Friday, January 07, 2011

Warning: do not show this chart to progressives, lest their heads explode into thousands of tiny pieces of shrapnel and hurt others

The invaluable People's Cube:

My Favorite Progressive Talking Point in Jeopardy


I heard a very well versed progressive woman say this very thing...in a Houston book store.

"If it weren't for the Iraq War, we would have enough money for health care and other programs and there would be no deficit."

For years, we had it as a solid gold talking point. In my opinion, it was our number one talking point, but now, I'm sad and concerned--we progressives are always sad and concerned, don't you know?

Only now, I came across this very disturbing chart showing the war spending in comparison to all other spending...

What! I said. This cannot be. No! No! No! The war spending in this chart appears minuscule. What will we do if the masses get a look at this chart? Keep it to yourself, and don't e-mail this post to anyone.

My, my, my.

This certainly destroys a few progressive talking points.

Just don't mention that nearly every Democrat voted for the Iraq War and then pretended Bush lied for purely partisan purposes. Because that would really blow their minds.


CBO: Repealing Obamacare would slash the budget deficit, save seniors' lives and resurrect Elvis. Not necessarily in that order.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) asked the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to score the proposed repeal of Obamacare using real accounting. By that I mean they omitted the Democrats' double-counting gimmicks, "doc-fix" frauds and similar Ponzi-style sleight-of-hand. The result was stunning.

The Congressional Budget Office, in an email to Capitol Hill staffers obtained by the Spectator, has said that repealing the national health care law would reduce net spending by $540 billion in the ten year period from 2012 through 2021. That number represents the cost of the new provisions, minus Medicare cuts. Repealing the bill would also eliminate $770 billion in taxes. It's the tax hikes in the health care law (along with the Medicare cuts) which accounts for the $230 billion in deficit reduction.

Oh, and look at this.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California just filed to increase individual premiums up to 59%.

But I'm sure that's Bush's fault too, Nancy.

I thought President Obama said that if we liked our health care plans we could keep them. That our premiums would go down an average of $2,500 per year. And that all pre-existing conditions would be covered (even though that doesn't even apply to Medicaid and the VA today!).

The lies that this administration and Congressional Democrats told in order to slam this bill into place -- with no one bothering so much as to even read the bill -- will go down in history as one of the most egregious crimes ever against the American people.


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

Larwyn's Linx: Who’s Pulling the Puppet Strings on Filibuster 'Reform'?

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

Who’s Pulling the Puppet Strings on Filibuster 'Reform'?: RedState
Republicans Introduce Bill to Eliminate Czars: Nice Deb
Pelosi's disgusting parting shot: York

Pelosi: I don’t plan to stay in this new, smaller office for long: Hot Air
Obama's radical judicial nominees are back: Malkin
Democrat Nadler sneers at Constitution: RWN

White House: Health Care Repeal Won't Happen: Roll Call
King (R-Iowa) Submits Bill To Stop Anchor Babies: RWN
Obamacare: A Uniquely Vicious Form of Corruption: Power Line

Economy

Illusion of the 'Professional' Class; Rise of the Liberal Aristocracy: Ace
Obama the Senator versus Obama the Hypocrite: Mish
Ignore the Union Leader Behind the Curtain: RCM

The Health problem quantified: NCPA
Why it's D-Day on the National Debt: Coburn
Liberal meme: repealing Obamacare will increase deficit!: BlogProf

Three Gifts from the Tea Parties: AT
Debt Ceiling Russian Roulette: Moran
Bloomberg: An Abject Failure: AT

Climate & Energy

Warmist Insanity Today: Standing Up To “Polluters” Same As Standing Up To Nazis: RWN
More Hurdles for Drilling: AT
Moonbat Madness: Global Warming Makes Oceans Warm Causing Crabs To FREEZE To Death : Lid

Media

Liberals Reacting To Reading The Constitution In House Pretty Much Exactly As You Expected They Would: Ace
Meanwhile, Back in Old Media: Driscoll
Slate’s Shot At Constitutionalists Misses The Mark … Again: BigJourn

Krauthammer Needs a Vacation: Jawa
About Those (USS Enterprise) Videos: Former Spook
Action alert! Amazon.com may boot me--because of an Illinois internet sales tax: Marathon

Jobless claims up, but don’t worry, it’s good news: Instapundit
CNBC’s Santelli rants about NY Times and other critics of congressional Constitution reading: Caller
Just Who is Boehner?: Cranky

The Frat Pack is Back, Baby!: Driscoll
All the News That’s Pre-Digested: VodkaPundit
Quote of the Day, Part 184: Texas4Palin

World

Congressman Allen West Joins Armed Services Committee; Understands Sharia Threat: Big Peace
A Tale of Two Congressmen: Peter King and Keith Ellison: RWN
The Unveiling of China's Raptor: IBD

UK Transportation Centers Put on High Alert Over New Terror Fears: WZ
The Outsider: Belmont Club
Wikileaks: Norwegian terrorists planned attack during 2008 Olympics, Bush possible target: IIE

SciTech

"The Birds": Mapping The Global Mass Animal Deaths Graveyard: ZH
Buying an iPad Now Would Be a Huge Mistake: Fool
CES: Netflix, Hulu Plus navigation comes to Kinect: CNet

SMS of Death: Schneier
Hotmail's recent message loss hiccup explained: CNet
Penn State’s Online Jihadist Arrested After Big Peace Story: BigPeace

Cornucopia

Attitude is everything . . . or why I yelled at my 88 year old mother: Bookworm
The 40 Most Obnoxious Quotes of 2010: RWN
A List of 2010 End of Year Lists: RWN

Image: Kno Textbook Tablet
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Why the Constitution is Better Than Marx

Thursday, January 06, 2011

Q: 'What's your prediction for the EPA, Rep. Issa?' A: 'Prediction?' Q: 'Yes, prediction.' A: 'Pain.'

