Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Harry Reid: 'Though I'll be working as a lobbyist and Democrats will be in the minority, I solemnly pledge to reform the filibuster rule next year'

History will record that Harry Reid was among the dumbest men ever to serve in the United States Senate, barring Joe Biden. And those studying American history will find themselves mystified that, despite Nevada's population of roughly 2.6 million, Reid was somehow elected to an elite position of power though his IQ was locked solidly in the bottom 10% of that population.

With the gift of gaffe and a nose for savvy real estate deals, Reid was not without talents.

Prescience, however, was never one of his skills, as evidenced by today's report that Reid intends to consider modifying the Senate's filibuster rules "at the beginning of the next Congress, in 2011."

In a discussion with liberal bloggers, Reid [said], "The filibuster has been abused. I believe that the Senate should be different than the House and will continue to be different than the House... But we're going to take a look at the filibuster. Next Congress, we're going to take a look at it. We are likely to have to make some changes in it, because the Republicans have abused that just like the spitball was abused in baseball and the four-corner offense was abused in basketball."

..."I'm totally familiar with his idea," Reid said of colleague Sen. Tom Harkin's (D-Iowa) filibuster reform proposals in February. "It takes 67 votes, and that, kind of, answers the question."

But Democrats have pressed forward with exploring options to change filibuster rules, including by having Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, hold hearings into potential changes to filibuster rules.

The Senate, unlike the House, is governed by rules that are in continuous rules, meaning that a 67-vote supermajority would be needed to change filibuster rules, which only require 60 votes to end debate.

Don't put it past the National Socialist Democrat Party to attempt to reform the filibuster with less than 67 votes. After all, this is the same crew of radical leftists that would gladly destroy one-sixth of the economy by nationalizing health care using a "budget reconciliation" process.

Just one more reason I'm manufacturing easy-to-use Tar and Feather Kits™, which should be available at your local Wal-Mart store and other fine retailers by September.


Hat tip: Memeorandum. Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Larwyn's Linx: My Race is "American"

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

My race is "American": Malkin
Edging towards the lifeboats: JOM
Goober Graham gets it wrong, again: Corner

Pass it, so you can find out what's in it: Toldjah
'Flying' expletive school of government: Patterico
The real views on abortion: BlogProf

Economy

'Restoring' Unions' 'Rights' to Bargain: RWN
Health care and work: Riehl
Obama vs. the Insurers and the People: Exam

Why Dems don't care about $10T in debt: Exam
How PA drives up unemployment: RWN
Astroturf rally in DC: GWP

Climate & Energy


Examining the GreenJobsGate Emails: PJM
Climate Alarmists Get Colder: NOFP
No Fishing Allowed: Noisy Room

Science Czar John Holdren – A National Security Risk: Noisy Room

Media

A Quote That Shall Live in Infamy: RSM
A Prescription for Annex: Corner
Howard Dean Leads Massive Health Care Rally: JWF

Stupid Season: Crittenden
Even Bob Herbert Sees the Obvious: JOM
Ungovernable Savages?: AT

I Need, Therefore I Get: An Entitlement Culture: GM's Place
Sean 'Zero IQ' Penn wants to put me in jail: Fausta

World

Europeans ready to stick a fork in Obama: RWN
The Sickness of the West - a collapse in global leadership: Forbes
Saudi Foreign Minister Explains the New Middle East: BRubin

History Repeats Itself… UAE to Follow Third Reich Policies Against Jews: GWP
'Jihad Jane' Indicted on Federal Charges: Jawa
U.S. slams Israel settlement plan: Maktoob

Change!… Syria Holds Love-Fest With Iran and Hezbollah As US Reinstalls Ambassador: GWP
Obama's Iran Policy Collapses to the Accompaniment of Mockery Around the Globe: AT

SciTech

Your Cheerios Prescription: FDA goes off its meds: Times
Microsoft warns of zero-day IE hole on Patch Tuesday: CNet
Dante's Internet: Locomotive Breath 1901

Cornucopia

Activism: A Love Story (Apologies For The Language): R&R
Janeane Garofalo and an Egg Salad Sandwich: Parkway
Expanding my Churchill Collection: American Digest


Tuesday, March 09, 2010

The gap between rich and poor...

As is his tradition, the most politically incorrect reader of them all sent this one in.

The gap between rich and poor countries keeps getting bigger...

It is so unfair...



Military Wisdom

Papa B forwarded this one:

"If the enemy is in range, so are you." — Infantry Journal

"It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed." — US Air Force Manual

"Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword, obviously never encountered automatic weapons." — General MacArthur

"You, you, and you ... Panic. The rest of you, come with me." — U.S. Marine Corp Gunnery Sgt.

