Friday, November 12, 2010

Warning: Taliban Email Virus Spreading Rapidly Among Progressives

The following virus caught me by surprise and put me out of commission earlier today.

From: Miss Freya [mailto:emily.pembroke@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, November 12, 2010 1:10 PM
To: Doug Ross
Subject: Internet User


Hi,

You have just received a Taliban virus. Since we are not so technologicaly advanced in Afghanistan, this is a MANUAL virus. Please delete all the files on your hard disk yourself and send this mail to everyone you know.

Thank you very much for helping us.


Thanks & Regards

Miss Freya


Gizmodo isn't down with the TSA's new 'hands-on' approach to security screening

Someone has to tell Gizmodo to grow up. It's not down with the TSA's new "hands-on" approach to security.

...This is a photo of the TSA booth by the security check-in point at Indianapolis International Airport. Take a close look at the wallpaper on the computer in that booth. Nervous yet?

In case you don't recognize the image in the wallpaper, it's this fake children's book cover...

While I'm really glad to see that TSA security personnel has a sense of humor, I really wish it didn't involve poking fun of my third biggest travel nightmare. [Flickr via Reddit via High Definite]... Photo taken by Dan Moore

Get real, Gizmodo: it could be worse. They could be examining full-body scans of Janet Napolitano.


Larwyn's Linx: Mark Levin and the Book That Changed America

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

Nation

Mark Levin and the Book That Changed America: AmSpec
Top 10 Reasons Conservatives Should Not Celebrate Midterm Results: AT
Ferreting Out Real Travel Expense Fraud at the DOJ: Adams

A Look At Challenged Alaska Ballots: Ace
The 10 Most Gerrymandered Congressional Districts in the U.S.: Zombie
Mitch the Knife: AmSpec

Economy

What went wrong?: iOTW
“Axelrod Denies Obama Would Concede Tax Cuts”: ProWis
Alert: QE II Has Lit the Fuse: ZH (Martenson)

California’s Assorted Rocks and Hard Places: Hanson
You should've listened to Glenn Beck: RSM
Beware Commissions Bearing Gifts: IBD

The House Should Curb Obama's Extravagant Lifestyle: AT
No more sex tips for your kids?: GWP
The Boom Box: AT

Veterans Day

Happy Veterans' Day: Thank You!: Malkin
I Am Humbled: RWN
Navy Veteran Carves the Declaration of Independence: iOTW

Climate & Energy

Weather Station Update: Added Noise
WTF Friday Presents: Headline Of The Week: CBullitt (NSFW)

Media

The Rethuglicans are Coming to Kill Us! Quick! Disarm!: Patterico
Beck is anti-semitic, Levin is anti-intellectual, and other stuff the left wants you to believe: RWN
Professor Bainbridge thinks I am an anti-intellectual populist: Levin

Left Responding To Bush's Book Tour In The Only Way They Know How: Ace
Someone tell Tina Fey that some of her fans are conservatives: Pundette
Jesse Jackson to CNN’s Soledad O’Brien: “You Don’t Count” as Black…: WZ

Latest Liberal Midterm Loss Conspiracy: It’s Joe Lieberman’s Fault: RWN
A Republican Bonus in 2012: Barone
Sarah Palin: Obama Is “Most Pro-Abortion President” in History: GWP

World

WTC Memorial: iOTW
Oklahoma Anti-Sharia Ballot Measure Ill-Advised: PJM
Obama Can't Seal S. Korea Trade Deal At The G-20 Summit: IBD

Some attending Capitol Hill prayer group have ties to jihad terror: JihadWatch
Radical Muslims Celebrate Veterans Day in London With “British Soldiers Burn in Hell” Signs: GWP
'Like a scene from a horror film': JihadWatch

"But what do they actually know about Islam?": Wizang
Sign the Petition: Has ABC/Disney Blacklisted ‘The Path to 9/11’ Forever?: RWN
Rep. Peter King: Bush “Should Get a Medal” For Waterboarding KSM…: WZ

