Saturday, November 20, 2010

Great News: After Number of Federal Workers Earning $150K a Year Rose 1,300%, White House Panel Proposes 3-Year Wage Freeze... For Military

The growth in salaries for federal workers during the Great Dempression is something that must be seen to be believed.

The number of federal bureaucrats earning over $150K annually grew 1,300% -- that's more than an order of magnitude -- while those making $180K or more rocketed by 2,100%.

But those Americans who serve and those in harm's way are in for quite a different salary treatment.

A presidential commission on reducing the deficit has recommended freezing basic military pay and housing allowances for three years starting in 2011, according to a draft report of the commission’s recommendations posted online Wednesday.

“A three-year freeze at 2011 levels for these compensation categories would save the federal government $7.6 billion in compensation and tax expenditures, as well as another $1.6 billion in less retirement accrual, or $9.2 billion total discretionary savings in 2015,” it said.

Consider: the White House had no problem whatsoever in jamming through about $100 billion in payouts to the UAW auto companies.

And $860 billion in "Stimulus", tens of billions more in "Cash-for-Clunkers", "Weatherization" programs, "Green Jobs" and every other sort of boondoggle imaginable.

But when it comes to $9.2 billion -- total -- from 2011 to 2015 to pay for wage and housing increases for our men and women who serve, well that's just too damn much.

The Democrats can't afford it, you see. They've got other, higher priorities. Like amnesty and chain migration to bring in millions of new voters, the impact of which could reach the trillions of dollars.

But that's the modern Democrat Party in action. Trillions for illegals; nothing for the U.S. military.


Larwyn's Linx: DREAM Act--2.1M Democrat voter recruitment drive

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Nation

DREAM Act nightmare: 2.1M Democrat voter recruitment drive: Malkin
Only 33 GOP Senators Challenge ObamaCare's Constitutionality: WZ
Rangel's Censure: How the Other Half Punishes: PJM

Government Moves on Food Supply: Moonbattery
You'll never guess who's getting a Medal of Freedom: Nice Deb
The Oklahoma Sharia Ban and Abuse of Power: AT

Throwing another log on the TSA fire: JOM
Stupid (TSA) Story of the Day: Patterico
Don't Touch My Junk: Hammer

Economy

Heavy Union States Losing Population to Non-Union Ones: RWN
Pence: GOP should be about spending and social issues: WZ
Bernanke proves to be Bush’s worst appointment: Surber

The Obamacare Waiver-mania! movement builds: Malkin
Palin Refudiates Economist: Surber
GM Has Its Price: Trib

Climate & Energy

Top IPCC Official Confirms: It’s About Looting, Not the Weather: RWN
Little Green Idiocy: Taxpayers Taking A Bath On GM Is Great News!: RWN
Obama’s ‘Beast of a Limo’ Stands Out at NATO Green Conference: WZ

Media

Surrender Your Rights To The TSA, Or Stay Home: Bitter Patriot
All The News That Is Unfit to Print: Hanson
Happy Kool-Aid Day, Moonbats!: Moonbattery

When Will Obama and Holder Take Questions On How Their Grand Theory Of Civilian Trials Is Working?: Hewitt
Detroit News blames GOP for failing to extend unemployment, but US House dominated by Democrats 255-177: BlogProf
Olbermann tweets, calls someone a f***tard: Pundit Press

World

Ghailani Trial Provides Road Map to Victory for Future Terror Detainees: PJM
Gov. 'Blackjack' Perry?: IBD
The Address: Seven Score and Seven Years Ago: AmDigest

“Stop Being So Generous To Immigrants” Mayor of Overrun French Town Begs UK: WZ
Iran’s UN Human Rights Envoy: Stoning Is “Lesser Punishment Because You Could Survive”: WZ
Another day, another body of an Indonesian maid found in a Saudi garbage dump: Maktoob

SciTech

Ray LaHood: Obama’s Power-Mad Cell Phone Czar: Malkin
An Amazing Correlation: RedState
iPhone beats RIM, others in satisfaction survey: CNet

Cornucopia

Need Another Reason To Love Megyn Kelly?: JWF
Man's, Uhm, Member Freed From Metal Pipe With Industrial Grinder: Ace
A Watched Bridge Never Implodes: iOTW

Image: Weasel Zippers
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: The Bitter Patriot

Friday, November 19, 2010

What's Really Behind Bernanke's 'Quantitative Easing II'?

It's clear that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is out of control. His latest gaffe: blaming China for the failure of QE2 to spur anything but fear.

In speeches before a European Central Bank conference in Frankfurt, Ben Bernanke went on an unprecedented attack, accusing China of throwing a monkey wrench into the global recovery, blaming China for slow global growth and a potential "End to the Tepid U.S. Recovery".