"Tracers work both ways." — U.S. Army Ordnance Manual

"Five second fuses only last three seconds." — Infantry Journal

The three most useless things in aviation are: Fuel in the bowser; Runway behind you; and Air above you. — Basic Flight Training Manual

"Any ship can be a minesweeper. Once." — Maritime Ops Manual

"Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do." — Unknown Marine Recruit

"If you see a bomb technician running, try to keep up with him." — USAF Ammo Troop

"You've never been lost until you"ve been lost at Mach 3." — Paul F. Crickmore (SR71 test pilot)

"The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire." —Unknown Author

"If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage it has to be a helicopter — and therefore, unsafe." — Fixed Wing Pilot

"When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane, you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash." — Multi-Engine Training Manual

"Without ammunition, the USAF is just an expensive flying club." — Unknown Author

"If you hear me yell; 'Eject, Eject, Eject!,' the last two will be echos. If you stop to ask 'Why?' you"ll be talking to yourself, because you're the pilot." — Pre-flight Briefing from a 104 Pilot

"What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots? If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; but If ATC screws up, .... the pilot dies." — Sign over Control Tower Door

"Never trade luck for skill." — Author Unknown

"Airspeed, altitude and brains. Two are always needed to successfully complete the flight." — Basic Flight Training Manual

"Mankind has a perfect record in aviation — we have never left one up there!" — Unknown Author

"Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything about it." — Emergency Checklist

"The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill you." — Attributed to Max Stanley (Northrop test pilot)

"There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime." — Sign over Squadron Ops Desk at Davis-Montham AFB, AZ

"If something hasn't broken on your helicopter, it's about to." — Sign over Carrier Group Operations Desk

"You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full power to taxi to the terminal." — Lead-in Fighter Training Manual

As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft, having torn off the wings and tail in the crash landing, the crash truck arrives. The rescuer sees a bloodied pilot and asks, "What happened?" The pilot"s reply: "I don't know, I just got here myself!"


Subservience in the Age of Obama

Dan from New York:

BBC NEWS, 3/9/2010

US apology for Gaddafi comments


The US State Department has apologised for comments made about Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's call for jihad, or holy war, against Switzerland.

Department spokesman PJ Crowley, who made the dismissive comments, said they did not reflect US policy and were not intended to offend.

Col Gaddafi had criticised a Swiss vote against the building of minarets and urged Muslims to boycott the country. Mr Crowley described it as "lots of words, not necessarily a lot of sense." Libya and Switzerland are embroiled in a long-running diplomatic row.

Clarification

"I regret that my comments have become an obstacle to further progress in our bilateral relationship," Mr Crowley said.

Last week, Libya's National Oil Corporation warned US oil firms of possible "repercussions" over Mr Crowley's reaction.

The Libyan ambassador to the US sought to clarify Col Gaddafi's remarks saying the Libyan leader meant an economic boycott not "an armed attack".

"I should have focused solely on our concern about the term jihad, which has since been clarified by the Libyan government," Mr Crowley added. "I understand my personal comments were perceived as a personal attack on the president," he said. "These comments do not reflect US policy and were not intended to offend. I apologise if they were taken that way."

###

Makes you proud to be an American, doesn't it? In the Age of Obama, cringing has been elevated to an art form. Mustn't annoy the nut.

Look how much harm Obama and his wrecking crew have done to our country in just over a year. A blitzkrieg of self-debasement and destruction of national pride - that's the core of his plan. Miraculously, deus ex machina, we've slowed him down. Now let's follow through and pull the plug on the termites in November before the damage is irreversible and brings down the house.


So simple a caveman could do it

John Galt writes:

Everyone knows that the average wage for a federal employee is about $12,000 a year in salary (and about $25,000 fully loaded) more than the average wage in the private sector.

This suggests a very simple way to reduce the budget deficit:

Equalize the average pay and benefits in government with those offered by the private sector. USA Today actually provides us with a job-to-job comparison.

There are, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about two million federal employees.

So my simple solution saves about $50 billion a year with the stroke of a pen.

And would it be even crazier to suggest the $50 billion gets refunded to taxpayers?

Get back inside your box, John. That's just crazy talk.


Rub a dub dub, how many IDs does one profile need?

An anonymous tipster points out that the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of Illinois has gone through some amazing contortions maintaining a single database record for a retired attorney named Barack Obama.

Google the IARDC site and you come up with a record ID ending in 136.

Now that record is blank.

In 2008 a CNN website showed Obama's record with an ID ending in 456.

Now that record is blank.


On April 25th, 2008, a screen-shot showed Obama's record possessing an ID ending in 935.

Now that record is blank.

Same for Obama's old record that ended in 852.

And 960.

And 456.

Here is the active record today. Its ID is 387.

For all the claims that he runs the most transparent administration ever, this is one man who seems to give databases fits.


