Sunday, August 29, 2010

Glenn Beck's Rally: How Many Were Really There?

Dan from New York:

Just when you thought "the media" couldn't make bigger fools of themselves, along comes their buffoonish treatment of the attendance at yesterday's Glenn Beck rally at the Lincoln Memorial. Most danced around the issue, falling back on the stock "thousands" or "tens of thousands" weasels. But there was one twit among them who spilled the beans. CBS went on the record: Glenn Beck Rally Attracts Estimated 87,000.

Fortunately, we have better ways to judge the size of the crowd than to rely on Dan Rather's news organization. MLK's famed 1963 "I Have a Dream" rally was held on the same ground, and the accepted figure is 250,000.


Judge for yourself. Do you think Beck drew less than half?


As an aside, the open field filled with people on the left was overgrown with trees and unavailable to spectators in 1963.

Oh, BTW, Sharpton's rally, which the clowns positioned as the anti-Beck rally, "attracted" 3,000. So much easier to count.

Update: Affirmative Action Crowd Estimates and It Was Like A Return To Jim Crow, or Like We Were In Nazi Germany.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin and NewsReal. Thanks!

Exclusive Transcript: Al Sharpton's 'I Have a Scheme' Speech, Keynote Address of the 8/28 'Restoring Dishonor' Counter Protest

Cub Reporter Biff Spackle files this report from Al Sharpton's 'Restoring Dishonor' counter-protest in Washington, DC.

RUSH TRANSCRIPT: The following is the text of the Reverend Al Sharpton's spoken speech, transcribed from my recording, in between rounds of beer pong in a DC bar.

###

I am happy to speak to you today in what will be recorded as the most bitter, self-serving speech in the history of our nation.

Two score and two months ago, a black American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, was elected President. That momentous day does not diminish the fact that most Americans are still quite racist. To acknowledge otherwise could negatively impact my cash flow, which is dependent upon hatred and divisiveness.

You see, one hundred and forty years after the Emancipation, we have made no progress whatsoever. All of the blood shed during the Civil War, all of the Civil Rights marches, all of the blacks elected to high office and who have achieved great material success in the United States, truly you must ignore all of these momentous milestones, because I am still heavily invested in grievance-mongering.

If I were to demand Charter Schools in every inner city school district, so that every child could have a chance to succeed, where would that leave me? Without the support of the teachers' unions, that's where!

If I were to demand an end to unlimited welfare, which breeds a culture of dependency and despondency, where would that leave me? Without swarms of single-parent families that populate my armies of illiteracy, crime and violence, that's where!

If I were to demand a return of prayer to school and the inclusion of faith as the moral foundation for our country's unity, as did this nation's founders, where would that leave me? Without the support of the secular, progressive media, that's where!

It would be fatal to my pocketbook if I were to acknowledge the great progress that has been made. So what I must do, what I will continue to do, is to sow division, to diminish this country's advances, to play the race card with every hand. Joining me in this effort: the once-proud NAACP, La Raza, LULAC, and other separatist front groups, many of them working covertly for foreign governments.

We have come to our nation's capitol to balkanize this country, to divide it into arbitrary segments of the abused and the abuser, whether real or not. Rich vs. poor, black vs. white, fat vs. thin, illegal immigrants vs. citizens, trial lawyers vs. doctors, Christians and Diamond Merchants vs. Muslims, and so on. Because once we find a scapegoat, we can demonize, polarize and destroy it.

It would be fatal for the nation's media to overlook the urgency of this moment. I have survived the Tawana Brawley debacle, various problems with the IRS, and that inconsequential "Kill the Jew" incident at Crown Heights, all with my dignity intact and my media credentials in good order. For Glenn Beck, you're willing to throw all of these qualifications away?

I can not turn back. There are those who ask me, "When will you be satisfied?" I can never be satisfied as long as the media needs a grievance-mongerer to trot out, no matter how shameful his past. I can never be satisfied until this country has broken apart into warring camps. In other words, I can never be satisifed until I find a way to make serious, serious money from race-baiting. And by serious, I mean ten million or more.

