Saturday, December 03, 2011

Chilling Chart From Yesterday's Reported Drop in Unemployment: "6,278,000 people are unaccounted for"

Mike Shedlock and one of his readers dissect the propaganda that was yesterday's 'positive' unemployment report.

...If you look at the average labor force growth from 1948 to 2007 of 1,579,000 the labor force should have expanded by 6,316,000 2008-2011. Instead the labor force expanded by a mere 38,000!

Thus, 6,278,000 people are unaccounted for in the unemployment numbers based on historical averages... The unemployment numbers using this historical trend method show the following numbers for November in these years:

Unemployment Rate Adjusted for Population Growth

2007 4.7%
2008 7.3%
2009 11.7%
2010 12.4%
2011 12.2%


I am sure it is just coincidence, but it is interesting to note that the flat lining of the labor force began in earnest with the Obama administration.

Six million people missing. Six million gone from the labor force.

Hopefully you won't hate me and -- not to trivialize the real thing in the least -- but I can't keep myself from thinking that President Obama is the architect of an economic holocaust.


Excellent News: Your Federal Government Training IT Workers In Asia and Europe... So They Can Outsource American Jobs

Gee, but there's nothing to cut!

U.S. Supports the Development of the IT Sector in Kyrgyzstan


The U.S. Government, through the United States Agency for International Development’s Local Development Program, will for the first time conduct a roundtable in partnership with IT experts from Kyrgyzstan. The roundtable will take place on November 29, at 15.30, at the Park Hotel (87 Orozbekova str., Bishkek).

In other words, your tax dollars are helping to strengthen the technology sector in Asia.

This comes on the heels of last year's news that the U.S. is training thousands of foreign workers as potential outsourcers of American jobs.

U.S. To Train 3,000 Offshore IT Workers


Despite President Obama's pledge to retain more hi-tech jobs in the U.S., a federal agency run by a hand-picked Obama appointee has launched a $36 million program to train workers, including 3,000 specialists in IT and related functions, in South Asia...

...Following their training, the tech workers will be placed with outsourcing vendors in the region that provide offshore IT and business services to American companies looking to take advantage of the Asian subcontinent's low labor costs...

...USAID is contributing about $10 million to the effort

USAID is also funding an effort in Armenia to train IT workers for additional outsourcing of American jobs, though it won't say how much it's spending there.

Criminal stupidity or naked malevolence: which is it?


Larwyn's Linx: Late Friday Fast and Furious Document Drop

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

Nation

Late Friday Fast and Furious Document Drop: Nice Deb
The 1% of the 1%: Moonbattery
Three Tales of Newt: Wolf Howling

Obama and the Return of ACORN: IBD
Obama's Opaque Transparency: Boortz
The Hardest Working Man in Show Business: AmDigest

Jail Cells for Corzine, Soros, Waters, Frank, Pelosi, No One: Ransom
How Newt Gingrich Saved the Internet: Ace
Gingrich is the president America needs: : Walker

Economy

Andy Stern: In Praise of Communist China: Moran
White House: Bad economy still Bush's fault: Exam
Obama crony, Hyatt seek to slash workers' health care: Marathon

What the drop in unemployment means for Obama’s reelection: Peth
"The future is known. It’s the past that keeps changing.": MoneyRunner
Calif Prison Realignment Is a Charade: CityWatchLA

Gunrunner & Energygate

LightSquared, The FCC and the Law Firm That Represented Solyndra: Ace
Fast and Furious Whistleblower Punished, Participants Rewarded: Moonbattery
Issa Wimps Out: Times

Climate & Energy

Top Science Journal Challenges Green Carbon Assumptions: Mead
Obama administration is targeting Ohio's shale gas: Mandel
Lights Out: Daily Bayonet

HuffPo Warmist Says We Should Declare A War On The Weather: RWN
One Way The EPA Could Ruin Christmas: Looking Spoon
Leaked Emails Raise Questions About NYT’s ClimateGate Coverage: Commentary

Media

How Did Obama’s Stimulus End Up Paying a Rich Hollywood Director to Produce a Web Video Show?: Tatler
The Herman Cain Problem: ushanka
Clinton Crony, "Journalist" George Stephanopoulos Convicts Herman Cain On-Air: NB

NBC's Andrea Mitchell Agrees: America One Of World's Most 'Socially Unjust' Societies: NB
Donald Trump to Moderate GOP Debate: Malkin
The Accused: Boston Globe Style: Glob

Brace yourself like a man, Tim Tebow!: JPA
Horror in Knoxville update: Retrials granted after discovery of drug-abusing judge: Malkin
A strangely desperate new Obama campaign speech: Urgent, dramatic, about him: IBD

World

The Real War in Iran: Glick
The Donkey Is Dead: Sultan Knish
Krauthammer: Obama has done more to undermine Israel’s position in the world than any other president: Scoop

Menendez Blows Up Over Administration Opposition to Key Iran Sanction: Commentary
Corruption and Islamism in Egypt: Spengler
Muslim Anti-Semitism and the Arab Spring: Sultan Knish

Taking Candy From a Baby: EU Referendum
Blame Canada: Daily Bayonet
China’s economy is rosy only if you don’t mind that it’s shrinking, corrupt and deadly: Bookworm

