Sunday, August 28, 2011

Gunwalker: Heard about the city officials in New Mexico who were smuggling guns to drug cartels in U.S. police cars?

Several city officials of the New Mexico border town of Columbus recently admitted they smuggled firearms and tactical gear to the La Linea drug cartel. And now, it turns out, that case may be linked to "Operation Fast and Furious", the malevolent Justice Department project that shipped thousands of murder weapons to Mexican drug gangs.

The Columbus gun smuggling case might be linked to a national case... The mayor, police chief and a trustee have all pled guilty to running guns to the Juarez drug cartel "La Linea".

At a hearing for police Chief Angelo Vega on Thursday, it was revealed that six of those weapons may be connected to "Operation Fast and Furious"[, ...] an ATF program that allowed thousands of guns to cross into Mexico so that federal agents could track them.

Now "Fast and Furious" is under investigation, because officials lost track of more than a third of the guns, many of which were linked to shootings.

Last month it was revealed that Columbus city officials were using the town's police cars and other equipment to run guns to the cartels.

The former mayor of a New Mexico border town pleaded guilty to gun smuggling charges four months after he was arrested in a federal sting.

On Tuesday, Eddie Espinoza, 51, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, three counts of making false statements, and three counts of smuggling firearms from the United States.

The guilty plea means the former mayor of the village of Columbus could face up to 50 years in a federal prison.

In March, federal agents arrested Espinoza and several others, including Columbus Chief of Police Angelo Vega and village Trustee Blas Gutierrez.

Federal documents state the group smuggled more than 200 guns from New Mexico to the streets of Cíudad Juárez and Palomas, Chihuahua. The documents further state that at times the group used unmarked police cars registered to Columbus to smuggle the guns across the border... the guns [were connected] to at least eight murders in those cities.

Gunwalker is a bigger scandal than Watergate. American law enforcement officials have been killed by the weapons smuggled to the drug cartels by a rogue Justice Department.

If we had a real media in this country, a firestorm of outrage would have already been ignited among the electorate. And the most partisan Attorney General in American history -- Eric Holder -- would be testifying every day in front of Congress.



15 Photos of #HurricaneIrene Spotted on Twitter
















Larwyn's Linx: Texas v. California

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

Texas v. California: ProWis
The Gunwalker Cover-Up Continues: Truth About Guns
The First Amendment, alive and well in Wisconsin: RWN

White House a Tad Touchy About Vacation Topic: Virtuous
Congressional Black Caucus Gets Black on Obama: ConBlkChk
Good News: State Department Protects Terrorist’s Privacy: RWN

Economy

More Tales From the Over Regulated State: Graybeard
It's Free, Swipe Your EBT: Moonbattery (Language Warning)
NLRB Chairman, Ex-Teamster Attorney Departs Rogue Agency: LUR

Comparing Obama's performance with that of a sack of hammers: PJM
The “unexpected” oil sands decision (of 2013): LI
Will the Democrats Trump Trumka?: AT

CEO of Gibson's Competition a Huge Dem Donor: Landmark
Confidence in European Interbank System Has Collapsed: Mish
Michelle Obama's Shared Sacrifice: iOTW

Climate & Energy

Excessive regulation isn't a problem. Not when you compare it to what's coming, that is.: Ace
Bachmann Calls Out “Radical Environmentalists”: WZ
The science is settled: Eating Meat Caused Hurricane Irene: WyBlog

Media

Epicenter of Excuses: ProWis
UCLA Professor: Without Liberal Media Bias the Average U.S. State Would Vote Like Texas or Tennessee: WZ
New York Times Editor Bill Keller Sparks Outrage By Comparing Religion With Belief In Space Aliens: Mediate

Obama-Allied Center For American Progress Blames Rich Jews For Stoking 'Islamophobia': AT
The Deep Impact of the Obama Asteroid: Driscoll
AP Poll: Number Of Liberals Who View Obama As A “Strong Leader” Falls From 53% To 29%: WZ

