Sunday, April 04, 2010

Larwyn's Linx: Virginia rejects federal overreach of Obamacare

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

Virginia rejects federal overreach of Obamacare: Cuccinelli
The words of a man who should be President: RedState
Had a Bad Day?: Patterico

The Principle of Repeal: DocZero
A Reason To Believe: Belmont
In The Future, Everyone Will Be A Klansman: Driscoll

He is Risen! Truly, He is Risen!: Anchoress
Mark 16:1-8: HoosierBoy

Economy

The Takers Weigh Down the Makers: Tapscott
Is Stimulus Spending Political?: Reason
Debt Disaster Dead Ahead: Politico

Unions Killing Chicago Convention Biz: RWN
Civil War or Civil Decline? Can America Save Itself?: PJM
A word for the CEOs Waxman seeks to bully: Hindenblog

Progressives can't get past the Knowledge Problem: Reynolds
The Return of the Show Trial: PJM

Climate & Energy

Save the environment, but don't save your arse: CotS
Y’know, that might just be the point.: RWN

Media

PUMA Power: the Next Generation!: Driscoll
Uhm, "brown-nosing" the White House: Atlas
About Obama and My Politics: The Hud

The Other Foot: Rhetorican
Disgusting: NYT Mashup Tries to equate Weather Men Trrorists and Tea Party Activists: AmPower
God and Government: MNR

Rush Limbaugh, Chris Matthews and the 'regime' question: York

World

Parochially Post-American : Steyn
Toronto Star 'Reporter' Trivializes Islamist Jihad Genocide Chants at JDL Protest: AmPower
The Psychology of UCI’s Muslim Student Union: PJM

Genocidal Welfare Queens: Steyn
Saudi Arabia and the Peace Process: AT
Massive Blasts Rock Central Baghdad: Maktoob

This time, Israel will not walk into the ovens: Rep. Trent Franks
The Weatherman and the Wind: Spyer
Muslims jailed for praying at Spanish ex-mosque: Maktoob

SciTech

CNet's Full Review of the iPad: CNet

Cornucopia

Contest! Best Tea Party Candidates Slogan: Daley Gator
Somali Aircraft Industry in High Gear: Celestial Junk
Todaze Lympian: SondraK


Saturday, April 03, 2010

The Priorities of the Left

What do you think would be the most important agenda item for the leftists at change.org? Perhaps stopping the genocide occurring in the Sudan? Lowering taxes to stimulate private job creation? Calling for China to end the slaughter of female babies? Coming up with sensible ways to help corporate America increase hiring? Addressing the horrific treatment of women in Saudi Arabia? Long-term solutions to poverty and starvation in Africa?

Uhm, no.

The suppression of free speech -- specifically, getting Sarah Palin kicked off her television show -- is the top concern of the Marxist left.

The number one idea at change.org: "Urge Discovery Communications to drop Sarah Palin's new show".

Why?

Because, like the six Alaskan Governors before her, Palin supports aerial hunting of wolves. As is the wont of the left, this is yet another smear of a conservative figure.

Aerial predator control in Alaska preserves the caribou, moose, and other species. The program has existed for decades (see: Current: Aerial Predator Control and Predator control, politics, and wildlife conservation in Alaska).

The modern Left cares more about wolves than humans. Their support of ObamaCare, which condemns seniors and children to death and debt respectively, says it all.

Timeline: Anatomy of a Tea Party Smear by the Democrat-Media Complex

This post updates yesterday's article entitled 'A tale of two time-stamps: Smoking-gun proof that Democrats, the Huffington Post and McClatchy conspired to smear Tea Party activists?'. I want to personally thank McClatchy DC editor Mark Seibel, who has been incredibly helpful in providing transparency into his side of the story.


This article attempts to reconstruct the events of 3/20/2010, in which Congressional Democrats were reportedly harassed by Tea Party activists with racial and sexual slurs during their walks to and from the Capitol building. Reports that black Congressmen had been called the "n-word" spread within minutes into mainstream media reports.

3/20 14:30


At around 2:30pm, members of the House uncharacteristically walked from the Cannon Building to the Capitol in the middle of a massive Tea Party protest. Michelle Bachmann said this journey was unprecedented in her experience. She stated, "In three years I have never seen Nancy Pelosi cross the street, the way that you saw in that picture... They deliberately went through that crowd perhaps to try and incite something."

There were a variety of videotapes of the incident (for example, the walk to the Capitol is covered here and here, the walk from the Capitol here, here and here). Furthermore, as you can see above, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. appears to have videotaped the walk, presumably to catch protesters in the act of hurling racial slurs.


3/20 14:34


Lauren Victoria Burke, a self-described "unbought and unbossed" blogger reporting upon "the 42 members of the Congressional Black Caucus" tweets the first report of the use of the "n-word". @CrewOf42 is Burke's Twitter handle.

Her first tweet reporting the incident came at 2:34pm, just four minutes after -- according to Cashill's timeline -- the CBC departed the Cannon Building for the Capitol. @CrewOf42 tweeted that Rep. Carson said he'd been called the "N-word", the HuffPo DC bureau chief re-tweeted the news. There was no link and no attribution associated with this message.

Her tweet was posted from the web, which means she posted from either a high-powered smart-phone, a full-blown laptop or a desktop.


3/20 15:42


Lauren Burke posts the following on her blog.

Reps Andre Carson and John Lewis had racial epithets hurled at them while walking from the Cannon Building to the US Capitol to vote about 45 minutes ago. Andre Carson reported to me and several other journalists in the Speaker’s Lobby off the House floor that he and Lewis were repeatedly called the N word while on the ir way to vote. About 300 demonstartors were yelling and waving signs outside the Longworth and Cannon House Office Buildings as GOP members made their way from a Caucus meeting in Cannon and Democratic members were leaving a meeting in Longworth.

