Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Weird coincidence: Obama bundler Corzine got a range of regulatory "gifts" before his firm collapsed

Losses from the collapse of MF Global, John Corzine's trading firm, may be double the original estimate -- totaling a cool $1.2 billion.

In the wake of this disclosure, Janet Tavakoli, president of Tavakoli Structured Finance, offers some fascinating forensic details that implicate not only Corzine, but Washington's culture of crony capitalism.

When MF Global collapsed on October 21, it was the biggest financial firm to collapse since Lehman in September 2008. Then Chairman and CEO Jon Corzine is connected to the head of one of his key regulators, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), through his former protégé at Goldman Sachs, Gary Gensler. He also knows the Fed’s William Dudley, a key member of the Fed’s Open Market Committee, from their days at Goldman Sachs. The Fed approved MF Global’s status as a primary dealer, a participant in the Fed’s Open Market Operations, just before Jon Corzine took its helm and beached it on a reef called leveraged credit risk...

...MF Global’s officers admitted to federal regulators that before the collapse, the firm diverted cash from customers’ accounts that were supposed to be segregated...

...MF Global reportedly employed 35:1 leverage—some reports are 40:1—against a portfolio comprised around 20% of European Sovereign risks including Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland... MF Global was so thinly capitalized that this trade alone could eat up half of its capital... From a risk management point of view, examiners have to consider the very strong possibility that MF Global had several negative equity days throughout 2011... How did MF Global meet margin calls throughout 2011? It seems an investigation into money flows throughout 2011 is in order.

...[Obama supporter] Jon Corzine resigned as Chairman and CEO of MF Global on November 4, just days after the October 31 bankruptcy announcement... The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. (FINRA) [had given] Jon Corzine a waiver from his Series 7 and Series 24 exams when he took the helm of MF Global in March 2010...

...The test waiver by regulators seems to be blatant cronyism, because Corzine not only hadn’t been involved in the day-to-day markets for more than a decade, his responsibilities at MF Global included active decision making. The waiver wasn’t justified. Corzine reportedly authored the strategy for the MF Global killing trades,
and he also had authority on the trading floor...

...MF Global’s financials were shaky ever since Man Group spun it off in 2005 and saddled it with a lot of debt. Yet MF Global was added to the Fed’s list of 22 primary dealers in February 2011, just before former Goldman CEO Jon Corzine officially came on board. Primary dealers buy and sell U.S. treasuries at auction and are a counterparty to the Fed’s Open Market operations...

...Why did the Fed award prestigious primary dealer status to a shaky operation like MF Global, an entity it does not regulate?

...In August, customers started pulling billions of dollars out of their segregated accounts with MF Global. It was the biggest outflow of funds since January 2009 [and] it is likely that employees within MF Global were well aware of the problems and tipped off key customers.

Yet Gary Gensler, head of the CFTC, did not investigate or begin transferring accounts out of MF Global before the bankruptcy, and that is unprecedented for the CFTC. Given that Gary Gensler was a protégé of Jon Corzine at Goldman Sachs, one should question why Gary Gensler didn’t act...

...[Because of the collapse of MF Global, c]onfidence in the futures market has been shaken. No one knows if their money is safe, but what is more disturbing is the appearance of crony capitalism once again giving favored treatment, lax regulation, and absent oversight to a crony capitalist that abused all of these perks to blow up a large financial firm and damage a key global market.

John Corzine is one of Barack Obama's top 2012 fundraisers, having raised over $500,000.

In short:

• FINRA waived licensing requirements for Corzine

• No one is saying how MFG received a lucrative primary dealer designation

• And, despite numerous red flags, the CFTC didn't act in time to prevent an implosion

All right-thinking Americans, irrespective of party, should reject this kind of lawless crony capitalism. The time has come to throw out all of these bums and to replace them with Constitutional conservatives.

And then we prosecute.


Contagion

Today's 10-year yields for the sovereign debt of the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) confirm that Europe's debt crisis has spiraled out of control.

The can-kicking appears to have come to an end:

The time has come to confront an ugly truth: The possibility that the Eurozone will break up, or rather fall apart, is growing increasingly likely.

In fact, I'd say given recent developments in Italy the probability of a breakup is as high as 40%... [and] a Eurozone split would be bad news - no matter which way it happened.

Germany would survive an orderly breakup and do well in a tight-money default, but fare poorly in a period of hyperinflation. Conversely non-Eurozone Eastern Europe would do well in an orderly breakup and survive hyperinflation, but it would be battered by a tight-money default.

At the end of the day there are no easy answers on this one. The best you can do is to find markets with little economic connection to Europe - and even that's not easy.

The Eurozone is dead, whether or not the coroner has been called.


Larwyn's Linx: Presence of Malice and the Conservative Portrait of the President

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

Nation

Presence of Malice and a Conservative Portrait of the President: Digest
Congress is a criminal enterprise: Chicago Boyz
Obama: I will veto any effort to stop defense cuts: NatlJrnl

Doomed by Design: the SuperFail Committee: Malkin
Soros helped craft stimulus, then profited from it: BigGov
Searching for the perfect candidate: Thomas

The Constitution: nice while it lasted: Cold Fury
New Law Cuts Ties Between FBI and Terror-Tied Groups: PJM
The Private Life of Governor Rick Perry: RedState

Economy

Goldman CEO leads in White House visits, Obama fundraising: Exam
Fannie and Freddie University: Hanson
Congress Must Still Do Its Job, Supercommittee or Not: Foundry

EuroCrisis 2011: What you missed while you slept (11-22-2011): Peth
MF Global: Company Shortfall Could Be Double Estimate: Malkin
Occupy Protesters Crapping Inside St. Paul's Cathedral: GWP

