Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Ex-Speaker Pelosi Retains Steven Spielberg to Help Re-brand Democrats; First New Logo Attempt Succeeds Beautifully

The Washington Post reports that panicky Democrats are pulling out all the stops when it comes to re-branding their failed agenda.

...in public, Pelosi is projecting a no-looking-back aura. And behind closed doors, she is laboring to refashion the image of House Democrats - as well as herself.

Lawmakers say she is consulting marketing experts about building a stronger brand...

...The most prominent of her new whisperers is Steven Spielberg, the Hollywood director whose films have been works of branding genius...

...Lawmakers said Spielberg has not reported to Pelosi with a recommendation.

Pelosi met Friday with the members who will serve as ranking Democrats on committees, and she appointed a trio of rank-and-file legislators to take on new roles in helping shape and deliver the party's message.

Here's the message from Pelosi's four years controlling the federal purse-strings as Speaker: unemployment, depression, unsustainable social programs, epic failures, currency collapse, record deficits, and near calamitous terror attacks.

What's to rebrand?


Image: The Art of E (Evan Wondolowski). Hat tip: Larwyn. Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!.

House Interpretive Dancer and Camera-Seeking Missile Anthony Weiner: Republicans Must Start 'Acting Like Adults'

It would appear that CNN's Spitzer-Noonan has at least one viewer, because the heroes at Weasel Zippers braved the boredom to record a diatribe by Another Weiner, who was screeching like a little girl about Republican threats to shut down the government. I ask you: would anyone know if, say, the Department of Education ceased to exist for a few weeks?

"The Republicans are against health care, they're against financial regulation... what these agencies are going to get done... they still have rule-making... and these programs are a net savings for the American people, so I'm not sure what they can do. But they can make mischief... Every so often, we hit the statuatory debt ceiling, now it's the Republicans' job to raise that ceiling so the full faith and credit of the American government is still behind our currency... this is... the Republicans have to start acting like adults and realize they have to start governing now.

Many of us in the Democrat Party are gonna take some pleasure watching them try and figure out who they want to be when they grow up."

As if the month of November wasn't sufficient to educate you, schmuck, what we want from federal officials -- irrespective of party -- is limited, Constitutional, fiscally responsible government.

I know that's extraordinarily complex for one Anthony Weiner to comprehend, seeing as how he's been on the public dole since graduation from college. Yes, it's true. Read his bio. He's never worked an honest day in his life. He's your prototypical Statist on a mission. He wants to replace Chuck Schumer in the Senate and, eventually, run for the Presidency. Pity: the only Marxist President was just elected. We won't be seeing any others for a long, long, long time.


Related: Anthony Weiner Sit Down Remix.

Larwyn's Linx: 111th Congress -- Worst ever?

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

111th Congress: Worst ever?: Pundette
Kill the Lame Duck: IBD
Which Part of 'No' Doesn't Harry Reid Understand?: Tapscott

Lindsey Graham Gives Away the Game: RedState
Republican Senators’ Press Conference On START: NiceDeb
What Do the ‘Holiday Terror Warning’ Targets Have in Common?: PJM

Economy

Debt Crisis Spreads to Cities and States: RWN
Oregon proves it: Higher taxes equal less revenue: Lid
Seeds of Financial Catastrophe: AT

'Compliance': The Word That Sunk a Million U.S. Jobs: PJM
Obamacare and the Broccoli Mandate: AmSpec
Congress Should Act to Halt FDA Rationing: BigGovt

As Debt Explodes, Big Government Arrogantly Wastes: RWN
The Federal Reserve: Aging Magician of the Welfare State: AT
Sovereign Debt Crisis in Pictures: Mish

Climate & Energy

A Dalton Minimum Repeat is Shaping Up: WUWT
You know it’s bad California when green companies move out of Berkeley: WUWT
The Electric ObamaMobile Finds a Republican Friend: Wolf

Global Warming Junk Scientists Insist Record Cold Weather Is Proof of Actual Heating: GWP
Tom Toles on global warming: Surber

Media

MSNBC's Mitchell Mourns 'Painful' End of Nancy Pelosi's 'Historic' Speakership: NewsBusters
Pelosi’s Proudest Moment as Speaker: Ramming Through Bill That Helped Get Her Party’s Ass Kicked: Powers
The Shovel Ready Media Award for Claiming Success for Obama's "Stimulus": MRC

The Righteous Retribution of Barack the Barbarian: Patterico
Dumb and Dumber Award for Matthews and Olbermann's Leftist Blatherings: MRC
Predictable: CNN Credits Obama For The Bush Tax Cuts: BlogProf

World

Why America Needs Nuclear Arms: AT
Damn RINO Senators Guilty of Capitulation, Sneers Firebrand Jim DeMint Lindsey Graham: Ace
Indefinite detention: We knew this was coming: TigerHawk

Harry Potter and the Honor Beating: Patterico
WikiLeaks: American Troops Horrified by Afghan Forces' Rampant Homosexuality and Pedophilia: WZ
Iranian Chaos--Spontaneous Revolt Against the Regime :Ledeen

Pro-Hamas “Israeli War Crimes” Ads to Go on Seattle Busses: GWP
AFDI's Counter-Jihad Effort: Atlas
London Bombers? What London Bombers?: Power Line

SciTech

Net neutrality rules get FCC's blessing: CNet
Red Hat Sales Beat As Cloud Computing, Linux Advances Help: IBD
Report: Microsoft bringing Windows to ARM chips: CNet

Cornucopia

Michelle Obama's Last Minute Winter Holiday Gift Guide: RightNet
‘Alternate-Universe James Hetfield Named Taco Bell Employee Of The Month’: Driscoll
On the Lunar Eclipse, Christopher Columbus and Al Gore: Malkin (Powers)

Image: Cracked: 5 Insane Barack Obama Comics You Won't Believe Are Real
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Let the #Fab50 Blog-Whoring Begin!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Disgraceful political chameleon lashes out at Supreme Court for enforcing First Amendment

If there's a more duplicitous political hack than Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), please tweet me and let me know. The Pennsylvania politician has switched parties -- not once, but twice -- over his half-century career on the public dole. This is a man, one can tell, with rock-solid principles.

