Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Operation Gunrunner explodes into legacy media: ATF agents rip gun sting effort on Mexico border

I'll make a prediction here and now: Eric Holder will not survive this.

...U.S. firearms agents told lawmakers on Wednesday they were instructed to only watch as hundreds of guns were bought, illegally resold and sent to Mexico where drug-related violence has raged for years ... they were told not to arrest the so-called straw buyers and instead see where the guns went.

Republicans and Democrats on the panel expressed outrage about the ATF program -- "Operation Fast and Furious" -- and demanded answers from the Obama administration about why arrests were secondary to tracking the firearms.

"We monitored as they purchased handguns, AK-47 variants and .50 caliber rifles, almost daily at times," John Dodson, an ATF special agent in Phoenix, told the committee... An ATF supervisor in Phoenix, Peter Forcelli, said some tried to raise concerns with supervisors but were rebuffed...

...Republicans and Democrats expressed outrage at the ATF program, particularly about two weapons being found at the scene where a U.S. Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry, was killed in a shootout with illegal immigrants... Republicans on the panel have demanded documents and information about the program from the Justice Department, which includes the ATF, but the Obama administration has resisted...

The most partisan Attorney General since John Mitchell appears to be unlawfully stonewalling Congress.

We, the American people, demand to know what Eric Holder knew and when he knew it.


Signs of Desperation Appear in Obama’s Camp [Dan from New York]

Dan from New York:

Appears the Democrats' copywriters are already out of ideas – just like their client.

###

Obama Campaign Sends Around Misleading DNC Video on GOP Debate


ABC News, June 14, 2011

At last night’s Republican debate, the seven candidates talked about unemployment, taxes, regulations, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s talk of a goal of 5% GDP growth, the individual mandate in the health care bill, the Independent Medicare Advisory Board, welfare reform, the Tea Party, currency policy, the National Labor Relations Board, Boeing, TARP, the auto bailout, Rep. Paul Ryan’s Medicare proposal, former Gov. Mitt Romney’s health care program in Massachusetts, raising the debt ceiling, raising the retirement age for Social Security, the role of religion in public life, the 10th amendment, Libya, Afghanistan, and so on.

But President Obama’s 2012 campaign is sending out a DNC video suggesting the candidates spoke only about sharia law, an anti-gay-marriage amendment, repealing health care, Sarah Palin, and the space program.

Read the rest and see the video right here.

###

Look for: Insulting Americans’ intelligence (liberals and other hopeless Obamaphiles excepted) and condescension. Most Americans have seen this deceptive and hackneyed technique before and see right through it.

Look for: The “talking-to-yourself syndrome” and inadvertently doing ads for the other side. The cloistered lefties and liberals who make up Team Obama can’t imagine that their “invidious” sound bites actually deal with issues that are of concern to the American people, and for those who still dwell on planet Earth, show the Republican candidates in a favorable light.

[rim shot]

When you've lost ABC...


Flatlined: Catastrophic Obamanomics Chart o' the Day

Yes, I know. He's historic.

What's fascinating about this graph is that you can see we appear to have been in a normal, run-of-the-mill recession until the Obama "Stimulus" package kicked in 2009. After that point, the endless printing of money, the attendant stealth inflation, and the suppression of free enterprise by swarms of new government bureaucrats all conspired to crush the private sector.

Now imagine how much worse this chart would look had we removed all government workers from the equation.


Larwyn's Linx: Capitol Hill’s Other Dirty Laundry

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

Capitol Hill’s Other Dirty Laundry: Malkin
Bachmann is running -- and she hit a homer during debate: RWN
Dem Janice Hahn has a viral video smash hit!: RSM

When Government Jumps the Shark: Mead
My take on the New Hampshire debate: Barone
Obama Campaign Advising White House Staff: HuffPo

Loughner and the Insane State: Knish
The Circus Is on the Left, not the Right: Cmmntry
House Democrats Cry Foul Over Rejected Mailings: Roll Call

Economy

Ab Initio: WI Supremes uphold Walker's collective bargaining reform: Ace
NLRB complaint against Boeing needs critical look: Seattle Times
Roubini Warns Of Euro Break Up As Greece Melts Down: Forbes

Obamanomics: Damn those ATMs and airport kiosks!: Malkin
Undercounting the Joblessness: AmSpec
We're Not Boned.       We're B O N E D: Ace

Media

Palin's Door Hits Nate Silver In The Ass: Riehl
NYTimes: 'Media Colonoscopy' of Palin E-Mails Was 'Not a Witch Hunt': RSM
Obama preparing voters – 12,000 crack dealers to be released early from jail: FAM

Let’s Play – It’s Different!: Six Meat
What Legacy Media Should be Covering: DC
About the newspaper that attacked Allen West for scuba-diving with the flag...: Glob

Why Is Media Matters a 501(c)(3)?: BigJourn
Mitt Romney Is The Frontrunner In The Same Way That Donald Trump Was The Front Runner: RWN
Laws are for The Little People (Cont'd): Anthony Weiner’s Pathfinder Has Different Unregistered Plates: BlogProf

