Saturday, June 11, 2011

The Obama Recovery... By the Numbers


3: The annual percentage growth in employment for foreign-born workers (illegal immigrants included) versus a 2.5 percent drop in employment for native-born Americans.

12: The percentage of newly minted lawyers who are unable to find employment, the highest since the 1990s.

14: The percentage of home loans in Florida that are being foreclosed upon.

23: The percentage of homes with "underwater" mortgages (more is owed in loans than the home is worth), despite HAMP, the first-time buyer tax credit, and dozens of other dubious, federal central-planning programs.

30: The percentage of people who have taken a loan out against their 401(k), a new record.

40: The median number of weeks of unemployment (i.e., the time it takes to get a job) -- an all-time high.

41: The average number of weeks it takes each unemployed American 55 or older to get a job, "the longest stretch on record."

43: The percentage of African-American males aged 18-29 who have full-time employment.

45: The percentage of unemployed Americans who have been jobless for six months or longer, the highest since the Great Depression.

63: The percentage of Nevada homes with "underwater" mortgages, a testament to the fine leadership of Senator Harry Reid (D-NV).

111: The number of years since the United States experienced a housing price decline greater than that which has occurred since 2008, despite a variety of federal housing programs designed to assuage the crisis.

2002: The year that home prices have retreated to -- a post-crash low. Nationally, home prices have returned to 2002 levels; "Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit and Las Vegas are ... markets where average home prices are now below their January 2000 level."

44 million: The number of Amerians who receive food stamps, a record high, representing 15 out of every 100 people living in the U.S.

$888 billion: the total amount of U.S. spending on welfare in a single year (2010), $266 billion more than the U.S. "spent on war in Iraq from the first 'shock and awe' attack in 2003 until Bush left office in January [2009]."

$6.4 trillion: The amount of debt President Obama will have added to America's tab in four years in office: "Obama inherited a national debt of $10.6-trillion. He will end his term with a national debt, give or take, of $17-trillion – a debt equal to 115 per cent of GDP."

Say, I've been out of town for a while. How are those Stimulus, HAMP, Cash-for-Clunkers, Weatherization, Green Jobs, Obamacare, "Banking Reform", drilling moratorium, First-Time Home-Buyer Credit, auto company takeovers and QE2 programs working out?


Larwyn's Linx: I See Dead Donkeys

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Nation

I See Dead Donkeys: HayRide
Dude, Where's My Freedom?: PJM
Once Again, Weiner Proves, Size Matters: PJM

More on the police investigation in Delaware: Patterico
Weinergate: Police Talk To 17 Year Old: RWN
Anthony Weiner admits contact with girl, 17: Politico

Obamacare has another rough day in court: AmSpec
Totalitarianism Gets a Foothold in Tennessee: MB
West Makes It Official, Will Run for Reelection: Shark

Economy

The Obama Job-Training Juggernaut: Malkin
Census Bureau: 'We Do Not Ask About Legal Status': BlogProf
Christie: NJ on precipice of disaster: RS

Dems fall back to default position on debt fight: LoneCon
Food Stamp Entrepreneur Gets Cuffed: MB
DOE loan program wastes billions on 'assessments': USR

Climate & Energy

Obama’s New EPA Rules Would Destroy Our Energy Sector: RWN
Huge Arizona Fires Due To Environmentalists: S&L
Ten Years And Counting: Where’s The Global Warming?: Forbes

Media

Behold The Mainstream Media Eating Its Own Anti-Palin Bile - A Running List of Headlines: LegalIns
SitOn.org: Tatler
Palin Docu “The Undefeated” at AMC Theatres July 15: Bruce

"The Undefeated" Is Our Story, Not Simply Sarah Palin's: Riehl
LA Times Won’t Release Obama-Khalidi Tape But Posts 24,000 Sarah Palin Emails: GWP
Hey, Jeff Toobin! About that Andrew Breitbart #Weinergate thing: RS

Charles Johnson Intentionally Leads People Astray With His Bogus Weinergate Coverage: NiceDeb
Thatcher Foundation Responds to 'Thatcher Snubbed Palin' Report: "The Guardian Has Minimal Credibility": GWP
Vetting: bRight & Early

World

The Coming Crisis in the Middle East: BRubin
FBI confirms suicide bomber was Minnesota Muslim (pic): Creeping
Obama’s knack for handcuffing peace: JPost