Sci-Tech

The Reality of 3D-Printed Body Parts: AtlWire
Open source offers an answer to the CarrierIQ spying controversy: ComputerWorld UK
TV ownership declines for first time in Nielsen history: EW

Cornucopia

I was almost killed yesterday and no one cares.: FMFM
Gilding the Lily Since 2008: MOTUS
Waiting for Not-O: AmDigest

Image: Obama - The Anti-Israel President
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Senate Conservatives Fund

QOTD: "The ironic thing is that I present to networking people all the time and one of the things I talk about is network security. The comment that resonates with them is "Network security is great in order to keep people out of your network. But what do you do with those who already have access to your network? What if the problem is someone is supposed to have access to your network?" To a certain extent this is what the Carrier IQ story feels like. Carriers already have access to your device so you wouldn't think something to this level that would violate that trust. Carriers are PROHIBITED from listening in to your phone calls without a warrant. Law enforcement cannot look at your phone records without a warrant. Now a piece of software on your phone can send your habits, phone calls and SMS strings to a PRIVATE 3rd party? Very troubling indeed." --Jason Bautista

Friday, December 02, 2011

The only unemployment chart you need to see today

Courtesy of Calculated Risk -- via Business Insider -- comes a chart that helps illustrate the real unemployment situation.

This is why the situation seems so dire. Why people are walking around in a daze. Why your neighbors are worried and glum.

Forbes editor Vahan Janjigian explains

...the unemployment rate has been very high for quite some time. If you look at the U6 figure [Ed: now 15.6%], which includes people who are working part-time, the underemployed because they can’t find a full-time job, or people who have simply given up looking for work; that figure is always extremely high.

But there is another figure I like to focus on. It is called the participation rate. That figure has really been plummeting... Now this figure is never 100%, because, of course, there are some people who are capable of working who aren’t working. An 18-year-old who is in school, for example, is not going to be working. Someone who chooses to be a stay-at-home mom or dad is not going to be working, or somebody who is 65 years old and retired but is capable of working is not going to be working.

So in a healthy economy, we would expect this figure to be somewhere above 70%. It is currently down at 64%, which means that there are a lot of people who cannot find jobs—they want to be working, they can’t find jobs.

With that context in mind, please consider these headlines:

No matter how the dying, legacy media tries to spin it, no matter how the administration twists arms at the Bureau of Labor Statistics to make things look rosier, the facts are clear:

The American economy is dying under this President.


Absolute Must Watch: The Anti-Israel President

You'll get chills watching this.

Click here to pass it on.


Via: Right Scoop.

King warns of 'spiral' into systemic economic crisis and... weakened banks

The governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King, offered some disturbing and silly remarks to the public today.

Eurozone woes have created “an exceptionally threatening environment” as falling government bond prices, eroding confidence and asset fire sales threaten to “spiral” into a systemic financial crisis, the governor of the Bank of England has warned... King urged the UK financial system to continue building up capital against an “extraordinarily serious” situation it had not created and could not solve.

“The crisis in the euro area is one of solvency not liquidity. And the interconnectedness of major banks means the banking systems and economies around the world are all affected. Only the governments directly involved can find a way out of this crisis,” he said.

Underscoring their concern, Sir Mervyn and Hector Sants, head of the Financial Services Authority, revealed that the watchdog was allowing UK banks to dip into their liquidity buffers when they encountered funding squeezes.

Far be it from me to second-guess a genius like Sir Mervyn, but doesn't alerting the public to potential shortages of liquid capital at retail financial institutions risk, er, bank runs?


The Weekly Standard's Droll New Parody Section

The bastion of big-government Republican, cocktail-circuit, anti-Tea Party "thought leadership" is a little-read magazine known as The Weakly Standard. Its wit is so incisive, so rapier-like, that it must warn readers ahead of time when it's deploying a devastatingly funny new "parody".

Oh, my.

Whew. Let me catch my breath.

And now you know why the WS is John Boehner's favorite periodical.

Now, if I were running the Parody section for Kristol, et. al., my version of the ad would look like this:

Attention, RINOs: we are trying to nominate a man or woman who can save this Republic. Get focused, schmucks.

Oh. And just one other question: was Bill Kristol's celebration of the "Arab Spring" earlier in 2011 supposed to be part of the nascent Parody Section?


MF Global investors saved by Sarbanes-Oxley regulations. Oh. Wait... uhm. No, they weren't.

Remember how Sarbanes-Oxley regulations were supposed to prevent more Enron-style disasters? SOX compliance, as it is known in the industry, cost businesses tens of billions and drove many companies from going public.

Instead of spending the money on innovation, hiring salespeople, expanding production facilities, or creating new marketing, service and distribution capabilities, companies spent those funds trying to achieve compliance with largely useless government dictates.

But remember: we don't have enough regulations.

MF Global proves Enron-era accounting lives on


The off-balance-sheet accounting methods that Enron and Lehman Brothers made famous in their epic failures years ago have a modern-day poster child: MF Global... Like its predecessors, the bankrupt brokerage formerly run by Jon Corzine took advantage of an accounting maneuver to keep certain financial obligations off its books, making the firm look less indebted and thus less a risk than it really was.

