Sunday, August 22, 2010

Photos: Today's 'Stop the 9/11 Victory Mosque' Protest in Lower Manhattan

Thanks to Shankbone's Flickr feed, we have a view into today's protest -- organized by StopThe911Mosque.com -- against the Ground Zero Victory Mosque* in lower Manhattan.









Click on any of the photos to see the complete album.

Update: FireAndreaMitchell has additional photos spotted on Twitter.


* Complete list of alternate names for the Ground Zero Victory Mosque here.

Blago: Feds should reconsider talk of a retrial or someone at the White House could get hoit

Interviewed on Fox News Sunday, embattled ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich said he would call a a gaggle of high-profile Democrats to testify for the defense should federal prosecutors attempt a retrial.

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Sunday that he would call a host of high-profile witnesses -- including White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel -- to testify if he is retried on corruption charges.

...Federal prosecutors have vowed to retry Blagojevich after a jury deadlocked on all but one of 24 criminal counts the government brought against the fiery Democrat.

The Hill named Emanuel, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), DSCC Chairman Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) as potential defense witnesses.

Not named, but likely to be among those considered as witnesses are senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett -- one of Obama's favorites for his vacated seat -- as well as various SEIU officials.

Or, as I like to call them, Obama's Puppetmasters.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin and Memeorandum. Thanks!

Iran: Yes, We Can!

By Mordechai Kedar

The Bushehr reactor was built to produce electricity, no doubt, and the Russians are obliged to share supervision with international bodies to make sure that the Iranians do not use it for military nuclear purposes. This reactor’s objective lies elsewhere. When the reactor is connected to the electricity grid in a few months it will begin to ease the pressure on the Iranian energy sector and reduce the impact of sanctions on the import of refined fuel. Therefore, the reactor itself does not contribute materially to Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The problem with it is more subtle than that.

The problem focuses on two other issues: One is the training of Iranian scientists in a way that can advance the military nuclear project, since the experience and expertise they will gain from operating the Iranian power reactor will serve them in the weapons project. Neither the Russians nor the world can hope to monitor this leak of knowledge. What’s more, the Iranians probably do not need more outside assistance. At this point, their accumulated knowledge from other sources such as North Korea and Pakistan is already enough to bring them to the bomb.

The other issue is the encouragement and morale which the ayatollahs derive from the opening of the Bushehr reactor. In their view, the Western-Christian world is crumbling and divided; so mush so, that Russia - which is an integral part of it - helped them on a crucial issue which the U.S., "the Great Satan," has vigorously opposed for many years. This affirms their belief that Iranian wisdom, wit and determination are able to manipulate the U.S., Russia, Europe and China to such a degree that now nothing can stand in their way to a nuclear bomb.

The International system was designed following the Second World War to deny any single state the ability to impose its agenda by force and weapons on the rest of the world. Iran proved yesterday that she could impose its agenda on the world, and the reactor at Bushehr gives the ayatollahs evidence that there is no power on earth which can resist their global intentions.

Today, the cheer that’s being shouted with broad smiles and high-fives in the corridors of power in Iran is actually in English: Yes, we can!


Dr. Mordechai Kedar (Ph.D. Bar-Ilan U.) Served for 25 years in IDF Military Intelligence specializing in Arab political discourse, Arab mass media, Islamic groups and the Syrian domestic arena. A lecturer in Arabic at Bar-Ilan U., he is also an expert on Israeli Arabs.

Hat tip: Dan from New York. Image: Guardian.co.uk.

Control Freaks, Chapter Eleventy Billion: San Fran Ban of Happy Meals Imminent

In the future when I post an article on the constant encroachment by Democrats on our individual liberties, I intend to use the prefix Control Freaks. Because that's the best two-word summary I can come up with for the inane, arbitrary dictates dreamed up by the likes of Bloomberg (not the news service, the idiot mayor), who wants to ban salt in Manhattan restaurants.