Dear Maxine: JPA
A Lie Every 16 Seconds: Moonbattery
Joey Vento: Assimilation warrior: Malkin

Rolling Stone Lied to get McChrystal Fired: Declassified CENTCOMM Investigation Report: Ameristroika
MSNBC Features 9/11 Truther to Blame Hurricane on Global Warming: NB
Cuz' Your F-in' Moonbats?: Salon

World

Pics From the Front: WZ
The Desperation-of-Deprivation Myth: Steyn
It's Time for China to Pay Its Debts to the United States: Fox

Losing Malmo: McCarthy
Al-Qaeda Second in Command Killed in Pakistan Drone Attack: GWP
Teen tied to Jihad Jane allegedly plotted Columbine-style school shooting: Philly

Canadian Author Tied to a Tree & Beaten Unconscious After Publishing Anti-Islam Book: GWP
Naked Support for Saudi Women in Ukraine: Soylent Green (NSFW)
Young Communist League Infiltrates US Democrats: Loudon (2007)

Sci-Tech

The Special Operations Forensic Tool Kit: PopMech
Evidence Emerging of Chinese Planning Internet Attacks: Foundry
Now Can We All Agree That The “High Quality Web Content” Experiment Has Failed?: Crunch

Cornucopia

New AFT Angry Ranger Video – Captain America: Action Figure Therapy (NSFW)
Little Seen Star Wars Film: Verum Serum
Pic of the Day: WZ

Image: Weasel Zippers
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Allen West for Congress

QOTD: "Judicial Watch is investigating the extent to which the Obama DOJ and Project Vote are partnering in a national campaign to use the National Voting Rights Act (NVRA) to register more individuals on public assistance, widely considered a key voting block for the Obama 2012 campaign...

...we already know that Project Vote is corrupt. We also know that the organization is putting a full-court press on key swing states to manipulate voter registration laws in order to 'get out the vote' for Obama and the Democrats in 2012. And leading that charge is Estelle Rogers... [who is] a former attorney for ACORN." --Tom Fitton, Obama’s War on Transparency

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Obamacare in a nutshell [Papa B]

Papa B:

The phone rings and the lady of the house answers, "Hello."

"Mrs. Sanders, please."

"Speaking."

"Mrs. Sanders, this is Doctor Jones at Saint Agnes Laboratory. When your husband's doctor sent his biopsy to the lab last week, a biopsy from another Mr. Sanders arrived as well; we are now uncertain which one belongs to your husband. Frankly, either way the results are not too good."

"What do you mean?" Mrs. Sanders asks nervously.

"Well, one of the specimens tested positive for Alzheimer's and the other one tested positive for HIV. We can't tell which is which."

"That's dreadful! Can you do the test again?" questioned Mrs.Sanders.

"Normally we can, but Obamacare will only pay for these expensive tests once."

"Well, what am I supposed to do now?"

"The Obamacare Helpdesk recommends that you drop your husband off somewhere in the middle of town. If he finds his way home, don't sleep with him.



Michelle Obama's Selfless Commitment to Public Service

"...it wasn't until I stepped away from the corporate track and worked in city government and eventually helped to found the Chicago chapter of Public Allies, an AmeriCorps program, a national service program, that I realized how important public service and community service was to my own development... And now that the two of us have moved to Washington, our new home -- (applause) -- we both have continued to stress the value of national and community service..." --Michelle Obama, 17 March 2009


The phrase "public service" must mean different things to different people.

For Michelle Obama, it translates to spending $10 million of the taxpayers' money on vacations in only a single year's time and living like, well, a millionaire or billionaire.

Michelle Obama is the very model of selfless public service.


Another Reason We Love Michele Bachmann: She Speaks the Truth About the EPA, the Department of Education, the NLRB and the Border

Campaigning earlier this week in South Carolina, Michele Bachmann exhibited her patented ability to speak the unvarnished truth:

...Bachmann had harsh words for the EPA, which she called the “job-killing agency of America.”

