Wednesday, October 28, 2009

From one that lived under Communism


Mike sent in this must-read:

From one that lived under Communism:

I came from where we are heading, I grew up in a Communist country. Unfortunately I see a lot of parallels between the then and there, and the here and now. I look at this national emergency as a manufactured crisis that provides the government with everything to do whatever they please.

There are many rumors, and they may just be rumors about something brewing in DC. This administration has worked very hard to begin a takeover of the government, and I don’t see them stopping. If they make the decision to go that route, no law, not even the Constitution will stand in their way. They are looking for power over the entire nation.

Where is the military if the government goes against the Constitution? Where is the police?

I wrote the following for the 4th of July, I hope it is an eye opener for all.

My Journey For Your Freedom!

On this day, the struggle to maintain freedom in our country continues! From the moment the Declaration of Independence was signed, our independence, the precious freedoms in it instantly became vulnerable to erosion to the ambitions of the self-centered, and the power-hungry.

You are all a very lucky people to have been born in the land of the free! But I must question on this day, especially in these times when this all important freedom is so severely threatened, does your passion still resonate in every cell of your being as it did inside your ancestors, who over two hundred years ago secured this incredible thing called freedom? Are you still so in love with your country, that you feel your blood boil when someone questions its dignity? ……… And does it humble you to your knees, when you pledge allegiance to your flag?

I would like to believe my birth-land of Hungary endured what it did, so our America may not have to. It gives me a bit of comfort to think it was not for nothing, that a once large and strong country was reduced to shambles… at the whim of people we though were smart! To stand here and think that I might have something of importance to offer makes me wonder, perhaps my journey was necessary not only for my freedom, but maybe for yours as well! My question to you today is: I know your eyes are open,……. but do you truly see?

At the end of World War II Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin, with pen in hand changed the destinies of eight sovereign nation, and took the God given right of men to freedom from millions. Nations suddenly fell under total Soviet rule,........and their only guilt was their geography. We were given to slavery by important men who didn't know us, didn't understand our history....and frankly didn't care what Stalin will do with us. The Red army marched trough without opposition. They in-imitated and plundered, they took the food from the mouths of starving children, they ripped earrings out of women’s ears, slammed their babies against walls if they cried. Fathers, brothers, and husbands were shot on the spot, if they tried to protest as their women were raped in front of them.

In one of the ancient Hungarian cities is a marble plaque that reads:

They came believing in the revolution,
They asked for a hopeful future
Cannons, tanks, and machine guns answered them.
On October 26, 1956, it is in this place they received their fatal wounds.

They were regular citizens who loved their country, and they did not set out to become heroes. Most of them were barely adults, and they were killed, because they dreamed of freedom. The Hungarian revolution was not an organized event, it happened spontaneously, it contiguously swept through the entire country within hours. The gathering and actions of the students was looked at as a threat to the regime, the Soviet army rolled in with tanks, and the revolution became bloody.

At age three I didn't understand the significance, nor the impact on the country and its people when the Red army tanks snaked through the city streets, but I saw the fear on my parent’s faces, and I heard them ask what will become of my brothers who fought against the invaders. I saw the helplessness.......... as the world around me became uncertain.

The revolution failed, and the aftermath was unimaginable terror. The Iron Curtain tightly shut down the borders to keep people, and information from moving in either direction. Those who fought for the country’s freedom became enemies of the state. The police used photographs taken during the revolt to identify everyone involved. There were many who waited for the arrival of the falsely announced American troops.

Inside Hungary desperation and fear was so great, that mothers drugged their babies to keep them quiet while crossing the border, and young children suffocated as parents tried to keep them from crying, while the guards walked only a few feet from their faces, as entire groups laid in the mud holding their breath. In a country of only about 10 million people, 200.000 citizens of Hungary in danger of persecution walked across the border into Austria , and over the next five years, scattered throughout the world looking to make a life for themselves.