San Francisco -- or, as I like to call it, Moonbase Pelosi -- is the latest local government to demonstrate a complete lack of restraint when it comes to regulating the citizenry. In this case, it appears a lunatic somehow broke into a meeting of the city's board of supervisors and introduced legislation to ban Happy Meals.

Supervisor Mar introduces Healthy Meal Incentive legislation, which sets nutritional standards for restaurant food that is accompanied by toys or other youth focused incentive items. This legislation is aimed at promoting healthy eating habits and to address issues related to childhood obesity...

...Fast food restaurants target children and youth by offering toys and other incentive items. The Healthy Meal Incentive legislation would encourage restaurants to provide healthier meal options. To provide an incentive item, meals must contain fruits and vegetables, not exceed 600 calories or 200 calories for a single food item and must not have beverages that have excessive fat or sugar.”

These leftist nutbags want to control your meals, your health care, your light bulbs, the size of your toilet tanks, what kind of cars you drive, how much water flows through your shower head, and every other aspect of your lives.

And, trivial though the Happy Meal example may sound, it is yet another reminder that these Democrat control freaks are bent on nothing less than tyranny. In fact, someday, they must hope to achieve a totalitarian form of government. Because they don't trust the individual. They don't believe in personal responsibility. And -- because they willfully defy their own oaths of office -- they are rapidly destroying the fabric of our society.


Please! Someone call 9-1-1! Eugene Robinson Just O.D.'ed on Stupid Pills!

Something is very wrong with the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson. The proof is in the pudding or, in this case, the bowl full of stupid served up by Gene on Friday. His column, entitled "President Obama's winning streak", describes the under-appreciated management skills of #44.

This is a radical break from journalistic convention, I realize, but today I'd like to give credit where it's due -- specifically, to President Obama. Quiet as it's kept, he's on a genuine winning streak... look at what he's accomplished in just the past few weeks. Let me highlight four recent headlines:

"Last U.S. combat troops leave Iraq" ... [Without thanking Bush 43 for the surge he opposed]

"General Motors to launch stock offering" ... [Another union payoff]

"Gulf oil spill contained" ... [With 23,000 unnecessary job losses]

"President wades into mosque controversy" ... [On the wrong side, as usual]

He still hasn't walked on water, though. What's wrong with the man?

Back in the little land we like to call "Reality", Americans are suffering. In the nearly four years that the Pelosi-Obama-Reid Democrats have held Congress, the private sector has disappeared faster than a sack of Chips Ahoy in front of Rosie O'Donnell.

The Democrats have given us:

* Three straight years of job losses, an unemployment rate that has more than doubled to nearly 10%, and a true (U-6) underemployment rate of nearly 18%;

* A national debt that has ballooned to over $13 trillion, a catastrophic increase of 60%;

* A $787 (now $860) billion pork-, bribe- and boondoggle-laden "stimulus" bill, which not only failed to stimulate the economy, but helped bankrupt the country;

* Record high home foreclosures that the American taxpayer is on the hook for thanks to the Democrats' favorite job shops: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac;

* Another "jobs bill" that cost taxpayers $18 billion, yet created no "jobs"... along with a $26 billion "teachers' jobs bill" that simply kicks the fiscal responsibility can down the road and rewards the AFT and NEA teachers' unions;

* The $700 billion TARP bill to bailout banks that couldn't balance their books; and...

* The 2,000+ page health care takeover bill, which leaves the American taxpayer on the hook for another $2.6 trillion to pay for this new "entitlement."

Yes, Americans are grateful for the work of the Obama Democrats. Stimulus. TARP. ObamaCare. $200 million in Stimulus propaganda construction signs. And union payoffs and political bribes -- used to pass this mess -- as far as the eye can see.

Eugene Robinson's latest excretion does prove one point:

WaPo's management team needs to start random drug-testing.