He also said "The current international monetary has a structural flaw" calling on the "global community, over time, to devise an international monetary system that more consistently aligns the interests of individual countries with the interests of the global economy as a whole."

Finally, he put up a misguided defense of Quantitative Easing that is sure to not go over well in the global community.

If Bernanke was trying to spook the markets, provoke China, cause a currency war, and get Congress to launch an extremely foolish set of tariffs, he would have been hard pressed to deliver a more powerful speech.

Blaming China for America's out-of-control spending is a little like pinning Michael Moore's ever-expanding gut on Ronald McDonald.

Bernanke said that China’s decision to undervalue the yuan has essentially thrown a monkey wrench into the global economic recovery... The result could be slow growth ahead “for everyone,” he said.

...“On its current economic trajectory, the United States runs the risk of seeing millions of workers unemployed or underemployed for many years,” Bernanke said.

Monetizing the debt -- which simply means the United States is being forced to conjure money from thin air to fund the operation of the government -- is an ominous sign by itself. Combined with harsh rhetoric against the country's biggest creditor, the Fed's policies are well nigh suicidal.

Andy Kessler, writing in The Wall Street Journal, explains the likely rationale behind Bernanke's erratic behavior.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's $600 billion quantitative easing program has been roundly criticized in this country and around the world. So why is he doing it? Does he know something the rest of us don't?

...I have [an] explanation for the Fed's latest easing program: Without another $600 billion floating through the economy, Mr. Bernanke must believe that real estate (residential and commercial) would quickly drop, endangering banks...

...Mr. Bernanke is clearly buying time with our dollars. If real estate drops, we're back to September 2008 in a hurry. On Wednesday, the Fed announced that all 19 banks that underwent stress tests in 2009 need to pass another one. This suggests central bankers are nervous about real-estate loans and derivatives on bank balance sheets...

Rather than use his bully pulpit to harangue the President and Congress into sane spending policies, Bernanke instead is attempting a triple-reverse handspring off the high-beam. Odds are it ain't gonna work.

Only when we excise the cancerous lesions -- Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the other market-distorting entities -- can we return to a level of predictability and stability. But don't hold your breath. Facts, logic and reason have never been the Democrats' forte.


Tax Breaks for the Wealthy: National Motors Edition

Congratulating himself on the IPO of General Motors, President Barack Obama stated, "American taxpayers are now positioned to recover more than my administration invested in GM, and that’s a good thing."

Obama also said that his administration's actions "helped save more than 1 million jobs across 50 states."

GM's IPO did raise about $20 billion for the American taxpayer.

But the Obama administration actually lost $9 billion on the transaction based upon its original takeover of GM. Furthermore, the company still owes $45 billion to the taxpayer. GMAC owes another $14.6 billion. And Chrysler is in hock for an additional $8.2 billion.

But that's not all: GM also received a sweetheart tax break. According to The Chicago Tribune, "The bill for taxpayers stands to keep growing [because] of special tax treatment connected to its bailout... GM can deduct its accumulated losses against future profits — avoiding at least some obligations it otherwise would have owed had it emerged from a typical bankruptcy. That tax break reportedly could be worth as much as $45 billion over time."

So despite the President's self-congratulatory rhetoric, his act of nationalizing GM and Chrysler will cost the U.S. taxpayer $100 billion or more.

Even the George Soros-funded front group known as Media Matters admits that about 750,000 businesses -- small, medium and large -- will be hit by the Obama tax increases in January.

Now let me pose a simple question: why is it that a $45 billion tax break for GM is lauded by the Democrat left, but a tiny fraction of that for the dry-cleaner on the corner, or the auto-body shop down the street, or the specialty grocer in the strip mall, is somehow evil and unnecessary?

When a small business makes more profit, it hires or invests in capital equipment. When it is abused with excessive taxation, regulations, restrictions and bureaucracies, it ceases to exist. Anyone who has ever run a small business knows this. Even Barack Obama knows this.

The Obama tax increase is designed to destroy small businesses. Small businesses are extremely difficult to unionize. And the unions own Obama, having invested hundreds of millions of dollars in his presidential run.

In the first year of his presidency, the most frequent visitor to the Obama White House was Service Employees International Union (SEIU) head Andy Stern. Obama and Stern aim to crush small businesses -- to leave the unionized mega-corporations ruling the roost along with the Democrat Statists.

You may be asking yourself, "Are they really willing to destroy small businesses to advance the cause of the unionists?"

To which I answer, "look around."


Hat tip: Mark Levin. Linked by: Weasel Zippers. Thanks!

Democrat-controlled City of Cincinnati, running a $100 million budget deficit, leaves the lights on for you [Amalaur]

Correspondent Amalaur writes:

Cincinnati, Ohio is a city not unlike many others around the country. It has a bloated pension system that is woefully underfunded. It has a city council that is either corrupt or incompetent or both, depending on who you talk to. The local chapter of the NAACP reports that the city's budget deficit is over $100 million, which is a huge amount for a city with a population of a little over 300,000.

