Thursday, August 12, 2010

Larwyn's Linx: Enough -- Blago, Jesse Jr. and Democrats' Summer of Corruption

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Nation

••••••••• Enough ••••••••• : Corner
What the Colorado primary results really mean: Barone
Compassionate, feeling, caring Democrats: Babalu

Summer of Corruption: Blago and Jesse Junior: Malkin
Schools Erase America From U.S. History: GWP
It’s Come to This: Democrat Bashes Obama/Pelosi: RWN

DNC spokesman: pro wrestling is totally real!: Troglopundit
Clinton Backing Away from Sesktak Story?: Hot Air
The Obsolescence of Barack Obama: WSJ

Economy

Democrats Loot Food Stamp Fund; Cut Military; Bail Out Teachers: RWN
Irony: $26-Billion Bailout To States Helps Pay For Illegal Immigration: Kesler
Uh-oh: Housing Prices to Drop 30% More By 2014?: BlogProf

Summer of No Recovery: AT
Obama July Deficit Tops Bush Deficit For All of 2007: GWP
Memo to GOP: It's Big Government, Stupid!: NRO

Climate & Energy

Al Gore: 'The United States Government as a Whole Has Failed Us' on Global Warming: B&MI

Media

Washington Post Has Watergate Scandal of Its Own: AIM
Charlie Gasparino: GE Execs Encouraged CNBC Staff to Go Easy on Obama: NewsBusters
Why Are Liberals So Ashamed Of What They’ve Done Since Obama Got Into Office?: RWN

Manufacturing Liberals: AT
ABC's George Stephanopoulos Hits Michelle Malkin With White House Spin on Dem Corruption: NewsBusters
Heartland bankers blast D.C. 'demagogues': Cashill

World

Taxpayers Funding Mosque Construction: Pundette
We Muslims know the Ground Zero mosque is meant to be a deliberate provocation: Ottawa Citizen
The WikiLeaks Hoax, Part I: PJM

No Time To Scrimp On Defense: IBD
Daisy’s Con: Ground Zero Mosque Imam’s Wife Tells Whopper About Me: Wafa Sultan
Sharia Science: Journey To The Center Of Time: CBullitt

Jeffrey Goldberg Probes Israel's Iran Strike Option: Is Netanyahu a "Bomber Boy"?: WashNote
Siddique Watch: Biased BBC
If Obama were President in 1941, we’d have lost WW2: EternityRoad

SciTech

Report: Official Twitter share button on the way: CNet
Leaked Verizon Road Map Screams Android, Android, Android: CRN
Cops Love iPhone Data Trail: Sun-Times

Cornucopia

It's the Dad Life: COTM
Disguised Weapons: Don't Even Reply (NSFW)
We The People: NosPopulus

Let Them Eat King Cake: MOTUS
Motorist Finds Way to Thank Obama Voters: Sharp Elbows
Investigating You: RWN

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Allen West for U.S. Congress


Wednesday, August 11, 2010

CNN Poll: 68% of American Voters Oppose Ground Zero Mosque

Dan from New York:

CNN Poll: 68% of American Voters Oppose Ground Zero Mosque


BY John McCormack

August 11, 2010

CNN polls registered voters on the Ground Zero mosque:

As you may know, a group of Muslims in the U.S. plan to build a mosque two blocks from the site in New York City where the World Trade Center used to stand. Do you favor or oppose this plan?

The response:

Favor 29%
Oppose 68%
No opinion 3%

So, according to the Center for American Progress, two out of every three voters are un-American bigots.

I can only imagine that voters would be even more opposed to the U.S. government's funding of the Ground Zero Mosque imam's Middle East junket.

Think about it: President Obama voted "present" on the Ground Zero mosque.

And although he's been curiously silent on the topic, his State Department's appointment of Rauf says it all.

Dude.


Summer of Recovery: 'The IMF has... pronounced the U.S. bankrupt'

For your consideration, an eclectic montage of upbeat economic stories:

U.S. Is Bankrupt and We Don't Even Know It: Laurence Kotlikoff


Let’s get real. The U.S. is bankrupt. Neither spending more nor taxing less will help the country pay its bills.

What it can and must do is radically simplify its tax, health-care, retirement and financial systems, each of which is a complete mess. But this is the good news. It means they can each be redesigned to achieve their legitimate purposes at much lower cost and, in the process, revitalize the economy.

Last month, the International Monetary Fund released its annual review of U.S. economic policy... the IMF has effectively pronounced the U.S. bankrupt. Section 6 of the July 2010 Selected Issues Paper says: “The U.S. fiscal gap associated with today’s federal fiscal policy is huge for plausible discount rates.” It adds that “closing the fiscal gap requires a permanent annual fiscal adjustment equal to about 14 percent of U.S. GDP.”