Thankfully, the man with amorphous values was wiped out in the 2010 primary and will be replaced by Republican Pat Toomey. But before his departure, Specter couldn't help but bloviate on his perceptions of the Constitution's flaws.

Sen. Arlen Specter, the outgoing Pennsylvania Republican-turned-Democrat, directed a parting blow Tuesday to members of the Supreme Court's conservative bloc.

In his final speech on the Senate floor, Specter, the former GOP chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, chastised Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito for "eroding the constitutional mandate of separation of powers."

...Specter specifically took issue with the court's controversial 5-4 decision early this year, in which it relaxed federally-imposed campaign finance regulations for corporations and unions.

"Ignoring a massive congressional record and reversing recent decisions, Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito repudiated their confirmation testimony given under oath and provided the key votes to permit corporations and unions to secretly pay for political advertising - thus effectively undermining the basic Democratic principle of the power of one person, one vote," said Specter. Chief Justice Roberts promised to just call balls and strikes and then he moved the bases."

In short, Specter isn't pleased with the First Amendment. He would love to limit speech on any group of individuals with whom he has a disagreement. Or, better still, any group that wishes to stymie his bizarre political ambitions.

Don't let the door hit you on the ass, twit.


Hat tip: Memeorandum. Update: "Primary challenges are like cannibalism or something."

It's Coming... #Fab50

It's coming.

The 2010 Fabulous 50 Awards are set to be announced later this week.

How prestigious are these awards? So prestigious I can scarcely deign to answer that question. They're so freaking awesome I don't even need to say a word.

Well, if you do need evidence, Glenn Reynolds once described his 2009 award as "the proudest moment of my life, including losing my virginity."

Michelle Malkin said that the trophy, now ensconced in plexiglass in her trophy cabinet, is her most treasured possession.

***ZZZZZZTTT!!!*** Owww, stop it! Okay, I lied!!! ZZZZZZTTT!!! Stop with the cattle prod already! For the love of... ZZZZZZZZTTT!!! Owwwwww!! Ow, ow, ow.

Alright! They didn't say those things. None of 'em said anything.

(Cleansing breath)

Anyhow, stay tuned. Later this week -- the exact date is unclear to keep you hitting the browser Reload button -- we'll unveil the 2010 Fabulous 50 Blog Awards. They represent the 50 most awesomest blogs of all time. Or at least of 2010. In this ZIP code. Or ZIP+4 code.


Award Design by: iOwnTheWorld.

Census Confirms: People Fleeing States Governed by Locusts -- eh, I mean Democrats

It was Mark Levin, I believe, who first observed that "Democrats are like locusts -- they destroy everything they touch; moving from state to state with their Utopian schemes, destroying one after the other."

The 2010 Census results confirm this assessment, revealing today that residents and businesses are fleeing Blue States like Tokyo after Godzilla's first dance-dance revolution. Don't believe me: check the maps. First, here's the official Census guide to Congressional puts and takes.

Now let's compare that map to the 2008 Electoral College results.

Eyeballing the differences yields the following counts:

+4 TX Red 34 --> 38
+2 FL Blue 27 --> 29 (2.5% margin)
+1 GA Red 15 --> 16
+1 SC Red 8 --> 9
+1 AZ Red 10 --> 11
+1 UT Red 5 --> 6
+1 NV Blue 5 --> 6
+1 WA Blue 11 --> 12
-1 NJ Blue 15 --> 14
-1 MA Blue 12 --> 11
-1 PA Blue 21 --> 20
-1 MI Blue 17 --> 16
-1 IL Blue 21 --> 20
-1 IA Blue 7 --> 6
-1 LA Red 9 --> 8
-1 MO Red 11 --> 10 (0.1% margin)
-2 OH Blue 20 --> 18
-2 NY Blue 31 --> 29

Remember that the 2008 results were skewed thanks to a slobberingly complicit media and a branding campaign worthy of a new Verizon phone. All those factors notwithstanding, however, the GOP appears to have gained 11 House seats and Electoral College votes.

Gee, I'm no Fred Einstein, but we could be detecting a trend. Barack Obama and the Party of Massive Economic Destruction (which is the slogan they prefer, I hear) could be positioned for a 1980 Carter-style implosion or, better yet, a full-frontal Dukakis. All it takes is some hard work mobilizing real Americans to protect the Constitution.


Related Must-Read: Victor Davis Hanson's "Two Californias"

Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Larwyn's Linx: Obamacare's unbridled bullying power must end

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

Obamacare's unbridled bullying power must end: WashExam
Stopping Obama: a Republican Game Plan: AT
A procedural note about H.R. 5281 and the DREAM Act: Malkin

Bachmann to run for Senate?: Cubachi
It's not Fox News' fault that Obamacare sucks: York
Mayor Bloomberg Covertly Abets Jihad in the U.S.: Atlas

Economy

Watch out: More Obama union pay-offs in the works: Malkin
The coming collapse in the state budgets: Hot Air
Obama's mystery proposal to regulate the Internet: Tapscott

Chicago: 40% of Public School Teachers Send Their Kids Away: RWN
Coburn report: most outrageous government waste of 2010: Tapscott
Put-Upon Victims Forced to Wait in Line for Freebies: RWN

Off-the-Books America: AT
The Day of Reckoning Arrives: Mish
Justice denied for former DePaul Professor Thomas Klocek: Marathon

Climate & Energy

Millions of Dead Sea Creatures Wash Ashore After Record Florida Freeze: GWP
DHS Defends Against Nonexistent Climate Crisis: RWN
6,000 passengers in 7-hour queue stretching 1.2 miles as snow and ice cripples Eurostar: Daily Mail

