Sunday, March 06, 2011

Larwyn's Linx: 'The patience of the American people is wearing thin'

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

'The patience of the American people is wearing thin': Cubachi
Deadly Incompetence: Strata
Weak GOP Field For '12? Tell It To Carter: IBD

A ‘Flawed’ GOP Field vs. A Flawed President: PJM
Tea Partiers To Clean Up Mess Left By Unionistas In Madison: Deb
CAIR Targets Tea Party in California with (Edited) Video: RWN

Don't Sweat a Dip in the Poll--The Michigan Experience: WS
Romney seeks to address health care woes: Caller
Bradley Manning Jailed Naked: OTB

Economy

Obama's Rationer-In-Chief On His Way Out--Eventually: Ace
Bill Gates should demand Truth in Accounting: Watchdog
Insider Trading at the Department of Education?: Bainbridge

Why we need a balanced-budget amendment: Mike Lee
Double Dip: Not Fuzzy, But Hair-Raising Math: Babalu
Left-Wing Union H8ters Update: RWN

Climate & Energy

ND Top Officials Tell the EPA to Leave the State Alone: PlainsDaily
WSJ: Whirlpool Parlays Green Credits Into Zero Tax Liability: TaxProf
Globull Warming Has Created 'Surprising Snowpack' In California: RWN

Media

Beautiful Arizona, Again: Mastersen
Unions have no place in the public sector: EVT
What Did Former Providence Mayor David Cicilline (D-RI) Know, And When Did He Know It?: LegalIns

NY Times Editorial Board Wants To Reign In Public Unions In... New York!: RWN
'Fair And Balanced' And Dominant: Why Fox News Crushes The Cable News Competition: NewsReal
Wisconsin Protests: It's an Occupation, Not a Sleepover: AmPower

George Will Rips Gingrich, Huckabee and Malzberg: NewsBusters
Predictable: Obama administration replaces controversial ‘conscience’ regulation for health-care workers: BlogProf
When the polls showed Americans in hard opposition to Obamacare, it meant they were misinformed: RWN

Obama, ‘We Need A Government That Lives Within Its Means’: SHN
Forget the Thin Mints: Now Girl Scouts Learning to Be ‘Healthy, Happy and Hot’: RSM
China Debt Threat: Times

World

The New Middle East: Glick
Barack Obama and the Cavalcade of Naivete: BRubin
Egyptian Cleric: Textbooks Should Militarize Students; Teach Jihad and Hatred of Jews: MEMRI

Mexico Lost: Even the tourist spots are now drug cartel country: AmSpec
Harvard Profs: No to ROTC, Yes to Gaddafi's Money: MoneyRunner
Why does US ignore human rights violations in Saudi Arabia?: Lankaweb

Charlie Sheen, Sean Penn, and Hugo Chavez to the rescue!: Fausta
Obama’s Contradictions on the ‘Will of the People’: PJM
Help Libya: Send in the drones: Pupista

SciTech

Is Facebook Worth $65 Billion?: Woorkup
Judge Allows Sony’s Request to I.D. Anyone Who Visited Hacker’s Sites: CrunchGear
Solid Rocket Booster video of Shuttle Discovery launch: BrutHon

Cornucopia

3-D Printing Machines. WTF? Obama’s Birth Certificate No Longer “Off the Rack.”: MOTUS
Man Finds Nancy Pelosi’s Face on Bacon Strip: HeadMuscle
My Health Secret, Revealed!: RSM

Image: iOwnTheWorld
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Cold Fury

Saturday, March 05, 2011

In pictures: Obama's devastating cuts to the federal budget

According to the Washington Post, President Obama has offered $6.5 billion in cuts on a total budget of $3.73 trillion, $1.6 trillion of which must be borrowed from foreign investors and the Federal Reserve.

Let's illustrate the magnitude of these devastating cuts.

Hmm, hard to see the cuts. Let's zoom in...

There they are!

Magnified about 100 times, the cuts aren't exactly stunning in their scale and scope.

The GAO (Government Accountability Office) just stated that between $100 and $200 billion in federal spending is wasted on redundant, duplicative functions. Yet all the Otrumka administration can find to cut is $6 and a half billion, which is probably what it spends on three-ring binders.

'Moving to the center' my you-know-what.


Chris Christie continues to duck interviews on talk radio while appearing on the likes of Face the Nation, which gets lower ratings than airport radar

Despite his assertion that he won't seek the Republican presidential nomination, Chris Christie's public relations machine is working overtime. Appearing on Face the Nation last Sunday, in front of its traditional twelve viewers, Christie was quick to launch a thinly veiled attack on Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann and Rush Limbaugh. He defended Michelle Obama's bloviating on better nutrition, which she expounds upon while eating short ribs and nachos.

"I think it's a really good goal to encourage kids to eat better," he said. "I've struggled with my weight for 30 years and it's a struggle. If a kid can avoid that in his adult years or her adult years, more power to them."

Christie added that "I don't want the government deciding what you can eat and what you can't eat," but said, "I think Mrs. Obama being out there encouraging people in a positive way to eat well and to exercise and to be healthy - I don't have a problem with that."