Related:
"To be (a lawyer) or not to be."
Most Transparent President Ever Has Bar Records Redacted This Week, Leaving Only Traces of His Existence Some Betamax Videos and a Fraternity Pin

World's dumbest blogger slams new waterboarding memos, but somehow forgets to mention Pelosi and other Dems helpfully approved process

Matthew Yglesias -- the center of the recent Morongate scandal -- is shocked and appalled at the treatment terrorists received at the hands of intelligence officials just after 9/11.

Yglesias' source? None other than the world's most respected defense and intelligence journal: Salon Magazine. Salon asserts that it has seen "recently released internal documents" that describe the brutal process of waterboarding in great detail, but it neither offers the documents up for scrutiny nor provides any sources for them.

Far be it from me to assume that this is another Rathergate-like tempest-in-a-teapot, but let's assume hypothetically that Salon's claims are all accurate.


Yglesias helpfully ignores the fact that all key Intelligence Committee members -- including current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- were briefed on the measures and glowingly approved them. Pelosi, it should be noted, has continued to lie about these briefings, claiming she was never told -- despite copious documentation that contradicts her account.

In fact, waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques have been used by American and British troops since the turn of the last century.


And, as part of their training, American special forces and naval aviators are waterboarded as a matter of course during SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) school.

But the world's dumbest blogger can't be bothered with history, logic or reason. He hates Bush. And since Bush did it, it's baaaaaaaaad. Obama gooooooood.

As an aside, my wife says we should waterboard Pelosi to get to the bottom of this.

Though she does fear for Pelosi's numerous surgical enhancements and components, which could rupture during the interrogation process, causing severe emotional distress for any onlookers.


Hat tip: Memeorandum. Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Larwyn's Linx: Obamacare to 'rip this nation to pieces'

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

Obamacare to 'rip this nation to pieces': RedState
Massa may rescind resignation: GWP
Problems at the Top: JOM

Guess who's covering for Tim Geithner?: Malkin
You should be offended and repulsed: Hewitt
Lipinski flips to No on Obamacare: Hot Air

Economy

Federal Deficit for February is a Whopping $223 Billion: Virtuous
ObamaCare: It's About Government, Not Health Care: RWN
Bring the Post Office into the 21st century: Tapscott

ObamaCare Means a Two-Tier Health Care System: PJM (Lewis)
Jumping when unions holler: JRubin
It's a Trial Run for More Public Options: Ace

Climate & Energy

'These people are not scientists': EU Referendum
NSIDC: Antarctica Cooling, Sea Ice is Increasing: WUWT

Media

Great moments in headlines, naked ballerina edition: Driscoll
How the media spiked Suttongate: Cashill
Nice numbers, Rachel. Nice numbers, Keith.: IHTM

The Obama Parlor Game: What’s Wrong with Him?: JRubin
CBS Radio forgets to mention who slaughtered hundreds of Christians in Nigeria: BMW
Culture of Corruption: Part Deux: StateBrief

How to Make Defeatism Look Good: Let’s Give Up and Cheer the Islamists: BRubin
Dan Rather: Obama 'couldn’t sell watermelons even if you gave him a State Trooper to flag down traffic': BlogProf
Michael Moore's Jumping Jacks: Powers

World

Liz Cheney Was Right About The Al-Qaeda Seven At The DOJ: RWN
One year in and Obama doesn't have any foreign leader friends: AT (Moran)
The U.S.A.: Now Less Respected In the World: Times

Clarence Thomas Tortured KSM: LegalIns
How Do You Plead?: SIOE
Activists tell Obama to protect illegals: Times

Beeb Discovers Fundamental Human Right to Internet Access: RWN
Gendercide: Fausta
Muslim Officials Burn Ancient Timbers on Temple Mount: JOdysseus

SciTech

Google launches tool for searching public data: CNet
Gigatweet: Nathan Reed

Cornucopia

No One Knows What the F*** They're Doing (or "The 3 Types of Knowledge"): Jango Steve
Finally Regretting That Tramp Stamp?: Moonbattery
Don't know why. Don't care why.: Treacher

Cincinnati Tea Party: Join the Protest at Driehaus' Office: Virtuous


Monday, March 08, 2010

California vs. Texas: the Cheat-Sheet

Print and share with your Democrat colleagues.

 CaliforniaTexas
Population Rank:#1#2
Joined the Union:1850, ceded by Mexico1845, ceded by Mexico
Hispanic Population:About one-thirdAbout one-third
Leadership over last 20 years:Democrat, large governmentGOP, small government
State legislature meets:Year-roundMeets 90 days every two years
Net population change:Outflow of 1,509,000 from 2000-2009Inflow of 1,600,000 from 2000-2009
Average teacher salary:$60,000/yr.$41,744/hr.
ACT score rank:#44#30
8th grade % proficient at writing rank:#30#16
4th grade % proficient at math rank:#26#16
Tax Policy8.25% sales tax, up to 10.55% income tax6.25% sales tax, no income tax
Public sector unions:Powerful. Spent $100,000,000 (in funds levied from taxpayers) defeating legislation that would weaken the Democrat-union alliance in 2005."Weak or non-existent".
Bond Rating (an indicator of financial health)S&P A-S&P AA+

 
Based upon: Michael Barone, Washington Examiner.