“I intend to bring back true change, true hope, by repealing the tax code and dramatically cutting spending and I’m going to start with the Environmental Protection Agency,” she said, eliciting cheers from her tea party audience. “I am so happy you agree, because I intend to turn out the lights and lock the doors.”

She spoke similarly of the Department of Education, which she said then-President Jimmy Carter created as a “payoff to a union”:

So this is what I would do. I would pass a mother of all repeal bills for education, get rid of all of the unfunded mandates that the federal government puts on our local schools — making it very difficult for schools to be effective. … I would have a very busy day, a very busy day. ‘Cause I first have to make a trip to the EPA and after that, I have to go to the Department of Education because I also have to shut the lights off and lock the doors over there, as well.


The Department of Education doesn't educate anyone. It exists solely to funnel money to the AFT, the NEA and other teachers' unions, which inevitably hand much of that cash back to Democrats. It ceaselessly battles school choice. And its officials publicly admit they could care less about educating children: they're in it for the power and money.

The EPA doesn't do anything for the environment. In fact, its odious legacy began in 1972 when it contributed directly to the needless deaths of tens of millions in the third world through an unlawful and unconscionable ban of DDT. Today it exists only as an unelected cadre of Soviet-style bureaucrats who shutter businesses for reasons both specious and ridiculous.

Both of these agencies need to be nuked from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Bachmann also describes the outrageous growth of the virus-like fourth branch of government:

Bachmann, who criticized President Barack Obama's handling of the recovery from the Great Recession and vowed to shrink the size of the federal government, said just electing another Republican won't help - she's the Republican who will make the difference... "You can put a Republican in there to manage big government, but you're not going to have America as the prosperous big dog in the world again if you do that."

She vowed to go to Washington to cut federal spending and get the nation's economic house in order... "We're going to be turning a lot of lights off and locking a lot of doors in Washington, D.C.," the Minnesota Republican said.

..."The president has failed on unemployment," Bachmann said. "After the president passed the stimulus we saw millions of jobs in the private sector go away."

At the same time, she said, "hundreds of thousands" of government jobs were added. Those federal jobs, she said, have average wages and benefits of $123,000 while the average for private sector jobs is $61,000.

Oh, and did I mention the out-of-control Labor Department, whose National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is doing its best to destroy America's right-to-work culture?

Halfway through the meeting, Gov. Nikki Haley made an unexpected appearance and asked Bachmann about the National Labor Relations Board, which has filed a complaint against Boeing...

...The aircraft maker recently opened a $750 million plant in North Charleston, South Carolina's largest industrial investment.

The NLRB alleges the plant was built in South Carolina, a right to work state, to avoid unionized labor in Washington state...

...Bachmann also said she would only appoint pro-growth members to the NLRB.

Asked about immigration, Bachmann said the nation needs to secure the nation's southern border... "I would build the barrier or fence. Every mile, every yard, every inch of that southern border needs to be covered," she said.

Everything Michele Bachmann says makes sense.

We need a true conservative in office if we are to begin unwinding the catastrophic damage to the Constitution that the last 80 years of Democrat-Statist policies have wrought.


Related: You can support Michele Bachmann here.


CEO of Gibson Guitars' Main Competitor is a Huge Democrat Donor; Also Uses Same Wood Without Any Complaints From Feds

Earlier this week the federal government executed its second major raid of Gibson Guitars in just two years. Armed agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stopped production at the company's manufacturing facilities on Wednesday, confiscating "massive quantities of wood, unfinished guitars, and finished products".

The Federal Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. has suggested that the use of wood from India that is not finished by Indian workers is illegal, not because of U.S. law, but because it is the Justice Department’s interpretation of a law in India. (If the same wood from the same tree was finished by Indian workers, the material would be legal.) This action was taken without the support and consent of the government in India.

