Friday, April 15, 2011

Larwyn's Linx: A reminder: this is who “our” leadership is

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Nation

A reminder: this is who “our” leadership is: PW
The Mendacity of Barack Obama: McCann
A reminder: This is who he is. This is who they all are.: PW

Rand Paul Absolutely Lays It Down On The Budget Compromise!: RWN
House Passes Boehner Deal; 59 Republicans Against: Malkin
How Your Representative Voted on the CR Scam: House

'Full of hate': Blogmocracy
Gov. Walker Goes to Washington: Foundry
Why Did Obama DOJ Prosecute Anti-Communist CIA Agent? : JW

Economy

On this aborted fetus, Democrats plant their flag: Coulter
Dems & Trial Lawyers: At It Again.: LibertyP
Going Galt: '69 more firms move out of California': AmPower

Merit Pay for Teachers Works and the Evidence Now Proves It: AT
Irony In Government: The GAO Can’t Audit Itself: RWN
I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday $25B in 2021 for a hamburger $18B in new spending today: Eggs

Climate & Energy

Gulf Coast Looting Spree: RWN
Obama Boom: High Oil Prices Will Not Affect Consumers: Blogmocracy
Pathetic: Warmists Now Trying To Connect With “JoeSixpack”: RWN

Media

'Obama’s Tax Increase Trigger: Punishing Taxpayers with Automatic Tax Hikes When Politicians Overspend': PW
Spiral of Stupid: The Trig-Truther Paper by Dr. Brad Scharlott: VS
Olbermann: S.E. Cupp Should Have Never Been Born, Proves ‘Necessity’ of Planned Parenthood: Blaze

Time’s Joe Klein gets out the Lewinsky kneepads: PW
Appalling Cartoon at Newspaper Guild Site Is Evidence That Its Members Are Incapable of Objective Coverage: Bizzy
Settling the Birther Controversy: PJM

We've Been PWNED!: Blogmocracy
Have You Seen These Controversial Billboards? If Not, Now Is Your Chance!: RWN
Elizabeth Hasselbeck Finds a Most Effective Way to Shut Up Joy Behar: Powers

The debt ceiling will be raised, of course: Cold Fury
Hate To Say This, But Pitchfork Pat’s Proclamation Of Peril Looks Genuinely Perilous: RWN
CNN Report: Taxing the rich just won't do it: BlogProf

World

Goldstone’s Fellow Commissioners Say They Have Nothing to Retract: Bayefsky
Back to the Future: “Organized Lawlessness” in Athens: Greenroom
Afghan mullahs push peaceful protest in wake of Quran-burning violence: Yahoo!

The Next Gaza War Will Be a Coordinated Attack: AT
Obama Bans Weapons Sales To Israel, Sells Billions In Arms To Arab States: Dollard
Anti-Semitic chants ‘rife among soccer fans’: Blogmocracy

SciTech

South Korean "super gun" packs hi-tech killing power: Reuters
Magellan's eXplorist Pro 10 does GIS data collection for $700, makes Google maps green with envy: Engadget
Examining the 'State of Search Marketing': CNet

Cornucopia

North of S.F., stunning architecture dwells (photos): CNet
R-Words? Just R-Words?: MOTUS
ToDaZeD Weird: Sondrakistan

Image: Amazon
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Deal of the Day: Save $80 on Kindle DX

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Grove Parc America

For more than five weeks during the brutally cold winter of 1997, tenants suffered without any heat in a government-subsidized apartment building. The 31-unit building in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood had been "rehabbed" just four years prior at taxpayer expense, no less.

How cold was it? Temperatures routinely dipped around ten below zero. With wind-chills factored in, the effective temperatures approached 30 below.

And the residents of the building had no heat for more than a month.

The building's owner -- Rezmar Corporation -- didn't bother to turn on the heat for weeks. In fact, it didn't do so until it was sued.

And the Englewood building wasn't the only one of Rezmar's properties that had scores of code violations. At least a dozen times, Rezmar had to be sued in order to simply turn on the heat in its properties.

Rezmar's properties turned out to be catastrophic failures: 17 buildings ended up in foreclosure, 6 are boarded up, hundreds of apartments are vacant and require repair... and taxpayers were stuck with millions in unpaid loans.

All of these buildings were in -- or just blocks away from -- a single state senator's district. A district belonging to a young, up-and-coming politician named Barack Obama.

In fact, during the brutal winter of 1997, even while Rezmar refused to heat its Englewood apartments, it was donating $1,000 to state senator Obama's campaign fund.

During the winter or the scores of subsequent code violations, did state senator Obama ever lift a finger to protect his constituents from "predatory slumlords" like Rezmar?

The answer appears to be a resounding "No". In 2007, Obama's own campaign staff stated, "Senator Obama does not remember having conversations... about properties that [Rezmar] owned.."