A bunch of unelected bureaucrats, thousands of them in fact, will decide how much carbon dioxide you and your employer are allowed to expel. This month the EPA is slated to begin regulating greenhouse gases despite new and overwhelming evidence that there is a complete "absence of correlation between temperature changes... and CO2."

The EPA's new regulations will effectively control industrial policy for every business in America. Utility companies that generate power will be especially hard hit; and the ripple effect is certain to touch off catastrophic price increases for all Americans. Oh, especially "the middle class".

Yesterday nearly 50 House Republicans co-sponsored a bill to stop the EPA in its tracks.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, sponsored the bill. The measure’s 46 co-sponsors are all Republicans except for Rep. Dan Boren (D-Okla.)... Co-sponsors include Oversight and Government Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.)... The bill would amend the Clean Air Act to declare that greenhouse gases are not subject to the law, according to a brief description in the Congressional Record.

Every Democrat who votes against this bill should be a pariah in their home state.

Consider: Democrats want to control our bodies through their takeover of health care. They want to control industrial policy by limiting how much CO2 businesses can breathe into the atmosphere. They limit access to our own energy sources, risking our national security and restricting our ability to move about freely. They seek to nationalize more and more land. They control the banks and the housing market and the auto industry. Through Executive Orders they have seized control of coasts and waterways. For decades they have had a stranglehold on the educational system -- and within their monstrous health care bill, they tacked on a takeover of the student loan business. And they have stocked the judiciary with activists who disregard our nation's highest law to cement government's hold over the individual.

If James Madison were alive today, he would not even recognize this perverted form of American government. While one after another of their experiments run off the rails, they're busy creating new ones. When it comes to today's hard left Democrat Party, every day means another unconstitutional power grab.

Kneecapping the unelected fourth branch of government -- beginning with the radical Marxist whack-jobs at the EPA -- must be rapid and decisive. The ticking fiscal time bomb that Democrats and their cronies have left for our children must be defused quickly if we are to save this Republic.


Hat tip: Memeorandum.

Typical: On the one hand, Obama excoriates the GOP for playing politics; on the other, spokes-idiot Gibbs leaves to work on his campaign

President Obama seems resigned to the fact that Republicans will begin the year by fighting his agenda.

I think that there's going to be politics... They are going to play to their base for a certain period of time... but I'm pretty confident that they're going to recognize that our job is to govern and make sure that we are delivering jobs for the American people and that we're creating a competitive economy for the 21st century.

Curious: when it comes to politics, no President has spent more time campaigning and posturing -- as opposed to governing -- than this President.

I find it a touch ironic that today White House spokesman Robert Gibbs announced that he is leaving the White House.

Why?

He is going to begin working on Obama's 2012 campaign.

As for Obama's bloviation regarding jobs... where have we heard that before?

Isn't that rich? The same man who said he "would not rest" until Americans had jobs just spent two years straight trying to shred the Constitution and bankrupt the country.

Seems to me the President was far more concerned with golf, basketball, socialized medicine, cap-and-trade, paying off the public sector union bosses, mocking Republicans, and eating Slurpees than worrying about jobs. But that's just me.


*Yawn* ... Yet another book on Barack Obama due out soon

The pusillanimous Vanity Fair, which never dares to veer off the Democrat party line, reports that a new book on President Obama is due out in late January. The author of the tome is shrouded in mystery.

But I'm pretty certain I know who wrote it.

It's the same guy who'd written two autobiographies before he'd so much as run a cash register at a 7-11. And, in fact, Cub Reporter Biff Spackle claims he's got an exclusive draft copy, including the cover.

Far be it from me to question Biff's sources and methods.

Larwyn's Linx: Tea Party Congress Returns to the Constitution

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

Nation

Tea Party Congress Returns to the Constitution: Foundry
It’s official: Speaker Boehner, Weaker Pelosi: Malkin
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Health: AT

Why the Constitution is Relevant Today: BRubin
National Motto ‘Letter Of Correction’ Sent To President: SHN
Steny Hoyer: Tea Party Peeps Have Unhappy Families: GoV

Economy

Investigate This!: Coulter
Is Administration Cooking Books on Health Care Spending?: Cato
Taxpayers Finance Pelosi’s Lavish Hawaiian Farewell: JW

In 2011 Public Sector Unions Must Be Targeted for Elimination: RWN
Christie dumps 7 NJ County School Superintendents: GWP
Deficit Hypocrite Kent Conrad To Win “Fiscy” Award Today: SAB

Reevaluating Pension Entitlements in the Public Sector: AT
Dodd-Frank Already Failing Consumers: Foundry
The Fall of the House of Waxman: Cato

Climate & Energy

Did Globull Warming Cause The Haiti Earthquake?: RWN
Saving California Almost Half a Billion a Year - Easy: AT
George Monbiot Decries Spacious Housing: RWN

Media

The GOP Takes Control Of The House. Obviously, That Has Unhinged the Fish Wrap of Record: RWN
Darrell Issa: CNN Doesn't Understand Meaning of Corrupt: NewsBusters
Networks Purposely Ignore Majority Support for ObamaCare Repeal: MRC

The Real Comeback Kid? Our Constitution: PJM (Shiver)
A Short, Concise Challenge: R&R
Mark Twain’s Great Works Rewritten to Conform to Political Correctness: RWN

Marxist Frances Fox Piven Calls For A Violent Uprising Against the American System: NewsReal
What Obama Thinks of America: AT
Picture Of The Day: End Of A Very Short Era Edition: OTB

World

Iranian Authorities Begin Rounding Up/Arresting Christians in Tehran: Lid
Obama is Undermining Israel: AT
KFC's Infidel Sandwich: Atlas

Beijing Plans for Preemptive Nuclear Strike: AT
Allen West: It is my duty to defend Israel!: TRS
500 Islamic clerics, scholars misunderstand Islam, praise murderer of governor who opposed blasphemy law: JihadWatch