Put simply, these were flat-out fabrications. If they were "repeatedly" slurred, why don't the tapes capture even one of the epithets? Andrew Breitbart has offered $100,000 to anyone if they can come up with audio proof -- and there have been no takers.


3/20 16:36


According to Twitter's time-stamp, the original McClatchy article hits the web.



3/20 16:51


According to a screen-cap of the content management system provided by online editor Mark Seibel, McClatchy reporter William Douglas' original article was entered into the system.

Bill's first version of the story was posted at 5:01 p.m. (Eastern) Here it is in its entirety: "WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., said Saturday that some demonstrators gathered outside the Capitol to protest the health care overhaul legislation called him "ni--er." [Ed: Redaction mine]

Lewis, a longtime civil rights activist who is head of the Congressional Black Caucus, said some demonstrators also spat on black members of Congress as they left the Capitol after meeting with President Barack Obama.

The claim could not immediately be confirmed."


3/20 16:56


The Huffington Post's Sam Stein breathlessly punches out a story advancing the allegations of rampant racial smears.

In just minutes, Stein cranks out a 400-word piece including interviews with Rep. James Clyburn and a staffer, has it edited and then posted.

First Posted: 03-20-10 04:56 PM

A staffer for Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told reporters that Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) had been spat on by a protestor. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a hero of the civil rights movement, was called a 'ni--er.' And Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was called a "faggot," as protestors shouted at him with deliberately lisp-y screams. Frank, approached in the halls after the president's speech, shrugged off the incident... But Clyburn was downright incredulous, saying he had not witnessed...


3-20 17:12


McClatchy updates the article with version 2 of the story, according to Mark Seibel's CMS archive.

WASHINGTON — Demonstrators outside the Capitol, angry over the proposed health care bill, shouted the N-word Saturday at Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon who was nearly beaten to death during an Alabama in the 1960s, and shouted obscenities at other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, lawmakers said.

“They were shouting, sort of harassing,” Lewis said. “But, it’s okay, I’ve faced this before. It reminded me of the 60s. It was a lot of downright hate and anger and people being downright mean.”

Lewis said he was leaving the Cannon office building when protesters shouted “Kill the bill, kill the bill,” Lewis said.

“I said ‘I’m for the bill, I support the bill, I’m voting for the bill,” Lewis said.

A colleague who was accompanying Lewis said people in the crowd responded by saying “Kill the bill, then the N-word.”

“It surprised me that people are so mean and we can’t engage in a civil dialog and debate,” Lewis said.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., said he was a few yards behind Lewis but distinctly heard the N-word shouted out.

“It was a chorus,” Cleaver said. “In a way, I feel sorry for those people who are doing this nasty stuff – they’re being whipped up.. I decided I wouldn’t be angry with any of them.”

CNN reported that protestors inside the Capitol also used a slur to refer to Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., an openly gay member of Congress.


In short, within 16 minutes, McClatchy's writer(s) added three interviews and a CNN report to the original story, whose allegations appear to be entirely false.


3/20 16:15


HuffPo editor Nico Pitney tweets several messages, one to Sam Stein reporting he "personally witnessed Barney Frank being called a "faggot," protesters then continued with lisp-heavy chants"; the other re-tweeting a Huffington Post message with the original allegations.

The latter message read "RT @huffingtonpost: Congressmen called 'ni**er,' 'faggot,' spat on by Tea Party protesters (with protest pics) http://bit.ly/aWAu0V".


03/20 17:19


McClatchy's Mark Seibel describes the posting of the third version of the story:

The second version, posted at 5:12 p.m., corrected when the incident had taken place (it was on the way to the Capitol that the n-word incident happened, not on the way back) and was nine graphs long. The last graph cited a CNN report on the Barney Frank incident. That citation was changed to HuffPost in version 4 at 5:19 p.m. after I was alerted by a Nico Pitney tweet.


As Jim Hoft and Kevin Jackson (author of The Big Black Lie) wrote several days ago:

The state-run media is now pushing their anti-tea party propaganda from sources at the anti-military Jew-hating conservative-hating Huffington Post. And, they’re reporting this propaganda without a single piece of evidence.

At least one report said that it was “a chorus” of racist hatred. Another report said the Congressional members heard the n-word at least 15 times.  Reporters from ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX News, (including Bill O’Reilly), MSNBC, and so on, repeated this horrible story.

Unfortunately, it was a fake. The media had no evidence... Nothing. As the story was a complete fabrication. It was totally made up.

In fact, several videos were later released that proved that there was no "chorus" of racist hatred and no one screamed the n-word. It was all a lie.


Democrats in Congress wanted to provoke a racial incident. That's why their media drones started tweeting word of the incident just seconds after their walk began.

And a state-run media complex -- as liberal as the day is long -- acted either as ignorant dupes or as active accomplices (take your pick) to market the scam.

From all appearances, this entire incident appears to have been scripted by Democrat representatives to provoke a racially divisive incident. But because the Tea Party movement is freedom-loving, it embraces all races, creeds, religions and colors. Because the freedom tent is the biggest tent of all. And the tyranny tent gets smaller by the day.



Update: Andrew Breitbart writes:

The Democratic Party is trying to signal to the black community and to progressive media types that the way to push back against the Tea Party and Republicans is to use the reliable race card by provoking a racial incident. The ensuing rhetoric about the bill and about the nature of the Tea Party is based upon repeated talking points. Propaganda. Everyone is on message that Republicans and Tea Partiers are racist — a divisive and dangerous argument, so lacking in any shred of evidence save for the fact that the majority in the Tea Party, as in America itself, is white. This is Duke lacrosse politics at its worst.

