Saturday, June 19, 2010

Is the most virulently antisemitic university in the country -- Cal-Irvine -- about to wake up and fight its campus Jihadists?

Across the country, there are pockets of pro-Jihad Muslims protected by leftists in academia. But few, if any, of these groups are as vicious, vocal and violent as the Muslim Student Union (MSU) at the University of California-Irvine.

The United States Department of Education has investigated more than a dozen incidents of harassment at UC-Irvine in the last decade:

• Rocks thrown at Jewish students;
• The destruction of Holocaust memorial displays;
• Threats and harassment of Jewish students;
• Recurring swastikas painted on campus;
• Official events including "Zionist Awareness Week", which promoted antisemitism;
• Exclusion of Jews during "anti-hate" rallies;
• Graduation apparel that offered support for Hamas and other terrorist groups;
• And five other "isolated acts" that could not be addressed because they were reported more than 180 days after they occurred.

But at long last, school officials appear to be fighting back against the extremists: the administration officially proposed suspending the MSU for its litany of intolerant behavior.

UC-Irvine is infamous as one of the most antisemitic campuses in the country. A series of incidents involving harassment and abuse of Jews -- over many years -- has cemented its notoriety. The unrest culminated in the arrest of 11 MSU members in February, who had verbally abused and continually interrupted a speech by Israel's Ambassador to the U.S.

Tensions are high at the University of California-Irvine after the school recommended suspending a Muslim student group for its role in the disruption of an Israeli ambassador's speech earlier this year.

Doesn't it go without saying? Tensions are always high when Jihadists don't get to express their "feelings" towards Jews, Christians, Buddhists and other infidels.

...the proposed suspension of the Muslim Student Union for at least a year has made an already hostile situation worse... The school revealed this week that it had recommended suspending the Muslim group after 11 students were arrested in February for repeatedly disrupting a speech by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, who was repeatedly interrupted and called "murderer" and "war criminal" by pro-Palestinian students as he gave a talk on the Middle East peace process...

Oh, plus they roughed up a few cops for good measure, but we can leave that out of the story.

The Muslim group is appealing the recommendation -- a process that is expected to be completed before the next school year begins.

Let me predict the closing argument of the appeal:

Ladies and gentlemen, I'll be brief. The issue here is not whether we broke a few rules, or took a few liberties with the Israeli Ambassador - we did. [winks at Dean Wormer] But you can't hold the whole Muslim Student Union responsible for the behavior of a few, sick twisted individuals. For if you do, then shouldn't we blame the whole collegiate system? And if the whole collegiate system is guilty, then isn't this an indictment of our educational institutions in general? I put it to you, Greg - isn't this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but I for one am not going to stand here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America. Gentlemen!

And what triggered this outrageous breach of the MSU's rights after lo these many years?

The appeal comes after more than 60 faculty members at UC Irvine signed an open letter last month condemning what they said was an anti-Semitic atmosphere at the school.

"We…are deeply disturbed about activities on campus that foment hatred against Jews and Israelis," the letter read, citing incidents over the past few years that included "the painting of swastikas in university buildings and the Star of David depicted as akin to a swastika."

"Some community members, students, and faculty indeed feel intimidated, and at times even unsafe," the letter read.

Doesn't that apply to just about anywhere that religious extremists get critical mass? Even Paris, for instance?

But a lawyer for the Muslim Student Union said any tensions on campus derive from a Jewish organization that is not connected to the college: the Jewish Federation Orange County.

"A lot of the tension and friction is not on the campus," attorney and activist Reem Salahi said. "It's not divided between Jewish and Muslim organizations. There's more tension between Muslim students and these Jewish organizations pressuring the university."

She said Muslim students have been intimidated and harassed and have even received death threats in which they've been called "every type of superlative imagined."

Yes, because radical Jewish extremists have routinely advocated for killing all Muslims, they've car-bombed buildings, have slaughtered innocent children, have strapped suicide belts on teenagers to detonate themselves inside pizzerias, have flown airliners into buildings and otherwise waged a total war on civilization.