Government Electric Car Subsidies are Simply Cash For Clunkers II : Lid
KiwiGate: Correcting The Corrections: CBullitt
DHS loses it: plans to battle 'climate change' in addition to terrorists: WUWT

Media

The Pigford Case and Why the NY Times Doesn’t Want to Talk About It: Verum Serum
MSNBC's Chris "Thrill Up My Leg" Matthews Wins Quote of the Year: MRC
Did GOP Abandon Tea Party With Bogus "Food Safety" Bill?: Dollard

The Ultimate Troll: Democrat Media Management: PJM
Al Sharpton Helping FCC Design Rush Limbaugh 'Free Speech' Show Trials: AmSpec
12 men arrested over UK terror plot. AP neglects to mention who they are: BlogProf

An Axe to the Roots: GoV
Herman Cain for President?: Cubachi
An Assortment of Pigs in Elephant Costumes: GM's Place

World

Marines: 67% Say Putting Homosexuals in Their Units Will Hurt Their Effectiveness in the Field: Big Peace
Modern, moderate Malaysia: 200 arrested for "deviating from Islam": JihadWatch
"They want the Christians to evacuate from the Middle East and leave. And this is what is happening...": JihadWatch

America must wake up to threat of Sharia: WashExam
The Islamic Timeline: iOTW
Psychological Research: Inbreeding and Terrorism: BigPeace

Why Obama Surrendered the Missile Shield: AT
AQ Wants the Muj to Poison Your Salad: Jawa
Mao's Communist Legacy in China: 45 Million Deaths : Carpe Diem

SciTech

The Ten Most Expensive Domain Names Ever Purchased: The Awl
What They Know - Mobile: WSJ
Kinect Sex is Here to Stay: CNet

Cornucopia

2010 PUK Award Winners: LegalIns
Gingerbread Crackhouse: iOTW
Man-Eating Giants Discovered in Nevada Cave: Salem News

Images: People's Cube and iOwnTheWorld.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Pundit & Pundette

QOTD: "Basically, moonbats want an economic system in which the energetic and able are enslaved to a nonproductive parasite class. One problem is that people forced to work not for their own benefit but for the benefit of hostile freeloaders aren't as productive. The closer America comes to the communism our rulers are incrementally imposing, the less productive the slaves will be, until we reach the point that they aren't willing or able to produce anything at all. Then there will be no drinks for anybody, and utopian equality will have been achieved at last." -- Van Helsing, Moonbattery


Monday, December 20, 2010

Obama's ShoreBank: Jeremiah Wright's $10 Million Cash Machine

This is Senator Barack Obama with his pastor of 20 years, the Reverand Jeremiah A. Wright of Trinity United Church.

This is Rev. Wright in 2008, after a public repudiation by then-candidate Obama, for his series of incendiary and racist remarks such as "The government invented the AIDS virus as a means of genocide."

This is Rev. Wright, earlier in his career, railing against whites, Jews, and America. Wright built a small church called Trinity United into one of the largest of Chicago's south-side congregations with heated and divisive rhetoric sometimes called "Black Liberation Theology".

These are some of Rev. Wright's neighbors' homes, located on an exclusive golf course and country club in a Chicago suburb.

This is Rev. Wright's home, when it was under construction in 2008. He has since moved into the estate, estimated to have cost well over $1,000,000.

At 10,400-square feet, the home includes a large family room with wet bar, an exercise room, and a spare room that could be for a large home theater or indoor pool, based upon building plans.

The house features an elevator, a whirlpool, a butler's pantry and a four-car garage.

This is one of the loan agreements that Trinity United Church used to purchase the home for Rev. Wright. In addition to a $1.6 million mortgage, the agreement also attached a $10 million line-of-credit. As a non-profit entity, Trinity United did not have to report any of these financial dealings to the IRS, according to an April 2008 Fox News report.

Since that time, Trinity United Church sold the property to a trust company called ATG Trust, the executives for whom are all pictured above. Presumably ATG Trust, which specializes in tax shelters, trusts and investment management, created a trust and other investment strategies for Rev. Wright to minimize his tax exposure and maximize his returns.

Curiously, Wright appears to have utilized a firm with a distinct lack of diversity among its key executives in order to set up his tax shelters or whatever legal structures he used to protect his assets.

And what bank underwrote Wright's mortgage and $10 million line-of-credit? That would be none other than the troubled ShoreBank, a favorite of the Obama family and other Democrat politicians, who have worked mightily to have the feds rescue it despite the fact that it would otherwise not qualify for a bailout.

In fact, while other banks in ShoreBank's boat have been permitted to fail, the Obama administration allegedly pressured Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and others to prop up the bank. According to news reports, this infusion would permit ShoreBank to receive an additional $75 million in TARP funds. The Central Illinois 9/12 Project has described the bank's ties to the president and his associates, including Rev. Wright and Obama's self-described "Communist" associate Van Jones. In fact, according to erstwhile 2010 GOP Congressional candidate Joel Pollak, Illinois Democrat Rep. Jan Schakowsky -- one of Nancy Pelosi's favorite far left House members -- has strenuously argued for the bailout of the bank.

Scum is too kind a word to use to describe the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright. Here is a man who lives in the lap of luxury, surrounded by the very white people he claims to despise. A man who hypocritically uses a lily-white firm to shelter and protect his own millions, though he preaches a poisonous form of racial Marxism and wealth redistribution for others.

Here is a man who attacks the very society that has allowed him to prosper -- the most magnificent society ever created on the face of the Earth -- and then stealthily embeds himself in that society, with law firms and gated communities protecting himself from the very rabble he claims to protect.

So, Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer, just remember that these bailouts are paid for with money that you, your children and your grandchildren will have to repay with interest. And you'll be pleased to know you're also helping to subsidize the despicable, racist and amazingly hypocritical teachings of one Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.


Perfect: Al "Diamond Merchant" Sharpton to Help FCC Design New Rules to Censor Conservative Talk Radio

Isn't this the entire Obama agenda in a nutshell?