On Thursday, Mary Schapiro, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, told a committee of Congress the SEC was investigating the accounting treatment that helped mask MF Global's exposure to risky foreign sovereign debt.

The fact that MF Global was able to use the technique highlights how off-balance-sheet moves are evolving as quickly as new accounting rules intended to stop them. Earlier this year, the Financial Accounting Standards Board changed its rules to bar an off-balance-sheet loophole that had helped Lehman Brothers get into trouble in 2008.

Reuters' analysis is: of course! We need more regulations!

So how are all of those millions of pages of existing regulations working out for investors in Jon Corzine's firm?

I've said it before and I'll say it again: every thing this enormous, extra-constitutional federal bureaucracy touches turns to crap.


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

Larwyn's Linx: For Democrats, Politics Trumps Human Trafficking

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

Nation

For Democrats, Politics Trumps Human Trafficking: Foundry
Pelosi Dismisses Catholic Bishops as ‘Lobbyists’: CNS
Romney Campaign Unprepared For Gingrich; Still Fretting Perry: Ace

A Weak Defense of an Illegal Fix to an ObamaCare Glitch: Cato
GOP 2012 Analysis: Why Newt’s Likely To Win: RWN
Herman Cain News Roundup: Nice Deb

Economy

How the NLRB Helped the Unions Shakedown Boeing: Exam
Angriest Democrat in Congress pretty angry at Obama: Hot Air
Andy Stern's Demented Vision for America: WSJ

Crony Capitalists Occupy DC: NRO
Thanks, Obamacare: Get Ready for "Targeted Dumping" of Coverage: Hall
Fannie, Freddie Spend $640,000 on Conference: WSJ

GM Channel Stuffing Surges To All Time Record: ZH
Labor Secretary: Unemployment Payments Decrease Unemployment: Malkin
Average Foreclosure Time Sets New Record: CNBC

Gunrunner & Energygate

Another Obama bundler benefits from DOE loan: Exam
FBI Criminal Informant Complicit in Brian Terry’s Death (PJM Exclusive): Owens
Judicial Watch Sues Obama Administration to Obtain Solyndra Records: JW

Climate & Energy

Government Motors Offers To Buy Back All Chevy Volts: WZ
U.N. Agency That Deals With ‘Green Energy’ and ‘Green Industry’ Loses Another Major Funder: CNS
Fun Fact of The Day: Obama Averaging One Fundraiser Every Five Days In 2011: WZ

Media

What’s missing from the Top Tweets of 2011 list?: Malkin
Chris Matthews Even More Unhinged Than Usual -- Breaks Media Bias Meter In Process: Ace
Gingrich Instructs Team Not to Blast Fellow Candidates After Word Romney About To Attack: WZ

Dead Movement Walking: Top Six Signs the Left And Mainstream Media Have Hung Occupy Out to Dry: BigGovt
Obama: My Daughters Are “Going To Be Successful Even If America As a Whole Is Not”: WZ
New Gun Company Advertisement Compares Obama to Hitler, Stalin: CBS Washington

Michelle Antoinette slips out of WH to dine on swordfish sliders and 'edible chocolate sculpture': Exam
Christie Blows Any Chance for National Political Ambitions: War On Guns
Kermit The Frog On CNN “Newt Is From The Swamp”: Glob

World

Obama Lost Egypt?: Ace
Arab Spring: Islamists Make Huge Gains in Egyptian Elections, Begin the Slaughter of Coptic Christians: GWP
'Perhaps it's the hand of God?': Cold Fury

Guadalajara Body Dump Heralds Spread of Massacres in Mexico: Borderland Beat
Tijuana Drug Tunnel Linked Mexico to US: Borderland Beat
RJC Bars Ron Paul From Presidential Debate, Saying He's Too "misguided and extreme": Reason

Air Force Extends Secret Space Plane’s Mysterious Mission: Wired
Pentagon Preps Afghans for Trillion-Dollar Treasure Hunt: Wired
Jailed Afghan rape victim freed but 'to marry attacker' : BBC

Sci-Tech

Mini-Nukes, Flying ‘Terminators,’ and 8 More Air Weapons That Will Blow You Away: Wired
Researcher’s Video Shows Secret Software on Millions of Phones Logging Everything: Wired
Carrier IQ tracking iPhone customers too, hacker says: CNet

Cornucopia

Target Probably Has Everything You Need: Ace
Miniatur-Wunderland: World’s Largest Model Railroad is 1,300 Square Meters of Amazing: Marfdrat
Miley Cyrus, Occupier Poster Girl: Malkin

Image: Michelle Obama's Mirror (MOTUS)
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Senate Conservatives Fund

QOTD: 'Most people say, "Where there's smoke, there's fire." I say, "Where there's smoke around a conservative, there are journalists furiously rubbing two sticks together."' --Ann Coulter

Thursday, December 01, 2011

"The United States is quickly becoming a post-industrial, neo-Third World country"

It's truly sad what Statism has wrought.

The U.S. workforce has declined by approximately 6.5% since its year 2000 peak to roughly 58.2% of working age adults and the U.S. now suffers chronic unemployment of 9.1%. Although the workforce grew in the 1980s and 1990s, as dual income families became the norm, the size of the workforce is shrinking due to a lack of economic opportunity...