In recent years, UC Irvine has been accused of fostering anti-Semitic activity as the MSU hosted pro-Palestinian speakers critical of Israel.

In 2005, the Education Department's Office of Civil Rights found that Muslim students had engaged in offensive behavior, but that their actions stemmed from opposition to the politics of Israel rather than to Jewish students themselves.

Riiiiight. And David Copperfield has supernatural powers.

Three years later, Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote to the Education Department expressing concerns that the office decided not to further investigate charges that UC Irvine had failed to respond quickly and effectively to complaints by Jewish students of being repeatedly intimidated and harassed.

Note the political party.

The committee recommended suspending the group for one year, placing it on disciplinary probation for an additional year and requiring the student organization to collectively complete 50 hours of community service, a move that would prevent the group from conducting organized campus events until at least the fall of 2011.

Harsh.

Elcott told FoxNews.com that the MSU has been largely responsible for creating an anti-Semitic atmosphere on the campus by inviting speakers who equate Jews to Nazis and rally support for jihad, or holy war.

"The MSU has been looking for a battle for a long time," he said, adding that his group is only trying to help bridge the differences between the two sides.

[The MSU] declined to say whether legal action is being planned in the event of an unsuccessful appeal. But she said students were "outraged" and "disappointed" with the university's decision.

"It's unprecedented a university would ever do this," she said, adding that the suspension would "create a really dangerous precedent for shutting down dissent."

How do you like the use of language? By "Shutting down dissent", this Jihadist means "allowing freedom of speech".

Earlier this year, Aaron Elias urged Jews to stop attending UC-Irvine because of the abuse. I disagree. Bullies need to be confronted. And that goes double for Jihadists masquerading as students.


Related:
Irvine, CA - 11 Arrested for Disrupting Israeli Ambassador's Talk at UC Irvine
UC Irvine Jewish Students Break the Silence
Jewish students and activists call UC Irvine a hotbed of anti-Semitic harassment

Hat tip: Dan from New York.

Congratulations, Illinois: you win the national title for the highest per capita budget deficit _and_ the most ridiculously underfunded pension plan!

Earlier today, the State-Journal Register reported that Illinois just can't seem to come to grips with its budget deficit nor its nearly $7 billion in unpaid bills.

A second bond rating agency has lowered Illinois’ credit rating because officials won’t come to grips with the state’s financial problems.

Fitch Ratings dropped the rating a step, from A-plus to A, which Fitch said “reflects the continuing unwillingness of the state of Illinois to take action to address its significant budgetary problems. The recently enacted FY 2011 budget does not begin to address the current operating gap, relying almost entirely on various forms of deficit financing to close the gap.”

When they approved the budget last month, lawmakers acknowledged the state would end the next budget year with about $6 billion in unpaid bills.

The best indicator of a state's fiscal health is the cost to insure against the state defaulting on its debt (i.e., a failure to make bond payments). The higher the cost for this insurance, called a "credit default swap" or CDS, the more investors believe the state will become insolvent. This week, the cost of Illinois bankruptcy insurance rose to its highest level ever.

The cost of insuring Illinois bonds against default rose to a record high as state lawmakers confront a $13 billion budget gap for the year starting July 1.

“If the spread is the widest, it says the problem is bigger than it’s ever been before,” said Peter Hayes, who oversees $106 billion of municipal bonds for New York-based BlackRock Inc. “It’s a reaction to the inability to pass a budget. We’ve seen a greater unwillingness from Illinois and the market is reacting to that.”

Legislators in Illinois passed a provisional $25.9 billion fiscal 2011 spending plan that’s about $13 billion short, and are resisting Governor Pat Quinn’s proposed $3.7 billion debt sale to make a pension payment and help close the gap. Lawmakers recessed last month without providing a way to cover the pension obligation and pay $4.5 billion in other bills.

In fact, the price of Illinois' bankruptcy insurance just beat the prior record holder: California. Congratulations, Democrats!

Unwilling to play second fiddle, the numb-skull Democrats who run Illinois' pension funds appear to have done the state legislators one better. For example, it turns out the party hacks who run the Illinois teachers' retirement system have created one of country's most underfunded retirement plans (probably second only to Social Security).

