Friday, January 01, 2010

The Top 10% of AutoBlog's Top 100 Photographs of 2009

AutoBlog proffers its list of the last year's 100 most gorgeous auto snapshots. My ten favorite photos:










The entire list -- in high-resolution -- is here.


Even the New York Times now openly mocking global warming, comparing it to Y2K and other mass hysteria phenomena (a.k.a. Algoreophobia)

Climate Depot alerts us to a breakthrough moment for the erstwhile "newspaper of record". Put simply, even the Times has begun openly mocking the the global warming bunko scam.

Apocalyptic scenarios [like Y2K] are a diversion from real problems — poverty, terrorism, broken financial systems — needing intelligent attention. Even something as down-to-earth as the swine-flu scare has seemed at moments to be less about testing our health care system and its emergency readiness than about the fate of a diseased civilization drowning in its own fluids. We wallow in the idea that one day everything might change in, as St. Paul put it, the “twinkling of an eye” — that a calamity might prove to be the longed-for transformation. But turning practical problems into cosmic cataclysms takes us further away from actual solutions.

This applies, in my view, to the towering seas, storms, droughts and mass extinctions of popular climate catastrophism. Such entertaining visions owe less to scientific climatology than to eschatology, and that familiar sense that modernity and its wasteful comforts are bringing us closer to a biblical day of judgment. As that headline put it for Y2K, predictions of the end of the world are often intertwined with condemnations of human “folly, greed and denial.” Repent and recycle!

Last one out of the global warming panic room, please turn out the lights.

That means you, Al.


Linked by: Ace of Spades and Climate Depot. Thanks!

The 2009 Fabulous 50 Blog Awards

We're kicking off the year with our first annual Fabulous Fifty Blog Awards, which recognizes the best of the new mainstream media. Without further ado, may I have the envelopes, please?

• The 'Book 'em, Danno' Award for Best Investigative Journalist goes to: Michelle Malkin.

• The 'Buh-Bye Gray Lady' Award for Best New Journalism Website goes to: Big Government.

• The 'Town Crier' Award for Superior News Gathering goes to Drudge Report.

• The 'Look Out Above!' Award for Best Up-and-Coming Mainstream Journalist goes to Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit.

• The Novak Award for Best Political Blogging goes to: The Corner.

• The 'Warp Speed' Award for Best Instant Analysis goes to Ed Morrissey of Hot Air.

• The 'Best Twitterer even before there was a Twitter' Award goes to: InstaPundit.

• The 'Thought-Leader' Award for Best Op-Ed Blog goes to: American Thinker.

• The 'Edward R. Murrow' Award for Best Mediawatching goes to: NewsBusters.

• The 'Murrow R. Edward' Award for Best Faux Mediawatching goes to: Media Matters.

• The 'Shining City on the Hill' Award for Best Speechwriter goes to: Doctor Zero.

• The 'Shake your Moneymaker' Award for Entrepreneurship goes to: John Hawkins.

• The 'WTF, ROTFLMAO' Award for Snark-laced Political Humor goes to: Ace of Spades.

• The 'Damn the Firewalls, Full Speed Ahead' Award for Best Information Warfare Campaign goes to The Jawa Report.

• The 'Glutes of Steel' Award for Mocking Andrew Sullivan goes to: IowaHawk.

• The 'YouTube This!' Award for Best Video Blogging goes to: Pajamas TV.

• The 'Media B***hslap' Award goes to Patterico's Pontifications.

• The 'We Really All Can Get Along' Award for Best Group Blogging goes to Power Line.

• The 'Can't Help But Laugh' Award for 'Progressive' Humor goes to Sadly, No!.

• The 'Linus Torvalds' Award for Best Custom Blogging Software goes to Charles Johnson of LGF.

• The 'Jim Rice' Award given to Most Promising New Investigative Journalist goes to Verum Serum.

• The 'Woman on a Mission' Award goes to Pamela Geller.

• The 'It's Awfully Hot Here In This Sauna' Award for Debunking the Religion of Warming goes to Watts Up With That.