Obama hosts a kindred spirit: RWN
Ahmadinejad Channels Gore: Blames Capitalism For Destroying The Environment: WZ
Somali Interior Minister Killed By Teenage Niece After She Joins al-Shabaab, Turns Herself Into a Human Bomb: WZ

SciTech

Booming Apple Is World's Largest Semiconductor Buyer: NewsFactor
The Sims Social to offer Facebook flirting: CNet
Blackbeard's Booty a Treasure Trove for Archaeologists: Fox

Cornucopia

In the “Twilight” of Our Reign? WTF : MOTUS
DC Politicians Are Their Own Reality TV: ConBlkChk
Police Arrest A Bunch Of Folks In Europe For Linking To Infringing Content: C&S

Image: The People's Cube
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: SitOn.org

Friday, June 10, 2011

The national debt: 1797-2010

The Wall Street Journal offers a unique, graphical perspective on the national debt since 1797.

Save World War II -- an existential, global struggle against Nazism and Military Shintoism -- no federal bureaucracy has run up the national debt like the 111th Congress and President Obama.

Of course, he's done so for an equally important cause: promoting a counter-revolution to America's founding. Of that, there can be no doubt.


Pass the popcorn, Nahanni: Governor Cuomo to slash 10,000 state workers in New York, Dick Trumka hardest hit

I love the smell of blue-on-blue violence in the morning:

As state labor unions continue to negotiate with Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration on expired contracts, the governor is moving forward on plans to lay off 9,800 workers beginning July 15.

Cuomo promised months ago to trim the workforce if he couldn't get $450 million in concessions from the workforce. None of the contracts have been settled, but union leaders claimed Thursday that the governor is negotiating in bad faith by moving forward with layoffs...

...the Public Employees Federation, which represents 56,000 ... employees, said in a statement that it is "appalled" at what the governor is doing...

The Civil Service Employees Association, the state's largest union, has been negotiating in good faith and trying to find alternatives to layoffs, said Danny Donohue, union president. The news that the governor's administration is preparing for layoffs is not helping the process, he said.

Cuomo's draconian plans?

He called for state employees to contribute more to their pension plans, which would save $93 billion over the next 30 years (New York City excluded). And to increase the retirement age from 62 to 65. Oh, the humanity.

Nahanni - please make mine natural: no butter or salt, if you would. Thanks, hon.


Larwyn's Linx: Are Your Second Amendment Rights at Stake?

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Nation

Are Your Second Amendment Rights at Stake?: Boortz
Apparently 75% of Americans want return to Jim Crow era: AT
Sources: Rick Perry is Running: DC

Concerns Over Illegal Immigration Going Mainstream: RWN
Shootout On Rio Grande – Gun Runners Fire on Texas Rangers: GWP
Wow: Romney to skip Iowa straw poll; Iowa GOP not pleased: HotAir

Feckless feminists wimp out: Malkin
Healthcare: Let The States Decide: RWN
Hey, how’s that Maxine Waters ethics trial going?: Malkin

Economy

Death Without Dignity in Socialist Hospital: RWN
The Coming Crash of 2013: Spectator
Lack of buyers may force Treasury to boost rates: Times

Cut, Cap, and Balance: The GOP Debt Ceiling Strategy: PJM
Unapologetic Public School Officials Use Communist Indoctrination: RS
Another Obama nominee that wants to redistribute wealth: Scoop

Weinergate

Evidence Weiner talked dirty to underage girls? Part II: Patterico
Evidence Weiner talked dirty to underage girls? Part III: Patterico
Face of Democrat Party Will Not Step Down: GWP

Climate & Energy

Here Come Obama’s ‘Necessarily Skyrocketing’ Electricity Rates: Foundry
Going Green May Be Unhealthy Says Report: NewAm
The Energy Disaster Continues: Power Line

Media

In Which One Ujala Sehgal is Fisked as an Idiot: Just Barking Mad
Poetic Justice for Elizabeth Edwards?: Patterico
A Twitter Group Warned About Weiner: NYT

The WaPo, Then: Two Crack Reporters Could Bring Down Nixon: Driscoll
In Wake Of Weiner, Fewer Congressional Tweets: OTB
George Stephanopoulos defends the Terrorist Wing of the Democratic Party: Grand Old

