Thursday, November 03, 2011

The rich fight back: Mercedes bulls over #OccupyOakland punks who blocked it and pounded on hood

Pity Michael Moore wasn't involved:

...Though the Post can’t independently verify what is seen in the video, the cellphone footage appears to show a Mercedes Benz trying to drive through a crowd of protesters at Wednesday night’s Occupy Oakland march. It nudges up to two protesters, one of whom bangs on the hood of the car. The driver then speeds up and plows through the crowd.

The San Francsico Chronicle reports that the police questioned the driver and let him leave the scene. The two people who were hit, a man and a woman, suffered leg and ankle injuries that were not life-threatening, but required hospital treatment.

The protest was largely a peaceful march, though there was a small group of protesters that clashed with police and vandalized property...

Rumor has it that in tomorrow's edition of Politico, Jonathan Martin and Ken Vogel will allege that Herman Cain was the driver.


New Gang of Bloodthirsty Throwbacks Screws Up the State Department Style Guide [Dan from New York]

Dan from New York:

Just when we were getting comfortable with Hamas, out of nowhere comes another Gaza terror organization, Islamic Jihad, who wants to share the spotlight.


Hey, cool uniforms guys!

###

Reuters, 3 November 2011

Truce with Israel will not last: Islamic Jihad


GAZA — The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, which traded deadly fire with Israel over the weekend in Gaza, does not expect a subsequent truce to last long and has at least 8,000 fighters ready for war, a spokesman said...

...While Hamas has recently spent much of its energy on the business of government, Islamic Jihad has kept its focus firmly on the conflict, gaining in prominence and enjoying significant backing from Muslim supporters, including Iran...

###

The emergence of this group is going to pose a double semantic problem for Obama & Co. How will they be able to describe “Islamic Jihad” without mentioning its name and breaking the rules in the new State Dept. style book?

Now that's what I call SmartPower™!


Larwyn's Linx: I Declare Politico’s Attack On Herman Cain Racist

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

I Declare Politico’s Attack On Herman Cain Racist: RWN
Iowa Cain Accuser Appears To Have Anti-Cain Agenda: Nice Deb
Herman Cain, Amazing Grace Under Fire: AT

They're Throwing Mud at Cain: AmSpec
Soros-Funded Vote-Fraud Deniers Hold Election Law Confab: Adams
Good News! Occupiers Cause 21 Layoffs: RWN

Economy

On MF: Krasting
Obama: Corzine 'is our Wall Street guy': JWF
FBI: You Know, Maybe We Should Investigate Corzine: Ace

Unleash the Entrepreneurs: City Journal
Obama’s Student Loan Gift to Occupy Wall Street: Foundry
'Public-School Teachers Overpaid, Study Finds': ProWis

Soros Trader Involved in Bankrupt Firm Tied to Obama: NoisyRm
Debt Increased $203 Billion in October alone: CNS
Corzine couldn’t sell MF -- there was $700M missing: Fausta

Occupy

Occupy Oakland: Window smashing, vandalism; Teamsters in the house; port shut down; trucks overrun: Malkin
More ugly Occupy Oakland pictures that won’t make MSM front pages: Malkin
Photos of the Anti-Capitalist Revolution in Denver: LATL

Shock OWS Study: 'The Group is Very Liberal and Part of the Democratic Base': JWF
Confirmed: Scott Olsen’s Injuries Were Not Caused By Sheriff’s Deputies: GWP
Democratic Socialists of America Goes National For Occupy Wall Street: NoisyRm

Disturbing Photos from the “General Strike” in Oakland: VS
Occupy Oakland Protests Turn Violent: Mercury News
Protests shut Oakland port, tensions flare in streets: Vancouver Sun

Gunrunner & Energygate

“Solyndra Executive Bonuses Kept Coming in 2011″: ProWis
Dragged into Georgia Geriatric Terrorist Plot, courtesy of Gunwalker apologists at TPM (and apparently DOJ): SSI
"Georgia Geriatric Terror Gang" at their arraignment.: SSI

Climate & Energy

NASA on the Antarctic Crack: WUWT
Expert: Global Warming Is Over: Express
Why the fall of Solyndra was expected: Element14

Media

Nancy Pelosi House-keeping? You be the judge: WashExam
Time Stands Still: Driscoll
Impressive Romney: PJM

What did Politico know and when did they know it?: ProWis
Time Magazine Writer: French Newspaper That Got Firebombed By Jihadists Deserved What It Got: Ace
Time Magazine to Firebombed French Paper: Sorry, But You're Islamophobic and Childish: NB

World

Benjamin Netanyahu seeks cabinet support for Israeli strike on Iran: Telegraph
Why Obama Believes He Can Tame the Islamists and Why He's Dead Wrong: Lid
Satirical French Newspaper Firebombed After Sharia Story: Spew

Game Over Berlusconi? Italian Anti-Crisis Bill Fails: ZH
Papandreou’s bailout referendum bombshell: has a broader German agenda inspired it?: The Slog
Cannes sheds its black tie image for G20 riot gear: Reuters

Sci-Tech

Web Security Expert Warns Of Cyber World War: Sky
Top iPad Alternatives for Business: CIO
The End of an Era: Internet Explorer Drops Below 50 Percent of Web Usage: WebMonkey

Cornucopia

Health News: McRibs Contain Same Ingredient As Shoe Soles: JWF
Sometimes you just have to eat your peas: MOTUS
The Latest in Terminator Tech: DefTech

Image: CTV
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Ohioans: Vote YES on ISSUE 2

QOTD: "I congratulate the FBI on their ability to sniff out and entrap old, feeble minded Georgia morons with dreams of terrorist grandeur. Now if they could just apply some of that industry to telling us the truth about the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, we'll all be better off." --Mike Vanderboegh, "Lazy journalist's guide to my reaction to the evil bad scary Georgia Geriatric Terrorist Plot."

