Friday, February 05, 2010

Lech Walesa's Warning for America

At a campaign event in Chicago for GOP gubernatorial candidate Adam Andrzejewski, the legendary Lech Walesa issued an ominous warning for America. The co-founder of Poland's Solidarity Movement and the man who presided over its transition from Communism to Democracy is none too pleased with the Obama administration (hat tips: Drudge and the EIB Network).

WALESA (via translator): The United States is only one superpower.

Today they lead the world.

Nobody has doubts about it. Militarily.

They also lead economically but they're getting weak.

But they don't lead morally and politically anymore.

The world has no leadership. The United States was always the last resort and hope for all other nations. There was the hope, whenever something was going wrong, one could count on the United States.

Today, we lost that hope.

Walesa is a man who knows despotism all too well.

Perhaps some of Obama's few remaining drones could explain to me why this Walesa is wrong.


'Can we trust any technology that comes from China?'

Don't look a gift memory stick in the mouth. Or a gift camera, for that matter. That's the message from The London Times, which relays an MI5 report on Chinese espionage.

MI5 believes that China bugged UK business executives; set up "honeytraps" for blackmail purposes; gave "gifts" of cameras, memory sticks and other devices that contained trojans; and performed extensive electronic hacking. The information warfare campaigns in question targeted defense, telecommunications, energy and high-tech manufacturing companies.

Last year a UK intelligence report stated that China could have the ability to shut down power, water, and food supply chain systems.

Suspect Firmware

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, writing in IT World, goes one step further. He asks the obvious question: "can we trust any technology that comes from China?"

If malware is routinely installed in cameras and USB sticks, why wouldn't other hardware manufactured in China be suspect? Vaughan-Nichols contends that if China really is hell-bent on cyber-war -- and a quick review of the literature would indicate that indeed it is -- why wouldn't it simply write backdoors into the firmware of laptops, servers, switches and other systems?

PC World's David Coursey insists we follow Reagan's advice and "trust, but verify." I'm not sure how we do that. Coursey believes that the big vendors who work in China are strongly motivated to ensure our safety.

But is that enough? The hackers believed to have been organized by China's military have already proven themselves to be very patient, highly organized and incredibly skilled. So it's not a huge conceptual leap to believe that civilian manufacturers -- even the likes of Apple, Dell and HP -- could have been compromised by a cyber-espionage operation designed to insert back-doors into mainstream hardware.

My personal prediction is that China will eventually suffer significant economic damage over these kinds of suspicions. Transparency and democracy -- someday -- will levy a major toll on the People's Liberation Army. In the mean time, follow Reagan's advice.


Linked by: Legal Insurrection. Thanks!

Larwyn's Linx: It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

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

Thomas: Campaign Finance Laws Hurt Blacks: Maggie
Indoctrination Disguised as Education Reform: PJM
Speaking of Echo Chambers: Malkin

Justice Thomas Defends 'Citizens United' Decision: WklyStd
It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: AJacksonian
Slow-learning president teaches us about frugality: Pundette

Tough Times All Around: CFB
And Now We Stereotype Blacks As Liberals: LegalIns
Gingrich in the O.C.: AmPower

Ideas, Old and New: Cold Fury
Live-blogging the National Tea Party Convention: GWP
Fiorina, After the Night of the Demonsheep: NRO

Economy

The Great Crash: Doc Zero
Social Security tipping over into the red: Hot Air
Budget Passes: 217 Democrats Take Suicide Pact: PJM

It Has Begun: The Big Social Security Meltdown>: RWN
Government Workers Using Stimulus Funds for Vacations: JWF
Honey, They Shrunk the Private Sector: PJM

Rosy Economic Projections: Corner
GMAC loses $5B in Q4; Bailout Total Now at $16.3B: BlogProf
Nothing to See Here: Gormogons

Climate & Energy

Forests in the Eastern United States are growing faster than they have in the past 225 years: WUWT
Oil discovery could change Dubai's fortunes: Maktoob

Media

James O’Keefe vs. Max Blumenthal: How the Left Distorts, Invents and Lies: BigJournalism
Read the Washington Post! Quickly, before it changes!: Moe Lane
Oh My: NBC Celebrates Black History Month By Serving Fried Chicken :JWF

There's No Escaping Him: Couric to Interview Obama Before Super Bowl : JWF
Media Matters Should Actually Listen To….The Media: CFB
Enough With The Idol-Worship Sopfest Already: Crittenden

Interview with John Yoo: RWN
Dissecting Some of the Questions that Daily Kos Asked Self-Identifed Republicans : NoPasaran
EJ Dionne Tells US What Republicans Think (I Leap From A Ledge): JOM

World

China Crash?: Langbert
Anti-Gun Government Tyranny in Canada: RWN
E.U. no longer charmed by Obama: Times

An Interview With British Al Qaeda Members : GoV
With suspicious statistics, China obscures economy: Times
'England is the breeding ground of fundamentalist ­Muslims': Belmont

War Drums on the Jordan River?: COTP
Auntie Els: The Judas of Free Speech in the Netherlands : GoV

SciTech

Lawmakers grill execs over Comcast-NBC deal: CNet

Cornucopia

A One-of-a-Kind Car Restoration Project: InstaPundit
Hitler Is Informed About the Demonsheep Campaign Ad: YouTube
Daily Scoreboard: Surber

Something Wonderful: Too Late to Apologize: A Declaration: AmDig


Thursday, February 04, 2010

20 Reasons Why The U.S. Economy Is Dying And Can't Ever Recover As Long As Democrats Control the Levers of Power

Business Insider has the cheery analysis, listing 20 reasons we're in for a world of economic hurt. The most significant?