World

Frank Gaffney on Jihadi Texts in American Mosques: BigPeace
LAPD Dep. Chief Downing: ‘We should not demonize the Muslim Brotherhood’: PJM
Quislings Enable Islamic Thuggery in England: RWN

PJM Exclusive: Georgetown U. Received $325,000 Funneled Through Terror Front Group: PJM
CAIR director tells Muslims jihad is a “noble cause”: Creeping
Epic Fail: Obama Supporters Try to Defend His Middle East Policy: BRubin

SciTech

Apple starts selling unlocked iPhone 4 for $649, $749: CNet
Skyhook Stays Defiant In War With Google: Forbes
A look at Groupon’s extremely lopsided merchant agreement: Agrawal

Cornucopia

Nominations for the Top 100 Current Clichés in the English Language: Ace
How Did They Get In There?–A Photo Essay: Bruce
Fisting Season In Wiskonsin!: Cube

Image: New York Post (EPA)
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Team Bachmann

QOTD: "You have to be a Keynesian nutcase to believe more spending is the solution to problems caused by too much spending. Such policies have never cured one problem in history, yet proponents of such policies never learn." --Mike Shedlock

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Mexico: 70 percent of arms came from ATF's Project Gunrunner

Of course, I'm reading between the lines.

For those unfamiliar with it, Project Gunrunner was an abortive ATF operation designed to secretly funnel weapons to Mexican drug gangs. The administration's hope was -- presumably -- to blame said gun smuggling on lax gun laws in the U.S. This would, of course, strengthen the Democrats' hand in further restricting Americans' Second Amendment freedoms.

Before the dust settled on yesterday’s opening hearing on the controversial Project Gunrunner and Operation Fast and Furious scandal now plaguing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Democrats were already busy with their defense strategy, which once again demonizes American gun owners and their constitutional rights...

...Democrat Senators Dianne Feinstein, Sheldon Whitehouse and Charles Schumer – the latter whose one-time protégé Anthony Weiner has been making so much news lately on a different subject – issued a report that essentially accuses U.S. gun manufacturers and dealers of arming Mexican drug cartels...

...[the] report is an outside attempt to deflect public attention away from anticipated Gunrunner revelations, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) demonstrated during yesterday’s hearing that he will run interference for the ATF... Tomorrow, it may be difficult for Cummings to try smokescreen tactics on Grassley, Dodson and the family of slain Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, whose name Cummings could not get right at least twice during yesterday’s hearing.

Using "Stimulus" funding, Attorney General Eric Holder -- almost certainly with the assent of President Obama -- orchestrated the sale of weapons to Mexican drug gangs that resulted in the deaths of American law enforcement officials.

Congressional investigators claim U.S. officials allowed American gun stores to sell weapons in bulk to Mexican buyers in order to track the shipments and identify the ringleaders, known as "Operation Fast and Furious" under "Project Gunrunner."

Weapons from those sales were found at the scene of two separate attacks on U.S. agents, and Congress wants to know if they were used specifically in the deaths of Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent Jaime Zapata or Customs and Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, claims the Justice Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is conducting a cover-up in its refusal to hand over documents and witnesses to congressional investigators.

Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he will block President Barack Obama's nominees from confirmation until he gets the documents he needs for his panel's investigation... The efforts by Grassley and Issa have won bipartisan support from Texas lawmakers frustrated with the lack of information about the death of Zapata coming from the administration.

...Zapata, a Brownsville native, was working in Laredo as an ICE agent before he was transferred to Mexico to serve as a U.S. government consultant to the Mexican military's battle against the cartels... He was killed Feb. 15, and agent Victor Avila was wounded, when Los Zetas cartel members shot the agents in their SUV during an attempted car jacking along the highway between Mexico City and San Luis Potosi... The Zapata family wants more information about the death of their son.

Consider this DNC press release only the most recent attempt to absolve the Obama administration from the deaths associated with Gunrunner.

News flash for the drones: it won't work.


Brian Bakst of the AP auditions for SNL

Bakst must have a Fear Bachmann sticker on his Prius.

Her unpredictable edge was on display during Monday night's GOP presidential debate in New Hampshire when, out of the blue, she announced that she had filed papers to be an official candidate for the Republican nomination.

"I do what I say and I say what I mean and I don't change what I do based on a political wind or desire to necessarily move up the next ladder," Bachmann told The Associated Press this spring in an interview in which she stressed her eagerness to "take on not only the opposing party but my own party as well to do what I think is right."

Known for piercing and sometimes inaccurate commentary, she regularly aggravates political foes and provides ample fodder to late-night comics. She once falsely claimed taxpayers would be stuck with a $200 million per day tab for Democratic President Barack Obama's trip to India. She mistakenly identified New Hampshire as the site of the Revolutionary War's opening shots. (That key American moment occurred in Massachusetts.)

Gee, Brian.

And all this time, I thought President Obama's various promises, like:

• "If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan"

• "My plan will save a typical family up to $2,500 on premiums by bringing the health care system into the 21st century"

• "My plan reduces the budget deficit"

...would receive at least a cursory review from legacy media.

But nooooooooo... that would be too much to expect. After all, there could be a rotational career opportunity into the Democrat Party.


The benefits of keeping the UAW out of your auto company: Zero layoffs. Zero strikes. Zero health care premiums. Zero pay cuts.