The shivering tenants in in and around the district were left defenseless for weeks at a time. Assailed on one side by predatory slumlords like Rezmar, they were -- for all intents and purposes -- left out in the cold by their state senator, Barack Obama.

There's a simple reason Obama didn't lift a finger to protest these horrific violations. His political patron, Tony Rezko, was the driving force behind Rezmar. And Rezko helped raise a quarter of a million dollars for Obama's various campaigns.

And after stating he'd "never done any favors for" Rezko, the Chicago Sun-Times discovered letters Obama wrote to city and state officials supporting Rezko's bid for $14 million in taxpayers' money for an elder-care facility.

While Obama didn't expend an ounce of energy to protest Rezko's outrageous violations, he did take time to write letters on behalf of Rezko in his efforts to secure an additional $14 million in taxpayer funds.

State senator Obama couldn't effectively represent his abused constituents... perhaps because he was otherwise occupied helping his slumlord patrons advance their own agendas.

And as a so-called "community organizer" and then a state senator, Obama -- and close friend and confidante Valerie Jarrett, who was responsible for property management -- couldn't even keep huge, federally subsidized housing complexes like Grove Parc habitable. And 'habitable' is kind of a low bar, I would think.

State Senator Barack Obama did a really lousy job representing his constituents in a tiny district in Chicago's south side, appearing to side more often with corporate interests than his own, downtrodden citizens.

And his cronies -- like Valerie Jarrett -- were linked to dozens of failed projects that burned through millions in taxpayer funds.

And, thanks to legacy media, which failed to vet Obama and his malevolent claque of sycophants, we watch in horror as all of America turns into Grove Parc.


Obama vs. Perón: In Their Own Words

Juan Perón was the fascist dictator of Argentina who demonized the rich, asserted that the goal of a classless society could be achieved, and praised the construction of an all-powerful central government.

Sound familiar?

Using the transcript of yesterday's speech by President Obama regarding the budget deficit, let's compare and contrast various highlights with the famous speech of Juan Perón in 1950, in which he described the tenets of his philosophy of centralized government.


Obama: ...More than citizens of any other country, we are rugged individualists, a self-reliant people...

Perón: The best of this land of ours is its people.


Obama: But there has always been another thread running throughout our history – a belief that we are all connected; and that there are some things we can only do together, as a nation. We believe ... that through government, we should do together what we cannot do as well for ourselves.

Perón: We are an organized State and a free people ruled by a centralized government.


Obama: ...each one of us deserves some basic measure of security. We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, hard times or bad luck, a crippling illness or a layoff, may strike any one of us ... and so we contribute to programs like Medicare and Social Security... and Medicai... We are a better country because of these commitments. I’ll go further – we would not be a great country without those commitments.

Perón: The two main branches of Perónism are the Social Justice and the Social Welfare. With these we envelop the people in an embrace of justice and love.


Obama: ...we [do not] begrudge those who’ve done well [, but] those who have benefited most from our way of life can afford to give a bit more back. Moreover, this belief has not hindered the success of those at the top of the income scale, who continue to do better and better with each passing year.

Perón: There is only one class of men for the Perónist cause: the workers.


Obama: ...[We must] reform our individual tax code so that it is fair and simple – so that the amount of taxes you pay isn’t determined by what kind of accountant you can afford. I believe reform should protect the middle class...

Perón: ...In the New Argentina, work is a right which dignifies man and a duty, because it is only fair that each one should produce at least what he consumes...


Obama: So this is our vision for America – a vision where we live within our means while still investing in our future; where everyone makes sacrifices but no one bears all the burden; where we provide a basic measure of security for our citizens and rising opportunity for our children.

Perón: As a social doctrine, Justicialism presides over an adequate distribution of Social Justice giving to each person the social rights he is entitled to.


Obama: But no matter what we argue or where we stand, we’ve always held certain beliefs as Americans. We believe that in order to preserve our own freedoms and pursue our own happiness, we can’t just think about ourselves. We have to think about the country that made those liberties possible. We have to think about our fellow citizens with whom we share a community.

Perón: With reference to political action the scale of values for all Perónists is as follows: First, the Homeland; afterwards the cause, and then, the men themselves.


Obama: This sense of responsibility – to each other and to our country – this isn’t a partisan feeling... It’s patriotism.

Perón: As a political doctrine, Justicialism establishes a fair balance between the rights of the individual and those of the community.


Obama ...I know that if we can come together ... we will keep the dream of our founding alive in our time, and pass on to our children the country we believe in...

Perón: In the New Argentina the only privileged ones are the children.


Want to know how Perón's story ended? Hint: it includes the two words economic and collapse. You can review the illustrated "comic book" of the sad tale here: Don't Cry For Me, America.


Linked by: Protein Wisdom. Thanks!