On August 24, 2011, around 8:45 a.m. CDT, agents for the federal government executed four search warrants on Gibson’s facilities in Nashville and Memphis and seized several pallets of wood, electronic files and guitars. Gibson had to cease its manufacturing operations and send workers home for the day, while armed agents executed the search warrants. Gibson has fully cooperated with the execution of the search warrants.


The fact that the government would issue warrants based on their interpretation of another country’s laws is laughable–and scary–in and of itself, but that they would demonize an American, non-unionized (coincidentally, I’m sure) company for something that isn’t even a crime (especially not in the American lawbooks) is a gross misjustice. Keep in mind that the Indian government itself wasn’t involved in the Gibson warrants and raid.

This unfortunate event begs the question, Why Gibson?

Like almost all of the actions of the Holder Justice Department, the raid was likely motivated by political considerations.

...Henry E. Juszkiewicz, Gibson’s Chief Executive Officer, is a [large] donor to a couple of Republican politicians...

When warrants as ridiculous such as these are issued and executed, there appears no other reason than because the company or individual at hand is being targeted, not because there is any sort of wrongdoing. As a company, Gibson is a legendary. They’ve done nothing wrong, except, apparently, deigning to have a Republican CEO.

The plot thickens, however.

One of Gibson’s leading competitors is C.F. Martin & Company. The C.E.O., Chris Martin IV, is a long-time Democratic supporter, with $35,400 in contributions to Democratic candidates and the DNC over the past couple of election cycles. According to C.F. Martin’s catalog, several of their guitars contain “East Indian Rosewood.” In case you were wondering, that is the exact same wood in at least ten of Gibson’s guitars.

So how could the federal government justify its attempts to shut down one of the few companies still manufacturing valuable products in the United States? The supposed reason is an egregious piece of legislation called the Lacey Act, which:

...regulates the importation of plants, animals, and products thereof into the United States. The Lacey Act effectively permits wooden musical instruments to be seized indefinitely, without compensation, and places the burden of proof on the owner, not the government. Do you own an $11,000 2011 Gibson Eric Clapton Edition Les Paul? Want to take it to Canada and back? You’d better be prepared to document the source of all materials to the government’s satisfaction upon your return, or you could lose it indefinitely. If you thinking documenting that is tough, what if you’re ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons returning from an overseas tour with your real 1959 sunburst Les Paul, for which you’ve already turned down at least one $5,000,000 offer? Good luck documenting the wood from a fifty-two-year-old guitar.

Very few [of our] readers travel with guitars, particularly across the country’s borders, so I don’t expect this to worry you personally. If, on the other hand, you want to drive across the Canadian or Mexican border in your own car — or even a rental — consider this: The same law that allows the Feds to raid American manufacturers and seize the possessions of Americans without compensation applies to cars, too.

...Simply possessing the timber product can make you a felon, regardless of whether or not you were involved in the harvesting, were the original importer, or had received any information regarding the source of the timber product...

...Here’s an example. Let’s say you are driving a Bentley Flying Spur with a rosewood interior. Importation of Brazilian rosewood is a felony under the Lacey Act. Do you know where the rosewood in your Spur came from? Can you prove it? In Gibson’s case, it was Indian rosewood that supposedly caused the bust; although the importation of Indian rosewood is legal, it has to be finished and prepared to certain standards in India. If raw Indian rosewood is sent to Bentley for finishing into dashboards — and make no mistake, that is how it is done — it may not break any British laws, but it breaks an American one, and you are now a convicted felon for visiting the Canadian side of Niagara Falls and coming back.

This federal government -- a behemoth now operated by the most partisan political hacks in my lifetime -- is completely out of control.

2012 can't come soon enough.


Hat tip: Big Hollywood. Linked by: Ace o' Spades, Weasel Zippers, Protein Wisdom, and iOwnTheWorld. Thanks!