Politico's Top Secret Scandal Selector, by Jonathan Martin and Kenneth Vogel

Biff Spackle located the screening tool used by Politico journolists Jonathan Martin and Kenneth Vogel to determine whether a political scandal is newsworthy:

To assess the scandal factor, please check all that apply:

Did the politician emit spooge on a young intern's blue dress?

Did the politician drive drunk into a pond, leaving his passenger to helplessly drown, flee the scene, and fail to report the incident to authorities in time for a rescue?

Did the politician spend decades as a Ku Klux Klan member, rising to the level of Kleagle (recruiter) and Exalted Cyclops?

Did the politician have a three-decade history of sexual violence against women?

Did the politician accept sweetheart loans and donations from the very organizations he was supposed to be regulating?

Did the politician steer billions in contracts to companies controlled by her spouse?

Did the politician's gay lover run a bisexual prostitution ring out of the politician's apartment?

Did the politican use campaign funds to support a mistress and love child while his wife was dying of cancer?

Was the politican accused of inappropriate behavior by two unnamed persons several decades ago?

IMPORTANT: Please select the politician's party affiliation: Democrat       Republican

Press button to determine this story's scandal status:



Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Obama-Friendly GE Building Aircraft Factory in Right-to-Work Alabama; Curiously, Unlike Boeing, NLRB Utterly Silent

Do the math:

1. Alabama is a wonderfully free "right-to-work" state, which simply means it prevents unions from extracting dues from workers who do not wish to join.

2. General Electric's CEO Jeff Immelt is the poster-boy for crony capitalism, having backed Obama's rush to socialized medicine and green energy to benefit various of its business units.

3. It turns out that GE's Aviation division is breaking ground on a new factory in Alabama. And, unlike Boeing, which tried to build a factory in a right-to-work-state, the National Labor Relations Board hasn't uttered a peep. But I'm sure that's just a coincidence.

Remember the Boeing case?

[The NRLB] wants to stop the Boeing Corporation from using its new aircraft manufacturing plant in South Carolina. Construction began in November 2009 and is almost complete... [It] has charged that Boeing's decision to build a new plant in [right-to-work] South Carolina-to expand production of its Dreamliner 787-was made in retaliation for strikes at its Everett, Washington plant...

...If Boeing is penalized from locating where costs are lowest and production most reliable, then many other companies will be charged.

The NLRB wants Boeing to build all its Dreamliners in Washington State, which is not a right-to-work state.

If I were a more cynical man, I would think that this is yet another example of crony capitalism and big government at its very worst. Companies rewarded and punished by regulators based upon crass partisan hackery. Somewhere, Richard Nixon is smiling.

The fact that Obama-friendly GE is building a plant in Alabama without a whisper of a complaint from the NLRB while Boeing is challenged at every turn must be a coincidence. It simply must be.


Today's 'Paul Krugman Hoisted On His Own Petard', Self-Beclownment Edition

Is there a more hilarious propagand-conomist than Paul "The Problem with Keynesian Economics Is That We're Not Borrowing Enough" Krugman? I don't mean his looks. Ignore the elf-boy physique, concentrate on his record.

He's got enough face-plant-style failures to shame Milli Vanilli.

Today, Krugman is crying doom-and-gloom for the Euro, predicting bank runs, dogs and cats sleeping together, total fiscal apocalypse -- all thanks to the failed Eurosocialist welfare state. But it wasn't too long ago that Elf-Boy was championing the Eurozone...

• In "The Comeback Continent" (Jan. 2008), Krugman told us that the Eurozone was a bulwark of the world economy, worthy of emulation by the U.S.:

The G.D.P. of the European Union is roughly comparable to that of the United States; the euro is almost as important a global currency as the dollar; and the governance of the world financial system is, for practical purposes, equally shared by the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve.

But there’s another thing: it’s important to get the facts about Europe’s economy right because the alleged woes of that economy play an important role in American political discourse, usually as an excuse for the insecurities and injustices of our own society...

...What European countries definitely haven’t done is dismantle their strong social safety nets. Universal health care is a given. So are a variety of programs that support families in trouble, helping protect Europeans from the extreme poverty all too common in this country. All of this costs money — even though European countries spend far less on health care than we do — and European taxes are very high by U.S. standards.

In short, Europe continues to be a big-government sort of place. And that’s why it’s important to get the real story of the European economy out there.

According to the anti-government ideology that dominates much U.S. political discussion, low taxes and a weak social safety net are essential to prosperity. Try to make the lives of Americans even slightly more secure, we’re told, and the economy will shrivel up — the same way it supposedly has in Europe.

But the next time a politician tries to scare you with the European bogeyman, bear this in mind: Europe’s economy is actually doing O.K. these days, despite a level of taxing and spending beyond the wildest ambitions of American progressives.

• In "Why Oil Isn't Gold" (May 2008), Krugman told us how useless gold is as a store of value and, in "Wingnuts, wingnuts everywhere", he openly mocked gold-bugs.

