Friday, November 25, 2011

Full Transcript: Neurosurgeon Briefed by HHS Reveals Obamacare's Death Panels (Hint: Patients Are Called 'Units')

A caller -- "Jeff" from Chicago, Illinois -- spoke with Mark Levin on November 22nd regarding advanced neurological care under the auspices of the new health care law.

Junior Cub Reporter Biff Spackle transcribed the entire conversation (only excerpts had been published before).

Every American concerned with health care needs to read this conversation.

I heard you talk earlier about the government not knowing how to make pencils and you talked about brain surgeons. And I happen to be a brain surgeon, so I found your topic quite interesting.

I just returned from Washington, DC, where we were reading over what the Obama health care plan would be for advanced neurosurgery for patients over 70, which we all found quite disturbing. As our population gets older, the majority of our patients are getting over 70. They'll require stroke therapy, aneurysm therapy, and basically what the document stated is that if you're over 70 and you come into an emergency room... if you're on government-supported health care, you'll get "comfort care".

ML: Wait a minute... what’s the source for this?

Jeff: This is Obama’s new health care plan for advanced neurosurgical care.

ML: And who issued this? HHS?

Jeff: Yes. And basically they don’t call them patients, they call them units. And instead of, they call it “ethics panels” or “ethics committees”, would get together and meet and decide where the money would go for hospitals, and basically for patients over 70 years of age, that advanced neurosurgical care was not generally indicated.

ML: So it’s generally going to be denied?

Jeff: Yes, absolutely... If someone comes in at 70 years of age with a bleed in their brain, I can promise you I’m not going to get a bunch of administrators together on an ethics panel at 2 in the morning to decide that I’m OK to do surgery.

ML: Is this published somewhere where the general public could get a hold of it?

Jeff: Not yet.

ML: So this was just discussed with your community of neurosurgeons?

Jeff: Yes, the AANS [Ed: the American Association of Neurological Surgeons] and the Congress of Neurosurgeons, because everybody knows that cuts are coming in Medicare and medical reimbursement. And we're the most expensive out of all the fields in medicine. And we're the smallest field. But at two, three, four in the morning, we're the ones in the operating room. And we have to wait for an ethics panel to convene, which are not made of physicians -- they're made of administrators. To decide whether a patient should receive our care.

ML: So Sarah Palin was right. We're going to have these "death panels", aren't we?

Jeff: Oh, absolutely. I'm German by heritage, and I've read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, and -- basically, they don't call them patients, they call them units. And if you're a unit above a certain age, you get comfort care instead of advanced neurosurgical intervention.

ML: You went to a seminar in Washington, DC?

Jeff: Yes. Where a few of my former partners, two of them, have gone to work... one for the Veteran's Administration and one for the Congress of Neurosurgeons out of DC.

ML: And this information is based, you're certain, on representations and information provided by HHS and other government officials?

Jeff: Yep.

ML: And when will the rest of us become aware of it? After the [presidential] election?

Jeff: Probably. I mean, there's so many things that the government keeps under control that are used -- things called H.U.D. devices -- humanitarian use devices that we're allowed to use now because they haven't undergone full FDA approval. And they're used in surgery because people know it's the right thing to do. But the government can step in at any time, like they did two months ago with a device, and say, 'this device hasn't met what we want' and there's no exact criteria, and can therefore take it away from us.

ML: And the people telling you what to do -- they don't know how to make a pencil, do they?

Jeff: Exactly. That's what I'm saying. You know, we always joke around -- 'it's not brain surgery' -- but I did nine years after medical school, I've been in training ten years, and now I have people who don't know a thing about what I'm doing telling me when I can and can't operate.

The unintentionally satirical "Politifact" website hardest hit.


Found Video: Milton Friedman Obliterates the Communist Shrew Frances Fox Piven

I had no idea that Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell once publicly battled Leftists like Frances Fox Piven in a televised debate. Which explains my surprise in happening upon this video.

