Thursday, July 22, 2010

Larwyn's Linx: Dealergate, Social Justice and Obama's Job-Killing Machine

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

Dealergate, Social Justice and the Obama Job-Killing Machine: Malkin
The Manchurian Listserve: Driscoll
Former DOJ Attorney vs. Power Line on Panthergate: PJM

What the NAACP/Tea Party Battle is Really About: AT
ShoreBank: Is there a Rezko connection?: Pollak
Leftists at Loyola: Rove Blocked From Speaking: RWN

Have We Forgotten Everything MLK Taught Us?: RWN
Reaction: the Journolist Revelations: Caller
ACORN assaults bank in Missouri: BigGovt

Economy

Financial 'Reform' Could Cost U.S. Companies $1T: AmSpec
Obama's NLRB member voting on cases related to SEIU: AT
"I'd Rather Fish": Cold Fury

Race Played Role in Obama Car Dealer Closures: AT
It’s Not Health Care ‘Reform’; It’s Exploitation: PJM
Of course Obama's a socialist: AT

Climate & Energy

Thousands of Obama’s drilling moratorium victims rally in Louisiana: Malkin
Dems Attempt to Blame Shift Oil Spill to Cheney: RWN
Oil Spill 'Cleanup' in China: S&L

Media

When McCain picked Palin, liberal journalists coordinated the best line of attack: Caller
Liberal journalists colluded to paint tea party protesters as Nazis: BlogProf
Obamagasms on V-O Day at JournoList: Malkin

My take on the Daily Caller Journolist revelations: Toldjah
CBS's Attkisson Finally Exposes Fannie Mae's Dirty Laundry: B&MI
Wanna Fight? How About Sushi at Three Paces?: Ledeen

Note to White House: Stop Obsessing With Fox News: RWN
Dems buy $5.2MM in airtime for November: Hill
List of Known Journolist Journalists: AT

World

Welcome to Hezboland: GoV
Zakir Naik: "Peace TV"'s Calls for Terrorism: Hudson
Alaska pair pleads guilty to lying about hit list: Breitbart

Stunner. Obama’s PLO Buddy Raising Cash For ‘Audacity of Hope’ Ship to Bust Gaza Blockade: GWP
Obama's Failing Presidency: AT

SciTech

Mystery of TWA Flight 800 Lives On: AIM
Details of the first ever control system worm: CNet
'Legal highs': a law enforcer's nightmare: SMH

Cornucopia

Mother of the Week: C&S
Crazed Sex Poodle Has Apparently Tried To Hump More Than One Masseuse’s Leg: RWN
Swing Shift Cinderella: C&S

Hap tip: W.
Images: Barking Crayon.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: JD Hayworth for Senate


Wednesday, July 21, 2010

State Welcome Signs -- As They Should Be

Papa B offers more of his politically incorrect fare.















Der Joürnolist: The Media Scorecard

All you need to know about Der Joürnolist can be gleaned from Dougie's exclusive Scorecard. Here's who you can trust -- and who you can't. Here are the folks reporting -- and not reporting -- on Der Joürnolist Scandal:

• ABC: None
• American Thinker: Forget the Whistleblowers! WaPo Management Owns the Journolist
• Bloomberg: None
• CBS: Debunking the Journolist “Conspiracy” (Chait)
• CNN: None
• Fox: Report: Journalists Debated Whether Government Should Shut Down Fox News
• Investors Business Daily: The Smoking Gun For Media Bias
• MSNBC: None
• NBC: None
• New York Post: Steering the Press
• New York Times: None
• NPR: None
• Washington Examiner: First came Climategate, now it’s JournoList; Who’s next for an email scandal?
• Washington Post: Nothing to See Here, Just Move Along Folks (Klein)
• Washington Times: Inside the Beltway

I have a suspicion that Tucker Carlson's biggest revelations are yet to come.

In which case, readers of the Wrinkled Gray Lady and viewers of NBC will find themselves shocked when their favorite commentators are suddenly and unexpectedly forced to resign.