You want to see a hockey-stick graph? Try this unemployment chart, as businesses retract in fear over health tax mandates, cap-and-trade, card check, and heaven knows what else. In December, 6,130,000 workers had been unemployed for 27 weeks or more -- another Obama record. That's the highest total since they started keeping track in 1948.

In December, there were also nearly one million "discouraged" workers. Those are the folks who've given up looking for work and are therefore not counted in the official stats. You guessed it: it's another Obama record -- the highest level ever recorded.

25 state unemployment insurance funds are already broke and 15 more states are on track to go bust within 24 months. States are now borrowing tens of billions from the federal government, which also is guaranteeing all losses incurred by the "job shop for unemployed Democrats" called Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

More than 37 million Americans currently receive food stamps with around 20,000 joining the club each and every day. Never mind that unchecked use of food stamps encourages dependency, single-parent families and crime. Those are facts, you see, and unimportant to Democrats.

Public-sector unions like the SEIU have rung up some unbelievably outrageous bills for states, counties and cities. And many locales are simply going broke, burdened with underfunded pension plans and overly rich compensation packages. For example, more than 6,100 retired California government workers receive pensions in excess of $100,000 from CalPERS. The states' unfunded liabilities: as much as $3.2 trillion.

The delightful Democrat inventions of Social Security and Medicare are doomed. Millions of baby boomers are retiring and the trillions they poured into the systems during their working years were stolen by bureaucrats -- swept into the general fund and spent. There's no way to make the math work. It's that simple.

The U.S. federal debt has exploded since 2006, doubling in three years to $12.3 trillion and headed much, much higher with the proposed Obama budgets. Who will purchase the debt? What will happen when interest rates inevitably rise, adding huge additional interest payments to the debt? Just thank a Democrat.

How has the government responded to this dire situation? Has it tightened its belt? Hell, no. Last week, Senate Democrats last week raised the debt ceiling, which will allow the U.S. national debt to reach approximately $14.3 trillion. That's $48,000 for every man, woman and child in the country.

So how is the U.S. funding its operations? Why, through a massive Ponzi scheme that would make Bernard Madoff blush. The Federal Reserve bought nearly 80 percent of all U.S. Treasuries issued in 2009. In other words, the entire Democrat-controlled government is a pyramid scheme -- and taxpayers are the suckers at the bottom.

* * * * * * * * *

99 weeks of unemployment compensation. Unchecked welfare payments. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Disastrous socialized retirement and health care systems that are nothing more than gigantic Ponzi schemes.

And that's before socialized medicine, cap-and-trade, card check and other disastrous policies -- hawked incessantly by the Party of Economic Destruction -- that simply choke free enterprise.

Democrats must be crushed in November at the ballot box, before it's too late.


Someone is Lying About the Detroit Underwear Bomber

Someone is lying.

Item One: After concerted pressure from Congress, Attorney General Eric Holder confessed that he was behind charging the alleged Detroit crotch-bomber in civilian court, thereby terminating the interrogation process after a scant 50 minutes. But, he says, he had consulted the heads of the various intelligence agencies and -- after no one objected -- he went forward with Miranda-izing the accused terrorist.

Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. said Wednesday that he personally made the decision. "I made the decision to charge Mr. Abdulmutallab with federal crimes, and to seek his detention in connection with those charges, with the knowledge of, and with no objection from, all other relevant departments of the government," Holder said in a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Among the Washington heavy-hitters in the Situation Room when that decision was made, according to Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary: Dennis Blair, the national director of intelligence; FBI Director Bob Mueller; CIA Director Leon Panetta; Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano; and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

So Holder says that all relevant intelligence agencies were consulted. But:

Item 2: On February 2nd, however, CNN reported that no one in the intelligence communities knew of Holder's decision.

The official was not authorized to speak for attribution because the case remains under investigation. Mueller said none of the intelligence chiefs at Tuesday's hearing were consulted about the decision to read AbdulMutallab his Miranda rights. That decision was made by the chief security interrogator at the scene in consultation with the Department of Justice, Mueller said.

And:

Item 3: According to Politico, "Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano admitted they had not been consulted about the decision to Mirandize Abdulmutallab."

And:

Item 4: The former chairs of the 9/11 Commission criticized the handling of the Crotch-bomber case, saying that the terrorism and intelligence communities should have been consulted.

The two former chairmen of the 9/11 Commission expressed concerns today about how security agencies responded to the arrest of alleged Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and the decision to quickly charge him instead of attempting to gain valuable intelligence information...