Piven, for those unaware of her despicable background, was one of the authors of the "Cloward-Piven Strategy". Put simply, Piven helped create an architecture for collapsing capitalistic economic systems through the exploitation of their social welfare systems.

It is this strategy that many astute observers believe that Barack Obama is executing as he follows through on his promise to "fundamentally transform" America.


Fortune 500 companies come and go -- it's the federal government that never shrinks

Professor Mark J. Perry points us to some fascinating historical data concerning corporations, the amorphous collections of individuals so often demonized by the Left.

What do the companies in these three groups have in common?

Group A. American Motors, Studebaker, Detroit Steel, Maytag and National Sugar Refining.

Group B. Boeing, Campbell Soup, Deere, IBM and Whirlpool.

Group C. Cisco, eBay, McDonald's, Microsoft and Yahoo.

All the companies in Group A were in the Fortune 500 in 1955, but not in 2011.

All the companies in Group B were in the Fortune 500 in both 1955 and 2011.

All the companies in Group C were in the Fortune 500 in 2011, but not 1955.

Comparing the Fortune 500 companies in 1955 and 2011, there are only 67 companies that appear in both lists. In other words, only 13.4% of the Fortune 500 companies in 1955 were still on the list 56 years later in 2011, and almost 87% of the companies have either gone bankrupt, merged, gone private, or still exist but have fallen from the top Fortune 500 companies (ranked by gross revenue).

Perry notes that the cause is creative destruction -- the continual economic upheaval necessary for the advancement of humankind. Yes, these changes include ATMs and automated car washes, which certain politicians believe cause unemployment.

What Perry doesn't say is that over the same period of time, the federal government has swallowed more and more of the private sector. Through its unelected fourth branch of government -- the federal bureaucracies -- its agencies, offices, bureaus, czars, departments, committees, and countless other groups have spewed forth millions of pages of regulations, all with the force of law.

For those who demonize corporations, I ask you to consider:

• It is the U.S. government, not a corporation, that is the most powerful monopoly on the planet, for it is the largest insurer, guarantor, pension provider, banker, health care system, debtor, etc.

• It is the U.S. government, not a corporation, that grows always larger -- never shrinking -- as temporary politicians attempt to construct a Utopian society that never was and never can be.

• It is the U.S. government, not a corporation, that constantly seeks to evade the laws, the bonds and constraints placed upon it by the Constitution.

• It is the U.S. government, not a corporation, that has the ability to imprison, to punish, to fine under force of law, almost always for the sole purpose of growing larger and confiscating more and more private property.

Those on the Left would do well to consider the government as the world's largest, most powerful corporation. And now that it has breached the firewalls of the Constitution, it is a corporation on the road to total control over its citizens. In fact, some would call it tyranny.


Image: AdClassix.

Larwyn's Linx: #Occupy Black Friday?

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

Nation

#Occupy Black Friday?: RSM
Stealing as Policy, from the Iron Curtain to Robert Byrd: Pacepa
House Judiciary asks for Elena Kagan documents: Politico

Bravest teacher in Wisconsin: LI
The Real Prison Industry: RWN
Anarchy in the U.S.A.: WS

Russia's Middle Finger for Hillary's Reset Button: PJM
Oops: POTUS unwittingly bans FBI/CAIR cooperation: JihadWatch
Male Nurse Files Lawsuit in Dearbornistan: Creeping

Economy

MF Global Indirectly Ruins The Futures Industry: P&F
FDA Considers Mandatory Salt Reductions: Cato
Insight: Fidelity's expensive debt raises eyebrows: Yahoo!