SciTech

We're Not Touching Windows 7 Tablets With a Ten-Foot Stylus: Gizmodo
Eavesdropping on GSM Calls: Schneier
‘Windows Will Be Everywhere,’ Ballmer Promises: Wired

Cornucopia

Pic of the day: The world's largest cave discovered in Vietnam :BlogProf
Coexist Sticker Update: Moonbattery
R-Rated Internet Writing Lesson: AmDigest (Language Warning)

Image: Instapundit
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Support and Defend: Understanding the Oath of Office

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Photo o' the Day

Even The Washington Post was wondering why ex-Speaker Pelosi couldn't stop smiling. Dana Milbank put it bluntly:

It was the same joyless perma-grin - really, a grimace with upturned corners of the mouth - that came to define Pelosi during her four years in charge of the House: an expression meant to connote her warmth and sincerity that too often conveyed the opposite...

...As speaker, her record was mixed. She had many major legislative achievements, particularly in the past two years, but she also led her caucus off an electoral cliff, in part because she forced members to take damaging votes on policies that didn't have a chance of passing the Senate.

In her four years as minority leader, by contrast, Pelosi's effectiveness was seldom questioned as she tripped up the majority with her relentless opposition. "If people are ripping your face off," she said before winning the majority in 2006, "you have to rip their face off."

Curious choice of metaphors.

With all the work that's been done over the years, that perma-grin may be cemented on for life.


I'm Thinking Steny Hoyer Was Beaten Mercilessly as a Child

How else to explain this kind of statement by the block-headed, lifetime suckler on the public teat known as "Steny Hoyer"? And what the hell is a "Steny"?

There are a whole lot of people in the Tea Party that I see in these polls who don’t want any compromise. My presumption is they have unhappy families. All of you have been in families: single-parent, two-parents, whatever. Multiple parent and a stepfather...

...The fact is life is about trying to reach accommodation with one another so we can move forward. That is certainly what democracy is about. So if we are going to move forward compromise is necessary.

Hoyer's been living off the taxpayer since nineteen-freaking-sixty-six.

People of Maryland: he needs a real job. You know, so he can see how the rabble live. Remember his disdain for you -- his vitriolic hatred for you -- in 2012.

Remember, you're all from broken families, so you're bitter like that.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Someone high-five Sarah Palin for me--Obama administration admits "mix-up", will remove death panels from new Medicare regulations

Cubachi is on it.

A week ago, word came out that the Obama administration were planning to install these “death panels” in Medicare regulation. After people critized the administration acknowledging Palin was right about these end-of-life planning, The NY Times reports today that the administration made a “mix-up” and these panels will be removed.

No, the mix-up is that it was politically stupid to implement this regulation. The uproar was palpable. In other words, Palin and conservatives were right.

Obamacare has nothing at all to do with health care.

It's about changing the relationship between people and government. It cements the people's reliance on a centralized, authoritarian government in a way that no other program can.

You simply can't have a truly free society in which government decides who gets health care, where, when and how.

And that's why Democrats rammed through a 2,700-page piece of legislation that no one bothered to read.

It's not about health care, it's about control over you. Your body and your being.


Great News: U.S. Department of Education helping to teach educators about Alinsky, Cloward-Piven and the Need for State-Run Media

You may be surprised to discover that the Department of Education did not even exist until 1980.

Yet, over the last three years alone, the Department has spent roughly a third of a trillion dollars with copious amounts of 'Stimulus' spending sent directly to the bosses of the teachers' unions.

I think even progressives would agree that the Department of Education has been an abysmal failure. Hundreds of billions of dollars were spent in just the last few years alone with literally no measurable effect.

But the progressives claim they need more money.

I disagree. I recommend we excise the entire Department of Education and save tens of billions of dollars a year. Whatever they're doing isn't working and has never worked. And the United States survived just fine for over 200 years without an Education Department.

You may also be surprised that the Department of Education, in its official capacity, is a huge devotee of Saul Alinsky. Who is Alinsky?

He was best known as a community organizer and Marxist revolutionary who preached the violent overthrow of the United States government. He was, in many ways, the founding father of the current strain of radical Leftist Democrats. He advocated physical violence against those who opposed the left ("[we should break] the necks of Conservatives... [we] may resort to the sword"), he despised the U.S. Constitution and he sought to dismantle capitalism because of its inherent "unfairness".

And yet your taxpayer dollars are funding the promotion of Alinsky's literature. ERIC is the DOE's "Education Resources Information Center". And ERIC proudly boasts works by Alinsky and other Marxists including:

Democratic Socialism: Toward a Fifth Theory of the Press.: "[Modern paradigms fail] to account for economic and social pressures that have led to a decline in newspaper plurality and opinions available in Western democratic societies. A new theory has recently emerged to fill this gap. The theory, which arose from democratic socialist ideology, holds that state intervention in the structure and operation of the press should be encouraged to counteract effects of private control... The theory proposes alternative ownership and management forms that would make the press public utilities..."

Alinsky's Reveille: A Community-Organizing Model for Neighborhood-Based Literacy Project

Saul D. Alinsky's Contribution to Community Development

Alinsky Reconsidered: A Reluctant Community Theorist

Planned Social Change: The Case of the Fresno Organizing Project.

PC [Political Correctness] and the Fast Food Model of Teaching -- "The author recounts a tale about impairment of academic freedom that he experienced while teaching in the MBA program of a respected business school. The management department chair restricted the of Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals in a course called "Conflict and Negotiation..."

TWO ANTI-POVERTY STRATEGIES--NEW CAREERS VS THE GUARANTEED ANNUAL INCOME - [Ed: this paper discusses two ways to undermine capitalism, one through a catastrophic "run" on the system (also known as Cloward-Piven); the other by a Statist reordering of the economy.]