Based on my analysis, a Ouija Board would do a far better job at predicting macroeconomic events than the embarrassment known as Krugman.


My Daughter [Papa B]

Papa B:

My daughter just walked into the living room and said "Dad, cancel my allowance immediately, rent my room out, throw all my clothes out of the window, take my TV, and stereo, and iPhone, and iPod, and my laptop. Please take all of my jewelry to the Salvation Army or Cash Converters. Then sell my new car, take my front door key away from me and throw me out of the house. Then disown me and never talk to me again.. And don't forget to write me out of your will and leave my share to my brother."

Well, she didn't put it quite like that. She actually said:

"Dad, I have decided to work for Obama's re-election campaign."


Iran's First Line Of Defense Against Israel [Dan from New York]

Dan from New York:

Military history will record Israel’s failure to vanquish Hizbullah in the Second Lebanon War as one of the great strategic blunders in the modern era of warfare. Israel had the golden opportunity to sever Iran’s right arm in the region, but PM Olmert and his military commander Halutz botched it. Olmert would then go on to compound his mistake two years later in Gaza, leaving Hamas - Iran’s left arm in the region - intact. Today, both Hamas and Hizbullah have grown much stronger, and so has their controller, Iran.

Here is a summary of a report from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. You can read the whole thing right here. It shouldn’t be a mystery why Iran would put this “information” into the news stream now. They’re trying to scare off an attack on their nuclear weapons program by hyping the response. But you be the judge. Even if Iran isn’t bluffing, what would prove more costly, an elective attack before they get the H-bomb, or an obligatory attack after? Failing to act decisively now could be fatal.

###

Hizbullah Discusses Its Operational Plan for War with Israel: Missile Fire on Tel Aviv and Conquest of the Galilee


In recent weeks Hizbullah leader Hasan Nasrallah held a series of meetings with his top-level military command as well as field commanders responsible for preparing for war with Israel. According to a source close to Hizbullah, Nasrallah's operational directive was that in the next military conflict with Israel, Hizbullah will hit Tel Aviv with missiles at the outset of the war, while also dispatching forces to conquer the Galilee.

Hizbullah forces are being trained to fire at least ten thousand missiles, right at the war's outset, at military and strategic targets such as airfields, military camps, and vital facilities including maritime ones, followed by the firing of rockets from launch sites whose location will come as a surprise to Israel.

The operational plan was formulated in tandem with senior Iranian strategic experts and will include a force of five thousand fighters who have recently trained in Iran, tasked with taking over designated zones in northern Israel including Nahariya, Shlomi, and Carmiel.

It was said that engineering units of the Iranian army had mined areas in the eastern Bekaa Valley that were seen as possible landing sites for Israeli special forces, and that Hizbullah had equipped itself with "smart" Iranian anti-tank missiles that can disrupt the defensive systems of Israel's Merkava tanks.

Nasrallah's recent escalation of public statements stems from heightened fear in Hizbullah that an Israeli and/or American attack on Iran is drawing nearer. As a strategic arm of Iran, Hizbullah sees itself as Iran's first line of defense against Israel.

To paraphrase Bill Ayers: it doesn't take a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing. I predict a revised forecast for the 'Arab Spring'.

Hopefully it involves darkness, followed by a bright flash of 8,000° heat in and around the compound protecting Ahmedinejad and the Mullahs.


Brilliant: DHS head Napolitano monitoring Twitter for civil unrest; could just head to #OccupyOakland instead

Let me guess: this little surveillance project will cost billions:

The world has seen a wave of civil unrest sweep across nations this year and as a result the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is taking measures to prevent any sign of social disturbance from happening within America. One of the measures include monitoring social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, for clues on growing civil disobedience...

...the DHS would create new guidelines to focus on “gleaning information from sites such as Twitter and Facebook for law enforcement purposes.” However, she went on to mention, that the guidelines would be implemented under strict laws “meant to prevent spying on Americans.”

Still, many social media users express concern that the government would track what they do on social sites.

Here's a free, money-saving tip for our beloved baritone DHS head: why not just send an agent to each of the Occupy protests to take pictures of the leftist kooks vandalizing private businesses?

Or, better still, just read the funny papers:

Anti-Wall Street protesters in Oakland have vandalized a Whole Foods store and shattered windows at two downtown banks.

Windows were shattered at a Bank of America branch, where someone also spraypainted "Class War" and "Shut it Down," near Lake Merritt and a Chase bank at 20th and Webster streets.

Police officers on Wednesday afternoon stood outside the Chase bank, where vandals also defaced the ATM machines, spraypainting them black.

"For the Commune," one graffiti message reads.

"Withdraw Only," another reads.

Remember, folks: President Obama, Vice President Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and a host of other radical leftists support this civil unrest.

2012 is coming.