Information was dangerous in those days, and the truth was difficult to find. Parents feared telling their children anything, to speak the truth in front of them, a slip of the tongue could make any person disappear. We acquiesced when they forced on us their ideology. As a people we were spiritually numb when they prohibited church attendance, and we watched in silence while they removed the crosses from all buildings and replaced them with their red stars. Our flag became bare in its stripes of red, white, and green, without the crest of the kingdom,.......as it fluttered in shame........ under the soviet flag.

Everything was nationalized! They said: it all belongs to the people now! First the banks, followed by industry, energy, health-care, agriculture, restaurants, hotels, the corner store, were no longer in private hands. WE WERE FORCED TO GIVE UP OUR GUNS……THEN THEY TOOK ALL OUR FREEDOMS, AND OUR COUNTRY!

It was illegal not to work! The people worked hard for their meager existence, and the government took the profit to feed the Swiss bank accounts of those at the top, and the mighty Soviet machine so it can become a world superpower. Nearly in an instant millions were made dirt poor, displaced, living in complete insecurity, fearing the government…. and each other,… as 40.000 neighbors turned paid informants. We called them the "whisperers" because under the cover of night they went to the government to whisper their information!

It became unlawful to speak against the government, or to tell a political joke. If you showed dismay, you became the enemy of the state, and were picked up in the middle of the night. Most people ended up in Budapest in a place we all knew simply by it’s address, as Andrassy Ut 60, which today is a museum called The House of Terror. Most of them were never seen again.

My family set out to make the desperate crossing ourselves, but my uncle in fear for my life put his foot down and told my parents they would have to leave me behind. Returning to our home we found it empty, furniture, dishes, clothes, everything was gone, we had nothing left but the clothes on our backs.

The government assigned us to a barrack where we shared the shower and toilets with 50 work-men. We were marked, and our future was dismal. Under those conditions my parents would forever work for the bare minimum, and the government would control where we live, how often we move, how much education I would be allowed. By the time I was 15, we were moved 11 times, and I attended 6 schools in 8 years.

In 1963 the government feeling the possibility of unrest, in fear of another uprising tried to create the feeling of openness, transparency, and gave amnesty to all the freedom fighters. To show how open we suddenly became, they gave passports to a handful of people to visit relatives in the west. My mother received a passport to visit my brothers. After her return, the following year my father had permission to visit the US , He never set foot on Hungarian soil again.

With my father in the West, my Mother and I were harassed and questioned by the police regularly. We were threatened with jail and work-camp, if we didn’t convince my father to return. We never asked him to come home, on his return he would have been jailed for life. I wanted to leave and we applied for passports. After our application we were followed by agents, and the police came to get us frequently to parade us through the city, to the police station for questioning. This continued for five years.

Between Christmas and New Year’s in 1968 the police came for me. The chief wanted me alone for questioning! He put a paper in front of me and demanded I sign it without allowing me time to read. At age 15 I refused to put my signature on that paper without first reading it! While the chief was screaming at me for my defiance, I read the paper in which I was going to give up my Hungarian citizenship. I took the pen and wrote on the bottom margin that under no circumstance am I willing to give up my Hungarian citizenship, ….. and then I signed the paper.

This pushed the chief to his limit, he was covered in sweat as he screamed at me when my mother, who was a tiny woman came busting through the door. Looking confused, almost disoriented, he told us we were both leaving, stating the country will be better off without us, and to our astonishment he gave us a month to leave the country. On my way out he grabbed my arm and he spun me around to face him, his last words to me stuck with me to this day. He said: “We do not need your kind, you are the type who can cause revolutions”. I stand steady in my convictions, and of them all freedom is most important to me…… based on that, perhaps the chief was a wise man!
¤
I AM AN IMMIGRANT. In recent years most Americans think of immigrants as poor people, undereducated, in search of a financially better life, coming to the United States for the opportunity of work. Today that is mostly correct, but going back a few decades, immigrants came to America for entirely different reasons. We were seeking liberty! Poor we could deal with, that was the smallest of our problems. We came with broken wings and broken spirits from lands controlled by tyrants where we had no hope for a brighter future, and we, the lucky ones who did get out, came here to take refuge under the protective comfort of the Constitution. We did not come to change America , we came with respect for its laws, language, and we are proud to Pledge Allegiance to the flag!

