Sunday, November 06, 2011

Urgent Action Alert for Ohio!

Labor Union Report:

Background:

On November 8th, Issue 2 will be on the ballot in Ohio.

Very simply, the decision Ohio voters will be making is as follows:

  • A YES vote allows Governor Kasich’s collective bargaining reform (SB 5) to go into effect
  • A NO vote essentially returns collective bargaining power to the unions and puts the state of Ohio into further economic uncertainty.
  • Unions are spending millions to defeat Issue 2 and right now, it appears (based on polls) they are winning.

    Why it’s important:

    Ohio is a big battleground state.

    If the unions win, they will be emboldened going into 2012. A loss for them will be a huge setback.

    Pre-market meltdown, Ohio had $46.5 billion in unfunded liabilities (retiree pension and healthcare). It is higher now.

    What is needed:
    For ye Twitter gods:
    • Tweets to encourage people to GOTV
    • Tweets on Issue 2 related posts (see below), with a push to GOTV
    • Phone banking: Building for a Better Ohio has info here to help: http://betterohio.org/volunteercenters
    Posts (as/if you have time)

    Frankly, at this point, anything urging GOTV is crucial.

    However, for background, Jason Hart has been doing a phenomenal job writing on the topic. Here is his twitter acct.  [Even RT'ing his posts would be good.]

    Here are some posts Jason’s, et al) that you may find useful:
    This is a good resource (if you need background):
    Again, since this will likely have an impact on 2012, the more you can do the better.
    Remember, the election is on November 8th.

    Time is running out.


    Larwyn's Linx: Nancy Pelosi's '60 Minutes' Of Fame

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

    Nation

    Nancy Pelosi's '60 Minutes' Of Fame: IBD
    Mark Levin’s Speech at the Defending The Dream Conference: C4P
    Taxpayers Get the Bill for Occupations: VS

    Gingrich Wins Newt-Cain ‘Lincoln-Douglas’ Debate: LI
    Who won the Cain-Gingrich debate?: Hot Air
    Mitt Takes On Medicare and Obama Puts On Nixon: Hewitt

    Stupid Is As Stupid Does: Federale
    Quinn Appoints Terror-Linked Muslim to State Council: RWN
    MA Town Bans Prayer Vigil on Town Common: Volokh

    Economy

    DeMint throws down no-tax gauntlet to GOP leadership: ConHQ
    Union tries to fire trustee who asked for audit: Hot Air
    Andrew Cuomo is kidding himself: Driscoll

    In Praise of Capitalist Inequality: PJM
    United Way Sent $1.9M to Planned Parenthood in 2008: LifeNews
    CBOT Traders drop McDonald's applications on protesters: WZ

    Blue San Francisco Plans To Stiff The Unions: Mead
    Block-Granting Medicaid Is Long-Overdue: Cato
    House considers allowing robo-calls to cellphones: Hill

    Occupy

    Proof: Attempted Takeover of Israeli Consulate by Occupy Boston Was Officially Sanctioned Event: Lid
    Rampaging Occupiers Attack 78-Year-Old Woman: Power Line
    Another protester found found dead: Occupy Vancouver O.D.: GWP

    Gunrunner & Energygate

    White House Calls Solyndra Subpoena ‘Unreasonable Burden on the President...’: Malkin
    Is Fred Upton Now Protecting Solyndra Lawbreaking Done Under ‘Executive Privilege?’: ConHQ
    Solyndra Execs Leave With Cash. Yours.: Power Line

    The Obama Scandals Continue to Simmer: Dossier
    Wasted ‘Climate Change’ Cash Could Save Lives Instead: PJM
    White House Fires Back at 'Overbroad' Subpoena on Solyndra Documents: Fox

    Climate & Energy

    Green Energy: Damn the Facts, Full Speed Ahead!: AT
    Another Crack-Up: JPA
    Julia Louis-Dreyfus and the Big, Bad Pipeline: RS

    Media

    Jesse Jackson's Gay Staffer Not Backing Down On Sexual Harassment Charges: AOL
    Politico publishes 90 stories on Cain scandal: Exam
    Don't Go Into Journalism: BreakingCopy

    CNN Runs More Stories on Cain 'Scandal' in 6 Days Than it Did on Ayers, Rezko and Wright Combined: NB
    New York Times Omits Widely-Reported AP ‘Fast And Furious’ Article from Drug Sting Coverage: BigJ
    #OccupyDC Protesters Attack Conservative Gathering; Harass Women And Children: Breitbart

