Monday, July 18, 2011

Change You Can Grieve In: US Misery Index Hits 28 Year High

The President's perfect record remains intact: another day, another record for economic malaise shattered.

This must be another one of those things that accompany the American economy one year into the recovery (Tim Geithner ©):


But, Melvin, he's so historic!


Larwyn's Linx: A Fling With the Welfare State

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

A Fling With the Welfare State: Emerie
We Are The Undefeated: Why Sarah Palin should run: Hayward
Opposition to McConnell plan grows among GOP senators: Hill

House Freshmen not on-board for any deals?: RS
Partisan Justice Under Eric Holder: Federale
Ex-Rezko Partner Told Feds Of Payments To Obama: AdvIn

Sheriff Joe Arpaio Punks ICE HSI: Federale
Perry: I'm feeling a call: Hot Air
Every Dem voted against lifting debt ceiling in '06: GWP

Economy

Can’t Buy Love? Try Obama’s Corporate Dating Website: Dewey
California's Pay Day Loan: BG
Scott praises Cantor’s walkout from debt negotiations: Hill

GOP Govs Prove Conservative Economic Principles Work: GWP
Unemployment uh-oh: 9.2% may be the low-water mark: IHTM
True origins of financial crisis: Power Line

Climate & Energy

Globaloney: The Statist Push Continues: Blumer
The War on Copper: Exam
Why Nothing Is “Shovel Ready” Anymore: Mead

Media

Review: Left Turn: How Liberal Media Bias Distorts the American Mind: Power Line
Marco Rubio schools CBS' Bob Schieffer: GWP
'Murdoch Hacking Scandal' vs. NY Times National Security Leaks: TAB

The Slow, Painful Coming Death Of The Independent, Conservative Blogosphere: RWN
How Network News Helped Bring About the Crash: Klavan
Hollywood Hasn’t Lost ‘Hope’: Malkin

Big Demand For The Undefeated Drives Broader Release: Riehl
Gray Lady Gets Yet Another Case of Depression Lust: Driscoll
Keith Olbermann: The Lost Months: MB

World

Al-Qaeda Is Down but Not Out: Foundry
Cain: Voters Should Have Right To Prevent Mosque Construction If Community Opposes It: WZ
Obama Accused Of Crimes Against Humanity Over Bin Laden Killing At International Criminal Court: WZ

Islamic Teacher: Bring Back Slave Girls!: Big Peace
Trichet Repeats Nuclear Threat to Reject Greek Bonds as Collateral; Verbal Discipline or Big Bluff?: Mish
Indonesia: Veiled teen girls send mock bomb to police officer: JihadWatch

Sci-Tech

Make It So: Hands-On With Official Star Trek iPad App: Wired
Orphiro's electric motorcycle: like a Harley, just not obnoxiously loud: Engadget
A beginner's guide to telecom jargon: CNet

Cornucopia

Celebutards from 50 of our 57 states: MOTUS
Casey Anthony: Spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood: RWN
Sunken 19th Century Schooner Found Intact In Lake Ontario: Irish Weather

Image: The Looking Spoon
Sponsored by: URGENT: Tell your Congressman to vote YES on the 'Cut Cap Balance' Act

QOTD: "When Roosevelt signed Social Security into law, it was meant to start coverage at age 65 at a time when 58 was the average life span of male Americans. (Roosevelt himself died at 63 ten years later.) When President Johnson signed Medicare, life spans were still well below today’s standards, and most major medical breakthroughs were still in the future. (Johnson also would die in his 60s.) Neither imagined a world in which people routinely lived into their 80s and 90s, with knee replacements and heart transplants and home dialysis machines. Roosevelt opposed public employee unions, whose pension demands and early retirements are now driving some of our states and cities into bankruptcy. It’s easier to think of goods as rights when the costs are low, and they therefore take little from others. It’s when the costs rise—as in medical treatments—that the political trade-offs rise, too." --Noemie Emery

Sunday, July 17, 2011

A Brief History of the Obama National Debt

Courtesy of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI):

January 20, 2009 - President Obama sworn into office
Debt Held By Public = $6.31 trillion

February 17, 2009 - President Signs into Law the Spending Stimulus
Debt Held by Public = $6.48 trillion

February 26, 2009 - President Issues FY2010 Budget
* Debt Held by Public = $6.58 trillion

March 11, 2009 - President Signs FY2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act
Debt Held by Public = $6.66 trillion

April 29, 2009 - Congressional Democrats Pass FY2010 Budget
Debt Held by Public = $6.85 trillion

February 2, 2010 - President Issues FY2011 Budget
Debt Held by Public = $7.85 trillion

March 23, 2010 - President Signs Health-Care Overhaul Into Law
Debt Held by Public = $8.18 trillion

April 15, 2010 - Congressional Democrats Decide Not to Do a Budget for FY2011
Debt Held by Public = $8.39 trillion

July 21, 2010 - President Signs Financial Regulatory Overhaul Into Law
Debt Held by Public = $8.69 trillion

February 14, 2011 - President Issues FY2012 Budget
Debt Held by Public = $9.45 trillion

April 13, 2011 - President Delivers Speech on Deficit Reduction
Debt Held by Public = $9.65 trillion

April 15, 2011 - House Passes FY2012 Budget Resolution
Debt Held by Public = $9.68 trillion

April 18, 2011 - S&P Issues Credit Warning on U.S. Debt
Debt Held by Public = $9.68 trillion

May 13, 2011 - Medicare and Social Security Trustees Issue Warning of Looming Insolvency
Debt Held by Public = $9.67 trillion

May 25, 2011 - Senate Unanimously Rejects President’s FY2012 Budget; Vote is 97-0
Debt Held by Public = $9.72 trillion

June 23, 2011 - CBO Director Further Discredits President’s Fiscal Record
Debt Held by Public = $9.74 trillion

July 8, 2011 - Unemployment Hits 9.2%; Day 800 Since Senate Democrats Last Passed A Budget
Debt Held by Public = $9.75 trillion

July 11, 2011 - Senator Conrad Gives Budget Speech on Senate Floor
Debt held by Public = $9.75 trillion

July 15, 2011 - President Holds Press Conference: “We’re Running Out of Time” to Deal with Debt
Debt Held by Public = $9.75 trillion

Speeches. Not budgets. Not tangible plans to improve American society. Speeches. And golf.