• The 'If the Glove Don't Fit' Award for Best Legal Commentary goes to The Volokh Conspiracy.

• The 'Ernie Pyle' Award for Best War Correspondent goes to Michael Yon.

• The 'Jack-of-all-Insults' Award for Most Versatile Snarker goes to Jammie Wearing Fool.

• The 'TEABAGGERS vs. FISTERS: The Debate Is Over' Award for Funniest Headlines goes to People's Cube.

• The 'Gettin' Your Photoshop Freak On' Award for Illustration goes to: iOwnTheWorld.

• The 'We Don't Even Pretend to Play Nice' Award for openly plotting to overthrow the U.S. government goes to Hizb ut-Tahrir America.

• The 'Nine-Hour Nostradamus' Award for consistently being ahead of the story goes to: The Astute Bloggers.

• The 'Longshoreman' Award for Funniest Use of Cursewords goes to: DoublePlusUndead.

• The 'Imelda Obama' Award goes to Michelle's Mirror.

• The 'Bolton' Award for Best Middle East Analysis goes to Barry Rubin.

• The 'Speaking Truth to Power' Award for Best Middle East Reporting goes to MEMRI Blog.

• The 'Down, Boy!' Award for censoring its readers' vicious comments goes to The Huffington Post.

• The 'Pink Underwear' Award for Best Coverage of a Perverted Newsman goes to Olbermann Watch.

• The 'Salvador Dali' Award for Most Creative Blogging goes to SondraK.

• The 'Blog-Ring' Award for Best Group of Affiliated Blogs goes to The Watcher's Council:

  • Watcher of Weasels
  • The Glittering Eye
  • Rhymes With Right
  • J O S H U A P U N D I T
  • Soccer Dad
  • The COLOSSUS OF RHODEY
  • Bookworm Room
  • Wolf Howling
  • The Razor
  • The Provocateur
  • Mere Rhetoric
  • Right Truth
  • AMERICAN DIGEST

Congratulations to our winners and, as always, thank you for all you do -- and best wishes to you and all seven of our readers for a happy and healthy 2010!

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Larwyn's Linx: The Left's Permanent War on the War on Terror

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

The Left's Permanent War on the War on Terror: Ace
Dems lose another top recruit: Kansas: Riehl
We are being governed by children: Nice Deb

Some politicians 'acted stupidly' in 2009: Surber
Martha Coakley's Secret Bank Account: LegalIns
"Not just incompetence but incomprehension": MoneyRunner

Ron Paul: Al Qaeda's Useful Idiot: GWP
TSA subpoenas bloggers, demands sourcing info: AP
Dems brace for voter backlash on health: Times

Heaven help us: the failed Detroit attack: FoMF
New TSA travel rules for public can't be released to public: CFB
Illinois Governor Highlights Gitmo Relo Lunacy: JWF

Economy

Income and Wealth: Greenroom
Keeping America's Edge: Corner (Manzi)
Our Mediterranean Moral-Hazard Holiday: Corner

A Decade and its Three Crises: AT
Farewell to the Decade of Fear: Barone

Climate & Energy

News: CO2 levels in atmosphere haven't changed in at least 150 years: BlogProf
The final nail in the Global Warming coffin: Surber

Media

Gateway Pundit- #9 “Best of the Rightest” Top Ten Conservatives of 2009: GWP
They Shouted "You Die!": LegalIns
Worst Tweet of the Year: LegalIns

Sarah Palin, Man of the Year: Surber
The Second Worst Day of My Life: Noisy Room
A World Without Rush: AT (Marcus)

Top 20 Political Quotes of the Decade: RWN
When Worlds Collide: Dewey

World

Connecting the frickin' dots: Jawa
Why Didn't Abulmutallab Get Flagged by State?: Wizbang
A Humpty-Dumpty View of the World: Hanson

Muslim Immigrant Opens Fire – Kills 5 in Finnish Mall: GWP
Blackwater contractors cleared in Iraq killings: Surber
Knee Slapper: R&R