Larwyn's Linx: Politico smear merchant Vogel worked for Soros group

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

Politico smear merchant Vogel worked for Soros group: Bozell
Occupy Oakland's Dangerous Strike Follies: Malkin
White House battles bullying…of Muslims: Creeping

E-Verify use soaring in… California!: PoliPundit
FBI arrests 8 in Florida for absentee ballot fraud: RS
Gun ownership in U.S. soars: Gallup: MarketWatch

Economy

Pelosi: Work union or don’t work at all: IBD
Colorado bellwether: Voters reject statewide tax increases: Malkin
US Food Stamp Usage Hits New Record: ZH

The Stupidity of “Buy American”: Stossel
How US Banks Are Lying About Their European Exposure: ZH
Lethally Leisured: Steyn

You Want More Equality? Support More Capitalism: RWN
MF Global Stole Hundreds Of Millions From Customers?: ZH
Let's Consider The Possible: Denninger

Gunrunner & Energygate

Documents detail early knowledge by Lanny Breuer and subordinates of "gunwalking": SSI
Gunwalker: Lanny Breuer Fails to Take Pressure off Eric Holder: Owens
Feinstein may have inadvertently confirmed Gunwalker ulterior motive: Martin

Climate & Energy

REIN in Regulations: No Regulation Without Representation: MagFarm
Democrat Blanche Lincoln To Obama: Stop Regulating: IBD
October Leaf vs. Volt Sales: Daily Bayonet

Media

Judge Richard Goldstone’s Mea Culpa, in the Pages of the New York Times!: PJM
NYTimes pretends Corzine isn't a Democrat Obama donor: Exam
Convicted Sex Offender Arrested for Rape of 14 Year Old at Occupy Dallas: VS

Gabbi Gifford Liberals Create Video In Which They Violently Murder "Republicans" (Warning, Graphic): PunditPress
Editor Shortage Showing at L.A. Times: Patterico
Four Lily White Liberals Smear a Black Man: AT

World

Egypt's Massacre of Christians: What the Media Does Not Want You To Know: Ibrahim
Nemesis: Beward Greeks Bearing Gifts: Belmont Club
Greece Replaces Top Brass; Is Papandreou Preparing for a Military Coup or Afraid of One?: Mish

The White Aborigines of the Post-Racial Left : Knish
Democracy Is Impossible: Williams
US Professor: "Death To Israel": JoshuaPundit

Fast cars and loose fiscal morals: more Porsches in Greece than taxpayers declaring 50K incomes: Telegraph
Fury in Germany after Greek referendum call: Reuters
S. Korea Plans $50B Fund for Reunification: Bloomberg

Sci-Tech

UK Cops Using Fake Mobile Phone Tower to Intercept Calls, Shut Off Phones: Wired
The iPhone 4S battery problem: USA Today
Twitter App --- Review: Wired

Cornucopia

U.S. Glossed Over Cancer Concerns Associated with Airport X-ray Scanners: Bruce
Mother of ‘Six Billionth Kid’ Blasts Deadbeat UN: Camelback
Something to Offend Everyone: C&S

Image: Michelle Malkin
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Ted Cruz for U.S. Senate

QOTD: "Whether Greece defaults or gets bailed out one mo' time doesn't really matter: It's insolvent, and there isn't enough money in Germany to obscure that fact indefinitely. The longer "political reality" tries to dodge real reality, the bloodier the eventual reacquaintance will be. Europeans are going to have to relearn impulses three generations of Continentals have learned to regard as hopelessly vulgar. Can they do that? A land of 30-year-old students and 50-year-old retirees has so thoroughly diverted the great stream of life that it barely comprehends what's at stake. " --Mark Steyn

Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Holder Justice Department on Both Sides of Obamacare's Tax Status

Well, this figures:

In anticipation of the Supreme Court choosing to hear the suits filed against the federal health care reform law, referred to by critics often as “ObamaCare”, the Obama Administration’s Department of Justice is pointing to issues they think the justices should address. Although the administration is alleging the penalty for running afoul of the law’s individual mandate should not be considered a tax, they have previously argued the penalty is a tax...

...This seemingly contradictory stance raises a significant issue …   Read more here and here.

I'm so surprised that a 2,200-page bill that no one read could cause this much confusion.


Say, how are all those government subsidies in health care and higher-ed working out?

For you drones out there: that's a rhetorical question. Turns out that college tuition and health care costs have skyrocketed, thanks to the bloated, unconstitutional federal leviathan that ruins everything it tries to control.

Can any of you liberals tell me when central planning has worked, by the way? That's also a rhetorical question, drones.

When President Obama announced changes to rules on repaying college student loans, he said his goal was to ease the financial burden of getting a degree... But if the history of college financial aid (and other government attempts to protect consumers from costs) is any guide, Obama's plan will likely backfire.

Over the past three decades, financial aid has rocketed up 438% after inflation...

"By providing aid and subsidized loans, the government is trying to protect students, but the effect is perverse," said Jane Shaw, president of the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy in Raleigh, N.C. "They increase demand and enable colleges to hike tuitions virtually without restraint..."

...The same phenomenon has occurred in health care, where government for decades has worked to shield consumers from direct costs, fueling health care cost inflation by encouraging demand and giving doctors and hospitals greater license to raise prices.

Today, the government pays directly for over 44% of care, according to data compiled by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services... Consumers now pay just 12% of the nation's health care tab out of pocket vs. nearly half in 1960, fueling much of the nation's health care inflationary spiral.

2012 truly represents the final fork in the road for the American Republic.


So Proud: the Food Stamp President Sets a New All-Time Benchmark!

Does the word historic ring a bell?

...here is this month's refresh from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which informs us that in August, a new all time record number of Americans, or 45.8 million, relied on food stamps for sustenance. So for those who are looking for those up and coming states where the population has decided that slowly but surely work of any kind is an anachronism we suggest you move to Alabama, Delaware, Utah, or Washington: all states that have seen at least a 3% sequential increase in food stamp usage...