SciTech

Japan is Awesome (and/or Insane): SnappedShot
Boxee Will Change Your TV Experience. Here’s How.: Mediaite
Nvidia CEO: Lots of Android tablets coming: CNet

Cornucopia

When The Pomposity Was A Zygote: iOTW
Meet The Illinois Woman Arrested For Assaulting Cop With A Sex Toy: TSG
Tales of 57 States: The Deficit Wizards Speak: AT (Cary)

Image: Mark R. Levin's Liberty and Tyranny
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Help Out Joe Miller's Recount in Alaska


Thursday, November 11, 2010

New Feature-slash-Tech Nerd Update: Easily Scroll Back Through Old Posts

Since this blog debuted in January of 1956, readers have asked why they can't easily scroll through old posts. You may recall that some blogs -- those with competent designers -- have "previous" and "next" buttons that allow a casual reader to navigate to newer or older posts.

This blog has never had such an advanced feature. I'll be blunt, I've been lazy. I use the classic Blogger template. That older template did not support the "previous" and "next" features -- and I'd never mustered the energy to learn the new templating language. The toll for said laziness was the lack of a "scroll backwards" feature.

Well, I remain too lazy to learn the new templating format, but I did spend an hour or so earlier this evening writing Javascript that provides the same feature.

You'll notice at the top right of the screen -- and at the bottom of each page -- is a new link captioned Scroll Back 10 Posts > >.

Each link allows you to navigate back in time to what I believe will be the ten prior posts, in sequential order.

And if anyone is interested in adding this feature to their classic blogger template, make a request in the comments. I'll post the code and instructions for adding it. And, with some training and a bit of dedication, I can teach you to be a complete loser like me.


World's dumbest blogger not sure why deficit reduction is needed

Matthew Yglesis is one of the country's top progressive bloggers and is also highly confused by all of the talk about deficit reduction. Which actually says quite a lot about the progressive movement. But I digress.

All the hot bloggers and think tanks are working on their long-term deficit reduction plans, but I have to say I’m a bit confused as to why. It’s definitely true that in principle a country should always have a specific plan for returning to long-term balance. But does that ever actually happen?

...Today we have serious economic problems, but none of them are caused by the deficit. Inflation is below the Fed’s target....

Oh, geez. Flatline isn't just a character from The Transformers, it also describes Yglesias' neural activity.

Here's a news flash for the world's dumbest blogger: inflation is a problem and it is being exacerbated by the out-of-control fiscal policy of the Federal Reserve. You've heard the term "monetizing the debt", genius? Do you know what that means?

It means we're intentionally devaluing the dollar in an ill-fated attempt to kick-start the economy because the government is flat broke.

So inflation isn't a problem?





This is what passes for informed commentary on the left. Inflation isn't a problem, yet the price of oil, gas, food, commodities and every other tangible necessity is skyrocketing.

Gold is quickly becoming the world's reserve currency as the dollar's value becomes closer and closer to that of the Zimbabwean dollar.

We're about to open the door on the Weimar Republic and the leftists don't have a freaking clue. But that really shouldn't surprise me, given their exceptional track record of fiscal destruction.


Hat tips: Memeorandum and GoldPrice.org.

Warning Labels for Voting Machines

Given their love of warning labels and the current state of the hard left Democrat Party, I would propose placing at least one of the following warning stickers on every voting machine in America.








Hat tips: Left Coast Rebel and Mark Levin.