...Palin and Bachmann have also accused the First Lady of curtailing individual freedoms by trying to dictate lifestyle choices by government fiat.

No, Governor Christie: that's not all the First Lady is up to. She's putting the arm on restaurateurs using the power of the White House to affect policy change through political intimidation.

A team of advisers to the First Lady has been holding private talks over the past year with the National Restaurant Association, a trade group, in a bid to get restaurants to adopt her goals of smaller portions and children's meals that include offerings healthier than French fries and soda, according to White House and industry officials.

The discussions are preliminary, and participants say they are nowhere near an agreement like the one Obama announced recently with Wal-Mart to lower prices on fruits and vegetables and to reduce the amount of fat, sugar and salt in its foods.

Why is FLOTUS interfering with an industry that is already in difficult straits, treading water through an economic tsunami?

Why? Because the hard-left Democrat Party can't stop meddling with private industry, be it the auto industry, oil companies, insurance companies, banks, credit card companies, and every other industry under the sun.

That shouldn't be too hard for Governor Christie to understand, right?

Problem is, Christie has held a plethora of troubling positions and has avoided discussing any of them on conservative talk radio. Mark Levin has reportedly extended numerous offers to Christie to appear, all for naught.

And I think I know why.

A few months ago, Christie spoke at the Republican Governors Conference [RGC] and reportedly brought down the house. He told the audience that sometimes leaders simply have to ignore their advisers and face the tough issues head on. But the New Jersey Star Ledger's Paul Mulshine has followed the career of Chris Christie for several years. And he doesn't quite recognize the current version.

[The RGC] Chris Christie sounds like a heck of guy — not at all like the Chris Christie I have been following closely for almost two years... [For example, after] a number of legislators held a press conference in the Statehouse to announce they were... protesting the new screening policies of the [TSA, Christie] declined an offer to back the resolution because, his spokesman said, it was a federal issue...

...Just for fun, I put up a post on my blog asking readers to predict how long it would take before Christie came out against the TSA. If you bet on last Monday, you would have won. In response to a question from a kid at one of those town-hall meetings he holds, Christie announced the screenings were "too invasive."

That’s just one instance in a pattern obvious to those of us who’ve been covering Christie since he entered state politics. Name an issue — from judicial activism to the Highlands Act — and you will see Christie tiptoeing up to it and finally committing when the consensus is clear.

On issues such as guns and abortion, Christie’s views have moved rightward over the years, in remarkable harmony with the rightward drift of the GOP primary electorate... His position in favor of New Jersey’s participation in the cap-and-trade program, known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, for example, would be a non-starter with Republican primary voters. Sure enough, he recently made an incremental move away from that when he told a participant in another town hall that he is becoming skeptical about man-made global warming.

Some took that as a sign that he’s serious about running for president. If so, he’ll have to start inching away from other positions associated with RINOs, or "Republicans In Name Only," such as his mushy stands on gun rights and immigration amnesty.

Christie's oft-changing positions are the antithesis of the Tea Party's immutable principles.

Global warming.

Gun control.

• Amnesty for illegal aliens.

His bizarre endorsement of the execrable Mike Castle and the pathetic Meg Whitman.

His odd invitation to the White House for a State Dinner -- the only one extended to a Republican

• And his refusal to join 28 other states in the fight against Obamacare, even though it would cost New Jersey exactly $0.00.

And those are but a few of Christie's anomalous activities.

Some great YouTube sound-bites have immortalized Christie's fight against the public sector unions. And there is much to appreciate in his stand.

But it is clear that the Governor also has much to explain. After all, constitutional conservatives rightfully fear the nomination of another "Maverick", the positions of whom are rooted only in political expediency.

Christie is ducking talk radio, presumably because he'd have to answer for his shape-shifting policy positions.

Nominating another mushy centrist -- and I count the governor of New Jersey as one, based upon his track record -- will simply guarantee Barack Obama a victory in the general. And that we cannot accept if we are to save this Republic.


Update: Ace is a tad non-nonplussed by the latest kerfuffle.

Governor Walker sends out layoff notices to union bosses; tells Fleabagger Democrats they have 15 days to show up for work

It would appear that the Wisconsin stalemate is nearing an end -- as the laws of economics dictate it must.

Gov. Scott Walker notified unions Friday of impending layoffs if a budget-repair bill isn't passed in the next 15 days...

According to GOP sources... the discussions with Democratic senators holed up in Illinois include ... removing or changing a provision that would require workers to vote every year on whether their union would remain active or be decertified ... The last provision especially is anathema to Democrats and unions, who say it could kill many labor groups.

...The budget-repair bill would require most public workers to pay more for their health care and pensions, eliminate most collective bargaining by their unions, and give the governor broad powers to reshape the state's health care programs for the poor and elderly... Unions have agreed to the concessions on their benefits, but the provisions taking away most collective bargaining have prompted sustained protests for over two weeks.

Personally, I wouldn't have given them 15 days. More like 15 hours.

Perhaps something like laying off 100 workers for every hour Democrats refuse to show up and work.

