Wednesday, July 07, 2010

The genius of Democrat leadership: IL governor hands out 20% raises to staff while proposing to borrow billions to close budget shortfall

If there's one phrase that pops to mind when you think of our beloved Democrat leaders, it's "fiscal discipline".

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has handed out raises — some of more than 20 percent — to his staff while proclaiming a message of "shared sacrifice" and planning spending cuts of $1.4 billion because the state is awash in debt... The Democrat has given 43 salary increases averaging 11.4 percent to 35 staffers in the past 15 months, according to an Associated Press analysis of records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

They include a $24,000-a-year bump for the man promoted to shepherd the state through the fiscal storm. Budget Director David Vaught got a 20 percent raise to bring his pay to $144,000 in October when he moved to his new position from Quinn's staff, where he was a senior adviser

Quinn's solution to the state's $13 billion budget deficit?

Borrow more money and delay bill payments, according to the AP. Illinois owes its public sector unions' pension plans roughly $4 billion and Quinn has proposed to borrow that money, too.

Isn't one-party rule fun?

Say, I've got an idea: let's put an inexperienced political hack from the Chicago machine -- which is already responsible for ruining Illinois -- in charge of everything!


China's Threat to Obama: Listen to that Idiot Krugman at Your Own Peril

The message from China's Foreign Exchange Bureau (SAFE) couldn't be any more clear if it was flashed in blinking red letters on the President's teleprompter. China wants him to return to free-market capitalism. To stop the deficit spending. To stop borrowing. Because Papa Mao ain't gonna foot the bills much longer.

[SAFE} acknowledged that financial markets were very concerned at one point that massive U.S. government borrowing would drive the U.S. currency lower...

But it said economic conditions elsewhere were also a factor in determining the dollar's trend. The euro zone, for instance, was struggling with high government debt levels.

"We must recognize that any depreciation of the dollar is relative to other countries, and other countries or regions also have this or that problem," SAFE said.

Translation: you ain't the only dog in the hunt.

One of the prime concerns of Chinese Internet commentators is that a long-term decline in the dollar or euro will erode the value of SAFE's portfolio.

To that end, SAFE called on the United States and other major countries to take "responsible measures" to maintain the value of their currencies...

This meant withdrawing monetary stimulus in a reasonable manner and relying less on deficit spending.

"Responsible measures" == "no more stimulus packages == "stop deficit spending" == "look elsewhere for loans" == "Got that, Mr. Paul 'Douche-Nozzle' Krugman?"

Conclusion: The People's Republic of China is now officially to the right of Barack Obama.


Hat tip: Zero Hedge.

Larwyn's Linx: Obama's Lawsuit Against Arizona

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

Obama's Lawsuit Against Arizona: Wolf
Mexican Cartel Threatens to Blow Up Texas Dam: Quite Rightly
Meet Rosalio Munoz - Mexican American Communist: NewZeal

C-O-W-A-R-D-S: Malkin
Feds Tighten Control of Information on Gulf Mess: RWN
WI DA won't prosecute some state gun laws: Hot Air

New Black Panthers

Calling Out DOJ Opponents of Race-Neutral Law: Adams
Former DOJ Officials Step Forward to Back Up Adams: PJM
'Want freedom? Gonna have to kill some crackers': Driscoll

Economy

The Summer of Recovery, Continued: Virtuous
The Recovery Prevention Act of 2010: WashExam
Keynes & Co. have lost the stimulus argument: TheWeek

US Federal Deficits – We Don’t Need to Become Europe: Sargen
Plenty of Schock, No Awe at Mandatory Obama Signage: PJM
FCIC silent on conflicts of interest: WashExam

Climate & Energy

It begins: Obama touches off coal-killing policies: GWP
Obama is Strangling Big Oil: AT
‘Runaway climate change’ ‘unrealistic’, say scientists: First Post

Media

Amanda Marcotte: The Pleasure of Sadism Is the Force Behind Conservatism: RWN
Must-See Photo: Rachel Maddow Reports from Kandahar: AmPower
Leonard Pitts Forgets that Bush Ain't President Any More: BlogProf

World

'Kiss and Make-up' at Obama-Bibi Presser: PJM
Two Major Middle East Terrorist Figures Die in their Safe Havens: CTBlog
Mexico's Culture of Racism: AT

Hezbollah honcho busted at his Tijiuana Mexico home: Fausta
The Arab Veil of Deception and the Left: AT
Obama Meets Netanyahu: No Love Fest But As Good As It's Gonna Get: BRubin

SciTech

Why Internet Paywalls Will Fail: Guardian
NASA: Not About Space Anymore: Dewey
NASA Logo Makeovers: Malkin