The fiscal gap is the value today (the present value) of the difference between projected spending (including servicing official debt) and projected revenue in all future years...

Sounds sustainable!

Looking for a more positive assessment? How does a comparison to a Disney character sound?

America is a "Mickey Mouse economy"


America is a "Mickey Mouse economy" that is technically bankrupt, according to Jochen Wermuth, the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) and managing partner at Wermuth Asset Management.

"America today looks like Russia in 1998. Consumers, companies and the government are all highly indebted. America as a result is a bankrupt Mickey Mouse economy," Wermuth told CNBC.

Kewl! Thanks, Mister Prezodent!

Deficit in July Totals $165.04 Billion


The U.S. government spent itself deeper into the red last month, paying nearly $20 billion in interest on debt and an additional $9.8 billion to help unemployed Americans.

Federal spending eclipsed revenue for the 22nd straight time, the Treasury Department said Wednesday...

The $165.04 billion deficit, while a bit smaller than the $169.5 billion shortfall expected by economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires, was the second highest for the month on record...

The highest was $180.68 billion in July 2009...

That level of deficit spending comes to, uhm, $2 trillion a year. For you leftists out there, that would pay for about... carry the one... 20 years of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars -- combined. Oh, and it's another Obama record for economic master FAIL.

Freddie Mac requests $1.8B more in aid after 2Q loss


The government rescued McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac and sibling company Fannie Mae from the brink of failure nearly two years ago...

The new request means they have needed $148.2 billion to stay afloat, about $63.1 billion of which is being used by Freddie Mac.

Freddie Mac is losing money from bad loans it backed, many of them before the housing market went bust...

It had $118 billion in bad loans at the end of June, up from $103.4 billion at the end of last year. It owned more than 62,000 foreclosed properties in June, up from about 35,000 a year earlier.

To put it all in perspective, please recall the following:

The Democrats' so-called "financial reform bill" completely ignored Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. To have truly repaired these government-sponsored entities -- which triggered the 2008 economic calamity -- would have exposed some very, very embarrassing truths.

And the real reasons for the mortgage meltdown.


Best. Drudge. Headline. Ever.

Put some ice on that, Harry. It's gonna leave a mark.

After that (rhetorical) beat-down, I think "Stretch" Pelosi is gonna need another face-lift.

Yesterday economist John Lott summarized the borderline criminal behavior by the Obama Democrats.

• The new $26 billion Democrat "jobs bill" has nothing to do with jobs, it is designed to fund the teachers' unions

• $16 billion of the $26 billion goes to public teachers (and several billions go to subsidizing other public sector workers). $87 billion of last year's $862 billion stimulus also went to public school teachers' mandatory wage increases as well as more hiring of public teachers

• Between 1.0% and 1.5% percent of teachers' salaries goes directly to union dues. That means at least $160 million of money borrowed from the taxpayers' is going directly to teachers' unions

• And, to complete the circle, the teachers' unions are directly funding Democrat campaigns so they can keep the cash faucet turned on

The money culled from this "jobs bill" is stolen from you, the taxpayer, and given to Democrat politicians. They would like to retain power so that they can steal more money from you in the future.

Teachers' unions not budging on wage freezes

Furthermore, teachers' unions are refusing wage freezes even on planned increases in the future. In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie (R) asked that teachers contribute 1.5% of their salaries to help pay for their benefits and agree to a one-year wage freeze. The union bosses refused.

Why are taxpayers rewarding this behavior?

One other point to consider: teachers are compensated based upon the negotiations between school boards and teachers' unions at the local level. Some areas have done a good job in these negotiations and are much healthier than other communities.

Why are taxpayers in responsible cities and towns subsidizing the failed policies of irresponsible locales?

In short, the Democrats' "jobs bill" is designed to funnel $100 million into their own campaign funds through the teachers' unions.

Remember in November.