Milton Friedman Responds To OWS Protestors : Carpe Diem
#OWS Celebrates Thanksgiving By Spitting On Cops: GWP
Leftist: 'Tea partiers out-organized Occupy Wall Street': Volpe

Gunrunner & Energygate

U.S. Seals Court Records Of Border Patrol’s Murder: JW
Gov. Rick Perry Has Come Out Swinging Against Obama and Fast and Furious: BigGovt
Obama's the Target of Mexico Gunrunning Probe: Hedgecock

Climate & Energy

Google Abandons “Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal” Project: VS
Going green gets the green: Surber
Eat Your Leftovers, Or The World Will Die: RWN

Media

Decades Instead Of Centuries; Republicans Instead Of Conservatives: Camp o' the Saints
Katie Couric Excited Over The Prospect Of Ruining ABC News, Too: BigJourn
The Tea Party versus the Occupiers: Ricochet

“The Anti-Wall Street Movement That Has Gripped a Nation Consumed by Economic Despair”: JWF
"The Most Insane Job-Interview Tips Ever"... from Duke's Women Law Students Association.: Atlhouse
Rewarding Rotten Ricky Gervais: RWN

World

‘They Stole Our Land’ vs. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem: FPM
Turkey, Israel clash over gas drilling: DefenceGreece
Christians in imminent danger across the world are refused refugee status (not so much for Muslims): JihadWatch

Twilight of the Eurocrats : Hannan
European banks' asset sales face disastrous failure: IFRe
UK Banks Brace for Eurozone Break-Up; Eurogeddon and the Death of a Currency: Mish

Sci-Tech

Carrier IQ apologizes, drops threat to security researcher: CNet
AT&T braces for T-Mobile deal collapse: Reuters
Stolen certs an issue for Malaysia, a security reminder for all of us: Symantec

Cornucopia

Los Angeles OWSers Make Video Addressing President Obama: Spew
A flight on a B-17: Boing Boing
The Presidency I Always, Always Wanted: Dossier

Image: Maktoob
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Senate Conservatives Fund

QOTD: "Indeed, it should be obvious at this point that the main inhibitors to the building of any large project whatsoever are regulatory overreach and complexity and the exploitation of the legal and regulatory environment by precisely the kind of activists that Obama the community organizer has spent much of his life encouraging. Obama’s complaints about us not building things resemble the plea of the defendant who killed both of his parents and then asked for mercy because he was an orphan." --Chicago Boyz

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Embarrassing: Fiat 500 Driven by Jennifer Lopez Body Double Breaks Down During Commercial Shoot

Fiat's public relations department hardest hit:

With a Jennifer Lopez lookalike seated behind the wheel, a Fiat 500 actually broke down on a Bronx street during the recent filming of a TV commercial purportedly showing the actress driving around the borough in which she grew up.

As seen above, the Fiat came to a halt during filming in September on East 136th Street in Mott Haven. While two men tinkered with the engine, the J. Lo stand-in sat patiently at the wheel, her face obscured by honey-colored hair styled just like Lopez’s.

I happened to be given a rental Fiat 500 Sport accidentally a couple of weeks ago and got to drive it in a variety of urban and rural settings for a few days:

It was so small, it literally occupied only half of a normal parking spot. Slightly smaller than a Mini Cooper and slightly bigger than a Smart ForTwo, the car has a number of disappointing qualities:

• The Sport starts at $17,500
• The car is woefully underpowered, pumping out 101 horses while weighing a relatively staunch 2,400 pounds (for comparison purposes, the 2012 Mazda Miata generates 167 HP and weighs only 100 pounds more). The answer to the 0 to 60 question is... uhm, yes, it can go 0 to 60. I think.
• The build quality is spotty; the sunroof liner was falling apart in the unit I rented (with only 3,000 miles on it)
• The backseat is so small it's just a rumor; the front is plenty cramped for anyone over 6-feet tall

The price is what really gets me: you could buy a base Nissan Altima for $20,270 or a base Nissan Sentra for $1,500 less than the Fiat ($16,060). In fact, the sport version of the Sentra -- the SR -- is only $17,990.

Both the Sentra and Altima are infinitely larger, more comfortable, and drivable than the Fiat 500. And you would certainly feel safer in either Nissan.