    Ben Bradlee: Cain ‘Had it Coming’: Driscoll
    Shame on Republicans Who Threw Herman Cain Under the Bus: Rush
    Negative: why does the left's hatred of the Tea Party rely so much on projection?: Belmont Club

    World

    Slavery and Jihad: GoV
    Leftist Kook Wasserman-Schultz Blames Bush for Hamas’ Rise to Power: Shark Tank
    Newspaper: Radical Muslim sect Boko Haram claims northeast Nigeria attacks, promises more: USA Today

    The Battle for Egypt: The Army Strikes Back: BRubin
    The Iranians Certainly Think They’ve Won in Iraq: NRO
    Holocaust Remembrance Conference in Morocco: MEMRI

    In Act of Desperation, G20 Asks Germany to Pledge its Gold for EFSF Rescue Fund, Bundesbank Refuses: Mish
    US About to Hit $15 Trillion in Debt; Sarkozy Asks Obama to Help Europe with Debt Crisis: Malkin
    Greek Politicians Battle to Find Consensus: WSJ

    Sci-Tech

    Moonbat Parents Send Infectious Disease Through The Mail: Zilla
    Siri And The iPhone’s Physical Keyboard: Crunch
    Microsoft Windows vulnerability exploited by Duqu: Brothersoft

    Cornucopia

    Why Didn’t Obama Call the St. Louis Cardinals After World Series Win?: Powers
    60 years after serving in the Korean War, former tank driver still has horrendous nightmares: Wales Online
    Obama: Baby Pretty. Daddy Ugly. Mama Hot: Dossier

    Image: Looking at the Left
    Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Sign the Petition: I AM THE 53%

    QOTD: ""Fathom the hypocrisy of a Government that will require every citizen to prove they are insured, but not everyone to prove they are a citizen!" --Author unknown

    Saturday, November 05, 2011

    Shock: Militant Quakers Kill 70 In Nigeria

    Did I say Militant Quakers? I meant radical Islamists.

    Residents fearfully left their homes Saturday to bury their dead in northeast Nigeria following a series of coordinated attacks that killed at least 67 people and left a new police headquarters in ruins, government offices burned and symbols of state power destroyed.

    A radical Muslim sect known locally as Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the attacks in Borno and Yobe states, with the worst damage done in and around the city of Damaturu [where] a car bomb exploded Friday afternoon outside a three-story building used as a military office and barracks, killing many uniformed security agents, Bulama said.

    Gunmen then went through the town, blowing up a bank and attacking at least three police stations and some churches, leaving them in rubble... Two suicide bombers detonated explosives inside vehicles in the nearby city of Maiduguri on Saturday night... Bulama said Nigerian Red Cross statistics showed at least 63 people died in and around Damaturu. Sambo said government estimates suggested as many as 70 people could be dead there.

    ...Boko Haram wants to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria, an oil-rich nation of more than 160 million which has a predominantly Christian south and a Muslim north. Its name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, but instead of schooling, it rejects Western ideals like Nigeria's U.S.-styled democracy that followers believe have destroyed the country with corrupt politicians.

    ...An AP count shows the group has killed at least 327 people this year alone.

    It's safe to say that CAIR is right when they say that their political system is a "religion of peace."


    Helpful flowchart o' the day: Where should you post your status?

    Via @PaulHsieh:



    Obamacare-style price controls succeed in New York: 'tens of thousands' to lose their health care coverage

    Just call me Kreskin. I foresee tens of thousands of pissed-off New Yorkers when they find out the mantra "if you like your health care plan, you can keep it" was as worthless as every other Obama promise.

    Blue Cross Blue Shield Confirms Plan To Drop Most Small Group Plans In NY


    Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, the largest health insurer in the region, announced to health insurance brokers on Friday that it will eliminate most of its small group plans in the New York market effective April 1, 2012, and is slashing its financial incentives for brokers to sell those products—a move one industry insider has said would be “catastrophic” for the insurance marketplace.

    ...Empire’s statement says the insurer is sensitive to the economic challenges facing small businesses and its goal is to offer affordable health insurance plans to New York’s small businesses, but that it has had financial losses in the small group business that it called unsustainable.

    ...Officers of New York State Association of Health Underwriters sent a letter—of which Mr. Hasday was one of the signers—dated November 2, addressed to the superintendent of the State Department of Financial Services, stating concerns that a major carrier, which it did not mention by name, is withdrawing from the small group market because of rate request denials/reductions in the last five consecutive quarters. Mr. Hasday later confirmed that the letter referred to Empire.