When it comes to fighting unionization, Subaru's story is an instructive one.

In its 22-year history—a period that has spanned three recessions, a global financial crisis, massive U.S. auto bankruptcies, and the departure of Isuzu, a founding partner, from the operation—SIA has rolled out more than 3 million vehicles and has never resorted to layoffs. Instead, it's given workers a wage increase every year of its operation. Staffers also enjoy premium-free health care, abundant overtime ($15,000 each, on average, in 2010), paid volunteer time, financial counseling, and the ability to earn a Purdue University degree on-site—all in a state that has lost 46,000 auto jobs and suffered multiple plant foreclosures in the past decade.

...To score a cherished "associate" position at the factory—there's a 10-1 ratio of applicants to openings—would-be employees are expected to put in long hours learning and practicing SIA's low-impact manufacturing. That means scrutinizing every byproduct, from welding slag to plastic wrap, for savings. And obsessively slicing seconds off assembly procedures. And a willingness to work whole months of six-day shifts, and likely years on the graveyard shift, while resisting the siren call of unionization. (The United Auto Workers has failed three times to organize the plant's workers.)...

As an aside, congratulations to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker: the Wisconsin Supreme Court just upheld the collective bargaining reform bill. And don't look know, but similar measures are coming to states like... Massachusetts.

That's gonna leave a mark.


Linked by: Ace o' Spades, MRC TV and Maggie's Farm. Thanks!

CNN Shows Everyone its Weiner

Reason #9,036 CNN has an audience roughly the size of Skagway:

BEFORE
The mostly staff-free GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said recently he thinks lawmakers should insist in the debt ceiling talks that funding be cut for the National Labor Relations Board...

...Freshman GOP Sen. Marco Rubio proffered a long list of demands that he wants met before he would support a debt ceiling increase [including] entitlement reform, tax reform, discretionary spending cuts and a balanced budget amendment... Putting aside for the moment that realistically speaking such a list is too large to be accomplished in a few months, Rubio then added an entirely extraneous demand: overhaul the regulatory structure...

AFTER
...Former Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin, who may or may not run for president, has said she would never vote to raise the debt ceiling because she -- incorrectly -- believes that doing so is just a sop for big spenders...

The CNN "reporter" named "Jeanne Sahadi" -- if that is her real name -- really knows how to play it down the middle, eh?


Hat tip: Gabriel Malor.

Larwyn's Linx: Bachmann, Gingrich, and Romney. Oh My!

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Nation

Bachmann, Gingrich, and Romney. Oh My!: RS
Good Night For Romney, Bachmann; Awful One for Pawlenty: Cmmntry
Obama Faces More Voter Anxiety, Less Excitement: CNS

DNC, Obama Hold Fundraising Event at White House: GWP
Bracing for the Dumpster Dives: JOM
Michele Bachmann: hot photos from her vacation on the beach: Knight

Corrupt Obamacare Waivers are Like a Scene from Atlas Shrugged: Cato
'Gunwalker' under fire: PJM
Obama Forming New Commission to Cut Government Waste: Malkin

Economy

The Obama Economy: Worst Since the Depression: WS
Where I Break Out Some Math on Debbie Wasserman-Schultz: Sundries
Priced in gold, median house price down 80% in past decade: ZH

Obama Calls $80B for 225K Jobs ($355K per job) a Success: GWP
Could it happen here?: BigPicture
S&P slashes Greece debt rating: lowest in world: WSJ

After 28 Mos. of 'Stimulus', 1.9MM Fewer People Have Jobs: CNS
Another Disastrous Month: May Budget Deficit $57B: VR
AP: States Have $1.1T In Unfunded Pension, Health Obligations: WZ

Climate & Energy

Obama Visits NC Plant That Used $39MM Stimulus to Make $127 Light Bulbs and Pays CEO $4.2MM: VAright
Power Play: Daily Bayonet
British Study: Electric Cars Not So Green: Malkin

Media

WaPo's ‘Glossary of Islamic terms' omits jihad: …and kufr, caliphate, dar al harb, mujahideen, taqiyaa, ...: Creeping
Obama appointee says Koran, Islam influenced Founding Fathers; writing book on sharia in US courts: Creeping
NYT Gets Into PR Battle With HuffPo Over Traffic Numbers: Insider

Breaking the Weinergate Stalemate: Driscoll
The Weiner Distraction: PJM
Narcissism: It’s All The Rage…: Camp of the Saints

Smackdown! Sorkin vs Taibbi: BigPicture
Palin Emails Revelation: Tons Of Hate Emails And Death Threats: RWN
Ben Smith--The President's Man at Politico: Hewitt

World

Panetta: Obama Can Unilaterally Use Military to Protect ‘National Interests’: CNS
Obama in Puerto Rico: How Will His ‘PR’ Stunt Play Out?: PJM
Roubini Says a ‘Perfect Storm’ May Converge on the Global Economy in 2013: Bloomberg

Why Panetta? Is Slashing Defense the Real End Game Here?: NoisyRoom
"Praise Allah. I’m going to kill the world" -- Muslim woman makes bomb threat on D.C. Metro: JihadWatch
Eight Jet Engines Stolen From Israeli AFB: DefTech