The Fiat may be fine if you live in inner-city Rome, where the streets were designed for horse-drawn carts. But in this country, it feels like you're driving a scale-model of a real car.


A Traditional Thanksgiving...

The "All-You-Can-Eat" Thanksgiving dinner at Mike Ditka's, just like the one the Pilgrims enjoyed:

Except for the Pinot, the Filet Mignon, the spinach and mushrooms, the Maker's Mark, and pumpkin pie cheesecake. I ate so much, I think I wrenched my spleen.


While America Gave Thanks, the Fat Lady Sang in the Eurozone

Contagion continued to rake the Eurozone today, reflected in 10-year bond yields and elsewhere:

...we thought we would once again remind readers just what the very simple math behind the entire spectacle is, which Europe tries so hard to ignore with each passing day. Because at the end of the day it is a very simple tension: there is massive demand for fresh cash in the form of 1.7 EUR trillion in maturing debt (ignoring interest payments)...

Of this Morgan Stanley says, "Policy makers and investors have consistently underestimated the bank funding roll as a transmission mechanism of sovereign fears into the banks and real economy."

...[The rollover funding crunch] is precisely what Europe is now fighting each and every day with, coming up with crazier and crazier plans to mask the fact that no matter what, there simply is not enough cash...

...Because while the [above] chart shows cash demand needs, the ... one [below] shows that when it comes to cash 'supply', or said otherwise issuance of unsecured debt, the market is now completely and totally dead. Indeed, November issuance is just laughable as the red-boxed region so vividly demonstrates.

...And that, in two charts is that - everything else is hype, rhetoric, smoke and mirrors.

Or, in terms even progressives can understand, it's Game Over for the grand European Democrat Social Welfare State™ experiment they desperately tried to make America emulate for lo these many decades.


A Love Letter to Ahmedinejad

"Do me a favor. Don't be a good neighbor to her anymore. Or I'll send you a love letter... [shouting] ...straight from my heart, f***er! Do you know what a love letter is? It's a bullet from a f***ing gun, f***er! You receive a love letter from me, and you're f***ed forever! You understand, f***? I'll send you straight to hell, f***er!" --Frank Booth in the motion picture Blue Velvet

From these lips to Mahmoud Ahmedinejad's ear:

Rogue states with nascent nuclear weapon programs (cough, Iran, cough), consider yourselves on notice. The Air Force has started taking delivery of Massive Ordnance Penetrators. Yup, the 30,000-pound bunker busters, known as MOPs, designed to penetrate 30 stories of reinforced concrete (Oh, and the massive bomb’s name is almost as charged as the term, Pre-Dawn Vertical Insertion, if you get what I’m sayin.)

The service apparently got its first production MOP in September and has been stockpiling them ever since. That’s a decent turnaround since April when the Air Force gave Boeing a $28 million contract to deliver eight MOPs and their associated loading equipment. The service gave Boeing a follow-on $32 million contract for eight more MOPs in August. No word on why that deal cost an extra $4 million when it appears otherwise identical to the April contract.

The Air Force has modified several B-2 stealth bombers to carry two of the GPS-guided bombs, apiece. This pretty much tells you all you need to know about the type of mission the MOP will be used for; a super bunker-buster carried by our most survivable heavy bomber. It’s meant to threaten nations like Iran and North Korea with the prospect of an air strike that can take out their most hardened targets.

I’ve got to say, this is pretty timely, given the recent flood of publicity surrounding Iran’s alleged progress toward building a nuclear weapon. While the MOP is big and costly, the West may have more subtle ways of putting kinetic pressure on states like Iran.

God Bless Our Troops This Thanksgiving Day and Those Who Support Them*.