After all, as the Democrats told us repeatedly from 2006 to 2010, "elections have consequences." Apparently that applies to only one party.

Stand strong, Governor Walker: the vast majority of Americans are behind you 120%.


Hat tip: Drudge.

Hey, I finally found a place where Dick Trumka and the other union bosses are truly, desperately needed

Someone alert the Otrumka administration that organized labor's services are desperately needed in Red China.

The Yuwei Plastics and Hardware Product Company Ltd in Dongguan, China produces auto parts for export to Ford which, according to workers, accounts for 80 percent of total production.  The Yuwei factory has a U.S. office and warehouse in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
  • Workers earn a base wage of just 80 cents an hour, while working 14-hour shifts, seven days a week. During the peak season, workers will toil 30 days a month, often drenched in their own sweat. Prospective hires are told they must "work hard and endure hardship."
  • On March 13, 2009, twenty-one year old Worker "A" had three fingers and several knuckles torn from his left hand when it was trapped in a powerful punch press, or stamping machine. He was making "RT Tubes" for export to Ford at the time of his accident. Management deliberately instructed the worker to turn off the infrared safety monitor device so he could work faster. "We had to turn it off. My boss did not let me turn it on," said Worker A. He had to stamp out 3,600 "RT Tubes" a day, one every 12 seconds.
  • We are aware of at least four serious injuries-maimed hands and fingers-over the last several years. "Minor" injuries occur every one or two months. Seriously injured workers are fired after a year or two.
  • New workers receive no training or safety instructions before being assigned to operate dangerous machinery.
  • Worker A received a total compensation payment of just $7,430 for the loss of three fingers, leaving his hand basically inoperative. In the U.S., Workers Compensation for a similar injury would result in a $144,292 payment. Worker A was also shortchanged of his severance pay before he was fired.
  • If a worker misses one day's work, as punishment he will be docked three days' wages.
  • While millions of democracy advocates are launching protests across the Middle East and North Africa, workers at the Yuwei factory have never heard the word "union" and have no idea what a union is or how it could help them.
  • Ford must immediately conduct a thorough inspection of the Yuwei factory. The infrared safety monitoring system must never again be shut off, especially on the dangerous punch press machines.
  • Factory management and Ford must provide additional compensation to Worker A of $72,126, which is just one half what workers compensation in the U.S. would be.

Conversely, public sector unions are a relatively recent phenomenon in the United States and not related in any way to protecting workers' rights when civil service, OSHA and a variety of other regulations already guard against abuse. Public sector unions and their political arm -- also known as the Democrat Party -- exist for one reason and one reason only: to bleed the American taxpayer.

Dick Trumka and Andy Stern should head to China where their efforts are truly needed and where they would be more gratefully received.


Slaughtering the Innocents that Americans Won't Slaughter: MS-13 Gang Members Wreak Bloody Havoc Thanks to Open Borders Policy

Another day, another senseless crime committed by a violent illegal alien gang member who simply strolled across our unprotected southern border.

MS-13 gang member yelled 'the beast has eaten!' after murder of man he mistook for a Blood


An MS-13 gang member whooped it up, shouting "The beast has eaten!" after murdering a Queens man he mistook for a rival Blood, a government witness testified Thursday.

Julio Chavez is charged with emptying his revolver into Maurice Parker on May 18, 2007, in Flushing... Chavez then hopped into a SUV, flashed gang signs and yelled in Spanish, former MS-13 gang member Jose Molina said in Brooklyn Federal Court.

" 'Yeah, homie, that's how you're supposed to do it,'" Chavez said, according to Molina. "'You see the blood coming out of his head? ... The beast has eaten! ' "

Parker, 21, was not a Blood and was mistakenly targeted because he had on red sweatshirt... Chavez and other members of a Long Island-based MS-13 crew allegedly went hunting for a Blood to retaliate for an earlier stabbing.

Lest you think this is just an isolated incident, in the New York area alone the following headlines describe the wave of crimes precipitated by gang members in this country illegally.
No country can long survive with a combination of open borders, lax immigration enforcement and limitless benefits for illegal aliens.


Update: A Call to Violence on Facebook Page for Upcoming Rally Supporting Illegal Immigration

Larwyn's Linx: Fleeing Lawmakers Are a Disgrace to Democracy

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

Fleeing Lawmakers Are a Disgrace to Democracy: BigGovt
Four Senators Going Wobbly in Wisconsin?: Ace
The Billion Dollar Candidate Has Left The Starting Gate: LegalIns

Sherrod Brown's Lies: Nazis and Unions: Riehl
The Collective, Bargaining: iOTW
Sununu: I'll Work Against Huntsman: RCP

Feds complicit in smuggling weapons that killed border agent: RWN
Gunwalker Goes Primetime: AT
Murdered border patrol agent was armed with... beanbags?: PJM

Economy

A Bad Day for Obamacare: Hayward
President Trumka's Bald-Face Lies About Wisconsin: AmPower
$101K: Average Annual Comp for Milwaukee Teacher: WklyStd