In the midst of this budgetary crisis, the pinheads in city management, to include a dysfunctional city council, a city manager, and a mayor (heaven knows why all of these are needed, plus they are dominated by Democrats), want to build a multi-million dollar streetcar system. And check this out: it would run right through the most crime-ridden area of town. It would start just north of the crime zone in an urban area near the University of Cincinnati and... end just south of the crime zone downtown, so you could see how normal folks would just love to ride it, especially at night.

So while all this is going on, the gang that couldn't shoot straight is blowing money left and right on other projects too. The city budget is north of $1.1 billion. The city has been shrinking for years and, despite this, it has 6,000 full-time employees (or 1 for every 50 people). But only 1,800 of those are police or fire-fighters. And 2,000 additional part-timers are hired in the summer for parks and recreation.

So the past few days I've been meeting people for lunch downtown. I walked over to Rock Bottom Brewery and I've been noticing something weird. Every street light is lit up like a candle at noon. These aren't small lights and they extend block after block after block.

This is on Main Street and Fifth facing P&G. Every direction the lights are turned on. This is at noon, so it's not like they just left the lights on because of a daylight savings time change. This has to cost thousands and thousands of dollars to keep these lights on.

But that's the city government of Cincinnati for you. They can't even install a timer for the street lights, but they want to build a streetcar system through a war zone while running a $100 million plus budget deficit.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Democrats would be useful only as comic relief if they weren't in power. As it is, we all suffer from their terminally inane belief that Soviet-style central planning works. It doesn't. It bankrupts everything it touches and inflicts unending misery and poverty. Which explains the urban core of so many cities.


Larwyn's Linx: DREAM Act Scorecard and the GOP Fence-Sitters

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Nation

DREAM Act Scorecard and the GOP Fence-Sitters: Malkin
Pragmatic Murkowski to Tea Partiers: Eat Me: ProWis
Exclusive: Excerpts leaked from Panthergate Case: PJM

Time For Holder to Go: Hot Air
Donald Berwick Hearing on Capitol Hill: Heartland
Ethics: Dems To Force Through Judgeship For Huge Donor: LegalIns

Reid to force lame-duck judicial votes on leftist kooks: Freddoso
The TSA Touches Our Constitutional Junk: GoV
Free Market Solution To The Naked Body Scanners: Bitter Patriot

Economy

What will the DREAM Act cost the U.S. taxpayer?: US Report
Not Just No, Hell No: Keep TSA from Unionizing: Tapscott
Taxpayers Lost $9 Billion In GM Stock Offering: LegalIns

Repeal: It's the Ultimate Obamacare Waiver: Malkin
People Fleeing Forced Unionization, High Tax States: BlogProf
Education: The Elephant in the Room: AT

Climate & Energy

Upton's voting record belies his conservative claims: Tapscott
Get Ready For The UN “Climate Debt” Scam: GWP
Obama Plays 3-Card Monte In Gulf: IBD

Lead Author of IPCC Report: Yeah, Global Warming Regulation Mostly About a Global Redistribution of Wealth: Ace
How the Climategate weasels wriggled free : Delingpole
Goracle Claims Media Aren’t Covering Climate Hysteria Correctly: RWN

Media

The Journal That Saved New York: Cold Fury
The 25 Best Ann Coulter Quotes About Liberals: RWN
The Meg Whitman Campaign: Penny-Wise and Pound-Foolish: RWN

Sen. Rockefeller: One-Man Cable News Death Panel: Malkin
Carville on Obama: If Hillary gave him one of her balls, they’d both have two: Hot Air
What Can We Say?: IBD

World's Dumbest Blogger Incapable of Understanding Economics: GWP
Soros-Funded Front Group (and Media) Laments Arizona Losing Money Due to SB 1070 : JWF
The Dumb, The Misled, and Sarah Seltzer: BigJournalism

World

The Ghailani Debacle: JRubin
Terror Comes to Germany: GoV
Founder Watches Human Rights Watch: Kesler

Fire Eric Holder: IBD
Jailed by the World's Perfect Government: Snapped Shot
'Guilt-Free Fur' Reveals Total Hypocrisy of Animal Rights Movement: AmPower

'It Wasn't Me In That Burqa!": JWF
Irish Sovereignty on the Brink: AT
Israel Advocacy and the IRS: JPC

SciTech

What Facebook can learn from its Chinese counterpart?: ChinaHush
U.S.-Based Internet Traffic Was Redirected To China, Researchers Say: DarkReading
Big Brother is going to spam your cell phone?: WyBlog

Cornucopia

Caption Contest for TSA/Denver International Airport Pat-Down Photo: LCR
How Four Loko Destroys My Body: A Liveblog For Science: Gizmodo
Other Refinement: David The Douche: R&R


Image: "Delingpole tries to flee lunch engagement at University of East Anglia"
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: DCCC's Thank You, Speaker Pelosi Page

QOTD: "You have the choice of either being fondled by a complete stranger, go to your left . . . or if you want to appear nude on live video go to your right." -- Ann Coulter

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Remember Obama's 'Civilian National Security Force'? Soros Puppet Podesta Pitches Use of Armed Force to 'Advance Progressive Change'

John Podesta, one of Barack Obama's key 2008 campaign advisers, has laid the "D" card on the table.