Those in the movement who are Hispanic or black are given the Clarence Thomas treatment: mocked, ridiculed and marginalized. The Democratic party cannot afford for minority groups to break from the pack, so they show that apostasy is met with high-grade ridicule. Those willing to withstand vile and hateful un-American taunts are some of America’s greatest patriots...

...We’ve called their bluff. And they have tried to back off. They realize that this race warfare can backfire, just as it did with the railroaded Duke lacrosse players, as it did with professor Madonna Constantine and her faked noose incident at Columbia and the Sergeant Crowley boner by Barack Obama who stupidly said the white police officer had behaved “stupidly” in handcuffing Skip Gates.

The first Alinsky president is now using surrogates to split this nation into two hostile parties so he can puppeteer the have-nots against the perceived haves. The non-response to my $100k challenge is a tacit acknowledgement that the Congressional Black Caucus and Barack Obama don’t have the stomach for doubling down.

The other part of the strategy that is built into the N-Word Capitol Hill Walk is the strategy to incite. The media is doing their job for them by speaking of an unhinged white Tea Party mob. Absent any evidence other than creatively selected hand-crafted signs from the fringe of the audience that are presented to represent the whole, the media is simply repeating assumptions that Democrats and media elites have against fly-over types. What we have here is hardcore media elitism mixed with politically correct class warfare.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin, Gateway Pundit and Patterico. Thanks!


Preview of Coming Attractions: EPA Imposes Death Sentences on Thousands of Americans

KMPH in Fresno reports on yesterday's catastrophic accident involving a "smart car":

An accident in Fresno County sent two people to the hospital Friday morning.

Around 7 a.m. California Highway Patrol officers were called to the area of Highway 168, near Sample Road, for reports of a collision between a "Smart Car" and another vehicle.

CHP officials say the two cars crashed head-on, after one of the vehicles cut into the opposite lane while trying to maneuver a turn.

Only two people were involved in the crash; the female driver of the "Smart Car" was taken by helicopter to a nearby hospital, where she was treated for major injuries, while the other driver is said to have suffered minor injuries.

This news comes as the EPA announced its new guidelines for fuel efficiency, which were opposed in Congress by representatives on both sides of the aisle.

The requirements were raised to an average of 35.5 miles per gallon for 2016 model-year cars and light trucks from 27.3 mpg in 2011...

...The final rule issued today will cost automakers $52 billion to comply and add $926 to the cost of buying a car within five years, according to government estimates.

Legacy media has ignored the real impact of CAFE standards: the human toll represented by thousands of deaths on the roads. As cars get smaller and smaller, to meet central planners' guidelines, the mismatches between large and small vehicles become more pronounced -- and far more deadly.

According to a 2006 report by Ryan Bilas of the National Center for Public Policy Research several studies demonstrate the cost in human lives due to CAFE standards:
  • According to a 2001 National Academy of Sciences panel, smaller and lighter vehicle production resulted in an additional 1,300 to 2,600 traffic fatalities in 1993.
  • A 1999 USA Today analysis of crash data found that since CAFE went into effect in 1978, 46,000 people died in crashes they otherwise would have survived. That equates to roughly 7,700 deaths for every mile per gallon gained in fuel economy standards.
  • A 1989 Harvard-Brookings study estimated CAFE to be responsible for 2,200 to 3,900 excess occupant deaths over ten years. It also estimated between 11,000 and 19,500 occupants would suffer serious injury due to these standards.
  • The same study found CAFE has resulted in a 500 pound weight reduction on the average car.
  • Lastly, passengers in smaller, lighter cars die at a rate 12 times that of people driving larger, heavier cars.
To meet increased fuel efficiency standards, automobile manufactures reduced vehicle weight.  There is a direct relationship between vehicle weight and passenger deaths and injuries. 

In short, the EPA has imposed death sentences on thousands of Americans.

Furthermore, its arbitrary, Politburo-style rules will likely "paralyze the recovery" and financially damage auto companies at the worst possible time.

And it's all in support of a charade called global warming climate change, as an eight-part series in Germany's Der Spiegel reports this week. Autos contribute 1% of all human-caused CO2. And CO2 is an infinitesimally tiny portion of all greenhouse gases. Global warming is a scam, through and through, designed to let the government control industrial policy.

It's time to defund the EPA completely and stop their radical progressive agenda. The lives we save in doing so may be our own.


Larwyn's Linx: Should America Bid Farewell to Exceptional Freedom?

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. You can also install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget.

Nation

Should America Bid Farewell to Exceptional Freedom?: Ryan
We The People: Strata-Sphere
Destroying the Constitution’s Structure is not Constitutional: Volokh

Are you ready for government-run radio?: RWN
100 percent repeal of Obamacare: King
An American family’s Cancun horror: Malkin

Economy

Paying the Price for Obama: AT
Unemployment and Census workers’ true confessions: Malkin
ACORN plays the rebranding game: Vadum

Media Matters Attacks Study - Without Reading It: BigJourn
Is this a recovery?: Mauldin
Granholm: ObamaCare a good deal for Michigan: BlogProf

Climate & Energy

New vehicle efficiency rules could paralyze recovery: WashExam
The EPA's Gas Guzzlers: PJM
Stop the EPA's 'Big Corn': Times

Media

Barack Obama’s Helter-Skelter, Insane Clown Posse, Alinsky Plans to ‘Deconstruct’ America: Breitbart
Saving the Republic: Yes We Can: AT
The unraveling of the Tea Party racial smear: ABC

Limbaugh responds to Obama: 'Never in my life have I seen a regime like this': York
The “Affordable Care Act:” not a mandate?: RWN
Listen up, you dweeb: Dewey from Detroit