LulzSec Hacks Senate Server, Asks Rhetorically "Is This An Act Of War, Gentlemen?": ZH
Israel’s Newly Discovered Oil Reserves Could Rival Saudi Arabia’s: WZ
Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood Warns Of 'American-Zionist' Conspiracy: 'Allah Warned Us The Tricks Of The Jews': WZ

SciTech

Facebook IPO Valuation Could Top $100 Billion: Sources: Yahoo!
Why Groupon Is Poised For Collapse: TechCrunch
It’s A Facebook World … Other Social Networks Just Live In It: TechCrunch

Google Leaves Shareholders in Dark About ‘Green’ Investments: PJM
Sonic.net launching 1Gbps fiber-to-home Internet for $70 per month: ZDNet
Secrets of Area 51: History, technology, and controversy: CNet

Cornucopia

Will Weinergate Blow “President” Hillary's “Cover?”: Uncoverage
Weiner Seeks TWEETment: SHN
The Tailor: YouTube

Image: Adapted from AP photo by Jim Cole.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: TrendingRight.com

Monday, June 13, 2011

Allen West: Obama is General Custer at Our Economic Little Big Horn

If there's a Congressional award for being blunt and truthful, Rep. Allen West has my vote.

We still have no definitive plan for the debt limit coming from the Obama Administration, regardless of the “negotiations” being led by Vice President Joe Biden...

...When President Obama stood with German leader Angela Merkel and stated that he was not concerned about a double dip recession, that made me think the statement would be similar to General George Custer stating to the Troopers of the 7th Calvary at Little Big Horn, “Hey, nothing to worry about.”

One needs only to look at the economic indicators of job growth, quite anemic to say the least, and the fact that the Dow Jones had its sixth straight week of negative slide. These are the first six straight weeks since 2002.

This month the Federal Reserve’s Quantitative Easing (QE II) will come to an end. It means that the federal government has been monetarizing our debt by buying its own treasury bonds, printing more money, and lowering interest rates to rock bottom, yet these steps have not produced any sustainable improvements.

We could seriously be on the verge of an inflationary fiscal environment. And if anyone from the Obama Administration recommends increased Keynesian style stimulus spending, well, let us go back and look at how many stimulus packages Japan initiated.

We are so not out of the woods, and last year’s “Summer of Recovery,” has now turned into the possibility of a dubious and dastardly double dip recession.

I think West is being optimistic. We've never left the economic downturn.

And the administration's devotion to crony capitalism and job-destroying policies are keeping us in the muck and mire.


He really, really doesn't feel your pain

If the 72 rounds of golf and eleven weekends in a row of hitting the links hasn't convinced you, perhaps this will.

It's very reassuring to see the president cracking jokes about his anemic economic record. Jobless Americans will surely be rolling in the aisles of unemployment offices nationwide, thankful in the knowledge we have such a steady hand in the White House.

President Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness met today in Durham, NC at Cree Inc., a company that manufactures energy-efficient LED lighting. One of the Council's recommendations to President Obama was to streamline the federal permit process for construction and infrastructure projects. It was explained to Obama that the permitting process can delay projects for "months to years ... and in many cases even cause projects to be abandoned ... I'm sure that when you implemented the Recovery Act your staff briefed you on many of these challenges." At this point, Obama smiled and interjected, "Shovel-ready was not as ... uh .. shovel-ready as we expected." The Council, led by GE's Jeffrey Immelt, erupted in laughter.


Erupted in laughter. We'll see who's laughing come November 2012.

After he was done yukking it up, Obama flew our our dime down to Miami for a trio of fundraisers...

And if you really want to crack up, Pimco chief Bill Gross has another great one-liner: "When adding in all of the money owed to cover future liabilities in entitlement programs the US is actually in worse financial shape than Greece and other debt-laden European countries."

Maybe our politicians could take a cue from the Greek parliament, which appears to be preparing evacuation tunnels for the moment on Wednesday when 100,000 public sector workers find out they're toast.


President Obama advises Anthony Weiner: "If I was in your shoes, I'd be..." "Leaving! What a good idea!"

The official television outlet of the Democrat National Committee aired an exclusive interview with the Golfer-in-Chief, who took time from his busy schedule to lay down a riff on Weinergate. Oh, and jobs.

In an exclusive interview with TODAY’s Ann Curry that will air on Tuesday’s show, President Barack Obama said that if he were Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner right now, he would resign in the wake of the scandal in which Weiner admitted to sending explicit photos of himself to women online.

“I can tell you that if it was me, I would resign,’’ Obama told Curry.

Weiner has been the talk of the nation since he was caught sending lewd photos of himself to various women on multiple social media platforms, prompting the head of the Democratic National Party to call for him to step down and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi to demand an ethics committee investigation.

“When you get to the point where, because of various personal distractions, you can't serve as effectively as you need to, at the time when people are worrying about jobs, and their mortgages, and paying the bills — then you should probably step back,’’ Obama said... [adding] that what Weiner did was “highly inappropriate’’ and that he has “embarrassed himself” and his wife and family, but said it will ultimately come down to a decision by Weiner and his constituents as to whether he will continue in office.