We loved our homeland, yet, we fully dedicated our allegiance to a foreign land we did not know, we came deeply thankful for the sanctuary of its freedom, and the graciousness of its people for allowing us the privilege to live here. Most immigrants struggle for years to enter this country legally, struggle to learn English, but in time we adopt this country as our own. We learn its ways, we honor the blood that is shed for this soil, and we jealously guard over, and protect the freedoms of this country.

My three children were born here in freedom with the birthright to speak their minds, form opinions, and dare to dream of limitless possibilities knowing that if they are willing to focus and work hard enough, anything is within their reach. It is all up to them and not the government to determine their futures.

Through the decades I watched the very freedoms I would have swam an ocean for slowly recede. Little- by-little, all taken from us through more government control, programs, and regulations, with the promise “We will take care of you”. I heard this song before! It sounded out of tune when I was a child, and now, in this place and time, it is like the repeating tune you cannot get out of your head, it lingers and becomes irritating, but you can't put it to rest because you know in your gut the message is so wrong that the patriot inside you keeps pushing the replay button until he forces you to finally scream in protest,..... and causes you to act.

And act we must! According to the Declaration of Independence it is our right “whenever any form of government becomes destructive, it is the right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness”. To fail to realize the government’s illegal or treasonous actions, and not to act is illegal or treason on the part of the governed, and if we do not act, we will be forced to stand in shame in front of our children and grandchildren, who’s freedoms we so easily betrayed!!!

I came from where we are heading, and this road was paved by tyrants.

I have been through a revolution, lived the consequences of the people turning a blind eye to the wrongs their government, and their courts have done. I fought, stood up against a communist regime, for five years I looked evil in the eye to get away from the corruption! They threatened me with work-camp, tried to intimidate me by shaming me in front of the city, but I kept my dignity, and in the end I didn’t sneak across any border, rather with my head high, I walked away as they watched with envy, each of them wishing they could live inside my skin that day…..and I was only 16 years old!

¤

SOCIALISM!!!! Seams a perfect, equal system for all, a Shangri-La if you will, not realizing it is nothing but a bridge to Communism, which is total government control! Socialism at its best is corrupt, rotten to the core, a government without overseers! The idea of Socialism is not new in the United States , but it is not openly identified as such in the places it exists. If you live near by, drove through, or happen to live in the projects, you have seen and experienced Socialism in America !

Government housing, government healthcare, government schools, government food stamps, and what you see there is as good as it gets, when the government decides what is good for the people, takes the power out of the hands of the people, and they spread the wealth. Our government imposed full blown Socialism on our inner cities, and in over fifty years hasn’t been able to raise the living standard of those who live there! And look how happy and motivated are those, living in the projects with all that the government is providing for them.

Is that the best we can dream for our children and grandchildren? Is that the America we want to see? I certainly hope not, but that is exactly what the government means when they tell you they want to spread the wealth. They will make us all poor by breaking down our economy, forcing on us taxation on a level never seen before, and if we don’t like it and cause too much difficulty for them, at that point they will have the power to no longer tax us at all, simply take over completely, shut down the borders and impose full blown Communism. Not in America you might say! Think again, look around and see how much we lost just in the last year!

We are citizens of this country first, and private citizens second! This citizenship comes with responsibilities! Keeping the Constitution in tact, the freedoms in it, is our foremost responsibility. Citizenship is our birthright, but freedom is not, we have to be diligent in making sure it is not snatched from us in the midst of indifference, ignorance, or under the assumption that it is being properly looked after by our representatives in Washington .