    “The major carrier’s pending withdrawal from the small group market is nothing short of catastrophic to small employers in the state ... tens of thousands of employees are going to be left without coverage, as there will be only two to three other carriers left in which brokers may try to place coverage. If the other carriers follow suit, the availability of coverage will dry up entirely.”

    Empire is dropping coverage for two reasons, both of which will apply to Obamacare:

    • All "insurance companies [must] get approval from the State Insurance Department before changing any rates."

    • An "insurance company could only spend a certain percentage of premiums for non-claim costs."

    Both of these strictures represent price controls that will drive insurers out of business. This is just one more exhibit demonstrating that Obamacare will be a complete and utter disaster for Americans.

    We are on the road to single-payer health care, a system in which government controls your health care; in which it rewards friends and punishes enemies; and in which it rations care for those deemed too expensive.

    The oldest and youngest Americans, the handicapped, and those most in need of health care are certain to suffer. Which is the whole point of government-run health care: total control of human lives by the ruling class.


    Hat tip: Mark Levin.

    You could die from excitement at North Korea's Fun Fair

    Four words you never expected to see strung together: "North Korean Amusement Park." Journalist Alex Hoban snapped a whole series of pics at what I like to call "Potemkin Park".

    How could anyone not love the land that's home to the Mangyongdae fun fair, the world's sh***iest, most depressing quasi-theme park?

    ...Situated Only 12km from Pyongyang's city center, Mangyongdae is a place for thrill-seeking North Koreans to come to and unwind after a hard week of slave labor, relentless scavenging for food, KGB hide and seek, and trimming the imperial lawns with scissors. My guide for the day insisted that the park is open seven days a week and always very, very busy. Which is funny because when we got there stagnant emptiness lingered in the air like a fart in a graveyard filled with the bodies of political dissidents...

    ...Confused as to why we weren't immediately allowed to leave the bus, it was only after about 20 minutes and a lot of frantic arm waving from the woman at the gate that another, far sh***ier bus turned up and we realized what was going on...


    ...These poor schmucks—or lucky schmucks, perhaps?—were wheeled out with strict orders to constantly remain 20 steps ahead of us and look like they were having A+ fun in the otherwise deserted park, lest anyone get suspicious that we weren't in Disneyland after all. Aside from us Western interlopers, they were the only people there. Strange task, but at least they were being paid a fair and decent wage to prop up one man's delusions of dictatorial grandeur, I thought (very quietly) to myself...

    ...Oh look, a girl on a merry-go-round. Maybe the whole world is wrong about North Korea. Maybe it really is a prosperous, utopian First World funland...

    ...It's a shame that North Koreans are treated by their rulers as basically an expendable race of people. Before we were allowed on the ride, the guys in charge sent a few terrified farmers on test runs like a shipment of human flour sacks...


    In North Korea, a totalitarian, socialist and fascist dictatorship, there are no limits on the government's power over the people.

    And that's what is troubling here at home -- because Democrats are both unable to articulate any limits on government and they are unwilling to abide by the Constitution, a document intended to check the government's power over individuals.

    Slowly, inexorably, the hard left Democrat Party is turning America into a socialist welfare state that is ripe for "fundamental transformation", in the words of our own Dear Leader.


    Related: North Korean Motivational Posters.


    Hat tip: Chopper Pilot.

    Maybe they're both just big-boned...

    I wonder if the mockumenatary filmmaker will sue George Lucas for the use of his likeness without permission. Because the resemblance is truly eerie.


    Larwyn's Linx: 100 Criminal Investigations Of Obama Stimulus Spending

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

    Nation

    100 Criminal Investigations Of Obama Stimulus Spending: Hayward
    Great: Obama DOJ Says it Won’t Lie About FOIA’d Docs: Tatler
    Joe Biden conspicuously silent on Occupier sex-crime spree: DC

    Cain Accuser Chooses Not to Explain Settlement: Ace
    Jobs Report More Bad News for Obama: Dossier
    Time for the Occupy Mob to Call It Quits: RWN

    Man Avoids Jail by Faking Illegal Immigrant Status: Bruce
    Iowa Cain Accuser Appears To Have Anti-Cain Agenda: NiceDeb
    Romney friends give ammo to critics: Politico

    Economy

    Occupy What?: Hanson
    Bonuses For the Bankrupt: Hayward
    Nine Takeaways From October Jobs Report: IBD