Why conservatives are thoroughly terrified by @SpeakerBoehner -- he couldn't even pass a bill to repeal the idiotic light-bulb ban

This kind of screw-up can only be chalked up to willful negligence or outright stupidity:

A measure to repeal a 2007 federal law that would push many traditional incandescent light bulbs off the market failed to win two-thirds support needed to pass in a House vote Tuesday.

A 233-193 majority of the House backed the measure proposed by Rep. Joe Barton (R. Texas), would have repealed a federal mandate that light bulbs meet certain efficiency standards by next year. But the bill was brought up under a procedure requiring that it receive two-thirds vote for passage.

Because he bypassed the House Rules Committee to bring the bill directly to a floor vote, Boehner couldn't muster the two-thirds majority. If the Speaker had simply presented the bill through the Rules Committee, a simple majority would have sufficed.

It's performances like this one -- along with the unforgettable Continuing Resolution debacle -- that cast serious doubt on Boehner's leadership.

Let me put it bluntly: if the Speaker caves on the debt ceiling fight without serious concessions (like passing the Cut, Cap, Balance proposal tied to any debt ceiling hike), then he needs to be replaced. It's just that simple.


Update: Rose points out that the light-bulb repeal was passed a few days later by voice vote.

Fast and Spurious: ATF facilitated sales of guns to cartel members, who they didn't know were actually FBI informants using taxpayer money

As Mark Steyn describes it: "United States taxpayers were picking up the tab for Mexican drug lords’ weaponry in order that the ATF could identify high-up gun-traffickers. But, as it turns out, these high-up gun-traffickers were already known to other agencies — FBI, DEA, and other big-spending acronyms in the great fetid ooze of federal alphabet soup in which this republic is drowning. And, indeed, some of those high-ups are said to have been paid informants for those various federal agencies. So, in case you’re wondering why Obama’s second annual Recovery Summer is a wee bit sluggish at your end, relax: Stimulus dollars went to fund one federal agency to buy guns for the paid informants of another federal agency to funnel to foreign criminals in order that the first federal agency might identify the paid informants of the second federal agency."

The Los Angeles Times reports today that at least six gun smugglers working for the Mexican drug cartels were also paid FBI informants:

The investigators have asked the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration for details about the alleged informants, as well as why agents at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which ran the Fast and Furious operation, were not told about them.

The development raises further doubts about the now-shuttered program, which was created in November 2009 in an effort to track guns across the border and unravel the cartels' gun smuggling networks. The gun tracing largely failed, however, and hundreds of weapons purchased in U.S. shops later were found at crime scenes in Mexico.

The scandal has angered Mexican officials and some members of Congress. Investigators say nearly 2,500 guns were allowed to flow illegally into Mexico under the ATF program, fueling the drug violence ravaging that country and leading to the shooting death of a U.S. border agent.

...The official said at least half a dozen cartel figures were being paid by one U.S. law enforcement agency while they were being targeted by another.

...two AK-47s purchased during the operation were found at the scene last December where U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry was shot to death near Tucson, allegedly by a Sinaloa cartel member.

A second U.S. immigration agent, Jaime Zapata, was slain in a cartel ambush in February in Mexico, and investigators now are trying to determine whether Fast and Furious weapons were used to kill him as well.

The sheer idiocy of this plan resembles the plot of a Three Stooges movie.

We need a special prosecutor.


Larwyn's Linx: The Great Charade

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

Nation

The Great Charade: Steyn
Boehner v. the Freshmen: Debt Ceiling Battle Lines Drawn: NewAm
Bachmann is not the radical in the room: McCarthy

'Raising the Debt Limit is a Sign of Leadership Failure?': RWN
President Obama is Against a Balanced Budget: Foundry
Another day, another round of Obamacare waivers: Malkin

71% of Military Ballots not counted in the 2010 election: Ace
A Democrat, Re-Assessed: RSM
The Debt Ceiling Fight Can Be Won: King Shamus

Economy

S&P May Downgrade Credit Rating Even If Debt Limit Raised: Ace
Gloomy Goldman sees high unemployment, recession: Pethokoukis
St. Obama and the Debt Dragon: Hanson

Soc. Sec. 'Trust Fund' Fraud Exposed by Unlikely Source: Hayek
2Q11: Obama generated twice the donors than jobs: Tapscott
Warren out at CFPB after Issa hearing?: Hot Air

Gunrunner

Which Was Worse: Iran/Contra or Operation ‘Fast and Furious’?: BG
Rep. Darrell Issa Discusses Operation Fast and Furious: Foundry
Eric Holder -- Loan Expert: King Shamus

Climate & Energy

Now even unions see Obama, EPA moving to kill coal, quarter-million jobs: Tapscott
Top 10 Most Egregious Government Regulations: HE
EPA Targets Fourth of July Fireworks: RWN