Exhibit E: Where we now retire the Canard that the left thinks Palin can’t win: DTG
The Intellectually Desperate George Soros Steals a Leaf from Noam Chomsky: PJM
Retraction Request: Politico Fabricates Palin Quote in New Hit Piece: BigJourn

World

Iran to Test First Nuclear Bomb by 2012?: Kahlili
Muslim Scholar Who Led Sufi Revival to Counter Jihad is Assassinated: Creeping
SecDef Gates: Hey, Europe, You're Depending Too Much on Washington: Politico

Israel: Hizballah has 50,000 rockets in its arsenal: JihadWatch
Napolitano: Concentrating Terrorist Screening Efforts on Muslim Men Under 35 is Not Good Logic: GWP
Head of Saudi Electric Company Says "Oil Runs Out in 2030 if Current Consumption Maintained": Mish

SciTech

Some Thoughts on RSA SecurID Risk: Gartner
10 Things that suck about Java: BetaNews
In Latest Attack, Hackers Steal Citibank Card Data: ABC

Cornucopia

Facebook Parenting Hilarity (Language Warning): iOTW
UPDATE – Stockton SWAT Raid: Sondrakistan
Hot Wheels Video Racer gets tested, allows for nausea-inducing fun: AutoBlog

Image: Sondrakistan
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Help Us Find Lauren Spierer

QOTD: "Sadly, the Internet is the predator’s venue of choice today. We need to update our strategies and our laws to stop these offenders who are a mere click away from our children." --Anthony Weiner

Thursday, June 09, 2011

It's called... therapy

Papa B:

To Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity:

1. In the Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write 'For Marijuana."

2. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.

3. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is 'To Go'.

4. Sing Along At The Opera.

5. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend their Party Because You have a headache.

6. When Leaving the Zoo, Start Running towards the Parking lot, Yelling ' Run For Your Lives! They're Loose!'

7. Tell Your Children Over Dinner, 'Due To The Obama Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go.'

And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity:

8. Pick up a box of condoms at the pharmacy, go to the counter and ask where the fitting room is.

Dude - my last name's not Weiner!


Good luck charging your Chevy Volts, losers: EPA shutting down five coal plants for reasons that can best be described as... bulls***

It's going to be hard to charge your golf cart-sized electric auto what with those rolling brownouts and all.

Utility giant American Electric Power said Thursday that it will shut down five coal-fired power plants and spend billions of dollars to comply with a series of pending Environmental Protection Agency regulations.

The company’s dramatic plan to comply with the regulations could give Republicans and moderate Democrats ammunition in their ongoing fight against EPA's efforts to impose new regulations aimed at limiting greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants including mercury and arsenic...

The agency also stressed that the regulations are essential for protecting public health... “These reasonable steps taken under the Clean Air Act will reduce harmful air pollution, including mercury, arsenic and other toxic pollution, and as a result protect our families, particularly children,” EPA said in a statement.

Mercury? Mercury? Mercury???

These are the same crackpots who have outlawed conventional lighting and mandated "Compact Fluorescent Lamps" (or CFLs). These are the curly bulbs, each of which contains 4 to 5 milligrams of mercury, which is a sufficient amount to warrant special handling and disposal methods in the event you break one. Which you most assuredly will.

Consider this reason #3,405 to completely de-fund the EPA, which is nothing less than a Marxist front group.

The costs of complying with these specious EPA regulations will spike electricity prices by between 10 to 35 percent and cost 600 jobs. Well done, EPA.


Update: Here Come Obama’s ‘Necessarily Skyrocketing’ Electricity Rates


Hat tip: TrendingRight.

The Department of Education has a SWAT Team: Who Knew?

Let this be a warning to you student loan scofflaws. The next front door that comes crashing down, followed by a flash-bang and a 15-member tactical assault team, may be your own.

In Clinton’s tradition of Ruby Ridge and Waco, Obama’s Department of Education issued a search warrant [and executed a SWAT team raid] over a woman’s defaulted student loans... Like Tucson’s Jose Guerena, Kenneth Wright of Stockton, California was wearing only boxer shorts:

Wright came downstairs in his boxer shorts as a S.W.A.T team barged through his front door. Wright said an officer grabbed him by the neck and led him outside on his front lawn... “He had his knee on my back and I had no idea why they were there,” Wright said.