"Here is a man who may have trained with other people who are trying to get into this country one way or another, who may have worked with some of the top al Qaeda leadership in Yemen or al Qaeda generally and we don't know the details of that," Thomas Kean, former chairman of the 9/11 Commission, told the committee. "He may know about other plots that are pending and we haven't found out about them."

... "The decisions of this kind should never have been made without consulting without the full input of the greater intelligence community, particularly the DNI, but also the CIA the FBI and other members of the intelligence community," said Kean.

In short, the heads of the intelligence agencies say that Eric Holder never consulted them about the decision to Miranda-ize the crotch-bomber.

Eric Holder, in writing, says he did.

Someone is lying -- and an immediate investigation is needed. Eric Holder needs to be put under oath and questioned extensively about his side of this bizarre story. The safety of innocent Americans -- men, women and children -- hangs in the balance.


Hat tip: Commenter Brian.

The Obamaconomy Marches On: Can you detect the nuance?

Given the following headlines, can you guess who the media threw under the bus?

First-time jobless claims rise unexpectedly - Yahoo! Finance
It's Official: Congress Passes Debt Ceiling; All Republicans Vote Against Raise - ZeroHedge
Deficit imperils United States' top credit rating: Times
The Ticking U.S. Fiscal Bomb - Forbes
Jobless claims rise to 480,000 in latest week - Feb. 4, 2010 - CNN Money

20 Reasons Why The U.S. Economy Is Dying And Is Simply Not Going To Recover - Business Insider
Leap in jobless claims is an ominous signal - Credit Writedowns
Chart of the day: U.S. hiring and layoffs by region - Credit Writedowns
It's About That Time Again... Get Your Hats Ready - ZeroHedge
Double Dip Harbinger? Initial Claims Deterioration At 480,000 On 455,000 Expectation - ZeroHedge

Obama's $6.3 Trillion Scam Is America's Shame: Jonathan Weil - Bloomberg
Massive revision to show recession was even worse - Capitol Report - CBS Marketwatch

I just can't get me enough of that there hope n' change!


Larwyn's Linx: How to Blame Bush -- and Political Priorities

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

How to Blame Bush: Lie: AT
Political Priorities: Patterico
Progress! Another Chicago Alderman Headed to Lockup: RWN

That's the Chicago Way!: Driscoll
Dems want Amendment to fight First Amendment: Caller
Lindsey Graham Must Go: Patterico

The Filibuster Lie!: JWF
Obama Slams GOP Super-Minority for “Obstructionism?”: GWP
Hey, remember when Obama opposed Miranda rights?: Hot Air

ACORN for America: MonCrief
Illinois: Take a Moment to Thank Dan Hynes: NRO

Economy

SEIU fatcats behind First Lady’s anti-obesity campaign: Malkin
Dems get together, crack jokes about massive deficit: GWP
What does the President have against Sin City?: PJM

IRS acquiring short-barrel shotguns: RWN
Obamanomics: 42% said it made things worse, 11% say better: Surber
Moody's: Deficit imperils U.S.'s top credit rating: Times

Programs we could do without: Corner
Did We Just Get Lectured on Fiscal Responsibility By the Guy With a $1.6 Trillion Budget Deficit?: Powers

Climate & Energy

Climategate: Penn State Moves to Protect Its Own: PJM
ClimateGate update: Mann handled: Malkin
IPCC: International Pack of Climate Crooks: AT

Cheap Natural Gas and Its Democrat Enemies: AT

Media

Republicans: they're every strawman you like -- and more!: Driscoll
Obama, Pelosi, Rangel, Geithner, Holder on Judicial Watch 2009 Most Corrupt List; MSM Silent: BigJournalism
What a surprise: Krugman misleads on the Filibuster: SuperEconomy

Palin and Emanuels: Corner
Leadership that just works!: JOM
Analysis: Obama State Of The Union Speech : Scooter's Report

Tebow, CBS & Perpetual Adolescents: The Anchoress
Off Color: Democrats Misspeak But Republicans Are Racist: PJM
SOTU: 16 lies in 7 minutes: MNW

Olbermann: Countdown Is The Highest Rated 'Actual' Cable News Show: BlogProf
Rush: “This is the first time in his life that there’s not a professor around to turn his C into an A.”: Surber
The Top 10 Apologies Barack Obama should make to the world: Telegraph (UK)

World

The Saga of Abdulmutallab, Underwear Bomber: Corner
Lady Qaeda found guilty, blames Israel: Malkin
Announcing the Marja Offensive: CapJourn

Jihad and Genocidal Islamic Antisemitism in Shi’ite Iran: PJM
Nuclear missile threats to U.S. mount: Times
Is America A Declining Power? Its Friends Think So and They Are Scared: RubRep

SciTech

Obama May Turn Over Keys to the Internet to Hostile Powers: RWN
Microsoft investigates new Internet Explorer flaw: CNet

Cornucopia

We've Just Gotten Too Fat: Mirror
This is why I will always have a job: Your Crazy Uncle
Yes Ewe Can: Exurban League


Wednesday, February 03, 2010

What the Obama Democrats want next: your pension and your 401(k)

The always fascinating Pensions & Investments (this month's centerfold is a doozy) reported earlier today that the feds want to start regulating all private pension plans. And because Congressional Democrats, circa 2008, openly discussed the possibility of confiscating 401(k)s, one could legitimately connect the notion to "eliminat[ing] investment risk" by giving the feds control of your retirement account.