Dale Rosenthal, a former strategist for Long Term Capital Management, the hedge fund known for its epic collapse in 1998, and a proprietary trader for Morgan Stanley, has seen his share of financial complexities... But when shown a seven-page list of derivatives positions held by the Illinois Teachers Retirement System as of March 31, obtained by Medill News Service through a Freedom of Information Act request, the University of Illinois-Chicago assistant professor of finance expressed disbelief.

“If you were to have faxed me this balance sheet and asked me to guess who it belonged to, I would have guessed, Citadel, Magnetar or even a proprietary trading desk at a bank,” Rosenthal said.

The fact that the sheet doesn’t belong to one of those high-flying hedge funds, but to the $33.72 billion pension fund that serves more than 355,000 full-time, part-time and substitute public school teachers and administrators working outside the city of Chicago, is perplexing to those interviewed for this story.

How bad is it? After losing $4.4 billion on investments in fiscal year 2009, and 5 percent on investments in fiscal 2008, the teachers’ pension is now underfunded by $44.5 billion, or 60.9 percent... For the quarter ended March 31, according to derivatives experts who studied TRS’ financial documents, the fund lost some $515 million on its derivatives portfolio. Since then, the fund’s derivatives positions have likely soured further, the experts said, due to worsening financial conditions in Europe.

In other words, fiscal disaster may be closer than it appears in the mirror.

Congratulations also go to Mayor Richard Daley (D-Machine), who has rung up one of the highest city budget deficits in the world.

Bonded debt and long-term leases have risen much faster than the city's property-tax base under Mr. Daley and now amount to about $5,600 for each Chicagoan. Then there's billions in unfunded pension liabilities — another $5,000 per Chicagoan — and one of the deepest municipal budget holes in the country.

But don't worry, Chicagoans will, I'm sure, continue to keep electing liberal Democrats to high office until the day the city collapses.

When it comes to fiscal stupidity, Democrats always take the Gold, Silver and Bronze medals. Plus Brass, Tin and Cardboard as well. The latter of which will be the construction material for a lot of homes in the state before long.


There really is a road to serfdom -- and we've got a picture!

News-13 in Orlando asks:

ORLANDO -- Is it too soon to name a road after President Barack Obama? A new road being built through Orlando will have his name. Roads in Orlando honor some of our greatest presidents, from Washington to Jefferson and now Obama.

On Friday, Orlando leaders made President Barack Obama Parkway the first road under construction in the nation named after our 44th president, and surely one of the few in history to be named after a sitting president in his first term.

"I think it’s great if people want to support their presidential candidate, but I think it's a little soon," said Orlando resident Karey Graham.

"You don't have to be dead to be honored," said Charles Sledge from Orlando. “We need to honor people while they are living."

In honor of the President's historic Stimulus Package, the road will feature a series of Project funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signs to mark every one-tenth mile interval of the Parkway.

The one-mile markers will be even more grandiose: each will consist of a four-story tall statue of President Obama in a leadership pose (one is called "Obama looks into the distance") and will be surrounded by fountains.

At the end of the Parkway, which also serves as the entrance to the city dump, the torso of Michelle Obama flexing her biceps crosses over the highway.

Too soon? Nah, it's not too soon. This President is historic!


Update: Obama Porkway: Road Built With Stimulus Money Will Bear President’s Name


Hat tip: MP.

Outstanding: Fed Business Index Dramatically Slows, Hits 10-Month Low. Eh... I mean, 'Unexpectedly' Hits 10-Month Low.

See, I'm practicing to be a pro journalist, so I threw the word "unexpectedly" into the headline.

June's Fed Business Outlook Survey describes a small business picture that is, at best, grim.

The survey’s broadest measure of manufacturing conditions, the diffusion index of current activity, decreased notably from a reading of 21.4 in May to 8.0 in June. The index, which had edged higher for four consecutive months, fell back to its lowest reading in 10 months.

...For the first time in seven months, more firms reported a decrease in employment (18 percent) than reported an increase (17 percent)... The workweek index also declined into negative territory, its first negative reading in eight months.