Left: we can't find anyone that thinks Obamacare is unconstitutional: RWN
Letterman and Pam Stoat: an excellent interview about the Tea Party activists: iOTW

World

Push Meets Shove: Mudville Gazette
US Military Analyst: Obama is the First Anti-Israel President: Blogmocracy
A Bow Seems Defiant Compared To This: LegalIns

Amnesty International Comes Out of the Closet — Endorses "Defensive" Jihad: Corner
The Trust is Gone; It Will Never Again be the Same: Koch
Imperial History of the Middle East: Maps of War

SciTech

Laptop Killer? iPad Comes Close: WSJ
The Manual Pages That Saved Apollo 13: Gizmodo

Cornucopia

Getting Back to our Roots MOTUS
2011 Penny: iOTW
Save the Republic: It don't make sense

QOTD -- Michael Barone:

My American Enterprise Institute colleagues Kenneth Green and Steven Hayward provide a pithy summary of this long article in Germany’s Der Spiegel entitled “A Superstorm for Global Warming Research.” Green and Hayward write:

“Far from parroting the ‘settled science’ canard, Der Spiegel points to many ‘open questions’ of the science, and says ‘anyone who speaks with leading climatologists today will discover how many questions remain open. The media, politicians and even scientists often talk about changes to the weather with a certainty that does not in fact exist.’ The authors are even willing to raise the ultimate heretical question: ‘Will the situation on the planet truly spin out of control if the average global temperature increases by more than two degrees Celsius?’

For a more pungent appreciation of the Der Spiegel article, read the Daily Telegraph’s James Delingpole. Sample: “When the Germans say Auf widersehen AGW [anthropogenic global warming], it really is time for the rest of the world to sit up and take notice.”


Friday, April 02, 2010

A tale of two time-stamps: Smoking-gun proof that Democrats, the Huffington Post and McClatchy conspired to smear Tea Party activists?

4/2/2010 10:29PM --- Click here for updates, below
4/2/2010 09:54PM --- Click here for updates, below
4/2/2010 06:24PM --- Click here for updates, below

In today's American Thinker, Jack Cashill does an exceptional job describing the timeline related to the events of March 20th, in which members of Congress were reportedly taunted by Tea Party activists with racial and sexual slurs.

[Members of Congress] left the Cannon Building about 2:30 PM on March 20th and returned about 3:15 PM...

I asked because at 4:51 that same day, McClatchy reporter William Douglas posted an article on the McClatchy website with the inflammatory headline, "Tea party protesters scream 'ni--er' at black congressman."

In other words, Douglas, with an attributed assist from James Rosen, managed to interview representatives John Lewis, Emanuel Cleaver, and Barney Frank, compose an 800-word article, and have it edited and formatted for posting within a 90-minute window.

During that same 90 minutes, Douglas would have received and incorporated a press release from Emanuel Cleaver, making the easily disproved claim that he had "been spat upon and that Capitol Police had arrested his assailant."

But Douglas also had two other important sources: he referenced two additional journalists in the very same article.

Frank told the Boston Globe that the incident happened as he was walking from the Longworth office building to the Rayburn office building, both a short distance from the Capitol. Frank said the crowd consisted of a couple of hundred of people and that they referred to him as 'homo.' A writer for The Huffington Post said the protesters called Frank a "faggot."

But the Huffington Post's article, by Sam Stein, wasn't published until 4:56pm, five minutes after Douglas' article was posted on the web. This mistake would seem to point to wanton collusion between the two authors as they hastily worked to market the smears.

In about 90 minutes, Stein himself cranked out a 400-word piece in record time after interviewing Rep. James Clyburn and a staffer.

First Posted: 03-20-10 04:56 PM

A staffer for Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told reporters that Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) had been spat on by a protestor. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a hero of the civil rights movement, was called a 'ni--er.' And Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was called a "faggot," as protestors shouted at him with deliberately lisp-y screams. Frank, approached in the halls after the president's speech, shrugged off the incident... But Clyburn was downright incredulous, saying he had not witnessed...

What about the Boston Globe?

It appears that the first Boston Globe article to mention the incident didn't actually hit the website until the following day.

Comment at Mediaite by 'val': March 20, 2010 at 7:34 pm

This is a LIE! I was there and no one spat on that congressman. Maxi waters and her crew walked right through the crowd with a look of contempt on their faces. One aid actually called a protester a cracker and a red neck. The Congressional black caucus was looking for troublE and when they didn’t find any they made s--- up.
So how did Douglas reference both pieces, along with engaging in numerous interviews and tying in a rapidly-generated press release, in only 90 minutes?

Simple.

Why did Pelosi, Frank and members of the Congressional Black Caucus take the long walk directly in front of the Tea Party protests, as opposed to using the tunnel as they do 99.9% of the time?

It appears that it was a conspiracy.

In 90 minutes, a press release was crafted by Cleaver's office, McClatchy and HuffPro "reporters" interviewed a half dozen individuals, wrote lengthy articles, referenced each others material (despite it not having been published) while receiving and incorporating said press release.

This appears to be nothing less than a criminal scam -- a mashup effort by Congress and sympathetic media -- designed to promote racial hatred in order to advance a radical Democrat agenda.
 

Update at 6:24pm: Thanks to links from Michelle Malkin and Jim Hoft, this story caught the attention of McClatchy's DC bureau and its online editor, Mark Seibel. Seibel comments:

I edited the Bill Douglas story in question. As anyone who works in media today knows, the Web isn't a newspaper and its stories aren't created like newspaper stories either. Surely, the author of this piece knows that.