No, not "depression". We've already got that.

I'm talking about a de facto "dictatorship". Bypassing the will of the people -- as if that hasn't happened enough in the last two years -- through a set of unconstitutional Czars and the administrative state.

And armed force, if necessary, according to Podesta.

Oh, Doug -- that's so controversial.

Fine. If it's not a dictatorship, please tell me what you would call the form of government that Podesta calls for?

Because it's certainly not a representative republic nor Constitutional in any way.

The U.S. Constitution and the laws of our nation grant the president significant authority to make and implement policy... The ability of President Obama to accomplish important change through these powers [including executive orders and armed forces] should not be underestimated [in] continuing to make progress.

In March of 2009, at the dedication ceremony of the National Defense University's Abraham Lincoln Hall, President Obama expressed his need for a civilian national security force (MP3, 74:00 mark; DOD press release, transcript):

America must balance and integrate all elements of our national power. We can not continue to push the burden onto our military alone, or leave dormant any aspect of the arsenal of American capability. That's why my administration is committed to renewing diplomacy as a tool of American power and developing our civilian national security capabilities.

"Our civilian national security capabilities?"

In July of 2008, Jim Lindren noted a couple of peculiar sentences in a Barack Obama speech.

In Barack Obama’s July 2, 2008 speech calling America to national service, Obama proposed “a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded” as our military... This has prompted some in the blogosphere to raise the specter of a huge new domestic paramilitary organization...

[Obama said] "We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."

Curiously, the official transcript of the speech omitted those last two sentences.

After the last two years, can there be any real doubt as to what Obama meant?

And what George Soros John Podesta is after?

The Left used to enjoy calling Bush a fascist, but the closest thing we've ever had to a dictator -- from the iconography to the vicious language to the unconstitutional power-grabs -- is Barack Obama.


Hat tips: The Blaze and Gateway Pundit.

Question: What Happens When an Apartment Complex Catches on Fire in Thomas Friedman's Utopia? Answer: Ka-F***ing-Boom!

Thomas Friedman has a curious hankering for installing Red China's government here in the U.S.. He thinks that will make things run more smoothly. Like the trains, perhaps. He also thinks that we could become "greener", just like China.

ChinaHush offers another take on Friedman's Utopia. A recent apartment fire in Shanghai resulted in an unknown number of deaths (probably dozens) and injuries.

The root causes aren't just the bizarre, lax building codes (likely related to bribes more than standards), though they certainly played a part. Consider the response of the authorities.

Fire broke out at a 28 story apartment building in Shanghai at 2:00 in the afternoon, Nov15 (local time) causing at least 49 deaths.

The building was located at Jing An district and was under renovation. According to Xinhua’s report, over 100 were rescued out of the building of 156 households so far.

Well-known Chinese youth opinion leader Han Han happened to be at the scene and he had recorded what happened the whole time.



15:31, after one hour and 15 minutes, there was only one water hose. Until 16:20, there was only one water hose in this direction.

It took in excess of two hours and 20 minutes to get more than a single fire hose on-scene.

Thomas Friedman is a jackass.


Related:
The Apple iPad, Slavery and Tom Friedman
Thomas Friedman: a Crazed Sex Poodle Pining for China's Government Here in the United States

Flag o' the Day

G.M. Roper offers a rendering of a comment by Dave in MA at Just One Minute.

Perfect.

Absolutely perfect.


Update: Commenter Old Fan notes that this concept may have originated with IowaHawk's Flickr Feed.

GropeGate News Roundup!

Janet Napolitano's TSA represents just one more in a long line of success stories for the Obama administration. It aligns perfectly with the Stimulus, HAMP, Green Jobs, Weatherization, Cash-for-Clunkers, Shovel-Ready, ObamaCare, 99 weeks of unemployment, closing Gitmo, etc.

Man claims Charlotte TSA employee groped his 6-year-old son

Man punches TSA screener at Indianapolis International Airport

Controversial pat down at US airport leaves 3-yr-old girl sobbing

Airport staff 'exposed woman's breasts, laughed'

Airport pat-down was 'sexual assault'

"It's sexual molestation all the way around"

"Never again... The pat downs are simply past what I will accept to fly"

Southwest Exec: "People getting partially molested at checkpoints"

For Survivors of Sexual Assault, New TSA Screenings Represent a Threat

Wait -- is it GropeGate or FondleGate?