*The delusional Ron Paul hardest hit


Larwyn's Linx: The Real Story of Thanksgiving

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

Nation

The Real Story of Thanksgiving: EIB
Ex-Dem Congressman: Voter ID is the cure for Vote Fraud: BigGov
Bachmann: By Now, Michelle O. Would Have Gotten an Apology: Malkin

Obama’s Zip-a-Dee-Do-Dah Black Agenda: ConBlkChk
Interviewing Rick Perry on Immigration: RWN
Wasserman-Schultz flustered by question from Univision: Shark Tank

Economy

The CBO Quietly Downgrades Obama's $825 Bil Stimulus : IBD
I’ll Gladly Pay You Tuesday For a Tax Increase Today: Coulter
Donald Berwick, Rationing Advocate, Quits Obama Admin Post: LifeNews

Why My Wife and I will not Send Our Kids to L.A. Public Schools: Ricochet
'Company Policy: We are not hiring until Obama is gone': 11Alive
U.S. may lose second triple-A rating within months: MarketWatch

Viriginia's Gov. McDonnell could be making a huge mistake: Heartland
Poll: by 48-40 margin, voters want Obamacare repealed: WZ
The Occupiers In Two Sad Photos: Power Line

Gunrunner & Energygate

Armed illegals stalked Border Patrol: Times
NYT Says New Climate E-Mails Are A Crime: S&L
Ex-Solyndra Employees Eligible For $14.3M in Federal Aid: NewAm

Climate & Energy

Obama Administration Pressures Contractor To ‘Soften’ Mining Job Losses: EPA Abuse
Hello, President Windmill? The Dutch Have Turned Sour on Wind Power, Because it’s Too Expensive: Marfdrat
Mr. David Palmer Explains the Problem: Watts

Media

Piers Morgan Trashes Sarah Palin in Interview With Gabby Giffords' Husband: NB
The Ghost of Thanksgiving Yet to Come: Feral Irishman
Townhall Exclusive: The Invisible President: Townhall

Why Is JournOlister Ezra Klein Briefing Dem Chiefs Of Staff Behind Closed Doors?: BigJourn
FDU Poll: Fox News Makes You Stupid (Ignore Our Margin Of Error): BigJourn
Exclusive: Sarah Palin's Thankgsiving Message: CBN

CNN: 50% of White Blue-Collar Dems Don’t Want To Renominate Obama: WZ
John Kerry Flat Out Lies on Meet the Press: ATR
Newt Gingrich and the Latino Vote: Bettinainclan

World

About Barack Obama's Grand Adventure in Libya: AmSpec
Medvedev: Russian Missiles May 'Take Out' U.S. Missile Defenses: ABC
Romney’s Iran Gaffe: McCarthy

The euro crisis: The screw tightens: Economist
Arabs Like Saddam, Hugo Chavez, More Than Obama : USN&WR
Perry: We should consider a Syrian no-fly zone if we’re serious about stopping Iranian nukes: Hot Air

Iran Training Palestinians with New Missiles: IPT
Irish Prime Minister Begs EU for Debt Relief in Disgraceful Performance: Mish
'A Complete Disaster' - Sovereign Bond Auction Fizzles in Germany: Spiegel

Sci-Tech

25 "Worst Passwords" of 2011 Revealed: Forbes
Apple Cult Mocked by Samsung in Galaxy S II Ad: CNet
AT&T/T-Mobile withdraw FCC merger application: Politico

Cornucopia

Happy Thanksgiving From Sea to Shining Sea: MOTUS
Worst Flight Ever? Passenger Forced to Stand 7 Hours Due to 400lb Seat-Mate: Blaze
Forms are going fast! Sign up today!: C&S

Image: Curmudgeonly & Skeptical
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: DEMAND an apology from Senators Schumer and Alexander!

