.

"It is the same black hands who are covered in the blood of the Iraqi people," a statement from Prime Minister Maliki's office said. "They want to cause chaos in the nation, hinder the political process and prevent the parliamentary election."

Officials have blamed unnamed neighbors for not stopping the attacks -- a reference to Iraqi complaints that Syria provides a safe haven for former Baathists while citizens of other Sunni Muslim states help fund the insurgency in Iraq. Iran, meanwhile, has been accused of funding and arming Shi'ite militia.

###

IMHO, much too much obsessing about Israel being "wiped off the map" by a nuclear Iran and not nearly enough about the immediate threat it would pose to Iran's neighbors. I mean, if you can make a nuclear weapon that fits on the end of a missile, how hard is it to pack the thing into the back of a van or the hold of a ship for the short trip to - take your pick - Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, or Turkey? Hey, but Obama wants to let diplomacy run its course, so who I am to argue? Most adult Americans will be dead long before Iran could deliver a nuclear weapon here anyway. Say hi to the kids for me, OK?



So-Smart-My-Head-Hurts Power: Obama sends $150M to 'Muslim Tech Fund'; dispatches 'Faith Council' member to Extremist talk show


Presumably buoyed by the success of his domestic Stimulus program, President Obama has offered as much as $150 million to Muslim countries, which will be destined for 'new technology initiatives'.

The White House Friday highlighted a new multi-million-dollar technology fund for Muslim nations, following a pledge made by President Barack Obama in his landmark speech to the Islamic world...

...As well as the fund, Obama also said he will host a summit on entrepreneurship this year to deepen ties between business leaders in the United States and Muslim communities around the world... In his speech on June 4, Obama vowed to forge a "new beginning" for Islam and America promising to purge years of "suspicion and discord."

...In what may be one of the defining moments of his presidency, Obama laid out a new blueprint for US Middle East policy, pledged to end mistrust, forge a state for Palestinians and defuse a nuclear showdown with Iran...

Meanwhile, one of the Muslim members of the Obama 'faith advisory council' is under fire for defending Sharia law and appearing on a terrorist supporter's television show.

Dalia Mogahed, one of two Muslim members of President Obama's faith advisory council, has come under fire from conservatives for her early October appearance on a British television show connected with an extremist Muslim group. In a story headlined "Barack Obama adviser says Sharia Law is misunderstood," the Daily Telegraph reported earlier this month that Mogahed told the show: "I think the reason so many women support sharia is because they have a very different understanding of sharia than the common perception in Western media . . . . The majority of women around the world associate gender justice, or justice for women, with sharia compliance."

The television program, called Muslimah Dilemma, is hosted by a member of the Hizb ut Tahrir, a radical Muslim party in Britain. Mogahed, who is also the executive director for Gallup's Center for Muslim Studies, called in from the United States while another guest—a Hizb ut Tahrir representative—appeared in the studio...

During the Obama adviser's appearance, guests unleashed a stream of hateful rhetoric, according to The Washington Post.

[The show] was hosted by a representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which the State Department has condemned for an anti-Semitic, anti-Western ideology that officials said might indirectly generate support for terrorism...

During the 45-minute discussion on the show "Muslimah Dilemma," which is broadcast on a small British network, Nawaz, Ismail and callers variously condemned democracy, praised sharia law and advocated the restoration of the caliphate -- government inspired by Islamic law.

If these incidents are examples of the administration's "smart power" doctrine, freedom-lovers around the world would be well-advised to batten down the hatches for the next three years.

Larwyn's Linx: The Silent Power Grab

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Nation

The Silent Power Grab: LegalIns
Hacker's feeble public option deception excuse: Verum Serum
Bay State liberals shun Obama’s visit: Herald

The “Ridiculous” Constitutionality Question: Moderate Voice
Preview of Government Health Care: 11-Hour Waits: BlogProf
Who is the armed citizen?: Pupista

Project Vote: A twisted branch of the ACORN tree: MonCrief
Bushitis, An Unproductive Mindset: Cape Cod
Poll Shows Californians Hate Pelosi With A Passion: Scooter