2008 Financial Terrorism – Conspiracy or Perfect Storm?: FA
Sebelius: Yes, Obamacare Books Were Cooked: Lid
Kasich: We're Attacking Poverty and Joblessness: Cubachi

Senate Dems to Fight Efforts to Defund Obama's Czars: WZ
Labor Secretary in Conference Calls With Unions: Marathon
Victory: MI to Halt Illegal ‘Union Dues’ Collections From Babysitters: RWN

Climate & Energy

Drilling Here, Drilling Now: End Self-Imposed Impoverishment: PJM
Rocket Carrying Global Warming Satellite Crashes Into Ocean--Global Warming to Blame: Malkin
Wow: GM sells just 281 Chevy Volts in February: BlogProf

Global Warming Hysteria: Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry: Secondhand
Snap! Hurricanes To Be Fewer But More Powerful Due To Globull Warming: RWN
Bubbleheaded Barking Mad Met Office Modelers: WUWT

Media

Bomb Threat at Scott Walker News Conference... Leftist Protester Arrested! ...Media Silent: BigGovt
‘Beyond Satire:’ Hillary Hearts Al-Jazeera: Driscoll
Paul Krugman, Stephen Colbert and Bill Maher Support Extortion, Bribery, Coercion, and Slavery: Mish

Better Dead than Rude: Driscoll
The Seeds of Revolution: NoisyRoom
A strange dancing woman lures New Media Meade over to a funeral procession: Althouse

Time for Labor Secretary Solis to Go: Tapscott
Don't Underestimate Newt Gingrich: WashExam
Hollywood's Love Affair With Fascism: Ellis Washington

World

Zing! U.K. Pulls Plug on United Nations Spending: Nice Deb
UN Praises Gaddafi’s Human Rights Record: RWN
Obama is neither Kenyan nor Hawaiian: Sensing

Blasphemy, apostasy murders in Islamic countries clash with Western law: USR
Why Enemy Propaganda Matters: German Jihadi Motivated by Fake Rape Video: Jawa
Frankfurt Airport jihad murderer: "I did it for Allah": JihadWatch

Mexico’s President Whines: Growing “Anti-American Feelings in Mexico” Because We’re Not Welcoming Illegals: WZ
Hasan may face death penalty: This Ain't Hell
Canadian Woman Spends 36 Pain Filled Hours In Hospital Hallway Following Major Surgery: AllAm

SciTech

Regulation, The FDA, And Shortages Of Hospital Drugs: Cato
Worldwide Mobile Operating Systems: Mega-Graphic: Big Picture
Microsoft won't patch IE before Pwn2Own: ComputerWorld

Cornucopia

Which Insurance Mascot Do You Trust?: Glob
Borders Liquidation Sale: the only thing getting liquidated is your wallet.: Consumerist
Cats Quote Charlie Sheen: Medium Large

Image Credit/Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Sad Hill News
QOTD: "The free market could not possibly have done a worse job in setting interest rates than the perpetual chasing-their-own-tail central bank tactics that continually create boom-bust bubbles of ever-increasing amplitude in both directions. ...If central bankers knew where interest rates should be we would not be in this mess, or at least the mess would be smaller." --Mike 'Mish' Shedlock

Friday, March 04, 2011

Just received the message I've dreaded for years

For the love of... How do you run out of 7.5 GB of email space?


Funniest Reading in Weeks: Chevy Volt Reviews

I've been checking out reviews of the best-selling, coal-powered Chevy Volt on the big car sites and just had to share.

"Since receiving my car two weeks ago, I have been commuting 15 miles each way to work. This car is rock solid on the road and I have 12 miles of electric range when I arrive home to charge it. It is great driving this silently to work and then charging it with surplus electricity from my solar system."

"It's been cold here in the northeast, and use of the climate control, heated seats, and just plain effect of cold on the batteries does reduce range, to about 25 miles in my experience. This will certainly improve as winter passes, as other new owners in the forum in more moderate climates are seeing high 30's to over 40 mile range on electricity."

"Just took delivery of a Crystal Red Volt (#679 off the production line), and it is a solid piece of engineering. We charged it up, off our free 220V Coulomb charge point, since it was delivered to the house, and did a 31 mile drive down the delta from Sacramento. Upon our return we still had 6 miles of EV range left... Our LEAF should arrive early next month. Both cars will charge from the same chargepoint and with our home's solar panel array."

"I live in New York City and find that the electric range of this car was nothing but a scam. Since I bought the Volt, the best I could manage on electric power was 25 miles without the electric cabin heater, headlights, or radio on. When I'm leaving for work in the morning, it's dark and cold outside so I have to turn on the heater and headlights. This drops the electric range to about 9 miles after a full night's charge!!!! To make things worse, once the engine kicks in, I get about 28 MPG! After the 7k government credit, this car cost me 33k which is rediculous. A Prius costs 24k and will easily achieve 45 MPG."