...In a joint agency RFI published in today's Federal Register, the Treasury and Labor departments expressed concern that defined contribution plans generally make only lump-sum payments available to plan retirees.

The agencies specifically want to know whether some form of “lifetime income distribution” should be required in all defined contribution plans...

To put this news in context, consider that in late 2008 Democrats openly discussed the possibility of confiscating private retirement accounts in order to "strengthen and protect Americans’ 401(k)s, pensions, and other... plans".

The [Congressional] testimony of Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economic policy analysis at the New School for Social Research in New York, in hearings Oct. 7 drew the most attention and criticism. Testifying for the House Committee on Education and Labor, Ghilarducci proposed that the government eliminate tax breaks for 401(k) and similar retirement accounts, such as IRAs, and confiscate workers’ retirement plan accounts and convert them to universal Guaranteed Retirement Accounts (GRAs) managed by the Social Security Administration.

...The current retirement system, Ghilarducci said, “exacerbates income and wealth inequalities” because tax breaks for voluntary retirement accounts are “skewed to the wealthy because it is easier for them to save, and because they receive bigger tax breaks when they do.”

...GRAs would guarantee a fixed 3 percent annual rate of return, although later in her article Ghilarducci explained that participants would not “earn a 3% real return in perpetuity.” In place of tax breaks workers now receive for contributions and thus a lower tax rate, workers would receive $600 annually from the government, inflation-adjusted. For low-income workers whose annual contributions are less than $600, the government would deposit whatever amount it would take to equal the minimum $600 for all participants.

In a radio interview with Kirby Wilbur in Seattle on Oct. 27, 2008, Ghilarducci explained that her proposal doesn’t eliminate the tax breaks, rather, “I’m just rearranging the tax breaks that are available now for 401(k)s and spreading — spreading the wealth.”

Now that the Democrats have nearly decimated the economy (Stimulus II, anyone?), the trillions of dollars in private retirement accounts represent the juiciest of all possible targets.

So why so concerned about the Democrats taking over your 401(k) plan, Sparky? What could possibly go wrong?


When you've lost Greenpeace... Far left eco-moonbats ask IPCC's Love Guru to resign

The Times of London reports that IPCC chief Rajendra Pachauri is under increased pressure to resign as head of the climate panel, the group that is largely responsible for marketing the global warming bunko scam.

The head of the UN’s climate change body is under pressure to resign after one of his strongest allies in the environmental movement said his judgment was flawed and called for a new leader to restore confidence in climatic science.

Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has insisted that he will remain in post for another four years despite having failed to act on a serious error in the body’s 2007 report.

John Sauven, director of Greenpeace UK , said that Dr Pachauri should have acted as soon as he had been informed of the error, even though issuing a correction would have embarrassed the IPCC on the eve of the Copenhagen climate summit.

A journalist working for Science had told Dr Pachauri several times late last year that glaciologists had refuted the IPCC claim that Himalayan glaciers would disappear by 2035. Dr Pachauri refused to address the problem, saying: “I don’t have anything to add on glaciers.” He suggested that the error would not be corrected until 2013 or 2014, when the IPCC next reported.

The IPCC issued a correction and apology on January 20, three days after the error had made global headlines...

The good news: record low prices on carbon offsets, headlined by Al Gore's fourth annual going-out-of-business sale.


Hat tip: Climate Depot.

The Government's War On Toyota as Sleight of Hand

By Victor the Contractor:

President Obama's federal government is in high gear this week condemning the mechanical problems that automaker Toyota is scrambling to rectify after five fatalities and scores of injuries these last few years. That Toyota dragged its feet in issuing warnings and repair orders is a given, but the U. S. Government smells blood in the water and instead of proceeding with caution it is fanning the flames with statements designed to destroy Toyota's reputation. Now I'm not going to bat for Toyota in this instance; they reacted at glacial speed and made some of the mess worse. It seems they ignored a problem or came up with quick fixes in the hope the problem would rapidly fade. But to single them out seems opportunistic.

Trimming a floor mat where the gas pedal got stuck seemed to fix most of the problems -- for a time. But as the cars aged a plastic bearing started to stick and cars got into accidents because the pedal, again, would get stuck in a depressed position. Instead of issuing a recall they decided to fix the problem on a case by case basis and redesigned the pedal using a different plastic bearing. That didn't work either and Toyota's new cars, with the redesigned pedal, wound up with the same problem as well as suspected electrical throttle problems. An accident that resulted in five fatalities was perfect fodder for the press, who piled on and cited every problem with Toyotas for the last ten years.

Every automobile maker has product problems, bulletins that proscribe repairs during normally scheduled maintenance, and outright recalls for important deficiencies; so why would the Government be giving interviews about one manufacturer and ignoring the same problems with other automobile makers? To me, the reasons are twofold. The first is about shoring up support for a key constituency and the second is yet another example of political sleight of hand and misdirection.