    Tiffany-Twisted: Wizbang
    For Jobs, Best Stimulus Is No Stimulus: IBD
    Helping to Explain Greece’s Collapse in a Single Picture: Cato

    Corzine Crony Relents on Rule Change, Maybe Saving $630M: Ace
    Chicago ACORN-Like Nonprofit Accused of Mortgage Fraud: Rebel
    How to Fix the Housing Crisis: Mises

    Occupy

    Add ‘Arson’ To #Occupy Activists Checklist – $10 Million In Damages: SHN
    How One Man With a Shotgun Turned Occupy Oakland on Its Heels: AllAm
    Hypocritical Occupy Oakland Supporters Denounce Anarchy and Violence of Occupy Oakland Protesters: AmPow

    #OWS Protesters Attempt to Storm AFP Defending the American Dream Summit: RSM
    Video: Cafe Near OWS Says Business Down 40% Since Occupation Began: VS
    Blogger Visits Occupy Richmond and Is Shocked by What He Finds: VARight

    Gunrunner & Energygate

    WH rejects subpoena request for Solyndra docs: Exam
    Lawmakers Seek Information on ‘Fast And Furious’ Leaks: WSJ
    Border Battle: Mom of Colorado man killed in Mexico says U.S. to blame : 9News

    Climate & Energy

    If You Don’t Believe In The Climate Change Hoax, You’ll Spontaneously Combust: RWN
    NBC in the tank for Anthropogenic Global Warming: Wizbang
    UN: “If You Don’t Believe In Tackling Climate Change, You’re Immoral And Hate Those In Poverty”: RWN

    Media

    Why Is CBS’s Steve Kroft Ambushing Politicians?: BigJ
    Democrat Jon Corzine Gets A Pass For Role In Derivatives Meltdown: BigJ
    Barack Obama’s Faux Populism: Radosh

    CAC's US Senate Projections (11/4/2011): Ace
    Is Obama Chewing Nicorette at the G-20?: Dossier
    Former '60 Minutes' commentator Andy Rooney dies: LAT

    Janeane Garofalo Hardest Hit: Glob
    Footage That The Mainstream Media Will Not Air: TAB
    The Lawless Heart of OWS: Lowry

    World

    Occupy Wall Street and Soros’ Fingerprints: Vadum
    Who Lost Iraq?: Krauthammer
    Abe Foxman tells Jews to sign the pledge: Baehr

    Hoping No One Dies at the North Korean Fun Fair!: Vice
    Muslims sue Popeyes for sharia-compliant chicken: Creeping
    Obama Adminstration Opposes Prayer Plaque at WWII Memorial – It Would “Dilute Message”: GWP

    US About to Hit $15 Trillion in Debt; Sarkozy Asks Obama to Help Europe with Debt Crisis: Malkin
    Pakistani intel driving around in lightly defended vehicles in traffic with nuclear weapons: Hot Air
    Why is U.S. Using X-Ray Security Scanners Europe Rejects as Unsafe?: AllGov

    Sci-Tech

    Darpa’s Plan to Trap the Next WikiLeaker: Decoy Documents: Instapundit
    Apple reportedly fires employee for negative Facebook post: CNet
    How Twitter Makes Money: Dollard

    Cornucopia

    On Southern Manners: Instapundit
    It's Apache Friday!: Morning Spew
    The Seven Differences Between Winners And Losers: Hawkins

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

    QOTD: "Remember when the Left was saying that Americans should fear the Tea Partiers because they were a potentially dangerous, violent mob? Well now, we actually have a dangerous, violent mob of thugs, anarchists, hippies, and wannabe revolutionaries committing rape and vandalism in between arrests and breaks to poo on people’s doorsteps. And guess what? Liberals love ‘em!" --John Hawkins

    Friday, November 04, 2011

    Perfect: Overpaid, Unionized Federal Workers Join #OWS Movement

    Based upon these developments, it would seem that the beleaguered private sector isn't doing enough to save public sector union jobs.

    ...at least four federal labor unions rallied in support of the Occupy movement in a Lafayette Square demonstration Thursday... On the day that a House committee approved legislation that would cut the federal workforce by 10 percent and during a time when federal employees are in a battle to protect their pay, benefits and jobs, federal union members gathered with other labor organizations to back the national Occupy movement’s call for economic justice.