In other words, your tax dollars are going to a federal, Cabinet-level department to help fund both the shredding of the U.S. Constitution and the overthrow of the U.S. government itself.

Democrats always ask Republicans: so where would you cut? I would start by disbanding the entire Department of No Education, which seems more concerned with the the overthrow of capitalism than educating children.


Related: Teachers' Union website offers guides to the violent overthrow of the U.S. government.

Linked by: Neal Boortz and Weasel Zippers. Thanks!
 

Media Matters Says I Owe It $1,400 in Gold [Bumped & Updated!]

Update 1/8/11 8:31AM PST: All Four Media Matters Attempts Completely Blown Apart.

Update 1/5/11 16:32 PST: Just returned from work, then hit the gym, did some plinking in the backyard with my AK, played with my twin pit bulls and then prayed. Not to worry, any valid entries will be examined. I will certainly look at Media Matters' three new entries as time permits, probably reviewing in detail over the weekend. Promise.

The contest closes on 2/15, so new entries -- so long as they follow the very simple rules -- are still accepted. The reason there are a couple of basic ground-rules (and I'm open to suggestions as to how to gauge a "lie") is that I'm simply looking for the Fox equivalent of a Rathergate memo; an Al Qaqaa series of hit pieces; or a John McCain lobbyist affair fabrication. Game-changers, in those cases, all designed to turn elections. Real meaty lies, if you will.

Media Matters' big entry is that Elena Kagan didn't ban the military from Harvard Law? Everyone knows she did -- that's why it was such a huge issue at her confirmation hearing! And we have the DOD emails to prove it. That's the best lie they can come up with?

But I'm still hoping someone will come up with a real lie by Fox News Channel reporters. Just one! That's all I ask!

Update 1/4/11 17:31 PST: Media Matters pwnt. Hard.

Below, I've posted the actual emails from DOD recruiters that were entered into the Congressional record.

• Were military recruiters allowed to interview students on campus? No.
• Were military recruiters given any mechanism for interacting with candidate students on campus? No.
• Were military recruiters given permission to visit the campus in any recruiting capacity? No, they were refused permission.
• Were military recruiters even allowed to send in job openings for posting on a freaking law school bulletin board? No.
• Did the military believe their access to students was cut off? Yes.
• Did Kagan herself believe she had effectively cut off access to her students because of DADT? Yes.
• Was Kagan openly "hostile" to the idea of the military recruiting on campus? Yes.
• Did the military spend months trying to figure out how to get access to recruits? Yes.
• Did the military finally have to escalate, getting the USG to threaten to cut off $300 million in funding, before they could get access to students? Yes.

Recognizing their epic fail, Media Matters has posed three new "lies", which I will review as time permits. Remember, libs, the contest closes on 2/15. Considering only a handful of progressives have even figured out the very simple rules, you still have an awesome chance at winning the Krugerrand!

A couple of days ago, MSNBC media star Keith Olbermann appeared to suffer a Tourettes-like attack, cursing Fox News repeatedly on Twitter. His incisive message: the Fox News Channel is "100% bulls***".

Knowing that FNC kicks the crap out of every other cable news outlet, which means Americans find it the most trustworthy source of information, I launched my One Krugerrand Fox News challenge. The first person to document one lie repeated by Fox News Channel reporters can win a 1-oz. Krugerrand worth around $1,400.

There are only a few simple rules -- like providing a link to a transcript or video on a trustworthy site. Even so, amidst the hundreds of responses I received from outraged progressives, only a handful of budding Marxists even figured out how to post an entry that conforms to the rules.

Well, with nothing better to do during the day than respond to bloggers' challenges, Media Matters took a shot at the gold. Some crackpot named Matt Gertz wrote the following earlier today.

Following Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court, several Fox News reporters falsely claimed that while she was dean of Harvard Law School, Kagan "barred" military recruiters from campus:

Megyn Kelly: "[T]he criticism of Kagan is that while she was dean of Harvard Law School, and she was dean in 2003, she decided to continue a policy of banning the military from the campus because they didn't like the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy."

Bret Baier: "The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee has asked the Pentagon about its recruitment efforts at Harvard while Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan was dean of the law school there. Kagan barred recruiters in protest of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy."

Carl Cameron: "In the Clinton White House, she recommended compromised policies that worry conservatives over abortion and guns. As dean of the Harvard Law School, she made headlines supporting a controversial wartime ban on campus military recruitment."

In fact, Kagan did not support a "ban on military recruitment" at Harvard Law, and Harvard law students had access to military recruiters during her entire tenure as dean. As we've
noted
:

Throughout Kagan's tenure as dean, Harvard law students had access to military recruiters -- either through Harvard's Office of Career Services or through the Harvard Law School Veterans Association. Kagan became dean of Harvard Law in June 2003. In accordance with Harvard's pre-existing nondiscrimination policy, she barred the school's Office of Career Services (OCS) from working with military recruiters or the spring 2005 semester after the U.S Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit ruled that law schools could legally do so. During that one semester, students still had access to military recruiters via the Harvard Law School Veterans Association. During the fall 2005 semester, after the Bush administration threatened to revoke Harvard's federal funding, Kagan once again granted military recruiters access to OCS.

Indeed, according to data we obtained from Harvard Law School's public information officer, graduates entered the military during each year Kagan served as dean, and the number of graduates from each of the classes that could have been affected by the prohibition on Harvard Law's OCS working with military recruiters was equal to or greater than the number who entered the military from any of Harvard's previous five classes.

CNN accurately reported on Kagan's actions in this May 10, 2010...

Mr. Ross, you owe me one ounce of gold.

Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that Media Matters is a suitably trustworthy site. I know, it's a stretch.

Now, do I trust the Defense Department or a Soros-funded, Marxist front group?

Because the Defense Department has over 800 pages of documentation that says Media Matters is full of crap. Mr. Peabody, set the Wayback Machine for June of 2010.