I say to you today, my friends in the media, even though I have become a walking punch-line (as evidenced by this tiny crowd), go back to your offices and report upon my message. Go back to The New York Times, CNN, The Washington Post, and MSNBC and promote my message of division, jealousy and hatred.

I say to you today, my friends in the media, even though we face difficulties -- most especially the fact that more and more people of every race, creed and color are learning the wisdom of the conservative message -- I still have a scheme.

I have a scheme that one day even more children will be forced into public schools with no choice in the matter.

I have a scheme that one day even more single-parent families will be created through unlimited welfare and publicly incentivized sloth.

I have a scheme that one day God will be completely removed from the public square, because faith is the enemy of the Statist.

I have a scheme today.

I have a scheme that one day I will have a multi-million dollar mansion in a lily-white, gated community like Jeremiah Wright's beautiful home.

I have a scheme that involves wealth redistribution, with much of the wealth being redistributed to me.

I have a scheme today.

I have a scheme that one day this nation will be completely Balkanized, with dozens of ethnicities, races, colors, religions and creeds all warring for their slice of the public trough.

Let race-baiting sing from the above-the-fold page A-1 of the New York Times!

Let race-baiting sing from the hallowed mouth of Katie Couric!

Let race-baiting sing from the President himself and his minions!

And when this happens, when we allow race-baiting to sing its siren song, when we let it sing from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that great day of which Alinsky spoke. When this capitalist and imperialist society finally collapses, replaced with an authoritarian regime of the kind for which Thomas Friedman has pined. On that day, we will be able to survey the Tower of Babel society that we have created and revel in the words Statists have longed for, "The Constitution is Dead At Last. Dead at Last! The United States is Dead At Last!"

Linked by: American Digest. Thanks!

Larwyn's Linx: 'Restoring Honor' at the Lincoln Memorial

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

'Restoring Honor' at the Lincoln Memorial: Malkin
Sharpton has branding issues: Ace
Summer of corruption: Another CBC Democrat in trouble: Malkin

Ground Zero Mosque Developer Has 7 Arrests Under His Belt: WZ
Mike Stopa on the Mosque, AGW and ObamaCare: MagNote
Enforcement On ICE: IBD

Economy

Think the economy is bad? Worse is coming: Tapscott
Puncturing the Left's myths about the public pension crisis: Tapscott
How egalitarian policy fueled the crisis: Economist

2% in California say economy is good: Surber
Destroying Jobs at 2.5 Gallons-per-minute: AT
Law School Grads Are Hungry With Rage: WSJ

Climate & Energy

California's Toilet Police: Surber
EPA Surrenders to NRA; If Only It Was Unconditional: RWN
Government Eco-Narcs in Cleveland: CBullitt

Media

CBS horrified by sight of black women at Beck rally, demands to know why they're not scared: WZ
Subliminal Deception: LegalIns
How Big Was the Crowd?: PJM

Palin Media Bias Rears Its Head In Hilarious Wishful Thinking: RWN
Clarice's Pieces: Reach Out: AT
The Knicker Implosion: RWN

He's Right. America Is Better Than This: Surber
Watch Out, Smitty: Rev. Al Sharpton and Code Pink Are Heading Your Way!: RSM
Beck in Body Armor... With Three Bodyguards: American Digest

World

Obama: Iraq begins and ends with I, I, I: Hot Air
Islam outlaws all the things that allow Bloomberg to tolerate it: West
After 30+ years, Carter Finally Freed a Hostage: Carr

The Age of Apostasy: Belmont Club
Why the Peaceful Majority is Irrelevant: Dewey
Meanwhile, in war crimes news today...: RWN

SciTech

Russia in Color, a Century Ago: Boston Globe
Greeks 'discover Odysseus' palace in Ithaca: Telegraph
'Anti-Facebook' project nears launch: CNet