"I ordered my Volt from a dealer in California where I used to reside and paid a staggering premium not mentioned when the deal was made months ago. However, I desperately wanted this car due to all of the hype (giving me great expectations) and my unending commitment to saving energy and the environment... The Volt's price is certainly not worth more than $22,000.00 and it is over double that! The inflated price, slower than molasses engine, poor gasoline mileage and cheap Chevy Cobalt-like interior and exterior quality will likely only amount to a "GM Edsel" debacle... I now fear continued poor reliability, resale value, electrical problems, high fuel costs and an astronomical electric bill. My air conditioner at my home had to be shut off to allow for enough energy to address the thirst of the Volt and avoid blowing a fuse... or worse. this car is a lemon... and my worst nightmare."

I also find it curious that there are no NHTSA crash test results available.

But I'm sure that's just ***cough...deathtrap!*** coincidental.


Sherrod Brown (D-imwit): Dismantling Public Sector Unions Reminds Me of Nazi Germany

Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat Senator from Ohio, played the Nazi card yesterday in vilifying efforts to rein in public sector unions (which, by the way, didn't even exist in this country until the fifties).

Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio invoked Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin while sounding off on union battles with state lawmakers in his state and in Wisconsin.

"I look back in history, in some of the worst governments that we had, you know the first thing they did, go after unions, Hitler didn't want unions, Stalin didn't want unions, Mubarak didn't want unions, these autocrats don't want independent unions," Brown said Thursday during a speech on the floor of the Senate.

Aside from complete factual inaccuracy -- the Nazis created their own party-linked unions with required membership if you wanted to work (just like collective bargaining!) -- Brown misses the larger point. Democrats want larger, centralized, more authoritarian government. Democrats want mandatory union membership, whether workers want it or not. Democrats want one-size-fits-all employment regimes with seniority, and not merit, dictating wages. Democrats want state-controlled industrial policy, from health care to energy to insurance to banking to automobiles.

Now, Sherrod -- if that is your real name -- I couldn't help but notice:




















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

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


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

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

What say you, Sherrod?


New York Times and Ezra Klein celebrate imaginary unemployment rate of 8.9% (shhh... real rate is 16% or more)

The New York Times gleefully trumpeted the Bureau of Labor Statistics' jobs report today

The waiting game still is not over, but it may be soon.

The nation’s employers added 192,000 jobs in February, up from a gain of 63,000 the previous month, the Labor Department reported on Friday.

...Taken together, the job growth for the first two months of 2011 has not been much better than it was last fall...

...The unemployment rate ticked down to 8.9 percent, falling below 9 percent for the first time in nearly two years. This rate, which comes from a separate survey and is based on the total number of Americans who want to work, has remained stubbornly high in the last year despite payroll growth...

...Economists say the unemployment rate may rise temporarily in the next few months, as stronger job growth lures some discouraged workers back into the labor force. Right now the share of working-age population that is actively involved in the work force — that is, either in a job or actively looking for one — is at 64.2 percent. That is the lowest labor force participation rate in 25 years, an indication that many Americans are waiting for hiring to get better before resuming the job hunt.

Or perhaps they've simply decided to ride 99 weeks of unemployment until they need to work for a living.

Earlier today, economist Mike Shedlock explained the true job numbers. Fortunately for Washington Post cub reporter Ezra Klein, he used very small words.

In the last year, the civilian population rose by 1,853,000. Yet the labor force dropped by 312,000. Those not in the labor force rose by 2,165,000.

In January alone, a whopping 319,000 people dropped out of the workforce. In February (this months' report) another 87,000 people dropped out of the labor force.

Were it not for people dropping out of the labor force, the unemployment rate would be over 11%.

Given the total distortions of reality with respect to not counting people who allegedly dropped out of the work force, it is hard to discuss the numbers...

...The official unemployment rate is 8.9%. However, if you start counting all the people that want a job but gave up, all the people with part-time jobs that want a full-time job, all the people who dropped off the unemployment rolls because their unemployment benefits ran out, etc., you get a closer picture of what the unemployment rate is. That number is in the last row labeled U-6.

While the "official" unemployment rate is an unacceptable 8.9%, U-6 is much higher at 15.9%. Moreover, both the official rate and U-6 would be much higher were it not for huge numbers of people dropping out of the workforce.

Things are much worse than the reported numbers would have you believe.

Of course they are, Ezra. When you have a government that restricts access to energy, dumps thousands of pages of regulations on small businesses, attacks and vilifies industry after industry, takes over vast swaths of the free market, and makes an already byzantine tax code even more complex, you better believe things are getting worse, not better.

Don't believe me. Just ask your neighbors. Unless, that is, you live in Washington, DC.