Here's the real timeline:

Bill's first version of the story was posted at 5:01 p.m. (Eastern) Here it is in its entirety: "WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., said Saturday that some demonstrators gathered outside the Capitol to protest the health care overhaul legislation called him "ni--er." [Ed: Redaction mine]

Lewis, a longtime civil rights activist who is head of the Congressional Black Caucus, said some demonstrators also spat on black members of Congress as they left the Capitol after meeting with President Barack Obama.

The claim could not immediately be confirmed."

The story then went through 13 additional iterations, each adding detail. The second version, posted at 5:12 p.m., corrected when the incident had taken place (it was on the way to the Capitol that the n-word incident happened, not on the way back) and was nine graphs long. The last graph cited a CNN report on the Barney Frank incident. That citation was changed to HuffPost in version 4 at 5:19 p.m. after I was alerted by a Nico Pitney tweet.

The Boston Globe version of events was added to the story at 6:54 p.m. after Bill heard the audio of the Globe's interview with Frank. At that point the story, in its seventh version, had grown to 16 paragraphs.

James Clyburn's comments were added in Version 9, at 7:35 p.m. The statement from Emanuel Cleaver's office was added in Version 13, at 8:33 p.m. At that point the story was 25 paragraphs long.

The final version, posted three minutes later, made some minor word changes.

That's the timeline from McClatchy's internal audit system.

I sent an email to Seibel asking for some screen-caps from the web site CMS (content management system). I will add updates if I receive responses.

Now there are a couple of additional questions I have for Mark.

1. How is it that an inflammatory word like ni--er wasn't redacted, especially when the story was unconfirmed?
2. Now that more than a dozen videos have emerged of the walks, with none showing the use of a racial epithet, how is that a retraction was never issued for this story?
3. Does it strike you as odd that McClatchy's Nico Pitney re-tweeted an inflammatory HuffPo headline within one minute, apparently without even reading the accusation?
4. Does anyone wonder what's going with HuffPo's CMS when the story says it was "First Posted: 03-20-10 04:56 PM" (see above for screen-shot), yet tweet links started occurring 45 minutes before that timestamp?

Put simply, Mark, this entire story -- from the highly unusual walk through a massive protest, to the instant posting of racially divisive words and inflammatory rhetoric (without a whit of confirmation) -- stinks to high heaven. Are you folks journalists or flacks? Because, from all appearances, it looks like you're the latter.

Andrew Breitbart offered $100,000 to anyone who can provide proof that the slur occurred. No one has taken him up on his offer.


Update at 9:54pm: McClatchy DC online editor Mark Seibel was kind enough to respond twice tonight. His first email reads:

I've seen no video of the event. The americanthinker video displayed is not the event -- the Capitol is clearly in the background and the Congressmen are walking away from it, not to it. The n-word incident, as relayed to Bill, happened when they were headed to the Capitol. I went over this afternoon to see where the videographer was standing when he shot what's on the Web. There's no way it could represent the incident as the incident was relayed to Bill -- or at a time consistent with when Bill interviewed both Lewis and Cleaver in the Visitors Center before they left to go back to their offices. If the videographer had been there when the Congressmen left for the Capitol, that would be useful. But I've yet to see a video of that. As for a screen capture of the story versions, I think I can do it. We'll soon find out.

In response to my request for screen-caps of the McClatchy content management system, Mark did relay the following images a bit later (click to zoom):

Ok. here are two png files. I couldn't get one screen grab that captured the whole thing but i think these two together work. you'll notice a version 15; that's something I did today when I noticed I hadn't clicked the correct box for archiving sales on the first version back on the 20th. there wasn't a change in the story, just how its source (McClatchy, AP etc.) was categorized. I'm sorry they aren't more legible, but i think you can make them out. To the right of the headline you'll see a number in parentheses. this is the word count of that particular version, which would include summaries, links etc.


Note the 4:51pm "release date" at the top of the screen. This corresponds to Jack Cashill's time-stamp for the publication of the original story.

I very much appreciate Mr. Seibel's forthright approach and help. That said, answers to the questions I posed, above, would be very helpful. I will update this post as events warrant.


Update at 10:29pm: I've been reconstructing the chain of events on Twitter. Recall that Seibel said he altered Douglas' article to refer "to HuffPost in version 4 at 5:19 p.m. after I was alerted by a Nico Pitney tweet."

Let's ignore the fact that a mainstream media outlet instantly modified a major news article based upon a re-tweet by a Huffington Post associate. Nico's tweets are screen-capped above. About ten minutes after @CrewOf42 tweeted that Rep. Carson said he'd been called the "N-word", the HuffPo DC bureau chief re-tweeted the news. There was no link and no attribution associated with this message.

@CrewOf42 is the Twitter handle for Lauren Victoria Burke, a self-described "unbought and unbossed" blogger reporting upon "the 42 members of the Congressional Black Caucus."

Her first tweet reporting the incident came at 2:34pm, just four minutes after -- according to Cashill's timeline -- the CBC departed the Cannon Building for the Capitol.

Now that's service! Four minutes after setting off on his walk, Carson verbally informed a reporter that he'd been called the N-word? Give me a freaking break.




Charts from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Illustrate the Spread of Misery and Poverty Orchestrated by the Cloward-Piven Democrats

Presenting yesterday at Washington & Lee University, William Dudley, the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, offered some sobering charts and analysis.

In a nutshell, everything the Democrat leadership doing is wrong, and the economy has yet to hit bottom.

Dudley hinted that we may be in a period "of persistent unemployment."

It's a Catch-22: "Given that the personal saving rate is still relatively low, it will be hard for consumer spending to grow more quickly without large increases in real labor income. But big increases in real labor income won't be possible without a much stronger recovery in output. And a much stronger recovery in output is unlikely without stronger consumption."