Gunrunner & Energygate

Issa: If Eric Holder is not ‘doomed,’ the Obama administration is: DC
U. S. Government May Be Primary Suppliers of Mexican Drug Cartel Guns: BigGov
Solyndra Price Tag Rises Another $14.3 Million: Malkin

Climate & Energy

We don’t need no steenkin’ energy!: Cold Fury
Smart meters blamed for Wi-Fi router traffic jam: CNet
Is solar the new ethanol?: Exam

Media

All Three Networks Hype 'Ugly' Pepper Spray 'Outrage,' Played Down Occupy Crimes: NB
Obama crony Rezko sentenced Tuesday; Chicago Trib article about it doesn't mention president: Marathon
The Left's Pathetic Attempt to Re-brand Obama: Glob

The 20 Most Influential Conservative Women In Politics: RWN
MSNBC Contributor Suggests It's Immoral to Lay Off Govt. Workers: NB
Not Gridlock, but Democracy: Morris

World

Fear of a German Europe: Foreign Policy
CIA agents spying on Hizballah and Iran caught, feared dead: JihadWatch
What Preserves Israel?: INN

Obama’s Muslim Advisers Block Middle Eastern Christians’ Access to White House: Creeping
Lech Walesa Unveils Reagan Statue in Warsaw: “Without Reagan There Would Be No Poland”: GWP
New DHS Counterterrorism Czar Refuses to Use Terms Radicalization, Jihadist, Islamist: Creeping

German press irked by US, pushes WH on debt: Exam
2 Texas Mayors View Differs On Using War-Zone Equipment Along Border: Borderland
Video: Saudi Prince Fahd Bin Sultan lashes his companions for money: LeadersTube

Sci-Tech

The Facebook Phone: It’s Finally Real and Its Name Is Buffy: AllThingsD
Siri Hacked to Control a Thermostat — What’s Next?: Wired
GAO Audit Of IRS Highlights Common Database And Access Control Woes: DarkReading

Cornucopia

Bizarre classroom posters from the '70s, Part 2: Westword
The Top Five Reasons To Be a Commie Pinko: PJM
LOL! OWSers Get Creative!: Morning Spew

Image: The Looking Spoon, via Moonbattery
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Senate Conservatives Fund

QOTD: "As of this week, the state [of Illinois] has 162,934 unpaid vouchers totaling $3.525 billion, dating back to July 8, 2011." --Brad Hahn, spokesman for Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, confirming the state is months behind in payments to schools, Medicaid providers and state vendors

Monday, November 21, 2011

The very best 2012 campaign poster [Papa B]

Papa B:

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally."

"Leadership means that, 'the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better." --Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006

Indeed they do.


Hilarity in the White House Press Room: European Reporter Rips Obamaconomy for "Worse than Eurozone" Debt Levels

Today, as the Eurozone melted down in a debt-fueled replay of the 2008 Lehman crisis, a curious scene unfolded in the White House press room.

In an apparent suggestion of United States hypocrisy on debt issues, a journalist in the German media challenged White House Press Secretary Jay Carney on the role of the United States in responding to the European debt crisis.

"The U.S., as far as I know, has a worse debt-to-GDP ratio than the whole eurozone, and we are talking about the eurozone, not about the United States and that Congress can't get its act together," said a member of the German press during the briefing. "So from the European perspective, it seems that this country is in a bigger mess than Europe.  We are not proud where we are.  We know that it's slow and not bold, and so on, but at least they are doing something; they are deciding something, they're trying to pull that through.  And here, nothing is happening -- third time this year," he added, referring to the Supercommittee failure.

..."I don't think it's helpful to get into which side of the Atlantic handles its problems better or worse," Carney responded. "I think each side needs to -- we need to act and the Congress needs to act, this country needs to act.  And obviously, as I just discussed in answer to a question earlier, the Europeans need to move forward with rapid implementation of their plans."

That answer, with its recommendation regarding European action, did not seem to satisfy Carney's interlocutor, who began to ask "do you have [any] understanding -- the feeling in the eurozone, I said, it’s not really a time where the U.S. is in a position to give advice to Europe."

The debt ceiling debacle. The "debt commission", ignored by the very man who created it. The continuing resolution collapse. The bogus balanced-budget amendment.

Every single effort to contain the devastating federal spending addiction has been opposed not only by the Marxist left, but by John Boehner, Eric Cantor and the rest of the big government RINOs.

As Michelle Malkin puts it, "The disease [is e]ntrenched incumbency. The cure? Fresh fiscal conservative blood. Remember in November."


Mexican drug cartels now operating freely in the U.S., thanks to the staunch border security efforts of the Obama administration

Courtesy of the peerless Borderland Beat, may I present more evidence that our beloved baritone DHS chief -- Janet Napolitano -- was correct when she asserted that the border was "as secure as it's ever been"?

Which is to say, it's as insecure as ever, thanks to a very public campaign to promote illegal immigration by the Holder Justice Department and the Obama administration.

Mexican Zeta Cartel Members Arrested in Chicago on Various Drug Trafficking Charges:

CHICAGO – Twenty defendants are facing federal narcotics charges here, including five alleged members of a Chicago-based cell of the Zetas Mexican drug cartel who were responsible for transporting millions of dollars in drug proceeds between Chicago and Mexico, federal law enforcement officials announced today...

...A joint investigation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation resulted in the charges, as well as accumulated seizures during 2010 of more than $12.4 million cash and approximately 250 kilograms of cocaine in the Chicago area...