While the President understands why the scandal has generated so much attention, he told Curry that it was behind joblessness, the economy and Afghanistan on his radar right now... “I am absolutely confident that we can move forward on a plan that gets our debt under control, gets our deficit under control, but also makes sure that we're making the investments in the future that are going to help us put people back to work.’’

Thanks to Mark Levin, we can easily deconstruct this psychobabble.

When Obama says the word investments, he means more spending and higher taxes. Can anyone ask the president what happened to the $6.4 trillion of new debt investments President Obama will have added to America's tab in four short years in office, an increase of 60% over the entire debt America rang up in 230-odd years?

And when says in the future, he means never. None of this central planning, authoritarian, Soviet-style, centralized suppression of the free market can work, will work, or has ever worked throughout human history.

That is why Obama must always look to the future: to paint an idyllic image for drones and sycophants who are too dimwitted to realize that the Utopia he describes is but a socialist mirage. And that is why he also never takes responsibility for his mistakes: anything that's gone wrong in the past is the fault of prior administrations, the weather, anything but Obama himself.

Truth be told, all that lies in the future under this president is misery. Of that there can be no doubt.


Larwyn's Linx: An American Descent Into Hell

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Nation

An American Descent Into Hell: NoisyRoom
Fishing For Moby Dick With A Cane Pole: No Sheeples
Pawlenty Debuts New Term: Obamneycare: Malkin

Justice Scalia Rips Lawmakers as Sleepy and Lazy: Blaze
Report: Weiner finally considering resignation: WZ
Chicago: letting bad cops slide while harrassing citizens: HuffPo

Bachmann: ‘I Bring von Mises’ to the Beach: NRO
NOW Backs Weiner, Gives Him "Benefit Of The Doubt”: WZ
CNN: Americans oppose Obamacare by 17 points: WS

Economy

Pick up the Darned Phone: Blumer
40,000 MN workers get layoff notices: LUR
Sino Forests – some thoughts: Bronte

Senator Seeking Answers on NLRB’s Attack on Boeing: RWN
Obama to discuss jobs at company shifting focus to China: DC
Stopping Section 8/HUD Housing in Cincinnati: VirtRep

Jim Rogers: Financial crisis of 2008 was just a warm-up: EconCol
Will CME Move out of Illinois?: P&F
How NBA Owners Lost $300 Million this Year: RefBrok

Climate & Energy

Thanks To Obama’s Radical Environmental Regulations Electricity Rates Expected To Jump 40% – 60%: WZ
Crony Capitalism and Obama's Anti-Coal Crusade: AT
The Ultimate Bird-Shredder Fail: CBullitt

Media

Weiner Nation: Kuhner
Am I The Only One Who Anthony Weiner Didn't D***-Dial?: Ace
The Sarah Palin I Know: Ziegler

My Chat With Gennette Cordova: Patterico
The Democrats/MSM’s Bad Weekend in three screen shots: DTG
Weiner Sexts: Less Sex, More Ego: Forbes

Viva the New American Revolution: PJM
So it begins: Interviewed on MSNBC, Dick Durbin admits that this is now Barack Obama’s economy: IHTM
Ann Coulter Smacks Down Arrogant Eliot Spitzer: 'What Business Have You Run?': NB

World

Another “WTF” Obama Foreign Policy Moment: Palin
Egypt: Cleric Explains It Is Ok To Take Non-Muslim Women And Children As Slaves: WZ
UK: Police “Covered Up” Violent Campaign To “Islamicize” Area Of London: WZ

Obama gives Netanyahu ultimatum on resuming talks: Blaze
Giving Away the Farm: White House freely giving Russia sensitive missile defense information: Woolsey
ObamaCare Preview: Body of hospital patient left to die in corridor, ignored for hours--finally dragged away: BlogProf

SciTech

Report: Facebook user growth slowing: CNet
Microsoft NUAds: Engage With Xbox Kinect Game Ads Through Voice, Gestures: TechCrunch
Chevy Taking Nationwide Orders For ’12 Volt: CBS Detroit

Cornucopia

It's Pentecost: Adrienne
Tweet This: Anthony Weiner Action Figure Coming Soon: POH Diaries
You're a peein': iOTW

Image: Internet k-hole (NSFW)
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: TrendingRight.com

QOTD: "Mr. Weiner’s actions are unacceptable for a public representative. His behavior was reckless, demonstrating an appalling lack of judgment. It also showed contempt for his constituents. He disgraced his office, violated his congressional oath to uphold the highest ethical standards and deliberately lied to his constituents and the electorate. Moreover, several messages reveal that he sought to coach a woman into lying about the scandal - including possibly offering the use of his staff and office resources. This would constitute clear abuse of power and misuse of taxpayer dollars...

...The problem is that Weinergate goes to the heart of the Democrats’ cultural liberalism. Try as they might to disown him, he embodies the party’s moral rot. Mr. Weiner is a progressive crusader. He has championed almost every secular leftist cause: socialized medicine, government day care, welfare, high taxes, abortion rights, homosexual marriage, gays in the military, sex education in schools and a European-style nanny state. In other words, he peddles sex and socialism - the twin pillars of progressivism." --Jeffrey T. Kuhner, "Weiner Nation"

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Sims App to offer Facebook flirting: Anthony Weiner hardest hit

Pity this virtual flirtation app didn't arrive in time to save Anthony Weiner's bony butt.