Our greatest enemies are not always those on the outside of our borders, sometimes, as today, they walk among us, pretend to serve, and represent us. Both parties have betrayed us, they both not only strayed from the Constitution, but trying to destroy it. We the people have sat in indifference too long, allowed our children to be indoctrinated by the left, making them believe their ancestors were terrible people committing terrible acts, placing doubt into young minds…questioning their parents’ intent, rather than the government’s! We turned a blind eye to corruption of government, our courts, and through political correctness they shamed us into shutting up, so no one will ever question or oppose, and feeling alone quietly stand watching the government enslave the people! We need to demand Constitutional correctness from our representatives!

We are the mothers and fathers of this great land! As we would with our children in danger, we viciously, with our blood if needs to be, have to protect this soil we stand on from those who are limiting our rights and carelessly selling our country to foreigners. To those countries who are not our friends, nor supporters,
they are in many cases our enemies, who are only worried about how they will get the return on their investment. The fall of this great country would cause them no emotional hardship at all, perhaps a gleeful grin of satisfaction over the idea that it was a job well done. The arrogant Americans got what they deserve. But we are not the arrogant Americans! Our corrupt politicians are!

The most precious thing we have is our country, without it we have no home! Our founders swore to protect it from enemies outside our borders, and from the enemies within! Times may have changed, but human nature has not, money and power is still a lure for men of weak convictions. We need to recruit those who through the political evolution from George Washington to today managed to keep their spines in tact, and are still able to stand upright with dignity, and willing to preserve the last bastion of freedom in the world. We need to judge all politicians guilty, until they prove to us they are PATRIOTS!

These days we may be softer in our comforts then the early Americans were, but I can say with certainty, we do not love our country any less today, and I feel confident if we are called, now that we are called, we will not be less of a patriot than those who fought back then. Our commitment cannot be less than to offer our life if necessary. We have to have commitment on that level, even though we may not want to. Freedom is that important, ask anyone who knows what it’s like not to have it! Most recently, look at the people of Iran !

This is the most dangerous time in our country’s history, since the founding fathers fought for freedom, and laid the cornerstone for what is today the greatest country on earth! Our liberties have never been more on the brink of extinction than today. It is time for all eyes to be wide open, and believe what used to be unbelievable! The changes we see today have been coming for decades, but today they are meant to change our country’s DNA, and cannot be allowed to continue.

As a nation of diversity we have faced great challenges in our history, and we always overcame, remained strong, but today, NOW our country is in grave danger! It is time we take the loss of our freedoms, and the corruption in our government, and courts seriously, and finally stand together as the Americans we are, all citizens, all the races, all nationalities united, under the one flag of the United States of America , for the most important single cause of our lives…..our freedom.

Written by - Name DELETED for protection



They Want To Keep You Dumb. Why Cooperate?


Dan from New York:

You've never seen this brilliant woman on a "real news network like CNN."

And you never will.



Larwyn's Linx: Trying On All Fronts To Increase Role Of the State

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

Frank: "We Are Trying On Every Front To Increase The Role Of Government": RCP
While the President Golfs: Taranto
The Modern-Day Race Hustlers: PJM

Constitutionality of health overhaul questioned: Times
What if Bush had done it?: Hot Air
Narcissistic Rage in the White House: AT

Signing away sovereignty: AT
ACORN's Nutty Antics: New American
Obama fails to pursue those responsible for meltdown: MNT

Read the bills? How about the Constitution?: Examiner
Fred Thompson to Newt: We’re Not Deaf, Dumb & Blind: GWP
Why a Harmer Win Would be Huge: AT

NY-23: The Two-Week Turnaround: RSM
Bring on More Alan Grayson: Wizbang
You Lie! Dem Rep: Obamacare To Cover Abortion: GWP

Economy

Frauds Plague Federal Health Care: Examiner
More Arrogation of Power?: Denninger
Did Goldman's CFO Lie To The Investing Public On September 16, 2008?: Zero Hedge

