Tuesday, August 03, 2010

The Best Ideas to Save Our Beloved Newsweek Magazine: Hashtag #SaveNewsweekIdeas

Yes, it's true. The Democrat public relations rag known as Newsweek was just sold for the tidy sum of one dollar. The magazine had been hemorrhaging cash in recent years: "Revenue dropped 38 percent between 2007 and 2009, to $165 million... the business lost $32 million in 2008 and $39.5 million in 2009. Even after reducing headcount by 33 percent and slashing the number of issues printed and distributed to readers each week from 2.6 million to 1.5 million, the 2010 operating loss is still forecast at $20 million."

Thankfully, the perennially helpful cadre of conservatives on Twitter chimed in with scores of suggestions to save the DNC's official news-magazine.

MoRocca: To prevent further loss, engineers begin pumping heavy drilling mud into Newsweek offices
@directorblue: Include small number of golden tickets in each print run, winners to receive tour of Weehawken print shop
@directorblue: All articles printed in barcode to cram in more content

@directorblue: Create world's first fireproof magazine using asbestos newsprint
@directorblue: Include collectible kids stickers featuring faces of SEIU bosses
@RickSheridan: Kathleen Parker centerfold

@matthewrnewman: Use monkeys to recreate news of the day on the cover
@directorblue: Piggyback on popularity of 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' trilogy by adding umlauts to every letter 'u'
@directorblue: Add more hilarious, rolicking MediaMatters columnists

@jimmiebjr: Hire Ackerman to throw underperforming ad salesmen through a plate glass window
@iowahawkblog: Rename to Smug Self-Righteous Asshole Review to avoid reader confusion
@ExJon: Print on two-ply, absorbent paper stock

@chucksavga: Move fiendishly coded instructions to sleeper cells from p 95 to p 11. They never read that far.
@directorblue: Include bootleg DVD of a different first-run movie with every issue
@directorblue: Cram each issue with as many used automobile and apartment rental ads as will fit

@IronyNOW: Deal Fareed Zakaria for prospects, sign Stephen Strasburg
@directorblue: Photoshop incriminating photos of Simon Cowell with Snooki
@directorblue: Pay readers to buy magazines, make up shortfall with high volumes

@SamValley: Partner with Bird Fancy Magazine as the Cage-lining edition
@directorblue: Print on delicious, crunchy Nestle's rice paper
@directorblue: Rename to "Newsmonth", hire hip young writers like Ruth Marcus and Leonard Pitts

@Rschrim: Shark Week!
@Michael_Haz: Helen Thomas swimsuit issue.
@iowahawkblog: Have reporting staff spend more time in the field, selling roses at busy frontage road intersections

@RennaW: Fire 1 of 15 columnists each week based on reader votes, bizarre physical challenges
@iowahawkblog: exclusive deal for magazine rack monopoly in reader-packed Govt Motors recall center waiting rooms
@StarlessTwit: Tell readers, "I must break you," and hope they will be intimidated into subscribing.

@jd_nyc: Have Government force people to buy it. Apparently they can do that now.
@cuffperfunction: Rent out the storied Newsweek Mansion for sexy sexy JournoList parties
@Joe: Kristan Just keep sending same magazine, changing only date. Remaining readers have dementia anyway and won't notice.

@iowahawkblog: Get rid of the unpopular 'Newsweek' part of magazine
@DrewMTips: Cut out unnecessary middlemen and let Robert Gibbs write all stories on Obama Administration
@j4140: Promise smoother looking skin in just 10 issues


Priorities: Eric Holder Threatens Legal Action Against Sheriff Joe Arpaio While Illegal Alien, Freed Twice by Immigration, Kills Nun

Juxtapose the following two stories to illustrate the country's woes under Democrat leadership in microcosm.

1. Holder Threatens to Sue Arpaio

The Justice Department says an Arizona sheriff known for his efforts against illegal immigrants has refused to cooperate with a civil rights investigation and the department is threatening to sue... Since March 2009, the U.S. Justice Department has been investigating Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office in Phoenix for alleged discrimination and for unconstitutional searches and seizures. Arpaio says the inquiry is focused on his immigration efforts.