Cornucopia

Help wanted: San Pablo Bay lighthouse keeper: SF Gate
14-year old of unspecified heritage charged with four armed robberies: Whittier Daily News
Our Recovery Summer: We Could Use Those Jaws of Life About Now: MOTUS

Image: Weasel Zippers.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Help Sharron Angle Kick Harry Reid Out of Office

QOTD: "Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak and that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws." -- John Adams


Saturday, August 28, 2010

Saudi Arabia: 24 Nails Mysteriously Appear Inside Indonesian Maid's Body, Which Confirms Ground Zero Imam's Assertion That America Sucks

Migrant Rights reports:

Human Rights Watch has called on a Saudi court to reverse a decision to drop charges against a couple who severely beat their Indonesian maid.

The judge awarded a mere $670 compensation to Nour Miyati, who was tied up by her employers and left in a cellar for a month in 2005. The 25 year old woman was left without food and contracted gangrene as result of her ordeal.

The woman who employed her was initially sentenced to 35 lashes, but later had her sentence overturned. Her male employer was not charged with any crime.

According to Human Rights Watch, the ruling "sends a dangerous message to Saudi employers that they can beat domestic workers with impunity and that victims have little hope of justice."

This comes on the heels of word that an Indonesian servant was tortured by another Saudi couple.

A Sri Lankan housemaid with 24 nails embedded in her body after allegedly being tortured by her employer is to undergo surgery on Friday, her doctors said.

L. T. Ariyawathi, 49, said her employer in Saudi Arabia inflicted the injuries on her as a punishment.

She flew back to Sri Lanka last week and was admitted to Kamburupitiya hospital in the island's south, hospital director Prabath Gajadeera told AFP on Thursday.

"She was brought in complaining that her Saudi employer drove nails into her body, and X-rays showed that there were 24 nails and a needle," Gajadeera said. "There is one nail on the forehead, just under the skin."

The nails were up to two inches (five centimetres) long and were mostly beneath the skin of Ariyawathi's hands, feet and legs.

Almost exactly a year ago, reports surfaced that another maid had been tortured to death in Saudi Arabia.

A 28-year-old maid described only as “Asian” was beaten to death by her sponsor and his wife last Friday, a local daily reported on Monday... Police confirmed reports the maid was brought to a local hospital in Jubail dead with multiple wounds and burns to her body and head. Police said an iron rod was used to beat and burn the maid.

Police have arrested the 36-year-old Saudi and his 29-year-old wife... The couple claimed that they had to resort to the beatings because of the maid’s attitude. The husband justified his behavior saying the maid repeatedly failed to carry out his orders and also neglected work inside the house.

The husband, during the interrogation, cast doubts about the maid’s character, claiming that she did “indecent” things inside the house. He said he took the iron to the maid’s body after throwing water on her.

According to Migrant Rights, this kind of outrageous abuse is rampant in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

* * *

But remember, kids: according to the Ground Zero Mosque's Imam Rauf, it's America that's screwed up.


Legacy Media Coverage Roundup of Restoring Honor Rally -- All Race-Baiting, All the Time

NewsBusters' Noel Sheppard says that this picture is "guaranteed to drive the media crazy."

You ain't kidding, Noel.

The New York Times' Race-Baiter-in-Chief (Bob Herbert) decries the loss of civility in "America Is Better Than This":
For all of his celebrity, Mr. Beck is an ignorant, divisive, pathetic figure... Beck is a provocateur who likes to play with matches in the tinderbox of racial and ethnic confrontation. He seems oblivious to the real danger of his execrable behavior.

There's a loss of civility all right, and it comes from the race-baiters like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Bob Herbert. Bob forgot to mention MLK's niece, who spoke at the event, or conservatives' undying love and support of Lt. Col. Allan West and Marco Rubio. You see, Bob: we don't give a damn about race, religion, creed or skin pigmentation. We care about our nation. Our children. The Constitution. And its limits on government, not man. But you're an ideologue, Herb, so we don't expect you could possibly understand these difficult concepts.