Rep. Allen West on the Continuing Resolution Budget Scam: We're kicking the can down the road on the way to economic catastrophe

GOP superstar Rep. Allen West (FL-22) entered the following statement into the Congressional Record earlier today to express his extreme displeasure with the Continuing Resolution. He voted against it, joining

...When my daughter was born in 1993 the Federal Government debt was $4.3 trillion. Just 18 years later, I will shortly be faced with a vote on whether to raise the debt limit to over $15 trillion dollars. When I held my daughter as a baby, I never thought that our nation would be in such financial distress and on its way to a major economic catastrophe.

Over the weekend... I thought even harder about what the United States will be like when she will be my age and what would her son or daughter, my grandchildren, think when they look back in the history books at this critical time in our Republic’s history.

Last November, the citizens of the 22nd Congressional District, and millions of Americans, voted for a new direction for our country. They sent a message to our elected representatives that we needed to end out-of-control government spending, reduce our national debt, and get our fiscal house in order.

The Democrat Majority and President Obama over the last two years have produced deficits of $1.4 and $1.25 trillion, and the President has produced a Budget for Fiscal Year 2012 which would add another $1.6 trillion. The American people know that the federal government is collecting $2.2 trillion and spending $3.7 trillion this year.

The American people know that forty cents of every dollar the federal government spends is borrowed, much of it from China. The American people also know our nation is piling up new debt at the rate of $4 billion a day.

As we are all aware, the 111th Congress was controlled by overwhelming Democrat majorities in the House of Representatives and the United States Senate. Yet even with these enormous majorities, Congress failed to pass a budget or any of the Appropriations bills.

Members of the former Majority Party in the House of Representatives have now resorted to the political rhetoric that the Republican Party is trying to kill women, starve seniors, and the budget deal is the functional equivalent of bombing innocent civilians. They make these statements even after Majority Leader Reid and President Obama recognize that we need to cut federal spending,

This type of political rhetoric is beneath us. We can disagree on the direction we are taking our nation, but let us have a debate on the facts and policies. The American people demand an adult conversation instead of childish name calling.

Mr. Speaker, I want to take a moment to briefly summarize my thoughts and votes during the negotiations for the Budget for Fiscal Year 2011. I voted for the first short term Continuing Resolution in the 112th Congress in order to provide Speaker Boehner the necessary time to negotiate with an intransigent United States Senate and White House.

I voted against the second Continuing Resolution because I believed that we were continuing to kick a can down the road, and that the Obama Administration and Members of the Democrat Party wanted to force the Federal Government into a shutdown in order to win political points. It seems their goal is the hope that by shutting down the Federal Government, the American people will perceive an inflexible Republican Party and return the Democrats to power in the next election.

...At the Army Airborne school in 1984 I had a black hat instructor say, “If you set the bar low, you will jump low!” Today, I will be voting against the negotiated agreement because I believe that we set the bar too low and it does not fulfill the promise I made to the constituents of the 22nd Congressional District of Florida. While this bill is a step in the right direction, I am voting against the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2011, H.R. 1473 because it is important for elected leaders to stand by the pledges we make to the American People.

It takes five miles to turn an aircraft carrier, I am pleased, that finally, the Republican Leadership has finally taken control of the helm and begun to turn the wheel. However, I believe we need to turn the wheel a little harder. At this moment in our nation’s history, when the facts are so clear and the political hyperbole is so hollow, my vote reflects that we need more to get our ship of state on the right course.

John Boehner may be a very patriotic citizen, but as a House Speaker he appears slow-witted and fearful of confrontations. When our country is headed right for the fiscal abyss, confrontations are precisely what we need. And the American people will support these fights. Hell, Mr. Speaker, why do you think we're calling you Mr. Speaker? And this ain't 1995, Karl Rove.

I salute Allen West, Michele Bachmann, Steve King, and the other House Republicans who opposed this historic scam. The time to fight is now. Door-to-door. Every block, every manhole cover. We must fight!

And, unlike the radical Marxist Left, we really are doing it for the children.


Larwyn's Linx: Ryan: Obama 'a pyromaniac in a field of straw men'

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Nation

Ryan: Obama 'a pyromaniac in a field of straw men': Hot Air
Obama Is Temperamentally Unfit For Office: LegalIns
Drawing a Cartoon of His Critics: Wehner

Source: DOJ let off CAIR co-founders off for political reasons: PJM
Obama's Budget, Again: AT
Pence: 'We can't tax our way to a balanced budget': Cubachi

Make 70 the new 65: Malkin
'Spending reductions in the tax code'?: Tatler
Father of Muslim convert: Ellison a fool and a liar: WZ

Economy

5 Things That Will Happen To You When America Goes Bust: RWN
Apocalypse: Deal Only Cuts $352M In Actual Spending: Ace
Why the GOP should vote the budget deal down: RWN