Elijah Cummings (D-MD): Dissent Against Obama's Economic Policies Due to Opposition to Keynesian Economics and Racism, But Mostly Racism

Gee, this certainly appears to be a rational and original line of reasoning, which was just advanced by the renowned philosopher and economist Elijah Cummings:

There’s another thing the press seems to not get. A lot of African-Americans that I’ve talked to, most of them say that they ‘feel this President has been treated unfairly.’ They believe he has done every single thing in his power to try to create jobs, to try to make sure this economy moves forward...

...He’s gone against just fierce opposition. I think, I mean if you look at the evidence, that’s true. He’s accomplished a lot in the short time he’s been President. But the fact is, it has not been easy and will not continue to be easy...

Indeed.

For the Left's principled opposition to the Bush administration was predicated upon a careful analysis of facts, logic, history and reason.

After all, the National Socialist Democrats treated President Bush with such kid gloves.

Barack Obama, addressing his supporters: "I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face."

Nancy Pelosi, addressing anti-GOP protesters: "I'm a fan of disrupters! ...So I thank all of you who have spoken out for your courage, your point of view. All of it. Your advocacy is very American and very important."

Sen. Harry Reid constructively labeled President Bush "a liar", "a loser", and the "worst President ever".

Hmmm.

Elijah Cummings is a dolt and a race-baiter, not necessarily in that order.


Larwyn's Linx: Learning Curves, Intelligence and Rick Perry

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Nation

Learning Curves, Intelligence and Rick Perry: Bookworm
Is Holder's DOJ Partnering with Scandal-Plagued Project Vote?: JW
Left and Right Going Nuclear on Rick Perry: IBD

Michelle Returning From Vineyard on Separate Flight: Dossier
How government prosecutors have fun...: CA Tree
Obama in Real Trouble in Battle Ground State of PA: ScaredMonk

Steve Benen Fails Logic, Statistics: Patterico
Tim Scott is the tea party talent scout: Politico
Nevada Dem Candidate Helpfully Explains Pandering Strategy: DC

Economy

Unexpected: GDP Craters to 1%: JWF
Boot of Big Government Comes Down on Gibson Guitar: RWN
Gibson Guitar CEO Rips the Holder DOJ: GWP

Food Stamp Use up 74% in Just 4 Years: AllGov
QE3 Will Further Destroy U.S. Dollar: FreedomWorks
What was that about “all the money I don’t really need”?: ProWis

Climate & Energy

Comedian Al Gore: Climate Scientists Not Motivated by Money: JWF
Hellstorm 2011: The threat from Irene is overhyped, says forecaster: Hot Air
"Global Warming’s Heavy Cost": Daily Beast (Radical Warmist Extremism)

Media

The Obama Broadcasting Corporation: Dossier
Answering Jonathan Alter's Challenge: Commentary
Jonathan Alter: Remind me again why Obama’s a bad president: Hot Air

Ten Years Ago WFAN's Mike Francesa and Chris Russo Blamed 9/11 on The Jews : Lid
NY Times issues two new corrections to Issa ‘hit piece’: DC
The Travails of the GOP Establishment: PJM

ESPN: Elite Sports Progressives’ Network: Malkin
MSNBC Host Joe Scarborough Intro’d House Res. Condemning Sharpton’s “Racist,” “Anti-Semitic” Views: LI
RIP, Fairness Doctrine: PJM

World

Interviewing Mark Steyn: After America: Get Ready for Armageddon: RWN
DOJ Keeping Islamic Bank Settlement Secret: IPT
Russian Central Bank To Offer Gold-Backed Loans (Or Why The Spam-Standard Is Coming To An End): ZH

Obama Administration Allowing Mexican Police To Operate On US Soil: BigPeace
Joe Biden OK With Murdering Chinese Babies: RWN
Saudi Columnist Calls on Arabs to Learn from Israel's Handling of Protests: MEMRI

Sci-Tech

Celebrating Steve Jobs’ Failures?: Foundry
The Perils of Facebook: JWF
Verizon Takes Away FTP Access, Charges For It: Consumerist