Before her confirmation, the Christian Science Monitor reported the real details of how Kagan's recruiting ban worked:

The issue does not lend itself to 10-second sound-bite questions or responses... [but] In 2004, Kagan barred military recruiters from using the law school’s office of career services to meet with students interested in military service... The action was controversial because it came at a time when the United States was at war in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

...In her statement announcing that military recruiters would be barred from the school’s office of career services, Kagan said: “I am gratified by this result, and I look forward to the time when all law students have the opportunity to pursue any legal career they desire...”

...Administration officials and other Kagan supporters stressed that a student veterans group agreed to help facilitate student access to military recruiters during this period... The clear suggestion was that Kagan’s policy change had no real impact on military recruiters. But the recent release of 850 pages of Defense Department documents tells a different story.

Polite and patient military recruiters were told by Harvard officials to call back later. They received this response again, and again, for weeks until the recruiting season had ended... “The Army was stonewalled at Harvard. Phone calls and emails went unanswered,” an Army recruiter said in a March 2005 memo. “The [career services director] refused to inform students that we were coming to recruit and the [career services director] refused to collect resumes or provide any other assistance.”

One Air Force recruiter’s memo concludes: “We shouldn’t allow [Harvard Law School] to play this game.”

A de facto ban is still a ban. And the DOD itself says it "was stonewalled" by Kagan's policy. Gee, this is a tough one. Do I trust the DOD or Soros Matters?

Matt, you've really outdone yourself this time: that was quite an epic fail you pulled off. No gold for you!

Next time, try one of Fox' big lies. Like this one. Oops. That was The New York Times. My bad.

As an aside, Matt, do I rate my own tag yet, like Jammie Wearing Fool?


Update: Yes! They gave me my own tag. Does this mean they'll apologize for their Dealergate fabrications now?

Update II: Matt Gertz gets up off the canvas to post a humorous screed entitled, "Doug Ross Still Owes Me $1,400 In Gold."

In it, he summarizes all of the key positions. Except one.

Curiously, he fails to mention the military recruiters -- the most important parties to the affair -- who say they were banned, "stonewalled" in their words -- from recruiting. They could not get any access to Kagan's students.

Furthermore, Kagan said she was pleased with that development. "Gratified", was the word I think she used. She was gratified that the military could not get access to students -- not because of anything the DOD had done, but because of a policy created by Bill Clinton.

I just pwnt Media Matters so hard I think I pulled a muscle.

Update III: For the final word in this matter, let's go to Senator Jeff Sessions grilling Kagan, as documented in the Congressional Record:

01:02:03 I WOULD JUST SAY WHILE MY TIME IS -- IS RUNNING DOWN, I'M JUST A LITTLE TAKEN ABACK BY THE TONE OF YOUR REMARKS, BECAUSE IT IS UNCONNECTED TO REALITY.
01:02:17 I KNOW WHAT HAPPENED AT HARVARD.
01:02:19 I KNOW YOU ARE AN OUTSPOKEN LEADER AGAINST THE MILITARY POLICY.
01:02:22 I KNOW YOU ACTED WITHOUT LEGAL AUTHORITY TO REVERSE HARVARD'S POLICY AND DENY THOSE MILITARY EQUAL ACCESS TO CAMPUS UNTIL YOU WERE THREATENED BY THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT OF LOSS OF FEDERAL FUNDS.
01:02:37 THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED.

Update IV: I suppose the ABA Journal, the DOD, and Senator Jeff Sessions are all "lying", too.

“I’m just a little taken aback by the tone of your remarks because it is unconnected with reality,” Sen. Sessions said near the end of his 30-minute question period, which he spent almost entirely on the recruiting issue. “I know you acted without legal authority to deny access to military recruiters...”

...“You did what DOD wanted [only] after they went to the university counsel and the president [of Harvard] and said [Harvard was] going to lose some $300 million in aid, isn’t that a fact?” Sessions asked... Kagan said the DOD’s request went through “a discussion,” and ultimately Harvard agreed to reinstate military recruiters’ access to the law school’s career office...

And from DOD emails entered into the Congressional Record:

To: Sullivan, John, Mr., DoD OGC, Koffsky, Paul, Mr., DoD OGC
Subject: FW: AF Phase I Letter to Harvard Background
I just got back and going through my e-mails . . . Harvard Law School is delaying and providing a ``slow role'' to Air Force's efforts to recruit during the Spring recruiting season. Seems they have delayed sufficiently in providing permission that the Season ending March 4th may already be ``too late''. Any advice? ...

Subject RE: Harvard Phase I Pushups
. . . checked with Army JAG Recruiting and Major Jackson provided the following.
``Hi, Ma'am--
The Army was stonewalled at Harvard Phone calls and emails went unanswered and the standard response was--we're waiting to hear from higher authority...

From: Carr, Bill, CIV, OSD-P&R
To: Dr. Curt Gilroy, SES, OSD-P&R
Subject: S: 3-22-06/Solomon Olive Branch--Or Not
...Dean Kagan is a case in point below as she reportedly ``encouraged students to demonstrate against the presence of recruiters . . . (and to) express their views clearly and forcefully.'' Not a true fan of ``equal in quality and scope'' it would appear. Despite that (or because of it) we'll want to reach out to academe to find a sober means of accomplishing our varied purposes within statutory intent, but we lack a venue . . . and AALS is too hostile to constructively . . .

Subject Harvard Law School
Thursday 10 March 2005
Sir, I just received a phone call from Mr. Mark Weber, Assistant Dean for Career Services, Harvard Law School. All my previous communication has been with one of his staff members, Ms. Kathleen Robinson, the recruitment manager. He stated that he was calling because he ``felt bad that they
had left us without an answer
'' and wanted to pass on the contact data of the president of the Harvard Veterans Student Group. He stated that the faculty had still not decided whether to allow us to participate in on-campus interviews and that the official on-campus interview program for Spring 2005...