Larwyn's Linx: CNN on TSA: 'Helpless, Violated, Humiliated'

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

CNN employee on TSA: 'Helpless, Violated, and Humiliated': GWP
Dems Keep The Winning Team Together: LegalIns
Obama DREAMs of Amnesty: PJM

The DoJ’s Civil Trial Balloon Pops: Malkin
'The TSA can do to us what the CIA can't do to the Taliban': Zilla
More TSA Horror Stories: Pundette

Economy

Naked Body Scanners (and other Government Ripoffs): NoisyRoom
The 2011 Tax Tsunami: PJM
Fresno State Student Body President is Illegal Immigrant: AmPower

The FDA Will Kill Us All (with the help of the Trial Lawyers): Shrink
Liberty-Loving Latinos Outshine Loud-Mouthed Leftist Latinos: PJM
Tea Partiers dump on RomneyCare: Herald

Financial Bigotry: AT
House GOP: American People Want to Defund NPR: WZ
Would SCOTUS uphold a ban on caffeinated alcohol?: Patterico

Climate & Energy

The Left and Energy Policy: AT
Shocking News About the GM Volt: RWN
Automotive Nobel Prize Given to Obama's Coal-Guzzler: BlogProf

Media

Roger Ailes: Obama’s a failed socialist: Surber
New York Times with Obama to the Bitter End: AT
Oh my: If Obama won’t fight for the left’s agenda, we should look elsewhere, says … George Soros: Hot Air

As Bristol Palin makes the DWTS finals, wait, look over here: It's Willow Palin's "homophobic rant": Althouse
George Soros: A missing moral compass: Bookworm Room
White House Insider: Don’t Back Down Now: NewsFlavor

The Left's Patriotism Deficit: RWN
New Yorker Dweeb Doesn't Think Much of You: SIGIS
Networks: 4 Minutes on Rangel Conviction; 120 Minutes on Royal Wedding: NewsBusters

World

Party Like It’s 1571: Greenroom
Red on Red: Westboro Baptist Church Set to Picket... Dearborn Islamic Center: Ace
Asia's Last Bubble: ZH

Philosophical Differences: El Al and the TSA: Belmont Club
Obama waives prohibition on Child Soldiers in Sudan: Ameristroika
War, Hell, and a Democratic President: PJM (Shiver)

Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta… An American Hero: GWP
Profile Muslims or Pat Down the Masses?: AT
Kashmir: India Arming School Girls With AK-47s to Fend Off Islamic Rebels: WZ

SciTech

Transportation Secretary LaHood: We May Disable Cell Phones In Cars: Ace
Reverse-Image Scanners Show Everything? TSA Patdowns Touch Everything?: Magnote
Los Angeles Bans Grocery Bags: RWN

Cornucopia

Quite Possibly the Greatest Video of All Time: Ace
New TSA Theme Song: Feed Your ADHD
Obama Settles In to His “New Normal” World: MOTUS

Image: iOwnTheWorld
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: StoryBalloon

QOTD: "Guess Who Showed up to High-Security, Closed-Door Dem Strategy Meeting in DC?
How about AFL-CIO Chief Paul Trumka, former Green Jobs Czar Van Jones, Soros-representive Michael Vachon, plus a slew of other super-wealthy liberal activists..." -- Weasel Zippers


Wednesday, November 17, 2010

A Completely Unrelated Series of Events

Observe the master at work:

• September 23, 2008: Buffett's Berkshire invests $5B in Goldman

• September 28, 2008: Buffett to Congress: Bail out economy or face 'meltdown'

• September 29, 2008: Goldman, Merrill Collect Billions After Fed's AIG Bailout Loans
As much as $37 billion from federal bailout loans to American International Group Inc. has gone to investment banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the firm Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson used to run...

...Without the government money, Goldman, Merrill Lynch & Co., Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank AG and other firms could have become some of the biggest creditors in a bankruptcy filing by AIG, the world's largest insurer, because of its billions in losses on subprime bonds and corporate debt.

• October 2, 2008: Buffett: $700 billion bailout may be too low

• October 2009: It's 12 months later and Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is $3 billion richer.
One year ago today, on September 23, 2008, with the financial world still reeling from the collapse of Lehman Brothers just days before, Buffett stunned Wall Street with a massive vote of confidence for Goldman Sachs..

Goldman agreed to pay Berkshire a 10 percent annual dividend on [Buffet's] preferred stock. That's $500 million a year, and the payout didn't depend at all on what happened to Goldman's common stock price... But there was more. In what Buffett later described as a "bonus," Goldman also gave Berkshire the right to buy $5 billion of common stock at $115 a share...

The bonus has turned into big bucks.