Larwyn's Linx: Going Out of Their Way to Kill the Constitution

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

Nation

Judges are going out of their way to kill the Constitution: WashExam
Gerrymandering 101: Zombie
Nice: SEIU Counting Ballots in Hotly Contested House Race: GWP

Open-borders lobby to Dingy Harry: Knock, knock. Pay up.: Malkin
Mitch McConnell’s Part Of The Problem In The Senate: RWN
Great Nations Don't Decline -- They Just Get Tougher: AT (Lewis)

Economy

Avoiding the Abyss: The National Economic Rescue Initiative: PJM
Ryan: Federal Spending Up 84% Under Far Left Obama: GWP
Your Higher Ed Tax Dollars At Work: HayRide

First Target Should Be Government Worker Salary, Benefits: AT
Report: Obama caves on tax increases: RedState
Earmarks battle is a tale of two Oklahomans: WashExam

Higher Ed's hidden affirmative action policies: Stossel
John Boehner to fly commercial as speaker: Politico
Wall Street Collects $4B From Taxpayers as Swaps Backfire: Bloomberg

Climate & Energy

Need another reason to love Chris Christie?: JWF
Confirmed: White House Lied to Push Drilling Moratorium: GWP
In Energy race, Boehner's vote is enough for Upton: WashExam

Media

Polling conservative bloggers on the 2010 election: RWN
Controversies over Kaplan dog Washington Post company: WashExam
Who Picked Up The Tab For San Fran Nan’s Party?: WZ

Liberal Politico Predicts Allen West Will Become The 'Alan Grayson of The Right': WZ
Liberal Radio Host to Tea Party: ‘You Animals Are Gonna Get It’: TheBlaze
What does Olbermann know about TWA Flight 800?: Cashill

Answer: Grab Blog-War Hit Counts without Entering the Frey: LCR
Tingles: Had You Seen This Hillary Clinton in 2008 She Might Be President: NewsBusters
New GOP chief of staff calls Pelosi 'garbage': Hill

World

No illegal alien pilot left behind: Malkin
Michelle Malkin Schools Obama on Islamic Jihad: GWP
The Hate Process: PJM

Scotland Yard: AQ Parcel Bomb Timed to Explode While Plane Was Over American East Coast: WZ
U.N. Accepts Saudi Arabia’s Bid for Seat on Women’s Rights Panel: NiceDeb
Amnesty International Demands Obama Prosecute Bush for Admitting to Waterboarding 9/11 Mastermind KSM: WZ

How Is Obama’s Asia Tour Playing with Muslims?: BigPeace
British Arrest Revolution Muslim Member Bilal Ahmad: Jawa
Christian woman sentenced to hang in Pakistan after being convicted of blaspheming Mohammed: BlogProf

SciTech

BlackBerry tablet out early 2011 for under $500: CNet
Man jailed for DDoS attack against Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter and Rudy Giuliani: Sophos
Google gives employees 10 percent raise, cash: CNet

Cornucopia

Happy Birthday Marine Corps: Malkin
Chia – America’s Next Super Power Supplement: SHN
Proposed Cigarette Product Warning Labels: AmPower

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Help out Joe Miller's recount in Alaska


Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Curiously, California Auditor Discloses Extent of Democrats' Fiscal Havoc Just Days After Elections in Which Democrats Retain Power

Tyler Durden captions California's latest dilemma as the state disclosing a "Huge $25.4 Billion Budget Hole, [and Asking] If It Should Pass The "Huge Challenge" To "Future Californians""

The California Legislative Analyst's Office has just released the latest fiscal outlook. It's not pretty. The state discloses a $25.4 billion budget "problem" which consists of a $6 billion deficit for the remainder of 2010-2011, and a $19 billion budget deficit forecast for 2011-2012, thanks to a $8 billion plunge in revenues for the general fund, as temporary tax increases adopted in 2009 expire...

Furthermore, as the state admits: "One major reason to stop passing the state’s problems to future Californians is that the state’s long-term fiscal liabilities—for infrastructure, retirement, and budgetary borrowing—are already huge. The costs of paying down these liabilities already are reflected, to some extent, in the state’s recurring deficits, but these costs will only grow in the future. By deferring hard decisions on how to finance routine annual budgets of state programs to future years, the state risks increasing further the already immense fiscal challenges facing tomorrow’s Californians."