Real estate prices -- both residential and commercial -- have yet to hit bottom, primarily because of a lack of jobs. Without a job, a consumer can't make mortgage payments and has little discretionary income.

The percentage of those participating in the workforce continues to decline, along with the average number of hours worked by each employed person.

Diana Furchtgott-Roth, director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Employment Policy, observes that despite artificial census hiring, the unemployment rate remains unacceptably high at 9.7%.

"The number of unemployed rose in March to over 15 million, and the percentage of the unemployed out of work for 27 weeks or longer increased to 44%, up from 41% in February."


"The Labor Department’s broadest measure of unemployment, including discouraged workers and those at work part-time for economic reasons, rose to 16.9%."

"Job creation is being slowed by the passage of laws that discourage employers from hiring, such as health care “reform,” which is resulting in many companies writing down earnings for 2010. And Congress is still considering tax increases in 2011, as well as a cap and trade energy bill that would raise energy costs and encourage new plants to locate offshore. All these measures will reduce job creation."

"...since the recession began in Dec 2007, 8.1 million jobs have been lost."

It may sound shocking to some, but the real Democrat strategy is to destroy the economy so that they can remake the system. It's called the Cloward-Piven Strategy, and was articulated in the sixties by a couple of radical Columbia professors. If you put this hard left Democrat government's actions in the context of Cloward-Piven, the massive deficits, high unemployment and unsustainable spending all make perfect sense.

So it begins: 'If you voted for Obama... seek urologic care elsewhere'

An Orlando urologist is expressing his delight over socialized medicine with the following sign.

"I'm not turning anybody away — that would be unethical," Dr. Jack Cassell, 56, a Mount Dora urologist and a registered Republican opposed to the health plan, told the Orlando Sentinel on Thursday. "But if they read the sign and turn the other way, so be it."

The sign reads: "If you voted for Obama … seek urologic care elsewhere. Changes to your healthcare begin right now, not in four years."

Estella Chatman, 67, of Eustis, whose daughter snapped a photo of the typewritten sign, sent the picture to U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, the Orlando Democrat who riled Republicans last year when he characterized the GOP's idea of health care as, "If you get sick, America … Die quickly."

Chatman said she heard about the sign from a friend referred to Cassell after his physician recently died. She said her friend did not want to speak to a reporter but was dismayed by Cassell's sign.

"He's going to find another doctor," she said.

Oh, honey, this is only the beginning. Democrats are slashing care of every kind to seniors: diagnostic tests, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, inpatient care, etc.

Just how unpopular is the Democrat health care cramdown? Mark Knoller's tweet says it all.

Even the latest CBS poll -- with its tradition of oversampling Democrat voters -- can't hide the decline.

Americans despise this criminal health care bill and everything it stands for. And those counting on people forgetting by November will get a rude reminder why the symbol of the Republican Party is the elephant.

We don't forget. And we will trample you, politically speaking, of course.


Hat tip: C&S.

Larwyn's Linx: Returning the Census is our Constitutional Duty

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 Quickly Spread the Tea Party Smear: Cashill
Returning the Census is our Constitutional Duty: RedState
Rep. Hare (D-IL): ‘I Don’t Worry About the Constitution’: BigGovt

The Spartacus Revolt: Turn tables on Waxman on 4-21: Malkin
Conyers' corrupt wife facing foreclosure: Marathon
Obamic Huge-bris: Hindenblog

Far-Left Kooks Demand Apology From Conservatives: JWF
'A Vicious Little Man': Spectator

Economy

Obamacare: mainly aimed at redistributing wealth: York
A million plus protesters on Tax Day?: RSM
New federal menu mandate meets the real world: Hot Air

You don't have to be a lawyer to understand this timeline: C&S
March Employment Numbers: a Summary: S&L
MI: new state agency needed to deal with ObamaCare: BlogProf

Climate & Energy

The Obama EPA and the "EnergyStar" Scam: BlogProf
Environmentalism: the new home of the Luddite reactionaries: Simon

Media

Obama Is Now Showing His True Colors as a Radical: PJM (de Winter)
'We’re Going To Use Obamacare To Beat Democrats Like Baby Seals In November': RWN
2010: Time is already running out for Dems: Greenroom

False charges of racism: a deliberate electoral strategy to get black voters to vote: TAB
Vatican Blasts New York Times For Scurrilous Attack on Pope During Holy Week: GWP
Krugman, King, Blow, and Rich: Blinded by Hatred of Tea Partiers: PJM

An Interview With Jason Mattera, Author Of 'Obama Zombies': RWN
I Gladly Accept This Nomination, Mr. Sullivan: BMW
Obama’s Nonexistent Career as Law Professor: RWN

World

Just Say 'No': Invited to Help Obama Administration Engage--and Thus Strengthen--Terrorists: BRubin
John 'D-Student' Kerry Enables Terrorist Dictator Thugs: Snapped Shot
Is Being 'Americanized' a Capital Crime in America for Muslim Women?: Chesler

Stunner. Obama Has Refused All Israeli Military Requests Since Entering Office in 2009: GWP
Claire McCaskill Wants Castro to Shut Up About Obamacare: GWP

SciTech

'Fog of War' Led To Operation Aurora Malware Mistake: Dark Reading
Colbert: The iPad Is Just Like The iPhone -- You Can't Make Calls From It: Insider

Cornucopia

Fun Flatulence Facts: C&S
Sick: Sarah Jessica Parker Death Hoax by Perez Hilton: AmDigest
Re-publicans: IowaHawk

Image Credit: John Hawkins.


'This Time is Different'

"This time is different."