$234,000 to create 1/2 of a job: Virtuous
Dem Donors Rewarded with White House Perqs: Times
We the people... don't want to pay for our own health care: MYODBP

Stimulus Strings Will Limit State Options: Investors

Media

Obama’s FCC, liberal churches, and the “media justice” mob: Malkin
CNN nails Valerie Jarrett to the Wall on Fox Bias Claim: Hot Air
CNN's ratings falling faster than Obama's: Power Line

A Graphic History of Newspaper Circulation Over the Last Two Decades: Awl
Interview with Charles Krauthammer: 'Obama Is Average': Spiegel
Mediaite: Is Rachel Maddow the Glenn Beck of the Left?: NewsBusters

Warning Signs: 60 Minutes Questions Fed's Ability to Manage Health Care: BlogProf
Nope. No Bias Here. Move Along Now.: Wizbang
Savage on the President's Narcissism: YouTube

What Bill Ayers Saw in Barack Obama: AT (Cashill)
Biden's Favorable Rating Plunges: InstaPundit

Climate & Energy

Manufacturing Money and Global Warming: Science and Public Policy
Dem’s Cap & Trade Bill Is $3.6 Trillion Gas Tax Too: GWP
Prominent Russian Scientist: 'We should fear a deep temperature drop -- not catastrophic global warming': Depot

World

The Unfinished War: Spyer
Voting Al-Qaeda in Ohio: PJM (Poole)
Israel slams UN Human Rights Council: PatRoom

Am I wrong to laugh at this?: Hack Wilson

Cornucopia

US National Anthem by the Academy Choirs: YouTube
Made in China: Fake Brand-Name Condoms: China Hush

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

At Last, Some Comic Relief


Dan from New York:

I normally eschew the use of bold type for emphasis – too horsey. But I am making an exception in this case because British humor is so deadpan it might pass you by if I didn’t. The laughs start now...

British police and intelligence officers sent to tackle UK-funded torturers on West Bank


25th October 2009

The Government is sending British police and intelligence officers to the West Bank to try to stop a wave of brutal torture by Palestinian security forces funded by UK taxpayers. Their mission is to set up and train a new ‘internal affairs’ department with sweeping powers to investigate abuse and bring torturers to justice.

The department is being paid for by Britain, with an initial planning budget of £100,000 – a sum set to soar as it becomes established. Yesterday a senior official from the semi-autonomous Palestinian Authority (PA), which runs the West Bank and its security agencies, admitted for the first time that torture, beatings and extra-judicial killings have been rife for the past two years, with hundreds of torture allegations and at least four murders in custody, the most recent in August.

Haitham Arar, head of the Palestinian Authority interior ministry’s human rights department, said: "This is a shame on the Palestinian Authority. We are determined with the help of our British colleagues to instill respect for human rights as part of the security forces’ daily behaviour and to teach them how to treat prisoners properly."

She said planning for the new department was well advanced and it should be operational in four months’ time. Besides investigation, British detectives will train the Palestinian police and ‘Preventive Security’ forces in how to question suspects without torturing them.

Support for the new department follows the disclosure by The Mail on Sunday in January that Britain spends £20million a year funding the forces responsible for the abuse. Most of their victims are accused of involvement with Hamas, the radical Islamist party that seized power through violence in the Gaza Strip in 2007. The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank is controlled by the rival Fatah party.

‘A lot of people were talking in a bad way about the PA and saying they wanted the West Bank to be like Gaza,’ Ms Arar said. ‘There were people who had weapons and others who were money-laundering to support terrorism. ‘We had to bring these people to order. But there were violations because not all the security officers were aware of human rights standards.’

...In the region’s largest city, Nablus, Nasser al-Shaer, a former Manchester academic who was deputy prime minister in the short-lived Hamas Palestinian Authority government elected in 2006, said many of those released from detention in recent months were telling the same story – of torture, including beatings, being suspended from the ceiling and electric shocks.