Police kept Wright and his three young children in a patrol car for over six hours as they searched his house.

DOE was looking for Wright’s estranged wife, who wasn’t there.

Perhaps Obama is simply trying to refrain from increasing our $14 trillion debt? He just pledged our non-existent capital to help bail out Greece, so the money has to come from somewhere.

Using deadly force for collections?

Consider this reason #4,305 to completely de-fund the utterly useless Department of Education, which has yet to educate a single student.

Oh -- and I've been out of town for a while. How's that unlawful federal takeover of the student loan business working out?


Larwyn's Linx: Reuters/Ipsos - Palin leads Romney in GOP 2012 Primary

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Nation

Reuters/Ipsos: Palin leads Romney in GOP 2012 Primary Race: C4P
How a Teachers’ Rally Made Me Anti-Education: Zombie
Panetta linked to spies through Communist Party figure?: Loudon

Fanniegate: Gamechanger For The GOP?: Mead
Oh my, Appeals Court Skeptical of Individual Mandate: HotAir
‘Comedian’ Calls for Assassination of Sarah Palin: RWN

Dude, Like, What’s the Constitution, Anyway?: Foundry
I, Weiner: HE
Self-Mutilating Inmate Demands Sex Change From Taxpayers: RWN

Economy

American Economy Quickly Nearing Perfection: Driscoll
Obama’s egghead economic saboteurs: Malkin
DOJ, Diversity, and Low Expectations: PJM

Obama Wants Taxpayers to Bail Out Greek Politicians: BG
Wisconsin Union Disrupts Special Olympics Ceremony: PunditPress
CME threatens to bolt from Illinois over taxes: ChiBiz

Climate & Energy

Obama Admin. Spending over $17 Million Exploring Market for Carbon Credits: Malkin
Exxon makes major oil discovery in Gulf: Hill
The Earth Is Full, And We Need A Happiness-Driven Growth Model….DERP?: RWN

Media

Why Isn’t the National Debt a Sexy Story?: Foundry
Can't Feminists Be Hypocrites? : Taranto
Flashback: Weiner's Web of Lies: ABC

WeinerGate’s Collateral Damage: Howard Kurtz: BigJourn
Bachmann consultant Ed Rollins still trying to alienate Palin fans for some reason: HotAir
CNN: Nearly Half of Americans Expect Another ‘Great Depression’ in Next 12 Months: Blaze

World

The Rise of the Post-American Empires: Knish
UN Treaty Looks To Gut Americans’ Second Amendment Rights: WZ
Is the US deliberately harming Israeli covert ops in Iran?: Glick

Surprise! Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood And Salafists To Form Electoral Coalition; Goal Is Islamic State: Atlas
The Real Reason for the European Bailout: Mitchell
Debunking the Democrats' Israel Counter-Offensive: Tobin

Female Muslim activist: Legalize purchase of non-Muslim POW’s as sex slaves: Creeping
An Injustice In Pakistan: RWN
Former Diplomat, Admiral See U.S. Strike Against Iran as Unlikely: NTI

SciTech

‘fhxGH5h’ Ain’t Close To Being A Safe Password Anymore: C&S
iOS 5 beta jailbroken in less than 24 hours: CNet
FarmVille, Angry Birds Set New Course For Games: IBD

Cornucopia

The 20 Hottest Conservative Women In The New Media (2011 Edition): RWN
Social media driving a new kind of scandal: DC
Anthony Weiner is a lot like Bill Clinton, only funnier: C&S

Image: How a Teachers’ Rally Made Me Anti-Education (Zombie)
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: TrendingRight.com - the first real-time conservative headline service

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Median period of unemployment hits 40 weeks, an all-time high, as President Obama focuses on job creation... overseas

ABC News reports that in addition to persistently high unemployment, "[the] Time It Takes to Find a Job is Off the Charts."

We’ve seen the headline numbers from the monthly jobs report; losing a job means a long stint without employment these days. The median period of unemployment is now at a historic high; 39.7 weeks according to the May Report. That’s the highest it has ever been in the history of the survey.

A new research report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics dug into this trend to offer new details on how long it takes to make the transition from unemployed to employed and found that 11 percent of job seekers took a year or longer to land a new job. Another off-the-chart reading.