...Officially, long-term unemployment is 16.5% and the ranks of the long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) include 5.9 million, 42.4% of those unemployed. However, prior to the Clinton administration, unemployment measures included workers who are now no longer counted as part of the workforce. Using the more accurate pre-Clinton criteria, unemployment exceeds 22%, only 3% below the worst point (24.9%) of the Great Depression...

...if household income is adjusted for inflation, most American families have grown significantly poorer over the past ten years. In 2010, for example, real median household income fell 2.3%. Although the average wage has risen steadily in nominal terms, dwindling purchasing power is a reality for most Americans. When adjusted for inflation, the wages of most Americans have not kept up with the Consumer Price Index (CPI)...

...Although CPI is sufficient to illustrate declining real wages, CPI does not measure the cost of living in a realistic way. According to economist John Williams of Shadow Government Statistics, CPI systematically understates inflation...

...The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as “food stamps,” serves 45.8 million households as of May 2011. The program now feeds 1 in 8 Americans and nearly 1 in 4 children...

The United States is quickly becoming a post industrial neo-Third World country. Partly as a consequence of worsening unemployment and lack of economic opportunity, falling real wages and household incomes [and] growing poverty, the U.S. government faces a historic fiscal crisis.

...Barring fundamental reforms or a hyperinflationary collapse of the U.S. dollar (due to the fiscal problems of the U.S. government), the deterioration of the U.S. economy will continue and accelerate. As the U.S. economy continues its decline, public health, nutrition and education, as well as the country’s infrastructure, will visibly deteriorate and the Third World status of the United States will become apparent.

Only one question remains: when will Democrats stop embarrassing themselves by blaming Bush?

After all, they've controlled Congress for five freaking years and the Presidency for three.

And. Things. Just. Keep. Getting. Worse.


Hinde Capital: Future "transfer[s] of gold will take place at much higher prices"

Remember when Anthony 'Tweet My' Weiner was attacking legitimate gold retailers like Goldline?

He said it was because they were allegedly ripping off consumers, but the real reason was to silence popular conservative pundits like Mark Levin and Glenn Beck by intimidating their advertisers. Stalin-esque, eh?

So how's that $700/oz. gold look now, Weiner?

Because gold's tracking over $1,700/oz., there's an argument to be made that it's risen too far, too fast.

That doesn't appear to be Hilde Capital's opinion, however:

GOLD ADOPTION RATES LOW


Gold investor holdings stands at $2.0 trillion (Nov 2011), 0.96% of Global Financial Assets (GFA). In 2000 gold holdings were worth $227 billion, or 0.2% of GFA, but this isn’t the whole story...

• Today 0.2% would be worth $1.45 trillion ($1800 troy oz. Au) or 0.7% of Global Financial Assets (GFA).
• Therefore new investment gold only provided 0.26% increase in % gold holdings.
• In 1968 to 1970 % gold holdings of GFA = 5%, to attain this % at current values of gold ($1,800), $10.4 trillion dollars need to be invested...
• $10.4 trillion is equivalent to 5.8 billion troy oz at $1,800 or 1.2 x gold ever produced.
• 5.8 billion troy oz. is 3.6 x known gold reserves (based on US Geological Survey).
• Clearly not only is public ownership miniscule, but to return to the 70s % holdings requires too much gold than these prices can handle.
• This transfer of gold will take place at much higher prices.

From their lips to Bernanke's ear.


Saudis fear there will be ‘no more virgins’ and people will turn gay if female drive ban is lifted

That's not even my headline: that's the real thing from London's Daily Mail:

Repealing a ban on women drivers in Saudi Arabia would result in ‘no more virgins’, the country’s religious council has warned.

A ‘scientific’ report claims relaxing the ban would also see more Saudis - both men and women - turn to homosexuality and pornography.

The startling conclusions were drawn by Muslim scholars at the Majlis al-Ifta’ al-A’ala, Saudi Arabia’s highest religious council, working in conjunction with Kamal Subhi, a former professor at the King Fahd University.

Their report assessed the possible impact of repealing the ban in Saudi Arabia, the only country in the world where women are not allowed behind the wheel... [and] was delivered to all 150 members of the Shura Council, the country’s legislative body.

The report warns that allowing women to drive would ‘provoke a surge in prostitution, pornography, homosexuality and divorce’.

Within ten years of the ban being lifted, the report’s authors claim, there would be ‘no more virgins’ in the Islamic kingdom.

And it pointed out ‘moral decline’ could already be seen in other Muslim countries where women are allowed to drive... The astonishing report comes after Shaima Jastaniya, a 34-year-old Saudi woman, was sentenced to 10 lashes with a whip after being caught driving in Jeddah.

Well, it was a 'scientific' study and therefore, like global warming, the matter must be settled.


Today's Non-Sequitur

Papa B refers us to this Wiley gem:


More Non Sequitur here.