And, tangentially, confirming that this country's economy is headed straight to hell and won't pass go is the latest news from LPS according to which nearly 40% of loans in foreclosure have not made a payment in two years, and 72% have not made a payment in the past 12 months.

Sweet! Glad to see those billions spent to resurrect the housing industry are working out.

And don't forget: since "not even the USDA knows what people are buying with food stamps"", you can be sure your tax dollars are being used with the utmost efficiency.


Larwyn's Linx: ACLU: Obama “Authorizing Agencies to Lie”

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

ACLU: Obama “Authorizing Agencies to Lie”: Commentary
Smoking-Gun Document Ties Clinton Policy To Housing Crisis: IBD
Obama will ‘continue’ to act ‘independently’ without Congress: DC

‘No’ on Ohio Ballot Issues Means ‘Yes’ to Obama : Blumer
Now it's SC's turn to be sued for enforcing immigration laws: WZ
Cain Runs the Gauntlet: AmSpec

Economy

Obama's class warfare: it's all Obama's got left: DLim
Class warriors ignore the facts about America's rich and poor: Carroll
Labor Secretary Solis Calls Out "Tea-Baggers": BTB

Student Loan Debt Shows High Cost Of Federal Aid: IBD
A real discussion about the minimum wage laws: 10 Mile
European Banks Sink on Greek Vote Bombshell: CNBC

AFL-CIO Chief Richard Trumka Threatens Dems: WZ
Obama's FDA Executive Order: NRO
The Economics of Polarization: Spengler

Gunrunner & Energygate

Holder dumps new Fast and Furious docs as 11 more congressmen call for his resignation: DC
Why does Justice Department need to lie on FOIA responses?: Codrea
So Many Solyndras: Another DoE Loan Recipient Give Up the Ghost: Ace

Occupy

The 99%: Official list of Occupy Wall Street’s supporters, sponsors and sympathizers: Zombie
Man Found Dead at Occupy OKC: VS
Occupy Chicago says Michelle Obama's former employer is part of the one percent: Marathon

Climate & Energy

The Climate Scam Continues: IBD
Scientist Who Claims to Have "Proved" Global Warming- Accused of "Fudging" Truth By Colleague: Lid
'Call It the Electric Edsel' - Chevy Volt Lacks Drawing Power: PittLive

Media

Politico and Cain: Sexual harassment or political harassment?: JPA
Politico's Martin Dodges Question On Cain Details: NB
Politicobama: Glob

Ann Coulter Calls Politico's Herman Cain Hit Piece 'Another High-Tech Lynching': NB
All Three Networks Hype 'Bombshell Blast' Against Herman Cain: NB
Soros-Funded MoveOn.org Organizing Run On Banks: WZ

Mitt Romney, Weasel: Ace
Democracy vs. Mob Rule: Sowell
Cuban Intelligence in the USA: Loudon

World

The FBI, CAIR and Subterfuge in Connecticut: IPT
Breaking: AP reports on another 'suspicious [nuclear] site' in Syria : Matzav
Why Europe can't solve its debt crisis: Time

US fears unilateral Israeli strike on Iran: ynet
Misunderstanderer of Islam becomes third Minnesotan to self-detonate: GWP
Flag of Al Qaeda flies in Libya: Modicum of Insanity

Sci-Tech

Banks Working With NSA and Defense Contractors to Stop Hackers: PubInt
Outsmarted: Captcha security not much of a gotcha: CNet
Copyright bill controversy grows as rhetoric sharpens: CNet

Cornucopia

Behind Sean Hannity's Desk: GQ
Words, Words, Words: What’s in your wallet?: MOTUS
Ten leadership lessons from Ronald Reagan: Resist Tyranny

Image: Looking Spoon, Gary Varvel
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Herman Cain for President

QOTD: "The deputy legal director for the ACLU believes post-9/11 security policies specifically target Muslims, and that the intelligence community has taken training cues from bigots, not experts." --KSL

Monday, October 31, 2011

Smoking Gun: Document Found That Touched Off the Mortgage Meltdown

The entire Democrat Party hardest hit:

[In 1994] the federal government declared war on an enemy — the racist lender — who officials claimed was to blame for differences in homeownership rate, and launched what would prove the costliest social crusade in U.S. history.

At President Clinton's direction, no fewer than 10 federal agencies issued a chilling ultimatum to banks and mortgage lenders to ease credit for lower-income minorities or face investigations for lending discrimination and suffer the related adverse publicity. They also were threatened with denial of access to the all-important secondary mortgage market and stiff fines, along with other penalties.

The threat was codified in a 20-page "Policy Statement on Discrimination in Lending" and entered into the Federal Register on April 15, 1994, by the Interagency Task Force on Fair Lending. Clinton set up the little-known body to coordinate an unprecedented crackdown on alleged bank redlining.

The edict — completely overlooked by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and the mainstream media — was signed by then-HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, Attorney General Janet Reno, Comptroller of the Currency Eugene Ludwig and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, along with the heads of six other financial regulatory agencies...

...The unusual full-court press was predicated on a Boston Fed study showing mortgage lenders rejecting blacks and Hispanics in greater proportion than whites. The author of the 1992 study, hired by the Clinton White House, claimed it was racial "discrimination." But it was simply good underwriting.