Drug Cartels Operating out of Dallas:

Federal agents say Dallas is a hub for the Mexican drug cartels... "We've listened, through wire taps, and we know the organizations' commanding control cell are talking to commanding control cells in Mexico - directly to the trafficking cartel heads," says Drug Enforcement Agency Agent James Capra.

Capra says the Gulf Cartel, La Familia, and the Sinaloa Cartel all have a presence in Dallas... The drug mules who carried loads in for the cartels are living in Dallas as well. Moises Albino Castillo was one of those mules... "I traveled as a drug mule three times. I brought in 15 kilos of marijuana on my back two times," he says.

...Capra tells us drug dealers are willing to establish themselves through violence in Dallas... "We do know that in the past two years, there's been 12 different homicides that we've actually tracked back to drug trafficking groups," he says... It's all part of the cartels' plans to move their drugs through the Valley to Dallas and then to the rest of America.

Now I'd like you to consider these stories with the following context, as reported little more than a week ago:

Immigration agents ordered not to arrest illegal aliens, even those caught committing felonies:

Chris Crane, president of the union that represents the nation’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, has provided the House Judiciary Committee [with] internal ICE emails [that] verbally ordered officers in the field not to arrest illegal aliens who did not have prior criminal convictions--even if they were fugitives evading deportation orders or were individuals who had illegally re-entered the United States after being deported and were thus committing a felony.

“Increasingly, ICE headquarters leadership refuses to put directives to supervisors, agents and officers in the field regarding law enforcement operations in writing... Orders and directives are given orally to prevent the activities of ICE's leadership from becoming public,” Crane, president of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council 118, testified. “Agents and officers in the field are frequently under orders not to arrest persons suspected of being in the United States illegally.

And our border remains wide open with states that dare to enforce existing immigration law targeted by the Obama administration.

There's something very sickening about this perversion of the American legal system. And someday, hopefully very soon, Eric Holder will be facing the criminal charges he so richly deserves.


Weird: job growth consistently higher in right-to-work states

Why, this must be some sort of strange coincidence:

Currently, the U.S. has 22 right-to-work states. All of them are in the South, West, and Central Midwest. During the past 15 years, these states have collectively outperformed the rest of the nation to an almost embarrassing degree:

• “From 1995 to 2005, incomes of residents in right-to-work states grew by 142 percent more than the incomes of Ohioans,” and “private-sector job growth was 500% greater.”

• After passing right-to-work legislation in 1986 and 2001, respectively, Idaho and Oklahoma both experienced explosive growth in their economies and overall employment.

• An after-tax dollar earned in a right-to-work state has more real purchasing power than it does in other states, “because union labor tends to raise (the) costs of goods and services.”

I took a look at economic growth in the individual states during the past decade as measured by gross domestic product (GDP). What I found also shows that right-to-work states clearly outperformed the others [see table at right]...

...2001-2010 economic growth weighted by average population in all right-to-work states was 21.7%; in the rest of the states and the District of Columbia, it was only 13.6%. During the past thirty years, the tremendous leads in per-capita GDP industrial states like Ohio and Michigan once had over the right-to-work states have mostly and in a few cases entirely evaporated.

Wealthy union bosses like Dick Trumka proudly proclaim their hatred of capitalism and their desire to push America into a Soviet-style, socialistic economy.

Furthermore, union leadership has aligned itself with the environmental, flat-earth, no-growth "green" movement that has dedicated itself to the de-industrialization of America. Labor bosses support -- of all things -- the EPA, which is gutting energy exploration, pipeline construction, the drilling business, the mining industry, all power generation facilities, refinery construction, and the like.

Put simply, in their rapacious quest for power, union bosses have thrown their members to the wolves.

At some point in the very near future, union members are going to rise up against their bosses -- who have aligned with far Left Marxists -- to destroy the economy and all of their members' jobs. A good start will be voting to pink-slip the top union boss, one Barack H. Obama in 2012.


Larwyn's Linx: Democrats’ tax-hike obsession killed the SuperCommittee

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

Nation

Democrats' tax-hike obsession killed the SuperCommittee: Peth
Dear Average American: It’s All Your Fault : NRO
Sherrod Brown (D-OH): the most liberal member of the Senate: BigGov

Once They Own Your Kids, What’s Left?: NoisyRm
Leading senators: Kagan may have to recuse: Times
Democrat Congressman Charged With Child Sex Abuse: RightPer

Defense Spending Dwindles Under Obama: Foundry
Cigarettes for Signatures at #OccupyMilwaukee: GWP
Ron Paul: ‘Flawed’ US policies led to 9/11: Hill

Economy

Fannie, Freddie CEOs are scandalous, not Gingrich: PJM
Wasted Away In Obamaville: HayRide
There Are Bonuses, And There Are Bonuses: Wizbang

Could Ohio Become a Right-to-Work State?: Blumer
Which one of these Obama tax hikes will destroy the most jobs?: ATR
NLRB to Consider Speedier Union Votes: WSJ

California Ballot Boondoggle Sends Tax Dollars Out of State: RWN
Occupy a $700/night hotel room: ProWis
The cause of the crisis (and how to prevent the next one): Hayek

Gunrunner & Energygate

Waxman: Throwing Taxpayer Money Down Crapper Will Save Us From Fires, Droughts and Floods: Powers
Washington conducts public business for private gain: Exam
Did agents in Texas let guns 'walk' into Mexico?: Chron

Climate & Energy

Settled?: Mead
James Hansen and the Corruption of Science: Power Line
Warmists Now Say AGW Will Cause Less US Mainland Hurricane Strikes: RWN

Media

State-Run Radio's Nina Totenberg: There Was Nothing Political About Obama Giving Solyndra Money: NB
David Brooks: ‘Welcome Greece. We are going to be Greece’: DC
NASCAR Crowd Boos Michelle Obama: Breitbart