Cornucopia

New Scandal at DoJ as Illegal Guitars End Up In Hands of Mexican Drug Lords: IowaHawk
Lady M Orders Another Round of Hurricanes!: MOTUS
today’s haute couture wtf lol omg: Sondrakistan

Image: Jammie Wearing Fool
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Senate Conservatives Fund

QOTD: "...by mid-decade, in four or five years time, the U.S. taxpayer will be funding the entire cost, just in the interest payment on the debt, of the People’s Liberation Army of China. There is no real precedent in history for this. You can look at examples where Rome was besieged by the barbarians and attempted to bribe various barbarian kings to go away with sacks of gold and silver. But they didn’t as a matter of policy, require Roman taxpayers to pick up the tab for the entire Visigoth military. I mean this is unique. This is unique to us." --Mark Steyn.

Friday, August 26, 2011

ESPN now censoring analysts' anti-Obama tweets (curiously, insulting Sarah Palin still perfectly acceptable)

Dana Loesch reports that ESPN is now in the business of censoring reporters who criticize El Presidente.

A note for future prospective ESPN employees: You can only cheerlead Obama at ESPN. I’m not joking... Case in point: The network’s golf analyst, 12-time PGA Tour winner Paul Azinger hit out at the President’s amount of golf games on Twitter:

Azinger’s remarks prompted ESPN to crack down:

ESPN is coming down on Paul Azinger for mocking President Barack Obama on Twitter. The golf analyst tweeted Thursday the Commander-in-chief plays more golf than he does — and that Azinger has created more jobs this month than Obama has.


On Friday ESPN ‘reminded” Azinger his venture into political punditry violates the company’s updated social network policy for on-air talent and reporters... "Paul’s tweet was not consistent with our social media policy, and he has been reminded that political commentary is best left to those in that field,” spokesman Andy Hall told Game On! in a statement."

ESPN’s Hall would not comment on whether Azinger, who won the 1993 PGA Championship, will be fired, suspended or punished in some way. “We handle that internally,” he said.

Here's a thought experiment: had Paul Azinger complimented President Subprime McDowngrade or angrily slammed a conservative, would he have been similarly censured?

Gee: as it turns out, the loopy nitwit named Kenny Mayne seems to have avoided ESPN's censors secreting tweets like this:

No double standard there.


Hat tip: TrendingRight.

Dumbass: the Story of the Illinois Democrat Party

I think it was Einstein who said that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.

That, my beloved readers, would be an apt description for Democrats in Illinois.

In Illinois, employment numbers increased steadily until January 2011, at which point they took a sharp dip downward—the same time that state’s governor announced plans to increase the personal income tax rate by 67 percent and the corporate rates by 46 percent. And things keep getting worse.

...On top of that, BusinessInsider reports that “Moody’s Investors Service continues to rate Illinois at the lowest level among states (A1 with a negative outlook), and said issuing long-term debt to pay bills ‘would significantly increase the state’s bonded debt burden.’”

...Illinois’ sharp turn for the worse calls to mind another set of data. Nationally, the economy went from losing 841,000 jobs in January 2009—the recession’s low point—to gaining 229,000 jobs in April 2010. But within two months—after Obamacare passed—that all changed, and the economy ground to a halt...

The only question I have regarding Democrats' behavior is this: are they even capable of learning from facts, logic, history and reason?


Related: Mark Levin: Why Liberalism is the Philosophy of the Stupid.

Larwyn's Linx: The Downward Spiral

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 Downward Spiral: AmSpec
Every Single One: Eric Holder's Politicized Compliance Section: PJM
No charges against Prosser; time for Bradley to step down: LI

More Tales From the Over Regulated State - A Series: Graybeard
Obama Rips Off the Scabs: RWN
The Shape of Schemes to Come: Wizbang

The Language of Socialism: CNS
White House Sources Dish on Michelle Obama: JWF
Bachmann's claim about Waters backed up by... Waters: Powers

Economy

IL Loses Most Jobs in Nation After Huge Tax Hikes: Foundry
Obama’s Job-Killing NLRB Strikes Again! : RS
Buffett to host high-profile fundraiser for Obama: CNN