Based on the current rate of emigration from the state, tomorrow's Californians may consist entirely of illegal immigrants, Steven Spielberg and the Schwarzenegger family.


The FDA's 10 Most Terrifying Proposed Cigarette Warning Labels

This is what happens when you get too many bureaucrats, making too much money, spending all of their time dreaming up new ways to regulate you and control your life.

SmartPower™ Headlines o' the Day

Matt Drudge does an excellent job organizing today's SmartPower™ headlines for your perusal.

Dan from New York augments those stories with the following missive:

Barack Hussein Obama says he was born in the USA and that's good enough for me. Still, like any red blooded American, there is the pull of his formative influences: Third World, Marxist, Islamic. And so yesterday the President of The United States returned to Cairo by way of his boyhood Indonesia where he again reiterated the need for America to do more to eliminate "Muslim distrust." I for one hope the Muslim world will allow Mr. Obama enough time because we've seen what happens when they get mad at us.



Larwyn's Linx: Back to the Border; News Flash--Progressives Won

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Nation

Back to the Border: Former Spook
News Flash: Progressives Won, Hard Left Agenda on the Way!: NoisyRm
Massive Voting Fraud Reported in Massachusetts: PJM

Let's Take This Country Back: AT (Jackson)
GOP tries to woo Manchin: AnBlkCon
Mark Kirk Already on Track to Vote Against GOP: RWN

Nostalgia: Things I Don't Miss About Bush: Malkin
LA "Missile" Update: Possibly Not A Missile After All: Ace
A Graphic Representation of the Path of That 'Missile': Patterico

Economy

California: Two Shades of Blue: AmSpec
Employee Rights in the Crosshairs Again at the NLRB: ShopFloor
Spending Less for a Better Education: AT

Ouch: McConnell Working Quietly Against Earmark Ban?: Ace
Back to the Future with Jerry Brown at the Helm: PJM
Leftist McCaskill Leads List of Most Endangered Senators in 2012: GWP

Bernanke's Folly: AT
Fed Global Backlash Grows: WSJ
Obama's edu-crats attack for-profit colleges: Marathon

Climate & Energy

Al Gore’s Climate Exchange Scheme Collapses -- Media Ignores It All: RWN
Climate science: observations vs. models: Moore
Nanny State Republican Wants House Energy Committee Chair?: RWN

Media

Ted Rall Book Excerpt: Let's Kill Some Christians and Tea Partiers: Verum Serum
Obama's Slave Ship: AT
Translating Obama (Without Rosetta Stone): GrandRants

Obama, Chinan and Beinhart's Revisionism: Ace
Blowing Some Hot Air Works For Some Blogs: The Ed Morrissey Interview: IBD
California is not the "Lindsay Lohan of States," it is Courtney Love: BlogProf

Left Finds New Important Cause to Rally Behind: Ace
Huffington Post Libels Palin, Refuses to Change Story: PunditPress
50 Highest Earning Political Figures of 2010: Newsweek

World

Al-Qaeda cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki trained Pentagon’s Muslim chaplains: Big Peace
Obama's Visit to Indonesia: Highlighted by Another Mosque Visit: PJM
Comrade Atkins Admits Communist Infiltration of Democratic Party: NoisyRm

Left-wingers interrupt PM's speech in Louisiana: Matzav
Obama A Little Too Interested In The Fact That Communists Are Part Of India’s Mainstream: NiceDeb
Operation Fetal Position: AT (Geller)

West Goes Silent on Arab Press Crackdown: FrumForum
Feds Remove Highly Enriched Uranium From Suburbs: SanDiego
Netanyahu Confronts Anti-Israel Propaganda in U.S.: CBN

SciTech

E Ink shows off Triton color ePaper, touts faster performance, readability in sunlight: Engadget
Chrome could preload pages for 'wicked-fast' Web: CNet
JetBlue tickets scam spreads via Facebook, tricks Jezebel: Sophos

Cornucopia

Tales of 57 States: Nancy from Wonderland: AT (Cary)
There's an App for That: Carol's Closet
Having A Stench Is The Hip, New Trend!: RWN

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Alaska's Recount Underway: Help Out Joe Miller With a Couple o' Bucks!


Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Sarah Palin Gives Props to Mark Burnett

I don't care what you think about Sarah Palin's viability as a presidential candidate, one thing is for certain:

Gotta hand it 2 Mark Burnett &TLC



She has a much better, much more refined and self-deprecating sense of humor than certain other folks currently serving in office.


I didn't think Housing Wire was a horror website. Until today.

You wouldn't normally think of Housing Wire magazine as a horror periodical, but given the multi-decade rape of Fannie Mae by connected Democrats, you'd be wrong.

Two recent articles highlight the trouble we're in.

1. One In Five Distressed Homeowners At Risk of Losing Home:
Laurie Goodman, senior managing director at Amherst Securities, believes one in five distressed homeowners in the U.S. are facing, or may face, foreclosure... The analyst adds that little may be done to stem the tide of foreclosures without greater government intervention or significant principal reduction. Currently, she said 11.5 million home loans are non-performing or highly distressed.

...Goodman spoke at Thursday's State of Housing webinar today, hosted by HousingWire. Several charts produced during the event paint a picture of a highly distressed housing market.

2. Mortgage delinquencies are in 'serious trouble,' says LPS analyst:
Kyle Lundstedt, managing director of the applied analytics division at Lender Processing Services, said the housing market remains in "serious trouble" as current mortgage delinquencies are above 7 million distressed homeowners... Perhaps most alarming to Lundstedt is the rise in prime mortgage delinquencies. "The prime markets are the place we've seen the most increase in foreclosure," he said

..."It's shocking the 13% of mortgage in Florida are in foreclosure," he said. "Not delinquent, not in default, but in foreclosure."

Anyone have Franklin Raines' number? Or Jamie Gorelick's?

I've got a few choice words for them, which I can't repeat in polite company.


The Simple, Two-Color Pie-Chart That Perfectly Illustrates the Fiscal Suicide of the United States of America

Democrats can blame Bush, Greenspan, Reagan, Millard Fillmore and James Madison. But this year's deficit is on their heads alone.

Karl Denninger is using this chart to speak some truth to power: in a nutshell, the Democrats' era of vast unfunded, unconstitutional social engineering experiments -- Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Department of Education, the Department of Labor and hundreds of other bureaucracies -- is drawing to a close, like it or not.

The Pelosi-Obama-Reid Democrats just hastened their demise.

And don't blink, but given Bernanke's QE2, the end may come quicker than any of us can possibly imagine. The only choice is to slash the government -- slash it wide and deep as fast as possible. The pie-chart doesn't lie.


Larwyn's Linx: Yes, We Can Repeal

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

Nation

Yes, We Can Repeal: AT
We Need Confrontation and Resolution on Socialism: Ace
The Most Endangered Senate Seats of 2012: PJM

Sleazy Maxine Waters Ensnared in Brand New Scandal: RWN
Rove's Water Boy Strikes Again: Malkin
For the ACLU, some causes are more right than others: PJM

Economy

All or Nothing: Stop the Obama Tax Increases: Malkin
Big Labor May Still Reap Benefits Despite Election Losses: Forbes
Smash the Union Thugocracy: Morris

Palin Schools Idiotic Journal Reporter: Ace
The real world impact of just one regulation: RWN
Nancy Pelosi -- Parties While Rome Burns: Simon

Soros Bets on U.S. Financial Collapse: AIM
Enjoy the Good Times While They Last : Barron's
Big Nanny Bloomberg wants government fashion jobs: Malkin