When you’ve lost Shepard Fairey, you’ve lost America: NakedDC
Michael Moore Goes The Full Wingnut On President Obama Over Occupy ‘Crackdown’: Mediaite
The 10 Commandments Of Liberalism: Looking Spoon

World

Four Things You Need to Know about Venezuela: PJM
Durban III promotes what it claims to be fighting: Bayefsky
Christian Cross Is Seen as the ‘Mark of the Beast’ by Islamists: Yon

Home-Grown Jihad, Episode #253: GoV
The Run On Europe Begins, As Global Investors Head For The Hills: Blodget
Occupy Tokyo: Mass demonstrations go unreported by Japanese media: SOTT

How the Muslim Brotherhood Censors Federal Counterterrorism Training: BigPeace
University of California President Protects OWSers But Not Jews: Kesler
Israel Warns: Our Patience Is Wearing Thin, The “Time Has Come” To Deal With Iran: WZ

Sci-Tech

New Payment System Sidesteps Credit Cards: Fiscal Times
Which tablet is right for you?: Digital Trends
The Rootkit Of All Evil – CIQ: XDA Developers

Cornucopia

This Week in Automotivators: RWN
If POTUS Gets Eaten By a Crocodile in the Outback...: Powers
11 Sounds That Your Kids Have Probably Never Heard: MentalFloss

Image: "NYC Arrests 'Lone Wolf' Terrorist Building Pipe Bombs"
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: ushanka.us: the 99% Win

QOTD: "It's true. Corzine, Joe Biden's pal and Obama crony, as taken something like $600M of his client's money and spent it on... magic beans, I guess. Or hookers. Whatever.

But don't look now, Herman Cain hit on a white's woman!

Lookit, MF Global's mini-Madoff may or may not have destroyed the whole financial system. I would bet it didn't. But what it did was expose, yet again, that nothing happens on Wall Street that's stopped by federal regulators, unless there's a political motive behind it. Rule of law, we hardly knew ya. Madoff? Fine! MF? Totally cool! But when Client Number 9 starts to have some success in shutting down bad operations... They couldn't find Madoff's $50 billion, but they could trace one $5,000 transaction for a sweet hooker? Really, SEC? Really??" --Open Blogger @ Ace o' Spades

Sunday, November 20, 2011

The 10 Worst Cars Detroit Ever Produced

All of these fine units were imported from Detroit:

10. Ford Pinto: Hey, only a couple of hundred fuel tanks exploded, so your odds were still pretty good of surviving a Sunday drive in one of these sweet rides.

9. Chevrolet Cavalier: Here's a plan: let's go a decade without upgrading any technology plus try to pawn off a high-end model (the Cadillac Cimarron) on an unsuspecting public. AKA the rubes. AKA us.

8. Chevrolet Astro: Hey, we need a minivan! Let's slap some sheet-metal on a truck -- no one'll know the difference!

7. Ford Taurus: Introduced in '86 to great acclaim, Ford went on to ignore the sedan for two decades, at which point only captive rental car companies and government agencies would buy it.

6. Jaguar X-Type: Speaking of the Taurus, may I introduce the Jag X-Type? When Ford bought Jaguar, its first "brainstorm" was to create this Jag-Taurus. Or, as some like to call it, The Brand-Killer.

5. Pontiac Aztek. What can I say about the Aztek that hasn't been said by others?
• "I had an Aztek as a rental car once. I asked the person at the Avis counter if they gave me a mask with it."
• "It reminds me of a Simpson's episode where Homer was allowed to design a car."

4. Chrysler Sebring: It's called the Sebring because the names Vapid and Inane were taken.

3. Chrysler K-Car: to quote some experts: "The K-Car represented badge-engineering at its most cynical. The K-series were cheaply built, poorly-engineered cars with legendary brand names slapped them. The K-Car was available as the Dodge Aries, the Plymouth Reliant and the Chrysler LeBaron, a name that evoked a Chrysler luxury brand that dated back to the 1950s. The K-Car version was a cheap imitation of that substantial vehicle – calling it a LeBaron was like putting a Hilton sign on a rent-by-the-hour motel."

2. Chevy Cobalt: What's it take to win the "Least Reliable Small Car" award from Consumer Reports? Or a two-star review from TAC? Or blogosphere reviews like "...the worst vehicle I have ever driven..."? Simple. It takes a Cobalt.

1. Chevy Vega: Some of the quotes from Car Talk's worst car list say it all.

"As near as I could tell, the car was built from compressed rust."

"My Chevy Vega actually broke in half going over railroad tracks. The whole rear end came around slightly to the front, sort of like a dog wagging its tail."

"Burned so much oil, it was single-handedly responsible for the formation of OPEC."

But, hey, let's expand unionization throughout the country, even if employees don't want it!


One simple graph: If I were the Speaker of the House...

...I would have a very simple message to the American people. The imminent failure of the "Super Committee" approach to a budget compromise validates the prediction that many conservatives made when John Boehner threw away his trump cards.

So I modified a Heritage graph to make a very simple point. And if I were the House Speaker, I would show this chart to the American people at every opportunity and repeat a very simple mantra:

In 2009, Democrats and President Obama rammed a "one-time" Stimulus spending spree through Congress that ended up costing the American people $840 billion.

Since then, that so-called "one-time" spending spree was built into each and every year's budget because of the Democrats' unprecedented failure to pass a budget.

Therefore our message to Democrats is simple: remove the "one-time" Stimulus spending spree from the baseline budget.