As America sinks deeper and deeper into debt -- each U.S. household is now more than $500,000 in hock -- President Obama is laser-focused on jobs. The only problem is that those jobs are overseas.

Jobs in Greece: "CNBC is reporting that President Obama is putting American taxpayers on the chopping block to bail out Greece’s corrupt politicians... What makes this development so unpleasant is that this new bailout (Greece already has been bailed out several times, with both direct and indirect handouts) will make things worse. Another bailout will be a case of throwing good money after bad. And it will exacerbate the economic damage by delaying the economic reforms that are needed to put Greece’s economy in better shape."

Jobs in Brazil: "The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil’s Tupi oil field... The U.S. Export-Import Bank tells us it has issued a “preliminary commitment” letter to Petrobras in the amount of $2 billion and has discussed with Brazil the possibility of increasing that amount."

Jobs in China: "Senate Democrats lashed out at the Obama administration on Wednesday, saying its stimulus wind energy program creates jobs overseas instead of in the U.S.... "Today, we are demanding the Obama administration suspend this program immediately," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y... The program has already spent $2 billion, funding enough projects to power 2.4 million homes... An investigation by ABC News and the Investigative Reporting Workshop found that 79 percent of the program's money has gone to foreign companies... in China."

Jobs in Spain, Portugal and the U.K.: "Although Barack Obama and other Democrats touted the $787 billion stimulus package as a way to create green jobs that would put Americans back to work, new reports show the spending package has mostly created green jobs for foreign workers... The Spanish company Iberdrola has received $443 million; the Portuguese company EDP has received $229 million; and the British company Terra Firma, which bought a large wind farm in western Pennsylvania, received $42 million."

As Michelle Malkin points out, Obama "has stopped receiving daily economic briefings that were once treated with the same emergency status as national security briefings."

Daily economic briefings have apparently lost out to a record number of rounds of golf (71 in only two-and-a-half years), pick-up basketball, fund-raising (Obama's handlers hope to raise a billion dollars in propaganda money) and gourmet dinners.

What, me worry?


Weiner shrinks from view as Dems, staffers abandon ship

Now that the X-rated photo of Anthony's Weiner has hit the inter-tubes, the writing is on the Facebook wall.

Democrat leadership -- including the powerful head of the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee -- has finally had its fill of Weiner and are calling on him to resign immediately.

Furthermore, Weiner's staff (heh) has reportedly begun expedited job-hunting.

To top things off, the Congressman's wife Huma is reportedly pregnant.

And if you happen to be feeling a bit sympathetic for the Weiner's plight, don't. He was a sleazebag from the very beginning of his political career.


Hat tips: Ame, Memeorandum and CityRoom.

Photo: About a decade after Bill Clinton left the DC area...

A class photo at Beltway Elementary School.

The conundrum is, as The Lid observes, that Anthony Weiner must go, but Bill Clinton is 'one of our greatest presidents evah'".


Opie and Anthony release Weiner's X-rated wiener photo #weinergate

It was bound to happen.

The X-rated photograph of Anthony's Weiner that Andrew Breitbart obtained from one of the esteemed Congressman's sexting partners has made its way to the Internets.

Apparently, in the process of showing various Weiner shots to news producers, radio hosts Opie and Anthony obtained a photo of Breitbart's iPhone screen.

Breitbart was unaware of this until earlier today. Anthony Cumia confirms that "Andrew Breitbart had no knowledge that this photo was being made public."

If you're feeling masochistic, the pic (little p) is over at Pat Dollard's website.

Me, I try to run a family-friendly blog here. That, and the fact that I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.


Related (in reverse chronological order):
Weiner squeezed from all sides
The Daily Weiner, June 6th 2011
We got a bleeder! Weiner trapped by TweetCongress.org
Short-fused Weiner visibly stiffens when confronted by local CBS reporter, calls police
Kudos to CNN's Dana Bash: Absolutely Shreds Anthony's Weiner
Weiner stiffens defenses against #Weinergate "distraction", lawyers up, and insists that we all "move on"
Weinergate Timeline
Now that @GennetteNicole has broken her #Weinergate silence, I have just a couple of questions
Photos: Anthony Weiner's Self-Proclaimed Girlfriend
Anthony Weiner makes underwhelming Twitter debut

Larwyn's Linx: The ravages of Obamacare 'reform,' continued

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Nation

The ravages of Obamacare 'reform,' continued: Malkin
Weiner's Ethics Problem: NRO
Expel Weiner If He Won't Leave Congress: IBD