Climate & Energy

AGU backs away from “climate rapid response team” citing faulty reporting: WUWT
The AGW Cult Is On the Run: RWN

Media

Top 10 Statements from Pres. Obama's '60 Minutes' Interview: FoxNation
Total Number of Anti-Pelosi Ads Aired During Midterm Election Cycle: 161,203: WZ
PBS Nut: Palin Quitting As Governor Like Kennedy Killing Kopechne At Chappaquiddick: BlogProf

Los Angeles Times Slurs Geert Wilders Case as 'Hate Trial': AmPower
NPR Chief Changes Her Tune… Now Says Defunding NPR Would Be Devastating: GWP
Why I am a fascist (according to my liberal friend): RWN

Mark Levin grills Alaska Lt Gov over Write-In Ballots: RightScoop
White House: Obama Conducting Reign of Terror: OpinionMaker
White House Insider: " Temporary Insanity ": NewsFlavor

World

De Facto Sharia Law in America: AT
Saddest Letter Ever From One of Our Military Vets: RWN
Hard-Line Islamic Groups React to Obama’s Indonesia Visit: PJM

G20 Rulers Push for Global Socialism: RWN
Obama Remembers Mumbai Massacre; Forgets Ft. Hood First Anniversary: BigPeace
Change!… Obama Acknowledges Decline of US Dominance During Town Hall in India: GWP

Federal Court Blocks Oklahoma Ban on Sharia Law: Ace
Obama blows India’s mind with insane teleprompter skills: Hot Air
Saudi Man Gets Five-Year Prison Term, 500 Lashes for Gay Sex: Bloomberg

SciTech

How We Used a Python Script to Find Our Domain Name, “Yipit”: Mediaite
Directly Downwind, Faster Than the Wind: Ace
Public carbon trading dead in the USA: WUWT

Cornucopia

Obama Pity Party FAIL: WZ
Meat -- It's What We Eat: Ace
Something Wonderful: The Gettysburg Address: AmDigest

Grief Counselors Help Dem Staffers Work Through Their Loss: Malkin
More on Exit Polling: Ace
Here's what I saw, make of it what you will: Zilla

Image: Denny
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Help Joe Miller in Alaska Monitor the Recount!

Monday, November 08, 2010

Wealthy, Coddled, Marxist Cartoonist Calls for Violent Workers' Revolution (While Hawking His New Book)

Does anyone else find this hilarious?

The economically illiterate cartoonist known as Ted Rall appeared on (where else?) MSNBC to hawk his latest book, which preaches a socialist revolution of sorts. He says the system's broken and the only solution may be a violent overthrow of the government by the workers. Because they need jobs.

Yes, those would be the same jobs that the private sector could create, if it weren't being suffocated by the federal leviathan, that is.

No word on whether Rall is redistributing all of his book's proceeds to "the workers".

Rall says that firing government workers would damage the economy. Of course, the real economy -- the private sector -- is on life support while subsidizing all of the endless federal bureaucracies with workers who make double their private counterparts.

But that whole "private sector" concept was always too complex for the likes of Rall to understand.

Just don't miss any of his royalty payments, Mr. Publisher, or he'll get really, really pissed. Like, violent-overthrow-pissed!


Hat tip: Breitbart.

Are Ben Bernanke and Paul Krugman Running California, Too?

Ben Bernanke and Paul Krugman must love California's economy.

Like Bernanke's game-plan of monetizing the debt by printing money, California is stamping out IOU's to make its payments. As for adhering to Krugman's Utopian vision of unchecked deficit spending, well, California appears to have set the record.

But don't have either of them try to explain any of these fun facts from the world's largest Democrat-controlled nuthouse:

• One of every eight workers in California is jobless.

• The state is borrowing $40 million a day from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits, but won't change any of the formulas used to calculate and fund those benefits.

• Cali's debt on unemployment benefits alone is projected to hit $10.3 billion this year and $16 billion by 2012. Last year, the state paid out $11.3 billion while collecting only $4.2 billion.