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

Larwyn's Linx: Hey, Eric Holder: Meet MY People

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

Hey, Eric Holder: Meet My People: Malkin
Investigate Eric Holder's Illegal Gun Body Count: RWN
$7.5M in damage to WI capitol; live ammo found outside: LC

Vinson stays his Obamacare ruling for seven days: Patterico
Wisconsin Sheriff emails Professor Jacobson: LegalIns
Obama: Lost in Translation: AT

Economy

Gutting Medicare By Refusing To Pay The Bills: Forbes
Union Bosses Order Firefighters to March at Rally: BigGovt
What a Racine Unified Teacher Is Showing Our Students: RDW

Uncivil Unions: Coulter
For unions, there is no bargaining in 'collective bargaining': Toldjah
DeMint: Collective Bargaining Will Bankrupt States: Cubachi

Medicare Loses 4 Times as Much as Health Insurers Make: Cato
Billions in Bloat Uncovered in Beltway: WSJ
Utah Considers Return to Gold, Silver Coins: Fox

Climate & Energy

Wow! 281 Chevy Volts Sold Just Last Month — Thank You Mr. Obama!: SHN
The End of the Drilling Permitorium? Guess Again: PJM
The Airhead At EPA: IBD

Secretary Chu’s Insidious Economics of Energy: RedState
Manchin Signs On To Blocking EPA's End-Run Of Democracy: Riehl
Christie On Global Warming: I Think We Need More Science: Ace

Media

JW Sues DOJ: Should Kagan Recuse?: JW
BATF Internal Communications regarding spin tactics of fall out from expose of Project Gunwalker: Sipsey
NPR Reinvents Frances Fox Piven as Harmless Victim: RWN

Obama Claims Tea Party Has 'Subterranean Agenda': AT
American Taxpayers Are the New ‘Norma Raes’: BigGovt
Judge Kessler's Tortured Logic: Don’t Want ObamaCare? That Means Obama Can Force You to Have It: PJM

Matthews Obamagasm: 'This Isn’t Just Frigging the American Dream - It’s Darned Near Perfect': NewsBusters
The Problem With Teachers: RWN
NU chief 'troubled' by campus sex demonstration: Trib

World

Is Wisconsin yet another indication why we don't want Democrats in charge of National Security?: Wizbang
Farrakhan: 'Jews' are Pushing U.S. into War: Reaganite'
Only Christian in Pakistan's cabinet is shot dead in Islamabad: Guardian

Led by a Follower: The Danger of a Weak President: PJM
NEA To UN: 'Oral Sex, Masturbation, And Orgasms Need To Be Taught In Education': RWN
Photo of the Day: NoSheeples

SciTech

50 Android Market Apps Found Harboring Malware: DarkReading
WordPress.com Suffers Largest DDoS Attack In Its History: TechCrunch
Former Apple manager admits taking kickbacks: AFP

Cornucopia

Now We Know Why All the Interest in Reagan: Diogenes
This has to be parody: Wizbang
For this retired Marine, it's win or die trying: PNJ

Bacon Tainted With Fluoride: iOTW
Microcredit Pioneer Ousted, Head of Bangladeshi Bank Says: NYT
Home Defense: 12 Gauge 00 Buckshot Can’t Be Beat: HE

Image: iOwnTheWorld Rants and Other Refinements
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Washington’s Most Corrupt List, 2010

QOTD: "The full extent of the future cuts to Medicare under ObamaCare is revealed in the little noticed 2010 Financial Report of the U.S. Government, released in December by the Treasury Department. What the data in that report show effectively is that under current law Medicare will be rendered dysfunctional in future years by draconian, arbitrary cuts in payments to doctors and hospitals for the promised health care for America’s seniors. The essential health care needed by the sickest to save their very lives or their ability to remain functional will not be there, exactly contrary to the original promise of Medicare.

[And m]ost Democrats have no idea what has been done by the more wild-eyed radicals in their midst." --Peter Ferrara

Thursday, March 03, 2011

Figures: PBS, NPR and other state-run media executives make millions on the backs of the taxpayers

When 'the rich' are those bureaucrats employed or subsidized by the government, should they receive the same hatred and vitriol that Democrats direct at the private sector? After all, it's you and I are that are footing the bill.

PBS President Paula Kerger ... recorded a personal television appeal that told viewers exactly how to contact members of Congress in order to "let your representative know how you feel about the elimination of funding for public broadcasting." But if PBS can pay Ms. Kerger $632,233 in annual compensation—as reported on the 990 tax forms all nonprofits are required to file—surely it can operate without tax dollars.

...[Corporation for Public Broadcasting] President and CEO Patricia de Stacy Harrison received $298,884 in reportable compensation and another $70,630[, but that's] practically a pittance compared to Kevin Klose, president emeritus of NPR, who received more than $1.2 million in compensation, according to the tax forms the nonprofit filed in 2009.

Today's media landscape is a thriving one with few barriers to entry and many competitors, unlike when CPB was created in 1967. In 2011, Americans have thousands of news, entertainment and educational programs to choose from that are available on countless television, radio and Web outlets.

Despite how accessible media has become to Americans over the years, funding for CPB has grown considerably. In 2001, the federal government appropriated $340 million for CPB. Last year it got $420 million. As Congress considers ways to close the $14 trillion deficit, cutting funding for the CPB has even been proposed by President Obama's bipartisan deficit reduction commission. Instead, Mr. Obama wants to increase CPB's funding to $451 million in his latest budget.