The Sims Social to offer Facebook flirting

Electronic Arts is hoping to convince folks to covet thy neighbor's wife. Or that co-worker you've always lunched with. Or your college sweetheart.

Virtually, of course.

...It's a game, like Zynga's Farmville, that encourages Facebook friends to play alongside one another. But rather than growing crops, EA seems to be encouraging friends to hook up. It's not really clear, though, because EA isn't talking much about the game, hoping teasing the game will create enough buzz.

"Lots of questions, but there's not a lot of information about the game," said Robert Lamvik, who works in the marketing department at EA. All Lamvik would offer is a canned marketing line about being excited that "the world's largest PC franchise is combining with the world's largest social network."

But a video trailer of the game hints at what's in store. It starts with Facebook messages between two women, noting that a certain guy's status has gone from "in a relationship" to "single."

"OMG!! They finally broke up!" one woman notes. And then she invites him to join her in The Sims Social. They dance, virtually. He prepares virtual tapas for her. They even watch a romantic film, holding virtual hands. "DID YOU KISS????" the woman's friend asks over Facebook.

That, and much more. The Sims Social couple moves into a bedroom to neck. Then, they strip down to their skivvies and jump in the shower together. Hearts float up from the shower and a "woohoo" can be heard, presumably from behind the shower curtain... In a press release, the company says that gamers can "engage with every aspect of their Sim's social lives from the intense emotion of a first kiss to the flawless execution of a hilarious prank." They can even "pee on a neighbor's lawn."

Another unintended benefit of the game: it will make visits to the Congressional gym a lot safer.


Great news from the border: cartels kidnapping bus passengers for gladiatorlike fights to the death

As Mexico descends into all all-out civil war between drug cartels, the level of barbarism almost defies belief.

The elderly are killed. Young women are raped. And able-bodied men are given hammers, machetes and sticks and forced to fight to the death.

In one of the most chilling revelations yet about the violence in Mexico, a drug cartel-connected trafficker claims fellow gangsters have kidnapped highway bus passengers and forced them into gladiatorlike fights to groom fresh assassins.

...If what he says is true, gangsters who make commonplace beheadings, hangings and quartering bodies have managed an even crueler twist to their barbarity... Members of the Zetas cartel, he says, have pushed passengers into an ancient Rome-like blood sport with a modern Mexico twist that they call, "Who is going to be the next hit man?"

"They cut guys to pieces," he said... The victims are likely among the hundreds of people found in mass graves in recent months, he said... In the vicinity of the Mexican city of San Fernando, nearly 200 bodies were unearthed from pits, and authorities said most appeared to have died of blunt force head trauma.

Many are believed to have been dragged off buses traveling through Mexico, but little has been said about the circumstances of their deaths... The trafficker said those who survive are taken captive and eventually given suicide missions, such as riding into a town controlled by rivals and shooting up the place.

40,000 people have died in Mexico's ongoing civil war over the past several years.

Just Thursday, authorities in Mexico said they arrested members of the Zetas and seized 201 automatic weapons, 600 camouflage uniforms and 30,000 rounds of ammunition... With the recent killing of the ICE agent and perhaps other attacks, the Zetas also are breaking the golden rule for Mexican traffickers: Don't kill Americans, he said. It brings too much heat.

...the [drug] checkpoints Mexican officials operate along the highways between Central Mexico and the border do not pose much of a problem, Juan said... The trick, he confided, is to send someone in advance to bribe a commander so a drug load won't be bothered.

These incidents, of course, highlight the egregious failure of the federal government to secure the border.

The Tucson Citizen reports that many Arizonans believe illegal aliens are to blame for the massive wildfires now engulfing the state.

The two largest wildfires burning in Southern Arizona originated in rugged, mountainous corridors frequently used by cross-border people and drug smugglers... And the U.S. Forest Service has determined that both fires were human-caused.

So even though the investigations remain open, speculation is ablaze that illegal immigrants or smugglers are responsible for the Horseshoe 2 Fire northeast of Douglas and the Murphy Complex Fire northwest of Nogales.

“It’s definitely not caused by somebody on a picnic whose wiener overcooked,” resident Brad Titcomb said about the Murphy Fire, which came within a mile of his house in the Aliso Springs neighborhood west of Tubac. “This is illegal traffic one way or another.”

Which makes the failure of the Obama administration to secure the border all the more outrageous.


Hat tips: TrendingRight.com and Borderland Beat.

Narcissistic rage, envy and revenge at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Narcissistic rage and envy: The narcissistic individual ... is prone to intense anger, an irrational rage, which may take the form of acute explosions or be chronic and vengeful. This narcissistic rage is provoked by the slightest—real or imagined—narcissistic insult, such as not being seen, understood, or appreciated, in the way one feels he deserves. Narcissistic envy may arise; one hates anyone who has (or seems to have) ... external acclaim and feels pain about not having what the other has. (The Point of Existence)


On May 20th of this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "publicly lectured" Barack Obama over the president's call for the tiny Jewish state to return to its pre-1967 borders. Netanyahu called the borders "indefensible" and flatly rejected the president's demands. Observers in legacy media were "stunned" that anyone had dared stand up to the president:

ABC's Christiane Amanpour declared she was "stunned" by his "public lecture" of the President and NBC's Andrea Mitchell hissed, "it was really rude," and charged he treated Obama "like a school boy."