Larwyn's Linx: The Summer of Our Discontent

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Nation

The Summer of Our Discontent: Nice Deb
Who is the Bully Behind the Pulpit?: Ace
Syoung809132001: The Voice of the People: AmDigest

The Newly Discovered Dead of 9/11?: McCarthy
Harry Reid pulls out race card again, whacks himself in head: Malkin
Capitalist Revolt – Against Warren Buffett and Bill Gates: WklyStd

Economy

When Hope Fails, When Joblessness Pays: RWN
Feeling a pinch? You must not be a government worker: Pundette
AFL-CIO Prez: There ain't no deficit problem: GWP

Rats Begin Leaving Obama’s Sinking Ship: GWP
'Tax Extenders': Another Democrat Bailout of Special Interests: RWN
Liberals Assume Infinite Money: RWN

Climate & Energy

The Paper of... The Last 30 Years: CBullitt
Spain burns $1B on 'green' cars: TAB
Congressman Markey suggests “global warming deniers to start their own country”: WUWT

Media

Obama Owns Them: LegalIns
Did he really say that?: Q&O
The MSM sure grades on a curve: Driscoll

Top Leftie Blogger: Obama Campaign Asked Me to Do ‘Dirty Work’ in 2008, and I Did: GWP
Mediaite’s Tommy Christopher’s Failed Defense of the ‘N-Word’ Lie Dismantled: BigGovt

"Say what? Who you calling...?" Leftoids Start to Lose It: AmDigest
Journolist Update: AT
Celebrity Judge Loudon Delivers Verdict - Billions Wait in Awed Anticipation: NewZeal

World

State-Department Rocked by ‘Bam-Caused Disaster: PJM
Wonderful: State Department Sending Ground Zero Mosque Imam on 'Outreach' Tour : JWF
Middle East Coexistence? On Aisle Two, Next to the Cornflakes: PJM

Is the 9/11 Mosque a Publicity Stunt?: FrumForum
Obama Administration Seeks to Overturn US Lebanon Aid Suspension: TAB
Guess what? I'm a bigot!: iOTW

Hanoi John Kerry: Hey, I've Got an Idea: Let's Import More Muslims!: RWN
Secret History of the World: Belmont
Greg Gutfeld and the Grave Robbers of Ground Zero: Riehl

SciTech

Highlights of Defcon 18: Fortify
Inside Chiquita's 'painful' finance system overhaul: NetworkWorld
Zeus Trojan steals $1 million from U.K. bank accounts: CNet

Cornucopia

The Belly Bandit Strikes Again: MOTUS
Why Clowns Should Be Neutered: C&S
Girl quits her job on dry erase board, emails entire office: Chive

The Pelosi Democrats continue their purge of the party's black leadership: Three Beers Later
Iran in the Seventies: Ned Hardy
Middle Eastern businessmen arrested after crashing £180,000 Lamborghini in London square: Daily Mail (UK)

Images: Conservatoons
Sponsored by: Support J.D. Hayworth -- Oust John McCain (who voted to confirm Eric Holder)

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Finally: an Honest "Stimulus" Construction Sign

Courtesy of Woody, a truly honest construction sign for the American Recovery and Ripoff Act of 2009.

It would be great to have these printed up as full-sized stickers. Interested parties could then overlay them on the ridiculously commonplace construction signs to remind people where this money is really coming from.

Hat tip: Boy Moto.

Top 30 #GutfeldGayBarNames

There was a hot time in the old Twittersphere last night after Greg Gutfeld unloaded an idea made of pure unvarnished awesome.

30. Honor Drillings
29. Jihard
28. Filthy Omar’s Rusty Trombone
27. The Arabian Queen
26. Dune Biters
25. Goat's Night Off
24. The Pink Prophet
23. The Leather Burqa
22. Git Mo
21. Pig in a Poke
20. Sheiks & Freaks
19. Sodom and Gonorrhea
18. Osama Bin Dover
17. The Exploding Goat
16. Weapons of Ass Destruction
15. Alla Assbar
14. Anderson Cooper's Apartment
13. The Sticky Prophet
12. The Sphinxter
11. Grind Zero
10. Nuclear Fuel Rods
9. Hassan's TestostoRoom
8. Turbuns
7. Bunker Busters
6. The Tali-bone
5. Al-Jizzera
4. The Gaza Stripper
3. The Sandy Gerbil
2. The Camel’s Hump
1. Hide the Minaret
I’m announcing tonight, that I am planning to build and open the first gay bar that caters not only to the west, but also Islamic gay men. To best express my sincere desire for dialogue, the bar will be situated next to the mosque Park51, in an available commercial space.

This is not a joke. I’ve already spoken to a number of investors, who have pledged their support in this bipartisan bid for understanding and tolerance.

As you know, the Muslim faith doesn’t look kindly upon homosexuality, which is why I’m building this bar. It is an effort to break down barriers and reduce deadly homophobia in the Islamic world.

The goal, however, is not simply to open a typical gay bar, but one friendly to men of Islamic faith. An entire floor, for example, will feature non-alcoholic drinks, since booze is forbidden by the faith. The bar will be open all day and night, to accommodate men who would rather keep their sexuality under wraps – but still want to dance.