ObamaDrama: AT
InTrade: Gov Races Split: Carpe Diem

Economy

Dems to Give ACORN Regulatory Authority Over Financials: House
GAO finds no evidence that TARP bailout worked: Tapscott
Reid: We're closing in on 60 votes for socialized medicine: GWP

Latest Health Care Bill Will Cost Americans $1 Trillion: GWP
Rx: The Interstate Insurance Competition Cure: Carpe Diem
How a bookstore owner deals with a feminist moonbat: Brutally Honest

Creating Systemic Risk in Health Care: Belmont

Media

Our Obama-Approved News Team At Work: JOM
NYT: Why Obama declared War on Fox: Surber
Media Matters and the Administration Synching Up?: Confederate Yankee

My Letter to the Editor: Pro-ACORN Op-Ed Written by ACORN Consultant: Patterico
Clues about the changes coming to McClatchy newspapers: McClatchy Watch
Ferret-Faced Freak: Fox News is Seditious: JWF

All the News That's Fit: AT (Hoven)
CNN’s Rick Sanchez Beclowns Himself Again: Lincoln Suppressed the Media, Too!: Nice Deb
CNBC silencing criticism of Obama?: Hot Air

Climate & Energy

The international festival of teh stupid: Atkins
Good News, Lord Monckton: You Can Untwist Your Knickers Now: Ace

World

Obama's Minions are Ingrates: Hayes
Saudi court orders female journalist flogged: Maktoob
The Guardian Wipes Israel Off the Nobel Prize Map: PJM (Gould)

Iranian Negotiations: Ploy of the Week or Deal of the Century?: Rubin
Tehran sends foes message with death sentences: Times
National Lawyers Guild Works for Israel's Destruction: AT

Sci-Tech

Google Maps' appearance takes new direction: CNet
The High-Tech Sandwich is Missing the Meat: PJM

Cornucopia

History: Meanwhile, back in Europe (1600): Mike in New Hampshire
68-Year-Old’s Message Continues to Resonate: BMW
An Insult to our Democracy: YouTube

Saturday, October 24, 2009

CNN and MSNBC excuse Obama's attempted Fox ban: the network is probably guilty of sedition


Visiting MSNBC, Time's Joe Klein offered a unique rationale for President Obama's outrageous treatment of Fox News.

Let me be precise here: Fox News peddles a fair amount of hateful crap. Some of it borders on sedition. Much of it is flat out untrue...

...[the] problem is that stories [are] bloated far beyond their actual importance--ACORN's corruption, Van Jones's radical past--are in danger of leaching out of the Fox hothouse into the general media...

If the problem is broader--that Fox News spreads seditious lies to its demographic sliver of an audience--the Administration should probably be stoic: the wingnuts will always be with us. The best antidote to their garbage is elegant, intelligent governance. [Ed: cue the rimshot]...

...The next-best antidote is occasional engagement: I thought Obama came away from his O'Reilly and Chris Wallace interviews much the better for it...

(Though you don't want to sit down with a thug like Hannity or a weirdo like Beck.)

How is it that Joe Klein hasn't made it big in middle America?

Nice Deb turns the spotlight on CNN’s Rick Sanchez, who uses a similar theme to excuse President Chavez Obama: 'Lincoln suppressed the media, too!.

On May 18, 1864 Abraham Lincoln issued an executive order to arrest some of the journalists and editors of two New York publications that printed and published what they knew to be a forged Presidential proclamation calling for 400,000 more troops and a new draft. It was an act of treason to raise up resistance to the Union during a time of war. The act warranted imprisonment.

Again, Lincoln’s situation and Obama’s attack of Fox News should not be mentioned together. The two situations don’t even vaguely have any points of comparison... And Sanchez does it to help excuse Obama for his poor behavior.

Dissent used to be patriotic. Remember this 2004 missive published in The Nation?

If there was any lingering doubt that this President rules by sowing division and fear it has been put to rest in these last weeks. As Dana Milbank's chilling front-page story in last Friday's Washington Post details, Bush and leading Republicans dare to argue that a vote for John Kerry is a vote for Al Qaeda.