QOTD: "Let me tell you what I find most terrifying: we’re having this discussion about a risk of recession at a time when unemployment is already too high, at a time when a quarter of homeowners are underwater on their mortgages, at a time when the fiscal deficit is 9%, a time when interest rates are at zero. These are all conditions coming out of a recession, not going into a recession." --Mohamed El-Erian

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Webcam captures photos of airplane crash at Superstition Mountain, AZ

KKTV reports that a plane crash occurred minutes ago in the area of Superstition Mountain. A webcam recorded the crash from afar:







Our thoughts and prayers go out to the crew, passengers and their families.

The Truth About Ron Paul: Delusional, Power-Hungry and Dangerous

Interviewed on Neal Cavuto's Fox News show this afternoon, GOP presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul claimed that "a third of the crowd was with me last night [at the debate] and more than a third of the country is with my ideas."

Really?

So a third of the country agrees with:

• A man who claims that bloodthirsty Islamist terrorists are morally equivalent to Americans?

• A man who vocally encourages the despicable 9/11 Truther movement?

• A man who embraces virulent anti-semites and is inspired by those who despise Jews?

• A man whose foreign policy prescriptions are so "far left" that they are outright dangerous?

• A man whose strongest supporters vilify Ronald Reagan, William F. Buckley, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Ed Meese, Sarah Palin, etc.?

• A man who despises Israel, a beacon of freedom in an otherwise barbaric Middle East?

• A man so power-hungry that he refuses to rule out a third-party run, which would very likely help reelect Barack Obama?

Jeffrey Lord offers the quintessential summary of Ron Paul for conservatives:

The Ron Paul campaign is really about re-educating America to what can only be called Neoliberalism. Which, based on the evidence and writings of its supporters, appears to be a thin gruel of free markets and non-interventionism seasoned heavily with anti-Semitism, morally obtuse Neo-Confederates, and an outspoken contempt for both conservatism and conservative leaders past and present.


Progressivism, Illustrated

These are the geniuses who claim they can run the health care industry, the energy industry, the auto industry, the banking industry, and much, much more.

The fact that some of these people vote is, at the end of the day, somewhat terrifying.


Ode to the Welfare State, 1949 [Papa B]

Papa B:


Related: Welfare Kills.

Name That Party: 12 Indicted in Georgia for ACORN-style Vote Fraud

The late and unlamented community organizing group ACORN became infamous for combining fraudulent voter registrations and absentee ballots to steal elections. Yesterday Georgia WALB reported on yet another case of (*cough* alleged *cough*) vote fraud (which Democrats, of course, continually argue is non-existent).

12 former Brooks County officials were indicted for voter fraud. The suspects are accused of illegally helping people vote by absentee ballot.

State officials launched an investigation after an unusually high number of absentee ballots were cast in the July 2010 primary election. "As a result of their grand jury findings 12 individuals were indicted in that particular matter and we will be trying that case in a court of judicial law instead of a court of public opinion so that will be pending this next year," said District Attorney Joe Mulholland.

The defendants include some workers in the voter registrar's office and some school board members.

Since WALB is playing "Name That Party", I think it's safe to assume that these fine, upstanding citizens are Democrats.


Brother, can you spare $2.1 trillion? Eurozone needs a cash infusion "ten times bigger than TARP"

The head of the Carlyle Group, Oliver Sarkozy, just left CNBC's cheerleaders aghast as he described the scale of the Eurozone crisis.

The math I'm working with is very simple.

In the U.S. banking sector, we had $3 trillion of wholesale funding that needed to be stabilized, got stabilized by the implementation of TARP which saw the U.S. treasury buy $212 billion worth of preferred in the banking sector to stabilize that $3 trillion, give our banks the time to work through their problem their problem assets.

In Europe, that $3 trillion is $30 trillion. So if you multiply the $212 by ten, you get the $2.12 trillion. In my view, the issues on the European banks are bigger than the issues on the books of the US banks. So if you want to stabilize that $30 trillion and in my view it's not that you want to, it's that you have to, you do not have a choice, you're going to have to be at least at $2.1 trillion and I suspect it may need to be more.

In other words, the Eurozone needs a cash infusion that is ten times the size of TARP*.