Mark Levin Keynote Lecture at the Reagan Library

This is one of the greatest speeches on conservatism, if I may be so bold, ever delivered.

Levin is nothing less than an intellectual descendant of Cicero, Montesquieu, de Tocqueville, Adam Smith, Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, Madison and Jay.

If you have a scintilla of a soul, you will have tears in your eyes as you listen to this masterful speech.

Most Transparent President Ever Has Bar Records Redacted This Week, Leaving Only Traces of His Existence Some Betamax Videos and a Fraternity Pin

President Obama's Occidental College transcripts have never been released. His Columbia transcripts are, likewise, AWOL. And his Harvard Law transcripts also haven't been made public. Finally, it's reported, he never published any articles while at Harvard, yet somehow served as Editor of Law Review. That would make him unique among editors, according to insiders.

Even John "D Student" Kerry was guilt-tripped into releasing his transcripts.

Curiously, since I relayed a report of Obama's "teaching career" at Chicago (he was apparently never a law professor, as some have claimed), the Illinois Bar has decided to partially redact what little public information it had available on its website related to the President's legal status.

On March 1st, I captured the public records available at the Illinois Bar's website for the President (click to zoom):

Today, thanks to an eagle-eyed commenter, what little is available in the record has been partially redacted:

For some odd reason, the date that Obama was last registered to practice law in Illinois was erased within the last few days.

Perhaps it's just some clerical issue or a database cleanup problem.

But when even the tiniest breadcrumbs of background information on this, the most mysterious President ever, begin disappearing, I think it's worth asking some questions.

And perhaps The New York Times or Glutes Sullivan could reassign a cub reporter from the Sarah Palin detail in Wasilla to find out just what the President's grades were -- and how he actually paid for school.


Related: "To be (a lawyer) or not to be."

Also Related: Q&A with a former Editor of Law Review at one of the top schools in the country.

Question: Have you ever heard of someone who became editor of law review without publishing a paper (like our beloved 44th president)?

Answer: The answer to your last question is no. Most, if not all law reviews, publish notes or articles from second-year law students who are members of the Law Review. The editors are third years. It's hard to imagine that a third year would be elected editor in chief without having previously published an article. If a third year isn't a good enough writer to have an article published in the law review, he or she probably isn't good enough to edit someone else's article.


Larwyn's Linx: The Democrat Party is Destroying Itself

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 Democrat Party is Destroying Itself: Sultan Knish
Obama's Dereliction of Duty: PJM
Pentagon Shooter Used Arabic Terms, Fonts Online: GWP

First Rule Of Postmodern Socialism: Driscoll
Guess who's coming to your house?: AT
Exit Axelrod?: SIGIS

Economy

Losing Jobs with Green Technology: RWN
8.3M jobs lost as Dems push health care: GWP
It's official: government jobs pay more than real world: RWN

Unions support this Detroit socialist: RWN
Tell Us the Truth!: AT
Health care is heavily taxed now: AT

Climate & Energy

Yowzer! 'sea ice extended to equator 716.5M years ago': WUWT
Bringing The Nude ManBearPig To Climate Debate: STACLU
Global Warming Traps 1,000 on Baltic Ice: LegalIns

Media

Saturday Night Card Game (Chris Matthews): LegalIns
‘Drudge-Driven Journalism’ Versus MSNBC-Driven ‘Journalism’: Driscoll
Jon Stewart: The Genius Of Sarah Palin vs. Romney On TV: Riehl

Newsweek takes on the teachers' unions: Marathon
Strap-On: As the Splittle Flies: AT
Leftist Tolerance Update, Griffin and Maher Edition: GWP

The Left and Its Cheap ‘Racism’ Charge — the Last Refuge of Scoundrels and ‘Media Matters’: BigJournalism
NYT and WaPo: Muhammad Is the Prophet of God: AT
American Media, Blaming the 'Right': From Duranty and the KGB to Reuters: PJM

World

Nigerian Muslims Attack Christians With Machetes; 300 Dead: GWP
'They Need to Be Liberated From Their God': WSJ
Gadahn Urges Muslims in U.S. Military to Attack America: TAB

Iraq Election Turnout: Heavy: Aces
Faith in Cynicism: Belmont
UK Hospital: Neglected British man dying of thirst rang police to beg for water, later died at age 22: BlogProf

"We are infiltrated from within': CBN
Swedish Mayor Rants About Attacks From "Israel Lobby" On Danish TV: Mere Rhetoric
Call Me Shallow But This Just Makes. My. Day.: American Digest