... I asked him if I could at least post a job posting via their office and he said no. He stressed that I could contact interested students via the Harvard Veterans Student Group but that his office could not provide any support to us...

...By delaying until the last minute (or never providing an answer) to the AF request to recruit, the AF is unable to organize and schedule the recruiting effort in time to participate in the HLS program which ends on March 4, 2005. We shouldn't allow HLS to ``play this game.''...

Executive Summary:

• Was the military allowed to interact with students via -- or even post job openings -- at the Law School? No.
• Did the military believe their access to students was cut off? Yes.
• Did Kagan herself believe she had effectively cut off access to her students because of DADT? Yes.
• Was Kagan openly "hostile" to the idea of the military recruiting on campus? Yes.
• Did the military spend months trying to figure out how to get access to recruits? Yes.
• Did the military finally have to escalate, getting the USG to threaten to cut off funding, before they could get access to students? Yes.

Media Matters == pwnt.


Some edumucation for young progressives

Whom Despots Fear

What really happened

To the Congress:

Larwyn's Linx: Day One--10 Simple Rules for the GOP

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

Day One, 112th Congress--10 Simple Rules for the GOP: Malkin
USS Enterprise Captain Relieved of Duty in PC Witch Hunt: RSM
Alexander, GOP senators rally behind traditional filibuster rules: DC

Speaker Boehner: The revolution will be livestreamed: sisu
'New Speaker Vows to Share Power—a Tricky Proposition': ProWis
Bill Daley to become new White House chief of staff?: TAB

Ornery Repubs Talking Smack in Washington: Nice Deb
Filibuster “reform” pretty much going as assumed: Hot Air
We’re Keeping Tabs Now: The GOP Lame Duck Scorecard: PJM

Economy

Obama's Massive Land Grab: RWN
Obamacare's War on Doctors: IBD
Economics By Cartoon: Amity Shlaes

UAW deems being in a union a 'fundamental human right': BlogProf
Preview? Euro States Seizing Private Pensions: RWN
New federal law makes interns qualified to teach: SFGate

Climate & Energy

Guardian: UK Met Office Withheld Christmas Freeze Forecast: TAB
Good News! Global Warming Still Causes Snow And Cold!: RWN
UN IPCC shill 'roundly trashed' even by fellow Warmists: Depot

Media

Chicago on the Potomac: Malkin
Dennis Miller's "The Big Speech" a Very Big Deal: PunditPress
Dede Scozzafava goes to work…for Andrew Cuomo: Malkin

CNN’s Wright-Free Zone Anchorman Joins Fox News: Driscoll
Attack of the Radical Egalitarians!: AT
Obama’s Encouraging Prediction: Republicans Will Play to Their Base: Malkin (Powers)

A Few Brief Thoughts on a Sarah Palin ReTweet: Tammy Bruce
Levin rips healthcare lies spewed by Rep Wasserman-Schultz: TRS
Boehner Making Calls for Maria Cino: Roll Call

World

The START Debacle - Stupidity, Cupidity & Duplicity: Wolf
Afghan Christian Faces Potential Death Sentence for Apostasy: Persecution (hat tip: Zilla)
Coptic Editor of Egyptian Weekly Pens Scathing Denunciation of Egyptian Regime, Society: MEMRI

Why Israel Is Losing the Information War: AT
Video: Female Jihadists Training to Fight Israel, Turn Themselves Into Human Bombs: WZ
Mexico's lone gun shop can't compete with black market: Seattle Times

Waiting for the PLA Shoe to Drop: Foundry
Vulture tagged by Israeli scientists, is arrested by Saudi police for spying (seriously): Cubachi
Muslims seen as threat by 4 in 10 French, Germans -- poll: Maktoob

SciTech

Man uses computers to discover four planets: CNet
Investing Dying as Computer Trading, ETFs and Dark Pools Proliferate: CNBC
AT&T Service for Your Pill Bottle: WSJ

Cornucopia

Kathy Griffin Without Makeup: iOTW (Strong content warning)
New Smart Roadster Design Inspiration: Robslog
Vanity License Plates Contest Winner: iOTW

Photos: 25 Unsung, Working Actors that Died in 2010: RWN
UFC Champ Jacob Volkmann Wants To Fight 'That Idiot' Obama: HFA
AGU Elects Vaunted Scientist Danny Glover El Presidente: CBullitt

Image: Barking Crayon.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: The Senate Conservatives Fund

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

John Boehner to Harry Reid: Here's a lemon to suck on for a while. Oh -- and you're welcome.

Tea Party conservatives still consider the GOP's "old guard" leadership on probation, but this kind of thing is promising.

Incoming House Speaker John Boehner's office (R-Ohio) pointedly vowed on Tuesday to push ahead with legislation repealing healthcare reform... [responding] to a letter sent by the Senate's top five Democrats, vowing to block a House bill repealing healthcare reform, with a terse, 65-word note...

Senators Reid, Durbin, Schumer, Murray and Stabenow:

Thank you for reminding us – and the American people – of the backroom deal that you struck behind closed doors with ‘Big Pharma,’ resulting in bigger profits for the drug companies, and higher prescription drug costs for 33 million seniors enrolled in Medicare Part D, at a cost to the taxpayers of $42.6 billion.

The House is going to pass legislation to repeal that now. You’re welcome.

- Speaker-Designate John Boehner’s Press Office

The note comes in response to a letter released on Monday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) office, in which the Democrats promise to block a bill repealing benefits within the healthcare law.

I like what I'm seeing thus far. Negotiation? Hell, no.

There must be no negotiation with the Cloward-Piven Statists who took an oath to uphold the Constitution and then promptly dismissed and ridiculed it.

They and their anti-American movement must be demoralized, dismantled and politically crushed.


Hat tip: Memeorandum.

Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for the comedy stylings of Shecky Green and Nancy Pelosi!

She just flew in from San Francisco* and, boy, are her arms tired!

Coming from the most radical and fiscally destructive House Speaker in American history -- who added $5 trillion in new deficits in just four short years -- this is comedy gold.

At her final press conference as House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, "Deficit reduction has been a high priority for us. It is our mantra, pay-as-you-go."

...When the Pelosi Democrats took control of Congress on January 4, 2007, the national debt stood at [$8.67 trillion]. The last day of the 111th Congress and Pelosi's Speakership on December 22, 2010 the national debt was [$13.9 trillion] - a roughly $5.2 trillion increase in just four years. Furthermore, the year over year federal deficit has roughly quadrupled during Pelosi's four years as speaker, from $342 billion in fiscal year 2007 to an estimated $1.6 trillion at the end of fiscal year 2010.

With no end in sight.

Remember, folks -- try the roast beef special. And don't forget to tip your waitresses!


* On a military jet, no less!

Larwyn's Linx: Dems now worried about wasteful 'witch hunts'

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Nation

Snort: Now the Dems are worried about wasteful 'witch hunts': Malkin
Will the GOP Walk the Walk on the Constitution?: PJM
America's Timeless Constitution: IBD

Senator Jim DeMint: Conservative Of The Year: Erickson
The Soros-ACORN Connections you're not supposed to see: MonCrief
Another losing RINO scolds the nation: RWN

Economy

To create jobs, restrain Big Green activists in government: Hewitt
Free Trade Works Better Than Government Ever Can: Foundry
Finally: National debt crosses magical $14 trillion threshold: Hot Air

Pro-Unionizing Posters Will Be Required by Law: SHN
A Tale of Two Cities: Balancing the Budget: Virtuous
Playing Chicken: IBD

Socialism by Other Means: AT
Dodd gets a pass on corrupt real estate deal: BigGovt
Speed, HFT, Markets and the Money: P&F

Climate & Energy

Liberal Climate Alarmists Now Like The Military!: RWN
Marketing 'Climate Change': AT
The Northeast snowstorm of 2010 by satellite view: WUWT

Media

It begins…An Attempt To Normalize Communism: Nice Deb
Obamacare repeal document drop: Waiver-mania for all!: Malkin
Thousands of Dead Blackbirds and Fish in AR, KY,and LA Raise Questions About Government Testing: RWN

Storm the Bastille: VodkaPundit
“Bumbling Clown” Exits Stage Left: GWP
CNN's John Roberts: A Legacy of Liberal Bias on American Morning: NewsBusters

World

Ex-Lebanon President: Muslims are committing genocide against Christians: Cubachi
Prominent Editor in Egypt: 'I Accuse!': AT
"Observations from Israel" by Clark Judge: Hewitt

Stealing People's Pensions: AmSpec
Allen West: We Can’t Have a National Security Strategy That Doesn’t Recognize Sharia as a Threat: WZ
WaPo Headlines “Christian Anger in Egypt”: NewsReal

SciTech

Goldman Sachs invests $450 million in Facebook at $50 billion valuation: Insider
Facebook's Valuation: By the Numbers: WSJ
UPS really doesn't allow drivers to take left turns: CNN

Cornucopia

The 10 Most Insane Acts of Violence in Kickboxing History: Cracked
Quentin Tarantino's Best of 2010: 'Toy Story 3': TheWrap
Video: Mercedes-Benz B55 does the burnout we've been waiting for: AutoBlog

Image: iOwnTheWorld (NatGeo)
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Tom Selleck Predicts the Future

QOTD: "They Put Fritos in the Burrito!" -- Amalaur, watching a Taco Bell commercial.

Monday, January 03, 2011

I may have missed this part of Schoolhouse Rock, but I didn't think the Senate could tell the House what to do

Senate Democrats are "warning" House Republicans not to try to repeal Obamacare.

The 112th Congress doesn't begin until Wednesday, but Senate Democrats are already vowing to block any attempts by the new GOP-led House to repeal the healthcare reform law.

The Senate's top Democrats, led by Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.), wrote incoming House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Monday warning the new GOP House against advancing legislation that would undo the sweeping healthcare overhaul.

Despite the scary warnings, it appears the House will move this week to repeal one of the most unpopular pieces of legislation in decades.

CNN has learned that Republicans plan to try to repeal the health care law almost immediately after taking control of the House, setting the stage for an early confrontation with President Obama.

House GOP sources tell CNN that they will unveil repeal legislation Monday night, even before they claim the majority Wednesday. Then, on Friday, Republicans will hold a critical procedural vote – the first step towards passing the repeal. A final House vote will likely take place next Wednesday.

William Jacobson has precisely the right idea.

[That's] certainly no reason not to pass legislation in the House.

There are several vulnerable Democratic Senators up for reelection in 2012. Make them vote on repeal of Obamacare as an entirety, and in pieces...

And then run the advertisements early and often.

This ought to be very, very entertaining.


Hat tip: Memeorandum.

ABA: Don't Go to Law School

Professor Glenn Reynolds called it "a higher ed bubble."

With only a few exceptions (like being admitted to Yale Law School or CalTech) I strongly recommend avoiding student loans. And I wonder — when you’ve got an industry whose prices have skyrocketed on a combination of consumer ignorance and cheap credit, what happens when consumers wise up, and credit gets harder to come by?

And he's warned students for years -- especially law school students -- about getting in over their heads with debt to fund tuition.

Law School Applications Up! But this warning is a good one: "I guess it seems like a good time to retreat from the job market, but law school goes by quickly, and you will be back on that market very soon, with big debts." Yes, it may be a good time to be in school, but — unless the feared hyperinflation actually materializes — it’s not a very good time to be taking on debt. And student-loan debt is some of the worst debt you can take on.

With those admonitions in mind, last week the American Bar Assocation (ABA) basically fessed up and said the same thing.