Not So Fast With That Waiver Wand, Frau Sebelius: Babalu
A Teleconference With RNC Chairman Reince Priebus: RWN
Weinergate reminds us not to give these clowns more power: Exam

What Can You Say At This Point? : Power Line
Pawlenty Aims at a New Reagan Coalition: Commentary
Herman Cain pledges to cut bills down to three pages or less: DC

Economy

Obama Economy Hits Young People the Hardest: ATR
Jesse Jackson Wants to End the War on Drugs: Reason
New York State's Shame: Malkin

Obama On Jobs: "We Don’t Know Yet What Happened": Hayward
Prudently-Managed Banks Pillaged by Big Government Dems: Mish
More People Using 401(K) Funds As Piggy Banks: Consumerist

Great: a Federal LGBT Youth Summit: RWN
Report: How Delta supports the troops... with excessive bag fees: Malkin
As SoCal Braces for Big Grocery Strike, UFCW Urges Shoppers to Respect Picket Lines: RS

Climate & Energy

Government Motors Wants Higher Gas Taxes: Hayward
Compound Interest On AGW Stupidity: CBullitt
The Great Global Warming Hoax?: Middlebury

Media

Sarah Palin on a Dais: Innominatus
WaPo Fact Checker Obliterates Obama Bailout Claims: WZ
MSNBC: (2004) – Natural Disasters Create Jobs, (2011) – Natural Disasters Wipe Out Jobs: BigJournalism

Progressives Take Aim at Bush Tax Cuts: AmPower
Andrew Breitbart Catches Another One: Bruce
Michele Bachmann's First Big Mistake - Hiring Ed Rollins: LegalIns

Behold the Face of the Modern Left: NRO
Let Them Eat Cake! Tonight’s White House Dinner Menu: WZ
Rush to Democrats: Obama’s gonna drag you down: TRS

Direct Comparison: Gennette C’s Statement and Weiner’s Cover Up Advice: VS
White House/Obama email information collection — it’s getting weird: RWN
Blago on the stand: Incredible!: Trib

World

American Mosques: Jihad’s Incubators: BigPeace
UK: 40 universities are breeding grounds for Islamic terror: Creeping
The Decline And Fall Of The American Empire: SDA

Egypt Officially Declares Muslim Brotherhood A Legal Political Group: WZ
Feds accuse (illegal alien?) gang of targeting blacks in Calif city: AP
Policeman jailed for using Mugabe's toilet: GlobPost

SciTech

Apple Has Finally Stuck A Dagger Into SMS. I Love It.: TechCrunch
Complaint to FCC: Verizon mustn't bar 4G tethering: CNet
Still-frail Jobs appears to hail Apple's latest: Yahoo!

Cornucopia

Weinermandius: IowaHawk
Today in History: The Call For Independence: Foundry
I Have a Right to Affordable Health Care…and a Sig Sauer P229: AllAm

Image: Search for IN student reminiscent of 2000 case
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Help us find Lauren Spierer

QOTD: "Nemesis is always hot on the trail of hubris, across time and space, and the goddess has been particularly busy in destroying the carefully crafted images of Bono, John Edwards, Timothy Geithner, Al Gore, Eliot Spitzer, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Anthony Weiner, and a host of others. What do their tax hypocrisies, sexual indulgences, and aristocratic socialist lifestyles all have in common?

Collectively, they represent a self-appointed or elected global elite that oversees, lectures about — in sanctimonious fashion — the ethical responsibilities of the redistributive state." --Victor Davis Hanson

Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Destroying the future, one job at a time

Unemployed -- which is to say, almost all -- young people are abandoning Barack Obama in record numbers.

A very large proportion of recent university graduates have soured on President Barack Obama, and many will vote GOP or stay at home in the 2012 election, according to two new surveys of younger voters.

...The scope of this disengagement from Obama is suggested by an informal survey of 500 post-grads by Joe Maddalone, founder of Maddalone Global Strategies. Of his sample, 93 percent are aged between 22 and 28, 67 percent are male and 83 percent voted for Obama in 2008. But only 27 percent are committed to voting for Obama again, and 80 percent said they would consider voting for a Republican, said New York-based Maddalone.