Ed Morrissey: "I look forward to the congratulatory Mike Bloomberg press conference."


Update: iOwnTheWorld.

Update II: Um, Did Greg Gutfeld Just Kill The Ground Zero Mosque?

Bell, California set to default on its debt due to tragic unicorn shortage and $800K/year city officials, but mostly $800K/year city officials

You can't make this s*** up.

California City With $800,000 City Manager May Default On Debt, Warns S&P


When the government of Bell, Calif was outed for paying exorbitant salaries, the mayor said his $800,000 city manager was worth it: "Our city is one of the best in the area. That is the result of the city manager. It's not because I say it. It's because my community says it."

But things weren't actually going that well in the LA suburb. S&P just cut the city's bond rating to junk on warnings of an inability to pay debts due Nov. 1.

Bloomberg (the news service, not the idiot mayor) has the gory details.

S&P lowered Bell’s general-obligation and pension bond ratings to BB, two levels below investment grade, from A-, and put it on a watchlist for potential further downgrade. The credit-rating company cited the resignations of top city officers amid a scandal over how much they were paid, and media reports about the decline in value of property financed with municipal debt in 2007 as reasons for the downgrade.

“The lack of good information is creating some uncertainty,” S&P analyst Sussan Corson said in a telephone interview. “There could be some stress on the city, and we think that the rating action is justified.”

...On Nov. 1, the California community is scheduled to pay the so-called bullet maturity on $35 million of taxable lease- revenue bonds sold in 2007 by its Public Financing Authority in a private placement. The principal must be repaid when bullet maturity loans fall due... ...Bell has fallen behind on its payments on the bonds, which are owned by Dexia SA, the Paris- and Brussels-based bank, said Ulrike Pommee, a spokeswoman. The bank entered into an agreement with the city in June aimed at resolving the issue, she said in an e-mail yesterday.

The runner-up headline for this post was The Genius of Democrat Governance, Chapter Ninety Gajillion.

These city officials make Charlie Rangel look honest.


Eric Holder's Outrage du jour: Will Sue Sheriff Joe Arpaio Next Week

Government Security News alerts us to Eric Holder's latest outrage. Rather than seal the southern border against an ongoing invasion of drug-smugglers, gun-runners, gang-members, criminals and other undocumented Democrats, the Justice Department will probably sue one of the best sheriffs in the country.

U.S. Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez warned attorneys for Sheriff Joe Arpaio, of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) in Arizona, in a letter dated August 3, that unless Arpaio voluntarily cooperates by August 17 with an investigation by the Justice Department’s civil rights division into allegations that Arpaio’s office has engaged in “unlawful searches and seizures, discriminatory police conduct, and failure to provide basic services to individuals with limited English proficiency,” the Justice Dept. “will file a Title VI civil action to compel access to the requested documents, facilities and personnel.”

...the Perez letter says, “In order to avoid litigation, please provide a complete response to the First Request and an agreement to permit access to all pertinent MCSO facilities and personnel no later than August 17, 2010.”

...According to an article by Channing Turner in the independent, Washington-based news site Main Justice, attorney Robert Driscoll, of Alston & Bird, LLP, who represents Arpaio, has described the Justice Department’s threat to sue the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office as premature and has indicated that Arpaio will cooperate with certain elements of the probe.

But Driscoll also claimed that Arpaio had previously handed over thousands of documents in a lawsuit involving allegations that Arpaio’s deputies had racially profiled Hispanics, and that arguments contained in the Perez letter “conflated the legal boundaries between two separate and ongoing investigations.”

Millions of illegals have entered the country. The southern border is wide open. The American people, by a huge margin, want the border sealed before there's any talk of a path to citizenship "immigration reform".

But the Democrats refuse to secure the border. They refuse to protect the lives of American law enforcement officers. They refuse to stop known terrorists from entering the country. They defy their most important mission -- to protect Americans.

So why do we have Customs inspections at ports of entry?

Why do we have full-body scanners at airports?

And why do we have a Justice Department that insists on civil rights for illegal aliens, but not American voters intimidated by racists at polling places?

There is something deeply, deeply flawed (I almost used a different F-word) with the modern Democrat Party. And all of us had better take action in November.


Schadenfreude: Watching BHO's Circular Firing Squad

Dan from New York writes:

"They're going to try to make you afraid of me. He's young and inexperienced and he's got a funny name. And did I mention... he couldn’t steer a tugboat let alone the ship of state?"