Then, and only then, will we talk about other measures to balance the budget. Not that Democrats have ever worried about "revenues" before spending money they didn't have, mind you -- but, hey, let's give them the benefit of the doubt this time.

How hard is that? Am I the only Republican with Photoshop?

John Boehner is a horrible leader for House Republicans. He is inarticulate. He is unprincipled. And, worse, he is more willing to brawl conservatives -- the Tea Party activists that gave him his speakership -- than he is to fight the radical Leftist Democrats who are dragging our country into an economic abyss.

Which is why he needs to be replaced.

2012 is coming -- and, with your help, I predict a conservative tide that will sweep not only the Sorocrats from power, but many of these so-called Republicans.


"Indict Holder"

The Sipsey Street Irregulars point us to a powerful missive by retired Congressman James Lightfoot.

Indict Holder


Jim Ross Lightfoot, 18 November 2011

Northwest of Nogales, Arizona, Peck Canyon is a hotbed for illegal drugs and a battleground between illegals coming from Mexico, fighting amongst themselves and the US Border Patrol. At 11:15 PM the night of December 14, 2010 the Border Patrol is watching a “rip crew” (illegals that prey on other illegals moving drugs into the US). The illegal rip crew was in a position to ambush anyone coming up the canyon.

Border Patrol agents commanded the illegals to drop their weapons. When they did not, the Patrol fired at them with beanbags as required by engagement protocol. The illegals fired back with AK-47s and real bullets.

Two agents then responded with one long gun and one pistol.

When the firefight was over, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was dead. An AK-47 bullet had entered his back some 29 inches below the shoulder.

One of the rip crew was wounded. There were no other injuries.

At the scene were three AK-47 rifles, all part of the 2,000-plus guns that the Department of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) under the Department of Justice (DOJ) had allowed to “walk” into Mexico.

Today, one of those rifles is missing; picked up by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to protect a “CI” (confidential informant) the agency is working.
A bright, respected, dedicated, well-trained young man, a United States Federal Law Enforcement Agent, is dead at the hands of illegal aliens using rifles supplied by our own DOJ through ATF.

Do you see anything wrong with this picture?

So much is wrong that it almost defies speech. Everything about this situation rubs against every principle, tenet, belief, ideology or standard that this country stands for.

And, much of what the DOJ and ATF has done and continues to do is in defiance of the law.

Operation Fast and Furious put those weapons in the hands of the Mexican Drug Cartels, deliberately. It was no accident. It was by design.

William Newell, special agent in charge of the Phoenix field office of ATF, and William McMahon, the head of western field operations for ATF, are the architects of Fast and Furious. They both gave misleading and incomplete information to a Congressional Oversight Committee.

Attorney General Eric Holder has stonewalled the committee to the point he could probably get a job as a stone mason when he finally leaves government.

As a reward for their misleading testimony Newell and McMahon were whisked into ATF headquarters fortress on New York Avenue in Washington, DC to protect them and their pensions.

The number of members of Congress calling for Holder to resign grows each day. However, this is the wrong direction for this investigation to go. Once Holder resigns with all his government pensions and benefits, he is off the hook.

Holder is one fish where the hook needs to be set, he must be indicted; and Newell, McMahon and several others should join him in a courtroom defending his use of a Federal Agency to promote this Administration’s anti-gun agenda while breaking US law in the process.

Foolishness that has gotten two US Federal Agents killed and countless hundreds of innocent Mexican citizens killed and wounded.

Congress, show us you really mean to uphold the Constitution you swore to protect.
Indict these people now.

Yesterday Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM) stated that there are 1,600 weapons from Fast and Furious still unaccounted for. It's time to end this charade. Eric Holder must resign or face indictment.


Related: Eric Holder Comix. Hat tip: D&S.

How guys like Corzine and Madoff get dealt with in China

When stories like this come down the pike, I get to thinkin' there are a couple o' things about Red China I actually like.

As reported today in the Suzhou evening news:

Former President Shen Changfu of China Mobile Telecom Chongjing Co, Ltd was sentenced to death on charges of taking bribes of over 36 million RMB. (Around $6 million U.S.D)

On 17Nov, 2011 his son Shen Juncheng was sentenced to ten years in prison for taking bribes valued at 13 million RMB ($2M USD) In this case, the son was using his father's connections to support getting new contracts for companies. He was then paid dividends by the companies.

The mentally challenged Thomas Fried-man hardest hit.


Poster Child for Insanity: Los Angeles Times Advocates Even Higher Taxes So Californians Can "Pay It Forward"

Those sounds you just heard were California's beleaguered taxpayers smacking themselves on their foreheads:

California's budget is almost never adopted by the legal deadline, but it was this year — in part because of a new simple-majority-vote requirement that left quarrelsome Republicans out of the discussion, and in part because daydreaming Democrats relied on a vaporous wish that the economy was going to improve and that the state would recoup $3.7 billion more in tax revenues than now seems likely. The shortfall is expected to trigger $2 billion in spending cuts, and Californians who think that's a good thing — that the cuts will impose needed fiscal discipline, or will force the state to make more responsible decisions, or will punish lazy freeloaders or greedy state workers — should wake up and smell the future...

...California is a wealthy state, with enough money and brains to create a future of opportunity and achievement for the next generation. As we face these new triggered cuts and even deeper cuts in the coming year, Californians must now show whether we still have sufficient regard for each other and for our successors to invest a little more today for an abundant, and sustainable, future.

The Times ignores the costs of California's operation as a sanctuary state, which the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimates at $20 billion. Consider just one slice of that figure and the devastating effects that California's open borders policies have on taxpayers:

According to The Modesto Bee, the California correctional system spends $50,000 annually to house each prisoner. This translates to 10 percent of the entire state's budget -- more than double that of the immense California university system -- which is spent on prisoners.