Media

Reckless Endangerment: Instapundit
Poll: Self-Identified Conservatives Outnumber Liberals 3-1: WZ
Why 2012 is shaping up as an 'Anybody But Obama' election: Tapscott

Nevada Union Boss Beaten Mercilessly With The Facts. Obama: Daily Show Acted Stupidly.: Red Meat
Cruising for a Bruising: The Nation/Nieuw Amsterdam Adventure: AmDig
No Yelling at Obama: Politico

NY Times: This Prolonged Recession Is The Fault Of You Consumers: RWN
The Left Starts to Dump Obama: AT
CNN’s Hit Piece On Walid Shoebat: BigPeace

Whenever Obama says “millionaires, billionaires, and corporate jet owners,” substitute “Obama bundlers”: Malkin
Dan Savage on HBO's 'Real Time': 'I Wish [Republicans] Were All F--king Dead!': NB
The Undefeated Gross Revenue Per Theater Tops Nearly Every Other Movie Sans Harry Potter: Con4Palin

World

A New Record for Damaging Western Interests in the Middle East: BRubin
Israel: The National State Dedicated to Jewish Survival: AT
Two never-used Navy ships head to scrapyard: Hot Air

UK Muslims: We Will Conquer the White House, Obama Will Be on Knees, Queen Will Wear Niqab: Creeping
Sudan: Bashir's "final solution" in action: JihadWatch
So tell me about South Sudan: LegalIns

Sci-Tech

3-D "Printing" Technology Will Blow Your Mind: Mish
A Tale Of Two Countries: The Growing Divide Between Silicon Valley And Unemployed America: Crunch
Turning Traffic Into Electricity: LegalIns

Cornucopia

An Icon of the Times: The Garden of Earthly Delights Without the Party in the Middle: AmDig
Rand Study: a Stability Police Force for the United States: Extrano's Alley
Partying with Barry: Moonbattery

Image: iOwnTheWorld
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Please support the Senate Conservatives Fund

QOTD: "The White House’s mid-session budget review recently forecast that President Barack Obama’s budget would create $9 trillion in budget deficits over the next decade–more debt than America accumulated from 1789 through 2008 combined. Yet even that figure likely understates the 10-year budget deficit by nearly $4 trillion. It completely excludes the proposed new health care entitlement, underestimates other costs, and fails to include the full price of major legislation that the President has endorsed." --Brian Riedl

Saturday, July 16, 2011

S&P Raises State of Ohio's Credit Rating; Cites GOP Governor Kasich's Whining About His Predecessor and His Budget, But Mostly His Budget

By electing a fiscal conservative, Ohio is moving in the right direction when it comes to economic vibrancy.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services upgraded Ohio's debt rating just one day after it put the United States on "creditwatch negative" on what it calls a rising risk of policy stalemate in the debt limit negotiations.

For Ohio, the rating was revised from "negative" to "stable" after Gov. John Kasich signed a new budget the ratings agency says will essentially balance the state's finances for the next two years. S&P also said Ohio is experiencing a modest economic recovery which has stabilized revenue.

In making the upgrade, the agency also assigned a "AA+" long-term rating to Ohio's $416.75 million general obligation bonds... "After a significant decline through the recession, Ohio's economy is steadily recovering," according to S&P's statement issued Friday.

The agency listed factors such as Ohio's unemployment rate has stabilized and fallen to 8.6 percent through May 2011 from a peak of 11 percent in March 2010. The also state experienced positive employment growth in 2010 and through the first quarter of 2011...

In S&P's statement Thursday about the U.S., it said it placed its 'AAA' long-term and 'A-1+' short-term sovereign credit ratings on "CreditWatch with negative implications."

The action means there is a "substantial likelihood of it taking a rating action within the next 90 days." ...

Unlike President Obama, Kasich actually took proactive steps to reduce the size of Ohio's government and improve business conditions for the private sector. Plus he didn't blame his predecessor, demonize his political opponents, or say "I" and "me" all the time.


Linked by: Instapundit, Weasel Zippers and Memeorandum. Thanks!

The crucial debt ceiling story legacy media seems to have 'missed': U.S. could see downgrade in ratings even if ceiling lifted

Tim Geithner hardest hit:

This is one of the most important messages for us to repeat until people get it.

Liberals treat raising the debt limit as if, with the stroke of a pen, we can simply authorize ourselves to spend and spend and spend more money than we have.

That's not true... Our current debt-to-revenue ratio is, in economic terms, totally f***ed.

The President and his allies in the media wish to pretend these credit rating warnings are only about the risk of default due to a failure to raise the debt limit... They're not, as S&P makes clear:

A 50 percent likelihood that the U.S. will lose its top credit rating from Standard & Poor’s even if Congress reaches agreement on raising the debt ceiling left markets little changed.

...The U.S. will lose the AAA credit rating it has held since 1941 if New York-based S&P finds that a “credible solution” to the nation’s rising debt burden isn’t likely for the foreseeable future, the firm said yesterday. Borrowing will continue to rise unless a $4 trillion fiscal consolidation plan is agreed on, S&P said.

Let me propose the new narrative the GOP must press at every opportunity:

The President says he's trying to preserve our credit rating. He is not. Absent showing the markets some serious reforms that will put us on a sustainable path, our credit rating will be downgraded, not due to a debt-ceiling imposed default, but simply due to the fact we cannot pay the bills we are accumulating.