...One young man told in a whisper how he had been assaulted with a high-voltage device with electrodes ‘like fingers’. Refusing to allow me to take notes, he said: ‘I was inside for 12 months and released without charge, but if it gets out I have talked to a journalist, they will come for me again.’

However, Dr al-Shaer said that since the beginning of this month, he had heard no fresh reports of torture.



'A New Kind of Politics'


For the sin of disagreeing with the President on cap-and-trade and opposing its new financial regulations, the White House went after the United States Chamber of Commerce. Obama himself accused the small business lobby of "false advertising".

After decrying the administration's abrogation of bankruptcy law by rewarding unions, Chrysler's bondholders were "privately threatened and then publicly excoriated by the president."

After Humana mailed its customers about the proposed $500 billion cuts to Medicare under the Democrats' health reform plans, the White House used the Secretary of Health and Human Services to "investigate" the insurer in order to intimidate like-minded companies and suppress free speech.

When Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl criticized billions in wasted stimulus spending, Obama's cabinet secretaries threatened to withhold funds from the state. The Arizona Republic wrote: "Let's not mince words here: The White House is intent on shutting Kyl up... using whatever means necessary."

After questioning the Constitutionality of Obama's unelected "Czars", Senators Lamar Alexander and Robert Bennett were publicly pilloried on the White House blog.

Upon receiving significant criticism of its policies and appointees, the Obama administration targeted Fox News, launched a boycott, coordinated a series of attacks on its credibility and attempted to ban it from the White House Press Pool.

When they wouldn't endorse ObamaCare en masse, the President attacked physicians in a series of speeches, accusing them of "unnecessary" procedures like amputations and tonsillectomies.

Small businesses. Bondholders. Physicians. Insurance companies. Journalists who report unfavorable news. Politicians who oppose administration policy. Banks.

Anyone who opposes the expansion of government is targeted.

Now that's what I call 'change'. Chicago-style.


Based upon: "The Chicago Way", by Kim Strassel;

Support Doug Hoffman in NY-23 (And Don't Support Third Parties)


If you have a spare five or ten bucks, I'd encourage you to chip in to Doug Hoffman's campaign. Hoffman is running under the banner of New York's Conservative Party against uber-Liberal Dede Scozzafava.

Why the third party run? Hoffman is a Republican, but because this is a special election, there's no primary. It's a free-for-all. In a normal election, Scozzafava would've been crushed in the first round. As it was, she was hand-selected by three, hard-left county hacks.

[Fred Thompson] lists her absurd positions that are entirely out of sync with conservative values and normal Republican policy positions. For crying out loud, a huge chunk of her most recent donations came from abortion rights groups, labor unions and the NEA.

Card check? WTF? Oh wait, her husband, Ron McDougall, is president of the Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence Central Trades and Labor Council and a member of the UAW... The same clown who called the cops when his wife the candidate refused to answer questions from felt "threatened" by Weekly Standard reporter John McCormack.

As for a third party? I can't and won't support one under normal circumstances, ever. It's political suicide on the national level.

Ronald Reagan proved it. And if Teddy Roosevelt -- at the time, one of the best-known and well-funded candidates in history -- couldn't succeed in a third party, no one can.

Supporting a third party on the national level would simply guarantee that the Marxist agenda will continue unchecked. No: we must do what Reagan did: crush the Colin Powell set, the Lindsey Graham set, the John McCain set -- the incoherent, mumbling "moderates" who stand for nothing.

If Conservatism is to thrive, it must do so under the Republican banner. Anything less means another victory for the Crypto-Fascists.

And sorry about all of the green arrows and captions. Junior Cub Reporter Biff Spackle is supervising the Graphics Department and one of the interns thinks she's Perez Hilton.


Update: "GOP Candidate Scozzafava, Husband Have Ties to Union-Backed ACORN Front."

Where Chinese Factories House Their Migrant Workers

Isn't a centralized, authoritarian, top-down government structure awesome?