Awesome News: Texas School District Now Recruiting Illegal Aliens

This is how a societal breakdown occurs:

The Temple Independent School District (TISD), near Fort Hood, recently sent home flyers with children. The flyers were promoting 'College Vocational Night for Hispanics' and even informed people not to allow concerns about 'Residency Issues' to deter them from coming. Basically, illegal aliens are being invited to the event. For good measure, each attendee will receive one food voucher per family per month.

Initially, your outrage might be directed at the school district (mine was) but remember, our Governor here in Texas (Rick Perry) signed legislation that made it perfectly legal for illegal aliens to attend Texas colleges at in-state tuition rates.


No other country on Earth encourages illegal immigration of this sort, with only a friendly wink from the same federal government that's supposed to be enforcing the law.

People are entering our sovereign land -- be they petty criminals, murderers, drug-runners, gang members, human smugglers, or those simply seeking an honest day's work -- without so much as a cursory review.

Where's the TSA when you need 'em?

This, my friends, is how you lose the civil society.


Related: What Democrats Believe

Larwyn's Linx: ATF Whistleblowers Claim DOJ Retaliation

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

Nation

ATF Whistleblowers Claim DOJ Retaliation: Nice Deb
Once you go conservative black, you better watch your back: Coulter
One Executive Order That Could Stop ObamaCare: Cato

Gingrich Accuses Obama of Left-Wing Alinskyite Tactics: Ace
Harry Reid Offers Sneak Preview of Obama Re-Election Strategy: Malkin
LAPD Forced To Wear Hazmat Suits To Clean Up Occupier Camp: WZ

Economy

Issa investigating WH role in secret mpg meetings: Exam
Surgeon: Obamacare will nix brain operations for elderly: LifeNews
Boston Police: Occupy Crime “Out of Control”: VS

NLRB approves controversial union election rule in 2-1 vote: Hill
Reasons to worry about a European bailout: McArdle
Kyle Bass Prepares For The Worst: ZH

For Democrats Class Warfare Trumps Job Creation: IBD
McDonald's fights back against SF ordinance idiocy: Marfdrat
Union Workers Making Body Armor Caught Smoking Weed: Bruce

Gunrunner & Energygate

Holder Lashes Out at Media Over Fast and Furious: Adams
Transparency is a selling point, not a governing principle, sillies.: ProWis
‘Solyndra Was Just the Beginning’: Experts Predict Solar Industry Collapse: Foundry

Eric Holder Demands We Stop Reporting On Him: Hayward
The Johnny-come-lately anti-Eric Holder brigade: Malkin
U.N. climate talks: Environmental groups’ leaders criticize Hillary Rodham Clinton: WaPo

Climate & Energy

‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Climate Apocalypse’: Driscoll
Penn State to lecture on “climate ethics”: Watts
CRU’s Dr. Phil Jones on “the lack of warming”: Watts

Media

DNC blasts ABC's Tapper on stimulus: Politico
The ‘Cain Scrutiny’ Leads to a ‘Reassessment’: Blumer
A small observation to begin the day: ProWis

Charge: Fishwrap of Record virtually outed Sandusky rape victim: Malkin
Tina Brown: Let’s face it, Obama just doesn’t like his job: Hot Air
Nasty New Ron Paul Ad Hits Gingrich Hard: Ace

Obama's NY Jewish fundraiser; only 30 people there at about one quarter of the 'normal' price: Matzav
Bulletproof Barney Frank Retires — Liberal, Gay, Untouchable: Elder
Adam Carolla Takes #OccupyWallStreet To The Woodshed: Glob

World

Confederation of Iranian Students Press Release - Basiji Attack on UK Embassy: Theo Spark
A Tale of Two Surges: Hanson
Pregnant Gang Rape Victim to Be Lashed 100 Times After She Delivers Baby: GWP

Iran Sabotaged!! The Covert War Against Iran's Nukes Reaches a New Level: Lid
Explosion outside Tehran two weeks ago an attempt to assassinate Ayatollah Ali Khameni?: Matzav
China to Protect Iran Even if Result Starts World War III; What's the Best Way to Deal with Iran?: Mish

Memo to the Occupy protesters: here are ten things we evil capitalists really think: Hannan
"China Will Not Hesitate To Protect Iran Even With A Third World War": ZH
Central banks act as euro zone crisis rages: Yahoo!

Sci-Tech

Air Force Extends Secret Space Plane’s Mysterious Mission: Wired
The Psychology of Nakedness: Wired
Tech Firm Implements Employee ‘Zero Email’ Policy: Yahoo!

Cornucopia

If You Secret Santa Any Of These Gifts, Ensure It Looks Like Your Foe Bought It: RSM
The Top Ten Most Overrated Actors/Actresses of All Time: Ace
Why Is Obama’s “Body-Man” Reggie Love Leaving?: Fellowship of the Mind (Graphic)

Image: Free Republic
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Please Support the Senate Conservatives Fund

QOTD: "Talking of fairness, let’s remember that the word doesn’t belong to any faction. How about parity between public and private sector pay? How about being fair to our children, whom we have freighted with a debt unprecedented in peacetime? How about being fair to the boy who leaves school at 16 and starts paying taxes to subsidise the one who goes to university? How about being fair to the unemployed, whom firms cannot afford to hire because of the social protection enjoyed by existing employees?" --Daniel Hannan

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Obamacare: It's all that and a bag of chips

It's a Hillbilly Christmas!