    ...“Most federal employees consider themselves to be part of the 99 percent,” Saul Schniderman, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Library of Congress Guild, said after the rally. “And many of us believe in the principles of social justice, just like the protesters in Occupy D.C. Everyone needs to pay their fair share, and this includes Wall Street corporations with their record profits and their CEOs with their skyrocketing salaries. I rallied today with other federal workers and unions to protest the influence that today’s modern-day robber barons have on our economy.”

    ...AFSCME, whose Council 26 represents federal workers, has contributed rain tarps and more than 100 rain ponchos to Occupy D.C. campers in McPherson Square, said Carl Goldman, executive director of the council. IFPTE donated umbrellas on a rainy day last week when Junemann and his legislative director, Matthew Biggs, visited the McPherson occupiers...

    ...“We’re part of what they are fighting for,” said Lane Bodner, a staff member of the American Postal Workers Union. “We’re not trying to impose our agenda on them, but we do think they overlap.”

    These leftist hacks are the poster-children for union abuse of taxpayers.

    Consider: without even counting Solyndra, there are at least 100 criminal investigations Of Obama Stimulus Spending, according to the Department of Energy's Inspector General.

    But I guess we're not paying enough in taxes. So we'll have to pony up 10% more, because we're deadbeats. The public sector unions deserve even more of our money. Our families don't need it as much as the unions do.

    So give 'til it hurts.


    Some good news on the economic front: Solyndra execs received huge bonuses courtesy of President Obama

    The headline in the San Jose Mercury News says it all: "Solyndra executives collected hefty bonuses in months before Fremont company filed for bankruptcy:"

    Senior executives at Solyndra collected hefty bonuses -- ranging from $37,000 to $60,000 apiece -- as the Fremont company bled cash and careened toward bankruptcy this summer.

    Bankruptcy documents filed in Delaware earlier this week reveal that more than a dozen senior executives at the defunct solar manufacturing company were awarded sizable quarterly bonuses April 15 and again July 8. Solyndra ceased operations in late August and filed for bankruptcy Sept. 6. About 1,100 employees were laid off without severance pay.

    The bonuses, awarded to more than a dozen executives, came on top of what were already highly competitive salaries. Karen Alter, Solyndra's vice president of marketing, had an annual base salary of $275,000; she was awarded a $55,000 bonus in April and again in July. Ben Bierman, Solyndra's executive vice president of operations and engineering, had an annual base salary of $300,000; he was awarded $60,000 in April and again in July. Will Stover, the company's chief financial officer, was also awarded a $60,000 bonus in April and again in July.

    The bonuses were paid despite the fact that "everyone knew that our solar panels were uncompetitive... including President Obama."

    Townhall commenter "turfmann" had a rather strong reaction to this news:

    Ladies and gentlemen, what you have just read is a textbook example, a dictionary definition of a conspiracy to defraud the government.

    Solyndra was not by any stretch of the imagination a viable enterprise. From what I understand, no reputable funding organization that performed a proper due diligence upon this company would give them the spare change in their pockets, never mind billions of dollars.

    Not the Obama administration, though. Having no one in their ranks that has run so much as a lemonade stand, they determined that Solyndra was deserving of an exponentially larger sum of money than would ever be sought or approved of in the private sector - our friggin' money - that will never be paid back by the company, but will certainly be exacted like a pound of flesh upon my grandchildren.

    As far as the concept of "retention bonuses" is concerned - I say hogwash. The company is dying and if it cannot successfully keep the rats from jumping off the ship without government-supplied ransom then the proper course of action is to let the company go bankrupt.

    Bankruptcy is a necessary and proper instrument of capitalism - creative destruction clears the way for competitors to successfully garner market share.

    Solyrdra was a failure on each and every level and should have been bankrupted long, long before the government started picking it as a winner when by every objective measure it was a loser.

    What occurred here is a criminal conspiracy. What occurred here was criminal fraud.

    Bernie Friggin' Madoff went to prison for the rest of his life for defrauding investors of an exponentially smaller sum than Barack Obama and his ilk have stolen from the American people.

    Some brain-dead Obama sycophant responded to a post I made yesterday on these pages that (this will come as a shock, I know) that Chicago Jesus was pure and that the evil Darth Cheney should be brought up on war crimes - never mind the fact that for the final two years of the Bush administration Pelosi & Reid had overwhelming majorities in both houses of Congress and could have trumped up specious articles of impeachment, could have seen to the indictment of any number of Bush administration personnel on any number of charges, but aside from one notable and trumped up example of Scotter Libby, there was nothing. No charges. None. Zip. Zero. Nada. And nearly three years on into the Obama administration there is no attempt to charge Bush or anyone else with any crime committed while in office - because there were none.