August 10, 2010, Commentary, Contentions blog

Robert’s Rant


Gibbs, his colleagues, and the president cannot help themselves.

By Peter Wehner

The White House is simmering with anger at criticism from liberals who say President Obama is more concerned with deal-making than ideological purity.

During an interview with The Hill in his West Wing office, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs blasted liberal naysayers, whom he said would never regard anything the president did as good enough.

“I hear these people saying he’s like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested,” Gibbs said. “I mean, it’s crazy.”

The press secretary dismissed the “professional left” in terms very similar to those used by their opponents on the ideological right, saying, “They will be satisfied when we have Canadian healthcare and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon. That’s not reality.”

Of those who complain that Obama caved to centrists on issues such as healthcare reform, Gibbs said: “They wouldn’t be satisfied if Dennis Kucinich was president.”

Gibbs goes on to say this:

“There’s [sic] 101 things we’ve done,” said Gibbs, who then mentioned both Iraq and healthcare.

...I’m not fan of the left — but it’s very unwise for President Obama’s notoriously prickly press secretary to publicly vent like this.

Among the many problems Democrats face going into the midterm election is the huge gap in voter intensity. (It favors Republicans by about a two-to-one margin.) Gibbs’ comments will only deflate the Democratic base. But Gibbs, his colleagues, and the president cannot help themselves. They are an extremely thin-skinned lot, prone to lash out at their critics. [Did I mention 'delusional'?] ...A fight with the base of the Democratic Party isn’t what Obama or Democratic candidates need right now. But thanks to Mr. Gibbs — who also succeeded in offending Speaker Pelosi recently — that’s just what they have.

###

It’s November or never, America.

Ruth Marcus says Gibbs is 100% accurate -- and that the left is deranged (but those of us on the right already knew that). Glenn Greenwald is on Gibbs' side as well, calling his opponents "the fringe losers of the left."

On the other hand Congressman and professional leftist kook Keith Ellison says Gibbs should resign. Nate Silver whines that the "White House is losing its cool". And the world's dumbest blogger thinks Gibbs needs to be drug-tested.

Uhm, yeah. That will happen.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Larwyn's Linx: Maxine Waters' zombie deadbeat bank

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

Maxine Waters’ zombie deadbeat bank: Malkin
Free Speech Lawsuit: NYC Bans '9/11 Images': Geller
Washington, Arizona, and the Primal Right to Self-Defense: AT

Well, they won't read 'em -- why name 'em?: GWP
J.D. Hayworth Ad is Kinda Awesome: Ace
About that 'teacher' who confronted Palin: RWN

Economy

'How Liberals Kill the Economy' in 12 Column Inches: RWN
The Bailout Singularity: Greenroom
The Two-Tiered Economy: Blumer

Countrywide + Fannie Mae = Subprime slime: Malkin
Rendezvous With Catastrophe: AT
The Eternal Stimulus: Greenroom

Climate & Energy

Obama's billion-dollar earmark: shady IL energy boondoggle: Malkin
Toilet Paper Costs Hiked Under Green Policies: RWN

Media

Real Blog War: CAIR Goes After Robert Spencer: Simon
There You Go Again, LSM: Palin
Thoughts On Bongs For Rand Paul's Aqua Buddha: Riehl

Obama won't pull an 'August surprise,' here's why: BlogProf
Interview with Joel Pollak: Marathon
Greg Gutfeld: I’m raising money to build a Muslim gay bar next to the Ground Zero mosque: Hot Air

World

Cry me a river: Michelle Antoinette in Spain to be with grieving friend: Fausta
The Mosque, the Masks and the Mayor: AmSpec
The National Catholic Reporter on the Deviancy of Apostolic Celibacy: FirstThoughts

The Ground Zero Mosque & Our Government's Mishandling Of "Islamic Radicals": Wolf
Michelle Obama isn't like Marie Antoinette, she's another Paris Hilton!: WyBlog

SciTech

Larry Ellison Slams the HP Board Over Hurd Decision: Insider
The Infuriating Smartphone Saunter: WSJ
From Google and Verizon, a path to an open Internet: WaPo

Cornucopia

A Bias Against Beauty: Maggie's Farm
How to get rid of morons: hold Sauna championships: BlogProf
Man arrested for being awesome: Ace

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

Monday, August 09, 2010

AFL-CIO's Trumka: Democrats Will Pass Card Check. Even In a Lame-Duck Session. Even If it Kills Them. So to Speak.

ShopFloor scoops the world.

Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, was on the CSPAN “Newsmakers” show this morning. Asked whether the Employee Free Choice Act will be considered in Congress this year, Trumka said: “I think you’ll see the Employee Free Choice Act come up again. I think you’ll see it probably before the end of the year.”