Cornucopia

Obama picks Yahoo. Google snubbed this time.: MOTUS
SF Bans Sale of Soda on City Property; Shooting Up in Public Park With City-Provided Needle Still Okay: Powers
Summer Camps: Now With Abortion Workshops!: RWN

Images: MexicoDefense.com
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Sharron Angle

QOTD: "[Clay] Shirky's new book, Cognitive Surplus; Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age... argues that the popularity of online social media trumps all our old assumptions about the superiority of professional content, and the primacy of financial motivation. It proves, Shirky argues, that people are more creative and generous than we had ever imagined, and would rather use their free time participating in amateur online activities such as Wikipedia – for no financial reward – because they satisfy the primal human urge for creativity and connectedness. Just as the invention of the printing press transformed society, the internet's capacity for "an unlimited amount of zero-cost reproduction of any digital item by anyone who owns a computer" has removed the barrier to universal participation, and revealed that human beings would rather be creating and sharing than passively consuming what a privileged elite think they should watch." -- Decca Aitkenhead


Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Shhh... no one tell Holder or Napolitano: massive arms cache -- including rocket launchers, grenades, and M-16s -- discovered near Texas border

Two months ago, north of Monterrey, the Mexican military discovered a huge weapons cache that should send a shiver down the spine of any U.S. law enforcement official. The arms cache was located roughly 50 miles away from the Texas border.

The Google translation, while imperfect, gives you the flavor for what was captured.

In recent months, clashes between the army and armed groups have shown the operational and survival of the latter in the rural areas.

The most recent dispute between drug cartels and the military operations that have popped safe houses and training centers have forced the gunmen not to settle for long in one spot, and improvise camps in neighboring municipalities with Tamaulipas.

According to federal sources, and as evidenced by yesterday's operation of the Army, members of armed groups moving in convoys down for a few days gap in wooded areas or suburbs, after supplies of fuel and food, mostly canned and non-perishable.

The authorities have also reported that the gunmen roam the northern fringe and sleep in motels different way, they leave in a couple of days.

[The military] found 124 rifles, grenade launchers, rocket launcher, machine guns, grenades and a box with 55 000 rounds, plus trimmings, helmets and boards of torture.



Jackets, caps, shirts and black berets, with a logo embroidered in three divisions-one with the map of Tamaulipas, the other with that of Mexico and one more with the letter zeta-, were also secured.



Listings with key numbers to identify procedures and other municipalities that grant, places and names of planets ejidos, countries and continents, were also seized.

But don't worry. Just because heavily armed Mexican drug- and human-smugglers have made large swaths of Arizona off-limits to American citizens, there's really no reason for concern.


President Obama has dispatched a crack team of attorneys -- skilled in defending terrorists -- to ensure that Mexican gangs have free rein to operate in the U.S..


And They Told Me Print Was Dead...

...Tell me you could resist Guns & Ammo's August 2010 banner headline:

 The .45-70 Bulldog Gatling: Hand-Cranked Hellfire 

The article's only available in the print edition for the moment, but here's a Flickr photo of the 19th-century Phalanx.

Daddy like.

Non-existent U.S. Budget Deficit on Annualized Run Rate of $2.5 Trillion; Dems Will Blow New $14.3 Trillion Debt Ceiling Just Before Midterms

For the first time in modern history, Congress failed to perform its single most important task: it did not pass a budget.

On the first day of July, the House of Representatives passed a "budget enforcement resolution" that "deemed as passed" a $1.12 trillion budget.

Thirty-eight House Democrats voted no, perhaps because they sense in this year of the Tea Party Movement it isn't good politics to engage in such a sham. But pass it did... [but the] trio of President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Pelosi is putting the finishing touches on a one-year deficit of $1.6 trillion, while setting in motion an expansion of the standing debt to well north of $14 trillion. This is no mean feat in an era when Democrats themselves denounced George W. Bush's deficit of a mere $160 billion in 2007.

The real reason that Democrats avoided the budget process? Tyler Durden bangs the magic abacus against the desk and comes up with some stunning figures.

In case one is wondering why the House Democrats attached a document to the emergency war supplemental bill that "deemed as passed" a non-existent $1.12 trillion budget, which basically allows the ruling party to start spending money for Fiscal Year 2011 without the constraint of an actual budget, here is the answer: ...on June 30, the US closed the books with just over $13.2 trillion in total debt, an increase of $210 billion in one month, or $2.5 trillion annualized. There is just $1.1 trillion left on the ceiling...

As we have long been warning, at the current run rate, the ceiling will be breached in under six months, or just around November 2. More disconcerting is that the monthly debt roll continues to be in the "ridiculous amount" category, hitting a total of $660 billion...

The sheer hatred that the modern Democrat Party has for America is evident in its every action. It despises its employer -- the taxpayer -- and it shows it by hurling massive new spending programs (like socialized medicine) onto a non-existent budget when the country can least afford it.