...the FCC is looking into warping beyond all recognition its definition of "public hearing" -- with the Reverend Al Sharpton lending a hand.

Public hearings would instead be used to drag unfavorables like Rush Limbaugh before the Commission to "explain how they justify" their availing themselves of their First Amendment rights. And to threaten their stations' broadcast licenses should they fail the FCC's definition of "justification." ...[Sharpton] appeared on Tom Joyner's radio show on December 15 and said the following:

[Yesterday] we met -- the heads of the National Action Network and I -- with some of the FCC Commissioners. And we're asking for public hearings on what should be standards in regard to race and gender on publicly regulated TV and radio.

What Rush Limbaugh and others have done I believe has pushed the envelope beyond free speech... We all have the right to free speech, we all have the right -- including those on the right-wing -- to express ourselves...

...But if there are standards on decency that the government gives and enforces for regulated licenses for television and radio, then included in that ought to be those that make references explicitly or implicitly based on race, gender and sexual orientation.

This Sharpton dictatorial inanity is fairly self-explanatory. The fact that he is being indulged by the FCC is more than a might disturbing. The fact that Sharpton first publicly called in November for the FCC to make this censorious move -- and it garnered the FCC's interest, not ridicule and summary dismissal, is more disturbing still... This particular portion of the FCC trend towards the totalitarian may be explained thusly -- they have in their employ as their inaugural Chief Diversity Officer Mark Lloyd.

Who in 2007 co-wrote a Center for American Progress-Free Press "report" -- entitled The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio -- that calls on the government to "equalize" Conservative talk radio... [and] wrote a follow-up essay that directed "community organizations" (run one would think by community organizers) to threaten the FCC broadcast licenses of stations with whom they do not agree politically.

I wonder when the FCC will allow me to hold a public hearing in which I can call Sharpton before a "free speech commission" to testify about the following incidents?

1991: A Hasidic Jewish driver in Brooklyn's Crown Heights section accidentally kills Gavin Cato, a 7-year-old black child, and antisemitic riots erupt. Sharpton races to pour gasoline on the fire. At Gavin's funeral he rails against the "diamond merchants" -- code for Jews -- with "the blood of innocent babies" on their hands. He mobilizes hundreds of demonstrators to march through the Jewish neighborhood, chanting, "No justice, no peace."

...A rabbinical student, Yankel Rosenbaum, is surrounded by a mob shouting "Kill the Jews!" and stabbed to death.

1995: When the United House of Prayer, a large black landlord in Harlem, raises the rent on Freddy's Fashion Mart, Freddy's white Jewish owner is forced to raise the rent on his subtenant, a black-owned music store. A landlord-tenant dispute ensues; Sharpton uses it to incite racial hatred...

"We will not stand by," he warns malignantly, "and allow them to move this brother so that some white interloper can expand his business." Sharpton's National Action Network sets up picket lines; customers going into Freddy's are spat on and cursed as "traitors" and "Uncle Toms." Some protesters shout, "Burn down the Jew store!" and simulate striking a match. "We're going to see that this cracker suffers," says Sharpton's colleague Morris Powell. On Dec. 8, one of the protesters bursts into Freddy's, shoots four employees point-blank, then sets the store on fire. Seven employees die in the inferno.

If Sharpton were a white skinhead, he would be a political leper, spurned everywhere but the fringe. But far from being spurned, he is shown much deference. Democrats embrace him. Politicians court him. And journalists report on his comings and goings while politely sidestepping his career as a hatemongering racial hustler.

So a man who helped fan the racial tensions which killed eight innocent people in New York is now going to blueprint the FCC's standards for free speech?

I never thought I would live to see the day when the Bill of Rights would be used as toilet paper by government officials, but it would appear that day has arrived.

It's time to put the hammer down on the unelected fourth branch of government. And I can't wait for the GOP to take control of the House to begin the investigations.


How Fast is Verizon's New 4G LTE Network?

Verizon recently introduced its fourth-generation wireless network (4G), which the company calls LTE -- for "Long Term Evolution". The new network uses the 700MHz spectrum, the rights to which Verizon won in a contentious FCC auction a couple of years back.

The 700MHz band was a particularly valuable piece of real estate, seeing as how it was originally used for UHF television, and old-time wireless microphones and intercom systems. As such, it has an uncanny ability to penetrate walls and other structures that higher frequencies have issues with. The new network is available in most large markets, which VZ distinguishes as "NFL cities".

Having received my new 4G LTE modem today, I thought I'd relay my first real world experiences with it.

This is what the USB modem looks like, one of only two models that currently support LTE. This is the Pantech UML 290, which uses a SIM card and opens a 90-degree antenna for better reception.

So how fast is the modem? I ran numerous tests on multiple sites, but the one I trust most is CNet's Internet Speed Test. The modem cranked out consistent speeds between 6.2Mbps and 6.8Mbps, the fastest performance for any wireless card I've yet seen.

If performance holds once the network gets more congested, those speeds are very close to a good hard-wired DSL connection.

SpeakEasy's Speed Test reported faster performance, but its reports were far more inconsistent than CNet's. Interestingly, the upload speeds nearly matched download performance, a truly impressive feat.

The real test is yet to come, when more devices start taking full advantage of LTE. But in the mean time, the network is stunningly fast and (at last) approaching the kind of performance we expect from 802.11 and hard-line network connections.


Related: PC Magazine: "Verizon's new LTE network is a great bet for road warriors, but it's [currently] too expensive to change the mobile Internet game."
 