The state prison system currently houses about 155,000 inmates, 21,000 of whom are illegal aliens. Thus, California is spending about $1,050,000,000 (one billion and fifty million dollars) on imprisonment of illegals alone.

There is only way out of this mess for California before cities and the state itself descend into bankruptcy and chaos: they must eradicate collective bargaining rights for public sector workers; they must terminate open borders policies that allow sanctuary cities to exist in California; and they must rein in the regulatory superstate that has sent businesses fleeing the state in record numbers.

The time is now, Californians. You don't have much time left to repair this mess. Reject the idiocy of the Los Angeles Times and the other leftists who have set the state on a course for economic collapse. Vote for freedom.


Another Day, Another Massacre in Syria

Caution: extremely graphic footage.

Just to keep everything straight in my mind... as I understand it, the Obama Doctrine consists of the president staying completely silent on:

...murders of peaceful protesters by Iran's vicious dictators
...murders of peaceful protesters by Syria's vicious dictator
...the Occupy kooks who riot, rape, pillage and otherwise erode the civil society
...Iran's continual threats to wipe America and Israel "off the face of the Earth"
...murders of Christian Copts by "freedom-loving" Egyptians
...incessant rocket attacks by Hamas into Israel
...the continued build-out of Iran's nuclear weapons program
...murders of Libyan civilians by the late, unlamented dictator Gaddafi
...the transit of the Suez Canal by Iranian warships in an outright provocation of Israel
...Iranian military personnel operating with impunity in Venezuela on missile technology
...a failed narco-terror state descending into civil war on our unprotected southern border
...being found in Contempt of Court by a federal judge over the Gulf drilling moratorium
...defying a de facto injunction by a federal judge who threw out all of Obamacare
...the union thugs who have issued countless threats against Governor Walker

However, the president is willing to courageously speak out on:
...How our Egyptian ally should step down
...Israel's construction of apartments in its capital city
...How awesome unions are for Wisconsin
...How awesome the economic recovery is
...How awesome all of the new green jobs he's saved or created are

Crystal clear.


Larwyn's Linx: Secrets of the American Nomenklatura

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

Nation

Secrets of the American Nomenklatura: AT
Golden Oldies: Newt and the “cancer bed divorce” myth: Hot Air
Congress Can Make You Buy Broccoli, But Not to Eat It: Reason

Obama Hoop Classic to Benefit Inner-City Youth Obama: Nice Deb
Top 10 Most Needed Government Reforms: HE
Herman Cain Heckled by Ron Paul Supporters: Shark Tank

If you want more of a particular behavior: ProWis
Dear Lazy American, Obama Says You Owe $160K of Fed Debt: RWN
Is there no limit to Congress’s power?: Will

Economy

Five Lessons for America from the European Fiscal Crisis: Cato
Warren Buffett's Company Sues IRS Over 'Illegal' Taxation: Ace
Rep. Barney Frank (D-iscredited Gasbag) wants to overhaul Fed: Scoop

A Collection of School Stories: Pundette
Elite Firms Fishing in a Very Small Hiring Pool: McArdle
Barnhardt Closes Hedge Fund; implicates WH, Corzine: Ace

OWS: If a Cop Tries to Arrest You, Kill Him: PunPress
Newt H8tes teh childrens … or janitors … or something: ProWis
Education Dept. investigating elementary school closing: Lansing

Gunrunner & Energygate

Email Shows ATF and DOJ KNEW That Fast and Furious had Walked over 2000 Guns To Mexico: Nice Deb
President sends letter of condolence to rapper's funeral, but not to Brian Terry's family: AT
Dem lobbyist for LightSquared sought meeting at White House: Hill

Climate & Energy

President Obama Blocked or Destroyed 200,000 Jobs in Ohio this Week: Virtuous Republic
UK Climate Change Minister Buys Cozy Weekend Retreat: JWF
14,000 abandoned wind turbines: Surber

Media

Between the rattlesnake's tail and its fangs: SSI
Slandering the Red States: Laura Sullivan Responds: Power Line
The Democrats Were Not for Me: AT

Is Obama an Affirmative Action President? Yeah, Probably: RWN
Numbskull: the word that best describes Kathleen Parker: York
What About Me?: JPA

Black Republican’s Campaign Sign Defaced With ‘KKK,’ Media Yawns: RWN
Penn State's institutional wickedness: Steyn
Brian Leiter is upset about blog traffic: LI

Chris Matthews Begs Obama: “Just Give Us Our Orders… Give Us the Mission”: GWP
Associated Press fooled by Christopher Walken impersonator on ESPN 980: TBD
Audio of Christopher Walken Impersonator Speaking about Natalie Wood Case: PunditPress

World

Islam Was Not for Me: Imani
Nanny State Gets Senile Dementia: Instapundit
Come The Revolution? The Lisbon Treaty Versus The U.S. Constitution: ZH

Finally… There Is an Occupy Group We Can All Support: GWP
Billion Men To March Against Islamization of Mecca: Zilla
Stealth Jihad in America: Creeping

Sci-Tech

Top 10 Tech This Week - in Photos: Mashable
Foreign hackers targeted U.S. water plant in apparent malicious cyber attack, expert says: WaPo
FDA cracks down on McDonald’s egg supplier: ChiBiz

Cornucopia

Change Delivered! That and $4.50 will buy you a cup of coffee: MOTUS
Occupy the Farmer's Market: Instapundit
Are You Smarter Than an Occutard?: Denny

Image: Via Weasel Zippers
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Democracy Denied: How Obama is Bypassing Congress

QOTD: "Buying gold is just buying a put on the idiocy of the political cycle. ... Capitalism without failure is like Christianity without Hell. You have to have atonement for ridiculous levels of spending both the US and Europe have gone through. The spending idiocy of the world is going to catch up to itself. And that's where we are today." --Kyle Bass

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Yacht Barnacle: the John Kerry Story

When it comes to hypocrisy, criminality, duplicity and elitism, is there anyone in America that tops John Kerry? For you drones: that's a rhetorical question.