Firstly, The U. S. government is the owner of the means of production of two once-omnipotent automobile companies. General Motors and Chrysler are on a form of welfare that negates the need for profit. The new mission for these businesses is to 'park' all of those union workers who were instrumental in bankrupting the companies in the first place. They vote in large numbers, and Democrat at that, so it is paramount for the White House to maintain this new welfare class. A crisis like a foreign car maker in trouble is like a gift horse for the administration. It can beat the drum to buy American. Never mind that American cars are really assemblages of the same foreign auto parts the other manufacturers use to construct similar models. And please ignore that the sales Toyota has lost are likely being subsumed by Ford, whose products are in sufficient demand that it has not required a bailout. Chrysler and G.M. continue to hemorrhage market share and will remain in that situation as long as consumers perceive their products as substandard.

But there is a second reason to focus a the public eye like a laser on the Toyota at the expense of other stories. And this one is so much more serious than the support of an unworthy business or two. The White House wants to distract the American people from more important issues like the growing debt, subversion of the Constitution and the growing problems with Iran.

Today the Iranians launched a rocket they said was for space research but could just as easily be used to lob a nuclear bomb at an adversary. And we all know which adversaries they'd like to be 'lobbing' at. It was a nice touch that they put some rodents, two turtles and a worm or two on board, but all sane people know why the Iranian Government would like to master the art of sending rockets into near-Earth orbit and having them come down in a predetermined spot. Iran with ICBMs -- not a pleasant scenario.

All thanks go to the press for playing up Toyota's problems and minimizing some very real difficulties now facing America. I look forward to the house of cards they will build around President Obama's nonexistent record as the midterm elections approach. I can't wait to hear the press lionize the Congress for wanting to improve our lives and demonize the Republicans for trying to preserve that antiquated document: The Constitution.

Victor The Contractor

Victor omitted a discussion of the trial lawyers, but his point is absolutely valid even without the leeches.


AG Eric Holder: I decided to charge crotch bomber as a criminal but only because my law firm needed a new celebrity client


 
 
 
 
 
 
W
ith pressure bearing down from both sides of the aisle, the Egregious Joke of an Attorney General Eric Holder (I hear that's the title he prefers) admitted he was the behind the decision to charge Yabba Dabba Doo as a criminal in federal court.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder acknowledged today that it was his decision to charge Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as a criminal in federal court but said he informed intelligence agencies of his decision and none “objected to this course of action.”

Detecting a theme from the Obama administration? It's all someone else's fault. Perhaps they can find a way to blame Bush.

Holder said he is confident the decision not to hold Abdulmutallab – accused of trying to blow up Detroit-bound Flight 253 on Christmas Day – as an enemy combatant in the war against terror “has not, and will not, compromise our ability to obtain information needed to detect and prevent future attacks.”

Because timely collection of information really isn't a priority in deterring catastrophic terror attacks. Making America look good in the eyes of barbarous dictatorships is our tippity-topmost priority.

Holding Abdulmutallab as a military combatant, say Holder’s critics, would have allowed interrogators to get more information out of him before being read his rights and getting legal counsel. But, on Tuesday evening, senior administration officials told reporters that federal agents had contacted Abdulmutallab’s family, who had helped FBI agents approach the suspect. Sometime last week, they said, Abdulmutallab began speaking to agents again.

Sure -- and prancing golden unicorns sang lullabies every evening to the alleged flaming weiner man to help him fall asleep at night, too.

Holder's partners at the law firm of Covington & Burling appear to be pleased. Last week, The American Thinker pointed out the outrageous conflicts-of-interest involved.

It's just insane that a lawyer who defended Osama bin Laden's driver and bodyguard -- and who sought constitutional rights for terrorists -- could be one of the Obama administration's top legal officials.

But there's Neal Katyal, occupying a top perch at the Justice Department as the principal deputy solicitor general.

Then there's Jennifer Daskal -- who just months ago was an anti-Guantanamo activist. Now she's in Justice's National Security Division -- working on detainee issues.

All kinds of rules prohibit government employees from influencing policy to the benefit of their previous employers. If Katyal, Daskal and other conflicted Justice lawyers had worked for corporations, they'd almost certainly be subject to these regulations.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are hopping mad about the situation -- and rightly so. Months ago, Senate Judiciary Committee member Charles Grassley asked Attorney General Eric Holder to disclose who in the administration had previously represented or agitated for alleged terrorists.

The AG's reply?

"I will consider that request."

In other words, f*** you.

Put simply, the far left ACLU hacks appear to be controlling the Justice Department and the counterterrorism policies of this administration. And the President himself has abdicated his first and primary role: to protect the American people.

The only open question is who will destroy American first: the Soros-controlled Obama Democrats or the terrorist barbarians. The Vegas line has 'em even.


Great News! 824,000 Jobs Will Disappear on Feb. 5th. The Obamaconomy rolls on, crushing everything in its path.