It took private analysts, as well as at least one FDIC economist, little time to determine the Boston Fed study was terminally flawed. In addition to finding embarrassing mistakes in the data, they concluded that more relevant measures of a borrower's credit history — such as past delinquencies and whether the borrower met lenders credit standards — explained the gap in lending between whites and blacks, who on average had poorer credit and higher defaults...

Lenders -- faced with ten federal regulatory bodies, the Attorney General, the President and the HUD Secretary -- quickly fell into line.

[They] threw such a scare into the industry that the American Bankers Association issued a "fair-lending tool kit" to every member. The Mortgage Bankers Association of America signed a "fair-lending" contract with HUD. So did Countrywide.

HUD also pushed Fannie and Freddie, which in effect set industry underwriting standards, to buy subprime mortgages, freeing lenders to originate even more high-risk loans.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Barack Obama can blame George W. Bush, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, and Carmen Electra for the housing crisis. But the real culprits were the social engineers, criminals and cronies in the Clinton administration.

Please read the rest -- and pass it on.


Security: Humans are always the weakest link

Good article in today's Wall Street Journal describing the weakest link in the information security chain. The summary? You can have your firewalls, your intrusion prevention systems, your endpoint security systems, your anti-virus, your spam filters, your zero-day detection appliances, your application-aware firewalls, and the rest.

But then there's this:

Chris Patten called a large investment-management firm to report that he was going through a divorce and was worried that his wife had set up an account under a false name.

And with that story—entirely plausible but in this case a lie—a customer-service representative turned over customer account numbers and other details with a readiness that makes banks and other companies cringe.

Mr. Patten, a 35-year-old cybersecurity expert who was with the U.S. Air Force before he started working for a consulting firm in Kansas City, Mo., didn't actually use or sell the data, which he gathered in running a test for the investment firm of its security arrangements. But the ease with which the employee was persuaded to divulge the information points to a troubling trend, security experts and law enforcement officials say.

As banks and other large companies spend large amounts of money on building firewalls and using complex technology to fortify their systems, it is often their own employees who are letting identity thieves in the door...

User education and awareness are good starting points. And solid browsers that can help point out phishing attempts certainly help.

But the fact remains: social engineering is just too damn easy and there's no silver bullet. What's that old quote? "Make it idiot-proof, and someone will make a better idiot."


My favorite T-shirt for pissing off liberals

Heading to the gym this evening wearing my guaranteed-to-piss-off-liberals T.

By the way, the band I'm wearing on my right hand is from DefendMichael.com, the site set up to support Michael Behenna's defense. Michael was 101st Airborne serving in Iraq. While questioning Ali Mansur, a known Al Qaeda operative, the terrorist suddenly attacked Behenna. In the course of defending himself, Mansur was killed.

Benenna was subsequently tried and sentenced to 25 years in Leavenworth. His sentence has since been reduced twice after reviews by the commanding general of 101st Airborne and by the Army Clemency Board.

If you have a couple of spare bucks, you can PayPal Michael's defense fund at DefendMichael.com.


Top 15 Comments from Jonathan Alter's whitewash of Obama's scandal-plagued presidency, the most corrupt since Teapot Dome

Just in case you actually have a life and missed the weekend's latest journolistic implosion, please consider the delightful Bloomberg article by none other than failed Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter. Entitled "The Obama Miracle, a White House Free of Scandal, it is as fine a piece of propaganda as I've seen since the days of Der Stürmer. Here's just a taste:

President Barack Obama goes into the 2012 with a weak economy that may doom his reelection. But he has one asset that hasn’t received much attention: He’s honest.

Okay, that's it. That's all I can take. Suffice it to say that Alter's pablum is suitable only for drones and miscreants -- but I repeat myself. As of this instant, the article has generated nearly 1,600 comments. My favorites?

15. Obama's miracle is that the media barely covers the scandals. (JohnQPublius)

14. Jonathan Alter is the poster boy for media lap dog bias and Journol-list corruption. An article like this deserves the Josef Goebbles Award for journalistic integrity, or at the very least a Pulitzer. There is a reason why the MSM has become so hated, mistrusted, and ignored. Newsweek was sold for a dollar, AirAmerica bankrupt and defunct, the NY Times dying a death of a thousand cuts, MSNBC in ratings purgatory, and now this anencephalic miscreant brings his own brand of Obama apologism and misinformation to Bloomberg's tarnished brand. (PeterLocke)

13. NO media outlet with any sense of professionalism, objectivity, ethics of FACTS would have run this article. This, however, goes beyond error and omission. THIS is pure propaganda.

I'm done with Bloomberg. (Liz)

12. Makes you wonder if it's media bias or is the press just this stupid? (Good Luck)

11. This writer is a mindless liberal robot or just hallucinatory. Scandal free? That makes me FAST to respond and FURIOUS to boot. (Ghs2050)

LOL. They say the Left has the best drugs and this article leads me to believe it's true! Scandal free administration! Now that takes bulls balls to say! (Kevin Jackson)

10. That's it. I'm reporting all of you to ATTACKWAAAAATCH!!! (Dalai Grimm)

9. How about assasinating American citizens without due process?
How about engaging in an undeclared war?
How about authorizing the DOJ to lie in response to FOIA requests?
How about protecting his campaign donors (rather than the taxpayer) in the Solyndra bankruptcy?
How about protecting union members rather than shareholders in the Chrysler/GM bankruptcy?
How about "if you like your current health plan, you can keep it"?
How about "I never heard any of those sermons by Jeremiah Wright"?
... the list goes on, and on, and on, and... (dsmith3000)