BigGovernment.com has obtained records of Massachusetts Democrat Senator John Kerry and his wife Teresa Heinz’s stock portfolios that show almost perfectly timed pharmaceutical stock trades during the Obamacare debate, which fattened their already enormous personal fortune.

...Sen. John Kerry’s position on the powerful Senate Finance Committee’s Health Subcommittee gives him direct access to critical information regarding health care policy. In July 2009, pharmaceutical industry representatives met with key members of Congress to flesh out the Obamacare bill. Then, in November 2009, with the bill’s passage was looking more likely, the Kerrys’ portfolios reflect a drug stock buying spree...

...Even as their portfolios reflected aggressive purchasing of drug company stocks, Sen. Kerry was dumping investments in health insurance companies.

...[Peter Schweizer's new book] Throw Them All Out contends that Sen. Kerry is no stranger to making huge profits off of health care-related trading based on his rare access to information. “Some of [Kerry’s] biggest scores,” writes Schweizer, “were tied to his knowledge of obscure matters that had huge ramifications for certain companies.”

One such instance occurred in 2007, when the government was deciding whether an anemia drug made by Amgen would receive Medicare reimbursement. Before news of the congressional negotiations went public, however, the Kerrys’ investment fund executed two perfectly timed stock sales. On May 4th and 7th, between $500,000 and $1 million worth of Amgen were sold off. The move helped him avoid between $50,000 and $100,000 in losses.

Another example of Kerry’s deft congressional trading happened in 2003 during the negotiations over the prescription drug benefit plan. Kerry’s Senate committee was in charge of the plan’s oversight. In 2003, writes Schweizer, “a stunning 111 transactions of pharmaceutical companies and health insurance companies” were made to the Kerrys’ portfolios.

Peter Schweizer's book is a must-read.


Hat tip: Instapundit.

Occupy Cairo Movement Off To Slow Start [Dan from New York]

Dan from New York:

Yo occupiers! Take a look at this.

Your compatriots in Cairo are having a rough time. Makes you long for the days of Mubarak, and an end to the tenure of President Obama on 1/20/13, don’t it?

Oh, almost forgot, comrades. Things aren’t much better for Occupy Syria, as you’ll see here.

So stop whining about a little mace in the face. You never had it so good.

"At least one person has been killed and more than 600 wounded in fierce clashes between protesters and security forces in central Cairo... The clashes came as police moved to prevent a long-term sit-in..."

The ludicrous Bill Kristol hardest hit.


Climate Crook James Hansen: on the Government Dole While Accepting $1.6 Million in Additional Income... and Counting

Like the rest of the climate crooks, Hansen appears to be on the warmal colding bandwagon for one reason and one reason alone: the Benjamins:

It seems esteemed NASA astronomer turned climatologist turned paid activist Dr. James Hansen of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) has not been reporting some income that he is required by law to do. How long will NASA continue to look the other way? Chris Horner explains.

A Summary of James E. Hansen’s NASA Ethics File


NASA records released to resolve litigation filed by the American Tradition Institute reveal that Dr. James E. Hansen, an astronomer, received approximately $1.6 million in outside, direct cash income in the past five years for work related to — and, according to his benefactors, often expressly for — his public service as a global warming activist within NASA.

...Hansen [also] failed to report tens of thousands of dollars in global travel provided to him by outside parties ... to receive honoraria to speak about the topic of his taxpayer-funded employment, or get cash awards for his activism and even for his past testimony and other work for NASA.

Ethics laws require that such payments or gifts be reported on an SF278 public financial disclosure form. As detailed, below, Hansen nonetheless regularly refused to report this income.

Also, he seems to have inappropriately taken between $10,000 and $26,000 for speeches unlawfully promoting him as a NASA employee. This is despite NASA ordering him to return at least some of the money, with the rest apparently unnoticed by NASA. This raises troubling issues about Hansen’s, and NASA’s, compliance with ethics rules, the general prohibition on not privately benefitting from public service, and even the criminal code prohibition on not having one’s public employment income supplemented. All of this lucrative activity followed Hansen ratcheting up his global warming alarmism and activism to be more political... [but] he cannot receive outside income for doing his job, he has placed himself in peril, assuming the Department of Justice can find a way to be interested in these revelations.

...Hansen suddenly became the recipient of many, often lucrative offers of outside employment and awards after he escalated his political activism — using his NASA position as a platform, and springboard. This began with a strident “60 Minutes” interview in early 2006, alleging political interference by the Bush administration in climate science...