Change: America Reaches A Historic New Employment Low: RWN
CA teachers' unions to members: civil disobedience needed: WZ
McCain Backs Crony Capitalist Coyote Boondoggle: MB

Climate & Energy

50 Million Missing: Blair
Second BEST: WUWT

Media

Hilarious: Obama Calls Tax Increases Spending Reductions: Con4Palin
Oops… NY Times Admits That Obama’s Economic Policies Have Failed – Then Quickly Scrubs the Line: GWP
Gallup: Obama’s Approval Drops Below 50 Percent Among Poorest Americans: Blogmocracy

CNN: Tax the Rich, But Then What, Mr. President?: Ace
Obama's Budget Speech In One Sentence, I Think: LegalIns
Detroit Free Press Staff Want To Show Obama Their O-Face: BlogProf

The Mask Slips, Falls to Ground, Explodes: Power Line
Barack Obama leaves GOP in no mood to deal: Politico
Report: Tingles Seen Leaving Harry Reid’s Office, Obama Reported To Be Overcome With Jealousy: WZ

World

Goldstone Retracts — and the Arab World Reacts: PJM
Christians Begin Fleeing Egypt as Islamists Grow in Strength, “They’re Afraid of the Fanatics in the Mosques”: WZ
Is Proxy War About to Erupt in Bahrain?: PJM

Iran’s Supreme Leader Declared the Mythical Figure in End of Times: Kahlili
IMF: World Banks Face $3.6 Trillion “Wall” of Maturing Debt: WZ
TEPCO Confirms Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool Is Now An Uncontrolled, Open Air Fission Process: ZH

SciTech

Could Bing Overtake Google in 2012? [CHART]: Mashable
Does anyone in Silicon Valley care about Windows anymore?: Scobleizer
IBM says it knows how bad your commute will be: CNet

Cornucopia

Power of Words: C&S
Which Airports Are Ripping You Off?: Ace
In Our Defense...: C&S

Image: Curmudgeonly & Skeptical
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: The Search for Marizela Update

QOTD: "I thought it was a disgrace. I rarely heard a speech by a president so shallow, so hyper-partisan and so intellectually dishonest, outside the last couple of weeks of a presidential election where you are allowed to call your opponent anything short of a traitor. But, we’re a year-and-a-half away from Election Day and it was supposed to be a speech about policy. He didn’t even get to his own alternative until more than halfway through the speech. And when he did, he threw out numbers suspended in mid-air with nothing under them with all kinds of goals and guidelines and triggers that mean nothing. The speech was really about and entirely an attack on the [Rep. Paul] Ryan plan.” --Charles Krauthammer on Obama's Budget Speech

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Democrats -- Winning! 25,000 out of 70,000 Illinois State Employees are on Workers' Comp

When it comes to waste, fraud and outright abuse of the taxpayer, no one does it better than the Democrats of Illinois.

The cost of doing business in Illinois is staggering. Such is the nature of a bottom-feeding government and union-driven model that adds inefficiencies everywhere you look and also in places you don't.

For example, over 35% of Illinois state employees are on workers' comp. That statistic would be bad enough in isolation, but Illinois also has the highest costs in the nation, by far...

Chicago workers' comp claims averaged nearly $33,000 each versus an average of about $6,000 in Arizona.

Caterpillar has an even more horrific tale: its Illinois plant has seven times the cost of injuries versus its Indiana factory.

Governor Quinn's office admits that "even if the medical fee schedule were reduced by 30 percent, Illinois would still have the second highest rates in the nation, but our employers could save up to $500 million."

There are 70,000 state workers in Illinois. Of those, there are now 25,000 open workers' comp claims outstanding. As for the costs of the claims?

• Hernia: $18,700 in Illinois, the next closest state comes in $6,300 less.
• Shoulder or Elbow Injury: $24,000 in Illinois, compared to about $14,300 for the runner-up
• Arthroscopic Procedure: Illinois is double its nearest competitor, more than triple the median

I am seldom surprised by graft in Illinois where public union handouts, inefficiencies, bribery, coercion, and corruption are second to none, but 35% of state employees on workers' comp, including 25% of arbitrators who do nothing but decide injury claims has to take the cake for workers comp insanity.

Worst-in-the-Nation "bragging rights" are at stake. I challenge California, New York, and New Jersey to top that.

Oh, believe me, Mish. They're Democrats. They'll try.


Hat tip: LVN.

Democrat Math: Even the Kooks Running San Francisco Understand that Tax Breaks Help Businesses Hire More Employees

Gee, doesn't this directly refute President Obama's assertion that taxing "the rich" (whoever that is) will somehow help the budget deficit?

Doesn't Twitter count as the evil rich, to be vilified and shunned?

As expected, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors today approved a payroll tax cap for some businesses willing to move to the city's Mid-Market neighborhood.

The legislation and subsequent amendments passed by a vote of 8 to 3... Mayor Ed Lee has said he will sign the measure.