...We're the ones trying to save our credit rating, and that can only happen when Washington brings its spending priorities in line with what the public is actually willing to pay for government.

They're not willing to pay 25% of GDP for government. They have been willing, historically, to pay 18-21%. We must bring spending to that level.

Anytime we try to spend more than that, we always do simply by borrowing from our children. And we have now maxed out the possible debt we can lay on our children, and we have followed that up with going to 90% of the max of what our grandchildren can pay.

Let's liken the United States to the following household -- we'll call it the Obama family.

• The household brings in $100,000 a year.
• The household's annual spending, however, is $160,000, so it's been forced to borrow heavily to cover those bills
• When Daddy Obama began running the household in 2009, it had accumulated about $300,000 in debt.
• But only two-and-a-half short years later, the Obamas are now in debt for $520,000.

Now, in the real world, would any banker loan the Obamas money with a $60,000-a-year budget shortfall?

What would its FICO score (credit rating) be?

It's true: under Barack Obama, we're a subprime country. He and the Democrats built an unaffordable, failed "Stimulus" program into the baseline budget. And he is bankrupting the U.S., debt ceiling or no.


"If social security payments are not made in August, it's because Barack Obama has directed Timothy Geithner not to pay them."

So says Mark Levin who links to a MarketWatch post detailing federal revenue and payments:

Despite all the rhetoric and posturing we see in the media and in Washington D.C., it is safe to say categorically that the U.S. Treasury will not default on its debt after August 2nd, even if the debt ceiling is not raised. Not only will the Treasury be able to pay interest on U.S. debt obligations, but there is money for other essential programs as well. However, there will be some serious cutting that has to happen because spending clearly exceeds revenues...

Q: How much revenue does the Treasury take in on average in a month?
A: Roughly about $200 billion.

Q: Are you saying the Treasury could pay interest on its debt 10 times over (or more) from monthly income?
A: Yes. Therefore the likelihood of not paying interest on its debt is zero.

Q: Why then do Treasury Secretary Geithner and others in government make such apocalyptic statement about the horrors of default?
A: I’m afraid Secretary Geithner and others in government are doing the moral equivalent of yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater and they are doing so for political reasons rather than financial reasons. They simply do not want any interruptions in the bloated spending underway in Washington and they want to scare Americans into thinking the end of the world is nigh unless the gravy train keeps chugging along.

President Obama has not even proposed a budget. And there is more than enough money to pay not only debt service, but Social Security, Medicare, active duty military, etc..

What Obama, Geithner and their Wall Street buddies fear is an end to the gravy train for investment banks and public sector unions.

I know this is difficult for the likes of Mitch "Jello" McConnell and John "Weepy" Boehner, but: You. Must. Not. Yield.

Send a budget to the Senate that prioritizes spending for the revenues received. And then let the Democrats sort it out.


Photos: the Obama Depression Series Redux

Next time, it's sure to work.






Unsurprisingly, Goldman Sachs just downgraded Obamanomics.


Larwyn's Linx: The Obama-Carter Malaise Remix

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

Nation

The Obama-Carter Malaise Remix: WZ
The Obama Strut: NoisyRoom
ATF in Mexico: Heads of ATF, DOJ Aware of Fast and Furious: NiceDeb

DeMint on McConnell plan: No effin way.: SAB
Obama Suggests He’ll Take the McConnell Plan: Dossier
GOP's 2Q Fundraising Is Pretty Damn Good: PRN

Hitting Obama's Nerve: RS
Seven Myths About the Looming Debt-Ceiling ‘Disaster’: Lott
Taxpayers being played in debt ceiling farce: FA

Economy

Economy Grinds to Halt, Sentiment Lowest Since 3/09: JWF
MI Public School Illegally Uses Robocalls vs. GOP Governor: RWN
Hard Slog -- the Real Future of the U.S. Economy: Orszag

The expanding catalogue of Obamacare fables: Malkin
Hi, I’m Barack Obama, and I Just Make Stats Up: Tatler
Greece's Deal with the Devil: PJM

Shockingly, Yet Another ObamaCare Provision Raises Costs: RWN
Goldman Slashes Economic Forecast: ZH
Chrysler workers busted again: BlogProf

Gunrunner

More ‘Gunwalker’ Emails Suggest Gun-Control Conspiracy: Owens
ATF did not inform Honduran government of "walked" firearms: Sipsey
Dems Push Gun Control To Hide ‘Gunwalker’ Scandal: Owens

Climate & Energy

The Green Economy Withers: IBD
GOP Votes To Defund EPA On Light Bulb Enforcement: RWN
Deeply Concerned Chris Matthews Fears Climate Change Will 'Create Trade Routes Across the Arctic Circle!': NB

Media

Krauthammer calls Obama's bluff: Pundette
Gingrich Calls Obama 'Bully,' Says House GOP Should 'Stop Talking' to President: AmSpec
Conor "Pee Wee Herman" Friedersdorf Exposes Himself To Female At Palin Film Showing: Riehl

CBS's Idea of Average Minnesotans: Two State Employees and a Moderate: NB
“The Undefeated” Roars to Big Opening Day… Theaters Sell Out From Atlanta to Orange County: GWP
Libs protest Obama at Chicago campaign HQ: Marathon

Sheila Jackson Lee – The gift that keeps on giving : Gay Patriot
Slavery “R” Us: Bachmann’s Gaffe: ConBlackChk
Fox paid $4.8 billion in taxes, MSNBC $0: Surber

World

They are paying for it, so the frauds can feel good about themselves: GreenMnts
Gold-Plated Asylum in Norway: GoV
Massive Protests in Syria: VS