SciTech

Cyberwar declared as China hunts for intelligence secrets: Times of London
Ultimate WMD: laser mosquito zapper: WUWT
Can you appeal a YouTube ban?: CNet

Cornucopia

Do you support measures like 'Soda Taxes' in cities raising revenue from unhealthy choices?: HillBuzz
Just for Anchoress Readers: Anchoress
When you can look like this acting is not a primary consideration: American Digest

Image Credit: iOwnTheWorld


Sunday, March 07, 2010

Pass the popcorn, Nahanni: California organizes circular firing squad to determine who will make up its 50% shortfall in revenues

It's another Blue State miracle! The Gaia-friendly Democrat Utopia has hit a budgetary wall, unable to raise taxes and unwilling to cut spending to come anywhere close to meeting its obligations.

Federal judges have ordered California to thin its immense prison population by 40,000 inmates or 24% out of a total of 168,830. There are currently 22,173 illegal immigrants housed in state prisons at an annual cost of at least $32,500 each; the yearly tab for housing illegals comes to nearly three quarters of a billion dollars.

But California's powerful prison guard union wants a large prison population because it drives higher employment for guards, a profession in which annual wages for union members can easily exceed $100K. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has gone so far as to publicly pillory California's "Three Strikes" sentencing policy, stating, "The three-strikes law sponsor is the correctional officers’ union and that is sick!”

In 2004, California voters approved Proposition 1A, which blocked the practice of the state assembly diverting taxes raised locally and, essentially, confiscating them. But, the wily California assembly began "borrowing" the local funds instead. Even the wealthy city of Newport Beach has a $20 million shortfall due in large part to this practice. Now voters may have to raise another proposition in order to ban the state from its predatory "borrowing" practices.

Across the state last week, students and faculty held protests because of large budget cuts to public schools and colleges. But Democrats in power still haven't quite comprehended the needs for significant cuts. After the state-wide demonstrations on Thursday, Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada, D-Solano, termed the protests a "flashpoint for anger over the state's disinvestment in education... Sacramento must listen -- without prioritizing education, the future of California is at risk... To all those whose favorite word is 'no' whenever we discuss the need for more revenue, the students have spoken..."

It's not just a handful of moonbat state legislators like Yamada: the entire governmental apparatus is completely dysfunctional. Today's editorial from The San Francisco Chronicle was subtly titled "Fix the shortfall yourself, Sacramento."

...voters are dismissive and furious over the state's political and budgetary gridlock, and they're in no mood to help Sacramento solve the crisis. The results are also a failing report card for government reformers, who are going nowhere in their bid to rewrite the state's decision-making rules...

...[Yet when] cuts are announced - such as teacher layoffs or state park closures - they become even more angry... Solutions to ease this crisis atmosphere go up in smoke.

So how will California make up its massive deficit gap? No one knows, including the Democrats in power. California is currently holding "tens of billions of dollars in unsold bonds, and Treasurer Bill Lockyer has warned that with the state's lowest-in-the-nation credit rating he may market new debt only sporadically."

Lockyer warned against a big water bond issue last year, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators ignored him. They approved an $11.2 billion bond issue, loaded with pork, that will tap the deficit-ridden budget for more than $20 billion in principal and interest.

Why should taxpayers spend $250 million to finance removal of dams on the Klamath River by PacifiCorp, a utility owned by billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc.? Or $20 million for "economic development" in Siskiyou County? The Klamath flows through Siskiyou en route to the sea, but contributes nothing to our water supply.

Nearly $10 billion in unsold bonds would finance a fraction of the proposed bullet train linking Northern and Southern California. But the project's "business plan" is ludicrously inadequate, with cost, ridership and fare projections that defy reality, and full financing is so far an illusion... [in fact, the] High-Speed Rail Authority is paying a public relations firm $8 million to peddle the deeply flawed project

The unrealistic expectations of the various constituencies -- led by public sector unions and their powerful fundraising machines -- make the California situation especially dire. Unless these unions are dismantled, there doesn't appear to be any way to get a realistic consensus.

As an aside, one of the overseers of this debacle, Speaker Granny Rictus McBotoxImplants (D-CA) was unavailable for comment, seeing as how she is trying to break or bribe Bart Stupak in order to help the President take over the entire health care industry.


Adam Gadahn, aka "Azzam the Porky", caught in Pakistan; Holder may press charges against captors who squeezed arm "hard enough to leave a bruise"

It's Hammer Time as chunky American-turned-terrorist Adam Gadahn is reported to have been captured in Karachi, Pakistan. [Oh, boys, dost thou have turncoats in your midst? Perhaps you should cleanse the ranks of suspected rat-finks.]