Before the elections or in a lameduck session? Trumka: “Either one.”

The reason the Employee Free Choice Act has not passed Congress is because 40 Senate Republicans have blocked it, he said.

Oh, pshaw, Trumka. The reason EFCA has not passed is because the American people are overwhelmingly opposed to what the bill would do, opponents have made an effective case that “card check” and forced unionization are antithetical to democratic principles and economic growth. The legislation is extraordinarily unpopular, which is why key Senate Democrats joined Republicans in preventing the bill’s consideration on the floor this Congress.

If it were popular, the President would have already signed the Employee Free Choice Act into law instead of planning to put its provisions into effect through Executive Orders, presidential nominations, and regulatory enactments. (See Shopfloor post, “If EFCA Won’t Pass the Senate, We’ll Turn to Federal Labor Boards.

Trumka also continued pounding the table for more federal stimulus spending, dismissing concerns about the federal deficit, saying we have a jobs crisis in this country, not a deficit crisis. (UPDATE, 10:58 a.m.: Here’s the exact quote: “We have a job crisis right now, we don’t have a debt crisis right now. The only thing that can possibly make this recession, and this recovery from not stalling and going back into recession is if government continues to do some stimulus spending. And unfortunately, the states aren’t in a position to do that, so it’s going to take aid from the federal government.”)

Yes, by all means, let's force Americans into unions whether they like it or not.

Because unions have been so successful for California, GM and Chrysler.


'Horrible' Jersey Shore Boardwalk Carnival Game Doesn't Depict Bush 43 Being Hung, Defecated Upon or Set Afire

The left is really quite pathetic when it comes to generating outrage. In their latest Pee Wee Herman-esque attempt, a Gawker columnist expresses horror over a Jersey Shore boardwalk game.

Video-maker Chris Barrett heard about the Pennsylvania fair story and recalled seeing a similar attraction in Seaside Heights, New Jersey — site of the beloved Jersey Shore program!

He went back this weekend, and it's still there.

Look at these fellows try to smash an Obama prop by chucking balls at him!

"F*** you Obama!" a potential future Jersey Shore star says...

Chucking balls! Oh, the humanity! Of course, Burger King's creepy, iconic king, Saddam Hussein, a Boston Red Sox player and Usama Bin Laden all come in for the same treatment.

Gawker conveniently tosses a few inconvenient truths down the memory hole. Like the complete lack of media coverage of the following delightful demonstrations during the era of George W. Bush.


Hat tip: Memeorandum.


In Limited Government We Trust

"Greece would not have fallen had it obeyed Polybius in everything, and when Greece did meet disaster, its only help came from him" Pausanias, 8.37.2, Inscription on the Temple of Despoina near Arakesion.

In Book VI of his Histories, the ancient Greek historian Polybius described three basic forms of government, each categorized by the number of those in power. He listed monarchy (rule by the one); aristocracy (rule by the few); and democracy (rule by the many). Polybius described, over time, how each type of government would gradually decline into their various corrupted forms of tyranny, oligarchy and mob rule, respectively. His aim was to illustrate the inherent fallibility of man as exemplified by the truism Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Polybius believed that Republican Rome had designed a new form of government that could help check this inevitable decline. Rome combined all three forms of government -- monarchy (its elected executives, called consuls); aristocracy (the Senate); and democracy (the popular assemblies). In this mixed form of government, each branch would check the corrupting ambitions and power of the others.

Aristotle and Cicero were among those who praised the construction of a "mixed constitution" and the innovative idea to separate powers within a government.

The French nobleman and legal expert Charles-Louis de Secondat, the Baron de Montesquieu, studied the rise and fall of the Roman Republic. He believed that a properly designed government, in order to prevent tyranny, would require three branches of government. He wrote, "If it is to provide its citizens with the greatest possible liberty, a government must have certain features. First, since 'constant experience shows us that every man invested with power is apt to abuse it … it is necessary from the very nature of things that power should be a check to power' . This is achieved through the separation of the executive, legislative, and judicial powers of government... [to prevent any one] from acting tyrannically."

The British philosopher John Locke was also keenly interested in a design for government that would prevent its descent into tyranny. In the late 17th century, Locke argued that monarchs had no "divine right" to rule; instead, he asserted that the source of power lay in the people. Furthermore, he stated that humans were born into this world with certain natural and "inalienable" rights including to "life, liberty and property". Locke believed that government could not grant these rights because they were God-given; therefore, no government could take them away or withhold them from the people.