US releases ‘dangerous’ Iranian proxy behind the murder of US troops: LWJ
New Year's Eve: What Better Time to Spring an Iranian Terror Master Who Murdered American Troops?: Corner
What Can Israel Teach the U.S. About Airport Security?: PJM

Counterinsurgency at a Sprint: CJ
Obama's 2010 Policy and Iran: Misconceptions Guarantee Failure: RubRep

SciTech

How eavesdroppers can listen in to cell calls: CNet

Cornucopia

Beautiful short films to wish you a beautiful new year: Anchoress
Daily Scoreboard: Surber
Dick Cheney and Pollsters: New Enemies Within: Michelle's Mirror

Email o' the day (sent to Don Surber):

Just got this from my friend Diana and I thought I’d share it with you!

Happy New Year!

My Dog…

My dog sleeps about 20 hours a day. He has his food prepared for him. He can eat whenever he wants, 24/7/365. His meals are provided at no cost to him. He visits the Dr. once a year for his checkup, and again during the year if any medical needs arise. For this, he pays nothing, and nothing is required of him. He lives in a nice neighborhood in a house that is much larger than he needs, but he is not required to do any upkeep. If he makes a mess, someone else cleans it up. He has his choice of luxurious places to sleep. He receives these accommodations absolutely free. He is living like a king, and has absolutely no expenses whatsoever. All of his costs are picked up by others who go out and earn a living every day. I was just thinking about all this, and suddenly it hit me like a brick in the head: Holy S##t!!!

My dog is a Democrat!


My third prediction for 2010: all types of airport scanners will be defeated by terrorists, eh, man-made-disaster instigators

Kim Priestap points us a Radio Netherland report with a discomfiting title. "Al-Qaeda practises beating body scanners" describes test runs by terrorists that involve smuggling explosives past full-body scanners in Europe.

In 2007 Ed Morrisey summarized a series of apparent terrorist dry-runs. At that time the TSA alert (PDF) suggested that an attack on airliners was imminent. The TSA noted items that closely resembled C4 (explosives), IEDs, and remote triggers.

Furthermore, the explanations of the persons involved were "questionable" and investigations continue.

[Authorities] have intercepted several items at airports resembling improvised explosive device (IED) components. These items include wires, switches, pipes or tubes, cell phone components, and dense clay-like substances. The unusual nature and increase in number of these improvised items raise concern... Terrorists may repeat operational tests to desensitize, distract, or adapt plans for specific environments...

Individuals involved in these incidents were of varying gender, and initial investigations do not link them with criminal or terrorist organizations. However, most passengers’ explanations for carrying the suspicious items were questionable, and some investigations are still ongoing. Many of the incidents caused airport terminal evacuations and at times, brief closures...

Noteworthy incidents include the following:

5 July 2007, San Diego, CA – A U.S. Person’s (USPER) checked baggage contained two icepacks covered in duct tape. The icepacks had clay inside them rather than the normal blue gel.

4 June 2007, Milwaukee, WI – The carry-on baggage of a USPER contained several items resembling IED components, such as a wire coil wrapped around a possible initiator, an electrical switch, batteries, three tubes, and two blocks of cheese

8 November 2006, Houston, TX – A USPER’s checked baggage contained a plastic bag with a 9-volt battery, wires, a block of brown clay-like minerals, and pipes.

16 September 2006, Baltimore, MD – The checked baggage of a couple contained a plastic bag with a block of processed cheese taped to another plastic bag holding a cellular phone charger.

* * *

At some point, the TSA practices -- often described as "security theater" -- need to cease. They must be replaced with decisive, intelligent measures such as those used by Israeli security personnel.


My second prediction for 2010: It's Going To Be Bush's Fault

Dan from New York offers a prediction for the coming year and I concur.

It's hard to argue with the premise that 2009 exposed a yawning gap between Obama's worldview and the way of the world. But many conservatives mistakenly believe that the weight of reality will force the man into a course correction. That's a bad mistake committed by reasonable people who are unable to fathom the power of Obama's bred-in-the-bone ideology to withstand change and brush off the laws of cause and effect. If Republicans can't convince the American people to put a honkin' speed bump in Obama's path this coming November, he's going to drag us full speed in the same direction until 2012, come what may.