Gadahn is, according to MSNBC, the first American to have been charged with treason (richly deserved, I might add) in 50 years. Gadahn is 31 years old and was raised on a farm in Riverside County, California. After visiting a mosque in Orange County, he quickly became -- try and contain your shock -- radicalized and ended up moving to Pakistan at age 19.

Because of his English-speaking skills and his jolly, fleshy appearance, Gadahn was selected as a key spokesman for Al Qaeda. He also is said to have secured a lucrative endorsement deal with Infidel-Beheader Brand™ Scimitars.

In recent years he has called for numerous attacks on the U.S. homeland and has even recommended finding ways to shake "consumer confidence and stifle spending"; as for the latter suggestion, Democrats appear to have taken it to heart with massive failed spending programs including a Stimulus package, Omnibus budget bills, jobs programs, housing rescues, and auto company takeovers.


Update: Darleen Click: "How soon will the Left try and cast Gadahn as a rightwing Teabagger?"

Update II: Apparently, it was not Adam Gadahn but some other American jihadist who was arrested.

Hat tip: Memeorandum.

'Greg, who is the worst Senator in this Congress?' 'Well that would be hard to say, sir. They're each outstanding in their own way.'

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid certainly has a way with words. Reid's authored such classics as "This war is lost"... "Obama is a light-skinned black with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one"... and who could forget "You could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol"?

Friday, Reid tried to top all of his past gaffes in one swell foop stating, "Today is a big day in America -- only, only 36,000 people lost their jobs in America, which is... really... good."

Yes, the excellent economic news continues apace, dampened only by the delay in nationalizing one-sixth of the economy. And, dammit, I can prove it.

At first blush, unemployment appears to be stabilizing. The February 2010 Unemployment number remained at 9.7% with an under-employment (or U6) rate of 16.8% and 36,000 more jobs lost, "which is really... good".

Total non-farm payrolls appear to be in a trough as well. Is this good? Well, no, as The Economic Populist points out. Good would be 200,000 jobs added to the non-farm payroll. Good would be anything [over] 100,000 jobs added to the non-farm payroll. It's pretty clear many out there are trying to make less bad the new good. Uh, no, good is not on a relative scale, it's an absolute folks. We need anywhere from 85,000 to 145,000 jobs created each month just to keep up with the population rate. That's reality.

But have things really stabilized?

A record high number of people -- 40% of the officially unemployed -- have been seeking work for 27 weeks or more. And part-time employment (in situations where full-time work is desired) increased to 8.8 million from 8.3 million.

The ratio of the employed to the civilian population continues to plummet, and is now at a record low of 58.5%.

As for workers in high-tech, contrary to the press releases of the offshore outsourcing industry, there's no shortage of available talent here in the states.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I'll tell you what, Barack. We'll tell John Q. Public you were doing a great job taking care of the economy, but you parked it out back last night... and this morning it was gone!


Hat tip: Economic Populist.

Iran For Dummies (and Democrats)

Dan from New York:

Iran For Dummies (and Democrats)


Iran is Persia. Iran is derived from the word Aryan. Iranians aren't Arabs, they're Indo-Europeans. Iranians don't speak Arabic, they have their own unique language, Farsi. Iran is home to one of the world's oldest continuous major civilizations. The first Iranian dynasty formed during the Elamite kingdom in 2800 BCE. Iranians are not ancestors of desert nomads. Iranians did not sit around in tents collecting camel dung until the West discovered there was oil under their butts and afterward sit around in Mercedes collecting camel dung. Iranians are a proud, militaristic people capable of great sophistication whose Islamist rulers hate Israel, America, the West and other Muslims too. They're building their armed forces and nuclear weapons to prove it.

Additional reading for dummies (and Democrats):

Iran launches missile production line

New Iranian missile launch pad revealed

Germany and rearmament

Oh, and enjoy the Oscars.


Larwyn's Linx: It all comes down to this: House vote on 3/18

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

It all comes down to this: House vote on 3/18: RWN
Obama, Muslim Foundations And Social Entrepreneurs: Riehl
States Rally to Fight Health Care Reform: BigGovt

You know what we need? A brutal battle over amnesty: Hot Air
AWOL in the Bunning Battle: McCarthy
Why they won't quit pushing health care: PJM

Economy

Please save our state workers: Hanson
The Keynesian Stimulus Dogma: AT
Bigger Budget = Smaller Economy: Forbes

Charitable Money Laundering For Democrats: The Tides Foundation: AT
Orszag: These Aren’t the Budget Gimmicks You’re Looking For: BigGovt
Why Wait for a Spending Limit?: WashExam

Dem’s Minimum Wage Hikes Hit Teens, Black Youth Hardest: GWP
Protests that could ruin their own future: AT
Barney Frank puts his foot in it -- again: Zero Hedge

Climate & Energy

Green Jobs Astroturf: Obama, Soros and a Wind Power Failure Coverup: BlogProf
Lefties Once Again Showing Off Their Scientific Ignorance Over Methane Gas: Strata-Sphere