• CNN leads with "NAACP president slams Glenn Beck at 'Reclaim the Dream' rally":
NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous, speaking at the "Reclaim the Dream" rally Saturday, castigated the message of the Glenn Beck rally across town in Washington.

Race-baiting is a booming business for the likes of the once proud NAACP. That's why they market the status quo. Consider their assertion: the country elected a black president, yet the majority of Americans are somehow racists? The NAACP believes that school choice is evil and and that welfare is great for the urban poor. But the Democrats' Ponzi schemes are collapsing as we speak. And once the urban poor realize they've been sold a bill of goods by the Democrat Party, well, it ain't gonna be pretty.

• ABC's sarcastic subhead reads "Glenn Beck's 'Restoring Honor' Rally to Celebrate Martin Luther King"
...Sharpton and several other African American leaders have blasted Beck and the conservative right for distorting the legacy of the civil rights movement.

"What they are trying to do is divert the nation from the agenda of Martin Luther King to their agenda, and I think that's hijacking his legacy," said Rev. Carlton W. Veazey, minister of the National Baptist Convention and president of Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice...

"What they have said all the time, have been trying to divide people, trying to exclude people," Veazey said. "For him to lead a rally with that kind of attitude taints the whole affair."

Really? Far as I can tell, the only people trying to divide folks are the separatist front groups: the NAACP, La Raza, and their malevolent ilk.

• The Associated Press is segmenting the crowd into various races (why not gender or religion?).
Conservative commentator Glenn Beck and tea party champion Sarah Palin appealed Saturday to a vast, predominantly white crowd on the National Mall to help restore traditional American values and honor Martin Luther King's message. Civil rights leaders who accused the group of hijacking King's legacy held their own rally and march.

Of the first twelve paragraphs of the AP story, six were spent focusing on pro race-baiter Al Sharpton and his tiny 'protest'.

• The Washington Post, true to form, offers Al ("Kill the Jew") Sharpton roughly equivalent coverage with the major rally, though one attracted 2,500 and the other attracted 500,000... a million? Dana Milbank's prominent feature article covers the same, familiar ground as Bob Herbert's. In fact, I'm not sure why these legacy media columnists are all needed. Since their columns frequently echo one another, their salaries would appear to be utterly redundant:
...I was reminded of Beck's affection for deception as he hyped his march on Washington -- an event scheduled for the same date (Aug. 28) and on the same spot (the Lincoln Memorial) as Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic march 47 years ago. Beck claimed it was pure coincidence, but then he made every effort to appropriate the mantle of the great civil rights leader.

Beck as the fulfillment of Dr. King's dream? And you thought "War of the Worlds" was frightening....

...Beck has spoken on air about "radical black nationalism" in the White House and "Marxist black liberation theology" influencing Obama. He has further determined that the New Black Panthers have "ties to the White House in a myriad of ways" and are part of Obama's "army of thugs." ...

...To his followers, he says: "We are the people of the civil rights movement."

All that is left is for Beck to drive around town by ambulance.

• Politico believes that the crowd numbered less than 100,000, while the AP said it numbered in the "tens of thousands".
Holding her BlackBerry up with one hand, she lamented that The Associated Press had only pegged attendance as "tens of thousands."

Asked if there were more than 100,000 people there, Palin said: "Oh yeah."

Read the photos and weep, twits.

Here's a little cheat sheet for legacy media


These rallies focus on one fundamental concept: forcing government to honor our highest law, the United States Constitution -- the greatest framework for government ever created.

We don't give a damn about race, religion, creed, skin pigmentation or body odor (yes, I mean you, Ed Schultz), as evidenced by our rock solid support of patriots from every culture and walk of life.