China's Hypergrowth Fueled By Building Giant Cities No One Lives In: Consumerist
Emerson "Goat Lee" Begolly indicted: Update: Rusty Physically Excited!: Jawa
Muslim women want Feds to end gender segregation in U.S. mosques: Creeping

Sci-Tech

Lifetimes of cryptographic hash functions: Valerie Aurora
White House email collection campaign inoperable: Gooding
A Tour of the World's Worst PhotoShop Propaganda: Atlantic

Cornucopia

Inside the White House: Obama's Brother from Another Mother: RightNetwork
Another Benefit of Concealed Carry: Shooting Illustrated
This Is How You Should Quit Your Job At Taco Bell: Consumerist

Image: Creeping Sharia
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Bachmann for President

QOTD: "How do I know Obama is no longer serious? Well, first of all, he’s never released any kind of plan. Everything is nebulous, nothing is being scored. Normally in these types of negotiations there is paper floating around all over the place and CBO or the Joint Tax Committee or some other outfit is buying up all the No-Doze in town to crunch the numbers. Staffers from both parties are hunkered down in the Speaker’s office, and committee chairmen are striding the halls of Congress, a gaggle of reporters in tow." --Keith Koffler

Friday, July 15, 2011

Mr. Obama... you’re not my president! [Papa B]

Papa B:

Dear Mr. Obama,

You’re not my president... and this decision was yours, not mine. You are the thirteenth president of the United States in my lifetime and I have never been ostracized or isolated by any previous president, regardless of party. Why did you decide that you would not represent my constituency?

1. I am not Black; and in spite of your overwhelming support by African-Americans, you have done nothing to help solve their problems. Their unemployment is higher and the issues of single parent homes, welfare dependency, and education deprivation have been ignored by you and Mrs. Obama.

2. I am not Hispanic and in spite of significant support of the Hispanic community, you have created no proactive program to help solve the illegal immigration problem nor have you done anything to create a solution for the illegal immigrants in the U.S.

3. I am not a union member and in spite of the symbiotic relationship between you and the unions -- and the massive monies given to you and returned by you in the form of "stimulus funds" to unions, you have made union membership an unfavorable term. Instead of including unions in the generic labor market you have selectively isolated them, given them favoritism and alienated the great majority of workers who have no favored status in your eyes.

4. I am not a far left liberal seeking wealth redistribution, shutdown of coal mines, oil wells, and any endeavor that creates jobs. I have difficulty envisioning windmill-powered vehicles and exclusively solar-powered homes and factories. I also have difficulty understanding how preserving minor endangered species should triumph over allowing people to sustain themselves in their lives and work.

5. I am not a "fat-cat" who contributes to you and takes from the government in forms of subsidies, tax benefits, grants and the many other ways you repay your minions.

6. I am not a socialist/Marxist who despises this country and wants us to fail in the hope that you will "fundamentally transform" the U.S. into some form of government-controlled society the likes of which has never, ever succeeded in civilized history.

7. I am not an idealist who was charmed by your charismatic speech and rhetoric of hope and change... and who have now seen that this was nothing but a veneer with little substance.

I am an old man who with my wonderful wife has raised terrific children who are raising their terrific children. I started with $50 and have worked all my life learning that all success, however you define it, is based on building relationships with family and friends and all who you are fortunate enough to be able to meet and know. I learned that it all comes from hard work, compromise and having beliefs based on fundamentals of the rule of law and one's religious values. I am saddened by your choosing to exclude me from your constituency... other than using me as leverage in Medicare to threaten your opposition.

Of your twelve predecessors in my lifetime, I have never felt so excluded and the thought that you will continue to exclude me, my peers and all those other constituencies that are not important to you, saddens me greatly. I hope you overcome your lack of experience, knowledge and judgment and do nothing more than expand your peripheral vision to realize that you are the president of the entire country and all of its people.


'Two Pictures that Perfectly Capture the Rise and Fall of the Welfare State'

Sheer brilliance:

In my speeches, especially when talking about the fiscal crisis in Europe (or the future fiscal crisis in America), I often warn that the welfare state reaches a point-of-no-return when the number of people riding in the wagon begins to outnumber the number of people pulling the wagon.

To be more specific, if more than 50 percent of the population is dependent on government (employed in the bureaucracy, living off welfare, receiving pensions, etc), it becomes rather difficult to form a coalition to fix the mess. This may explain why Greek politicians have resisted significant reforms, even though the nation faces a fiscal death spiral.

But you don’t need me to explain this relationship. One of our Cato interns, Silvia Morandotti, used her artistic skills to create two images... that show what a welfare state looks like when it first begins and what it eventually becomes.


...The welfare state starts with small programs targeted at a handful of genuinely needy people. But as  politicians figure out the electoral benefits of expanding programs and people figure out the that they can let others work on their behalf, the ratio of producers to consumers begins to worsen.

Eventually, even though the moochers and looters should realize that it is not in their interest to over-burden the people pulling the wagon, the entire system breaks down.

Then things get really interesting. Small nations such as Greece can rely on permanent bailouts from bigger countries and the IMF, but sooner or later, as larger nations begin to go bankrupt, that approach won’t be feasible...

It is more than past time to end the Democrats' failed 'war on poverty'.

They lost the war --- and made everyone poorer in the process.


Hat tip: TrendingRight.

Harry Reid: Idiot or Liar?

Because it must be one or the other:

Harry Reid has decided to ratchet up the scare tactics a notch. We’ve already been told that if the debt ceiling isn’t raised and taxes increased, government checks might not go out, but now the schools will close:

...Call the bluff, Republicans!