Breaking: Media Cabal Buries News of Media Cabal

Scandal? What scandal? Dan from New York writes:

Don't blame yourself if you haven't heard about the JournoList conspiracy and its activities on behalf of Barack Hussein Obama. It just means you're still getting your "news" from the One-Party Media.

WSJ, Notable & Quotable, July 21, 2010


John Fund discusses how members of the liberal email group JournoList attempted to control media coverage of Barack Obama.

John Fund writing yesterday in the Journal's Political Diary e-newsletter:

From 2007 until last month, some 300 liberal journalists and policy wonks exchanged ideas and commentary on a secret, off-the-record Internet email group called JournoList. It was shut down after portions leaked, leading to the resignation of Washington Post writer David Weigel last month over his intemperate criticism of conservatives he was covering.

But someone who belonged to JournoList continues to leak information from its archives, providing a fascinating glimpse into how some liberal journalists coordinate their story lines to protect their favorite politicians and ideas. The Daily Caller website reports that at several times during the 2008 presidential race, "employees of news organizations including Time, Politico, the Huffington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Guardian, Salon and the New Republic participated in outpourings of anger over how [Barack] Obama had been treated in the media, and in some cases plotted to fix the damage."

Some of the comments will no doubt revive conservative allegations of a liberal news media conspiracy. Spencer Ackerman, then of the Washington Independent, now at Wired, urged fellow journalists to kill the story of Mr. Obama's ties to the controversial Revered Jeremiah Wright by going after some of his critics. "Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares—and call them racists," he urged. "What is necessary is to raise the cost on the right of going after the left. In other words, find a rightwinger's [sic] and smash it through a plate-glass window. Take a snapshot of the bleeding mess and send it out in a Christmas card to let the right know that it needs to live in a state of constant fear. Obviously I mean this rhetorically."

Chris Hayes of the Nation magazine urged "those in the ostensible mainstream media" who were on the list to ignore the Rev. Wright story. He insisted the real issue had nothing to do with Mr. Obama's pastor and instead "has everything to do with the attempts of the right to maintain control of the country."

Apparently, many on JournoList had an agenda that had little to do with covering legitimate news stories, but instead were concerned with protecting their friends and trying to ensure they had "control of the country."

###

Now that the cockroaches' temporary home has been exposed to the light of day, JournoList is kaput. But the cockroaches will survive. Expect them to scurry into a dank cellar before regrouping somewhere else.

False accusations of racism. Suppression and censorship of news deemed unacceptable. Endlessly marketing a big government, Statist agenda. Tacit, overt support for government control of nearly every facet of human life.

Forget the liberal media. Consider them the fascist media.


Exclusive Transcript: Lindsey Graham's Secret Meeting With Joe Biden

Mark Levin reported yesterday that Senator Lindsey Graham (r-SC) quietly met with VP Joe Biden last week for several hours. This occurred, of course, just before Graham's crucial vote on Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. Fortunately, Cub Reporter Biff Spackle had earlier disguised himself as a caddy and was able to plant a tiny webcam on the Presidential golf party earlier in the day. What you are about to see is real. So freakin' real, you'll think you're going crazy.

Lindsey... WHUSSUPPPPPP?

Joe, been a long time. You're livin' the high life, up heah with President Obama?

Damn straight, home slice. Snap your fingers and literally anyone in the world is at my beck and call within minutes. Like you.

Which brings me to our meeting today. The reason I wanted to speak to you today is --

Closing Gitmo? Global warming legislation? Amnesty for illegals? You know I aim to please. I'm the post-partisan conservative Republican!

(Man, talking to this rube, I finally feel like Alvin Einstein) No, Lin, it's the Kagan nomination. You've got the key vote on getting her out of committee, 'cause all the other Repuglicans said they'd vote no.

Joe, you know you can count on me. I'll do anything to get on camera. You need me to clean the president's ashtrays? Conduct a Congressional investigation of Lindsey Lohan?

I'll do it all. You know I need the face-time: the more I get on ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and MSNBC, the better my chances for reelection. Or even a Presidential run of my own someday!

That's using your head, Lin. Plus we can guarantee a good writeup with all the major papers: we just distribute a press release on Journolist and *poof* it's everywhere!

Not to worry, Joe Joe. This Kagan seems like a real judicial heavyweight to me. A real breath of fresh air. Supports the military and believes in the Constitution. This is a no-brainer. You didn't even have to ask.

But there is just one other thing...

You name it, Lin!

If anything happens to me in the next election, for any reason, I want President Obama to name me Secretary of Bipartisanship. Create a new cabinet position where I can influence more Republicans to be moderates. And more Democrats to be further left.

Hmmm.... that's the kind of role we could really get behind. Tell you what. Let me talk to Barack after he gets back from the country club and we'll discuss it. Now get the hell out of here, you big goofball, and I'll see you on Call of Duty in a couple of hours.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Larwyn's Linx: Liberal Journalists Suggested Feds Shut Down Fox News

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The Journolist Conspiracy

Liberal Journalists Suggested Feds Shut Down Fox News: Caller
Yes, Liberal Journalists Did Manipulate The 2008 Election: LegalIns
The One-Party Media: Power Line

Journolist to the rescue!: AnBlackCon
‘Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, Who Cares? Call Them Racists’: PJM
Flashback 2008: CNN’s ‘Rev. Wright-Free Zone’: NewsBusters

Nation

Bulletin From the Front: Morris
The Case Against the New Black Panthers: NRO
Race Card Fraud: Sowell

Finding Our Inner Maximus: AT
FBI: Times Square Bomb Could Have 'Killed Thousands': Fox
Pro-Israel group attacks Democrat Sestak: Caller

Economy

Why does Ken Salazar hate our economy?: Malkin
Kaus: Unions Own the Democrat Party: Reason
Saint Shirley's $13M settlement against the FDA: AmPower

Obama's FDR-like Bait-and-Switch: RWN
Hobbling a Housing Recovery: AT
Some Cali civil servants make nearly $1MM/year: Hot Air

Media

Sherrod Blames NAACP for Resignation: Anchoress
Eleanor Clift: Palin is Buchanan in Drag: RWN
Credibility Problems at the Washington Post: Blogger Fabricates Content of Reza Kahlili Speech on Iran: PJM

Journolisters' Plot to Stifle 2008 Rev. Wright Coverage Not the First Example of Proven Media Coordination: NewsBusters
Michigan Blogger/Activist Chetly Zarko Dead At Age 39. RIP My Friend...: BlogProf
April 28th, 2008: CNN’s Longest Day: Driscoll

World

Kagan: A Large Foot in the Door for Sharia Finance: GoV
Iranian Revolt Against Khamenei Begins?: Ledeen
Return to the KGB? New powers given to Russia's security agency: AP

Palin Rightly Rejects Ground Zero Mosque; Bloomberg and Aide Reject Her. And Sanity: RWN
America's Fast Track to the Third World: AT
Nobody Has a 'Right' to Charity: RWN

SciTech

Military tech slowly approaching awesomeness of Death Star weaponry: Hot Air
Survey: Facebook fails at customer satisfaction: CNet
Apple's $15.7 billion in revenue is highest ever: CNet

Cornucopia

Gumby wore shoes: on the moon: MOTUS
Obama's Hidden Arizona Agenda: Langbert
I'll Take a Cashier's Check, Mr. Breitbart: IowaHawk

Images: Maktoob
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: J.D. Hayworth for U.S. Senate: NO MORE RINOs!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The Behavior of Women, Explained by Engineers

The Mistress-in-Chief sent this one in:







Sah-weet! Not Only Did Clinton Cronies Destroy Fannie Mae While Sucking Down $200MM in Compensation, They Got Countrywide Sweetheart Mortgages, Too!

In September of 2008, no less an authority than William Jefferson Clinton admitted the culpability of Democrats in destroying the financial system: "I think that the responsibility that the Democrats have may rest more in resisting any efforts by the Republicans and the Congress or by me when I was President to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."

Clinton understandably downplays his role. Aside from appointing Andrew Cuomo and Janet Reno, who helped usher in the subprime era, other Clinton apparatchiks served in key roles managing Fannie and Freddie.

Consider Clinton's Deputy A.G. Jamie Gorelick. Though she had no training or experience in finance, Gorelick was appointed the Vice Chairman of Fannie Mae and served in the role from 1997 to 2003. During that six-year period, she earned over $26 million.

During Gorelick's tenure, Fannie suffered a $10 billion accounting scandal, an ominous harbinger of its looming troubles. One of the falsified transactions helped FNMA hit earnings targets for 1998, which triggered bonuses for top executives including nearly $800,000 to Gorelick.

Put simply "Jamie Gorelick was one of the Fannie executives who benefited from inflated bonuses based on Enron-style accounting."

In 2002 Business Week interviewed Gorelick concerning the health of Fannie Mae. She responded, "We believe we are managed safely. We are very pleased that Moody's gave us an A-minus in the area of bank financial strength -- without a reference to the government in any way. Fannie Mae is among the handful of top-quality institutions."

Less than a year later regulators "accused Fannie Mae of improper accounting to the tune of $9 billion in unrecorded losses."

Other Democrats were the top recipients of Fannie Mae's money-dispensing leaf-blower, with Chris Dodd (D-CT), Barack Obama (D-IL) and John Kerry (D-MA) claiming the top three slots.

Four Clinton cronies pulled down nine figures in total compensation together from Fannie Mae:

  • Franklin Raines ($90 million in compensation)
  • Daniel Mudd ($59 million)
  • Jamie Gorelick ($26 million)
  • James Johnson ($21 million)
But that's not all.

Earlier today, Politico reported that this same quartet hit the trifecta. Not only did they leave the taxpayers holding a trillion-dollar check through their mismanagement and skulduggery... not only did they take outrageous paychecks while ruining the company... they also appear to have received the "Chris Dodd" sweetheart mortgage deals from Countrywide, the bankrupt lynch-pin of the meltdown.

Employees at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — including top executives — received 173 cut-rate loans from Countrywide Financial, according to a congressional probe... ...The investigation... also identifies Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson, former CEO Franklin Raines, former Vice Chairman Jamie Gorelick and Mudd as having received loans as part of the “Friends of Angelo” program — named for former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo. The executives were previously identified as being part of the embattled lender’s loan program but have denied knowing that they were singled out by the lender. Johnson alone received $10 million in loans, according to the letter.

Countrywide Financial collapsed in 2008 and its assets were absorbed by Bank of America.

Gorelick, now employed by the same Wilmer-Hale law firm that helps defend Gitmo detainees, emailed Politico after the story broke today and claimed the loan "looked like a market rate, the loan had standard fees, and no one ever indicated that I was being given a discounted rate... I used a widely available courtesy line for efficient handling but did not seek or expect a discounted rate."

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

And Hillary Clinton's got a nice real estate deal for you to invest in -- it's called Whitewater and it has a ton of potential.

These people are so crooked you can open wine bottles with 'em.


A trip through the archives: the agitprop the Journolist conspiracy produced

By now you've probably heard about the cabal of liberal journalists (but I repeat myself) who conspired to salvage Senator Obama's presidential campaign in 2008. After Fox News uncovered videos of Obama's longtime friend and pastor, Jeremiah Wright, directing racist and anti-American screeds from the pulpit, the campaign appeared to be foundering.

Journolist, Ezra Klein's private mailing list, provided the venue for journalists from Time, Politico, the Puffington Toast, the Baltimore Sun, the Guardian, Salon, the New Republic, and other outlets to orchestrate a rescue operation on several noteworthy fronts:

• To label conservative journalists 'racists' for reporting the news; and
• To suppress any discussion of Wright's disgusting rhetoric.

In fact, the conversations on Journolist went far beyond what most reasonable Americans might imagine among those claiming the mantle of "journalists".

Thomas Schaller, a columnist for the Baltimore Sun as well as a political science professor, upped the ante from there. In a post with the subject header, “why don’t we use the power of this list to do something about the debate?... “It would create quite a stir, I bet, and be a warning against future behavior of the sort..."

...[The Nation's Chris] Hayes urged his colleagues – especially the straight news reporters who were charged with covering the campaign in a neutral way – to bury the Wright scandal...

[The Washington Independent's] Spencer Ackerman [was resigned to defending Obama and Wright, stating:] "Part of me doesn’t like this s*** either... But what I like less is being governed by racists and warmongers and criminals... It’s not necessary to jump to Wright-qua-Wright’s defense. What is necessary is to raise the cost on the right of going after the left. In other words, find a rightwinger’s [sic] and smash it through a plate-glass window. Take a snapshot of the bleeding mess and send it out in a Christmas card to let the right know that it needs to live in a state of constant fear. Obviously I mean this rhetorically."

"...take one of them — Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists. Ask: why do they have such a deep-seated problem with a black politician who unites the country? What lurks behind those problems? This makes *them* sputter with rage, which in turn leads to overreaction and self-destruction."

All of this is some damning stuff, but I wondered: what kind of articles did legacy media run in the immediate aftermath of the conspiracy? Did Journolist really have an impact?

It took but a few moments to find the template: Kevin Merida's May 2008 article in WaPo -- alleging all sorts of racism against Obama and his campaign workers -- to pick up the meme.

• 05/24/2008 Salon: How much will white racism hurt Obama?
• 05/23/2008 CBS: Obama's wife remains fair game for GOP
• 05/19/2008 Washington Post: Clinton Quiet About Own Radical Ties; Faulting of Obama Called Hypocritical
• 05/18/2008 Times-Union: Obama helps transcend racism
• 05/15/2008 NewsHounds: Master (race) baiter O'Reilly still rampaging after Syracuse professor
• 05/13/2008 Washington Post: Racist Incidents Give Some Obama Campaigners Pause
• 05/11/2008 Herald-Mail: Old racial hate phrased a new way
• 05/06/2008 Evening Standard: Racism and the threat of assassination haunt Barack's historic achievement
• 05/05/2008 Black Star News: Conservative Media Duplicity; George Will’s Big Obama Lie
• 05/01/2008 CBS: Michelle Obama: "Voters Are Tired Of This"
• 04/31/2008 Leonard Pitts: Let us face the ugly truth of racism
• 04/28/2008 BBC: Obama's pastor defends comments
• 04/26/2008 USA Today: Obama's ex-pastor: Comments taken out of context
• 04/26/2008 Newsweek: With Barack Obama, it's about much more than just race.
• 04/25/2008 Globe & Mail: Are Rust Belt race relations working against Obama?
• 04/21/2008 NPR: Appalachia the Scapegoat for America's Racism

So if you didn't know the media was dead, the Daily Caller's report just printed the obituary.

Which raises -- once again -- the question: what other stories has the media suppressed?

Like the Khalidi tape: recall that the Los Angeles Times has yet to release the tape (or even a transcript) of Barack Obama's speech at the banquet for PLO member Rashid Khalidi.

I have a new name for the mainstream media. I shall call it, from this point forward, the laughingstock media. They're unworthy of any contemplation above and beyond that which I'd devote to The Daily Show.

Oh, and Spencer Ackerman, if that is your real name, don't let me catch you on the street lest I be tempted to bust your head through a plate-glass window, take a snapshot of the bleeding mess and send it out in a Christmas email to Journolist.

Obviously I mean this rhetorically.


Lindsey Graham's shocking admission: I've got a skull full of stupid

Lindsey Graham has a blunt admission for Republicans.

Elena Kagan now has at least one Republican vote for confirmation to the Supreme Court: that of Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who said Tuesday that she was not someone he would have chosen "but the person who did choose – President Obama – I think chose wisely."

So... if Obama chose wisely... and you would not have chosen her... then that makes your choice... something other than wise.

I'm taking up a collection for 2014. Call it the Graham Cracka Fund.


Update: RINO Lindsey Graham Is Lone Republican to Vote For Kagan