Larwyn's Linx: In Indiana, Dems Distance Themselves From Their Party

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

In Indiana, Dems Distance Themselves From Their Party: Malkin
Oath of Office Be Damned!: SondraK
A President Who Wants To Be Anywhere But Here: AT

Don't Get Cocky: Ace
Obama confident U.S. 'headed in right direction': RWN
Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: AT

Economy

Obama's union bailout: a good crisis going to waste: GWP
Obama: we must stop corporate takeover of democracy: Malkin
Perfect: Union worker gets fired for trying to unionize union workers: BlogProf

Dems Want Another $34 Billion to Bailout Teamsters Pension: RWN
Unions Destroy Calif. Pension Reform Bill: RWN
Stimulus Campaign Signs Invade Reagan's Hometown: Marathon

Media

Memo to Ruling Class Media: We Don't Believe Him--Or You: AT
Lincoln Reloaded: American Digest
Diversophiles Run Wild: BlogProf

Today’s “WTF?” moment belongs to Russell Simmons: Fausta
Chicago Tribune: Making the Case for Honor Killings?: Atlas
'Queen Of Muslim Bashers' at the Puff Ho: Atlas

I Don’t Think the President Has Room in His Life for Another God: Sundries Shack
NYT's Charles Blow: Obama Is Not Good For Jews: NewsBusters
The Depredations of Roger Ebert: PJM

World

MMmmm… Irony, it’s what’s for iftar: Protein Wisdom
It's Final in Final Report: No Jihad in Jihad Attack: Atlas
Imam Feisal’s Trip of ‘Great Importance’: We Have a Sighting in Bahrain: Rosett

What did the Iraq War cost?: AT
Ahmadinejad Declares New Bomber Drone the “Messenger of Salvation & Dignity for Humanity”: GWP
The Spirit of Israel Lives On: Amil Imani

SciTech

HTML 5 Raises New Security Issues: NetworkWorld
Google Buys Visual Shopping Engine Like.com: PC World
Google's Nexus One: The most popular unpopular phone: NetworkWorld

Cornucopia

Redeemable Coupon Courtesy Michele Bachmann: MagNote
All Books, No Grapes: MOTUS
Italian Spiderman: Ace

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Happy that the Bush Tax Cuts are Expiring on January 1st? Thank John McCain -- Support J.D. Hayworth for U.S. Senate

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Tea Party Meets Establishment GOP in Ohio--Tea Party Wins

When a liberal starts running off at the mouth about the "Clinton Surplus" that "Bush ruined", I would definitely not advocate slapping the fool silly (as they most assuredly deserve). Instead, pleasantly explain that it was the GOP House of Representatives that created all of those wonderful budgets. Starting in '94, Bill Clinton's budgets were dictated by a strong and fiscally conservative group of Republicans. And the man in charge -- the architect of the "Clinton Surplus" -- was none other than then GOP Congressman John Kasich of Ohio.

In a nutshell, Kasich was a Tea Partier before there was a Tea Party.

Kasich is now running for the Governorship of Ohio against a hard-core leftist named Ted Strickland. Strickland's policies are those of Obama: increased taxes, increased regulations, wealth redistribution, public sector unionism, and a gradual strangulation of productive taxpayers and small businesses. One example: Ohio's estate tax is one of the most outrageous in the country.

Consider: in Ohio, estates as small as $300,000 -- say, a $225,000 house, a $25,000 car and $50,000 in other assets -- qualifies you as "rich". In 2010 the Ohio Republican Party's governing committee unanimously approved a petition to repeal the Ohio estate tax.

Correspondent Amalaur reports from a Kasich fundraiser that occurred just after a good-sized rally in Cincinnati that boasted 1,000 attendees.