Yes, all of this was unexpected:

The number of Americans seeking jobless benefits last week unexpectedly rose to a one-month high, indicating firings are staying elevated even as the U.S. economy grows.

Some companies are trimming payrolls to boost or maintain profits at the same time overall employment has grown each month this year. The figures show that bigger job gains needed to spur consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy, may be slow in developing, keeping the unemployment rate close to 10 percent.

“The labor market is not improving,” said Steven Ricchiuto, chief economist at Mizuho Securities USA Inc. in New York. “If you really are going to have a sustainable recovery, you need the labor market to improve.”

Gee, really?

Perhaps someone could carrier-pigeon this report to our beloved President and Democrat Congress. Unless, of course, they're doing it on purpose as part of their grand plan to remake American society.


Larwyn's Linx: Max Baucus: ObamaCare creates 'near chaos'

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

Baucus: ObamaCare creates "near chaos": LegalIns
An Oil Spill Is Not a License to Suspend the Rule of Law: AT
Barton: Tone-deaf... and Correct: PJM

Playing Chicken with Medicare: RWN
Obama Administration Challenges AZ's SB 1070: RWN
Laser-focused on Gulf, Obama attends Nationals game: Marathon

Economy

Don’t Take My Word For It, Take Alan Greenspan’s: RWN
Top Obama Official Admits 'Economy Is Still Lousy': GWP
Obama to G-20 Nations: Keep Running Huge Deficits: GWP

Detroit School Board President Gives Himself a Hand: BlogProf
Obama ‘Stimulus’ Visit: Workers Get Unpaid Day Off: Malkin
Monsters in the Market: Atlantic

Climate & Energy

Effort to Clean Up Gulf Spill Thwarted by Safety Patrol: Malkin
The Gulf Spill: Everyone's Dirty Now: Kudlow
AGW-addled States Go Where Feds Can’t, To Our Detriment: CBullitt

Media

White House Argues in Court that Individual Mandate is a Tax, Which Obama Angrily Denied In Interview: BlogProf
Ed Schultz Confirms: Of Course It Was a Shakedown: Moonbattery
An Interview With Bob Etheridge’s Opponent, Renee Ellmers: RWN

WikiLeaks to Release Video of Alleged U.S. ‘Massacre’ in Afghanistan: RWN
Ambush Interviewer Gets Ambushed: LegalIns
The Novel Presidency: AT

World

The Fatal Follies of 'Containment': Ledeen
Only a Matter of Time: Turkey Reverts to Type: Bostom
Calderon makes appeal as drug violence soars in Mexico: Times

Israel's Crisis at Sea: the Iranian Flotilla is Coming: AT
The UN's war on Israel continues -- and the U.S. is silent: Bayefsky
In an England suburb, Teaching the Kids Jihad: PJM

Did North Korea Just Give Up On Communism?: Hot Air
China Warns Against Finger-Pointing; Obama Points Finger Anyway; Obama's Budget Reduction Lies: Mish

SciTech

Drywall problems known in 2006 but kept secret: HeraldTrib
Google like it's 1981 with command-line tool: CNet
Report: Tablet PCs To Cannibalize Netbook Sales: CRN

Cornucopia

Americans, and the world, should be outraged at FIFA, ref Coulibaly: SI
From One Hole to Another: MOTUS
Interview: Actress Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo): ION Cinema


Image: Noomi Rapace.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Sharron Angle for Senate: Defeat Harry Reid.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Repeat after me--Conservative Women are Stupid: Palin, Bachmann, Angle (never mind that Democrats have bankrupted the country and destroyed the Gulf).

Have you been re-programmed yet?

Conservatives are stupid. People who believe in free markets are stupid. The Constitution is stupid. Archaic even. I mean, that's what the radical Left would have you believe.

What is it about a strong conservative woman that so frightens liberals? You must admit, though, that Leftists are, if nothing else, consistent in their irrational hatred of strong women:

Gov. Sarah Palin is "amazingly stupid" and "advocates for a theocracy";

Rep. Michelle Bachmann "leads America's exploding extremism" and believes ObamaCare "will profane the Sabbath";

Now Sharron Angle, a true conservative candidate for Senate in Nevada, is under attack by legacy media and the leftist blogosphere (redundant, eh?).