• November 2010: Warren Buffett Pens NYT Op-Ed Praising Administration During Economic Crisis

• November 2010: Report: Warren Buffett to Receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom from White House

* * * * * * * * *

Mmmm, yes, Democrats are for the little people. The working man. Right.

Kids, can you say "Crony Capitalism"?


Best Idea Ever: Bomb-Sniffing Pigs in Airports

An anonymous commenter offers one of the best ideas since the invention of the spork.

If U.S. bomb sniffing dogs were good enough to provide recon, prior to Obama's trip to India they should be used in Airports.

If there is a shortage of trained dogs to sniff bombs or bomb-making material, pigs are intelligent and very fast learners and should also be employed.

Countdown to a protest by the Council on American-Quaker Relations in 3... 2...


Harry Reid focuses on jobs by luring cheap labor (and new Democrat voters) from Mexico with promises of amnesty

Runner-up headline: Hack 'Journalist' Jon Ralston nowhere to be found as unionized workers discover Harry Reid screwed them again

Yesterday's Las-Vegas Review Journal shredded Harry Reid for behavior unbecoming -- no, not a Senator -- a human being.

Anyone who thought Harry Reid would respond to his bruising re-election campaign and huge Democratic losses nationally by moving to the center, away from President Obama's agenda and toward a new focus on economic growth, is about to be proved wrong.

The Senate majority leader from Nevada intends to use the lame-duck session that begins Monday to push for passage of the Dream Act, a form of amnesty for illegal immigrants.

...Did Sen. Reid make passage of the Dream Act the centerpiece of his re-election campaign? Of course not. He might have lost if he did. No, Sen. Reid told anyone who would listen that it was his job to create jobs, that he was fighting to put Nevadans back to work. The Dream Act does neither of these things. Rather, it only injects more competition into the labor pool, preventing unskilled Americans from gaining entry-level work and leaving them dependent on government aid to survive.

Harry Reid got reelected the way most Democrats do. He lied. He lied continually, consistently and with utter abandon.

He portrayed himself as a "moderate" concerned with jobs.

Nevada suffers from 14.4% unemployment and underemployment approaching 22%.

If this egregious law passes (in a lame-duck session, no less!), it will serve as a Stimulus plan for illegal immigration. We will have so many people streaming over the borders illegally, hoping for some sort of pathway to citizenship, that the entire concept of being an American will cease to matter.

Hey, members of Culinary Union Local 226, this should really help you out! I'm sure jobs will be much easier to come by when underemployment gets driven to 30% or more.

And forget about English as our common language. Forget about teaching American history, the Constitution, civics and integration into the civil society.

Harry Reid is a flat-out menace to this country. He and this egregious lame-duck Congress must be stopped. If that means pulling their pensions, de-funding their staffs, relocating their offices into basements, so be it.

They must be stopped and we expect Republicans to issue the edict. Now.


Update: Stop the illegal alien student bailout: DREAM Act target list; Plus: Sen. Sessions’ critical alert

Hat tip: The Mark Levin Show.

Larwyn's Linx: Payback--DREAM Act plotters at the White House

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Nation

Payback: DREAM Act plotters at the White House: Malkin
Lame-Duck Dems: Why Fired Employees Must Leave: Reaganite
Assessing The Obama Coalition: RCP

Obama to Dems: I Want DREAM Act Passed During Lame Duck: WZ
An Open Letter To Boehner Over Lewis As Appropriations Chair: Riehl
Podesta calls on Obama to circumvent Congress: DC

First Health Care, Next the Food Supply: AT
Shock: Far Left DOJ Crackpot Behind Christie Hit Job: GWP
Rangel: There is "No Evidence of Corruption": PunditPress

Economy

Boehner Challenges Constitutionality of Obamacare: GWP
Dude, where’s my Obamacare waiver?: Malkin
How Corrupt Is the Congressional Black Caucus?: Toldjah

Jim Inhofe Earmark Update: Padding Obama’s Stash: MagNote
It Begins: Hamtramck, MI Asks To File Bankruptcy: ZH
Feds 'Crapped Away' $125B Last Year in Improper Payments: RWN

Climate & Energy

Undisclosed NBC Conflict of Interest Again Arises in Annual 'Green Week': NewsBusters
Climategate: One Year and Sixty House Seats Later: AT
ClimaHypocrite Obama Heads To Europe For More Fail: RWN

Media

Palin: You Betcha, The Media Sure Should've Vetted Obama Instead of Fellating Him: Ace
My Very Own TSA Nightmare: PJM
The Heartless Lovers of Mankind: WashReb

DOJ’s Military Voting Mess Continues Post-Election, but Congress Now Paying Attention: Adams
More on Messaging: Ace
Finally, The ACLU Is Concerned About TSA Groping….Oh, Wait, They’re Not: RWN