John Kasich was pumped up. The fundraiser was an attempt to unify the Tea Party conservatives with the mainstream GOP.
I believe the effort was successful.
Tea Party founder Mike Wilson, now a candidate for the Ohio House, attended and spoke.
Rep. Jean Schmidt, from Ohio's Second District, pumped us up with tales of House Democrats running scared.
Her exact words: "tsunami".
Rep. Schmidt was asked point blank about Congressman Ryan's plan ("A Roadmap for America's Future"). Schmidt was fully supportive, stating it was on the right track and that it should proceed with some fine tuning.
A dozen or so doctors were in attendance and fired questions at Kasich regarding ObamaCare.
Kasich is of the mind: repeal and replace. He described, in detail, several alternatives to the existing bureaucracy that would greatly improve the cost-effectiveness of health care delivery. And they were based upon free market principles.
Kasich, frequently seen on Fox News, was excellent. Articulate, Reagan-esque, frank and bright, he addressed every question thrown at him with grace and humor.
All in all, a good deal of money was raised for a worthy cause: the one man in all of government who has a track record of budget surpluses at the federal level.
 
If you've got a few spare bucks, please contribute to John Kasich. He's our generation's OT. Original Tea Partier.


Smithsonian Unveils Impressionist's Portrait of First Lady; Fails to Accurately Capture Glare of Displeasure Seen When Dealing With 'The Little People

Rockwell he ain't.



Hat tips: Fausta and Larwyn.

Good News: Obama Summer of Recovery Continues as Insurance Companies Begin Mass Layoffs Thanks to DemCare

Remember: you'll get to keep your plan if you like it. And your costs won't go up. In fact, they'll go down. Or something.

Assurant health cutting jobs ahead of health reform implementation: "Milwaukee-based Insurer Assurant Inc. is cutting its workforce in various locations around America ahead of health care reform implementation."

NC's largest health insurer to cut jobs: "Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina will contract with Dallas-based Sourcecorp for some data entry work... The company wants to cut its total operating costs by 20 percent, or $200 million, by 2014. That's when much of the federal health care law takes effect."

WakeMed begins $87M cost-cutting effort: "Wake County's largest hospital system plans to slash annual operating costs by as much as $87 million as it makes changes recommended by an outside consulting firm... efforts likely will include eliminating jobs in some departments... The hospital also may phase out some services where it's not the market leader, such as providing chemotherapy and other cancer treatment."

Houston Employers chop 17,000 jobs in area: "Finance and health care companies are holding back on hiring because of uncertainties about recent federal regulations, he said. The moratorium on deep-water drilling has also caused energy companies to be more cautious about domestic expansion."

Latest round of layoffs under way at Addison Gilbert: "CEO warns this week's actions 'only the beginning'... A second round of layoffs began yesterday at Northeast Hospital Corp., as the health care organization looks to eliminate up to 100 full-time positions."

Unhealthy time for insurance brokers: "Health insurance brokers that serve small businesses and individuals are concerned that new federal regulations due next year could reduce their sales commissions, forcing some out of business and others to lay off employees... Some health insurers that serve Southeast Michigan, including Priority Health, Cigna and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, already have informed agents of commission cuts, partially because of changes stemming from the recently approved health care reform bill."

A.M. Best Maintains Negative Outlook for Health Insurers: "A.M. Best Co. is maintaining a negative outlook for health insurance companies. The driving factors are the struggles to grow revenue and the near-term impact from the implementation of health care reform... With the phased-in implementation of health care reform beginning in 2010 and full implementation in 2014, A.M. Best does expect to see some changes. One of the most significant changes in the near term is the minimum medical loss ratio requirement for individual, small and large group segments beginning in 2011. Although the definition of what is included in the medical loss ratio is not yet available, A.M. Best does expect to see margin compression as companies comply. Additionally, A.M. Best anticipates health insurers will try to lower administrative expenses [Ed: i.e., layoff workers] to help offset the increase in the medical loss ratio."

The passage of ObamaCare had nothing at all to do with either health or care. Its intent was to plump the membership of the SEIU as more and more people are forced into government-run health care options like Medicaid, SCHIP and Medicare. More SEIU members translates to more union dues. With more dues comes increased campaign contributions for Democrats. It's a vicious cycle in which average, taxpaying Americans are used as pawns in order to fund Democrat campaign coffers.

Remember in November.


Exclusive: Imam Rauf Unveils Artist's Conception of Ground Zero Tolerance Mosque

Weasel Zippers has the back-story.