    Now we have a criminal organization occupying the White House. There are actual crimes that are being committed, from the murder of a U.S. Border Agent with smuggled firearms to the looting of the U. S. Treasury.

    I demand justice for my nation!

    I demand that these people be indicted for their crimes, tried, and if guilty sent to prison for a very long time! That goes for the nameless bureaucrat in his cubicle in a windowless office right up to the man in the Oval Office. In this nation, no one is above the law - most certainly the ones most responsible for upholding it.

    With weak-kneed RINOs like John Boehner and Mitch McConnell leading the respective Republican delegations in Congress, it will be impossible to effect change.

    There's only one thing we can do, you and I. Vote for the... most... conservative Republicans you can... at every level of government. Men and women like Allen West, Michelle Bachmann, Mike Lee, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Jim DeMint, and many others I'm forgetting. Constitutional conservatives. Citizen activists in the mold of Sam Adams, John Adams, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and other patriots who risked everything to establish this society.

    It's time for the Tea Party to roll over the establishment Republicans -- the "neo-Statists" -- and begin to reestablish a Constitutional Republic. We have no choice if we are to save this country.


    Related: Your Handy Dandy EnergyGate/Solyndra Cheat Sheet. Hat tips: John Hayward and Mark Levin.

    The true value of money

    What is the true value of money? Perhaps the best way to assess its value is to melt down the coinage and sell the raw metal:

    Which reminds Tyler Durden of this story about Kyle Bass, the investor who made millions from the subprime meltdown.

    [Bass] still owned stacks of gold and platinum bars that had roughly doubled in value, but he remained on the lookout for hard stores of wealth as a hedge against what he assumed was the coming debasement of fiat currency. Nickels, for instance.

    “The value of the metal in a nickel is worth six point eight cents,” he said. “Did you know that?”

    I didn’t.

    “I just bought a million dollars’ worth of them,” he said, and then, perhaps sensing I couldn’t do the math: “twenty million nickels.”

    “You bought twenty million nickels?”

    “Uh-huh.”

    “How do you buy twenty million nickels?”

    “Actually, it’s very difficult,” he said, and then explained that he had to call his bank and talk them into ordering him twenty million nickels. The bank had finally done it, but the Federal Reserve had its own questions. “The Fed apparently called my guy at the bank,” he says.

    “They asked him, ‘Why do you want all these nickels?’ So he called me and asked, ‘Why do you want all these nickels?’ And I said, ‘I just like nickels.’”

    He pulled out a photograph of his nickels and handed it to me. There they were, piled up on giant wooden pallets in a Brink’s vault in downtown Dallas.

    “I’m telling you, in the next two years they’ll change the content of the nickel,” he said. “You really ought to call your bank and buy some now.”

    Don't bother asking about the true value of paper bills.

    Or the bits in the computer that represent the bulk of your net worth.


    Hat tip: Coinflation.


    The one word missing from Microsoft's product plans

    CNet's Jay Greene offers an inside look at Microsoft's decision to kill its innovative Courier tablet, deferring instead to a more conventional tablet design. The Courier team was led by a season innovator named Jay Allard...

    At one point during [a critical] meeting in early 2010 at Gates' waterfront offices in Kirkland, Wash., Gates asked Allard how users get e-mail. Allard, Microsoft's executive hipster charged with keeping tabs on computing trends, told Gates his team wasn't trying to build another e-mail experience. He reasoned that everyone who had a Courier would also have a smartphone for quick e-mail writing and retrieval and a PC for more detailed exchanges. Courier users could get e-mail from the Web, Allard said, according to sources familiar with the meeting.

    But the device wasn't intended to be a computer replacement; it was meant to complement PCs. Courier users wouldn't want or need a feature-rich e-mail application such as Microsoft's Outlook that lets them switch to conversation views in their inbox or support offline e-mail reading and writing. The key to Courier, Allard's team argued, was its focus on content creation. Courier was for the creative set, a gadget on which architects might begin to sketch building plans, or writers might begin to draft documents.

    "This is where Bill had an allergic reaction," said one Courier worker who talked with an attendee of the meeting. As is his style in product reviews, Gates pressed Allard, challenging the logic of the approach.

    It's not hard to understand Gates' response. Microsoft makes billions of dollars every year on its Exchange e-mail server software and its Outlook e-mail application.

    The Courier was killed off soon thereafter.