As August 2nd approaches, Democrats will be sweating like John Kerry during a luxury tax audit. Not because they fear default, but because they know a Y2K moment for the general population is approaching — that morning when everyone wakes up, looks around, realizes the world didn’t end and exclaims, “that’s what we were freaked out about?”

A few days ago, Biff Spackle grabbed a screen-shot of Tim Geithner's tippity-top secret spreadsheet tracking revenue and expenditures.

As others have confirmed, there's no chance that Grandma ain't gettin' her Social Security check. Because the only way that happens is if Barack Obama is more interested in funding ACORN and his other cadres of Leftist hacks. Let's see how that works for him politically.

Once again, courtesy of the Examiner’s Mark Tapscott, here are the hard numbers, in monthly amounts, for anyone foolish enough to buy into Democrat scare tactics:

• Federal revenue: $200 billion per month
• Interest on the national debt: $29 billion
• Social Security: $49.2 billion
• Medicare and Medicaid: $50 billion
• Active duty military pay: $2.9 billion
• Veterans affairs programs: $2.9 billion
• Education funding: $11 billion

All of that core spending adds up to $145 billion, which means that in the event of a debt limit, the government can pay it all and still have $55 billion a month left over.

Note also that this Tweet absolutely confirms Harry Reid is a liar, rather than simply an idiot, since he has previously insisted that Social Security “is in great shape for many decades… Today it is not a problem.”

So we could furlough:

Eric Holder? The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which is waging war on Boeing and other private sector companies? The EPA, which is trying to run an end-around on Congress with its own version of cap-and-trade? HHS, the blunt instrument of Obamacare? The Department of Education, also known as the stealth AFT and NEA funding agency? And HUD, progenitor of the Fannie Mae Housing Crisis?

Wow. Tough decision. Let me think for a minute...

Furlough 'em. Nuke 'em from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.


Linked by: Ace o' Spades. Thanks!

Larwyn's Linx: Dear Mister Speaker

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

Dear Mr. Speaker: RS
Boehner: McConnell Plan Might ‘Look Pretty Good...’: Malkin
Back to Their Roots… Dems Use Alinsky Tactics on Cantor: GWP

The Opacity of Hope: Belmont Club
Obama lied about his Mother to push health care reform: Althouse
Obama sits with GOP leaders for whole hour...: GWP

The Soft Dictatorship: AT
Obama finally admits there is no 'Social Security Trust Fund': RWN
Federal bureaucracy is a white elephant: BRubin

Economy

The Virtues Of a Balanced Budget Amendment: RCM
GOP debt ceiling ace-in-the-hole: Instapundit
Postponing the President's Birthday Bash?: Nice Deb

Barton calls Obama' bluff: Tatler
How Sweden Profits from For-Profit Schools: Cato
A Fresh Hot Cup of Poverty!: RSM

Conservative principles: IN now $1.2B in black: WZ
US Treasury Burns $90 Billion In Cash In Under Two Weeks: ZH
The $14.3 trillion game of chicken: Daily Mail

Gunrunner

Gunwalker: Justice Department Tampering with Witnesses?: PJM
The American People Are Fast Becoming More Furious.: RS
Pravda Syndrome: MSM Can’t Stop Lying About ‘Gunwalker’: Owens

Media

Don’t Forget Who Was Behind the War on Fox: Dunn, Emmanuel and Axelrod: VS
If you don’t think this is the most transparent administration ever, shut up: DC
Ed 'The Red' Schultz Forced to Admit Huge News Corp. Blunder: NB

The Enduring Dangerous Legacy of the Sixties New Left: PJM
In Interview, Murdoch Defends News Corp.: WSJ
Harvard Professor: Parents Of Obese Children Should Lose Custody: WZ

Only 2% of Reports on Debt Ceiling Battle Mention Public Opposition to Increase: MRC
US too dumb to know O is always right: Post
BofA Paying Out $410 Million For Reordering Your Transactions To Maximize Overdraft Fees: Consumerist

World

Ground Zero: Mosque yes, memorial that actually memorializes 9/11 – hell no: Creeping
Oslo Car Fires Highlight Threat to Norway’s Future: PJM
Iran: Christian Pastor Sentenced To Death For Apostasy Unless He Recants His Faith: WZ

The Permanent Muslim Civil War: Knish
Did You Ever Think We Would Envy China’s Economy?: RWN
Indonesia: After explosion and standoff, weapons, explosives, jihadi literature found in Islamic school: JihadWatch

SciTech

Pentagon to treat cyberspace as operational domain: Reuters
The Color Of Your Website Has A Huge Impact On What People Buy: Insider
Google's Earnings Surge, Putting Firm Back in Favor: WSJ

Cornucopia

Articles of Impeachment Against Barack Hussein Obama : Holger Awakens
Prepping For The Zombie Apocalypse: How to Build the Ultimate Survival Shotgun: Ace
How to Travel Safely - Tips from a Former Agent: Stratfor

Image: Red Planet Cartoons
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Michele Bachmann for President