...These are Republicans who breed a culture of fundamentalism and intolerance, who betray the guiding and founding values of America. If a truly great Republican--Theodore Roosevelt--were among us today, he would expose the despicable politics of these fifth-rate offspring of the Grand Old Party and tell them--as he told the nation in 1918:

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic, but is morally treasonable to the American public."

Dissent is patriotic...? I love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning.


Update: "Ferret-Faced Freak: Fox News is Seditious."


The media 'forgot' to cover the pollution story during the Olympics


Bob points us to a stunning gallery that illustrates China's complete disregard for its citizens and the environment.











See it all and make sure you read the description of the kids' lives.


Best of the Tokyo Motor Show

Can you say 370Z fighter?

It's Toyota Motor Corporation's concept car FT-86.

Honda has one, too: the CR-Z concept.

Electric Scooter: Yamaha's EC-1 concept. I think I'll pass.

Hat tip: Maktoob Business, which has the whole gallery.

Credit Markets: Are The Alarm Claxons Going Off?

Karl Denninger points to some ominous signs in the credit markets. With the disclaimer that the data is certainly inconclusive, Denninger allows us to hear the sound of distant thunder.

• JP Morgan's "cash position" was analyzed by a writer who... showed that actual cash held has deteriorated radically. By more than half in the last year. The deterioration is continuing, not slowing.

• I am hearing repeated anecdotes from multiple areas that foreclosed property held by banks with multiple full-price offers that include a financing requirement are being sold instead to people with actual cash at radical reductions from that price. This implies that these financing contingencies are regarded as not only potentially no good but factually no good, as if the banks know for a fact that the credit pipeline will (not might), within weeks or months (in the time required to close), disappear. There is no other rational explanation for this behavior.

• Citibank's credit-card terms change implies a willingness to accept and even provoke a complete and intentional destruction of their credit card business as a very high probability outcome, given that nobody in their right mind will accept a 30% interest rate who has an alternative. The obvious implication is that only those who can't transfer balances out will remain and if your credit is that impaired there's a good chance you will default - either intentionally or otherwise. This too implies foreknowledge of a near-complete impending freeze in the credit markets.

• The change in terms on credit accounts is NOT confined to Citibank. I have received a fax from a customer of Infibank with substantially identical terms, in which both the standard and penalty rate was adjusted to 29.99%. This strongly implies that whatever Citibank smells the problem is not confined to them.

• Both of these credit card "adjustment" letters are of course marginal rate changes. That is, they are both based off the PRIME rate. The importance of that is missed by many. Don't be one of them (more on that below.)

• I recently received a back channel communication indicating that The Fed is aware that this has been and still is a solvency problem and has so briefed certain members of Congress. This from a source believed reliable, but which cannot be independently confirmed.

...Note that the indications above are far stronger than what we saw going into last fall before the wheels came off. As a consequence if these actions are those of people with real knowledge (and this is not a guess on their part) I would expect the outcome to be worse than what we saw last fall in terms of economic impact...

Denninger isn't the only one.

American Banking News adds another data point in a separate line of business for Citi: branded gas and retail cards.

Citibank (NYSE: C) recently cancelled hundreds of co-branded MasterCard accounts, primarily cards associated with gas-stations, without notifying their customers. ...Shannon Burdette, a Shell Mastercard [user]... found her credit card was rejected when she tried to refuel her vehicle. After calling the customer service number on the card, she was informed that her account had been closed because of a negative item on her credit report. In the AP’s interview with Burdette, she said “the only negative thing she saw was “closed at credit grantor’s request” on her Shell MasterCard account.

Burdette isn’t the only customer that’s been affected by Citibank’s unannounced account closures. Consumers across the country have reported similar experience and made postings on various consumer websites... Citibank has confirmed some of the essentials of the story. The bank’s statement said that they had “decided to close a limited number of oil partner co-branded MasterCard accounts.”

...Citibank also recently moved to shut down its Home Depot credit cards.

Consider: there has been an almost inexplicable spike in the stock market on extremely low volume, which many attribute to program trading.

Likewise, the dollar has declined as precipitously as the equity markets have risen.

A correction isn't inevitable, but it seems increasingly likely if the credit markets lock up again.


The Magic Scale



By: HopenChange Cartoons.

White House Communications Director Dunn Explains Mao Remarks


It's all relative.