Gee, you say the government overstated the number of jobs by nearly a million? Tyler Durden has the shiny pictures and text from Bloomberg (the news service, not the idiot mayor):

Last October the BLS announced it would revise historical payrolls lower by 824,000 on February 5 (this Friday's NFP release). While this number will not impact the actual January NFP report..., it will be prorated across all months in the 2008-2009 reporting period...

The reason for this adjustment has to do with a huge glitch in the birth-death model, which is exactly the same problem that the rating agencies faced when housing prices plummeted: the birth/death model assumes, in the long-run, jobs are created, not destroyed. Any period of excess volatility in the stock market therefore translates into major prior downward revisions to already disclosed payrolls.

And while we know what the current revision will be, the scarier prospect is that the next historical adjustment, due out in early 2011, will be even larger, at least 990,000. This means that the government has overrepresented running payroll data by over 1.8 million jobs over the past 20 months...

...In essence, a Moody's-like glitch has misrepresented the true payroll picture due to modelling error to the tune of over 1.8 million jobs. How that will impact the president's "jobs saved or created" calculation has yet to be determined. Unless of course all those jobs appear merely on the same excel file that the BLS uses for all it other erroneous calculations.

Related: the original Bloomberg presentation.

 

Larwyn's Linx: the GOP's top 10 Senate pickup chances

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

GOP's top 10 Senate pickup chances: RWN
Opportunist-in-chief decries political opportunism: Malkin
Kill the Budget!: Surber

The DOJ’s Disgusting Double Standard - O’Keefe: Nice Deb
It was 'by design' that you remain unemployed: Red State
Sign of the Times: Driscoll

Virginia flips off ObamaCare: Wizbang
The NRSC greets Giannoulias: Moe Lane
Email leak roils race in California: Times

SEIU: Immigration Bill Could Add 8 Million Dem Votes: BlogProf
Concerning 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell': CJ
Meet 14 Worried Democrats: Moe Lane

Economy

IG: TARP has created a looming disaster: BigGovt
Fighting Shariah Finance: AIG Trust is Illegal: Atlas
The Wine Train Stimulus Scam: PJM

Solution to Health Coverage Crisis: Free Health Zones: Langbert
Blowing cash in Vegas vs. blowing cash in DC: CFB
Obama Attacks Churches, Charities and Home Values: Power Line

Las Vegas Mayor: I'll Give Obama the Boot Back to DC: GWP
NV Governor Slams Obama: 'Doesn’t He Know That Thousands of Vegas Families Are Suffering?': GWP
Time to face facts: Obama's a moron: Riehl

Climate & Energy

Chinese scientists add to Climategate: Wizbang
Traitors to the Cause: Steyn
Wait, where have I heard this before?: CBullitt

Media

Did Reuters Yank Article Due to Too Much Truth?: BMW
Freedom of the Press?: R&OR
White House Gets Reuters To Pull Budget Story: TPM

Change of Climate: Corner
I'm In With the In Crowd: iOTW
Kos: Conservatives are the Taliban: Surber
Ego: Obama's Achilles Heel: AT (Marcus)

Cato: Five Decades of Federal Spending: InstaPundit
'Decline is a Choice': Cold Fury
Follow-up: OFA Organizing in the Classroom: Atlas

World

Gitmo-bashing judge rebuked; lax sentence for millennium bomber rejected: Malkin
Where's the outrage: one year later, Gitmo not closed: RWN
Canadian province premier bails on single-payer system for surgery: Hot Air

Obama's Strike Three: The Iranian Bomb: AT (Lewis)
Did White House Compromise National Security -- Mirandizing Mutallab?: NewsBusters
Can the Chinese Bluff Obama out of Meeting the Dalai Lama?: Commentary (Tobin)

SciTech

Doctor Ben Carson Discovers Medical Link Between Liberals And Limited Brain Activity: Elective Decisions
The 10 Ways Hackers Will Bring Wall Street To Its Knees: Insider

Cornucopia

Royalty Trumps Common Sense: Mirror
A V A T A R d: SondraK
NZ student accepts $32,000 bid for virginity: Maktoob

A Little Less Laughter In The World: Remembering Dom DeLuise: No Sheeples Here


Tuesday, February 02, 2010

10 Steps To Destroying American Society

If you were intentionally attempting to destroy America from within, how would you go about it? Last night, Mark Levin described the steps necessary (free MP3 podcast) to accomplish the task.

1. Rewrite the Constitution and break down its firewalls through Judicial and Bureaucratic fiat. ("Living and breathing")

2. Concentrate all meaningful power in the Federal Government. ("The Bizarre Czars of Barack Obama")

3. Suppress and Repress the Individual by attacking his Unalienable Rights through laws and constant torment. ("Rube Goldberg Health Care")

4. Eliminate Private Property through Confiscatory Taxation and Regulation and wage constant war against Business Enterprises and Entrepreneurs. ("Climategate Denier Raises Nazi Allusions, Employs Awesome CRU Tactics, Purges Arguments That Prove Him Wrong")

5. Control Institutions of Education at all levels and turn them into Indoctrination Centers for the State. ("Dreams from my single-parent family")

6. Change the Citizenry by opening National Borders to virtually all comers and changing the qualifications for Citizenship to include mostly poor, uneducated illegal aliens. ("Fear this!")