8. Alter is ludicrously ridiculous in his myopic, shallow "analysis" of Obama being scandal-free. The fawning press that passes for journalists nowadays don't bother "reporting" on the real state of affairs in the USA. We Americans must read UK news outlets to find out what's truly happening in the U.S., since our own "journalists" don't bother reporting real news. While the press continues wearing their sideblinders and tunnel-vision, rose-colored glasses, the rest of America is increasingly moving beyond Obama's empty promise of "hope and change". It's time to move on and get a president who will run our country, rather than continually run for office. (lifeisgood)

7. Pretty funny, Mr. Alter. You should pitch it to Saturday Night Live. (Charlie Gutierrez)

6. The failure to mention operation "Fast and Serious" should be telling in and of itself. A government agency violated US law, Mexican law, and International law and no one involved has been fired yet, in fact some have been promoted. And if it is true that Obama is quick to fire those who step out of line, it is even more likely that he knew of and approved the operation and tactics used. (Micah Robert)

5. Is this The Onion? Pravda? Yeah, he's scandal free if you don't count any of his many scandals, and he's honest if you don't notice that every other word of his mouth is a lie. (Cara C)

4. Alter's miracle is being brain dead and still being able to get things published. (G)

3. Perhaps Mr. Alter-nate Reality could just go to http://obamascandalslist.blogspot.com. They are on scandal #296. And each reported in great detail. (GracieZG)

2. Seriously, this guy is paid for his insight? My dog is more insightful. I'm serious, #$% stinks, but not if you bury it, like my dog does. The reason Obama has no scandals is that the media refuses to report any. Fast and Furious? Solyndra? Jeremiah Wright? His domestic terrorist mentor? His wife's sweetheart job deal at the Chicago hospital, his sweetheart house purchase...the list goes on.
Jonathan Alter, keep those dirty pictures of the Bloomberg editor well hidden. Otherwise, to answer your question, yes I would like fries with that. (jeffaguthrie)

1. The scandal is the deficit and the debt. The scandal is unemployment rate. The scandal is not addressing the back-breaking cost of all the high-salaried public employees at all levels of Govt that get pensions, health care, and early retirement. The scandal is accepting the Nobel Peace Prize without having accomplished one thing. The scandal is having your Sec of State say "How do you deal toughly with your banker?" when asked about growing Chinese aggression with regard to its neighbors, their natural resources, and their manipulated currency.

The scandal is the growing black-on-white flash mob crime and the lack of its mention by the White House or the national media. The scandal is giving away billions in green loans to big campaign contributors. The scandal is playing golf +90 times, plus expensive vacations, plus lavish travel and parties for family and friends while we are hurting economically. The scandal is obvious campaigning on the taxpayer dime while also collecting huge donations. The scandal is Fast and Furious gun running and the resulting deaths.

The scandal is promising to close Guantanamo on the campaign trail but then discovering that maybe (when reality is actually considered) its a good idea to keep it open. The scandal is squandering our victory in Iraq by failing to negotiate a proper SOF (Status of Forces) Agreement so we could maintain at least 1 real base as a reminder to Iran that we are watching them. The scandal is a failed Iranian policy that will result in their acquisition of nuclear weapons.

The scandal is the expanding role of Govt in monitoring our every movement and financial interaction. The scandal is the radical environmental regulations that ignore private property rights and have de-industrialized this country. The scandal is enacting new complex laws and then offering waivers to those companies that have the biggest potential political donation checkbook.

The scandal is the public education system that cannot educate black or Hispanic kids regardless of the billions spent. The scandal is dramatically expanding food stamps, but then looking the other way at the obvious fraud. The scandal is a set of labor laws and regs that punish companies that move from a Blue State to a Red State.

The scandal is the hollowed out City of Detroit as a prime example of what happens when Big Labor and Big Democratic Govt seize total control. The scandal is the crushing poverty and crime in Washington DC and almost any center of Govt in this country. It seems like the closer you live to Govt, you are either a very well paid Govt worker or are at the bottom of the barrel as a victim of all the learned helplessness that Govt "help" inspires.

The scandal is that there just isnt enough room to list everything. Maybe we can hope that all of this wasn't intentional, but simply a result of ineptitude and inexperience. The scandal is that this is our best-case scenario. (JOCB)

* * * * * * * * *

Well said, my friend. Well said.

As for you, Alter, your sycophantic drivel will go down in history with that of Goebbels, Pravda, Tass and Kim Jong-Il's pronouncements. You're a pencil-necked joke of a partisan hack who has ruined several media outlets already and is well on the way to crushing Bloomberg's valuation. Enjoy your momentary haven in liberal-land while it lasts: with work like this, your pink-slip should be arriving momentarily.