Larwyn's Linx: Obama Trapped By Center-Right America

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Nation

Obama Trapped By Center-Right America: Riehl
Obama sees worst poll drop in 50 years: Telegraph
While His Team Wars with Itself, Obama Dithers: Roeser

Democrats worried about Obama’s enemies list: Protein Wisdom
GAO Report: No Evidence TARP Worked; Money Missing: Ace
Sarah Palin Strikes Back: PJM (Clouthier)

Priceless. Protest Erupts at Massive Flu Shot Line: GWP
Do most Americans hate America?: LegalIns
TOTUS punks POTUS at MIT: GWP

Dems blast White House for predicting Deeds loss: InstaPundit
The Unaccountable Obama Czar State: Foundry
Boom! Friends of Angelo...: Denninger

Economy

Lenin: Trade Unions are a School of Communism: Cube
Mortgage tax credit fraud by illegal aliens? Shhhhh…: Malkin
'Fierce urgency' for jobs, not health care: Examiner

The Debt Death Spiral: AT
The bogus death statistic that won’t die: Malkin
Comedy Gold: Michigan Ad Placement FAIL: BlogProf

Senate Democrats wary of health care deficit spending: Barone
Possible Credit Dislocation: Be Warned: Denninger
AP stammers out explanation of Obama's catastrophic job loss numbers: BlogProf

Media

Fox Wars: The 'post-partisan' president makes an enemies list: Hammer
Home Grown Terrorism in America: Connecting the Dots: PJM
USAToday/Gallup Poll: Obama's Support Drops Again; Headline: 'Hopes buoyed on race relations': Ace

Heh: Graydon AWOL as Vanity Fair cuts staff: Post
Nicole Kiman is really smart: WWTDD

World

Boston Terror Suspect: Just Another ‘Typical American Kid’ with Terror Aspirations: PJM (Shackleford)
In an alternative universe...: ThreatsWatch
Huge explosion in PR oil refinery: Fausta

Stepping away from Israel will weaken the United States: Romney
Memo to Sarkozy: How to Get Some Love From the Obama Administration: TaxMan
Everyone Accepts Iran Nuke Deal - Except Iran: JPost

Quote of the Day: Theo Spark

Sci-Tech

Tokyo Motor Show: Maktoob
Technical Advice from Tim Berners-Lee: CNet

Cornucopia

Trillion Dollar Bill Offer: YouTube
Squirrel Melt: W. C. Varones
Dallas police chief: Dozens of tickets issued for not speaking English: Dallas Morning News

Illustration: Dr. John.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Good News: Freddie Mac Defaults Hit Record While Lending Rises

Tyler Durden reports that Freddie Mac's annualized mortgage defaults hit a record high of 7.3%.

...In September, Freddie Mac's loan defaults set an annualized record, after hitting a stunning 7.3%. Even worse, the rate of decline among single-family loans increased substantially month over month, from 3.13% in August to 3.33% in September, (and 1.22% in the prior year, just after the GSE's ended up being nationalized: a 270% increase [year-over-year]). The rate of defaults has now climbed for 28 straight months.

Scariest is that even as the Fed itself is now a key mortgage lender thanks to $1.45 trillion in QE, Freddie's holdings actually expanded by $4.8 billion to $784.2 billion in September, after four months of declines.

Without the bankrupt GSEs and the increasingly more bankrupt Federal Reserve (which, yes, does have a few Heidelbergs stashed away in the basement so it can delay the day of reckoning for a few years), there would be absolutely no interest for anything even closely related to housing. So this is what a housing recovery is supposed to look like...

Not to worry: that pathetic rube -- the taxpayer -- is on the hook.

So just vote Democrat and shut up.


Another ecstatic voter


The Happy Hospitalist alerts us to this disgruntled individual.

I really don't understand this complaint. President Obama promised that he would give everyone health insurance, require insurers to treat any preexisting conditions, improve the quality of health care, keep private insurance in force, without increasing costs "by a single dime."

What's not to like?


The Wedding Test

Dave W. sent this one in:

I was a very happy man. My wonderful girlfriend and I had been dating for over a year, and so we decided to get married.