I'll check the couch to see if there's a spare $2.1 trillion that fell under the cushions.

* Pssst: hey, liberals -- Europe's imploding model is one your heroes Barack Obama and Paul Krugman keep trying to emulate. Hint: it don't work.

Neurosurgeon reports back on HHS meeting: yep, there are death panels that will prevent us from treating the elderly

The indispensable Right Scoop:

Tonight, a brain surgeon [Ed: vetted by Levin's staff] called into Mark Levin's radio show and said that he had just recently visited Washington DC to review Obama’s new health care plan for advanced neurosurgical care for patients over 70 years old, issued by HHS. The plan, that included "ethics panels", stated that if you are over 70 years old and on government supported healthcare and you visited an emergency room, you get “comfort care” [Ed: that is, no aggressive treatment].

Caller: Basically what the document stated was that if you were over 70 and you’d come into an emergency room and you’re on government supported health care, that you’d get “comfort care”.

Mark Levin: Wait a minute... what’s the source for this?

Caller: This is Obama’s new health care plan for advanced neurosurgical care.

Mark Levin: And who issued this? HHS?

Caller: Yes. And basically they don’t call them patients, they call them units. And instead of, they call it “ethics panels” or “ethics committees”, would get together and meet and decide where the money would go for hospitals, and basically for patients over 70 years of age, that advanced neurosurgical care was not generally indicated.

Mark Levin: So it’s generally going to be denied?

Caller: Yes, absolutely... If someone comes in at 70 years of age with a bleed in their brain, I can promise you I’m not going to get a bunch of administrators together on an ethics panel at 2 in the morning to decide that I’m OK to do surgery.

The ludicrous "Politifact" website hardest hit.


Barack Obama, Emperor of Insolvency

The lede in today's coverage of the U.S. deficit struggle ("Obama reopens debate on US stimulus") at the Financial Times is troubling on two fronts.

Barack Obama sought to reignite the debate over an ­economic stimulus package on Tuesday, demanding that a bitterly divided Congress pass an extension of payroll tax cuts before the end of the year.

“We still have to give the economy the jolt that it needs,” the US president said on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, a day after a bipartisan committee failed to agree on a $1,200bn deficit reduction package. He added he would do “everything in his power, with or without Congress”.

Consider:

• Fact: the "payroll tax cuts" simply accelerate the collapse of the Social Security system

• And what kind of president talks about operating "without Congress"?

Our beloved Dictator-in-Chief knows that America is insolvent, that Social Security is headed for collapse, and that Obamacare simply hastens the implosion.

But, some believe that was the plan all along.


Larwyn's Linx: Perry Op-Ed: Eric Holder Must Resign

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

Nation

Perry Op-Ed: Eric Holder Must Resign: Ace
An Historic Failure of Presidential Leadership: Dossier
The Occupiers: Curry

Surgeon confirms ObamaCare rationing, death panels: Scoop
Should the Rich Be Condemned?: Williams
Tony Rezko Sentenced to Over 10 Years in Prison: Malkin

Economy

Did the SuperCommittee see these two horrible debt graphics?: Peth
CBO Confirms Obama-Pelosi Stimulus Damaged Economy: GWP
The way out of our financial mess is transparency: AT

We’ve Had Enough Government ‘Stimulation’: Cato
Occupy's Latest Plan: Refuse to Repay Student Loan Debt: NewAm
Shocker: Chicks Don't Dig Camping Out With Smelly Losers: RSM

Patriotic Millionaires Demand Higher Taxes... for Others: DC
Fears US Banks Will Need To Raise Billions In New Capital: ZH
Banks Make Plans for Euro-Zone Split: Mish

Gunrunner & Energygate

Getting things straight about Operation Fast & Furious: Workman
Holy crap, Eric Holder truly is toast: even Jon Huntsman demands his resignation: DC
U.S. And Europe threaten their own energy independence: RWN