    The entire article is well worth reading. It's instructive because nowhere do I sense that Microsoft's executives are asking "what's right for the consumer?" or "what's the right user experience?".

    Instead, they seem to be asking, "What's right for the legacy business?"

    My own philosophy is that a company can't focus on its legacy business because technology is moving too rapidly. The finance guys might talk about the risk of cannibalizing your own sales. But there really no such thing as cannibalizing your own sales any more -- because if you don't do it yourself, someone else will happily cannibalize your sales for you.

    RIM's killer BlackBerry platform has been swallowed whole by Apple and Android, a sea-change that's occurred in only three scant years.

    If Microsoft truly hopes to turn things around in consumer devices like smartphones and tablets, it had better focus on the user experience. Because, believe me, the consumer doesn't care about the accounting details: he or she is buying the experience, panache and attitude.


    Gallery of Twitches: Stop-Action Photos of Nancy Pelosi as She Faces Blistering Questions from 60 Minutes' Steve Kroft

    What emotions do you see when former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi faced uncharacteristically tough questions from a member of legacy media?

    Pelosi's net worth during the last three years somehow tripled (from approximately $12 million to over $35 million) during one of the worst economic downturns in American history.

    When 60 Minutes' Steve Kroft leveled a series of questions about her passage of laws regulating the very industry she was profiting from, I saw a range of emotions.

    A face flickering with scarcely-concealed, twitching anger. Licking her lips repeatedly. Rage and disdain.

    This is what an oligarch looks like.

    It's time to turn all of these Democrat bums out in 2012, from the White House down to your local school board. Because this is the most corrupt gang of organized criminals in government since the Teapot Dome scandal.


    Larwyn's Linx: Why our blacks are better than their blacks

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

    Nation

    Why our blacks are better than their blacks: Coulter
    OWS-supporting Men's Wearhouse Vandalized by Protesters: PunPre
    Wasserman-Schultz on when life begins: CNS

    Former NRA Chairman on Cain Hit-Piece: "It's a Hatchet Job": DC
    The Cain Disaster: Tabin
    Don't Underestimate Cain: AmSpec

    More ugly Occupy pictures that won’t make your front page: Malkin
    ObamaCare's Billions In Hidden Pork For Unions: IBD
    Obama’s Drug Shortage Demagoguery: RWN

    Economy

    Obama Justice Dept. Looking to Legalize Perjury?: PJM
    Planned Parenthood Accused of Medicaid Fraud: LifeNews
    #OccupySetup: Dems Intro 'Steal From Rich, Give To Poor' Tax Act: RS

    40 House GOP Petition for More Revenue?: Hot Air
    Pelosi: Without Obama Stimulus, Unemployment Would Be 15%: CNS
    Freddie Mac: A Bottomless Pit Of Taxpayer Losses?: IBD

    Gunrunner & Energygate

    House Panel Votes To Subpena White House Documents Related To Solyndra: Ace
    For Sen. Feinstein, Gunwalker Still an Excuse to Push Gun Control: Owens
    FBI: House majority leader's family threatened: AP

    Climate & Energy

    Newsbytes: New Research Reveals IPCC In Bed With Green Lobbies: Watts
    Sen. Paul seeks Dem backing in EPA floor battle: Hill
    Trenberth: null and void: Watts

    Media

    What did Politico know and when did they know it?: ProWis
    Networks Hit Cain Story 50 Times in Less Than Four Days; Ignored Clinton Scandals: NB
    ACORN Officials Firing Workers and Shredding Documents After Exposed as Behind Occupy Wall Street: Fox

    Media Finally Reporting Rapes, Sexual Assaults at Occupy Sites: Ace
    South Park Mocks Occupy Wall Street, Michael Moore: WZ
    40 Of The Most Bad-Ass, Masculine, Manly, Alpha Male Quotes Of All-Time: RWN

    World

    The left’s push for “change” is stunningly familiar to me: I worked for Ceausescu.: Pacepa
    Photo of the Day: Obama (Literally) Embraces Anti-Israel, Pro-Iran Islamist on the World Stage: BigPeace
    As Athens Debates Bailout, EU Weighs Greek Exit: CNBC

    CAIR Outraged Christians Holding Prayer Event At Detroit’s Ford Field: WZ
    Indonesia: Islamist Group Calls For Destruction of “Un-Islamic” Statues of Other Religions: WZ
    MF Bankruptcy Ignites Foreign Bank Liquidity Scramble, Harbinger Of Major Eurobank Stress: ZH