There was only one little thing bothering me... It was her beautiful younger sister.

My prospective sister-in-law was twenty-two, wore very tight miniskirts, and wore extremely suggestive outfits. Worse yet, she would regularly bend down when she was near me, and I always received an eyeful in return. It had to be deliberate, because she never behaved this way when she was near anyone else.

One day my fiancee's 'little' sister called and asked me to come over to check the wedding invitations. She was alone when I arrived, and she whispered to me that she had feelings and desires for me that she couldn't overcome. She told me that she needed to have me just once before I got married and committed my life to her sister.

Well, I was in total shock, and couldn't say a word.

She said, "I'm going upstairs to my bedroom, and if you need one last fling..."

I was stunned and frozen in shock as I watched her go up the stairs. I stood there for a moment, then turned and made a beeline straight to the front door. I opened the door, and headed straight for my car.

Lo and behold, my entire future family was standing outside, all clapping!

With tears in his eyes, my father-in-law hugged me and said, 'Son, I can't tell you how pleased we that you have passed our little test. We couldn't ask for a better man for our daughter... a man with more integrity than you. Welcome to the family."

And the moral of this story is:

Always keep your prophylactics in your car.

Cue the rimshot.


Pelosi stunned senseless by health care Constitutionality question


I love the folks at CNSNews, instigators of some of the spiciest Beltway interviews in recent memory. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was the latest, eh, victim. Asked whether the act of requiring every American to purchase a product or service -- in this case, health insurance -- Pelosi stammered a nonsensical response.

When CNSNews.com asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday where the Constitution authorized Congress to order Americans to buy health insurance--a mandate included in both the House and Senate versions of the health care bill--Pelosi dismissed the question by saying: “Are you serious? Are you serious?”

Pelosi's press secretary later responded to written follow-up questions from CNSNews.com by emailing CNSNews.com a press release on the “Constitutionality of Health Insurance Reform,” that argues that Congress derives the authority to mandate that people purchase health insurance from its constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce.

The exchange with Speaker Pelosi on Thursday occurred as follows:

CNSNews.com: “Madam Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?”

Pelosi: “Are you serious? Are you serious?”

CNSNews.com: “Yes, yes I am.”

Pelosi then shook her head before taking a question from another reporter. Her press spokesman, Nadeam Elshami, then told CNSNews.com that asking the speaker of the House where the Constitution authorized Congress to mandated that individual Americans buy health insurance as not a "serious question."

“You can put this on the record,” said Elshami. “That is not a serious question. That is not a serious question.”

Oh, Elshami, I beg to differ. It is a serious question. Just don't ask the whackjob Marxists at Think Regress:

Pelosi is right to be dismissive of the fringe right-wing theory behind this question, which has no basis in the Constitution itself. Article I of the Constitution gives Congress the power “[t]o regulate commerce... among the several states” as well as the authority to “make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution” its power to regulate commerce.-Een [sic] ultra-conservative Justice Antonin Scalia acknowledges that these constitutional provisions give Congress sweeping authority to enact laws that regulate “economic activity.”

By that standard, Congress could tax you at 100% and require you to wear stiletto high heels when playing basketball.

The colonies authored the Declaration of Independence because they rejected authoritarianism.

The Framers wrote the Constitution to protect the individual from the state. And the Constitution is the highest law in the land.

Pelosi's inability to articulate a semblance of a response speaks volumes.

Requiring every American to purchase a good or service is unconstitutional. It's never been done. It can't be done. And anyone who isn't a crackhead knows that.


When Strawmen Attack: Obama's Rhetorical Enemies List

There has been plenty of speculation over the last week regarding a White House "Enemies List". But Barack Obama doesn't need enemies.

He requires scapegoats to advance his agenda. To distract public attention from the real goings-on in Washington. To deflect criticism from his supporters on the Left.

And Barack Obama never fails to manufacture scapegoats -- obstructionists who willfully oppose his policies -- whether they exist or not. Consider the straw-men that he marshals in speech after speech after speech, never referencing individuals or direct quotes. Instead --- using divisive agitation -- the masterful community organizer creates rhetorical enemies from whole cloth.