A local Democrat news reporter stalked Angle at a campaign event, shrieking at her for advocating the reformation of Social Security. Or should I call it "the $30 trillion-in-the-hole Social Security" program?

Meanwhile, Harry Reid and his Democrat cohorts are bankrupting the country -- spending your great-great-grandchildrens' money -- while buying land for pennies on the dollar and supporting his lobbyist sons.

There's 14% unemployment in Nevada. Is that Angle's fault? A massive oil spill in the Gulf. Angle behind that? A nuclear Iran? Angle?

Isn't this theme getting a little tired? Are all conservative women stupid theocrats?

Or is the media just a bunch of propagandists advocating for Statism?

Oh, and final Jeopardy question: can we put the adults in charge now?

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

Got a few spare bucks? Support Sharon Angle in Nevada. You can help kick the despicably dishonest Harry "Land Deal" Reid out of office. Ahhh. Won't that feel good?


Related: Citizen Reid. Hat tip: Dan Riehl.

Obama Administration Unveils Dramatic New Plan to Seal Massive Gulf Leak: Suing Arizona for Arresting Drug- and Human-Smugglers

"...my job right now is just to make sure that everybody in the Gulf understands this is what I wake up to in the morning and this is what I go to bed at night thinking about." -- President Barack Obama, 27 May 2010

It's official. Senior Obama administration officials confirm that the Department of Justice will sue Arizona over its enforcement of immigration laws.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a television interview in Ecuador this month that the Obama Justice Department 'will be bringing a lawsuit' against the controversial Arizona immigration measure signed into law earlier this year.


The comment was striking because both President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder had said only that the administration was considering a suit. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer called Clinton’s comments stunning and added that 'to learn of this lawsuit through an Ecuadorean interview with the secretary of state is just outrageous...'


...a senior administration official tells CBS News that the federal government will indeed formally challenge the law when Justice Department lawyers are finished building the case. The official said Justice is still working on building the case.

Meanwhile, heavily armed Mexican drug runners and human smugglers are reportedly "in control" of large sections of Arizona.

Yes, the President is laser-focused on the Gulf. Laser.

Oh, and jobs, too. Green jobs. Lots of 'em. Maybe in Brazil.


Related:
Arizona Sheriff: Mexican Drug Cartels Now Control Parts Of Arizona
Anyone know what you call it when heavily armed intruders cross the border into the U.S. unmolested by authorities? Oh, that's right: Arizona.
Obama strikes back at Arizona: ICE to provide beverage bars, movie nights, dance classes and computer training to illegals
Hat tip:
Memeorandum


Separated at Birth, Whackjob Edition

Papa B:



Larwyn's Linx: Alternate reality transcript -- Barton's questions for BP

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

Alternate reality transcript: Barton's questions for Heyward: Ace
Club Fed for Illegal Aliens: Malkin
Etheridge Grabs Student, Ellmers Grabs Lead: NC Civitas

Administration calls individual mandate... a tax: RWN
The Central Lie Of Obamacare: Strata-Sphere
Brewer Fires Back at Hillary and Obama: GWP

Economy

Life Is Good in Teachers Unions, Even in Detroit: RWN
The Coming Obamanomics Disaster: AT
The Dodd Effect: The Rich Get Way Richer: ABC

Don't Blame Proposition 13: CityJournal
Feds Give AZ $1.25 Million to Build… Squirrel Bridges: Malkin
Best way to get a job in the Obamaconomy: RWN

Climate & Energy

Deepwater Drilling and Lying Crap-Weasels: Protein Wisdom
Gulf reps ask Salazar to lift deepwater drilling ban: WashExam
Who told Obama drilling is 'absolutely safe'?: York

Pssst, hey buddy, want to rent that forest for some quick cash?: Ace
Crude-sucking barges shut down by Feds for missing life-vests: GWP
BP, Obama both pushing climate legislation: Cypress