• The interest on that debt alone will require a $362 million payment to DC in little more than nine months.

• Fixing the imbalance requires doing one of two things: paying out less benefits or raising employer contributions. California's Democrat legislators have resisted doing either despite massive increases in benefits paid.

Of course, the delightful voters of California decided to reelect the very same nincompoops who got them into this mess, so relief is unlikely to come anytime soon.

Next year's budget deficit has been estimated at $12 billion on the low side and $19 billion on the high side... [observers question] if he will be willing to make state employees work longer to earn their full pensions, especially since they spent $30 million to get him elected.

Brown has promised to make the "budget process transparent..." [but nothing] about this first two days has been transparent. Will he stand up to unions, restore cuts made to schools and universities and where will he find the money to invest in green jobs?

Maybe he'll conjure some unicorns out of thin air... and the unicorns will poop diamonds and green jobs and food stamps and windmills and fairy dust! I mean, this is Cali-freaking-fornia!

Oh, I forgot. Brown also has to deal with a $500 billion unfunded pension liability which has some calling California "America's Greece".

I think they're being far too kind. Greece is Europe's California.

Democrats: if they weren't in power, they'd be good only as comic relief.


Question: How can a self-identified Socialist take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution? Answer: Lie.

Bernie Sanders is a self-identified socialist Senator from Vermont. Here's Sanders describing one of his social Democrat utopias -- in this case, Finland.

I was honored last year to show Ambassador Pekka Lintu of Finland around my home state of Vermont. There was standing-room only at a town meeting where people came to hear more about one of the world's most successful economic and social models.

And what we learned impressed us. Finland is a country which provides high-quality health care to all of its people with virtually no out-of-pocket expense; where parents and their young children receive free excellent childcare and/or parental leave benefits which dwarf what our nation provides; where college and graduate education is free to students and where children in the public school system often record the highest results in international tests. In Finland, where 80 percent of workers belong to unions, all employees enjoy at least 30 days paid vacation and the gap between the rich and poor is far more equitable than in the United States.

In other words, Finland -- at least according to Sanders -- is a country that the U.S. should emulate. Finland? Gee, could you find a country with less in common with the United States? Population, demographics, economy, immigration, innovation, national security -- are you serious?

The Constitution is the antithesis of socialism. It restrains government, while socialism expands it. It commands the sanctity of private property, while socialism denies it. The Constitution's tenets are faith, family and self-reliance. Socialism's tenets are the primacy of the state and the need for a chosen few masterminds to redistribute wealth.

You can't be a self-identified socialist and honestly take an oath to uphold the Constitution.

You simply can't.

Sanders and any other self-identified socialists, Marxists and Statist-progressives should be systematically expelled from every office in the land. The Constitution is not a suicide pact.


Keith Olbermann suspended indefinitely, or until Tuesday, whichever comes first

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann -- the unhinged smear-merchant with no ratings (which is the description he prefers, I hear) -- was suspended indefinitely by his network for political donations last week.

That suspension lasted all of 48 hours.

...this morning we find out that Keith Olbermann will be back from his suspension without pay tomorrow. It’s interesting that conservatives are probably responsible for him coming back, given how many of them rose to defend Olbermann. I mean, if it was just liberals rising to his defense, would he be coming back at all? Hard to say. But conservative defenders give the outcry a distinctive whiff of bipartisanship.

You have to give Olbermann credit, however. He has established a broadcasting record of sorts.