On Opposition to Statism (9-21-2009): "...Now, after so many years of failing to act, there are those who suggest that nothing government can do will make a difference..."

On Health Care Reform (9-9-2009): "...On the right, there are those who argue that we should end employer-based systems and leave individuals to buy health insurance on their own..."

On Fox News (7-23-2009): "...there are those who like to report on the back and forth in Washington, but, you know, my only concern is the people who sent us to Washington: the families feeling the pain of this recession; the folks I've met across this country who have lost jobs and savings and health insurance..."

On Citizens Who Oppose Socialized Medicine (7-23-2009): "...we have never been closer to achieving quality, affordable health care for all Americans. But at the same time, there are those who would seek to delay and defeat reform..."

On Doctors Who Oppose Socialized Medicine (6-19-2009): "...We know the moment is right for health care reform. We know this is an historic opportunity we've never seen before and may not see again. But we also know that there are those who will try and scuttle this opportunity no matter what – who will use the same scare tactics and fear-mongering that's worked in the past. They'll give dire warnings about socialized medicine and government takeovers; long lines and rationed care; decisions made by bureaucrats and not doctors..."

On Middle East Peace (06-04-2009): "...There are those who would continue and intensify this failed status quo, ignoring eight years of accumulated evidence that our foreign policy is dangerously flawed..."

On Intolerance (06-03-2009): "...to this day, there are those who perpetuate every form of intolerance — racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, xenophobia, sexism, and more..."

On Terrorism (05-21-2009): "On one side of the spectrum, there are those who make little allowance for the unique challenges posed by terrorism, and who would almost never put national security over transparency. On the other end of the spectrum, there are those who embrace a view that can be summarized in two words: "anything goes." Their arguments suggest that the ends of fighting terrorism can be used to justify any means..."

On Notre Dame's Graduates (05-17-2009): "...Your generation must decide how to save God's creation from a changing climate that threatens to destroy it. Your generation must seek peace at a time when there are those who will stop at nothing to do us harm..."

On Science (04-27-2009): "...there are those who say we cannot afford to invest in science, that support for research is somehow a luxury at moments defined by necessities..."

On Cap-and-Trade Taxes (04-14-2009): "...Now, the only though that we can truly spark the transformation that's need is through a gradual, market-based cap on carbon pollution, so that clean energy is the profitable kind of energy. There are those who've argued that we shouldn't attempt, we shouldn't even be thinking, we shouldn't even be talking about such a transition until the economy recovers..."

On Turkey (04-06-2009): "...I know there are those who like to debate Turkey’s future. They see your country at the crossroads of continents, and touched by the currents of history..."

On the G8 and Financial Regulation (04-01-2009): "...this notion that somehow there are those who are pushing for regulation and those who are resisting regulation is belied by the facts. Tim Geithner, who's sitting here today, went before Congress and proposed as aggressive a set of regulatory measures as any that have emerged..."

On the Iranian People (03-20-2009): "...There are those who insist that we be defined by our differences. But let us remember the words that were written by the poet Saadi, so many years ago..."

On Taxes (3-18-2009): "...Here's what the budget does not do. It does not raise the taxes of any family making less than $250,000 a year by a single dime... In fact, 95 percent of all working families will receive a tax cut as a result of our recovery plan. Now, there are those who say these plans are too ambitious; we should be trying to do less, not more..."

On the Stimulus Package (03-06-2009): "...There are those who believe that all we can do is repeat the very same policies that led us here in the first place..."

On Health Care (03-05-2009): "...today, there are those who say we should defer health care reform once again, that at a time of economic crisis, we simply can't afford to fix our health care system as well..."

On Taxes (09-26-2008): "...we all would love to lower taxes on everybody. But here's the problem: If we are giving them to oil companies, then that means that there are those who are not going to be getting them..."

On Abortion: (09-01-2008): "...Choice is about how we lead our lives. It’s about our families and about our communities. It’s about our daughters and whether they’re going to have the same opportunities as our sons. There are those who want us to believe otherwise..."

On Statism (08-28-2008): "...I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk. They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan Horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values..."

On Accepting the Nomination (06-03-2008): "...There are those who say that this primary has somehow left us weaker and more divided. Well, I say that, because of this primary, there are millions of Americans who have cast their ballot for the very first time..."