Meanwhile, highly successful, brand-name public programs like Sesame Street make millions on their own. "Sesame Street," for example, made more than $211 million from toy and consumer product sales from 2003-2006. Sesame Workshop President and CEO Gary Knell received $956,513 in compensation in 2008. With earnings like that, Big Bird doesn't need the taxpayers to help him compete...

Here's a more fundamental question: does the concept of a state-funded media make any sense whatsoever in the United States of America?

I would assert that it does not.

Kill all funding for state-run media. All of it. Now.


Hat tip: @SissyWillis.

California's budget disaster -- by the numbers

Sylvia Cochran's analysis should given anyone pause, especially residents of Governor Moonbeam's state.

$12 billion: the amount of 'temporarily' increased taxes that Gov. Brown wants to maintain on the books though they are slated to end this year.

$21 billion: California's estimated annual expenditure to support illegal aliens including health care, welfare, imprisonment and other charges.

$25.4 billion: California's FY2011 budget deficit.

$37.8 billion: 2011 state and local pension obligations, with 2012 estimates at $41.5 billion and 2016 at $60.5 billion.

$57.5 billion: California's estimated annual welfare spending at the state and local levels. The number is anticipated to increase to $62.84 billion in 2012, $68.87 billion in 2013 -- and $91.99 billion in 2016.

$466 billion - California's total estimated statewide and municipal expenditures for 2011. This figure, in spite of the recession, has risen over the last two years. And despite budget cuts, 2012 spending is estimated to total $485 billion... and by 2013 the state could pass the half trillion dollar mark.


President Launches Sweeping New Programs to Combat Government Redundancy, Bloat and Fraud [Biff Spackle]

"...We will launch a sweeping effort to root out waste, inefficiency, and unnecessary spending in our government, and every American will be able to see how and where we spend taxpayer dollars..." (Barack Obama, 1/28/2009)

By Cub Reporter Biff Spackle, reporting from Tampa

Citing reports that the federal bureaucracy wastes up to $200 billion annually in redundant and wasteful programs, President Obama today announced his Streamline 2011 initiative aimed at combating waste, fraud and abuse.

Streamline 2011 will create three dozen new federal offices that will spend the next 20 months reviewing all aspects of the government's operations -- including their own -- to determine whether the GAO's reports are accurate. At the conclusion of their efforts, just before the 2012 election, the offices will issue a joint, comprehensive report detailing their recommendations.

When asked why so many new offices were needed, the President responded with a rhetorical question. "We've all heard it," he said, "'Who watches the watchers?' To ensure that there are no conflicts of interest, each new office will examine one of its sister offices. We call this a 'Daisy Chain of Detective Work' and is the most foolproof, multi-faceted anti-redundancy program imaginable."

The president was optimistic that this approach would succeed in cutting down waste, noting that he hoped it would be "...just as effective as my deficit commission."

Continued on page D-12

Judge Roger Vinson cues Jeopardy music for White House: gives administration seven days to appeal his obliteration of Obamacare

Judge Roger Vinson today stayed his ruling that declared Obamacare's individual mandate unconstitutional. But the liberals' celebration of this news is premature, to say the least, and betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the legal process.

Vinson’s order today is an attempt to end the Justice Department’s foot-dragging on filing an appeal. The judge called out the White House shenanigans and set a deadline:

U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson ruled Thursday that implementation of the health law can proceed — but he gave the Obama administration just seven days to file an appeal... Vinson issued a stay of his own Jan. 31 ruling that declared the entire health care reform law unconstitutional. He chastised the government for not interpreting that ruling as an immediate injunction to stop implementing the new law.

...Vinson criticized the Justice Department for not following normal procedure and requesting a stay... "It was not expected that they would effectively ignore the order and declaratory judgment for two and one-half weeks, continue to implement the Act, and only then file a belated motion to 'clarify,'" Vinson wrote...

Vinson is trying to push the government into quickly resolving the case, requiring them to file an expedited appeal to the 11th Circuit or Supreme Court...


By now, the culture of contempt should always be expected by taxpayers, private businesses, and judges.

Your move, AG Eric Holder.

Ed Morrissey offers the executive summary.

The White House asked for a clarification. They got a trip to the woodshed instead, and a very short time frame to stop the halt to ObamaCare that Vinson’s ruling creates.

That sound you hear in the distance is the Jeopardy music marking time.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

State Department Propagandist: Motivation Behind Frankfurt Attack Could Have Been Similar to Gabby Giffords Shooting

If there's a corner of the Obama administration that hasn't been completely politicized, I have yet to find it. Exhibit 9,000,000: State Department spokes-hack P. J. Crowley today refused to label the deadly shootings of American soldiers in Frankfurt Germany an Islamist terrorist attack, stammering instead that the motivation could have been similar to that behind the Tucson shootings.

"Uh, eh, er, was the shooting of Gabby Giffords a terrorist attck?"

Unlike the Obama administration, the German newspaper Der Spiegel has no motivation to mask the real motive for the attack.

Arid U., who has confessed to the Wednesday shooting of two US airmen at the Frankfurt airport, was an unfriendly loner, say his neighbors. But his list of Facebook friends indicate that the 21-year-old had several contacts with radical Islamists... Indications are mounting that the assault on a bus carrying US soldiers at the Frankfurt Airport on Wednesday afternoon was an Islamist terror attack.