7. Destroy the Private Financial Institutions that have funded the Greatest Production and Accumulation of Wealth for the Most People the World has ever known. ("Meltdown")

8. Destroy Capitalism and replace it with Redistributive Policies by Destroying the currency and Replacing it with a new currency or Revaluing the old currency. ("Culture of Destruction")

9. Eliminate American Sovereignty through arrangements and agreements with Foreign Countries and International Bureaucracies. ("The Global Poverty Act: Revenge of the Community Organizers")

10. Use American Foreign Policy not to improve American Economic and National Security, but to advance the Notion of One Government Globalism. ("Don't cry for me, America")

Stuart Varney: "This budget is a financial disaster [and] it is misleading... [it uses] wild assumptions and it will be much, much worse than advertised."


Psst!! Over here, Mr. President!

Dan from New York:

Iran's plays rope-a-dope. Can you guess who's the dope?

Iran president Ahmadinejad accepts nuclear deal terms (Not a flashback)

BBC News

Iran's president has said it is ready to send its enriched uranium abroad for further enrichment under a deal to ease concerns about its nuclear programme.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told state TV that Iran would have "no problem" if most of its stock was held for several months before being returned as fuel rods.

Correspondents say the decision would be a major shift in Tehran's position, but there is scepticism in the West.

The US said that if Iran was serious it should tell the UN's nuclear watchdog.

Last month, diplomats said Iran had informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it did not accept the terms of the deal and had instead demanded a simultaneous exchange on its territory.

###

This will take a few months to sort out, review the tapes, get the translation right, take some meetings, work through the intelligence (sic), that kind of thing. But in the interim we've now learned how many D.C. pinheads can fit into the same dark gray suit.

This ain't gonna end well.


Nancy Pelosi's Guest List for the State of the Union

Getting to this late, but Nancy Pelosi's guests for the State of the Union speech included an interesting cast of characters:

Front row of the Speaker's box (left to right):
Paul Pelosi, Jr. (Speaker's son)
Thomas D'Alesandro (Speaker's brother)
Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley
Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty
Ted Kennedy, Jr.
Ophelia Dahl, Exec. Dir., Partners In Health
Barry Rand, CEO, AARP
Janet Murguía, Pres. and CEO, La Raza
Ben Jealous, Pres. and CEO, NAACP

Other guests in the Speaker's box will include:
Ambassador Elizabeth Bagley
Anna Burger, SEIU
Richard Trumka, Pres., AFL-CIO
Jim Guest, Pres. and CEO, Consumers Union

Other guests of the Speaker in the Chamber will include:
Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Tom Foley

The modern Democrat Party is inseparable from the federal bureaucracy... and vice versa. That is why both must be politically dismantled if the country is to survive.


Sharia Law Comes to Vanderbilt University

Papa B sends in an Act for America update:

Last week, a Vanderbilt University Muslim chaplain publicly acknowledged what those of us who study shariah Islamic law know... Awadh Binhazim, when pressed on whether or not shariah Islamic law requires the death penalty for homosexuals, asserted that yes, it does. Furthermore, he stated: "I don’t have a choice as a Muslim to accept or reject teachings."

...Awadh Binhazim is listed on the Vanderbilt website as "Adjunct Professor of Islam at the Divinity School" and is described by Vanderbilt University officials as "the university’s Muslim chaplain."

Question: Under Islamic law, if a homosexual person began to engage in homosexual relations on an ongoing and permanent way, with no intention of quitting, then the punishment under Islamic law would be death... unless, you know, he agreed to quit. As a practicing Muslim do you accept or reject this teaching of Islam?

Answer: ...I don't have a choice as a Muslim to accept or reject a teaching. I go with what Islam teaches.

...this is captured in other religions as well... so, the punishment is Islam is certain rules... probably a lot of time to explain it... you cannot prosecute someone just because you think they are homosexual. There has to be clear proof...

Question: Under Islamic law, is it punishable by death if you are a homosexual?

Answer: Yes.

We encourage you to contact Vanderbilt University—especially if you are an alumnus and/or a donor (and forward this [message] to others). Respectfully but firmly ask that the university publicly and unequivocally condemn Binhazim’s statement as repugnant and incompatible with the laws of American society. You can call or email the Vanderbilt Office of Public Affairs... Phone: 615.343.1790... Email: beth.fortune@vanderbilt.edu...

We must make it crystal clear to those like Awadh Binhazim, and all those who agree with his belief in oppressive, intolerant and extremist shariah Islamic law:

• That this belief is repugnant to us and we will tirelessly speak out against it and those who advocate it.

• That shariah Islamic law is incompatible with American civil society and constitutional law.

• And that we will oppose any and every effort to advance shariah law here in America, in whatever form it takes.