That’s a drop of almost 60 points in support for Obama among this influential class of younger post-grad voters, who Maddalone recruited at conferences held at New York University and Thomson-Reuters’ New York headquarters.

The bad news for Obama was underlined May 19 with a report by a job-firm Adecco that roughly 60 percent of recent college-grads have not been able to find a full-time job in their preferred area. One-in-five graduates have taken jobs far from their training, one-in-six are dependent on their parents, and one-in-four say they’re in debt, according to the firm’s data.

Each household in America is now on the hook for $534,000 in debt and unfunded liabilities, with "a staggering $5.3 trillion ... added to the ... tab last year" alone.

These college kids are, unfortunately, learning a very hard lesson in macroeconomics. Centralized, authoritarian, Soviet-style government can't work, doesn't work and, in fact, has never worked in all of human history.


Full Disclosure [TheBad]

TheBad:

In light of recent disclosures from Congressman Weiner regarding photos of his wiener, I felt compelled to also disclose my indiscretions.

I fully and freely admit that I have, in my life, taken lewd photos and videos of myself. I have sent these digital files to women. All were of consenting age, and all were consenting to receive these images. Regrettably, I sent many of these while simultaneously maintaining a monogamous marriage. I was also in my twenties and not entrusted with running the government.

Anthony Weiner is his mid-forties, recently married, is an elected government official, and acting like a dumb-ass who just turned 21 last night. My next birthday will be my 40th, and I left this sort of behavior behind more than a decade ago. I wasn’t recently married either. Back when I was behaving badly, it was because I was unhappy in my marriage, young, having no children and making more money than I needed. As such, I was free to act like an ass – especially since what I did with my life had no salient consequence for the country in general.

I don’t minimize my behavior for rationalization. Merely, I offer my testimony as a contrast to the Congressman who has chosen not to resign. He has lied to his constituents. He has lied to America. He has voluntarily chosen his own interests above those whom he has been elected to serve. I, as will most Americans, own up to my failures and accept the consequences of my actions. When it comes to progressives, two tears and 30 minutes of apologies are enough to put it all behind us with no consequence whatsoever.

Sure, I don’t intend to run for or hold public office, so my disclosure here means next to nothing. If this were to be sent to the head office of my employer, they wouldn’t care at all. That’s because my employer isn’t the American taxpayer. My on-the-job decisions are dictated by the corporation. Should I break from the corporate rules, I am subject to immediate termination. Such is the way with Congressman Weiner. This behavior is not acceptable and the pink slip better be coming.

What I find equally infuriating is the hypocrisy among the left regarding Weiner. His defense from the web to MSNBC was remarkable. Now, after he has admitted lying all the while, the usual media suspects continue to defend and espouse equivocation regarding his behavior. These same yes-people would be the very first to report and publish my indiscretions from my twenties if I ran for office, and would endlessly pontificate on my disqualification of office as such. Yet, the same indiscretions of someone already in office yield no such analysis.

Consider the outrageous hypocrisy: that Weiner can survive this and retain his office due to the partisan political duplicity of the left. When will liberal Americans wake up and realize that people who behave like this are not interested in anything other than themselves?

Can they not see that they, too, are expendable in the minds of our Democrat "ruling class"?


A "Devastating" Unemployment Chart

Michelle Malkin calls this unemployment chart "devastating."

The good folks at e21 have updated the wildly optimistic chart from January 2009 prepared by incoming White House economists Jared Bernstein and Christina Romer. You know, the one that show the Obama stimulus plan would keep unemployment from hitting 8 percent.


It turns out that the only thing the Stimulus stimulated was public sector union employment.

A large chunk of the union dues will, inevitably, end up in the coffers of Democrat politicians.

It's legalized theft, plain and simple. All taxpayers, irrespective of political persuasion, are funding Democrat politicians through the unholy, unlawful alliance of big government and the Democrat Party.

Remember in 2012.


Weiner squeezed from all sides

Let's summarize what we know so far of the delightful exploits of Anthony Weiner (Degenocrat-NY).

He sent lewd pictures of himself to a variety of women, including college co-eds; and was in contact with high school girls as well.