Rumor has it that Holder is upset that Arpaio has repeatedly interfered with the administration's efforts to increase the number of illegal aliens undocumented Democrats.

2. Illegal Immigrant Awaiting Deportation Charged With Killing Nun

The man charged in connection with the Sunday crash that took the life of a Bristow nun is an illegal alien who was out on bond awaiting a deportation hearing, police said Monday.

..."The despicable thing is that this criminal was … handed over to ICE twice, and released by ICE twice. He’s gone out an killed a nun. That’s a perfect example of what’s wrong with immigration enforcement in this country," said Stewart, who has drafted legislation for stricter illegal immigration laws statewide. "The blame is on representatives in Congress for being so flaccid on the issue, and they continue not to fund the deportation of illegal immigrants in this country."

While the administration pursues law enforcement for its efforts to protect American citizens, the invasion of illegals, drugs and arms continues unchecked, documented on film by a few brave patriots who tread where Eric Holder dares not.

When will Americans and Democrats (yes, I said it) demand that Obama and Holder enforce federal law?

Remember November.


Summer of Recovery Continues With the Worst Small Business Sentiment Index in American History; Tim Geithner Says Business Owners Are Lying

Mish relays the latest small business survey results from Wells Fargo and Gallup. I'll summarize the results in a single word: Obama.

The Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index -- which measures small-business owners' perceptions of six measures of their current operating environment and future expectations -- fell 17 points to -28 in July. This is its lowest level since the index's inception in August 2003.

Record Pessimism in Future Expectations

Most of the decline in the overall index came in the Future Expectations Dimension of the index, which measures small-business owners' expectations for their companies' revenues, cash flows, capital spending, number of new jobs, and ease of obtaining credit. The dimension fell 13 points in July to -2 -- the first time in the index's history that future expectations of small-business owners have turned negative...

...Big-firm earnings and global growth may drive profits on Wall Street, but small business is the major source of U.S. job creation. And most small-business owners are unlikely to hire as long as they are becoming increasingly uncertain about the revenues and cash flows of their companies in the months ahead.

With scores of new regulations on the horizon -- including health care, energy taxes, financial reform and increased personal taxes -- it's impossible for a business owner to forecast. And it's therefore equally impossible for a small business to hire.

Of course, the only Treasury Secretary in American history who couldn't operate TurboTax properly says that all of these business owners are lying.

...last week’s data on economic growth show that large parts of the private sector continue to strengthen. Business investment and consumption — the two keys to private demand — are getting stronger, better than last year and better than last quarter...

...The economic rescue package that President Obama put in place was essential to turning the economy around. The combined effect of government actions taken over the past two years — the stimulus package, the stress tests and recapitalization of the banks, the restructuring of the American car industry and the many steps taken by the Federal Reserve — were extremely effective in stopping the freefall and restarting the economy...

Geithner is an an unqualified propagandist who has fabricated a recovery from whole cloth.

Without small businesses generating jobs, there is no recovery.

Come to think of, Geithner fits in perfectly with the likes of Axelrod, Emanual and Obama: people who've never worked an honest job in their lives.


Larwyn's Linx: Democrats Deserve No Distance; John Ensign Needs to Go

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

Democrats Deserve No Distance: Blumer
I repeat: John Ensign needs to go away: Malkin
Pete Stark Raving Mad strikes again: Malkin

Utterly Shameless: Obama on Immigration: RWN
Wicked Sleazy: Obama's fundraiser for Giannoulis: Ace
Illegal awaiting deportation kills nun in car crash: GWP

Economy

Upon further review: ObamaCare looks even worse: Hassett
A Weird Sort of Depression: Hanson
Phoenix Rally for Secure Borders, Immigration Enforcement: RWN

Big Salaries in IL (If You Work for Government): RWN
Obama's war on low-income people trying to get ahead: Newmark
Leahy: we must fix financial reform bill I never read: BlogProf