World

The West and the Guest: PJM (Solway)
Oh, That Historic Compromise: Soccer Dad
Unreal: NATO Caves to Islamist Demands, Won’t Name Iran as Missile Threat: WZ

Heartwarming Socialized Medicine Success Story of the Day : JWF
The World Economy Flounders: AT
Guantanamo Inmates: Pictures of Women in the Newspaper are Haraam!!: WZ

SciTech

One Hundred Naked Citizens: One Hundred Leaked Body Scans: Gizmodo
Is a Facebook security hole helping hackers spread iPhone 4 spam?: Sophos
Motor Trend ‘Car of the Year’: Chevy Volt (Congratulations, Taxpayers!): Malkin

Cornucopia

Ya, No...: iOTW
Beefing Up Comment Security: C&S
Queen Michelle Makes Vogue’s Top 10 Best Dressed List…: WZ

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Summer Patriot, Winter Soldier

QOTD: "The Christian religion is a stranger to mere despotic power. The mildness so frequently recommended in the Gospel is incompatible with the despotic rage with which a prince punishes his subjects, and exercises himself in cruelty.

...While the Mahometan princes incessantly give or receive death, the religion of the Christians renders their princes less timid, and consequently less cruel. The prince confides in his subjects, and the subjects in the prince. How admirable the religion which, while it only seems to have in view the felicity of the other life, continues the happiness of this!" -- The Spirit of Laws, by Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1751)


Tuesday, November 16, 2010

A public service announcement from Janet Napolitano

The following is a public service announcement from the Secretary of Homeland Security, Ms. Janet Napolitano.

Good evening. My fellow Americans, I speak to you this evening to address the controversy that has erupted over our enhanced screening techniques (ESTs), which were designed to ensure the safety and equal rights of all religions.

A little background may be in order. We all remember the tragic, man-caused disaster of 9/11. This resulted in new ESTs, including banning of small knives, childrens' scissors, and other dangerous weapons.

Shortly thereafter, airline passengers were able to prevent a shoe-bomb from detonating. We upgraded our ESTs to include shoe removal and scanning.

Several months later, a plot was uncovered to bring down airliners using liquids carried on board in water bottles. We modified our ESTs to ban all fluid containers over 4 ounces in size.

Late last year, a passenger of an unspecified religious background used under-garments constructed with an explosive material to attempt to destroy an airplane. Reacting swiftly to this development, I ordered the deployment of full-body scanning technology and complete pat-downs of passengers.

Yesterday, a man was captured after boarding a plane with a specially constructed bomb that had been inserted into his rectum. This weapon's plastic construction and use of PETN had evaded our screening process.

I'm therefore pleased to announce the addition of a new EST that will be added to our suite of counter-man-made-disaster measures. After your full-body scan or pat-down, simply grab your ankles, bend over and wait for the attendant to release your hips.

This is a small price to pay to ensure that we will never have to profile certain religions, no matter how obvious that need may become.

One more thing: you are required to bring your own lubricant -- the container for which may not be over 4 ounces in size.

Thank you, and may secular Gaia bless this country.


'I haven't stolen enough to afford a lawyer!' -- Accusations that racism is behind Rangel's convictions to begin in 3... 2...

Longtime Democrat crook Charlie Rangel was convicted on 11 of 13 ethics charges today despite his claim that he'd had only two years to prepare a defense.

Harlem Rep. Charlie Rangel did break the rules and was convicted this morning of 11 of the 13 ethics violations leveled against him by a House panel. The decision came a day after the 80-year-old lawmaker and former chairman of the Ways and Means Committee walked out of the proceedings to protest his lack of a lawyer.”

Devil is in the punishment details, of course.

Full House ethics committee will determine consequences. I know. Don’t hold your breath.

...Flashback: The House Ethics Committee is a corruption-enabling cesspool

...Flashback: House ethics committee foxes guard the corruptocrat henhouse

...Flashback: Charlie’s angels:

...the 79-year-old congressman has given campaign donations to 119 members of Congress, including three of the five Democrats on the House Ethics Committee who are charged with investigating him...

...Charlie’s “angels” on the committee include Congressmen Ben Chandler of Kentucky, G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina and Peter Welch of Vermont. All have received donations from Rangel.

If the system were working correctly, Rangel would be wearing an orange jumpsuit and breaking rocks in Leavenworth.

As it is, he'll probably retire in a few years with a full pension and all of the cash he's magically accumulated as a devoted public servant.

No matter what sort of slap on the wrist Rangel receives, expect the usual cadre of race hustlers to elbow each other out of the way to get some face-time on legacy media.

But everyone knows that things need to change in Washington. And race has nothing to do with it. Corruption does. And plunging the likes of Rangel, Waters and Feinstein out of the bowl represents only the beginning.