Thomas Jefferson used Locke's concepts as the foundation of the Declaration of Independence. He proclaimed the government's duty to protect the sacred attributes of the individual: "...to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form..."

"...when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

As well, America's Founding Fathers repeatedly cited Baron de Montesquieu's seminal Spirit of the Laws and its emphasis on checks and balances within government. As James Madison wrote, "the oracle who is always consulted and cited on this subject is the celebrated Montesquieu."

The Constitution was carefully designed -- based upon thousands of years of bloody experience -- to construct a federalist system of government. It divided powers not only between the three branches of government, but also between the federal government and the states. The Constitution reserved almost all powers to the states, or to the people, and enumerated a very limited set of responsibilities to which the federal government was constrained.

We conservatives are originalists: if the Constitution's meaning is not interpreted as the framers intended, if it can be altered at will, then what protects any law from arbitrary interpretation, from the capricious whims of the ill-intentioned?

If the Constitution is "living and breathing", an amorphous guidebook of suggestions that may freely be interpreted based upon current events, trends, whims or biases, what then are the limits on the federal government? And if the Constitution doesn't mean what it says, what protects the individuals from the encroachment of government intrusion into every aspect of individuals' lives?

The Tenth Amendment of the Constitution strictly limits the power of the Federal Government. It states, The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. In the Founders' view, state and local governments were free to experiment -- to serve as "laboratories" in the words of Justice Louis Brandeis -- in areas prohibited to the federal government. In the 1980's, for example, Oregon's successful welfare reform efforts became the models for subsequent actions by other states.

When the federal government ignores and breaches the Tenth Amendment, it represents an illegal diminution of representative government at the state and local levels.

The once-powerful states, which created the federal government by ratifying the Constitution, have become -- in the words of Mark Levin -- "administrative appendages of the federal government." The states are subject to ever-increasing federal regulation, strangled by dictates from agencies old and new, and held hostage through billions in federal tax dollars. Levin asks, "Does anyone believe that the states would have originally ratified the Constitution had they known this would be their fate?"

The path the modern federal government is on today was accurately described by Stuart Chase in 1942. He wrote that the agenda of the Fabian Socialists -- who had launched a counter-revolution against America's founding -- was to create an authoritarian, centralized government. The agenda of the Fabian Socialists include:

• Strong, centralized government
• Government-controlled banking, credit and securities exchange (TARP, etc.)
• Government control over employment (the "Employee Free Choice Act" to speed unionization of the workplace)
• Unemployment insurance, old age pensions (lengthy unemployment benefits, Social Security)
• Universal medical care, food and housing programs (socialized medicine, food stamps, HUD)
• Access to unlimited government borrowing (massive deficits)
• A managed monetary system (an opaque Federal Reserve)
• Government control over foreign trade (China tire tariffs)
• Government control over natural energy sources, transportation and agricultural production (drilling prohibitions, Cap-and-Trade)
• Government regulation of labor (the Wagner Act, monopolistic power of trade unions)
• Heavy progressive taxation.

This indeed describes "the road we are traveling"; the direction accelerated by the branches of government controlled by modern Democrats. The Fabian Socialist counter-revolution began in earnest in the U.S. in 1933 with the imposition of the "Welfare State" and has been steadily progressing since. It confiscates ever more taxes, consolidates ever more power, while bankrupting program after program. And always -- always -- the federal government proclaims its need for more money and more power, promising that if only it can levy one more tax, enforce one more regulation, it will be able to solve all of mankind's woes.

The Greek historian Thucydides observed that “The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage.” And in writing about the calamitous Peloponnesian War that engulfed and ultimately destroyed his society, he added that, "Few things are brought to a successful issue by impetuous desire, but most by calm and prudent forethought."

History teaches us that the decline of a society and the demise of a government comes with the institutionalization of corruption and a wanton disregard for the written law. Such is our situation today, wherein the states have become puppets of an all-powerful federal government that confiscates more and more private property while exerting increasing control over every aspect of our lives.

If we are to protect our society from despotism and decline, whose counsel should we then cherish? Should we abide by thousands of years of experience and the wisdom of history's greatest philosophers -- Polybius, Aristotle, Montesquieu, Locke, Jefferson, Adams and Madison among them? Men who understood the nature of a government's despotic decline and sought to construct a system to counter it?

Or should we disregard their guidance and follow instead the Fabian Socialists? Should we heed Cass Sunstein, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama? Should we follow the direction of a few lawless bureaucrats that intentionally ignore their oaths of office? Who believe not in what the founders believed but instead in the infallibility of an authoritarian, centralized government?