Paul Krugman Gives Up: AT
Your Tax Dollars At Work: Coalition of the Swilling
Snooki bests Obama in Econ 101: Hindenblog

Climate & Energy

Must read: McKitrick on GHCN and the quality of climate data: WUWT
The Award-Winning Fantabulous Non-Net-Zero House: CBullitt

Media

True Bigots: The Razor
WaPo Unloads Newsweek for $1; Buyer Clearly Overpaid: Driscoll
Handicapping the House: VodkaPundit

Amanpour Deigns to Report on U.S. Politics, Flummoxed Pelosi’s Victories Are Unappreciated: NewsBusters
Dr. J helps the Gormogons, and the economy, recuperate: Gormogons
Booman Tribune Blood Libels Pamela Geller: AmPower

CNN Brings on Al Sharpton to Market Idea that Rangel Probe Is Racially Motivated: NewsBusters
Jamal Green: Why Am I a Conservative?: GWP
The Obama Aristocracy: AT

World

Giuliani On The Ground Zero Mosque: “This is a desecration”: Nice Deb
The exiled Cuban political prisoners Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean: Fausta
Banks on Europe's Edge Face $122 Billion Refinancing Bill: Bloomberg (the news service, not the idiot mayor)

Ban the Burqa: Cold Fury
The Mosque on Sacred American Ground: FSM
Europe's Lynch Mob Mentality: AT

SciTech

The sun sends a charged cloud hurtling our way: NewScientist
U.S. Spies Buy Stake in Firm That Monitors Blogs, Tweets: Wired
Android smartphone shipments surge 886 percent: CNet

Cornucopia

Teen trades old cell phone on Craigslist, gets Porsche: CNet
Alligator Feeding Frenzy: Parkway Rest Stop
The 20 Worst Swimsuits: Heavy (NSFW)

Images: Maktoob
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Drop a few bucks on Sharron Angle for U.S. Senate in Nevada

QOTD: "Based on the administration’s own numbers, as many as 117 million people might have to change their health plans by 2013 as their employer-provided coverage loses its grandfathered status and becomes subject to the new Obamacare mandates." -- Kevin Hassett


Monday, August 02, 2010

Judge rules Virgina's challenge of DemCare can proceed; measured response of White House includes toddler-style temper tantrum

Federal District Judge Henry Hudson ruled earlier today that Virginia's challenge of DemCare's 'individual mandate' can proceed, rejecting the Obama administration's claims that the states' lawsuits are 'frivolous'.

...the district court ruled that Virginia has standing to challenge the federal individual mandate provision, not primarily because it was acting its “parens patriae” capacity to prevent general harm to its citizens, but because it was acting to protect its own sovereign interest in enacting a state provision that conflicts with the federal statutory scheme...

...On the merits, we are surprised the judge took as much space to conclude that Virginia stated a valid cause of action, namely, that Congress had exceeded its constitutional authority with the individual mandate... The only question is whether Virginia stated a legal cause of action (or legal theory) that is cognizable in law.  Virginia certainly has at least a valid substantive theory to challenge the law, because someone with standing is always able to challenge the constitutionality of a statute on the ground that Congress has no constitutional authority to enact it, QED.  Indeed, we think Virginia ultimately should win on the merits, but it is even easier to show that the correct form of the argument was set forth in the complaint.  Nevertheless, unless the district court’s jurisdictional rulings are overturned, Judge Hudson’s discussion of the constitutional issues is somewhat instructive.  It shows he is not hostile or dismissive of Virginia’s claims, which is surely good for liberty.

The Obama administration responded with the kind of maturity that we've come to expect from the likes of David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs (or, as they're referred to in the White House, The Puppetmasters™).

Since the enactment of health reform legislation in March, several state Attorneys General have filed lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. Having failed in the legislative arena, opponents of reform are now turning to the courts in an attempt to overturn the work of the democratically elected branches of government. [Ed: Does the phrase 'budget reconciliation' ring a bell?]