The legislation's passing should come as good news to growing businesses in the city, but the poster child for this effort has been Twitter. The company currently resides in a building in the South of Market neighborhood and has been considering a move out of the city due to San Francisco's high payroll taxes and rents. Other tech firms like social-gaming company Zynga and Yelp, all born in San Francisco, have also threatened to leave the city for similar reasons.

The legislation that officially passed today will cap payroll taxes for companies with a payroll of at least $1 million for the next seven years. That cap would remain even if the companies add to their ranks. Additionally, employee income from exercising stock options will not be taxed.

So even the far let nuts in San Francisco understand that "taxing the rich" simply drives them away.

It punishes hard work.

It rewards the slothful.

Letting the government have more money now is akin to giving a heroin addict clean needles and cash.

Oh.

Wait. The liberals did that too. My bad.


Greatest Spendthrift in World History Tells Americans to Make Do With Less

Oh, it's disguised under the same pablum it always is: Marxist class-warfare rhetoric. And it's just as convincing as his promises that Obamacare would reduce premiums an average of $2,500 a year. How's that working out for ya', Sparky?

Obama gave a four-step plan to confront the massive and crippling deficits ahead of us that entirely relies on the kind of proposals he’s already aired in the past.  He gave little in the way of specifics, and made no mention at all of his deficit commission again.  Instead of offering specifics on cuts, Obama instead offered specifics on … more spending:...

...For a budget-cutting speech, it certainly seemed that Obama was a lot more interested in defending spending than defunding government. Of course, that depends on what part of government we’re cutting. Obama spent most of his time looking at the Pentagon instead of anywhere else...

...Obama wants tax deductions curtailed. But which tax deductions? He never put any specific recommendation on the table. He just says that he’s going to tell Congress to figure it out. Couldn’t he have committed to even one specific proposal, rather than just list a few possibilities? How hard would it have been to say, for example, “The home mortgage interest deduction should be limited to no more than $20,000 in a year”? Apparently, too hard for this President.

As for the public sector unions whose compensation, benefits and pension plans are infinitely better than most Americans? Are they going to have to sacrifice?

Uhm, no.

And the president -- who will not rest until he has addressed unemployment, affordable housing, skyrocketing energy prices and righting the economy -- well, he has a plan.

He's taking off for Chicago tomorrow to collect campaign contributions at three separate fundraising events.

A study by the Tax Foundation finds that Americans will pay more in taxes in 2011 than the amount they spend on food, clothing and housing combined.

But that's still not enough for the radical Marxist Democrats. They want more. No amount of your money can satisfy their insatiable greed for money and power.

No amount can satisfy them.


Hat tip: Memeorandum.

Larwyn's Linx: Budget Deal Includes Killing $226M Border Fence

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Nation

Budget Deal Includes Killing $226M Border Fence: Expose
The Charlie Sheen Republicans: Lord
Seems like Palin was right about the spending-cut deal: Cubachi

The 'Fairness' Meme: Kimball
The liberals' plan: Gut defense and tax, tax, tax: York
Pelosi: Elections Shouldn’t Matter as Much as They Do: Malkin

Economy

Tax the Rich? Good Luck With That: Williams
CA Teachers' Union Endorses Cop Killer at Annual Convention: GWP
Donald Trump's Casino Company Files for Third Bankruptcy : LZ

IMF: US has no credible plan to tackle debt crisis: WZ
Students Flood Harrisburg To Say: 'My School, My Choice': FW
Economic Optimism Plummets Across Demographic Groups: Mish

US Deficit Percent Now Largest of Any Developed Economy: GWP
The President and 'Taxing the Rich': AT
White House Spent $200M on Obamacare Propaganda: WZ

Climate & Energy

Climate Alarmist Comes Up With 3 Point Plan To Restart The Alarmism: RWN
The Gas Revolution: WklyStd
Dirty Communist Hippies: Let’s Give Mother Earth The Same Rights As Humans: RWN

Media

Ezra Klein’s “Let It Ride” Plan is A Quick Trip to Cloud Cuckoo Land: Bise
Coffee, Tea, Or Separate Drinking Fountains?: iOTW
Paul Ryan’s desperate critics: JRubin

Our Elected Officials Need Remedial Freedom Courses: IMAO
Laughing At Arianna Huffington’s Hypocritical Misfortune: RWN
How JournOlism Works: Politico’s Ben Smith Drops Race Card on Donald Trump, NBC Runs With It: Nolte

The Pledge: Maybe if Somebody Replaced ‘God’ with ‘Cowboy Poets’ Harry Reid Would Want to Say It: Powers
Liberals and Progressives: It's not too late to save yourselves.: BSF
Having Solved All The Country’s Problems, Obama to Give Oprah Farewell Interview: WZ