...The alleged perpetrator, Arid U., who admitted on Thursday to having carried out the attack, appears to have had extensive contact with radical Islamists via his Facebook page. SPIEGEL ONLINE has also learned that the shooting, which killed two American airmen and injured two others, possibly came after the gunman, identified as Arid U., was unable to leave Germany and travel to Afghanistan. Instead, the 21-year-old airport employee opted to attack US troops in Germany...

...Arid U., who is originally from predominantly Muslim Kosovo, has left plenty of digital clues pointing to his adherence to radical Islamism. Two weeks prior to the shooting, he posted a link on his Facebook wall to a jihadist battle hymn. "I can no longer stand this life of humiliation among you," read the lyrics. "My weapon is ready at all times."

Curious: I didn't realize Jared Loughner had screamed Jihadist epithets while launching his horrifying attack in Tucson.


Larwyn's Linx: Left-wing Institute for Civil Discourse

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

Left-wing Institute for Civil Discourse: MBT
IL to 'out' state's gun owners: RWN
Abortion vote lingers for seven Republicans: Roll Call

Climate of Hate: RedState
Palin on the Issues: Con4Palin
Progressives are Trashy: MBT

Economy

Teachers’ Unions 101: “A” is for “agitation”: Malkin
CWA abandons seniors on way to dialysis: BlogProf
97% of all U.S. mortgages backs by feds: ZH

Obama's Unionization Push: NRO
The Language of Health Care Rationing: BG
China attacks the dollar: ZH

Climate & Energy

Fearing the EPA's Carbon Tax: RWN
Obama seeks billions more for LaHood's war against cars: Tapscott
A road map for America's energy future: Nunes

Media

iowahawk Destroys Krugman and The Economist … No Joke: Patterico
Michael Moore Shows You How Liberals Are Like Drug Addicts: RWN
Joe Biden Denied Schooling: Malkin

World

Murder in Frankfurt: GoV
Allahu… Shh!: GoV
A Formal Apology: Driscoll

Mosques Flourish in America; Churches Perish in Muslim World: PJM
The Iranian Civil War: Ledeen
This Week in Anti-Semitic Rants: Zombie

SciTech

What you need to know about the iPad2: CNet
Regulatory warfare ensnares the wireless world: Carney
Forbes says Obama making same energy mistakes as Carter: Tapscott

Cornucopia

Waldobama: Glob
Actual Cher: iOTW
The Rumsfeld Interview: RWN

Image: Barking Crayon
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Moonbat Tracker

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

That thumping sound you just heard was Mitt Romney getting thrown under the bus by Paul Ryan

I'll be frank. It may not have been a popular position, but I've always been a fan of Mitt Romney. He appears to be an honest guy, a good businessman and a turnaround specialist. But there's a lot of merit in Paul Ryan's assessment of the former Massachusetts governor's flagship program.

Asked about the Massachusetts health care plan signed into law by Mitt Romney, Ryan said, “It’s not that dissimilar to Obamacare, and you probably know I’m not a big fan of Obamacare. I just don’t think the mandates work … all the regulation they’ve put on it.”

“I haven't studied in depth the status of it," he continued, "but I think it’s beginning to death spiral. They’re beginning to have to look at rationing decisions. I don’t think this health care system works. That’s why I’m a believer in a consumer-based medicine, in consumer-based patient-centered reforms health care reforms.”

Asked if he would rule out running for the presidency himself as emphatically as Chris Christie did by threatening to commit suicide, Ryan replied, with a laugh, "I guess I wouldn't talk in suicidal terms."

Ryan, Michele Bachmann and Allen West would all make eminently credible -- and electable -- candidates for office.

In fact, it would be quite the trick for the Democrats to try to paint Ryan as a dimwit, as they did with varying levels of success with Ford, Reagan, Bush 41 and number 43. That crap ain't gonna fly with the Wisconsin numbers whiz.


Poll Finds Lack of Support for Arithmetic, Logic and Reason

Perhaps the questions used in this poll were crafted 'inartfully'. Otherwise this news is discouraging, to put it mildly.

Less than a quarter of Americans support making significant cuts to Social Security or Medicare to tackle the country's mounting deficit, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, illustrating the challenge facing lawmakers who want voter buy-in to alter entitlement programs.

In the poll, Americans across all age groups and ideologies said by large margins that it was "unacceptable'' to make significant cuts in entitlement programs in order to reduce the federal deficit. Even tea party supporters, by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, declared significant cuts to Social Security "unacceptable."

The mathematical formulae are unassailable, no more easily defeated than the law of gravity.

Someone told me this evening that when FDR initiated Social Security, full payments began at age 65 -- but the average life expectancy was actually a bit below that age.

This is why America needs an eloquent, conservative leader rather than an ideological sibling of Frances Fox Piven. Americans can understand and emphasize with a leader who speaks clearly and honestly about the problem. Failure to do so is simply criminal.


Hat tip: Memeorandum.