A Humpty-Dumpty View of the World


Rarely has a candidate’s entire world view been so abruptly refuted in the first year of a presidency...

By Victor Davis Hanson

...most of you readers remember young Barack Obama in late 2007 hitting the stump against Hillary, proclaiming to the world how his hope and change bromides would stop the Bush-Cheney nexus from destroying the planet.

Those were heady times when Guantanamo was still a gulag with its hundreds of Solzhenitsyns, not psychopaths like Khalid Sheikh Mohammeds, when we could just leave Iraq by “March 2008”, and when there would be no lobbyists, no tax cheats, no insider buy-offs and horse-trading for votes. In such a dreamy world, geniuses like Timothy Geithner don’t pocket their FICA allowances, and Tom Daschles don’t fudge on their complimentary limo services.

And then tragically Obama got elected and discovered that the real world had no relationship whatsoever to his fantasy impressions of it. In a cosmos of radical Islam, Chinese bankers, Japanese exporters, and Arab oil producers, there were no more law school profs, Rev. Wrights, or Chris Matthews and Newsweek editors to wink and nod and reassure Obama that his mellifluous but empty rhetoric allusions were at all reality-based.

...So if he seems bewildered, angry sometimes, and more at home in warm, lush Hawaii, you would be too — once you discovered that your easy fantasies and winged rhetoric of the last thirty years have no relation with the here and now...

You know what to do.

My First Prediction for 2010: Illinois-based Terrorists to be Freed, Unionized, Hired as TSA Baggage Screeners

Consider the following facts:

1. Senator "Little" Dick Durbin (D-IL) believes relocating Gitmo terrorists to Illinois will help stimulate the local economy.

2. Senate Democrats are working tirelessly to bring collective bargining (i.e., unions) to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), despite the fact that similar security-focused organizations (e.g., CIA, FBI) are kept strictly non-unionized to ensure agility.

3. The Obama administration's Justice Department strongly asserts that terrorists captured on the battlefield have the rights of U.S. citizens.

4. Since these barbarians were not Miranda-ized (had their rights read to them), some experts believe there's a reasonable chance they could be freed and walk right out of court.

I can come to no other conclusion that they will form a TSA Baggage Screening Union (Jihadists Local 1) and solicit the SEIU for affiliation. Oh, and they'll vote Democrat.

It's really not funny because, sadly, it could happen with this brilliant crew in charge.


Larwyn's Linx: The Challenge of Freedom

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

The Challenge of Freedom: Doc Zero
Scott Brown Winning The Online Battle: LegalIns
More Radicalizing of Higher Ed: AT

10 New Reasons Why Obamacare Can Still Be Killed : Schlafly
Four days to respond to terror; just hours to Cheney: Hemingway
The President's War on the Word 'Terror': RedState

What is Barack Obama doing?: Tapscott
Mystery van causes Times Square scare: Times
2012: It'll be here before you know it: Grand Rants

Did Holder's firm represent NWA bomb mastermind?: GWP
DeMint decries union obstructionism in TSA: RWN
Watch List Review Chief Has Ties to Watch List Firm: Times

Economy

More workers revolt against SEIU: Malkin
A dozen states threaten suit over NE health deal: Hemingway
Four Easy Steps: How Goldman Made Billions in Meltdown: Collapse

Kucinich et.al.: Prove It (Fannie/Freddie "Outrage"): Denninger
Obama's Game of False Choices: AT
GMAC becomes the government's takeover #6: Ace

The Gladney Twins Need Assistance: GWP
Dow's Worst Decade Since the Thirties: Surber
Stimulating Minnesota: Power Line

Media

WGN Opens Censorship's New Front: Radio Equalizer
AP laughably tries to sell an economic 'rebound': PJM
The Fox News Decade -- Illustated: Surber