We have the biggest tent of all: the freedom tent, in which government is controlled, not the individual.

You see, dimwit media, we believe in the rule of law. The Constitution. The Declaration. And you are its enemies. And very soon now you will become nothing more than a footnote to a footnote to a passing reference in an elementary school history book.


Update: Subliminal Deception.

Update II: JP writes:

Thanks for your post. I should no longer be appalled by anything the Baltimore Sun fails at... but I still am. Today's Sun had NO story and NO mention/blurb on Page 1 of yesterday's rally. On Page 2, they had about 1/2 page and used the "predominantly white crowd" phrase and "tens of thousands" attended, with a photo showing The National Mall overflowing, perhaps with as many as who attended MLK's speech and Marian Anderson's singing.

Then I noticed that they deliberately gave NO crowd numbers for the Rev. Al, and neglected to mention that it was a "predominantly black crowd". It was story written by a Sun reporter, but she apparently studied the AP article first.

The news is almost dead.

Hat tip: Memeorandum. Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Kellogg School of Business: Prepare for War Between Taxpayers and Public Sector Unions Because State Pension Plans Are Only 35% Funded

Public sector union bosses and Democrat politicians have engaged in decades of incestuous deal-making. In doing so, they have led taxpayers to a crisis of epic proportions. So says the University of Chicago Northwestern's* Kellogg School of Business, not exactly a fount of right-wing propaganda.

Kellogg has published a study by two academics which outlines the scope of the public sector pension funding crisis (PDF). I can summarize it in one word: pain.

Using proper actuarial calculations, the study determined that states' defined-benefit pension plans are 65% underfunded. Not 65% funded (that would be bad enough)--but 65% underfunded. As of mid-2009, the plans held $1.8 trillion in assets and had $5.2 trillion in liabilities. Even dramatic plan reductions -- like excising cost-of-living-allowances (COLA) -- won't make significant dents in the plans' shortfalls.

Even under the most conservative measures, public pension liabilities are currently over $1 trillion larger than plan assets. Using discount rates that actually reflect the promise reveals shortfalls of $2.5 billion for accumulated benefits only and over $3 trillion for broader measures. This shortfall has to be borne by some party: taxpayers or public employees, be they past, current, or future.

In essence, then, the debate over the solution is over transfers. The current situation is one in which beneficiaries view their benefits as secure promises and taxpayers do not perceive that they will be held accountable for guaranteeing those promises.

In short, the stage is set for a war between taxpayers and public sector retirees.

Memo to the drones: the era of big government, socialist Ponzi schemes is drawing to a close. And the crash will be painful.

Oh, and be sure to thank ex-SEIU head Andy Stern and the other Democrat Socialists when you see them around town. Their insane, Utopian vision of central planning has failed us, just as it failed the Soviet Union, Cuba, North Korea, and every other damn place it's ever been tried.

Say, I've got an idea: since they've done such a great job with these pensions, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Post Office, Amtrak, and such, let's let the Democrats run the entire health care system!


Hat tip: The Foundry.
*Thanks to Jeff for the correct university.


I'm so confused by Eric Holder: waterboarding is torture, but broiling the skin of prisoners with a heat ray gun is just peachy

Famed bodybuilding guru Joe Weider used to have an exercise regimen called the Muscle Confusion Principle. His theory was that you could force your body to grow faster if you continually changed your workouts; by avoiding cyclical repetition, your body would be forced to adapt.

I'm thinking that Eric Holder borrowed the concept for his Department of 'Justice'. The Eric Holder Legal Confusion System™ appears to do the opposite of what you'd expect. Like pursuing Arizona for its enforcement of immigration law. Or dropping a slam-dunk voter intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party. Or attempting to try the 9/11 masterminds in civilian courts -- at Ground Zero. Et cetera.