On Good Governance (02-18-2008): "...There are those who would say that you have to be wary about inspiration because you might be disappointed, who say that Obama may make a good speech, but what is really going to make a difference is how you work our government..."

On Allowing Illegal Immigrants to Get In-State Tuition (DREAM Act) (01-31-2008): "...There are those who were opposed to this issue, and there have been those who have flipped on the issue and have run away from the issue. This wasn't directed particularly at Senator Clinton. But the fact of the matter is I have stood up consistently on this issue..."

On John Kerry's Candidacy (07-27-2004): "... there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters, the negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America — there is the United States of America..."


I'll be candid. I'm sick of his use of Alinsky's tactics: always dividing, always creating straw-men, always creating scapegoats. Never once appreciating the wonder of individualism, of liberty, of our founders, of American history. It is time to turn back the drones and stop the march to authoritarianism and a government by, for and of central planners.

Larwyn's Linx: Patrick Leahy Torches the Constitution

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Nation

Obama's thug politics dirty health care endgame: Tapscott
NY23: Scozzafava: Withdraw Now: Ace
Eric Holder's Department of Disgrace: CNS

Obama delivers: Tim Blair
NY23: Palin Endorses Hoffman: Ace
Marxist Patrick Leahy Torches Constitution: Hot Air

Obama's Doubts About the Constitution: Ledeen
White House Czars versus Congress: Times
ObamaCare Taxes Proposed So Far: Surber

Big Voting Rights Drama in Small Town: Feldman
Gallup: Obama's Drop in Popularit is a Record: Surber
Hating Whitey Makes an Unexpected Comeback: AT

Economy

Why is GE exempt from government-ordered pay cuts?: JWF
Private Babysitters Fight Back Against Forced Unionization: BlogProf
Another Stimulus FAIL: Recovery.gov thinks we have 52 states: Virtuous

Dems finally call for Countrywide mortgage probe: Hill
Murtha, Moran Steer Millions to Defense Firm: Times
Senate Scheming How To Pass Stealth Debt Ceiling Boost: Zero Hedge

Media

Obama on Fox News: It’s more like talk radio than a news outlet: Hot Air
Strap-On slammed Bush administration for criticizing NBC: NewsBusters
Rush: If Fox Is Talk Radio, MSNBC Is Porn: THFA

A Ban Too Far: Driscoll
Dem Fundraiser Gets 24 years. Unlike Abramoff, Media Silent.: PoliGazette
Maddow/Olbermann Invited to White House Chat with Obama, But Fox Isn't a News Organization?: MediaBistro

Who Else Has Obama Endorsed?: JOM
TV boycott supported by... Tommy Smothers?: Surber
Mock as we say: Crittenden

CNN's Anderson Cooper compares Obama to Nixon, highlights ratings plunge: NewsBusters

Climate & Energy

China-India Accord to Scuttle UN Climate Treaty: AT
Save the Planet: Eat Your Pet: GWP
Americans' belief in global warming cools: WSJ

World

The Other Thing Obama Inherited: Crittenden
Don't know much about history (or vocabulary, apparently): Treppenwitz
Dick Cheney Goes Off on Obama's Dithering: Ace

Degrading Self-Defense: Soccer Dad
The Critical Path for an Iranian Nuke: JOM
Where are the NATO troops Mr. International promised us?: Ace

Service.gov And Its Soviet Similarities : Investors
Could Rush and Fox News Have Helped Save Cuba?: AT (Fontova)
When Tyranny Calls: AT

Sci-Tech

The FleXpeaker: a speaker the size of a piece of paper: PJM
Google, Verizon team up to throw support behind FCC's net neutrality push: Engadget
Apple spits at Windows 7: You can't trust Microsoft: CNet

Cornucopia

This Is Not A Photograph: American Digest
Movie Trailer: Nigthmarish Pelosi on Elm Street: THFA

Quote of the Week ... So Far

"Once you get past the facade there's only an abyss...

People have mistakenly used the "Emperor has no clothes" analogy for [Obama]. The real point is the clothes have no Emperor." -- BrothersJudd