Climate & Energy

ClimateGate 2.0 Emails Reveal "Scientists" Quite Interested In "The Cause," Public Relations: Ace
Climategate 2.0 emails – They’re real and they’re spectacular!: Watts
Climategate II, 5,000 New Emails Released Detailing Climate Change Hoax: Lid

Media

National Treasure James O’Keefe III Catches Corrupt Rutgers Profs in Play for Pay Scheme: GWP
CNN Anchor Mocks Bachmann’s Faith: Do You ‘Regret’ Listening to God?: BigJourn
How Bad Is It for the Obamas? Booed, Flipped Off and Told to Quit: Bruce

Zuccotti Utopia: Portraits of The New Revolutionaries: LATL
No, Congress did not declare pizza a vegetable: WaPo
AP: Occupy Protests Have Now Cost Local U.S. Cities a Total of $13 Million: Blaze

Reaction Roundup: GOP Presidential Debate on Foreign Policy: Foundry
Analysis Of The CNN Republican National Security Debate: RWN
The faces of #OWS cluelessness as exemplified by #UCDavis: Toldjah

World

Our World: America’s descent into strategic dementia: Glick
How the US Nat’l Security Apparatus is Imposing Islamic Law of Slander on Americans: Creeping
Fatwa Permits Raping Infidel Women: Jawa

Three Doomsday Scenarios: What Happens If the Eurozone Breaks Up?: MoneyMorning
Fitch Pours A-98 Gasoline On The European Fire, Threatens AAA Rating Of Parent France: ZH
Tiffany Trusts Botswana Gold over US!: ResourcefulEarthNews

Sci-Tech

Has Google made Wintel and Satellite Cable Terminal Shorts?: ZH
48% of Job Seekers Have Used Facebook to Look for Work: Datamation
How long will AT&T fight for T-Mobile?: CNet

Cornucopia

Driving While Blonde: Polish Edition: Ace
We Play Chicken with Country AND Western Civilization: MOTUS
Richmond Occupiers to Receive Free Aerosolized Vegetable Spray: Doswell

Image: Shorpy.com
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: The Search for Marizela: A Thanksgiving note

QOTD: "These students, their generation and all Americans are facing an uncertain, perilous future.In large part, it is because we have a nice-talking, but unprepared man in charge.

Listen to President Obama today and he will lay blame on everyone but himself. His only plan will be to spend more money that we don’t have.

Four years ago, primary voters here tried to tell the nation that this wet-behind-the-ears socialist wannabe was the wrong man. (They picked Hillary Clinton in the primary.)

Here is hoping that seven weeks from today, primary voters here will put the nation on a path to unseating this glib, clueless disaster of a President. " --New Hampshire Union Leader Editorial, "Primary voters rejected Obama"

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Hair Products Have Come a Long Way, Baby

This lovely dance troupe -- photographed in 1923 -- appears to have suffered from a collective "bad hair day":

Washington, D.C., July 1923. "Sunshine Girls." Also known as the Tiller Girls, a dance troupe originated by the British musical-theater impresario John Tiller.

For Americana, there's really nothing better than Shorpy.


Good news: Feds now investigating closures of elementary schools

But, according to President Obama, there's nothing to cut!

The U.S. Department of Education will investigate the closing of East Lansing's Red Cedar Elementary following a complaint it will have a negative effect on minority students at the school.

The East Lansing school district has until Thursday to provide information to the Department of Education's Cleveland-based Office for Civil Rights regarding the ethnic makeup of its elementary schools, emails, meeting minutes and information used by the school board in approving a recommendation to close Red Cedar in 2016.

...A portion of Red Cedar's 266 students are children of international families at Michigan State University, and the school celebrates its global perspective. The complaint alleges closing the school will discriminate against its students based on race, color or national origin...

Now that the Department of Education has a SWAT Team, I fully expect an armed response against the faculty and staff of the Red Cedar school.