He's the only news broadcaster in history so terrified of conservatives that he's never screwed up enough courage to interview one.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Larwyn's Linx: Harry Reid is Not Above the Law

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

Nation

Harry Reid is Not Above the Law: Tapscott
The Latino Vote and the GOP: Hewitt
Oh, What Delicious Crow: Wizbang

The Democrats' Unconscionable Racism Against Hispanics: PJM
Republicans won the midterm elections. Now can they survive?: Luntz
Tea Party time for Illinois redistricting: Marathon

Economy

Fixing Social Security: AT (Hoven)
California Still on Suicide Watch: Dyer
Federal Contractor to Workers: Vote for Murkowski: Malkin

Astonishing Statistic of the Day: Driscoll
How to reduce the debt by $1.2 trillion: NoisyRoom
Bernanke engaging in unconstitutional fiscal policy: Hussman

Obama’s NLRB Appointee: Unions Need to be Voted in Quicker: RWN
Time to Tackle Right to Work: AT
Texas Considers Seceding... from Medicaid: BlogProf

Climate & Energy

John Abraham panics, he and AGU to form 'Climate rapid response team': WUWT
Climate scientists plan campaign against global-warming skeptics: Trib
Oops: Biofuel worse for climate than fossil fuel: Reuters

Environmentalists Blocking Wind Farms? And Solar? And Geothermal?: PJM
Obama May Have to Cancel Indonesia Trip Due to Greenhouse Gas Emissions: BlogProf
Biofuel-Inspired Food Shortage Coming?: Classic Liberal

Media

Race Card Cockroach Survived Democrats' Nuclear Winter: LegalIns
Why Is This Still Acceptable?: R&R
Post 2010: Conservatives Must Reject Christie, Powerline And Other Short-Term Thinkers: Riehl

The 20 Most Notorious Campaign Ads Of The 2010 Cycle: RWN
News Flash: Harvard History Dominated by White Males: GrandRants
America’s Worst Politician: The short, ugly career of Alan Grayson: Will

WaPo: Results From 2010 Census Pretty Much Ensures a Republican-Dominated House Forever: WZ
NBC News' Phil Griffin Still Has a Lot to Answer For: AmSpec
Stay Worried: Hanson

Media Malpractice available through video-on-demand nationwide: Hot Air
If You Oppose ObamaCare You're RAAAAACIST and UNEDUCATED!!: AmPower
Tea for Tim Scott: Newsweek

World

Meanwhile at the UN, America prostrated herself before tyrants: RWN
Apocalypse Denial Now: A Week of Islam in the News: AT
Barack Obama Would Sneak Off to Koran Classes Says Former Teacher: GWP

The proxy war in the Middle East may escalate in the coming weeks: Ignatius
Look Who Tried To Stop Rescue Of An Arab Boy: LegalIns
Obama’s India Trip During Diwali Festival Forces Most Shops To Close – Business Owners Not Happy: SHN

SciTech

Just Great. Highly Enriched Uranium For Sale on Georgian Black Market: WZ
The Great Debate: iPad vs. Kindle: Hot Air
So Where’s My Cut Of The Soylent Greenbacks?: CBullitt

Cornucopia

Dancing with the Indian stars: MOTUS
Alleged Ponzier Allen Stanford Got The Crap Beaten Out Of Him In Prison: Insider (Graphic Photo)
Number of the Week: $10.2 Trillion in Global Borrowing: WSJ

Image: Weasel Zippers: Pics from the Front
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Help Out Soldier's Angels -- Project Valour IT

QOTD: "There is plenty to criticize in almost every prominent conservative campaign in 2010, because, as a movement, we are incredibly weak in that area. Yes, some candidates were flawed. They all are. But good campaigns make up for that. As long as there is an Al Franken sitting in the Senate, after beating a Norm Coleman, no establishment Republican has any right to cluck their tongue at a weak conservative candidate. It is, in a word, bulls***, that only serves to undermine the conservative agenda.

...Yes, we lost with O'Donnell, Buck and others, when I wish we didn't. But without the movement that fostered them, conservatives would have made no real gains at all. We'd be looking at a Senator Crist from Florida, for heaven's sake. And none of these establishment types want to say anything about the dismal failures they launched, with Carly and Meg in California, for starters." -- Dan Riehl