Media

The Cold, Hard Numbers Of What's Happening To Newspapers: Insider
Giuliani: If this were Bush, impeachment proceedings would be underway: BlogProf
Caroline Glick: ‘For Those People Who Hate Me, Expect More’: PJM

Dems Move to Seize Control of Internet: RWN
Correction Sought: Steyn
What's a patriot to do? Confront a liberal today: AT

World

Iron Sky: Belmont Club
Obama and the rising mob against Israel: AT
The Gaza Flotilla: It's About Hamas, Stupid: BRubin

World poll: Views of U.S. improve — except in Muslim countries: Hot Air

SciTech

Here's The Latest Way AT&T Is Screwing Its Wireless Customers: Insider
Mobile Video Training Reaches the Cloud: Computerworld
US automakers top foreign brands for first time in JD Power survey of quality: WashExam

Cornucopia

The American -- the trailer: Apple
Too Funny--Too True: Strata-Sphere
If A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words, This Is An Encylopedia: Wizbang


Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Send John McCain into Retirement

Thursday, June 17, 2010

The Apple iPad, Slavery and Tom Friedman

Even if you're not a technophile, last month's report from inside a Chinese factory that manufactures electronic devices is well worth a read. In a nutshell, a Chinese newspaper sent a 20-year old reporter to work undercover in a mammoth factory owned by Foxconn.

The factory employs 300,000+ workers who endlessly pump out iPods, iPads and iPhones under extremely poor conditions. In fact, the working environment is so stressful that at least nine employees attempted suicide since the beginning of the year.

...the factory workers live in a sort of indentured servitude. They work all day long, stopping only to quickly eat or to sleep. They repeat the same routine again and again except on public holidays. Liu’s was surmised that for many workers, the only escape from this cycle was to end their life.

Liu, a graduate student, was chosen because of his young age, since the factory only hires workers in their 20s. He was hired without issue. He signed only one special document: An overtime working agreement that says the company is not responsible for their long hours of working. According to Liu, this voluntary agreement overrules Chinese state regulation.

Foxconn workers only smile on the 10th of every month. That’s the day when they get their salaries. That day, the ATM machines inside the factory are crowded with workers. Their monthly salaries start at 900 Chinese Yuan – about $156.

The factory is so large that a consultant who showed up at the wrong entrance to the factory was told to get back in his car and drive to the next entrance. That trip took a half an hour.

Apple is not Foxconn's only customer. Reportedly Sony, HP, Microsoft, Nokia, Nintendo, Dell and Cisco are are also served by the company.

Technology journalist Wolfgang Juerner describes the working conditions in even more detail:

...some [employees are] paid only $130 a month at less than the Chinese minimum wage of about 55 cents. Some are working 98 hours per week, are under permanent surveillance, by cameras and co-workers, are not allowed to talk during work hours.

Microsoft recently came under fire for having its mice manufactured in sweatshops by 15 and 16 year old teenagers who work 15 hour days, 6 days a week for 52 cents per hour. They have to assemble 2000 Microsoft mice per shift.

In factories near Hong Kong, workers in such factories reportedly lose 40,000 fingers on the job every year, due to unsafe manufacturing equipment, according to the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. Consumer groups claim that companies consistently try to cheat their employees out of earned wages, do not provide health benefits and expose their workers to toxic materials like lead, cadmium and mercury. Here in the U.S. we are worried about baby bottles that may carry a potentially unsafe material and lead in toys. But we don’t care about those who assembled those products.

Earlier this year, other companies -- including Apple -- came under fire for using child slave labor, including eleven 15-year-old kids discovered in 2009.

The reason I bring all of this up? The New York Times' Thomas Friedman.

The man can't stop praising China's government, though it is a known human-rights violator, suppresses political dissent, employs slave labor, attacks religious believers and otherwise behaves like a despotic regime that's addicted to money.

He lauds China's government endlessly, prattling on about pristine airports and train stations as if he got the VIP tour from a Communist Party drone. Which he probably did.

To put things in perspective, the Times is infamous -- notorious, in fact -- for suppressing news about the Holocaust during World War II.

Friedman appears to be carrying on that grand tradition, carrying water for despots and papering over the inhuman treatment of millions.