Larwyn's Linx: It’s Still the Demography, Stupid

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

It’s Still the Demography, Stupid: Driscoll
Creating Tea Party Candidates--The Tea Party’s Next Step: RedState
Tea Party Violence: Wizbang

Are Lame Duck Sessions of Congress Unconstitutional?: Greenroom
Creepy: HHS Buys 'ObamaCare', Redirects It to Propaganda: BigJourn
Out of Control Public Education in DC: Jacobs

Economy

Unions Try to Kill Public Pension Transparency: RedState
A Shot Across the Bow of Cincinnati’s Police and Fire Unions: Virtuous
Another Failed City Hunts for a Bailout: RedState

In Sunday-evening surprise, Senate passes food safety bill: WZ
Taxpayer-Funded Leftist Indoctrination of Innocent Students: ACT
Do Not Fear the Chinese Economy: RWN

Small-Business Hiring Outlook? Two More Years of Pain: PJM
WI Gov: may have to decertify unions to balance budget: BlogProf
Spain's "Ghost Towns", Shadow Inventory and Cooked Books: Mish

Climate & Energy

Ultra-alarmist: "I discovered four scientists who are already creating some form of survival retreat for their family...": Nelson
'Snowfalls Are Now Just a Thing of the Past': Driscoll
Steven Crowder Crashes Climate Change Convention In Cancun: SlapBlog

Media

Top 10 Hoaxes Perpetrated by the Left and Trumpeted by a Complicit Media: NewsReal
An Old Friend Returns: Driscoll
Debunking The Left’s “Media Is More Conservative Than Liberal” Myth: RWN

Pigford Video Blockbuster: Attorney Admits Clients 'Got Away With Murder': BigGovt
The Associated Press Has a Bad DREAM: Malkin (Powers)
At least Mussolini could make the trains run on time: Six Meat

Sarah Palin: Fishing for American Exceptionalism: AT
Today’s ‘Progressives:’ Repeating the Mistakes of Yesterday’s Communists: BRubin
ABC’s Amanpour Refers to Tax Cuts as ‘Giveaways’: NewsBusters

World

Listen to Palin: Senate Republicans should vote no on START: Cubachi
YouTube shuts down Palestinian Media Watch: Bookworm Room
Muslims Clash in Holy City of Medina: WZ

Guatemala Declares It is Under Siege by Failed Narco Terror-State: WZ
The Islamists' Battle Plan: BigPeace
Dismissal of Foreign Minister a Sign of Political Battle in Iran: Lid

France Gives Lebanon Anti-Tank Missiles That Would Only Be Used Against Israel: Lid
Ground Zero Mosque: We Ain’t Movin’: WZ
The Never-Ending War in Korea: BigPeace

SciTech

Hiding PETN from Full-Body Scanners: Schneier
Caturday for Geeks: Blogmocracy
Cricket to Muve music collections to cellphones: unlimited music downloads for a flat monthly fee: LAT

Cornucopia

Get the Boy Something He Wants for Christmas: C&S
Who's Dressed Better?: HillBuzz
Worst Hurdler Ever: SportsGrid

Mark Levin: My Buddy, Griffen Levin: TRS
WikiLeaker Fumes Over Leaks About his (Lousy) Love-making: RWN
The Greatest Lede in the History of Journalism: Driscoll

Image: Kaching, a Production of American Digest.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Curmudgeonly & Skeptical

QOTD: "There is less joy in the world today. It’s with great sadness I tell you that Griffen Levin passed away at 1:30 PM today. He stopped eating and drinking the past two days and we could not let him starve. We are mourning now but I wanted to let you all know as you’ve been so kind. If you want to learn more about Griffen, turn to the last chapter of Rescuing Sprite. He was a wonderful little boy, a buddy, a bundle of life and joy. Yet, he was neglected much of his life, until we adopted him almost 4 years ago (February 2007). But in the end, his body broke down. I pray to God he is at peace. We will miss him terribly. Your family loves and adores you, Griffey." -- Mark Levin

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Warmal Colding Juxtaposed Headlines o' the Day

Two stories, separated by a decade, brought to us courtesy of Matt Drudge:

Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past


The Sunday Independent, 20 March 2000, By Charles Onians

Britain's winter ends tomorrow with further indications of a striking environmental change: snow is starting to disappear from our lives... [Sleds], snowmen, snowballs ... are all a rapidly diminishing part of Britain's culture, as warmer winters - which scientists are attributing to global climate change - produce not only fewer white Christmases, but fewer white Januaries and Februaries.

...Global warming, the heating of the atmosphere by increased amounts of industrial gases, is now accepted as a reality by the international community... Eight of the 10 hottest years on record occurred in the Nineties.

However, the warming is so far manifesting itself more in winters which are less cold than in much hotter summers. According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia, within a few years winter snowfall will become "a very rare and exciting event... Children just aren't going to know what snow is," he said.

That's right. "Children just aren't going to know what snow is."

Coldest December since records began...travel chaos across Britain


London Daily Mail, 18 December 2010, By Daily Mail Staff


• Millions begin the big Christmas and New Year getaway early as the AA urged motorists to beware of the ‘worst driving conditions imaginable’
• Quarter of train services disrupted, travel warning in Kent
• Experts warn of a backlog of up to 4 million of parcels which could remain undelivered this Christmas
• The NHS issues an urgent appeal for blood donors as concerns grow over shortages
• Councils reveal plans to share grit amid fears the cold snap could last until January 14

Swathes of Britain skidded to a halt today as the big freeze returned - grounding flights, closing rail links and leaving traffic at a standstill... tonight the nation was braced for another 10in of snow and yet more sub-zero temperatures - with no let-up in the bitterly cold weather for at least a month, forecasters have warned.

The Arctic conditions are set to last through the Christmas and New Year bank holidays and beyond and as temperatures plummeted to -10c (14f) the Met Office said this December was ‘almost certain’ to become the coldest since records began in 1910...

Not to worry, folks. Remember, any hot spells are to be treated as concrete proof of global warming.

But when there's a brutal and record-setting cold snap, perhaps even -- as some scientists believe -- an imminent ice age, that's just weather. It should not be considered evidence that global warming is one of the greatest criminal scams since Charles Ponzi.

Prediction: once we give the "scientists" a few more 'specially located' temperature stations, the AP will be declaring December 2010 the warmest on record in no time flat.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Photo: I Feel Safer Already

Comforting.