If I told you that the Holder DOJ is funding a "heat beam ray", the application of which on prisoners many believe is "tantamount to torture", you'd dismiss it in a moment. After all, these are the same rocket scientists who believe waterboarding is torture (despite the fact that our own personnel are subjected to it in SERE School as a matter of course). But it's true -- Tampa Bay Online reports that Los Angeles will soon receive heat ray guns from the DOJ to use on prisoners.

A device designed to control unruly inmates by blasting them with a beam of intense energy that causes a burning sensation is drawing heat from civil rights groups who fear it could cause serious injury and is "tantamount to torture."

The mechanism, known as an "Assault Intervention Device," is a stripped-down version of a military gadget that sends highly focused beams of energy at people and makes them feel as though they are burning. The Los Angeles County sheriff's department plans to install the device by Labor Day, making it the first time in the world the technology has been deployed in such a capacity... The natural response when blasted - to leap out the way - would be helpful in bringing difficult inmates under control and quelling riots, the sheriff said.

..."The neat thing with this device is you experience pain but you are not injured by it," Osborne said. "It doesn't injure your skin, the beam doesn't have the power to do that."

...The device was made specifically for the sheriff's department by Raytheon Missile Systems. Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said its $750,000 cost was paid for by a Department of Justice technology grant.

The ACLU claims (PDF):

While the device was being tested by the Air Force, a miscalibration of the device's power settings caused five airmen in its path to suffer lasting burns, including one whose injuries were so severe that he was airlifted to an off-base burn treatment center.

According to a 2008 report by physicist and less-lethal weapons expert Dr. Juergen Altmann, "the ADS provides the technical possibility to produce burns of second and third degree . . . over considerable parts of the body, up to 50% of its surface," and "without a technical device that reliably prevents re-triggering on the same target subject, the ADS has the potential to produce permanent injury or death."

I'm so confused.

Waterboarding is torture, but broiling the skin of prisoners is just peachy?

Could someone help me out here?

Oh -- and where's legacy media, breathlessly trumpeting thousands of news stories nationwide about Obama's imperialistic torture regime?


Hat tips: CBullitt and Bakersfield Now (image).

Larwyn's Linx: Gov. Daniels Describes Devastating Effects of ObamaCare

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

Gov. Daniels Describes Devastating Effects of ObamaCare: Foundry
Obama Memo to Pentagon: Of Course Troops Don't Need to Vote: Ace
It Worked: NRA Not Endorsing Harry Reid: RedState

Palin's Alaska: Pay Attention, Grassroots!: RWN
Stunning Revelations from Obama, the Lightworker: PJM
A Clarion Call to Ordinary Barbarians: It's Time to Fight: Con4Palin

Economy

Great News: ACORN Has Competition for 'Voter' Registration: GWP
'The Most Fiscally Irresponsible Government in U.S. History': USN&WR
Christie Fires Education Commission for Lying: LibertyPundits

Various and Sundry, Starting With Education: Pundette
The Ugliness of Government Dependence: PJM
Debt, Depression, Default. America is in Deep Trouble: AT

Climate & Energy

Obama's Brain Trust at the EPA: Hey, Let's Ban Lead Bullets!: Ace
Obama’s Green Agenda: Smoke and Lies: RWN
EPA says no to lead ammo ban, but...: WUWT

Media

Hurricane Katrina and the race card: 5 years later: Malkin
Racist Arm of MoveOn.org Cranks Up the Cranks: SondraK
More Proof: ObamaCare Leads to Rationing: Malkin

CNN Paints Hezbollah as More ‘Tolerant’ Than GZM Protesters: Driscoll
Brave, Brave Sir Carnahan... Boldly Ran Away: Nice Deb
The Last Refuge of a Liberal: Hammer

World

'A Call to Islam From the WTC Rubble': Winter Soldier
The Left's Unlikely Alliance with Islam: AT
One Muslim Nation’s Brave Support of Israel: PJM