Media

Obamacare worth the price to the Democrats: Steyn
Consent of the governed - and the lack thereof: Reynolds
Flotsam and Jetsam: JRubin

SNL Rips Obama’s “Really, Really Angry Mob Unpopular” Health Care Bill and Harry Reid: GWP
White House Liberals Fail To See The Big Problem – Them!: Strata-Sphere
What I Learned from Obama's Pop: Cashill

World

Ayo Gurkhali!: Crittenden
Another Obami Foreign-Policy Debacle: JRubin
Disgusting: VoteVets, Soros-Backed Antiwar Group, Uses IED Attacks in Global Warming Propaganda: AmPower

Former Gitmo Detainee Leads Insurgency in Southern Afghanistan: GWP
What does Assad want?: Spyer
Obama's Fruitless Quest to Extradite Drug Thug: AT

SciTech

PSTN Closure, the End of POTS, the Challenges: NoJitter
MLB 2K10 vs. MLB 10: The Show: CNet

Cornucopia

Quick Takes: American Digest (Semi-NSFW)
Boob Belt Fever: The Movie: Mirror
Electricians Behaving Badly: Ace

QOTD Times 3:

"Today is a big day in America, only 36,000 people lost their jobs today, which is really good." -- Senator Harry Reid (Democrat - Nevada), March 5, 2010

'Barack Obama has called an "entrepreneurship summit" with the Muslim world. Naturally, I have a question: What could Barack Obama or anybody in his administration teach about entrepreneurship? Years from now, when the Muslim world has gone another generation without a single useful invention, will they look back at this "summit" and regard it as another evil western deception? Of course, they will have only themselves to blame insofar as the invitation promises advice from "social entrepreneurs," Orwellian slang for "transnational community organizer." ' -- TigerHawk

"The percentage of federal civil servants making more than $100,000 a year jumped from 14 percent to 19 percent during the first year and a half of the recession. At the beginning of the downturn, the Transportation Department had one person making $170,000 or more a year; now it has 1,690 making that." -- Spotted at US News & World Report


Saturday, March 06, 2010

Two articles to forward to Democrat acquaintances (probably not your friends) who favor government-run health care

I'll be polite, like Mish, and ask you to please consider:

From the UK: 1,200 Needless Deaths: Up to 1,200 people lost their lives needlessly because Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust [Hospital] put government targets and cost-cutting ahead of patient care... But none of the doctors, nurses and managers who failed them has suffered any formal sanction... Indeed, some have either retired on lucrative pensions or have swiftly found new jobs...

• Patients were left unwashed in their own filth for up to a month as nurses ignored their requests to use the toilet or change their sheets;

• Four members of one family. including a new-born baby girl. died within 18 months after of blunders at the hospital;

•  Medics discharged patients hastily out of fear they risked being sacked for delaying;

•  Wards were left filthy with blood, discarded needles and used dressings while bullying managers made whistleblowers too frightened to come forward.

From Canada: Canadian Legislator Goes to Miami for Heart Surgery: An unapologetic Danny Williams says he was aware his trip to the United States for heart surgery earlier this month would spark outcry, but he concluded his personal health trumped any public fallout over the controversial decision...

"This was my heart, my choice and my health," Williams said late Monday from his condominium in Sarasota, Fla... "I did not sign away my right to get the best possible health care for myself when I entered politics."

The 60-year-old Williams said doctors detected a heart murmur last spring and told him that one of his heart valves wasn't closing properly, creating a leakage... Williams said [U.S. doctors could make] an incision under his arm that didn't require any bone breakage [unlike the procedures required in Canada].

..."I would've been criticized if I had stayed in Canada and had been perceived as jumping a line or a wait list. ... I accept that. That's public life," he said... "(But) this is not a unique phenomenon to me. This is something that happens with lots of families throughout this country, so I make no apologies for that."

Not to worry, citizens. Democrats promise that government-run health care will work as flawlessly as their $840 billion Stimulus program.


Hat tip: Zero Hedge.

State of Chaos: California Collapsing Before Our Eyes Thanks to Public Sector Unions. But They're Doing It For the Children.

It doesn't take a crystal ball to visualize California's future. All it takes is a quick scan of world headlines to see how public sector unions have destroyed economies around the globe.

Yesterday in Ireland

Unionized public sector employees announced that they are planning "indefinite strikes".

Crippling strike action over public sector pay cuts moved closer last night... The Civil, Public and Services Union (CPSU), which represents 13,000 lower paid staff, served notice of strike action of indefinite or limited duration and a four-week ban on overtime from Monday week. It has also threatened to immediately place pickets on any location if a member is removed from the payroll... Members of other public sector unions -- including the PSEU, Impact, SIPTU and the AHCPS -- are unlikely to pass pickets mounted by colleagues.