"Yes, that's a burka, yes that's a real TSA agent, (I saw her badge when I passed her and made a U-turn to snap a pic)... They're not just stripping us of our freedoms, they're rubbing our noses in it along the way."

Image: Survival Monkey via Atlas.

Does the Estate Tax Contribute to the Destruction of the American Family Farm? Media Matters Says No, Which Means...

...it does. Without a shadow of a scintilla of a flicker of a doubt.

The return of the Estate Tax impacts many small businesses, but most especially family farms. These estates possess wealth in the form of real estate and equipment but are taxed at obscene rates -- as if their assets were liquid. Often times, these awful tolls result in estate liquidations after business owners pass away.

The ham-handed propagandists at Media Matters attacked MSNBC's Joe Scarborough for mentioning this uncomfortable fact during Wednesday's broadcast of Morning Joe ("Scarborough advances family farm myth in attacking estate tax"). It represents the fourth time this month that the Soros-funded front group has promoted the return of the tax.

But does the return of the Estate Tax really endanger family farms?


In 2009, no less an authority than the Obama USDA said it does, issuing a cautionary report in Amber Waves, its quarterly economics journal.

While the aggregate importance of Federal estate and gift taxes is relatively small, their potential effect on farmers and other small business owners has been a major concern among policymakers. These groups are more likely than the general public to owe estate taxes, and much of the concern focuses on the ability of the next generation to continue operating and investing in these family-owned businesses. For many farms, business assets account for a large share of the owner’s estate. In such instances, estate tax liabilities not only drain the business of funds that might otherwise be reinvested, but could also force the liquidation of business assets.

...Providing tax relief to farmers and other small business owners was also an impetus for the Economic Growth and Taxpayer Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (the 2001 Act). The 2001 Act reduced Federal estate and gift tax rates and substantially increased the amount of property that can be transferred to the next generation free of Federal estate tax, culminating in the complete repeal of the tax in 2010...

The USDA states that in 2007 40% of all U.S. estate taxes were paid by farms. And it predicted that a quarter of farm estates would be required to file an estate tax return in 2011.

Earlier this year the American Farm Bureau Federation's John Hart wrote the following in Farm and Ranch Guide:

Unfortunately, the federal estate tax does much to steal the joy of keeping the farm in the family. Estate taxes are especially harmful to farmers and ranchers because their businesses are capital-intensive with a high concentration of assets tied up in land, buildings and equipment... ...80 percent of farm and ranch assets are land-based. When estate taxes exceed cash and other liquid assets on hand, surviving family members may be forced to sell land, buildings or equipment needed to keep the business operating.

...Farm Bureau backs permanent repeal of federal estate taxes. Until permanent repeal is achieved, Farm Bureau calls for an exemption of $10 million per person, indexed for inflation... The $10 million exemption may sound high, but it really isn't when you factor in land costs and other variables, particularly for farms in areas where land values are high.

There are many reasons why the estate tax is unfair. It amounts to double taxation, because the income is taxed first when it is earned and again when it is transferred to heirs. Eliminating the estate tax will encourage farmers and ranchers to keep the businesses in the family.

So we have the Obama USDA and the Farm Bureau Federation directly refuting Media Matters. We'll call this Chapter 86,204 of the Soros-ians failed propaganda efforts.

Piercing the veneer of the Democrats' estate tax propaganda


If the Democrats really wanted to tax the estates of billionaires, they could simply propose an Estate Tax to do so. But they haven't. And they won't. After all, some of their biggest contributors -- from Warren Buffett to Bill Gates -- are billionaires.

No, Democrats are intentionally targeting small businesses and especially family farms. They want to see them broken up, sold off and unionized.

Once these small businesses are absorbed into larger corporate entities, they become ripe for unionization and illegal immigration. More union members means more dues; which, in turn, means more contributions to the Democrat Party.

Democrats are insatiable power addicts. And an onerous Estate Tax aids their pursuit of power in three ways: it hastens the corporate takeover of small businesses, it lines the pockets of their crony capitalist pals like Jeff Immelt, and it ignites mass unionization.

Piercing the veneer of the Estate Tax reveals a truly ugly side of the Democrat Party. And it's one that Media Matters is more than happy to promote, no matter the cost to its already tattered reputation.


Larwyn's Linx: DREAM Act Nightmare Shot Down in Senate

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Nation

DREAM Act Nightmare Shot Down in Senate: LCR
Obamacare ruling reveals last-minute Congressional deceit: FA
MN: Santa Claus banned to avoid offending Muslims: JihadWatch

The Strangers Knocking At My Door: AmDig
DADT Repeal Isn't an End Game: Riehl
Senate Rejects First Serious Challenge to START Treaty: WZ

Surprise! CAIR Pushing DREAM Act: WZ
Government Undermined: AT
Don't DREAM It's Over: AmSpec

Economy

Don't dare get rich, say the politicians: Malkin
Members of Debt Panel: Government caused financial crisis: BlogProf
Why the Tax Compromise Won't Work: AT

How Congress Can Fight Union Corruption: Foundry
Clarice's Pieces: This (Class) War Is Lost: AT
Going to Elite College Won't Get You More Money: Reason

Climate & Energy

White House Science Czar Orders No Political Interference in Global Warming Sham: Malkin
Napolitano Says DHS to Begin Battling Climate Change as Homeland Security Issue: CNS
NASA Says Earth Is Entering A Cooling Period: Tucson Citizen

Media

Femininican!: Zilla
The drive-by media shoots hard and fast (and falsely): Bookworm Room
The Times braces its readership for the next blow to ObamaCare: JOM

Awwwww. Fish Wrap Is Concerned For Barry After DREAM Act Defeat: RWN
Detective Comics: Batman Hires an Islamist: TAB
Tale of the Tape: Obama vs. Palin: PJM