QOTD: "“President Barack Obama walked out of debt limit negotiations Wednesday. One Republican aide said the president quickly ended what was described as a ‘tense’ meeting with congressional leaders about a deal to raise the debt ceiling. Wednesday’s meeting came to a quick halt when Speaker of the House John Boehner responded negatively to spending cuts offered by the White House and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor offered to support two separate debt ceiling votes… ‘The Speaker challenged the President to offer real spending cuts,’ said the aide. ‘He said the gimmicks and accounting tricks that Washington has used for decades are not applicable here. When White House officials attempted to justify budgetary gimmicks, the speaker said pointedly, ‘We’re not doing that anymore.’” So Obama stormed out. He’s gone from “first-class temperament” to first-class temper tantrums. According to The Hill, Obama told Cantor, “Don’t call my bluff.” Which tells us two things: One, Obama’s bluffing. Two, he stinks at it. Note to President Genius: If you’re bluffing, try not to let on that you’re bluffing. That’s why it’s called bluffing. Hope that helps, champ!" --Jim Treacher

Thursday, July 14, 2011

'A Good, Solid B+' -- Jobless Claims Top 400,000 For 14th Straight Week; Businesses Increasingly Glum About the Future Under Obama

What is this: our third annual 'summer of recovery'? Perhaps a more accurate term is 'recovery-less recovery':

Hey, Nancy: how's that "government creates jobs" theory working out? "[Unemployment] applications have now topped 400,000 for 14 weeks, evidence that the job market has weakened since earlier this year."

Country shocked to find that inexperienced community organizer makes surprisingly lousy president: "Americans' satisfaction with the way things are going in the country fell to 16% in July, the lowest in more than two years."

Casey Anthony could run against Obama and win at this point: "Registered voters by a significant margin now say they are more likely to vote for the 'Republican Party's candidate for president' than for President Barack Obama in the 2012 election, 47% to 39%."

With the government actively sabotaging businesses through excessive and oppressive regulations, this comes as quite the surprise: "Small and medium-sized companies are increasingly glum about the chances of a pickup in growth in the U.S. economy over the next year... The percentage of chief executives of small companies who expect the economy to improve over the next 12 months dropped sharply to 31 percent from 50 percent last quarter..."

But maybe our Demagogue-in-Chief can blame all of this bad news on James Henry Harrison, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Charo.


Acting like a dictatorship: White House tried repeatedly to exclude honest news channels from reporting on administration

Mark Levin has repeatedly stated that Barack Obama is the first president in history who "thinks like a dictator". But does this statement go too far?

Consider the Wiktionary definition of the word fascism, which reads as follows:

A political regime, usually totalitarian, ideologically based on centralized government, government control of business, repression of criticism or opposition, a leader cult, and exalting the state and/or religion above individual rights.

Judicial Watch has unearthed documents that confirm the President's desire to suppress dissent.

[These documents show] the Obama administration, contrary to its repeated denials, attempted to exclude the Fox News Channel (FNC) from a round of interviews with Treasury’s “Executive Pay Czar” Kenneth Feinberg. The documents, which include email exchanges within the Department of the Treasury and between Treasury and White House staff, also provide colorful evidence of an anti-Fox News bias within the Obama White House.

...According to press reports, the Fox News Channel was specifically excluded from joining the pool of reporters which precipitated a backlash among the networks and a reversal by the Obama Treasury Department.

According to The New York Times: “Fox’s television news competitors refused to go along with a Treasury Department effort on Thursday [October 22, 2009] to exclude Fox from a round of interviews with the executive-pay czar Kenneth R. Feinberg that was to be conducted with a ‘pool’ camera crew…”. Fox News Channel’s James Rosen reported this backlash forced the Obama administration to reconsider its position on the matter: “The Washington bureau chiefs of the five TV news network consulted and decided that none of them would interview Feinberg unless Fox was included, and the administration relented…,” reported Rosen. Ultimately, after other media representatives objected, Fox News Channel was allowed to participate in the interviews.

The Treasury Department’s official response, as detailed in back-and-forth emails uncovered by Judicial Watch, included a clear denial of any such plot to exclude Fox News from the interviews: “There was no plot to exclude Fox News, and they had the same interview that their competitors did. Much ado about absolutely nothing.” Moreover, in an October 23, 2009 email to New York Times reporter Jim Rutenberg, Jake Siewart, Counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, repeated the denial that there was an effort to exclude Fox News Channel: “Call me today on your Fox-Treasury report,” Siewart wrote. “Not true that there was an ‘effort to exclude’ Fox.”

However ..., internal Obama administration emails [show] that FNC was specifically singled out for exclusion. According to one October 22, 2009, email exchange between Dag Vega, Director of Broadcast Media on the White House staff, to Jenni LeCompte, then-Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs in the Treasury Department, Vega informs LeCompte that “…we’d prefer if you skip Fox please.”

...In an email on the night of October 22, 2009, commenting on a report by Fox News Channel anchor Bret Baier noting the exclusion of the network from the pool, Psaki writes to Compte and fellow White House colleagues, “…brett baier just did a stupid piece on it -- but he is a lunatic”.

Deputy White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest bluntly described the White House’s position on Fox News Channel in an October 23, 2009, email to LeCompte: “We’ve demonstrated our willingness and ability to exclude Fox News from significant interviews…”

The Treasury Department blacked out a key email regarding its refusal to make available Treasury Secretary Geithner for an interview on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace.

Just as they do with the rest of the Bill of Rights, the minor-league Chicago thugs occupying the White House could care less about the First Amendment. They despise free speech; they act like petulant children when criticized; and when confronted on controversial topics, they lie -- early and often.

Come to think of it, the Second Amendment equivalent of this report is Eric Holder's "Operation Fast and Furious".