World

Ambitious Turkey: Pipes
Leaderless in Libya: AmSpec
Japan Lifts Atomic Alert to Highest Level, Matching Chernobyl: Bloomberg

French Police Arrest Veiled Women at Muslim Burqa Protest: GWP
Socialized Medicine Director Dies After Waiting Nine Months for Operation: NewAm
Syrian soldiers shot for refusing to fire on protesters: Guardian

The Keystone of the Islamic Milieu: Inbreeding: Barnhardt
Virginia Muslim gets 23 years for D.C. subway plot: Creeping
Hamas Convicts Itself: JOdysseus

SciTech

Democrat senator wants Internet sales taxes: CNet
Amazon to sell cheaper Kindle with on-screen ads: AP
Facebook suit cites alleged Zuckerberg e-mails: CNet

Security firm Barracuda hit by cyberattack: CNet
The memo that 'proves aliens landed at Roswell'... released online by the FBI: Daily Mail (UK)
Houston deserved a damn space shuttle: Jalopnik

Cornucopia

No Blood, No Brain, No Heart: SHN
10 New Obama Campaign Posters: RWN
Trump: The Least Charitable Billionaire: TSG

Image: Sad Hill News
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: MichelePAC!

QOTD: "Critics might not like the idea that we will have to spend less on entitlements, but Obama has bought into the argument by cutting Medicare and empowering the Independent Payment Advisory Board to ”control costs,” which means to limit the amount spent on Medicare.

If critics want to insist that any cut in Medicare is unacceptable, they shouldn’t have cheered for Obamacare, and if they think we can keep spending as much as we have on Medicaid, they are living in a dream world. No wonder they were frantic at the notion that Obama might endorse the Simpson-Bowles plan. The commission, of course, recognized that both these programs and Social Security as well need to be curbed in order to be saved." --Jennifer Rubin

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Self-Promoter, Oui. Economic genius, not so much: Trump's casino company files for bankruptcy for the third time

Self-promotion he knows. Politics? I'm not so sure.

In an apparent fit of premature sour grapes, Trump says that if doesn't win the GOP primary that he "could possibly win as an independent."

I think he means, when he doesn't win the GOP primary.

As for his vaunted economic credentials? As LegalZoom describes it, "You may have heard that business mogul Donald Trump has filed for bankruptcy. Again... While this isn't a personal filing, Trump is no stranger to bankruptcy. In February 2009, Trump's casino company, Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc., filed for bankruptcy for the third time."

To make matters worse, Donald Trump supported the campaigns of the malevolent Charles Schumer and Anthony Weiner, Democrat-Socialists of New York.

Trump has a lot more in common with Carmen Electra than, say, Michele Bachmann. We don't need a world-class self-promoter in office. We need a principled, Constitutional conservative. Trump ain't it.


Hat tip: @JimPethokoukis.

After today's budget revelations, I'd be too embarrassed to tweet this

RINOs lied, their credibility died.

Mark Levin was prescient on Saturday, asking: "What if $10 billion of the $38.5 billion actually is from the prior two CRs? And what if another $12 billion of the remaining $28.5 billion actually comes from a change in the budget baseline that would have occurred anyway?"

And that's precisely what happened.

So the RINOs in the House lied to us. They misplayed their hand and they lied. They cut virtually nothing from the budget that wasn't already getting cut.

It's time for new leadership in the House. New, conservative leadership who have as their goal the rescue of this country from the fiscal abyss. If that's extreme, then I want two hundred more extremists in Congress.


The Obama Legacy: 8 Charts That Will Blow Your Mind

It's one thing to review the raw data, but it's another thing altogether to see the numbers represented in graphical form.








For those of you still trying to grasp the impact -- I mean you liberals -- I'll try to put it in small words and say it slllloooowwwwly for you:

The economy sucks.

And the country is bankrupt.

Mission Accomplished!


Update: CNBC -- "Inflation Actually Near 10% Using Older Measure"


Hat tip: Moe Lane.

Epic Fail: John Boehner's $14.7B capitulation

Question: When is $100B in budget cuts actually less than $15B?

Answer: When a feckless House leadership gets played like a cheap accordion.


Remember that $100 billion in 2011 spending cuts the Republican minority promised to enact last October if they were able to regain control of the House?

During the recent midterm elections campaign, Republican leaders pledged to reduce non-entitlement spending by a whopping $100 billion.

“The Republican leadership has committed to this $100 billion cut,” says Brian Riedl, lead budget analyst for the Heritage Foundation. “I expect them to do everything in their power to enact it. They’re on the record, they ran on this, and if it’s brushed aside there would be harsh political consequences.”

There should be. Because, as it turns out, the "harsh, draconian" cuts that Speaker John Boehner negotiated last Friday weren't $100 billion or even the $38 billion figure that the Beltway insiders gleefully advertised.