NYT's Blow: 'Too Many Liberals Just Want to Whine': NewsBusters
Interesting assumptions underlying a study about Fox viewers’ ignorance: RWN
Palin Begins Engaging The Broader Liberal Media: Ace

World

New START: Increasing the Risk of Nuclear War: Foundry
Venezuela congress grants Chavez autocratic rule: LibertyPundits
Chinese Chess: WklyStd

Failed Narco-Terror-State Watch: Her “crime” was to demand justice for her daughter: Toldjah
Saturday Night Card Game (Holocaust Remembrance = Racist White Privilege): LegalIns
Are Iranian Nuke Sanctions Finally Kicking In? Ahmadinejad Announces Subsidy Cuts: WZ

Muslims in Swedish Bomber’s Town Get £550,000 To Combat Terror – Not One Single Tip Turned in: WZ
Venezuela congress grants Chavez autocratic rule: Cubachi
Western Europe's biggest mosque opens in Netherlands: Maktoob

SciTech

Is China (Finally) Building an Aircraft Carrier?: Danger Room
Fun With Google Ngram: Kedrosky
Stuxnet 'virus' could be altered to attack US facilities, report warns: CSM

Cornucopia

Tweet o' the Day: Malkin (Powers)
Obamas Not Invited To Royal Wedding; Brides's Desire To Not Be Outshined By Ms. Obama Cited: Ace
Historic Holiday Impressions: MOTUS

Image: Geoffrey Raymond Print: Cramer, Naked Short
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Nice Deb

QOTD: "...like a success inhibitor injected into the body politic, Obama's policies have only served to suppress growth, punish ambition and discourage profit-maximizers. He has railed against "fat cats" on Wall Street while protecting his favored financial industry benefactors.

He threatened to "kick" the "a**es" of oil industry executives while refusing to punish the scientific lies and distortions of his own job-killing environmental czars and bureaucrats. He inveighed against the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for collecting dues from international affiliates while ignoring the same practices among deep-pocketed unions.

And he bemoaned tax relief for "millionaires and billionaires" that would actually benefit wealth-producing couples who annually earn more than $250,000 and individuals who earn $200,000 or more..." -- Michelle Malkin, "Don't dare get rich, say the politicians"

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Eurozone's Debt Crisis an Ominous Preview of the Collapsing Welfare States (and Democrat Utopias) of California and Illinois

I'll let several of today's less publicized news stories set some context.

Spain’s Debt Crisis Bodes Ill for Our Own


Events in Spain need to be watched closely. Spain is in the midst of a credit crisis, a major debt crisis. The reality is Spain has tapped the financial markets through borrowing treasury bills. Spain is paying more than a percentage point higher in interest than a month ago... Why should be watch these developments in Spain?

In the US we have at least a $12 trillion federal debt with government tax receipts of $2 trillion. Much of the debt is not on long term interest rates. There are groups debating what [the] limit [should] be on the federal debt. Should our federal debt limit be $20 trillion, $25 trillion, or unlimited? What is forgotten is how or when will we stop growing our federal debt and begin to reduce the federal debt? More important what happens when, not if, the interest rates on our federal debt increase? That is exactly what is happening in Spain...

Consider, if you will, the Blue State Utopia of California.

California Eyes Doomsday Budget


The Legislative Analyst’s Office is now projecting a structural general fund budget gap of up to $28 billion over the next 18 months.

The outgoing governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, proclaimed a fiscal emergency when lawmakers were sworn in Dec. 6, and opened a special session of the Legislature to deal with the $6 billion gap expected in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30... But nearly all of the solutions Schwarzenegger proposed would not take effect until after the new fiscal year starts July 1.

...Brown cited the LAO’s estimate that at least 75% of the solutions used to bring the last three state budgets into balance were either short-term in nature or failed to materialize, without addressing the long-term structural imbalance between spending and revenue.

“We’ve been living in a fantasy world,” Brown said Tuesday. “It’s much worse than I thought.”

...[Next year is] when things get a lot worse, with end of federal stimulus funding that brought California about $17 billion over three years, and the expiration of temporary state taxes that are bringing about $8.3 billion into the general fund in the current year... The widespread speculation is that Brown is angling toward the early adoption of an extremely austere budget, while going to the voters in mid-2011 and ­giving them the option to extend the temporary taxes in order to save some programs that would otherwise be axed.

And Illinois:

City, state end year on the brink


...as the year comes to a close, there is reason to be gravely concerned... Illinois is a state on the brink and Chicago is a city on the brink... Our financial calamity threatens the stability of citizens from Rockford to Cairo.

...The state’s budget deficit is anywhere from $13 billion to $15 billion. We are 50th out of 50 states in unfunded pensions. The National Conference of State Legislatures calls Illinois’ fiscal crisis the worst in the nation.

...Mayor Daley’s final budget was $650 million out of whack. He “balanced” it, as Sun-Times’ Fran Spielman reported, with a mix of TIF funds, parking meter and Chicago Skyway reserves, budget and job cuts, and debt refinancing and restructuring... Like a ghost of Christmas past, this unfortunate use of reserve funds will haunt the next mayor.

Taxes will be raised. Or services will be drastically cut. Or both... Awful decisions are ahead at City Hall and at the Capitol... How is it that a state that can so boldly and progressively pass controversial civil union legislation cannot summon the will or the way to face up to its economic plight?

On Thursday, William Jacobson's excellent comparison of our financial position with that of the defunct Soviet Union contained a prediction.

...Hanson's description of modern California would be a fitting updated version of my observations of the Soviet Union in the early 1980s. The analogy is not exact, of course, because the political and economic systems, and the root causes, are so different.

But the result is the same. An increasing inability of the economic system to support the agenda of the first world cities and political elites... ...It can't last another decade. You are my witnesses.

What do you think California's public sector unions will do when Jerry Brown, their supposed savior, slashes jobs, salaries and benefits -- as he must?

How about the plutocrats in Springfield, Illinois, who have allowed their state to operate with a Zimbabwean balance sheet?