...consider these failures to report often elegant air and hotel/resort accommodations received on his SF278 as required by law (the amount of direct cash income received from the party providing him travel, as well, is in parentheses):

• Blue Planet Prize ($500,000), travel for Hansen and his wife to Tokyo, Japan, 2010
• Dan David Prize ($500,000), travel to Paris, 2007
• Sophie Prize ($100,000), Oslo Norway, travel for Hansen and his wife, 2010
• WWF Duke of Edinburgh Award, Travel for Hansen and his wife, London, 2006
• Alpbach, Austria (alpine resort)(“business class”, with wife), 2007
• Shell Oil UK ($10,000), London, 2009
• FORO Cluster de Energia, travel for Hansen and wife (“business class”), Bilbao, Spain, 2008
• ACT Coalition, travel for Hansen and wife to London, 2007
• Progressive Forum ($10,000)(“first class”), to Houston, 2006
• Progressive Forum ($10,000), to Houston, 2009
• UCSB ($10,000), to Santa Barbara, CA
• Nierenberg Prize ($25,000), to San Diego, 2008
• Nevada Medal ($20,000), to Las Vegas, Reno, 2008
• EarthWorks Expos, to Denver, 2006
• California Academy of Science ($1,500), to San Francisco, 2009
• CalTech ($2,000), travel to Pasadena, CA for Hansen and his wife, 2007

The following is an incomplete list of other travel apparently accepted to make paid speeches and/or receive cash awards but not reported on SF278 financial disclosures:

Boston, Washington, DC (twice); Columbus, OH; Omaha, NE; Wilmington, DE; Ithaca, NY (business class); Chapel Hill, NC; Deerfield, IL (Sierra Club “No Coal” campaign); Dartmouth, NH; Alberta, Canada (as consultant to a law firm helping run an anti-oil sands campaign), Stanford; Minneapolis; Missoula, MT

...World Wildlife Fund [also] gave Hansen an engraved Montres Rolex watch, which typically run $8,000 and up (2006), but which was not reported by Hansen on his SF 278 under “gifts”, which must be reported if valued at more than $260...

These activities appear to violate the criminal code, 18 U.S.C. 209.

And Hansen's not the only one enriching himself. Members of the United Nations Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have profited greatly from their various reports advocating man-made global warming, carbon offsets and other money-making schemes.


Newly Released Emails Prove Elena Kagan Was Not Walled Off From Obamacare's Legal Strategy and Must Recuse Herself

During her confirmation hearings, Elena Kagan -- then solicitor-general for the United States -- stated that she had virtually no role in crafting the PPACA (Obamacare) Act nor in advising the Democrat Party on a legal strategy for it.

COBURN: Thank you. And my — I have two final questions. One, was there at any time — and I’m not asking what you expressed or anything else — was there at any time you were asked in your present position to express an opinion on the merits of the health care bill?

KAGAN: There was not.

Newly released emails prove that this was untrue. From cheerleading the passage of the bill, to helping to coordinate the response, to shushing those who had begun to leave a paper trail of her involvement, Kagan was intimately involved in every aspect of the legal strategy.

Thanks to Judicial Watch, we now have more evidence that Kagan fibbed during her sworn testimony.

• An October 13, 2009, exchange between Kagan and former Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal. Katyal informs Kagan, “We just got Snowe on health care,” referring to Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME). (The bulk of the email exchange reflects a discussion about Kagan, and also provides instructions regarding a hiring decision within the agency, although the nature of the position is unclear. When Katyal asks if Kagan wants to handle the hire via email or in person meeting, Kagan responds, “In person. I’ll call a meeting when I return.”)

• A March 21, 2010, email from Kagan to then-Senior Counselor for Access to Justice Laurence Tribe: “I hear they have the votes Larry!! Simply amazing...” Tribe responds, “So healthcare is basically done! Remarkable.”

• A March 16, 2010, email from Kagan to David Barron, then-acting head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, asked if he had seen an article by Michael McConnell published in the Wall Street Journal that discussed a strategy by Democrats to “‘deem’ ObamaCare into Law without voting.” “Did you seee [sic] Michael McConnell’s piece in the wsj?” Kagan writes in an email with the subject line “Health care q.” “YES, HE IS GETTING THIS GOING,” replied Barron.

Furthermore, these recently released documents had been stonewalled by the Holder Justice Department prior to the Kagan confirmation hearings. Upon receiving the documents, just days after the Obamacare case was accepted for review by the Supreme Court, Sen. Jeff Sessions -- who was the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee during the Kagan confirmation -- said the following:

I am deeply disturbed by these developments and believe that the Justice Department should have provided these documents to the Senate Judiciary Committee during Justice Kagan's confirmation hearing. The Department’s failure to provide this information to Congress and to comply with FOIA requests, as well as your apparent inattention to these matters, is unacceptable.”

There is only one reason that Justice withheld the Kagan documents.

What's been revealed thus far is proof positive that Kagan was not walled off from the legal strategy behind Obamacare and was therefore not truthful during her sworn testimony in front of Congress.

Justice Kagan must recuse herself from the Obamacare case immediately -- or she should be impeached.


Horrifying Chart of the Day (and Reason #4,323 that John Boehner Must Be Replaced As Speaker of the House)

Via the Washington Examiner comes this doozy of a reality check:

Consider the negotiating "skills" of House Speaker John Boehner:

• Episode 1: The Continuing Resolution Charade, in which Boehner gives up his trump card -- a government shutdown -- without a whimper

• Episode 2: The Debt Ceiling Debacle, in which Boehner gives up his trump card -- forcing the government to cut spending -- without a fight

• Episode 3: The Case of the Balanced Budget Amendment That Wasn't, in which Boehner hollows out the Cut-Cap-and-Balance pledge and tries to pass a BBA that neither cuts or caps spending

• Episode 4: Super-Committee Cowardice, in which Boehner names RINOs who have no desire to battle the Left nor seriously cut spending

In 2012, we conservatives must rise up and demand that either Michele Bachmann, Paul Ryan or Allen West replace the cowardly, weak-willed, big-government, cocktail-circuit Republican named John Boehner as House Speaker.

We don't have any time left for pathetic losers like Boehner and Eric Cantor who refuse to fight for this country as the Marxist Left drags it into an economic abyss.

I'm sick of these weaklings. And they need to go.