The full extent of the budget deal reached late Friday did not become clear until today "after congressional aides worked all weekend and all day Monday to shape a detailed spending plan based on the framework that Obama and congressional leaders agreed to Friday," the Washington Post reports... "In several cases, what look like large reductions are actually accounting gimmicks."

National Journal: "The specifics show that finding nearly $40 billion in cuts during the 2011 fiscal year required clever accounting and, for the White House, a willingness to concede on rhetoric to find gains on substance. For example, the final cuts in the deal are advertised as $38.5 billion less than was appropriated in 2010, but after removing rescissions, cuts to reserve funds and reductions in mandatory spending programs, discretionary spending will be reduced only by $14.7 billion."

Let's recap.

Over the last two years, the Republicans -- Boehner and Cantor especially -- were treated like dirt by the Democrats. They were locked out of important policy debates, they were refused the opportunity to introduce amendments, and they had brutal bills like Cap-and-Trade and Obamacare slammed down their throats.

Furthermore, President Obama and the Democrats have set this country on a course for fiscal ruin.

The time for negotiation is long since past, yet the cowardly RINO leaders insist on "working with President Obama".

In the most recent case, Boehner held a nuclear weapon: a partial government shutdown. It was a weapon that has been used at least a dozen times in the recent past. Yet, right up front, Boehner told anyone who would listen that he would never shut down the government. Which meant he had no power in his "negotiations" with the radical Leftists who now control the Democrat Party.

And he got played.

$15 billion in cuts when $100 billion was promised? When the country is headed for a complete economic catastrophe?

We need a new Speaker of the House. Someone who will live up to their word. Someone like Michele Bachmann or Allen West.


Update: Budget deal includes cut of $226 million border fence at suggestion of Obama administration

Update II: A Scam of a Budget Deal.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Larwyn's Linx: Important Obama Campaign Message Scheduled for Wed.

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

Important Obama Campaign Message Scheduled for Wed.: LegalIns
Hey Copper, I Didn't See Nothin' an' Nobody: LegalIns
Did GOP Lose First Round of Budget Battle?: PJM

As expected, 9th circuit declares AZ immigration law icky: Ace
MO: Dem AG breaks with party on Obamacare: Ace
Christians barred by NYPD from Muslim/ANSWER rally: RWN

Not One Mile of Border Secure, Texas Sheriff Says: CNS
Allen West: We can do better: Cubachi
Bachmann is willing to be a one-term president?: Cubachi

Economy

Graph o' the Day: WZ
6 Pages of Obamacare == 429 Pages of New Regulations: RWN
Chicago school bans kids from bringing lunch … from home: Toldjah

Peter Thiel: We're in a Higher-Ed Bubble: Crunch
Jailed Rapist gets $120K in tax refunds: TaxProf
Housing: Stuck in Place: McArdle

Union pay chart of the day: Malkin
The Homer Simpson Approach to Social Security: PJM
Liberalism, Black America's Greatest Enemy: AT

Climate & Energy

Climatologists mount a terror campaign: PJM (Solway)
CA Gov. to Sign Bill Raising Renewable Energy Requirements: AT
Ed Markey (D-ranged): GOP “Trying To Destroy The Whole Wide World”: RWN

Media

Politically Correct, Geometrically Ignorant and Other P.C. Insanity: Patterico
Obama and I Share the Same Dream: RWN
Chris Matthews: Paul Ryan's Medicare Plan Will 'Kill Half the People Who Watch My Show': NB

Paul Krugman: Hey, I've Got a Great Idea! Let's Raise Taxes on the Middle Class!: Ace
MSNBC's UnCivil War on the Right: MRC
Barack the Born-Again Deficit-Cutter Gets Predictable AP Kid-Glove Treatment: NB

Another Body Blow… Trump Goes After Obama’s Close Ties to Crook Rezko: GWP
Irony: Bill Keller On What Separates the New York Times From the Agenda-Driven Rabble: BigJourn
6-Year-Old Girl Groped by TSA … This Cannot Be Real: Fox

World

White House Warns Of Armageddon, Worldwide Depression UNLESS Debt Ceiling Is Raised: SHN
The high price of the Obama administration’s war on CIA interrogators: Toldjah
U.S. Pays To Upgrade Mexican Trucks: JW

Doom? The Eurozone Is On The Brink?: Ace
Exposure of Movie Predicting Shiite Messiah Causes Turmoil Within Iranian Regime: PJM (Kahlili)
“4,000 Students Can Block a Highway, 4,000 Workers Can Bring the Country To a Halt”: Loudon

Veiled Threats to Freedom of Expression (and Other Notes From the Clash of Civilizations): Patterico
Homosexuals burned alive in Iraq: Creeping
France: 21-Year-Old Jewish Man Shot by Muslims: Atlas

SciTech

Hack Unlocks AirTunes Private Key, Allows Streaming to Any Device: Wired
Groupon Gets Into Real Estate Deals: Consumerist
Groupon gang: Learn more about the 4 behind the firm: ChiBiz

Cornucopia

David Plouffe, Ferris Bueller: Separated at Birth?: MOTUS
My Father Served In WWII: GM's Place
SUNY Purchase professor holds instructional seminar on squatting: RWN

Image: BigJournalism
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Marizela featured on America’s Most Wanted; Others Missing in Pacific Northwest

QOTD: "Suppose that in a mere three years your family’s spending – spending, mind you, not income – jumps from $80,000 to $101,600. You’re now understandably worried about the debt you’re piling up as a result of this 27 percent hike in spending.