    Sci-Tech

    Don't get scammed when selling your old iPhone: CNet
    Bank catches thief in the act - the yucky world of insider fraud: Sophos
    Siri, we have to talk; our communication stinks: CNet

    Cornucopia

    Life imitates art at Occupy Wall Street: Bookworm
    Ten Things You May Not Know About James Bond's Employers: Insider
    #OccupyChristmas – “Buy Nothing Day” Is Here!: Spew

    Image: Looking At The Left
    Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Senate Conservatives Fund

    QOTD: "Nothing has changed and absolutely nothing has been accomplished. There is no “solution” to the crisis that will not result in massive pain, confusion and wealth decimation. The reason is patently obvious. At least half the continent is completely and helplessly bankrupt. There are only two outcomes to the entire situation. Either the sovereign debts are written off aggressively and the banking system declared insolvent and restructured or the ECB decides to turn on those printing presses to the tune of trillions and destroys the purchasing power of the union in Zimbabwe-like fashion. People will read this and think I am exaggerating . The phrase “it takes 5 minutes” keeps running through my head because all it takes is a small amount of time to see the situation for what it is. I am not that smart. This is obvious. The scary thing is that it is abundantly clear that the vast majority of U.S. investors have not bothered to take the 5 minutes necessary to understand how extreme and binary the outcomes to all this is. Their clients will suffer massively in the months and years ahead as a result of their laziness and lack of macro curiosity." --Mike Krieger

    Thursday, November 03, 2011

    Time-Space Continuum May Have Warped: Is 60 Minutes Investigating Nancy Pelosi's Financial Skulduggery?

    AJC's Jamie Dupree reports on an overheard conversation:

    I was working on other stories at the time, but the questions - and answers - caught my ear, as Steve Kroft, the veteran correspondent for the CBS program "60 Minutes" was pressing Pelosi about some of her investments... Kroft is not a regular in the Capitol, so his presence and his questions certainly merit some attention...

    Q: Madam Leader, I wanted to ask you why you and your husband back in March of 2008 accepted and participated in a very large IPO deal from Visa at a time there was major legislation affecting the credit card companies making its way through the House. Did you consider that to be a conflict of interest?

    Leader Pelosi. I don't know what your point is of your question. Is there some point that you want to make with that?

    Q: Well, I guess what I am asking is do you think it is all right for a Speaker to accept a very preferential, favorable stock deal?

    Leader Pelosi. Well, we didn't.

    Q: At a time when there is major legislation affecting that company in the House?

    Leader Pelosi. Well, first of all let me say this. What we are talking about is an industry. What we are talking about is a Congress that passed more protections for credit card holders. The [Credit Cardholder’s Bill of Rights] bill, you know Carolyn Maloney has been our champion on, to the point where the industry spent $3 million to try to defeat her last time.

    So the issue that you are talking about, first of all, what you are contending is not true. But second of all, we are very proud of our record of what happened.

    Now, what Congressman or Senator Durbin was able to do in the Senate is quite remarkable, and when he was able to achieve that, then it was on this same issue, it was included by our Chairman Barney Frank in the bill.

    Q: That was 2 years later though.

    Leader Pelosi. But it was when we had a President who could sign the bill, and that is when we passed what Carolyn Maloney had. There was no interest on the part of President Bush to sign such a bill. But the fact is your basic premise is a false one, and it…

    Q: I don't understand. Why is it false? You participated in the IPO.

    Leader Pelosi. Well, I have many investments.

    Q: You were Speaker of the House, and there was a bill very unfavorable to the credit card companies.

    Leader Pelosi. Well, I will hold my record in fighting the credit card companies, as a Speaker of the House or as a Member of Congress, up against anyone. We had passed the Credit Cardholder Bill of Rights. I don't know what your point is. You like one bill better than another bill. No, this was the big powerful bill, and in fact we were able to achieve both once we were able to have a Democratic President. That is really all I am saying.

    Q: You don't think it was a conflict of interest or have the appearance of a conflict of interest?

    Leader Pelosi. No, it only has the appearance if you decide that you are going to elaborate on a false premise. But it is not true, and that is that.

    Q: I don't understand what part is not true.

    Leader Pelosi. That I would act upon an investment.

    Pelosi was also heard to shriek: "Are you serious? Are you serious???"

    But I'm sure the curious confluence of events surrounding Pelosi's ascent to the Speakership while her bank accounts rapidly swelled were purely coincidental.


    Image hat tip: PoliNation.

    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.