15 Bloggiest Stories of 2009: Patterico
Looking For A Picture On A Blank Screen: JOM
TSA springs into action, targets bloggers: JWF

Surprises abound in Going Rogue: PJM
Ten Reasons Obama Gets an 'F': Patterico

World

Interpol: The International Enforcement Arm of the Islamic Republic of Iran: GoV
Suicide bomber kills eight in Afghanistan: Ace
UAE banks threaten customers with jaail over debts: Maktoob

Petraeus: Iran involved in kidnapping of British citizen: JWF
France's Constitutional Council rules carbon tax illegal: AT
Pantybomber Abdulmutallab’s al-Qaeda London connection: Fausta

SciTech

Full-body scanners: a waste: Pupista
Why the Big Phone Companies are Dogs: Fortune

Cornucopia

Richard and Ray: Denny
Adam James (Texas Tech) on YouTube: Patterico
Image credit: The Nose On Your Face

Featured Posts


Popular Posts

You may have noticed all hell breaking loose around us

The end-times must be near.

Yes, that's Sarah Palin's Going Rogue nearing the pinnacle of the San Francisco Chronicle's local bestseller list.


Hat tip: John Galt.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Avatar Review: More Than Just 'Dances With Wookies'

Avatar in four words: Production: $183,000,000. Script: $14.25.

Cameron must have blown his entire budget on CGI, which was gorgeous, and forgotten to spend on the story. Cameron's under-$15 script recycled a bunch of the old favorites:

Dances With Wolves: Dude goes native except he's 9-feet tall and blue.

The natives even ride horsey-type creatures and use bows-and-arrows.

And they ride in packs and wear war paint and scream when they attack. Clever!

Aliens 2: the evil corporate boss with Giovanni whatever-his-name-is playing the Paul Reiser character.

Oh yeah -- and they threw in Ripley for good measure.

Pocahantas - Native chick falls in love with the dude who goes native.

And is it weird that I was strangely attracted to a nine-foot tall blue chick?

Lion King - Let no Disney script go untapped! In this case Hakuna Matata...

I swear to you that I kept waiting for the cast to break out in a chorus of Circle of Life.

And, really, the whole Gaia versus the evil corporation meme rings a bit hollow, what with California shutting down a million acres of prime farmland to save a frickin' two-inch river smelt.

Mr. Cameron: next time save a little budget for story development. Tell you what: I'll throw in my screen-writing services for half off.


Say a Prayer for Rush

Bob McCarty points us to this report from Hawaii's KITV:

Conservative radio talk host Rush Limbaugh was rushed to a Honolulu hospital on Wednesday afternoon with chest pains, sources told KITV.

Paramedics responded to the call at 2:41 p.m. at the Kahala Hotel and Resort... Limbaugh suffered from chest pains, sources said. Paramedics treated him and took him to Queen's Medical Center in serious condition.

Say a prayer tonight for the King of Talk Radio.


Which kind of infrastructure is most important?

As the government contemplates trillions in new bailout spending, it is worth considering real infrastructure projects. And there is no infrastructure quite as important as that which undergirds the two-parent family.

Consider that, of 23 peer-reviewed U.S. studies since 2000, 20 found that family structure directly affects crime and/or delinquency.

"[R]esearch strongly suggests both that young adults and teens raised in single-parent homes are more likely to commit crimes, and that communities with high rates of family fragmentation (especially unwed childbearing) suffer higher crime rates as a result."

For example, a 23-year study found that nearly 90% of the change in violent crime rates can be attributed to the change in percentages of out-of-wedlock births (divorce rates, on the other hand, had no relationship with crime).

In The Atlantic Monthly, Barbara Dafoe Whitehead noted that the "relationship [between single-parent families and crime] is so strong that controlling for family configuration erases the relationship between race and crime and between low income and crime. This conclusion shows up time and again in the literature. The nation's mayors, as well as police officers, social workers, probation officers, and court officials, consistently point to family break up as the most important source of rising rates of crime."