I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think we'll have to wait even three years to see the kind of unrest charring the streets of Europe.

Our Republic is a fragile vessel; and the Democrat Party's malevolent support for insane social engineering programs, illegal immigration, and general lawlessness have put it on the edge of the abyss.


WikiLeaks confirms: Michael Moore is the Modern-Day Leni Riefenstahl

The film-maker Leni Riefenstahl died in 2003 at the age of 101. Her most famous motion picture was Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will), which was filmed at the 1934 Nuremberg Congress of the Nazi Party. By many accounts it is considered a masterpiece of political propaganda and it helped solidify a long friendship between the film-maker and the Führer.

In 2007 director Michael Moore released Sicko, a film that ostensibly compared the free market health care system of the United States with the universal approaches employed by countries such as the United Kingdom and Cuba. It depicted their government-run systems as vastly superior to the U.S. system.

On December 17, 2010, The Guardian reported a WikiLeaks revelation directly linked to Sicko: Cuba's government had banned the movie.

Cuba banned Michael Moore's 2007 documentary, Sicko, because it painted such a "mythically" favourable picture of Cuba's healthcare system that the authorities feared it could lead to a "popular backlash", according to US diplomats in Havana.

...The revelation, contained in a confidential US embassy cable released by WikiLeaks , is surprising, given that the film attempted to discredit the US healthcare system by highlighting what it claimed was the excellence of the Cuban system.

But the memo reveals that when the film was shown to a group of Cuban doctors, some became so "disturbed at the blatant misrepresentation of healthcare in Cuba that they left the room".

Castro's government apparently went on to ban the film because, the leaked cable claims, it "knows the film is a myth and does not want to risk a popular backlash by showing to Cubans facilities that are clearly not available to the vast majority of them."

This revelation should confirm to even the most obtuse observer that Moore is an unvarnished propagandist. His latest fictions were sufficiently outrageous that even Cuba banned them.

Michael Moore would have fit beautifully in the Third Reich, either as an assistant to Riefenstahl or as a stunt-double for the corpulent Hermann Göring.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin, Ed Driscoll, Anorak UK and Memeorandum. Thanks!

Larwyn's Linx: Operation Buck Up Redux--Stop the DREAM Act!

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

Operation Buck Up Redux--Stop the DREAM Act!: Malkin
Another Judge To Declare ObamaCare Unconstitutional?: AmSpec
Holder's Department of (Social) Justice: IBD

PolitiFact’s Biggest Lie: Patterico
Votes demonstrate the power of the Tea Party: DaTechGuy
The 11 Republicans: House Ways and Means Committee: RWN

Meet the New Chair of House Foreign Affairs Committee: Blogmocracy
Muslim businessman boards flight with loaded handgun: Atlas
Marines Exercise Discretion: JWF

Economy

'Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians' for 2010: JudicialWatch
The Left's Politics of Retribution: AT
Tax Cuts Extended: Pundette

It Also Was Called The Soviet Union: LegalIns
James Meeks: Racialist Spoils System Should Only Benefit Blacks: RWN
New ObamaCare strategery--health premiums are a tax!: Wizbang

Climate & Energy

With border in chaos, J-Nap proclaims 'environmental justice' a priority: Malkin
Climate Alarmists Love Solar So Much That They Have To Stop It: RWN
Cap-And-Trade Tosses An Anchor To Drowning California Economy: IBD

Media

Our Alien President: Burgess-Jackson
HuffPo Moderator: "Time to Kill Cheney": Jawa
Fineman to Strap-On: The Tea Party Won, Schmuck: HFA

The 9th Annual Right Wing News Conservative Blog Awards: RWN
Obama Reads 2nd Graders a Book: Powers
Matthews Gets Another Tingle for Obama's 'Cute' 'Wonderful' 'Boyish' 'Smile We All Love': NewsBusters

Gaza through a NY Times lens: AT
Detroit Free Press: Killing unborn babies a "truly private decision," health insurance is not: BlogProf
The Illusions of E.J.Dionne, Jr.—A Leftist Masquerading as a Moderate Centrist: PJM

World

If GOP forgets what its 2011 mission in, British newspapers offer plenty of reminders: Surber
WikiLeaks Cables Vindicate Israel: PJM
Cuba banned Michael Moore documentary for being too rosy about Cuban health care: Hot Air

Britain's Exploding Exports: WklyStd
Frank Dikötter on Mao’s Mass Murders: Volokh
A World Cup in the Twilight Zone: Power Line

SciTech

Good news! UN now wants to regulate the internet to protect us from another WikiLeaks: Cubachi
Did the FBI Plant Backdoors in OpenBSD?: Schneier
Object shot out of sky above Israeli nuclear plant, military says: CNN

Cornucopia

White House Insider: Jarrett…is the president: NewsFlavor
16 Pictures Of A $28 Million Townhouse In Tribeca To Help Motivate You: Caveman Circus
Once you have seen it, you can not unsee it.: Kurlander (NSFW?)

Image: Adapted from photograph seen at Jammie Wearing Fool
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: The 9th Annual Right Wing News Conservative Blog Awards

QOTD: "The Democrats don't care about this country and I'm gonna tell you that without any reservations whatsoever. They don't care about the country. This is all about them. It is all about the last gasp opportunity they have to infect and poison this country with their ideology and their ideas. They are destroying and hijacking this country right in front of our eyes. And let's be clear about something. Brown, Collins, Snowe, other Republicans, the usual suspects in most cases are repeatedly defying the voters, and they pretend to be these old-fashioned fiscal conservative Yankees, but they are big spending, irresponsible politicians who keep larding up the deficit, undermining any notion of fiscal sanity, and they do so under the guise, "Well, we gotta service our constituents." They know full well what the people of this country said. I'm talking about Republicans, particularly some of these outgoing Republicans like Bennett from Utah, Voinovich in Ohio. They don't care, folks, they don't care about the country, and they don't care about you. And they wonder why they were defeated. " -- Rush Limbaugh