And what are the Democrats' plans for the next few months? Passing a real budget? Reining in spending? Listening to the American people who are trying to prevent their children from enslavement to trillions in debt? Why, no, of course not.

The loathsome Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) has already hinted at what comes next: even if Democrats are soundly defeated, they will use a lame-duck session of Congress to strap a suicide-belt to the American economy: card-check, cap-and-trade and massive new taxes will be on the agenda.

In other words, Democrats intend to wage fiscal Jihad on America. We must awaken our family, friends and neighbors. The time to stop this madness grows very short indeed.


Perfect -- Eric Holder's DOJ crony leading SB1070 challenge is member of the "Gitmo 9", who represented terrorists in court

The White House is so laser-focused on the environmental tragedy in the Gulf* that the Obama Justice Department today filed suit against Arizona. Its offense: daring to protect Arizonans from the tidal wave of illegal aliens washing in on a daily basis.

Helping to lead the charge against the citizens of the southwestern state is a man named Tony West.

West is notorious for his de facto membership in the "Gitmo-9".

As an attorney in the San Francisco law firm of Morrison & Foerster, West reportedly represented terrorists with direct and/or indirect involvement in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In fact, West joined the firm less than three months after 9/11, presumably to begin defending those who sought to kill American innocents.

The firm's aptly named website -- Mofo.com -- takes great pride in its work defending terrorists, listing several awards from known leftist and anti-American groups for its "work in representing inmates at Guantanamo Bay."

Earlier in his career, West also served under the Mistress of FAIL -- Jamie Gorelick -- as well as the impressive Janet Reno.

* * * * * * * * *


Heavily armed Mexican drug- and human-smugglers have made large swaths of Arizona off-limits to American citizens.


A study released earlier today calculates that illegal immigration costs U.S. taxpayers $113 billion annually.

And rather than defending America's citizens, which is his primary duty under the Constitution, President Obama instead has unleashed a professional defender of terrorists to expand his practice -- protecting the Mexican crime gangs who now terrorize the southwest.


* Oh, and jobs. Every waking moment, jobs.

Related Reading Just to Tick You Off Even More:
The Shameless Duplicity of the Obama Administration: Napolitano Directly Contradicts Solis on Immigration Enforcement; Media Strangely Silent.
Four Border Stories Guaranteed to Make Your Blood Boil
Obama Administration Unveils Dramatic New Plan to Seal Massive Gulf Leak: Suing Arizona for Arresting Drug- and Human-Smugglers
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.



Linked by: Michelle Malkin and Jawa Report. Thanks!

Larwyn's Linx: Deeming Themselves Defeated

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

Did Democrats Deem Themselves Defeated?: Hewitt
Obama AZ border claims false, say three … Democrats?: Hot Air
Chicago insider warns Angle campaign on Reid: AT

Economy

Illinois: America’s new fiscal basket case: Malkin
The Burning Question: NiceDeb
President's Economic Adviser: 'Be Patient': AT

Stimulus funds used to bus Mexicans in for free education: RWN
US Has 6 Years Before Debt Surpasses Defense Costs: Insider
Democrats must explain themselves (without blame-shifting): RWN

Climate & Energy

Cleanup Report Documents Deception, Incompetence: Malkin
Big Oil and the Global Warming Skeptics: AT
US climate scientists receive hate mail barrage: Guardian

Media

News Flash: Progressive Hates 4th, Also America: Moonbattery
Obama, Designated Hero: AT
Was Maddow's Criticism of Sharron Angle Also a Swipe at Olbermann?: NewsBusters

CNN Editor Mourns Loss of Hezbollah Spiritual Leader: WZ
Clearly these reporters don't understand ObamaCare: RWN
HuffPo's Creative Photo Crops Sprout Horns: Zombie

World

The Left-Fascist Axis. Again: AT
Iranian Children Appeal Mom's Death By Stoning Sentence: NiceDeb
Churches demand compensation from BP after loss of income: Telegraph

Berwick loves 'urine- and feces-soaked beds': WashExam
Our World: Standing down the hate-filled jury: JPost
Nigeria: No Charges After Muslim Senator Takes Child Bride: Maktoob

'America has elected a tyrant': NewEnglishReview
An Islamophobe in Sweden: GoV
India: Teacher's hand cut off for Prophet slight: Maktoob

SciTech

Is Pornography Only Skin Deep?: Sophos
Apple Will Sell 12M iPhones To Verizon Subscribers For $7B -- Analyst: Insider
Ray Kurzweil Interview: iOTW

Cornucopia

The Left's Haughty Intolerance – Skewering Norman Rockwell: iOTW
Welcome to Rome, Circa 450 AD: Hot Air
Florida’s Lt. Col. Allen West’s Independence Day Address: RWN

Image: Reuters.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Allen West for Congress

QOTD: "In Britain today, hating Israel has become a valid criminal defense. Last week five people charged with destroying property valued at some $225,000 at the EDO MBM arms factory in Brighton during a January 2009 break-in were found not guilty of all charges. They were found innocent although all five admitted to having committed the crime... As the Guardian reported, the defendants boasted in on-line forums at the time of the incident, their crime was premeditated. It took place during the IDF’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. Their declared aim was to “smash up” the factory. And they achieved their goal.

The jury found the five innocent because it accepted as a valid defense their claim that they vandalized the plant because they wanted to prevent Israel from carrying out war crimes in Gaza. EDO MBM does business with the IDF, therefore, the defendants claimed and the jury agreed, it deserved to be attacked." -- Caroline Glick


Monday, July 05, 2010

Who will step up and help me manufacture this breathtaking new product?

Now, if we can only bring it to market by November...



'We are the Cavalry'

Adapted from a comment by Pappy G

There are no more intimate generational relationships than those which exist between members of a family; a parent and a child, a grandparent and a grandchild, etc.

Passing of family heirlooms, traditions, and values symbolizes the importance of these relationships. These precious moments represent the custodial responsibilities one generation has fulfilled in preserving, protecting and defending that which they received by way of inheritance from a previous generation.

When one generation fails to honor their responsibilities, the generational chain of trust is broken.

The current custodial generation received the chain of trust intact and, along with it, numerous opportunities. However, they are finding keeping the generational chain of trust intact overwhelming. For each billion dollars of new debt placed on the backs of their children and grandchildren, the chain weakens.

Nothing demonstrates the dramatic erosion of generational responsibilities better than the current entitlement abuse that began in 1935 with the enactment of Social Security. It has a long history of financial instability and every attempt to repair it has made things worse. Consider 1983, when 'Social Security Reform' legislation was signed into law. It was promoted as a plan to avert near-term Social Security bankruptcy and to fund long term stability. Taxpayers began overpaying their social security taxes by billions of dollars annually. With their over-payments deposited in a 'trust fund', most Americans believed they were doing their part in alleviating seniors' fears. And they were also sold the idea that they were responsibly preparing for the retirements of 78 million baby boomers.

With no choice in the matter, and in spite of significant financial hardships, millions of average Americans struggled to keep their end of the bargain. Politicians however, chose to renege on their end of the deal. From day one, they’ve spent every dollar of the excess Social Security 'trust fund', by transferring the money to the general revenue fund. Once co-mingled with other tax receipts, they lose their unique identity, allowing politicians to fund sweetheart deals for special interests.

Using Bernie Madoff sleight-of-hand deceit, politicians covered up their tax-and-transfer scheme by replacing excess Social Security 'trust fund' cash with special obligation bonds, or IOUs. These slips of paper are represented as assets on the Social Security 'trust fund' balance sheet. The IOU obligations created by this malevolent scheme will have to be paid again plus interest, and the amount owed already exceeds 2.5 trillion dollars, growing at the rate of several thousand dollars a second.

Some inheritance we're passing along.

How can swallowing another Kool-Aid cocktail served up by another political bloviator be considered a viable solution? The answer is: it can’t. The solution resides within the current custodial generation, and their willingness to speak up and reach out in a spirit of cooperation to the next generation. We must end the vigil of silence that permits politicians to violate the Constitution.

Why the Constitution? Because it is the highest law of the land and it was designed to limit government, not men. Over the years, the Constitution has been bastardized by Presidents, Congress and the courts. Far from limiting government, an infinite series of greedy, power-hungry politicians have interpreted the highest law to mean precisely what it does not say. They have squeezed, stretched and torn the law to allow the federal government to grow in size, scope and strength, in every direction, controlling virtually all of our endeavors.

We must end the vigil of silence that's permitting politicians to financially enslave our children and grandchildren.

We are the Cavalry. And we must ride to the rescue in November. Our mission is clear: restore the bonds of generational trust.


Spill continues to pump oil into Gulf, but White House successfully plugs leaks -- of information on websites, from journalists, and local officials

It's day 75 and oil in the Gulf of Mexico continues to flow.

But there's one thing the administration appears to have plugged: information flow related to the spill. The President, seemingly more concerned with his image than anything else, wants to suppress the graphic evidence of his bumbling response.

WKRG Mobile reports that the government has taken "tighter control" over the spill response website that had been co-managed with BP. In short, "who can post information to the site would change. Details are still being worked out... [a government spokesman] said the government wants to be as transparent as possible and increase Americans' access to information."

It appears clean-up equipment is provided to local officials to "shut them up". After a series of appearances on TV, a parish president was shocked to find two White House officials show up at his office on Father's Day. They asked him what they needed to do to "keep you off TV". These and similar accounts "raise serious questions about whether the Administration is more concerned with fighting a public relations battle than combating the oil spill.”"

A photographer taking pictures of a BP refinery while on a public road was reportedly detained by BP security, local police and a DHS official.

The union of television and radio professionals -- AFTRA -- has created a new section of its website to handle reports of journalists who are denied reasonable access to cover the effects of the spill. CNN's Anderson Cooper has been vocal in protesting the suppression -- some would call it censorship -- of information by the government.

It only took the White House 75 days to get the A-Whale Super Skimmer to the Gulf; 53 days to accept help from the Dutch and British and 58 days to mobilize the military. The administration also shut down cleaning barges for "infractions" like not enough fire extinguishers on board; prohibited sand berm dredging in Louisiana; and lied to state officials about the cleanup efforts.

But don't worry, folks -- it's like 9/11. Except for all of the golf.

And the fact that the spill continues to pump oil into the Gulf. And that the government can't seem to get anything right, other than threatening local officials to shut the hell up and censor the increasingly dire news.

I give Obama a good, solid B+ on this oil spill thingie.


What's the definition of insanity again?

Obama announces plan to sink $2 billion into solar energy projects


07/03/2010 -- "Facing sluggish job growth, President Barack Obama on Saturday announced about $2 billion in new investments to help build clean energy technology and create thousands of jobs."

Clinton's goal: a million solar system on roofs by 2010


8/16/1997 -- "At the United Nations conference on global warming this summer, President Clinton introduced the ''Million Solar Roofs Initiative'' as part of the nation's halting efforts to slow the increase in ''greenhouse'' gases produced by burning fossil fuels...

...The goal is to put a million solar systems on the roofs of commercial and residential buildings by 2010 -- whether photovoltaic units that convert sunlight into electricity or thermal systems for space heating and hot water."

Conservation Bank for Solar Energy Will Spend $3 Billion


1/20/1981 -- "From fiscal years 1979 through 1981, in fact, Carter got more solar-energy subsidy dollars than he asked for. A residential tax credit was put in place for 40 percent of the first $10,000 spent on photovoltaic solar-energy systems. A business tax credit of 15 percent was granted through the end of 1985. A "Solar and Energy Conservation Bank" was established and authorized to spend $3 billion between fiscal years 1981 and 1984 to provide subsidized residential and commercial loans for solar energy and conservation investments."

Carter wants 20% of America's electricity from sun, wind by 2000


7/15/1979 -- "On a sunny June day in 1979, President Jimmy Carter held the first and only press conference on the White House roof. Atop the West Wing, he unveiled a $28,000 solar cell system that captured the sun's energy to provide hot water for the White House. He also launched a sweeping drive aimed at harnessing the sun, the wind, and other renewable resources to generate 20% of America's electricity by 2000."

Carter announces multi-billion solar energy R&D effort


6/20/1979 -- "President Carter announces program to increase Nation's use of solar energy, including solar development bank and increased funds for solar energy research and development."

* * * * * * * * *

This is why liberalism needs to be classified -- officially -- as a mental disorder. History, facts, logic and reason are of no concern to the liberal. Their repeated attacks on oil (which, based upon the unstanched flow in the Gulf, does not appear to be in short supply) while they burglarize the Treasury to pay for faerie dust and solar panels on every roof.

Only the free market can deliver "green" solutions. No amount of government central planning, "free" money for crony capitalists, solar boondoggles, bureaucrats and lawyers can create new sources of energy.

Only the free market can solve the problem of renewable energy. It will take decades -- and can only occur if government gets the hell out of the way.


'Obama has created a wasteland of economic ruin and depression that looks much like... Mad Max'

Wayne Allen Root calls Obama "The Great Jobs Killer":

You won't find proof of the damage Obama is doing on Wall Street, but rather on Main Street. My friends are all part of the economic engine of America: Small business. Small business creates 75 percent of new jobs (and a majority of all jobs). I called one friend who was a wealthy restaurant owner. He says business is off by 60 percent. He's drowning in debt. He won't last much longer. His wealth is gone.

I called another friend in the business of home improvement. He says business is off 90 percent from two years ago. My contractor just filed personal bankruptcy. She won't be building any more homes. The hair salon where I've had my hair cut for years closed earlier this year. Bankrupt. But here's the clincher -- ESPN Zone just closed all their restaurants across the country. If they can't make it selling cheap food and overpriced beer with 100 big screens blaring every sporting event on the planet to a sports-crazed society, we are all in deep, deep trouble.

I've polled all my friends who own small businesses -- many of them in the Internet and high-tech fields. They all agree that in this new Obama world of high business taxes, income taxes, payroll taxes, capital gains taxes, and workers compensation taxes, the key to success is to avoid employees. The only way to survive as a business owner today is by keeping the payroll very low and by hiring only independent contractors or part-time employees provided by temp agencies.

Over at CNBC, analysts say that Dow is repeating the "Great Depression Pattern":


The Dow Jones Industrial Average is repeating a pattern that appeared just before markets fell during the Great Depression, Daryl Guppy, CEO at Guppytraders.com, told CNBC Monday... “Those who don’t remember history are doomed to repeat it…there was a head and shoulders pattern that developed before the Depression in 1929, then with the recovery in 1930 we had another head and shoulders pattern that preceded a fall in the market, and in the current Dow situation we see an exact repeat of that environment,” Guppy said.

The Dow retreated 457.33 points, or 4.5 percent last week, to close at 9,686 Friday. Guppy said a Dow fall below 9,800 confirmed the head and shoulders pattern.

The view abroad confirms Guppy's observation: "The US is still trapped in depression a full 18 months into zero interest rates, quantitative easing (QE), and fiscal stimulus that has pushed the budget deficit above 10pc of GDP."

The share of the US working-age population with jobs in June actually fell from 58.7pc to 58.5pc. This is the real stress indicator. The ratio was 63pc three years ago. Eight million jobs have been lost.

The average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks. Nothing like this has been seen before in the post-war era. Jeff Weninger, of Harris Private Bank, said this compares with a peak of 21.2 weeks in the Volcker recession of the early 1980s...

...The housing market is already crumbling as government props are pulled away. The expiry of homebuyers' tax credit led to a 30pc fall in the number of buyers signing contracts in May. "It is cataclysmic," said David Bloom from HSBC.

Root concludes:

It has now become clear that, outside of the burgeoning field of Census takers, there will be no major increase in new jobs for years to come. Outside government, Obama has created a wasteland of economic ruin and depression that looks much like the landscape of Mel Gibson's first movie "Mad Max." Without a printing press in Obama's world, you're just plain out of luck.

What if, as some believe, this is all intentional? In 2009, James Simpson came to just that conclusion:

It is time to cast aside all remaining doubt. President Obama is not trying to lead America forward to recovery, prosperity and strength. Quite the opposite, in fact...

...The real goal of "health care" legislation, the real goal of "cap-and-trade," and the real goal of the "stimulus" is to rip the guts out of our private economy and transfer wide swaths of it over to the government to control. Do not be deluded by the propaganda. These initiatives are vehicles for change. They are not goals in and of themselves except in their ability to deliver power. They and will make matters much worse, for that is their design.

You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to recognize the very real strategies advocated by Cloward and Piven. If you care about this country, you'll do everything you can to organize, raise money, and spread the word about the malevolent cabal that is systematically deconstructing America from within.

It's November or never.


Hat tip: Drudge. Linked by: Michelle Malkin and Gateway Pundit. Thanks!

Larwyn's Linx: Obama’s New America -- Running on Silly Fantasies

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

Obama’s New America: Running on Silly Fantasies: Strata-Sphere
SCOTUS ruling shows how far gun rights have come: Reynolds
Kagan: Unfit for the Supreme Court: AT

Institutionalized Gangster Government: PJM
Kudos to Obama for letting in the sunlight: WashExam
DeMint: Graham 'wrong' on tea party: Politico

Economy

America The Screwed: Field Guide To a Dismal Economy: Insider
Wells, Wachovia Linked to Mexican Laundering Schemes?: Mish
Photog detained as All Pensacola-area Reservations Canceled: ZH

Climate & Energy

Remember this number: 96.6: FromOnHigh
EPA verdict still out on Taiwan tanker, 'A Whale': FlAces
Climate change skepticism ain't holocaust denial: PJM

Media

Happy Unbirthday, America: Simon
Is Krugman Heartless, Clueless or Confused (Pick One)?: LegalIns
Bitterly fractured: right-wingers, left-wingers and the folks who don't care: RWN

Why do liberals celebrate independence from the British at all since they now want to be just like them?: BlogProf
CNN/Money Does 100 Great Things About America: RWN
Democrats told to press Social Security fears over recess: TheHill

Breitbart Launches National Security News Site: BigPeace

World

Will Obama stand up to Chavez?: McCullough
What Obama Doesn't Understand About Zionism: AT
U.S. And Israel Further Divided: Obama Caves to Arabs, Stabs Ally In The Back Over Nukes: Dollard

SciTech

NASA Now Tasked With Building Muslim Self Esteem: RWN
Best Buy Wants to Fire Employee For His iPhone 4 vs. HTC EVO Video: C&S
Why The iPhone 4 Is "Really Bad News" For Mobile Carriers: Insider

Cornucopia

Can you imagine President Obama giving a speech like this one?: LegalIns
How Europeans Invented the Modern World: AT
Bush Derangement Syndrome: 4th of July Fireworks Edition: Malkin

Images: Astute Bloggers.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Joel Pollak for Congress: Kick Jan Schakowsky Out of Congress!


Sunday, July 04, 2010

Photo: July 4th at Turner Field

Papa B emails this photo from his iPhone:



Welcome to Indonesia, land of tolerance and one-time home to Barack Obama, where Muslims relentlessly attack Christians

Perhaps if the Christians would only stop their illegal occupation of uhm, Palestine... or something...

A banner with a picture of a young, bespectacled Christian man is draped in front of a mosque, a fiery noose around his neck and the words, "This man deserves the death penalty!"

Churches are shut down. And an Islamic youth militia held its first day of training.

Though the events all occurred less than nine miles (15 kilometers) from Indonesia's bustling capital, making headlines in local papers and dominating chats on social networking sites such as Facebook, they've sparked little public debate in the halls of power.

...Members of the Islamic Defenders Front, or FPI, have been known to smash bars, attack transvestites and go after minority sects with bamboo clubs and stones.

Now, they are targeting Christians in the fast-growing industrial city of Bekasi.

Outsiders have steadily poured into the Jakarta suburb in search of work, bringing with them their own religions, traditions and values. That has made conservative Islamic clerics nervous. Some have used sermons to warn their flock to be on the lookout for signs of proselytization.

So, when 14 busloads of villagers arrived on June 30 at the home of Henry Sutanto, who heads the Christian-run Mahanaim Foundation, rumors quickly spread that he and Andreas Sanau, the condemned man whose face appeared on the mosque banner, were planning a mass baptism.

... "He should be executed!" said Murhali Barda, who heads the Bekasi chapter of the FPI. "He tried to carry out mass baptisms!"

Days later, Barda's group joined nine others in recommending at a local congress that Bekasi mosques help set up youth militias to act as moral police and to intimidate Christians who are trying to convert Muslims.

They started training Saturday morning, about 100 young men turning out on a field wearing martial arts uniforms. Barda stressed there was no plan to arm them.

"We're doing this because we want to strike fear in the hearts of Christians who behave in such a way," he said. "If they refuse to stop what they're doing, we're ready to fight."

A regional leader of the Indonesian Muslim Forum, Bernard Abdul Jabbar, said the youths were given physical training and taught about Islam. "They will guard the Islamic faith and preach the right path to the people," he said.

...Mobs have forced shut two churches this year. Last month, a statue of three women was torn down by authorities after hundreds of hard-liners wearing skull caps and white robes took to the streets, claiming the monument symbolized the Holy Trinity.

Weeks earlier, black-clad youths attacked a Catholic-run school over an anonymous blogger's "blasphemous" website...

I blame Bush. Or the militant Quakers. I forget which.


Top 3 Reasons SCOTUS Nominee Elena Kagan Must Be Filibustered

 3   She believes that the government can abitrarily ban books and movies:

Elena Kagan argued on behalf of Citizens United essentially stating it would not be a violation of the First Amendment to have movies or even books banned. Of course, she only meant certain movies/books for specific times, but even so, I believe the point remains... all tyrants find a pretext for their tyranny. That tyranny may even begin with a humble, caring act, but one day we awake to find we have lost all freedom. When it comes to our rights, the freedom of speech is not one I am willing to mess around with. I could never support a Supreme Court nominee like Elena Kagan.

 2   She does not believe in The Bill of Rights -- and, in particular, the Second Amendment:

Kagan has spent her professional career implementing anti-gun initiatives as a clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall, as counsel for the Clinton Administration and as President Obama’s Solicitor General. Furthermore, Kagan’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee confirms a hostility to the idea that the 2nd Amendment is an individual right of all Americans incorporated against state action restricting that right. The fact of the matter is that Elena Kagan will vote to uphold every local, state and federal restriction of the right of Americans to 'keep and bear Arms...'

...When Kagan served the Clinton Administration, she showed a strong hostility to gun rights. The L.A. Times reported on may 11th of this year that Kagan “drafted an executive order restricting the importation of certain semiautomatic assault rifles.” Kagan’s political activism in implementing a gun control agenda was a political act, yet this nominee has yet to explain her constitutional justification for that executive order.

 1   She believes the federal government has unlimited, tyrannical power over the individual:

On Tuesday evening, Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) posed a hypothetical question to Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan: If Congress passed a law that said Americans "have to eat three vegetables and three fruits, every day ... does that violate the Commerce Clause?"

"Sounds like a dumb law," Kagan replied.

"Yeah, I got one that's real similar to it that I think is equally dumb," Coburn shot back, referring to Obamacare's mandate requiring individuals to buy health insurance. "I'm not going to mention which one it is."

Kagan wouldn't say whether or not she believes the Commerce Clause allows the federal government to pass a law requiring Americans to eat fruits and vegetables.

* * * * * * * * *

Banning books. Rejecting our God-given right to self-defense. Authorizing the federal government to mandate what you can eat.

If our nation's founders could see how close this woman is to a lifetime role on the Supreme Court, they would weep.

What can you do? For starters, call Lindsey Graham's office (in fact, call all six of his offices) and politely but firmly describe to his staffers the three reasons Kagan must be blocked. Ask for their email addresses and send them a link to this post. Ask for a commitment that Graham do everything in his power to block Kagan. Then call the rest of the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Her complete rejection of the Declaration and Constitution unquestionably disqualify her from a lifetime appointment to the nation's highest court.


Everyone Do Your Jazz Hands: Stripping Out Bureau of Labor Statistics' Fudge-Factors Reveals Real Unemployment Rate is 11.8%, not 9.5%

The invaluable Tyler Durden untangled the usual BLS statistical skulduggery to reveal a labor market on life support.

The only reason for the decline in the unemployment rate to 9.5% was yet another decline in the labor force participation rate, which according to the BLS dropped another 652k people in the month of June. This resulted in a labor force to the civilian non-institutional population ratio of 64.7%: the second lowest number in decades of data... As the chart below shows, the double dip in the labor force participation is now very much pronounced.

What this chart implies is that if there was a mean reversion to the last 10 year labor force participation average rate of 66.2%, there should be another 3.5 million jobless added to the 14.6 million tally. And as this differential is the easiest thing in the world for the BLS to fudge, adding the two and dividing by the labor force of 153,74, we get an unemployment rate of 11.8%, leaving aside all other such fudge factors are government hiring, temporary workers, birth death, etc.

Is it any wonder that the "scariest job chart ever" just got uglier?

The American people are truly feeling the powerful thrusts of The Obama Recovery™.


Larwyn's Linx: Independence Day 2010--Happy 234th Birthday, America!

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

Independence Day--Happy 234th Birthday, America: Malkin
Lindsey Graham: Ego Gets in the Way Of History: RWN
Capt. Pete Hegseth on Elena Kagan: RedState

The Supremes: Guns and the War on Christianity: Wolf
Preserving the America I Grew Up In: PJM
The Fourth of July and Progressive Overreach: AT

Economy

How many times can it be 'Unexpected'?: Instapundit
Stimulus pays for Mexican kids to get educated in U.S.: GWP
MSNBC’s Ratigan: Stock market ‘obviously corrupt’: RawStory

Regulating Corporate Speech, Chicago-Style: AmSpec
Uh Oh. Media Wakes Up to Dems' EconoFAIL: RWN
Stabenow: GOP is cruel to remind us of PayGo: BlogProf

Climate & Energy

Climate-obsessed sex poodle feels heat from press: Riehl
Media suddenly embracing Nixon: JWF
Growing Recognition: Gulf Response By Design: Hindenblog

Media

11 Reasons To Vote For Democrats in November: Glob
Get thee to a nuthouse: DPU
Think About It!: Hanson

Independence: Steyn
WaPo forgets to mention that writer is an Obama operative: RWN
Despite what the public schools may teach, Washington was no multi-culturist: AT

World

Of Mosques and Men: Wizbang
Navy warns Marines about Russian spy: Beware of women this hot: Hot Air
She Gave it All for Mother Russia: JWF

Our Declaration to the World: AT
A Tale of Two Allies: PJM
A Marxist Indictment of Capitalism: and why the Marxist is Wrong: RWN

SciTech

Microsoft Faces Android Abyss: CNet
'To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before': BlogFromOnHigh
CA: Sorry, Our Technology Does Not Do Spending Cuts: Riehl

Cornucopia

War Nerd: Gettysburg Was The Finest Fight Ever In The World: Exiled
Remember those who paid for our liberty in blood: AT
Lesnar weathers storm to submit Carwin: ESPN

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Contribute to Sharron Angle for U.S. Senate -- Defeat Harry Reid!

QOTD:

@TheBlackSphere: New Dem talking points: If u don't go to oily black beaches, ur RACISTS!


Saturday, July 03, 2010

The 20 Most Shocking Photos from the Gulf Spill -- All Censored By Our Beloved Legacy Media

It's Day 74 and President Barack Obama is laser-focused -- spending his every waking moment -- on the Gulf oil spill. Uhm, plus comprehensive immigration reform. And firing insolent general officers. Oh, and regulating CO2 emissions, too.

Although Obama appears to have ordered a media blackout of the Gulf disaster, a relative few shocking photos have leaked out thanks to enterprising area residents. You won't be seeing these in your local paper, that's for sure.




















Maybe after Key West, Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale are coated in oil, the President will begin paying attention.


Update: Spill continues to pump oil into Gulf, but White House successfully plugs leaks -- of information on websites, from journalists and local officials.