PVC and Mountain Dew: a powerful combination.






The sheer beauty of this holiday spectacle brings a tear to my eye.

Hat tip: Chris

Report: Republican Presidential Candidate Is Closeted Gay Male Who Sexually Harassed a Male Actor and Frequented a Gay Bathhouse

Did I say "Republican candidate"? Because I meant to say "Barack Obama." Kevin DuJan reports:

If the operating assumption is that anything whispered about by anonymous sources is true about Herman Cain, then I guess everything people in Chicago have talked about for years related to Barack Obama being a closeted gay man into younger Pakistani guys must be true too, right?

During the 2008 election, I campaigned for Hillary Clinton in the Democrat primaries. Repeatedly, I heard over and over here in Chicago that Barack Obama is gay and that his marriage to Michelle is one of mutual convenience. In the black community, this is called “being on the down-low”, where a closeted gay male weds an often-times gruff and demanding woman (typically without other male suitors of her own) to take public scrutiny off them both and afford the pair a successful life they’d never achieve separately.

There are, apparently, a lot of such relationships forged at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago — where Barack Obama’s pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, oversaw the coupling of down-low gay black men with sour and caustic black women.

...You need to understand how much homosexuality is despised in the black community to appreciate both the need for gay black men to stay “down-low” and the willingness of some black women to become “beards” for these men when they think they can benefit from the arrangement in some way themselves (usually because these are difficult-to-deal-with women who were unable to find anyone willing to marry them otherwise).

Oprah Winfrey and her longtime “boyfriend” Stedman Graham were for many years also members of Trinity United Church of Christ, and you can read whatever you may like into that.

In Chicago’s Boystown gay community, older guys who frequented the little dive bars that have been around forever told tales back in the 2008 primaries about Barack Obama slipping out whenever he was in Chicago for romps at the local bathhouse “Man’s Country”. The details given in these accounts of his activities were substantial... According to the gossip, Barack Obama would never reciprocate in these encounters, but enjoyed being pleasured by older white guys

...This jibes with everything Larry Sinclair said about his own sexual encounter with Barack Obama in the back of a limo many years ago. You remember Larry Sinclair, right? He’s the man the agenda-driven media worked overtime to destroy and did its level best to silence because he posed a direct threat to the narrative the Left needed to push for Barack Obama to elect him president — and needless to say, that narrative didn’t include Barack Obama receiving oral sex from another man in the back of a limo in Chicago.

You need to appreciate that when a Democrat is accused of anything, the Democrat’s accusers are crucified with remarkable zeal in the press; but when someone whispers anything obscene about a Republican, that person is lauded by the “journalists” of the Left as the bravest and most credible person who ever lived…even if that person refuses to give her name, actually state on record what she claimed happened, or provide any sort of corroborating evidence that what she’s alleging is in any way remotely true.

To the media, it’s true just because it was said about a Republican. Meanwhile, Democrats can always get away with murder. Just ask the Kennedy family about that.

...So, why can’t we all talk about Barack Obama dating Hollywood actor Kal Penn during the 2008 presidential campaign, and Obama then inventing a strange, nebulous position for the actor in the early days of the Obama administration (just so Penn could abruptly leave his hit TV show and move to Washington to be close to Obama?). Apparently, since Penn then left the White House abruptly after just a few months of work (in a position that was created solely for him) the current President and his down-low boyfriend must have broken up.

...You know full well the “journalists” on sites like Politico would have spent the last three years digging relentlessly into a Republican president’s past, repeatedly asking why not a single former girlfriend has ever stepped forward to identify herself or speak on the record about her past with the man currently in the Oval Office.

Isn’t it strange that the public’s never been introduced to A SINGLE GIRLFRIEND that Barack Obama ever had in high school, college, law school, or the days before he met ... Michelle?

Don’t you wonder why the “journalists” of the Left have never done any in-depth profiles of Barack Obama’s male friends from his years at Occidental College in California, talked about his “roommate” while at Columbia, or wondered about any of his social activities through the years?

I know there are endless mysteries centered around a man whose college transcripts, vital records, and other important paperwork were apparently sealed away from the public in an impregnable vault somewhere cloaked in riddles and enigma — never to be seen by human eyes again — but if Barack Obama was a Republican he would have been outed as gay many years ago.

If Barack Obama was a Republican, the agenda-driven media would have hounded him about the nature of his relationship with his “bodyman” Reggie Love.

If Barack Obama was a Republican, the Left would have somehow gotten ahold of his lifetime membership at Chicago gay bathhouse Man’s Country and would have plastered those records across Politico to destroy his political career.

If Barack Obama was a Republican, the press would have quickly interpreted the dearth of girlfriends in his past as evidence of a surfeit of boyfriends and no one at the New York Times would have slept a wink until every Tom, Dick, or Larry in Barack Obama’s little black book was awarded his own reality show to gush about their down-low adventures.

...Because Barack Obama is a Democrat, the agenda-driven media is as committed to promoting a heterosexual, scandal-free image for him, because this is what “journalists” are apparently trained to do for Democrats in school…and it’s expected for them to do if they wish to keep being employed as “journalists” in the Democrat public relations machine we call the media in this country.

Someday, when the Left no longer needs Barack Obama to push the Left’s agenda, this protection will be gone and you’ll spend the last few decades of your life hearing all about Larry Sinclair, Kal Penn, Reggie Love, Man’s Country, Jeremiah Wright’s Down-Low Club, and the many men Barack Obama has been with through the years. I’m sure a great many books will be written on all of this and a great deal of money will be made by the media companies selling the scandal of it all to the public.

...If you don’t see what’s really happening here and are someone who’s quick to believe the anonymous and sketchy sources the likes of Politico put forward when it comes to a Republican in the hot seat... then maybe you should spend today coming up with a valid reason for why you can’t name a single girlfriend Barack Obama had in his entire life before Michelle and why so much of Barack Obama’s past is so aggressively cloaked in perpetual and deliberate mystery.

...It’s an open secret in the political world that Barack Obama is gay, and that there are plenty of closeted gay Republicans too. But you won’t hear about any of this because members of the permanent political class on both sides of the aisle don’t want you to hear about it.

Making no judgment whatsoever on Kevin's assertions, I will observe the following:

• "Frank" in Obama's autobiography Dreams From My Father, who was young Barack's "father figure", is known to be the Communist Party organizer Frank Marshall Davis.

• Davis was also a reported pedophile: "The Telegraph UK [reports] that Davis, a close friend of Obama's mother and his maternal grandfather, published an autobiographical, pornographic book... and wrote about enjoying sex with teenagers."

• In Davis' ghost-authored book ("Black Sex Rebel") he "admits to seducing a thirteen year-old girl, voyeurism, exhibitionism, bisexuality, rape and sadomasochism. Barack, called 'Barry' as a child, was a mere ten year old when he first met the family friend who led a secret double life... Barack describes how Frank Davis had a lasting effect on him and became a father figure over the seven years they knew one another on the tropical island... Obama described being counseled by Frank often and recalled drinking whiskey with him."

In my view, these allegations deserve the full attention of the hacks fine reporters at Politico, who are more than willing to pillory Herman Cain using anonymous and/or scarcely credible accounts.


Compare-and-contrast the Obama agenda with Karl Marx's 10-point program of Communism

According to Karl Marx, the following ten elements were requisite conditions for "a transition from capitalism to communism."

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. Washington Examiner: The great Obama land grab: "White House officials have been meeting quietly with environmental groups to map out government plans for acquiring untold millions of acres of both public and private land... The federal government, as the memo boasted, is the nation's 'largest land manager.' It already owns roughly one of every three acres in the United States... This is apparently not enough."

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. National Taxpayer Union: The top 1% of taxpayers already pay 40% of all income taxes. The top 5% pay 61% of all income taxes. And the top 25% pay 87%. The bottom 50% pay 3% of all income taxes. And Democrats want more from entrepreneurs: "Democrats seek a new 'Millionaire's Tax'."

3. Abolition of all right of inheritance. Idaho Statesman: "Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho [is] writing an estate tax bill that would help family farms remain in family hands... Thanks, Sen. Crapo, for helping pen something that truly helps rural [Americans]."

4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants [those leaving the country] and rebels. New York Post: The President's new jobs-killer: "...President Obama explicitly targeted ... industry for two massive tax hikes. First, he'd ban oil and gas companies from using the 'Section 199' tax credit, a measure for domestic manufacturers enacted in 2004 to boost US employment... Second, he wants to end 'dual capacity' protection for US energy firms... Without this shield against double taxation on foreign revenues, American companies would be competing on an uneven global playing field... Yet, by the federal government's own economic model, these tax hikes would lead to huge, immediate job losses."

5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly. New York Post: Democrats, Fannie Mae still issuing subprime loans, even after meltdown. Politics Daily: "Obama's Risky Plan: Government Takeover of the Student Loan Business." And New American: "$5 Debit Card Fee: Don't Blame Banks — but Durbin, Dodd, Frank, the Fed."

6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State. Tom's Hardware: "Bill Allows Obama Power to Shut Down Internet." And "Advertisers on talk radio targeted by Congressional investigations." And "In an exclusive interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, President Obama made the extraordinary claim that Fox News is 'destructive to [America's] long-term growth.'."

7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. National Legal and Policy Center: "Obama Arranges Takeover of GM and Chrysler; Auto Workers Union Gets Huge Stake." And Discover: "New EPA Rules Clamp Down on Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining." And "Obama shuts down Keystone XL pipeline, says no to 20,000 jobs." And News 9 Oklahoma: "EPA to Crack Down on Farm Dust."

8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. Wall Street Journal: "SEIU’s Stern Tops White House Visitor List." And The Blaze: "Obama’s OFA, Churches Join Democratic Socialists for Saturday March in Washington."

9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of the population over the country. Heritage: "The Clean Water Restoration Act Means Troubled Waters For Property Owners": "...The Waxman-Markey global warming bill is far and away the most worrisome environmental measure currently working its way through Congress, but it is certainly not the only cause for concern... S. 787, the Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA)... would do much more harm than good, especially for farmers, ranchers, developers, energy producers, and other property owners."

10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production.: New York Sun: "Obama Tells Teachers Union He Opposes Vouchers." And Big Hollywood: "[Teachers' Union] NEA: Obama’s Ministry of Propaganda."

* * * * * * * * *

No federal government has damaged the American free market more than this one. No federal government has stolen more employment, more freedom, more private property -- from this and future generations -- than this one. No government has created more regulations, more unconstitutional dictates, more -- dare I say it -- indentured servitude than this one.

Now, given all of these facts: can there be any doubt what Barack Obama meant when he twice proposed, "a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded" as our military?

The Obama-Democrat Left has mounted the first successful counter-revolution -- against the American Revolution -- in our history. Using an incessant series of attacks by a fifth column, the intent of the counter-revolution is to eradicate the effects of the American Revolution. The most magnificent society ever created hangs in the balance.


Next November represents our last chance to salvage the American experiment.

Marshal your parents, your children, your siblings, your neighbors, your coworkers -- marshal everyone you know, because the stakes could not be higher.


Update:
The Obama Temptation by Mark R. Levin: Corner (11/3/2008)
Barack Obama, Fabian Socialist: Forbes (11/3/2008)


Hat tip: Mark Levin.

Larwyn's Linx: Two States Denied Obamacare Waivers

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

Nation

Two States Denied Obamacare Waivers: Malkin
Billy Tauzin, Obamacare's $11.6 Million Dollar Man: Ace
Obama Sets Record for Political Travel: Dossier

Kagan must respect the law by recusing herself: Exam
Obama's Cloud-Based Transparency: Malkin
The Receding Democratic Majority?: WSJ

Cain Admits Paying Women: Tatler
A Parting Shot for Barney Frank: Primordial Slack
Is Bachmann Really Running For Mitt's VP Slot?: Ace

Economy

Employers Could Dump Sick Employees into Obamacare: WS
The Less-than-Thrilled Case for Extending the Payroll Tax Holiday: Cato
Blocking the Paths Out of Poverty: Stossel

Ending Income Inequality: Williams
Reality check for CBO's rosy projections: IBD
Rich Nations That Went Broke By Spending Too Much: Forbes

Gunrunner & Energygate

Sheriff Babeu: Obama and Holder Running For Cover On Fast and Furious; Holder Lashes Out: Nice Deb
RFK, Jr. Fails to Refute Key Details of His Sweetheart Deal from Taxpayers: BigGovt
ATF "Gunwalking" scandal timeline: Attkisson

Climate & Energy

The Recession Hits the Green Movement: Knish
U.N. Climate Conference's Goal? One-World Government: Schlafly
Climategate II: More Smoking Guns From The Global Warming Establishment: Forbes

Media

Pitiful: Only 225 People Show Up for Free Tickets to Obama Event in PA: JWF
Three Things the GOP Field Can Learn from Herman Cain and One They Should Forget: Sundries
CNN Wins Drool Bucket Award: Eulogizes 'Titan' Barney Frank: NB

Found: Obama Reminiscing About Dear Old Pastor Jeremiah Wright: Nice Deb
Bill Ayers Talks About The Obama Fundraiser He Hosted (The One His Campaign Said Was a "Myth"): Ace
The 20 Most Influential Conservative Jewish Americans In Politics: RWN

NY Times Book Review Likens Tea Party to the Klan: Dossier
My video of Occupy Denver attempt to break into BlogCon11 removed by Youtube: ProWis
Obama has no room to complain about ad distortions: Gerson

World

Hague shakes his puny fist in the thirty years' invisible war: Phillips
Who Said Those Embassy-Storming Thugs in Tehran Were ‘Students’?: Rosett
It's 1979 All Over Again: GoV

White House Praises Turkey’s Islamist Government: WZ
Muhammad Hates Diversity: RWN
Newly Declassified Memo: Roosevelt Warned of Tokyo's Focus on Hawaii Days Before Pearl Harbor Attack: GWP

“We Have Lost the City”: Lawlessness Permeates Islamic District in Oslo: BigPeace
The Christians of Egypt, Part II: Totten
Muslims bomb Philippines hotel packed with wedding guests killing 3, injuring 27: Creeping

Sci-Tech

Fall Asleep Listening to Music on Your iPhone/iPod by Setting a Timer: VirtRep
Is Microsoft Running Out of Time for Tablets?: Yahoo!
On CNN, Former Secret Service Agent Shows How The Presidential Limo Helped Save Reagan’s Life: Mediate

Cornucopia

Cynthia Carrnivorsaurus Unearthed from Sewers, Now Auditing Amuck Through City: Doswell
We have met our advocates, and they ARE us.: MOTUS
Responsible Mall Santa-ing in the Era of Hope & Change: Malkin

Image: People's Cube
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Help FreedomWorks Reach 1.5 Million Facebook Fans

QOTD: "In the course of a typical day I usually receive at least a couple of emails from readers lamenting that America is now the Titanic. This is grossly unfair to the Titanic, a state-of-the-art ship whose problem was that it only had lifeboat space for about half its passengers. By contrast, the SS Spendaholic is a rusting hulk encrusted with barnacles, there are no lifeboats, and the ship's officers are locked in a debate about whether to use a thimble or an eggcup." --Mark Steyn