Breast Implants of Death: Surgically Installed Suicide Boobs, eh, Bombs

Officials in the UK are investigating the possibility of surgically implanted suicide bombs:

Agents for Britain's MI5 intelligence service have discovered that Muslim doctors trained at some of Britain's leading teaching hospitals have returned to their own countries to fit surgical implants filled with explosives, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

Women suicide bombers recruited by al-Qaida are known to have had the explosives inserted in their breasts under techniques similar to breast enhancing surgery. The lethal explosives – usually PETN (pentaerythritol Tetrabitrate) – are inserted during the operation inside the plastic shapes. The breast is then sewn up.

Similar surgery has been performed on male suicide bombers. In their cases, the explosives are inserted in the appendix area or in a buttock. Both are parts of the body that diabetics use to inject themselves with their prescribed drugs.

Some time ago, I recall reading about a Hollywood movie concept where a man has a nuclear device implanted in his body.

Methinks we're not far away from realizing that sci-fi plot.


Culture of Destruction: "the most irresponsible budget in a free society that any president -- ever -- has proposed"

The warning lights are flashing. The alarm klaxons are sounding. The Obama administration's fiscal plan, in the words of Mark Levin, is "the most irresponsible budget in a free society that any president -- ever -- has proposed."

The 2009 and 2010 deficits dwarf anything ever seen anywhere on the face of the Earth.

The destructive spending -- ladling debt upon debt, interest upon interest -- continues as far as the eye can see.

Who will pay the bill? Our children and grandchildren, if they are lucky and society doesn't collapse around them.

Visible evidence: the Democrat Party is sowing the seeds of America's destruction. By 2020, the economy will have been reduced to rubble.

This President has produced the most reckless budget imaginable -- even without cap-and-trade and nationalized health care! These budgets represent such a high percentage of the country's gross domestic product that by 2020 there will be no climbing out of the hole we're in.

And interest rates are low now. What happens when the interest rates rise and the debt burden becomes even more unimaginable? Economic collapse and ruin.

Blaming this on Bush? Since the Democrats took over Congress in 2006, they have controlled the budget and the fiscal situation of the U.S. Any way you slice it, the Democrats have been disastrous for the country.

If we are to save the Republic, this party of destruction -- the modern, Soros-controlled, hard left Democrat Party -- must be crushed in November at the ballot box.

Crushed politically until it is no more.

The survival of our children depends upon it.

 

Larwyn's Linx: Debt deluge -- Here's your $1.6 trillion of red ink

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

Debt deluge: Here's your $1.6 trillion of red ink: Malkin
The Lost Decade: AT (Hoven)
The President's Priorities: WSJ

Illinois: why government can't be trusted: RWN
David Axelrod, Portrait of a Demagogue: STACLU
ObamaCare: Will You Ever Be Able to Trust Your Doctor?: PJM

Pelosi's Last Hurrah: AT
Air Farce Academy: Wicca, Druidism, Earth-Religion Worship Areas: Riehl
John Edwards: Poster Boy for Faux-Leftism: PJM

Millions Budgeted for 'Disparate-Impact Lawsuits': Corner
Largest-ever federal payroll to hit 2.15 million: Times

Economy

Deficit Reality Check: InstaPundit
Simple 5-step process for understanding the deficit and reactions to it: Treacher
Budget fun with Fannie and Freddie: AT

Obama’s New Budget: $5 Trillion More in Debt in Just Five Years: FlopAce
Tacks n' Spend: Belmont Club
How to make a weak economy worse: WSJ

The Administration's Unemployment Forecast: CalcRisk
New York Democrats in hot water over slush fund: AT
Culture of Corruption Watch: Probing SEIU shenanigans: Malkin

Climate & Energy

Global warming skeptics are vindicated: Surber
Obama's Budget Includes Cap-And-Trade Placeholder: Riehl
Osama and Obama on Global Warming: Times

Media

Prosecutor recuses himself in O'Keefe case: RWN
WaPo hits trifecta of biased journalism today: AT
O'Donnell: Reform is Dead: Politico

The Obama administration is creating political instability: RWN
No Action Against Bush Era Attorneys... Sullivan Hit Hardest: Ace
James O'Keefe and the Fourth Estate's Double Standards: AT

Ed Schultz on Visiting White House: 'Almost a Shrine' - to Obama: NewsBusters
Palin's Rogue Endorsement of Rand Paul: Maggie

World

Eppur Si Muove!: GoV
Feds Urge Judge to Bar Geithner Deposition in AIG Sharia Lawsuit: Atlas
Single-Payer Hell: British NHS sends 500,000 patients home too early every year: BlogProf

Fighting the Goldstone Process at the UN: PJM
A Tale of Two Terrorists: WSJ
The Family That Prays Together, Slays Together: Zazi's Father Arrested: Atlas
India: Major Muslim Cell Busted Planning Aerial Terror Attacks: Atlas

Obama Repeats Mistakes in Afghanistan: Purposeless Engagement: Maggie
Bowing to Islam and the CAIR: NoisyRoom
The Mufti's Diary and his Meeting with Hitler: Atlas

SciTech

Kindle, iPad, MacMillan, and the Death of a Business Model: PJM
Hacking for fun and profit in China's underworld: CNet

Cornucopia

Architecture of Fear: EnvGraf
Brother, can you spare a dime?: GM's Place