[This is] the “most awesome” migrant workers’ dormitory... Next to a construction site in Wuhan, a old factory building where one end of it has been demolished, and the remaining part of the building were made of broken walls looked like it was on the verge of collapse. In this “decapitated” house, lived over 50 migrant workers. So many migrant workers’ lives were arranged in such a dangerous house, I really do not know how the management could rest their minds?






What say you, Barney Pelosi-Reid?


If Rush Speaks For Conservatives, Who Speaks For Liberals?

Dan from New York:

If Rush Speaks For Cons Who Speaks For Libs?

I nominate this guy.



Hat tip: Radio Equalizer.

Larwyn's Linx: Does the Supreme Court Still Sit?

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

Does the Supreme Court Still Sit?: AT (Cary)
NY-23: Hoffman Needs 'Boots On the Ground' vs. ACORN: Spectator
The Momentum of History: Doc Zero

Newt for 2012? No Thanks: Malkin
My interview with Wade Rathke: Provocateur
The Reform-Minded Conservative: Times

Primary the bastards: a Conservative Earthquake: PJM
Newt Gingrich… Disingenuous at best: Governeur
Something really scary for Obama's Democrats: Times

Reid: "I Have Nothing to Announce, So Pay Attention": LegalIns
NY-23: Heating Up: Patterico
P. Kennedy: Church Fanning 'Flames of Dissent, Discord': BlogProf

Economy

Medicare Fraud: $60B and Growing: AT (Hass)
California Budget Solution? Ignore It: Doctor Housing Bubble
3-BR Homes w/Granite Countertops: a Human 'Right': Wisdom

Why Health Care Reform Will Implode: Riehl
Generous pay for new Freddie Mac CFO: BizWeek
A Reminder: What Teachers' Unions Do In California: STACLU

Latest Rasmussen Data on Michigan and the Economy: STACLU
'One of the biggest bait-and-switch acts in history': Riehl

Media

Fact-checking the New York Times on Iran and Nukes: PJM (Simon)
Rove's Secret Plan Is Working: Fox Ratings Up 10% Since Obama Declared War: Hot Air
Far Left Nutcase Krugman Calls Conservatives 'Teabaggers' In NYT: GWP

On FNC, A Sadly Mistaken Newt Doubles Down: GWP
Mission Accomplished: Patterico
Memo to Spitzer: Put a Sock in It: Examiner

Plenty of Blame To Go Around for CNN's Rating Plunge: Driscoll
Newspaper Circulation Circles the Drain: JWF
Fox News Channel's Ratings Soar After White House Attack: NewsBusters

Climate & Energy

EPA putting the brakes on coal: Hot Air
The Race Against Nothing: AT
'Save the planet, kill yourself': BlogProf

World

Decline is a choice. But is it America's choice?: Hammer
Why 1978 was a very bad year and 2010 could be, too: Examiner
Labour wanted mass immigration to make UK more multicultural, says former adviser: Telegraph

Russia's Strategy of Manipulation: PJM
They Love Obama, They Really Love Him!: JWF
Danon: Criminalize 'Peace Now': INN

Sci-Tech

Mobile Phone Wars!: Denninger

Cornucopia

Damn, It Feels Good To Be a Victim: PJTV
Exciting GT2 finish at Laguna Seca: Speed




Monday, October 26, 2009

My $1,000 Fox News Challenge to Lefties: Document Just One Lie


"Faux News." "Liars." "Not really a news organization." "A right-wing propaganda machine."

The Leftists have a lot of descriptions for the country's increasingly dominant cable news channel. They claim that Fox fabricates news stories.

I want them to prove it. And I've got a 1-ounce Kruggerand from my Y2K bunker* (today's spot price: $1,040) waiting for the first 'progressive' who can provide me with a documented lie repeated by Fox News reporters.

There are just four simple rules:

• Typos don't qualify ("ooh, the news ticker used a 'D' after his name, not an 'R'!").