The greatest bulwark against tyranny in America has always been the Constitution, which instantiates our carefully designed system of private property, God-given individual liberties and free enterprise.

If we are to protect our society from despotism and Fabian decline, whose counsel should we then cherish? I contend that we must fight the socialist counter-revolution using every political weapon possible. We must return our country to the rule of law as defined by our founders and codified in the Constitution. Anything less condemns our descendants to the fate that Thucydides described.


Larwyn's Linx: Stop the BigGovJobs bill; Christie & Daniels are Yin & Yang

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

Stop the BigGovJobs bill: Malkin
Obama on Immigration: Pamper Illegals, Endanger Americans: PJM
Sanctioning Infanticide As an Ends Justifying The Means: RWN

Obama's True Black Royalty: BlackSphere
Christie, Daniels: Yin, Yang of New GOP: Moran
Reid plays the religion card on Angle: AT

Economy

Krugman's detour on 'Roadmap' to sanity solvency : Ryan
Further thoughts on the higher education bubble: Reynolds
The $120 Lemonade Stand License: AnBlkCon

Bell CA's 'City Manager' didn't make $787K; He Got $1.5M a Year: Ace
The Golden State’s War on Itself: CityJournal
Death Panels: ObamaCare's Written Definition: AT

Climate & Energy

Chevy Volt: Fascism Strikes the Auto Industry: PJM
Uhm, no, it's probably not the hottest year: RWN
Sustainability: I guess it means fighting oppression and injustice: NAS

Media

Fareed's Jihad: SheikYerMami
The Story of Your Enslavement: CBW
Why Obama Does Not Address Connecticut Shootings: Cashill

Bob Herbert: America Putting our Brains on Hold?: MagNote
Bulls***: not just for the GOP anymore: Afrocity
Detroit Free Press: DC is awesome for spending borrowed money on unsustainable state budgets, union perqs!: BlogProf

World

Is the U.S. really funding mosque construction?: AT
Daughter of Muslim 9-11 victim speaks out against Ground Zero mosque: Toldjah
Unionized ObamaCare in the UK: Surber

NY Imam Meets Potential Foreign Investors for Islamist Victory Mosque; State Department Paying For Trip: Ace
Muslim who paid 4.8 Million for Ground Zero Mosque building was waiter in 2002: RightScoop
Mosque Used by 9/11 Attackers Shut Down: Fox
Groups of Mexican federal police clash over corruption allegations: CNN

Beijing's Heavy Hand In Hong Kong: changes push democracy further from reach: Forbes
Women Sharia judges get equal powers to men: Maktoob
Bridegroom in Turkey accidentally kills relatives firing AK-47 in celebration at his own wedding: BBC

SciTech

What Do You Owe Your Social Networking Pseudo-Friends?: RWN
Apple executive who oversaw development of the troubled iPhone 4 is leaving the company: BBC
Microsoft shows off prototype mobile phone: CNet

Cornucopia

A Royal Flush: MOTUS
Target in the Crosshairs: Doswell
Mia Farrow: model Naomi Campbell said she got "large diamond" from ex-Liberian president Charles Taylor: BBC

Image: Spotted at Instapundit
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Had enough of Harry Reid? Support Sharron Angle for Senate


Sunday, August 08, 2010

The Impact of the Senseless Gulf Drilling Ban: a $4B Economic Hit, Tens of Thousands of Lost Jobs and More Gold-Plated Ferraris for the Sheikhs

Thanks to The Oil Drum, we have a good sense of the economic damage President Obama's ill-advised drilling moratorium has inflicted upon the Gulf. Obama had ordered work halted on 33 exploratory wells in the Gulf -- for no apparent reason given BP's seeming lock on safety violations in the region.

Direct Impact for 6-month moratorium:
$2.43B Rigs and tenders
$1.45B Wages
$0.22B Lost taxes and fees
$4.11B Total

The suspension of exploratory drilling means that the 33 floating drill rigs, which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per day to lease, will be idled for six months or more. Some are leaving the area, never to return.

Nearly a third of the country's domestically produced oil and 10% of the nation's natural gas comes from the Gulf.

The other impact: more of America's cash sent to the Middle East to fund all sorts of delightful activities. Useful sorts of luxury items like this gold-plated Ferrari 599 GTB from Hamann.




The Democrats talk incessantly of energy independence, but their decades-long rejection of America's vast domestic resources reflects the hypocrisy of their position. Until someone comes up with a wind-car or a solar-mobile, we're going to need gaso-freaking-line.

And we'll be buying more gold-plated Ferraris for the Sheikhs unless the Democrat Party decides to permit Americans to drill.