...Strike action could shut down public offices including social welfare, passport, and revenue departments; the courts; and the Oireachtas, which is already struggling due to counter closures, disruption to phone and email services, and a refusal by workers to handle parliamentary questions, speeches and ministerial reports...

And the health sector may also be in the grip of sporadic work stoppages.

Health care strikes? Can you see where we are headed, thanks to the brilliance of the SEIU-controlled Democrat Party?

Yesterday in Greece

Public sector unions executed a three-hour work stoppage yesterday, warning of more to come should Greece enforce austerity measures related to its massive debts.

...About 70 communist trade unionists occupied the finance ministry on Thursday, preventing workers from entering the building, police said, in the latest protest action against pay cuts and a pensions freeze ordered by the Socialist government... The two main unions, which represent 2.5 million workers or half of Greece's workforce, say extra public sector wage cuts and tax hikes announced on Wednesday to tackle a 300 billion euro ($410 billion) debt mountain will only hurt the poor...

...In 2001, GSEE strikes and rallies helped thwart the then Socialist government's attempt to reform the country's pension system... GSEE opposes the austerity measures... [and in] December, GSEE demanded wage increases of about 8 percent for those on the minimum monthly salary of 740 euros ($1,012) and a 2 percent wage rise for all other private sector workers.

The Communist-controlled public sector unions have called for a 24-hour strike on March 11th.

And In California

Public sector unions are bankrupting the state, which is currently projecting revenues that are 50% lower than the current spending forecast. That's right: fifty percent. And the situation is even more dire than a quick glance at the balance sheet would indicate. Barron's makes note of underfunded pensions that will crush the states -- especially California -- in the months and years to come.

The disparity between private- and public-sector funds is so serious because a large part of state pension benefits are unfunded and uninsured. Consequently, states, most of which also run their localities' retirement plans, have played fast and loose with their pension promises.

One of the less-noticed causes of the worldwide financial crisis was a desperate search for yield that was led by pension funds and, in turn, by state and local government pension funds. Many maintained unrealistically high expectations of future investment earnings, rushing into high-yield securities and high-risk investments in hedge funds and private equity and real estate just in time to take a big hit.

A sensible person would say to themselves: gee, I can't continue to make $100K a year and retire after 25 years with 90% pay along with cost-of-living allowances. The math won't work, especially when I could easily live another 40 or more years.

But California's legions of state political hacks, agencies, commissions, regulators, offices and union bosses haven't been reading the papers, it would seem.

Compare and contrast: private security guards in California make about $25,950-a-year.

Yet... state prison guards, who can, with overtime, easily earn more than $100,000 a year... If that makes you crazy, try this statistic on for size: Fully 9.5% of the California state budget is allocated toward prisons. Only 5.7%, by comparison, goes to universities.

Twenty-five years ago, prisons were 4% of the budget. Higher education represented 11% of the state budget...

The prison guards union has historically been one of the most powerful in the state. No one pays guards more. And these jobs are very secure: If Sacramento is facing the squeeze and has to furlough state workers, prison guards are one of the few groups that are exempt and must stay on the job.

Wages are only the tip of the compensation iceberg: Guards also receive generous health care and retirement benefits.

You won't get 90% of your salary in retirement. A prison guard in California, however, absolutely will.

When it comes to California's state government, reality still hasn't quite set in.

Consider Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, who just gave 20-or-so Democrat Caucus staffers 10% raises. In fact, Bass bumped one one senior assistant to principal assistant, which translates to an $9,000-a-year hike to $96,000.

As for the teachers' unions, they haven't quite gotten the memo either. Bakersfield's Greenfield Union School District has requested that teachers take an 11.5% pay cut to help prevent layoffs. This would save the district $2.5 million a year.

By March 15th, the district must make its decision, because the state has assigned that as an arbitrary drop-dead date for teacher layoffs. Mike Ford, a 40-year representative with the California Teachers Association, who deals with the Greenfield District, is telling the system to go pound sand.

"At this point we're not negotiating." Ford said he hoped Greenfield could cut other things before teacher pay.

Considering salaries make up 80 to 90% of a typical school's budget in California, that should be quite a trick.

There is only one answer

If Greece, Spain, Ireland and Italy are any indication, the public-sector unions won't agree to drastic pay cuts, though they're desperately needed.

The answer for state government is to crush the public sector unions, once and for all. States must privatize prisons (e.g.,: Correctional Corporation of America (NYSE: CXW)) and other services that can be better delivered by private enterprise. They must, one industry at a time, outlaw public sector unions at the state and local levels. They must terminate the insanity of underfunded defined-benefit pension plans in favor of more reasonable defined-contribution retirement plans of the sort that almost everyone in the real world has.

This kind of approach may be the only way for states to avoid their imminent and respective fiscal calamities.


Related: Time For Action, Not Looking --- Call Governor Christie.