Larwyn's Linx: Finally: Cantor and Obama come to blows

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

Finally: Cantor and Obama come to blows: Malkin
Much Needed Straight Talk: Quit Lying, Mr. President: RS
Perry Stalks Iowa; Will Boot Drop Soon?: IBD

Administration damages military voting rights: Atlas
Hahn Beats Huey: a Report from Huey Campaign HQ: Zombie
Another Allen West challenger raises big money: Sun-Sent

Ryan Schools HHS Secretary on Medicare Reform: Foundry
Sen. Marco Rubio Blasts Barack Obama's Demagoguery: Hewitt
Congressman: Obama “Despicable, Sick And Twisted”: Dollard

Economy

Plan B and limited government's future: Exam
One President Left Behind: Coulter
Moody’s Puts U.S. On Downgrade Watch As Debt Talks Falter: WZ

Socialist Senator: Obama's Wrong on Social Security Checks: NB
No more taxes, no more debt, no more Obama: WS
ATR Does Not Support a Debt Limit 'Contingency' Plan: ATR

Gunwalker

Fast And Furious Scandal: A Watergate For Obama?: IBD
Gunwalker: Smoking Gun Email?: PJM
Federal gun investigations draw Congressional scrutiny; Tampa agents ready to come in from the cold.: Sipsey

Climate & Energy

EPA Kills Five Power Plants Along Road to Darkness: RWN
BULB Act is dim-witted: Hill
Big Green wants to turn off our lights, A/C: Exam

Media

MSM Televised News Has Long Displayed Its Racial Preference: BigJourn
Church can be cure for flash-mobbing teens: Exam
Leaderless and Loving It: BSFootprint

Obama political appointees stonewalling Congress on Solyndra loan guarantee documents: Tapscott
MMfA PROPAGANDA WATCH: Flashback – Tax-Exempt Soros Group on SEIU Payroll: BigJourn
Sarah Palin: I don't trust this President: Scoop

World

Mumbai blasts: Death toll reaches 21, 141 injured (Caution: Graphic Images): FirstPost
Good news: U.S. favorable rating in Arab world now lower than during Bush era: Hot Air
Super: LA Sheriff’s Department Has A Muslim Public Affairs Unit: Amy Alkon

Iran Successfully Tests Nuclear Missiles: Kahlili
Somali-Americans from Minnesota Leave to Wage Jihad with Al-Shabaab Terror Group: PJM
Dearborn: Teacher, in lawsuit claiming Arab Muslim harassment, is fired: Creeping

How Unclean Was My Valley: Steyn
Toronto public school: ‘Menstruating girls, at the very back, do not take part’: FiveFeetOfFury
Moody's Puts US AAA Credit Rating on Review, Places 7,000 Muni Ratings on Review as a Result: Mish

SciTech

Man Who Hacks Neighbor's WiFi And Tries To Frame Him For Crimes Gets 18 Years: Consumerist
Mark Zuckerberg Disappears from Google+ Due to Privacy Settings: Wire
Report: Amazon Tablet Set to Battle iPad in Fall: PC World

Cornucopia

The Running of the Boobs (NSFW, obviously): TAB
North Korea's Luxury Restaurant: Snapped Shot
What Was In It For The Dim-Bulb Republicans?: Ricochet

Image: Stratfor Research
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Support Allen West for Congress


Wednesday, July 13, 2011

CBS: Racist!

Why would CBS headline an article quoting Obama as saying "Nobody can be messing with our embassy"? In all seriousness, that's just bizarre.

Look, no matter what you think about his policies, Barack Obama is an articulate and well-spoken man. So I do find it somewhat odd and offensive that CBS would pick out an inartful turn of phrase to use as a headline.

CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley asked President Obama today about the attacks on the U.S. embassy.

"Yesterday the U.S. embassy in Damascus was attacked by a mob," Pelley said. "I wonder what you say to the dictator in Syria?"

"Well, you know, we've been very clear that what we've seen on the part of the Syrian regime has been an unacceptable degree of brutality, directed at its people," Mr. Obama said. "We've certainly sent a clear message that nobody can be messing with our embassy. And that we will take whatever actions necessary in order to protect our embassy. And I think they've gotten that message."

Expect Al "Not so" Sharpton and Jesse Jerkson to file a formal complaint with the Bureau of Race-Baiting.


Hat tips: Mark Levin and JCP.

Global warming, er, climate change, er, climate disruption travels back in time to kill hundreds

Al Gore hardest hit:

There’s always a lot of squawking about “climate disruption” ... anytime there is a heat wave anywhere these days. But, it doesn’t hold up. One only has to look at all the faux noise made last year over the Russian heat wave, which NOAA later analysed and said was not connected in any way to “climate change”.

The heat wave of 2003 in Europe has often been cited as proof that AGW is making heat waves worse. But, at a time when we had far less people, and far less CO2 in the atmosphere, a very deadly heat wave occurred.

History: 100 years ago today, In the US 652 deaths in a week reported during heatwave 9th July 1911 despite a lower composition of CO2 in the atmosphere. The only possible explanation? “Climate Disruption” has the power of time travel /sarc

On this day in 1911 record temperatures are set in the northeastern United States as a deadly heat wave hits the area that would go on to kill 380 people. In Nashua, New Hampshire, the mercury peaked at 106 degrees Fahrenheit. Other high-temperature records were set all over New England during an 11-day period.

...By July 13, New York had reported 211 people dead from the excessive heat. One man, apparently disoriented from heat exhaustion, overdosed on strychnine. In Philadelphia, 159 people died from the heat. The types of deaths ascribed to the heat could vary quite a bit in 1911, with some authorities including those who drowned while attempting to cool off by swimming in the count.

Perhaps the recent cooling trend can be attributed to Barack Obama's proclamation that "This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal."