Doug Ross @ Journal

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Bill Ayers' Bathroom Reading

I'm pretty sure this rag is published by the Sulzberger family.

Which would explain a lot.

I hear that Bernadine "The Shrew" Dohrn has to hide the hand towels when the new copy arrives each month. Her hubby Billy Ayers has a habit of disappearing with the fresh issue for a half hour or so.

Fun with the White House Flickr Feed

9:03AM WATCHING THE NEWS

10:44AM MEETING WITH ECONOMIC ADVISERS

11:34AM REFLECTION BEFORE LUNCH

2:12PM AFTER LUNCH BREAK

5:43PM HEADING BACK HOME

Without any other pressing matters of national concern looming, Obama advisers concentrate on 2012 reelection run

There's not much happening around the world and here at home to occupy a President's attention, which explains Politico's recent disclosure.

President Barack Obama’s top advisers are quietly laying the groundwork for the 2012 reelection campaign, which is likely to be run out of Chicago... [for] now the planning consists entirely of private conversations, with Obama aides at all levels indulging occasionally in closed-door 2012 discussions while focusing ferociously on the midterm elections and health care reform, the Democratic sources said. “The gathering storm is the 2010 elections,” one top official said.

But the sources said Obama has given every sign of planning to run again and wants the next campaign to resemble the highly successful 2008 effort.

David Axelrod, White House senior adviser, may leave the West Wing to rejoin his family in Chicago and reprise his role as Obama’s muse...

The role assigned to Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina is interesting coming as it does on the heels of his apparent felonious offer of a job to a Democrat hack in return for a political favor.

And good to know that advisers at all levels are concerning themselves with reelection, what with only minor concerns like 20% underemployment, record foreclosures looming, massive tax increases on the way, a nuclear Iran and trillions in debt that will need to be refinanced in short order.

Gee, I can't wait to see more Obama commercials and some more of that cool "Sauron-eye" logo. We didn't get quite enough of either over the last couple of years.

Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Microsoft's latest Windows patch accidentally exposes rootkit; malware authors respond by helpfully posting their own patch

A recent Microsoft patch caused panic in the IT world when thousands of machines began 'blue-screening' (that's the geek term for "crashing", "hanging" or "freezing").

Within hours [after users applied the MS10-015 security update, they] flooded Microsoft's support forum, reporting that their computers had been incapacitated with a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). On Thursday, Microsoft stopped shipping the MS10-015 update, which users had linked to the BSODs, and said it was investigating.

Good new for users, though. The authors of the malicious code have posted their own patch via a helpful and integrated automatic update service.

The rootkit, known by a variety of names -- including TDSS, Tidserv and TDL3 -- was blamed by Microsoft last Friday for causing Windows XP PCs to crash after users applied the MS10-015 security update, one of 13 Microsoft issued a week ago...

...The rootkit's authors have reason to hustle out an update, said Schouwenberg and Fossi, who explained that blue-screened PCs are as worthless to the hackers -- who want access to the machines -- as they are to their owners. Worse, the BSODs have revealed to many Windows users that their systems were infected.

"The rootkit exists to be on the system and evading detection," noted Fossi. "On the plus side for users, this incident has helped people discover that they had this running on their computers."

I couldn't tell from the article, but assume that Fossi was laying down some snark with the "plus side" remark.

ComputerWorld has all the details on remediation.

Grim Milestones: Lending Drops at 'Epic Pace', Past Due Loans at Record High, New Home Sales at Record Low, 30% of Mortgages at Risk

It's another Obama miracle!

The Big Picture points us to today's Wall Street Journal cover story ("Lending Falls at Epic Pace").

The highlights:

• U.S. banks registered their most severe declines in lending since 1942.

• The FDIC reports that the number of U.S. banks at risk of failure surpassed 700, which is a 16-year high.

• More than 5% of all loans are past due 90-days or more, the highest level ever recorded.

Calculated Risk adds more evidence of the miraculous Obama recovery.

• 11.3 million, or roughly one-quarter, of all U.S. residential mortgages were in negative equity (worth less than their loans).

• 2.3 million more mortgages were approaching negative equity at the end of the year. Together, these represent 30% of all residential mortgages at risk.

The icing on the cake? CNN alerts us to another catastrophic statistic:

• New home sales fell 11.2% to a record low in January despite an $8,000 tax credit. It was the lowest rate since the feds began tracking the statistic and followed drops in November and December.

I really wish President Obama had held a real job before he took his current role. Like, running the cash register at a 7-11 or serving as the assistant manager of a LaserTag franchise. I think some experience in the real world would have helped.

It might have gotten him off of this bizarre health care obsession.

Larwyn's Linx: Dems not fond of deceptive Obamacare plan

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Tuesday, February 23, 2010

The Leftists Who Call Themselves the "Tea Party of Nevada" and How Patriots Can Thwart Them

Apparently it's fairly easy for a political party to appear on the ballot in Nevada. And a group representing itself as the Tea Party movement -- which is a movement and not a political party -- has done just that in the race for Harry Reid's Senate seat.

Of course, a third party run by faux conservatives would split the GOP vote and send the truly disreputable Harry Reid back to DC.

Research by the Nevada News Bureau -- via Flopping Aces -- turns up the background of the group's founders. And it's apparent that they're neither conservative nor Republican.

Here are some snippets from my research so far... Barry Levinson was part of the “Bush Lied, People Died” cabal (very strange creds for a Tea Party guy).

...Not really core to the story but one of the principals, Larry Lathum, appears to be a 9/11 Truther...

But there is a way to thwart these jamokes and minimize the damage they can incur to a conservative Republican candidate.

The Chaff Approach

Nevadans who are so inclined are urged to file similar petitions to that of the "Tea Party of Nevada". I suggest the following names for these parties, who will all run a candidate for the office of Senate.

• The Nevada Tea Party
• Tea Parties 'R Us
• Give Me Tea or Give Me Meth
• Tea Baggers United Under Barney's Frank
• Tea Party O' Rama
• Rahm Emanuel's Disco Tea Party
• The Mister Tea Party
• The Iced Tea Party
• The Pit Tea Party
• Super Happy Fun Karaoke Party

Ten or so additional parties on the ballot should sufficiently dilute the impact of the traitorous "Tea Party of Nevada".

Who's with me?

Chuck Schumer trying to steal billions of your money to pay off New York's public sector unions and avoid real cost-cutting measures

The New York Daily News caught Schmucky Schumer in front of (what else?) a camera.

Schumer Trying for $3B NY Budget Boost » By Michael McAuliff

Sen. Chuck Schumer is hoping to whip up a little $3 billion gift for Gov. Paterson and New York — six months of federal Medicaid aid that the governor has already included in next year’s budget — but has not been passed by Congress.

The cash, part of $25 billion that would be spread around the country and which many other governors are also praying for, is among the numerous casualties of the stalled health care legislation.

Now Schumer wants to add that money to another vital federal payout — extending unemployment and health insurance for three months for people still out of work — which also is worth about $25 billion. Unemployment runs out this week for vast numbers of people.

...But since nothing is ever simple in the Senate, it’s unlikely legislators will act in time, meaning they probably will have to pass a two-week unemployment patch, and then get back to the longer deal next week... With no votes in the Senate today, the New Yorker should take to the floor at some point this afternoon to make his pitch for the Medicaid aid.

Paterson had better hope Schumer prevails. The governor is counting on that cash lasting until June of 2011. Without it, he’ll face drawing up an even grimmer budget during a grim election year...

Did I mention that everything the Democrats touch -- every single thing -- turns to crap?

In this case, more money of yours, billions upon billions of your hard-earned private property, is going to be taken to help balance state budgets and pay off public sector unions. In other words, Schumer and his ilk are helping states avoid the real cost-cutting measures that they'll have to make sooner or later. And the more it's deferred, the more painful it will be.

Is there a more reprehensible character in Congress than Schmucky Schumer?

Now that I think about it, that's a rhetorical question.

We're in the best of hands: consumer confidence down sharply in February, now at lowest level in 27 years

Who was it that said everything the Democrats touch turn to crap? Oh, yeah. That was me. Well, the Conference Board just confirmed it.

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index® "declined sharply in February" to 46. Worries about job conditions and current business conditions pushed the "Present Situation Index" down to its lowest level in 27 years.

In a nutshell, it's another Obama record!

And, like a frustrated child, Obama keeps trying to shove a massive health care spending bill down the American people's throats even as the country is going broke with massive unfunded entitlement programs.

But remember, folks: he's not an ideologue.

The Declaration of Indigestion and Other Gastronomic Wonderments

Everyone knows that you don't eat ballpark franks for the nutritional value, but this may be crossing a line. Like the white chalk line they draw around your body after you suffer a massive coronary.

Remember the Fifth Third burger monstrosity the Tigers' Single-A affiliate West Michigan Whitecaps sold last year? ...The 'Caps are at it again, asking fans to vote on what they should add to their menu.

Voting has begun at the Whitecaps' website, and the winner will be announced in March. But first you want to know what you're voting on right?

From the press release, which, honestly, I just have to paste as is for you to get the most of it:

1. Chicken and Waffles - Why did the chicken cross the road? To lie down on a bed of waffles, get smothered in gravy and get eaten by you, of course!

2. Chili Mac Tacos - Think comfort food that took a trip to Mexico. Creamy mac and cheese is smothered in chili then loaded into a hard taco shell to create a taste experience that won't soon be forgotten.

3. Chocolate Covered Bacon - This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home and this little piggy dunked itself in chocolate to become a delicious treat for Whitecaps fans!

4. Corn Dog o' Plenty - If the Idaho Christmas Tree isn't enough corn dog for you, then try the Corn Dog o' Plenty. A full half-pound, footlong frank that is battered and deep fried to make one gigantic corn dog.

5. Cudighi Yooper Sandwich - If you don't know what this one is then you haven't been to the Upper Peninsula. Cudighi is a spicy sausage found throughout the U.P. A sausage patty, smothered in cheese, pizza sauce, peppers and onions could grace the concession stands of Fifth Third Ballpark.

6. Declaration of Indigestion - When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to disband from the tyranny of healthy eating, they should consume the Declaration of Indigestion. You see, all sandwiches are not created equal as this half-pound, footlong hot dog is covered in a philly cheese steak (steak, cheese, peppers and onions) and served on a gigantic sub roll. It is certainly your unalienable right to consume one of these in the pursuit of happiness.

7. Idaho Christmas Tree - Why waste your time eating all of your favorite items separately? This is a batter-dipped hot dog rolled in french fries and deep fried to create the perfect limbed link on stick.

8. Poutine - A real treat from North of the border. The French Canadians have done it again, and this time with gravy. Fries, fried cheese curds and gravy make up this delectable side dish. Tres bien!

9. The Pink Panther - Not sure if this is named after the famous detective or the insulation, but either way it's delicious. Take a hot dog bun, slather it in icing and fill it with pink cotton candy. Maybe drizzle some root beer syrup over the top for good measure. It's the dessert dog you'll have to try this summer!

10. Twinkie Cheese Dog - This dog can survive any disaster and it might cause a few of its own. Simple - a hot dog laid in a Twinkie, covered in cheese. Yum.

There, now wasn't that a lot better than reading another story about Johnny Damon?

Hat tip: Bless You Boys.

"Help the Mossad? Moi?"

Dan from New York writes:

BBC: 7-13% of World Jewry work for the Mossad

Gordon Thomas, author of Gideon’s Spies was a guest on a BBC Radio 4's PM program, and was discussing his understanding of the Mossad’s operating methods outside Israel.

Thomas told PM host Eddie Mair, “They have a whole backup system called ‘asylum.’ These are people, local residents, Jewish people, who help the Mossad. It is estimated to be in the world about half a million; some people say a million; I tend to say it’s about half a million, all of them Mossad people.”

###

Disclaimer: I want to assure my readers that all opinions expressed in these emails are solely my own; that I do not, and never have, worked for the Mossad, and I sit squarely among the 87% of American Jews who are loyal citizens of the United States. However, via the various contacts I've made in the course of my online activities, I have been made aware of some of the American Jews the Mossad has successfully recruited to "help" them here in this country. Therefore, as a patriotic American interested only in our national security, I am herewith publishing their names:

Roger Cohen (NYT), Thomas Friedman (NYT), Joe Klein (Time), Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod, George Soros, Norman Finkelstein, Noam Chomsky, Whoopi Goldberg and every member of J Street and Americans For Peace Now.

I demand a background check for the Missile Defense Agency's logo designer

Check out the home page of the Missile Defense Agency.

The logo -- or actually the mark, to be precise -- seems a tad familiar.

Compare and contrast:

The star and crescent "is most widely recognized as a symbol of Islam... [and a] number of Muslim-majority nations, such as Algeria, Tunisia, Comoros, Mauritania, Malaysia, Pakistan, Maldives, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and non-sovereign nations such as East Turkestan use it on their national flag."

If it were up to me, the logo would consist of a terrorist getting his head blown off, but then that's only one man's opinion.

Update: Dan Riehl has more.

Hat tip: Mike M.

This is not the boat ramp I once knew

Victor the Contractor:

Its was this guy's first boat, but he wasn't quite sure of the correct procedure for launching a boat at the ramp.

However, he figured it couldn't be that difficult to do, so he stopped by his union office for advice, and they just told him: "Don't let the trailer get too deep in the water when you're launching your boat".

Well later on, he couldn't understand what they meant by that, as he just could barely get his trailer in the water.

They walk among us, get married, have children and vote! The sticker on his back window explains everything.

Larwyn's Linx: An Ideologue Without Pity

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Nation

Porkulus II, Scott Brown and the Voinovich Pay-off: Malkin
White House Contradicts CBO, Fibs on Rate Increases: Verum
Jam the Bill Through While Using Republicans as Props: RWN

All you need to know about ObamaCare 2.0: Toldjah
Confirmed: Obama Losing Iowa's Independents: SIGIS
Laying a Trap for Republicans: Times

White House Violated Federal Election Law: RWN
Holder Stonewalls Congress... Again!: York
Confusion Reigns on Obama Plan: Daily Caller

ObamaCare in Two Words: LegalIns
House Dem pours cold water on ObamaCare 2.0: WashExam
ObamaCare 2.0 does indeed fund abortions: BlogProf

Economy

An Ideologue Without Pity: HNN
ACORN Crime Family Begins Rebranding Effort: BigGovt
Backing Losers, Shackling Winners: Obama;s Industrial Policy: AT

Only in NJ: "retire", collect a fat buyout check, and keep your job: WyBlog
Recovery via Spending Cuts, Low Taxes, and Cheaper Government: AT
Talk Tough and Pass the Buck: Times

Government Grab of Retirement Accounts a Matter of 'Social Justice': PJM
ObamaCare 2.0 Is Still a Government Takeover: PJM
Rep. Steve King on ACORN's Collapse: BigGovt

MI Teacher's Union Demands Higher Taxes: BlogProf
Dem Congressman Laughs Out Loud at Pledge of Allegiance Suggestion at SEIU Meeting: GWP

Climate & Energy

Obama's clean energy ploy: trap for the GOP: AT
American Journalists MIA on Global Warming: PJM
An Interview with Dr. Manfred Aufgeblasener-Schwätzer, Climate Scientist: Solway

UN's Love Guru Pachauri Applies Green to the Golf Course: RWN

Media

Levin to Beck: Stop Dividing Us: Equalizer
BBC blasted for ‘bigoted fear-mongering’: JPost
Party Time for the Right: Spectator

Message Discipline: Progressive Bloggers at the White House: LegalIns
Bus Brawl Antihero: The New Bernie Goetz?: Zombie
Paul Krugman: Two-Bit Ideologue: RCP

Obama Doubles-Down on Failure: Kesler
Sacrifice: the Governor's Ball: Powers
WTF? Newt Gingrich is 'Model' for Tea Parties?: AmPower

Dallas Tea Party Group Gives Strap-On Keith a Diversity Wedgie: Powers
Needed: an English-to-Democrat Dictionary: BigGovt

World

The Dazzling Abstractions Of Totalitarianism, Then And Now: Driscoll
What the IAEA Knew: The U.N. agency charged with stopping nuclear proliferation enabled it.: Forbes (Bayefsky)
What do Muslim nations think about terrorists?: AT

Victory Ignored: RWN
Figures. White House Muslim Envoy Is a Radical, Too… Lied About Supporting Terror Suspect: GWP
Child bride ban 'bad for Saudi society': Maktoob

Uncovering Solomon's Wall: TAB

SciTech

Olympic SEO Poisoning: Sophos
Q&A: Alex Cox, Discoverer of Today's Massive Botnet Attack: BankTech
Sayonara, Sci Fi?: Grand Rants

Cornucopia

Don't Hate Him Because He's Beautiful: iOTW
Real racism: Rapper Jay-Z bans white people from nightclub bash: BlogProf
I Won a Hip Replacement!: iOTW

Monday, February 22, 2010

It Should Have Been Enough

President Obama has presented his new health bill, which is a rehash of the old Democrat health bills. And rather than embracing his own rhetoric and advocating a bipartisan approach to solving the health care crisis, Obama has instead articulated threats, Chicago-style.

The Plum Line has the official White House position: "If the GOP filibusters health reform, Dems will move forward on their own and pass it via reconciliation."

In short, Republicans have no say in the bill and if they try to stop its more insane measures, Congress will use an illegal maneuver to nationalize one-sixth of the economy.

After This Threat...

After a threat like this, any Republican Who Attends The Obama Health Care and Public Sector Union Infomercial isn't operating with a full deck.

This direct threat from the White House invalidates any pretense of bipartisanship, collaboration and open dialogue.

We have an out-of-control federal government that is willing to break the rules of the Senate and ignore the will of the people -- even writing in clearly unconsitutional "one-way" laws that can't be reversed -- in order to install a Stalinist health care system.

It Should Have Been Enough

When angry voters, against all odds, elected a conservative Republican to fill Ted Kennedy's Senate seat because he'd explicitly campaigned on a pledge to block socialized medicine, it should have been enough.

When Democrats Evan Bayh, Patches Kennedy, Chris Dodd, Vern Tincher, Byron Dorgan, Brian Baird and Roland Burris abruptly announced they would not seek reelection -- because they knew the fate that awaited them -- it should have been enough.

When angry voters, defying every prediction, elected a fiscally conservative Republican as governor of New Jersey, it should have been enough.

When, on the same day, enraged voters swept Democrats out of virtually every state-wide office -- something that hadn't happened in a century -- it should have been enough.

When hundreds of thousands of concerned citizens showed up in Washington to protest socialized medicine and an out-of-control Congress, it should have been enough.

When tens of thousands of AARP members canceled their memberships in protest of their selling out senior citizens, it should have been enough.

When senior citizens, concerned voters and even young people showed up at town hall meetings last summer to ask their representatives why they wouldn't listen to them, it should have been enough.

When Bill Clinton lost Congress in 1994 after pushing his ill-fated HillaryCare initiative, it should have been enough.

When Harry Truman tried to sell national health insurance after the end of World War II, which Congress utterly rejected, it should have been enough.

When Franklin Roosevelt wanted national health insurance in 1935 but, despite his power over the Supreme Court and Congress, feared tying it to Social Security lest the whole package go down in flames, it should have been enough.

Enough! Enough!!!

Very soon now, the anger of the electorate will become palpable, resonating throughout the halls of Congress and echoing among the monuments of D.C.

We. Have. Had. Enough.

And that's change you can believe in.

Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Did you think the California teachers' pensions were out of control? Wait 'til you check out Illinois. I laughed, I cried, this changed my life.

While the California teachers' unions are effectively destroying one school system after another, an alert commenter pointed me to some even more shocking news from Illinois. Their pension system for educators is -- if you can believe it -- even farther off the reservation.

Using actuarial calculations from the Teachers' Retirement System (TRS), Champion News reports that the total estimated pension liability for the top 100 retirees will equal...

Make sure you're sitting down.

Seriously.

$887,925,790.00
You read this right. The top 100 retirees, by themselves, will cost Illinois taxpayers nearly one billion dollars.

I can think of only one possible, rational reaction.

Beleaguered Taxpayer #1: We must do something. He's serious this
time.

Beleaguered Taxpayers: -He's right.
-You're right. We got to do something.
-Absolutely.
-Know what we gotta do?

Beleaguered Taxpayer #2: Toga party.

Beleaguered Taxpayer #1: We're tens of billions in debt! We can't afford to have a toga party.

Beleaguered Taxpayer #2: You guys up for a toga party?

Beleaguered Taxpayer #3: -Toga! Toga!

Beleaguered Taxpayer #2: -They like the idea.

Beleaguered Taxpayer #1: Please don't do this.

Beleaguered Taxpayer #3: I've got news for you, pal. The SEIU is going to screw us, no matter what we do.

Beleaguered Taxpayer #2: So we might as well have a good time.

Beleaguered Taxpayers: Toga! Toga! Toga!

(Chanting louder and louder)

(All chanting)

But he's "not an ideologue": Obama to name SEIU Chief Andy Stern, architect of the trillion-dollar pension shortfall, to 'deficit commission'

Michelle Malkin and Marathon Pundit point us to an ominous Washington Post disclosure: Barack Obama may name one of the most despicable characters in American economic history to the so-called 'deficit commission'. Its charter, presumably, is to tell Barack Obama how to create new taxes for his deficit-tripling shortfalls in federal revenue.

Malkin has documented, in copious detail, the culture of corruption endemic to Stern and the SEIU. The Los Angeles Times, for instance, reported that one of Stern's top lieutenants embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars in members' hard-earned dues funds and, the paper asserts, Stern helped cover up the crime.

Furthermore, the SEIU is one of the chief contributors to the states' budget woes. The Pew Research Center puts the states' public sector union pension shortfall at roughly one trillion dollars. Who will make up that gap? The rank-and-file SEIU members and the taxpayers, to be sure.

Even before Barack Obama was elected President, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) was one of the most powerful labor groups in the land. Its two million members were levied taxes in the form of dues, most of which were then funneled into Democratic campaign coffers. Nearly half of its members are government employees.

Some reports indicate that the SEIU contributed $27 million to Barack Obama's campaign. Other media outlets describe the SEIU's $80 million overall stimulus package for Democratic candidates in 2008 with additional plans to spend tens of millions more in support of socialized medicine and "card check" instant unionization proposals.

Since Obama's election, the SEIU's power has grown stronger and its antics more outrageous. SEIU President Andy Stern is reported to have been the "SEIU official" who attempted to broker a deal between Rod Blagojevich and the White House over Obama's Senate seat. In the transcript released by federal law enforcement officials, the "SEIU official" offered to "send up a flare" to determine whether an SEIU 501(c)(4) group could be used to reward Blagojevich.

The fact that Barack Obama would name a man like Stern to this kind of commission shows that (a) he is indeed a hard-core ideologue; and (b) he doesn't give a gnat's crap about any budget deficits.

After all, you can never waste a good crisis.

"I had to go to the emergency room!"

Victor the Contractor writes:

The other day I needed to go to the emergency room. Not wanting to sit there for 4 hours, I put on my old Army fatigues and stuck a patch onto the front of my shirt that I had downloaded off the Internet.

When I went into the E.R., I noticed that 3/4 of the people got up and left. I guess they decided that they weren't that sick after all. Cut at least 3 hours off my waiting time.

Here's the patch. Feel free to use it the next time you're in need of quicker emergency service.

It also works at DMV. It saved me five hours.

At the Laundromat, three minutes after entering, I had my choice of any machine, most still running.

Don't try it at McDonald's though.........

The whole crew got up and left and I never got my order...