Mitchell didn't reserve her criticism to Netanyahu as she even went after Republicans who dared to take his side, accusing them of "piling on the President."

During Netanyahu's statement, Obama's body language was imperious and withdrawn. According to an unverified report, once Netanyahu had departed, Obama flew into a rage over the perceived insult:

Shortly after the photo-op meeting and “working lunch” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the one that saw President Obama openly chastised by the Prime Minister for Obama’s earlier public comments regarding wanting to see Israel return to its 1967 borders, the president verbally “went off” on Richard Daley in the private study area that adjoins the Oval Office. President Obama’s verbal attack was clearly heard by numerous staff up and down the West Wing hallways.

The essence of the president’s rage and embarrassment can best be summed up with him yelling out very loudly, “What the f*** was that!?” That phrase was apparently repeated a number of times in the span of about five minutes, a time period in which Obama’s voice became “louder and louder” and culminating in Obama exclaiming, “Never again! Do you understand me? Never again!” Any response by Bill Daley back to the president, if given, was not overheard.

In today's Washington Post, Jennifer Rubin ("Obama bullies Israel; so much for promises at AIPAC") describes how the president may be exacting his revenge for Netanyahu's perceived rebuke.

Since the president’s Arab Spring speech, friends of Israel have been nervous about at least two issues: the promise Israel would not have to sit down with those who seek its destruction and the negotiations based on the “1967 borders with land swaps.” This weekend it became apparent that there is much to worry about and that the Obama administration has been playing a game usually practiced by the Palestinians, namely telling its domestic audience one thing and the negotiating parties something different...

The White House is pressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to publicly adopt President Obama’s view that Israel’s pre-1967 border should be the basis for future peace talks [stating it] was part of an effort to head off Palestinian plans to declare an independent state at the United Nations in September.

Is the U.S. president pressuring Israel to adopt a position that is not its own and diminishes its bargaining position? And what happened to the statements in President Obama’s speech to AIPAC that Israel could not be expected to sit down with those who want to destroy it? After all Hamas has not yet agreed to the Quartet principles (recognize Israel, renounce terrorism and abide by past agreements), nor has Mahmoud Abbas separated himself from the unity government.

...Is the administration now asking Israel to sit down with Abbas absent a commitment by Hamas or a break-up of the unity government? By gosh, that should be an easy answer (“No!”) , yet the administration won’t say.

...This is a very, very big deal. Former deputy national security adviser Elliott Abrams explained to me Friday evening: “I hope news reports of what the Obama White House is privately demanding of Israel are wrong. If the reports are right, the U.S. is now abandoning the Quartet Principles — and asking Israel to negotiate with a Palestinian side that includes Hamas without Hamas taking one single step away from terror.

...[And] what about the 1967 borders? Democratic defenders of the president have insisted that “1967 borders with land swaps” is nothing new. But it appears it certainly is. As the insider noted, “Yes, they are pressing for ’67 with swaps, not exactly ’67. But that’s not really the point — they’ve already adopted what was a Palestinian ‘goal’ as U.S. policy."

...And it is actually worse than that... Israel is being pressured to give up prior understandings that the Western Wall and the Jerusalem suburbs, for example, would never be part of a Palestinian state.

Rubin also spoke with Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), "who plainly was angry over the continued effort to bully Israel ... 'President Obama never learns. His real instinct is to weaken Israel. You don’t treat an ally this way.' He said he has never seen this sort of behavior from any U.S. president [and] the current posture is 'shameful.'"

Shameful. Unprecedented. Destructive.

Just like the President's domestic policies.

I urge you to file this report under "Remember in 2012".


Linked by: Gateway Pundit and Flopping Aces. Thanks!

Larwyn's Linx: Obama's Road to Nowhere

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

Obama's Road to Nowhere: Steyn
TSA: Toy Stealers of America: Surber
Rick Perry's ready-made campaign issue: Exam

Lesser Men: TL in Exile
Verum Serum: Randiest Tweet About a Different Boy: Ace
Bachmann doesn't seem to understand Rollins' damage: LegalIns

Alabama Passes Toughest Illegal Immigration Law: RWN
Ryan 2012?: Nice Deb
Great News: SEIU Trying to Infiltrate GOP: Glob

Economy

Immigration policy means unemployment will remain high: Guzzardi
Tim Pawlenty’s 5% Growth Vision: BG
Obama recovery now two years old: IBD

Why America Needs School Choice: Cato
New Hampshire Lives Up to Its Billings: Surber
Deficits: Spending, Not Revenue, Is to Blame: Foundry

Climate & Energy

The hidden cost of ethanol subsidies: PJM
As Promised, Obama Is Destroying Coal Industry: MB
The Self Fulfilling Prophecy Called Environmentalism: HyScience