Such is the warning of popular delusions relayed by John Mauldin, who carefully reviewed the evidence presented by economists Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff in their new book This Time Is Different.

"...highly leveraged economies, particularly those in which continual rollover of short-term debt is sustained only by confidence in relatively illiquid underlying assets, seldom survive forever, particularly if leverage continues to grow unchecked..."

Reinhart and Rogoff analyzed 800 years of economic history, including 250 financial crises in 66 countries. They looked for patterns, similarities and differences. Put simply: this time is not different. Their prediction, to paraphrase Mister T, is simple: Pain.

An excerpt of their summary expands upon Clubber Lang's word of wisdom.

"The lesson of history, then, is that even as institutions and policy makers improve, there will always be a temptation to stretch the limits. Just as an individual can go bankrupt no matter how rich she starts out, a financial system can collapse under the pressure of greed, politics, and profits no matter how well regulated it seems to be. Technology has changed, the height of humans has changed, and fashions have changed.

"Yet the ability of governments and investors to delude themselves, giving rise to periodic bouts of euphoria that usually end in tears, seems to have remained a constant... we have come full circle to the concept of financial fragility in economies with massive indebtedness. All too often, periods of heavy borrowing can take place in a bubble and last for a surprisingly long time. But highly leveraged economies, particularly those in which continual rollover of short-term debt is sustained only by confidence in relatively illiquid underlying assets, seldom survive forever...

"This time may seem different, but all too often a deeper look shows it is not."


Mauldin tacks on some excerpts from the latest quarterly newsletter from economists Van Hoisington and Hunt, who also reference This Time is Different.

At $3.70 of debt for every dollar of GDP, U.S. debt is excessive... the unwinding of [these elevated] debt levels results in prolonged economic distress...

[Regarding the Democrats' 'Stimulus' program:] ...government actions, even involving sizable sums of money, are far less helpful than they appear... 'Infusions of cash can make a government look like it is providing greater growth to its economy than it really is.'

...It has been more than a year since the Federal Reserve began a massive expansion of Federal Reserve Bank credit, from $1 trillion to $2.2 trillion, flooding the banking system with reserves. This unprecedented action naturally raised inflationary fears since it was assumed that this was the beginning of a monetary creation process which would eventually lead to job and income growth, excessive expenditures, and finally massive price increases.

[Regarding the Democrats' continued hamstringing of the private sector:] ...[the] very first step toward an inflationary cycle has to be to get the monetary aggregates expanding vigorously. That cannot be accomplished with the Fed "printing money", i.e., adding more reserves into banks that cannot or will not make loans. The reason this process has not begun (and will not for a time) is [that no] one needs to borrow, or has the resources or balance sheet to borrow, and banks are busily writing off bad debt.

Despite the concurrent developments of little money growth and declining loan growth... the fear nevertheless remains that an inflation surprise might be just around the corner. The reason to discount this notion is that excessive debt has contributed greatly to a flat, or perfectly elastic aggregate supply curve. A country's inflation is determined by the interaction of aggregate supply and demand.

[Democrats have yet to learn the maxim that "Central planning never works":] ...Whether the supply curve is in a flat, normal, or upward sloping position depends on the extent of excess resources in the economy. Today it is obvious that the U.S. economy has plentiful excess resources, so any increase in demand will result in little price change. This will be the case until our unemployment rate of over 17% (the U6 measure) drops by a considerable amount and we begin to use our factories well above our current 68% utilization rate.

Thus, our current economic circumstances guarantee there will be no surprise inflation...

[Democrat policies are thereby crushing the real economy:] ...The consequences of excessive debt are already painful at the household level. The civilian employment to population ratio, a highly important barometer of the average household's standard of living, fell to 58.2% in December, the lowest reading in 26 years and down from a peak of 64.7% in April of 2000... Thus, the standard of living has worsened as the debt to GDP ratio has marched steadily higher. With debt to GDP still rising, a further deterioration of the standard of living is inescapable.

[And the history books demonstrate that everything the Democrats are doing is wrong:] Deficit spending only provides a transitory boost to the economy. It initially raises GDP, as it did in the second half of 2009, but then the effect dissipates and later is reversed, as financial resources available to the private sector are reduced.

...In a separate research study Rogoff and Reinhart write, "At the height of Japan's banking crisis in the 1990s, repaving the streets in Tokyo became a routine exercise. As a result, Japan's gross (government) debt-to-GDP ratio is now nearly 200% and a drag on what once was a vibrant economy."

Our present high deficit situation suggests that taxes will rise (including those of state and local governments), depressing economic activity further. In addition to the expiration of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, the Obama administration is proposing substantial taxes on financial institutions to pay for the cost of the financial bailout. Since the tax multiplier is high, this will reinforce the drag on economic activity from the lagged effects of deficit spending.

For decades, and to this day, Democrats have ladled entitlement program on entitlement program, bureaucracy upon bureaucracy, debt upon debt until the whole American economy is wobbling on its foundation.

Democrats coerced, bribed, lied and intimidated various constituencies to enact the New Deal (which was originally ruled unconstitutional), the Fair Deal, the Square Deal, Great Society, the War on Poverty, the Community Reinvestment Act, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Fannie, Freddie, the Stimulus Package, and hundreds of unionized bureaucracies, agencies, offices and other groups of lifetime government employees -- most voting Democrat -- in a relentless pursuit of an utterly unconstitutional expansion of the federal government.

Every one of their programs has failed. Every one. And they are about to touch off a catastrophic implosion. The modern Democrats are not smarter than a fifth grader, certainly not one who has read and understands the Constitution and The Bill of Rights.

The Democrat Party must be politically crushed in the next several elections if we are to return fiscal sanity and constitutionality to the federal government.