The American Bar Association has officially issued a warning on its website... The ABA is now making the case to persuade college students not to go to law school.

According to the association, over the past 25 years law school tuition has consistently risen two times faster than inflation... The average private law student borrows about $92,500 for law school, while law students who attend public schools take out loans for $71,400. These numbers do not include any debt law students may still have from their time as undergraduates.

Before the recession, the ABA cites statistics that show an average starting salary for an associate of a large law firm of about $160,000 a year. But by 2009, about 42 percent of graduates began with an annual salary of less than $65,000.

And those are just the newbies... Flanagan & Einwohner partner Stewart Einwohner says he has been getting resumes for pro bono work from experienced lawyers.

This particular article is floating around college campuses on Facebook as students warn one another. Word is getting around.


Hat tip: Amalaur.

Larwyn's Linx: Raging Against 'Them'; Early Fireworks for the 112th

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

Raging Against "Them": Hanson
Early Fireworks Likely in the New Congress: Power Line
The Administration's Bureaucratic Tyranny Marches On: Townhall

How Obama Gets to 270 in 2012: PJM
Is The RNC On The Priebupice Of Disaster?: Riehl
Bush Derangement Syndrome vs. the Obama Hate Machine: AT

Schwarzenegger’s Shameful Final Act: Malkin
Obama's 2010 By the Numbers: SondraK
Will Obama Silence Blundering Abercrombie?: Cashill

Economy

Playing Politics with the National Debt: Driscoll
California’s Central Valley: Zimbabwe West?: Hot Air
Kaine: Obama too busy with ObamaCare to deal with jobs: Hot Air

Fish Wrap’s Kristof Calls For Economic “Equality”: RWN
NYC workers caught boozing instead of working during blizzard: Cubachi
How the Random Walk Became a Not So Random Climb: ZH

Climate & Energy

A Question To Ask Every Global Warming Proponent: Wolf Howling
Global warming saves a life: Powers
Florida's Coldest December Ever: TAB

New paper – “absence of correlation between temperature changes … and CO2″: WUWT
2011 Prediction: Media Hits New "Warming" Low: AmSpec
We're Saved! Coal-Powered Chevy Volt Sells a Whopping 350 Units: BlogProf

Media

2010: the year that humbled the Media Establishment: Driscoll
NYTimes Nicholas Kristof: Only Big Government can solve “melancholy of the soul” — with more taxes!: ProWis
A List of Barely Socratic Questions to American Progressives: Cube

ABC Warns Republicans Against Challenging ObamaCare: NewsBusters
Bill Clinton Book Took 6 Years to Sell 2 Million – Bush Took 2 Months: STACLU
AP Item on Martinez's Inauguration in NM Notes 'Place in History,' Omits Status As Nation's First Latina Gov.: NewsBusters

Steve Malzberg Interviews Jeff Kuhner – If The Truth Got Out About Obama There Would Be A Civil War: NiceDeb
NPR Audio: 2010 was the year of racist, aging, white people (our taxpayer dollars hard at work): RWN
Sunset for the Criminals of Camelot: RWN

World

Hillary to Hugo: “Use me! Abuse me!”: Fausta
Failed State Watch: How Much Longer for Mexico?: PJM
NYC: AT Least Ten Synagogues Threatened in Bomb Warning: Atlas

A New Age of Warfare: NoQuarter
In Case You Missed It: Merry Revolutionary Christmas From CPUSA!: RSM
Egyptian security guards withdrew an hour before jihad bombing at church: JihadWatch

SciTech

Top Scientific Breakthroughs of 2010: Wired
Apple support company sues customer for complaining: CNet
iPhone Users Experience Third Failure of Alarm Clock Function Over Weekend: Bloomberg

Is Google the Next Yahoo?: Insider
A One-of-a-Kind Amphibious Hydrocar You Can Buy: Jalopnik
Verizon Wireless to Showcase Google-Powered 4G Phones: WSJ

Cornucopia

My "Blackberry" Isn't Working, Man Tells Fruit Vendor: Consumerist
Just in Time for the 112th Congress: Diogenes
Star Trek VS Batman - Part 1 : RacSome - YouTube

A High Point: Maggie's Farm
With unemployment at 10%, Obama seen sipping on a Slurpee: BlogProf
1968 Shelby Mustang Gt500KR Road Test: the King of the Road Earns Its Crown: Jalopnik

Image: Hydro-car -- Jalopnik.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Green Mountain Homesteading

Sunday, January 02, 2011

What's even safer than a SmartCar? Why, a drop-top SmartCar, of course!

Nothing says safety like a topless SmartCar.

We aren't quite sure what Daimler is working on here, but these patent drawings of what appear to be a Smart Fortwo-based roadster were submitted for trademark approval on November 16, 2010. The folks at Carscoop suggest that this could be a redux of the automaker's Crossblade cabriolet, sold in the early 2000s with very limited production (just 2,000 were made). Us? We aren't so sure.

While the design of this recent patent submission looks like it could preview the next-generation design of the Smart family, we doubt that any sort of roadster is in the works for the immediate future. Could this show up as a concept at one of the 2011 auto shows? We won't rule it out, but for now, we won't be holding our breath for any sort of Smart-branded roadster in the not-too-distant future.

Now the SmartCar already has somewhat of a reputation for its tendency to roll over. The convertible version should add some real excitement to the driving experience.

In fact, driving one of these on the highway has to feel like playing a real life version of Frogger.

The Obama administration's CAFE standards, which dictate an average of 35 MPG by five years, are barely met by the golf cart known as the Smart ForTwo (33 city, 41 highway). I find it hard to conceive of entire fleets of vehicles meetings these standards without incurring, eh, problematic levels of fatalities.

Although, given the skyrocketing costs of Obamacare, this is probably the progressives' method of slashing end-of-life care expenses.