Attention, Team Romney!: Ace
Global Warming Panic Inducer: 2012 Olympic Torch Not Low Carbon: Malkin
Craziest carbon credit scheme yet – shooting camels in Australia: WUWT

Media

We Need Your Help Tracking Down Governor Palin’s Emails: C4P
Scrutinize the president, not Palin: CNN (Welch)
Liberal Politico Admits: These Palin E-Mails Make Her Look Pretty Damn Good: WZ

The Pathetic Last Children of Nietzsche's Pitiable Last Men: OneCosmos
Bringing New Meaning to the Phrase ‘High School with Money’: Driscoll
Release Of Palin E-Mails Show She Was Barraged With Death Threats: WZ

Flashback Weiner/Imus: on Massa, Paterson, and Rangel Scandals – and Weiner’s Favorite Songs: VS
Weinergate: Barbara Walters Loses Reporter Cred: Anchoress
Bill Maher And Jane Lynch Give A Dramatic Reading Of Anthony Weiner’s Sexts: Mediaite

Will Celebrity Rehab Move Allow Democrats to Go Back to Slurring Ryan?: Commentary
Dark Days at MSNBC: IHTM
New York Times columnists hate government transparency? Must be a Democrat in the White House: Exam

World

Somalia: Africa’s Top al-Qaeda Operative Who Carried Out 1998 US Embassy Bombings Reportedly Killed: WZ
At Yemen's request, FBI arrives to investigate attack on president: GlobPost
Egypt: Prominent Salafi Cleric Urges All Egyptians To Grow Beards... Including Women: WZ

Pics From the Front: WZ
Obama Regime Stabs Britain in the Back on Falkland Islands: RWN
Fear Factor 2012: LegalIns

Allen West: We need to get ready to support Israel: TRS
Fed's $600B Stealth Bailout Of Foreign Banks Continues At The Expense Of U.S. Economy: ZH
Dubai cancelled over 200 property projects: prospectus: Trib

SciTech

Reports: International Monetary Fund suffers network break-in: CNet
DHS Wants to Scan You For Mal-Intent: DefTech
UFC's use of social media expands fan base: WashExam

Cornucopia

Why Am I Not a Feminist?: Day By Day
This is How Michael Caine Speaks: The Trip
Amazing: First photos of Gabrielle Giffords since she was shot released: Post

Image: Edwin Barahona, R.I.P.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Help us find Lauren Spierer

QOTD: "The American Dream, 2011: You pay four bucks a gallon to commute between your McJob and your underwater housing to prop up a spendaholic, grabafeelic, paramilitarized bureaucracy-without-end bankrupting your future at the rate of a fifth of a billion dollars every hour." --Mark Steyn

Saturday, June 11, 2011

It's a Spending Problem, Not a Revenue Problem

The Foundry speaks truth to power:

The main driver behind long-term deficits is government spending'not low revenues.

While revenue will surpass its historical average of 18.0 percent of GDP by 2021, spending will shoot past its historical average of 20.3 percent, reaching 26.4 percent in the same year.

Shhh... no one tell the Democrat Party, which has come up with an original plan for America to regain its fiscal health.

More spending and higher taxes.


Good News: China's Military Showing Off Drones That Target U.S. Aircraft Carriers in Demonstration Videos

Attention, Democrats and Ron Paul kooks: consider this reason #4,305 not to slash defense spending.

...Western defense officials and experts were surprised to see more than 25 different Chinese models of the unmanned aircraft, known as UAVs, on display at this week's Zhuhai air show in this southern Chinese city. It was a record number for a country that unveiled its first concept UAVs at the same air show only four years ago, and put a handful on display at the last one in 2008.

The apparent progress in UAVs is a stark sign of China's ambition to upgrade its massive military as its global political and economic clout grows.

...The U.S. and Israel are currently the world leaders in developing such pilotless drones, which have played a major role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and which analysts say could one day replace the fighter jet.

This year's models in Zhuhai included several designed to fire missiles, and one powered by a jet engine, meaning it could—in theory—fly faster than the propeller-powered Predator and Reaper drones that the U.S. has used in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

...U.S. anxiety about China's UAVs were highlighted in a report released Wednesday by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which was formed by Congress in 2000 to assess the national security implications of trade and economic relations with China.

...The Chinese drone of greatest potential concern to the U.S. is the one with several missiles and a jet engine—called the WJ600—which was displayed by China Aerospace Science & Industry Corp., or Casic, one of China's top weapons makers.

Casic officials declined to comment, but a video and a two-dimensional display by the company showed Chinese forces using the WJ600 to help attack what appeared to be a U.S. aircraft carrier steaming toward an island off China's coast that many visitors assumed to be Taiwan...

And all this time I thought the most important Constitutional duty of the federal government was to protect America and its borders.

Apparently, based upon the actions of President Obama and Democrats in Congress, I was mistaken.


Hat tip: @AdamSBaldwin.

Don't look for legacy media outlets to add features like this one...

Don't look for legacy media outlets like The New York Times to allow features like this one -- where the readers get to have an actual say in what reporters are working on.

Which is but one reason why the Times hemorrhaged 35,000 subscribers -- or nearly 4% of their total -- in just 12 months.