Larwyn's Linx: Politico and Cain: Return of the High-Tech Lynching

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

Politico and Cain: Return of the High-Tech Lynching: Simon
If This Were An Actual Test…: NoisyRm
What Are Unalienable Rights?: Longcore

Ryan Foremost Defender of American Conservatism: Commentary
Cain on Abortion: the Epilogue: Pundette
The Oppo Dump on Herman Cain Begins in Earnest: Erickson

Former Aide: Cain ‘Never Even Bordered on Inappropriate’: RSM
Why The Pass On #OWS And Paul Supporter Antisemitism?: Riehl
Which GOP candidate will challenge Wasserman-Schultz?: Shark

Economy

Richard Epstein Explains the Inequality Myth on PBS: HyScience
Blame the Predecessor: A Historical Leftist Tactic: Pacepa
Federal Student Loans: Trouble for Students and Taxpayers: NewAm

America Now More Pro-Civil Service Than Russia: Marsden
NASDAQ proposes to legalize exchanges' illegal behavior: ZH
Congress Just Can’t Stop Trying to Micromanage... Part 5,672: Cato

Gunrunner & Energygate

One Pivotal Week For Fast and Furious: AT
Energy Department-Backed Company Under SEC Investigation: Foundry
Coddling Illegals, Jailing Agents: IBD

Climate & Energy

Energy Production On Federal Lands Way Down Under Obama: BigPeace
The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project puts PR before peer review: Watts
‘The Delinquent Teenager’ shows IPCC far from objective science: FinPost

Media

More MSM Fantasizing: “Honest” Obama’s Miraculous “White House Free of Scandal”: Nice Deb
Another altered state heard from . . . And don't forget to try the unicorn skittles: SSI
The New Propagandists: Paul Nathan

PMS-NBC Analyst: GOP Sees Herman Cain as a 'Black Man Who Knows His Place': Maggie's Farm
Ann Coulter Calls Politico's Herman Cain Hit Piece 'Another High-Tech Lynching': NB
Bob Schieffer’s Smokin’ Interview with Herman Cain; Update: Tom Brokaw ‘Stunned’ by Smoking Ad: Malkin

Population Bomb Epic Fail: Hayward
ClimateGate II: How Will Al Gore and His Global Warming-Loving Media Respond?: NB
Next Time, Drop Me a Line (or, My Hellish Morning): Daily Gut

World

Revised Forecast For The Arab Spring: Fox
The New York Times doesn’t know from terrorists: JRubin
Hmmmmmmmmm...: Matzav

Treaty of Debt - An Eye Opening Video on the ESM Bailout Mechanism: Mish
Berlusconi on Very Shaky Political Ground: PJM
Xtranormal Explains The European Non-Bailout Best: ZH

In Foreign Affairs, Obama Needs Respect, Not Love: Barone
The Secret War: How U.S. hunted AQ in Africa: ArmyTimes
Egypt: Christian Student Murdered By Muslim Classmates for Wearing a Cross: Atlas

Sci-Tech

The Collapse of Western Science: JPA
Anonymous Threatens Mexico’s Murderous Drug Lords: Wired
U.S. Government Moves To Ban Internet Access: Sword

Cornucopia

Would you call that a point?: Maggie's Farm
Blunt: iOTW
Madoff Book's 9 Juiciest Bits: Beast

Image: Engadget -- Porsche-Designed BlackBerry
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Help Rand Paul Stop the EPA

QOTD: "[Author Donna Laframboise] introduces us to numerous well-credentialled skeptics, including Jason Johnston, an expert in environmental law, who set out to verify whether the ­IPCC reports in fact “conformed with the peer-reviewed climate science literature.” His conclusion: “on virtually every major issue in climate change science,” IPCC reports “systematically conceal or minimize what appear to be fundamental scientific uncertainties.”

The Delinquent Teenager reveals how inconvenient science has been buried and sums up: “The IPCC ignores the consensus among hurricane experts that there is no discernable link to global warning. It ignores the consensus among those who study natural disasters that there is no relationship between human greenhouse gas emissions and the rising cost of these disasters. It ignores the consensus among bona fide malaria experts that global warming has not caused malaria to spread. In each case the IPCC substitutes its own version of reality. In each case that version of reality makes global warming appear more frightening than genuine experts believe the available evidence indicates." --Peter Foster

Sunday, October 30, 2011

WaPo columnist Jennifer Rubin in trouble for... a retweet

Somehow unable to find any hint of left-wing bias, the Washington Post ombudsman has mysteriously discovered a controversy. Of course, it involves one of the paper's few conservative op-ed columnists. Specifically, he finds fault in Jennifer Rubin's choice of... re-tweets.

...a tweet that The Post’s conservative opinion blogger, Jennifer Rubin, put out on Twitter on Oct. 18. Actually it was a retweet of a tweet from Rachel Abrams, a hard-line pro-Israel blogger who used the tweet to link to her blog post on the release by Hamas of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held for five years in captivity in Gaza.

The original blog post by Abrams (not by Rubin) was offensive to many readers in its anti-Palestinian language. The fact that a Post blogger — even an opinion blogger like Rubin not subject to the same ethical guidelines as Post news editors and reporters — retweeted it, outraged many. I didn’t like it either, and I’ll elaborate on that in my Post Roast on Monday.

The Washington Post has a legendary track-record of partisanship and left-wing spin. Some would even call it 'historic'.

The same ombudsman found nothing untoward with the paper's hit-piece on Marco Rubio's heritage, though critics from across the political spectrum pilloried the Post's coverage.

Consider the irony: Rubin appears to be in trouble for re-tweeting a link to a hard-line Israeli blogger. Meanwhile, its liberal columnists and reporters (like Bob Woodward, Steven Mufson, Leila Fadel, Mary Beth Sheridan, Karen Tumulty, food critic Tim Carman and many more) can literally say and write anything so long as they echo the left-wing, Statist talking points.