Decades of poverty might not have spurred Cubans to revolution, but this might: RWN
Engagement with Castro Has Clearly Failed -- Time to Try an Embargo: AT
The Fatwa That Governs Muslim Soldiers Fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan: Winter Soldier

The Pentagon's Budget Is Not Bloated: AT
US Muslim soldier Zachari Klawonn appears in uniform on Al-Jazeera complaining of Islamophobia in US military: Jawa
Ladies Night With Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: GWP

SciTech

Heirloom Diseases: Grand Rants
How to Handle a Threatening Email: GoV
This Week in Search: Google

Cornucopia

The Minute Men Are Turning In Their Graves: Sad Hilll News
Screw Burning Man: This year's greatest desert festival is a three-day Mad Max reenactment!: Jalopnik
Prez Rides a Girl's Bike: Surber

Image: Me.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Help Out Joe Miller In Alaska!

QOTD: ”It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medication somehow think that we can afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, medication and a government bureaucracy to administer it.” -- Thomas Sowell


Friday, August 27, 2010

Stand Clear of Lie Detector Shrapnel: Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) Says Americans have "more confidence in Democrats than Republicans"

Is there a more bald-faced liar in America than Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)? Based upon this performance, I think not.

Van Hollen... accused Republicans of "already popping the champagne bottles" ahead of the November election and reiterated his confidence that Democrats would keep their majority in the House... "reports of the House Democrats' demise are greatly exaggerated... The energy level is rapidly rising on the Democratic side... Most of the activity in these campaigns will take place in the next nine and a half weeks."

...Van Hollen pushed back against [the Republican] narrative Friday in an appearance at the National Press Club, telling reporters it is "very clear that Democrats will retain their majority" in November... [he said] Republican candidates in key swing districts as "to the far right of the political spectrum," and predicted they would prove "not a good fit for our moderate swing districts."

"I'm not suggesting that the American people are bullish on either party," said Van Hollen. "What I am suggesting is that they have got more confidence in Democrats than Republicans."

Uhm, Chris: Democrats can blame Bush, Millard Fillmore, Kim Kardashian and Jersey Shore's Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, but everyone knows they've controlled Congress for four freaking years.

You're a laughingstock, Chris, but take heart: you're a historic laughingstock.


Car Bombs -- With Texas License Plates -- Detonating in Mexico; White House Reaction? More Open Borders!

Runner-up headline: How's that Obama-Holder open borders strategy working out?

Stratfor Research reports that improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are becoming commonplace in Mexico (subscription required). Interestingly, CNN International also reported this story a few moments ago, but its mother network (CNN USA) is thus far mum.

At least two car bombs exploded Friday near the television studios of Televisa in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas state in northeastern Mexico, authorities said...

...The car that exploded in front of the television studio was a red Chevrolet Corsica with Texas license plates, the attorney general's office said in a news release. The car in front of the transit office was a white Mazda, also with Texas license plates...

Tamaulipas is the state where authorities discovered 72 bodies this week on a ranch believed to be used by narcotraffickers. Authorities are investigating whether the 58 men and 14 women, who were migrants from Central and South America, were killed by the Zetas cartel.

Car bombings are a relatively new phenomena in Mexico.

But, as Big Peace's Frank Gaffney reports, these kinds of attacks shouldn't come as a surprise.

...Mexican authorities arrested a senior operative of the Lebanese terrorist group, Hezbollah, named Jameel Nasr... [Mexico] "foil[ed] an attempt by Hezbollah to establish a network in South America."

...Iran’s most dangerous terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, is operating with impunity in Latin America. The capture of Nasr comes as the President tells Senator Jon Kyl that the border must remain insecure until he gets a deal from congressional opponents of an amnesty for the many millions of illegal aliens already in this country.

The Nasr arrest also was revealed at the very moment the Department of Justice announced that the federal government was going to sue to prevent Arizona from enforcing federal laws on immigration.

Of course, this makes President Obama's open-borders policy all the more... eh... exciting.

But we already knew that, didn't we?