In addition, the statistical link between the availability of welfare and out-of-wedlock births is conclusive. There have been dozens of studies that link the availability of welfare benefits to out-of-wedlock birth.

One study found that a 50 percent increase in the value of AFDC and foodstamp payments led to a 43 percent increase in the number of out-of-wedlock births.

Research for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services showed that a 50 percent increase in the monthly value of combined AFDC and food stamp benefits led to a 117 percent increase in the crime rate among young black men.

In 1995 Dr. Patrick Fagan wrote a seminal summary of the situation: "Over the past thirty years, the rise in violent crime parallels the rise in families abandoned by fathers... High-crime neighborhoods are characterized by high concentrations of families abandoned by fathers... The rate of violent teenage crime corresponds with the number of families abandoned by fathers... Neighborhoods with a high degree of religious practice are not high-crime neighborhoods... Even in high-crime inner-city neighborhoods, well over 90 percent of children from safe, stable homes do not become delinquents. By contrast only 10 percent of children from unsafe, unstable homes in these neighborhoods avoid crime... Criminals capable of sustaining marriage gradually move away from a life of crime after they get married."

But what caused the breakdown of the American family? There are certainly many factors, but the welfare system; glorification of the single-parent household; and ill-conceived legislation are among the chief culprits.

Welfare: In 1994 the Maryland NAACP published a report that concluded "the ready access to a lifetime of welfare and free social service programs is a major contributory factor to the crime problems we face today."

Author Robert Rector argued that "[f]or thirty years, the welfare system has paid for non­work and non­marriage and has achieved massive increases in both." Rector noted that when New Jersey began denying increases in cash welfare benefits to single mothers who have additional children while on welfare, out-of-wedlock births decreased 10% with no increase in abortions.

Glorification of single-parent households: During a 1994 commencement address at George Washington University First Lady Hillary Clinton stated, "If it ever did, [the American family] no longer does consist of two parents, a dog, a house with a white picket fence, and a station wagon in the driveway."

In 1992 Vice President Dan Quayle ignited a media kerfuffle by criticizing the character of Murphy Brown for raising a child out of wedlock without any discernible father figure. Though mocked for months in the press, Quayle's words now seem prescient: It doesn't help matters when primetime TV has Murphy Brown, a character who supposedly epitomizes today's intelligent, highly paid professional woman, mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another lifestyle choice.

Furthermore, "Feminist" organizations have long opposed measures to reduce single-parent families and revamp welfare accordingly.

But even more important than Hollywood, the media and feminist efforts to glorify single-parent households, legislation played a critical role in the breakdown of the family.

Legislation: Tax law hits married couples directly in their wallets. Studies have determined that the "marriage penalty" disincentivizes both marriage and labor, since "[the] best approach to appear to have a lower family income is to not have an employed spouse in the home."

Research shows that tax and transfer programs have a direct effect on marital stability. Financial stress contributes heavily to family problems, including marital difficulties that can lead to divorce. Therefore, tax policies that penalize married couples by increasing their tax liabilities, contribute directly to the breakdown of families.

Tax policies of the 1940s provided a family-oriented tax structure which preceded the sustained prosperity and social stability of the 1950s and early 1960s. During this time period, the rate of divorce actually declined.

Social researcher Allan Carlson proposed a variety of pro-­family tax policies, saying "a tax code recognizes that tax structure does influence human behavior. It would help children and strengthen families."

Other experts have offered a series of legislative proposals that strengthen the family, including: (a) identifying every child's father, by having states ensure that a document exists at birth to identify the name and social security number of both parents; (b) forcing fathers to take responsibility for their children through programs like Charles Ballard's National Institute for Responsible Fatherhood, in which fathers are strongly encouraged to legitimate their children, attend school, and find gainful employment; (c) rescind no-­fault divorce laws for parents with children; and (d) eradicate the destructive incentives of the welfare system.

Put simply, Congress can pave the way through intelligent legislation based on data, not opinion. If government is going to spend hundreds of billions on "infrastructure projects", no infrastructure is as important as that which underpins the two-parent American family.