• The lie must have been repeated by at least two national Fox News reporters and left uncorrected.

• The transcripts and/or video clips must be available on the Fox News website for verification.

• The story, refuting the Fox News lie, must have been correctly reported at around the same time by news reporters from CNN and MSNBC (with links and/or transcripts from their sites).

Just one lie! That's all I'm asking for. This should be the easiest $1,000 you've ever made, libs. Just post your answer in the comments section along with your email address before November 3, 2009.

And given the devaluation of our currency by President Training Wheels, the Kruggerand could be worth $1,500 next week.

Ready? Get set... go!


* Since converted to a super-secret 2038 Bunker.


Update: Comment from the Greenroom:

Oh, I’ve got it.

Fox News falsely claimed that the President had shirked in his duties in the National Guard, and in fact produced fake documents to back up their assertion!!!

Now, do I get my $1K? Oh, that was CBS? Oops…

Ok, I’ve got it! Fox News set out to prove a safety defect with some trucks. But when they couldn’t get the trucks to blow up, they rigged them with explosives. Oh, darn it, that wasn’t Fox News either?

Alright, how about when they made up accusations of American troops using chemical weapons against defectors in Vietnam? Oh dear – again this wasn’t Fox?

It is almost like Fox is in fact the lone bastion of journalistic integrity out of the big news networks or something…

18-1 on October 27, 2009 at 12:36 AM



Linked by: Grand Rants. Thanks!

Building Codes in China (or Lack Thereof)


I suppose there aren't any local building codes in China, if these photos from China Hush are any indication.

(Soybean Residue) – The residue of soybean milk after being filtered. A slang used to describe poorly constructed structures like buildings that are not up to the safety standards; usually constructed with shoddy materials.

Another scary looking “Soybean Residue” building in Liaoning was exposed on Netease BBS. Here is the translation:

We are the resident[s] of Guangming Garden Building 4 Unit 6 in Suizhong town, Suizhong County. Our building was one of the buildings developed by the Suizhong County power supply bureau.

We moved in after the building was completed in 2003, not for long the basement was seriously flooded. Even though the property maintenance company already repaired it twice, but up till now it was flooded and unusable in the summer!

More seriously, in the second year after we moved in we noticed from the first floor to sixth floor, the bricks were falling off from the edge of the windows; The beams on top of the staircase and doors were broken; cracks started to appear on the ceilings and walls.

The longer cracks connected the entire wall.

Shortest cracks were at least one meter long and 1 cm in width.

They were deep so you can see the cracked bricks inside.

Every unit doors were bent out of shape, difficult to open and close. Recently the dangerous situation is gradually expanding.

Above mentioned were hazards, 12 families and more than 40 people’s lives were in danger every day.

In any moment the build[ing] could just collapse.

I on behalf of the residents went to the Suizhong Power Supply Bureau and Urban Construction Bureau to submit our petitions. However the results were various departments knowing the issues but pointed fingers to each other, no one stepped up to do anything. In the end, I reluctantly went to the county government. After several twists and turns, the county finally agreed to see us, but only limited to 5 minutes. After listened to our situation, supposedly the county government were to direct the urban construction bureau to resolve the issues. But more than two months had passed and nothing was done. When we asked the county again, the response from the county government was “we are in the process of contacting the relevant department”, asking us to wait longer.

We were left with no choice and thought about the Internet. Netizens please support our 12 families and over 40 people, wake up those government officials, to solve our real problems!

I blame Bush. And global warming.


The Real Hope


The Daley Gator sent this one in.

Which reminds me of this video.


Charts o' the Day: Morgan Stanley on the Economy


The following are some very interesting slides from Mary Meeker's presentation at the Web 2.0 conference last week. All arrows and comments in bright green were added by our enterprising Cub Reporter Biff Spackle.








If you're at all interested in economic and technology trends, you'd be well advised to review the whole thing.