Percent of young people employed is lowest ever: GWP
Keynesianism’s Collapse: Blumer
10 products that defined Steve Jobs' career: AP

Climate & Energy

Romney: On Second Thought, Maybe Humans Aren’t the Cause of Climate Change… Mostly: Malkin
Oil industry group's ads target Obama on Gulf drilling in key battleground states: Hill
The New GM: a Report Card: CNN Money

Media

Faith and the Fishwrap of Record: Malkin
Kinky Friedman on Rick Perry: ‘Hell Yes’ I’d Vote for Him: BG
The narcissistic delusions of the Leftist: Bookworm

This Week In Quotes: August 19 – August 25: RWN
Jamie Radtke's RS Gathering Speech: Riehl
Comic Aims to Correct the 9/11 ‘Big Lie’?: Big Hollywood

Obama had that weird light around him...: BSfootprint
Photoshop of the Year: Driscoll
The Media's War Against Dick Cheney: NB

World

Which Way for American Military Power?: Loudon
Sino Mil Sec 2011 Report: RWN
Obama Justice Department Shuts Down Gibson Guitar For Breaking One of India's Laws: GWP

Protect and Defend the U.S. from EMP Threat: Foundry
What the Left Fully Understands: Pundette
Fukushima caesium leaks 'equal 168 Hiroshimas' : Telegraph

Sci-Tech

New BlackBerry phones to support Android?: CNet
"Apache Killer" tool spotted in the wild: Net Security
HFT Quote Stuffing Market Manipulation Caught In The Act: ZH

Cornucopia

How can you put a price on an Obama vacation?: MOTUS
Found In Gaddafi Compound: Photo Album Filled With Images Of Condi Rice: Mediaite
Who says men can't multitask? Man busted for simultaneously driving, drinking beer, having sex: TSG

Image: iOwnTheWorld
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Allen West for Congress


Thursday, August 25, 2011

Report: Astronomers discover planet made of... diamond?

At least that's what they're saying on the real blogs (via Drudge, of course).

Astronomers in Australia have discovered the densest planet outside the solar system yet, the journal Science reported today, and they're speculating that it's composed of ultradense diamond. "Lying 4,000 light years away... the planet is probably the remnant of a once-massive star that has lost its outer layers" to a dead neutron star, or "pulsar star," Reuters notes... Matthew Bailes, one of the authors of the study, describes the planet as "a massive diamond orbiting a neutron star every two hours in an orbit so tight it would fit inside our own Sun." The astronomers detected the planet using radio telescopes and hypothesize that a high-pressure environment caused the planet's carbon core to crystallize into diamond. 

Ben Stappers of the University of Manchester tells Reuters he doesn't know what the planet would look like up close, though he adds, "I don't imagine that a picture of a very shiny object is what we're looking at here."  But Travis Metcalfe of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado thinks otherwise. "It's highly speculative, but if you shine a light on it, I can't see any reason why it wouldn't sparkle like a diamond," he explains to New Scientist...

Physicists also speculate that the planet may even be more dense than Joe Biden.

But not by much.


See if you can solve our Photo Puzzle o' the Day!

What is addicted to:

Grey Goose martinis...

Swedish massages...

Skiing in Vail...

Being accompanied by dozens of hunky bodyguards...

Relaxing for days on end in 5-Star Spas...

While enjoying endless carafes of rich, sparkling wines...

And the very finest cuisine...

All while vacationing on the taxpayers' dime (spending $10 million in the last year alone)?

That would our beloved, ultra-classy, non-pandering, non-class-warrior, non-hypocritical First Lady, Michelle Obama.

Who vacations with her husband, a man known for vilifying "millionaires and billionaires", "corporate jet owners", "yacht owners", and others with whom they hobnob on a regular basis.

While billing you, your children and your grandchildren for the privilege.

You may want to file this under 'Remember in 2012'.