...The Affordable Care Act falls well within Congress’s power to regulate under the Commerce Clause, the Necessary and Proper Clause, and the General Welfare Clause... [As does Congress' power to regulate your shower-head flow, toilet tank size, light bulbs, automobile engine type, and other personal aspects of your life -- like the Founders intended!]

...That’s why a number of groups representing breast cancer patients, children’s health advocates, people with disabilities, small businesses and others filed an amicus brief in support of the Affordable Care Act, citing evidence in seven states that “preexisting conditions provisions, absent a minimum coverage provision, are a failed experiment. At best, they result in premium increases. At worst, they can cause the total collapse of a state’s individual insurance market.” [Glad the Democrats never resort to the politics of fear!]

This administration is flat-out dishonest.

Cancer survival rates are higher in the U.S. than in any other country in the world. By far. And 75% of all medical and pharmaceutical innovation on the planet comes from our "broken" system.

At some point, the judiciary in this country -- even some of the more left-leaning judges -- are going to have had enough of Democrat whining, attempted intimidation and -- well, I'm too polite to say what I really think.

Suffice it to say that somewhere Hugo Chavez is beaming.


Five Bizarre Appliance Combinations

Don't tell anyone in Washington: the Democrats might go ahead and mandate these things.

5. LG offers the combination Microwave Oven & Toaster.

4. Hammacher Schlemmer doubles your pleasure with AM talk radio and toasted bagels in the morning.

3. No to be outdone at breakfast innovation, the geniuses in Tokyo have created the 'Coffee-and-Egg Toastenator.'

2. You're not imagining things: this really is the In-Sink Dishwasher from KitchenAid. And if you have to ask how much it costs, well, I'll tell you: about $1,800.00.

1. Lastly, the "Washup" looks like something Al Gore could have dreamed up. Not for himself, mind you, but for the little people. The "gray water" used to wash your clothes is reused to flush the toilet.

Just don't drop the load after you've -eh- dropped a load. If you get my drift.


Hat tip: My Bad Pad.

'This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow...'

"This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal." -- Barack Obama, 3 June 2008

In the late nineties, members of the UN's International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) were tasked with assessing the scientific validity of the Kyoto Protocol.

The Protocol was an international emissions reduction treaty which required signatories to cut overall greenhouse gas emissions.

The IPCC subsequently produced the Special Report on Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry.

The report found that "carbon offsets" and "carbon trading" were viable ways to barter the right to pollute, because they would fund new forestry initiatives.

But one critical detail was never disclosed in the report.

That is: members of the IPCC, such as Pedro Moura-Costa (above) and Gareth Philips, had major conflicts-of-interest. They owned, created and/or worked for businesses -- such as Ecosecurities and SGS Forestry -- that would directly profit from the report's conclusions.

In fact, the IPCC panel members' companies were positioned to earn millions of dollars from the report. But the mainstream media did not report these conflicts and instead piled on the "global warming" and "carbon offset" bandwagons.

The carbon offset market quickly exploded. And, just as quickly, it became the subject of rampant allegations of fraud.

In 2009 the market was estimated to be $100 billion; it was so rife with questionable trading that the United Nations suspended the world's largest auditor of 'clean-energy' projects.

Put simply, a wide range of respected scientists, environmentalists, researchers, agriculturalists, and activists believe that carbon offsets are a "scam", "fantasy", "fiction", "nonsense", "fraudulent" and worse. And they've been saying so since 2000, though to read the daily fish-wrap you wouldn't know it.

The World Rainforest Movement, for example, investigated these bizarre financial ties and concluded that the IPCC report must "...be shelved due to their clear conflict of interest and a new report instigated which will be free of the taint of intellectual corruption."

To demonstrate the fraudulence of the carbon offset market, one need only request quotes from various carbon offset sellers. The price for offseting a flight from London to Toronto and back?
  • $85: from Climate Care (UK), which says 6 tons of CO2 must be offset.
  • $60: Carbon Neutral (UK), which says 4.3 tons of CO2 must be offset.
  • $195: Climate Friendly (Australia) asserts that 11.63 tons of CO2 must be offset.
  • $180: Green Seat (Netherlands) says 8.68 tons of CO2 must be offset.
Executive Summary: they're all making it up as they go along.

Whether you believe the world is warming or cooling, there is no arguing Democrats want more expensive energy for American citizens.

All that said, the real problem — and the reason Pelosi really does deserve blame — is that Democrats’ political goal of reducing carbon emissions continues to trump their populist rhetoric on gasoline prices. The two stances are impossible to reconcile. Try as they might to blame oil companies for the pain Americans feel at the pump, the Democrats want higher prices for gasoline — and for all forms of energy that emit carbon. Economic barriers against CO2 emissions are a requirement for environmental progress in the Democrats’ view, and this is the entire purpose of the carbon cap-and-trade system... to create economic disincentives for emitting CO2.

Because of the falsity of its premise, cap-and-trade is intended to do one thing: allow Democrats to control industrial policy.

It all comes back to carbon offsets, which represent the currency for the "global warming" scam promoted by the UN's IPCC and the Democrat Statists in Washington.

Whether it's through unelected bureaucrats at the EPA, outright cap-and-trade, or John Kerry's 'compromise' climate plan, the economic toll on Americans will be devastating. Even in the latter case, estimated GDP losses of $2.1 trillion and consumer electricity price increases of up to 42% are estimated in less than two decades' time.

Democrats want to control your life. Your health. Your private property. And they don't care what kind of scam they use to justify it.

Remember in November.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

'Non-partisan' Democrat front group Media Matters tacitly approves of Oliver Stone's hate speech; racism just hunky dory for Obama backers

I've waited over a week for the so-called media watchdog site Media Matters to report upon Oliver Stone's recent hate speech. You may recall that Stone, an avowed Marxist who -- curiously -- enjoys living in the lap of Capitalist luxury, spouted off some unbelievably hateful invective to a UK newspaper.

Mr. Stone promised that his new series would put "in context" and "show empathy" for people many Americans hate, like Hitler and Stalin. In an interview with London's Daily Telegraph, Mr. Stone said that Jewish deaths during World War II had to be viewed "in proportion," since "Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than the Jewish people."

When asked why so much attention is paid to the Holocaust, Mr. Stone blamed "Jewish domination of the media." The Jewish lobby in the United States, he said, was "the most powerful lobby in Washington" and had "[expletive deleted] up United States foreign policy for years."

Media Matters' silence on this racist screed is indeed curious. Let an 18-year old intern at Fox News splice the wrong crowd shot into a news report or a talk radio commentator misattribute a quote from the Baron de Montesqueiu, and the Democrat front group breathlessly reacts with dozens of paragraphs dedicated to the falsity of conservatism, the Constitution and America's founding.

But we watch in wonderment as one of the Left's heroes espouses an appreciation for the misunderstood genius of genocidal barbarians -- and Media Matters clams up tighter than a Tokyo subway car at rush hour after Michael Moore waddles on board.

If Media Matters is non-partisan, then so is Keith Olbermann, since he cribs so many of the same stories from the DNC teleprompter.

Hopefully it won't be long 'til the IRS launches a much-deserved investigation into this front group's abuse of the taxpayer through its supposed 'non-partisan, non-profit' status and, accordingly, its byzantine sources of funding.


Larwyn's Linx: The War on Terror at the Mexican Border

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

Nation

The War on Terror at the Mexican Border: AT
Ethics Enforcement Is Rrrrrrrrrracist: RWN
AZ Sheriff: ‘Our Own Government Has Become Our Enemy’: CNS

Phoenix Rally for Secure Borders: Moonbattery
Dems face new ethics charges: WashExam
Barbara Boxer Supports Slightly Modified Infanticide: VS

Economy

Berwick: This Will Make You Sicker: AT
Dems won’t repeal 1099 provision in ObamaCare: Hot Air
Obama spending millions to build insurance exchanges: CNS

Krugman Liberals vs. Sanity: RWN
Recovery Slumber: Consumers Stop Consuming: GWP
Voters want supersized government to crash diet: Barone

Climate & Energy

Poison Pill: The New Senate Energy Bill: AT
The Value of a Volt: Doc Zero
Is America's West Doomed to Drought?: RWN

Media

WaPo: What don't you understand about 'It's Not Your Money'?: LegalIns
L.A. Times Publishes Another Deceptive Anti-Breitbart Piece: Patterico
Shirley Sherrod and the Race Grievance Industry: AT

'Illegitimate News Organization' Moves to the Front Row: Malkin
Jonathan Strong Cracks Open the Journolist: Driscoll
Professor T. Coddington Van Bainbridge: Goodness, It’s So Embarrassing to be a Conservative Nowadays!: Patterico

NY Times: That Missouri ObamaCare Referendum Tuesday Is Meaningless: RWN
The Party of the Rich: Simon
44% Expect Tax Increase Under Obama: BlogProf

World

July the deadliest month of Afghan war for US: WashExam
Jihadi Killer of the Day: WZ
Israeli warplanes hit Gaza after new attack: Maktoob

Cuba Says It’s Planning on Scaling Back Its Communist Economic System…: WZ
CAIR's Tactics, Cordoba House, and The Park51 Islamic Community Center: Anti-CAIR
Anyone Missing a Pig??: WZ

SciTech

What's On Your iPhone?: RWN
BlackBerry users in Gulf face services ban: Maktoob
What you need to know to lower blood pressure: Maktoob

Cornucopia

Chelsea Morning on the Rhine : MOTUS
Ronald Reagan's Collected Jokes on the Soviet Union: SAB
The Mystery of the Racist 'Tea Party' Comics: Ace

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: J. D. Hayworth for U.S. Senate


Sunday, August 01, 2010

The exquisite combination of Democrat leadership and public sector union bosses: East St. Louis police layoffs to let the criminals 'run wild'

It's happened in Oakland and in Cleveland. Now East St. Louis is paying the price for decades of unsustainable liberal policies.

Joseph Tracy said he’s tired of going to funerals. And now, he suspects he’ll be going to more of them... "It’s open field day now," said Tracy, the pastor of Straightway Baptist Church here. "The criminals are going to run wild."

Gang activity. Drug dealing. Cold-blooded killing. Tracy worries that a decision to shrink the police force by almost 30 percent will bring more of everything... The pastor voiced his concern on Friday at a raucous special City Council meeting at which East St. Louis Mayor Alvin Parks announced that the city will layoff 37 employees, including 19 of its 62 police officers, 11 firefighters, four public works employees, and three administrators. The layoffs take effect on Sunday.

Why were such dramatic steps needed? Take a guess.

City officials wanted police and fire unions to accept a furlough program that would have required employees to take two unpaid days in each twice monthly pay period. If accepted, emergency responders would have seen a pay cut of about 20 percent for the rest of the year.

Parks said the two sides couldn’t reach an agreement...

East St. Louis has been crippled by crime and poverty for decades... The police already rely on other agencies to handle some of the heavy case load. For example, the Illinois State Police routinely work on the city’s homicide investigations.

...Worries about East St. Louis’ crime rate got little sympathy from Councilman Roy Mosley, who gave a 10-minute speech on Friday blasting the city’s police officers.

"We don’t have the money," Mosley said. "You lay off when you don’t have the money. The money’s gone." ...Mosley complained that police officers take patrol cars home, park them in other jurisdictions, and misuse the city’s gasoline.

...The union plans to fight the layoffs and work to get the jobs back.

Mish puts the insanity in stark terms:

"...the union does not care how much blood is spilled as long as its senior officers get paid. Let's do the math. 19 layoffs out of a force of 62 is a massive 30+% layoff. Where is the sense of comradeship? Where is the share the pain fellowship? The union is willing to toss 30% of its membership to the dogs. That's what this has come down to."

Worse still: these are the same kind of out-of-control public sector union bosses -- like Andy Stern -- that control the White House and the Democrat Party.