When confronted with evidence of his depraved behavior, he publicly lied directly and repeatedly -- with a pathological fervor -- that he had done so

He then tried to cover up his Internet affairs -- and his lies -- by offering public relations assistance to females including a porn star with whom he'd been corresponding

He is alleged to have used government property to carry on these liaisons

Most importantly, he -- as an important member of Congress and serving on key committees -- exposed himself to blackmail and other skulduggery

But, no, Weiner: don't resign. You're just helping reinforce the reputation of the Democrat Party as not only fiscally disastrous and criminally irresponsible, but also perverted and pathological.

So, please, Weiner: stay in office. You're the new poster boy -- along with Debbie Wasserman-Schultz -- of the proud traditions of the modern Democrat Party.


Hat tip: Memeorandum.

Larwyn's Linx: You Lie! Why the Hypocrisy Defense is political suicide for liberalism

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

You Lie!: babalu
Why the Hypocrisy Defense is political suicide for liberalism: Zombie
What is Elizabeth Warren hiding from Congress?: WashExam

GOP Votes to Defund Obama’s Socialist ACORN Army: GWP
CDC Misrepresents Crime Data to Promote Gun Control: PJM
Obama threatens to cut off health funds to Indiana: RWN

Economy

Government-Assisted Economic Suicide: EconNois
True Cost of Fannie, Freddie Bailouts: $317 Billion, CBO Says: CNS
Pelosi: Economic Crisis is Over, Obama saved us: RollCall

Cut, Cap and Balance: Foundry
Pelosi, who failed to pass budget, slams GOP for lack of 'jobs' bill: LC
Gold -- The Anti-Currency: EconNois

Weinergate

WeinerGate: Best. Press Conference. EVER: Driscoll
The Line For Apologies To Breitbart Forms On The Left: LegalIns
Charles Johnson: I Won't Apologize to Breitbart: LegalIns

Breitbart Gets It Right. Liberal Media Gets It Wrong. As Usual.: RWN
Daily KOS: Weiner’s Press Conference Was FAKE!!: Glob
Breitbart Rocks Weiner Presser: “I’m Here For Some Vindication”: GWP

Yub Nub!: RSM
Where's NOW and Planned Parenthood? Anthony Weiner Stands for Women?: AmPower
Tony Weiner: Member of Congress: JPA

Climate & Energy

Climate alarmist: deniers should be branded with a tattoo just like the Jews under Nazi rule: BlogProf
Oscar-Nominated Green Documentary Plays Fast and Loose With the Facts: Ace
Australia! Say YES – to an election on carbon tax: WUWT

Media

Media Democrats shouldn't run GOP presidential debates: Hewitt
Democrats: The Smut Meisters of America: That's so Haram
Here Are 12 Reasons Why The AOL-Huffington Post Merger Is Going Down In Flames: SFgate

Valerie Jarrett’s Father-in-Law Was a Communist – Worked With Obama Mentor Frank Marshall Davis: Loudon
That’s Not Healthy: Even Krugman Admits Medicare Is a Lousy Program: Cato
MSNBC.com Accuses Walter Williams of Making Racist Statements on Fox: NB

World

Progressive Democrats Of America Endorses New Flotilla Against Israel: BigGovt
Iran Human Rights Head: Execution, Eye Gouging, Cutting off Hands and Feet ‘Beautiful and Necessary’: Kahlili
Egyptian cleric: “First, we ask a person nicely to convert”: Creeping

The Collapse of a Rotten Edifice: Hanson
Rand Analyst: Iranian A-Bomb May Be Eight Weeks Away: IPT
Saudi judge: sever spinal cord as sharia punishment: Creeping

SciTech

Does Mason want to get out of Groupon?: Fortune
Cyberspies Target China Experts: WSJ
Enough With 'Call of Duty,' Answer the Call in Room 417: WSJ

Cornucopia

D-Day: 67th anniversary: Malkin
Cinderella's Ball, This Time With Pendulums: NPR
Day 3: Student Lauren Spierer still missing, friends build support network: IDS

Image: All American Blogger
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Help Find Lauren Spierer

QOTD: "The Chance the Gardener presidency is killing the economy, bankrupting the nation and endangering our allies. Voters deserve [GOP] debates in which the only people in the room not aware of those facts are those who are asking the questions." --Hugh Hewitt

Monday, June 06, 2011

The #Weinergate Caption Contest All Americans Can Support

All American Blogger is running the caption contest of the day, month and possibly year.

Here's my entry:

I'm actually swelling with pride over this.