What Could Go Wrong? DHS Head Napolitano May Permit Muslim Women Wearing Hijabs to Bypass Full-Body Security Checks

You knew the Department of Homeland Security was broken under Janet "Don't call me Reno" Napolitano. She won't secure the border. She can't bring herself to name the religion that breeds an incessant flow of suicidal extremists. And now she may allow Muslim women wearing hijabs (full body coverings) to pass through security without the intrusive scanning process that the rest of the citizenry must endure.

“On the pat downs, CAIR [the Council on American-Islamic Relations] has recommended that Muslim women wearing hijabs refuse to go through the full body pat downs before boarding planes,” CNSNews.com asked Napolitano at a Monday press conference. “Will you insist that they do go through full body pat downs before boarding planes?”

“Look, we have, like I said before, we are doing what we need to do to protect the traveling public and adjustments will be made where they need to be made,” Napolitano responded. “With respect to that particular issue, I think there will be more to come...

Let's see if I have this straight. There's a specific group of people that killed 3,000 innocents on 9/11; tried to detonate a shoe bomb on a flight; attempted to bring down airliners with liquid explosives; created parcel bombs in the hopes that they could rain airliners down on American cities; and also constructed undergarment bombs to slay men, women and children.

But Janet Reno Napolitano is considering "adjustments" to the security process for members of that very same group of people, using the recommendations of an extremist front group linked by the FBI to all sorts of skulduggery.

Maybe we should all wear hijabs to the airport.


Larwyn's Linx: Keeping the Lame Duck from Waddling

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Nation

Keeping the Lame Duck from Waddling: AT
Uh-Oh: Dems To Push For Some Sort of Amnesty In Lame Duck: Ace
More Lame Duck Session Shenanigans: Ace

Airline searches, as ineffective as they are invasive: Pundette
Napolitano: Groping Children Preferable to Profiling: NewsReal
Napolitano Defends TSA Full-Body Scans and Pat Downs: AmPower

George Soros Targets Your State: AT
Mr. Rangel Goes to Washington … and Leaves: PJM
Defeated Dems Start Crying on House Floor: WZ

Economy

The Smart Politics of Refusing State Bailouts: AT
GM's IPO: Uncle Sam's pump and dump?: WashExam
Yup: Cali court upholds illegal alien student tuition discounts: Malkin

McConnell Buckles, Will Support Earmark Ban: Ace
That trillion dollar omnibus bill? Obama still wants it: ProWis
Super: NLRB Says TSA Can Unionize: RWN

Climate & Energy

Oops: Some Forests Are Net CO2 Emitters (Should We Burn 'Em Down?): TAB
California's Destructive Green Jobs Lobby : WSJ
Climate Change Will Make Chocolate Unaffordable Or Something: RWN

Media

Lawsuit Lottery: The Let’s Rip Off The Huffington Post Edition: RWN
I Know This is Wrong, But I am Really Having a Hard Time Not Enjoying it Anyway: Patterico
Leftie-Heads-Explode… Sarah Palin’s TLC Debut Breaks All Records: GWP

Ed Asner, Truther: Driscoll
Why Isn't Peter Schiff Head of the Fed?: AT
Obama Advisor: He is Bored To Death And Just Too Talented to do What Ordinary People Do: WZ

World

“In a Symbol of Spirituality” Muslims Hold “Death to America” Rally At Hajj: GWP
Obama sends Eid greetings to Muslim world: Maktoob
Muslim Maniac Gets Pricey Renovations Courtesy of U.K. Taxpayers: RWN

Dead Souls: Hanson
Egyptian Muslims Celebrate Eid-ul-Adha By Torching Coptic Christians' Homes: GWP
Europe stumbles blindly towards its 1931 moment: Telegraph

U.S. Government Won't Confirm Offer of F-35 Fighter Craft: TAB
"Islamophobia?" Redux: Wizbang
Retro Ecomoonbattery: Moonbattery

SciTech

Nudie-Scan CEO very Friendly with Obama: LCR
Security firms blast Microsoft for free antivirus offer: CNet
How I raised $24,000 on Kickstarter: CNN

Cornucopia

Happy Birthday, Pajamas Media!: Simon
Busted! Cops stop kids from selling cupcakes without a license: BlogProf
Obama’s New Kids Book Praises Indian Chief Who Killed Hundreds of American Soldiers: WZ

Image: Left Coast Rebel.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Moonbattery

QOTD: "The nuclearization of the Iranian regime is one of the great tragedies of the age. It’s not like the Pakistanis, where they did it in the dark; they've [Iran) done it in full, open view of the world and so they’ve told the world something about Western will. Israel is on the front line of that battle and in that sense should not have to shoulder the burden all by itself. But we have condemned Israel to live at Code Red now....

This is the most profound change in geopolitics since the Second World War: Iranian nuclearization changes everything. And the idea that it’s an Israeli problem and not an American and Canadian one, too, is shameful." --Mark Steyn