So mom and dad, with much drama and angst and finger-pointing about each other’s irresponsibility and insensitivity, stage marathon sessions of dinner-table talks to solve the problem. They finally agree to reduce the family’s annual spending from $101,600 to $100,584.

For this 1 percent cut in their spending, mom and dad congratulate each other. And to emphasize that this spending cut shows that they are responsible stewards of the family’s assets, they approvingly quote Sen. Harry Reid, who was party to similar negotiations that concluded last night on Capitol Hill." --Don Boudreaux

Monday, April 11, 2011

EPA now paying to equip Mexican trucks with anti-pollution equipment so they can cross the border with even more impunity

I swear to all that's holy: someone in the Obama administration has a dastardly sense of humor. Just when you think they can't do anything more completely, utterly insane, they bust out a brand new comedy sketch.

...the U.S. government is paying to upgrade outdated Mexican trucks that hemorrhage illegal amounts of exhaust on their trips north to deliver merchandise... The Mexican trucks enter the U.S. under a 17-year-old international trade pact known as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and they’ve created an air pollution crisis. The air quality in border towns has been especially impacted by the exorbitant levels of exhaust released by the Mexican trucks, which also fail to meet American safety standards.

Since the Mexican truckers have no intention of fixing the problem, Uncle Sam has stepped in to save the environment. U.S. taxpayers have picked up the cost to replace old mufflers on dozens of trucks and many more are scheduled to be upgraded by the middle of this year. The unbelievable story was reported this week by an Arizona newspaper that says replacing the old mufflers with new catalytic converters will reduce harmful diesel emissions by up to 30%.

...the money is actually coming from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the same bloated federal agency that’s dedicated millions to “environmental justice” programs that help minorities get green. Under that brilliant EPA project, leftwing groups get federal dollars to teach black, Latino and indigenous folks how to recycle, reduce carbon emissions and participate in “green jobs” training.

...EPA grants have [already] upgraded 55 Mexican trucks and many more will be enhanced this year. Each truck costs U.S. taxpayers about $1,600. The feds justify the expenditure by claiming that it will improve air quality on both sides of the border... [Of course,] U.S. truck drivers are required to have the type of converters that Mexicans are getting from the American government, though they must pay for theirs. For years, the idea of Mexican trucks entering the U.S. under NAFTA has been a contentious issue because they follow the notoriously dismal safety standards of a third-world country.

In fact, a few years ago the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General determined that Mexican trucks that regularly travel throughout American highways are rarely checked for safety by U.S. authorities despite a provision requiring it. Rules requiring that every Mexican truck undergo a thorough safety compliance check and that every driver has a valid license and is proficient in English have been virtually ignored, according to the IG’s findings.

Because there's nothing better to spend our money on than retrofitting hazardous Mexican vehicles with anti-pollution equipment. And because we want more vehicles transporting heaven knows what from the failed narco-terror state on our southern border.

The good news? This proves it, once and for all: the EPA needs to be defunded -- completely. It's outlived its usefulness. If it ever had any.


Good news: Photos capture TSA repelling toddler terrorist threat with intrusive grope-downs of 6-year olds

This administration -- and Janet Napolitano in particular -- is simply out of control, that's all there is to it.


What possible excuse can someone use to grope a six-year old?

This administration's bizarre fixation on political correctness is going to get people killed, of that I can assure you.


Update: @VladimirRS: "Show me on the doll where the TSA screener touched you."


Hat tip: @IowaHawkBlog. Linked by: Ace o' Spades. Thanks!

An Epiphany About the Political Leanings of My Pets

I've finally figured it out. My dogs are Democrats. Consider the evidence, which I must say is overwhelming:

• They don't work -- they lay around all day, only getting up to bark at the occasional passers-by.

• I work all day to support them.

• I pay for their food and they eat what they want, when they want and -- if they don't like the food -- they bark at me.

• If they get sick, I pay for their health care.

• I provide their shelter and they live as comfortably as I do -- heck they even sleep on the foot of the bed during the winter so they can leech heat from me.

• And when they want to be otherwise entertained they just stand in front of me either bark or beg.

I'm telling you flat out: these dogs are Democrats just as certain as Michael Moore is a communist.