Thursday, April 01, 2010

The MSNBC Militia

Recognize any of these pasty white folks?


If so, the Nielsen Company wants to speak with you, because a certain cable network's ratings are missing -- and all of these crackpots are "persons of interest".


Update: Dan Riehl sez, "Video - This Is So Wrong: Militia Plotter Was Anti-Bush." I can't watch, but let's guess it's not NSFW.


Idea: Mark Levin. Linked by: Instapundit. Thanks!

Tyler Durden: I know this comes as a surprise, but it looks like the White House is fixing the unemployment numbers

A selection of headlines at The Drudge Report highlights the problem with our economy.

The Cloward-Piven tactics of the administration appear to be in full effect. So how is it that the media portrays things as "getting better"?

Writing at Zero Hedge, Tyler Durden describes the implications of this week's unemployment numbers. In a nutshell: they appear to be an outright scam.

Even as the BLS [Bureau of Labor Statistics] and DOL [Department of Labor] would like us to believe that the unemployment picture is getting better, we present a chart comparing the initial and continued claims as presented by the Dept. of Labor and compare these to actual government outlays. Even as the two combined series have been declining (offset by increasing much discussed EUCs), the most recent Unemployment Insurance Benefit outlay reported by the Treasury (as of March 30 - there is still one more day of data for March), just hit an all time record high of $15.4 billion. What this means is that in March the average paycheck from Uncle Sam for sitting doing nothing, surged to an all time high of $1,447/month.

...It appears that in March either the government decided to payout an additional roughly 20% per unemployment paycheck, or once again, there is a shadow population of beneficiaries, which are not caught in any of the standard cohorts. Keep in mind that the average monthly paycheck has traditionally been indicated as being about $1,000.

If anyone has an explanation other than that presented by Tyler Durden, I'd welcome it.

Because it's quite disturbing to believe the administration is lying about ev-ery-thing.


More Hilarious Hijinx From Our Friends in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia to Behead Lebanese Man for Witchcraft

Look up enlightened in the dictionary and I guarantee you won't see an illustration of a Saudi government official.

Saudi to behead Lebanese for witchcraft


A Lebanese man sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia on charges of witchcraft is due to be beheaded this week, his lawyer said on Wednesday, urging officials and rights groups to intervene on his behalf.

"Last night we got news through unofficial channels that Ali Sabat would be beheaded within 48 hours," May el-Khansa, Sabat's attorney in Beirut, told AFP... "I have since been contacting Lebanese officials, including President Michel Sleiman and Lebanon's ambassador to Saudi Arabia to appeal his case."

Sabat was sentenced to death in November of last year by a Saudi court for practicing witchcraft. He was arrested in May 2008 by the religious police in Medina, where he was on a pilgrimage before returning to his native Lebanon.

The case against him was brought after he gave advice and made predictions on Lebanese television...

Saudi Arabia has no clear legal definition on the charge of witchcraft and judges are given discretionary power in determining what constitutes a crime and what sentence to impose.

In November 2007, Mustafa Ibrahim, an Egyptian working as a pharmacist in Saudi Arabia was beheaded after he was found guilty of sorcery.

Getting beheaded for making predictions?

I suppose that's why I couldn't find a good sports book in Riyadh.


Larwyn's Linx: Anarchists Plan War On April 15 Tea Parties

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

Anarchists Plan War On April 15th Tea Parties: GWP
Bureaucratic End-Run To Attack Second Amendment: RWN
Krugman and Van Hollen: FAIL: VS

Concerted Effort to “Birthe-rize” Tea Party Movement: RWN
If White House won't act, special prosecutor will: Issa
Killing free speech, free enterprise with one stone: BigGovt

Economy

Henry Waxman, the Witch Hunter of Capitol Hill: Malkin
The Abolition of the Family: AT
Obamacare takes billions from working-class: Times

Surprise! 250% More Stimulus Money Goes to Dem Districts: Ace
Obamacare Bullies and Punishes the Children: RWN
Poll: Vast Majority See No Improvement in Economy: BMW

Climate & Energy

Sarah Palin: Stall, Baby, Stall: Con4Palin
Of pipelines and pipedreams: Obama’s drilling deception: Malkin
'Drill, Baby Drill'? Not Hardly: Moran

Drilling For Votes: O, Say Can You CO2?: Cold Fury
Why Titanic proves that the Republicans are vicious racist hatemongers: DPU

Media

The Left's ludicrous accusations against Tea Party activists: AT (Simpson)
Marine's Dad has finger bitten off by Leftist loons; Media strangely silent: GWP
Reynolds and Barnett on the Constitutionality of DemCare: PJTV

When Media Become Obama PR Agents: Baehr
A Trip Down Memory Lane: When Dissent Was Patriotic: Maloney
An Open Letter to the New Students for a Democratic Society: PJM

Ed Koch Goes Nuclear on Obama and NY Democrats: JWF
'Hock, and to the left... Hock, and to the left...": Powers

World

Obama administration: let's normalize relations with... Hezbollah: Jawa
Bolton: Nuclear Treaty Threatens American Sovereignty: Atlas
Beer-Drinking Malaysian Muslim Model 'Escapes Caning': Maktoob

Fatal Thinking: Geller
Thomas Friedman's Paradise -- China's River of Death: BlogProf
Unreal: Dem. Rep. wonders if more Navy personnel will make Guam 'tip over and capsize': WashExam

SciTech

Wireless-N shocker! Cisco announces E-Series line of home routers: Engadget

Cornucopia

The French are Different than You and Me: MOTUS
When April Fools Day Pranks Backfire: PopMech
Protest: SondraK

Image Credit: Geepers44.